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/^v

MEMOIIt

UK3PECTING CERTAIN RECENT DISMISSIONS FROM
THE MILITIA OF THE PROVINCE OF LOWER-
CANADA.

On the 20th June, 1820, the following General Order was nuVjIishctl in the
Quebec OHicial Gazette of the administration of His Excellency Earl Dal-

housie.

Office of the Mjutnnt General of Militia^
qUEBtiC, 25th June, I82«,
JVo. 2.
GENERAL ORDER,

Certain complaints having heen stated to the Governor and commandct in Chief
airainst Officers of the Militia on tlic retired list as well as in the Battalion of the
counties of Richelieu and Surrey, founded upon their conduct at a Public Medlnif
held in January last at Verchcrcs in the county of Surrey, His Excellency caused notice
to be given to these Oncers that he would himself offer them an opportunity to cxphtin
and justify their conduct in presence of Lieul.-Col. De Martigny, commanding the
Is/ battdion of Surrey, at Varennes, on the 20th inst. These Officers, however,
failing to give any salidactory explanation on the subject, or offering any excuses for
their lawless conduct. His Excellency feels it his duty in this public manner to cancel
and annul whatever Commissions they may hold as Officers in the Militia of the
Province of Lower- Canada, viz : —

Lieut.-Col. Mo'niot, on the retired li^t.— Captain Jmyol, do. do.— Major F. V.
.Malhiot, Battalion of Surrey.— Capt. Paschal Chagnon, do. do.— Ditto. Francois
Chagnon, do. do.— Major J. T. Drolcl, 2d. Battalion of Richelieu,— Capt. Bougret

Duforl, do. do. t r^i- r

Bv order of His Excellence the Governor General and Commander tn Chief.
' "P. VASSAL DE MONVIEL,Adjt.Gcnl.M.F.

Ihk Members of the Committee named by the Freeholders of the District
of Montreal for the purpose of transmitting; their I'ctition and taking all
measures for its support and for corresponding with their Agents, having
assembled at Montreal on the 3d July last, resolved that an inquiry should
!)e made in the most formal and regular manner into the circumstances refer-
cd to in the General Order and which produced and accompanied these dis-
missals. An inquiry was iccordingly held on the spot, at which the Hono-
rable P. D. DEBARTZcHonc of ihc Members ofthcLegislativeCouncil presided,
and at which Magistrates, Members of the Assembly and other persons
worthy of credit were present. The depositions received at it were pre-
viously sworn to before a Justice of the Peace. The originals of the said
depositions arc in the hands of the Agents now in England as also the pro-
ccedinj^s of the said Frecholdei-s and of the enquiry.

It appears from the depositions that his Excellency in his conversation at
Montreal with Lieut. Col. Malhiot and in his language at Varennes, avowed
that their political conduct was the cause of the dismissal of the O/Ficcrs,
and that his Excellency was instigated (hereto by the part they took in sign-
in«' the Petition for redress of grievances, in common with the other inlmbi-
tants of this Country.

That His Excellency has punished them in a military manner for then-
civil conduct. . • 1

That supposing (which is against all constitutional principles and esta-
blished rights) that His Excellency was justified in calling British Subjecls,
freeholders and landholders, to account to him joersonnally, for tlieir con-
duct at a public meeting for the redress of grievjinces, and to punish (hem
lor not acting at said meeting with military subordination and obedience to
superior officers— yet it is established by the affidavits that there was no just
grounds, even in this unconstitutional point of view, for the proceedings of
his Excellency and for his general order.

It appears that the conduct of the OlTiccrs dismissed, at the meeting hold
.it Vercliere? for the p'M-por^e ol pt'tilioiininjij (he Kimg and PaiTininont, uliirli
his Excellency has given as (he cause of their dismissal, was loyal, peaceable,
legal and becoming British Subjec(s UL^ing the most important of (h<ii

Riglita ; tliat these OlTicers were not guilty of any violence agamst (he laws
or against lieut. col. dc Martigny. the otlicer upon whose complaint they
were iliHmitised ; that on the contrary tlio Sons of the baid Marlignv and
others disturbed the said Assembly and went there with express design vi
disturbing it and raising noise and clamour in it. and troubling the peace-
able freeholders and landholders in the orderly and quiei exercise of
^heir lawful Rights.

It is established that his Excellency and others employed by him in thi-;
affair constantly rel'uscd. before and since the said intervew, to allow the
said Officers a copy of the complaints brought against them, or permission to
rebut the charges and justify themselves.

As an evidence oi' the merit and loyalty of several of 'he Officers dismis-
sed, there is accompanying this, a copy of a letter addressed to some public
Journals and published in them, from the Honorable Chvrles de St. OirR?,
one of the Members of the Legislative Council and a Field Officer in His
Majesty's army.

