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BY HENRY TAYLOR, Author of the " System of the Creation of oiir Globe, Planets and Sun," "Conuderationa ou tlio Past, Fresont and Future Conditiou Oa the Can^^as," itc. &c. i'Uontrcal : PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY LOVELL AND GIBSOK. k m J ON THE PRESENT CONDITION oy UNITED CANADA, \ CONTAININ-Ci VLASia FOK TUK ADV.^CEMEKT UV ITS AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE AND FUTURE PROSPERITY, WITH STRICTUUES OM THE EVE.NTFUL QUE8TI0.'* OF liESPOXSIELE GOVLilNMENT, AND THE PRESENT CRISIS OP THE PROVINCE. BY HENRY TAYLOR, Author of the "System of the Creation of our Globe, Planets and Sun," <• ConsiJerations on the Past, Present and Future Condition of the Canadas," &c. Sec. ;■'>■;!;'''■' iHontrcal : PRINTED FOP. THE AUTHOR BY LOVELL JCiD GIBSON. V'VU ■^•fe ,^, PREFACE. Hating published, a few years since, in this city, a work called, "Considerations on the Past, Present and Future Condition of the Canadas," which work some of the readers of the present may not have seen, and as the plans therein are to be referred to, I here present a brief outline of the contents of it. The first number contained a plan for introducing the mo- dern system of agriculture through the entire length and breadth of this eastern part of the Province. For this pur- pose, the hiring of a "terre," or farm in every fifth parish, and the establishment of them, as agricultural school-farms, is recommended, to be placed under the management of per- sons well acquainted with the modern mode of agriculture. That a certain number of these farms should be put under the inspection of resident gentlemen interested in, and zea- lous for the advance of the agriculture of the Province, so that by proper economy they should be made to pay nearly their own expenses. By these means, a knowledge of the advantages of the modern system might be made visible to every habitant cultivator in the Province, as the farm rented might be given up every seven years, and others hired in ■ r other parishes. f , . S: i? -J^J IV No. 2 of the above work consists, 1st, of a plan proposed for obtaining from the Imperial Parliament tlic sui)ply of the British West India settlements, by Cireat Britain and British North America, with flour, bread stulTs, and salt provisions, whenever it shall be proved to the British Government that the Mother Country and the North American Colonies are competent to furnish the full quantity of such supplies as are annually wanted for those islands and settlements. On this subject, we trust to have proved, that the West India planters would prefer this mode of supply, if they were con- vinced that the Mother Country and the said North American Colonies were competent to supply them. The 3d number was on the Union of the Canadas. In this I have supported the agricultural and commercial ad- vancement of the Province, and have also given my ideas on the kind of responsibility of the Government, which I believe competent to ensure tlie well-being of the Province and its permanent connection with the Parent State. In the present work, it will be my endeavour to prove to the Montreal and Quebec mercantile bodies particularly, and to the mercantile and agricultural community generally, tiie great advantages that will arise to them fjom the diliusion of the knowledge and practice of the modern system of agri- culture ; and also the probability of a fair and remunerating market being found in our West India settlements, if wc can obtain the entire supply thereof, with the produce of this Province. I shall also present some observations on- the unexpected and nfiost singular changes that have lately taken place in the Provincial Government. A thorough consideration of the effects of unrestricted responsibility in the Government, will come uiSer review ; and a contrast therewith, of that con- ^titutional species of it, wliicli wc have supported in No. 3 of our late work. " ' » . I shall give also a review of Responsihic Government, as intended and given to the United Province by Lord John Russell's Despatch of October 14, 1839. Tliis work will, therefore, contain my ideas on some of the most important interests of the country at tliis eventful period, — its agriculture, commerce, and improvements, and its political condition. If the subject be not one, conveying the entertainment of the novelist or the historian ; if it do not permit of the same literary display, it is one, at least, in which the inhabitants of this young and rising Colony have a much deeper interest. The agriculturist, in all that relates to agriculture and the markets for its products ; the merchants, in the same, as in- lluencing the prosperity of the Province and its commerce ; the general mass of its inhabitants, in the quietude and secu- rity of its political condition. If I am not mistaken, one cause of the popularity of the best economical and political writings is, that we are inter- ested and engaged in the events and objects they relate to. Instead of describing fabulous characters and incidents, nature is painted in her real and living attitudes ; and, from nature alone, we derive our most interesting sensations. The practised reader may, perhaps, find some inaccuracies in the style of the following pages ; but will probably excuse them wiien he is assured that literary fame, valuable as it is, was not nearly so mucb the author's object, as the wish to promote the quiet, prosperity and happiness of the United Province. The work will be divided into three chapters : The first, on the bearings of an improved state of agri- I 11.. ^f 8 -If*. m. . VI culture in Eastern Canada, on the trade and commerce of the cities of Quebec and Montreal, &c. The second, on the necessity of seeking to obtam the supply of the markets in our West India settlements, w.th the agricultural products of United Canada. The third, on the present political state of the United Province of Canada, containing considerations on the great question of Responsible Government, with a review of Lord John Russeirs Despatch of October 14, 1839, shewmg that it contains the limits which the constitutional security and the nature of circumstances in this Province require. PRESENT CONDITION or UNITED CANADA. CHAPTER I. On the bearing of an improved itate of Agriculture in Eastern Canada^ on the Trade and Commerce qf the Cities of Montreal, Quebec, ^c. THEldisastrous state of commercial affairs, of which we had heard so much of late years in Great Britain, and in a neia;hbouring country, has at length reached the commercial cities of Montreal and Quebec. An unprecedented state and scarcity of the cir- culating medium, frequent complaints of the diffi- culty of obtaining discounts at the Banks, and of their partiality in this matter, were the presages of the coming storm. These Banks, however, who had so nobly maintained the stability of their credit, through that long and critical period of trial, which commenced nearly at the beginning of the late dis- turbances, and about which time, numbers of the Banks in the United States sank, to rise no more. *i 8 i These Banks of Canada appear, in the present cri- sis, to have either had some forcunowledge of the coming disasters, or at least to have acted with extreme caution ; they have thereby maintained the solidity of their commercial credit, to be enabled, let