■> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I I^|2j8 |25 m ^^ ■■■ lu lii §2.2 £ 1^ 12.0 la L25 1 u ij^ 4 6" ► Fh0logra{jiic Sdenoes CarporatiQn ^"^A ^v ^,v V \ 33 WKT MAIN STRIIT WIMIM,N.Y. l4StO (71*) 172-4903 '^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques \ \ ^ -' y ,r - *t- ■j he uiulorstood it, Ir.it he (Munplained bitterly of his " lambs-" Their evolution.s were, in liis view of the exi- peneles of the ease, allojijether too rapid. In executing the eonviets of that tlark day, in puttinjjj those convicts out of pain, they violated an iinpiu'tant rule and disobeyed his express eonnnaiids, for he wanted the unhappy victims fo fid t/iiif ifu'ii Kwrc ilii'ing. So that playful person, your Attorney (3 eneral, when he introduced a bill facetiously termed an Act to nnu>nd the Selp:niorial Act, »»o parently for the partienhir and sole advantage of the printers, your Mxeelleney specially invites all persons {gnit/atien is the ailv«'rtiM»d word) having business with you to call during certain hours of the afternoon of three days in each wetk. Accepting this invitation, 1 waited ujmn you in the after- noon of the Slth April last, and t hough alone ait the time, you refused to receive me, llelying u[)OU your plighted hiith oHicially pronudgated, I, who have much occupation and some caries, devoted n precious period of tunc to wait upon you, oidy to be ilisappointed. When jiersons in your position are wanting in courtesy, the public service must sutter ; and you lost some information which, unless I be imich mistaken, you would have found not quite unprofitable. It may or it may not have been " nominated in the bond" between yoiu' Excellency and your ministers that the more prominent at least among the persons whose eflbrts and whose sacritices preserved this colony, should be un- civilly troated. Dut your Excellency cannot ignore the fact, that but for the class to which / had the misfortuiie to belong, you could not have been here Governor for the Queen — no, nor any other. Those who were fortunately on the oi)posite side are all provided for to a man. You know and will admit the truth of this assertion ; nor will you deny, that with insignificant exceptions, every man wlio cuergetically espoused the royal side bas suffered more u aRcribod onownod ko your iho Inw y of his the exi- xc(!utlng convicts isoboycd r victims HI, your •etionsly doubt ruined. ntly for ra, your n k tlic 1 during h wetk. 10 aftor- ho time, |)li}^lited 'upation to wait !5 in your PC must ss I bo nfitabie. d in the ers tliat e efl'orts 1 be un- loro the [fortune ' for the unately . You nor will !ry man ;d more or loss. Is that error, in which your then prcdorossor, Sir John Colbori»o, erroneously encoura^ifcd us, is that error to be now punished as a crime ? VVill not tlie (iueen'H present friends, enjoying, as th(?y do, power and profit, rank and eniolument, at least affect so nuK^li niagnaniinity as to permit your Ex(;<'llency to treat their vaiKpHslu'd opponents vviiii ordinary courtesy ? In refcreiKro to this subjcitt, a friend who knows tlio world as it is /t.en\ gave ni(; a valuable hint. " You were humane, indulgent, kind, it is true," said he, " but you were placed over them at a j)eriod of th(Mr most f»rol'ound humiliation ; you had yourself powerfully contribiitcid to it. They remember their mortification, and cannot forgive the man who conferred benefits on them. It is i!ot in human nature." This may or may not be true, but had you condescended to see i\n\ iloes it follow that your ministers would have sent you into Coventry ? Would there have been no more conlidcince, no postprandial enjoyments ; no slicing of apples with fingers unconscious of the nail brush, no separation of clammy cards with moistened tligits ? Mr. Drummond has, as you doubtless know, a characteristic preference for subsc^rvienncy to his views. Unlike the sago qui non metu frangitur, non tristibus morgitur, noii socundis tollitur, Mr. Drummond was on(!e as pliant and humble as he is now rigid and haughty. He did not then dream, it is true, of being admitted into the society of "the quality" ; but as he was studiously deferential in adversity, so is he now arrogant in pro.sperity ; as he was jscrvilo, so is ho insolent. Mr. Drummond necessarily has a characteristic jireference for subserviency, for he erpeds others to do as he did. But your Excellency is a hereditary gentleman. In your exalted position, you arc responsible for the selection of your instruments, and England expects you " to put the right man in the right place." Were you yourself unequal to the task — were you destitute of that intuitive sagacity characteristic of all great men, by means of which capacity and mind are promptly weighed as in a balance, and sneaking red tapism is made to yield to qualification, it would be not merely humiliating but dangerous to delegate to Mr. Drummond the performance 12 i'v. W^ 1 ! i i; ^;r of a duty assigned to you by your Sovereign. Can Mr, Druinmond induce you to consider a faculty for fawning and cringing not merely as a virtue, but as the sole virtue — as the virtue neutralizing every vice, covering every sin — the substitute, in fact, for merit and efficiency ? We colonists may know nothing of the causes of vice- regal favor, but we are not ro blind as to overlook the effect. That Squire of Dames, your immediate predeces* sor, bowed low, it is true, to the possessor of political influence, as every Governor docs in his turn, but he loved, he absolutely revered the happy proprietor of an accom- modating wife and interesting daughter. The accomplish- ments and qualifications required for his Blind-man's-buff and Puss-in-the-corner parties, got up in the absence of his wife, are all, I assure you, thoroughly appreciated. Then there was the Earl of Gosford, who never could find any- thing in any man who spoke English decently. For him broken English had an inexpressible charm : nor could he confabulate with any one who wanted the indispensable foreign accent, unless, indeed, he were vouched for by that worthy the then Secretary, the never-to-be-forgotten Do- minic. His then Excellency made a sad mess of it ; but with your Excellency — apart from political influence — what is the open sesame ? Is it by chance a special aptitude, a particular style in the performance of the Kouchoo ? Such an event as I here recrrd forms an era in a man's life. It proves that to confer all the power which you possess upon a person from another hemisphere, is produc- tive of many evils and inconveniences. The knowledge of the fact is the first step towards the application of a remedy. The affectation of pomp and ctate making the incumbent inaccessible to those who have an undoubted right to ad- dress him personally on business, is the commencement of the series. You can have nothing in common with us. You may indeed entertain opinions not particularly flatter- ing to colonists ; you may have your views — an addition to your income — a