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ON ^*JREASONS Pon A CORPORATION,** OR A DEFENCE OF DISSUASOR, AND OTHERS WHO OPPOSE THE CORPORATION. l-HB PAMPHLET WHOSE ARGUMENTS ARE ABOUT TO.»B DISCUSSED DID NOT COME INTO THE HAN9S Of THE AUTHOR OF THE FOLLOWING PAGES UNTIL A FEW DA"XS BACK OR HE WOULD HAVE MADE His REPLY BEFORE. This Pamphlet evidently ivritten by a man of!,, deep research, betrays a disposition to overloojc the peculiar circumstances attached to the sub- ject on which it treats. The author selects ex- . amples and principles from other sources, and, takes no pains to investigate whether they are appHcable to the characteristic circumstances of this society, The arguments against the corporation which the Author professes to disprove, are Istly, because €anada is a conquered country; Sndly because that measure will be apt to generate faction and its concomitant enmities ; and Sd\y\ because it is in itself premature,— we will make our observa- vatioiis, as the author seperately examines these considerations. In referring to the history or mankind ; the Author infers that to obliterate the national char- acteristics between the conquered, and conque- rors, no political distinctions should be introdu- ctfd ; that the people vanquished and their con- querors -should be alike amenable to one law, and possessed of the same privileges : but if we consider the infancy and advancement of the lib- eitjr of conquered countries, we will find that the asJdmiJation of the conquered to the political im- munities of their invadors has when slowly and gradually made been invariably accompanied by an assimilation to their language and customs. The early progress of liberty in conquered countries has bv n conducted by raising the con- quered nearer their conquerors in gradually mi. uorating the authority of the latter, and by slowly idenrilying tbe civil codes, which control the two socitlies ; thus in the instances our author cites one party was immediately after their conquest despotic, the other servile and abject. In Cana- da 5)oth parties have ever been alike free and «quai. When there are great political distinc- • »i. \ tions and di<?parity between the conquerera and conquered, the aversion, and envy of the latter are not directed tO the national characteristics, but to tiie authority, control, and rank ofthcfor- mev. Men bereft of all liberty, subject to the absolute tyranny and unbaunded capacity ofo- thers, may, as long as they continue thus abject, retain tlieir peculiar mannets, customs, and lan- guage, but not their independence or patriotism; and as soon as an opening is given them to parti* cipate in the authority and power of their con* querers, they will to facilitate their own civil ad- vancement, resign the marks of that society they wish to desert, and adopt the characteristics of the people to wliom they are ambitions to ap- proximate. The cai4se then of the language and customs of one people being acquired, and those of another relinquished is the interest of the lat. ter. If Great Britain had conquered Canada without making the least concession ; if she had not conferred any political immunities, but as the rancour and mortification of the vanquished sub- sided, she had gradually granted them the con- stitution t!iey now enjoy, we may fairly specu- late that by this time, there would be but few na- tional distinctions in Montreal. With regard to the sudden and great benefits which History testifies accrued to towns on being invested with corporated rights, we must submit that they resulted Irom the removal of «vih 4 which do not here exist, an J not from the en* ' 'ciowtnetit of those privileges which arc projected •for this City ; they were often granted by the Monarch to undermine the exorbitant power of 'the nobles ; they were usually solicited by the J)eople to defend themselves against external in- 'terference^ and aggression. The most reasonable 'method, then, of accounting for the very rapid ad- vancement of towns after their becoming incor- porated, is their enfranchisement from the tyran- 'ny and extortions of a rapacious Barony. Our Author defines next the distinct function? of the authorities in the civil economy of England and applies them to Canada whose political cir- cumstances are widely different. He observes ** that it comes not within the duty of all or any of the branches of the legislature, to take cog- nizance of the municipal affairs of districts or towns, because their information is more defec- itive, their interest more remote, and their atten- tion less likely to be awakened." These reasons he hints should have additional weight in Canada where the towns are such a great distance from the seat of Government. The mutual acquain- tance and lympathy of the inhabitants of different towns, with their circumstances, and interests, are more dependant on their communication, than propinquity. The commerce between towns in Canada, has to that between towns in England, a much larger ratio than the population of the t i # I 4 t i i former, to the population of the latter ; thus the people oi Canaila ami their representatives are more intimato with eacli others interests, tlian the ' lii^iish are with tlicirs ; ami tlicrelbre the Canadian Legislature is better qualified to man. pge the interior eeonomy of particular towns. Should there be any measure acknowledged by both parties to be beneficial, the people of the city can be taxed, and the amount applied in the mode they si:n;i:;est, at the instance of a peti- tion to the Legisi.iturc, and the iii -lediate over- spers of its application fixi ci' by the executive, an authority upon whosr judgment and probity much more important det-nninations devolve. But our Author strongly CMuJeir'is the princi- ple of the superintendents of tie; » penditnre of taxes/not being elected by theeotMnunity upon whom the assessment is made, auil I ^ wdiose use it is to be' applied ; such an arguui?!!: is howev- er contrary to the spirit of the r Jsh Consti- tution. The Author's whig ])rine;:ies which he pretty clearly discloses, will jjiompi him to grant ** Men are not made for kings, but idngs tor men.** The taxes are then raised to m.jct the exigencies of the contributors — but their amount is placed in the hands of distributor.