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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent 6tre fiimfo A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, II est film* A partir de I'angle supArieur geuche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'Images nAcessalre. Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la mAthode. rrata to peiure. D 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 >• wm \; wm "•"•Hiil ) ■ . REPORT, pir^oiia ^jthe ©EiLEQT ©©BanmaT-icgs OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL W ©IP WIP3PIBB1 OAJSr^PAp ■f ON THE STATE OF THE PROVINCE. PRINTED BY OUDKll OF THE HONORABLE THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. R. Stanton, Printer to the Queen's JVIost Excollcnt Majerty. *"&i (" t <^i REPORT. The Select Committee appointed to enquire into, and repoi. upon the state of the Province, have agreed to the following Report : . • The point of time in which this suhject of enquiry has been submitted, is beyond comparison the most important to the future interests of its inhabitants, of any that has occurred since Canada came under the dominion of the British Crown. Some measures of a decisive character must, of necessity, be proposed in England, in consequence of recent events in this and the Lower Province; and upon the nature of those measures it depends whether Upper Canada is to be retained as a portion of the British Dominions, and whether its inhabitants can look forward with confidence to a continuance of peace, and to the preservation of their present form of Government. . . In this very remarkable period in our history, the Legislature has been suddenly convened in order to receive from His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, aa account of the suppression of an insurrection which was formidable in these several respects, viz. : — That it was not on account of any particular grievance or complaint, but had for its direct and avowed object the total subversion of the Government by an armed force, and the introduction of a democratic Constitu- A^ tion — thai amono its leaders there were st^veral Mem- bers of the House of Assembly — that eflorts had been used to procure simultaneous risings in other parts of the Province, and not without considerable success, in the District of London — tluit the whole movement was clearly intended to be in co-oj)eration with the rebellion which had broken out in the adjoining Pro- vince — and that the insurgents reckoned upon foreign aid in their desperate enterprize, and not without reason, as events have proved. By the prompt measures taken by His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor — by the zealous and faithful services of the Militia — and the active exertions of people of all ranks and stations, this rebellion was speedily suppressed; and although many hundreds of the rebels were actually in arms in this District, and in the District of London, it was happily suppressed almost without loss, on the part of Her Majesty's loyal Subjects. ' It is indeed evident that treasonable movements which had been long planned, and which were exten- sive in their character, were attempted to be put in execution prematurely, either from the fear that if deferred they were likely to be effectually counter- acted, or from the temptation offered by some seeming and unexpected facility of carrying them at once into effect. It appears that the exigencies of the public service in Lower Canada having rendered it expedient to concentrate Her Majesty's regulai Forces at Mon- treal, His Excellency Sir Francis Head had no hesi- Ijitioii in complyinu; with tho reciucst ol' Lieutenant (loneral 8ir John Colbornc, that the troops stationed in this Province might be withdrawn ; and the whole of the Queen's forces were without reserve sent to Lower Canada. It was not unknown that there were some restless agitators in this Province, disallected to the British Crown, who were industriously promoting the cause of rebellion, in appearance at least, by col- lecting and drilling parties of armed men in several quarters of the Country, and particularly in the nor- thern portions of the Home District, liesides the information of these proceedings brought by the loyal inhabitants of the neighbourhood who were naturally alarmed by them, the movements of these traitors (for such they have since shewn themselves to be,) were openly proclaimed in seditious publications, with an evident design to force them upon the attention of thv3 Government. The first object of these unlawful meetings pro. bably was to deter the Government from parting with the troops, by which means the double advantage would be gained, of serving the cause of the traitors in Lower Canada, and of exhibiting this Province in the light of a disturbed Country,- which could be kept; in order only by a military force. i ; - i^^ After this object had been defeated by readily allowing all the troops to be withdrawn, the same illegal proceedings were continued, whether with the hope of creating a diversion of the forces from Lower Canada, or with the design of actually taking advan- mmm e tagc of their absence, and endeavouring to subvert the Governmenr, can now be best judged by the event. ^ It is not improbable, however, that one principal motive for this insulting display of armed force, was to drive the Government to the adoi)tion of some pre- cautionary measures, which might give to this Province the appearance of being in a distracted state. By accomplishing this object the agitators knew that they would afford very acceptable encouragement to Mr. Hume, and one or two other accomplices in England, who have been adding to the difFicultios of the Queen's Government, by shamefully abetting insurrection in Her Colonies, and they may not improbably have hoped for some further advantage to their cause, by intimi- dating Her Majesty's Ministers into unwise concessions, under the apprehension of new and formidable diffi- culties. For reasons which have been stated to the Legis- lature, by His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, these apparent preparations for revolt were long suf- fered to proceed, without an attempt being made to restrain them by public authorit}'-, until at length those who had a near opportunity of observing them being convinced that violence was intended, and apprehen- sions of this kind becoming very general. His Excel- lency issued a Militia Order,* directing Officers com- manding to call out their respective regiments, and to afford aid to the civil power in suppressing armed meetings. * For this Militin OrHor, see Appendix A. 7? ••Jt)~>ft: X This first signal of opposition on the part of tho Government, seems to have incited the leader of the insurgents in this District to j)liinge his unhappy fol- lowers at once into crimes of the worst character ; and there is abundant evidence that the plundering and burning of this populous town was really medi- tated, and was only averted, by the blessing of Provi- dence, upon the prompt measures taken by a brave and loyal people for its defence. It is impossible to recall to mind without emotion, the alacrity and zeal with which the peoj)le of this, and the surrounding Districts, mustered instantly around their Government to shield it from outrage, and to extend their protection to their fellow-subjects whose lives and property were endangered. Your Committee are persuaded that they do not over-rate the prompt exertion thus made, when they state, that in each one of the Home, Newcastle, Gore, Niagara, and London Districts, there turned out upon this sudden summons more than twice as many men as were necessary for suppressing the rebellious movement. On the third day after the breaking out of the rebellion, many large bodies of Militia which were hastening from a distance to the Capital, were allowed to return home, as their services were no longer requi- red,* and of those who had already arrived, a large portion (about 500 men) were detached to the District of London, under the command of Colonel MacNab, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, whose ser- 't^u'l * See MUitia General Order, Appendix B. f» .«!• r n vices on that occasion wore rendered with much zeal and discretion. Thia force so opportunely pushed forward, being aided by numerous bodies of voluti- teors from ail parts of that extensive District, instantly dispersed a large party of armed traitors who had risen in that quarter, and were embodied under Charles Buncombe, a Member of the House of Assem- bly, and an American by birth. There, as well as in the Home District, besides the number of suspected persons who have been apprehended and brought before the civil power, by the aid of the Militia, and of the otlicr loyal inhabitants, many hundreds have come voluntarily forward, acknowledging their crime, and requesting the protection and forgiveness of their Government. ; ^..^^^,. ...,,, .* *^*^' Thus in a very few days, witli scarcely any loss of life on the part of the loyal inhabitants, and with but few of the insurgents killed, a rebellion was sup- pressed, which might in a short time have grown to be really formidable. •.yi' V* f-.-A'! • \*-: .-V The hand of a merciful Providence was most signally displayed in a number of favorable circum- stances, which it would be impiety to ascribe to chance, and which combined to give to the inhabitants of Toronto, at the hour of midnight, an opportunity to arm in their defence, and to make such preparation, under the direction of a most vigilant and gallant Officer, Colonel FitzGibbon, late Adjutant General of ]\j.ilitia, as served to avert the threatened danger. But in nothing perhaps has the goodness of Providence been more strikingly evident, than in the remarkable mildness of the weather, which at a season when navigation has usually been long closed, has permitted the uninterrupted use of steam-boats to the most distant ports on the lake, thus rendering easy and expeditious the trans[)ort of men and stores, and pre- venting the great sutfering and inconvenience which must otherwise have attended this hasty assembling of largo bodies of militia, from various parts of the Province. It cannot but be felt that this traitorous insurrec- tion of a portion of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, is an event much to be regretted on some accounts. — It has entailed upon the public a very formidable expense ; an armed resistance to the Government, and still more, a direct attempt to overturn it, is per- nicious as an example, and the sufferings occasioned by an enterprise of so criminal and desperate a nature to the guilty actors in it, and to their families, can hardly fail to excite compassion. On the other hand, looking at its effects merely within the limits of this Province, we must readily perceive that this extraordinary event is likely to be attended with some beneficial consequences of an im- portant character. Those restless and unprincipled agitators, who have for many years disturbed the public peace, and distracted the deliberations of the Legislature, have either fled, or are imprisoned under charges of High B ill 10 , Treason. Left to themselves, unprovoked and per- haps for UK) long a time unresisted, this faction which has been patronized even by some Members of the Imperial Parliament, has at length unequivocally shewn that their aim was to subvert the Constitution which they had, most of them, sworn to maintain ; to wrest this Colony from the British Crown ; and to substitute a turbulent and tyrannical democracy for our well balanced form of Government. And they have given undeniable proof that in order to effect these objects, they were ready to rob, burn, murder and destroy. One other beneficial consequence is the exposure of the innumerable falsehoods by which many were prevailed upon to take part in this abominable rebel- lion. These unhappy men remember by what pre- tences and assurances they were brought to commit their lives and fortunes to the hazard of success in this miserable cause. They now see how utterly false those pretences and assurances were, and it may be hoped that they, and others by their example, may be led to pause hereafter before they give credit to every base story that is told them, to the prejudice of their Government, and of its loyal supporters. But there is nothing connected with this remarka- ble crisis upon which it is so satisfactory and pleasing to reflect, as the very striking proof it has afforded of the loyal and patriotic feeling of the great body of the people of Upper Canada. The instant it was known that the Govern meit was threaiened with violence, all distinctions of ioligion and country were 11 laid aside, and with a noble ardour wliicti can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it, the people rushed forward by thousands to put down rebellion, and to preserve the supremacy of tlie laws. While neither wealth nor station was felt to place the pos- sessor above the common duty of opposing with crms this unnatural rebellion, the humblest inhabitant of the country gave also his services with cheerfulness — and none more so than the coloured population, whose brave, faithful, and steady conduct, have entitled them to great credit In the course of this service, and of the more arduous and protracted exertion which it has become necessary to make on our frontier, from causes to which we shall presently advert, it has been made most evident that Upper Canada possesses an inestimable advantage in the hardy, intelligent, and brave population, which, for many years past, has been flowing to us from the United Kingdom. The loyalty of our native Canadians, which was conspicu- ous in the last war, is now aided by a host of spirited and zealous officers of all ranks, who have acquired experience in the Army and Navy of Great Britain, and by thousands of brave soldiers who have beccme settlers among us, and whose glory it is to devote their lives to the service of their Sovereign. With hands and hearts like these, a militia is soon rendered efficient and formidable ; and it may be doubted whether any country, of equal population, has better materials for self-defence, than the Province of Upper Canada. It is at least certain that no Colony of Great Britain can ever have given a more decided proof of M 12 n attachment to the Crown, and of a determination to support the Constitution and Laws. Absolutely des- titute of military force of any description, in an extensive Province, with nearly half a million of inhabitants, a rebellion, openly and actively supported by six or seven Members of the Assembly, and promo- ted by the most inflammatory appeals to the multitude in favor of popular Government, has been promptly put down by the people themselves, at the same time that a formidable rebellion was raging in the adjoining Colony. Your Committee will not content themselves with a mere allusion to an event of such deep interest to the people of this Province, as the recent insurrection in Lower Canada. In its progress and possible conse- quences Her Majesty's Subjects in Upper Canada were directly concerned, and they have watched it with intense anxiety — it was not, as in this Province, the consequence of the malice and folly of a few indi- viduals influencing a comparatively small portion of the people. Feelings of national antipathy were brought into action, and large masses of the inhabitants excited to hatred of their Rulers ])y incessant misre- presentations, were known to be preparing deliberately for a struggle, in which they hoped that their numbers would enable them to defy all the force which the Government had it in their power to bring against them. In no part of the British Empire have the bles- sings of a mild and just Government been more fully enjoyed than in Lower Canada, and it was no less IS amazing than it was deplorable, to find that a few selfish and violent men could succeed in plunging a people, long characterised as a peaceable and inoflfen- sive peasantry, into the guilt and horrors of a civil war. It has been a distressing spectacle to their fel- low subjects, to see these unhappy men rush wickedly and wantonly into a contest, in which success, if it had been achieved, must have been utterlv ruinous to them«!elves and their posterity. Their rebellion, as they might have anticipated, has been promptly subdued by the Commander of Her Majesty's forces, but not without a formidable resistance, in which the gallantry of the troops and of the loyal volunteers of Lower Canada has been conspicuous, and in which the rebels have sustained great loss of life and property. It is essential to the safety and prosperity of Upper Canada, that the supremacy of Great Britain should be firmly maintained in the adjoining Colony ; and the common tie of allegiance to the Crown, as well as sympathy with those of British origin whom the French population have attempted to oppress and treat as aliens, have naturallv enlisted the feelings of the people of this Province strongly in favour of the royal cause. Our zealous militia were, in consequence, forward in their offers to serve in aid of Her Majestji'i forces in Lower Canada, but happily their services have not been necessary, to any considerable extent. It is a peculiar disadvantage under which these two Colonies labour, that from the month of November to r r ! II '■•■J I 1 I ! 14 May, they can receive no reinforcements direct from England. The instigators of the rebellion in Lower Canada therefore chose the autumn for commencing their operations, evidently, and indeed avowedly, with a view to this circumstance. Their colleagues in the traitorous attempt to wrest these Provinces from the dominion of their Sovereign, thought it advisable to prepare for rebellion in Upper Canada at the same season. But it is most cheerlnor to find that instead of a struggle, protracted with difficulty until the open- ing of the St. Lav/rence could bring fleets and armies to our aid, the Royal authority was speedily and fully established, and all traitors and abettors of treason brought under subjection to the Laws, in both Pro- vinces, so that with but a slender military force in the one country, and with the militia only in the other, there was not an individual in arms asainst the Gov- ernment, and not a portion of either Province in which legal process could not be executed by the ordinary means. Still it is unhappily not in the power of the peo- ple of either of the Canadas to congratulate themselves upon the return to perfect peace and tranquillity, and this from a cause most unexpected and extraordinary, and which opens new considerations of such moment to our future security and welfare that they cannot be too earnestly dwelt upon. Scarcely had the rebellion began in Lower Canada, when it was painfully evident that among the citizens of the adjacent State of Vermont, a strong 15 disposition was felt to encourage and promote it. If we look for motives to this unfriendly conduct, we can find none that are entitled to the respect or indulgence of mankind. Living upon the borders of Canada, these foreigners could not be ignorant that her inhabi- tants were not oppressed, but had in fact been treated, not merely with scrupulous justice, but with an inju- dicious indulgence beyond the bounds of right, an indulgence which had in truth encouraged the inso- lence of their factious leaders, and had begotten a feeling of contempt for the authority of a Government which had suffered itself to be driven into such unwise concessions. No reproach lies against the Government of the United States, nor against that intelligent and respec- table portion of society, which in well ordered com- munities usually influences public conduct and feeling, in matters of grave importance to the State. The Federal Government, and the Governor of the State of Vermont, both earnestly remonstrated with their people against any interference in the affairs of a country with which they were at peace ; and there were not wanting men of sense and virtue who early and sensibly exposed the injustice and gross impro- priety of stimulating rebellion in a British Colony. But it was their mortification to find that the turbulent propensities of too many of their countrymen were not under the government of reason, and that great numbers of their people, acknowledging no restraint of justice or morality, and disregarding the obligation of iiii>*^ »? ■^' 16 treaties, were giving an open and active support to the cause of rebellion in Lower Canada. A portion of the public press in that State has not scrupled to promote it systematically, by dissemi- nating throughout the period of this unhappy contest, statements of reported occurrences not merely untrue, but bearing not the slightest resemblance to truth — and no sooner has time exposed one series of fabrica- tions, than another equally monstrous has without scruple been issued from the press. ^'Vithin a few hours journey of a country with which they are at peace, and enjoying an unrestricted freedom of inter- course, their press has attempted to impose upon the public credulity by accounts deliberately invented, of victories, defeats and cruelties, all contrived to further the views of the rebels and their worthless leaders, until at last the truth becomes too manifest to be denied, and at the end of a contest in which they had declared that hundreds of the Queen's troops had been killed, and taken, and repeated successes gained by the insurgents, it is ascertained that those who had been in arms against the Government are utterly dis- persed, and their leaders fled, or in custody — that the French population acknowledging their delusion are giving up their arms, and submitting to the laws, and that the whole loss sustained by the Queen'^s forces and the loyal inhabitants of Lower Canada, in sup- pressing this rebellion, of which the Vermont news- papers have given such startling accounts, does not exceed a dozen men killed. 17 For tioine years jiasl, wliile the intemperate leaders of the faction in Lower Canada were threatening open resistance to the Government, it has heen their habit to hold out to their followers the hope of assistance from the United States. This was little regarded by the British portion of the population, to whom such a hope, if indeed the faction did entertain it, seemed as insane as any other part of their project. The inhabitants of Vermont knew the people of Lower Canada to be in reality a highly favored people — that they had been permitted to enjoy their antient system of laws, with the additional protection of trial by Jury — that their religion is not merely tolerated to the utmost extent, b it is expressly established in all its rights by Legislative enactments, and that they are more lightly taxed than the people of any of the Uni- ted States, or perhaps any other civilized community in the world. Indeed to every intelligent man on this continent, the unreasonableness of the Canadians in rebelling against the indulgent and powerful Govern- ment of Great Britain, must have been quite as manifest as their absurdity. The people of Vermont knew all this well, and they knew besides, that the whole 2:)opulation speaking the English language, including many thousands born in the United States, were (with a very few excep- tions) ardent and firm in the support of their Govern- ment, and that the threatened disturbances in Lower Canada had really no other origin than a national antipathy to the British name, in which the descen> dants of Britons should not have participated. c 18 •I Whatever irregularities may sometimes be excited in populous cities, among multitudes of uneducated a'lid unem[)loyed i)oor, it seemed not credible that the agricultural population of Vermont would really be found ready to violate the i)lainest rules of national law, and natural justice, and to add to the miseries of the human race, by urging on a rebellion, as sinful as it was hopeless. ir ^vu -;'. Contrary, however, to the injunctions of their Government, meetings were held, and were very numerously attended, for the professed purpose of rescueino^ the inhabitants of Canada from British tyranny ; arms and ammunition have been furnished, to assist them in their rebellion, and it seemed at one time that the spirit of volunteering for a campaign in Lower Canada was likely to become extremely popu- lar, when it received a timely check from the gallant conduct of a party of Missisquoi militia, who attacked and routed a body of marauders of three times their number, taking their cannon and other arms which they had brought from the State of Vermont. \: These extraordinary and unlooked for proceed- ings have but strengthened the preference felt by the British inhabitants of Canada for their own civil institutions, which neither encourage the inclination nor leave them the power so to violate the laws of good neighbourhood ; and they have had the further effect of giving timely warning of a danger, which on any future occasion will be less formidable, from its not being wholly unexpected. f> 19 :cited cated at the Iv be Ltional iseries sinful r tlieir ; very lose of* British nished, at one laign in iT popu- jrallant ttacked les their 5 which roceed- by the rn civil lination laws of further rhich on from its The manifestations of tin hostile feeli same have been more general anil decisive alone the fron- tiers of Up[)er Canada, and have led to more serious consequences. To such lengths indeed have these unprovoked aggressions been carried, that it has been stated, with as much truth as force, in one of the most respectable journals of the United States, that so outrageous a violation of public rights has not been witnessed by civilized nations for a century. Even with the lesson before us of what was passing on the borders of Lower Canada, we did not harbour the suspicion that upon the frontier of our own Province we were destined to witness a display of the same unfriendly feeling, and the same remorseless readiness to involve a peaceable and unoffending country in the calamities of war. For more than twenty years, the inhabitants of Upper Canada have lived on terms of uninterrupted peace and friendship with the citizens of the adjoining State of New- York. During that time, not a complaint has been made of a duty violated, or an act of comity neglected. Speaking the same language, we had lived in the daily interchange of the most friendly offices, and not a token had been shewn of any unkindly disposition which might have put us on our guard. On our part, we had respected the American people for their enterprise and intelligence ; we looked with no jealousy or apprehension on their increasing numbers ; we believed that the growth of the christian religion, not merely in profession, but in practice, was producing among them its genuine fruits, and that they were sincerely and essentially pacific. r!n.^,^ W r r 80 Ml ^ -^ i It can scarcely be conceived with what astonish- ment the people of Upper Canada found, that after the feeble attempt of a few infatuated persons to dis- turb the peace of the country had been instantly put down, by a simultaneous ellbrt of their indignant fellow subjects, when not a vestnge of insubordination remain- ed, and when the militia-mcn who had been called from their families were returning in supposed security to their homes, they were about to be forced into a war, to prevent their property from being plundered, and their liberties subdued by the citizens of the United States. It could not have been imagined that any con- siderable number could be found amonc: our nei^h- hours, willing to make common cause with a fugitive felon, whose general bad character must have been perfectly well known to them, and who had the shameless effrontery to hold out as a reward the plunder of his fellow-subjects, and the lands of his Sovereign, to whom he had solemnly swcrn allegiance. With regard to the great body of the people of the United States, it is impossible we can doubt that all who revere truth, and acknowledge the plainest obligations of morality, must look with abhorrence at the wrongs which their countrymen have been com- mitting ; and if the number of these is not sufficient to impose by their influence any restraint upon the lawless part of the community, it is no slight aggrava- tion of the injuries we complain of, that they are com- mitted under the pretext of bettering our condition, by forcing upon us a form of constitution of which such are the calamitous results. , •21 It would be uscliiss fen* your Committoij to recapi- tulate facts so gcMiorally known in this Province, and of so universal an interest llnit tliey have occupied public attention for the last two months, almost to the exclusion of every other matter. The preparations openly made in the State of New- York for invading this Province, and long uiu'esisted by the public authorities — the recruiting of a large body of American citizens, under an American leader, avowedly for this piratical service — the collection of arms and artillery, taken from the public arsenals — and at length, the invasion and occupation of a part of our country, on the Niagara frontier, are distinctly stated in the ^letters of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, to Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, a copy of which we annex to this report. After the last of these com- munications was made, this piratical force repeatedly fired with their artillery upon the militia quartered near Chippewa, by which two or three militia-men have been killed ; and until within a few days, it has been necessary tp keep up a large force upon the frontier, to prevent a landing at Chippewa, or at any other point along the river. The more active interposition of the American Government, since the arrival of Major General Scott on the frontier, made it difficult for this armed band to continue longer embodied, and they have evacuated Navy Island, whether with the design of assembling again, and attempting an invasion at any other point, is yet uncertain. * Appoiidix C. 22 On our wcslcrii froiilicr, movements of a still more ihreateiiiiig character have hceri made, and per- haps a grosser insult, or more flagrant wrong, was never committed by one people upon another, than that of which the tovvn of Amhersthurgh, in the Western Di.