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Q €/ s ^>^-^r . /^C ^^i^^'-Z.^f /^ ^^-' / ^ Oi:-^ ^e^- :x ^ yjjr ' A- *-r J t r ^ tr^ ty PLAIN STATEMENT OP THE QUARREL WITH CANADA; IN WHICH IS CO.\SIDERBI) WHO FIRST INFRINGED THE CONSTITUTION or THE COLONY. LONDON : JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY. 1838. ON THE QUARREL WITH CANADA. '■ In the course of a few days the Parliament of tliis country will be called upon, for the first time since many years, to pronounce upon a question involving many lives, affecting- also the integrity of our empire and the character of our Government in the estimation of Foreign States. The question is, unhappily, to some extent, a party one, there being too many on one side who think to dispose of it bv the word Treason ; while others are not want- ing who regard little else in the matter but the right of sGlf-government, or what they value even more, the extension of Democracy. A few words written in no other spirit than that of justice, may be possibly not altogether without use to those who would consider before every thing, the real merits of the quarrel. But before we enter upon these, there are two points which we must assume ; first, that there is sucii a thing as a right of dominion u founded in conquest, which some seem reluctant to admit ; as if a nation couhl ever grow powerful in any other way, and as if tliis, the only means of applying on a great scale the principle of associa- tion, had not tended upon the whole to the benefit of mankind. The other point we must take for granted is this : that a Colony is not, as soon as it has attained, ^erhaps only in its own opinion, the capacity of self-government, entitled, like a minor come of age, to turn round upon its parent or its guardian, and to say. We thank you for your past care, but for the future we arc able and willing to take care of ourselves. We will assume, on the contrary, that though the tie is not to be perpetual, the parent state has a right, for some time at least, to profit by the maturity of that which it has fos- tered and protected, and that the colony is bound to rej)ay, even Jn its })rime, the debt which was contracted in its infancy. The payment, it is true, should be exacted in a fair and liberal spirit, .ind above all, the growth of the dependent state ought not to be checked, in order to retain it the longer in leading strings. To apply this to Canada, which, succeeding ns we did to the title of the French, we hold by the double right of colonization and of conquest : Can it be said we have abused, in her instance, our right as conquerors, when we have given her institutions as nearly after the model of our own as the diffe- rence between a ruling and a subject country would •^n** admit of? Or will it be pretondod, cither that wo- have not fulfilled towards her the duties we took upon ourselves of a guardian and protecting state, or that, setting aside her present alleged griev- ances, we have been upon the whole harsh or un- reasonable in the payment we have exacted for our services ? Money we have never asked, nor since our (juarrcl with America were we over likely to do so ; and if we have confined the trade of our colonists for our advantage, we have no less re- stricted our own for their benefit, and that in such a way as to hold out to them, at the same time, a premium for clearing their lands, and thereby in a two-fold manner adding to their wealth. In fact, for all that we have done to increase their riches in peace, and their strength in war, we have exacted little else in return but employment for our sea- men, and to some extent also a field for our native industry and capital, from which the colony would derive as much benefit as ourselves. But it is said, the debt, whatever it was, is cancelled by our ill usage. The plea if made out, is undoubtedly valid in its kind ; for if it be true, that our domestic administration of the colony has been marked by habitual injustice or neglc^.' to- wards the great bulk of its inhabitants, the people of this country ought not now to demand from unwilling Canada, that allegiance which they have fairly forfeited by the misconduct of their own servants. The account in that rase should, if at nm Ik ±m 6 all, be settled at home, between this country and its Ministers. But how stands in truth the catalotyue of Csina- dian grievances ? By the confession of their own advocates they resolve themselves into two ; the refusal of an Elective Council, and the recent alleged breach of the Colonial Constitution. Other griev- ances of a practical nature have it is true been brought forward, and have undoubtedly been proved to this extent, that there had been some jobbing ignorance and malversation in the govern- ment of the colony, and that the mischief, such as it was, arose in grc.it measure from a corrupt and overbearing spirit in the legislative council.* These evils, however, if very great of their kind, cannot have been of very long duration, for it is admitt(!d that, some twenty years ago, the rule of England was popular in Canada, and whatever abuses may have grown up in the interim, it cannot be denied that the Government has given proof of a disposition to correct them, and that there is enough, now in the House of Commons, of * It is not only the House of Assembly, but In some cases also the Home Government, that have had to complain of the opposition of that body, they have represented on some occa- sions a parly which might be called, without much injustice, the Orange party of Canada; but then, as that council is nomi- nated by the governor, the remedy is in our hands, and the country is not therefore called upon to renounce a most impor- ant right. 