us hope, to render important service to the com- mercial public in future. A variety of causes seem to have produced this state of commercial distress in these cities. The chansfcs in the duties on timber in Great Britain was the first blow received. During my residence in London, from 1829 to 1834, after having read the speech of the late Go- vernor General, Lord Sydenham, on the Timber Trade, in the House of Commons, he being at that time President of the Board of Trade, I addressed to him a memorial on the subject of the alteration he proposed in that Trade. His Lordship had stated in his speech, that the favor hitherto bestowed on Canadian timber, cost the people of Great Bri- tain two millions of money per annum. Having ascertained from some mercantile friends in the city, that if the proposed alterations took place, the timber from the Baltic would certainly be for the most part, imported in foreign vessels, on account of the greater cheapness of freight ; I stated this circumstance to his Lordship, and referred him also to Adam Smith's opinion on the Navigation Act. The exact w'ords I do not remember, but the purport is, that this " famous Act, by the protection " it gives to British shipping, is the great palladium " of British supremacy on the seas, and thereby of her rights and liberties." I added, that for this 9 paramount reason, the question of mere pecuniary advantage to the people of Great Britain, could form a secondary consideration only. I received a polite note from his Lordship, thanking me for the communication, and that he should be glad to receive any others in future. 1 do not pretend to say that that communication was the cause, but the fact is certain, that his Lordship did not press the subject of reduction of the duties any more in the House of Commons, whatever may have been his intention in future. And, notwithstanding, that measure has since been carried, and is now in force ; 1 am still of the same opinion as to its wisdom in a national point of view. The Colonial system of Great Britain has been the great, perhaps the greatest, cause of her maritime ascendancy, and if she does not maintain that system, it is probable her nurseries of seamen will dwindle away, and her maritime supremacy along with them. Another cause of the depression of the trade of Montreal, is stated to be the importation of more goods than the market requires. One would rea- sonably suppose, this excess of importation might have arisen from the great stagnation of the export trade at home. It was to be supposed that every accessible market, and this among the rest, would be filled to excess by our manufacturers or mer- chants of Great Britain ; and ilus was the case to a certain extent. I am informed, however, that there have been years when many more goods were sent out here on consignment, than last year, but that the excess of importation has arisen more from people U 10 II t\ I' V 11^ having realised money during the late disturbances, who have become importers. This excess of im- portation then, is an evil which can be but temporary, and will cure itself. Competition is said to be the life of trade. The annual wants of the population in young countries, are always increasing ; and there is, perhaps, no young country which has better pros- pects than this. Large sums of public money are being laid out in the Province, and if we can get the canals finished in a few years, a fresh impetus will be added to both foreign and domestic trade through them. Another source of loss has been the rapid fall of wheat and flour at home. I have been informed by some shippers of flour, their loss amounts to nigh twenty-five per cent. The loss on the entire quan- tity shipped home has been a source of great dimi- nution of the capital of this country, and I shall give an estimate of this loss in the next chapter. Perhaps, among the various causes of the depres- sion of trade in Montreal, none will be found to have operated to a wider extent than the almost total loss of the wheat crops for several years past. As I have stated in the prospectus to this work, " When the habitant farmer came to the towns, with his crop of perhaps five hundred bushels of wheat, which he sold at five shillings per bushel, he could afford to purchase goods ; now, he is obliged to lay out what he can spare from the present produce of his farm, to buy some portion of wheat for his fa- mily. When we consider that there cannot be less than seventy to eighty thousand farms in this eastern part of the Province, the magnitude of the diminu- ;s, m- [he 11 tion of trade in Quebec and Montreal, from the above cause, will be evident." Perhaps the average of all the farms in this part of the Province, might not amount to more than 100 bushels each ; but a great many certainly produced 4 to 500. Now 80,000 farms, at 100 bushels only, make 8,000,000 bushels a year of wheat. Accordingly, 1 have been informed by several respectable mer- chants in Montreal, that the diminution of trade with the habitant farming population has been very considerable since the destruction of the wheat crops. " No country that does not grow its own wheat can become rich," said a great promoter of the agricuhure of Nova Scotia ; and this observation applies with great force to Eastern Canada, whose agriculture in general is in so low and wretched a condition. It is singular that many of the Canadian rural po- pulation are of opinion that there is no remedy for the destructive insect called the wheat fly. " C'est le Bon Dieu qui nous envoye §a," says the Cana- dian habitant, " il faut Tendurer." — " It is Providence sends it, we must endure it." But, as 1 have often told them. Providence sends us everything good and evil. We enjoy the good, and God has formed a remedy for almost every evil. Had physicians been restrrined by such a consideration from their efforts to discover remedies for diseases, — had the immortal Doctor Jermer, on that account, restricted his impulse to apply the vaccine to human beings, what immensely greater numbers would have per- ished, whose lives have now been saved to society. ; , I 5- 12 P 1 I I ■if f? Providence certainly sends us evils ; it conceals the remedies, possibly for the very purpose that we may exert our faculties and improve them in the search. Some great evils, it is true, are irremedia- ble by man, such as those occasioned by the ele- ments, by earthquakes and volcanoes ; and I beg leave to state an idea that has often occurred to me on this subject. When we read of the numbers of mankind who have perished by these causes, of entire towns and cities destroyed in a few minutes by them, we are at a loss to reconcile these disas- ters with our usual ideas of- the Divine benevolence. Some devout persons, wishing to account for these decrees of Providence, have referred them to in- llictions of the Divine wrath for the sins of men. Those inflictions will, no doubt, come at the dav of judgment; but an almost irresistible refutation of the above evils arising from that cause is, that not only the good, the virtuous and the young, but even the innocent babes, are alike cut off by these terri- ble events. We must, therefore, refer them to cer- tain unvarying and unavoidable laws of nature, by which the Deity has been pleased to construct our Globe. And the sufferance of these extensive.and irremediable evils by the