-^trict of this Province, was lately the scene. With artillery and arms, obtained also in this instance from the arsenals of the State, (by plunder, as it is said) hundreds of American Citizens, commanded and officered by Americans, unprovoked by a single oHen- sive act, deliberately took up a position in our territory, and from an armed schooner in our waters, fired with round shot and cannister upon the town of Amherst- burgh. What was hoped for from this expedition, will be seen in the printed proclamations of the leader of this invasion* — and it reflects infinite credit upon the spirit and loyalty of the inhabitants of that District, that they assembletl with such arms as they were casually pro- vided with, and without artillery, or the aid of a regular soldier, gave to these public robbers so timely a check, as we trust has opened their eyes to the danger of their proceedings, however regardless they may be of their criminality .f Your Committee have annexed to this report^ an editorial article, from a paper published in Detroit, called the Michigan Observer.J which is creditable to the feelings and moral courage of the American Citizen who has dared to tell the truth in the midst of this -extraordinary excitement. Besides the band there Appondix D. t Appendix E. J Appendix F. 2a described us consisting oi' 1,000, or 1,'200 luoii, it is known that at several points in the interior of ihc State of Michigan, forces have been collecting for the j)ur])ose of invading lJpj)er Canada; and nothing but tlie admirable conduct of our Militia, in assembling instantly at every ])oint where an attack ^vas threat- ened, has kei)t this hosLiU? fi'oling in subjection. If a considerable success ha It could only have been under the difficulties produced by this unconstitutional and discreditable state of dependence, that the Provincial Government can have submitted, as they did, to allow the Assembly to expel a Member for giving his conscientious opinion, as Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates, when ap- plied to by the Government for advice respecting the commission of the peace — to declare him to be, for that reason only, under a lasting disqualification to sit in the Assembly, and to expel him after repeated elections — To declare by their resolution, that a Member appointed by the Crown to a seat in the Executive Council vacated his place in the Assembly, though it is plain that by the Constitutional Act no such conse- quence could follow, and that the Assembly were violating their charter by giving to their own vote the force of a law — To withhold at their arbitrary pleasure Writs of Election for supplying vacancies which they had them- i 36 selves created in dlflercnt Counties, keeping sueli Counties unrepresented for several Sessions — To deprive certain offices of indispcnsiblc neces- sity of every shilling of emolument, by leaving them out of the bill of supply, for no other reason than that the persons filling them had openly, and in the exer- cise of their right as free men, expressed opinions adverse to the pretensions of the Assembly, upon public questions — i ? , l> t ' To pay to themselves, by their own mere vote, such sums as they chose to allow themselves for their attendance in the Assembly, though the allowvance was sanctioned by no law whatever, and although every shilling of the revenue which was applied in paying it, was by the Statutes under which it was raised ex- pressly reserved to be disposed of by act of the Legis- lative Council and Assembly, assented to by the King — To pay out of the same revenue, by their own mere vote, large salaries to Agents in England, ap- pointed solely by themselves, whose chief employment was to vilify the other two branches of the Legislature, entitled equally with the Assembly to a voice in dis- posing of that money — To expunge from the Journals of the House a communication from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the name of their Sovereign, upon the affairs of the Province, laid before them by His Majes- ty's command — To erase contemptuously from their Journals the Speech of the Representative of their Sovereign, pro- u ,^ nouficed frorn the throne, at the conckision of a pre- vious Session* — To prorogue themselves when they [)lensed, de- parting to their homes with the avowed intention of putting an end to the Session, and leaving the other two branches unable to proceed further in the public business, thus usurping one of the plainest prerogatives of the Crown. If the ordinary and indispensible charges of the Civil Government had been placed, as the Constitution of every well governed Country demands, beyond the reach of the mere caprice of one branch of the Legis- lature, some of these cases of gross injustice could never have occurred ; and for all of them there was at least a powerful check provided, and within the exer- cise of the Royal prerogative, which your Committee presumes was not resorted to merely from the unwilling- ness to prejudice the chance of obtaining the annual supply, an object for which it seems to have been thought necessary to encounter almost any humiliation. It is hardly necessary to remark, now that rebel- lion has just done its worst, that this series of conces- sions, with other" thnt might be added to the list, failed wholly to conciliate the Assembly which extorted them. On the contrary it is plain that they only stimulated them to urge more unreasonable claims, in the same violent tone which had been so successful ; for they were no longer restrained by a feeling of respect for the other branches of the Legislature, whose rights they had been allowed so repeatedly to treat with contempt. n Appendix H. 37 It is dittieult imlccd to undcTstand what practical good could be expected to arise from meeting in Ses- sion the same House of Asseml)ly, which had expunged the Speech of the King's Jiepresentative from their Journals. * •■■■ ' •> ; i .i^ !• • But even if there had appeared some ground of hope, that the Assembly could be won upon by these repeated sacrifices of principle, still the Government should not have felt themselves at liberty to make them. The benefit thev were seekinij in return was temporary ; the inroads permitted to be made upon the Constitution were likely to prove injurious for ever; and besides, there was a portion of the people which viewed such proceedings with alarm, and re- monstrated earnestly against them ; and however small their number in comparison with those who supported the Assembly, they were entitled to the utmost pro- tection of their Goveriiinent, because they had right and reason on their side. But the apparent insensibility to the danger of placinoj the Civil List within the annual control of the Assembly, was attended with a consequence far more injurious than any that has been noticed. It reduced the British Government to the necessity (in their opinion at least,) of violating, in the most important particular, the Constitution of the Colony. Even so early as the time of Lord Bathurst, the Government of Lower Canada was in a state of such embarrass- ment and confusion, from the total failure of the Assembly to provide for the Civil List, that Lord tSI m I 'l -liillt ;;.;|HV 'li 38 Dalhousie, then Governor General, was directed tf) cause the necessaij payments to be made from the Provincial Revenue, without the sanction of any Act of the Legislature. We do not say that this direct violation of the law of the Province was, or could be justified by any necessity. On the contrary it would have been better, in our opinion, even to have repealed the Constitutional Charter, by the unquestionable au- thority of Parliament, than to suffer it to remain in full force, and at the same time to sanction its direct infrinorment bv an Act of the Executive Government. ^' « But the fact that the difficulties arising from the want of a settled provision for the ordinary expenses cf the Civil List, did lead the Government to adopt a measure so certain to be injurious to their character, and to the future peace of the Colony, and to preclude all amicable intercourse between the Government and the Legislature, is of itself an unanswerable proof that it ought never to have b^.en thought possible to leave the affairs of the Colony upon such a footing. There would be little satisfaction ih bringing under review the series of perplexing difficulties into which the Government of 'he Colony was thrown be- tween 1817 and 1828, by thia fruitful cause of disorder. Every year these difficulties increased, and the attempt to surmount them, and an honest desire to guard the Constitution, and to protect agamst violence and insult the servants of the Crown, and the supporters of Brit- ish institutions, brought upon a benevolent and high- minded nobleman, (Lord Dalhousie,) a torrent of vile ■ \ .»iv-!.'i.;w-,:- 31) and unjust abuse, and a series of contemptible insults and persecutions, against which he was not sustained in a manner v.orthy of the great Nation in whoso service he was employed, and of his own high station and unblemished character. .,., . ,, In 1828, when the contentions we have described were at their height, petitions to the King, very numerously signed, were sent from Lower Canada, by agents who were employed to further the views of the petitioners. These were statements of grievances by opposing parties — on the one hand, the French Cana- dians, adopting the language and complaints of the Assembly, charged the Executive Government and the Legislative Council with many delinquencies : and on the other hand, the British and American population set forth evils, which they alleged they had suffered from the national prejudices, and the perverse conduct of the Assembly. His Majesty's Government in England did neither deal with these petitions in the ordinary manner, by deciding upon their prayer according to the judgment, anc of course upon the responsibility, of the proper Minister of the Crown; nor was recourse had to the undoubted power of J?arliament for settling any of the contested points by a Legislative enactment — but a middle course was taken, and one that, in its applica- tion to Canada at least, was perfectly novel. A Select Committee was aj)pointed in the House of Commons, on the motion of the Colonial Minister, for the coniprehensive purpose of "enquiring into the s i 1 1 1; I I " Civil Government of Canada, and reporting their " observations thereupon to the House." Having heard the statements of such persons acquainted with these Provinces, as happened at the time to be accessible, and as they chose to call before them, this Committee made a Report, in which they discussed many of the points in controversy, and expressed an opinion upon them, though not in all cases definite and conclusive : adding, by way of summing up, that " the embarrass- " ments and discontents which had long prevailed in " the Canadas, were in a great measure to be traced to " the manner in which the system of laws, and the •* established Constitution had been administer '.,' , V" -■ ' '■■ ■ *'-■'■ ' ■. ; 1 ■. ■ ■ It is not the intention of the Committee to enter into an examination of the opinions expressed, or of the advice offered in this Report of the Select Com- mittee of the House of Commons, though such an examination might not be altogether unprofitable. The result of this proceeding was, that without any public discussion of this Report — or of the questions and interests which it involved — without even amotion for its adoption in the House of Commons, and with- out any investigation or expression of opinion by the House of Lords on any of the important topics it embraces, it has been avowedly advanced and relied upon by successive Secretaries of State, as a kind of settlement of Canadian politics, by which His Majesty's Government, and these Provinces, so far as the powe of the Executive extended, were to be hereafter bound. - -■r-.-'ri:-^ 41 Your Committee is aware, that to a great portion of the people of Canada this has always appeared to be a singular innovation in the Colonial system. ,. ' The Ministers of the Crowxi arc responsible to Parliament, and to their Sovereign, for their decisions aiid measures; they are open too, at all times, to the statements and vindications of persons, whose conduct may be called in question, or whose interests are liable to be affected by their acts. The inhabitants of the Canadas are well aware, that besides their subjection to this Constitutional power of the Executive Govern- ment, they are hable (and they acknowledge it without jealousy,) to have their political condition regulated and altered in any manner that the Supreme Legisla- tive authority of the Empire may think fit. But they know also, that the passing of an Act by the British Parliament, implies an open, grave discussion of the questions involved, in two numerous assemblies, with all the ad\antages of the talent, sound judgment, expe- rience and various information, which are certain to be found there. It implies also the sanction of the Sovereign. Here a third course has been adopted, which has given to the people of these great Colonies neither the security of the responsible Ministers of the Crown, nor of the wisdom and justice of either House of Parlia- ment — but which enables the Colonial Department to dispose of the most important and delicate questions of civil policy, by professing to conform scrupulously to i>i.^ .,f 42 liiMii ii a standard laid down by a Select Committee of tlie House of Commons. .,,. ; It is to be considered tbat the Members of a Select Committee are named by the mover of it — that the selection may have been influenced by a knowledge of the sentiments of many of them — that it is no uncommon practice to place upon Committees, out of mere complaisance, or in order to give an appearance of impartiality, persons of extreme views in respect to the poi } i, issue ; and that it is by no means impos- sible that , iTie of the gentlemen who may upon this occasion have entered warmly into the complaints of the Assembly of Lower Canada, may have been per- sons whose recommendation to their constituents for a seat in the House of Commons, was their declared hostility to principles which not only the King's Minis- ters, but a great majority of both Houses of Parliament, mxist feel themselves bound in duty to support. When it is considered further, that the enquiry to be instituted was wholly within the discretion of the Committee, as to the persons to be examined, and the questions to be asked, that with regct-rd to one of the Provinces, whose Executive Government was so deci- dedly censured, the examination was altogether ex parte — it being wholly unknown in Upper Canada that such an enquiry was intended ; that this Report passed, as it is said, only by a casting vote, and was never brought into public discussion even in the House to which it was addressed. When these things are con- sidered, it can scarcely be expected that such a docu- 'A 43 ment can, with much satisfaction, be regarded by the people of Upper Canada as a sort of second Charter, by which their most impv.rtant interests are to be impli- citly governed. They can feel no assurance that there are not in that Report more than one principle assumed, and opinions expressed, which, if fairly discussed, might not meet with the concurrence of either House of Par- liament ; and is not probable that any one would willingly consent to have his private interests bound by the opinion of o majority of a Committee of the House of Commons, resulting from si;ch an enquiry. ' ' ' Your Committee further submit, that it is not unreasonable to look with distrust upon such a mode of adjusting the most important Colonial interests, when it is considered, that although His Majesty's Secretary of State, professing to follow it implicitly as his guide, has given to. the opponents of the Colonial Government the full benefit of every relaxation which it recommends, there has been no scruple in departing from it in the contrary direction. In other words, it stands as a security for every suggested concession, but not as a security for those points which the Com- mittee had recommended to be guarded, against popu- lar encroachmrnt. .; : < i tj For instance, the Committee recommends that the Governor, the Members of the Executive Council, and the Judges, should be secured in the receipt of their established salaries, before the duties levied under the Statute 14 Geo. 3. should be surrendered to the Legislature. . ^. i m 1 u lli! iliii!!! iiiii iiiiii; His Majesty's Government has surrendered, in Lower Canada, the whole of these duties, without se- curing any salary whatever, either for the Officers named, or for any other Officers. ' -'-'■ The Committee recommends that the Casual and Territorial Revenues of the Crown should not be sur- rendered to the Legislature. I > Her Majesty's Government seems eagerly desirous of making such a surrender, although it must neces- sarily deprive the Queen's Representative in the Colony of the power of doing a single act of grace or favor, or of charity, in the name of his Sovereign, or of meeting, otherwise than from his own private funds, any extraordinary and unforeseen disbursement which the exigencies of the public service, and, under some circumstances, the public safety may require him to provide for. The Committee recommends that the King should retain the power in the Colonies of removing a Judge from his office, or in other words, that the commission should be to hold durins: pleasure. .. , . The Government have not in this instance ad- hered to the report, but on the contrary, have shewn a strong disposition to render the Judges independent of the Crown in both Colonies, and in Upper Canada have assented to a messure for that purpose. ^ , ,:, From what your Committee have stated, ii can not but appear, that the successive Ministers for the Colonies, in professing to take this report for their guide, have substituted for their own responsibility the 46 apparent sanction of Parliament, but in reality nothing more than the opinions of a majority of a Select Com- mittee, unconfirmed by any other authority, and not subjected to the test of any public examination or dis- cussion — and those opinions the ]'esnlt of an enquiry conducted without the knowledge of the Government whose conduct was implicated, or of the people whose most important public interests were concerned ; and moreover, that the opinions of this Committee, while they are confidently relied upon as warranting to the full extent any concession which they recommend, are not allowed to interpose an obstacle to any concessions from which they have thought it prudent to withhold their sanction. Whatever may have been expected from this re- port of the Committee of the House of Commons, it had no permanent effect in restoring tranquillity to Lower Canada, or in arresting the violent measures of the French Canadian leaders. They soon returned to their intemperate abuse of the Government, and in the midst of the outcry, Lord Dalhousie was removed. A temporary calm followed, as is usual, the acces- sion of the new Governor ; but his administration was wholly unimportant as regarded the settlement of any question that had arisen between the Government and the Assembly. The only variety produced by the change w^as, that the odtrogeous abuse, of which the head of the Government had before been the princi- pal object, was for a time distributed among his noble Predecessor, the Legislative Council, and the King's I ;' ■ m'^ -i J mr- f 'rf****^ 46 i 1 i 1 i t|:l i ! 1 ; i {:;,-,■ 1^ • :- i : ■ #|N Ministers. Things however began to revert to their former state, so soon as it became evident that the resolution of Sir James Kempt, to take nothing amiss from the Assembly, was not likely to lead the way to any decisive changes, and that his policy had no higher object than to save himself from the disaster of being thought an unpopular Governor, and from the annoy- ance of those brutal attacks which no firm friend of the Constitution had the slightest prospect of escaping for any length of time. < , • The Assembly renounced none of their preten- sions, and all that the new Governor gained by such concessions as were made, and by the sacrifice of feel- ing, which it must have cost him to listen with com- placency to the most ungenerous calumnies upon his Predecessor, mingled with compliments to himself, was the grant of an annual supply, so defective, and accompanied with conditions so objectionable, that His Majesty's Ministers expressed their regret that it had been accepted. In the subsequent stages of their controversy with the Government, the Assembly soon took the more peremptory course of refusing absolutely to grant a shilling of supply for the support of the Civil Govern- ment, until certain radical changes should be made in the Constitution. •- j- *- '. -^ ^ -. ^^i' .< - f-v *^'*' Happily these desired concessions were so exten- sive that the British Parliament alone could grant them ; and by making them nevertheless the condition on which alone they would enable the Government to pay its Officers, and to defray the charge of ad minis- 41 tering Justice, the Assembly compelled the adoption of some line of conduct for bringing the admissibility of their pretensions to a final decision, rcrhaj)?, also, it is not to be regretted, that the necessity for this de- cision has been further hastened by what appears to have been an act of singular improvidence on the part of the Government in England. ' .">:'! Up to the year 1831, the Crown duties levied in Lower Canada under the British Statute 14 Geo. 3. Chap. 88. enabled the Government to pay a very con- siderable portion of the Civil List, and at no distant ])eriod, they would probably have sufficed, in addition to the other Crown Revenue, to meet the whole chaige. Those duties had been imposed by Parliament in 1774, as a substitute for other duties much moreburthensome, which the Canadians at the time of the concjuest were bound t(j pay, under an edict of the King of France. This appears upon the face of the British Statute,* by which also the proceeds of the new duties are ex- pressly directed to be applied, in the first j)lace, towards defraying the expenses attending the administration of Justice, and the support of the Civil Government within the Colony, under the direction of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury .+ This revenue had been for a long series of years received and applied in conformity to the Statute, without question or complaint; and even after the Legislature had been allowed to assume the payment of those charges of the Civil List, which tlie British 14 Geo. S, vh. 83. i Appendix I. »!■-'! ^■f "fm m 48 Parliament had been accustomed to provide for, they expressly made their grant in such terms as shewed their intention to be to make up the deficiency tnat might be retjuircd, after the application by the Crown of the duties levied under the Statute 14 Geo. 3. thereby repeatedly acquie; :;ing in the right of the Crown to make such application. , Nevertheless the Aaseml)ly did at length, among their grievances, complain that these duties were wrongfully withheld from their appropriation. The British Parliament had by their Act 18 Geo. 3. chap. 12. passed during the contest in America, de- clared that " they would not after the ^jassmg of that Act " impose any duty payable in the Colonies, except such "as might be expedient for the regulation of Com- " merce, and that the proceeds of any duties which " might be imposed for that purpose, should be subject " to the appropriation of the Colonial Legislature*" The Assembly contended that as this was a re- nunciation of the right to tax, it amounted to a virtual repeal of the previous Statute of 14 Geo. 3. ' '• ?• But on the other hand, it was to be considered that, as the 18 Geo. 3. vVas nothing more than a declara- tion of Parliament, that they would thereafter impose no duty, &c. it could not have the legal effect of abolish- ing a duty which had been imposed before; and more especially, when that duty was but a substitute for heavier duties which were in force in the Colony when it was conquered, (among which was one of three per cent, ad valorem on all dry goods imported or exported^ and upon the legality of which the Canadians could raise no dispute; that the Crown Officers in England had given an express opinion that the Statute 14 Geo. 3. was not affected hy 18 Geo. 3. ; that other British Sta- tutes anterior to 14 Geo. 3. imposing duties in this and in other Colonics, stood upon the same footing, and were not complained of; that the proceeds of these duties n'cre applied strictly to pay public charges of the Colony, as the Assembly well knew, and such charges as the Assembly had by their Acts repeatedly recognised and sanctioned ; and further, that the Assembly bad in their Acts repeatedly recognized the appropriation of these duties by the Crown, as rightful and legal. This being the statement of the case, the utmost that could fairly have been expected by the Legisla- ture was, that whenever they should make a reasona- ble provision for those charges which the 14 Geo. 3. now enabled the Government to meet, they might be allowed to appropriate the duties raised under that Statute, or might obtain, if they preferred it, their total repeal. The Committee of the House of Commons upon Canadian affairs, in 1828, took this view of the ques- tion, but they satisfied themselves with recommending that the Government should accept a provision for a very limited number of Officers, viz. the Governor, the Judges, and the Members of the Executive Council. In 1831, the Secretary of State, intending as it would at first appear, to act on this recommendation in G !M i ■^^ -I 50 ft. respect to the relinquishment of the right to appropri- ate, but with a more cautious regard than the Com- mittee had discovered to the necessity of maintaining the efficiency of the Government, directed the Gover- nor of each of these Provinces to inform the Legisla- ture, that upon their providing more permanently than by annual vote, for certain public charges which were specified, (and which included more salaries than the Committee in 1828 thought it necessary to recommend,) the right to appropriate the duties raised under the Statute 14 Geo. 3. would be transferred to them by an Act of the Imperial Parliament. It is to be regretted that in a case where not law only, but reason and justice were so clearly on the side of the Government, they should have been cf ent to stipulate for any thing less than the ordinal ^ .ider- stood charges of the Civil List, including the expense of administering justice, according to such estimates as the Legislature had in each Province repeatedly sanc- tioned. Whatever in this respect was reasonable and necessary, from 1815 to 1830, in Colonies increasing rapidly in population, could not become less so as these Colonies advanced ; but on the contrary, any Civil List that would be reasonable at the current time, was cer- tain to become inadequate to meet the wants of the public service as their condition expanded. For the requisite means of meeting this increased charge, it might have been thought not imprudent to consent to depend on the Legislature ; but it seemed neither just nor considerate in the Government to abandon unnecessarily to the result of annual discus- 51 m 8ions in the Assembly, numerous charged of the Civil List, as indispcnsible, and as meritorious, as any of those for which they stipulated, although not annexed to Offices of the same dignity. If instead of proceeding as they did, the Govern- ment had on this occasion proposed to Parliament an Act, providing that whenever the duties under the 14 Geo. 3. chap. 88. should produce a sum more than sufficient to defray certain necessary charges, which might have been specified, (and which should have been merely sucli as the Assembly had repeatedly voted,) then the excess should be placed at the dis- posal of the Colonial Legislature; and that whenever the Colonial Legislature should provide permanently, out of other funds, for the same charges, then the duties under the Statute 14 Geo. 3. should cease altogether, such a measure could not have appeared unreason- able, nor would it have done any disservice to the Assembly to have thus placed out of their reach the temptation to disturb the j)eace of the Colony, by such contests as have taken the place of all useful business for the last ten years, and have at length plunged their Constituents into the guilt and misery of rebellion. By thus obtaining a permanent provision for the administration of Justice, and the ordinary charges of the Civil List, the Government would only have been rendered as independent as it is in England, and in the republican States of America. How it could ever have been thought prudent or just to make it less so, it is riot easy to understand. ftmj^ • •. «rij*;f '\ ■I r,wr* 53 But the exiraordinary fact is, that the Government not only did not insist upon securing a reasonable and sufficient Civil List, but they seem to have made up their minds to the fatal concession of surrendering to the Asse nbly the duties under the 14 Geo. '^. without inpisting upon obtaining any equivalent whatever, and the measures pursued by them, have ended in placing things in Lower Canada upon that ruinous footing. While the 14 Geo. 3. remained yet unrepealed, the Secretary of State directed the Governor of each Province to make a communication to the Legislature, offiering to surrender the duties in question, and ex- pressing a desire, that they would provide the usual salaries for the Governor, Judges, Members of the Executive Council, and several other Officers. In Upper Canada the opportunity was first affi:>rde.l of considering this proposition, and the discussion ended in a bill being passed establishing a permanent Civil List, but very far short in amount of tha^ suggested by the Secretary of State, and in fact givii?g little more than half of the compensation which had been asked, in return for the proposed surrender. The Act was accepted however, and while not a shilling had yet been granted, bv the Legislature of Lower Canada, a bill was brought into Parliament for placing at the disposal of the Legislature in each Colony their respective proportions of the duties lovi'^d under the 14 Geo. 3. It was objected in the House of Lords by Earl Bathurs'^;, and by the Duke of Welling- ton, that snch a measure woula reduce the Civil Gov- ernment to a state of dependence on the Assembly, 53 which would be utterly destructive of its character and efficiency, and would prove ruinous to the peace of the Colony. They were answered by an assurance from His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, that it was not intended to surrender the duties uncon- ditionally, and on this explanation the bill was allowed to pass, not however with the assent of His Grace the Dui^e of Wellington, who entered a protest* in lan- guage which shewed his perfect sense of the impru- dence of the measure, ind his patriotic des" 3 to prevent the coming evil. > • Whatever may have been the intention or under- standing of Lord Goderich, the bill v/as in reality so framed, that it was a plain surrender to the Colonial Legislatures of the monies raised under the Statute 14 Geo. 3. without qualification or reserve. It was looked upon in no other light here or in Lower Cana- da; and when it became necessary for the British Government, as it soon did, to consider what was really the effect of their measure, it was found capable of no such construction as had been intimated, while it was under discussion in the House of Lords.f The British Government having gone so far be- yond the recommendation of the Canada Committee, as to surrender without equivalent the revenue which would have supported the most necessar}'^ Offices, and rendered the administration of Justice independent, it remained to be seen what would be the effect upon the Assembly of this romantic confidence in their liberality and sense of Justice. The result, it need * Appendix X f App«n4iz K. mti I ■M -■i -M- m 64 not be said, has disappointed the expectations of no one on this side of the Atlantic. The Government having left itself w^ithout re- source, has been left by the Assembly wholly destitute, and after four or five years of unmitigated insult and violence, without a single grateful return, or respectful expression, the Government has at length been com- pelled to pay its Judges and other Officers their large arrears of salaries out of the Military Chest of England, while a large amount of unappropriated monies is lying in the Provincial Treasury : and when the re- medy which it is proposed to adopt for this inconve- nience and injustice is considered, it will be seen at once how strangely inconsiderate has been the policy of the Government, in this very delicate and important matter. The measure proposed by Lord John Russell's resolutions of 1837, is to take from the Provincial Treasury the money which the Assembly has declined to grant. The Provincial Statutes by which this money was raised, reserve the right of appropriating it expressly to the Legislature, and the taking it by any other authority is a direct violation of the Law, and a plain infringement of the Constitution. How much better would it have been to have exerted the firmness necessary to preserve what by law and in justice belonged to the Crown, than by tamely sur- rendering it to incur the necessity of dishonoring the Crown, and furnishing the Assembly, in the midst of their factious violence, with a ground of complaint, infinitely more substantial than all the grievances they had been inventing for years ! ii A Far from being improved iu temper and demea- nor by the unlimited confidence that had been so incautiously placed in them, the Asseml:)ly became more rudely violent than ever ; and instead of employ- ing themselves in any thing useful to the Colony, they proceeded from one intemperate act to another, till at last they impeached the Governor General, the Legis- lative Council, and the King's Ministers, in ninety-two outrageous resolutions, such in matter and manner, as it might have been supposed, would have discour- aged any further attempts to cure the evils of Lower Canada by conciliating the Assembly. Li one sense the course taken by the Assembly was honest, for in these resolutions they plainly announced to the King's Ministers, that they would do nothing that had been expected of them — that what they wanted w^as a Re- publican Government, which His Majesty might grant them if he pleased, but which they were resolved at all events to have, and if ne< sury, by rebellion, in which they doubted not they would be n>sisted by the United States, n After this declaration, it surely could not have been thought in England that there was any great mystery in the disorder which had deranged tl e state of the Government in Lower Canada; and it was expected, that His Majesty's Ministers would ^^e repaired their error, by retracing at once their steps with regard to the Crown Revenue, and repealing the Act which had been improvidently passed. But it was thought expedient first to send out a Commission of inquiry to Lower Canada, and to remove the Gov- '• !