1 Transatlantic patriotism, to prevent their recur- rence, at least in any great degree. It is not tlierofore on these administrative wrongs that tiic Canadian House of Assembly arc content to rest their quarrel, it is as was said before, upon the refusal of an Elective Council. That is to say, in other words, they were determined to provide in their own way for their future security ; they had been ill-used by the Tories, and therefore they would not trust to the Whigs; they had been aggrieved by an unreforuied Parliament, find there- fore they lookeil for no redress fr(mi a reformed one ; they had suftered wrong from England, indif- ferent or deceived, and therefore they hoped no- thing from her justice, awakened and attentive; and because the constitution which we gave them, and which they had no right to make, has not excluded all abuse, they resolved upon obtaining a new one, by the very simple method of suspending the 0])eration of that which they now have. This brings us to the point, wiiether the right given to them by that constitution, of ap[)ropriat- ing the net produce of certain duties to be levied in C'anadii nnder acts of the British Parliament^ was ever meant, or can by possibility be su})posed to have been meant, to answer such a purpose. Relying upon tlie apparent analogy of their con- stitution tu ours, they contend that the right of a[)propriation carries with it the right of refusing to appropriate at all, that such right t)f refusal U 8 altogetlu r discretionary, and m.iy accordinf? to tlu' spirit of their constitution be converted to what use they think fit. But let us look first, to what use such a power is applicable among ourselves, and to what intent it was assumed : why chiefly, no doubt, to prevent or restrain the improper ex- penditure of the national monies, or more gene- rally, as a check upon abuses of administration. And though we should admit, wiiich is by no meuns clear, that it might properly be used by the House of Commons, as the means of extorting the assent of other branches of the Legislature, to the enactment of new laws, or even as it might be to a change in the constitution itself, yet if it were so used in this country, it would be against those who were competent to grant, what was sought to be enforced, and between those who had jointly the right of enacting what laws, and making what changes, might seem good in their eyes. Far ditilrent is the case in Canada; that constitution conlaius within itself no power of altering its fundamental laws, for it arose not from any supposed compact between the different parts of the Canadian people, it originated in the gift of the English Legislature, it rests upon a British act of Parliament,* and can only be altered, at least to the extent wished for, by those who gave it. It is not therefore against * The 3lst Ceo. III. c. 31. 9 I the I.cf«i8lative Council, the other hrancli of their l*arlitinient, it is not against the (jlovernor as re- presenting the Crown, that this stoppage of supplies is resorted to, in like manner as it might he here ; for neither the Council nor the Governor have the right of assenting to the proposed change; hut it is against us as a State, against an exterior and 8Uj)erior j)o\ver, that this constitatioiKil power of co- ercion, derived from our own gift, is now attempted to be turned. It is, however, hut fair to state, that the Cana- dian constitution has, since the passing of the act referred to, been altered by the Colonial Legisla- ture, without any further consent than that of the Crown, and to this extent, that the numbers of the House of Assend)lv have been increased, and the mi ' benefit of representation extended to some dis- tricts of the Colony, which, on account of the thin- ness of their population, were not previously repre- sented. Even this, perhaps, might have been ques- tioned under the act above cited, in which the power it confers upon the Crown, of making laws, "with the consent and by the advice" of the Co- lonial Parliament, is (qualified by the addition, " such laws not being repugnant to this act." There is, at any rate, a great difference between an alteration in the mode of using a right that had been conceded, which altercation was in eft'ect no- thing more than a carrying out of the act, in the spirit of the act itself, and doing that which is now V ii? ';? n ::' 10 sought to be obtained, which is, the taking away from this country an essential power expressly reserved to us, or to the Crown for our benefit, namely, the power of nominating the Legislative Council.* But even supposing tl.at the King (or Queen) in council, would have the power of con- ceding this point, it could only be as tlie Sovereign of this country that he could have the right of giving up what belongs to us, or to the Crown for us, and no Ministry would ever dream of recom- mending such a step, without having first obtained the sanction of Parliament. The matter then remains much as it was, in spite of the alleged precedent, and it is, after all, a claim of the Canadian House of Assembly, to exercise a constitutional control over the acts of tlic Imperial Legislature ; and if we admit of such a pretence, it would be to say that the constitution which we freely bestowed upon the Cjinadians, and with such limits as were then thought necessary to * The policy of retaining such a power, and the use we have made of it, are not now niider consideration. The intention was, no doubt, to strengthen our rule, by securing one branch of the Colonial Legislature to that party in Canada which values, above every thing, the connexion with the mother country. Such a party is necessarily opposed in spirit to the natural tendencies of a prosperous colony ; and the selections for the Council have, until very lately, been made too exclusively from among them : so much so, that the Council has in some instances proved itself more English than the chosen representative of the English Crown. 