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If we except the Parishes of L' Acadie and St. Luc, the inhabitants of 'St. Johns have distinct interests, separate and different from those of the other localities at present forming with them the County of Chambly. To become convinced of the truth of this assertion, it is only necessary to glance at the Map of the Country, fn order to perceive that in effecft the very situation of the localities entirely separates St. Johns from the Parishes of Chambly, Longueuil, Boucherville and St. Bruno, wiiicb form the remainder of the County together with the two Parishes excepted as above mentioned. Between the four Parishes just mentioned and those of St. Johns, L' Acadie and St. Luc, there is a sort of rising land which entirely divides the agricultural interests. The waters of the St. Lawrence naturally attract these parishe* ; and it is on this side that all four seek an outlet for their pro- duce : Montreal receives them, anr! the inhabitants of these Parishes in going there on matters of every description, continually cross and meet each other, and transact business together while the inhabitants of St. Johns as well as those of L' Acadie and St. Luc, though belonging to the same County, remain perfect strangers to them , and are continually brought into contact among themselves ; and it is at the Town of St. Johns, situate on the other declivity of the rising land already mentioned, and j. . waters which con- nect with Lake Champlain, that they meet every day to transact with each other, matters and business of every description, and especially to discuss and understand each other in relation to their agricultural interests. Li a word, St. Johns is the point at which they meet and come into contact with each other daily. St. Johns, then, really suffers from its union with the Parishes of Chambly, Longueuil, Boucherville and St. Bruno, as a County, and yet the amoimt of the popu- .,■1 latipn of these four Parishes united, (and they are always interested in being united,) is such, that as often and as long as they please, they will be enabled to prevent St. Johns as well as L'Acadie and St. Luc, from deriving any benefit from their electoral franchise, by controling at their will the choice of a Representative of the County, who must naturally become their devoted servant, inasmuch as be will be elected by them. But notwithstanding all this, we may be allowed to say, that we should be really sorry that any one should apply the foregoing observations to L. liacoste, Esquire, the present Member for the County of Ghambly, who is the elect of St. Johns as well as of the remainder of the County, and whose conduct at this junc- ture will prove that he has always been, as he still is, worthy of our confidence and our votes. But however honorable the conduct of our present Representative may be, this affords us no guarantee for the future, and in no wise alters our position as regards the remainder of the County. We liave sliewn that this position renders us perfectly ^olated as regtwrds our interests and intercourse, from the greater part of the County, thus establishing that this portion is unfavon\bIe to us at the same time that it leaves it, as it were, impossible for the Members for the County of Chambly efficiently to represent the interests of all the localities composing it ; for, if he obtains for his Covin ty, as at present constituted, any favor from the Government^ with the greatest possible good-will, he will never be able 80 to manage that the whole of the County will enjoy or be considered to enjoy the benefit which might result from that favor. But if the position of St. Johns was already unfavorable, when it could rely, when necessary, upon the support of L*Acadie and St. Luc, the interests of which are in a manner identified with those of St. John's, as shewn by the Petitions which these two Parishes are about addressing: (if they have not already done so,) to the Legislature ; how S much worse would it not be if the plan for making a new division of the country into Counties were adopted and passed into a law ? For, according to that plan, the Parish of L' Acadie would cease to belong to the County of Cham- bly, and form part of the proposed County of Laprairie, so that the comparatively small Parish of St. Luc would alone remain to support St. Johns in the Electoral contest, which would evidently be equivalent to absolutely depriv- ing both of the Electoral Franchise. The inhabitants of St. Johns have long since felt this immense disadvantage, and would have submitted their com- plaints to the Legislature on this subject ; but no favorable opportunity offered for doing so. Now that it is intended to establish for the Country a new distribution of Counties, which to all appearance will subsist for a very long time, we have thought that it is now time for us to raise our voice in order to claim our just share of Electoral influence, and to secure to ourselves the means of being enabled, at least from time to time, to enjoy the privilege