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" I say, Jack, I'm blow'd if he didn't call it abha^-pot Why the devil couldn't he call it a hat at once— of his not gjteaking English." SECOND EDITION. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, VttblMtet- in ^tUtnatfi to fH^et ^ajMti?. 1839. m * ♦ % f't L-? i p Primed by J. L f.'ox and Sons, 7.">, firoat Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn FieUlii, >^ ^ London, 'Mfh Dec. 1838. Mv ueauHai-ibukton, I shall offer no apology to you for the manner in which I have executed this work, as you are well aware that I could command neither the time nor the materials that were necessary to do it properly : even the small portion of time I have been able to devote to it, out of a hasty visit to London, has been subject to constant in- terruptions ; and many important documents which ought to have been referred to, have, I find (from the little interest hitherto taken in Canadian affairs), not found their way to England. Wherever I could obtain authen- tic works and official papers, I have used them as freely as I could, that as little as possible might rest on individual hssertion. Some of these f«./rtunately combine both narra- tive and proof. Such as it is, I beg of you to accept it, as a proof of my desire to comply with your wishes, as far as it has been in my power to do so. If you are satisfied with it, I am content. As respects the rest of the world, we know too little of each other to require that I should explain or they should listen. Yours always, S. S. To James IIambubton, Esq., &c. &c. &c. U} M, ♦■ y % 0005;^ TABLE OF ( ONTENTS. Lbtticr f. Introductory remarks 1 Lettrr II. fJliargc of misgovernmont, advanced by Lorda Durham and Brougham, controverted — Evidence of the Duke de la Rochcfoucault Liancourt and Professor Silliman • ^ Letter III. Extent,population and tradeof British America— Contradictory opinions of Lord Brougham — Establishment of English laws in Canada — Impolitic and and unjust abrogation of them by Quebec Act 18 Letter IV. Constitutional act — Form of government — Feudal laws — Pre- sent state of the law in Canada — People unfit for constitu- tional government 34 Letter V. A review of the proceedings of the legislature of Canada from 1792, when it first assembled, to 1819, when a demand was made for a provision for the civil list 53 Letter VI. Sources of revenue in Canada — Reference to committee of Parliament of alleged grievances — Unjust electoral division of Canada — Unconstitutional proceedings of Assembly — Fresh grievances— Lord Goderich's review of proceedings 85 Letter VII. Ninety-two resolutions of Canadian Assembly— Reference of the same to committee of 1 834— Report of committee .... 131 (A ■■■P 11 / y^ CONTKiNTS. Pmfc Lkmkh VIII. * Reviow l)y L2 Lkttkk IX. Appointinont of coininiHition of iiH|iiiry — 'J'heir inntructtons — Lord fllcneljj's reply to the demands of the Assembly 22!> Lkttkh X. Abandonment of grievances and demand of c » • 4 B THE BUBBLES '•■K Letter II. ^ After the late unhappy and wicked rebel- lion in Canada was suppressed, it was found necessary to punish with death a few of the most conspicuous traitors, for the atrocious mur- ders they had committed. In the colonies, .Ithough the justice of this act was fully ad- mitted, the necessity that existed for it was gene- rally deplored. So much blood had been shed in the field, and so much misery entailed upon the country, by that rash and unprovoked re- volt, that the people would gladly have been spared the spectacle of a further sacrifice of human life, if the outraged law* of the country had not imperatively called for retribution. They felt, too, that although nothing could jus- tify their having desolated the country with fire and sword, in support of mere speculative points of government, some pity was due to deluded men, who had been seduced from their alle- giance by promises of support, and direct en- couragement to revolt, by people of influence and standing in the mother country ; but al- though they knew that mischievous counsels had been given, they certainly were not pre- r ■^: OF CANADA. 9 pared to hear similar sentiments publiclyavowed in the parliament of the nation. It was, there- fore, not without mingled feelings of surprise and sorrow that they heard an honourable member invoke defeat and disgrace upon Her Majesty's troops, whose service was already sufficiently painful without this aggravation ; and a noble lord, in another branch of the legislature, denounce, with indignant elo- quence, the juries who had tried and the judges that had sentenced these convicted criminals. They ought, however, to have known, and cer- tainly a little reflection would have suggested, that the instinctive horror of those distinguished men at such an event was quite natural, and that they who advocate revolutionary doctrines must necessarily shudder at the untimely fate of those who have dared to act upon them. It was a warning not to be disregarded, a consum- mation that might be their own, and a lesson fraught with a most salutary moral. As their •perceptions were acute enough to make the ap- plication, it is to be hoped that their prudence be sufficient to avoid a similar result. Nor is the language held by my Lord Durham, in his recent valedictory proclamation, less surprising. He has thought proper, in that extraordinary document, to give the sanction of his high ■# m: /' 10 THE UUDULES ; I station to the popular error that the Canadas have been misgoverned, and thereby expressed a deliberatf censure upon the conduct of abler and better men than himself who have preceded him. Now^ there are various kinds of mis- government, which may be effected by acts of commission or omission, or of both, for a de- fective form of government and misgovernment are widely different. ^ If his lordship meant to use the word in either of those senses, and con- sidered the French Canadians as the subjects of it, then 1 beg leave most respectfully to state, that he was not warranted by facts in saying so, and that it is an adr^itional proof, if any were wanting, that he knew as little of the affaii*s of the c* lony at his departure from it, as he admits that he did on his arrival there. If, on the other hand, he used it as a cant term to adorn a rhetorical flourish, we shall accept the explanation, and consider it as such, class- ing it with promises profusely made on his acceptance of oflSce which he has not performed, and similar ones ostentatiously offered on his resignation which he is equally unable to fulfil. My Lord Brougham has expressed more fully and intelligibly the same opinion in the House of Ijords, and has since been at great pains to republish it, first, in the pumphlet foruj, to cir- *^, ■«».■• OF CANADA. u culate as a cheap commodity ; and, secondly, in a collection of his speeches, to be impressed by his friend the schoolmaster, as a specimen of eloquence, on the minds of village Hampdens.' Although this statesman is followed by few, and attached to none, he is too eloquent and too powerful not to command the attention of all : he presents the singular anomaly of being unable to add weight or influence to any party to which he may lend his support, and yet of being the most fearful opponent in the House to those whom it may be his pleasure to attack. With respect to Canada, he was pleased to say, *' Another rule prevails — * Refuse all they ask ; " turn a deaf ear to every complaint ; mock them " with hopes never to be realized ; insult them " with rights which when they dare to use shall ** be rudely torn from them ; and for abiding by •• the law, in seeking redress of their wrongs, '' punish them by the infliction of a dictator and " a despotism.' " Truisms are seldom repeated ; they require but to b'; enounced, to be assented to. Paradoxes are more fortunate ; they startle and perplex, and he who cannot originate can at least copy. I was, therefore, not surprised at hearing an humble imitation of this diatribe at a meeting of the lower orders of Edinburgh at Carlton Hill. That the audience might find v ^ 12 THE HUUULES time to uttend, the assembly was lield 'by torch- light, a fitting emblem for incendiary doctrines. Tories and Whigs were alike reprobated by an ..orator, who, when he had exhausted the topics of domestic misrule, deplored in most pathetic terms the lot ** of our oppressed and enslaved brethren in Canada." If this be true of them, it is an appeal to humanity, and when in Britain was that appeal made in vain ? It is, however, the character of humanity to be credulous. The mendicant impostor, aware of the fact, profits by the knowledge of it, and weaves a tale of misfortune or oppression to excite pity and ex- tort money ; the political juggler, in like man- ner, draws upon his imagination for facts, and having established a grievance, makes a tender of his services as a reformer. As this charge of misgovernment has been often made of late, it is probable it will be repeated ; and as it must materially modify the opinion we are to form, both of the revolt, and of the measures to be adopted hereafter in consequence thereof, I shall now proceed to controvert this assertion. But before I enter upon it, permit me to say, that I shall not treat this as a party question. As a colonist, at once a native and a resident of a distant part of the empire, I am not only unconnected with, but OF CANADA. 13 peift'ctly independent of either of the great parties of tliis country, of Tories or Whigs or Radicals ; nor do 1 consider this as a subject at all involving the principles for which they se- verally contend. The question is one wholly between the people of this country and the colonists, and must be considered as such ; and so far from my Lord Durham's assertion being true, that there has been misgovern ment, I am prepared to show, that every administra- tion in this country, without exception, from the conquest of Canada to the present time, whether Tory or Whig, or mixed, or by what- ever name it may be designated, has been actuated but by one feeling, an earnest desire to cultivate a good understanding with its new subjects of French extraction, and on one principle, a principle of concession. Canada has had more privileges and indulgences granted to it than any other of our American colonies : unpopular officers have been removed ; obnoxious governors have been recalled ; con- stitutional points abandoned to them ; all rea- sonable changes made (or, as they would ex- press it, grievances redressed); and the inte- rests of commerce and of persons of British origin postponed to suit their convenience, or accommodate their prejudices ; in short, every- 14 THE uiinnLKs thing has been done, and everything concedwl to conciliate them, that ingenuity could deviue or unbounded liberality grant, and no sacrifice has been considered too great to purchase their affections, short of yielding up the colony to their entire control ; and all this forbearance and liberality has been met with ingra- titude, abuse, and rebellion. For the truth of this assertion, I call upon France and the United States to bear me testimony. Hear the Duke de la Rochfoucault Liancourt : " No Canadian has just grounds of complaint against the British Government; the inhabitants of Canada acknowledge unanimously that they are better treated than under the ancient French government ; but they love the French, forget them not, long after them, hope for their ar- rival, will always love them, and betray these feelings too frequently, and in too frank a man- ner, not to incur the displeasure of the English, who, even in Europe, have not made an equal progress with us in discarding the absurd pre- judices of one people against another. " They pay no taxes, live well, at an easy rate, and in plenty ; within the compass of their comprehensions they cannot wish for any other good. They are so little accjuainted with the principles of liberty, tliat it has cost a great ,;> i r '^,. OF CANADA. H deal of trouble to establJHli juries in their country ; they oppose the introduction of the trial by jury ; in civil cases these are not yet in use. But they love France; this beloved country engages still their affections. In their estima- tion a Frenchman is a being far superior to an Englishman. " The farmers are a frugal set of people, but ignorant and lazy. In order .^o succeed in enlarg- ing and improving agriculture in this province, the English Government must proceed with great prudence and perseverance ; for in addition to the unhappy prejudices which the inhabitants of Canada entertain in common with the far- mers of all other countries, they also foster a strong mistrust against every thing which they receive from the English ; and this mistrust is grounded on the idea that the English are their conquerors, and the French their brethren. There are some exceptions from this bad agri- cultural system, but they are few. The best cultivators are always landholders arrived from England. " Upon the whole, the work of education in Lower Canada is greatly neglected. At Sorel and Three Rivers are a few schools, kept by the nuns ; in other places men or women in- struct children. Hut the number of schools is, P ^' mm 16 THE BUBBLES ■* >:/•■■ 'M upon the whole, so very small, and the mode of instruction so defective, that a Canadian who can read is a sort of phenomenon. From the major part of these schools being governed by nuns and other women, the number of the latter who can read is, contrary to the custom of other countries, mucli greater in Lower Canada than that of men. " The English Government is charged with designedly keeping the people of Lower Canada in ignorance ; but were it sincerely desirous of producing an advantageous change in this re- spect, it would have as great obstacles to sur- mount on this head as in regar^ ^ agricultural improvements." Hear also Professor Silliman, a distinguished American scholar : " It is questionable whether any conquered country was ever better treated by its conquer- ors thap Canada ; the people were left in com- plete possession of their religion, and revenues to support it — of their property, laws, customs, and manners. Even the defence of their country is without expense to them ; and it is a curious fact, thaijt (unless by the great coun- terbalancing advantages it produces), so far from being a source of revenue, it is a charge on the treasury of the empire. Jt would seem v OF CANADA. 17 an, a distinguished as if the trouble and expense of government was taken off their hands, and as if they were left to enjoy their own domestic comforts with- out a drawback. Such is certainly the appear- ance of the population ; and it is doubtful whether our own favoured communities are politically more happy ; — they are not exposed ''n a similar manner to poverty and the danger of starvation, which so often invade the Eng- lish manufacturer, and which, aided by their demagogues, goad them on to every thing but 0|^en rebellion. Lower Canada is a fine coun- try, and will hereafter become populous and powerful, especially as the British and Anglo- American population shall flow in more exten- sively, and impart more vigour and activity to the community. The climate, notwithstanding its severity, is a good one, and very healthy and favourable to the freshness and beauty of the human constitution. All the most important comforts of life are easily and abundantly ob- tained." This, you will observe, is but the evidence of opinion ; produce your facts. Agreed. To the facts then let us proceed. ^ A,- "K •At \i I I II iil 18 THE BUBBLES Letter III. ^ By the treaty of peace in the year 1763, Ca- nada, the conquest of which had been achieved on the plains of Abraham, by General Wolfe, was ceded, in full sovereignty and right, to his Britannic Majesty by the King of France ; and the French inhabitants who chose to remain in the country became subjects of Great Britain, and were secured in the enjoyment of their pro- perty and possessions, and the free exercise of their religion. Thus terminated the power of France in that portion of North America ; and here it may be useful to pause and consider, with this vast addition of territory, how exten- sive and important are our transatlantic pos- sessions. They may be computed, in round numbers, to comprise upwards of four millions of geo- graphical square miles, extending across the whole Continent, from the Atlantic in the east, to the shores of the North Pacific Ocean on the west. On the parallel of the 49° of north lati- tude their extreme breadth is about 3,066 geo- graphical miles, and their greatest depth from the most southern point of Upper Canada in j 1 ;■ i J M 1 1 \ OF CANADA. 19 Lake Erie, to Smith's Sound in the Pblar re- gions, rather more than 2,150, thus embracing a large portion of the Arctic Seas, and of the Atlantic and Pacific. The population of this country may be esti- mated at little short of two millions ; while the export trade to it exceeds that to Russia, Prus- sia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and France collectively, and nearly equals that to the United States, the most commercial country in tlie world next to Great Britain. These exports have increased above 40 per cent, in three years. In carrying on this trade, about seven thou- sand British vessels are employed ; the tonnage of those inwards and outwards being each way nearly 1,000,000 tons annually, either to Great Britain or her other colonies, all of them, be it remembered, navigated by her own seamen, and employing British capital ; and seven- eighths of the whole produce so transported being paid for in labour to her own people, and all the profits, agencies, and brokerages of this enormous trade divided among her own subjects. Can the possible loss of such a trade be contemplated, without apprehending conse- quences serious to the manufacturing interests, and prejudicial to national prosperity ? In four years not less than £.300,000 has c 2 20 THE BUBBLES I f \ '% been paid by emigrants as passage-money to her ship-owners ; and if out of the number of 170,000 who emigrated during that period, only 20,000* had become burdensome at home, and had cost their parishes only £4 per head per annum, the expenses to the community (which have been saved) would have been £S20,000. Such are the interests now at stake, and which you are called upon to surrender. My Lord Brougham, the advocate " for the diffusion of useful knowledge," thus sanctions the doc- trine that colonies though large are unwieldy, and though possessing intrinsic value, cost more for their support and protection, than coun- terbalances any advantage to be derived from them. ** I have always held (hs observed on the 2d of February last, when speaking on the Canada question), the severance of a colony to be a benefit and no loss, provided it can be effected in peace, and leave only feelings of kindness on either side." At the same time he '* hurled defiance" (I use his own words) •• at the head of the premier," to point out where he had ever changed his principles. The noble viscount was silent, the chj Menge was not ac- cepted, and his consistency remained unim- peached. I am more interested in colonial • See Letter to E. Baines, Esq., M.P. OF CANADA. 21 prosperity than either of them, having no de- sire to he handed over to the tender mercies of repuhlicans, and will take the liberty to refer to that instance that .was so triumphantly de- manded. I allude to a more deliberate opinion, the result of study and reflection, emanating not from the excitement of debate and the con- flict of party spirit, but from the retirement of his closet. On a former occasion he thus ex- pressed himself on this subject : — '• Each nation derives greater benefit from having an increasing market in one of its own provinces, than in a foreign country. " The colonial trade is always increasing and capable of indefinite augmentation ; every ope- ration of colonial traffic replaces two capitals, the employment and distribution of which puts in motion and supports the labour of the dif- ferent members of the same state. " The increasing wealth of Russia, Prussia, or Denmark, can never benefit Great Britain unless by the increasing demand for British produce which it may occasion. It may, and often is, on the contrary, turned against her wealth and power ; whilst the riches of colonies have a certain tendency to widen the market for British produce, and can never injure the wealth or power of the mother country. * ■•i4 F. IjJ 22 tup: bubbles " The possession of remote territories is the only thing which can secure to the population of a country those advantages derived from an easy outlet, or prospect of outlet, to those per- sons who may be ill provided for at home. " It is absurd to represent the defences and government of colonies as a burden. It is ridi- culous for the United Kingdom to complain^ that she is at the expense of governing and defending her colonial territories." Among the benefits to be derived from the " diffusion of useful knowledge," it is certainly not the least that we are enabled to compare the professions of public men with their acts, and the actors with each other. My Lords Brougham and Durham have both travelled the same road — selected similar topics — supported them by the same arguments— and aimed at one conclusion ; and yet, strange to say, they stand opposed to each other. Coming from a small province, and a very limited sphere of action, I may be allowed the privilege of a stranger, and be permitted to express my sur- prise. I had reid in the speech to which 1 have referred, of certain commissioners of in_ quiry who were placed in an extraordinary situation, " where each one generally differed irom. his colleague in the views he took of the OF CANADA. 23 m,. argument, and frequently also from himself; but both agreeing in the coiiclusions at which they arrived, by the course of reasoning one way, and deciding another." It is an awkward position for men to be placed in ; but little did I anticipate finding the noble author illustrat- ing, in his own person, the case he has described with such pointed and bitter irony. But this is a digression, and I must return to my sub- ject. Whether a country extending over such an immense space, containing such a great and growing population, and affording such an ex- tensive and profitable trade, has been misgo- verned, is therefore a question of the first importance. The affirmative of this proposition which the governor-general has advanced, has inspired the rebels with new hopes; and forms, no doubt, a principal ingredient of that satis- faction which he says his adminstration has given to the inhabitants of the neighbouring republic. It is a charge, however, in which the honour of the nation is deeply concerned, and should neither be flippantly made nor easily credited. In the month of October following the treaty, His Majesty published his proclamation, un- der the great seal of Great Britain, for erect- l! I'll u THE BllBDLES I I i ing four new civil governments, to wit, those of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Gra- nada, in the countries and islands in America, which had been ceded to the Crown by the definitive treaty. In this proclamation the King exhorted his subjects as well of his king- doms of Great Britain and Ireland, as of his colonies in America, to avail themselves, with all convenient speed, of the great benefits and advantages that would accrue, from the great and valuable acquisitions ceded to his Majesty in America, to their commerce, manufactures, and navigation. As an encouragement to them to do so, he informed them that in the commis- sions he had forwarded to the civil governors of the said four new provinces, he had given express power and directions that, so soon as the state and circumstances of the said colonies would admit thereof, they should, with the advice and consent of the members of his Majesty's Councils in the said provinces, summon general assemblies of the people within the said govern- ments, in such manner as was used in those colonies and provinces in America which were under his Majesty's immediate government ; and that until such assemblies could be called, all persons inhabiting in, c resorting to, his Majesty's said colonies, might confide OF CANADA. 25 in his Majesty's royal protection for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of his realm of England; that for that purpose his Majesty had given power, under the great seal, to the governors of his Majesty's said new colonies, to erect and constitute, with the advice of his Majesty's said councils respectively, courts of judicature and public justice, within the said colonies, for the hearing and deter- mining all causes, as well criminal as civil, according to law and equity, and as near as may lie, agreeably to the lav)s of England; with liberty to all persons who might think themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts, in all civil cases, to appeal, under the usual limitations and restrictions, to his Ma- jesty in his Privy Council. On thr^ 21st day of November 1763,* about six weeks after the publication of the aforesaid proclamation, his Majesty issued his commission of captain-general and governor-in-chief of the province of Quebec, to Major-general Murray, which was received by him, and published in the province in the month of August 1764. This commission, and the insurrection that accompa- nied it everywhere, pre-supposed that the laws of England were in force in the province, being * See Smith's Ilistury of Canada. r: 1' 'ij)' 26 THE nunBT.r.s rw It *l I full of allunions and references to those laws on a variety of different subjects, and did not con- tain the least intimation of a saving of any part of the laws and <;ustoms that prevailed there in the time of the i -nch government. It appears, tlu efore, upon the whole, from the proclamation and commission, to have been his Majesty's intention, with respect to the province of Quebec, to assimilate the laws and government of it to those of the other Ame- rican colonies and provinces which were under his Majesty's immediate government, and not to continue the municipal laws and customs by which the conquered people had heretofore been governed, any farther than as those laws might be necessary to the preservation of their property. And his Majesty's ministers, at the time of passing those instruments, were evi- dently of opinion that, by the refusal of Gene- ral Amherst to grant to the Canadians the con- tinuance of their ancient laws and usages ; and by the reference made in the fourth article of the definitive treaty of peace to the laws of Great Britain, as the measure of the indulgence intended to be shown them with respect to the exercise of their religion, sufficient notice had been given to the conquered inhabitants of that province, that it was his Majesty's plea- 'I OF CANADA. 27 sure that they should be governed for the future according /o the laws of England. It is evident also, that the inhabitants, after being thus ap- prised of his Majesty's intention, had consented to be so governed, and had testified their said consent, by continuing to reside in the country, and by taking the oath of allegiance to his Ma- jesty, when they might have withdrawn them- selves from the province, with all their effects, and the produce of the sale of their estates, within the eighteen months allowed by his Majesty in the treaty of peace, for that purpose. In consequence of this introduction of the laws of England into the province, by the aforesaid proclamation and commission. Gover- nor Murray and his Council, in the great ordi- nance dated on the 17th day of September 1764 (passed at the commencement of the civil government of the province, for the establish- ment of courts of justice in it), directed the chief justice of the province (who was to hold the superior court or Court of King's Bench, established by that ordinance), to determine all criminal and civil causes agreeable to the laws of England, and the ordinances of the province; and the judges of the inferior court, established by the said ordinance (which was called the Court of Common Pleas), to determine the 28 THE HUnOLKS matters before them agreeably to e(|uity, having regard nevertheless to the laws of England , as far as the circumstances and situation of things would permit, until such time as proper ordi- nances for the information of the people could be established by the governor and council, agreeable to the laws of England ; with this just and prudent proviso, • that the French laws and customs should be allowed and admitted in all causes in the said court between the na- tives of the said province, in which the cause of actioi. arose, before the 1st day of October 1764.' In consequence of these instruments of go- vernment, the laws of England were gene- rally introduced into- it, and consequently be- came the rule and measure of all contracts and other civil engagements entered into by the inhabitants after the introduction of them, that is, after the establishment of the civil govern- ment of the province, or after the said 1st day of October 1764. At this time the population of Canada amounted to 65,000 souls, and was confined to the banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributary streams. As the people had now become Bri- tish subjects, it was deemed expedient to intro- duce, as soon as possible, emigrants of English OF CA^fADA. 20 extmction, as well for the purpose of creating a defensive power witiiin the prov'iire, as to induce the French to acquire the language, and adopt the habits of their conquerors. The officers and soldiers of the army that had served in America were rewarded with grants of land in the country which they had con- quered, and liberal offers were made to people in the other provinces, and to emigrants from Europe to remove thither. The facilities of internal transport, the fertility of the soil, and salubrity of the climate, operated so powerfully, that in a short time the influx of strangers was so great as to induce the hope that it would speedily rival the New England states in popu- lation and in wealth ; and no doubt can now be entertained that if the terms of the procla- mation had been honestly adhered to, these ex- pectations would have been fully realised. As a matter of policy nothing could have been more wise, than since it had now become a British colony, to endeavour, as soon as pos- sible, to make it so in fact as well as in name. The introduction of English laws hau a natural tendency to disseminate the language, by ren- dering the study of it necessary to the Canadian French, and a constant intercourse with the emigrants could not fail, by rendering their 30 THE BUBBLES customs familiar, to have gradually led to their adoption. This change, though great in the first instance, and no doubt repugnant to their feelings, would have gradually recommended itself to the French, and by the time a new generation had sprung up, all inconvenience would have ceased to be felt any longer. The first fatal error that was committed was ordering a code of laws to be prepared for the province, with such modifications at -."orld secure to the French the system of tenure and inheritance, to which they had been accustomed. This occasioned much delay, and enabled their leaders to represent that any change would alienate the affections of the inhabitants, who would naturally extend to the government the dislike that they felt to their institutions. Un- fortunately, while this was under consideration, the time had arrived when they could enforce their demands with a threat, and the rebellion which shortly afterwards broke out in the English colonies (now constituting the United States), made their conciliation a matter of state policy. It was therefore determined at oi' ,e to restore the French laws as they existed at the conquest, and the celebrated Quebec Act, 14 Geo. 3, c 83, was passed for that purpose. This statute enacted, *' that his V OF CANADA. 31 Majesty's subjects professing the religion of the Church of Rome, in the said province of Que- bec, may have, hold, and enjoy, the free exercise of their religion, subject to the King's supre- macy, and that the clei^y of the said church may hold, receive, and enjoy their accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such persons only as shall profess the said religion ; and that it shall be lavi^ful for his Majesty, his heirs or successors, to make such provision for the sup- port of the Protestant clergy within the said province, as he or they shall from time to time think necessary and expedient." But by far the most important clause was that which, after reciting that the English laws which had prevailed there for ten years, administered and regulated under commissions to governors, had been found inapplicable to the state and cir- cumstances of the country, enacted that from and after the Ist of 'May ^ nib, the said English laws and practice of courts should be annulled. It is true that the criminal law of England was excepted, and that the system of torture which had been in previous existence was abolished for ever. During the time they were under French domination a person suspected of crime was seized, thrown into prison, and interro- gated, without knowing the charge brought 32 THE BUBBLES N 'II :(]••'! against him, and without being confronted with his accuser. He was deprived of the assistance either of his friends, relations, or counsel. He was sworn to tell the truth, or rather to accuse himself, without any value being attached to his testimony. Questions were then artfully put, which are described as more difficult for innocence to unravel than vice to deny. The prisoner was never confronted with the person who had deposed against him, except at the moment before judgment was pronounced, or when the torture was applied, or at his execu- tion, which judgment in capital cases was in- variably followed by confiscation of property. This act also constituted a council with the power to make ordinances, conjointly with the governor, but not to impose taxes except for making roads. The ordinances were to be laid before his Majesty for allowance, and those touching religion not to be in force until for- mally approved of by the King. This flagrant violation of the promises held out in the proclamation, and of the terms upon which the people of British origin had settled in the provinces, filled them with dismay. They felt that they had the wretched choice presented to them of abandoning their property and remov- ing from the colony, or of remaining a miserable 2F''w OF CANADA. m minority, to be ruled and governed by foreign- ers, whose favour could only be conciliated by tiieir forgetting their country, their language, and religion, as soon as possible, and becoming Frenchmen. They accordingly lost no time in forwarding petitions, in which they were joined by the merchants of London, interested in the North American trade, to the King and the two Houses of Parliament, expressive of their sense of the injury they had sustained, and of the misery likely to be entailed by this act upon the province, but no repeal was effected, and the act remained as it was passed. Importunity often prevails against convic- tion, and the most noisy applicant is generally the first relieved, not because he is the most deserving, but because he is the most trouble- some. The French Canadians appear to have been fully aware of this fact, and to have acted upon it ; and the English, finding their oppo- nents first in the field, have been put on the defensive nnd instead of seeking what was due to themselves, have been compelled to expos- tulate that too great a share has been given to their rivals. The advantage gained by this po- sition, the former have constantly maintained ; and, it is a singular fact, that while the latter are tlie onlt/ aggrieved party in the country, the D 1,1 mmm 34 TIIK nilBBLES iormer liavo forpstalled the attention of the public, and engrossed the whole of its sympathy. Every page of this work will confirm and illus- trate this extraordinary fact. The Quebec Act was obnoxious, not merely to the British party in Canada, but to the inhabitants of those co- lonies whose gallantry so materially contributed to its conquest. It has been the singular fate of this unfortunate bill to have excited two rebellions. It caused the cup of American grievance, which Mas already filled to the brim, to ovei*flow into revolt, and has subsequently given rise to a train of events that has induced the very men that it was designed to conciliate, to follow the fatal example that had been set to them by their republican neighbours. OF CANADA. 36 Letter IV. As soon as the struggle had ended in the old colonies, by their successful assertion of independence, a vast emigration of the loyalists took place into Canada, comprising a great number of persons of character and property ; and these people, who had been accustomed to the exercise of the electoral privilege, united with those of their countrymen who had pre- viously settled there in demanding a modifica- tion of the Quebec Act, and the establishment of a local legislature. The petitions of these people gave rise to the Act of the 31st Geo. IIT, c. 31, commonly called the Constitutional Act, to which and to the Quebec Act, of the 14th of the same reign, c. 83, alluded to in my former letter, is to be attributed all the trouble expe- rienced in governing Canada. In the fatal concessions to the Canadians contained in these Acts, is to be found the origin of that anti- British feeling which, engendered by the powers conferred by those Acts, has increased with every exercise of those powers, until it has assumed the shape of concentrated hatred and D 2 ««■ mm n^ 30 THE nUDBLES \ ^ IK 4 I ,1 upon ivhoUion. Hy tliis Art Canada was ilividod into t^^o provinoos, ivspitanding of the Tenures' Act, which is now one of the great (omplaiuts of the disaffected. There exists in Lower Canada no regular 38 THE BUBBLES I It >; li'! irl w code in which the laws of the land are syste- matically incorporated, nor would it indeed be a task of ordinary difficidty to collect and condense them, so diverse are their elements, and so complex their character.* The juris- prudence of the country may be said to embrace the French, the English, and the Roman or civil laws, and these are all so blended in prac- tice, that it is often doubtful whence the rule of decision will be drawn, although the line of distinction is better defined in theory. The statute law of the province may be stated under five heads : — 1st, The articles of capitulation, that form part of the guaranteed rights of the inhabitants; 2d, The 31st Geo. III. cap. 31, or the constitutional act, and all other British statutes expressly extending to the colonies; 3d, The edicts, declarations, and ordinances of the Kings of France officially registered in the province ; 4th, The ordinances of the Governor and Council anterior to 1792 ; and 5th, The acts of the provincial legislature subsequent to 1792. The common law is the custom of Paris as modified by the customs of the coun- try, and this law was co-extensive with the whole province until the passing of the Canada • See Bouchette. Ift: ?l! <1 OF CANADA. 39 tenures" hill in 1B25, which restricted the ap- plicatiou of the French law to the feudal sec- tion of the colony, and introduced bodily the English laws to the remainder of the province. The criminal law of the province is the Eng- lish code as it stood in 1774, and the statutes of a declaratory or modifying nature that have since passed the local legislature. When the country was first settled by the French, the feudal tenure was in full vigour on the continent of Europe, and was naturally trans- planted by the colonizers to the new world. The King of France, as feudal lord, granted to nobles and respectable families, or to officers of the army, large tracts of land, termed seigni- ories, the proprietors of which were termed seigniors ; and held immediately from the King enjiefy or en rolure, on condition of rendering fealty and homage on accession to vseigniorial property ; and in the even<^ of a transfer, by sale, or gift, or otherwise (except in hereditary succession), the seigniory was subject to the payment of a quint, or fifth part of the whole purchase-money ; and whioh, if paid by the purchaser immediately, entitled him to the rabat, or a reduction of two- thirds of the quint. Tlie custom still previiils, the King of (ireat 40 THE BUBBLES Britain having- succeeded to the claims of the King of France.