peerage, perhaps — a desire to subserve metropolitan interests : but you are not of us, — you were not born here, and would not be willing to be buried here, still less that the lot of your family should be cast here. 18 You are a mere temporary sojourner. You have and can have no sympathy with us — not even with the best among us. Lilie your immediate predecessor, indeed, you may take both pride and pleasure in recommending that amnesty to enemies and oblivion of friends to which princes of a former age have more gracefully than gratefully been moved. How different would have been my reception had I claimed an audience of an elected Governor ! Such a public servant, knowing everybody in the colony, knowing something of me in particular, would have been perfectly independent of the man behind the curtain, who is always there to give the law to the European Governor. From Sir James Craig down to the present hour there has always been some lickspittle fetcher and carrier — sometimes many ; — always some ear wigging, cajoling. Governor-directing official or unofficial particular parasite of the day. In the nature of things it must be so, and directly or indirectly the stranger wlio occupies Government House, even in the dispensation of the hospitalities for which the country pays, imbibes the opinions and conforms to the tastes of the man behind the cnrtain. An elective Governor would dispense with that functionary and judge for himself ! An elective Governor would have deemed it his duty to have treated me with politeness at least. Unless he extends some protection to the minority, unless he interposes to allay the bitterness of religious animosity, unless he feels that those who have the inso- lence and the folly to claim a monopoly of heaven may assume the right to oppress and injure in this world those whom they doom to everlasting damnation in the next, the Governor for the time being is nothing but an expen- sive pageant. Your mission, then, is that of a moderator and an arbiter ; your weight should be thrown into the scale of the weaker few. Should your Excellency be pleased to look at the Census, you will find that a fifth of the population of Lower Canada is Protestant. Yet are we not represented in the Goverraent. Y^'our five Lower Canada ministers are all Roman Catholics. What guaran- tee have we that in the Council Chamber our rights will be respected ? In the Court of Appeals, too, composed 14 it-'- J J Li; ' i-:^i m' of four Judges, who have in their hands our fortunes, our lives and our characters, three are Roman Catholics — while the fourth is His Honor the Hon. Mr. Justice Aylwin. This is the dignitary who sat nearly opposite to your Excellency at the dinner given you in Montreal upon the 6th of March last, an occasion upon which you were induced by circumstances to make some enquiries. You know him then ; but you are not perhaps aware that his honor being indisposed during the two following days, could not take his seat upon the Bench 1 Then there is His Honor Mr. Justice Duval. Could your Excellency explain his being gazetted as he was under the name of John Francis, or did your Excellency never enquire ? Deceived by the names " John Francis," you have perhaps jumped at the conclusion that His Honor was not a French Canadian, not a Roman Catholic. It was probably intended too that that impression should be pro- duced among the Upper Canadians, who having daily business transactions with us are manifestly as much in- terested in the composition of our Courts as we are ourselves. They very naturally expect, as we do, that on the Bench at least there should be a fair division ; yet is it in the Supreme Court three *to one — and that one Mr. Justice Aylwin ! — against the Protestants. I who have studied in the same office with His Honor the Honorable Mr. Justice Duval, can certify to the intenseness of his faith and devotion, nor was I at all unprepared for his obiter dictum in the case of Filiau. This young man, sir, was condemned to imprisonment for omitting to take off his hat in respect to the Host as it was carried past him in the opm air ! It is true that the judgment was eventually reversed, but His Honor the Honorable Mr. Justice Duval (I never omit any of the titles of such persons) could not contain himself. His language on that occasion, indeed, justified the inference that but for the fatal infor- malities upon which the original decision was set aside, he would have confirmed it I This occurred, tempore Elgin, ill the year of grace 1853 or 1854. Now as in the highest court, to which His Honor has since then been, for his virtue?!, rather irregularly elevated, there are three Roman 18 Catholics, what security would the Archbishop of Canter- bury have were he to refuse to cap and bow to the Host as it passed him in the street ? Then there is the case of that valiant septuagenarian, that poor, friendless Protest- ant soldier Gray. He Avas condemned to bo hanged for the murder of his Roman Catholic wife upon the charge of His Honor the Honorable Mr. Justice Duval. It is doubtless fresh in your recollection ; nor can you be ignorant of the complaints of the able counsel who defended Gray, or of the sensation produced by the terrible result. It is true that by God's providence the unexampled exer- tions of a genuine philanthropist extorted from your Excellency a free and unconditional pardon, and no murder was perpetrated. Your Excellency's pardon establishes the innocence of the accused ; but though placed high above the law you must admit that the fate of Gray may any day overtalje any man who worships God as you do. In this country appointments to office, and more especially to judicial offices, require great consideration, and your Excellency is a party to all appointments. Now, you are unavoidably ignorant of many important facts, which your ministry may choose to conceal from you, and with which, if accessible and courteous, you might be made acquainted. But if you will not receive those whom you invite, or receiving them insist on your Attorney General being present at the interview, few men will communicate their thoughts freely. It is not considered pleasant in fact, no nor quite safe, to be put into the power of the Attorney General ; and as a Grand Juror is sworn to secrecy, a Governor General may be expectied to be discreet ! Tlic Queen our Sovereign is interested in the observance of this rule. We need, God knows, a protector. Is it a part which you disdain to perform — is it, in your apprehension, unworthy of you ? Has it never struck your Excellency that in the search of that countei'phise without which we can no longer live, the thoughts of men will wander into regions from wh'^ii but a short time back they had shrunk with afifrigh' i one word, we have fought and bled to give power to our enemies, and they grind us. The 16 Governor who cannot detect the mean designs of ignoble empirics thrown up by the political surge, is unworthy and unfit for his