■> m 66 ernor General, Lord Aylmer, against whom the Assem- bly had rai-jcd a clamour, as violent and indecent as it was cvidontlv unjust. With respect to the Commission, it was not obvi- ous what particular advantage could be expected from it, unless it had for its object the supporting the cause of truth and reason, by procuring the judgment, after inquiry on the spot, of some one or more public char- acters of acknowledged talents, commanding station, sound political principles, and enlarged experience. The weight which would have been conceded to such opinions might have warranted the expense and delay incurred by the inquiry. But the selection that was actually made did not offer the hope of any such ad- vantage. In the Provinces of Canada, containing together a population nearly half as large as that of Scotland, various constitutional questions had been agitated, which in Lower Canada at least had arrayed a large portion of the people against their Government. If in any or all of these questions the Government really had right on their side, it might be desirable that an opinion to that effect sht uld be given by some unbiassed judge of acknowledgetl competence — but how could it strengthen the Government in such a contest ? or how could it tend to procure submission to any great public principle, to announce to the world that it had received the sanction of any or all of these Royal Commissioners? Their testim ny, at least till they had acquired a known reputation, could weigh little or nothing in the balance against popular prejudice, 67 while on the other liiind, the bare circunistaiicc of their actinir iiiKler the Kill's Coniinission, was sufTicient to give to the opinions of" either of tlienj, when they bore against the sound principles of the Constitution, and supported the unreasonable desires of a discontented people, a very undue and injurious influence. If one or more Commissioners, of known high character for sagacity aiid sound political views, had come to Lower Canada, armed with powers given by Parliament, to receive evidence on oath in support or refutation of any alleged cause of complaint, and bound to give to the public Officers who had been aspersed the opportunity of openly vindicating their conduct, some good might have arisen from the inrjuiry. But vour Committee do nut believe, that in the result of the proceedings of the Commissioners any advantage will be found that will at all compensate i'or the degree in which the honor of the (jovernment has been com- promised, by the measures which they adopted and advised. Their published Reports do not affect to conceal their hopes and their attempts to win over, by other means than a plain and independent discharge of their duty, the individual members of a party, whose dishonourable want of fidelity to their Sovereign was then as certain and notorious as it has become since, although they had not so openly committed High 1 reason. Let any one who will submit to the disgusting drudgery, read through the Ninety-two Resolutions passed by the Assenil>ly of Lower Canada: let him 'i m I' I I 58 ■:; M Ml then consider that the known and avowed author of these Resolutions was taken from the Assembly by my Lord Gosford, and placed, recking, upon the Bench of the highest Court in the Colony — there to administer justice in the name of the King of England : let him then imagine some one of the many poor, dokuled wretches, who have been lately taken in arms against their Sovereign, brought before this Judge, to answer for the Treason ; why should he nut say boldly to the author of thn Ninety-two Resolutions — Shew me what I have done, that you did not incite, and advise^ and encourage me to do. If I am guilty of Treason — a crime in which all that are concerned are principals — how can you be less so, who urged me to the act? We are told on Sacred authority, " that Governors '* are sent by the King for the punishment of evil-doers, " and for the praise of them that do well." Lord Gos- ford does not appear to have understood this to be the object of his Government. After the Commissioners had closed their pro- ceedings, the Government of the Colony was directed to make a last attempt, in the face of insult and defi- ance, to procure from the Assembly some kind of sup- ply for the exigencies of the Public Service. Bu6 happily, the Assembly were for no half measures ; and finding, by the accidental i:)ublication of the Commis- sioners' instructions, that some of the essential princi- ples of the Constitution were not to be sacrificed, they disdained all soothing treatment, and would not grant even a temporary relief. It is well they did not ; for the obtaining a defective Bill of Supply for the current 59 « year would liave been of little value to any but the unpaid Officers, and their creditors, while the Com- missioners would have imagined, and probably led others to imagine, that they had really overcome those difficulties which had occasioned the recall of Lord Dalhousie and Lord Aylmer. Nothing whatever was gained from the Assembly ; and at last the British Government having recalled one Governor General after another, and lavished upon the Assembly, to no purpose, expressions of confidence, which could scarcely have been sincere; and having promoted to offices of honour and trust, and even to the Bench of Justice, the most intemperate calumnia- tors of the Government, have been reduced to the necessity of providing some remedy for evils which have at length become intolerable. Whether the remedy will be that, and only that, which was contem- plated by the Resolutions offered to Parliament by Lord John Russell, in the last Session, we of course are ignorant. Recent occurrences in Lower Canada may incline the Government to propose something more decisive in its character. It is impossible, in the opinion of your Committee, that any one conversant in the affairs of Lower Canada, can look upon the Resolutions referred to, as pointing out a satisfactory course. They provide but for the present moment, and that in a manner most liable to exception ; for clearly, the Government has no ricrht, and none can be given to it, to take from the Provin- cial Treasury, monies paid into it under Acts of the 60 local Legislature — which Acts expressly reserve to that Legislature the exclusive right of ap[)ropriatioii. The Constitutional Charter, under which the Colonial Legislature acts, may undoubtedly be rcscinr deu by Parliament ; but while it is suft'ered to stand in force, it ought not to be violated. The case is not such as to re(iuire so dc.s])erate a remedy — and it is hardly i)0!«i.sible, perhap-s not possible, to conceive any case that would warrant it. Throughout the extraordinary contests which have brought things to their present state, and during a long period of similar agitation in this Province — which has been terminated by the firm and ronstitu- tional manner in which the Government of the Colony has been conducted — the friends of the Crown have had the mortification to observe an apparent want of confidence on the part of the British Government in their power to give effect to sound principles and views. It cannot be supposed, that it can be the desire of any Minister of the Crown to substitute a Republican form of Government for that which we now enjoy ; but nev- ertheless, those who have been obviously, and indeed avowedly labouring to bring about such a change, have been suflered to proceed to ext aordinary lengths un- checked — and we regret to add, that they have in many instances, met with no slight encouragement to persevere Not merely have the patronage and coun- tenance of the Crown been extended to persons dis- tinguished by their violent and unjust opposition to the Colonial Government, but successive Governors have been recalled just at the moment when they had 61 acquired n knowledge of the real state of ilie country they were governing, and iiad learned the utter folly of concessions, which had no other ell'ect than to wea- ken the authority ofthe Crown, and to add to the power and audacity of traitors in heart — who, presuming upon the want of energy and firmness in their Rulers, have become traitors in fact. • . It is alarming to reflect how little reason we have to doubt, from what we have witnessed for many years past, that if the leaders of the late rebellion in Lower Canada had been less bold and open in their defiance — if they had deferred their resort to arms — and had consented to employ a little of the manage- ment which, it is avowed in the Report of the Royal Commissioners, was resorted to by the Government- there is hardly any thing they could have desired which it seemed beyond their power to have obtained as a concession. No one can read the Report of the Commissioners without being convinced, that the protection of British principles and feelings in Lower Canada, is mainly to be ascribed to the insane violence of Mr. Papineau, which made him an impracticable person for the Royal Commissioners to treat with. ? - /t> ., ^r It is plain on the face of their Reports, that if the Commissioners, by the extraordinary directif n which they gave to their civilities, and by the use they were willing to make of the patronage of the Crown, could have succeeded in getting any kind of Supply voted, though but for a single year, they would have imagined they had achieved a decisive and valuablq victory : i'!l tSfil 62 when, in triitli, nothing would liavo been gained that ought to have l)con considored an ofiuivalent lor the sacrifice of a single principle, or the admission of an unjust encroachment. v • If the conduct of the inhabitants of the British North American Colonics, at the present eventful crisis, shall dispel an illusion which seems to have pre- vailed in England, that popular doctrines and move- ments cannot be safely withstood on this Continent, however repugnant they may be to truth and reason, then we shall have gained something that may make our enjoyment of rational liberty more secure in future, than we have felt it to be in times past. The party, in deference to which the Government has so long forborne to inforce its just rights, have at length tried their worst, and have shewn so great a disproportion between their inclination and their ability to defy the Government of their Sovereign, as we trust may embolden the Ministers of the Crown here- after to afford their assistance to their fellow Subjects in maintaining tJie Royal authority. • As respects Lower Canada, circumstances are only so far changed by the rebellion that the necessity for coercive measures has become more apparent, and may be supposed to have been increased by the feel- ing which a resort to arms has inevitably given rise to. In effect that Colony has been in a state of anarchy for two or three years past; and the question no longer is, whether decisive measures shall be taken, but what those measures are to be. The safety of Upper Canada is directly concerned in the course that may be adop- 68 ted, and your Committee will therefore venture to express such opiiiions as they have formed, in respect to the several remedies which they have heard sug- gested. As the resolutions introduced by Lord John Rus- sell, in the last Session, make no pr()\lsion against future diflicultios, it would be of little use to discuss them. 13y repealing the British Statute which surren- dered the King's right to a])propriate the duties raised under the Statute 14 (ieo. 3. a revenue would revert to the Crown, sullicient to meet the most important items of the Civil List, and the Casual and Territorial Revenue would allbrd a further resource, but fluctu- ating and uncertain in amount. The deficiency would be but a light burthen on the Provincial Revenue, for the difficulty hitherto has never been occasioned by the want of means, but by the determination of the Assembly to make their control over the ordinary ex- penditure of the Government the means of gratifying their resentments, and of overthrowing the Constitu- tion of the Province. With an abundant Provincial Treasury it would be unreasonable, that the British Nation should again assume those charges for the Canadian Government which at an early period were defrayed by Parlia- ment ; but either that must be done, or means must be taken to ensure the right application of so much of the Provincial Revenue as is necessary to maintain the Government. m ^i.f- II' if I CA ir the [)resciit Assembly of Lower Canada were dissolved, and a new one chosen, the Legislature might bo again convened, and plainly told, that unless they would provide permanently for the ordinary Civil List, the Colony must be governed in another form; end the alternative should not be proposed to them as an idle threat, but should be deliberately and firmly sub- mitted to their choice. ". Your Committee do not hesitate to say, that a representative form of Constitution should never have been conferred on any Colony, until the administration of Justice, and the necessary charges for the Civil Government, had been so provided lor as to secure them against the caprice of either branch of the Legis- lature — or at least the passing an Act for that pur- pose, in the first Session, should have been the condition on which alone their Charter should continue in force; and such an Act would be the best evidence a Colony could give of its desire to guard the integrity of its Institutions. The observation of what has passed in Lower Canada within the last twenty years can leave no doubt on this point. , .. . The Assembly, under the guidance of two or three leaders, who have any thing in view but the pub- lic good, become involved in an altercation with the Governor. The only ground for the quarrel probably is that he feels it to be his duty, for the sake of the Colony, to defend the Constitution from popular en- croachment. In the hope of compelling him to yield, the As- sembly refuses the Suj)plies ; this refusal occasions the 0f greatest public inconvenience, and much distress to i individuals. If it be repeated llie next year the evil becomes almost intolerable. Of this the Ciovcrnment ; in England an; easily mae- rate consideration of the case, may appeal' to Parlia- ment to be the most expedient. ^!:i Fi 70 i:^i ' In the Session of last year the Legislative Council concurred with the Assembly in an address to His late Majesty, deprecating an union of these Provinces, a a copy of which address is siihjoined,* and of the re- ply which His Majesty was graciously pleased to give to the same ; in which re[)ly the assurance is conveyed, "that the project of an union hetu-een the two Pro- vinces had not been contemplated by His Mojesty, as fit to be recommended for the sanction of Parllament.f If the recent events in Lower Canada, which can not be too much deplored, seem to present some argu- ments in favor of a Legislative union, they appear to your Committee to suggest others of a contrary ten- dency, which it would not be safe' to treat lightly. The advrntages which most readily occur are, that the union could scarcely fail to be favorable to the commercial interests of this Province, and that it would increase our revenue, and enable us to advance more rapidly in some public improvements that are highly desirable. All such advantages however are dependent upon the continued tranquillity of the two Provinces. In any scheme which your Committee have seen proposed for consideration, it is not explained upon what terms the union is to be carried into effect. To have but one Legislature, with two Executive Governments, would be in some respects inconvenient; and to have but one Government to rule so extensive a Country, would not, as we apprehend, be found satis- factory or prudent. ;:,^. i>-— v^Ji *i>' * Appwdiz N iAppendix IV 71 i 'X ■a- • ' But there are considerations of much greater moment than these, which it would not be advanta- geous at present to make the subjects of public discussion,, but which incline us strongly to the conviction, that the social happiness of the peoi)le of Upper Canada, their internal peace, and the continuance of their connection with Great Britain, are more secure under their pre- sent Constitution, than they would be after the pro- posed union. So far as we may be permitted to determine the question, upon a view of the interests of Upper Canada merely, our inclination is against the change; but if, without an union, the British population in Lower Canada can not be secured in the enjoyment of British Institutions, then of course it must follow, that the only question for consideration would be, the terms of the measure, and the fittest time for proposing it. Your Committee forbear to enter upon a parti- cular discussion of these points, because they cannot convince themselves that an union with Lower Canada alone, would be safe or desirable for the inhabitants of this Province. If a mature consideration of the pre- sent condition, and probable future state of Lower Canada, should seem to compel the Imperial Parlia- ment to favour that project, there can be no doubt that ample opportunity will be afforded to luc people of both Provinces for offering any suggestions. Another measure has been proposed, namely, the extending the limits of this Province, so as to include the Island of Montreal, and certain parts of the adja- cent territory. There can be no doubt that this would 72 be of incalculable advantage to U})[)er Canada, by giv- ing her a port accessible from the ocean, and thus enabling her to raise a revenue commensurate with her wants. It would tiike from under the Government of Lower Canada, that portion of the population which has taken the lead in the late rebellious movement ; and would ])lace them under the influence of other laws and feelings, much to their own advantage, and to the benefit of both these Colonies. The country which would then form the Province of Lower Canada would neither be so likely to place itself in an attitude hostile to the Mother Country, nor would its hostility be so formidable: and under this arrangement, Quebec might continue, as it ought, to be the residence of the Gov- ernor General. There are many advantages in favour of this plan, which, in the opinion of your Committee, should recommend it strongly to the notice of Her . Majesty's Government. ,....,. ,,..:■.... There is yet another suggestion, which deserves . at least to be kept in view, and that is an union of the British North American Colonies, including per- haps among them, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. Quebec might be conveniently the Head Quarters of such a Confederacy ; the Legislature might meet in the summer ; each Colony might retain its own Legislature, for purposes purely local in their object, and all questions which could affect their rela^ . tion to Great Britain or to each other might be settled in the United Legislature. There are many benefits which might fairly be expected f/om such a change, and they would be obtained without doiug violence to 73 any claims which iho French Canadians may be dis- posed to rest upon numbers alone. The progress of these Colonies, as late events have shewn, dispose and cuiiblc Llicni more and more to manifest an interest in the alfairs of each other, and to combine in maintuinin<2f their connection with the Empire, which all British Subjects understand and feel to be indispensibly necessary to their security and welfare. , , Your Committee have merely alluded in general terms to these dillerent schemes, without entering upon details, for they feel assured, that in a short time we shall receive some announcement of the course which Her Majesty's Government have thought it expedient to propose, upon the knowledge which they have ac- quired of the present condition of Lower Canada; and it will be more convenient to wait until this informa- tion reaches us. It is impossible to avoid looking with the greatest anxiety upon the present posture of affairs in that Colony, for in reality our safety is as much involved in the result as if we lived within its limits. With respect to the other source of danger TO THisCoLOxNY, of whicli WO havc lately been apprised, by the very extraordinary and unlocked for occur- rences upon our frontier — Your Committee trusts that it may prove not unfortunate upon the whole, that the people of Upper Canada have been thus put upon their guard. 74 ?^- iipl The 8te])b which have been recently taken by the Government of the United States, shew an earnest de- sire on their part to restrain their citizens from viola- ting their amicable relations with Great Britain; but there still remains the question whether, upon this and future occasions, we shall be safe in relying upon the power of that Government to restrain its people from hostile aggressions upon the inhabitants of Upper Canada. So far as their inability to do this in the present instance may have proceeded from defects in the laws which Congress had passed upon this subject, there is every reason to suppose that the difficulty will be removed ; but what we have witnessed forbids us to place entire confidence in the efficiency of any laws that may be enacted. That the Government of the United States will in this respect desire to discharge its duty we may venture to anticipate, and it has been very satisfac- torily shewn upon the present occasion, that men of character throughout the United States, as well as the more respectable portion of the public press, are neither slow to perceive, nor backward in acknowledging, the line gf conduct which it is the duty of their country- men to adopt towards their neighbours in these Colo- nies. Still we have received a very impressive warning that our best, if not our only adequate security will be found in being prepared to resist aggressions. We have seen the people in four of the States adjoining these Provinces making open and active preparations for war against Canada, at a time when Great Britain was at peace within herself and with the whole world, 75 and after it was perfectly well known that not an inhabitant of either Province was in arms against his Sovereign. It becomes us therefore, to consider what certainty we have that the Government of the United States could restrain their people from hostilities, if the disturbed state of Europe, or any other cause, should leave the British Empire less at leisure, than it now is, to extend its protection to its remote Dominions, or if unhappily a strong feeling of opposition to the Govern- ment should be excited within this Colony, and should break out into acts of open resistance. It may be diificult to secure this Province effec- tually against the impressions which would be attemp- ted to be made along its frontier by the armies of the United States, in a public war; but the vast Naval superiority of Britain, and the means it gives her of placing the acquisition of these Colonies out of the reach of the United States, except at the price of the total loss of their trade, and the probable destruction of their commercial cities, seems to afford us a reason- able security against this danger. The necv^ssity, however, of placing the frontier in such a state of defence as will check any attempt at an irregular predatory warfare, such as has been attempted within the last two months, is too evident to require that it should be insisted on. The illustrious Duke of Wellington had not long held a responsible station in the Councils of his Country, before he took the most energetic measures for securing the frontier of Upper Canada against in- vasion. Several experienced Officers of Engineers .- M i. 7G were sent to this Province, cxprcsly to examine Into and report upon the positions which it would he neces- sary to occupy witli this view, aiitl it is known, that in conscfpieiice of this provident tne.'isure, steps were actually taken for commenclMu: mililarv works at two or three points on the fronlicr, which would have placed us beyond the reach of danger from any such attempts as have lately hcen made; but we lament to say that changes in England occasioned these measures to be abandoned after they were fully resolved upon, and steps taken for their accomplishment. The inhabitants of this Province require but arms and ammunition, and two or three rallying points on which they could form, to rcnc^ them perfectly safe against any attack of so unprincipled and lawless a character as ,aey have lately had to encounter; but from want of these advantages the danger ha.^ been imminent upon the present occasion, that some tempo- rary advantage might have been gained, which must have been attended with very serious consequences. We doubt not that there are in Upper Canada 50,000 militia as willing, and as able, to defend their soil from invaders, as any country can boast of. But to render this force serviceable, it is necessary that there should be two or three arsenals to which they may resort for arms and ammunition, and where they could assemble upon any sudden call of duty. For want of these precautions the whole western frontier of this Province was for a considerable time almost utterly defenceless, under very critical circum- stances. The people rushed in numbers to the frontier ff^ ble m- ier to meet a threatened invasion, l>ut without arms in their hands, and without the moans of procuring them when they arrived at the point oflho expected attack. The invaders from the State of Michigan, took posses- sion of an Island in the JJiver Detroit, and with an armed Schooner benjan to batter the town of Amherst- burgh, as we have ah'eady stated. The next day, under cover of their guns, a hmding was to have been made upon our main shore. Tlie loyal and gallant people who were assembled in haste to meet the inva- ders were but half armed; and they knew the dis- couraging fact, that there was not a field-piece of any description within nearly three hundred miles of them. If their zeal had not prompted them to supply them- selves with artillery and arms, by making a very spirited and successful attack upon their enemy, it is by no means improbable that such an impression might have been made upon our western frontier as would have given immediately a very serious character to the contest, and might have led inevitably to a national war. Your Committee cannot avoid, on this occasion, referring to the fact, that the small garrisons which, for forty years had been maintained at Fort Niagara and at Amherstburgh.have within the last two or three years been withdrawn : and a frontier of three hun- dred miles, bordering upon a foreign country, left for the first time without the presence of a British soldier. We have reason to believe, that this step was by no means approved of by the experienced OflScer who commanded the Forces in this Province ; and inde- F Ki 78 pendently of many other considerations which made it unadvisal)lc to al)oIish these military station.5, what has recently occurred has proved most clearly, that if economy led to the arrangement, as a measure of reduc- tion, this attempt to olU'ct a saving has proved most unfortunate. The pres:'nce of a company of regular soldiers, with hali* a dozen artilleiy-men, would most probably have prevented those j)r()cccdings among our neighbours, which arc now rendering necessary an immense expenditure, such we fear, as will be found to go very far beyond any saving which could have been hoped for from this unfortunate reduction. We trust these Posts will be immediately re- established, and that the Government of the Mother Country will take such steps in consequence of what has happened, and is still going on, as will prove une- quivocally a resolution to defend this portion of Her Majesty's Dominions against foreign enemies and domestic traitors, and to aid the people of Upper Canada in maintaininof that connection with the Bri- tish Empire, to which they have shewn themselves so devotedly attached. It seems astonishing, at the first view, that a few hundreds of persons in this Province, and a few thou- sands in Lower Canada, without leaders of military skill or experience, and without resources, should have embarked in an undertaking so utterly hopeless, as the attempt to wrest these Colonies from the dominion of Great Britain. The fortress of Quebec commands the passage to the Ocean. It v/ould defy the valour and sk'U of an 7d }s so few lOU- tary lave the of |e to an European enemy. How, ilicn, were they to pull down the British Staudurd, which v>avc8 over its citadel t— how could they expect to encounter, with success, the fleets and armies of England, which have proved an over-match for the world ? They reckoned, as we know, upon the people of the United States for assist- ance. But were the people of that Republic prepared again to commit their safety and prosperity to the chances of war, in a second attempt to possess them- selves of Canada, and at a time when Great Britain had no other employment for her vast national strength than to guard with it the integrity of her own dominions t Many of the people of these States, as we have found to our cost, were indeed rash enough to engage in this adventure. They could really hope, it seems, that by such a war as a few traitors in these Colonies could carry on, aided by a jjortion of the people of the United States, but without the countenance, and of course without the resources of their Government, a dominion could be torn from under the sway of the Brit- ish Sceptre, which, when it was acquired by the valour of Wolfe, was hailed by the British Nation as one of the noblest conquests thai had ever crowned their arms. All this, indeed, looks like insanity — but it admits of a very rational explanation ; and no intelligent per- son in these Provinces is at a loss to account for it. The solution is this : — Neither the rebels in these Pro- vinces, nor their American auxiliaries, thought it by any means certain that the British Government would make the exertion necessary for retaining these Colo- m 80 M'i fji nies. They persuaded themselves, on the contrary, that they would not ; and although we are convinced that they have erred in their judgment, they have seen much to encourage them to come to that conclusion. They have, for many ^ears past, observed some of the most influential journals in the Mother Country denoun- cing the impolicy of retaining the Canadas, and upon a cold calculation of interest, recommending that they should be cast adrift, and allowed to govern them- selves — or turned over to the United States, upon the best bargain that could be made for them ; they have seen a British Subject, the Member for the Metropo- litan County of England, exhorting the people of Canada to throw oiF "the baneful domination" of Great Britain — and holding up to them, for their imitation, the example of the revolted Colonies in 1776^'; they have seen those persons in the Colonies, who were manifestly co-operating vv^itli him in this treasonable design, countenanced, encouraged and promoted, by the Government; they have noticed, upon almost every occasion for many years past, when the public affairs of these Provinces have been discussed in Parliament, a want of firmness on the part of the Ministers of the Crown in declar'ig their determination to maintain British authority and British institutions in their Ame- rican Colonies, and an apjiarent anxiety to admit, as a sort of test of liberality, that sooner or later changes must be made, which, it is clear, would prove destruc- tive of both ; they have observed a cautious withhold- ing of that assurance of support to the loyal people of * Appendix O. H Liiges truc- lold- lleof these Colonies, which would at once have convinced the disaffected that their object was unattainable ; and they have read declarations openly made to a Com- mittee of the House of Commons, by a gentleman in the Colonial Department, who; from his station and duties, has probably exercised, and still exercises as great an influence in the Governmentof the American Colonies, as any other individual in the Empire — in which declaration the po. itions are advanced, that allegiance to the British Crown, must be expected to be regarded in Canada, rather as a sentiment than a duty ; that no fear of the power of Great Britain can reason- ably be entertained by its inhabitants ; that " revolt "against European dominion, cannot be considered any "where upon the Continent of America as criminal or ** disgraceful ; and that it can be regarded as no enviable "distinction to be the only dependant portion of the "New World :" — from all which it would follow, that rebellion in Canada would be merely matter of taste; that it would be a safe experiment so far as British power is concerned ; that it could neither be looked upon as wrong, nor disreputable; and that, in fact, it will be rather a reflection upon the spirit of the people of Canada, if they remain attached to the British Crown longer than they can help. It is fit the Briti:^! Nation should know, that the feelings and consciences of the great mass of the people of Upper Canada, revolt against these sentiments; that they do consider it their most enviable distinction, that they form part of the British Empire ; that Republi- WW 83 cjiii institutions ciuuiot he irnpoHod upon thcni, while tlicy lijive tlin means of rosisling tlioni by nny siicri- lioc of life or proporly ; ruul tli.it \vlicncv(»r it may bo attempted to make their soil a land oC ahen.s to the liritish Crown, th(\y will Mppeal to the riovernmcnt which plantrd them there, for protection and support — and (hey \vill ai)p(ud with the most perfect confidence, that that support can never, in the hour of trial, be denied to them. 