Almighty, has often ap- peared to me to be a strong proof of the reality of a future state. Did not the Deity know that a better world was provided by him to receive the just and the innocent ; his benevolence would probably not ' subject entire communities, consisting sometimes of hundreds of thousands, to these dreadful catastro- phes. - ■ • Excepting these elementary evils, there are, per- 13 baps, few that are not remediable by the industry, sagacity or scientific discoveries of man. By a publication of mine, on Agriculture, in Que- bec, many years ago, I endeavoured to impress on the House of Assembly of the (then) Lower Pro- vince, the necessity of advancing its Agriculture, by the introduction of the modern system, now gene- rally practised, not only in Great Britain, but also in France and Germany. Those Houses of Assembly were, however, too much engaged in their controversies with the other branches of the Legislature to devote their attention to what would probably have by this time proved most advantageous to their country. In order to have a chance of procuring the restora- tion of the wheat crops of this part of the Province, and of preventing the destructive insect, called the wheat fly, from penetrating into the western part of it, I know of no mode more likely to prove effective than the establishment of these agricultural farms, as stated in our plan for that purpose, an explanation of which is given in the preface to this work. On these farms, experiments of all kinds might be made for this purpose. I have stated in a little work, called " A Tour through the Eastern Townships," a mode used by a lady in Lcnnoxville, by which she suc- ceeded in preventing thi fly from destroying her wheat, of which she actually raised twenty bushels to the acre, while all the farms between that and Montreal had, perhaps, lost on average, one-third of their crops by this insect. I have, in No. 3 of my late work, recommended the trial of liming the soil, as is done in the old country, with great eff'ect. ( ?i til 14 if I! I ■i !i i •ii ( \i i t IN Lime is a great destroyer of all insects, and I have not a doubt that the general practice of liming there first originated from the prevalence of the insect tribes, when that country was partly covered with woods and swamps as this now is. The wheat fly is certainly known in Great Britain, but has never destroyed the crops for years together as it is doing here. I here give an extract from Lowden's Encyclo- poedia, on the wheat fly, page 820, article 5166: — " Mr. Gorrie estimates the loss sustained by the " farming interest in the Carse of Gourrie district « alone, at .£20,000 in 1827, at .£30,000 in 1828, and at £36,000 in 1829." Before the appearance of the fly in Canada, nigh 400,000 bushels of wheat, in one year, have been shipped down the Chambly River alone ; the cost, 5s. per bushel, .£100,000 ; and the loss to the whole eastern part of the Province cannot be less than four to five million minots a year. In Mr. Lowden's work, I also observe that a ma- chine has been invented by a Mr. Curtis, of Essex in England, for throwing lime dust on apple trees, infested with caterpillars and other insects. He has used this practice with great success ; his orchard, consisting of many thousand fruit trees, and occu- pying fifty acres, had been for many years completely divested of their foliage and young fruit in the spring months. Although used ever so freely, says Mr. Curtis, no person need fear any injury from the caustic quality of the lime, on the most delicate and fresh expanded foliage. It is only prejudicial to insects of all kinds and to dead vegetable matter." 16 »> Mr. Lowden adds, " We know not whether the Lime dust has ever been tried in hop plantations infested by the green fly or plant louse ; but it ap- pears to us, equally well adapted to effect a great destruction among these insects.'* ^^ When last in Quebec, I, at the recommendation of a friend, presented an Essay to the Agricultural Society of that district, on the means of destroying the wheat fly, or of preventing its bad effects on the wheat. I have since been informed that a prize has been awarded me. In the essay, I stated cases of the successful use of lime-dusting the ear of the wheat, and in case this is done properly, that is, when there is suflicient dew, on the ear, and before the fly has deposited its eggs in it I cannot conceive it possible the fly would deposit them among the particles of lime. Nature is so watchful in the preservation of her regenerations that she would I think, prevent by instinct, the fly from so doing. If cases have happened where liming the ear has not succeeded, I ascribe its failure to want of due at- tention to the above mentioned two circumstances. Mr. Lowden also gives numerous testimonies of the great advantage of the use of lime in the soils. It is well known that lime acts, not as a manure itself, but by decomposing and rendering soluble by the rains, every species of organic matter it finds in the soil, thus converting it into food for the crops. It is, I believe, allowed by botanists, that the maggot which the fly deposits in the ear of the wheat, after consumiii^ the same, falls to the ground, into which it burrows fo' the winter and in the return of spring warmth rises in the fly state. The possibility therefore 16 CjiJ 'b exists, that the maggot may be destroyed by the lime, before it makes its metamorphosis in the fly state. Should liming not ultimately destroy the maggot in the soil, still the advantages of its use in Canada would be great. We all know, there is a vast abundance of organic matter in its soils, wanting decomposition. The quantity of weeds all over the country is proverbial; as lime, however, has been proved so effective in destroying other insects, in England, I should hope there was an equal chance of its destroying the maggot of the fly while in the soil, providing a strong charge of lime were used. In England, fiom two to three hundred bushels per acre are used as manure. I have heard it said, that in the United States, in ^ order to get rid of this fly, they have sometimes stopped the sowing of wheat. The experiment must be a costly one, to stop the growth of wheat all over a country. In those states, they have not be- gun the use of lime, till within this very few years, and even yet, the use of it is very limited. And the same observation will apply to them, that ap- plies to Canada, namely, that we should first adopt a better system of agriculture, lime the soils thor- oughly in the spring, to have a chance thereby, of destroying the wheat fly maggot in the ground ; and in case that should not be effected, to lime the ear of the wheat, as shewn above, to prevent the fly from depositing its egg ; for it is to be remembered that this fly deposits its eggs in barley or rye, when it finds no wheat ready for it, so that by the experiment of not sowing wheat in a whole country, we might also lose the barley and rye crops. 