station. He who aids and abets them forfeits all title to respect. The rule by which some of your predecessors have been actuated was to divide that they might govern. I have long known and appreciated it. An idolater of England and everything English, from my ardent love, my profound veneration for the character of the English people, I have hitherto forborne — but the time to speak has come ; and as you are organizing the ■militia, you know that the time for action is not distant. Should tlie war continue in Europe, the tide will roll on hitherward ; and it has struck me that at this moment it would be interesting to enumerate the objects for which, in the event of an invasion, we should have to fight ! That may be the subject of a future letter. I may probably write you one or two others ; for I desire to submit my views of the patronage of the Attorney General and of the administration of justice. I may also discuss the scheme of the federal union, its object and its effect upon the people of Canada. Why have we two rules of action — one the most ])erfect that the world has ever known, obtaining among English gentlemen, and another calculated for the meridian of the Colonies — applied by persons calling themselves English gentlemen in their intercourse with colonists ? — I myself could cite examples — I could specify several occasions upon which persons in the position of your Excellency have condescended to palter in a double sense. I could name one who deliberately covered himself with infamy by intentionally affirming as a fact what he knew to be false ! Your Excellency will say that this does not apply to you — ^but is it nothing to invite men who have their occupations to call upon you and to refuse to see them, though the object of their visit involve not merely their fortunes but the fortunes of a whole class, and what is more, the royal honor ? Is this keeping faith ? Your Excellency cannot complain of my being troublesome, for save that yielding to tJie force of habit I waited upon you to pay my respects, I have never, except upon the occasiou on w It oa which yon treated me so rndely, had any intercourse with you. But your Excellency being well informed, must be acquainted with the tenor of the Proclamation of his late Majesty King George the Third, inviting settlers to repair to Canada. By the terms of that proclamation, the Magna Charta of the settlers of that day, such settlers were assured that they would be dealt with accord- ing to the rules obtaining in England. Now most of the Seigniors of the present day are the descendants of men who, upon the faith of that proclamation, settled in Lower Canada : but mark the result. Your Excellency knows better than I do the scrupulous regard for private right which has been manifested in legislating in England upon the subject of estates held under the copyhold tenure — a tenure which in essentials is nearly identical with the Seigniorial. You know it well. Will you please compare the course pursued in England with the hot, hasty and lumping enactments of your Attorney General, Mr. Drummond. Here I dare to constitute your Excellency the sole judge. I pray you to determine the question — have the Seigniors been treated as the English landlords by copyhold tenure — have those land- lords in England been treated as the Seigniors have been treated here ? Can you venture to assert that the British Parliament would have dared to pass, or even to notice, the one-sided enactments prepared by your Attorney General ? Can your Excellency affirm that any Ministry could have stood one hour in England who came down to parliament with such a jumble ? Is your Excellency prepared to maintain that the proprietors would have been denied a hearing, as they were here, in my case, for one, and in that of a gentleman so remarkable for his courtesy that the treatment which he received at your hands would be, were he not as remarkable for his vera- city, perfectly incredible. And still animated by the spirit of God-like Nelson — still expecting every man to do his duty — the nation may well exclaim at the decay of public virtue, when, upon an appeal for protection, a Governor General has the courage to intimate, not merely that he will be guided by Mr. Drummond, but that he c2 18 «; 1^1 li m will not aHow himself to be addreBsed save in the presence of Mr. Drummond ! Who, then, is the Governor — yonr Excellency, or the man by whom the Seigniors have been doomed, and by whose acts I, for one, have lost half my income ? How would your Excellency like that proceed- ing applied to yourself ? Supposing that Lord Palmerston introduced a bill to-morrow to diminish your income by one-half, how would you like that, I say ? And if you respectfully desired an interview to apprize him of facts which he had overlooked, and of fatal consequences which ■must follow, how would you like to be uncivilly treated ? I am aware that no such thing could occur here where you arc Governor General — but in England your Excel- lency would be, as you no doubt were, a mere suitor, or dependant more or less of the colonial Secretary or Ministry for the time being. A. GUGY. LETTER 11. .':■■■ , t ill I, 11 I Sir, — On the brink of tiie abyss, the roar of the cataract thundering in my ears, I devote half an hour to your Excellency. Extreme meet, — and this, which is among the most sublime of all the material works of God, cannot shut out the thought of your Excellency. I left Quebec before the publication of a letter, to which I perceive that the independent proprietor of the Gazette has given a place in his columns. You may have noticed an omis- sion, which was doubtless my fault — a fault which, owing to my absence, I could not correct, but which I acknowledge and would repair. A nice sensibility to the feelings of others, and a proper observance of conventionalities, are the characteristics of gentlemen. Accordingly / owe it to myself, as having some pretensions, to acknowledge that the conclusion of my first letter was not satisfactory. It 10 ought to have contained the usual assurance, that " 1 had the honor to be your Bxcellenoy's most obedient and very humble servant." Will your Excellency please to accept of this acknowledgement ? I find that the course which you pursued towards me is defended by the boor who writes for the IVanscript news- paper. He describes your Excellency as exulting in the want of good manners, and deems it becoming. Yet, had he but known that immediately before the revolution similar pretensions brought upon a miscreant governor in the streets of New York a terrible indignity, he had not insulted your Excellency in that fashion. Had I without cause intruded in your private residence in London or in the country, you might have exercised your right of ex- pulsion ; but upon your own showing in Canada you are bound to admit people on business, and let me tell the Transcript you're paid for it, and paid too to be civil. Your Excellency will not expect an elaborate epistle from this place, before the grandeur of which little things sink into utter insignificance. But as I took the liberty to enquire of you how you would like to be done out of your income, and as I omitted to distinguish between your official salary and the annual produce of your estates, I ilesire to say that I alluded to the latter. 