* The position and extent of these seigniorial grants are :— . * ■ (. *■ *■ Territorial Dlviilon. Extent of Seignloral Qranu. Almott unfit for cuUlvation In Arpenti. Acrei* theSelcnio- riei and Fiefi. Quebec.includingAnti-l costi and other Isles, j Montreal and Islands . Three Rivers and St.l Francis, &e. • -J Oflspe and Isles - 79 63 25 1 5,639,319 3,269,966 1,220,308 1,547,086 5,656,699 2,786,011 1,039,707 1,318,117 2,600,000 500,000 400,000 600,000 . A'. 168 12,676,679 10,800,534 4,100,000 Estimating the number of acres of land in Lower Canada under cultivation, at 4,000,000, it will be perceived what a large portion of ter- ritory is embraced under the seigniories. •- Quints is a fifth-part of the purchase-money of an estate held en^e/which must be paid by the purchaser to the feudal lord, that is, to the King. If the feudal lord believes the Jief to be sold under value, he can take the estate to himself by paying the purchaser the price he gave for it, with all reasonable expenses. Re- liefe is the rent or revenue of one year for * See jMartiu's < Canada,' and House of Commons Report. 0. OF CANADA. «l mutation fine, when an estate is inherited only by collateral descent. Lods et ventes, are fines of alienation of one-twelfth part of the purchase- money, paid to the seigneur by the purchaser, on the transfer of property, in the same manner as quints are paid to the King on the mutation ofjief; and are held en ro/«rc, which is an estate to which heirs succeed equally. Franc aleunoble, is a.Jiqf, or freehold estate, held subject to no seignorial rights or duties, and acknowledging no lord but the King. The succession to fiefs is different from that of property held en roture or by villainage. The eldest son, by right, takes the chateau, and the yard adjoining it ; also an arpent of the garden joining the manor- house ; the mills, ovens, or presses within the seigniory, belong to him ; but the profit arising from these is to be divided among the other heirs. Females have no precedence of right, and when there are only daughters, the fief is equally divided among them. When there are only two sons, the eldest takes two- thirds of the lands, besides the chateau, mill, &c., and the younger, one-third. When there are several sons, the elder claims half the lands, and the rest have the other half divided among them. Censive is an estate held in the feudal manner, subject to the seigniorial tines or dues. 42 THE BUBBF.ES M All the Canadian hahitans, small iarniorN, are censilaires. Property, according to the laws oi Canada, is either propre, that is held by descent, or acquits^ which expresses beinj ac- quired by industry or other means. Commu- nity de bien is partnership in property by mar- riage ; for the wife, by this law, becomes an equal partner in whatever the husband pos- sessed before and acquires after marriage, and the husband is placed in the same position in respect to the wife's dowry property. This law might operate as well as most general laws, if both husband and femme came to the Jinale of life on the same day ; but very unhappy conse- quences have arisen when the one died before the other. For instance, when the wife dies be- fore the husband, the children may claim half of the father's property, as heirs to the mother ; and the mother's relations have often persuadeil and sometimes compelled them so to do. The dot or dowry, is the property which the wife puts into the communiU de bien : moveable or immoveable property, falling to her by des- cent, is a proprCy and does not merge in the communiU. Dower in . Canada, is either cus- tomary or stipulate. The first consists of half the property which tlie liusband was possessed of at the time of marriage, anil half of all the i -i OF CANADA. a property which he may inherit or acquire — of tlii8 the wife has the use for life, and the chil- dre 'Tiay claim it at her death. If they be noi .ige, the wife's relations can take it out of the father's hands for them, and may compel him to sell his property to make a division. Stipulated dower is a portion which the hus- band gives instead of the customary dower. Those farmers who hold land from the sei- gneur en roiure, and who are termed tenan- ciers or censitaires, do so subject to certain conditions, viz. : a small annual rent from Is. 6d. to 5s. (or perhaps more of late years) for f "h arpent in front ; to this is added some art of provision annually, according to the meant) of the farmer, who is also bound to grind his corn at the moulin banal, or the seigneur's mill, when one-fourteenth is taken for the lord's use as a mouture or payment for grinding. The lods et rentes form another part of the seigneur's revenue : it consists of a right to one- twelfth part of the purchase money of every estate within his seigniory that changes its owner by sale or other means equivalent to sale : this twelfth, to be paid by the purchaser, is exclusive of the sum agreed on between the latter and the seller, and if promptly paid, a reduction of one-fourth is usually made (in ':! ''h " 44 THE BUBBLES \l ;f i the same manner as two-thirds of the quint due to the Crown is made.) On such an occa- sion a privilege but seldom exercised, remains with the seigneur, called the droit de retrait, which conifers the right of pre-emption at the highest bidden price within forty days after the sale has taken place. All the fisheries within the seigniories contri- bute also to the lord's income, as he receives a share of the fish caught, or an equivalent in money for the same : the seigneur is also privi- leged to fell timber any where within his seig- niory for the purpose of erecting mills, con- structing new, or repairing old roads, or for other works of public and general utility. In addition to the foregoing obligations on the farmer, he is, if a Roman Catholic, bound to pay to his curate one twenty-sixth part of all grain produced, and to have occasional assess- ments levied on him for building and repairing churches, parsonage houses, &c. The duties of the seigneur to his tenants are also strictly defined, — he is bound in some instances to open roads to the remote parts of his fief, and to provide mills for the grinding of the feudal tenants' corn ; — he cannot dispose by sale of forest lands, but is bound to concede them, and upon his refusal to do so, the appli- OF CANADA. 46 cant may obtain from the Crown the concession lie requires, under the usual seigniorial stipu- lations, in which case the rents and dues appertain to the King. The soccagc tenure, like the franc aleu roturier, leaves the farmer or landholder wholly unshackled by any conditions whatsoever as to rents, corvies, mutation fines, banakiS (corn- grinding obligation) without in fact any other obligation than allegiance to the King, and obedience to the laws. The quantity of land thus granted in Lower Canada amounts to upwards of 7,000,000 acres— while under the seigniorial grants there are nearly 11,000,000 acres held by a vast number of small proprie- tors. It is very diiTicult to conceive how the states- man who sanctioned the act that substituted tliis extraordinary code for that of England, could have imagined it could ever be productive of anything but discord in a country inhabited by two races of different origin and different language. Any person at all acquainted with the prejudices and passions that operate on man, will easily understand that the French, jealous of any innovation, are constantly sus- picious of an intention on the part of the Eng- lish to infringe upon their rights, anti intro- 1 1 L ' 46 THE BUBBLES .M dnce their own system of jurisprudence, to which they are accustomed and attached, in- stead of that which they neither understand nor approve ; and, on the other hand, that the English, naturally an enterprising and commercial people, find the feudal tenure an intolerable burden, and spurn with indignation the idea of being subjected to the government of a race whom they have conquered, and to the operation of laws, which even the people with whom they originated have rejected as unsuited to the exigencies of the times. In addition to this grievous error of establishing a code of laws that exists nowhere else, three others were committed of equal magnitude : first, in dividing Canada into two pj ovinces, and thus separating the French from the ma- jority of the English ; secondly, in permitting the language of the courts, and the records of the legislature, to be French ; and, thirdly, in giving at so early a period, and before the people were fitted to receive it, a constitutional government. The concentrated settlement of the French along the shores of the St. Lawrence neces- sarily excluded the English emigrants from that fertile territory, and compelled them to remove to the borders of the lakes. In addition OF CANADA. 47 to this obvious cause of their not settling in the immediate neiglibourhood of the Canadians, it is evident that the nature of the feudal tenure to which those lands were subject, and the introduction of French laws in direct contra- vention of the proclamation, rendered such a separation of the two races inevitable. Under these circumstances one would naturally have supposed that a wise government would have endeavoured, as far as possible, to counteract the tendency of these causes, to alienate, as well as separate, these people of different ori- gin. But, alas, the fatal principle of concilia- tion had now been adopted as the rule of action, and the favourable opportunity of An- glifying the colony, and amalgamating the population, by identifying the interests of both, was not only neglected, but the most effectual mode was adopted to make the distinction as marked and as permanent as possible. Not content with this act of folly and injustice, the French were entrusted with an almost exclu- sive possession of the popular branch of the legislature, and were even constituted, at the same time, toll-keepers to the adjoining province- Both the ports of Quebec and Montreal were assigned to the French, and the inhabitants of Upper Canada were thus cut off* from all com- I> i 48 THE BUBBLES |i fi'i miinication with the mother country, but such as might be granted by the Americans or their Gallic neighbours. If the persons who framed that act had compared the state of the revolted colonies with that of Canada, and reflected that they were settled nearly a century later than the other, they certainly never would have attempted to do such injustice as to subject the trade of another colony to the exactions of an illiterate and prejudiced people. If, how- ever, the necessities of the times demanded a sacrifice on this important point, surely they should have paused before they gave them a constitutional government, and enquired whe- ther they were sufficiently intelligent to receive the institutions of a free and enlightened people. The experiment of constitutional government was never tried by a people less qualified for the task than the Canadians. Until the conquest they may be said to have known no other form of government than a despotic one ; few of them could read or write, and the habits of implicit obedience to their su- periors, in which they had been trained, rendered them unable to comprehend the nature of their own rights, or those of the other branches of the legislature. The powers exercised by the several French governors and intendants knew OF CANADA. no bounds ; and, unrestrained by law, their decisions were dictated by the caprice of the moment. The inhabitants were compelled to serve as soldiers without pay, in the frequent wars witli the English, and were treated witli the greatest severity by their superiors. The exactions of the military, instead of being re- strained were encouraged, and on all occasions the protection of the governor or intendant was necessary to insure success, while merit in every instance was overlooked. Remonstrances against oppression had frequently been trans- mitted to the government in France, but were always either suppressed or disregarded. Their character at this period is thus drawn by the Abb6 Raynal, whose account, as his partialities must have been all in their favour, I prefer as the most unobjectionable. He observes : " That those whom rural labour fixed in the country, allowed only a few moments to the care of their flocks and to other indispensable occupations during winter. The rest of the time was passed in idleness at public- houses, or in running along the snow and ice in sledges, in imitation of the most distinguished citizens. When the return of spring called them out to the necessary labours of the field, they ploughed £ i;l ■.♦ flO THE BUBBLES the ground superficially, without ever manur- ing it, sowed it carelessly, and then returned to their former indolent manner of life till harvest time. ^^ •' This amazing negligence might be owing to several causes. They contracted such a habit of idleness during the continuance of the severe weather, that labour appeared in- supportable to them even in the finest weather. The numerous festivals prescribed by their re. ligion, which owed its increase to their esta- blishment, prevented the first exertion, as well as interrupted the progress of industry. Men are ready enough to comply with that species of devotion that flatters their indolence. Lastly, a passion for war, which had been purposely encouraged among these bold and courageous men, made them averse from the labours of husbandry. Their minds were so entirely cap- tivated with military glory that they thought only of war, though they engaged in it without pay. " The inhabitants of the towns, especially of the capital, spent the winter as well as the summer in a constant scene of dissipation. They were alike insensible of the beauties of nature or of the pleasures of the imagination. OF CANADA. 6i They had no taste for arts or science, for read- ing or instruction. Their only passion was amusement. " There appeared in both sexes a greater degree of devotion than virtue, more religion than probity ; a higher sense of honour than of real honesty. Superstition took place of mo- rality, which will always be the case whenever men are taugiit to believe that ceremonies will compensate for good works, and that crimes are expiated by prayers." A greater folly can hardly be conceived than conferring a constitutional government upon a people so situated. Wherever the experiment has been tried, whether in France, in the re- public of South America, in Spain, in Portugal, Greece, Newfoundland, or Lower Canada, it has invariably failed. The constitution of England, as it now exists, is the growth of ages, and would have been as unsuitable to our ancestors five hundred years ago as it is to the Lower Canadians of the present day. Regard must be had to the character and condition of the people to whom such a form of government is oftered. What may suit the inhabitants of England may be, and is, very unsuitable to those of any other country. Tt is not sufficient that the machinery be good, but, if we desire r 2 ';i r y fa THE BUBBLES to avoid accidents and insure success, we must place skilful people in the management of it, who are thoroughly acquainted with its power, and have a perfect knowledge of its principle of action. The limited monarchy of England was found unsuited to America, al- though the people were of British extraction, accustomed to free institutions, and perfectly instructed in its practical operation. They were so unfortunate as not to possess any materials out of which to construct a House of Lords, and therefore so modified their consti- tution as to meet the altered circumstances of the country. This humble imitation is a cheap article, and good of its kind, though badly put together; but a better and more costly one would not have corresponded with the limited means and humble station of a poor people. Their choice is a proof of their wisdom, and their having the opportunity to choose, at a time of life when they were able to make a judicious selection, is a proof of their good fortune. Had the Canadians been called upon, at the time of the conquest, to point out what government they would have preferred, they would unquestionably have solicited that of a single intendant ; they had never known any other, and it was the only one for which they I OF CANADA. 53 were fitted. So strong, indeed, is the force of habit, that rejecting the constitution, which they cannot understand, and do not appreciate, they have, after a vain attempt to accommodate themselves to it, resorted to the usage of former days, and (however unfortunate they may have been in the character and conduct of the person they selected as their leader) have adopted the usage of their forefathers, and implicitly yielded their confidence and obedience to one man. k\ I J! Sill iBjiB! t I ^i H' M )( THE nUDPLES Letter V. Havin6 thus traced historically the mea- sures of government, from the conquest of the country to the time when tiie Constitutional Act went into operation in the province (26th December 1791), which forms the first import- ant epoch in the history of the colony, I shall divide the time that intervened between that period and the present into four other portions : The second extends from the meeting of the first provincial House of Assembly in December 1792 to 1818, when a demand was made for a civil list ; the third from thence to 1828, when the pretensions of the Assembly had assumed a distinct and definite form, and were referred to a committee of Parliament ; the fourth from thence to 1834, when a further reference of additional grievances was made to another par- liamentary committee ; and the fifth from 1834 to the present period. Such a division will elucidate the growth and increase of those revolutionary principles (the natural and ob- vious result of such a form of government) which first appeared in an insidious attempt to monopolise the whole civil power by such m \ OF CANADA. 11 complefo control in matters of legislation and finance as wonld render her Majesty's repre- sentative, and the Legislative Council, sub- servient to the interests, prejudices, and pas- sions of the French Canadian majority, and finally terminated in open rebellion. I do not mean by this to affirm that all that has since transpired was the result of a preconceived de- sign, systematically acted upon ; but as uncon- trolled power was given by the constitution to the French party, that these pretensions were the natural result of such a power, and that they were unhesitatingly put forward as soon as their leaders had become acquainted with tiie working of the constitution, and aware that they were invested with the means of im- posing their own terms upon government. The first assembly met on the 17th of Decem- ber 1792, and as the representation had been most injudiciously based on the principle of population, thirty-five out of the fifty members of this first house were French, and fifteen only English, a minority too large and respectable to be suffered to continue longer than to teach the majority the forms of business, and we accord- ingly find, at a subsequent period, that it was reduced to three. The change from arbitrary to constitutional government was so great, that t.) 56 THE Hl'BBI,KS iiW the French were for some time unvith tlie conimund of liis armies, left us in possession of our laws and customs ; the free exercise cf our religion was preserved to us, and afterwards was confirmed by the treaty of peace ; and our own former countrymen were appointed judges of our disputes concerning civil matters. This excess of kindness towards us we shall never forget. These generous proofs of the clemency of our benign conqueror will be carefully preserved in the annals of our his- tory ; and we shall transmit them from genera- tion to generation to our remotest posterity. These, Sir, are the pleasing ties by which, in the beginning of our subjection to your Ma- jesty's government, our hearts were so strongly bound to your Majesty ; ties which can never be dissolved, but which time will only strengthen and draw closer." Impressed with a sense of the benefits con- ferred upon them by this great change, tramel- led by parliamentary forms with which they were wholly unacquainted, and not yet aware of the 'inlimited means of annoyance, if not of •ntrouJ, with which they were invested, we Hnd then' or some time proceeding with deco- rum and moderation. But there were not M mting those in the colony who were filled r» 58 THE nUHBLES ;l ! with alarm at the sight of the first Canadian assembly, which, even with the largest minority ever known, contained a majority of more than twice as many Frenchmen as Englishmen, and possessed the power to increase that majority at its pleasure. Even those whose faith in the operation of British institutions, had led them to hold a different opinion as to the result, were constrained to admit their error, when they found the house proceeding to ch'^ose a speaker, who admitted his inability to ex^ cess himself in English (a precedent of choosing that officer from the majority, which has ever since been followed), and also resorting to the expensive mode of .ecording their proceedi.igs in their own language. They perceived '^vith grief that the natural tendency of those things, instead of stimulating the new subjects to the study of constitutional law in its original sources, was to force Englishmen to study French, and in no small degree to become Frenchmen, and coalesce with the INation Ca- nadienne, to give a complete ascendancy to those of foreign origin, their laws, language, and characteristics, in the popular branch of the legislature, and to encourage in the leaders, at a future day, that exclusive ambi ion that now distinguishes them. They could not fail, OF CANADA. 59 also, to draw an unfavourable contrast between this extraordinary concession, and the more provident conduct of the American Congress, which, while admitting the territory of Louis- iana, inhabited by Frenchmen, as one of the states of the confederation, enact'^d that all minutes of proceedings in the court and legis- lature of their sister state should be exclusively recorded in the language of the constituency of the United States. This judicious enactment has naturally made the study of the English tongue a primary object with the Louisianians, and, the •;»! in numbers, at the time of admis- sion, they were about half the amount of the Canadians in 1791, they now generally speak or understand English, and have changed their old laws for a new code, while the legislature and people of Canada remain as much French as the inhabitants of Normandy. It was felt that, as far as Englishmen and their descendants were concerned, this consti- tution was a mere delusion. At a very early period we find them putting in practice that ma- nceuvre, which became so common afterwards, of absenting themselves from the house, when measures were to be considered to which they were averse, and thereby compelling the speaker to adjourn the debate for wnnt of a quorum. 60 THE nUlJHLES :'ii i :^\ I p This first Mouse of Assembly, after four ses- sions, terminated on tlie 4th of May, 1796. The conduct of the members, though respect- ful both to the governor and the otijer branch of the legislature, gave evident proof that they would artbrd no encouragement to English commerce or English settlers. The principle adopted and acted upon most pertinaciously was to avoid direct assessment, and throw all public burthens, as well as local charges, upon the revenue, to be derived from duties levied oft' of trade. It was in some measure owing to chance, but mainly to the influence of the governor, that a road act, so important to the country, which imposed a moderate contribu- tion of money or labour on the people, for the improvement of their property, was carried through the Assembly. But an appeal to the passions and prejudices of the people by their embryo demagogues was so successful on this occasion, in representing this necessary act as the commencement of foreign taxation and English oppression, that they attempted to starve out the inhabitants of Quebec and Mon- treal, by witldiolding all the usuaL supplies of food. A bankrupt law was refused to the request of the merchants, and they also declined to sanction " An Act to Amend the Laws, OF CANADA. 61 Customs, and Usages in force in the Province, relative to the Tenure of Lands, and the rights derived therefrom," refusing to make the small- est sacrifice to what they called the cupidity of English landholders, and the prejudices of American settlers. So peremptory, indeed, was the refusal, that the faction was considered decisive as to any innovation upon the French laws, which, with the feudal tenures of lands, were cherished as the means of deterring emi- grants from seeking an asylum in the province; thus rendered French in fact, though British in name. During the existence of this house, also, is to be found the first pretension to en- croach on the right of the Crown, in an enquiry into the forfeited lands of the Jesuits, and a claim for their restoration to French controul. It is, however, worthy of remark, as forming a complete contrast with recent conduct, that of eleven acts sanctioned at the end of the session, all were permanent but one. Thus, my dear friend, do you see that the causes of the present posture of affairs are to be traced back to a very early period ; not as my Lord Durham has asserted, to misgovern- ment of the Canadians, but to inconsiderate con- cessions, which though designed to conciliate them, have not only signally failed of their object, 62 THE BUBBLES ft J >;'f but been productive of mischief to themselves, and incalculable injury to the colony. That this is the view which impartial men take of the subject, appears from the following extract from the work of a distinguished foreigner, the author of the Resources of America :* " The unwise act of Lord Grenville, passed through Parliament in the year 1794, permit- ing the people of Lower Canada to conduct their pleadings and promulgate their laws in the French language, has prevented them from ever becoming British, and so far weakened the colony as an outwork of the mother coun- try. It has always been the policy of able conquerors, as soon as possible, to incorporate their vanquished subjects with their own citi- zens, by giving them their own language and laws, and not suffering them to retain those of their pristine dominion. These were among the most efficient means by which ancient Rome built up and established her empire over the whole world ; and these were the most efficient aids by which modern France spread her dominion so rapidly over the continent of Europe. While Lower Canada continues to be French in language, religion, laws, habits, and manners, it is obvious that her people will not be good British subjects ; and Britain may most • Bristow. 'J OF CANADA. 69 assuredly look to the speedy loss of her North American colonies, unless she immediately sets about the establishment of an able, states- manlike government there, and the direction thitherward of that tide of emigration from her own loins, which now swells the strength and resources of the United States. Her North American colonies gone, her West India islands will soon follow." The second House of Assembly was opened on the 25th of January, 1797, and ended in 1801. The privilege of participating in the legislative power of the country for four years, had awakened the members to a sense of their own importance, and the Canadian French to a knowledge of their supremacy ; and they accordingly returned a more democratic house than the preceding, and representatives pledged to an exclusive devotion to the interests of their own party. The prejudices awakened by the Road Act, and the fraternising doctrines of the French revolution, contributed also to produce this result. It is true the minority were only reduced to fourteen ; but the attorney-general was defeated as a candidate for the county of Quebec, and several influential members of the late house shared a similar fate; so that al. though the numerical proportions were nearly ' >: 64 TIIK BUBBLES similar, the British interest was evidently al ready on the decline. A manifest change had taken place in the feel- ings of the different branches of the legislature. The governor, acting on the defensive, no hmger proposed measures of internal improvement, which he knew would provoke ungry dis- cussions, or be met with a refusal ; but relied more upon the Legislative Council, which alone represented or protected British interests, while the house, finding that temporary acts had a direct tendency to lessen the influence and independence of the executive, discon- tinued the practice of passing permanent laws. To remedy the evil of having so many pre- judiced and illiterate members in the assembly, it was proposed by the minority to establish a qualification, which, although it could not possibly increase their own numbers, it was hoped might at least have the advantage of affording them more liberal and enlightened colleagues ; but this measure, like all others introduced by them, was considered of foreign origin, and excluded accordingly. The ma- jority, however, though pertinacious, still pre- served appearances, and as the minority felt themselves unequal to pi'ocure the passage of any bill, either of internal improvement or for OF CANADA. 06 the fucilitating' the foreign trade, they forlmre to provoke the discussion, and preferred using their inHuence to the mere preservation of what few privileges were left to them. The third provincial parliament began on the 1st of January 1801, and terminated, after five ses- sions, on the 2d of May 1804. The temper of this house, and the proportion of its parties, were similar to that of the last. Among the topics insisted upon in the gover- nor's speech, was a recommendation for a grant of money for free schools for the instruction of the rising generation in the first rudiments of useful learning, and in the English tongue ; and it was noticed with feelings of grief, though not with surprise, that the house, in their reply, omitted the words " English tongue," and shortly afterwards applied the commentary by a vote for the purchase of '• French books," for the use of the members. Although there were not a few of their number who were unfortu- nately incapable, from a deficiency of educa- tion, of using them, yet it was evident that there existed as little inclination to adopt the lan- guage, as there was to introduce the laws of Great Britain. In accordance with this spirit of preference for French laws, an act was passed to revive F C6 THE HUliHLKS the serment (Ucisoire, or oath, by which, un- der certain circumstances, a debtor may be permitted to clear himself of a commercial debt, by simply swearing to its having- been paid and satisfied, witiiout even stating the time or place of paymc at ; an act which has been described as a most prolific source of fraud and perjury, and deeply injurious to the mercantile interests of the country, as well as to the character of the people. Such, indeed, was the jealousy of the majority of tiie English, that they were not inclinipd to pass even those laws, which had an exclusive application to them and their tenures. Thus a bill was introduced for registering deeds of lands in free and common soccage, which only affected the English, but it met with tlie customary fate of all such attempts. The leaders began now to affect to perceive a latent danger in every act of the government, and a bill requiring rectors, curates, and priests to read certain laws after divine service, was denounced as opening a door for exercising an influence over the clergy ; and an effort was made to introduce in their stead the captains of militia, which was only relinquished to avoid tlie awkward admission that too many of those officers were deficient in the necessary quali- fication to perform the duty. The gieat in- OF CANADA. 09 croase of the trade of the province at this time, in consequence of tiie war, so far from exciting the emulation of the French, and stimulating them to participate in its advantages, awakened their jealousy, and they stigmatised it as the parent of crime, the source of undue distinc- tions, and the means of filling the country with persons of foreign origin. They not only de- clined in any way to aid its extension, but imposed taxes upon it for all those objects that elsewhere in America are provided for by local assessment. Such conduct could not fail to retard the improvement of the country, by pre- venting the investment of capital, and discou- raging enterprise ; and that it had this effect is evident from the slow growth of Lower Canada, when compared with that of the adjoining colony, where a different system prevailed. The fourth house of assembly met on the 11th January, 1805, and terminated, after four sessions, on th;3 14th April, 1808. The pressure of the feudal tenure becoming daily more and more severely felt by the inha- bitants of the cities, two unsuccessful attempts were now made to obtain some mitigation of it. The first was a bill to abolish the re- Irait lignager, or right of redemption by the relations of seignoral lands. Any relation, it F 2 G8 TIIK muuw.Ks was stated, of the seller, if of the same line, in which the property clescentled, may, within a year and a day, l)y this law, take it from the purchaser of the property, on condition of re- turnin*;^ tiie price. A person, tiierefore, buying- a lot of land for one hundred pounds, and ex- pending upon it one thousand in buildings, may be deprived of the whole, by a relation of the seller* refunding the original purchase- money, buildings not being considered necessary expenses. The second was ** a bill to enable tiie seig- neurs to compound for their feudal rights and dues with their vassals and censitaires." This was particularly intended as a relief against the discouraging effects of lods and ventes, by which the twelfth part of the labour and expense of erecting buildings (however expensive) on ground, subject to the imposition, is for the benefit of the seigneur. These bills, however, like all that had preceded them, for similar purposes, did not receive a second reading, nor was any remedy applied until the Imperial Parliament interfered nearly twenty years after- wards. To show, however, the nature of the change which these leaders were disposed to patronise, they voted £750 for translating Hat- sell's Parliamenatry Proceedings into French, See " Political Annals ;" also Canadian Magazine. OF CANADA. juid to rebut the cluirge of their aversion to internal improvement, and to jshew they were not inattentive to the agricultural prosperity of the province, tiiey passed a bill enjoining the application of tar to apple trees for the de- struction of caterpillars. From a body thus constituted little good could be expected. The merchants and other British subjects resident in Canada, finding all attempts in the legisla- ture useless, appealed, through the medium of the press, to the sympathies of the English f)ublic. They contended that if the support of the civil government were not to rest on direct taxes, it should at least be secured by perma- nent acts of indirect taxation— that local esta- blishments, such as court-houses, gaols, and houses of correction, should be defrayed by assessments on the districts for whose benefit they were required, and that recourse should be had to indirect taxes of temporary duration, only for the general improvement of the coun- try in its internal communications with the adjoining states and colonies, or its agriculture and commerce. This was denounced by the demagogues of the day as an attack upon the liberties of the subject ; and certain toasts at a public dinner, approving of those commercial and financial m 70 THE KUnULKii viewH of the minority, were voted to be un in- sult to the majesty of the house, and warrants were issued against the printers, who were taken into custody, and compelled to apologise for their conduct.* It is worthy of remark, that at this time the first attempt was made to procure a drawback of duties on articles that were exported after having first paid a duty ; I , I- H • That " our oppressed and enslaved brethren in Canada" knew linw to vindicate theniBelves, and entertained junt notions un the subject of the liberty of the press, will appear from a perusal of the toasts that called down the indignation of the house, and occasioned the issuing of warrants to apprehend the president of the social meetings that sanctioned, and the printers that dared to disseminate such wicked doctrines, 1. The honourable members of the legislative council, who were friendly to constitutional taxation as proposed by our worthy members in the House of Assembly. 2. Our representatives in provincial parliament, who proposed a constitutional and proper mode of taxation, for building gaols, and who opposed a tax on commerce for that purpose, as contrary to the sound practice of the parent state. 3. May our representatives be actuated by a patriotic spirit for the good of the province, as dependant on the British empire, and divested of local prejudices. 4. Prosperity to the agriculture and commerce of Canada, and may they aid each other as their true interests dictate, by sharing a due proportion of advantages and burthens. 5. 1 he city and county of Montreal, and the granc! juries of the district, who recommended local assessment for local purposes. G. May the city of Montreal be enabled to support a newspaper, though deprived of its natural and useful advantages, apparently for the benefit of an individual. 7. May the commercial intensis of this province have its due influence on the administration of its government. OF CANADA. ft but, as usual, it failed in a body whose whole spirit was aiiti-<;()mmercial. These instances are adduced, not for their intrinsic importance, hut as illustrative of the (piestion proposed hy ine for your consideration in my first letter, whether ^""''' bail never been OF CANADA. 70 niakiifostod in these two successive dissolutions of tlie assembly to tlie subdued and altered tone of tiieir debates. It is observable that in their reply to his speech, they admit the (act here contended for, and which they have since so strenuously denied. " That harmony and a ji^ood understanding so conducive to the pros- perity and hap[)iLess of tlie colony, are more di/Hcult to be mainiained in this province than in any other of his Majesty's colonies, from the difference in opinions, customs, and prejudices for a moment the subject of my deliberations, and when the late house offered to pay the civil list, I could not have taken any step in a matter of such importance without the Kinfj's instructions, and therefore it was still long before we came to the considera- tion of how it was to be paid. In truth, not one word was over, to my knowledjje, mentioned on the subject. " In other parts, despairinj'' of producing' instances from what I have done, recourse is had to what I intend to do, and it is boldly told you that I mean to oppress you. " For what purpose should I oppress you ? Is it to serve the King? Will that monarch, who during fifty years has never issued one order, that had you for its object, that was not for your benefit and happiness, — will he now, beloved, honoured, adored by his subjects, covered with glory, descending into the vale of years, accompanied with the prayers and blessings of a grateful people, — will he, contrary to the tenor of a whole life of honour and virtue, now give orders to his servants to oppress his Cana- dian subjects? It is impossible that you can for a moment believe it. You will spurn from you with just indignation the miscreunt who will suggest such a thought to you. " These personal allusions to myself, these details, in any other ease might be unbecoming, and beneath me ; but nothing can be unbecoming, or beneath me, that can tend to save you from the gulf of crime and calamity into which guilty men would fiinige you." 11 80 TflR lUinill.F.S of liis JVIajosty's subjects residing tlioroin." The prompt check interposed by the executive to the violation of constitutional rights, in the expul- sion of the judges* had the desired effect, and they now passed a bill to disqualify them, to which the governor assented, as he said, " with peculiar satisfaction, not only because I think the matter right in itself, but because I con- sider passing an act for the purpose as a com- complete renunciation of an erroneous princi- ple, which put me under the necessity of dis- solving the last parliament." Feeling that nothing was to be gained from such a man by intimidation, they proceeded to the usual busi- ness with more decency of conduct and more dispatch, than had characterised any session • Nothing can be more painful and humiliating than the situa- tion of the judges of Lower Canada since this period. They have been kept in a state of great pecuniary distress by the house with- holding their salaries, and their peace of mind destroyed by the most unfounded attacks on their character. If an attorney be de- tected in fraudulent proceedings, and punished, or be dissatisfied with a judgment of the court, the judge is at once impeached amidst the plaudits of the house. After preliminary proceedings, and an opportunity offered of abuse, the proceedings are generally dropt, on the ground that government is partial and corrupt. By a singular fatality, every man that accuses a judge finds it a step to preferment. Judge Vullieres was the accuser of Judge Kerr, on charges sixteen years old. Philip Parret, a party and witness thereto, was made a judge in 1832. Ebenezer Peck, who brought charges against Judge Fletcher, was presented with a silk gown in 1832. And A. Qucsnel, the same. See ' Canada Question' for more particulars. OF CANADA. 