'V\\c, inhabitants of Canada do not believe, that any (lOviM'ument can take the fearful responsibiUty W'ith (he i)eople of Kngland of abandoning Provinces whose (!0]innerce employs annually twelve hundred Brifish Ships; i\ud I hey feel that whih^ tliey are ready with lluMr liv<^s to maintain their jilh^oiauco to tho Crown, they have the same right to its protection, as if they trod the soil of Great Britain, oi- of Ireland. — Whenever it may come to t,he trial, they know that they will not bo left to struggle; alone : that humanity-— the ties of kindred — the sense of national honor, will alike forbid it; and that their I'cllow Subjects at home can not, iwid will not submit, to seo them torn from tho British Empire while it has strength to defend them. For her own sake then, as well as for the sake of the people of these Provinces, and for the peace of the World, it is above all things desirable that there should no longer be room for any misconception on this point. Twenty millions of money have, in a spirit of gener- ous philanthropli}-. been devoted by Great Britain to the redemption of the Colored Inhabitants of her West India Islands from a state of slavery — that however 83 hilo icri- yho tllG nont >rt — Mice, ,1, bo that jility inces idrcd oady n, as 1(1.-" ilijit y— will otriG tlio \cm. F the the lould K)int. mer- in to est ever n was a slavery regulated and mitigated by law. Ouc million applied, as tlie nuble Duke of Wc^llingtou wan procee have grown up in the habitual diMregjird of those rcHlraints which are neecHsary to insuro liberty, and (!very other blessing that distinguisheH civilized society. ' v. - 1. ..;'■■, , . . ■ , ■ ' . ^ ';■-■-; Your (yoMMiTTEK have been led to discuss so much at large tliose Hubjects wliich engross attention at the present moment, thoX they can scarc(;]y do niorc than alUide to some other matters, which are too impor- tant, nevertheless, to be wholly omitted, in a review of the political state of this Province. ,;- . . It is in their o|)inion exceedingly to be regretted, that the fjuestions which havt; been agito.ted respecting the Clergy Reserves are still open, and apj)jj.rently ^vith as little prospect of a final settlement as at any loiiner period, it is not surprising tliat Her Majesty's Government should be reluctant to underl.ake the task of endeavoring to bring tliese (juestions to a satisfac- tory decision, and tliat they shoidd persevere in at- tempting to giiin that desirable ol)ject through the intervention of the Provincial Legisltiturc; for it is natural to suppose, that the advantage of more accurate local information should enable us to encounter the difficulty with la-eater convenience, and with bet^tc}- hopes of success. But we apprehend, that although the wish to see the (picstion settled is almost universal 84 m4 I m in this Province, there is, from various causes, but slen- der ground for believing that the Legislature will be able to concur in any satisfactory course. Your Committee has no doubt that the Legisla- tive Council still adheres to the general view taken by them of this important subject, in the Session of 1835, when it received their particular attention. It was then suggested by the Council, that before any Legislation should take place respecting the Reserves, it would be desirable to bring the legal rights of the respective claimants to the test of the most satisfactory judicial decision, which might be done by submitting the true construction and effect of the British Statute, 31 Geo. 3. chap. 31. to the consideration of the Judi- cial Committee of the Privy Council. After the right to the reserved lands, under the existing law, shall have been thus declared, or if Her Majesty shall think it inexpedient to make the reference, your Committee has no doubt that the Le2;islative Council will in either case, concur in an enactment for putting it in the power of Her Majesty, or of the Imperial Parliament, to re-consider this great question, and to make such disposition of the Clergy Reserves as may appear just and right, provided that they shall be exclusively de- voted to the maintenance of public worship, and the support of religion within the Province. It is most earnestly to be desired, that the discussions and expec- tations upon this subject should be brought speedily to a close by some final measure, for it is painful to ob- serve their tendency to produce bitterness of feeling among the different religious denominations, and to 85 pec- yto ob- |ling to place in unfriendly opposition to each other, men who would be otherwise united in maintaining a just re- spect for our Government and laws. There is another subject to which your Committee do not feel that they can properly forbear alliuling, viz., the present condition of this Province in respect to its finances. It is plain that the Legislature, in its great anxi- ety to advance the interests of commerce and agricul- ture, have gone to the very utmost limit of our resources, and have pledged the credit of Upper Canada to such an extent, that any temporary interruption or diminu- tion of our revenue must lead to embarrassing results, unless a speedy remedy shall be applied. The expe- rience of the present time must convince us thnt it ia not safe to proceed upon calculations, which make no allowance for such political reverses as are now oc- casioned by the state of Lower Canada, and its pro- bable consequences to our commerce. The Hrst object of the Legislature will doubtless be to jn-ovide for maintaining the credit of the Province unimpaired, by ensuring the punctual payment of interest u[)on the public debt: and your Committee is aware, that the Legislative Council will be most anxious to concur with the House of Assembly in whatever measures may be best suited to this purpose. The next con- sideration is, the expediency of exercising a more cautious circumspection hereafter in adding to the debt of this Colony. It is true, that the great public works in which Upper Canada has so early engaged, are highly creditable to the enterprise of her people; and there can be no doubt, that the rapid increase of ■ its ll« Hi population and wealth, will soon enable us to rise above any temporary pressure that may be occasioned by too eager an anticipation of our resources. But your Com- mittee most earnestly hope, that our increase of revenue may be so husbanded in future, that we shall have the cheering prospect of gradual relief from an incum- brance, which is certainly disproportioned to the pre- sent state of this Province. In remarking upon the confusion and difficulty which have arisen in Lower Canada, from the want of a permanent provision for the Civil List, your Com- mittee did not forget, that the Executive Government of this Province, although not left in the same state of total dependence, is still subject to be rpJuced at any time to the most serious difficulties, by the failure of the Legislature to vote the ordinary Supplies. There are many important charges of the Civil List which were not provided for when the duties levied under the 14 Geo. 3. were surrendered, and for which an annual vote is now necessary. This Supply cannot be withheld, without producing great public inconveni- ence, and much injustice to the servants of the Crown ; but it is scarcely necessary to state, that they were nevertheless withheld upon a late occasion — merely because the Executive Government, and the Legisla- tive Council, v^ould not give way upon points of vital importance to the peace and welfare of the Colony. The means of exercising so unfair a check in the administration of public affairs, may prove in time, destructive of the balance of our Constitution ; and it mm 87 the I me, id it will inevitably lead to frequent interruptions of the harmony of the Legislature. Upon the occasion allu- ded to, a dissolution of the Assembly was felt to be the necessary consequence ; but your Committee need hardly observe, that an effectual remedy is not always certain to be obtained by taking that course. The willingness, or rather indeed the desire, lately shewn by Her Majesty's Government, to surrender to the Pi'ovincial Legislature the Casual and Territorial Revenue of the Crown, and the management and dis- posal of the Crown Lands, is strikingly at variance with the policy which had ever before been constantly maintained in these Colonies. Your Committee can- not now conveniently enter into a discussion of the principles involved in these very important changes; but they are far from being impressed with the convic- tion, that such a relinquishment of the just rights and prerogatives of the Crown will contribute to the wel- fare of the Colony. It may be said, that attacks, whether just or unjust, are always likely to be directed against the Government, on account of the appropria- tion of these revenues ; but that does not afford a suf- ficient reason for transferring to the Legislature what unquestionably belongs to the Crown — and the policy of making such concessions, seems not more wise than would be the conduct of anOflScer, who being entrusted with the defence of a fortress, should employ himself in pulling down the walls, in order that there might be nothinff left to fire at. o Nothing has yet been said by your Committee upon the subject of that proposition for a radical change 83 tM s in the Constitution of the Canadas, which haa been much discussed of late years — and which the leaders of the Assembly, in the Lower Province particularly, have insisted upon with the most unreasonable violence : We mean the desire to make the Legislative Council an elective body. Since it has now become apparent, that separation from the Mother Country was the object which these political leaders had reall}^ in view, it is not surprising that their efforts should have been mainly directed to the destruction of that barrier, which the Legislative Council must ever present to such treasonable projects, so long as its members are selected by the Crown from among the most loyal, intelligent and respectable inhabitants of the Colony. The value of this security has been felt by ajl who duly appreciate the blessings of good Government, and who desire to maintain the connection of these Provinces with the Empire. Although it seemed evident, that any ill- advised change in this respect, made in one Colony, was likely to be extended with little delay to the other, yet the people of this Province have felt no very serious alarm on this subject, because they saw, with satisfac- tion, that the opinion of the Secretary of State for the Colonies was decidedly opposed to that ruinous inno- vation : so much so indeed, that the proposition was declared to l)e one which it could scarcely be consi- dered proper to discuss. It was not altogether without apprehension, however, that in the official communi- cations of the late Governor General, and of the Royal Commissioners, some encouragement was observed to be afterwards afforded for looking for concision even 89 upon this point. Late events, we trust, have put it out of the question, that any policy so destructive of Bri- tish supremacy can ever be adopted ; and it is only to be lamented, that it has not been always consistently and firmly declared, that so long as these Provinces remain Colonies of Great Britain, their Legislative Councils will undoubtedly be composed of Members appointed for life by the Crown. While your Committee have been engaged in preparing this report, the unlocked for intellig< ;nce has been received, that His Excellency Sir Francis Head, is to be succeeded in the Government of this Province, by Major General Sir George Arthur, whose arrival may be daily expected. It is just two years since the removal of His Excellency Sir John Colborne, was as suddenly an- nounced, and in both instances the change in the administration of the Government has been made under circumstances, that have not failed to excite very seri- ous apprehension in the minds of all persons who are well affected to our Government, and desirous of pre- serving the connection of Upper Canada with the British Empire We are aware that in each case the Lieutenant Governor is said to have resigned ; but we are also aware, that each of these distinguished Public Officers is possessed of an energy and firmness of character, that would have prevented his retiring from the Government in a time of difficulty, from a regard to any personal consideration ; and we know that at the moment of their desiring to be removed from the Iven 'Ill I'' M m 90 Province, they atood high in the affections of the peo- ple whom they governed, and that there prevailed in the breast of every loyal inhabitant of both Provinces of Canada, the utmost confidence in their political sen- timents and views, and the fullest conviction that under their administration, the enemies of the Crown would receive neither countenance nor support. It is quite apparent, from the circumstances at- tending the hasty removal of Sir John Colborne, either that some unaccountable misapprehension existed with regard to the actual state of public feeling in Upper Canada, or that the policy which that distinguished Officer was pursuing did not meet the support of His Majesty's Government. It will be difficult to persuade the people of this Province that the same causes have not led to the departure of Sir Francis Head ; and when they have seen and felt that the effisct of the conduct, which seems to have been thus discounte- nanced and discouraged, has been to produce in this Colony a most decided, and almost universal sappoi t of British principles, they can not but feel a very natural apprehension for the preservation of their Con- stitution, and of their continued connection with the Parent State. If these sudden changes, so injurious to the stabi- lity, and indeed to the dignity of the Government, and 80 dangerous to the public tranquillity, are to be as- cribed to an impression prevailing in any quarter, that the opponents of Monarchical Institutions are those whom it is most prudent to conciliate, and that to that end, the characters and feelings of the most attached 91 Subjects of the Crown must, for political expediency, be sacrificed, then we trust that the events of the last three months will correct this error, and may lead to the adoption of a course more generous and just. If it be possible that there can be in any quarter a desire to make Upper Canada the theatre for an experiment of principles, which it may be falsely imagined are more liberal and free than those secured by our pre- sent Constitution, we earnestly hope that the wisdom of Parliament, and the good sense of the British Nation, will rescue us in time from the danger which threatens our liberty and peace. (Signed) WILLIAM DICKSON, JAMES GORDON, JOHN MACAULAY. Committee Room, Legislative Council, Thirteenth v lay of February, 1838. Itabi- I, and as- that those that ;hed j: • - ( ■■>i . • .(■'.4< w IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I m Uii J 2.2 ^ 1^0 12.0 1:25 ||,.4 ,J^ i^ 6" ► p .»'■ V^' .^ V o;^ '^ /A Photograplic Sciences Corporation '^^v-o 23 WIST MAIN STMET WEBSTER, N.Y. I4SM -^>6)«72-4S03 ^^' ^ ^^^ ^ !! y, ' t; ■-r ^• f '4 1.: . > •„.*'*'*- ,, "^ . f • iii i i ,* J 1« ^ APPENDIX A. 1^ I . Adjutant General's Office, Toronto, 4th December, 1837. MILITIA GENERAL ORDER. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor has pleasure in announcing to the Militia of Upper Canada, that in consequence of the present dis- turbed state of the Lower Province, several Regiments have gallantly expressed their readiness to co-ope?ate in case of necessity with Her Majesty's Troops, in protecting their fellow Subjects in Lower Canada, in the maintenance of the revered Laws and Institutions of the British Empire. While this spirit, so honorable to Upper Canada, and so fully in ac- cordance with the character of its inhabitants has been manifested in various portions of the Province, His Excellency has with regret received information from various quarters, that in certain portions of the Home and London Districts a number of individuals have been seen assembled, as if for the purpose of drilling, some of them bearing arms, although not called upon by Public Authority, nor acting under the orders of any Offi- cer appointed by the Crown. Whatever may be the motive of such assemblages, the Lieutenant Governor is of opinion, that they are calculated to excite alarm in the minds of all peaceable inhabitants, and that being contrary to Law, they are inconsistent with that duty and allegiance which it is the pride of all faithful Subjects to cherish. The Lieutenant Governor has therefore determined to call upon all persons in public authority, as well as upon all classes of Her Majesty's Subjects in Upper Canada, to unite together in maintaining the high character which this Province now holds in the esteem and affection of the Mother Country, by discountenancing such illegal meetings, and by doing all in their power to discover and make known those who promote and take part in them. With this object in view, the Lieutenant Governor directs that the Colonels of Militia throughout the Province, shall, upon receiving this order, call out their respective Regiments, and acquaint them of the above circumstances ; as also that His Excellency's offer to Sir John Colborne, of Her Majesty's Troops who were in this Province, has been accepted— that at soon as the Navigation closes, their return may be deemed imprac- ^11 £!*'l. ^ tbt' ■ I ticablo— that eten If tt were not to, His Excellencj on no account what- ever would consent to deprive the Lower Province, during this winter, of their assistance — that Her Majesty's Stores, Arms and Ammunition, have heen entrusted by His Excellency to the Civil Authorities — and that the period has consequently arrived, for His Excellency to call upon the Militia of Upper Canada, to do justice to the honorable confidence which, under circumstances so flattering to their character, has been publicly reposed in their valour and in their loyalty. Upon the Militia uf Upper Canada, as the Constitutional Force of the Country, the Lieutenant Governor relies with confidence for aiding the Civil Powers, firmly to maintain the Laws, and to protect all classes of the Queen's Subjects in the full enjoyment of their rights and liber- ties ; and His Excellency is fully assured, that if necessity should arise, the Inhabitants of Upper Canada will not fail to place on record an honorable example of a people who, appreciating the blessings of peace and freedom, will allow no political differences of opinion to prevent them, when duly called upon, uniting to support their Religion— the Crown — and the Laws. His Excellency therefore directs the Colonels of Militia throughout the Province, immediately to rastke such arrangements as may appear to them most judicious, for enabling their respective corps to act with promptness and effect, should any emergency render thoir services necessary. And in case the Civil Authorities should find occasion to suppress an illegal meeting. His Excellency especially refers to the Gth Section of the Militia Act, passed in the 48th year of the Reign of His late Majesty George the IH., relying that the Officers commanding Regiments will, with alacrity, firmness and discretion, exercise the powers therein given to them, of suppressing with the force of their respective Regiments, any attempts that may be made to oppose the Civil Magistrates, or to disturb the peace of the Country. The Lieutenant Governor is proud to believe, that Upper Canada is the only portion of the British Empire divested of Military support, and he feels confident, that the Mother Country as well as the Continent of America, respect the steady peaceful conduct which at present to peculiarly distinguishes the Inhabitants of the Upper Province of the Canadas. By Order of His Excellency. JAMES FITZGIBBON, Acting Aij^t GetCl of Militia. I wh»t- iter, of 1, have hat the on the which, ' tubUcly orce of r aiding 1 classes id liber- ild arise, scovd an 3f peace I prevent ;ion— the iroughout appear to act with services casion to o the 0th n of His iinanding ircise the of their ipose the Canada is [port, and ntinent of [resent so ce of the APPENDIX B. Government House, 8lh December, 1837. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor warmly thanks, in the name of Her Majesty the Queen, the loyal and gallant Militia of Upper Canada, for their ready attention to the call of their Country, when their services were required for putting down a cruel and unnatural Rebellion. His Excellency trusts, that that service has now been etTectually ren- dered, and it only remains for him to take whatever steps may be necessary for the peace and security of the several Districts, and to announce, with much satisfaction, that there appears to be no further occasion for the resort of Militia to Toronto. APPENDIX C. MiHiia. Copy of a Despatch^ from His Excellency Sir Francis Bond Headf Baronet^ Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada^ to His Excellency Henry 8. Fox^ Esquire^ Her Majesty^s Minister at Washington. Government House, f Toronto, 23. J December, 1837. Sir, It is my duty to lose no time in apprising Your Excellency, that the peace and security of this Province are at this moment threatened, and that its territory is actually invaded by a large band of American citizens from Buffalo, who have taken up arms, and established themselves in a hostile manner on Navy Island, in the Niagara River, and within the territory of Upper Canada. Your Excellency has no doubt learned from the public papers, that in consequence of the insurrection unhappily commenced in I^ower Canada, but which, I have reason to believe, is now effectually suppressed, an attempt as rash and hopeless, as it was wicked, was lately made by three or four hundred persons in this vicinity, to involve this Province also in the miseries of a civil war. In concert with this movement, an endeavour was also made to excite the people in another District to take up arms against the Government. Both these attempts were promptly and effec- tually suppressed by the loyal Militia of this Province, unaided by any Military force. Most of the deluded persons who were engaged in these rash and criminal enterprises have surrendered themselves when taken ■,«;.■ Wf n i ¥ ' Wi % % :¥ '•\' 4 prisoners; but the principal leader, William Lyon Mackenzie, and tome of the most active of his followers, succeeded, with great difficulty, in making their escape to the adjoining State of New York. It was soon reported to me, that at Buftalo, to which place thes? ttaitors fled, strong symptoms were shewn by numbers of American citizens, of an inclination to aid them with men and arms, and to supply them with other necessa- ries, in order to, enable them to make a hostile invasion of this Province. That the public authorities in Buffalo, and the more respectable of the inhabitants, to discountenance such proceedings, I had no doubt, and their conduct since has justified tha^ expectation ; but as it was doubtful how far they might be able promptly to control this ebullition of hostile feeling towards a Nation, with which the United States held the strictest relations of amity and peace, I immediately addressed an official letter to His Excellency Governor Marcy, at Albany, of which a copy is herewith sent. No reply to this has yet reached me, nor do I know what steps, if any, have been taken on the part of the American Government, at Buffalo, to repress this hostile rising of their people. Since that letter %vns written, Mackenzie has been joined by some hundreds of American citizens from Buffalo, and the adjacent villages, Avho have established themselves on Navy Island, as I have before-men- tioned, with artillery and arms procured in the United States. The paper printed at Buffalo, which I send you, will shew the spirit in which this movement is urged forward. I am, of course, taking all possible measures to repel invasion and insult, and I believe, that in a few. days, a considerable Military force will be at hand to sustain our gallant Militia in this extraordinary and unlooked-for conflict. I need not remark to Your Excellency, how unfair and unjust it is, that a rebellion which, within this Province was so insignificant, that it was instantly crushed by the civil inhabitants of the Colony, should be revived and rendered formidable by the direct and active management of the American people; and that during the existence, not only of peace, but of the most friendly relations between ; V J ' 4 v :^ (Signed) F. B. HEAD. Copy of a Despatch^ from His Excelleney Sir Francis Bond Head, Baronet^ Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada^ to His Excellency Henry 8. Fox, Esquire, Her Majesty^s Minister at Washington, Toronto, Upper Canadji, H. Vv 8th January, 1838. Sir, ■■■^". ■'■„.>, /:- ■■■-.- "•, I have the honor to enclose you a copy of a Special Message, sent by His Excellency Governor Marcy to the Legislature of the State of New York, in relation to a matter on which Your Excellency will desire the earliest and most authentic information. The Message only reached this place yesterday, and I lose no time in communicating with Your Excellency on the subject. The Governor of the State of New York complains of the cutting out and burning of the steam-boat Caroline, by order of Colonel MacNab, commanding Her Majesty's Forces at Chippewa, in the Province of Upper Canada, and the destruction of the lives of some American citi- zens, who were on board of the boat at the time she was attacked. The act complained of was done under the following circumstances :— In Upper Canada, which' contains a population of about 450,000 souls, the most perfect tranquillity prevailed up to the 4th day of Decem- ber last, although in the adjoining Province of Lower Canada, many of the French Canadian inhabitants had been in open rebellion against tlitf Govri^mneRt for about a month preceding. N At no time ttnce the treaty of peace wtth the United States, In 1815, kad Upper Canada been more undisturbed. The real causes of the insurrection in Lower Canada, namely, the national antipathy of the French inhabitants, did not in any degree apply in the Upper Province, whose population, like the British and American inhabitants of Lower Canada, were wholly opposed to the revolt, and anxious to render every service in their power in support of the Queen's authority. It had been reported to the Government, some time before the 4th of December, that in a remote portion of the Home District, a number of persons occasion- ally met and drilled, with arms, under leaders known to be disaflfected, but it was not believed by the Government, that any thing more could be intended than to make a shew of threatened revolt, in order to create a diversion in fa our of the rebels in Lower Canada. The feeling of loyalty throughout this Province, was known to be so prevalent and decided, that it was not thought unsafe to forbear, for the time at least, to take any notice of the proceedings of this party. On the night of 4th December, the inhabitants of the city of Toronto were alarmed by the intelligence, that about five hundred persons, armed with rifles, were approaching the city — that tlicy had murdered a gentle- man of great respectability in the highway, and had made seveial persons prisoners. The inhabitants rushed immediately to arms — there were no soldiers in the Province, and no militia had been called out. The Home District, from which this party of armed men came, contains 60,000 inhabitants — the city of Toronto 10,000. In a few hours a respectable force, r.ilhough undisciplined, was collected and armed in self-defence, and awaited the threatened attack. It seems now to admit of no doubt, that if they had at once advanced against the insurgents, they would have met with no formidable resistance, but it was thought more prudent M wait until a sufficient force should be collected, to put the success of an attack beyond question. In the mean time, people poured in from all quarters to oppose the insurgents, who obtained no increase of num- bers, but on the contrary, were deserted by many of their body, in consequence of the acts of devastation and plunder into which their leader had forced them. On the 7th December, an overwhelming force of millitia went against them, and dispersed them without losing a man — taking many prisoners, who were instantly released by my order, and suffered to depart to their homes. The rest, with their leaders, fled — some have since surrendered' themselves to justice— many have been taken— and some have escaped from th» Province. 'oronto , armed gentle- persons vere no Home 60,000 ectable efencCt doubt, would rudent cess of n from num- dy, in h their la gainst Isoners, ^o their Indered' [scaped It was reported about this time, that in the District of London » similar disposition to rise had been observed, and in consequence, a militia force of about 400 men was sent into that District, where it was speedily joined by three limes as mauy of the inhabitants of the District, who assembled voluntarily and came to their aid with the greatest alacrity* It was (lisoovered, that about three hundred persons, under Doctor Duncombe, an American by birth, were assembled, with arms; but before the militia could reach them, they dispersed themselves and fled— of these, by far tlio greater number came in inmiediately and submitted themselves to the Government, declaring that they had been misled and deceived, and praying for forgiveness. In about a week, perfect tranquillity was restored, and from that moment not a man has been seen in arms against the Government in any part of the Province, with the exception- of the hostile aggression upon Navy Island, which I shall presently notice — nor has there been the slightest re!