17 ne, Judge Buel, the conductor of the Cultivator, in his work called the Farmer's Companion, gives a number of testimonies of the great value of the use of lime in all kinds of soils, in proper proportions, according to their nature. These testimonies relate to £ngland,lFrance, Flanders, and America ; and he adds his own testimony in the following words : ** Lime is delivered to me, at six miles distance, at 18 cents per bushel, at the rate of 40 bushels to the acre, the cost is 7 dollars 20 cents per acre ^ and I can safely say, from my own experience, on a small farm of middling quality, that two dressings of lime at the above rate, in 8 or 9. years, have more than trebled the products of the laud to which it was applied, both in grain and grass. It is to be observed, however, that the system of ploughing only as much ground as could be well manured, was adopted at the same time^* When we find a noble country like Canada, blessed with a soil equal generally, to any in the world, a coun- try which formerly produced five to six millions bushels wheat annually; whjen we see a great part of its population cut ofT from this staff of life ; benevolence alone, appears to me a sufficient motive for attempting the restoration of its wheat agriculture; and I am willing to believe that a majority of the merchants of Quebec and Mon- treal would wish to see that restoration, and en- deavor to promote it, from the same motive. The commercial motives also, to induce a mer- cantile body to endeavor to restore the depressed state of these cities^ and to place their commerce on a permanent basis, by the restoration, of wheat 18 tft U I i >'Ji agriculture, are no less influential than the motive above mentioned. I have been informed, by respectable store keepers of long standing in Montreal, that the sale of goods to the agricultural population of Eastern Canada may have amounted, before the destruction of the wheat crops to three or four times the amount at present sold to them ; and since that time, that population has probably, increased nigh 30 per cent. I am well aware that the Canadian rural population have hitherto been much opposed to any change in their mode of agriculture ; but, the wheat fly, added to the ac- cumulating bad effects of their mode for more than 200 years, has now almost entirely deprived them of the use of wheat bread, of which they were in the habit of consuming great quantities in their families. Almost that entire population, is now confined to living on barley, oats or buck-wheat, and potatoes, of which they are, I am told, getting tired of the use of. 1 have no doubt therefore, they would joyfully practise any mode that could be discovered, and clearly proved to them, to be competent to restore their wheat crops. In regard to calling on the Legislature, to en- deavor to stay the evil which has of late years destroyed the wheat crops, I have sometimes been asked what the Legislature had to do with Agriculture ? a question which, I think, clearly proves, those who asked it could have either very little knowledge of this country, or have not duly reflected on the nature of its agriculture. In the old country, agriculture is pursued by some of the wealthiest and most intelligent of its popula- 19 tion: agricultural societies abound in everydistrict. The fiirmers are also in general intelligent and well instructed in agriculture ; and a zeal for it is excited by the influential practice of the first gentry of the land ; agricultural publications con- taining the new discoveries in that science are diffused through the country, and serve to keep alive this zeal and emulation. In that case, there is no necessity for govern- ment to interfere in agricultural concerns, because there is intelligence and zeal, and means enough to render it unnecessary. In this country almost the entire reverse of all this is the case. It is true, that the Provincial Legislature occasionally has granted small sums to a few agricultural so- cieties; but of what avail have these societies been to stay or prevent the destructive ravages of the wheat fly ? It is possible some of them may have instituted experiments for that purpose, but it is clear, they have been of little or no avail. In the meantime, the staff of life has been cut off from half the province, and the fly is most assuredly travelling westward every year, to des- troy the other half. In my journey to Kingston last year to offer my publications for sale, the Hon. Mr. Sullivan purchasing a copy, I had the opportunity of a conversation with him on the subject of the wheat fly. Having told him that the fly generally deposited its eggs in the ear of the wheat about the middle of July; he observed that in that case, there could be no danger of the wheat in that part of the Province, because their wheat was nearly ready to cut and house at that b2 fiO !: I 1^ I time ; but he allowed that many of its farmers had got into the practice of sowing spring wheat, which would, of course, be exposed to danger. On ray return, however, I found the fty had actually reached Brockville, and destroyed a con- siderable part of some of the crops of fall wheat therct and teamt also, it had done the same, to fall wheat crops on the Aoaerican side of the river opposite Brockville. What then is to be done in this singular and eventful situation ? The one half the Province is devastated; its farmers are paralized with the idea that it is a visitation of Providence, and not to be remedied. If the fly penetrate through all the Province, will not the same cause produce the same effect as it has done here ; and if so, how will the farmers of the upper part of it be able to pay their debts or purchase goods from the mer- chants? The agricultural population is generally busy with their own daily occupations and sel- dom think of impending, or perhaps remote evils. Is it not then an incumbent duty of the Rouse of Assembly, which may be supposed to consist of some of the most intelligent men of the land, is it not the paramount duty of the repre- sentatives of the people to enquire into these evils and institute, promote and encourage effectual measures fortheirpreventionif they can be found? Now in order to find out such effective mea- sures I know no method more likely than the establishment of the agricultural school farms, through the eastern part of the Province. It is clear, that in case of any discoveries being made th( 21 OR these farms of destroying the fly, it would be necessary, that in order to produce their effect they must be put in practice generally, through- out the country; for, as an intelligent farmer in the Eastern Towmships observed to me ; "suppose I should And out some way of destroying the Hies on my own farm, how should I be protected from those of my neighbor's farms?'' This shews the necessity of the Legislature endeavoring to es- tablish generally an improved system of agricul- ture, which, it shall be the'jnterest of every habitant farmer in the country to practise. And we should find ourselves, by thus improving our agriculture, something in the same situation that the sons of the old farmer did, by the sagacious artifice he practised to induce them to cultivate their farm thoroughly. He told them at his death, that he had buried a treasure in some part of the farm, and that they would find it by well ploughing and cross ploughing it. This they did repeatedly; they found no treasure, but the soil produced more richly and thus rewarded their labors; so would it be with us under better agriculture,though we should not be able to destroy or prevent the wheat fly. To render, however, an application to the Legis- lature for the above end, effective, would require possibly, powerful infiuencej I myself believe the establishment of the improved