81 since the oonstitiitional ant had Rone into ope- ration. In the mean time, Sir George Provost arrived to take the command of the govern- ment, and we are indebted to the determined attitude assumed by his. predecessor, to the hereditarj hatred borne by the Canadians to the Americans, to the fear they entertained of passing into the hands of an uncompromising people, and to the large sum expended upon the embodied militia, that they did not then avail themselves of the opportunity of throvi^- ing off the dependence, which it has since been their unceasing object to effect. But though their attention was in some measure directed to the protection of their property from tlie com- mon enemy, they did not fail to convince im- partial men, by their conduct, that they were preserving the country for themselves, and not for the empire, of which they then formed a part, by the fortune of war and not from choice. To bring the government of the country into con- tempt, it was necessary to impugn the integrity of the bench and the impartial administration of the law, and they therefore impeached the judges; and when the governor, whose liberal patronage had hitherto shielded him from at- tack, declined to suspend these functionaries till the result of their complaint should be o 82 Tin; iiuiujLF.s known, and refused to make their punishment precede their trial, tliey resolved "that his excellency the governor-in-chief, by his answer to the address of the house, had violated the constitutional rights and privileges thereof." Sufiicient has now been said to show you that tlie evils of Canada have their origin in the defects of the constitutional act, whi('h by substituting French for Englisii laws, by securin.^ to them an overwhelming majority in the assembly, and in separating them from Up- j>er Canada, have had the effect of making them a French and not an English colony. National antipatliies, added to a difference in religion, laws, and language, have contributed to en- gender and foster a feeling of iiostility between the two races, until it has found vent in open collision. It would exceed the limits I have assigned to myself to review the proceedings of each separate house : suffice it to say, that the system of persecution, the commencement of which I iiave exiiibited in the foregoing pages, was subsequently pursued with unremitting- zeal. Having driven the judges from the house, (tiiough they failed in their impeach- ment,*) they succeeded in extorting from * " Thp ailininistrator-in-chief has received the comniands of his Royal lliijhncss the Prinee Refjent, to make known to the house OF CANADA. 83 j»-ovornmcnt, their discharj^e from tho council. Tlniy then vacated the seatH of executive coun- cillors by the unconstitutional ukkU; of resolution, and fniding- there was no means of controlling their power, proceeded by repeated expulsions of assembly of this province his pleasurp, on the subject of ccr tain charges preferred by that house against the chief justice of the province, and the chief justice of the Court of King's Dcnch for the district of Montreal. " With respect to such of those charges as relate to acts done by a former governor of the province, which the assembly, as- suming to be improper or illegal, imputed, by a similar assump- tion, to advice given by the chief justice to that governor, his Royal Highness has deemed that no inquiry could be necessary, inasmuch as none could be instituted without the admission of the principle, that the governor of a province might, at his own dis- cretion, divest himself of all responsibility, on points of political government. " With a view, therefore, to the general interests of the pro- vince, his Royal Highness was pleased to refer for considera- tion to the lords of the privy council such only of the charges brought by the assembly as related to the rules of practice estab- lished by the judges in their respective courts, those being points upon which, if any impropriety had existed, the judges themselves were solely responsible. " By the annexed copy of his Royal Highness's Order in Council, dated the 29th June 1815, the aduiinistrator-in-chief conveys to the assembly the result of this investigation, which has been conducted with all that attention and solemnity which the importance of the subject required. " In making this communication to the assembly, it now becomes the duty of the administrator-in-chief, in obedience to the com- mands of his royal highness the Prince Regent, to express the regre t with which his royal highness has viewed their late proceedings against two persons who have so long and so ably filled the high- est judicial offices in the colony, a circumstance the more to be deplored as tending to disparage, in the eves of the inconsiderate G 2 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. {/ V /K/. .% % ^M^ :/. o 7 1.0 I.I ■" 140 2.2 2.0 1.8 '•25 1.4 III 1.6 * 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 (0 ■ ■ ■■';! ' ■■'■.'' " ■ ■ ■ % -, ' '■■ ' ■].':' ^ . ^% . ^ ",.'''" ..■ "'\ ■/'"■'■. ' 84 THE BUBBLES to drive out a member, for advice offered to the governor in a ministerial capacity ; and repri- manded another officer for legal opinions given to the executive in the usual course of his profession. Every thing was done that inge- nuity could devise, not only to weaken the influence of government, but to represent that influence as unfriendly to the country and pre- judicial to its interests. Nothing, however, occurred until the year 1818, to bring them into direct collision with the mother country, until Sir John Sherbrooke demanded that they should provide for the civil expenses of theprovince. ;, , and ip^norant, their cliaructer and services, and thus to diminish the influence to which, from their situation and their uniform pro- priety of conduct, the_ are jnstly entitled. " The above communication, embracing such only of the charges preferred against the said chief justices as relate to the rules of practice, and as are grounded on advice assumed to have been given by the chief justice of .the province to the late Sir James Craig, the administrator-in-chief, has been further commanded to signify to the assembly, that the other charges appeared to his Majesty's government to be, with one exception, too inconsider- able to require investigation, and that that, (namely the one against the chief justice of the court of King's Bench for the district of Montreal, which states him to have refused a writ of habeas corpus), was, in common with all the charges which do not relate to the rules of practice, totally unsupported by any evidence whatever. (Signed) fioRooN Drummond, Administrator-in-Chief." OF CANADA. 85 .^■(.r'V l/j i.-orir-,// Letter VI. , / »i The opportunity had now arrived that de- signing men had so craftily sought for, of fas- tening a quarrel upon the government, of in- volving it in a defence of its officers, and of making their promised compliance a condition for obtaining any change that might be thought conducive to the great ends of weakening British influence. After discussions, first on the gross amount to be granted, and then on the specific appropriation, had excited and consolidated the party, they took the higher ground of dis- puting the right of the crown to those revenues which were secured to it by permanent grants. In order that you may clearly u .derstand the question, it is necessary to state that the public income of Lower Canada arises from three sources : — • 1st. The croivn duties^ levied under the Bri- tish statute of the 14 Geo. Ill, or the imperial actofSGeo. IV. 2d. Provincial duties, payable in virtue of local laws, proceeding immediately from the provincial legislature, or rendered permanent 86 Tin: P.IJBBLKS without their coflsent, by the last- mentioned imperial act. "^ 3d. The Queen's casual and territorial reve- nue, which arises from her Majesty's landed property ; namely, the Jesuits' estates, the Queen's posts, the forges of St. Maurice, the Queen's wharf, droit de quents^ lods ojiAventes, land fund, and timber fund. With respect to crown duties, levied under 14 Geo. Ill, until they were unwisely surren- dered in 1831, they were, with the territorial revenue, controlled and dispensed by her Ma- jesty's responsible servants, while those levied under the imperial act of 3 Geo. IV, and all pro- vincial acts, have always been under the disposal of the legislature. As the crown duties, levied under the 14 Geo. Ill, had generally, if not always, been inadequate to the support of the civil government and the administration of jus- tice, Sir John Sherbrooke was instructed, in pursuance of the general system of retrench- ment adopted throughout the empire, to call upon the legislature to appropriate, out of the provincial duties, a sum equal to the annual deficiency. To this reasonable request they have manifested a uniform repugnance, sometimes granting it, always objecting, and, finally, refus- ing altogether. They alleged now, for the first OF CANADA. 87 time, that the crown duties were illegal, inasmuch as the statute under which they were levied had been repealed. The reason of their making this objection was, because the proceeds were not under their control, and their object was to make the executive dependent upon them for its support, by an annual vote. The existence of this statute was an insurmountable difficulty, and as they had not the power to repeal it, their only resource was to impugn its legality. The appropriation of the duties was thus pro- vided for in the Act : — "That all the monies that shall arise by the said duties, except the necessary charges of raising, collecting, levying, recovering, answer- ing, paying and accounting for the same, shall be paid by the collector of his Majesty's cus- toms into the hands of his Majesty's receiver- general in the said province for the time being, and shall be applied in the first place in making a more certain and adequate provision towards defraying the expenses of the administration of justice, and of th.. support of civil government in that province ; and that the lord high treasurer, or commissioners of his Majesty's treasury, or any three or more of them for the time being, shall be, and is or are hereby em- powered from time to time, by any warrant or THK BUBBLES Pi\ warrants under his or their hand or hands, to cause such money to be applied out of the said produce of the said duties towards defraying Ihe said expenses ; and that the residue of the said duties shall remain and be reserved in the hands of the said receiver-general for the future disposition of parliament." The statute on which they relied was the 18th Geo. III. The history of that act of parlia- ment you will doubtless recollect. Great Bri- tain had set up a claim to impose taxes, for the purpose of general revenue, upon the colonies (now forming the United States), which, as might naturally be supposed, excited universal opposition — causing at first, popular tumult, and afterwards open rebellion. Finding that this claim could neither be justified nor enforced, it was expressly renounced, in the following words : — " Whereas taxation by the parliament of Great Britain for the purpose of raising a reve- nue in his Majesty's colonies, provinces, and plantations in North America, has been found by experience to occasion great uneasiness and disorders among his Majesty's faithful subjects, who may nevertheless be disposed to acknow- ledge the justice of contributing to the common defence of the empire, provided such contribu- OF CANADA. 09 tion should be raised under the authority of the jjeneral coui-t or general assembly of each re- spective colony, province, or plantation ; and, whereas, in order as well to remove the said uneasiness and to quiet the minds of his Ma- jesty's subjects who may be disposed to return to their allegiance, as to restore the peace and welfare of all his Majesty's dominions, it is expedient to declare that the king and parlia- ment of Great Britain will not impose any duty, tax, or assessment for the purpose of rais- ing a revenue in any of the colonies, provinces, or plantations. " That from and after the passing of that act, the king and parliament of Great Britain would not impose any duty, tax, or assessment what- ever, payable in any of his Majesty's colonies, provinces, and plantations in Nortli America, and the West Indies, except only such duties as it might be expedient to impose for the regu- lation of commerce ; the net produce of such duties to be always paid and applied to and for the use of the colony, province, and plantation in which the same shall be respectively levied, in such manner as other duties collected by the authority of the respective general courts, or general assemblies of such colonies, provinces, or plantations are ordinarily paid and applied." I \ THE RUBBLES That the renunciation of a right to impose taxes hereafter involves a repeal of tliose in ex- istence, is an assumption which it is not neces- sary to refute. Indeed, no person did the party the injustice to believe that they sincerely thought so themselves, especially as in that province there was a local act, 35 Geo. I II, c. 9, adopting its phraseology, and recognizing its existence and validity, by raising an additional revenue, ybr the further support of the govern- ment, to which purpose this act alone had any reference. It answered, however, the pur- poses of the party; it disorganized the govern- ment, and prevented English emigrants from removing to a colony in which evident prepara- tion was making for a separation from the parent state. It also served to scatter the seeds of complaints, which soon germinated, and ripened into a plentiful harvest. It is the fashion in this country to call every change re- form, the exercise of every acknowledged right, an abuse, and every salutary restraint a griev- ance. In the colonies we have long looked to Great Britain as our model, and we have im- porter this fashion from her, as well as many other modern innovations. If agitation is suc- cessful here, why may not it be so there ? — if popular clamour rec|uires and obtains conces- M IP OF CANADA. 91 sions at home, there is no good reason why it should not be equally fortunate abroad ; if those who are the most clamorous, are first attended to, because they are the most distinctly heard, why may not the colonists learn to exalt their voices also, in hopes of similar success? — as the old cock crows so does the young. The En- glish have long held themselves up as models, and such distinguished people must not be sur- prised if they who ape their manners, occasion- ally copy some of their follies also. The force of example is too strong to be restrained by precept. These financial disputes extended over the whole period of the administration of the Duke of Richmond, Lord Dalhousie, and Sir James Kempt, with more or less intensity, according to the supply of fresh fuel furnished by irritating matter of an extraneous nature. Complaints soon multiplied upon complaints ; public meetings were held; violent speeches made: valiant resolutions passed; and, finally, delegates chosen to demand a redress of griev- ances from the Imperial Parliament. When the delegates arrived in this country, they found public opinion with them. It is the interest, as well as the duty of theEnglish to go- vern their colonies justly and kindly; and no man but a Frenchman would affirm that their in- clination requiresthe incitement of either. Their r I \ 92 THE HUUBLES complaints were referred to a committee com- posed of persons by no means indisposed towards thepetitionei's, who, after a patient and laborious investigation of the subjects in dispute, made a report, which was acknowledged by the assembly to be both an able and an impartial one, and quite satisfactory. It will be unne- cessary to recapitulate the subjects referred, or to transcribe the report, because both the one and the other will be best understood by a minute of Lord Aberdeen, to which I shall hereafter allude more particularly, wherein he distinctly proves that the recommendations of that committee, so far as depended upon the government, were most strictly and fully com- plied with. By adopting this course, 1 shall be able to spare you a great deal of useless repetition. The manner in which the report of the com- mittee was received by the dominant party in Canada, the praise bestowed upon its authors, and the exultation they expressed at their suc- cess, deceived the government as to the source of these noisy demonstrations of pleasure. They conceived it to be the natural impulse of gene- rous minds towards those who had thus kindly listened to their solicitations, and liberally granted even more than they had required. But they knew not their men. It was the shout m \,i OK CANADA. 93 of victory that they mistook for the plaudits of loyalty. It was not designed to greet the ears of benefactors with grateful acknowledgments, but to wound the feelings of their neighbours vi'ith the cheers of triumph. They devoted but little time to mutual congratulations. Sterner feelings had supplied the place of rejoicing. They set themselves busily to work to improve their advantage ; and, having established them- selves in the outworks which were thus surren- dered to them, they now turned their attention to storming the citadel. While government was engaged in carrying into execution the recommendations of the committee with as much dispatch as the peculiar state of politics in Great Britain at that time permitted, the assembly put themselves in a posture of com- plaint again. Fourteen resolutions were passed, embodying some of the old and embracing some new grievances, and an agent appointed to advocate their claims. ^ While representations in the name of the whole population were thus sent to England, expressing only the sentiment of one portion of tiie people, the settlers of British origin were loud in their complaints that they were unre- presented, and that they had no constitutiona means of being heard. Fearing that this re ■"iiiiniai t\ I J M TFIE uunnLRs monstrance, which was so well founded, mi^ht be redressed in the same quai'ter to which they had applied so successfully for relief them- selves, the assembly affected to listen to their petitions, and made a new electoral division of the province. Territories inhabited principally by persons of French origin, they divided into numerous small counties ; while others, where a large body of those of British origin resided, they so divided that, by joining that territory with another more numerous in French inha- bitants, the votes of the British were rendered ineffectual. The proportion stood thus : m British. Foreign. Say 32 counties, returning two members each, by French majorities 2 Ditto - - ditto, one each (say Mont- morenci and Drummond) - 1 Ennr'ish niajority, Megantic - 6 Ditto .... Sherbrooke, Stanstead, Missisquoi, Ottawa, and Shefford, 2 each - 1 ' 10 G4 2 Total - 40 Counties. ' Two cities, French majority, Quebec and Montreal, 4 each - . - . . Two towns - ditto - Three Rivers, 2 ; and William Henry, 1 - • - - 8 3 11 77 Total, 88 Members. I I OF CANADA. 95 Of the extreme partiality of this diviHion there never has been but one opinion in the colonies, until they were so fortunate as to be favoured with the distinction drawn by the commissioners, who admitted that its operation was a practical exclusion, but exonerated the bill from a ciiarge of unfairness — an instance of even-handed justice (deciding in favour of both parties) which ought to have won them the praise of all men. In addition to this exclu- sion, so extraordinarily designated as unjust but not unfair, they established the quorum of the house for the transaction of business at forty, being only {c:\r less than a moiety of the whole body. The large number thus required to be present to constitute a house still further depressed the influence of the minority, and enabled the majority to deprive them of their parliamentary privileges at pleasure, by render- ing the transaction of business impossible, ex- cept when it suited the convenience of the stronger party to allow it. Having disposed of the complaints of the British settlers in a way to prevent them from being troublesome in the house, they returned to the consideration of their own grievances ; and that the motives actuating the party might not be disclosed, and to prevent any member •# 96 THE BUBBLKS t W.. of the opposition from being present at their deliberations, they adopted the extraordinary mode of permitting a person moving for a com- mittee to napie all the individuals whom he desired to be appointed as members. They also resolved that, if the legislative council did not concur in a bill for paying their emissary to England, ihey would, in the plenitude of tiieir power, pay him themselves out of the public revenue without their concurrence. This sin- gular assumption stands recorded thus : — "Monday, 28th March 1831 Resolved: that in the present state of the public affairs of this province, it is indispensably necessary that some person, having the confidence of this house, should proceed forthwith to England, to represent to his Majesty's government the interests and sentiments of the inhabitants of the province, and support the petitions of this house to his Majesty and both Houses of Par- liament. *' Resolved : — That in the event of the bill sent up by this house to the legislative council, on the 5th instant, not receiving the concur- rence of that house in the present session, the Honourable Denis B. Viger, Esq., member of the legislative council, named agent of the pro- vince in the said bill, be requested to proceed % OF CANADA. 97 to England without delay, for the purposes mentioned in the foregoing resolution. " Resolved: — That it is expedient that the necessary and unavoidable disbursements of the said Denis Benjamin Viger, for effecting the purposes aforesaid, not exceeding £ 1,000, be advanced, and paid to him by the clerk of this house, out of the contingent fund thereof, till such time as the said disbursements can be otherwise provided for." And to shew their contempt of that co-ordi- nate branch of the legislature, and their deter- mination to legislate for the colony without their concurrence, and by their own sole autho- rity, as well as to stigmatize the officers of the government as enemies of the country, they further resolved — " That until such time as the royal assent shall be given to a bill, conformable to a resolu- tion of this house of the 17th March 1825, for vacating the seats of members accepting offices, and similar to the bills passed by this house in the years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1830, the se- cond and fourth of which were reserved for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure, the seat of any member of this house who shall accept of any office or place of profit under the crown in this province, or become accountable for any H 98 THE BUBBLES ,.^ -I^B n 1 It .1 public money hereafter appropriated witliin this province, shall, by this acceptance, be deemed by this house to be vacant, and a new writ shall be issued for a new election, as if such person so accepting was naturally dead ; nevertheless such person shall be capable of being again re- elected, and of sitting and voting in this house, as if his seat had not been vacated as afore- said. " Resolved :— That any member of this house sitting and voting therein after such acceptance, be expelled this house." At the same time, while they refused to government the means of paying its officers, they were most prodigal of the public money upon themselves and their dependants. There are certain funds appropriated for the contin- gent expenses of the house ; and, legally, neither the house nor any of its officers have any right to apply them to any other purposes. It is a trust fund, on the expenditure of which doubtless a certain degree of discretion may be exercised, but still a discretion having certain limits. It is quite manifest that if the house could legally apply this fund to other objects than those for which it was specifically appro- priated, they would, for all the purposes of such application, exercise sole legislative power, OF CANADA. 99 to the exclusion of the other two branches of the legislature. The case of Mr. Viger, above referred to, is a flagrant violation of this prin- ciple. The expenses for printing alone during this year (1831) for the assembly, at one only of its favourite establishments, was considera- bly over £5,000, exclusive of other presses ; and this enormous sum is also exclusive of the cost of printing the laws, or of the expenses of the council. Pretexts were not wanted, where the disposition existed, to provide for their dependants. A subpoena was all that was necessary to obtain a warrant for a gra- tuity, which, to one individual, covered a charge of £120, and or one petition amounted to £700. " Some witnesses," says a gentle- man of the bar at Quebec, " one sees as regu- larly about a fortnight after the sessions as swallows in the spring ; and although they do not last quite so long, yet they hardly leave Quebec before either the house or the roads break up." It will hardly be credited, that this house, which is so clamorous for cheap government, expends on itself thirteen thousand pounds a year — one thousand of which is paid to Mr. Papineau, the patriot ; and that the gross amount of the legislative expenses is ^18,000. Some idea of the purity " of our enslaved and H 2 Ml*wt«L*MMWMMMill 100 THE BUBBLES oppressed brethren " may be formed from the fact that, previously to 1829, the amount of monies voted for education had not exceeded £2,oOO. At that period it was found it could be turned to a better account than education ; they therefore constituted the members of the house visitors of the schools in the counties they represent, the money being drawn on their certificates only, to which by law they are privileged to afH^v their cresses, instead of the more difficult process oj writing theif names. Since then the gro.its have won \ " Whether this appeal to your candour shall draw from you any further declaration, stating that your petition contains the whole matter of your complaints and grievances, or that you shall maintain silence, 1 shall equally consider that I have acquired a full and distinct know- ledge of the whole of your complaints and grievances up to the present period ; and your petition will be accompanied by an assurance from me to that effect, and my most fervent wishes that it may be productive of such mea- sures as shall restore perfect harmony to this favoured land, where 1 firmly believe a larger share of happiness and prosperity is to be found than amongst any people in the universe. " Castle of St. Louis, Quebec, 23d March 1831." Having given them this gracious reception, his lordship communicated these resolutions to the secretary for the colonies ; to whose answer, as it enumerates the complaints for the purpose of giving to each a distinct and separate answer, I refer you for the particulars as well of the resolutions as of the remedies. " The King has been graciously pleased to express liis approbation of the efforts made by your lordship to ascertain, with precision, the full extent of the grievances of wiiich the IV,. ' OF CANADA. 105 Assembly consider themselves entitled to com- plain ; and assuming, in concurrence with your lordship, that the address of the Assembly contains a full development of those grievances, the exposition which is to be found there of the views of that body, justifies the satisfactory inference that there remains scarcely any ques- tion upon which the wishes of that branch of the legislature are at variance with the policy which his Majesty has been advised to pursue; and I therefore gladly anticipate the speedy and effectual termination of those differences, which have heretofore so much embarrassed the operations of the local government. " No oflSce can be more grateful to the King than that of yielding to the reasonable desires of the representative body of Lower Canada ; and whilst his Majesty's servants have the satis- faction of feeling, that upon some of the most important topics referred to in the address of the assembly, its wishes have been anticipated, they trust that the instructions which I am now about to convey to you, will still further evince their earnest desire to combine with the due and lawful exercise of the constitutional autho- rity of the crown, an anxious solicitude for the well-being of all classes of his faithful subjects in the province. 106 I > i.« THE UUBOLES (I i (I I proceed to notice the various topics em- braced in the address of the assembly to the King. 1 shall observe the order which they have followed ; and, with a view to perspicuity, 1 shall preface each successive instruction, which I have his Majesty's commands to con- vey to your lordship, by the quotation of the statements made upon the same topic by the Assembly themselves. .- u, " First, it is represented that the progress which has been made in the education of the people of the province, under the encourage- ment afforded by the recent acts of the legisla- ture, has been greatly impeded by the diversion of the revenues of the Jesuits' estates, originally destined for this purpose. , " His Majesty's government do not deny that tiie Jesuits' estates were, on the dissolution of that order, appropriated to the education of the people ; and I readily admit, that the revenue which may result from that property should be regarded as inviolably and exclusively appli- cable to that object. " It is to be regretted, undoubtedly, that any part of those funds were ever applied to any other purpose ; but although, in former times, your lordship's predecessors may have had to contend with difficulties which caused and ex- OF CANADA. 107 cu8ed that mode of appropriation, I do not feel myself now called upon to enter into any con- sideration of that part of the subject. " If, however, I may rely on the returns which have been made to this department, the rents of the Jesuits' estates have, during the few last years, been devoted exclusively to the purposes of education, and my despatch, dated 24th December last, marked * separate,' suffi- ciently indicates that his Majesty's ministers had resolved upon a strict adherence to that principle several months before the present ad- dress was adopted. " The only practical question which remains for consideration is, whether the application of these funds for the purpose of education should be directed by his Majesty or by the provincial legislature. The King cheerfully and without reserve confides that duty to the legislature, in the full persuasion that they will make such a selection amongst the different plans which may be presented to their notice, as may most effectually advance the interests of religion and sound learning amongst his subjects ; and I cannot doubt that the Assembly will see the justice of continuing to maintain, under the new distribution of these funds, those scho- lastic establishments to which they are now applied. ■**•■ 108 \\ THE UllUULK!^ '* I understand tliat certain buildings on the Jesuiti' estates which were formerly used for collegiate purposes, have since been uniformly employed as a barrack for the King's troops. It would obviously be highly inconvenient to attempt any immediate change in this respect, and I am convinced that the Assembly would regret aay measure which might diminish the comforts or endanger the health of the King's forces. If, however, the Assembly should be disposed to provide adequate barracks so as permanently to secure those important objects, his Majesty will be prepared (upon the com- pletion of such an arrangement in a manner satisfactory to your lordship) to acquiese in the appropriation of the buildings in question to the same purposes as those to which the gene- ral funds of the Jesuits' estates are now about to be restored. " I should fear that ill-founded expectations may have been indulged respecting the value and productiveness of these estates ; in this, as in most other cases, concealment appears to have been followed by exaggeration, as its natural consequence. Had the application of the assembly for an account of the proceeds of these estates been granted, much misapprehen- sion would probably have been dispelled. My v^^H. ^. :i^ OF CANADA. 100 regret for the effect of your decision to withhold these accounts, does not, however, render me insensible to the propriety and apparent weight of the motives by which your judgment was guided. Disavowing, however, every wish for concealment, I am to instruct your lordship to lay tliese accounts before the AssemMy in the most complete detail, at the commencement of their next session, and to supply the house with any further explanatory statements which they may require respecting tiiem. " It appearing that the sum of j£7, 1 54. 16*. 4^d. has been recovered from the property of the late Mr. Caldwell, in respect to the claims of the crown against him on account of the Jesuits' estates, your lordship will cause that sum to be placed at the disposal of the legislature for general purposes. The sum of £1,200. 3*. 4rf., which was also recovered on account of the same property, must also be placed at the dis- posal of the legislature, but should, with refe- rence to the principles already noticed, be considered as applicable to the purposes of education exclusively." " Secondly. — The House of Assembly repre- sent that the progress of education has been im- peded by the withholding grants of land pro- mised for schools in the year 1801. ^i no THE BUnRLKS if '* On reference to the speech delivered in that year by the then governor to the two houses of provincial legislature, 1 find tliat such an engagement as the address refers to was actually made ; it of course therefore is binding on the crown, and must now be carried into effect, unless there be any circumstances of which I am not apprised, which may have cancelled the obligation contracted in 1801, or which may have rendered the fulfilment of it at the present time impracticable. If any such circumstances really exist, your lordship will report them to me immediately, in order tliat the lit course to be taken may be f lier con- sidered. " Thirdly. — The rejection by the Legislative Council of various bills in favour of education is noticed as the last of the impediments to the progress of education. " Upon this subject it is obvious that his Majesty's government have no power of exer- cising any control, and that they could not in- terfere with the free exercise of the discretion of the Legislative Council, without the violation of the most undoubted maxims of the constitu- tion. How far that body may have actually counteracted the wishes of the Assembly on this subject I am not very exactly informert, nor OF CANADA. HI eecli delivered in ernor to the two ture, 1 find that address refers to 3urse therefore is ust now be carried any circumstances , which may have racted in 1801, or le fulfilment of it able. If any such your lordship will ely, in order that ay be f lier con- by the Legislative Lvour of education npediments to the obvious that his lo power of exer- ley could not in- of the discretion lout the violation IS of the constitu- ay have actually Assembly on this Iv informert, nor would it become me to express an opinion on tlie wisdom or propriety of any decision which they may have formed of that nature. The assembly may, however, be assured, that what- ever legitimate influence his Majesty's govern- ment can exercise, will always be employed to promote in every direction all measures which have for their object the religious, moral, or literary instruction of the people of Lower Canada. " Fourthly. — ^The address proceeds to state, t?iat the management of the waste lands of the crown has been vicious and improvident, and still impedes the settlement of those lands. " This subject has engaged, and still occu- pies, my most anxious attention, and I propose to address your lordship upon it at length in a separate despatch. The considerations con- nected with the settlement of waste lands are too numerous and extensive to be conveniently embodied in a despatch embracing so many other subjects of discussion. " Fifthly. — The exercise by Parliament of its power of regulating the trade of the pro- vince, is said to have occasioned injurious un- certainty in mercantile speculations, and preju- dicial fluctuations in the value of real estate, and of the different branches of industry con- nected with trade. *!^ tf^srr 'Qmu 11 B i 112 THE BUBBLES " It is gratifying to find that this complaint is connected with a frank acknowledgment that the power in question has been beneficially exercised on several occasions for the prospe- rity of Lower Canada. It is, I fear, an una- voidable consequence of the connexion which happily subsists between the two countries, that Parliament should occasionally require of the commercial body of Lower Canada, eome mutual sacrifices for the general good of the empire at large : I therefore shall not attempt to deny, that the changes in the commercial policy in this kingdom during the few last years may have been productive of occasional inconvenience and loss to that body, since scarcely any particular interest can be men- tioned in Great Britain of which some sacrifice has not been required during the same period. The most which can be eflfected by legislation on such a subject as this, is a steady though gra- dual advance towards those great objects which an enlightened regulation contemplates. The relaxation of restrictions on the trade of the British Colonies, and the development of their resources, have been kept steadfastly in view amidst all the alterations to which the address refers, and I confidently rely on the candour of the House of Assembly, to admit that, upon the OF CANADA. 113 whole, no inconsiderable advance towards those great ends has been made. They may rest assured, that the same principles will be steadily borne in mind by his Majesty's government, in every modification of the existing law which lliey may at any future period have occasion to recommend to Parliament. '• Sixthly. — The Assembly in their address })roceed to state that the inhabitants of the different towns, parishes, townships, extra- parochial places and counties of the province, suffer from the want of sufficient legal powers for regulating and managing their local concerns. " I am happy in the opportunity which at present presents itself, of demonstrating the desire of his Majesty's government to co-ope- rate with the local legislature in the redress of every grievance of this nature. The three bills which your lordship reserved for the sig-» nification of his Majesty's pleasure in the last session of the Assembly, establishing the paro- chial divisions of the province, and for the in- corporation of the cities of Quebec and Mon- treal, will be confirmed and finally enacted by his Majesty in Council, with the least possible delay, and I expect to be able very shortly to transmit to your lordship the necessary orders in council for that purpose. I mv 114 THE BUBBLES u *' I very sincerely regret that the bill passed for the legal establishment of parishes in the month of March 1829, should have been de- feated by the delay which occurred in transmit- ting- the official confirmation of it to the pro- vince. The case appears to have been, that owing to the necessity, whether real or sup- posed, of laying the act before both houses of Parliament for six weeks before its confirmation by the King in Council, many months elapsed after its arrival in this kingdom before that form could be observed, and his late Majesty's protracted illness delayed still longer the bringing it under the consideration of the King in Council. " If it should be the opinion of the Colonial legislature that additional provision .'e want- ing to enable the local authorities in counties, •cities, or parishes, to regulate their own more immediate affairs, your lordship will under- stand, that you are at liberty, in his Majesty's name, to assent to any well-considered laws which may be presented to you for that pur- pose. " Seventhly. — I proceed to the next subject of complaint, which is, that uncertainty and confusion has been introduced into the laws for the security and regulation of property, by the $W «jk OF CANADA. 