>istancc offered to the execution of legal process, in a single instance. After the dispersion of the armed insurgents, near Toronto, Mr. Mackenzie, their leader, escaped in disguise to the Ningara River, and crossed over to Buffalo, llepoits hnd been spread there, and elsewhere along the American frontier, that Toronto had been burnt, and that the rebels were completely successful ; but the falsehood of these absurd rumours was well known before iMackenzie arrived on the American side. It was known also, that the ridiculous attempt of four hundred men to revolutionize a Country containing nearly half a million of inhabitants, had been put down by the people instantly and decidedly, without the loss of a man. Nevertheless, a number of American citizens in Buffalo, and other towns on the frontier of the State of New York, enlisted as soldiers, with the avowed object of invading Canada, and establishing a Provisional Government. Public meetings were held to forward this design, of invading a Country with which the United States were at peace. Volun* teers were called for, and arms, amunition and provisions, were supplied by contributions openly made. All this was in direct and flagrant violation of the express laws of the United States, as well as of the law of Nations. The civil authority of Buffalo offered some slight shew of resistance to the movement, being urged to interpose by many of the most respecta- ble titixens, but no real impediment was offered ; and on the ItUi of December, some hundreds of the citizens of the State of New York, •• fi^-ni^l WT 8 .■J&B i an armed body, under the command of a Mr. Van Rensselaer, aii American citizen, openly invaded and took possession of Navy Island, a part of Upper Canada, situate in the River Niagara. Not believing that such an outrage would really be committed, no force whatever was assembled at the time to counteract this hostile movement. In a very short time this lawless band obtained from some of the Arsenals of the State of New York, clandestinely as it is said, several pieces of artillery and other arms, which in broad day light were openly transported to Navy Island, without resistance from the American authori- ties. The people of Buffalo and the adjacent country continued to supply them with fttores of various kinds, and additional men enlisted in their ranks. In a few days their force was variously stated from Ave to fifteen hundred, of whom a small proportion were rebels, who had fled from Upper Canada. They began to entrench themselves, and threatened that they would, in a short time, make a landing on the Canadian side of the Niagar River. To prevent this and keep them in check, a body of Militia was has- tily collected and stationed on the frontier, under the command of Colo- nel Cameron, Assistant Adjutant General of Militia, who was succeeded in his command by Colonel MacNab, the Speaker of the House of As- sembly, an Officer whose humanity and discretion, as well as his activity, have been proved by his conduct in putting down *he insurrection in the London District, and have been acknowledged in warm terms of grati- tude by the misguided persons who had surrendered themselves into his hands. He received orders to act on the defensive only, and to be careful not to do any act which the American Government could justly complain of as a breach of neutrality. An official statement of the unfriendly proceedings at Buffalo was without delay (on the 13th December,) made by me to His Excellency the Governor of the State of New York, and after this open invasion of our territory, and when it became evident that nothing was effected at Buffalo for preventing the violation of neutrality, a special Messenger was sent to Your Excellency at Washington, to urge your interposition in the matter. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to admit -of his return. Soon after his departure, this band of outlaws on Navy Island—acting in defiance of the laws and government of both countries— opened « fire from several pieces of ordnance upon the Canadian shore, which in this partis thickly settled : the distance from the Island being about six hun- dred yards, and within sight of the populous Village of Chippewa. Th«y put several balls (six pound shot) through a house, in which a party of MiliUt-men were quartered, aiitl which is the dwelling-houte of Captain Usher, a respectable inhabitant. They icilled a horse on which a man at the time was riding, but happily did no further mischief, though they flred also repeatedly with cannon and musketry upon our boats. They continued daily to render their position more formidable— receiving con- stant supplies of men and warlike stores from the State of New York, which were chiefly embarked at a lAnding-place on the American main shore, called Fort Schlosser, nearly opposite to Navy Island. This place was once, I believe, a military position before the conquest of Canuda from the French ; but there is now neither Fort nor Village there, but merely a single house, 3ccupied as a tavern, and a wharf in front of it, to which boats and vessels are moored. The tavern had been, during these lawless proceedings, a rendezvous for the band, who cannot be called by any name more appropriate than pirates; and was, in fact, openly and notoriously resorted to as their head quarters on the main land, and is so to this time. On the SBth December, positive information was given to Colonel MacNab, by persons from Buflfalo, that a small steam-boat called the Caroline, of about fifty tons burthen, had been hired by the pirates, who call themselves "Patriots,*' and was to be employed in carrying down cannon and other stores, and in transporting men and any thing else that might be required between Fort Schlosser and Navy Island. He resolved if she came down, and engaged in this service, to take or destroy her. She did come uown, agreeably to the information he received. She transported a piece of artillery and other stores to the Island, and made repeated passages during the day between the Island and the main shore. In the night he sent a party of militia, in boats, with orders to take or destroy her. They proceeded to execute the order. They found the Caroline moored to the wharf, opposite to the inn, at Fort Schlosser. In the inn there was a guard of armed men to protect her, part of the pirate force, or acting in their support. On her deck there was an armed party, and a sentinel who demanded the countersign. Thus identified as she was with the force, which, in defiance of the law of nations, and every principle of natural justice, had invaded Upper Canada, and made war upon its unoffending inhabitants, she was boarded •—and after a resistance, in which some desperate wounds were inflicted upon the assailants, she was carried. If any peaceable citizens of the United States perished in the con- fliot, it was and is unknown to the captors : and it wm- and is eqaally unknown to tlnBft, whether my sucb wer« there. Before this vessel was fT f • f '^7> 10 thui taken, not a gun hiid been rtred by tho force under the orders of Colonel MaoNab, even upun this gang of pirates— much less upon anj peaceable citizen of tlio United States. It must, therefore, have been a consciousness of the guilty service slie was engaged in, that led those who wore employing her to think an armed guard necessary fur her defence. Peaceable citizens of the United States were not likely to be found in a vessel so employed at such u place, and in such a jtincture : and if they were there, their presence, especially unknown as it was to the captors, could not prevent, in law or reason, this necessary act of self-defence. Fifteen d;iys had elapsed since tho invasion of Upper Canada by a force enlisted, armed and equipped, openly in the State of New York. The country where this outrage upon the law of nations was committed, if populous. Buffalo alone contains 1 5,000 inhabitants. The public autho- rities, it is true, gave no countenance to these flagrant acts, but they did not prevent them, or in the slightest degree obstruct tliem, farther than by issuing Proclamations, which were di;iregurdcd Perhaps they could not— but in either case, tho insult and injury to tlie inhabitants of Canada were the same, and ihcir right to defend themselves equally unques- tionable. No wanton injury was committed by the party who gallantly effected this service. They loosed the vessel from tho wharf, and finding they could not tow her against the rapid current of the Niagara, they abandoned the effort to secure her, set her on fire, and let her drift down the stream. The prisoners taken were a man who, it will be seen by the Documents accompanying this Despatch, avowed himself to be a subject of Her Majesty, inhabiting Upper Canada, who had lately been traitorously in arms in that Province, and having fled to the United States, was then on board for the purpose of going to the camp at Navy Island, and a boy, who being born in Lower Canada, was probably residing in the United States, and who, being afraid to land from the boat in consequence of Uie firing kept up by the guard on the shore, was placed in one of tho boats under Captain Drew, and taken over to our side', from whence he was sent home the next day, by the Falls Ferry, with money given him to bear his expenses. 1 send with this letter — 1st. A copy of my first communication to His Excellency Governor Marcy, to which no reply has reached me. Snd. The official reports, correspondence and Militia general order, respecting the destruction of the Caroline, with other documents. Liii;- »ir 11 lert of in any been a ise who efence. id in a if ihey raptors, efence. a force ;. The itted, it 3 autho- hey did \er than 3y could Canada unques- ' efTected finding ra, they lift down [cuments of Her |ously in Ithen on a boy, United lence of le of the lence he him to. ition tO' le. Ll order, 9rd. The correspondence between CominUaary OenerHl Arcularlui, of the State of New Yoric, respecting tlie Artillery belonging to the Got- ernment of the State of New York, which has been and is still used in making war upon this Province. 4th. Other correspondence arising out of the state of things on the Niagara frontier. 5th. The s|)ccial Message of GSovcrnor Marcy. It will be seen from these documents, tliHt a high Officer of the Gov- ernment of the State of New York, has been sent by His Excellency the Governor, for the express purpose of regaining possession of the Artillery of that State, which is now employed in hostile aggressions upon this por- tion of Her Majesty's dominions, and that being aided and favoured as he acknowledges by the most friendly co-operation which the Commanding Officer of Her Majesty's Forces couki give him, ho lias been successfully defied by this army of American citizens, and has abandoned the object of his mission in despair. It can hardly fail to be also observed by Your Excellency, that in the course of this negotiation between Mr.VunRcnssellaerandilie Commissary General cf the i^tate of New York, this individual, (Mr. Van Rensselaer,) has not hesitated to place himself wiihin the immediate jurisdiction of the Government whose laws he had violated, and in direct personal commu- nication with the Officer of that Government, and has, nevertheless, been allowed to return unmolested, to continue in command of American citizens engaged in open hostilities against Great Britain. Theexact position then of affairs on our frontier may be thus described : An army of American citizens joined to a very few traitors from Upper Canada, and under the command of a subject of ilie United States, has been raised and equipped in the State of New York, against the laws of the United States and the treaties now snbsisting, and are nsing artillery plundered from the arsenals of tlie State of New York, in carrying on this piratical warfare against a friendly country. * The Officers and Government of the United States, and of the State of New York, have attempted to arrest these proceedings, and to control their citizens, but they have failed. Although this piratical assemblage are thus defying the civil authorities of both countries, Upper Canada alone is the object of their hostilities. The Government of the United States has failed to enforce its authority by any means, civil or military, and the single question, if it be a question, is whether Upper Canada was bound to refrain from necessu'/ acts of self-defence against a people whom their own dovernment either could not, or would not controul. ;-;iP Wf I 12 In perusing the Message of His Excellency Governor Marcy to tho Legislature of the 8^ate of New York, Your Excellency will probably feel some degree of surprise, that after three weeks' continued hostility carried on by the citizens of New York, against the people of Upper Canadu, His Excellency seems to have considered himself not called upon to make this aggression the subject of remark for any other purpose than to complain of a solitary act of self-defence on the part of Her Majesty's Province of Upper Canada, to which such unprovoked hostilities have unavoidably led. I have, &c. (Signed) F. B. HEAD. His Excellency Hejyrt S. Fox, Her 9i las called rce neces- Ine. You le expense to meet [ichigan, than the irhich has ^rtunately that can 16 g!ve rise to controversy, and I have no doubt their removal was hastened by the active measures at length taken b} the American Government, for preventing their receiving supplies of arms and provision:. It would give me pleasure if I could add, that in the conduct of thi American militia stationed on Grand Island, or in the construction which the officers of the American Government seemed disposed to put on the relative rights of the two countries, under the extraordinary circumstances in which they were placed, I have discovered satisfactory proof of a spirit calculated to contribute to the restoration of permanent tranquillity. When a people has been insulted and aggrieved, as the people of Upper Canada have been, it is not to be supposed that they can feel it necessary to perplex themselves with researches into books upon the law of nations — they will follow a more unerring guide in obeying the irre- sistible natural instinct of self-preservation. By the cannonading from Navy Island three inhabitants of this Province have been killed — there is no extenuating circumstance which can make the offence less than murder; and if it can be claimed as a right on this, or upon other occasions, that the perpetrators shall be allowed to escape with impunity into the country from whence they came in an armed body, to commit these flagitious outrages — if it be maintained that to cross the line of division through the waters of the Niagara to destroy them, or to cut off their resources. Is a violation of American neutrality, then it can only follow, that when the American people are suffered to commit such gioss outrages upon the Province of Upper Canada, they must bring upon themselves th^ consequences of a public war, for unquestionably the right of self*defence . will be exercised — it is not in the nature of things that it should be forborne. I am upon the point cf being succeeded in the Government of Upper Canada by Colonel Sir George Arthur , and I cannot depart from th« Province without offering to Your Excellency, on the part of its inhabit- ants, my most grateful thanks for youi prompt and able interposition to protect them from foreign aggression. I have been extremely gratified by the earnest solicitude shewn by Your Excellency, to discharge your delicate and important duties satisfactorily and with effect. I can assure Your Excellency, that the people of Upper Canada feel deeply how much they are indebted to you, as the Minister of their Sovereign, for your conduct on this anxious and importani^ occasion. I have the honor to be, &c. &c. (Signed) P. B. HEAD. , His Excellency Hzif rt S. Fox, &c. &c. &c. Washington. 16 APPENDIX D. PROCLAMATION. to thk patriot army of upper canada, Companions in Arms ! True courage is always accompanied with high honor, and with mercy to a subdued enemy. We fight not for plunder, or power to oppress, but for liberty and sacred rights, and the common cause of all mankind. Our friends have been plundered, and driven from their wives and daughters, dragged from their beds, and exposed to the most outrageous insults, and almost every part of our territory is groaning under the most insupportable tyranny. To redress these wrongs we are assembled in arms. Let us behave like men ivho lovo justice, and scorn and defy oppression. Soldiers of Liberty ! In order to ensure success and a glorious vic- tory, it will be necessury to enforce the most rigid military discipline. No one, having joined the army, will be allowed, without permission of the Commanding Officers, to leave the ranks. Every desertion will be punished with death. All orders must be strictly obeyed. No one must act, under any cir- cumstances, but in obedience to the officer having command. Every person not in arms mwt be protected in his person from all harm. All private property must be respected. Not a single infringement of private rights or possession will escapp the most severe punishinent. No one not in arms or regularly enrolled, will be permitted to follow the camp. Every idler will be taken up and punished. Companions and Soldiers ! — We march to restore, not to destr.ty good order— to preserve, not to violate wholesome laws — to establish eqoal rights and jfistice, yielding to others as rigidly as we demand our own. THO'S. J. SUTHERLAND, BrigaiitT Qeneralt Comnuftiding S,nd Div. Patriot Armyt U, C. Head Quarters, 2nd Division, • ? Bow Bfanc, IT. C Jan««ry 9t\, 1838. S i 17 PttOCLAMATION. TO TIIK PATRIOTIC CITIZENS OF UPPER CANADA. You are called upon by the voice of your bleeding country to join the patriot forces, and free your land from tyranny. Hordes of worth- less parasites of the British Crown are quartered upon you to devour your substance — to outrage your rights — to let loose upon your defence- less wives and daughters a bruial soldiery. Rally then around the standard of Liberty, and victory and a glo- rious future of independence will be yours. THO'S. J. SUTHERLAND, Brigadier General, Commanding 2nrf Division Patriot Army, U. C Head Quarters, 2nd Division, Bois Blanc, U. C-, January dth, 1838. follow le5tr.-»y ktablish Ind our U.C. PROCLAMATION. TO THE DELUDED SUPPORTERS OF BRITISH TYRANNY IN UPPER CANAAA. You are required to lay down your arms, and return quietly to your homes. The patriot army of Upper Canada desire not bloodshed. We fight only for liberty, and personal and public safety. Your persons and property shall be protected, all your private rights preserved to you, your homes secured, your possessions untouched, on condition that you yield up your weapons and return to your accustomed oecupations. You are now enjoying a moiety of liberty vouchsafed to you from motives of caprice or interest on the part of your rulers. We will secure to you all the blessings of freedom by a permanent and honorable tenure. Avoid then the horrors of war. Enrage not soldiers already exas- perated by oppression. Save yourselves from confiscation. Cease resist- ance, and all will be well with you. THO'S. J. SUTHERLAND, Brigadier General, Commanding 2nd Division, Patriot Army, V. C. Head Quarters, 2nd Division, ? 'Uoi9. Blanc, V. C. January lOth, 1898. S T '[i 16 APPENDIX E. Letter of Colonel Radcliffe^ Commanding Weniem District Fron- tier, to Lieutenant Colonel Strachan, Military Secretary, Ahherstbuaoh, January 10, 1898. BlR, I beg to state for the information of His Excellency the Lieuten- ant Governor, that on the 9th of January, 1838, the Schooner ** Anne" of Detroit, in the service of the Rebels occupying Bois Blanc Island.was lying in the channel between the Island and Fort Maiden, and at dark it was perceived she neared the shore. On receiving this information I rein- forced the guards and pickets, and called the garrison to arms, the vessel then got under way and passed the town, into which she threw some round shot and grape ; I immediately expected she would land men at a pUce called the Point, and exactly opposite the Light House at Bois Blanc, and ordered the men to proceed to that point, where I had a guard of 20 placed, and reinforced by an out-lying picket of 40 men. The vessel came close up to the shore and commenced firing grape and round shot, and musketry; the militia opened a brisk fire, and the Schooner ceased firing, when it was thought by some that she was willing to sur- render ; however as she would not pull down the flag our men boarded her, although up to their arms in water. The General (Dr. Theller) was at that moment in the act of reload- ing the six pounder they had on board — Captain Lang, of the Lake Mer- chant Navy, took the cartridge out of the mouth of the gun — Mr. Iron- side, acting Captain of Militia took the flag. We found on board 21 persons, 1 killed, 8 wounded, 12 prisoners, 3 pieces of cannon, not very useful, about 200 stand of arms, buff cross belts, ammunition, but of this but a small supply. When I receive a return you shall be informed more at length. I have given directions to set fire to the Schooner as soon as all tha stores are taken out of her. I have just been informed that the enemy has got a steamer from Detroit called the Erie, the kLebels seized her, and the Mayor or Governor ordered her to be retaken, but the Rebels refused, the City Guards did not give them any further trouble, in fr t etrery thing is done in this way ; the Rebels have taken 6 pieces of cannon at Detroit in the same way, and they are now on board the Macomb steamer at Detroit, and of course will be employed against us to-morrow. One of our scouts has just come in to say, that he supped in. com- pany with some Rebels at Gibraltar Point last night, and they there said 10 thatil was thcflr intention to attack Ba»d**^''h this night, that they would dirert us by a show of passing about the channel, but the object wu Sandwich. I am now ii. jrmed that the Erie steam boat has passed between Bois Blanc and Sugar Island, and has discharged some cannon, I have ordeied reinforcements to this point, and if I hear that they are coming nearer I shall beat to arms. This seems to be our weakest point, and I wish His Excellency would send a Company or two of the Line to assisL I have just had a letter from Colonel Hamilton at Windsor, saying that he had been well informed that the rebels intended to attack Chatham this night ; and if the water was not sufficient to take ihem up, that they would try Windsor or Sandwich, This end of the country is very much exposed and should be attended to in time. I have issued orders to send 100 men to Sandwich to assist there in case of attack- I should be glad to know if His Excellency wishes to employ the Indians. I have sent the prisoners to London Gaol. Your obedient servant, THO'S. RADCLIPFE, Col. Commanding Western District Frontier. N. B.^The ** Anne** of Detroit, is aground, but have not yet burned her. Lieut. Col. Strachan, Military Secretary. all the [enemy id her, Lebels lin fr X pannon icomb lorrow. com- Ire Slid APPENDIX F. {From the Michigan Observer, of I7th January, 1888.) THE CANADA CRUSADE. We had barely time to express, in our last, our deep abhorrence of the part the great mass of our citizens were acting, in relation to the affairs of Canada. It really seemed as though they were perfectly beside themselves in this matter. Almost the entire mass of our population were wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement in behalf of the ** Patriots.** Such was the demonstration of popular feeling, that the man who had the moral daring to stand up in defance of the Constitution and the laws, was hissed at and stigmatized as a Royalist. And we are lold, that this kind of phrenzy had spread itself into the Interior, and to 4'E''- I:' i 20 a greater or less extent, thrown nearly the whole population of the State into commotion. We are happy now in being able to «ay, that a reaction to some extent* has tals; with w much (ction of md that ' nature, majori- , that its he mor'* le more for the sen con- show a Ion to or ction of for ex- and an troduc- irivation nd Irish ince, by las been |h Cana- >jectt of irdperty Assem- bly. The claim of that body for the sole management ond dispoml of the whole Revenue of the Province, has constantly had in view the attraction into ilieir own hunds of ih« entire Provincial nulho- rity, and of tho subjection of the Executive Oovernmont to their arbitrary will. From their first insidious attempt in 179^, to obtain the repeal of the permanent appropriation contained in the Act of 1774, for the support of the Civil Guvornmont and the administra- tion of Justice, thereby to subject the Executive Government to their good pleasure, for any further support than the pittance they then agreed to allow^ through the whole course of the financial difficulties, which they have never allowed to slumber, by means of their annual Supply Bills — their difficulties as to the items of that supply — their representations in 1822, not to grant permanent sup- plies, or supplies during the Sovereign's life — their delegation to England in 1828 — and the whole category of their agitation upon this subject down to the year 1831, when the full accomplishment of their long sought desires was obtained from the good faith of the British Government, by tho repeal of tho permanent appropriations, their first, last great object, was to obtain possession of the Provin- cial Revenues, well knowing that by this means the Government would be cast into their hands. Finally, the detail of the grievances of that body as representing the opinions of their constituency, the fo called great mass of the population, complete the evidence of their exclusive interests; in them will be found the abrogation of the Charter granted to the British American Land Company, by means of which tho Assembly sought to assume the management of the Waste Lands in the TuwLdbips, and thereby to prevent the set- tlement therein of a British and Irish population; the repeal v. '^ Tenures Act, by which a commutation of Seignorial tenure may be effected, from their apprehension of its leading to the introduction into the Province of Brititth capital; their indisposition to encourage the settlement of the Townships of this Province, because they are principally inhabUed^by a Biitish, Irish, and American population^ their unwillingness to co-operate with Upper Canada in the exten- sive imp. jvemcnts in progress in that Province, by which its settle- ment and prosperity might be augmented, and like advantages might thereby accrue to the British and Irish inhabitants of Lower Canada; and their pertinacious endeavours to render the Legislative Coancil >'. ii! mm ♦/I ^i.lj .1 ■it . 4'!i . ;!:^ I' 2e elective, because in it alone were to be found die means of opposing the exclusive pretensions, and of protecting Britisii interests. The history of the House of Assen^^^*/ in its composition, its legislation, its spirit and poliiicul principles, fully establish the aim which its Members have constantly kept in view — the aggrandizement of the population of French, and the oppression of that of British origin. The recorded testimony of a French Canadian leader, and one of the Delegates to England, in 1828, to represent the grievances of his fellow countrymi v, and since that time their paid Agent for similar purposes, corroborate the views taken by the Constitutional Association; he declared in his examination before the Canada Committee of the House of Commons in 1828, that ** the establish- ment of the English laws as applicable to property held in the townships on the tenure of free and common soccage, would be an infringement of the rights belonging to the French Canadians, if not done by the Legislature of Lower Canada ; that the French laws should be allowed to continue all over the country — that facili- ties should have been given to the French Canadians to fettle in the townships — that the means of going there should have been given to them — that a system of education according to the notions and ideas of the French Canadians should have been followed — that the desire of the French Canadians must necessarily be to keep up their own Institutions, and to preserve their laws in every part of the country — that the Legislative Council should be composed of men who would side with the mass of the people, and in effecting this latter arrangement, that its natural effect would be to secure the means of extending the French laws and the French Canadian system over Lower Canada." In the full and complete security of their persons and property, in the free and unrestricted enjoyment of their religious worship, their ancient civil laws, their native and beloved language, and of an equality of rights and privileges in the Provincial Representative Government, with their fellow Subjects )f British and Irish origin, in possession, moreover, of a numerical majority, the Frendti Canadians could have no sympathies in common with people of another race and speaking another language, nit inducement to divest themselves of prejudices dear to them alike from the associa- HI perty, }rship, ind of itative )rigin, french >le of mt to Isocia- (ioF^i of country and the recollections of life, or to abandon halrftf ana customs which they cherished, and to which they were firnoly attaclied, for the questionable advantages to be obtained from assimilation with strangers, whom they were taught to disregard } and the natural consequence has been, that in proportion as the French Canadian population has increased, (hosb evils have like- wise increased, until the repugnance to British interests and British connection has finally assumed the form of open and declared rebellion. The French Canadian population -vere thus not only nationally inclined to mark their active opposition to their fellow Subjects of British and Irish origin, but they have been taught to consider them as strangers and trespassers upon their soil ; they have been taught to feel towards them none of those kindly sympathies which unite together subjects of the same country and possessors of the same rights ; they have, in fine, been taught to believe themselves oppressed by their fellow Subjects of British and Irish origin, and to imagine that they possessed the power of expelling their oppres- sors. Overlooking moral feebleness in physical capability, desper- ate men, made an open livelihood by influencing the population of French origin to acts of violence ; missionaries of insurrection by their own example, ostentatiously shewed to them the manner of setting the laws at defiance ; and individuals, loaded with every species of personul contempt, aggravated a local pressure into popu- lar tumult, or embittered an unimportant grievance into bloodshed. In all cases the object was attained, — active discontent was intro- duced into the passive population, and noon-day meetings gradually ripened into sedition and rebellion. It is this exclusive French spirit alone which has given rise to all the discontent existing in this Province — it is this which has in fact mude this question one of national origin, and not of political party — in it is to be discovered the source of all the disturbances which have brought sedition and rebellion in their train — and in it alone is to be found a full and complete answer to the enquiry, to what causes the present unhappy condition of this Province is to be ascribed. This conclusion is borne out by the text-book of the com- plaints of the French Canadian Representatives, adopted in 1834, 28 the famous ninety-two resolutions of ttie House of Assembly, in which will be found a detail of grievances and abuses which that body knew to be either altogether redressed, or in active course of being so ; reference is therein principally had to those which have already been adverted to, the introduction of the elective principle into the composition of the Legislative Council, the abrogation of the Tenures Act. and the disposal of the whole revenue of the Province; the two former have been most wisely refused, the lat- ter ari unwisely granted — while by their own admission, no real oppression exists in the Province, and no real grievance consistent with the preservation of British supremacy remains unredressed. The French Canadian leaders have endeavoured to excite the sympathy of the citizens of the United States, and of the professed Republicans in Upper Canada, in behalf of themselves and their fellow-countrymen, by constantly appealing to their assistance for the support of popular institutions and popular rights, as if their real views were Republican, and as if that form of government were favored by the French Canadian population. It is sufficient to meet this fallacious inference with a direct denial as being con- trary to the fact, and to the habits, feelings and customs, of that population, and as being altogether disproved by the evident prin- ciple of all the measures which have been proposed or approved by the French Canadian population, or its Representatives in Provin- cial Parliament assembled, which plainly show that their views did not extend beyond the means of securing their own exclusive de- signs and intentions. Your petitioners submit — that the Provincial inhabitants of British origin have real and substantial grounds of complaint, — they have been compelled to submit to a system of Jurisprudence for- eign to their habits and injurious to their interests, to a feudal law which to the disgrace of the Provincial Legislature finds a home in Lower Canada alone, ic a denial of those L^islative improvements which would have introduced British capital and enterprise into the Province and increased therein a British population, and to their privation of their dearest rights as British subjects. In their virtual exclusion from a just participation in the Provincial Representation. 