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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 6 I # ^ mati^n OF THE ME RCHANTS, TRADERS, AND OTHER INHABITANTS ?Ui^l/;^ 4 - ^PR 22 1941 w mB mm TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. The Petition of the undersigned Merchants, Traders, and other in- habitants of Si. John's, in the Island of Newfoundland, Humbly Sheweth : That we have witnessed with extreme regret, the exertions which, for a length of time, have been made by a few individuals in this town to introduce discord and anarchy into the Colony to paralyze the moral influence of our Courts of Justice, as well as the authority of the subordinate Magistracy ; and by a system of intimidation t© acquire for themselves an irresponsible control over the public affairs of the Island. We have hitherto forborne noticing the various false and calumnious statements contained in a series of Petitions which have, from time to time, been forwarded by them from this Colony to his late Majesty's Government, as well as to the House of Commons, in the belief that allegations which were known here to be so utterly devoid of truth, 'fiwr and so gross and incredible in their char&Gtei'^ migii* safely be allowed to pass unnoticed by us. But we find that these misrepresentations, however they may be despised here, yet, from constant reiteration, they are acquiring a degree of credence elsewhere; and, convinced that the best interests of the Colony, and the safety of Persons and Property, would be endangered by further silence, we deem it necessary, in support and defence of our dearest rights, not only to lay before your Majesty, as succinctly as possible, our own positive testimony of the absence of everyjust ground for the shameless allegations contained in those Petitions, but also to express our earnest hope that your Majesty will extend the relief prayed for by this Petition, and adopt such measures as will emancipate this Colony from the thraldom to which otherwise it must per- manently be subjected. Of these Petitions, we beg leave to draw your Majesty's attention particularly to one addressed to your Majesty's revered predecessor, despatched from this Is- land in the month of March last, which not only holds out, in language far from equivocal, threats of personal violence, hut contains charges of so serious a nature against the characters of the Mer- cantile body of this town, the Chief Justice, and the Grand and Special Jurors, that to allow them to pass unnoticed would bejculpable. We now give to those charges the most unqualified contradic- tion, and we advisedly designate them as foul and impudent calumnies notoriously devoid of truth. In this Island, the population of which may be estimated at 75,000, of whom about one half are Protestants, and the other half Roman Catholics, it may be proper to remind your Majesty that (lie r« are no legal distinctions affecting any ctasi biyour Majesty's subjects; and were the Koman Catholics permitted to follow the impulse of their own minds, and to act individually as their own wishes might prompt them, there would be no cause for apprehending that they would differ from their neighbours in matters of a civil na- ture. But it unfortunately happens that their Clergy have acqaired a thoroughly despotic and absolute control over a very large proportion of the lower orders of their creed, by which means they are enabled to concentrate and direct the efforts of the body against each member indi- vidually to an extent that would scarcely be cre- dited by any who do not witness their conduct, and in a way that is altogether destructive of the eivil and religious liberties of the people at large. Ho this cause* we submit, may he directly traced the evils of wh* h we now complain ; and as ail ailthority rests in a great measure upon the power which those who exercise it possess of en- forcing their mandates, we trust our observa- tions will not be regarded as out of place if we state to your Majesty some of the means used by the Roman Catholic Priests, for coercing Urose who evince any disinclination to comply with their wishes. In the first place they denounce them from the altar, as persons hostile to their Priests, and as opposed to the authority of their Church, and then warn their congregations not to deal or hold any intercourse with them, designating them com* monly as *' Mad Dogs"— a term by which it is understood that the individuals to whom it is ap- plied, have not adopted the political views of n their Priests — and are therefore to be regarded^ as if excommunicated ; and being thus branded,- they are to a veiy considerable, and in some' instances to a ruinous, extent, injured in their business ; — are constantly expcsed to much per- sonal insult, and not unfrequently ill-treated in' the open streets by the lower orders of their owiv creed, who deem it a meritorious service thus to carry into eflect the denunciations of their Priests. But besides these temporal annojances, they are constantly subjected to every kind of neglect and contumely, their Clergy often contemptuo»:sIy refusing to perform any clerical duty for them, their wives or families. Those offices of their Church which are regarded as most sacred, are re- fused often with insult and abusive language ; and others are performed in such a manner as to render the very performance painful in the extreme to persons possessed of common feeling. Since the general election of last Autumn, their Clergy have refused to hear confessions — to grant abso- lution — to visit the sick — to administei* extreme unction, or theeucbarist — to perform the office of churching women — to attend funerals, and even to bury the dead, when the parties have been what they call •• M?d Dogs," or the wives, children, or parents of such persons. These punishments were threatened before the elections of last au- tumn ; since which period, electors who had firm- ness enough to act with independence have been visited with their rigid infliction. Several have been interdicted from attending the Chapels, and when, notwithstanding such interdict, a sense of religious, duty has