of being repre- sented in Parliament by a man of our choice, one suited to our taste and whose interests are our own. Andto obtain this result, wc earnestly pray that the Town and Paiish of St. Johns be detached from the County of Chamhhj and entirely cease to form part thereof And inasmuch as, notwithstanding the importance we may, with reason, attribute to our locality , we are not sufficiently presumptuous to hope that the Legis- lature will consent to give us a special Representative for the Town of St. Johns, yet we ask, at least, to be united into a County with those parts of the Country contiguoua to and surrounding us, and the interests of which daily mingle and become identified with ours. And, those parts of the Country with which we desire . to be united in order to form a new Comity under the name of the County of St. Johns, with St. Johns for its Seat, are the Parishes of PAcadie, St. Valentin, St. Cyp-ien, St. Jacques^ and St. Luc, adding thereto the Parish and the oihole of the Seigniory of Lacolle, ;a, ■. «*k>»^^, \ \ n /' '■l\ a I 1; ii i ? t )-■ We acknowledge that the County thus formed would per- haps be a little too populous, which cannot be considered M a very serious inconvenience, as there only would be the Seigniory of Lacolle which would be at any considerable distance from the Seat of the County ; but this distance becomes as it were nothing, considering the great facility of communication established by the Champlain and St. Law- rence Railroad, between St. Johns and Lacolle, which, by this means, are only at the distance of half-an-hour from one another. Besides, the Village of Lacolle is only twenty miles from St. Johns. With regard to the other localities, taking as a point of departure (in order to shew the distance) the most central part, the Church-square fur instance, the farthest of the said localities, from St. Johns, would be St. Cyprien, which is situate at a distance of 15 miles from the former ; but as soon as St. Cyprien becomes part of the proposed County of St. Johns, that distance would soon be reduced to about eleven miles, by the establishment of a more direct road, which has been long talked of. The same may be said of St. Jacques, which, by means of a new road, which has also been long talked of, will be brought within nine miles of St. Johns. It is true that it is at present only eleven miles distant from it. The distance between I'Acadie and St. Luc and St. Johns is only six short miles, and between St. Valentin and the latter, only twelve. We earnestly entreat the Legislature to take into their consideration this statement, which we vouch far as authen-. tic. Doubtless, if the Government in forming the new Coun- ties, had not been naturally inclined to deviate as little as possible from the existing order of things, and to leave to their intercourse the Electors who were accustomed to meet at the different polls ; doubtless also, if it had not been correctly informed of our anomalous position in the County of Chambly, and of our intimate and dail;^ 1 1 ■ "i/ 1 p iatercoune with the different localities of which we desire and pray that the new County of St. Johns may be formed, it would never have thought of forming a new Conniy of LacoUe; but would at once have done what reason and the well understood interests of St. John's and the neighboring country required. For the union of differ- ent localities into a County, pre-supposes and ought always to allow of a union of interests, resulting from the respec- tive positions of the localities, and of the amount of inter- course with one another. And this is precisely the case with the parts of the Country of which the County of St. John would consist. They have each a soil, and a system of culti- vation, exactly alike in both; they observe and study each others agricultural improvements in order to turn them to account ; their improvements in stock are inter-communicat- ed and made common ; their lands are watered by the same streams, and drained by the same water courses; or discharges ; their road-labor is in common ; everywhere they meet and cross each other on their public roads, and they erjoy as they ever will enjoy together, the improvements now made and those which remain to be made. But it is particularly at St. Johns that they see and meet each other incessantly, in the pursuit of their various affairs and for the supply of their various wants. At St. Johns they buy and sell in a market which brings them into direct intercourse with the markets of the United States, and which gives to them the advantage of selling at a price us high, if not higher, and at the same time of buying as cheaply all they require as in any other market in Canada. It is natural, therefore, that these sections of the Country should aim at forming a closer connection, by imiting themselves with St. Johns, and by endeavouring at the same time to render St. Johns, more and more their common centre of business. For this reason, these localities considering it not enough that they trade with St. Johns, there seek justice an