29 t>ly, ia :h that urse of h have inciple ition of of the the lat- ao real nsistent ssed. :cite the 'ofessed ad their ince for if their ernment efficient ing con- , of that nt prin- oved by rovin- ews did live de- aots of ,— they ice for- dal law ome in rements linto the o their virtual tatioD. Although their supplications and petitions for relief have been unheeded, amidst the clamours of an insurrectionary faction, these loyal subjects still confidently trust in the magnanimit}' of the Mother Country, and still anticipate from her justice an entire redress of their unmerited and patiently endured grievances. At the same time your petitioners conceive that^ without a total abandonment of the policy now adopted towards this Pro- vince, and its Anglification in fact as well as in appearance, by means principally of its re-union with Upper Canada, the same evils will exist, the same causes of disorder will continue, and the same attempts at sedition and rebellion will again occur. Your Petitioners are firmly convinced that, the re-union of the Catiudas is not only the most effectual means of preventing a recur- rence of the disasters which have already occurred, but that it will produce to Upper Canada advantages which cannot be anticipated from any other measure, — a more equal proportion of the General Revenue, a free outlet to the Ocean, and a practical utility for the magnificient Improvements in progress at her expense within her own limits, — and that it will at the same time promote the prospe- rity of both the Provinces"— secure their just dependance upon the British Government, and prevent a dismemberment of the Empire. Your Petitioners most respectfully entreat your Honorable House, to take the situation of the British inhabitants of Lower Canada into your serious consideration, and to uu..s3 such mea* sures as will promote the objects which your P.etitioners have in view — the complete Anglification of this Province, and its re-union with Upper Canada. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. PETER McGlLL, President^ Comtitutional Ataociation of Montreah W. BADGLEY, Secretary, Constitutional Association of Montreal. Montreal, 13th December^ 1837. Q 30 APPENDIX H. '»ii I III I BesohUfoM of the Assembly of Lower Canada, for expunging Speech of the Govemor-in- Chief from their Journals. MoiTDAT, SSrd February, 18S5. The House went into Committee on His Excellency's Speech at the close of the last Session, and passed the following resolutions, which were reported and agreed to :— 1. Resolved— That any censure of the proceedings of this House on the part of another branch of the Legislature, or of the Executive Government, is a violation of the Statute in virtue of which this House was constructed ; an infringement of its privileges which they cannot dispense with protesting against, and a dangerous attack upon the rights and liberties of His Majesty's Subjects in this Province* 2. RESOLVED-"That that part of the Speech of His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief addressed to this House on the 18th March last, at the close of the last Session, and which relates to the petitions addressed by this HoUse to His most gracious Majesty, and to the two Houses of Par- liament of the United Kingdom, on the state of the Province, complaining of grievances and abuses which exist in this Province, and indicating the means of remedying the same, is a censure on the part of the Head of the Executive of this Province, of the proceedings of this House, which had acted as an equal and independent Branch of the Legislature, for divers good causes and considerations to itself known, for the benefit of His Majesty's Subjects in this Province, and of His Government therein. 3. Resolved — That the said Speech be expunged from the Journals of this House. YEAS^-Messrs. Amiot, Archambeault, Bardy, Barnard, Beaudouin, Bedard, Berthelot, Bertrand, Besserer, Blanchaid, Bouc, Bouffard, Bou- iillier, Bureau, Cardinal, Careau, Caron, Cazeau, Cherrier, Child, Cot6, Courteau, De Bleury, Deblois, D6ligny, De Witt, Dionne, 3. Dorion, P. A.Dorion, Drolet, Dubord, Girouard, Godbout, Grannis, Hotchkiss, Huot, Kimber, Lacoste, Lafontaine, Larue, Leslie, Marquis, Meilleur. M^thot, Moiin,,Mousseau, Noel, O'Callaghan, Pickel, Perrault, Proulx, Ray- mond, Rocbrune, Rochon, Rodier, Roy, Simon, Tach^, A. C. Tasehe- reau, P. E. Taschereau, Tessier, Toomy, Trudel, Viger,— 64. NATS~>Messrs. Baker, Blackburn, Bowman, Clapbam, Gugy, Moore, Power, and Wells,— 8. 31 APPENDIX I. 'peuh of 135. :h at the s, which is House Ixecutive is House y cannot he rights lency the St, at the ressed by s of Par- iplaining ating the lad of the hich had for divers it of His rein. Journals audouini rd, Bou- nd, Cot6, >rion, p. is, Huot, M6thot, IX, Ray- Tasehe- [, Moore, (14 Geo. HI. Chap. 88. 1774.) AN ACT to establiah a Fund totoards further defraying the Charges of the Administration of Justice, and support of the Civ' jovernment toithin the Province of Q;uebec, in America. Whereas certain duties were imposed by the authority of His Most Christian Majesty, upon Wine, Rum, Brandy, Eau de Vie de Liqueur, imported into the Province of Canada, now called the Province of Que- bec, and also a duty of three pounds per centum ad valorem, upon all dry goods imported into, and exported from the said Province, which duties subsisted at the time of the surrender of the said Province to Your Majes- ty's forces in the late war: And whereas it is expedient that the said duties should cease and be discontinued; and that in lieu and instead thereof, other duties should be raised by the authority of Parliament, for making a more adequate provision for defraying the charge of the Administration of Justice, and the support of the Civil Government in the said Province: We Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, do most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assem- bled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the fifth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, all the duties which were imposed upon Rum, Brandy, Eau.de Vie de Liqueur, within the said Province, and also of three pounds per centum ad valorem, on dried goods imported into, or exported from the said Province, under the authority of His Most Christian Majesty, shall be and are hereby discon- tinued ; and that in Iteu and instead thereof, there shall, from and after the said fifth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and -seventy- 'I fe, be raised, levied, collected and paid, unto His Majesty, bis Heirs au(' Stifi- ccssors, for and upon the respective goods hereinaft^f mentioned^ whiuh shall be imported or brought into any part of the said Pcovinoe, over and above all other duties now payable in the said Province, by any Act or Acts of Parliament, the several rates and duties following : that is to say, [Here follows the Table of Duties mpon Rumt Brandy^ ifc] Ih I 32 APPENDIX J. Lords' Journals. 6tb SCPTEMBKB, 1831. The order of the day being read for the third reading of the bill en- titled, *' An Act to amend au Act of the fourteenth year of His Majesty King George the Third, for establishing a Fund towards defraying the charges of the Administration of Justice, and support of the Civil Govern- ment within the Province of Qijebec, in America. It was moved that the said bill be now rea, • ••«••«• ** For it is generous in your Lordship not willingly to prostrate the -whole of the servants of his Majesty at the feet of the Commons, at the mercy of their annual vote, contrary to the usage of England, where the m 34 Civil Lilt i> voted for the life of the King, while the Canadian Supplies, if allowed to pass in the way in which it is said they desire, would place the Royal authority and influence in Lower Canada entirely at the mercy of a majority in the Assembly, for the time being, and so oblige the Offi- cers of Government to court popular favor for daily bread ; would place the Judges of the land in that slavish state of dependence on the populace which produced so much real evil in Massachusetts, and which in the rich State of New York has made cheap justice a byeword, and the miserable pittance allowed the Administrators of the Laws a reproach. *' So far your Lordships' administration is jnst and reasonable." **So far back as in Governor Burnett's time (son to the excellent historian of his own times,) there were financial difficulties in Massachus- sets. They would not allow the Governor any fixed salary, only what they pleased yearly ; and when he tried to indemnify himself by imposing a duty on vessels leaving the harbour, he was complained of to the King: the controversy lasted till his death, when, as Sir Walter Scott informs us, the Assembly relented in their resentment, and erected a monument to his memory." "And so would the Assembly of Lower Canada to your Lordship, were your Lordship, unfortunately for the country, called hence. But while the Constitution remains as it is, no end to financial controversy will ever be found— tt ia impossible. For if your Lordslrip were to concede the Crown duties, some other topic fruitful in discord would supply their place— perhaps the Post Office revenue — perhaps a thousand other mat- ters to which importance enough would be given to cause dissension.— Your Lordship may yet see the day when the New England States and the great State of New York, will recede from their union with the South and the West, and being joined with these Colonies form an integral por- tion of the ecu < try of their fafbers, Great Britain and Ireland." ** Those who choose to doubt the possibility of a cordial re-union be- tween Britain and her New England Colonies, on the ground that the latter are wedded to republicanism will be pleased to look back into the volume of English History, and they will find that Britain was nearly as long a Republic, under the protectorate of Cromwell, as New England has been a Democracy under the United States, and that the people got so tind of Republicamtm that they have preferred a limited Monarchy ever stnce »t upplies, Id place e mercy Lhe Offi- Id place )opulace the rich liserable le." • excellent issachus- nly what mposing ie King: ; informs onument hip, were lut while will ever cede the ily their ler mat- Insion.— jates and le South ;ral por- lion be' Ithat the into the rly as Ingland got so bfty ever 35 it' ' With an Aristocracy of more imperishable materials than at pre* sent exists^with a Ruler less responsible, less liable to be changed at the caprice of the opposition for the time being— and with a House of Repre* sentatives less trammelled by countervailing State laws, the United States might prosper. But it is with me one of the strongest arguments which can be adduced against the abolition of the British primogeniture laws, that in those Republics where they have been abolished, and where more equalizing laws of inheritance obtain, a less independent and less valuable class of persons usurp the places of the country gentleman of education, manly principle, and honorable family." • •««•••• ** When I established this newspaper in May 1 824, I sent the first number to your Lordship. In my earliest address to the public I avowed the principles by which I was actuated as a British born Subject, and although I say it, and say it with regret, that I have been too often led into useless arguments upon the local and personal disputes of individuals upon the measures of the Provincial Government, and even upon still more trivial subjects, when I should have devoted my Journal (as originally in- tended) to a consideration of the wealth, power and resources of my country, I can nevertheless truly declare that I have ever desired the glory and prosperity of Britain. In 1824 I stated that I preferred British to American liberty — that I thought a limited Monarchy compatible with freedom — that I disliked to hear us gibed in Congress as the distant de- pendencies of a distant Monarchy — that I would never wish to see these Colonies united to the States — that I trusted to see British America thrive and prosper full as well as these States— and that I hoped the time would arrive when Canada would be pointed out as a model for other Govern- ments — I also avowed having sworn voluntary allegiance to my King and Country." ** In these principles and these opinions I remain to this day vnehangedi and I trust I ever shall." *' That your Lordships* administration may be a means in the hand of Providence of uniting these Countries to Britain by an indissoluble tie, is the sincere and heart>felt wish of " My Lord, Your Lordships' ' Most Obed't. Humble ServU. W. L. MACKENZIE." . "York, April 23rd, 1827." ^1 36 APPENDIX M. Addreu to the King^ on the iubject of the Union ofth» Provwcei. TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. Hmt QaAclova Sovrkbioni We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Legislative Council and Commons of Upper Canada, in Provincial Parliament assem- bled, humbly beg leave to address Your Majesty, expressing the great concern which we feel at the present embarrassed state of the local Govern- raent in Your Majesty's Colony of Lower Canada. Though deeply sym- pathising with that portion jf Your Majesty's Subjects whose tranquillity has been disturbed by the long pending difficulties in that Province ; and though fully sensible how fatally our own interests and security are liable to be affectedby their possible result, we have hitherto forborne to intrude upon Your Majesty with any expression of our opinions upon the posture Of public affairs in that Colony. That we liave not now presumed to address Your Majesty in order to remark upon the policy which has been pursued in the Government of that Colony, which interposes between us and the United Kingdom, but for the purpose which more directly concerns this Province, of stating to Your Majesty our apprehension, that a mistaken view of the condition and interests of the people of Upper and Lower Canada may prompt some persons, inconsiderately, to press upon Your Majesty's Government the measure of uniting these Provinces, as a remedy for existing evils. We have for some time passed observed, that suggestions of such a nature have been publicly offered both in England and Lower Canada, and we are not surprised that our fellow Subjects of that Province, who are auffering under the present difficulties, should be willing to risk the consequences of such an experiment. They may easily persuade them- •etTW, that their situation can scarcely be rendered more embatrassing by the failure of any expedient, and they are not to be blamed, if in tiio hope of obtaining some relief by the change, they forbear to look carefully into the probable consequences of an union, to the welfare and tranquillity of this particular portion of Your Majesty's Dominions. We earnestly trust, nevertheless, that Your Majesty will graciously condescend to consider, that the political condition of four hundred thou- sand of Your Majesty's Subjects cannot be otherwise than most materially affected by so important a change in their Government. We are of opinion, that such a change would expose us to the danger of consequen- ces certainly inconvenient, and possibly most ruinous to the peace and welfare of this Country, and destructive of its connection with the Parent State. 37 nctt. ^gislatlvo ■t auem- the great I Oovtrn- ply tym- inquillity nee ; and are liable o intrude e posture [1 order to nment of dom, but stating to lition and npt some iment the 9. of such a Canada, nee, who risk the de them- alrassing if in the carefully nqnillity aciottsly ed thou- aterially ^e are of nsequen- ace and e Parent This Province we believe to be quite as large as can be effectually and conveniently ruled by one Executive Government. United with Lower Canada, it would form a territory of which the settled parts from east to west would cover an extent of eleven hundred miles, which for nearly half the year, can only be traversed by land. The opposite terri* tory of the United States, along the same extent offrontior, being divided into six States, having each an indrpendeiu Qovernment. The population which Upper Canada contains is almost without ex- ception of British descent. They spealc the same language, and have the same laws, and it is their pride that these laws are derived from their Mother Country, and are unmixed with rules and customs of foreign ori- gin. Wholly and happily free from those causes of difficulty which are found so embarrassing in the adjoining Province, we cannot but most earnestly hope, that we shall be suffered to continue so, and that Your Majesty's paternal regard for your numerous and loyal Subjects in this Colony will not suffer a doubtful experiment to be hazarded, which may be attended with consequences most detrimental to their peace, and inju- rious to the best interests of themselves and their posterity. (Signed) JOHN B. ROBINSON, Speaker, L. C, (Signed) ARCHIBALD McLEAN, Speaktr, H. At Third day of March, 1837. APPENDIX N. Reply on the subject of the Joint Addren deprecating an Union of the two Provinces. Downing Street, No. 170, SI St April, 1837. Sir, I have the honor to acltnowledge your Despatch (No. £6) of the 4th ultimo, in which you transmit to me an Address to His Majesty, from the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of Upper Canada, deprecating an Union between the two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. I beg leave to acquaint you, that having laid this Address before the King, His Majesty has been pleased to receive the same very graciously, and to command me to observe, that the project of an Union between the two Provinces, has not been contemplated by His Majesty as fit to be re- commended for the sanction of Parliament. I have, &c. Sim F. HxAD, &e. &c. &c. (Signed) GLENELG. i; n m 38 APPENDIX O. Mr, Hume** Letter to Mr. MaeJcenxie, (PublUhed by Mr. MaekaiMie, in bit " Colonial Advocuva " of !19ud Majr, 1834.) lirynntton Square, £8ih March, 18S4. Mr DxAR SiB, I lately received files of the ''Vindicator** and '' Ueformer*' Journals, and am pleased to observe that the Electors of the County of York con- tinue firm and consistent in their support to you, and that you manifest the same determined spirit of opposition to abuse and misrule. The Government and the majority of the Assembly appear to have lost that little portion of common sense and the prudence which society in general now possess, and they sacrifice the greatest of public principles in gratifying a paltry and mean revenge against you. Your triumphant election on the 16th, and ejection from the Assem- bly on the 17th, must hasten that crisis which is fast approaching in the aflbirs of the Canadas, and which will terminate in independence and freedom from the baneful domination of the Mother Country, and the tyrannical conduct of a small and despicable faction in the Colony. I regret to think that the proceedings of Mr. Stanley, which manifest as little knowledge of mankind as they prove his ignorance of the spirit and liberal feelings of the present generation, encourage your enemies to persevere in the course they have taken. But I confidently trust that the high minded people of Canada will not, in these days, be overawed, or cheated of their rights and liberties by such men. Your cause is their cause— 2^our defeat would be their subjugation. Go on, therefore, I be- seech you, and success, glorious success, n^.ust inevitably crown your joint efforts. Mr. Stanley must be taught thai ilie follies and wickedness of Mr. Pitt*8 Government, in the commencement of the French Revolution, can- not be repeated now either at home or abroad, without results very difle- rent from what then took place. The proceedings between 1772 and 178ft in America ought not to be forgotten ; and to the honor of the Americans, and for the interest of the civilized world, let their conduct and the result be ever in view. I have lately seen, with mingled feelings of pity and contempt, the attack made by Mr. Ryerson, against my public and private conduct, and also against those who generally act with me. I candidly acknowledge, that of all the renegades and apostates fron, public principle and private 39 lienor, hIiIcIi during a long course of public life I liRre known, (and with regret I aay I have iinown many) I never knew a more worthleii hypocrite or so base n man ai Mr. Uyerson iias proved himself to be. I feel pity fur him, for the sake of our common nature, to think that such human depravity should exist in an enlightened society, and I fear that the pangs of a guilty and self-condemning conscience must mak<^his venal and corrupt breast a second Hell, and, ere long, render his exisienct truly miserable. I feel utter contempt for any statement that Mr. Ryerson can makt of my private or public conduct, althougli he has had every opportunity of private intimacy and of public observation to know the truth. It is humiliating to the character of man, aye and particularly of a pretended religious man, when I recollect with what earnestness he sought and obtained my sincere and zealous assistance to forward the cause of the civil and religious liberty which he then advocated. You witnessed his exp.ession of thanks and of gratitude to me, in public and in private* ▼erbally and in writing, for the aid I had given him. You who heard hU objections to any religious sect receiving any pecuniary assistance from the State, as subversive of religion and of moral independence, must view with detestation the course which Mr. Ryerson has taken. When you recollect that I invariably treated him with kindness and attention, as the representative of a good cause, an'l of a distant people— that my time, amidst public business of importatiCt, was always given with pleasure to attend to him and the object, of his mission, you will agree with me, that the black and heartless ingratitude of such a man deserves to be received with pity and with inefTable contempt. When, moreover, it is known to you that there is not one word of truth in Mr. Ryerson*s satanic effusions, I leave his pious and religious friends in Canada to unmask the hypocrite and thr(^ him, as he deserves to be, an outcast from every honest society. In the hope that I shall never again meet with so abandoned a charac- ter as Mr. Ryerson has proved himself to be, and trusting that the people of Canada, in vindication of truth and of honor, will treat him as he de- serves, I remain. Yours* sincerely, JOSEPH HUME. P. S.— The people in Lower Canada are taking the means of forcing their affairs on the Government, and will I hope succeed. w. U. To W. L. Mackenzie, Esq. M.P. Yorh Upper Canada. It ^ i": ' 'ym 40 APPENDIX P. From the *' Constitution:' ofZQth November, 1837. (Publiahod by Mr. Mackenzie.) THE C ONSTITU TION. "It is impossible to suppose the Canadians dread your power. It is not easy to believe that the abstract duty of loyalty, as distinguished from the sentiment of loyalty, can be very strongly felt. The right of rejecting European dominion has been 'j often asserted in North and South America, that revolt can scarcely be esteemed in those Continents as cri- minal or disgraceful. Neither does it seem to me that a sense of national pride and importance is m your favor. It cannot be regarded as an envi- able distinction to remain the oii!^ dependent portion of the new wo'.d. Your dominion rests upon the habit of subjection ; upon the ancient affec- tion fcit by the Colonists for their Mother Country ; upon their confidence in your justice, and upon the persuasion that they have a dir«>ct interest m maintaining th«9 connsction.*' — Evidence given hy James Stephen, jun* Assistant Secretary of State for tie Colonies, before the Howe of Commons Committee on the Government of Canada, 1828. "We never were placed in so critical a situation— there never was a moment in which it was so necessary to be vigilant, but temperate.— Tempe.ate, because there is so much to cheer ; vigilant, becau&e there is rcuson to ap),.-ehend delusion and contrivance. I speak as delicately as I can ; but this one truth should never be forgotten — that Ireland never yet confided but she was betrayed."— O'ConneZ/'a Letter tc Edward Dtvyer^ Esq.f Bth February, 1829. Toronto, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 1837. PROVINCIAL COWENTION. The Convention appointed to meet this winter for the purpose of taki'.g into consideration the state of the Country, w:ll hold its first sitting in Toronto City, at ten o'clock in the forenoon of Thursday the 21st of December next. W. L. MACKENZIE, Corresponding Sec'y. Central Union* The news from Montreal we derive chiefly from the Tory papers— but although they conceal many facts, and although their accounts, like Napoleon's bulletins, are colored " for effect (i!»cwheTev" wo feel it to bu 41 1 837. pose of jsitting a St of iion. )ers— ^, like to bvi our dutjr to lay them,before oir readers, with this addition, that there is every probability that er*" now Montreal is either in the hands of the Cana- "lians, and Sir John nd his mer driven towards the four winds of heaven, OR IT IS IN A^jHES. We have before said, and we here repeat the opinion, that neither 1,000 men<^no, nor 10,000 men, would he able to stand a month against the Canadian people, united and determined to be free. They have waited sixty years longer than the rest of America for British justice, and have met with injury and insult. They have the solemn pledge of the British King and the Parliament of Britain, made in an hour of danger and humiliation, that never again would that King and that Parliament taLe their money without their consent. Have not the Crown and its Alinlisters shewn, by their late attempt and resolutions tu rob them of their money, that British hjnur and British justice are miserable bywords when applied to the Colonies in America ? As Ireland was coerced for 1,000 years so would they now coerce, first Lower Canada, and us next. But, thank God for inspiring the Canadians with valour in an houe'-vt and heavenly cause — they know the value of FREEDOM, and they will make that greatest of blessings theirs. Will England War with them? Vote money to deluge their land with blood? Tax h^r peopie to oppress her remaining possessions in America ? No, indeed, tiicre is no fear of that. The men who send the Members to Parliament nOw are the tax t^jyers who .would directly have o bear the fifty million burthen of an unsuccessful crusade against liberty — the men who own the ships engaged in the Canadian and West India trade — and the men who em~ ploy the labourers and mechanics engaged in the manufacture of hard> ware, dry goods, iron, stationary, md a thousand other things for the meridians of Quebec and Toronto. These men see the revenue of Eng- land falling off, eight millions of dollars in one quarter this year, as com- pared with ihe same quarter in the last, they see their commerce dwindling into doubt and uncertainty, by the agitation aud coercion of the present and past years — the prospect of war in Canada might be expended to a war all ove- this northern Continent — and the addition of fifty millions to t^e national debt would add to burthens already almost unbearable, while a protracted contest would make permanent enemies of those who might soon be otherwise made friends. England will never send a Soldier to America for the purpose of conquest. • #•#■••• The reader should recollect that we are not situated like the old Colonies. They had •'^OO.OOO merciless savages, furnished by Brithh gold and British cruelty, with tomahawks to scalp our countrymen, on their frontier, on the one side; and they liad 1,400 miles ofexposed frontier on SlSH 43 the sea-board, to any part of winch British ships and soldiers could easily approach, and kill, wound, burn and destroy. But there is no approach- ing us with hostile forces. Only three quarters of a mile are open on the St. Lawrence, below Quebec, the strength of which is greatly overrated i on the north we have eternal frosts, and rocks, and forests; and on the west and south we have the free Republics. The Indians, few in number, are our firm friends ; and, with the exception of a miserable minority of trembling Officials, we have no enemies of freedom in the Canadas. We do not mean to deny that there are tories. But will they dare to lift a musket against their country ? Will they touch Head's guns and pikes and swo|[ds and spears, imported to shed the blood of their friends and neighbours ? No, not they. They are proprietors. They have read the lessons of history. They well know that reformers seek no man's wealth— no man's substance— no man's fair fields. But they also know that if found in the act of fighting against the people, to uphold despotism, they voold lose their lands, be banished the country as traitors, and their Wealth used to defray the expense of the unnatural and cruel contest their covetcusness had given rise to. Some say the Orangemen will assist in ioTOfiri^ Canada in civil war, and will stand by Head in coercing the nit of .tb^ people. The Orangemen, as compared to the whole people, are jbot. 4 handful, and many of them own land, which it would be incon- venient with them tr part with, by fighting against the cause for which their forefathers spiK their blood — "British Freedom"— the boon we all seek. Besides, the Queen and her Ministers treat them with contempt, disgrace their leaders, and turn them and their principles into ridicule,^ because they are weak in Ireland. The Catholics it is unnecessary to say any thing of. When was an Irish Catholic found in the ranks of tyranny? * • • • I '# uld easily approach- pen on the »verrated i nd on the n number, linority of ladas. ley dare to I guns and eir friends ' have read I no man's also know despotism, I, and their ontest their ill assist in lercing