system of agricul- ture, would be of as much service to the country as the establishment of registries for sales of land or any other improvement that could be made in the feudal tenure, but the application to Parlia- * '5 A\ 22 I ment should be supported by those interested- The impulse of benevolence which would induce, us to seek the means of restoring the use of whe bread to a very large population ; tlie commercial interests therein of the communities of Quebec and Montreal, I trust will be generally allowed ; and there is another argument of considerable commer- cial weight which I wish to state. In my next Chap- ter. " On the necessity of seeking to obtain the supply of the markets in our West India settle- ments for the agricultural products of United Canada," I trust to prove tnat necessity to the merchants of this Province, and to enable us with more certainty to obtain this boon from the Im- perial Government, nothing perhaps would be more effectual, than the known fact that our agri- culture was being put in a state of successful advancement. Besides the supply of this city, and the popula- tion of this eastern part of the Province with im- ported goods ; the city of Montreal has no doubt, derived a considerable part of her commerce froM the supply of Upper Canada. At the first settlement of that country, all its stores were probably supplied from Montreal or Quebec. — But as its population has increased, so have im- porters of goods in its principal towns. These importers in Upper Canada, besides the gre^it facility that will now be afforded them by canal navi- gation, have several advantages over the Montreal importer. They have their customers directly under their eyes, and can become more acquaini- ed with their characters for industry and means of 23 payment, and are more conveniently situated for obtaining it. It is probable therefore, that as capital increases in Western Canada, its supply from this part of it will diminish. And this appears to me a sound reason why the merchants of ?Jontreal should seek to lay the foundation of a valuable and per- manent trade, derivable from the advancement of the agriculture of their own part of the Province. A principal object therefore, which 1 have in view in now addressing them is to say, that having stated the plan in No. 1 of my late work for the in- troduction of the iiodern system of agriculture through the Province ; and having had conversa- tions last winter when in Kingston, with several i members of the Government and of the House of Assembly, I was recommended by them to pre- sent the plan to that House. 1 have explained the nature of this plan in the preface of this work and such arguments as suggested themselves in its support are stated in this chapter ; it will be for the merchants of Montreal to determine as to the support they will give to my representation to the Legislature of the present ruinous state of the wheat agriculture of the Province. I trust I have proved by the facts and arguments stated in this chapter, that it is for the interests of the merchants to seek for some renied}' for this great eviL There is no other way they can proceed in so doing, but by stating by memorial to the House of Representatives of the Province the magnitude of this evil,the danger of its diffusion over the whole United Province probably to the total ruin of its II ': 24 I ■ft wheat agriculture, and praying them to institute such enquiries and to adopt such remedy as the nature of the case will iallow of. It is not possible to conceive, such a memorial would not have the desired effect ; and as I have baid above, several members of the present Government and of the House of Assembly, with whom I conversed when in Kingston, were of the same opinion. The representatives of this part of the Province must be aware that the majority of that population have not sufficient agricultural knowledge to en- able them to devise the means of removing this C7il. To be successful, the means to be taken musl be general through the Province and this can best be done by wise and salutary institutions of the representatives of the people. A gentleman of the present|Government, who has himself prac^ tised agriculture in Western Canada, told me he was convinced that nothing would successfully extirpate the fly, but a better system of agricul- ture generally diffused through the country. I perfectly agree with him, that this ought to be the first step to seek the removal of the evil. This I conceive, can only be done by instituting agricultural school farms in any number of parish- es that may be thought proper, and I am ready to present to the House the plan mentioned in the preface for that purpose » I' ■ 25 CHAPTER II. On the necessity of seeking to obtain the supply of the markets in our West India settlements with the agri- cultural produce of United Canada. The 4th chapter of No. 2 of my work, called Considerations on the past, present, and future condition of the Canadas, was '<0n the expe- diency of an application being made to the Home Government, or to the Imperial Parliament for the exclusive supply of the British West India Islands and Stiiiements, (to be granted to Great Britain, and to British North America,) of wheat, ilour, bread stuffs, &lc. and all salt provisions, whenever it shall be made evident to the British Government, that the Mother Country and the said North American Colonies are competer^t to furnish the full quantity of such supplies as are annually wanted for those West India Islands and Settlements." In that chapter, I think I have shewn that the trade in provisions to the West Indies is merely a trade of supp'y of their annual consumption, and that it does not therefore come under the question of free trade ; and that, provided the parent stale and the British North American Colonies can prove themselves competent to furnish the re- quired supplies, it must be a matter of indiffer- !l 26 €nce to the West India planters, wliether they are furnished with them, by foreign nations or, by our own, and that in fact, they would prefer, l)eing suppHed by the North American Colonies because these would take produce in ])ayment whereas the Americans, require cash or bills. \n this chapter, I trust also to have proved : 1st. That it is perfectly fair and natural, that the Parent State and the Brhish North American Provinces, should have the privilege of the exclu- sive supply of our own West India Islands, tvhe?t they can be proved competent to furnish those supplies whhout detriment to the West India interests. 2d. That the West Indians should and would prefer that mode of supply on those conditions. 3iU That Great Britain is interested, both in a commercial and political point of view, in passing the prospective act of parliament, stated and advocated in this chapter, as well calculated to produce nurseries of her seamen, and also of pre- venting them from resorting to foreign nations. 4th. That foreign nations can have no fair nor reasonable right to complain of Great Britain, for giving to her own Colonies the preference, when- ever she conceives it proper and politic so to do ; and we shall conclude this head, with observing, that as there will probably be some interval of time between the passing of this prospective act of parliament, and its going into actual operation, it will render the act more convenient to those foreign nations, by giving them time to place the capitals they had embarked in our West India trade, into other channels. 