1 say then, supposing your Excellency to have had in any country in England any number of patrimonial acres, how would yon like to be deprived of one-half of their produce by a combination between Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby, Sir Conway Louis and Mr. D'Israeli ? Such a thing, you will say, would not occur in England — nor would it. But granting that, why were you a party to its occurrence here ? Will your Excellency please to answer that ques- tion if you can ? Oppressed with the weight of your uniform, you read a celebrated speech from the throne. — Less, I presume, from its weight (though it did appear to operate rather awkwardly) than from the sentiments put into your mouth by your ministry, you seemed to be very ill at ease while making a striking remark. You said that in Canada the feudal tenure had been abolished without violence or revolution. Why did you not at the same 20 \%' t Mil if I time state the fact that revolution was impossible ? How could your BxcelWncy afifect to believe in the possibility, when you could not but know that the Seigniors, who were the victims, did not exceed two hundred, including many women and orphans, principally Protestants not represented in any branch of the Legislature, while on the other hand there are upwards of three hundred thousand Roman Catholics who control the Legislature, and arc to profit by the transaction ? In candour, your Excellency, was it in the nature of things to be assumed, as you appear t^ have assumed, that a revolution was immediately within tlie bounds of possibility. Without pausing to enquire whether this was perfectly ingenuous and creditable, I shall suppose you to subscribe to the doctrine of all incumbents, who, like Charles X., as well as Louis Philippe, always scoflf at prospective revolutions. So do you, but you have their example and might have profited by it. A revolution is no more immediately possible than remotedly improbable ; and the acts and deeds of Lord Dunmore may be studied with advantage. The future before you may convey another great lesson ; but why did you so taunt the unfortunate seigniors whom you and your ministry had delivered bound hand and foot to their enemies ? Do you suppose that had they been suflSciently numerous they would have been so unmanly that the foul wrong done them would have been tamely borne ? There must be no misapprehension. I complain only because my income has been reduced by one-half — because I have been deprived of my property without compensation. My right is wrung from me by statute. Why did not the same statute contain provisions for satisfying my just and undoubted claim I When the abolition and the compen- sation should have proceeded hand in hand, pari passu, why is the one immediate, the other future ; why is the one certain, the other doubtful ; the one absolute, the other contingent ; why was the right to compensation made to depend on the tardy action of such courts as we have, upon the determination of judges selected and appointed as ours are, upon the sufficiency of a fund noto- riously inadequate, and upon the future vote of the ? How Rsibility, irs, who iicludin^ mts not on the thousand id are to cellency, a appear ly within enquire itable, I e of all IS Louis So do ! profited ible than of Lord le future why did and your to their iflBciently the foul ? • (lain only -because lensation. d not the just and \ compen- ri passu, rhy is the »lute, the pensation irts as we cted and und notc- of the 21 Legislative Assembly ? What is all this but ministerial arrangements and ministerial machinery for doing precisely whatever they may see fit. Your Excclieucy will recollect " the groans of tho Britons," bowed down and weeping at the feet of their Roman masl^ers. In imitation of the Proconsuls of that day, your Excellency bears with great equanimity tlio sufferings of otliers. Tiicre was one, too, worthy of u better fate, who endeavoured to excite a spirit of rcjiist- ance — who, warning his countrymen, reminded them that " where the Romans made a solitude they called it peace." Let me here record your analogous boast that " no violence, no revolution," has followed your abolition of the feudal tenure. But the desolation consequent upon your un-English legislation has sunk deep into the ** hearts and minds of men," and some grave consequences will assuredly follow. " Time at length makes all things even." I have the honor. Sir, to be Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant, A. GUGY. Niagara, 13th July, 1855. LETTER III. Sir, — At the table of Lord Elgin a good story was once told in my presence. It related to the Hon. William Seward, then Governor of the State of New York, It seems that he was understood to be much influenced, if not entirely guided, by a person of the name of Weed. The driver of a stage coach had said or done something which induced Mr. Seward, who was among the passen- gers, to rebuke him. He concluded by saying, " Don't you know that I'm the Governor ?" Nothing daunted, Coachee replied, " You may be Bill Seward, but Thurlow f ' l< ' 23 II 1"' !l1 i-J *liii lii 0' Weed is Governor." It had its application ; and the then iMcuni))ent, whose saltations and gyrations found more iavor with Canadian dames than with the East India Directors, smiled ruefully. Has the tale no application ut present ? Are there not thousands indeed who are puzzled to know who is Governor, you, or — forgive me, I beg — Mr. Drummond ? It is notorious that he condescends to invite people to dine with you, as he has been known to invite himself to dine with other people. It is a plan which combines economy with convenience, and it has in a military point of view the advantage of living on the enc?ny. Mr. Drummond being exquisitely, I must not whisi)er ridiculously, vain, and inflated by prosperity, is certainly quite capable of aflfecting the ego et rex meus style. But whatever may be the points of resemblance between you and the first Defender of the Faith, though " begot by beggars and by butchers bred," the great Car- dinal's memory must not be insulted by offensive compari- sons. There is perhaps some affinity to Dubois, Taimable vaurieu, barring the amiability and the laborious habits, just as the hippopotamus bears some affinity to the race horse. Having ceased to countenance me, Mr. Drummond has transferred his patronage to your Excellency. Oh ! how much — how much yon are to be envied I Mr. Drummond will remember a celebrity — an At- torney General likewise — one who had the good fortune, l)y intense study and rare luck, to find the only copy of tlie British Constitution that ever was