led them there, the' Mass has been suspended until they have gone out, or, declining to retire, have been forcibljp. turned out. I Tour Majesty will lionce perceive that the Priests do not only possess, but also exercise the power of inllictinjif the most oppressive and grievous punishments, which are visited on par- ties guilty of no fault, withont trial, and without redress ; and it has consequently happened that many worthy persons have found themselves compelled to yield to their will with nothing less than ruin to their worldly prospects, or starva- tion to their families, as the alternative. A power thus concentrated is brought to bear upon the people with so terrible an effect, that it can- not be matter of wonder that five-sixths of thei Roman Catholic population are at the feet of their priests. By this system of intimidation the Roniad Catholic clergy have not only succeeded in procuring the return of persons to serve as mem- bers of the House of Assembly whcf are entirely subservient to their will, and subject to their control (to which we shall presently more par- ticularly allude) ; but what is still more alarming, they have systematically interfered with the due administration of justi'ce, in such a manner as materially to weaken its moral effect. , Delin- quents who were of their party have, when con- victed, been taken under their especial protec- tion, and held up to the world as persons op- pressed and persecuted on account of their political opinions, and as martyrs in the cause of liberty, and the defence of their creed— by which n»eans they have endeavoured to create in the minds of their deluded followers the most invete- rate prejudices against those to whom the admi- nistration of Justice is intrusted. In this unholy attempt to establish in themselves an authority superior to the laws, they ha\ e omitted no oppor- -siattL. i ttanity, nnd neglected no means within tbeir reach to bring the Judges, Magistrates, and officers of Justice inlo contempt, and to excite popular feeling against them. More particular- ly have they and the few factious and needy individuals who are associated with them, been unceasing in their attacks, and untiring in their exertions to bring odium upon the present Chief Justice of the Colony, Mr. Boulton, and at any sacrifice to procure his removal from the ofiico ii^hich he so ably and impartially fills. To accomplish this end the vilest slander, the most despicable insinuations, and the most malicious calumnies have been resorted to, more particularly through the medium of a newspaper published in this town, under the name of the •* Newfoundland Patriot " the conductors of which are notoiiously under the control of the Ro- man Catholic priesthood. In order to give plau- sibility to their proceedings, and to obtain for thera the attention of your Majesty's government, a principal expedient resorted to, has been that of petitions which are got up by them with a facility almost incredible to those who are unacquainted "with the domination which the Roman Catholic clergy exercise over their flooks. The manner in which signatures are procured to these peti- tions is by exhibiting blank sheets ofpaper at the Chapel doors, where all who enter, whether men or boys, are made to subscribe their names, ^r have them written down for them ; and to this they are obliged to submit, knowing that otherwise vhey will be visited with the displeasure of their clergy. Ihese sheets are afterwards appended to the Petitions; with the contents of which but few of tfie sabicribers are acquainted ; and it is thut (liat the most shameless allegations, devoid of every particle of truth, and intended to bring the judicial character of Mr. BoT lton into contempt, are brought under the notice of go- vernment as expressing the public sentimentt of the people of Newfoundland. In seeking the cause of this malignity display- ed towards the Chief Justice, we solemnly de- clare to your Majesty that we can discover none, except it may be in the apprehension that his inflexible administration of justice, unawed by their power or their threats, is calculated to di- rest the Priests and their adherents of their un- due ascendancy, and to subject them in common with your Majesty's other subjects to the supre- macy of the law. We take this public opportu- nity of expressing our full confidence in the in- tegrity and ability of Mr. Boulton, and our entire satisfaction with the firm, judicious, and impartial manner in which he has discharged his duties, We have also uo hesitation in asserting that notwith- standing ihe infamous attempts to create distrust in his official conduct, the public confidence in him remains unshaken, and we should lament as a public calamity any circumstance that might cause his removal or retirement from the Bench of this Colony, which would thereby suffer a loss not easily repaired. And here, we would respectfully suggest to your Majesty that this community is almost ex- clusively a commercial one— that the Merchant and Fisherman have but one common interest, and are bound together by one tie of mutual de- pendance — that those differences of public opinion which exist in older and larger countries, hav« ■ ■'T' I ■ la tjeen liitlierto unknown amongst us. Who, theri; we would respectfully ask, are most interested in the due and impartial administration of Justice ? Your Majesty's Petitioners, many of whom have a large stake in the country, upon whom hundreds 'depend for their daily bread ; or the Roman Ca- tholic Priests with their adherents — men who, generally speaking, have nothing to lose, but who might hope to extend their political influ- ence by bringing the constitutional authorities '.I to contempt. "We further crave leave to represent to your Majesty a few circumstances worthy of serious consideration, as connected with the Charter by which his late Gracious Majesty was pleased to establish a Local Legislature in this Island. By this Charter the sole qualification prescribed for an elector is that of his being the occupier for one year, of a tenement however mean and valueless — a franchise so extensive that it ainounts almost to universal suffrage. On the other hand, no qualification whatever is prescribed for Candidates, beyond that of being the oc- cupier of a dwelling, no matter of what descrip- tion, for two years — a defect we have ample cause at present deeply to deplore, for the Roman Ca- tholic Clergy quickly perceiving how useful an engine the House of Assembly might be made in their hands, have not failed to exercise in the inanner beforementioned, the power they possess over this description of persons, in secu.