27 It is well known that frequent and consiileral)le losses have occurred on the shipments of wheat from this Province to Great Britain in times past. The great dhcline in manufactures and trade there, which, I conceive, originated in the first instance, from the repeal of the laws against the exportation of machinery, by which the nations of the continent of Europe have been enabled to manufacture far themselves, and the consequent diminution in the (juantity of manufactures exported from Great Britain, have at length, produced those dreadful scenes of distress among the manufacturing popu- lation, of which we have heard so much of late 3^ears. Hence the continued clamor against the Corn Laws, which last year brought on a diminu- tion of the duty on foreign corn, of nigh fifty per cent. By the consequent fall in prices, numerous and great failures have occurred there. From Quebec and this city, two hundred and sixty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty-seven barrels flour were exported to Great Britain last year, and one hundred and ninety-five thousand six hundred and sixty-one bushels of wheat. From the best information I can collect, 1 estimate the average loss on the flour at seven shilling and six- pence per barrel making a^ 1 00,337 12 G and on the wheat Is. per bushel making £9,783, being a loss on both wheat and flour of £\ 10,130 13 (J. I must however add that a principal merchant 01 this city estimates the loss at 10s. per barrel, and an extensive dealer in flour considers the loss on the wheat and flour equal to c€25C,000. The duties on foreign grain, having been thus once ii, 28 It H ^& .. reduced by act of parliament, there appears no probability the scale will be again raised. Mot- withstanding the great reduction in those duties, the clamour against the very existence of the Corn Laws is still continued in great force. The great continental markets of Europe for British manu- factures, (considering the footing their own have now obtained), appear to be permanently gone from Great Britain. The agricultural population of Great Britain forms nigh one half of the whole population ; the total abrogation of the Corn Laws will therefore, probably never be conceded by parliament; but the encouragement now given to foreign nations to grow corn and grain for Great Britain is probably sufficient to keep down the prices of it too low to offer any better prospects to the Canadian farmer and merchant than at present exists; at least in the present time of general peace, or unless bad crops should occur in Europe. In the meantime, theie is a market in our own Colonies which, (and it is very remarkable), re- quires for its annual supply nearly the exact quan- tity of flour which was exported to Great Britain last year with such ruinous loss. Bryan Edwards, in his history of the British West Indies, says, the annual consumption of flour and bread stuffs is a quantity equal to 1,200,000 bushels of wheat which is equal to 240,000 barrels of flour. Since Edwards wrote, the emancipation of the s' 3s has taken place, which has probably, greatly ^ ceased the consumption of flour, as labor is now well paid there. The surplus pro- 29 duce of Western Canada is, I have no doubt, equal to between four and five hundred thousand barrels of flour. Supposing that 200,000 barrels of the quantity shipped to Great Britain last year to be Upper Canada, and the quantity of wheat 195,661 bushels which is equal to ni$rh,40,000 barrels of flour would leave a balance of £L 0,000 barrels which is disposed of in Eastern Canada, in various parts of British North America, and probably some in the West India Islands. The price of flour in these Islands, which are supplied from the United States by small cargoes shipped from time to time must generally pay the costs of its importation « When a colonial or foreign vessel finds an Island supplied, (which is discovered by the selling price), it sails for another Island or Settlement, and the number of cargoes sent out, is generally regulated by the accounts the owners receive of prices in the Islands which they can get at short intervals of time. Thus, as I have stated in my prospectus to this work, it would appear, that *• while the merchants of this British Province have been shipping their flour home to meet ruinous prices, foreign na- tions are supplying our own West India Colonies at such as are (probably) rerkUineraiing." Free trade I am well aware, as a general question, has of late years been much advocated in several publications of much celebrity. But in his defence of the Navigation Act, Adam Smith says ** Protection, (meaning protection by naval superiority,) is of more importance to a nation than commerce. :^ rti 'i;' 30 .'I ft U It is well known that numbers of our seamen resort to the United States to seek employment, which they probably would not do, if they could obtain it in the British Colonies, and which the exclusive trade of supply of our West India Colonies would give them ; and also preserve a nursery of our seamen. . i,,. . ,.- How much soever free trade may be advocated in the general, we still find each class ot people in business in Great Britain seeking to obtain pro- tection for their particular branch ; and supporting their claims by the best arguments and documents they can ; and the duty of mercantile bodies is clearly, to take their own interests for their guide in this matter ; it is for government to determine whether those interests can be reconciled with the general welfare. The general trade in provisions for the West Indi s is however, not a question exactly, of free trade. Free trade to any port is, when the mer- chants of that port are in the habit, not only of receiving goods from all nations, but also of ex- porting them or part thereof, when the supply exceeds the demand. The general trade in pro- visions to the West Indies is, therefore, merely a trade of supply of their plantations. The planter in the West Indies does not go there for the pur- pose of trade, but to cultivate his estates, and to receive or purchase the quantity of supplies they annually require. The present rate of duties on foreign corn, will no doubt encourage foreign nations to grow wheat for the British market, and this, with the intended 31 exertions of the British farmers to increase the production of their soils, seem to preclude all expectations of remunerating prices for Canada wheat and flour, even though the duty were all taken off, in Great Britain. It is not possible therefore to conceive, that if this subject be fully and fairly stated to the British Government or to the Imperial Parliament, that it will not be productive of redress. If we are to be precluded by existing circumstances, by the alterations in the ICnglish Corn Laws from shipping our wheat or flour home to Great Britain, is it to be endured that the markets in our own settlements are to be shut against us by foreign nations, when we can prove our competence to supply those ^siarkets with every barrel of flour they Want? We have proved this competence by our shipments home last year, as I have shewn above. The Americans and Oiher foreign nations can do no more than furnish those Islands with the required annual su[)ply, because the planters and dealers