written. Whether it was composed in Runic, in Saxon, in Latin, or Norman French ; whether fairly copied under the eye of the author, in black letter or Roman character ; whether it be in print or in manuscript, does not appear ; for the fortunate posses- sor at night always takes the precious book to bed with him. In the daytime he buttons it up in his breeches pocket, whether it be the right pocket or the left pocket, or both pockets alternately, is a matter relative to which the best authorities are not agreed ; but the book being his sole property, the distinguished owner was accordingly instantly translated to the hospital for incurables. In due time, following that precedent, of course Mr. Drummond 23 will occupy a similar position ; and an exception \)v'\h>j: made in his favor as a kindred spirit, lie may tlius ol)tniii nearly as much information as his fur-famed predeeessor- the erudite James Smith. Miraculous siieepskin — thou art worthy of all praise and nil worshij). {*) Under the benign rule of Your Excellency, or of Mr, Drummond, or both, the school of the comic hero wiio " never could stand straight before a great mou," must thrive famously. Your Excellency has a keen relish lor the curvilinear attitude, denoting abject submissioii. It is understood to bo your line of Vjcauty. Nature having, however, denied to me the indispensable elasticity of dorsjil muscle, I, who audaciously claim respectful treatment — 1 who unblushingly subscribe my letters — am necessarily (*) Parcbmcut is the polito official uamu for the piece ol' sheep- skin generally about ttfteeii inches by nine, on which commiHsiou!^ are written. They have the power of couvcrtUijj the bray of the Jackasis into the song of the nightingale. They can also transform a worthless lout, wbio has passed his whole life in eating dirt into an honorable ! — What is more, they shall make a maiugy cur, us* clean as if like Naaman ho had washed in Jordan. Gentlomcu have even been known to sit at the same table with persons of that stamp — that is to say, in a steamer or a tavern, or at the table of the Governor General or Legislative Council. The virtues of the shcepslcin extend even to the ct ceteras, and whatever Ije the irregularities, the infamy of a woman of the town, should she contrive to be married by a fellow who begs, borrows or steals u bit of sheepskin, heigh cocolorum, she becomes the associate of women, may God forgive them, who ought to be virtuous and to know better. I have thought of the subject and had intended to publish a volume under the title of *' the wonders of a bit of sheep- skin." It was a voice from Wisconsin that induced me to suspend ray labors. A lad there wrote to his uncle in Vermont to come on immediately (which is the Yankey for to repair forthwith to Wis- consin) for said he, there are some almighty mean men in office here and you'll be sure to make your fortune.' ' I confess that fearing that so soon as it became known what almighty mean men we had in office here, we should have all Europe pouring upon Canada, as in the time of the Crusades they did upon Asia, I lelt that it would be dangerous to proceed. The work may, liowever, see the light. If it should, it will contain a full true and particu- lar account of the birth, parentage and education ; the morals, merits, claims, capacity and career of every incumbent, accom- pagnied in some cases in vindication of Heaven's first law, by an epitome of Mcsdames, with if possible a list of their lovers. 1^ ; . i i \ if i! ,4 V if iaboocd, proscribed, anathematizecl. The spectator on the inouiitain-top, above the clouds, may well lose sight of the humble hamlet below. Thus your Excellency cannot perceive the union which exists between manhood and generosity — nor can you detect the inseparable connexion between the affectation of si)ecial deference to you person- nlly, and habitual insolence towards others. There is, however, a graduated scale, ensuring compensation for the servility which is deemed agreeable to you. Excuse me, please, the apparently amiable persons who crouch like spaniels at your feet will not fail to make themselves amends by arrogant exactions, which must exclude from the Queen's service every man of spirit ; and should a day of trial come, the devotion of your courtiers will be ex- hausted. It has been so, and will be again. Even in England there is a ferment in the public mind — even in England, where enjoying the advantages of monarchical institutions, all men may hope for distinc- tion. Here, sir, I dare through you to publish to the universe, that enduring all the evils of a perfect democracy, from all participation in which we, that is one-fifth of the population of Lower Canada, are excluded — we enjoy none of the advantages of monarchy — no, not one. We thus labour under the worst evils of the two systems of Government. Thus we have lived to witness the shooting down of Protestant people at the door of a Protestant church by the Queen's forces, under the command of a Frenchman with an Englsh name — a small shopkeeper speaking neither language correctly — absurdly called to the Council, intensely Roman Catholic. And the law — in which the same system produces the same results — has afforded no redress and never can or will. Don't you fee) or know that that conviction is fermenting in the hearts of men ? It is that conviction which has brought so many thousands to the conclusion that the next best thing to an Englisman is at American. In some respects the latter when contrasted with the English are manifestly inferior, as being addicted to chewing, spitting and liquoring, and also because on the road they pass as we do here on the 25 wrong side ; but as being less self-snfficient, less distant and repulsive, they are perhaps better. The American is certainly proud of his country, but not of himself ; he is not vain, not generally disposed to be offensive. In my own intercourse with them 1 have found them invariably kind, obliging, and exceedingly generous. In early life I was inclined to contest to them the right to the name of American. It appeared to me to be as presumptuous as if the French or the Germans had called themselves Europeans. In those days I had the folly to imagine that I should have been entrusted with the custody of the Citadel of Quebec, or in any other matter would have been treated like a natural bom subject of Her Majesty's realm of England ; but your Excellency has cured me. Accordingly I now feel that the civilized men of North America may be divided into three classes — namely, Americans, Mexicans and Colouists. You will remember that England was once said to contain men, women and Herveys, and will draw the inference. It is not the most worthy among the English who immigrate, and how can you possibly secure the right man in the right place, when yon hold out to us natives no hopes — when you purposely exclude us from all chance of advancement? Indeed, in Lower Canada it amounts almost to a