11 secure the connexion between us and them, miglit be endowed, as against us, and at the will of the donees, with a capability of indefinite expansion, and was in fact virtually a concession of complete independence. For if the Canadians are allowed the right of suspending their present Government, except on the terms which they may dictate, what is that but the right of making in all matters, and between them and us, such laws as they like ? It would be idle for them to complain, that the ana- logy does not hold good in all points, between their constitution and ours ; the answer to such a complaint is simply this, that then ^^^ ^'^^ depen- dant state and ive the sovereign. But if it be asked, to what })urpose then was this right of appropriating tlieir public monies, con- ceded to them, the answer is also obvious ; it was given to them as a means of control over the con- duct of their executive, as a check upon corrupt expenditure, as a security against the malpractices of public servants ; or if any alterations in the law were to be l)rought about by virtue of this right, througli a stoppage of the supplies, it was such only as the domestic; Legislature of the Colony, with the consent of its Governor, had the right of enacting. But, ev(m for such purposes, a power so extraordinary wa- to be used sparingly and with discretion, and it was surely neither meant nor ex- pected, that tliis, the " ultima ratio" of the Englisii people, this dormanl thunder of the British Parlia- /f T 12 nicnt — which we talk of but use not — should ever become the common topic, the every-day weapon, of a Provincial Assembly. It is clear, then, beyond a doubt, that that Assembly, by acting as they have done, liave been the first to repudiate the constitution under which they exist, and have thereby restored us to those j)0vvers of a ruling state, which that constitution had alone abridged. And how have we used those powers? If we had, by our authority, levied taxes on the Canadians, for the purpose of administering the Government of that country, why, even then, we should but have enforced against tliem an obli- gation, to which, as colonists, they are undoubtedly liable. But we have done no such thing, we have not even released from a restraint improperly imposed monies ah'eady collected; we have but paid out of our own purse debts which ought long ago to have been discharged by tliem, but which in respect of our interest in the Colony, and of our sliare in its government were a claim also upon us. It was understood, no doubt at the time that tlie advance was to be made good, if necessary by act of P.'irliament, out of the monies now locked up iu Canada ; but before we thus directly infringed upon their right of appropriation, we gave tliem yet a year to consider. So much for the question of Constitutional right, upon which the Canadians have thought fit, most unwisely, as 1 think, to rest their (juarrel. By so '«■ 13 doing, and by refusing to listen to any terms, or to enter upon any treaty, until this change in their constitution had been first conceded, they not only precluded themselves from any immediate relief, but they have given to their ill-wishers almost the right of saying, that they had no prac- tical grievances at all. They had certainly not enough to justify them in rebellion, if that was their object at all events, but it is a bold assertion to say, that they had nothing to complain of what- ever. One thiag at any rate is clear from the recent insurrection, that the great bulk of the Ca- nadian popidation is disaftectcd to our rule ; it is all very well to talk of " the faction of Mr. Pa- pineau," the faction of Mr. Fapiueau is the great majority of the Canadian people. And though no doubt tlie feeling by which they are animated has arisen in a great measure from the unjust desire of premature enfranchisement, it is far more than probable that they had some little wrong, at the hands of their Government. Some occasional neglect there must have been of colonial rights, (vvliich rests not only in supposition) and to this we will readily believe were added, tlie habitual insolence of official exclusives, and the disregard of native worth and talent, of all such at any rate, as grew not within the pale of a most narrowcircle. Nor is it a sufficient answer to this, that the sense of such wrongs is but lately awakened, and tliat it sprung from tlie very prosi)erity of which our (lovernment \ >, 14 ]• uas tlic source; for of what value are our benefits, if tliey l)ear not their natural fruits, and what <»ra- titude is due to us for our improvements, if the (•a|)ahilities we create, are shut out from tlieir pro- |)er field ? A people we may be sure do not rebel without some provocation, and if there be that rooted dislike to our dominion in the <;reat bulk of the (Canadians, that none but the most violent mea- sures can bring them into subjection, and none but the most severe retain them in it, we should be very sure of the justice of our cause, before we resolve on such a course ; one thinu;, at any rate, we should do well to consider, that we can hardly afl'ord to own another Ireland. Itis hardly here the place,to discuss the arguments of those who would persuade us, that there is more to be gained, by commerce with a free state, than by the possession even of a peaceful Colony. The opinions of such men will have little weight in the decision of this (piestion, for till other nations will consent also to overlook power in the pursuit of wealth, it is clearly not safe for us to act upon such a system, and no rational statesnum will deny, that it is better for us to keep Canada in our hands, if she can be brought either through love or necessity to (lapdcscc in our rule. The attempt will at any rate be made, and so far as force alone is re