^t.«.<.<CC. O »Vrti^J

To the Editor o the Canadian Spectator.

St. OURS, 8 July, 1828.

SIR- I learn bu the General Order of Militia, dated the 25th June last, that tht
Commissions in the militia of this Province, of X. Malhioi and F. V. Malhiot,
Esquires, have been cancelled.

Witho J aitempftng to penetrate tnto the reasons n-hich have brought about these
;i)ie:cpeetcd disiiitssons, I eannot help giving nvj opinion, iheit H is much to be reurat-
!e'l that the ?nili!iu of this Province. a<id purtieularlrj thett part of it where these
Genltemei! reside, should >it deprived of the services of Officers eis zealous as they
• tre aedlant and inteli'i<rinl.

JS'ohoJy can better know the merit of their services, than one who like mc had the
honor of having them several t/cars under nu/ command as Sta// Officers of the divi-
iiou of militia (f St, Ours ; and 1 shall never forget how useful Lieut.-Col. Malhiot
was to nu, and even how nccessanj durint^ the incorporeuiun of this division in the
last war ; ct n linn I had tht honor to haic under my command the gallant Officers
and militiamen of Sorel, St. Ours and Contreeaur, ivho marched to the frontiers and
I cmaincd there for more than iu-o nwnihs, reodu to sacrifice every thins in the service
t)f their King and countrii. rry senral Ihoiisam' othcn of <vo fello
dom^.

of ''>u> fe/toiv-countrymcn were

I can assure Messrs. Malhiot. that ali the Officers .aid indilianicn who then for-
med the divison of St. Oars, while they both were on the Stajf\ retain the most res-
pectful esteem for them. '1:1'! f bcis them t<. reeeivi ihr etssuratiecs of mi/ own in par-
ticular.

Ch. H de St. ours,

Colonel of the 1st Pat. of the ,Wlitia of Richelieu.

PROVINCE OF )
LOWKU CANADA, i

in par-

Mji a meeting of proprietors ^jyd freehold-
ers of the City and County of MONTREAL, forming a COMMITTEE
named by the People at a Gcncrcd Meeting of proprietor s held at Montreal on tki
liithday of Dceemhcr last, to have transmitted to His Majesty and the Imperial Par-
liament their Petition against the Coloni(d administration, and to promote the objtet cf
the said Pcli'ion, held at Montreal on the 2tith day ofjtdy 1820.

LOUIS ROY PORTELANCE Esqr. in the Chair.

The special Committee to which by an order of this Committee tlateil 24th
July, were referred the Depositions and other Papers relative tr> the
late Proceeding of His Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie at Varenues
and to the dismission of certain Militia OiKcers, and the General iMihiia
Order publishing said dismissals, having reported on the subject of the
?aid reference, and their report having been read :

Resolved— 1. — That said report is approved,

2. — That it is the ancient and undoubted Right of British Sub-
jects, without let or hindrance, peaceably to assemble and discuss l\w
political affairs of their Country for the purpose of petitionnig and for re-
dress of Grievances ; that said ancient and undoubted Right was asserted
and recognized in the " Rill of Rights" at the glorious and immortal Re-
volution by virtue of which his present Majesty sits on the Throne of the
British Empire.

3. — That the declaration of his Excellency the Earl of Dalhou-
sie to Lieut. Col. Malhiot, namely, that the peaceable and lawful Meeting
of the Freemen and Landholders at Vercheres to petition the King aiul
Parliament against his Excellency's administration was seditious, and that
such Meetings should not be attended by Militia Men but should be pre-
vented by them, was a declaration which inculcated an outrage on the «ai(I
ancient and undoubted Right, and an insult to the Bill of Rig t' hich is
peculiarly indecent in a public functionary.

4.— That such a rule as that which his Excellency thus laid
down, in a Country where the whole male population from IG to GO an-
declared Militia Men, would, if inforccd, be a high crime and misdemean-
our, in as much as it would break the " Bill of Rigiits." and by militarv
rule, prevent the King s Subjects from peaceably meeting to petition anJl
legally sue for redress of Grievances. It would render his Excellency's ad-
ministration despotic, by imposing silence and abject submission on the peo-
ple, and would deceive the King and his Parliament and the people ot
England as to the character of his Excellency's Conduct and Administra-
tion, by not allowing them the means of learning the Truth.