the ale people, 1 be incon- i for which ion we all contempt, io ridicule,^ icessary to ranks of I ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS, Not particularly referred to i?i the Report^ but appended by the Committee^ as affording information on the subjects treated of. Ihe following was circulat«.'d in a hand-bill by Mr. McKeozie, among his followers, immediately before the outbreak of Rebel- lion in Upper Canada. INDEPENDENCE! There have been Nineteen Strikes for Independence from European Tyranny^ on the Continent of America, They were all 5kc- cessful ! The Tories^ thsrefore, by helping us will help them' selves. The nations are iaUen, fuid thou still art young, Thy sun is but rlsiiif when others have set; And tho' Slavery's cloud o'er thy morning hath hung, The full tide of Freedom shall beam round thee yet. BRAVE CANADIANS! God has put into the bold and honest henrts of our brethren in Lower Canada to revolt— not against " lawful" but against " unlawful authority." The law says we shall not be taxed vlthout our consent by the voices of the men of our choice, but a wicked tjr tyrannical government has trampled upon that law — robbed the ex- ! >.quer — divided the plunder — and declared that, regardless of justice they will continue to roll their splendid carriages, and riot in their palaces, at our expense — that we are poor spiritless ignorant peasants, who were born to toil for our betters. But the peasants are beginning to open their eyes and to feel their strength — too long have they been hoodwinked by Baal's priests — by hired and tampered with preachers, wolves in i>heep*s clothing, who take the wages of sin, and do the work of iniquity, " each one look- ing to his gain in his quarter." Canadians ! Do you love freedom ? I know you do. Do you hate oppression? Who dare deny it? Do you wish perpetual peace, and a government founded upon the eternal heaven-born principle of the Lord # 44 Jeiut Christ— a government bound to enforce the law to do to each other as you would be done by ? Then buckle on your armour, and put down the villains who oppress and enslave our country — pu^ them down in tho name of that God who goes forth with the armies of his people, and whose bible shows us that it is by the same human means whereby vou put to death thieves and murderers, and imprison and banish wicked individuals, that you must put down, in the strength of the Almighty, those governments which, like these bad individuals, trample on the law, and destroy its usefulness. You give a bounty for wolves' scalps. Why ? because wolves harrass you. The bounty you must pay for freedom (blessed word) is to give the strength of your arms to put down tyranny at Toronto. One short hour will deliver our country from the oppressor ; and freedom in religion, peace and tranquillity, equal laws and an im- proved country will ) 'he prize. We contend, that in all laws made, or to be made, every [v. .hall be bound alike — neither should any tenure, estate, charter, deg je, birth or place, confer any exemption from the ordinary course of legal proceedings and responsibilities whereunto others are subjected. Canadians ! God has shown that he is with our brethren, for he has given them the encouragement of success. Captains, Colonels, Volun- teers, Artillerymen, Privates, the base, the vile hirelings of our unlawful oppressors, have already bit the dust in hundreds in Lower Canada ; and altho* the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Bishops and Archdeacons, are bribed by large sums of money to instruct their flocks that they should be obedient to a government which defies the law, and is therefore unlaw- ful, and ought to be put down, yet God has opened the eyes of the people to the wickedness of these reverend sinners, so that they hold them in deri- sion, just as God's prophet Elijah did the priests of Baal of old and their sacrifices. Is there any one afraid to go to fight for freedom, let him remember, that God sees with equal eye, as Lord of all, A Hero perish, or a Sparrow Tall : That the power that protected ourselves and cur forefathers in the deserts of Canada — that preserved from the Cholera those whom He would — that brought us safely to this continent through the dangers of the Atlantic waves— aye, and who has watched over us from infancy to manhood, will be in the midst of us in the day of our struggle for our liberties, and for Governors of our free choice, who would not dare to trample on the laws they had sworn to maintain. In the present struggle, we may be sure, that if we do not rise and put down Head and his lawless myrmidons, they will gather ail the rogues and villains in the Country ^^1 ich other )ui down vn in the iple, and reby voii li wicked Ll mighty, I the law, i. Why? - freedom yranny at ppressor ; id an im- [ws made, nould any uion from ^hereunto for he has Is, Volun- • unlawful lada ; and |acons, are ey should ire unlaw- he people Im in deri- and their , let him >rs in the irhom He jingers of 1 fancy to |e for our dare to [struggle, Is lawless Country 45 together— arm them— and then deliver our farms, our families, and our country to their brutality — to that it has come, we must put them down, or they will utterly destroy this cou try. If we move naw, as one man, to crush the tyrant's power, to establish free institutions founded on God's law, we will prosper, for He who commands the winds and waves will be with us— but if we are cowardly and mean-spirited, a woeful and a dark day is surely before us. Canadians ! The struggle will be of short duration in Lower Canada, for the people are united as one man. Out of Montreal and Quebec, they are as 100 to 1— here we reformers are as 10 to 1— and if we rise with one consent to overthrow despotism, we will make quick work of it. Mark all those who join our enemies — act as spies for them — fight for them — or aid them — these men's properties shall pay the expense of the struggle — they are traitors to Canadian Freedom, and as such we will deal with them. Canadians ! It is the design of the Friends of Liberty to give several hundred acres to every Volunteer — to root up the unlawful Canada Company, and give FREE DEEDS to all settlers who live on their lands— to give free gifts of the Clergy Reserve lots, to good citizens who have settled on them — and the like to settlers on Church of England Glebe Lots, so that the yeomanry may feel independent, and be able to improve the country, instead of sending the fruit of their labour to foreign lands. The 57 Rectories will be at once given to the people, and all public lands used for Education, Internal Improvements, and the public good. £100,000 drawn from us in payment of the salaries of bad men in office, will be reduced to one quarter, or much less, and the remainder will go to improve bad roads and to " make crooked paths straight ;'' law will be ten times more cheap and easy — the bickerings of priests will cease with the funds that keeps them up — and men of wealth and property from other lands will soon raise our farms to four times their present value. We have given Head and his employers a trial of 45 years — five years longer tnan the Israelites were detained in the wilder- ness. The promised land is now before us — up then and take it — but set not the torch to one house in Toronto, unless we are fired at from the; houses, in which case self-preservation will teach us to put down those who would murder us when up in the defence of the laws. There are some rich men now, as there were in Christ's time, who would go with us in prosperity, but who will skulk in the rear, because of their large possessions — mark them ! They are those who in after years will seek to corrupt our people, and change free institutions into an aristocracy of wealth, to grind the poor, and make laws to fetter their energies. S 44 Mark mt words Cakadiani ! The struggle is begun— it might end in freedom— but timidity, coward- Ice, or tampering on our part, will only delay its close. We cannot be reconciled to Britain— -we have humbled ourselves to the Pharoah of England, to the Ministers, and great people, and they will neither rule us justly nor let us go — we are deterniiiied never to rest until indepen-* denue is ours — the prize is a splendid one. A country larger than France or England, natural resources equal to our most boundless wishes ; a government of equal laws— religion pure and undefiled— 'perpetual peace— education to all— millions of acres of lands for revenue— freedom from British tribute— free trade with all the world — but stop— I never could enumerate all the blessings attendant on independence ! Up then, brave Canadians ! Get ready your rifles, and make short work of it ; a connection with England would involve us in all her wars, undertaken for her own advantage, never for ours; with governors from England, we will have bribery at elections, corruption, villainy and per- petual discord in every township, but Independence would give us the means of enjoying many blessings. Our enemies in Toronto are in terror and dismay — they know their wickedness and dread our vengeance. Fourteen armed men were sent out at the dead hour of night, by the traitor Qurnett, to drag to a felon's cell, the sons of our worthy and nohle minded brother departed, Joseph Sheppard, on a simple and frivolous charge of trespass, brdught by a tory fool ; and though it ended in smoke, it ahevred too evidently Head's feelings. Is there to be an end of these things 7 Aye, and now's the day and the hour ! Woe be to those who oppose us, for '* In God is our trust." - im Government House, 9lh December, 1837. F. B. Head. mUTIA GENERAL ORDER. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor apprehends, from recent accounts, that it may be necessary for the Militia of this Piovince to unite their efforts to those of their brave and loyal fellow-subjects of Lower Canada, in order to put down Rebellion, and to maintain the integrity of the Glorious Empire of Great Britain. His Excellency therefore directs^ that upon the requisition of the Commander of Her Majesty^s Forces in Lower Canada, the oward- mot be oah of ler rule iilepen« !r than wishes ; irpetual reedom I never (e short er wars, jrs from ind per- e us the J are in igeance. le traitor minded arge of Doke, it of these lose who from of this loyal )eUion, Great >n of la, the it Colondl or Officer commanding any Regiment of Militia in the Bathurtt, Johnstown, Ottawa or Eastern Districts respeclivoly, shall take all the measures in his power, agreeably to (he Militia Laws of the Province, for furnishing whatever number of men may be required for Militnry Service, in aid of the Queen*s Forces or the Militia of Lower Canada, iu either Province. His Excellency relics upon the zeal, loyalty and bravery, of the Militia of Upper Canada, fur rendering efTriclual service to their Sovereign, and maintaining that character which His Excel- lency is aware has distinguished them wherever they have been called into the field. His Excellency is further pleased to authorise the forming of any Independent Volunteer Companies, for the above service. PETITION Addressed to Colonel MacNab, by Rebels in the London District. To Allan Napier MacNah^ Esquire^ Colonel Commanding the Queen's Forces in the London District, ^c. Sfc, ^c. The humble Petition of certain inhabitants of the Township df Norwich, lately in arms against the Government of this Provin<:o->- SnEWETu: — That we, your petitioners, being truly sensible of the great error and wickedness which we have lately committed, In taking up arms against Her Majesty*s Government — a Government on whose part we do not pretend to say that we have any real wrongs or grievances to complain of, — but we have been led away by Charles Duncombe, Eliakim Malcolm, and other wicked and designing leaders, who have induced im by promise of large grants of land and great pay for our services, to take up arms against Her Majes- ty's Government, and who have now basely deserted us, and left us to answer with our lives and properties for those crimes which they have themselves committed— do therefore most humbly beseech you, Sir, to take our case into your kind consideration, and ta inter- cede with His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of this Proving, to grant us a pardon for our offences. ill ''^ 4S We acknowledge ourselves to be completely subdued, and we throw ourselves entirely upon your mercy ; and wo hereby promisOi one and all, if such mercy be extended to us, that we will from henceforth live as peaceable and loyal subjects to the Government of Her Majesty Queen Victoria — and that we will not only bring in our arms, but also use our utmost endeavours to apprehend the ringleaders of the late insurrection, and bring them to justice. We are thus induced to address you, Sir, not only from the exalted position which you hold as the first Commoner in the land, and Commander of the Queen's Forces in this pai t of the Province, but also from our knowledge of your kind and benevolent dispo- sition, of which we have had ample proof in the protection of the lives and properties of the inhabitants, since your arrival amongst us, and which we trust you will exert in our behalf, to relieve us from our present unfortunate situation : And we, your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. Signed by one hundred and three petitioners. PROCLAMATION. Three hundred Acres of the most valuable Lands in Canada, ivill be given to each Volunteer who may join the Patriot Forces now encamped on Navy Island, U. C. Also, $100 in silver, payable on or before the 1st of May next. By order of the Committee of the Provincial Government. W. L. MACKENZIE, Chairman Pro, Tern, Navy Island, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 1837. SPECIAL MESSAGE, From the Honorable W, L. Marcy^ Governor of the State of New Ydrkt on the subject of the capture of the Piratical Steam Boat ** Caroline:' To THE Legislature : I received last evening, after my annual message was prepared, information of an occurrence, which I hasten to communicate to you. and we romise, ill from 'inment y bring end the :e. rom the lie land, rovince, it dispo- (1 of the amongst ilieve us itioners, Canada, Forces silver, lent. [E, |o. Tern. ^fNew Boat ppared, ;ate to 40 The teriltory of this State has been invaded, and some of our citizens murdered, by an armed force from the Province of Upper Canada. By the documents accompanying tliis communication it wiU be perceived, (hat the steam-boat Caroline, owned by one of our citi- zens, while lying at Schlosser, on the Niagara river, within the limits of the State, on the night of the 29th December last, was forcibly seized by a party of seventy or eighty armed mi^n in boats, which came from and returned to the Canadian shore. The crew and other persons in this steam-boat, amounting to thirty-three, were suddenly attacked at midnight, after they had retired to repose, and probably more than one-third of them wantonly massacred.— The boat was detached from the wharf to which it had been secured — ^et on fire — taken into tlie middle of the river, and by the force of its current carried over the Niagara Falls. Twelve of the persons who were on board of it are missing, and there is ground to fear they were killed by the invaders in their attack upon ir, or perished in its descent over the cataract. Of those who escaped from the boat one was killed on the wharf, and several others were wounded. I am warranted in assuring you, that the authorities not only of this State, but of the United States, have felt an anxious solid- tade to maintain the relations of peace and strict neutrality with the British Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, at all times since the commencement of the civil disturbances therein ; and have in all respects done what was incumbent upon them to do, to sustain these relations. The occurrence to which I have alluded is an out- rage that has not been provoked by any act done or duty neglected, by the Government of this State or of the Union. If it should ap- pear that this boat was intended to be used for the purpose of keep- ing, up an intercourse between this State and Navy Island, which is DOW held by an assemblage of persons in defiance of the Canadian Government, this circumstance would furnish no justification for the hostile invasion of our territoiy, and the destruction of the lives of our citizens. The General Government is entrusted with the main- tenance of our foreign relations, and will undoubtedly take the necessary steps to redress the wrong, and sustain the honor of the country. 60 Though I have received no official information of the fact, I btTt good reaion to believe that the local authorities of this State have taken prompt and efficient meant, not only to protect our toil from further invasion, but to repress any reinlialive measures of aggression which our citizens, under the impulse of deeply excited •nd indignant feelings, might riislily resolve to adopt. The patriotic Militia in (he vicinity of tLe scene of the outrage, have obeyed with alacrity the cull which has been made upon them for these purposes. It will, probably, be necessary for this State to keep up a mili- tary force for the protection of our citisens, and the maintenance of peace, until an opportunity is given to the General Government to interfere with its power, (n that event, I apprehend that it will be necessary for you to provide by law, for the payment and main- tenfiDce of such forces as the occasion may require. I shall doulJess, within a short lime, receive official iuforma- tion of what the local authorities have done, and shall be better enabled to form an opinion of what will be necessary on the part of the State, to preserve our rights and the public tranquillity. 1 shall then communicate further with you on the subject, and suggest such matters in relation to it as may require your consideration. (Signed) W. L. MARCY. Albanjf, January 2ad, 1838. m w^ m MESSAGE HlflihA President of the United States^ on the euhjeet of the Capture of the Piratical Steam- Boat ** Caridine.** HOQSS OF KEPRE8ENTATIVES. Monday, January 8. The following message in writing was received from the Pre* «M«Rt of the United States: To the Senate and House of Representativeif United States : Id the highly excited state of feeling on the northern froiitier, •oeeasioned by the disturbances in Canada, it was to be apprehended fact, I ii State our toil lures of excited outragei oil tliem ) a mili- nance of iment to xi it will id roain- iii forma- te better le part of 1 shall rest such RCY. Capiun ry 8. he Pre- 61 that causes of complalut might arise on the line dividing the United States from Her Britannic Majesty's dominions. Every precaution was therefore lalien on our part authorized by the existing laws, and as the troops of the Provinces wore embodied on the Canadian side, it is to be hoped that nu seiiouii viuhilioii of the rights of the United Stales would be perntitlud to occur. 1 regret, however, to inform you, that an ouinige of a most ag(;!;i-avated character lias been com- mitted, accompanied by a hustilo tliough temporary invasion of our territory, producing the strongest feelings of rcsuntnient on the part of our citizens in the neighbuui hood, and in tlio whole border line, and ihat the excitement previously existing had been alarmingly in- creased. To guard against the possible recurrence of any similar act, I have thought it indispensable to call out a portion of the mill* tia to be posted on that frontier. The documents herewith pre- sented to Congress, will show the character of the outrage committed, the measures taken in consequence of its occurrence, and the neces- sity of resorting to ihem. It will also be seen that the subject was immediately brought to the notice of the British Minister accredited to this country, and the proper steps taken on our part to obtain the fullest information of atl the circumstances leading to and attendant upon the transaction, preparatory to a demand fur reparation.* I ask such appropi iaiioni as the circumstances in which our country is thus unexpectedly placed require. M. VAN BURfiN. Washington, Jan. 8, 1838. nfirontiir, »heDded LETTER, From Mr, Forsyth to Mr, Fox^ rdating to the capture of the Piratical Steam-boat "Caroline** Department of State, Washington, January 5, 1838. Si«, By the direction of the President of the United States, I have the honor to communicate to you a copy of the evidence furnished 'to this Department, of an extraordinary outrage committed from 53 '1; :' ■ ^ i r ll«r Biltannlc Majeity*« Province of Upper Canada, on the persona and property of citizens of tho United States, within the jurisdiction of the State of New-Yorlt. Tlie destruction of the property, and assassination of citizens of the United States on the soil of New- York, ut the moment when, as is well known to you, the President was anxiously endeavouring to alluy the excitement, und earnestly aeeking to prevent ony unfortunute occurrence on the frontier of Canada, has produced upon his mind the most painful emotions of •urprise and regret. It will necessarily form the subject of a demand for redress upon Her Mojesty^s Government. This communication is made to you under the expectation that through your instrumen- tality, an early explanation may be obtained from the authorities of Upper Canada, of all tho circumstances of the transaction ; and that, by your advice to those authorities, sue!: decisive precautions moy be used us will render the perpetration of similar acts hereafter impossible. Not doubting the disposition of the Government of Upper Canada to do its duty in punishing the aggressors, and preventing future outrage, the President, notwithstanding, has deemed it neces- sary to order a sufficient force upon the frontier, to repel any attempt of a like character, and to make known to you that if it should occur, he cannot be answerable for the effects of the indig- nation of the neighbouring people of the United States. I tako this occasion to renew t? you the assurance of my dis- tinguished consideration. JOHN FORSYTH. To Henry S. Fox, Esq. &c. SPEECH Of Mr, Rhetff Senator^ South Carolina^ in the. United States Senate^ on the subject of the capture of the ^^ Caroline,''* Mr. Rbett deprecated any premature expression of opinion on the subject. He thought the House should, in the first place, look at the matter calmly, and ascertain who was to blame. One gentle- man has said it was the fault of the Administration, another gentle- pertoni idictioD rty, and ,f New- resident aruettly mlier of >tions of demand inication trumen- irities of on ; and )cau(ion8 hereafter ►f Upper reventiog it neces- )pel any hat if it e indig- |my dis- 'H. States i> men on te, look gentle- I gentle- jpt- ' 2i.- 63 man hud laid it nil on Great Britain, while olheri had taken a diflff rent view. Under these circuinstuncei, ho considered it highly important ih Province being invaded and assailed by I lecog- look to Inef- xistence , before 3 British that t)iis ibnders, sure that ' nalioDS. duubied i himself )f all the IS of the d get all defiance I. le cause. p genera- ispecially sed apoa r;nt. In ad been Bggres- y urging upright, ightened Council lation of /ouncil, tiled by 55 a foreigu enemy, and being the scone of actual military operations, Colonel Foster, the Oflicer in command of Her Majesty's land forces, bus assumed the entire militiiry authority and command over the troops; that he is also in command of the militia ; and that the Commissary General at Quebec lias communicated to the Officer in charge of the Commissariat here, that consistently with the rules of the Service, no expenses can be allowed unless sanctioned by the anthorily of the Military Commander, upon whom the protection of the Province has thus necessarily devolved. The Lieutenaut Governor takes this opportunity to communi- cate to tiie Legislative Council, tb^t having had the misfortune to differ from Her Majesty's Governmeiit, on one or two points of Colonial policy, he felt it his duty, on the lOth of September last, respectfully to tender to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, the resignation of the important station which for a short time he has had the honor to hold in this Province. His resignation having been graciously accepted, the Lieuten- ant Governor has to inform the Legislative Council, that he yester- day received official information that Her Maje ty has been pleased to appoint Colonel Sir George Arthur, to be ijieuteuant Governor of Upper Canada, and that His Excellency may be expected to arrive here in a few days. Under the peculiar circumstances in which the Province is at present placed, the Lieutenant Governor feels confident, that the Legislative Council will rejoice with him at the approaching arrival of an Officer of high character and considerable experience, whose rank iia the army will enable him to combine the military command with the Civil Government of this Province. Government Houses l5lh Januury, 1333. [A similar message to the House of Assembly.] 56^ To His Excellency Sir Francis Bond Head, Baronet^ Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order ^ Knight of the Prussian Military Order of Merits Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, Sfc. Sfc. Sfc, May it please Your Excellency ; We Her Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, in Provincial Parliament assembled, beg to return our respectful thanks to Your Excellency for communi- cating to us the fact, which is at this crisis particularly important, that by the regulations of Her Majesty's Service the command of the troops, and of the militia employed in defence of this Province, can not be united in Your Excellency *s person with the administra- tion of the Civil Government. If Your Excellency were to continue to represent Her Majesty in this Colony, we are persuaded, that under prosent circumstances, such a sepaiation of the civil power from the military command would be likely to lead to very unfortunate results, since military rank and experience, although they are by no means incompatible with the peculiar qualifications which are requisite to give confidence, animation and effect, to the military force, are not always to be found united with them. We beg to assure Your Excellency that we learn with extreme regret, that the Civil Government of this Province is to continue for so short a time in Your Excellency's charge. — It is not known to us upon what particular points Your Excellency's views have differed so essentially from those of Her Majesty's Government that Your Excellency was induced to tender your resignation ; but we know, that at no period in the history of Upper Canada has its political condition been such as ought to be more satisfactory to the Ministers of the Crown : and we feel that not Upper Canada only, but the Empire, owes to Your Excellency a large debt of gratitude, for your firm and manly avowal, upon all occasions, of those senti- ments which became the Representative of a British Monarch, and for the unwavering support which Your Excellency has never failed to give to the established principles of the Constitution. It is this fearless adherence to right principles, rather than to expediency, which has enabled Your Excellency to rally round the ^nighi Knight wemor islative ed, beg Timuni- )ortant, land of ovince, I'mistra- Majesty stances, :)mmand military npatible ifidence, ys to be extreme ontinue known \vs have rnment ■on ; but has its y to the la onlv, atitude, e sentt- ch, and r failed [than to ind the 67 Governraent, in a moment of danger, the arms of an united people ; and to exhibit this Province to our Sovereign and to the world, in a posture which must command for its brave and loyal inhabitants the highest admiration and respect. If the result of Your Excellency's firm and uncompromising policy shall impress upon Her Majesty's Government the conviction, that they need not fear to support in Upper Canada the principles of the Biitish Constitution, it will have produced an effect of infinite value to this Colony ; and will have supplied what we believe has been chiefly wanting to insure its permanent tranquillity. But the Legislative Council cannot refrain fiom expressing the regret with which they have observed, in the case of Your Excel* lency, and of your respected and gallant Predecessor, that your con- nection with the Government of this Colony has seemed incapable of being protracted, with satisfaction to yourselves, beyond the period when it became evident that no submission would be made by you to a spirit of factious discontent, which nothing can appease but the destruction of British rule. We beg Your Excellency to believe, that the Legislative Council will ever entertain a grateful recollection of the justice and condescension which they have always ' 1 occasion to acknowledge in their intercourse with Your Excellently and ihat tlity participate deeply in the feeling of general regret at Your Excellency's np- proaching departure from this Province. JOHN B. ROBINSON, Speaker. Legislative Council Chamber, ' 17th day of January, 1838. To His Excellency Sir Francis Bond Head, Baronet, Kf . U Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order ^ Knight of the Prussian Military Order of Merits Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, Sfc. S^c, SfC» May it please Your Excellency : We Her Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commons House of Assembly, in Provincial Parliament assembled, humbly thank Your Excellency forlTour Excellence's message of the 15th i"! : ; a.r''" Mm mm inslFant, commuiiicatiug to this House, thut " in consequence of this *' Province being invaded and assailed by a foreign enemy, and *' being ilie scene of at.ual military operations, Colonel Foster, the *• Officer in command of Iler Majesty's hind forces, has assumed " the entire military authority and command over the troops — that " he is also in comnnnd of the militia, and that the Commissary •' General ut Quebec lias communicated to the Officer in charge of " the Commissariat here, thut consistently with the rules of the Ser- " vice, iio expenses can be allowed unless sanctioned by the autho- "riiy of the Military Commander, upon whom the protection of the " Province l^as thus necessarily devolved." In reference to this subject, we can only express our earnest hope that this regulation, which the rules of the Service appear to have rendered necessary, may in no respect impair the efficiency of the operations hitherto planned and directed by Your Excellency, with so much success fur the preservation aiid defence of the Pro- vince against the attack of foreign and domestic enemies. We are furlher informed by Your Excellency, that having had the misfortune to differ from Her Majesty's Government on one or two points of Colonial policy, Your Excellency felt it your duly, on the lOih of September last, respectfully to tender to Her Majes- ty's Principr.I Secretary of Stale for the Colonies, the resignation of the important station which for a short time Your Excellency has had the honor to hold in this Piovince, and that Your Excellency's resignation had been graciously accepted. When this House recalls to recollection the events of Your Excellency's administration of the affairs of this Province — the uni- versal respect and confidence with which you are regarded, arising from Your Excellency's firm and uncompromising adherence to the principles of the Constitution, and which has afforded to the inhabi- tants of this Colony various opportunities of proving, not by words merely, but by acts the most convincing and undeniable, their firm unshaken loyalty to their Sovereign, aii.l their desire to maintain their connection with the Parent State, in < ontradiction to assertions and insinuations of a contrary tendency, wo cannot I ut view with alarm the disclosure now made, that Your Excellency has felt your- self called upon to resign the administration of the Government, on the grounds stated in Your Excellency message. If Your Excellency's measures and policy have not given satis- faction to our Gracious Queen, we are driven to