115 re intermixture of different codes of laws and rules of proceeding in the courts of justice. " The intermixture to which the address refers, so far as I am aware, arises from the English criminal code having been maintained by the British statute of 1774, and from the various acts of parliament which have intro- duced into the province the soccage tenure, and subjected all lands so holden to the Eng- lish rules of alienation and descent. " As a mere matter of fact, tliere can be no doubt that the infusion of these parts of the law of England into the provincial code, was dictated by the most sincere wish to promote the general welfare of the people of Lower Canada ; this was especially the case with re- gard to the criminal law, as is sufficiently appa- rent from the language of the 11th section of the 14 Geo. Ill, c. 83. With regard to the advantage to be anticipated from the substitu- tion of tenure in soccage for feudal ser- vices, I may remark, that Parliament could scarcely be otherwise than sincerely convinced of the benefits of that measure, since the maxims upon which they proceeded are in accordance with the conclusion oi almost all theoretical writers and practical statesmen. I am not indeed, anxious to show that these were just, 12 IIG THE BUBBLES \ Uhl'l but 1 think it not immaterial thus to have pointed out that the errors, if any, which they involve, can be attributed only to a sincere zeal for the good of those whom the enactments in question more immediately affect. " I fully admit, however, that this is a subject of local and internal policy, upon which far greater weight is due to the deliberate judgment of enlightened men in the province than to any external authority whatever. Your lordship will announce to the Council and Assembly, his Majesty's entire disposition to concur with them in any measures which they may think best adapted for insuring a calm and compre- hensive survey of these subjects in all their bearings, ft will then remain with the two houses to frame such laws as may be necessary to render the provincial code more uniform, and better adapted to the actual condition of society in Canada. To any laws prepared for that most important purpose, and calculated to advance it, his Majesty's assent will be given with the utmost satisfaction. It is possible that a work of this nature would be best executed by commissioners, to be specially designated for the purpose; should such be your lordship's opinion, you will suggest that mode of proceed- ?»"^ io both houses of the provincial legisla- !l :1 S ' OF CANADA, 117 ture, who, 1 am convinced, would willingly incur whatever expense may be inseparable from such an undertaking, unless they should tliemselves be able to originate any plan of inquiry and proceeding, at once equally effec- tive and economical. ** Eighthly. — ^The administration of justice is said to have become inefficient and unnecessa- rily expensive. *• As the provincial tribunals derive their present constitution from local statute, and not from any exercise of his Majesty's prerogative, it is not within the power of the King to im- prove the mode of administering the law, or to diminish the costs of litigation. Your lordship will, however, assure the House of Assembly, that his Majesty is not only ready, but most desirous, to co-operate with them in any im- provements of the judicial system which the wisdom and experience of the two houses may suggest. Your lordship will immediately assent to any bills which may be passed for that pur- pose, excepting in the highly improbable event of their being found open to some apparently -^jnclusive objection ; even in that case, how- ever, you will reserve any bills for improving the administration of the law for the significa- tion of his Majesty's pleasure. 118 THE UUBBLKS " Niutlily. — The address then states, that the confusion and uncertainty of which the House complain has been greatly increased by enact- ments affecting real property in the colony made in the Parliament of the United King- dom since the establishme t of the provincial legislature, without those interested having even had an opportunity of being heard ; and particularly by a recent decision on one of the said enactments in the provincial court of appeals. " His Majesty's Government can have no c(mtroversy with the House of Assembly upon this subject. The house cannot state in stronger terms, than they are disposed to acknowledge, the fitness of leaving to the legislature of Lower Canada exclusively the enactment of every law which may be required respecting real property within that province. It cannot be denied, that at a former period a different opinion was en- tertained by the British government ; and that the statute-book of this kingdom contains va- rious regulations on the subject of lands in Lower Canada, which might, perhaps, have been more conveniently enacted in the pro- vince itself: I apprehend, however, that this interference of Parliament was never invoked, except on the pressure of some supposed neces- OP CANADA. 119 sity ; and tliat there never was a period in which such acts were introduced by the minis- ters of the crown without reluctance. "To a certain extent, the statute 1 Will. IV, c. 20, which was passed at the instance of his Majesty's Government in the last session of Parliament, has anticipated the complaint to which 1 am now referring, and has prevented its recurrence, by authorizing; the local legis- lature to regulate whatever relates to the inci- dents of soccage tenure in the province, with- out reference to any real or supposed repug- nancy of any such regulations to the law of England. If there is any other part of the British statute law, bearing upon this topic, to which the Council and Assembly shall object, his Majesty's Government will be prepared to recommend to Parliament that it should be repealed."' " Tenthly. — It is stated that several of the judges of the courts in the province have long been engaged in, and have even taken a public part in the political affairs and differences of the province, at the same time holding offices during pleasure, and situations incompatible with the due discharge of the judicial functions. "Under this herd again, it is very gratifying to the ministers of the Crown to find, that they - 120 Tlir, liUBBLKS had, in a great measure, obviated by anticipa- tion the complaint of the House of Assembly. In the despatch which I addressed to your lordship, on the Hth February, No. 22, every arrangement Was ni ide which could be either suggested or carried into effect by his Majesty's authority, for remo\ing the judges of the pro- vince from ail connection with its political aflairs, and for rendering them independent at once of the authority of the Crown, and the control of the other branches of the legislature; thus placing tliem exactly in the same position as that of the judges of the supreme courts at Westminster. "The judges themselves have, it appears, with laudable promptitude, concurred in giving effect to these recommendations by disconti- nuing their attendance at the executive council. Nothing therefore, in fact, remains for terminat- ing all discussions upon this subject, but that the House of Assembly should make such a per- manent provision for the judges as, without exceeding a just remuneration, may be adequate to their independent maintenance in that rank of life wiiich belongs to the dignity of their station. " I am not aware that any judge in Lower Canada holds any office, excepting that of ex- OK CANADA. 121 ecutive councillor, during the pleasure of the Crown, or which is in any respect incompati- ble with the due discharge of his official func- tions ; if any such case exists, your lordship will have the goodness immediately to report to me ail the circumstances by which it may be attended, in order that the necessary instruc- tions on the subject may be given. In the mean time I may state, without reserve, that no judge can be permitted to retain any office corres- ponding with the description thus given by the House of Assemblv, in combination with that independent position on the bench to which I have referred. "Eleventhly. — The address proceeds to state that, during a long series of years, executive and judiciary offices have been bestowed almost exclusively upon one class of subjects in the province, and especially upon those least con- nected by property, or otherwise, with its permanent inhabitants, or who have shown themselves the most averse to the rights, liber- ties, and interests of the people. It is added, that several of these persons avail themselves of the means afforded by their situations to pre- vent the constitutional and harmonious co-ope- ration of the government and the house of assembly, and to excite ill-feeling and discord 122 THE liUUHIXS between them, while they are remiss in their difiercnt situations to forward tixe public busi- ness. " 1 quote thus largely the language of the address, because I am desirous to meet every part of it in the most direct manner, as well as in the most conciliatory spirit. It is not from any want of that spirit that 1 recommend you to suggest for the consideration of the House of Assembly, how far it is possible that his Majesty should clearly understand, or effectu- ally redress a grievance which is brought under his notice ia terms thus indefinite. If any public officers can be named who are guilty of such an abuse of their powers, and of such remissness in their duties as are implied in the preceding quotation, his Majesty would not be slow to vindicate the public interest by remov- ing any such persons from his service. If it can be shown that the patronage of the Crown has been exercised upon any narrow and exclu- sive maxims, they cannot be too entirely disavowed and abandoned ; especially if it be true that the permanent inhabitants of the colony do not enjoy a full participation in all public employments, the house of assembly may be assured that his Majesty can have no desire that any such invidious distinctions 1 1 1 if f 1 ■ "1 OF CANADA. 123 sliuiild be systeniatically inaintuined. Beyond ' tliiw general statement it is not in my power to advance. I am entirely if^norantofthc- specific cases to which tlie general expressions of the Assembly point. 1 can only state, that since his Majesty was pleased to intrust to myself the seals of this department, no opportunity has occurred for exercising the patronage of the Crown in Lower Canada, to which it is possi- ble that the Assembly can refer, nor have my inquiries brouglit to light any particular case of a more remote date to which their language would appear to be applicable. *' Twelfthly. — The next subject of complaint is developed in the following words : — " That there exists no sufficient responsibility on the part of the pe>*sons holding these situations, nor any adequate accountability amongst those of them intrusted with public money ; the conse- quence of which has been the misapplication of large sums of public money, and of the money of individuals by defaulters, with whom deposits were made under legal authority, hitherto with- out reimbursement or redress having been obtained, notwithstanding the humble repre- sentations of your petitioners." It would be impossible, without a violation of truth, to deny that at a period not very remote ^7 J 24 THE BUBBLES m 1 wi'B \^a HI :| heavy losses M-ere sustained both })y the public and by individuals, from the want of a proper system of passing and auditing their accounts. I find, however, that in his despatch of the 29th September, Sir George Murray adverted to this subject in terms to which I find it difficult to make any useful addition. His words are as follows : — "The complaints which have reached this office respecting the inadequate security given by the receiver-geneinl nnd by the sheriffs, for the due application of public money in their hands, have not escaped the very se- rious attention of the ministers of the Crown ; the most effectual security against abuses of this nature would be to prevent the accumula- tion of balances in the hands of public account- ants, by obliging them to exhibit their accounts to some competent authority at short intervaisj and immediately to pay over the ascertained balance. The proof of having punctually per- formed this duty should be made the indispen- sable condition of receiving their salaries, and of their continuance in office. " In t*'"! colony of New South Wales a regu- lation of this nature has been established under his Majesty's instructions to the governor of that settlement, and has been productive of great public convenience. If a similar practice OP CANADA. 125 were introduced in Lower Canada for the regu- lation of the office of receiver-general, and for that of sheriff, the only apparent difficulty would be to find a safe place of deposit for their balances. I am, however, authorised to state, that the lords' commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury will hold themselves responsible to the province for any sums which the receiver- general or sheriff may pay over to the commis- sary-g neral. Your excellency will, therefore, propose to the Legislative Council and Assem- bly the enactment of a law binding these officers to render an account of their receipts at short intervals, and to pay over the balances in their hands to the commissary-general, upon con- dition that that officer should be bound, on demand, to deliver a bill on his Majesty's Trea- sury for the amount of his receipts. I trust that, in this proposal, the legislature will find a proof of the earnest desire of his Majesty's government to provide, as far as may be prac- ticable, an effectual remedy for every case of real grievance. " If the preceding instructions have proved inadequate to the redress of the inconvenience to which they refer, I can assure your lordship of the cordial concurrence of his Majesty's government in any more effective measures '1 >l ^ i m w i ■ 12C THE BUBDLKS which may be recommended for that purpose, either by yourself or by either of the houses of the provincial legislature. " The losses which the province sustained by the default of the late Mr. Caldwell is a subject which his Majesty's Government contemplate with the deepest regret — a feeling enhanced by the painful conviction of their inability to afford to the provincial revenues any adequate com- pensation for so serious an injury ; what is in their power they have gladly done by the in- struction conveyed to your lordship in the early part of this despatch, to place at the dis- posal of the legislature, for general purposes, the sum of £7,154. 15*. 4^d., recovered from Mr, Caldwell's property. The assembly will, I trust, accept this as a proof of the earnest desire of his Majesty's Government to consult to the utmost of their ability the pecuniary interests of the province. " Thirteenthly. The address proceeds to state that " the evils of this state of things have been greatly aggravated by enactments made in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, without even the knowledge of the people of this colony, which enactments have I'enoered temporary duties imposed by the provincial legislature permanent, leaving in the liiinds of public •^ ^■■i OF CANADA. 127 officers, over whom the assembly has no effec- tual control, large sums of money arising within this province, which are applied by per- sons subject to no sufficient accountability." " I understand this complaint to refer to the 28th clause of the Stat. 3 Geo. IV, c. 119. The duties mentioned in that enactment are con- tinued until some act for repealing or altering them shall be passed by the Legislative Council and Assembly of Lower Canada, and until a copy of any such new act shall have been transmitted to the governor of Upper Canada, and shall have been laid before both Houses of Parliament, and assented to by his Majesty. The motive for this enactment is explained in the preamble, to have been the necessity of ob- viating the evils experienced in the Upper Pro- vince from the exercise of an exclusive control by the legislature of Lower Canada over im- ports and exports at the port of Quebec. I acknowledge without reserve, that nothing but the nec'^^ity of mediating between the tv/o pro- vinces would have justified such an interference by Parliament ; and if any adequate security can be devised agaiust the recurrence of simi- lar difficulties, the enactment ought to be repealed. The peculiar geographical position of Upper Canada, enjoying no access to the TT t" 128 THE BUBBLES ' ' ■{■ #1 sea, except through a province wholly inde- pendent on itself, on the one hand or through a foreign state on the other, was supposed in the year 1822 to have created the necessity for enacting so peculiar a law for its protection. I should be much gratified to learn, that no such necessity exists at present, or can be reasonably anticipated hereafter ; for upon sufficient evi- dence of that fact, his Majesty's Government would at once recommend to Parliament the repeal of that part of the statute to which the address of the House of Assembly refers. The ministers of the Crown would even be satisfied to propose to Pailiament the repeal of the en- actment in question, upon proof that the legis- lature of the Upper Province deem such pro- tection superfluous ; perhaps it may be found practicable to arrange this matter by communi- cations between the legislatures of the two pro- vinces. The ministers of the Crown are pre- pared to co-operate to the fullest extent in any measure which the two legislatures shall con- cur in recommending for the amendment or repeal of the Statute 3 Geo. IV, c. 119, s. 28. " Fourteenthly. — The selection of the legisla- tive councillors and the constitution of that body, which forms the last subject of complaint in tiie address, I shall not notice in this place, OF CANADA. 129 any further tlian to say, that it will form the matter of a separate communication, since the topic is too extensive and important to be con- veniently embraced in my present despatch. "The preceding review of the questions brought by the House of Assembly, appears to me entirely to justify the expectations which I have expressed at the commencement of this despatch, of a speedy, effectual, and amicable termination of the protracted discussions of several years. It would be injurious to the House of Assembly to attribute to them any such captious spirit as would keep alive a con- test upon a few minor and insignificant details, after the statement I have made of the general accordance between the views of his Majesty's government and their own, upon so many im- portant questions of Canadian policy. Little indeed remains for debate, and that little will, I am convinced, be discussed with feelings of mutual kindness and good will, and with an earnest desire to strengthen the bonds of union already subsisting between the two countries. His Majesty will esteem it as amongst the most enviable distinctions of his reign, to have contributed to so great and desirable a result. K 130 THE BUBBLES (( Your lordship will take the earliest oppor- tunity of transmitting to the house of assem- bly a copy of this despatch. "I have, &c. , ' ** (signed) Goderich." OF CANADA. 131 Letter VIJ. The time had now arrived (1832) when every grievance, so far as the remedy lay with the government, had been removed, according to the recommendations of the committee. What- ever required the co-operation of the Assembly themselves, remained untouched. They had asked what they did not require, and hoped would not be granted, zo that the odium of refusal might serve as a pretext for further agitation. Several of the changes solicited would have weakened their influence, and they preferred to suffer things to remain as they were. There now existed no impediment to the public tranquillity ; and, if their intentions had been honest, we should have heard no more of Canadian discontent. Several men of character and standing in the colony, who had hitherto acted with the French faction, now separated themselves from them, declaring that they had obtained all, and even more than they had sought, and that they had now nothing further to ask but to enjoy in tranquillity the fruits of their labour. When they found there was no corresponding feeling in the breasts of their colleagues, and that these concessions were merely used as the groundwork of I'urthei K 2 / Vi 132 THE BUBBLES changes, they became alarmed, and for the first time were made sensible of what the public had always known with unfeigned sorrow, that they had been all along the dupes of their own liberal notions and the artifices of others. They had now full time to reflect upon the mischief they had done and upon their own inability to make reparation ; and have added another il- lustration to the numbers we already have on record of how much easier it is to open the flood-gates of popular prejudice and passion, than to close them against the force of the cur- rent. They are now likely to become the vic- tims of their own folly, and to be overwhelmed in the ruins caused by the inundation to which they have unfortunately contributed, by cutting away the embankments. It is to be hoped that the lesson will not be lost upon England ; and it may, perhaps, afford these unhappy men some consolation if the safety of others is con- firmed by the contemplation of the fatal effects of their folly. The request of Lord Aylmer, that they would bring forward all their de- mands, and, if they had any further ones, to add them to their catalogue, or that he should feel himself entitled to report there were none others, was received with surprise, but in silence, and he very fairly concluded that they OF CANADA. 133 had exhausted their budget. This was the natural inference, and it appears that Parlia- ment flattered itself also that the whole subject was now fully before them. It is true the tone and temper of the House of Assembly were not materially altered, and that the next four years were consumed in local disputes, during which no appropriation was made for the public service; but all this was charitably supposed to be the effect of previous excitement, and it was thought not unnatural that some time should elapse before their angry feelings could wholly subside. But what was their astonish- ment, after their declining the unprecedented request of the governor to exhibit any further complaints if they had any, to find that, in 1834, they were prepared to come forward with ninety-two resolutions of fresh grievance ! This extraordinary step revived the hopes of every loyalist throughout the adjoining colonies. Surely, they said, this last ungrateful, un- provoked attempt will open the eyes of the English nation to the ulterior views of Papineau and his party ! It takes much provocation to arouse the British lion ; but, surely, this last thrust will be more than he can bear! He will make his voice to be heard across the wa- ters, and sedition will fly terrified to its cover. V 134 THE BUBBLES II But, ala« ! they were mistaken. Noble ami spirited as the animal once was, he is now old and infirm — a timid people have filed his teeth, and shortened his claws, and stupefied him with drugs, and his natural pride disdains to exhibit an unsuccessful imbecility. It was re- ceived with a meekness and mildness that filled every body that had known him in former years with astonishment and pity ; they could not recognise, in the timid and crouching crea- ture before them, the same animal whose indo- mitable courage and muscular strength had for- merly conquered these same Canadians, even when supported by all tlie resources of France, who now, single-handed and alone, defied him to combat. But this is too painful a picture to dM'ell upon. This singular document is well worthy of your perusal ; its want of intrinsic weight is more than compensated by its prolixity. The astounding number of ninety-two resolutions was well calculated to delude strangers, and to induce them to think that the evils under which they laboured were almost too many for enumeration. As imagination is always more fertile than truth, they very wisely resorted to the former, and were thus enabled to supply themselves with any charge liiey required. It OF CANADA. 135 would doubtless have appeared singular to the sympathisers of England, if the aggregate had amounted to so remarkable a number as one hundred : it would have struck them as a sus- picious coincidence that they should have ex- actly reached " a round number," and filled a well known measure, and therefore, with an acuteness peculiar to people accustomed to fabricate tales of fictitious distress, they wisely stopped at ninety-two. But it must not be supposed that even Canadian exaggeration could find a grievance for each number. Some were merely declamatory, and others personal ; some complin cnted persons on this side of the water, whose politics they thought resembled their own, and others expressed or implied a censure against obnoxious persons, while not a few were mere repetitions of what had been previously said. Such a state paper, drawn up jn such an occasion by the most eminent men in the house for the perusal of such a body of men as the members of the Imperial Parlia- ment, is of itself a proof how little fitted the Canadians are for constitutional government. 1. Resolved, That His Majesty's loyal subjects, the people of this Province of Lower Canada, have shown the strongest attachment to the British Empire, of which they are a portion : that they have repeatedly defended i 11 f H VM \ a 1 li 1 y If. i 1 11 i [ U HI rllll m J3() TIIK UUmiLES it with courage in tiino of war ; tliut ut tlio tiiiio which prectidcd the ii)dopend«>nco of the lato Ih-itisii Cohmius on this continent, they resisted the uppeal made to them by those colonies to join tlieir confederation. 2. Resolved, That the people of this province have at all times manifested their confidence in His Mujesty'ti Government, oven under circumstances of the ^rreutest difficulty, and when the government of the province has been administered by men who trampled under foot the rights and feelings dearest to British subjects; and that these sentiments of the people of this province remain unchanged. 3. Resolved, That the people of this Province have always shown themselves ready to welcome and receive as brethren those of their fellow subjects who, having quitted the United Kingdom or its dependencies, have chosen this province as their home, and have earnestly endeavoured (as far as on them depended) to afford every facility to their participating in the political advan- tages, and in the means of rendering their industry avail- able, which the people of this province enjoy ; and to remove for them the difficulties arising from the vicious system adopteu by those who have administered the go- vernment of the province, with regard to those portions of the country iu which the new-comers have generally chosen to settle. 4. Resolved, That this House, as representing the people of this province, has shown an earnest zeal to advance the general prosperity of the country, by secu- ring the peace and content of all classes of its inhabi- tants, without any distinction of origin or creed, and upon the solid and durable basis of unity of interest, and equal confidenco in the protection of the mother country. •*t- OF CANADA. 137 5. Kesolved, That thiH House has seized every occa- sion to udupt, and firmly tu establish by law in this province, not only the constitutional and parliamentary law of England, which is necessary to carry the Govern- n ito operation, but also all such parts of the public law of the United Kingdom as have appeared to this house adapted to promote the welfare and safety of the people, and to bo conformable to their wishes and their wants ; and that this house has, in like manner, wisely endeavoured so to regulate its proceedings as to render them, as closely as the circumstances of this colony per- mit, analogous to the practice of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. 6. Resolved, That in the year 1827 the great majority of the people of this province complained, in petitions signed by 87,000 persons, of serious and numerous abuses which then prevailed, luany of which had then exi? ' for a great number of years, and of which the gr T)art still exist, without correction or mitigation. / . ^..esolved. That the complaints aforesaid, and the grievances which gave rise to them, being submitted to the consideration of the Parliament of the United King- dom, occasioned the appointment of a committee of the House of Commons, of which the Honourable Edward Geoffrey Stanley, now his Majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonial department, and several others, who are now members of his Majesty's government, formed part ; and that, after a careful investigation and due deliberation, the said committee, on the 18th July 1828, came to the following very just conclusions : Istly. " That the embarrassments and discon- tents that had long prevailed in the Canadas, had ariseii from serious defects in the system of laws, and the constitutions established in those colonies. f 1-30 THE BUBBLES * 2dly. " That these embarrassments were in a great measure to be attributed to the manner in v.'hich the existing' system had been administered. 3dly. " That they had a complete conviction that neither the suggestions which they had made, nor any other improvements in the laws and constitu* tions of the Canadas, will be attended with the desired effect, unless an impartial, conciliating, and constitutional system of government were observed in these royal and important colonies." 8. Resolved. That since the period aforesaid, the con- stitution of this province, with its serious defects, has continued to be administered in a maOner calculated to multiply the embarrassments and discontents which have long prevailed ; and that the recommendations of the Committee of the House of Commons have not been followed by effective measures of a nature to produce the desired effect. 9. Resolved, That the most serious defect in the Constitutional Act — its radical fault — the most active principle of evil and discontent in the province ; the most powerful and most frequent cause of abuses of power ; of infractions of the laws ; of the waste of the public revenue and property, accompanied by impunity to the governing party, and the oppression aud conse- quent resentment of the governed, is that injudicious enactment, the fatal results of which were foretold by the Honourable Charles James Fox at the time of its adoption, which invests the Crown with that exorbitant power, (incompatible withany government duly balanced and founded on law and justice, and not on force and coercion) of selecting and composing, without any rule or limitation, or any predetermined qualification, an entire branch of the legislature, supposed from the »■ ^\ ' ' % ' OF CANADA. 139 nature of its attributions to be independent, but inevi- tably the servile tool of the authority which creates, composes and decomposes it, and can on any day mo- dify it to suit the interests or the passions of the moment. 10. Resolved, That with the permission of a power so unlimited, the abuse of it is inseparably connected ; and that it has always been so exercised in the selection of the Members of the Legislative Council of this pro- vince, as to favour the spirit of monopoly cLnd despotisnT. in the executive, judicial, and administrative departments of government, and never in favour of the public inte- rests. 11. Resulved, That the effectual remedy for this evil was judiciously foreseen and pointed out by the Com- mittee of the House of Commons, who asked John Neilson, Esquire (one of the agents who had carried to England the petition of the 87,000 inhabitants of Lower Canada), whether he had turned in his mind any plan by which he conceived the Legislative Council might be better ccn?oosed in Lower Canada; whether he thought it possible that the said body could command the confidence and respect of the people, or go in har- mony with the House of Assembly, unless the principle of election were introduced into its composition in some manner or other ; and also, whether he thought that the colony could have any security that the legislative coun- cil would be properly and independently composed, unless the principle of election were introduced into it in some manner or other ; and received from the said John Neil- son answers, in which (among other reflections) he said in substance, that there were two modes in which the composition of the Legislative Council might be bettered ; tlio one by appointing men who were independent of the 140 THE BUBBLES executive, (but that to judge from experience there would be no security that this would be done), and that if this mode were found impracticable, the other would be to render the Legislative Council elective. 12. Resolved, That, judging from experience, this house likewise believes there would be no security in the first mentioned mode, the course of events having but too amply proved what was then foreseen ; and that this house approves all the inferences drawn by the said John Neilson from experience and facts ; but that with regard to his suggestion that a class of electors of a higher qualification should be established, or a qualifi- cation in property fixed for those persons who might sit in the council, this house have, in their address to his Most Gracious Majesty, dat^d the 2Cth March 1833, declared in what manner this principle could, in their opinion, be rendered tolerable in Canada, by restraining it within certain bounds, which should in no case be passed. 13. Resolved, That even in defining bounds oi this nature, and requiring the possession of real property as a condition of eligibility to a legislative council, chosen by the people, which most wisely and happily has not been made a condition of eligibility to the House of Assembly, this house seems rather to have sought to avoid shocking received opinions in Europe, where cus- tom and the law have given so many artificial privileges and advantages to birth and rank and fortune, than to con- sult the opinions generally received in America, where the influence of birth is nothing, and where, notwith- standing the importance which fortune must always naturally confer, the artificial introduction of great poli- tical privileges in favour of the possessors of large pro- perty, could not long resist the preference given at free OF CANADA. 141 ^k elections to virtue, talents, and information, which fortune does not exchtde but can never purchase, and which may be the portion of honest, contented, and devoted men, whom the people ought to have tha power of calling and consecrating to the public service, in pre- ference to richer men, of whom they may think less highly. 14. Resolved, That this house is no wise disposed to admit the excellence of the present constitution of Ca- nada, although his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies has unseasonably and erroneously asserted, that it has conferred on the two Canadas the institutions of Great Britain ; nor to reject the principle of ex- tending the system of frequent elections much further than it is at present carried ; and this system ought especially to be extended to the Legislative Council, although it may be considered by the colonial secretary incompatible with the British government, which he calls a monarchical government, or too analogous io the in- stitutions which the several states, composing the indus- trious, moral, and prosperous confederation of the United States of America, have adopted for themselves. 15. Resolved, That in a dispatch, of which the date is unknown, and of which a part only was communicated to this House by the governor-in-chief on the 14th January 1834, his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial Department (this House having no certain knowledge whether the said despatch is from the present colonial secretary or from his predecessor) says, that an examination of the composition of the Legislative Council at that period (namely, at the time when its composition was so justly censured by a Committee of the House of Commons) and at the present, will suffi- ciently show in what spirit his Majesty's Government * I mmtmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm "H' if. <.r. 142 THE BUBBLEii has endeavoured to carry the wishes of Parliament into effect. 16. Resolved, That this House receives with grati- tude this assurance of the just and benevolent intentions, with which, in the performance of their duty, his Majesty's ministers have endeavoured to give effect to the wishes of Parliament. 17. Resolved, That unhappily it was left to the prin- cipal agent of his Majesty's Government in this province to carry the wishes of the Imperial Parliament into effect ; but that he has destroyed the hope which his Majesty's faithful subjects had conceived of seeing the Legislative Council reformed and ameliorated, and has confirmed them in the opinion that the only possible mode of giving to that body the weight and respectabi- lity which it ought to possess, is to introduce into it the principle of election. 18. Resolved, That the Legislative Council, strength- ened by a majority inimical to the rights of this House and of the people whom it represents, has received new and more powerful means than it before possessed of perpetuating and of rendering more offensive and more hurtful to the country the system of abuses of which the people of this province have up to this day ineffec- tually complained, and which up to this day, Parlia- ment and his Majesty's government in England have ineffectually sought to correct. 19. Resolved, That since its pretended reform the Legislative Council has, in a manner more calculated to alarm the inhabitants of this province, and more par- ticularly in its address to his Majesty of the 1st of April 1833, renewed its pretension of being specially ap- pointed to protect one class of his Majesty's subjects in this province, as supposing them to have interests lof ar- ril ip. cts ■sts OF CANADA. 143 which could not be sufficiently represented In the assem- bly, seven-eights of the members of which are by the said council most erroneously stated to be of French origin and cpeak the French language : that this pre- tension is a violation of the constitution, and is of a nature to excite and perpetuate among the several classes of the inhabitants of this province mutual dis- trust and national distinctions and animosities, and to give one portion of the people an unjust and factious superiority over the other, and the hope of domination and undue preference. 20. Resolved, That by such claim the legislative council, after a reform which was held up as one adapted to unite it more closely with the interests of the colony in conformity with the wishes of parliament, calls down as one of its first acts, the prejudices and severity of his Majesty's Government upon the people of this province and upon the representative branch of the legislature thereof, and that by this conduct the legislative council has destroyed amongst the people all hope which was left them of seeing the said council, so long as it shall remain constituted as it now is, act in har- mony with the House of Assembly. 