crime to be a Protestant — it is at least dealt with as a crime. Behold my offence and its punishment ! French Canadian nationality is based upon religion. It includes every Roman Catholic as un bon Canadien — — it excludes every Protestant as un Anglais. That is the true division and the only division. It exists in fami- lies, among the children of the same parents, the Papist brother being cherished, while the other brother being a Protestant is held in execration. Then the church inter- poses obstacles to intermarriages, and, in fine, for lack of measures which an able colonial minister or an able Gov- ernor could have taken and ought to have taken, there can be no fusion of the races. When did the priests ever reason — when did they bate one jot of their pretensions ? Why, at this hour, so soon as any project of a matrimo- D 26 tl 'I : m m 1-1 •i J {;'; ; ' AM 'Hi m 1^' >3 uial engagement between a Protestant of either sex and a Roman Catholic transpires, the former is instantly in- vited to apostatize — nothing less. Should the request be rejected, the Protestant never fails to be pestered with daims affecting children yet unborn. Nothing less will satisfy the Priests than that their father or mother, as the case may be, resigning the office devolving on them in the order of nature, should allow the priest to fashion their minds, just as the Chinese do the feet of their women. But like other evils, this does not affect you — and why should you care ? Yet is it manifest that under a system which ensures the perpetuation and increase of existing evils, great calamities must be entailed on our descendants. A time will come, therefore, when Protestant and Papist, to propitiate a God of peace, will invoke the God of battles. The sense of injustice is producing its invariable result. Men must go mad, or agitate, or emigrate. Of 1 course they choose the lesser evil, and they fly. Seeing no prospect, no field being open to them, Protestant youth born in Lower Canada are driven to expatriation. I could name Canadians of consummate ability who are now oc- tiupied in contributing to the power of England's most dangerous rival. The consciousness of intellectual power will exercise some influence on the tone of mind, and such men will be more or less self-sustained : knowing, too, that the most brilliant career is open to them in the iteighboming Republic, such men will not endure the iusoleuce of office. I am too old to emigrate, but to my j^jersoual knowledge some of those who have reluctantly left Lower Canada are the descendants of men who at the revolution made incredible sacrifices, and forfeited estates lonist should fill that office : as if one so low in tlic d2 80 i;» l^n '^4 ^'''>' ''''fir intellectual scale as he, could entertain any opinion wortb| the paper on which it was written. I have avoided the use of the term Englishman, fori notwithstanding the insult which you have offered me, it is n word of power, exciting in my breast sentiments of res- 1 liect, admiration, and aflfection. There are, doubtless, exceptions, such as the notorious Lord DeRoos, who! saute le coup ; but the term English gentleman, is in my mind, as a result of my education and experience, thcj type of excellence ; but why should every man from tk old country be considered superior to me ? Do you assume,! as too many do, Governor General of Canada, that the race has degenerated, in America ? Do you forget tht Louisbourg Grenadiers, at the head of whom Wolfe was | wounded and fell immortal ? Do you overlook the Yan- key Continentals, who assisted you to take Havannah] and Quebec, and who fought your battles until you drove them to fight you ? If history be not written in vain, can you overlook York To\^ n and Saratoga ? I record i not these facts in a tone of exultation, but I protest against a course of conduct calculated to produce in this | country the most lamentable results. You are aware of the excitement produced in England by the degree of royal favor shown to Lord Bute and his countrymen. Now, in that particular at least, we arc in no wise different from Englishmen ; and if their anger was kindled at the pretensions of three millions of Scotch- men, what may we not feel, considering that we have to contend against thirty-three millions. Yes, Sir, it is the whole population of the British Isles against six hundred thousand of us : in the language of the turf — ^the Bank of England to a China orange. Rely upon it, we have eyes to see, and we never can be satisfied so long as we find every broken down trader, every body who has tried all tilings and failod in every thing, including many charla- til us in every branch, and some who would scarcely be admitted into an English gentleman's servants' hall, made tasy for life in some good office in Canada. We are the less satisfied, because imitating a person who shall be nameless, not a few of those persons so provided for, give 31 opinion wortti themselves great airs, and are, in fact, the curse of every social circle in which they are to be found. By their talea of European splendor they induce colonial wives to affect }k style of living quite inconsistent with their condition in life. Expensive habits prevent early marriages, and more especially frequent marriages. And now that Govern- ment House has ceased to be a school in which good manners, and what is better, mental refinement, could be acquired, such persons unavoidably lower the standard of morals. In fact, it nmy be said of them that they inspire the native born youth with a degree of diffidence contrasting singularly with the relative superiority of the latter, while it tends to rivet the chains on their necks. So long ajj that system continues, the worst Europeans will invariably prefer a claim, to a sort of social sup<> riority over the ])est colonist. Sir, there will be drivellers and idiots in all ages and communities, and in this age and country you have men who, begetting children in Canada, sneer at colonist*. But unless they repent in time retributive justice will over- take them. They will soon awaken from their di'eam or affectation of superiority to find their offspring, as merr^ colonists, expiatiug the crimes of their fathers, and enduring the trisHs quies ct tedium vitce as the acknowledged inferiors of future vulgar immigrants from the British Isles. For my part, as well in the name of those honored progenitor?- whose blood flows in my veins, as on behalf of my ranch- loved grandsons, I protest against that doctrine. Let who will bend and sneak, I am, I insist on it, on a perfect footing of equality with the best man from the old country who ever showed his nose in Canada, be he who he may. Sir, the census proves that our numbers exceed 600,000, every one of whom will feel or should feel that he may be treated as I have been. Nor shall we be denied the sym- pathy of the generous English, nor will those who have settled here and have begotten colonists refuse us their alliance. Submission to petulance, arrogance and insult upon the free soil of America is quite incompatible with merit of any kind whatever ; nor, if you insist on it, can you ever expect to see the " right man iu the right place." 