5.— That all the Subjects of the King, meeting as Freemen.
Freeholders and Landholders, stand, at such Meeting on equal footing -.
and no military character, station or power is recognized at such MeetiniTs

C— That the application, by the Earl of Dalhousie, to such Aioet-
ings, of the rules of military subordination, and his requiring the Freemen,
Freeholders and Landholders, who are also militia men, Mhen attending
r,uch meetings, to be governed in their conduct towards such persons preseiit
as may bear militia commissions, by the rules of military submission and
deference necessary when on parade or under arms, is an insult to Britisa
Subjects, a violation of their Rights, an impediment to the freedom oi opin-
ion and conduct necessary on such occasions, and tends to estabUsh Military
Despotism.

7.— That it was unconstitutional and a breach of order and legal
Government in his Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie to call before him Free-
men and Landholders of the Province, and rc(|uire them to answer to him,
personally, for their political conduct at a public Meeting, and to pronounce
a public and peaceable meeting of Freemen, Freeholders and Landholder:,
seditious; in as much as there are tribunals specially constituted to take coir-
iiizance of any breach of the Laws in such cases ;' and it is forbidden to fiv

Chief of the Executive to judge and pronounce, in his own person, ou^ucij
acts.

ia'

J'^

:>^

U.— That il war- unconr.titiitional. a hrc.iili o( ftnnd order and a
l»rcadi of tin- bill of Ripl.ts in his K\» cllcnry the Karl of Didhmisio, niid an
act deserving iinncacljraenf, to punish as militia men, Snhjeitis of >lie Kinn;,
being Freemen Freehohlcrs, and Landholders, for acts done in their eivd
capacity as such, not being a breach of the Law, nor called in question in
any civil Court.

9. — That it was un ::onstitutional and a breach of order and good
Government and derogatory to the head of the Executive for the Earl ol
DalhouBic, to interfere, personally, to avenge the (piarrels of the sons of Mr.
Martigny one of his partisans, and to use his power for their gratification,
and for the purpose of forcing Freemen, Freeholders and Landholders, sub-
jects of the king, to the ignominy ol apologizing to these persons for oflTcnces
or 8Hpp:)Bed oflences received by them at a meeting of such Freemen, Frce-
hokkffr and Lend holders.

10. — That even if his Excellency had a constitutional authority
to take cognizance, personnally, of such matters, he should have furnished
those charged, with a copy of tlic charges, and have heard their justifica-
tion ; both of which he refused to do — and thereby, in an arbitrary manner,
punished them to gratify the resentment of the Martignys his partisans ; though
it is established by proof, that the Martignys went to the meeting in order
to disturb it, to create a clamour, and to impede his Majesty's Subjects, the
Freemen, Freeholders and Landliolders of the county, in the peaceful ex-
ercise of an ancient and undoubted right.

1 1. — ^That the General Militia Order of the 25th June last, issued
by his Excellency, publishinf^ the dismissions in this case, is an open military
Violation of the Rights of British Subjects ; and by publishing that the con-
duct of Subjects ofthe King, being Freemen, Freeholders and Landholders
Vfas " Low/Im*," although not even impeached in any Court of law, or by
any of the law officers, the said order is a calumny on his Majesty's Subjects
and a violation of decencj and good order.

12. — ^That the conduct, expressions and avowals of his Excel-
lency the Earl of Dalhousie, in this case as in others, are unjust and despo-
tic, evincing a disposition for an absolute military Government, and allbrd
an additional proof of the correctness of one of the charges against his
Excellency contained in the Petition of the people, namely, that of employ-
ing his influence as Commander in Chief to restrain the people of the coun-
try in the exercise of their political Rights and of using militia commissions,
favours and punishments to coerce the expression of public opinion on the
Civil Administration of his Excellency.

13. ^That the conduct of his Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie

is calculated to corrupt that OPINION upon which, and not upon brute force,
the connexion between different parts of the British Empire can alone

securely rest. , »

14, — ^That nothing can or wdl prevent the people of this pro-
vince who must have some regard to their own Rights and Feelings, from soli-
citing at any time and at all times, the recal of any Governor whose adminis-
tration shall be as offensive to the Freemen, Freeholders and Landholders of
the province, as that of his Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie ; and v V.ch shall,
like his, evince on all occasions, military maxims and a military spirit in ad-
ministering the Government of Freemen.

15._^That these Resolutions, and the depositions and other pa-
pers detailing and elucidating the circumstances of this case, and the report
of the special Committee, be forthwith transmitted to our Agents, who arc
requested to communicate the same to the Members of the Committee, now
investigating the affairs of this province,to Mr Humev/ho seems to feel sostrong-
ly the evils of a military Governor, and particularly to call to them the atten-
tion of the Right Honorable William Huskissov, in order that that gentleman
may see what an injurious spirit his justification in Parliament of Lord Dal-
housie's administration has unhappily fostered ; and to make such further
and other use of thcra as will best support the Intcrcyls of their Country.