21. Resolved, That the Legislative Council of thi& province has never been any thing else but an impotent screen between the governor and the people, which by enabling the one to maintain a conflict toith the other has served to perpetuate a system of discord and con- tention ; that it has unceasingly acted with avowed hos- tility to the sentiments of the people as constitutionally expressed by the House of Assembly ; that it is not right under the name of a legislative council to impose an aristocracy on a country which contains no natural materials for the composition of such^a body ; that the ^ ii'» 144 THE dubules Parliament of the United Kingdom, in gr anting to his Majesty's Canadian subjects the power of revising the constitution under which they hold their dearest rights, would adopt a liberal policy, free from all consideration of former interests and of existing prejudicies ; and that by this measure, equally consistent with a wise and sound policy, and with the most liberal and extended views, the Parliament of the United Kingdom would enter into a noble rivalry with the United States of America, would prevent his Majesty's subjects from seeing any thing to envy there ; and would pieserve a friendly intercourse between Great Britain and this pro- vince, as her colony so long as the tie between us shall continue, and as her ally whenever the course of events may change our relative position, 22. Resolved, That this House so much the more con- fidentially emits the opinions expressed in the preceding resolution, because, if any faith is to be placed in the published reports, they were at no distautperiod emitted with other remarks in the same spirit, in the Commons' House of the United Kingdom, by the Right Honoura- ble Edward Geoffrey Stanley, now his Majesty's prin- cipal secretary of state for the Colonial department, and by several other enlightened and distinguished members, some of whom are amongthe number of his Majesty's pre- sentministers ; and because the conduct of the Legislative Council since its pretended reform, demonstrates that the said opinions are in no wise rendered less applicable or less correct by its present composition. 23. Resolved, That the Legislative Council has at the present time less community of interest with the province than at any former period ; that its present composition, instead of being calculated to change the character of V OF CANADA. 145 the body, to put an end to complaints, and to bring aboutthat co-operation of the two houses of the legislature which is su necessary to the welfare of the country, is such ^3 to destroy all hope that the said council will adopt the opinions and sentiments of the people of this pro- vince, and of this House with regard to the inalienable right of the latter to the full and entire control of the whole revenue raised in the province, with regard to the necessity under which this House has found itself (for t!.3 purpose of effecting the reformation which it has so long and so vainly demanded of existing abuses) to provide for the expenses of the civil government by an- nual appropriations only, as well with regard to a variety of other questions of public interest, concerning which the executive government, and the legislative council which it has selected and created, differ diametrically from the people of this province and from this house. 24. Resolved, That such of the recently appointed councillors as were taken from the majority of the As- sembly, and had entertained the hope that a sufficient number of independent men, holding opinions in unison with those of the majority of the people and of their representatives, would be associated with them, must now feel that they are overwhelmed by a majority hos- tile to the country, and composed of men who have irre- trievably lost the public confidence, by showing them- selves the blind and passionate partisans of all abuses of power, by encouraging all the acts of violence committed under the administration of Lord Dalhousie, by having on all occasions outraged the representatives of the people of the country ; of men, unknown in the country until within a few years, without landed property or having very little, most of whom have never been re- L 146 THE BUBBLES I turned to the Assembly (some of them having even been refused by the people), and who have never given any proofs of their fitness for performing the functions of legislators, but merely of their hatred to the country ; and who, by reason of their community of sentiment with him, have found themselves, by the partiality of the governor-in-chief, suddenly raised to a station in which they have the power of exerting during life, an influence over the legislation and over the fate of this province, the laws and institutions of which have ever been the objects of their dislike. 25. Resolved, That in manifest violation of the con- stitution, there are among the persons last mentioned several who were born citizens of the United States, or are natives of other foreign countries, and who at the time of their appointment had not been naturalized by Acts of the British Parliament ; that the residence of one of these persons (Horatio Gates) in this country during the last war with the United States was only tolerated ; he refused to take up arms for the defence of the country in which he remained merely for the sake of lucre ; and after these previous facts, took his seat in the legislative council on the 16th March 1333; and fifteen days afterwards, to wit, on the 1st April, voted for the address before-mentioned, censuring those who during the last war were under arms on the frontiers to repulse the attacks of the American armies and of the fellow- citizens of the said Horatio Gates : that another (James Baxter) was resident during the said late war within the United States, and was bound by the laws of the country of his birth, under certain circumstances, forcibly to invade this province, to pursue, destroy, and capture, if possible, his Majesty's armies, and such of his Cana- OF CANADA. 147 dian subjects as were in arms upon the frontiers to repulse; the attacks of the American armies^ and of the said James Baxter, who (being at the said time but slightly qualified as far as property is concerned) became, by the nomination of the governor-in-chief^ a legislator for life in Lower Canada, on the 22d of March 1833 ; and eight days afterwards, on the 1st of April aforesaid, voted that very address which contained the calumnious and insulting accusation which called for the expression of his Majesty's just regret, " that any word had been introduced which should have the appearance of ascribing to a class of his subjects of one origin, views at variance with the allegiance which they owe to his Majesty." 26. Resolved, That it was in the power of the present governor-in-chief, more than in that of any of his prede- cessors (by reason of the latitude allowed him as to the number and the selection of the persons whom he might nominate to be members of the Legislative Council) to allay, for a time at least, the intestine divisions which rend this colony, and to advance some steps towards the accomplishment of the wishes of Parliament, by in- ducing a community of interest between the said coimcil and the people, and by giving the former a more inde- pendent character by judicious nominations. 27. Resolved, That although sixteen persons have been nominated in less than two years by the present governor to be members of the said council (a number greater than that afforded by any period of ten years under any other administration), and notwithstanding the wishes of Parliament, and the instructions given by his Majesty's government for the removal of the griev- ances of which the people had complained, the same malign influence which has been exerted to perpetuate in L 2 I f Rl 148 THE HUDDLES the country a system o( irresponsibility in favour of public Tunctionaries, has prevailed to such an extent as to ren- der the majority of the Legislative Council more inimical to the country than at any former period ; and that this fact confirms with irresistible force the justice of the censure passed by the committee of the House of Com- mons on the constitution of the Legislative Council as it had theretofore existed, and the correctness of the opi- nion of those members of the said committee who thought that the said body could never command the respect of the people, nor be in harmony with the House of Assem- bly, unless the principle of election was introduced into it. 28. Resolved, That even if the present governor-in- chief had, by making a most judicious selection, suc- ceeded in quieting the alarm and allaying for a time the profound discontent which then prevailed, that form of government wovld not be less essentially vicious which makes the happiness or misery of a country de- pend on an executive over which the people of that country have no influence, and which has no permanent interest in the .-ountry, or in common with its inhabi- tants ; and that the extension of the elective principle is the only measure which appears to this House to afford any prospect of equal and suffcient protection in future to all the inhabitants of the province without distinction. 29. Resolved, That the accusations preferred against the House of Assembly by the Legislative Council, as recomposed by the present governor-in-chief, would be crii.iinal and seditious, if their very nature did not render them harmless, since they go to assert, that if in its libe- rality and justice the Parliament of the United Kingdom OF CANADA. 149 hud granted the earnest prayer of this House in behalf of the province (and which this House at this solemn mow ment, after weighing the dispatches of the secretary of state for the colonial department, and on the eve of a general election, now repeats and renews), that the constitution of the Legislative Council may be altered by rendering it elective, the result of this act of justice and benevolence would have been to inundate the country with blood. 30. Resolved, That by the said address to his Ma- jesty, dated the 1st of April last, the Legislative Coun- cil charges this house with having calumniously accused the King's representative of partiality and injustice in the exercise of the powers of his office, and with delibe- rately calumniating his Majesty's officers, both civil and military, as a faction induced by interest alone to contend for the support of a government inimical to the rights and opposed to the wishes of the people : with reference to which this house declares that the accusations pre- ferred by it havn never been calumnious, but are true and well founded, and that a faithful picture of the executive government of this province in all its parts is drawn by the Legislative Council in this passage of its address. 31. Resolved, That if, as this House is fond of be* lieving, his Majesty's government in England does not wish systematically to nourish civil discord in this colony, the contradictory allegations thus made by the two houses make it imperative on it to become better ac- quainted with the state of the province than it now ap- pears to be, if we judge from its long tolerance of the abuses which its agents commit with impunity ; that it ought not to trust to the self-praise of those who have the management of the affiairS of a colony, passing ac- 7 150 THK BUBBLES cording to them into a state of anarchy ; that it ought to be convinced that if its protection of public functionaries, accused by a competent authority (that is to say by this House, in the name of the people), could for a time, by force and intimidation, aggravate, in favour of those functionaries and against the rights and interests of the people, the system of insult and oppression which they impatiently bear, the result must be to weaken our con- fidence in, and our attachment to his Majesty's govern- ment, and to give deep root to the discontent and in- surmountable disgust which have been excited by admi- nistrations deplorably vicious, and which are now excited by the majority of the public functionaries of the colony, combined as a faction, and induced by interest alone to contend for the support of a corrupt government, inimi- cal to the rights and opposed to the wishes of the people. 32. Resolved, That in addition to its wielded and ca- lumnious address of the 1st April 1833, the Legislative Council, as recomposed by the present governor-in- chief, has proved how little community of interest it has with the colony, by the fact that out of sixty-four bills which were sent up to it, twenty-eight were rejected by it, or amended in a manner contrary to their spirit and essence ; that the same unanimity which had attended the passing of (he greater part of these bills in the Assem- bly, accompanied their rej'^ction by the Legislative Coun- cil, and that an opposition so violent shows clearly that the provincial executive and the council of its choice, in league together against the representative body, do not, or will not, consider it as the faithful interpreter and the equitable judge of the wants and wishes of the people, nor as fit to propose laws conformable to the public will; and that under such circumstances it would have OF CANADA. 151 been iheduty of the head of the executive to appeal to the people, by dissolving the provincial parliament, had there been any analogy between the institutions of Great Britain and those of this province. 33. Resulved, That the Legislative Council, as recom- posed by the present governor-in-chief, must be consi- dered as embodying the sentiments of the colonial exe- cutive government, and that from the moment it was so recomposed the two authorities seem to have bound and leagued themselves together for the purpose of proclaim- ing principles subversive of all harmony in the province, and of governing and domineering in a spirit of blind and invidious national antipathy. 34. Resolved,, 'I'hat the address voted unanimously on the 1st April 1833,by the Legislative Council, as recom- posed by the present governor-in chief, was concurred in by the honourable the chief justice of the province, Jonathan Sewell, to whom the right honourable Lord Viscount Goderich, in his dispatch, communicated to the house OD the 25th November 183 1> recommended " a cautious abstinence *' from all proceedings by which he might be involved in any contention of a party nature ; by John Hale, the present receiver-general, who, in violation of the laws, and of the trust reposed in him, and upon illegal warrants issued by the governor, has paid away large sums of the public money, without any regard to the obedience which is always due to the law ; by Sir John Caldwell, baronet, the late receiver-gene- ral, a peculator, who has been condemned to pay nearly £100,000 to reimburse a like sum levied upon the peo\ ''^ '^f this province, and granted by law to his Ma- esty, his heirs and successors, for the public use of the province and for the support of his Majesty's govern- •m: 152 THE BUBBLES If merit therein, and who has diverted the greater part of the said sum from the purposes to which it was destined, and appropriated it to his private use ; by Mathew Bell, a grantee of the crown, who has been unduly and ille- gally favoured by the executive, in the lease of the forges of St. Maurice, in the grant of large tracts of waste lands, and in the lease of large tracts of land formerly belonging to the order of Jesuits ; by John Stewart, an executive councillor, commissioner of the Jesuits' estates, and the incuml ent of other lucra- tive offices : all of whom are placed by their pecuniary and personal interests, under the inluence of the execu- tive ; and by the honourable George Moft'att, Peter M'Gill, John Molson, Horatio Oaves, Robert « cs, and James Baxter, all of whom, as well as those beiure mentioned, were, with two exceptions, born out of the country, and all of whom, except one, who for a num- ber of years was a member of the Assembly, and has ex- tensive landed property, p.e but slightly qualified in t'at respect, and had n^i, oeen sufficiently engaged in puliic life to afford a presumption that they were fit to perform the functions of legislators for life ; and by Antoine Gaspard Couillard, the only native of the country, of French origin, who stooped to concur in the address, and who also had never been engaged in public life, and is but very moderately qualified with respect to real pro- perty, and who, after his appointment to the council, and before the said 1st of April, rendered himself de- pendent on the executive by soliciting a paltry and su- bordinate place of profit. 35. Resolved, That the said address, voted by seven councillors, under the iuHuence of the present head of the executive, and by five others of his appointment. lu.. U w OF CANADA. 153 (one only of the six others who voted it, the Hon. George MoflTatt, having been appointed under his pre- decessor) is the work of the present administration of this province, the expression of its sentiments, the key to its acts, and the proclamation of the iniquitous and arbi- trary principles, which are to form its rule of conduct for the future. 36. Resolved, That the said address :s not less in- jurious to the small number of members of the legis- lative council who are independent, and attached to the interests and honour of the country, who have been mem- bers of the Assembly, and are known as having partaken its opinions and seconded its efforts, to obtain for it the entire control and disposal of the public revenue ; as having approved the wholesome, constitutional, and not, as stvled by the council, the daring steps taken by this Hous^ ^t praying by address tn his Majesty that the Legislative Council might be rendered elective ; as con- demning a scheme for the creation of an extensive mono- poly of lands in favour of speculators residing out of the country; as believing that they could not have been appointed to the council with a view to increase the con- stitutional weight and efficacy of that body, in which they find themselves opposed to a majority hostile to their principles and their country ; as believing that the inte- rests and wishes of the people are faithfully represented by their representatives, and that the connexion between this country and the parent state will be durable in pro- portion to the direct influence exercised by the people in the enactment of laws adapted to insure their welfare ; and as being of opinion, that his Majesty's subjects recently settled in this country will share in all the advuntuges of the free institutions and of the in)pruve- il :i 154 THK BUBBLES ments which would be rapidly developed if, by means of the extension of the elective system, the administra- tion were prevented from creating a monopoly of power and profit in favour of the minority who are of one origin, and to the prejudice of the majority, who are of another ; and from buying; corrupting, and exciting a portion of this minority in such a manner as to give to all discus- sions of local interest the alarming character of strife and national antipathy ; and that the independent members of the Legislative Council, indubitably convinced of the tendency of that body, and undeceived as to the motives which led to their appointment as members of it, now refrain from attending the sittings of the said council, in which they despair of being able to effect any thing for the good of the country. 37. Resolved, That the political world in Europe is at this moment agitated by two great parties, who in different countries appear under the several names of serviles, royalists, tories, and conservatives on the one side, and of liberals, constitutionals , republicans, tvhigs, reformers, radicals, and similar appellations on the other ; that the former party is, on this continent, without any weight or influence, except what it derives from its European supporters, and from a trifling number of persons who become their dependents for the sake of personal gain, and from others, who from age or habit cling to opinions which are not partaken by any numerous class; while the second party overspreads all America. And that the colonial secretary is mis- taken if he believes that the exclusion 0/ a few salaried officers from the Legislative Council could suffice to make it harmonise with the wants, wishes, and opinions of the people, as long as the colonial governors retain OF CANADA. 155 the power of preserving in it a majority of members rendered servile by their antipathy to every liberal idea. 38. Resolved, That this vicious system, which has been carefully maintained, has given to the Legislative Council a greater character of animosity to the country than it had at any former period, and is as contrary to the wishes of Parliament, as that which, in order to resist the wishes of the people of England for the par- liamentary reform, should have called into the House of Lords a number of men notorious for their factious and violent opposition to that great measure. 39. Resolved, That the legislative council, represent- ing merely the personal opinions of certain members of a body so strongly accused at a recent period by the people of this province, and so justly censured by the report of the committee of the House of Commons, ts not an authority competent to demand alterations in the constitutional Act of the Slst Geo. III., c. S\,andthat the said act ought not to be and cannot be altered, ex- cept at such time and in such manner as may be wished by the peojde of this province, whose sentiments this house is alone competent to repre€ent ; that no inter- ference on the part of the British legislature with the laws and constitution of this province, which should not be founded on the wishes of the people, freely expres- sed either through this house, or in any other consti- tutional manner, could in any wise tend to settle any of the difficulties which exist in this province, but, on the contrary, would only aggravate them and prolong their continuance. 40 Resolved, That this Hoiise expects from the jus- tice of the Parliament of theUnited Kingdom, that no a \^ 166 THE BUBBLES measure of the nature aforesaid, founded on the false representations of the Legislative Council and of the members and tools of the colonial administration, all interested in perpetuating existing abuses, will be adopted to the prejudice of the rights, liberties, and welfare of the people of this province ; but that on the contrary, the Imperial Legislature will comply with the wishes of the people, and of this House, and will provide the most effectual remedy for all evils present and future, either by rendering the Legislative Council elective, in the manner mentioned in the Address of this House to his most gracious Majesty, of the 20th March 1833, or by enabling the people to express still more directly their opinions as to the measures to be adopted in that behalf, and with regard to such other modifica- tions of the constitution as the wants of the prople and the interest of hisMajesty's government in the province may require ; and that this house perseveres in the said Address. 41. Resolved, That his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial department has acknowledged in his despatches, that it has frequently been admitted that the people of Canada ought to see nothing in the insti- tutions of the neighbouring states which they could regard with envy, and that he has yet to learn that any such feeling now exists among his Majesty's subjects in Canada: to which this House answers, that the neigh- bouring States have a form of government very fit to prevent abuses of power, and very effective in repressing them ; that the reverse of this order of things has always prevailed in Canada under the present form of govern- ment ; that there exists in the neighbouring States a stronger and mure general attachment to the national BIB', ti'.K m * OF CANADA. 167 institutions than in any other country, and that ther^ exists also in those States a guarantee for the progressive advance of their political institutions towards perfection, in the revision of the same at short and determininate intervals, by conventions of the people, in order that they may, without any shock o; violence, be adapted to the actual state of things. ^ . 42. Resolved, That it was in consequence of a correct idea of the state of the country and of society generally in America, that the committee of the House of Commons asked, whether there was not in the two Canadas a growing inclination to see the institutions become more and more popular, and in that respect more and more like those of the United States ; and that John Neilson, Esq., one of the agents sent from this country, answered, that the fondness for popular institutions had made great progress in the two Canadas ; and that the same agent was asked, whether he did not think that it would be wise that the object of every change made in the institu- tions of the province should be to comply more and more with the wishes of the people, and to render the said institutions extremely popular : to which question this House, for and in the name of the people whom it represents, answers, solemnly and deliberately, " Yes, it would be wise ; it would be excellent." 43. Resolved, That the constitution and form of go- vernment which would best suit this colony are not to be sought solely in the analogies offered by the institutions of Great Britain, where the state of society is altogether different from our own ; and that it would be wise to turn to profit by the information to be gained by ob- serving the effects produced by the different and infinitely varied constitutions which the Kings and Parliament of ■V ,v A 158 THE BUBBLES h "i I ^Pt England have granted to the several plantations and colonies in Americaj and by studying the way in which virtuous and enlightened men have modified such colonial institutions, when it could be done with the assent of the parties interested. 44. Resolved, That the unanimousconsent with which all the American states have adopted and extended the elective system, shows that it is adapted to the wishes, manners, and social state of the inhabitants rf this con- tinent ; that this system prevails equally among those of British and those cf Spanish origin, although the latter, during the continuance of their colonial state had been under the calamitous yoke of ignorance and absolutism ; and that we do not hesitate to ask from a prince of the House of Brunswick, and a reformed Parliament, all the freedom and political powers which the princes of the House of Stuart and their parliaments granted to the most favoured of the plantations formed at a period when such grants must have been less favourably re- garded than they would now be. 45. Resolved, That it was not the best and most free systems of colonial government which tended most to hasten the independence of the old English colonies ; since the province of New York, in which the institutions were most monarchical in the sense which that word appears to bear in thedespatch of the Colonial Secretary, was the first to refuse obedience to an act of the Parlia- Kient of Great Britain : and that the colonies of Con- necticut and Rhode Island, which, though closely and aflfectionately connected with the mother country for a long course of years, enjoyed constitutions purely de- mocratic, were the last to enter into a confederation rendered necessary by the conduct of bad servants of the V OF CANADA. 159 Crown, who called in the supreme authority of the Par- liament and the British constitution to aid them to govern arbitrarily, liHtening rather to the governors and their advisers than to the people and their representatives, and shielding with their protection those who consumed the taxes rather than those who paid them. 46. Resolved, That with a view to the introduction of whatever the institutions of the neighbouring States offered that was good and applicable to the state of the province, this House had among other measures passed during many years, a bill founded on the principle of proportioning arithmetically the number of representa- tives to the populace of each place represented ; and that if, by the pressure of circumstances and the urgent necessity which existed that the number of representatives should be increased, it has been compelled to assent to amendments which violate that principle, by giving to counties containing a population of little more than 4,000 souls, the same number of representatives as to several others of which the population is five times as great, this disproportion is, in the opinion of this House, an act of injustice, for which it ought to seek a remedy : and that in new countries where the population increases rapidly, and tends to create new settlements, it is wise and equitable that by a frequent and periodical census, such increase and the maimer in which it is distributed should be ascertained, principally for the purpose of settling the representation of the province on an equi- table basis. 47. Resolved, That the fidelity of the people and the protection of the government are co-relative obligations, of which the one cannot long subsist without the other ; that by reason of the defects which exist in the laws and fTT lUJIUI 160 THK BUBBLES c ,■ constitution of this province, and of the manner in which those laws and that constitution have been administered, the people of this province are not sufficiently protected in their lives, their property, and their honour ; and that the long series of acts of injustice and oppression of which they have to complain, have increased with alarming ra^ idity in violence and in number under the present administration. 48. Resolved, That in the midst of these disorders and sufferings, this house and the people whom it repre- sents, had always cherished the hope and expressed their faith that his Majesty's government in England did not knowingly and wilfully participate in the political immorality of its colonial agents and officers ; and that it is with astonishment and grief that they have seen in the extract from the despatches of the Colonial Secretary, communicated to this house by the governor-in- chief, during the present session, that one at least of the mem- bers of his Majesty's government entertains towards them feelings of prejudice and animosity, and inclines to favour plans of oppression and revenge, ill adapted to change a system of abuses, the continuance of which would altogether discourage the people, extinguish in them the legitimate hope of happiness which, as British subjects, they entertained, and would leave them only the hard alternative of submitting to an ignominious bondage, or of seeing those ties endangered which unite them to the mother country. 49. Resolved, That this House, and the people whom it represents, do not wish or intend to convey any threat ; but that, relying, as they do, upon the principles of law and justice, they are, and ought to be, politically strong enough not to be exposed to receive insult from OF CANADA^ IGl )m lly )m any man whomsoever, or bound to suffer it in silence ; that the style of the said extracts from the despatches of the colonial secretary, as communicated to this House, is insulting and inconsiderate to such a degree, that no legally constituted body, although its functions were infi- nately subordinate to those of legislation, could or ought to tolerate them ; that no similar example can be found, even in the despatches of those of his predecessors in office, least favourable to the rights of the colonies ; that the tenor of the said despatches is incompatible with the rights and privileges of this House, which ought not to be called in question or defined by the colonial secretary, but which, as occasion may require, will be successively promul- gated and enforced by this House. < • • 50. Resolved, That with regard to the following ex- pressions in one of the said despatches, " Should events unhappily force upon Parliament the exercise of its supreme authority, to compose the internal dissensions of the colonies, it would be my object and my duty, as a servant of the Crown, to submit to Parliament such modifications of the charter of the Canadas as should tend, not to the introduction of institutions consistent with monarchial government, but to maintaining and strengthening the connexion with the mother country, by a close adherence to the spirit of the British consti- tution, and by preserving in their proper place and within their due limits the mutual rights and privileges of all classes of his Majesty's subjects ;"^f they are to be understood as containing a threat to introduce into the constitution any other modifications than such as are asked for by the majority of the people of this province, whose sentiments cannot be legitimately expressed by any other authority than its representatives, this House M i> 162 THE liUDDLKS would esteem itself wanting in candour to the people of England, if it hesitated to call their attention to the fact, that in less than twenty years the population of the United States of America will be as great or greater than that of Great Britain, and that of British America will be as great or greater than that of the former English colonies was when the latter deemed that the time was come to decide that the inappreciable advan- tage of governing themselves instead of being governed, ought to engage them to repudiate a system of colonial government which was, generally speaking, much better than that of British America now is. 51. Resolved, That the approbation expressed by the colonial secretary, in his said despatch, of the pre- sent composition of the Legislative Council, whose acts since its pretended reform, have been marked by party spirit and by invidious national distinctions and pre- ferences, is a subject of just alarm to his Majesty's Cana- dian subjects in general, and more particularly to the great majority of them, who have not yielded at any time to any other class of the inhabitants of this province in their attachment to his Majesty's government, in their love of peace and order, in respect for the laws, and in their wish to effect that union among the whole people which is so much to be desired, to the end that all may enjoy freely and equally the rights and advan- tages of British subjects, and of the institutions which have been guaranteed to and are dear to the country ; that the distinctions and preferences aforesaid have almost constantly been used and taken advantage of by the colonial administration of this province, and the majority of the legislative councillors, executive coun- cillors, judges, and other functionaries dependent upon OF CANADA. 163 it ; and that iiothinj;^ but the spirit of the union among' the several classes of the people, and their conviction that (heir interests are the same, could have prevented collisions incompatible with the prosperity and safety of the province. 52. Resolved, That since a circumstance, which did not depend upon the choice of the majority of the people, their French origin and their use of the French language, has been made by the colonial authorities a pretext for abuse, for exclusion, for political inferiority, for a sepa- ration of rights and interests ; this House now appeals to the justice of his Majesty's government and of Parlia- ment, and to the honour of the people of England; that the majority of the inhabitants of this country are in nowise disposed to repudiate any one of the advan- tages they derive from their origin and from their descent from the French nation, which, with regard to the progress, of which it has been the cause, in civiliza- tion, in the sciences, in letters^ and in the arts, has never been behind the British nation, and is now the worthy rival of the latter in the advancement of the cause of liberty and of the science of government ; from which this country derives the greater portion of its civil and ecclesiastical law, and of its scholastic and cha- ritable institutions, and of the religion, language, habits, manners, and customs of the great majority of its inha- bitants. 53, Resolved, That our fellow-subjects of British origin, in this province, came to settle themselves in a country, " the inhabitants whereof, professing the religion of the church of Rome, enjoyed an established form of constitution and system of laws, by which their persons and their property had been protected, governed, M 2 i T \CA Till': IUi|)IU.K8 luitl ordered iliirin*; u Ion;; Hories of yearn, Tron) tlie Cw^i (\>«tal)li>)liiiieiit of ihe |)roviiice of Canada;" that, prompted by tiiese considerations ami guided liy the rules of jtis- ticu and of the law of naliom^, tlio Uritish Parliament enacteil tliut, " iu »ll nialterH of controversy ^ relative to property and civil rights, resort slionld l)u had to tli» laws of (\inaila ;" that when Parliament afti^rwards departed fk'oin the principle thus recognised, firstly, hy tho introduction of the KnoUsh criminal law, and after- wards by that of the representative system, with all tho constitution and parliamentary law necessary to its per- fect uction, it did so in conformity to the sutViciently expressed wish of the Canailian people ; and that every attempt on the part of public funclionarieti or of other persons (who on coinin<>[ to settle in the province, niudu their condition their own voluntary act) ai^raiiist the ox- isteuce of any portion of tho laws and institutions pecii liar to the ci>untry, and any preponderance y;iven to such persons in the lej^islative and executive councils, in tho courts of law, or in other departments, aro contrary to tiio pn^MigenuMits of tho British Parliament, and to the rights guaranteed to his Majesty's (^madian subjects, on tho faith of the national honour of Kngland, and on that of capitulations and treaties. .')•!. liesolvodj That any combination, whether olVected by means of acts of tho British Parliament, obtuinud in contravention to its former engagements, or by means of tho partial and corrupt administration of tho present conatilution and system of law, would bo a violation of those rights, and would, as long as it should exist, bo obeyed by tho people, froni motives of fear and con- straint, and not from choice and atloction ; that tho conduct of the colonial administrations, and of their OK CANADA. 105 ii<;(miIh iiikI iimlninKMiln in thin colony, Imn, for the must pact, boon of II nutiiro nnjuntly to orouto upprohonnionN a» to tiio viows uf tlio ])ooplo and ^ovornniont of (lio nn>thor connlry, and to ondan^cr tho confidonoo and content of lliu inhabitanlR of thin provinoo, whioli can only bo aooiiriHl by oipnil laws, and by (liu observance of eqnal justice, ua the rule of conduct in uU the dtf- purlniontR uf the f;overnnunit. ft5. Resolved, 'I'lnit whether the number of that chiBH of his Majesty's subjects in this jJCnvince, who are of Ih'ilish origin, bo that mentioned in the said atulress of the lieginhitive C'ouncil, or whether (as (he truth is) it amounts to less than half that number, tiie wishes and interests of the •>reat nnijority of them are common to them and to their fellow-subjeets of l''reneh ori<;in, and speakiiijnf tho French langua},'e ; that the ono class lovo the country of their birth, tho other that of their atlop- tion ; that tho j'Toater portion of the latter have ucUnow- ledyed tho f^enernlly boneficittl tendency of tho laws and institutions of the country, and have laboured in concert with the former to introduce into them j;;^ni(). Hesdlved, That in addition to administrative and> judicial abuses, which have had an iiijurioiis elTect upon, tho public welfare and confidence, attempts have been made, from time to time, to induce tho Parliament of the United Kinj>dom, by deceiving its justice and ubus- i y 16^ THE iiUBlJLES ing its benevolent intentions, to adopt measures calcu- lated to bring' about combinations of the nature abovj- mentionrd, and to pass acts of internal legislation for this province, having the same tendency, and with regard to which, the people of the country had not been con- sulted ; that, unhappily, the attempts to obtain the passing of some of these measures were successful, espe- cially that of the act of the G Geo. IV., c. 59, commonly called the " Tenures' Act," the repeal of which was unanimously demanded by all classes of the people, without distinction, through their representatives, a very short time after the number of the latter was increased ; and that this House has not yet b^en able to obtain from his Majesty's representative in this province, or from any other source, any information as to the views of his Majesty's government in England, with regard to the repeal of the said act. 57. Resolved, Thai the object of the said act was, according to tlie benevolent intentions of parliament, and as the title of the act sets forth, the extinction of feudal and seigniorial rights and dues on land held en fief and « cens in this province, with the intention of favouring the great body of the inhabitants of the couiutry, and protecting them against the said dues, which were regarded as burdensome ; but that the pro- visions of the said act, far from having the effect afore- said, afford facilities for seigniors to becou)?, in oppo- sition to the interests of their ccnsitaires, the absolute proprietors of the extensive tracts of unjonceded lands which, by the law of the country, they held only for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof, to whom they were bound to concede them in consideratioii of certain limited dues : that the said act, if generally acted upon. mm OF CANADA. 