enquire, in the most humble and respectful, but solemn manner, what course of policy it is that is expected by Her Majesty, from I jr Majesty's Representative in this Province? Deeply impressed with the duty of submission to the Constitutional exercise of the Royal Preroga- tive, we do not question the right of the Sovercis^n to select Her Represenlalives in this or any other Colony of the Empire — but h:- if 69 the le uni- iintain ;rlioiis with your- int} oa satis- lin the Irse of jesty's duty )roga- ttHer i— but we nevertheless feel ourselves impelled by a sense of duty, suggested by a desire to maintain our allegiance, (and wl.ich, on our part, cau never be laid aside or forgotten,) humbly, but earnestly and emphati- cally to declare, that if any thing be cnlculated to shako tho attach- ment of Her Majesty's no\y truly loyal and devoted Subjects to Her Royal Person and Government, it is by acts of injustice, or the manifestation of ungenerous distrust towards Servants who have served the British Nation so faithfully and nobly as Your Excel- lency has done. It will be the duty of this House, before the close of the present Session, and when more fully informed of facts, to express more at large the feelings and opinions they entertain on this painfully interesting and important subject. In the mean time, we beg to assure Your Excellency, that this House, and the people of the Province, will regard Your Excel- lency's relinquishment of its Government as a calamity of the roost serious nature, and which may result in difHciilties and dissensions that cannot be easily repaired or reconciled. We however are fully persuaded, that the blame cannot rest with Your Excellency; and while we sincerely and most willingly acknowledge the zeal, ability, justice and honorable disinte. . tedness, with which you have con ducted the Government of this Province, durin» your short but eventful and arduous administration of its affairs, we beg respectfully and affectionately to express, on behalf of this Province, our earnest hope, that Your Excellency's prosperity in future life may be com- mensurate with the claims, deep and lasting as they are, upon our gratitude — the approbation of our Gracious Queen — and the ap- plause and acknowledgment of the British Nation. H. RUTTAN. Speaker. Commons House of Assembly ^ l6th day of January, 1838. EXTRACT From the speech of Mr, Papineau to the Electors of the West Ward of Montreal, in July 1820, when he was returned^ loith Mr. Garden ^ without opposition. " Not many days have elapsed since we assembled on this spot for the same purpose as that which now calls us together — the choice of Representatives. The opportunity of that choice being caused by a great national calamity, the decease of that beloved Sovereign who had reigned over the inhabitants of this country since the day they became British Subjects, it is impossible not to express the feeling of gratitude for the many benefits received from him, and those of sorrow for his loss, so deeply felt in this, as 60 {■mi iliV' in every other portion of iiis extensive dominions. And liow could it be otiierwise, wliun eacii year of his long reii;n lius been rourlied l)y new favours bestowed upon (he country. To enumerate these, and to detail the history of this country for so many yeais, would occupy more lime than can be spared by those whom I have the honor to address. Suffice it, then, at a glance, to compare our present happy situn-tion with that of our fathers on the eve of the day, when George the Third became their legitimate monarch. Suffice it to recollect, that under the French Government (internally and externally arbitrary and oppressive) the interests of this country had been more frequently neglected and mal-adminislered than any other part of its depcrdencies. In its estimation, Canada seems not to have been considered as a country which, from fertility of soil, salubrity of cP'nate, and extent of territory, might have been the peaceful abode of a numerous and happy population ; but as a military post, whose feeble garrison was condemned to live in a state of perpe'...wl warfare and insecurity — frequent suffering from famine — without trade, or with a trade monopolized by privileged con" anies — public and private property often pillaged, and personal liberty daily violated — when year after year the handful of inhabi- tants settled in this Province were dragged from their homes and families, to shed their blood, and carry murder and havoc from the shores of the great lakes, the Mississippi and the Ohio, to those of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay. Such was the situation of our fithers : — behold the change. George the Third, a Sovereign revered for his moral character, attention to his kingly duties, and love of his subjects^ succeeds to Louis 15th, a prince then deservedly despised for his debauchery, his inattention to the wants of his people, and his lavish profusion of the public monies upon favourites and mistresses. From that day, the reign of the law succeeded to that of violence ; from that day^ the treasures, the Navy and the Armies of Great Britain, are mustered to afford us an invincible protection against external danger ; from that day, the better part of her laws became ours, while our Religion, Pro- perty, and the laws by which thej' were governed, remain unaltered ; soon after, are granted to us the privileges of its free Constitution->- an infallible pledge, when acted upon, of our internal prosperity. Now, religious toleration ; trial by jury — (that wisest of safe<;uards .ever devised fur the protection of innocence) ; security against arbitrary imprisonment, by the privileges attached to the Writ of Habeas Corpus ; legal and equal security afforded to all, in their person, honor and property ; the right to obey no other laws than those of our own making and choice, expressed through our Repre- sentatives ;— all these advantages have become our birthright, and shall, I hope, be the lasting inheritance of our posterity. To secure them let us only act as British subjects and freemen. — Quebec Gaxette^ 1820. / m ■^ IT could it 1 marked lie these, s, would have the ipure our e of the monarch, iiternully s country red thuii Canada n fertiliiy ght have lion ; but to live in ring from )rivileged 1 personal )f inhabi- omes and from the those of was the le Third, lis kingly a prince on to the ic monies [n of the treasures, I to afford ^hat day, )u, Pro- laltered ; Itution—- >sperity. Ife^uards against [Writ of in their Iws thai) iRepre- jht, and To ten. — ADDRESS or THE HONORABLE THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, TO HER MAJESTY, TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN i We Your Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, in Provin- cial Parliament assembled, humbly beg leave to ad- dress ourselves to Your Majesty, upon the difficulties which have lately surrounded this Colony. In the adjoining Province of Lower Canada a long course of yielding policy has ended, as the loyal inhabitants of that Colony were persuaded it must end, in open rebellion. For many years past the Representatives of our Sovereign in that Province have hesitated to give effect to the Constitution, and to enforce the principles of Justice; one indignity after another has been borne by them, with a forbear- ance which has had no other effect than to diminish respect for their authority ; concession has followed concession involving, in some instances, the violation of important principles, until at last the friends of the Crown knew not what Institution of the Government they could venture to sustain with confidence; and the avowed enemies of British rule saw no object which they might riot hope to gain by indolence ^nd clamor. vi . ; h '' 1 1 ■It I i The yielding to unjust demands intemperately urged does not beget friendship ; and it was natural that the deluded inhabitants of Lower Canada should transfer their attachment, as they have done, from the Government which surrendered its prerogatives to the pretended patriots, who in their name boldly and suc- cessfully assailed them. Reasoning from the experience of the past, their turbulent leaders were encouraged to hope that there was no change, however destructive it might be of British supremacy, which they might not accomplish by assuming the language and demeanor of defiance. They have accordingly so inflamed the minds of an ignorant peasantry by violent harangues, and publica- tions, that they have driven them at last to actual re- bellion, when it is probable that they intended and hoped to effect their purpose by merely holding out a threatening appearance. — Happily this rebellion has been promptly suppressed by the vigorous measures of Lieutenant General Sir John Colborne, the Com- mander of Your Majesty's Forces, but not without a loss of life, especially on the part of the insurgents, which we fully believe would have been avoided, by a firm and just exercise of the powers of Government in formers years. In order to have discountenanced effectually the efforts of the factious nothing more, we are persuaded, was necessary than the holding out to them a timely and unequivocal warning, that the principles of the British Constitution would assuredly be supported, if necessary, by the power of the Bri- tish Empire. m rately latural should )m the to the d suc- their t there be of [nplish fiance. of an iblica- lal re- d and ng out on has asures Com- lout a gents, ed, by anient anced more, Dgout Bit the iredly B Bri- The anxiety with which the inhabitants of Upper Canada have regarded the events to which we refer, is sufficiently accounted for by the relative position of the two Provinces. — Lower Canada interposes be- tween us and the ocean, and it is only by passing through it that we can have access to any other por- tion of Your Majesty's dominions, without depending on a right of egress through a foreign State. But we assure Your Majesty that other feelings besides the sense of danger to ourselves, have prompted us to look with extreme concern upon the late conflict in that Colony. We deeply sympathised with one hun- dred and fifty thousand of our fellow Subjects, whose lives and properties it is now become manifest were in imminent danger of total destruction, from the in- veterate hatred of British rule which has sprung up in proportion as the confidence which they were ac- customed to repose in the protection of their Govern- ment has been suffered to be shaken. It must have been most gratifying to Your Majesty to learn, that in the absence of direct reinforcements from England, it was found not imprudent to withdraw from the other British Colonies on this Continent whatever regular forces had been stationed in them ; and it cannot but tend to raise the character of this Province, that its Government could with safety be left thus destitute of military aid, at a time when rebellion was i aging in the adjoining Colony, and after the people of Canada had been traitorously incited by certain Members of the Imperial Parliament to throw off their allegiance to their Sovereign, and to resort to violence, if it should be necessary, for overturning tho Constitution which we had received by the solemn act of the Bri- tish Parliament Except, indeed, for the encouragement which our apparently defenceless state has given to some lawless people on our frontier, it is perhaps not to be regretted that at so critical a period the inhabitants of Upper Canada should have been left to defend their Country and Institutions, without the assistance of a military force. Your Majesty's Governor of this Province had ventured to give a manly and open support to British interests and principles; he had not distrusted the inclination of a loyal people to support the Throne, nor hesitated to refuse co-operating with those who were labouring to subvert our Government. By this natural and honorable course he had deprived agitation of its hope, and had given assurance and animation to the loyal. It was fortunate that an im- pressive example should be given of the soundness of a policy, which had for its basis a firm reliance upon the wisdom and justice of British Institutions, and a generous confidence that the people whom he go* verned had the sense to appreciate and the virtue to uphold them. No system of policy ever had a fairer trial ; encouraged by the existence of rebellion in the adjoining Province, and hoping for aid from the people of a foreign State, the enemies of British rule ventured to throw off all disguise, and to raise their traitorous arms against a Government to which they had sworn allegiance. But the effort was no sooner made than it was signally defeated : thousands of Your Majesty's 1--- r ■^i 5 upon md a go- le to fairer Subjects rushed instantly to the support of your Royal authority, and of the laws; and in many of the most populous Districts of this Province, not a single in- dividual was found to countenance the wicked and ungrat ^ful attempt to separate this Colony from the British Empire. In the progress of these disturbances however, an unlooked for danger suddenly discovered itself, of a much more formidable character than those which had been surmounted, and one that opens new and startling considerations to the inhabitants of this Co- lony, and of the British Empire. While Your Majesty's Forces and Your loyal Sub- jects in Lower Canada were engaged in suppressing as causeless a rebellion as ever was fomented among a deluded people, we observed with astonishment, that in the adjacent parts of the United States of Ame- rica, undisguised efforts were made to create among the people a strong feeling in favor of the insurgents. Public meetings were held, in which it w^as declared, that nothing more was intended than an expression of "sympathy"; but the results of such meetings went very far bevond this avowed intention. Arms were col- lected, and contributions of various kinds made for the benefit of those who were in actual rebellion against their Sovereign, and under the palpably dis- ingenuous pretext of defending themselves against a people who never meditated an infringement of their rights, American citizens were seen rising in large bodies and threatening the peace and security of a British Colony, regardless alike of the injunctions of ^: <.f.| i- r- their own Government, and of the express provisions of their laws. Upon the frontiers of this Province, the inha- bitants of several of the United States of America have carried theif hostilities to a much greater length ; and while the relations of peace subsisted between the Republic and Great Britain, and when there re- mained not the slightest commotion among our people, they have not scrupled to arm themselves with artil- lery and weapons plundered from the public arsenals of their own country, and remaining embodied for many weeks, have carried on a piratical warfare against this Province. Independently of those considerations of national honor and duty, which ought not to be without their weight in the United States of America, we cannot believe it possible that the Government or People of that country can desire to involve themselves in a war with Great Britain, and we will not therefore incur the hazard of doing injustice, by charging them with insincerity, because this extraordinary and sud- den outbreak was not more promptly curbed. It has indeed appeared to us, that a desire to vindicate their national character, to prevent their citizens from in- flicting undeserved injury upon a friendly people, and to avert a war with an Empire certainly too just and too powerful to be either hated or despised, might have furnished sufficient motives, both of morality and policy, for greater and more immediate exertion than appeared to be made ; but we know too little of the difficulties which may have impeded the prompt in- terferonce of the Federal Government, to entitle us to conclude that nothing effectual was for a long time intended, because nothing effectual was done. It cannot however, we are persuaded, be said with sincerity by any of the inhabitants of this Pro- vince, that the Governmer.t of the State of New- York has seemed to them to act in the moment of anxiety and danger, with the firmness and good faith that befitted the occasion. It is true that they condemned the outrages of which we complained; but although these were of the most flagrant kind, they were nevertheless com- mitted by their citizens in open day, in the presence of their public authorities ; and though in order to procure the means of accomplishing them, the arse- als of the State were plundered of artillery and arms, no attempt at energetic interference seemed to be made. The insult offered by their citizens to their own laws, appeared to be patiently submitted to, while the injuries inflicted upon their neighbours were ex- pected to be as patiently borne ; and the vigilance that slumbered during repeated acts of aggression by their people, first shewed itself in an exciting appeal against an act of self-defence on the part of this Pro- vince, which, when truly described, cannot be denied to be reasonable and just. With respect to that portion of the American people who have taken a direct part in these hostile proceedings, nothing can be said that will in any de- gree palliate their conduct; nor will it be easy to wipe off the reproach which it brings upon their na- 4 «*., f^ ^n 8 .., -_,^, .;,,; tion. Avowing as they have done, their intention to divide among themsfclves the lands of this Province, they ha , e confessed the principal object of their war- fare to be plunder; but the more general impulse which has enlisted the aid of multitudes in their cause, is the declared desire to free the people of this Colony from subjection to Your Majesty, and to drive what they call the last relic of Monarchical Govern- ment from this Continent. It has astonished us to observe with how little scr jple these lawless citizens of the United States ap- pear to proclaim and act upon the principle, that any rebellion of the Subjects of a Monarchy is proper to be encouraged, as a Bt^uggle for freedom — as if it were an undeniable truth that even a limited monar- chy, however carefully balanced, is incompatible with liberty, and can only be submitted to by people under restraint. They should shew at least so much defer- ence for the rights of their neighbours, as to allow them to judge of matters which concern their own happiness and welfare. But while they profess to value themselves chiefly upon having what the}" call a Governnienf. of their own choice, they embark with- out hesitation in the intolerant attempt to impose, by force of arms, upon the people of Upper Canada, a form of Government which it is perfectly evident they do not, choose. Living upon the very frontiers of this Province, these people cannot be ignorant that the maintenance of our connection with Great Bri- tain, and an avowed preference for her laws and insti- tutions, ate the very points upon which our population il^: 9 ion to vince, • war- ipulse their )f this drive jvern- 7 little ;es ap- at any per to s if it nonar- e with under defer- allow own ess to y call with- se, by ad a, a ndent ntiers t that Bri- insti- ation I)*,;-':-. have lately more than once rallied, and by an almost universal suffrage. With the spectacle before them of the whole male •adult population of this country, rising almost without exception, and arming themselves with eager resolu- tion to support the authority of their Sovereign, they insist upon it, that the wishes of a few fugitive traitors, whom they, and some recreant British Subjects in England, have taken under their especial patronage, shall prevail over the almost universal desire of the people of Upper Canada. When these citizens of the United States speak of bringing to us the boon of Republican Institutions, they seem to imagine that they will be regarded as offering to extend to the people of Upper Canada some newly-discovered blessing: not considering that Republics of the purest cast have been seen to run through the several stages of Democracy, Anarchy and Despotism — even before the commencement of the Christian era — and that, too, in ages and countries renowned for philosophers and statesmen. They for- get also, that in our own generation we have had an opportunity of observing in the fairest portion of the Continent of Europe the same process — though not exactly in the same order — until at last, under the Government of a limited Monarch, comparative peace, justice, stability and repose, have returned to a land which had been long desolated by the worst miseries of domestic and foreign war. When the people of a country profess it to be the fundamental principle of their own institution*, ■■ii B w u f ■J iH 10 that the will of the majority shall govern, and at the same time are seen rushing to arms for the purpose of enabling a feeble minority in a neighbouring Province, with whose concerns they have nothing to do, to pre- vail against the will of the majority, we cannot fail to observe how nearly Democracy is allied to tyranny, and how little it has changed its nature in modern times. Nevertheless, it is with regret we declare to Your Majesty, that powerful as may be the means which the United States possess, from their great population and wealth, of forcing upon Your Majesty's Subjects in these Colonies a form of Government which their inclination, no less than their duty, leads them to re- ject, their ability successfully to resist it is in greater danger from another cause. We have observed with concern, that among our fellow Subjects in the United Kingdom, there are many who have too readily taken up the opinion, that in this New World the forms and restraints of Monarchical Government must be dis- tasteful to the people; that nothing but Republican doctrines and practices can be congenial to the inha- bitants of this Continent; that all attempts to repress the supposed inclination in their favor are so many straggles against nature ; and that in process of time, as our people become numerous, and can claim the privilege of being governed as they please, they will certainly insist upon becoming Republicans. There is nothing more evident than that these impressions, which we believe to prevail with many of sOur fellow Subjects in England, are erroneous — and 'i it the oseof vince, 3 pre- fail to ranny, odern ( Your which ilation ibjects I their to re- freater d with nited taken sand le dis- iblican inha- |epress many time, m the ly will these my of -and ['<•■'. K:^-^.^ 11 the error is one which we fear may prove most inju- rious to our future happiness and security. It has seemed to us on some occasions to paralyze the efforts of the undoubted friends of Monarchy in the Great Council of the Nation, and to cause the vindication of the principles of our Constitution when they are as- sailed in the Imperial Parliament, to be usually under- taken in a tone of despair, with so many concessions and qualifications as to what it may be necessary to awrrender in future, and with so apparent a readiness to admit that other principles must be expected to prevail in time, that British Subjects really attached to their Government seem to be enjoying their Con- stitution only until the period shall come when those in England, who seem habitually to distrust the wisdom and propriety of maintaining a Monarchical Govern- ment in these Colonies, shall have raised by their encouragement a sufficient number of advocates of other principles, to warrant their giving to them their open and active support. It is with pain we state to Your Majesty, that not a few of the acts of the Colo- nial Department have seemed to us to be evidently influenced by this error, which we deplore; and it is an error which we seriously fear may prove fatal to the connection of these Provinces with Great Britain, and not less fatal to their own peace and welfare. We have some hope, however, that what is now taking place in these Colonies may lead to sounder views — for a more striking and convincing testimony of the advantages of Monarchical Government was per- haps never afforded than may be gathered at this ':\ » • 4 12 motnent, by observing the conduct pursued, and the sentiments expressed throughout the British North American Provinces. In the midst of a struggle which still threatens to bring upon them the unequal force of the American Republic, the people of these Colonies are not merely faithful to their Government, but they are animated by a zealous feeling of loyalty, which prompts them to undergo every privation and danger necessary to be encountered for supporting their Con- stitution and Laws. Living on the borders of a coun- try where the great experiment of governing by the will of the people, or rather of forbearing to govern in deference to their will, has been long tried on the largest scale, they have seen nothing to make them discon- tented with their own political condition: they feel themselves to be quite as free as the citizens of the neighbouring Republic, and in many cases more so; and they believe that their form of Government con- fers greater stability on their civil institutions ; guards better their religious liberty ; assures more power to the laws; protects life, reputation, liberty and pro- perty, with greater steadiness and certainty; and insures the observance of a just respect for the rights of their neighbours more effectually than can be done in any country where the popular will must govern, however irregularly exerted. They do accordingly prefer their own Constitution — not coldly, in the mere exercise of their judgment — ^but they defend it with an affectionate attachment, which deserves the warmest encouragement and support of Your Majesty, and of the British Empire. I <♦ of To say nothing of the Colony which we our- selves inhabit, we ask those who are either themselves insensible to these feelings, or who have falsely ima- gined that they could find no home on the North Ame- rican Continent, to look at this moment upon the noble Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and to point out any portion of Your Majesty's Uni- ted Kingdoms where veneration for the Throne, and attachment to the principles which can alone support it, are avowed with greater earnestness and pride. Your Majesty's loyal Subjects in America see in the protection which a limited Monarchy affords to rational liberty, such inestimable advantages as secure their most faithful devotion, although they are far re- moved from the immediate influence of an enlightened and benevolent Aristocracy, and from the splendour which surroimds the presence of Royalty. Their most anxious desire is, that they may be allowed to preserve this Constitution unimpaired. — They find it exposed to danger from two sources; first — to the danger of being gradually undermined by changes assented to by the Colonial Department, iji a mis- taken spirit of concession ; and in the next place, to the danger which threatens at the same time our connection with the British Crown, namely, the vio- lent interference of the people of the United States in our concerns. With regard to the first danger, we respectfully entreat Your Majesty to consider, that the remedy lies entirely within Your Majesty's power ; and we think we urge no unreasonable desire, when we ear- / ■A-' i. ■ P'N I.' > 14 n64tly implore Your Majesty, that we may be secured Against the risque of those principles, in which the strength and excellence of the British Constitution consists, being surrendered, from an unmanly fear, or from the rash attempt to create a new and better system of Government than has been hitherto known to the Subjects of Great Britain. With respect to the second danger. Your Ma- jesty will learn with astonishment, that it becomes daily more alarming. Whatever may be the cause, the violation by the American people, of their friendly relations with Your Majesty, is so far from being effec- tually put down by the interference of their Govern- ment, that their preparations to invade and plunder the Provinces of Canada, are reported at this mo- ment to be carried on more extensively and openly than ever. But in the midst of the excitement which their preparations have occasioned, we have received the cheering intelligence of the prompt and decisive exertions made by Your Majesty for our protection, for which we tender to Your Majesty our most grateful thanks. We have never allowed ourselves to doubt, that if ever the period arrived when it should become a ques- tion, whether these valuable Colonies should be tamely suffered to be wrested from the British Crown, or whether Your Majesty's loyal Subjects who inhabit them, should be aided in their struggle to avert that calamity, the question would not be determined upon cold calculations of interest alone, but that other and nobler sentiments would govern the decicion. Hi u ipon and We rejoice to learn, that Your Majesty's Gov- ernment and the people of the United Kingdom, have no hesitation as to the path to be pursued ; and in the generous exertion now made for niaintaii.ing the inte- grity of the Empire, we behold the assurance of our future safety and peace. :^ ■ The proof which is thus unequivocally given, of the determination of Your Majesty to defend these Provinces effectually from injury and insult, will for the present, we trust, avert the calamities of war ; but we earnestly entreat Your Majesty, that the season of peace may be used for providing a more adequate security against a recurrence of such danger as we have been lately exposed to. s,} The anxieties to which the events of the last three months have given rise, have made us feel more sen- sibly than ever, the great debt of gratitude which this Country owes to the illustrious Duke of Wellington, whose patriotism prompted him to add to the defences of Canada by the construction of that noble work, the Rideau Canal, which has secured the interior of this Country to the extent of two hundred miles, by pro- viding a navigable channel removed from the frontier, and connecting us directly with whatever resources the fleets of Great Britain can supply. We earnestly hope that the other defences, which it was at one tim6 intended to construct for the protection of our frontier, may be now proceeded in, under the conviction that the want of such defences is almost certain to invite hostilities which must lead to a national war. V I- ;' 16 In the present remarkable crisis of the affairs of thisProvince.we have united inaReport,which accom- panies this Address, stating the views entertained by the Legislative Council in regard to the general inte- rests ofthe Colony. If in some points of great moment, we have felt that our duty to Your Majesty, and to our fellow Subjects, has required us to express opinions at variance with the policy which has been pursued by the Colonial Department, we have done so without regard to considerations of party ; and in the confi- dence that we shall not offend by avowing the anxiety we feel to protect our Constitution from injurious changes. It cannot be doubted that the circumstances in which Lower Canada is placed will lead to the adop- tion of some measures, which may very materially affect the future condition of this Colony. But though we cannot contemplate these probable changes without extreme anxiety, we feel, in common with our fellow Subjects in Upper Canada, the most unlimited confi- dence in Your Majesty's desire to consult our happi- ness and prosperity, and an entire reliance upon the wisdom of the Imperial Parliament for devising such measures as are best suited to remedy existing evils. No important change, we feel assured, will be suffered to be made without an opportunity being first afforded to the Inhabitants of this Province to make knowyi their opinions and wishes ; and when this has been done, we are persuaded that all classes of Your Majesty's Subjects will cheerfully abide by the decision. We beg to express on this occasion our assurances of entire devotion to Your Majesty's Person and Government JOHN B. ROBINSON, Speaker. Legislative Council^ 28th February, 1838. »