in the West Indies will buy no more than they annually consume, as flour will not keep sweet there. The West India in- terests, it is clear, therefore, will not be deteri- orated by this tsansfer of the trade of supply from foreign nations to the Mother Country and the British North American Colonies. The markets there will regulate themselves as they do every where else, by the known laws of supply and demand, and if the supply be only equal to the demand, the prices for the reasons I have mentioned, will generally be equal also. 8S i= In this case, therefore it would appear that on every principle of justice, and of a due regard to the welfare of the British North American Colo- nies, the Government of Great Britain'should give the preference to her own subjects in Great Bri- tain and in these North American Colonies over those of foreign nations. Her own interests as a nation, are also concerned in this business, in the protection and nursery of her seamen, which this colonial trade of supply would afford to her. I have heard it said, that the merchants of Canada are under a sort of necessity of shipping home the flour of the country as a remittance for British goods imported into it, and that they of course can only give a price for it, according to the ruling prices in Great Britain. But if the price of wheat is brought down by this means, it may happen that the farmer of Western Canada will not have the means of buying those imported British goods, and will have to be contented with clothing of their own manufacture, and in fact, a much greater evil may be the consequence of a conti- nued low price of wheat. The farmers in Western Canada have generally held the opinion that less than 5s. per bushel would not pay for raising wheat. That opinion 1 have found very general in my residence there for several years. If, therefore, they find the advantages of farming in Canada are much diminished,by those low prices, many of them may determine on migrating to the great wheat growing countries in the Western States, where the facilities for farming are cer- tainly advantageous, where the winters allow of 33 Iheir cattle feeding outside, whereas in Canada they must be housed four or five months; and where the soil, though it may not be more fertile than in Canada, is at least equally so. According- ly it was the opinion of the late Lord Sydenham, as expressed in one of his dispatches home, that the ties on the Upper Canadian farmer to remain in this country, were slender, and that it would require no great diminution of the advantages enjoyed by him in this Province, to sever them entirely. In case then, this reduction in the price of wheat continues, and this depopulation of the Province should proceed to any extent, where would our importers find purchasers for their goods, and what is of still higher importance, where would be the natural defenders of our country ? For these reasons, it appears clear to me, that as we have an annual market in our own West India Colo- nies, requiring almost the quantity we now ship home at a great loss, while the West Indies will probably aiford remunerating prices, we ought to present a statement of our^ciaims to that market, either to the Imperial Government direct, or to ihem tlirough the channel of the Provincial Legis- lature ; provided, it shall, on a due consideration of this important branch of trade, determine to memorial the British Government on the subject. I have heard it observed, that the freight from Montreal to the West Indies being greater than from the ports in the United States, Avould prevent us supplying the Islands as cheap as those States could with flour. lUit if our shippers of flcur to c :U; i J ,' ;m i: III <*fP Great Britain will be oblip^ed to give a smaller price to our fanners, in consequence of the fall of prices there, shippers of flour to the West Indies, may with eijual reason, give a less price also to compensate for those greater freights ; and it is probable they might alford to give the farmers a higher price than the shippers to (ireat Britain. As I have stated above, the markets in the British West Indies require an annual supply of nigh 250,000 barrels of flour or bread stuffs. That was the consumption before the emancipation of the slaves, but these now get high prices for their labour, and a change is taking place in their mode of living, as they can now afford to buy flour, and it is probable the consumption in the Islands is much increased on this account. Perhaps no country in America, when the canals now progressing are linished, will be better able than Canada to make up assorted car- goes of provisions suitable for those markets. — Flour, beef, pork, tongues, hams, &c. are in abundance. Biscuit may be baked in any quan- tity with no great capita), and an assorted portion of dry and pickled (ish can be taken in at Quebec, Gaspe, Halifax, or any other ports in Nova Scotia.. Two, if not three voyages, may be made tVor.i Quebec or Montreal in the Spring, Summer and Fall months, and a Depot of Canadian produce may be formed in any of the ports in Nova Scotia or Cape Breton ; from which it can be shipped to the West Indies during all the winter months, in the vessels owned here. With respect to the return cargoes m Canadian 3j Is, to lis vessels sailing direct from Canada during the spring, summer and Call montlis, it is possible, that shouKI tiiis trade of supply of the West Indies be gone into any great extent, the markets of Canada alone, might not be sufiicient to ofTer a vent for the return cargoes, but the markets of every other port in British JN'orth America are open for them. It may also happen thatr some outward cargoes may be disposed of in the West Indies for cash or bills, which is a frequent mode of payment to the Americans selling there, or they may be ship- ped in produce home when the price will answer there. I have, however, to observe on this trade to the West Indies, that I wish it to be well understood by the mercantile community, that it is not under the present regulation of it, that I am advocating its prosecutiion. It is only on the proviso, that we can, by proper representation to the British Government, obtain the exclusive supply of the British ^Vest India settlements, that I believe that traiie of supply, can be advantageously entered into. The British Government has an undoubted right to the exclusive supply of her West India Colonies, when it fmds that Great Britain and her North American Colonies are competent to supply them. That Government ought also to consider that the navigation and colonial system has been the great cause of the present maritime supremacy of Great Britain. I\ ought to consider, that it has greatly diminished the restrictions of that system by the late concessions to a foreign nation in re- a2 .f 36 4i^ hii II garij to our timber trade; and it ought farti\er to consider, that by thus diminishing those restric- tions, it (the Government of Gr^at brituin) is not only diminishing the nurseries of its own seamen, but is encouraging those of foreign nations. 