1G7 would shut out the mass of the pernianenf inhabitants of the country from the vacant lands in the saigniories, while, at the same time, they have been consJantly pre- vented from settling on the waste lands of the Crown on easy and liberal terms, and under a tenure adapted to the laws of the country, by the partial, secret, and vicious manner in which the crovvn land department has been mana<;^ed, and the provisions of the act aforesaid, with regard to the laws applicable to the lands in ques- tion ; and that the application made by certain seigniors for a change of tenure, undor the authority of the said act, appear to prove the correctness of the view this House has taken of its practical effect. 58. Resolved, That it was only in consequence of an erroneous supposition that feudal charges were inherent in the law of this country, as far as the possession and trai.smission of real property, and the tenures recognized by lliat law, were concerned, that it was enacted in the said act that the lands, with regard to which a change of tenure should be effected, should thereafter be held under the tenure of free and common soccage ; that the seigniorial charges have been found burdensome in cer- tain cases, chiefly by reason of the want of adequate means of obtaining the interference of the colonial •^oveniment and of the courts of law, to enforce the ancient law of the country in that behalf, and that the provincial legislature was, moreover, fully competent to pass laws, providing for the redemption of the said charges in a manner which should be in accordance with the interests of all parties, and for the introduction of the free tenures recognized by the laws of the coimtryj that the House of Assembly has been repeatedly occu- pied, and now is occupied about this important subjpct ; .X^^^ •:■ \i m\ u 168 THE BUBBLES but that the said Tenures' Act^ insufficient of itself to effect equitably the purpose for which it was passed, is of a nature to embarrass and create obstacles to the effectual measures which the legislature of the country, with a full knowledge of the subject, might be disposed to adopt ; and that the application thus made (to the exclusion of the provincial legislature) to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was far less competent to make equitable enactments on a subject so compli- cated in its nature, could only have been made with a view to unlawful speculations and the subversion of the laws of the country. 59. Resolved, That independently of its many other serious imperfections, the said act does not appear to have been founded on a sufficient knowledge of the laws which govern persons and property iu this country, when it declares the laws of Great Britain to be applicable to certain incidents to real property therein enumerated ; and that it has only served to augment the confusion and doubt which had prevailed in the courts of law, and in private transactions, with regard to the lawwhichapplied to lands previously granted in free and common soccage. 60. Resolved, That the provision of the said act which has excited the greatest alarm, and which is most at variance with the rights of the people of the country, and with those of the provincial parliament, is that which enacts that lands previously held en fief or en censine shall, after a change of tenure shall have been effected with regard to them, be held in free and common soccage, and thereby become subject to the laws of Great Britain, under tlie several circumstances therein mentioned and (.'numerated ; that besides being insufficient in itself, this provision is of a nature to bring into collision, in the old il OF CANADA. 169 Sfttlemenfs, at multiplied points of contiguity, two oppo- site systems of laws, one of which is entirely unknown to this country, in which it is impossible to carry it into effect ; that from the feeling manifested by the colonial authorities and their partisans towards the inhabitants of the country, the latter have just reason to fear that the enactment in question is only the prelude to the final subvrsion, by Acts of Parliament c*" Great Britain, frt» ' aontly obtained in violation of its former engage- ments, of the system of laws by which the persons and property of the people of this province were so long happily g " I. 61. Resjlved, That the inhabitants of this country have just reason to fear that the clainris made to the property of the seminary of St. Sulpice, at Montreal, are att.iVu'.^ble to the desire of the colonial administra- tion, '»' • .. agents and tools, to hasten this deploraVle state of things; and that his Majesty's governmen. in England would, by reassuring his faithi'ul subjects on this point, dissipate the alarm felt by Uie clergy, and by the whole people without distinction, and merit their sincere gratitude. 02. Resolved, That it is the duty of this House to j)ersist in asking for the absolute repeal of the said Tenures^ Act, and until such rej)cal shall be effected, to propose to the other branches of the provincial parlia- ment such measures as may be adapted to weaken the pcruicious effects of the said act. 63. That this House has learned with regret, from one of the said despatches of the colonial secretary, that his Majesty has been advisetl to interfere in a matter which ?:cnoe;:ns the privileges of this House: that in the case there alluded to, tins House exercisedu privilege solemnly D*I 170 Tin; BUBUJ.ES established by the House cf Commons, before the prin- ciple on which it rests became the law of the land ; that this privilege is essential to the independence of this House, and to the freedom of its votes and proceedings ; that the resolutions passed by this House, on the 15lh of February 1831, ai-e constitutional and well-founded, and are supported by the example of the Commons of Great Britain; that this House has repeatedly passed bills for giving effect to the said principle, bui that these bills failed to become law, at first from the obstacles opposed to them in another branch of the provincial legislature, and subsequently by reason of the reservation of the last of the said bills for the significuliou of his Majesty's pleasure in England, whence it has not yet been sent back; that until some bill to the same effect shall be- come law, this House persists in the said resolutions; and that the refusal of his excellency, the present governor- in-chief, to sign a writ for the election of a knight repre- sentative for the county of Montreal, in the place of Dominique Mondelet, Esq., whose seat had been declared vacant, is a grievance of which this house is entitled to obtain the redress, and one which would alone have sufficed to put an end to all intercourse between it and the colonial executive, if the circumstances of the country had not offered an infinite number of other abuses and grievances against which it is urgently necessary to remonstrate. 64. Resolved, That the claims which have for many years been set vp by the executive government to that control over and power of appropriating a great por- tion of the revenues levied in this province, which belong of right to this House, are contrary to the rights mid to the constitution of the country ; and that with OF CANADA. 171 regard to the said claims, this House persists in the declarations it has heretofore made. 65. Resolved, Tliat. the said claims of the executive have been vague and varying; that the documents relative to the said claims, and the accounts and estimates of ex- penses laid before this House have likewise been varying and irregular, and insufficient to enable this House to pro- ceed witha full understanding of thesubject on the matters to which they related ; that important heads of the public revenue of the province, collected either under the pro- visions of tlie law or under arbitrary regulations made by the executive, have been omitted in the said accounts; that numerous items have been paid out of the public revenue without the authority of this house, or any ac- knowledgment of its control over them, as salaries for sinecure offices, which are not recognized by this House, and even for other objects for which, after mature deli- beration, it had not deemed it expedient to appropriate any portion of the public revenue ; and that no accounts of the suras so expended have been laid before this house. 66. Resolved, That the executive government has endeavoured, by means of the arbitrary regulations aforesaid, and particularly by the scde of the waste lands of the Crown, and of the timber on the same, to create for itself out of the revenue which this House only has the right of appropriating, resources inde- pendent of the control of the representatives of the peojjle ; and that the result has been a diminution of the wholesome influence which the people have consti- tutionally the right of exercising over the administra- tive branch of the government, and over the sjnrit and tendency of its measures. m \ r 172 THE BUBBLES m :t G7. Resolved, That this House having, from time to time, with a view to proceed by bill, to restore regula- rity to the financial system of the province, and to pro- vide for the expences of the administration of justice and of his Majesty's civil government therein, asked the provincial government by address for divers documents and accounts relating to financial matters, and to abuses connected with them, has met with repeated refusals, more especially during the present session and the pre- ceding one; that divers subordinate public functionaries, summoned to appear before committees of this House to give information on the said subject, havo refused to do so in pursuance of the said claim set up by *.he provincial administrations to withdraw a large portion of the public income and expenditure from the control and even from the knowledge of this House ; that during the present session one of thesaid subordinate functionaries of the exe- cutive being called upon to produce the originals of sun- dry registers of warrants and reports, which it was im- portant to this House to cause to be examined, insisted on being present at the deliberations of the committee appointed by the House for that purpose ; and that the head of the administration being informed of the fact, refrained from interfering, although in conformity to parliamentary usage, this House had pledged itself that the said documents should be returned, and although the governor- in-chief had himself promised communica- tion of them. 68. Resolved, That the result of the secret and unlawful distribution of a large portion of the public revenue of the province has been, that the executive government has always, except with regard to appro- priations for objects of a local nature, considered itself \ OF CANADA. 173 bound to nccoiint for iho public money to the loi'ds commissioners of the treasury in England, and not to this House, nor according to its votes, or even in con- formity to the laws passed by the provincial legislature ; and that the accounts and statements laid before this House from time to time have never assumed the shape of a regular system of balanced accounts, but have been drawn up, one after another, with such alterations and irregularities as it pleased the administration of the day to introduce into them, from the accounts kept with the lords of the treasury, in which the whole public money received was included, as well as all the items of expenditure, whether authorized or unauthorized by the provincial legislature. 69. Resolved, That the pretensions and abuses afore- said have taken away from this House even the shadow of control over the public revenue of the province, and have rendered it impossible for it to ascertain at any time the amount of revenue collected, the disposable amount of the same, and the sums required for the pub- lic service ; and that the House having during many years passed bills, of which the models are to be found in the statute-book of Great Britain, to establish a regu- lar system of accountability and responsibility in the department connected with the receipt and expenditure of the revenue ; these bills have failed in the Legislative Council. 70. Resolved, That since the last session of the pro- vincial parliament, the governor-in chief of this province, and the members of his executive government, relying on the pretensions above-mentioned, have, without any lawful authority, paid large sums out of the public revenue, subject to the control of this House ; and that 174 TIIK BUBBLES the said sums wen9 divided according to their pleasure, and even in contradiction to the votes of this House, as incorporated in the supply bill passed by it during the last session, and rejected by the Legislative Council. 71. Resolved, That this House will hold responsible for all monies which have been, or may hereafter be paid, otherwise than under the authority of an act of the legislature, or upon an address of this House, out of the public revenue of the province, all those who may have authorized such payments, or participated therein, until the said sums shall have been reimbursed, or a bill or bills of indemnity freely' passed by this House shall have become law. 72. Resolved, That the course adopted by this House in the supply bill, passed during the last session, of at- taching certain conditions to certain votes, for the pur- pose of preventing the accumulation of incompatible offices in the same persons, and of obtaining the redress of certain abuses and grievances, is wise and constitu- tional, and has frequently been adopted by the House of Commons, under analogous circumstances : and that if the commons of England do not now so frequently recur to it, it is because they have happily obtained the entire control of the revenue of the nation, and because respect shewn to their opinions vvitli regard to the redress of grievances and abuses, by the other constituted au- thorities, has regulated the working of the constitution in a manner equally adapted to give stability to his Majesty's government, and to protect the interests of the people. 73. Resolved, That it was ancientlj^ the practice of the House of Commons to withhold supplies until griev- ances were redressed • and that in following this course ■I OK CANADA. 17S in tlie present conjuncture, we are warranted in our pro- ceeding, as well by the most approved precedents, as by the spirit of the constitution itself. 74. Resolved, That if hereafter, when the redress of all grievances and abuses shall have been effected, this House shall deem it fit and expedient to grant supplies, it ought not to do so otherwise than in the manner men- tioned in its fifth and sixth resolutions of the 16th March 1833, and by appropriating by its votes in an especial manner, and in the order in which they are enumerated in the said resolutions, the full amount of those heads of revenue, to the right of appropriating which claims have been set up by the executive government. 75. Resolved, That the number of the inhabitants of the country being about 600,000, those of French origin are about 525,000, and those of British or other origin 75,000 ; and that the establishment of the civil govern- ment of Lower Canada for the year 1832, according to the yearly returns made by the provincial administration, for the information of the British Parliament, contained the names of 157 officers and others receiving salaries, who are apparently of British or foreign origin, and the names of 47 who are apparently natives of the country, of French origin : that this statement does not exhibit the whole disproportion which exists in the distribution of the public money and power, the latter class being for the most part appointed to the inferior and less lucrative offices, and most frequently only obtaining even these by becoming the dependants of those who hold the higher and more lucrative offices; that the accumulation of many of the best paid and most influential, and at the same time incompatible offices, in tlie same person, which is forbidden by the laws and by sound policy. ■'\\ 17G THE nUBBLES exists especially for tlio benefit of the former cla^^s ; and that two-thirds of the persons included in the Irtst com- mission of the peace issued in the province are apparently of British or foreign origin, and one-third only of French origin. 76. Resolved, That this partial and abusive practice of bestowing the great majority of official places in the province on those only who are least connected with its permanent interests, and with the mass of its inhabi- tants, had been most especially remarkable in the judi- cial department, th»^ judges for the three great districts having, with the exception of one only in each, been systematically chosen from that class of persons, who, being born out of the country, are the least versed in its laws, and in the language and usages of the majority of its inhabitants ; that the result of their intermeddling in the politics of the country, of their connexion with the members of the Colonial administration, and of their prejudices in favour of institutions foreign to and at va- riance with those of the country, is that the majority of the said judges have introduced great irregularity into the general system of our jurisprudence, by neglecting to ground their decisions on its recognised principles ; and that the claim laid by the said judges to the power of regulating the forms of legal proceedings in a man- ner contrary to the laws, and without the interference of the legislature, has frequently been extended to the fundamental rules of the law and of practice ; and that in consequence of the same system, the administration of the criminal law is partial and uncertain, and such as to afford but little protection to the subject, and has failed to inspire that confidence which ought to be its inseparable companion. OF CANADA. 177 77. Resolved, That in consequence of their contiection with the members of the provincial administrations, and of their antipathy to the country, some of the said judges have, in violation of the laws, attempted to abolish the use in the courts of law of the language spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the country, which is necessary to the free action of the laws, and forms a portion of the usages guaranteed to them in the most solemn manner by the law of nations and by the statutes of the British Parliament. 78. Resolved, That some of the said judges, through partiality, for political purposes, and in violation of the criminal law of England as established in this country, of their duty, and their oath, have connived with divers law officers of the crown, acting in the interest of the pro- vincial administration, to allow the latter to engross and monopolize all criminal prosecutions of what nature soever, without allowing the private prosecutor to inter- vene or be heard, or any advocate to express his opinion amicus curice, when the Crown officers opposed it ; that in consequence of this, numerous prosecutions of a politi- cal nature have been brought into the courts of law by the Crown officers against those whose opinions were unfa- vourable to the administration for the time being ; while it was impossible for the very numerous class of his Majesty's subjects to which the latter belonged, to com- mence with the slightest confidence any prosecution against those who., being protected by the administra- tion, and having countenanced its acts of violence, had been guilty of crimes or misdemeanors ; that the tribunals aforesaid have, as far as the persons composing them are concerned, undergone no modification whatever, and inspire the same fears for the future. N ,l!. dk >«^„ ^T.i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) /. /^^% C v^^^ 1.0 I.I 1^128 150 "^ UUU 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1-25 1.4 III 1.6 ■• 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^o ^ ^ wmm I \ 178 THE BUBBLES ;: ,J 79. Resolved^ That this House, as representing the people of this province, possesses of right, t nd has exer- cised within this province when occasion has required it, all the powers, privileges, and immunities claimed and possessed by the Commons' House uf Parliament in the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 80. Resolved, That it is one of the undoubted privi- leges of this house to send for all persons, papers, and records, and to command the attendance of all persons, civil or military, resident within the province, as witnes- ses in all investigations which this House may deem it expedient to institute ; and to require such witnesses to produce all papers and records in their keeping, when- ever it shall deem it conducive to the public good to do so. 81. Resolved, That as at the grand inquest of the pro- vince, it is the duty of this House to inquire concerning all grievances, and all circumstances which may endan- ger the general welfare of the inhabitauts of the province, or be of a nat re to excite alarm in them with regard to their lives, their liberty, and their property, to the end that such representations may be made to our most gracious Sovereign, or such legislative measures intro- duced, as may lead to the redress of such grievances, or tend to allay such alarm ; and that far from having a right to impede the exercise of these rights and privi- leges, the governor-in-chief is deputed by his Sovereign, is invested with great powers, and receives a large salary, as much for defending the rights of the subject and faci- litating the exercise of the privileges of this House and of all constituted bodies, as for maintaining the preroga- tives of the Crown. 82. Resolved, That since the commencement of the OF CANADA. J 73 the present session, a great number of petitions relating to the infinite variety of objects connected with the public welfare, have been presented to this House, and many messages and important communications received by it, both from his Majesty's government in England and from his Majesty's provincial government ; that many bills have been introduced in this House, and many im- portant inquiries ordered by it, in several of which the governor- in-chief is personally and deeply implicated ; that the said petitions from our constituents, the people of all parts of this province; the said communications from his Majesty's government in England and from the provincial government ; the said bills already introduced or in preparation ; the said inquiries commenced and intended to be diligently prosecuted, may and must necessitate the presence of numerous witnesses, the pro- duction of numerous papers, the employment of numer- ous clerks, messengers, and assistants, and much printing, and lead to inevitable and daily disbursements, forming the contingent expenses of this house. 83. Resolved, That from the year 1792 to the pre- sent, advances had constantly been made to meet these expenses, on addresses similar v.o that presented this year by this House to the governor-in-chief, according to the practice adopted by the House of Commons ; that an address of this kind is the most solemn vote of credit which this house can pass, and that almost the whole amount of the sum exceeding £'277,000 has been advanced on such votes by the predecessors of his e tcellency the governor-in-chief, and by himself (as he ajknjwledges by his message on the 18th January 1834), without any risk having ever been incurred by any other governor on account of any such advance, although N 2 180 THE BUBBLES several of them have had diiferences, attended by violence and injustice on their part, with the House of Assembly, and without their apprehending that the then next parliament would not be disposed to make good the engagements of the House of Assembly for the time being; and that this refusal of the governor-in-chief, in the pre- sert instance, essentially impedes the dispatch of the business for which the parliament was called together, is derogatory to the rights and honour of this House, and forms another grievance for which the present adminis- tration of this province is responsible. 84. Resolved, That besides the grievances and abuses before-mentioned, there exist in this province a great number of others (a part of which existed before the commencement of the present administration, which has maintained them, and is the author of a portion of them), with regard to which this House reserves to itself the right of complaining and demanding reparation, and the number of which is too great to allow of their being enumerated here : that this House points out as among that number, Istly. The vicious composition and the irresponsibility of the executive council, the members of which are at the same time judges of the court of appeals, and the secresy with which not only the functions, but even the names of the members of that body have been kept from the knowledge of this House, when inquiries have been instituted by it on the subject. 2dly. The exorbitant fees illegally exacted in certain of the public offices, and in others connected with the judicial department, under regulations made by the exe- cutive council, by the judges, and by other functionaries usurping the powers of the legislature. V O* CANADA. 181 3dly. The practice of illegally calling upon the judges to give their opinions secretly on questions which may be afterwards publicly and contradictorily argued before them ; and the opinions themselves so given by the said judges^ as political partizans, in opposition to the laws, but in favour of the administration for the time being. 4thly. The cumulation of public places and offices in the same persGns, and the efforts made by a number of families connected with the administration to perpetuate thib utate of things for their own advantage, and for the sake of domineering for ever, with interested views and in the spirit of party, over the people and their repre- sentatives. 5thly. The intermeddling of members of the Legisla- tive Council in the elections of the representatives of the people, for the purpose of influencing and controlling them by force, and the selection frequently made of returning officers for the purpose of securing the same partial and corrupt ends ; the interference of the present governor-in-chief himself in the said elections ; his approval of the intermeddling of the said legislative councillors in the said elections; the partiality with which he intervened in the judicial proceedings connected with the said elections, for the purpose of influencing the said proceeding in a manner favourable to the military power, and co'-^rary to the independence of the judicial power ; and the applause which, as commander of the forces, he bestowed upon the sanguinary execution of the citizens by the soldiery. 6thly. The interference of the armed military force at such elections, through which three peaceable citizens, whose exertions were necessary to the support of their families, and who were strangers to the agitation of the \.\ 182 THE liU BULKS election, were shot dead in the streets; the applause bestowed by the goveruor-in-chief and commander of the turces on the authors of this sanguinary military execution (who had not been acquitted by a petty jury), for the firmness and discipline displayed by tHem on that occasion. 7thly. The various faulty and partial systems which have been followed ever since the passing of the constitu- tional act, with regard to the management of the waste lands in this province, have rendered it impossible for the great majority of the people of the country to settle on the said lands; the fraudulent and illegal manner in which, contrary to his Majesty's instructions, governors, legislative and executive councillors, judges, and subordinate officers have appropriated to themselves large tracts of the ^aid lands ; the monopoly of an exten- sive portion of the said lands in the hands of speculators residing in England, with which the province is now threatened ; and the alarm generally felt therein with regard to the alleged participation of his Majesty's government in this scheme, without its having deigned tore-assure his faithful subjects on this head, or to reply to the humble address to his Majesty adopted by this House during the last session. 8thly. The increase of the expenses of the government without the authority of the legislature, and the dispro- portion of the salaries paid to public functionaries to the services performed by theni, to the rent of real property, and to the ordinary income commanded by the exertions of persons possessing talent, industry, and economy, equal to or greater than those of the said functionaries. 9thly. The want of all recourse in the courts of law on the part of those who have just and legal claims on the government. OF CANADA. 183 J lOthly. The too frequent reservation of bills for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure, and the neglect of the Colonial Office to consider such bills, a great num- ber of which have never been sent back to the province, and some of which have even been returned so late that doubts may be entertained as to the validity of the sanction given to them ; a circumstance which has intro- duced irregularity and uncertainty into the legislation of the prov'.ice, and is felt by this house as an impedi- ment to the re-introduction of the bills reserved during the then preceding sessions. llthly. The neglect on the part of the Colonial Office to give any answer to certain addresses transmitted by this House on important subjects ; the practice followed by the administration of communicating in an incomplete manner, and by extracts, and frequently without giving their dates, the despatches received from time to time on subjects which have engaged the attention of this House ; and the too frequent references to the opinion of his Majesty's ministers in Englap<^, on the part of the provincial administration, upon points which it is in their power and within their province to decide. r2thly. The unjust retention of ihe college at Quebec, which forms part of the estates of the late order of Jesuits, and which from a college has been transformed into a barrack for soldiers ; the renewal of the lease of a considerable portion of the same estates, by the pro- vincial executive, in favour of a member of the Legislative Council, since those estates were returned to the legisla- ture, and in opposition to the prayer of this House, and to the known wishes of a great number of his Majesty's subjects, to obtain lands there and to settle on them ; and the refusal of the said executive to communicate the 184 THE aUDULES said lease, and other information on the subject, to this house. 13thly. The obstacles unjustly opposed by the exe- cutive, friendly to abuses and to ignorance, to the esta* blishment of colleges endowed by virtuous and disinte- rested men, for the purpose of meeting the growing desire of the people for the careful education of their children.* 14thly. The refusal of justice with regard to the accusations brought by this house, in the name of the people, against judges for flagrant acts of malversation, and for ignorance and violation of the law. 15thly. The refusals on the part of the governors, and more especially of the present governor-in-chief, to communicate to this House the information asked for by it from time to time, and which it had a right to obtain, on a great number of subjects connected with the public business of the province. 16thly. The refusal of his Majesty's Government to reimburse to the province the amount for which the late * To illustrate the malignant spirit inherent in the party there only needed this accusation. Mr. M'Gill, a respectable resident, on his demise some years ago, left ^10,000, wherewith to endow a college for the purpose of education, to be called after him. The heir-at-law and executor, one of the clique, refused to part with the funds, and disputed the will. After being worsted in the Colo- nial courts, it was carried by appeal to London, and ultimately the decision of the courts in Canada confirmed, by which the bequest, with intr icst, now amounting to more than j£21,0U0, is ordered to be applied according to the testator's will. We shall merely state that Viger prosecuted the suit— that Papineau advised the defence — and that Des Rivieres, the executor, since the cause has been decided against him, is bankrupt. The crime of the will we sup- pose, was, that it did not restrict the uses of the college to the French parly. — See Canada Question. ^kkMaiM. OF CANADA. 185 receiver-ger.eral was a defaulter, and its neglect to enforce the recourse which the province was entitled to against the property and person of the late receiver- general. 85. ResolveH, That the facts mentioned in the fore- going resolutions, demonstrate that the laws and con- stitutions of the province have not, at any period, been administered in a manner more contrary to the interests of his Majesty's government, and to the rights of the people of this province, than under the present admi- nistration, and render it necessary that his Excellency Matthew Lord Aylmer, of Balrath, the present gover- nor-in-chief of this province, be formally accusd by this House of having, while acting as governor, in con- tradiction to the wishes of the Imperial Parliament, and to the instructions he may have received, and against the honour and dignity of the Crown, and the rights and privileges of this House, and the people whom it repre- sents, so recomposed the Legislative Council as to aug- ment the dissensions which rend this colony ; of having seriously impeded the labours of this House, acting as the grand inquest of the country ; of having disposed of the public revenue of the province, against the consent of the representatives of the people, and in violation of the law and constitution ; of having maintained existing abuses, and created new ones ; of having refused to sign a writ for the election of a representative to fill a vacancy which had happened in this House, and to complete the number of representatives established by law for this province ; and that this House expects from the honour, patriotism, and justice of the reformed Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the Commons of the said Par- liament will bring impeachments, and will support such ^WB 186 TilE BUBBLES impeachments before the House cf Lords against the said Matthew Lord Aylmcr, for his illegal, unjust, and unconstitutional administration of the government of this province ; and against such of the wicked and perverse advisers who have misled him, as this House may here- after accuse, if there be no means of obtaining justice against them in the province, or at the hands of his Majesty's executive government in England. 86. Resolved, 'J'hat this House hopes and believes that the independent members of both houses of the Parlia- ment of the United Kingdom will be disposed, both from inclination and a sense of duty, to support the accusations brought by this House ; to watch over the preservation of its rights and privileges, which have been so frequently and violently attacked, more espe- cially by the present administration ; and so to act, that the people of this province may not be forced by oppres- sion to regret their dependance on the British empire, and to seek elsewhere a remedy for their affliction. 87. Resolved, That this house learned, with gratitude, that Daniel O'Connell, Esq. had given notice in the House of Commons in July last, that during the present session of the Imperial Parliament, he would call its attention to the necessity of reforming the legislative and executive councils in the two Canadas ; and that the interest thus shown for our own fate by him whom the gratitude and blessings uf his countryman have, with the applause of the whole civilized world, proclaimed great and liberator, and of whom our fellow-countrymen entertain corresponding sentiments, keeps alive in us the hope that, through the goodness of our cause and the services of such a friend, the British Parliament will not permit a minister, deceived by the interested represer- OF CANADA. 187 li \ » taiions of the provincial adniinistration and its creatures and tools, to exert (as there is reason from his despatches to apprehend that he may attempt to do) the highest degree of oppression in favour of a system which, in better times, he characterized as faulty, and against subjects of his Majesty who are apparently only known to him by the great patience with which they have waited in vain for promised reforms. 88. Resolved, That this house has the same confidence in Joseph Hume, Esq., and feels the same gratitude for the anxiety which he has repeatedly shown for the good government of these colonies, and the amelioration of their laws and constitutions, and calls upon the said Daniel O'Ccnnell and Joseph Hume, £sqrs., whose constant devotedness was, even under a Tory ministry, and before there form of Parliament, partially successful in the emancipation of Ireland, from the same bondage and the same political inferiority with which the com- munications received from the colonial secretary during the present session menace the people of Lower Canada, to use their efforts that the laws and constitution of this province may be amended in the manner demanded by the people thereof ; that the abuses and grievances of which the latter have to ccimplain may be fully and entirely redressed; and that the laws and constitution may be hereafter administered in a manner consonant with justice, with the honour of the Crown and of the people of England, and wiih the rights, liberties, and privileges of the people of this province, and of this House by which they are represented. 80. Resolved, That this House invites the mem> bers of the minority of the Legislative Council who par- take the opinions of the people, the present members 188 THK UU BULKS \4i ^ of the House of Assembly, until the next general election, and afterwards all the members then elected, and such other persons as they may associate with them, to form one committee or two committees of corres- pondence, to sit at Quebec and Montreal in the first instance, and afterwards at such place as they shall think proper; the said committees to communicate with each other and with the several local committees, which may be formed in different parts of the province, and to enter into correspondence with the Hon. Denis Benjamin Viger, the agent of this province in England, with the said Daniel O'Connell and Joseph Hume, Esqrs. and with such other members of the House of Lords or of the House of Commons, and such other persons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as they may deem expedient, for the purpose of supporting the claims of the people of this province and of this House ; of furnishing such information, documents, and opinions as they may think adapted to make known the state, wishes, and wants of the province : the said committees also to correspond with such persons as they shall think proper in the other British colonies, which arc all inte- rested, that the most populous of their sister colonies do not sink under the violent attempt to perpetuate the abuses and evils which result as well from the vices of its constitution as from the combined malversation of the administrative, legislative, i^nd judicial departments, out of which have sprung insult and oppression for the people, and, by a necessary consequence, hatred and contempt, on their part, for the provincial government. 90. Resolved, That the Honourable Denis Benjamin Viger be requested to remain at the seat of his Majesty's government, at least during the present session of the I ' i OT CANADA. 189 Imperial Parliament, to continue to watch over the interests of the province with the same zeal and the same (levotedness as heretofure, without suffering himself to be discouraged by mere formal objections on the part of those who are unwilling to listen to the complaints of the country. 91. Resolved, That the fair and reasonable expenses of the said two committees of correspondence, incurred by them in the performance of the duties entrusted to them by this House, are a debt which it contracts towards them ; and that the representatives of the people are bound in honour to use all constitutional means to reim- burse such expenses to the said committee, or to such person as may advance money to them for the purposes above-mentioned. 