32 11 ii i * I' 1(1 },m 1^ ■ r i'liii ■■;. iis i;- 'Ii In the atmosphere breathed by the progeny of the Tithe Proctor, servility and adulation must have a preference, it is true ; but is it not your Excellency who is Governor General ? Are you not responsible to the Queen, our royal mistress, that " Canada be not lost or given away ?" You have not abdicated, I believe ; still less consented to be always conducted in leading strings by Mr. Drummond. ])iaphonous as Mr. Drummond is, you must know that he owes his importance principally to his creed, but much also to his voice. It is without doubt susceptible of some modulation, for it combines the bray of a sucking donkey with the creaking of the door of a sepulchre. He alter- nately whines like an infant poodle, then roars like the ram's horns which blew down the walls of Jericho. His <]»lleagues appreciate him thoroughly, if you do not ; but I must not disclose all I know. Infirmities of temper and a disposition to yield to low caste, men your inferiors in moral worth and intellectual power, may all co-exist mth manhood and magnanimity. Speaking as I do thus plainly, I cannot yet divest myself of my partiality for a scho':ir and a gentleman of the lion- hearted race to which you belong. Nor will you, I hope, ascribe to me the folly and the meanness of undervaluin;j: it or you. Gentlemen never threaten ; and if I could forget myself, I should either excite your contempt or your ani- mosity. On the contrary, it is because of my just appre- ciation of the merits and the rights of Englishmen that I desire to be held as one of them. Accident has fortunately assisted me, and if I dared to call myself an Englishman 1 should never be contradicted. You have cured me of a delusion under which I labored, it is true : yet I did once consider myself part and parcel of the great Empire. I fancied myself an inheritor of the glory achieved by the victors of Crecy, Agincourt, Blenheim and Waterloo, — and my bosom yet swells at the bare thought of the charge at Balaklava, and of the heroism displayed at Inkermann. The triumph of native valor excites me almost to delirium. What have Greece or Rome, in their most palmy days, ever exhibited more ennobling than those men riding proud-^ ly to destruction, than those soldiers without chiefs over- 33 irowing a host of well-officered, fanaticised barbarians ? Phey present to ray mind as magnificent a spectacle as lat of Leouidas promising his soldiers a supper with Pluto -or as the handful of Greeks charging invincibly at Mara- Ihou. But, sir, though they be justly indignant in England it the mismanagement of our affairs in the East, do you relieve that you will secure the approbation of your country bd your sovereign by mismanaging them in the West ? hough now engrossed with the war in the Crimea, Canada md Sir Edmund Head will sooner or later engage a share )f public attention, and even my case may tell. You will Kxeuse me, sir, it was not my fault if I acted on so small theatre — nor was it my fault if I have not been often rounded and eventually put to death. I was in the way )f those things, and you may learn, if you please, how I I'onducted myself ; you know how I have been rewarded, was not then in the Queen's military service, and if I be lot an Englishman, I hope you will be told that I acted )retty nearly as well. At all events, I was as true, as self-sacrificing as any Englishman could have been. Every M countryman who took part in the contest to which I refer received some mark of royal favoui*, beginning with Sir John Colborne, who was therefore ennobled. Since that period, under the auspices of Lord Elgin, the political )repouderance having devolved on French Canadians, those jwho ill arms resisted the Queen's authority have been luppointed to places of power and emolument ; some of Ithem indeed have received distinctions. Thus all the old Icountrymen on the royal side, and all the colonists on the [other side, have been rewarded, while I have been over- llooked, ruined, slighted. Seeing the Chief Justice, Sir J Louis Lafontaine, one day, a kind but much mistaken [friend urged me to move Her Majesty to raise me by some distinction from the oblivion into which I have fallen. But my Lord Elgin, or now your Excellency, or both, would doubtless be consulted, and the fate of my applica- I tion could be safely predicted. Thus I have learned, not indirectly, that I was charged I with the crime of unpopularity. But, at least from Quintus Curtius down to the present hour, no individual could 34 lienefit his conntry without making sacrifices — it raajl be of worldly goods — it may be of life— it may be off fame. Many men may bo popular at some period of theifl lives, and unpopular ever after, or vice versa. Assuredlyl Lord Elgin was at one time the most decidedly un[)opular| of men. In the estimation of many he has not rcdeemcdj liimsclf, and never will. He might, I think, have re- mciiiherGd that in April, 1849, when he contrived to excite I tlie British ])opnlation almost to frenzy, when they couldl be restrained neither by the Police, nor by the Frencli) ('anadinns, whom he had armed, nor by the Queeu'B^troops,| I was not unpopular. But for my intervention on three several occa- Hions, h(3 might have been hanged or torn to pieces I in his own house ; l3ut for my intervention, sir,. — it is a solenui fact attested by scores of witnesses — the troops would infallibly have slaughtered hundreds of my Protestant, protesting fellow-citizens. At that time! thousands of armed sympathizers, with decided mili- tary instincts and some discipline, in the neighbouring I k^tatos, were ready to advance to the rescue. In Upper < 'anada, too, hundreds eager for the fray could scarcely be restrained from pouring down like a flood to our' relief. Had tlie collision (which by God's providence 1 [)re vented) taken place, Canada must have been severed from Great Britain. Have I not done something, and timt not a little thing — for I prevented the effusion of blood, and possibly, as a consequence, saved a Province ; — have I not done something, I say, which after my death may induce my descendants to respect my memory ? Need I, after this statement, enter into my defence? Need I refer to illustrious examples ? I will not cite the apostles — but Wicklifife, Luther, Ridley. Were they popular? Why, at the close of the Revolutionary War, that incar- nation of patriotism, the heroic Nelson, then captain of a man-of-war, was so unpopular that had he stepped ashore upon any West India island, he would have been appre- hended, lie was frequently chased by bailiffs and consta- bles, and the Admiral coniitianding on the Station censured, reprimanded and suspended him. All these were the consequences, simply, of his determination