^ ap|)ointed by the Ex- ecutive. The representatives of the community ordain to what ends the taxes are to be applied, but, to maintain the Executive cuuld not choose the agents, would be an unconstitutional doc- 6 trine : It is no good berc where there are so few distinctions in instituted ranks pretending a dif- ference between the rehition the Kxecutivc has to the wliole body of community, J\nd to the parta which compose it. Our Author next asserts that the town cannot bQ in a worse situation, and infers no alteration can injure it ; if the town cannot be in a worse situa- tion, the magistracy is useless, and the hiws of the land are quite inadequate, and nnprotectivc ; but the person who has walked witli his watcli in his ft)b through our streets, without being knock- ed down gives such a position a practical answer. The question is this, whether the economy of the City is to be conducted by men of intelli- gence and capacity, but confined authority or by men with the power of enforcing an important decision, but without the understa#4tottg to per- ceive a just one. In the event of the corporation being cs: '^Ush- ed it will be allowed, few measures which are not determined upon with a tolerable degree of concord are likely to be politic j but those mea- sures which both parties agree are desirable, can, as has been seen, be produced by recommending them to the Legislature v^hose principles, opini- ons, and feelings, sympathize and beat time to those of their Montreal Brethren, as our author himself argues. The second divisions of Reasons for a Corpp- ration commences by observing ** public enqui- ry and discufision universiiily elucidates truth, allays prejudices— extinguishes enmities &c.— . Now we conceive the result of a discussion can alone demonstrate its evil, or beneficial tendency. Discussions often end in bloodshed and Ilebel- lioa. Men wlio can read and write have the press open for their controversies. The pen is not so calculated to irritate as the tongue. Bring- ing inimical parties into contact is certainly a novel mode of reconciliiig them ; thi3 tragical affiiir at Galway, among a host of other instances, evinces it to be at any rate, not universally effi- cacious in extniguishing enmities in a peacable manner. Our author goes on to admit *• no mi- nor public good was ever attained but through the medium of much intermediate private mise- ry." We answer as soon as itis proved that any public good Will be attained, then we may decide whether it is worth such a price. We pass over several remarks with observing that no general principle can be said to be good under particular circumstances unless its adap* tion to those particular circumstances is demon- strated ; and conclude our reflections on the se- cond division of the pamphlet by stating we do not wish the English interests to supplant the Ca- nadian, but we deem the opinions of the^w in- telligent should have greater weight in all gov- 8 ernmenia than the obstinate prejudices of *!ie multitude* y^^/'^.?^."1^^"^^^ «i?^^" to protest against the author8^«ppeal t6 Hisf.ry, es],ecially i„ this in, atance, where he has w.ihheld facts which would have told st.ongly agr,:,,t his argnuncnt. Numa the King of Rome di,I not unite the Jlonian, and '^ Sab.ne people into oiilj one body, he resolved them Hidiscriminately into several corporations. Society may be divided and subdivided into se- veral bodies, and we wilj- universally find each meinber of every b..]y(no matters hat domestic differences there are) prefer his corpoiation to every other. Numa then wisely introduced the innocur^us partuilities and competitions of civil and comrner- eial bodies, to supercede the dangerous prejudi- ces and rivalships of hostile nations. The Corporation is destined, as our author some- ^vhere hints, to manage pubHc property, direct improvements, to correct evils or redress abuses, but the men who will ordain the acts of the cor- poration, ie. the majority, are indifferent about the economy of the city or determined to oppose most things which the intelligent recommend for Its benefit j therefore you assign functions to men which they win either abuse, or not use, and if this is not premature, it is impolitic, absurd, and contradictory. a rtmik'aslt'is r.r"-^ 7,"'"'"^^ us making use of so triU « remark as it is so decidedly apposite. • . 3f *!»« St tll« lis iiN rVOIllJ I, and olved tioiis. to se- en ch cstic )n to nous rner- udi- ime- rect ses, tor- tile ose for leii iif rd, riU * h Our authors mind mt beir^g transparent we cannot ;>ii,wer the reasons which caus.> him to decide, tluit our wisli to defer the incor])oratioa of the town iidicates a desire to imitate the ex- ample oi the Iiordes of Sc>rthia or the tribes of Sumatia. The next attempt is to shame the opposcrs of the incorporation, by appealinnr to the example of the dcspoticSovereigns of tlie dark ages. And the savages of the adjacent woods; il indeed it were fihowrj that we now are in the social situation they were antecede lUo the institution of their Cor- porations, and the establishment of their counsels and chiettains, we would cheerfully assist in ex- ecuting any remedy thea uthor might su^m•est.^ The error throughout the wliole of the work, i^, supposing Corporations to be an indispcnsible concomitant of civilization, and freedom, and upon this false axiom the whole argument is built. The concluding animadversions of the princi- ple " that Magistrates should pledge themselvei to support the measures of Government previous to tlieir appointment to office," we cordially agree in ; but we firmly believe if the execu- live of Lower Canada choose the most intelli. gent, unprejudiced, and ingenuous men to act at ^lagistrates, it will only oppoint its own snppor. Although we differ with the writer of Reasoni 10 for a Corporation in most points, yet Ve carmot forbear praising the force of his language, thts chastitv of his illustrations, and the evident pro- fundity of his reading, we can easily perceive he is a man of no ordinary talent, that the Pamphlet was not the work of much labour, and that if lie had more elaborately considered the subject in all probability his position would have been more speciously suppi>rted. Probably for those readers who have not thought much on the subjects in this article we have been too concise, we have pointedly rejected illustrations ; but if our several reflections are fair!} considered we have no doubt our author who indicates in his work so much perspicacity, will candidly join our other readers in acknow- Udgiug their justice. i II