92. Resolved, Thai tht message from his excellency the governor-ir -chief, received on the 13th of January last, and relating to the writ of election for the county of Montreal, with the extract from a despatch which accompanied it, the message from the same, received the same day, and relating to the supply bill, and the mes- sage from the same, received on the 14th January last, with the extract from the despatch which accompanied it, be expunged from the journals of this House. These resolutions, and the memorial accom- panying them, were referred to a committee composed, like the last, chiefly of liberal mem- bers, and containing several persons whose opinions were well knovyn to be favourable to their cause The Canadian delegate, Mr. 190 THE irJimLRS ^L I1i<* Morin,* was heard at great length, and 1 must refer you to the testimony given by him as a proof how all the vague assertions contained in their petition and resolutions vanished, when they were subjected to a critical and close ex- amination. There are few instances on record in which a witness was so skilfully examined, or where a clever man, as he undoubtedly is, was brought to refute himself so completely as he has done. After a patient liearing of all lie could say, the committee reported (June 1834) as follows : — *' That the most earnest anxiety had existed, on the part of tlie home government, to carry into effect the suggestions of the committee of 1828; and that the endeavours of the govern- ment to that end had been unremitting, and guided by the desire, in all cases, to promote the interest of the colony ; and that in several important particulars their endeavours had been completely successful ; that in others, however, they had not been attended with that success which might have been anticipated, heats and animosities and differences having arisen ; that it appeared to the committee some mutual mis- * See the evidence taken before the committee, and published by order of Parliament. OF CANADA. 191 conception had prevailed ; and that they be- lieved they should best discharge their duty by withholding any further opinion on the points in dispute ; and were persuaded the practical measures for the future administration of Lower Canada might best be left to the mature con- sideration of the government responsible for their adoption and execution." ^w* 192 THE BUBBLES , Letter VIII. Shortly afterwards the whole of the pro- ceedings of government, since the year 1828 to the present period, were detailed in a very able and lucid statement of my Lord Aberdeen, in which he claims for himself and colleagues the credit of a full and faithful compliance with the recommendations of the Canada committee, as far as the powers of the executive permitted them to do so. I have, therefore, abstained from entering into the particulars myself, and prefer giving this narrative to compiling one of my own. It is not only infinitely better done than I could hope to do it, but it is desirable, in such cases, to draw one's information from the most authentic sources. I am neither the advocate nor the panegyrist of any of these administrations — what my opinion of their policy may be is of little consequence ; but even if it were much more favourable than it happens to be, I should refrain from expressing it, for I have yet to learn how a poor man can eulogise the character of those who are in power, and yet sustain the reputation of liis own V* V OF CANADA. 193 sincerity. With the wisdom of their measures I have nothing to do at present ; my object is to show there has been no oppression, and that, whatever imputation these proceedings deserve, they are at least exempted from that ofunkind- ness. I must therefore request a careful perusal of the following document : — " In the following pages Lord Aberdeen will attempt to show that there was sufficient reason to anticipate the entire conciliation of Lower Canada from the accomplishment of the resolutions of the Canada committee, and that, to the utmost of the power of the Crown, those resolutions were, in fact, carried into execu- tion. " The appointment of the Canada committee of 1828 was, on every account, an important proceeding. The redress of grievances bad been demanded, not by an isolated party, but by both of those great bodies which divide between them the wealth and political autho- rity of the province. With views essentially dissimilar, or rather hostile, they had concurred in an appeal to the metropolitan government. " By each body of petitioners were deputed agents authorized to interpret their wishes, and to enforce their claims. The committee itself f) m 194 THE BUBBLES ' I was certainly not composed of gentlemen unfavourable to the views of the great numerical majority of the House of Assembly. They pro- secuted the enquiry with great diligence any the committee, of granting land in large masses to individuals, has been entirely discontinued. It is more material to add, that this change in practice is the result of a series of regulations established, on Lord Ripon's advice, in Lower Canada, and indeed throughout all the other British colonies. Tlie system of gratuitous donations of land has been abandoned absolutely and universally ; and during the last three years all such pro- perty has been disposed of by public auction to the liighest bidder, at such a minimum price as to ensure the public at large against the waste of this resource by nominal or fictitious sales. This is not the occasion for vindicating the soundness of that jwlicy, which, however, if necessary, it would not be hard to vindicate. It is sufficient for the immediate purpose of this minute to have shown, that on this, as on other topics, the ministers of the Crown did not confine themselves to a servile adherence to the mere letter of the parliamentary recommen- dation, but embraced and gave the fullest effect to its genuine spirit. " Eighthly. The committee sought to relieve the province not only* from the evils of \ 'I f 21G THK HUHnLE» improvident rosorvfttioiiH and grantN of wild lands, bnt from thoHe incident to the tenures on whicli the cultivated districts are holden. The following passaj^es on this subject appear in their report : — * They do not ftlie committee is conveyed in the report in the following terms: ' Your committee also bej^ leave to call the particular attention of the government to the mode in which juries are composed in the Canadas, with a view to remedy any defects that may be found to exist in the present system.' " Here, again, tie government pressed upon the House of Aw ^y the importance of giving effect to the vit oi ihe committee ; and, in fact, a law has received the royal assent, having for its object he 'mpii'*' '^ent of the jury system — an object which nrji It e confidently asserted, tliat tlie j^eneral statement made at the commencement of this minute has been substantiated. To the utmost limit of their constitutional power and lejjitimate influence successive administrations have earnestly and successively laboured to carry the report of 1828 into complete effect in all its parts. It has already been shewn with how cordial an acquiescence that report was received by the House of Assembly, with what liberal eulogies the talent, the patriotism, the knowledge, and intimate acquaintance with Canadian affairs, of its authors, were com- mended ; how that document was hailed as the faithful interpretation of the wishes and wants of the Canadian people ; and how the British government were called upon by the House of Assembly to look to that report as their guide in remedying existing grievances, and obviating difficulties for the future. That this guide should have been studiously fol- lowed, that its suggestions should have been invariably construed and enforced, with no servile adherence to the letter, but in the most liberal acceptance of its prevailing spirit, and yet that such efforts sliould have been unavail- ing to [)roduce the expected conciliation, may Q 2 ■■■•■■i 228 THE UUBBLES well justify the deepest regret ami disappoint- iTient. (Signed) '* Aberdeen." The perusal of this triumphant document na- turally suggests two reflections ; first, that the faithful execution of the recommendations of the committee is much more entitled to our approbation than the recommendations them- selves ; and, secondly, that the Canadian As- sembly were not to be satisfied with any con- cession whatever, shoit of independence. i» OK CANADA. 229 Letter IX. As the memorials addressed to {»overiimcnt by the English and French parties were at variance in every material point, a commission of enquiry, of which the governor, Lord Gos- ford, was head, was sent out to Canada in 1835. Whether this connnission was necessary or not, is a matter with wiiich 1 have nothing to do ; 1 merely mention the fact as illustrative of the earnest desire that existed to compose these unfortunate difficulties, and to ascertain on the spot how much of concession could be made, consistently with retaining the sovereign- ty of the country. The commissioners were told " Your investigations will have for their common object the advancement of the wel- fare and prosperity of Lower Canada by all methods compatible with the integrity of the empire, and with the authority of the King as supreme in all parts of the British domi- nions. " You will ever bear in mind that you are sent on a mission of peace and conciliation. You will therefore proceed in a spirit not of distrust, but of confidence ; remembering that nmch of your success will depend, not only on r l! I; -i u 230 THE nUBBLES the zeal, ability, and fairnesH of yoiireiHiuirics, hut also on your perfect separation from all local and partydi«putes, and on the unquestion- able franknesH and impartiality of your general conduct. •* You will observe, that the legislature of Lower Canada must ultimately be the in- strument through which any benefits result- ing from your mission must, to a very great extent, be accomplished. His Majesty disclaims the intention of provoking any unnecessary par- liamentary interference in the internal affairs of the province. To mediate between adverse parties, with an entire respect for the constitu- tional rights common to them all, is the high office appropriate to his royal station, and tiiis function the King, aided by your enquiries and advice, is anxious on the present occasion to perform." The governor was told by Lord Glenelg, '* your lordship therefore proceeds to Canada to advocate no British interest, and to secure no selfish ends. To maintain the peace and integ- rity of the empire, and to mediate between con- tending parties, by whom those blessings have been endangered, is the high and honourable trust confided to you." Every thing that was tangible in the cele- OF CAN AIM, 231 I)i*ato(l ninety-two resolutions, was put into siiape, and separately conunented upon for iiis i^uidance. ,1 1. It is alleged, observes his Lordship, that the patronage of his Majesty's government in Lower Canada has been exerciseil in such a manner as to exclude the Canadians of French descent, not only from the larger number, but from all the more lucrative and honourableofthe |>id)lic employments in their native country.* * Had hia LordBliip thought proper to have entered into purti. culars, ho ini^rht have compiled the following tahle, to show how utterly fiilse this accusation was. He might also have stated that the appointments contained in this table were made under every possible disadvantage, in consequence of the avowed hostility of the French to the government and institutions of the English, and lUo from the extreme difficulty of finding persons among them jmpetcnt to discharge the duties assigned to them, and might have illustrated the last assertion by reference to the fact that out of two grand juries at this time at Montreal, only one person was found that could torite his name. Of the last seven hundred and thirty.eight appointments the proportion stood thus — Of French origin . 557 Of British and Foreign . 181 Of French origin appointed ;- To Legislative Council . To Executive Council To other offices of profit 738 18 5 29 [having held in all 35 offices. 52 persons. Of British or Foreign appointed : — To the Legislative Council 1 1 To the Executive . . 8 To other offices . . 18 [having held in all 22 offices. 37 persons. 232 THE 1JUTU5LIS The abuse of ptitrona^e is said to extond still further; some persons are represented as liaviiip; been preferred to offices, in performing- the duties of which they are nnable to commnni- cate, except through an interpreter, with the great body of those with whom their affairs are to be transacted. Other successful candidates for office are represented as persons who have made themselves justly offensive to the House of Assembly; while, on the other hand, employ- ments created at the instance of that house with a view to public improvements, have, it is alleged, been studiously denied to those whom the governor had reason to believe would be most acceptable to tlie Assembly. It would be scarcely possible to find any terms more emphatic than tliose employed by the Earl of Ripon, to enjoin the ntmost impar- tiality in the distribution of public offices in Lower Canada, without reference to national or political distinctions, or to any consideration, except that of superior capacity and fitness for the trust. I adopt my predecessor's instructions in their fullest extent ; I concur with iiim in thinking that personal merit and skill, or knowledge, (pialifying a candidate for the vacant trust, are the chief circumstances to 'V SI OF CANADA. 233 which the governor of the province must have regard ; and that in the distribution of offices, it is impossible to adhere with any minute ex- actness to the rule which the numerical propor- tion subsisting between the two races might afford. But your lordship will remember that between persons of equal or not very dissimilar pretensions, it may be lit that the. choice should be made in such a manner as in some degree to satisfy the claims which the French inhabitants may reasonably urge to be placed in the enjoy- ment of an equal share of the royal favour. There are occasions also on which the increas- ed satisfaction of the public at large with an appointment, might amply atone for some infe- riority in the qualifications of the persons selected. To take the most effectual security in his Majesty's power against the recurrence of any abuse in the exercise of this part of his delegated authority in Lower Canada, the King is pleased to command that, in anticipation of any vacancies which may occur in the higher offices in that province, and especially in all judicial offices, your lordship should from time to time transmit to the Secretary of State, for his Majesty's consideration, the names of any gentlemen resident in Lower Canada, whom 234 THE BUBBLES you may tliink best qualified to perform such trusts with advantage to the public. His Ma- jesty proposes to authorize the nomination, as opportunity may occur, of the persons so to be submitted for his choice, having regard to sucli representations as he may receive from your lordship, or from any other adequate authori- ties, respecting the competency of such persons to the public service. His Majesty is further pleased to direct that all offices in the gift of the King, of which the emolument shall amount toor exceed 200Z. per annur^i, shall be granted under the public seal of the province, in pursuance of warrants to be issued by his Majesty for that purpose ; and that, except when the successful candidate shall have been previously approved by his Majesty in the manner already men- tioned, he should be informed that his appoint- ment is strictly provisional, until his Majesty's pleasure could be known. The control which it is thus proposed to establish over the hitherto unlimited powers of the governor, is not de- signed and will not be used as a means of secur- ing to his Majesty's confidential advisers in this kingdom any beneficial patronage whatever. I have already expressed my entire approbation of the system hitherto observed, of considering OF CANADA. 235 public employments in Lower Canada as pro- perly appropriate to the inhabitants of the pro- vince. Without giving a pledge against any deviation from that rule in any solitary case (for such pledge might in the event prove embarrassing to all parties, and prejudicial to the welfare of the province), I can yet have no difficulty in acknowledging the rule as a general maxim from which no departure should be admitted, unless on grounds so peculiar as plainly to justify the exception. It has also been represented that in some cases the same individual is charged with numerous offices of which the duties are incompatible, either by creating a larger demand on the time of the officer than any one man is able to meet, or by placing him in situations of which the appropriate functions clash and interfere with each other. From the generality of the terms in which this complaint has been made, it has not been in my power to ascertain the extent or reality of this grievance ; but in whatever degree it may be found to exist, your lordship will understand that his Majesty expects that it should be completely remedied : that all per- sons occupying any such incompatible employ- ments should be called upon to renounce such 23G THE BUDULES as tlioy cannot efficiently execnte ; and that in future the general rule must be, that no person should be entrusted with any office of which lie cannot discharge the proper duties with due punctuality and method in his own person. 2. Complaint is made of an unjust partiality in favour of the use of the English language in all official acts. The foundation of this com- plaint appears to be, that thirteen years ago a bill for the union of the two Canadas was brought into Parliament by the then govern- ment, which, had it passed into a law, would have made English the single official language of both. I have no motive for defending a scheme whicli was rejected by the House of Commons. A case is also said to have occurred at the distance of about eleven years since, in which the judges refused to entertain an action, because some part of the proceedings had been written in the French language. This is ad- mitted to be an isolated case ; and it is acknow- ledged that neither in the courts of law nor in the legislature is any preference of one language over the other really shewn. I therefore do not find any grievance on this subject suscep- tible of a remedy ; nor is it in my power to strengthen the injunctions of Lord Ripon, on ' QF CANADA. 237 t in rson li he due ilitv e in oni- •o a was ern- Jiild lage g a e of red in ion, een ad- 10 w- in age do |ep- to on the impropriety of any such preference of the English over the French tongue. As, however, the complaint has been again urged by the House of Assembly, your lordship will take the earliest opportunity of assuring them, that his Majesty disapproves, and is desirous to discou- rage and prevent to the utmost of his power, the adoption of any practice which would deprive either class of his subjects of the use in their official acts of that tongue with which early habits and education may have rendered them most familiar. Your lordship will signify your willingness to assent to any law which may give, both to the French and the English inhabitants, the most ample security against any such prejudice. 3. Reference has been made to certain rules of court made by the judges, of which the ear- liest have been in force for thiHy-four yean, and the latest for nineteen ; and which are said to be illegal ; and even to amount to a violation of the faith of treaties, and of the pledges of the King and Parliament. It is admitted, that until the year 1834, those rules had been fol- lowed, without any complaint having been pre- ferred to his Majesty's government : I can, indeed, undertake to say, that until tlie fact mm. •mm wmm^mm 238 THE BUUBT.ES l; ' was stated in evidence before the Canada com- mittee of last year, the existence of such rules was altogether unknown in this country. Here, as on so many other topics, I am compelled to revert to the instructions of the Earl of Ripon, and to instruct your lordsliip to renew the proposal which he authorized Lord Aylmer to make to the provincial legislature, that a com- mission should be appointed to revise any rules of court made by the judges; and that on the report of such a commission, all such rules as are either contrary to law or inexpedient should be revoked. I am not less solicitous than my predecessor, that such an inquiry should be made to embrace all the practice and proceed- ings of the superior tribunals, with a view to rendering them more prompt and methodical, and less expensive. If the House of Assembly should think that these objects can be better effected by any other method than that of a commission of inquiry, you will concur with t^em in carrying it into effect. 4. It is said that exorbitant fees have been exacted in some public offices. I have met with no proof or illustration of this statement. You will, however, acquaint the House of Assembly that his Majesty will be happy to V OF CANADA. 239 concur with them in the revision of the fees of every office in the province without exception, and in the appointment, should they think it expedient, of a commission of inquiry for the purpose. His Majesty has no wish on the subject, but that the remuneration of all pub- lic officers, from the highest to the lowest, should be so regulated as to provide for the effi- cient discharge of the public service ; an object which cannot be secured without a fair remu- neration to the persons employed by the public. 5. A complaint is made of the practice of calling upon the judges for extra-judicial opi- nions on public questions. Here again I know not how to reduce the general statement to any specific form ; I can therefore advance no fur- ther than to lay down, for your lordship's guid- ance, the general rule, that you do not call upon the judges for their opinion on any ques- tion which, by the most remote possibility, may subsequently come before them for deci- sion. I should scarcely hesitate to interdict the practice of consulting them, altogether and without a solitary exception, if I did not re- member that there are public contingencies in which the King would, for the common good of his subjects, be bound to take counsel with 240 THE BUBBLES ■ hi his judges. Such cases, however, will be ex- ceedingly infrequent, and will arise only upon some of those great emergencies for which it is scarcely possible, or even desirable, that any definite provision should be made beforehand. To protect the independent exercise of the judicial office, not only against just censure, but even against the breath of suspicion, will be amongst your constant studies and most anxious endeavours. 6. Complaint is made of the interference of the government and the Legislative Council in the election of members of the Assembly. With this general charge, I can deal only in terms equally general. If any sucli practice prevailetl, of which however there is no proof before me, your lordship will avoid with the utmost care every approach to it. I acknowledge, with- out any reserve or limitation, the duty of the executive government of Lower Canada to abstain altogether from interference, direct or indirect, in the choice of the representatives of the people ; such an encroachment on the prin- ciples of the constitution would be unattended even with a plausible prospect of temporary advantage. I earnestly iiopc tliat the Assembly were misinformed as to the existence of aiiv OF CAXADA, 241 such practices ; for I am well convinced, that it is by very different methods that the legiti- mate authority and influence of the King's government in Canada is to be maintained. 7. 1 have read, not without deep concern, the language in w hich the House of Assembly have spoken, in their ninety-two resolutions, of the conduct of the troops during the elections at Montreal : it is described as a sanguinary exe- cution of the citizens by the soldiery. Anxious as I am to conciliate, by all just concessions, the favourable regard of the House, I am bound, by the strict obligations of justice to the Bri- tish army, to protest against the application of such language to any part of a body, not less distinguished by their humanity and discipline, than by their gallantry. The House had ap- pointed a committee to inquire into those pro- ceedings, and had not received the report of the committee when they proceeded to pronounce this censure on the conduct of his Majesty's troops. The officers had been indicted before a grand jury of the country, and the bills had been thrown out for want of evidence. In assuming to themselves the power to inquire, the Assembly exercised their legitimate privi- lege : in passing a sentence of condemnation u s ,1-i I its i ■ \ 242 TFiE nunoLRs p(>n(ljn,i>' tliat imjuiry, and in direct o|>positi(»n to the iindin«^ of the proper legal tribunal, thoy exceeded their proper authority, and acted in opposition to the parliamentary usages of this country. Nor can I receive such an unautho- rized expression of opinion with that deference which it is my duty and inclination to show for every judgment of the House, falling within tlie appropriate sphere of their deliberation. 8. The Assembly further complain that there is no method by which legal demands against the government can be enforced in the province. In the absence of any distinct proof or illustra- tion of the fact, I can only express his Majesty's desire tiiat eftectual means may be taken for remedying this alleged defect in the law. 9. Tin too frequent reservation of bills for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure, and tlie delay in communicating the King's decision upon them, is a grievance of which my inqui- ries lead me to believe the reality. Your lord- ship will understand that the power of reserving bills, granted by the Constitutional Act of 1 7.01, is an extreme right, to be employed not with- out much caution, nor except on some evident necessity. You will also have the goodness to remember tin? indispensable necessity of trans- OF CANADA. 243 mittins", with tlie least possil)Io and the Secretary of State cannot be considered as forming part of those documents of which tiie Assembly are entitled to demand, as a matter of course, the unreserved and universal inspec- tion or perusal. In the official intercourse between his Majesty and iiis Majesty's repre- sentative in the province, conducted as sucii intercouree necessarily is, through the interven- tion of the ministers of the Crown, much conli- dential communication must necessarily occur. Many questions require to be debated copiously, and in all the various lights in whicii they may present themselves to the governor or to the Secretary of State: and in such a correspondence it is necessary to anticipate emergencies which eventually do not occur, to reason upon hypo- thetical statements, and even to advert to tiie "onduct and qualifications for particular em- ployments of particular individuals. It would be 'lainly impossible to conduct any public 24G THE BUIWILKS iit «! i. affairs of this nature, except on surli terms of free and unrestrained intercourse. It is no less plainly impossible to give general publicity to such communications, without needless injury to the feelings of various persons, and constant impediment to the public service. A rule which should entitle a popular assembly to call for and make public all the despatciies passing between the King's government and his Ma- jesty's local representative, would so obstruct the administration of public attairs, as o pro- duce mischiefs far outweighing the utmost possible advantage of the practice. In the same manner, there will occasionally be communicatio.is, in their own nature con- fidential, between the governor and n'.^ny of his subordinate officers, whicli, should also be protected from general publicity. But though I think it right to make this general reservation against the unlimited pro- duction of all public documents, I am ready to acknowledge that the restriction itself may admit and even require many exceptions ; and that in the exercise of a careful discretion, the governor, as often as he shall judge it conducive to the general good of the [)rovince, may com- municate to either l)ranch of tlie legislature any OF CANADA. 247 |nii't of his odicial forrcspondciKU', sncli only oxc('pt«'ssIy jloolarod or niaiiifostly designed, by tlie Secretary of State, to ho confidential. But 1 am not aware of any otiier document connected witli the pid)lic aflairs of the pro- vin(M\ the conceahnont of which from tlie As- sembly would be really useful or justifiable : (>s|)ecially wliatever relates to the revenue and expenditure in all their branches, or to the statistics of the province, shouhl Im^ at once and cheerfully communicatr'd to them. For exam- ple .. will be desirable to make to the two Houses such a connuunicati(m of tlu; bbu) liooks, or annual statistical returns, wliich an; ("om- piied for the use of this department ; and your h>rdship will solicit the assistance of tiu; tw(» houses of the local legislature, in renaring themselves for a future state of political existence, which he trusted would be neither a monarchy nor an aristocmcy. He hoped Providence had not in view for his country a feature so dark as that it should be the means of planting royalty in America, near a country so grand as the United States. He hoped, for the future, America would give republics to Europe." As proofs are always preferable to as- sertions, and as this is too important a charge to rest on the authority of an anonymous writer, ■\t OK CAVA DA. 251) I hIiuU addiire a few more iiiNtanccs wlit'i'o (lie avowal is (liutinct and fineqiiivocal. In a Frencli journal devoted to the party, published in Montreal, we find the following senti- ments : " In examining with an attentive eye what is passing around us, it is easy to convince one- self tiiat our country is placed in very critical circumstances, and that a revolution will per- haps be necessary to place it in a more natural and less precarious situation. A constitution to remodel, a nationality to maintain — these are the objects which at present occupy all Canadians. " It may be seen, according to this, that there exist two parties, of opposite interests and manners — the Canadians and the English. These first-born Frenchmen have the iiabits and character of such. Tiiey have inherited from their fathers a hatred to the English ; who, in their turn, seeing in them the children of France, detect them. These two parties can never unite, and will not always remain tran- quil ; it is a bad amalgamation of interests, of manners, of language, and of religion, which sooner or later must produce a collision. It is sufficiently l)elieved that a revolution is pos- s2 ^«WI mmmmmm mm m 2G0 THE HUDDLES I. i' •'■:, i 1 1 . sible, but it is believed to be far off; as for me, I think it will not be delayed. Let them con- sider these words of a great writer, and they will no longer treat a revolution and a separa- tion from the mother country as a chimera — *The greati^st misfortune for man politically,' says he, ' is to obey a foreign power ; no humiliation, no torment of the heart, can compare to this. The subjected nation, at 1 oast if she be not pro- tected by some extracidiuary law, ought not to obey this sovereign. — We repeat it, an im- mediate separavion from England is the only means of preserving our nationality. Some time hence, when emigration shall have made our adversaries our equals in number, more daring, and less generous, they will depiive us of our liberties, or we shall have the same fate as our unliappy countrymen the Acadians. Believe me, this is the fate reserved for us, if we do not hasten to make ourselves indepen- dent ! " In a pamphlet written by Mr. Papineau, he says of the French : " It (the French party) has not, it ought not to entertain a shadow of hope that it will obtain any justice whatsoever from any of the autho- rities constituted as they are at present in this OF CANADA, 26 i country. If it would entertain the same opi- nion of the authorities in England that it enter- tains of the authorities in this country, these obstacles could easily be overcome." He then claims the colony as belonging solely to his party : '* In consequence of the facilities afforded by the administration for the settlement of Britons within OUR colony, they came in shoals to our shores to push their fortunes." ** They have established a system of paper- money, based solely upon their own credit, and which cur habitans have had the folly to receive as ready money, although it is not hard cash, current among all nations, but on the contrary, which is of no value, and, without the limits of the province, would not be received by any per- son." To obstruct the arrival of emigrants as much as possible, resort was had to one of those mea- sures so common in Canadian legislation, in which the object of the bill is at variance with its preamble. An Act was passed, f> Will. IV., c. 13, which, under the speciously humane pre- tence of creating a fund to defray tiic expence cf medical assistance to sick emigiaiits, dud of enabling indigent persons of that description to K A^. ir; I 262 THE IJUBULES proceed to the place of their destination, a capi- tation tax was imposed, which affected emigra- tion to Upper as well as Lower Canada ; and the operation of it was such, that even an in- habitant of the former province, returning to his hcne by the St. Lawrence, was liable to this odious impost. When every topic appeared to be exhausted, Mr. '^odier, a member of the Assembly, was so fortunate as to have discovered a new one, in tlie cholera, which he charged the English with having introduced among them. Absurd as this may seem to be, it was not without its effect, and the simple-minded credulous pea- santry were induced to believe it of a people of whom they had lately heard from their leaders nothing but expressions of hatred and abuse. "WhenI see," said he "my country in mourn- ing, and my native land presenting to my eye no- thingbut one vast cemetery, I ask, what has been the cause of all these disasters ? and the voices of thoui^ands of my fellow citizens respond from , tiieir tombs, — it is emigration. It is not enough to send amongst us avaricious egotists, without any other spirit of liberty than could be be- stowed by a simple education of the counter, to enrich thcmselvc.> ut the expense of the Cana- ; « i OF CANADA. 263 (lians, and then endeavour to enslave them— they must also rid themselves of their beggars, and cast them by thousands on our shores— they must send us miserable beings, wlio after having partaken of the bread of our children, will subject them to the horrors of hunger tad misery ; they must do still more — they must send us, in their train, pestilence and death. If I present to you so melancholy a picti ic of the condition of this country, I have to encourage the hope that we may yet preserve our nationuiity, and avoid those iiiiun; calamities, by opposing a barrier to this tOiVCiit of emigration. It is only in the House of Assembly* we can place oui hopes, and it is only in the choice the Canadians make in their elections, they can ensure the preservation of their rights and political liberties." Things were now rapidly drawing to a crisis. The legislature was assembled by the new governor, and addressed by him in a long and conciliatory speecii, inwiiich the evilsof internal dissensions were pointedly and feelingly alluded * In a work publislit-d in France, for circulation in Canada, a very intelligible hint is given on this subject. " As the House of Assembly votes rewards for the destruction of wolves, it is no less urgent to devise means to prevent immigration from being a oala niity for these colonies." 1 264 THE BUBBLES |M . M« to, and concessions sufficiently numerous made to have gratified the vanity and appeased the irritation of any other people than those to whom it was addressed. Among other things, they were informed, that intending to remedy the evils of persons holding a plurality of offices, he had begun with the highest, and discharged some of his executive councillors. This announcement was received in the same spirit as all others of a similar nature ; and his excellency having cancelled the commission of one gentleman, in consequence of his holding a legal appointment under the House, the As- sembly thought that so good an example could not be followed too speedily, and immediately dismissed him from the one he retained, because he was in the council. A supplicant for money must learn to subdue his feelings, and he who asks for bread must be prepared to encounter insolence as well as destitution ; a dignified demeanour is but too apt to render poverty ridiculous, and a wise man generally lays it aside, to be worn on tlie return of happier days. The local government was in great pecuniary distress ; they were humble suitors at the portals of the House, and showed their dis- cretion, in regarding as a mistake what was OF CANADA. 265 »g intended as an insult. Warrants were also tendered to each branch of the legislature for their contingent expenses ; as these charges contained, on the part of the House, the salary of Mr. Rqebuck and Mr. Viger, agents in Eng- land, not appointed conjointly with the council, but by simple resolutions of the House, such an appropriation without law had always been violently opposed, and the constitutionalists, fearing such a sacrifice of principle would be made, had, previously to the meeting of the legis- lature, made it the subject of much animadver- sion, and presented the governor with a resolu- tion, '* That the claim which has recently been insisted upon by the House of Assembly, and occasionally acted upon by the Legislative Council, to obtain, by separate addresses to the governor, advances of unappropriated money, under the plea of defraying contingent ex- penses, but in reality embracing the payment of salaries or allowances not legally established, and more particularly as regards the preten- sions of the Assembly for expenses not incurred or to be incurred for the business of the ses- sions of that House, is altogether unfounded in law, unsupported by parliamentary usage, and subversive of the rights and liberties of the British subject."" s '■' I, 266 THE BUBBLES 11 i i Independently of the constitutional objection to the application of the public funds to the pay- ment of persons whom the Legislative Council had not only not concurred in appointing, but to whose mission they had pointedly objected, they deeply deplored that so extraordinary a conc€ssion should be made as the payment of every demand of that body which obstinately persisted in refusing to make any vote for the support of the government. Peace, however, was deemed paramount to every other consi- deration, and that nothing might to be left undone to attain it, even this sacrifice was not considered too great. They were now called upon, in the usual manner, to provide for the support of the judges and the officers of government, the public chest containing at the time £130,000 sterling. The House had no sooner retired from hear- ing this address, than their speaker adopted his usual mode of inflaming his party by the most violent invectives against all the authori- ties both at home and in the coiony, charging the one with deceit and hypocrisy in their words, and the other with oppression and j)eculation in their deeds. In a short time he brought matters to that condition he had so long desired. OF CANADA. 267 Tlie House voted an address to his Majesty, in which they announced that they had postponed the consideration of the arrears, and determined to refuse any future provision for the wants of the local administration, in order the better to insist upon the changes which they required from the imperial authorities. Their utmost concession (and they desired it might not be taken for a precedent) was to offer a supply for six months, that time being allowed to his Majesty's government and the British Parlia- ment to decide on the fundamental alterations of the constitution and other important mea- sures included in the demands of the Assem- bly. In this bill of supply, which was for six months only, and merely passed for the pur- pose of throwing the odium of rejection on the other branch of the legislature, they excluded the salaries of the councillors, of their assistant clerk, one of the judges, some usual incidental charges of the civil secretary's office, besides other important salaries ; and, as they had hoped, it was not concurred in. This was the first time they had left the executive without the means of conducting the government, for the sole and avowed purpose of procuring changes 268 THE DUBBLES M' in the constitution. Of the confusion and dis- tress which this repeated refusal of the Assembly to co-operate with the other branches of the legislature produced in the province, it is diffi- cult to convey any adequate idea. The province was far advanced in the fourth year since there had been any appropriation of provincial funds to the use of government ; and although a sum, temporarily contributed from the British Treasury, had relieved the civil officers, so far as to give them one year's salary during that period, the third year was passing away, during which they had not had the smallest fraction of their earnings in the service of the public. The distress and embarrassment which this state of circumstances inflicted on the functionaries of the province, whose private resources are generally very limited, were as humiliating as they were unmerited. Many were living on money borrowed at an exor- bitant interest ; some could not but be reduced to the verge of ruin ; and to show that this suffering of individuals was not unattended with danger to the general welfare, it may be enough to remark, without painfully dwelling on private circumstances, that the judges of the country were amongst those who were left to \ OF CANADA. 