to do his duty, 86 ^hich frequently, intleed, makea a man unpopular. Upon world which he discovered, Columbus was arrested and jut in chains to Spain. Such, sir, are the lessons of istory, (and without daring to imagine that my case can any respect be compared with any of those wiiich 1 luivo itcd) I am perfectly consoled. Moses, by divine com- land leading the children of Israel into the land of promise, ras subjected to imputations and accusations of all kinds, [ow can a humble individual like me, urghig, as I niu loing, my countrymen to assume their proper place in r own country, escape the conunon penalty ? I ex- Bcted and am prepared for it — the more so as 1 have [eceived several samples. Referring to the Montreal riots, was charged with being the author of them, simi)ly |)ecause I ran every risk to put them down ; as if a man ike me could urge any body of men into any danger that b durst not share I as if I could publicly disclaim senti- lents privately avowed ! My being the sou of a foreigner, like George I., leorge II., and George III., I am told weighs awfully (kgainst me. " Born and educated in this country," said leorge III., " I glory in the name of a Briton." I cannot by as much, though the offspring of Protestant foreigners, like your sovereigns, like Beutiuck, Romilly and Labou- )here, I am not very far from being as much of an Eng- lishman as the Prince of Wales, and I should like to be ible to continue to glory, as I have hitherto done, in being British subject. The race of Tell, of Arnold and ''inkilried, may not be unworthy to associate with that Coke, Somers, Hampden and Blake. Accordingly, lOved by our disasters in the East, (as you will observe, Bulking the colonist, I still use the personal pronoun,) " tendered my services. I should have served ih any japacity ; and if Earl Cathcart be a good judge, as I fear e is not— if he did not stoop to flatter or deceive me — should not be destitute of what he did me the honor to ill talents for war. This offer was coldly rejected. But rhat was my surprise to find going the rounds of all the lewspapers, paragraphs intimating that the Quebec Caval- Iry had volunteered for the Crimea. The corps, it was Jsaid, with augmented numbers, armed, disciplined and M 11' li' ' 'I: II !'•! <; well moonteil, would infallibly distinguish itself. I shouk know something of military matters generally, and araon^ other things I myself commanded such a corps for severii years I assumed that position at the instance of Lor Dalhousic, a nobleman who did not disdain to treat witll civility gentlemen holding no office. Then as independenil of him as he could be of mo, and frequently in his presencJ I can certify that ho was the very incarnation of gonerositjf hospitality, courtesy and charity. Sincere and nuiidy, frtj from the atfectatiou of importance, simple in all his habit? unpatronizing and uncondesanding, lie had the art iJ putting every one at his ease. What a contrast betweeii' him and some of his cunning, scheming, money-mukinji successors. It was natural that I should desire to see the Quel>« Cavalry. Having diligently sought I eventually ascer tained that it had no existence. Positively there is u\ such thing : not a trooper, not a trumpeter, not a horse not a saddle, not a bridle, not a valise, not a cloak, not a carbine or pistol, not a belt, nor a sabre — nothing, nothing Some young men were, it is true, gazetted as officers — om major, two captains, two lieutenants, one cornet aL"i surgeon, or assistant f urgeon ; but does that constitute n c^r[)s — all officers and no soldiers ? Of course you don't expect to resist the Yankees in that way. The Chinese when they tried to frighten us (again the pronoun personal i had at least wooden guns, and they did us the honor not merely to show them, but to paint them most frightfully So Mardonius and the other satraps of the Great King who were so tremendously discomfited by handsful of Greek republicans, had at least soldiers, such as they were, and in great numbers too, under their command. But your Excellency is neither so ingenious as the Chinese, nor so well supplied as Mardonius, and if the Yankee , should some fine day swarm over, you will be at a loss. '.- Do you know too that I think that you will be mo' ' comeatable to men whom you now undervalue and refuse to see. If you doubt my accuracy, call upon your Adjutant General, who, at least, is a soldier as well as an unaffected gentleman, to parade the corps. !.S()llMII ol ill vie we not U hut V nrid I) was < liavo lotiic my o\ comit tlie sc not 01 :i))poii dian, triiste alone, of libc ileed, Attor and ((I l)y hill Iconipc m Ion k'ounti or pre to tlie Queer :!T If. I shouli , andarooD s for severa nee of Lor treat witll indcpeiKleDtl his prest'Hwl >f generositjl } manly, frw| ill his hubit« i the art ull rast betwei'il oiiey-nuikinj ; the Qneljw tually ascer- there is nr Qot a horw cloak, not ;i ing, nothing officers — owl cornet aL"l constitute a \se you don't The Chine* un personali le honor not , frightfully Great King handsful of 18 they wert. inand. But the Chinese, he Yankee at a loss, trill be moi ' and refust' lur Adjutant n unaffected !* Arrlviii;jr by a naturul Iransitiou at tlio appointment |'»r liaroii lit' Koltonburg, I avail myst'lf of this occasion l.s()l('MinIy to iMitcr my protest iij^ainst it. Tiie recurrence ()[ an old colonial jj:;ricvanco is not at this day to Im viewed with indiflerencc, not can it be tolerated. I trust not to Samp.son in tln^ arms of the Canadian Delilah ; iMit where was Sir Allan McNab, who is a colonist himsell and a gentleman — where was he, I say, when this insult was ollered to his countrymen ? lie, doubtless, might, liave prevented the commission of a crime which nniy lead to the most disastrous results. I have taken counsel IVoni my own heart alone, f have considted not one of my own countrymen, for it was and is fitting that I sjiould assume the sole responsibility of my own ads. What ! was thei'c not one of Jler Majesty's Canadian subjects worthy of tlu» appointment — not one 't If there were no Frencli Cana dian, was there not one Anglo-Canadian who could be trasted ? To what depths have we fallen ! 1 may stand alone, and you have your Attorney General and your law of libel to ruin me : symptoms of official persecution, in- deed, have already manife^sted themselves. You have your Attorney General, and your law of treason to hang, draw and (piarter me ; and you have, too, your judges selected l)y him and appointed by you : you have subservient Juries, composed of men who will do anything to please you ; but so long as the French Canaeliaus and men from the old country engross, as they now engross, every place of honor or prolit — so long as every avenue to distinction is closed to the Anglo-Canadians, I for one never will fight for the Queen — never — never — never. I have the honor. Sir, to be Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant, A. GUGY. Quebec, 1.3th Ang.,185.'S