-ing the feturn of a majority of members of f leir owa nomination. It IS thus that the parties returned are nearly all persons of little or no stake in the couatry, who' 1^ itViiot in point of ability, character, or standing in society, at all qualified for the office in v?hicb they find themselves placed ; consequently by no neans such as the electors themselves, if left to the uncontrolled exercise of their franchise, would have chosen. — Their only qualification, in fact, being a blind subserviency to the dictates and wishes of the Roman Catholic priesthood. We feel confident in affirming that in the dis- tricts of St. John and Conception Bay, whicb return seven out of the fifteen members of the Assembly, and where the illegal influence of which we complain is co powerful, a large ma- jority of the electors were, and are, opposed to the candidates who have been returned by the means beforementioned, and the result of the elections would, we doubt not, have been very diff'erent could the electors, in attending the hus- tings, have been assured of protection from vio- lence and outrage,and secured from the subsequent persecution and punishment with which they Were solemnly threatened, and which they well knew would have been so unmercifully inflicted upon them. Nor is it the least among the evils resulting from this baneful system, that in other districts where the Roman Catholic clergy poscess little or no direct influence, such a hopelessness of any thing like a fair representation throughout has been engenderd, and such a conviction of the uselessness of sending independent members to meet a majority thus produced, that in the last election instances occurred in which persons were returned as members without opposition, whose pretensions were really ludicrous, and who, under any other circumstances, would have received no^ countenance whatever. it 4 From a House tbna constituted, who^e meirf- ters £ire by no means the representatives of the colony, and among whom are the most active agents, as well as the most passive creatures of the priests, little can be expected to the satisfac- tion of the community^ We forbear entering into a detail of their proceedings during the present session (characterized as they are by the same feelings of partisanship, the same political depravity and persecution which in- fluenced their conduct out of doors) ; or of giving a description of the lev and abusive language with which the more prominent mem- bers, by pretence of their privilege of speech, are in the daily practice of assailing the Go- vernor, the Judges, and other officers of the government. The numerous and useless offices connected with the House of Assembly which they have created for the sake of patronage — the prodigal manner in which they have endeavoured to squander the revenues ofthe Colony to support themselves and *heir adherents, and the invidious distinctions and provisions which they have made in several instances for the purpose of prejudicing individuals agairist whom they entertain personal dislike, indicate with painful certainty their deter- mination to exercise all the power they possess, or are permitted to arrogate, in extending their ■influence, and inflicting injury on those whc presume to differ from them. \ That any of your Majesty's colonies shoutd in this, the 19th century, be reduced to such a state of priestly tyranny as that to which we are subjected, may well excite your Majesty's asto- nishment, and our statements might possibly be attributed to prejudice or an exaggerated fear, did not evidence of their correctness exist ia It tlie office of your Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, whence documents in abundance may be obtained to support them. We deem it incumbent upon us now to bring- under the especial notice of your Majesty the important fact that the Magistrates, Constables, and other subordinate functionaries in this Colony are entirely dependent upon the annual grant of the House of Assembly for the payment of their salaries. A ready method is thus aflPorded of controling their independence, if not of corrupt- ing their integrity, by diminishing or withholding, or perhaps increasing, their respective stipends, in proportion as they are supposed to be more or less favourable or adverse to the authority of the priests and their partisans; and we lament to add that the determination to exercise this in- fluence has been manifested in the votes of the present session. Great, however, and insupportable as are the evils to which we are thus subjected, we yet trust that an adequate remedy may be found in the wis- dom of your Majesty's ministers, and wedohum- bly and earnestly pray for the adoption of such measures as will effectually redress the grievances which we thus presume to bring under your Majesty's notice. We beseech your Majesty that among other steps for that purpose, means ma} be taken to secure to all your Ma- jesty's subjects in this Island, the free and urn .controlled exercise oi their civil and religious rights, — to protect the Judges and officers 'f Jus- tice in the fearless administration of the la>vs ; and also to make permanent provision for Magistrates, Constables, and others connected with the Police, thereby rendering them independent of popular 14 control, and amenable only to the executive branch of your Majesty's ^^overnment for the faithful discharge of their duties. That your Majesty may have a long, prosper- ous, and happy reign, is the heartfelt wish and sincere prayer of your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects. December, 1837. HENRY WINTON, dencral Priotrng Oflice, SI. Joba't