269 provide for their subsistence as best they might, after three years' stoppage of their official incomes. This condition of affairs might naturally have been expected to terminate with the commence- ment of the present session. In the two pre- vious years the supplies had failed in the Assembly, either from differences with the governor for the time being, or from the refusal of funds for the payment of their contingent expenses ; but when the provincial parliament last met, these grounds of dissension were re- moved. You will not perceive (the commissioners observed) amongst the grounds assigned for pro- longing the financial difficulties, any complaint against the existing provincial administration, or the assertion of any demerit in the parties who continued to be deprived of their lawful remune- ration. No local cause of quarrel was alleged, of which the settlement might be indispensable before the public business could proceed ; on the contrary, it was stated openly and without disguise, that changes of a political nature were the end in view, and that until certain acts should be done, competent to no other autho- rity than the Imperial Parliament, and com- prising organic changes in the constitution, by 270 THE HUHHLKS II .'.r iS' virtue of which the Assembly itself existed, tiiat the House would never make another pecu- niary grant to the government. Thus the public servants, no parties to the contest, ware afflicted merely as instruments, through whose sufferings to extort concessions totally inde- pendent of their will to grant or to refuse, [t is scarcely necessary to remark, that the objects, for the enforcement of which even such means as tluse were thought expedient, had never been positively refused, but had only been referred to the commission of inquiry, in order that, before the executive branch of the govern- ment undertook to recommend changes of a very important and extensive nature, it might receive advice from persons entrusted with the confidence of his Majesty. This, however, did not prove enough. Apprehensions of delay from the commission, and doubts of the freedom with which it would act, were expressed in the address ; and the Assembly intimated, with frankness, that it would allow of no deli- beration ; that either its demands must be acceded to forthwith, or that it would employ its poweroverthe supplies, to render the govern- ment of the country impossible. The sufferings of these officers was a matter of undisguised satisfaction to the disaffected. \ ;:;i) OF CANADA. 271 the ver, of the ssed ed, eli- be ploy ern- wlio miulo them the subject of ranch facetious comment on every occasion. The commis- sioners very naturally observed on this pecu- culiarity : " If proof were wanting* that national distinc- tions do exercise an influence on the course of aflairs in this province, it might be supplied in the absence of all sympathy on the part of tlie House of Assembly in the existing distress of the public officers. Those officers of government are for the most part of English origin, which, we think, explains the treatment of the public functionaries by the members of Assembly. If both spoke the same language, used the same habits, and had those ordinary feelings of sym- pathy which must follow from any familiar in- tercourse in private life, we do not believe it possible that one of the two could find resolu- tion to plunge indiscriminately the whole of the other class into difficulties, not for any acts of their own, not even for any obnoxious senti- ments they might hold, but in order that, by their losses, a third party might be induced through compassion to surrender objects de- sired at its hands." Such, however, were the means through which they hoped to effect their object, which they now ajinounced as follows : IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 2.5 22 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ■• 6" ► V . That the Legislative Council should be elective. 2 That the executive council should be converted into a ministry, responsible to the Assembly. 3. That the Tenures' Act and Land Com- pany's Act should be repealed. 4. That the Crown revenues should be sur- rendered unconditionally. 5. That the management of the waste lands should be given up to them. And they further declared, that they would pay no arrears, or vote any civil list, until these demands should be complied with. Here the government also made its stand, and very properly said, We shall concede no further ; tuicse demands involve a surrender of the colony to one party within it, and we are not justified in granting them, consistently with the duty we owe to the Crown, to the public, or to the colonists of British origin. In order that you may understand the bear- ings of these demands, which are now the real points in dispute (all others having been dis- posed of), it will be necessary for me to consi- der them separately; but Bfi I have already shewn you that " nationality," " indepen- OF CANADA. 273 dence," and republicanism were their avowed ultimate objects, and also the quo animo in which they were demanded, you may naturally infer that they themselves considered them as materially contributing to that end, and essen- tial to prepare the country (as Mr. Papineau described it) for a future state of political ex- istence, wLich he trusted would be neither a monarchy nor an aristocracy. Indeed this has never been denied any where but in England, and here only by a party who are desirous of applying the same elective principle to the House of Lords, most probably with the view of producing a similar result. 1st. The first demand was that the Legisla- tive Council should be elective. ^ The Legislative Council is contemporaneous with the House of Assembly, owing its existence to the constitutional act of 1791, and was the first instance known in the colonies of such a body having a distinct existence, separate and apart from the executive council. It consisted at first of fourteen members, and, in October 1837, of forty, eighteen of whom were French Cana- dians; but ds there were several unable to attend from infirmities and old age. Lord Gos- ford reported that not more tlian thirty-one 274 THE BUBBLES f I could be assembled, thirteen English and eighteen French members, of whom three at most were persons holding office under govern- ment. This body has, as far as the dependant nature of a colony permits, analogous duties to perform to those of the House of Lords, and, when judiciously selectea, is essential to deli- berate and useful legislation, to stistain the prerogative, to uphold the connexion between the mother country and the colony, and to give security to the hundred and fifty thousand subjects of British origin in the province. This much was admitted even by the commissioners of inquiry, whose reluctant tribute appears not to have been given until ingenuity had sought in vain for a better substitute. " In the revision and correction of bills sent up to them by the Assembly, \ye have no doubt, however, that the council has often i-endered valuable services to the country, and has no less fulfilled one, perhaps, of its peculiar func- tions, by its rejection of measures which th^ constitution would not admit, thereby relieving the representative of the King from the duty of withholding the royal assent to them : such as bills in which the Assembly encroached upon the royal prerogative, tacked to their grants of money conditions deemed in England unpar- #• OF CANADA. 275 ipar- liamentary, or took it upon themselves to at- tempt the repeal of a British statute." It has been the unceasing aim of Mr. Papi- neau and his party to libel this body as a com- bined faction, actuated by interest alone to struggle for the support of a corrupt govern- ment, adverse to the rights and wishes of the people. One of the charges brought against it was that there were too many persons in it holding office, and that complaint was not with- out foundation. Indeed it was so apparent^ that, from 1829 to 1835, twenty-one new coun- cillors were appointed wholly independent of government. Another charge preferred against it was the rejection in ten years of 169 bills sent to them by the other house, as contained in the following tables : — ir)':i::^t YEAR. Rejected by the Council. Amended by Council. TOTAI. 1822 * « M 8 8 1823 _ - . 14 2 16 18S?4 . - - 12 5 17 1825 . 12 5 17 1826 ... 19 8 ^7 1827 • . - No Session. No Session. No Session. 1828) 1829) . 16 8 24 1830 . _ - 16 8 24 1831 . • - 11 3 14 1832 . 14 8 22 Total - 122 47 169 T 2 *•' 27G THE nUDHLES This charge has been reiterated in the other colonies, where the explanation never followed, and in some instances, from the circumstantial and formal manner in which it is made, has not lieen without its effect. It will be observed that they are charged with rejecting l(j.9 in- stead of 122 bills, .every exercise of the con- stitutional right of amendment being considered equivalent to rejection. Every successive year the bills which had been disagreed to were again transmitted to them, to swell by their re- jection the amount of their offences. Deducting the number produced by this multiplying pro- cess, the amount of bills rejected falls under forty, which is an average of less than four a year. In addition to this formidable list which had not been concurred in, another intermi- nable one was offered of those which had not been considered, the explanation of which I find in the words of the commissioners : — " Much obloquy has also, we must assert, been unjustly attempted to be thrown on the Council for the rejection of bills sent up to them late in the session, when there were no longer the means of forming a house in the Assembly to take into consideration any amendments that might be made on them." OF CANADA. 277 Instead of preferring complaints against this body for acts of omission, they might have been more successful had they rested satisfied with charging them with acts of commission ; for, although they can be justified for their rejection of pernicious bills, what sliall we say to their want of firmness in afterwards passing some of those i^ery bills, under the dictation of that Assembly that was arming itself with fresh charges from these instances of its weaivness ? But the time had now arrived when it was alike independent of the Crown and the people, and could neither be influenced by the timid fears of the executive, nor the violence and invective of the Assembly. So long as a majo- rity of office-holders and people connected with government had seats at the council board, the factious majority of the House could exer- cise a control over the Council, through the state of dependence and subjugation in which they kept the executive. Every governor had lately shewn a desire to win the honour of paci- fying Canada, — had receded and conceded, offered conciliation and endured affronts, borne and foreborne, in a manner that it is quite hu- miliating to contemplate, — and had utidd his influence in the Legislative Council to aid in the 278 TIIK llUHbLES execution of instructions which, althougli they are j ustly entitled to the merit of Icind intentions, have not so much claim upon our admiration on the score of, their merit or their dignity Wefind, indeed, the aid of the Secretary for the Colonies called in, and Mr. Stanley reproving them for even insinuating a doubt of the loyalty of these omnipotent men, and regretting tliat any word had been introduced which should have the ap- pearance of ascribing to a class of his Majesty's subjects of one origin views at variance with the allegiance which they owe to his Majesty. The House had, however, by their incessant com- plaints, purified theboardof every person upon whom this influence could be exerted. This independence of executive influence is thus alluded to by Lord Aylmer: — " It would be difficult, perhaps, to find in any British colony a legislative body more independent of the Crown than the Legislative Council of Lower Canada; and so far am I from possessing, as th , King's representative, any influence there, that I ivill not conceal that I have, on more than one occasion, regretted the course adopted by the Council. But whilst I make this confes- sion, 1 will not deny but I have, on the con- trary, much satisfaction in avowing that I OF CANADA. 279 repose great confidence in that brancii of the colonial legislature. It is a confidence derived from my knowledge of the upright, indepen- dent, and honourable character of the gieat majority of those who compose it, and of their firm and unalterable attachment to his Ma- jesty's person and government, and to the constitution of the colonies as by law esta- blished." The Council had actually become, what it ought to be, the representative of the independent people of the country— 'jf tiie wealth, intelligence, and virtue of the colony. The Assembly, therefore, voted that it was more mischievous than ever, and resolved that it should be elective. It is but due to them here to say that this idea is not thought to have originated in Canada, but to have been communicated to them, with other equally judicious advice, from England. It is certain that it has been advocated here, if not strongly, at least warmly, and was sup- ported in the House of Lords by Lord Brougham. From a careful perusal of what his lordshij) said upon the occasion, which was declamatory, and not argumentative, 1 am inclined to believe it received his support, not so much because he thought so, as because the ministry did not 280 THE HUDDLES think so, as the whole speech appears to be the effect of strongly excited feelings. • Any organic change in the Legislative Coi ncil must be well considered, before it is granted, in two distinct and separate bearings, first, as it affects the connexion with this country, and, secondly, as it affects the interests of the colon- ists themselves. The avowed object of the As- sembly in advocating this change, is to procure an identity of views in the two branches, which would be effected by their being elected by the same persons, or what is the same thing, by the same influences. Were this to take place, it would be a duplicate of the House, registering- its acts, but exercising no beneficial leg.sla- tion upon them. A difference of opinion then, whenever it occurred, would not be between the two houses, but between them and the governor, and it is easy to conceive how un- tenable his position would soon become. At present, although possessing a veto, and form- ing a constituent, he can hardly be said to be a deliberative branch of the legislature, but by this change either such duties must necessarily devolve upon him, and occasion the exercise of incompatible powers, or in every instance where he differed in opinion, he would be OF CANADA. 281 compelled to resort to a rejection of the mea- sure. The commissioners, whose reasoning on the subject is not very intelligible, have been more fortunate in the expression of their im- partiality, having recorded at the same time their approbation of the principle, and their conviction of the danger of its application. The object of the French party, it is said, is to as- similate their institutions to those of the United States ; but the situation of the country is so different from that of any state in the union, that there is no analogy whatever. Instead of two co-existent but independent chambers, it would in fact be only one body occupying two halls. In Canada there is unfortunately wanting among the French population, the salutary control of public opinion. The population is wholly unfit for the exercise of the important duties of self-government. Scattered over a large surface, ignorant of constitutional prin- ciples, and inattentive to public affairs, they implicitly follow a few leaders, who have the choice and tiie management of their represen- tatives in their own hands, and who, if this change were conceded, would place in botli houses such persons as would follow their in- structions. It were needless to ask in sucli a ^OVi I ■ i ! ' . H ,■)•■: 282 TMK UUniiLKS cuHC what wcKild become of the BritiMli |iopu- lation ? Tlint Mr. Papineaii knovvH hut lillU* of tliG constitution of tlie United States wliieli he aflbcts to admire, and clainiH to imitate, will best appear from the following cxtractn from American constitutional writerH : ■ . *• All the powers of j;overnment," says Mr. Jefferson, •♦ legislative, executive, and judi- ciary, result to the legislative body. The concentration of thesq in the same hands is precisely tiie definition of a despotic govern- ment. It will be no alleviation, that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy-tliree despots would surely be iw oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn fheir eyes on the republic of Venice. An elective despotism is not the government we fought for ; but one whicii should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of go- vernment should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being eflectually checked and restrained by the others." Auotiier author says, *' Another and most important ulvantage arising from this ingredient is, the great diffe- OF CANADA. 2B3 !• • nmv.ii which it croatcH in the cloiiuHitN of the two hruiichoN of the lejijlMhitiire ; whicli cotiHti- tiites u grout deHideiatiirn in every fn-actical (liviNion of legislative power. In fact, this divi- Hion (an han been already intimated) w of little or no intrinsic valne, unlcHS it iH so orgnnized, that each can operate an a real check upon un- nal influence, and ])arty intrigue, and which have been found by sad experience, to exercise a potent and dangerous sway in single assemblies. A hasty decision is not so likely to arrive to the solemnities of a law when it is to be arrested in its course and made OF CANADA. 285 The to nn(l(M'j2;o tlic (lolil)oration, and prolahly the jealous smd critical revision, of another and a rival body of men, sittinj^ in a different place, and nnder better advantages, lo avoid the pre- possessions and correct the errors of the other branch. The legislature of Pennsylvania and (teorgia consisted originally of a single house. "^Phe instability and passion which marked their proceedings were very visible at the time, and the subject of much pui)lic animadversion : and in the subsequent reform of their constitutions, the people were so sensible of this defect, and of the inconvenience they had suffered from it, that in both states a senate was introduced. No portion of the political history of mankind is more full of instructive lessons on this subject, or contains more striking proofs of the faction, instability, and misery of states under the do- minion of a single, unchecked assembly, than those of the Italian republics of the middle ages, and which in great numbers, and with f.. ■w»rr'""Mi''»'^P''» II ■ * i 298 THE BUBULES any such laws or statutes as may be necessary for the better adapting the before-mentioned rules of the laws of England, or any of them, to the local circumstances and condition of the said province of Lower Canada, and the inha- bitants thereof. Such are the provisions of the act, the repeal of which is so imperiously demanded. Unreasona- ble, however, as the request was, thus to make a disgraceful retrogade movement to barbarous usages, it was met in the only way it could be : the act 1 W. IV., c. 20 was passed, leaving the whole subject to be de ^* with by the provincial legislature as it should think fit. The repeal of the Canada Land Companies' Act is next insisted upon. On this subject, it will be quite sufficient to state their demand, to which no honest man could give any other answer than it has already received — an un- qualified refusal. They require that an Act of Parliament, incorporating this company, and conferring upon them certain privileges, and a title to lands, upon which they have expended large sums of money, should be repealed, and the property confiscated. The only charitable way of viewing this demand, is to consider it not so much an evidence of moral tuipitude, as a I .' •;jfc.. OF CANADA. 209 nay be necessary )efore-men tioned or any of them, condition of the a, and the inha- act, the repeal of ied. Unreasona- s, thus to make a nt to barbarous way it could be : passed, leaving ^* with by the lould think fit. ind Companies' I this subject, it B their demand, I give any other eceived — an un- e that an Act of company, and •rivileges, and a have expended )e repealed, and only charitable D consider it not tuipitude, as a manifestation of contempt and insolence to- wards the party to whom it was addressed.* Fourthly. — Then followed a demand for the unconditional surrender of the crown reve- nues. You will recollect that the Canada com- mittee of Parliament, as it was called, reported, that although the duties, before alluded to, were vested in the Crown, they were prepared to say the real interests of the colony would be best promoted by placing them under the control of the House of Assembly. Being prepared to say a thing, and being prepared to show or prove a thing, happen, unfortu- nately, to be widely different ; and, as the committee contented themselves with the former, we are not in possession of the grounds upon which they felt prepared to say so. They were doubtless quite sufficient at the time, although they, unfortunately, did not continue • But although they considered every institution and usage of their own so sacred as to admit of no change, they viewed those of the English in a very diflferent light. The conceding and res- pectful conduct of Government formed an amusing contrast with their audacious insolence. To mark their contempt for regal rights, they passed an Act to make notice of action served on the attorney-genc-al, for damages against the Crown, legal and bind- ing. If the suit went against the Crown, it was provided, that execution might issue against the governor, and his furniture, or the guns of the fortress. i 300 THE BUBBLES li 'ii to be so long enough for tlie act (1st and 2d Will. IV.) to reach Canada. For the real inte- rests of the colony, it is very evident, have not been best promoted thereby. It would appear also that that great and single minded man, the Duke of Wellington, (who probably knew quite as much of the French as the committee did), was not prepared to say so, but, on the contrary, he entered his protest against the measure : " These persons," said he, (meaning the judges), " will thus become dependent upon the continued favour of the Legislative Assembly, for the reward of their labours and services; the administration, within the province of Lower Canada, can no longer be deemed independent ; and his Majesty's subjects will have justice administered to them by judges, and will be governed by officers situated as above described." The event ha>j justified his grace's expectations, and disappointed those of the committee. This unconditional surren- der was made on the full understanding tl^at a civil list would be granted, and the adminis- tration of justice permanently provided for : — the former they refused. They had now got the officers of government at their mercy, and were determined to keep them so ; and the OF CANADA. 301 judges they made independent of the Crown, hut dependent upon them for their annual allowance, deprivinjj^ the government of the power of removing them, except upon impeach- ment, and reserving the right themselves to remove them at pleasure, by withdrawing their salaries. Having succeeded in this, they now demanded the rents of the real estate, belonging to the King in Canada, and this too they are promised, when they shall vote the civil list, — one of the resolutions introduced by Lord John Russell, being, *' That it is expedient to place at the disposal of the legislature the net proceeds of the hereditary, territorial, and casual revenues of the Crown, arising within the pro- vince, in case the said legislature shall see fit to grant a civil list, for defraying the necessary charges of the administration of justice, and for the maintenance and unavoidable expense of certain of the principal officers of the civil government of the province." Tho great error that has been committed in these unconditional surrenders of the revenue of the Crown, is in attempting to keep up an analogy, that does not exist, to the practice in England. The committee lost sight of the important distinc- tion that Canada is a colony, and that what i 302 THE BUBBLES i.! :i ! \» migiit be very rij^lit and proper here, wonM be neither right nor expedient there. The officers of government are not merely the offi- cers of Canada, but the officers of Great Britain, and, by giving the legislature a control over them, they surrender the imperial power over the province. They should be removeable, not when the legislature, like the committee of Parliament, is " prepared to say" so, but when it is "prepared to prove" that they ought to be; but their salaries should be beyond the con- trol of the local assembly. This position is too obvious, and haj received too much painful corroboration, in recent events, to require any further comment. Lastly. — They required the 'management of the waste lands to be given up to them. The object of this extraordinary claim, now for the first time put forward in the history of coloni- zation, was for the avowed purpose of control- ing emigration from Great Britain, which they, had already impeded by a capitation tax, by re- fusing to establish an efficient quarantine, or to give aid to the improvement of the harbour of Montreal; by endeavouring to alarm settlers on the score of insecurity of title, and in an attempt lo ruin the banks. OF CANADA. 303 In Mr. Papineau's celebrateil p;imphlet, to which I have previously alluded, he says, " the protection, or, to speak more plainly, English sovereignty over Canada, brought other evils in its train. A swarm of Britons hastened to the shores of the new colony, to avail themselves of its advantages to improve their own condition." History affords so many proofs of the license used by a people when flushed with victory, that this gentleman's surprise at the English taking the liberty of settling on the waste lands of a colony, which they h'ad so gallantly conquered, affords a pleasing proof that the natural simplicity of the Canadian character was not yet wholly destroy- ed by the study of politics. " That, however," he continued, " was not sufficient for their cu- pidity; they established themselves in owr cities, and made themselves masters of all the trade, as wellforeignas domestic." " For many years they took but a small share in our political affairs. The elections remained free from their intrigues, because they could have had no chance of practising any amongst a population nine times more numerous than themselves. But within these five or six years they go about boldly." To prevent this evil, which was growing in magnitude II 304 THE BUBBLES 5^ IL! .!■ i; every year, "of their interesting themselves in the political affairs of the province," in pro- portion to their numbers, they demanded the control of the wild lands, and, reverting to abstract principles, started this new doctrine: " That in any new discovered or newly occu- pied country the land belongs to the govern- ment of the nation taking possession of it, and that settlers in it, so long as they retain the character onlv of emi»rants from the mother country, can claim no more than what has been granted to them as individuals ; but that when a distinct boundary has been assigned to them, and they come to be incor- porated into a body politic, with a power of legislation for their internal affairs, the territory within their boundary becomes, as a matter of right, the property of the body politic, or of the inhabitants, and is to be disposed of according to rules framed by their local legislature, and no longer by that of the parent state." On this point the commissioners reported as follows : — " This propo sition rests, as we understand it, entirely upon abstract grounds, and we believe that we are authorized in saying that it never iias been entertained by Great Britain or any OF CANADA. 305 other colonizing power. That the ungranted lands in any colony remain the property of the Crown has, on the contrary, we believe, been the universally i*eceived doctrine in Great Britain, and although the constitutional act does not expressly assert a right of which its framers probably never contemplated a doubt, the lands of the province are mentioned in the 36th clause as being thereafter to be granted by his Majesty and his successors. While, therefore, we are quite ready to admit, that in the disposal of the ungranted lands the interests of the first settlers ought never to be lost sight of, and also that the wishes of the local legis- lature should be consulted, provided they are made known to his Majesty in a constitutional manner, we cannot recognize in any way the abstract principle set up for it in opposition, not merely to the general laws and analogies of the British empire, but to the clear meaning of the Act by which alone the body preferring the claim has its existence. It must, we ap- prehend, be the main object in every scheme of colonization, that the parent state should have the right to establish her own people on such terms as she may think fit in the country colonized ; and at present perhaps her North '& llli 306 THE BUBBLES American colonies are more valuable to Eng- land as receptacles for her surplus population than in any other way. We cannot, therefore, believe that England will consent to a doctrine that will go to place at the discretion of any local legislature the tv^/ms on which emigrants from her shores are to be received into her colonies." ' n . Here, however, the government again shewed its anxiety to gratify their wishes as far as it was possible ; and in their undeviating spirit of conciliation, although they could not grant tiie whole demand, endeavoured to meet it halt way, by replying that they had no objection to the legislature prescribing the rules of manage- ment for the Crown lands, but tiieir application must be confined to the executive. Such are the demands which were then made, and are still put forward by the leaders of the Canadian party ; demands, which it is evident amount to a claim by one part of her Majesty's subjects, to an independent control of the colony. OF CANADA. 307 . 'ii>4 1 • • Li?,TTER XI. !•/ ^ I ■\ > As the Assembly had separated with a decla- ration that they would never vote a civil list, until all their requests were granted, it was necessary for Parliament to interfere, and Lord John Russell proposed and carried cer- tain resolutions, of which the substance is as follows: ' ■ " Istly. That in the existing state of Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to make the Legis- lative Council elective, but that it is expedient to adopt measures for securing to that branch of the legislature a greater degree of public confidence. " 2dly. That while it is expedfent to im- prove the composition of the Executive Council, it is unadvisable to subject it to the responsi- bility demanded by the House of Assembly. " 3dly. That the legal title of the British American Land Company to the land they hold under their charter, and an act of the Imperial Parliament, ought to be maintained inviolatt\ x2 308 THE HUBULES i i m :\i i\ " 4thly. That as soon as tho lej;islatiiro shall make provisions by law for disciiar^ing huuls from feudal dues and services, and for reniovinji; any o tit to grant a civil list for defraying tin; ncM-essary charges of the administration of jnsti(H\ and fof the maintenance and nnavoidahle expenses of certain of the principal oHic<;rs of the civil government of the province; and, lastly, " That it is exi)edient that the h^gislatures of Ijower and Upper Canada respectively, be anthori/ed to make provision for tiie joint regu- lation and adjustment of questions respecting tlieir trade and commerce, and of other (jues- tions wherein they have a common interest." Whether the spirit of concession had not been heretofore carried too far, and whether the pub- lic affairs of Canada ought to have been suffered (even for the amiable and praiseworthy object of endeavouring, if possible, to satisfy the domi- nant party in the house), ever to have arrived at this crisis, are questions upon which 1 have no desire, on this occasion, to enter, being foreign to my object, which is to show you that the French-Canadians have no claim to sym- pathy " as our oppressed and enslaved bre- thren." But that these resolutions were indis- pensable, that they were not resortetl to till 310 THK lUJIlULRft liliiii ■ Hi. i r ■ i i llit'y were lU'crssnry, and that l*arliamcnt was jtistificHi in this ejcorcise of its supreme authority, of unprejudiced und ri<;iit-thinking man can doubt. A colony is n dependent province, anv(!r ohjccl to, v\fn< tlieru would Ih; no (ippcul but to tlio Hwoni whenever H dcsi^^nin^; deinaj^ogne hIk uld nnforluniitcly obtain a majority of olmtruetivi. nicniberH in the ANHcnibly ; but these reNolntions were Haid tobt; a violation of tlie penH not to have been raised by peoph> of Frtdieh origin, and that therefore as far as they are eon(rerne(l, tiu^ir money has not been ap[)ro- priated without their consent. Tlu; m I % 334 THE uunnLF.s The advocate of the ballot-box and extended suffrage is not the man to govern a colony. While you have been speculating upon the theory, we have been watching the' experiment. When the lower orders talk of these things, we know what they mean ; their language is intel- ligible, and their object not to be mistaken ; but when a nobleman advocates democratic institutions, we give him full credit for the benevolence of his intentions, but we doubt the sanity of his mind. Keep such men at home, where there is so much of rank, intelli- gence, andiwealth to counterbalance them. Here they serve to amuse and gratify agitators, and make useful chairmen of popular assemblies, by preserving a propriety of conduct and a decency of language, where violence and outrage might otherwise prevail. But send them not among us, where their rank dazzles, their patronage allures, and their principles seduce the ignorant and unwary. If we trespass upon your rights of sovereignty, repress us ; but while you main- tain your own privileges, respect the inviola- bility of ours. When we ask in the Lower Provinces for a federative union, it will be time enough to discuss its propriety; but in the mean time spare us the infliction of what to us •mfm^mfmf^ \ • i OP CANADA. 335 is so incomprehensible and so repugnant — a radical dictator and a democratic despot. I have already far exceeded the limits to which I designed to confine myself, and must, there- fore, draw to a close. 1 have now shown you, that after the conquest of Canada, that country was governed by English laws ; that the royal proclamation invited British subjects to remove there ; and promised them the protection and enjoyment of those laws ; and that in violation of that promise, in order to conciliate theFrench, their legal code was substituted for our own : that an injudicious division of the province was made, whereby the French were separated from the great body of English subjects, in consequence of which Canada became a Gallic and not a British colony. That they have been kept a distinctive people by those means, and by permitting the language of the country and the recording language of their parliament to be French ; that they have always had an over- whelming majority of members of their own origin in the legislature, who have been distin- guished by an anti-commercial and anti-British feeling; that this feeling has been gradually growing with the growth of the country, until they were in a coi?dition to dictate terms to go- u 336 THE BUBJiLES vernment; thattliis feeling was manifestod by the manner in which they have constantly resisted lo cal assessments, and made commerce to bear every provincial expenditure, — in the way they neutralized the electoral privileges of th evoters of British origin, — in the continuance of the oppressive tenure of the feudal law, — in taxing emigrants from the mother country, and them only, — in their attempts to wrest the crown land from government, — in their attack on the Land Company, and the introduction of set- tlers by them, — in their opposition to a system of registry, — in their mode of temporary legis- lation, — in their refusal to vote supplies, and in the whole tenour of their debates and votes. I have shown you that the policy of every government, whether Tory or Whig, has been conciliatory (a fatal policy, 1 admit, and one that naturally admits and invites demands), and that every reasonable change required (with many very unreasonable ones) has been con- ceded to them ; that they are a people exempt from taxes, in possession of their own laws, language, and religion, and of every blessing civil, political, and religious ; in short, that Canada is the most favoured colony of Great Britain, and that the demands they now make are inconsistent with colonial dependence. a 1 OF CANADA. 337 ThiH statement I offer in refutation of my Lord Durham's assertion of misgovernment, used in its invidious sense, or as explained at the meeting at Carlton Hill, that they are " our oppressed g,nd enslaved brethren :" and in proof of my own position that the evils nov«r existing are the natural consequences of the Quebec and constitutional acts, and not the result of tyranny and oppression. The review which I have just concluded, indicates the remedy too plainly to render it at all necessary for me to offer a pre- scription. If, however, you can entertain any doubt upon the subject, you will at least be satisfied that the cure is not to be effected by concession. Of this all men, I think, must now be convinced. Since the termination of the late abortive attempt at colonial government^ one of my Lord Durham's official coadjutors has publicly proclaimed that all his precon- ceived opinions on the subject of Canada were erroneous. This was a work of supererogation. He might have spared himself the trouble of the announcement, and the pain of a recanta- tion. All those who condescended to in- quire into the nature of his views were already convinced of his error. His lordship aLso has informed the good people of Devonport that he \i i'l 338 THE UU BBLES IK has made important discoveries on the other side of the >vater. Had his mission been merely designed for his own instruction, the public, while they admitted the necessity that existed for it, would have applauded his zgal in such a useful and necessary pursuit ; but as it was undertaken at no inconsiderable expense to the nation, they have reason to regret that this re- markable illumination was deferred until the jnoment of his return. What the extent of these recent revelations may be, we are not informed, but we may be permitted to hope that he has learned this important truth, that he who undertakes the benevolent office of calming the excited passions of others, should first learn to govern his own. That there are serious difficulties in the way of the pacification of Canada there can be no doubt, but greater difficulties have been overcome by Van Am- burgh, who exhibits every night, for the edifica- tion of government and the amusement of Cockneys, animals, whose natures are more fe- rocious, and antipathies more powerful than those of the English and French, living in the same cage in the utmost harmony ; and what is still more important, enjoying the most un- restrained freedom of action within their a.s- OF CANADA. 330 ,vt man eater, Every erests nduin,