1 have now stated my humble ideas on the ne- cessity of seeking to obtain the light of exchjsivc supply of the markets of our West India settle- ments. I submit the same to the consideration ar '. judgment of the merchants of the United Pro- vince. On t!ie condition" stated in the foregoing page?, I conceive they have i. fair right to those markets, wiiicli must have become much more extensive for flour^ biscuit, and salt provisions, than before the emancipation of the negroes. Should the mercantile bodv consider it for their interest, to seek the obtaining the supply of then , there appears to me, to be two ways to make the appli- cation for that purpose ; iii st to the British Gov- ernment direct, bv memorial from the mercantile body itself ; or secondly, by bringing the subject before the Pro incial Legislature, with a view of obtaining from it, nn address to the British Gov- ernment on this important subject. When our canals are completed, the people of Upper Canada will be enabled to b-iild and load vessels of a proper burthen to suit the West India trade of supply. They will naturally seek to obtain the best markets they can for their produce, and if the W«gt India should be found to he the besti it will be equall}' the interest of Upper Canada to obtain the boon of the exclusive supply of those West India settlements, as it will be that of the merchants of Quebec, Montreal, &c. 37 The great reduction on the duties on foreign vheat, made by the late change in the Corn Laws of Great Britain, is highly favorable to our claim for this boon. If the growers of wheat in Uppt- Cana- da, can no longer ship their wheat and floui home at a Gdving price, on account of tliat reduction of duty ; if we have a market in our Vv^est India Colo- nies for nearly the same number of barrels of flour that were shipped home from Canada last, year, it is evident, if that flour had been shipped to the West Indies, those islands would have been sup- plied IS cheap as if by American vessels, pro- bably with less loss than has arisen from shipping it home. I trust I have proved in the foregoing pages that the trade to the West Indies is merely a trade of supply, therefore as it must be a matter of in- difference to the West India plf/aters interest, by whom that supply is furnished, so I conceive that all objections on the score of free trade are thereby obviated. And as before stated, I consider it the duty of all mercantile bodies, as merchants to take their own interest for their guide, in seeking to obtain extension of privileges of trade, on which subject I am con- firmed by Adam Smith's opinion. He says in some part of his great work to this effect. " When mer- chants regulate thpir commercial undertakings with a view to serve the puolic, the period of visionary speculation is near." Let the Ciovernment of the country determine, how far mercantile interests can be reconciled with national advantage, and I trust to have shewn in this instance, the great national ad- : f i; |(f 38 i 9 ■t\i i t ii I vantage that would arise, in extending the navigation of these North American Colonies, by cherishing a nursery for our own seamen, instead of, (as v;e are now doing) cherishing those of fortitign nations. Since writing this chapter, accounts have arrived here, which render it very probable that Canadian wheat and Hour will be landed free of duty in Great Britain, also that Hour made in Canada from Ameri- can wheat will pay only a nominal duty. I trust this great event, the intelligence of which has come out by the same conveyance ihai has brought His Ex- cellency Sir Charles Metcalfe to assume the gov- ernment of these Colonies, may prove indicative of the prosperity of his administration. There is per- haps no event more likely to occasion a great circu- lation of navigation, commerce and trade through the United Province. Its effect will probably be to induce a very great increase in the (cultivation of wheat in the extensive territory of the Western Slates, for the markets of Great Britain. But when we add to this probability, the known circumstance that nigh fifty per cent, has been taken off the duties in Great Britain on corn from foreign nations, and also, that the fcirmers of Great Britain are now mak- ing great exertions to increase the products of the soil, by the late discoveries in agricultural chemistry we conceive there is great reason to believe, that prices of wheat in Great Britain will soon rule very low. The consequence will be, that our farmers in Western Canada will have to meet low prices from our merchants for shipping home. The above in- telligence therefore, though itv/ill give a great addi- tion to trade and navigation in the Province, gives 39 also an additional argument for seeking to obtain the exclusive supply of our West Jndia Colonies. If so great a boon has now been given to American farmers for their produce, and by which means our own farmers are thrown into the back 2;round ; it is hardly credible, the British Government would re- liise them, and the commercial interests of the Pro- vince, the boon of the exclusive supply of our West India settlements. It appears to me then, that by 'his change in the corn trade in Great Britain, the prices which our merchants will be able to give to the farmers of Canada for wheat or Hour to be shipped to Britain, will be so low as to affect it^ .cultivation here. That the c 'a,:; .^;tion of British goods in the United Provinces may thereby be jiiminished. That, therefore, this change in the corn trade pre^ sents an additional motive to the merchants of the Province, for seeking to obtain the exclusive supply of our West India setdements as a means of obtain- ing a fair remunerating price for the products of their customers, the farmers of United Canada, and That, the same reason will have a great effect on the British Government, in their consideration of any memorial which iv. :v ■ *3 transmitted to it, on the trade of supply of oui - : t 'ndia settlements. In the former chapter o. this work, I stated my intention to show " the bearings of an improved *' state of agriculture of Eastern Canada on the foreign commerce of Quebec, IMontreal, &c." — There cannot be a doubt that if we succeed in re- establishing this ag; 'culture, it will form a powerful inducement to the fitish Government to grant us ^^^ 1 40 the boon of the exclusive supply of the West Indies. The question would then be put beyond all doubt, that we can, net only furnish the annual demand of those Islands, but that there will be then a mu. n .rreater production of wheat, than is required lor U, and of course a greater competition among the shippers, by which these Islands will be supplied cheaper. m "41 CHAPTER III. On the present political condition of United Canada, containing, a conside, ition of the eventful question of Responsible Government, and a review of Lord John RusscWs dispatch of October 14//j, \SS9, shelving that it contains those limits which the constitutional security, and the nature of circumstances in this Province require. In the 2nd chapter, 1st number, of my work, " The Considerations on the past, present and future con- dition of the Canadas," I stated the principle on g which I considered the plan of their union ought to be founded in the following sentence: *' But the fact is, that scale, under the past and present condition of the Province, would have to be brought down exactly to the point, whicb would serve to produce a thorough Constitutional Parliament. , Things must actually be managed in such a manner, in the forma- tion of a scale of representation for a United Parlia- ment, that no doubt whatever shall exist on this subject." The 3d number of same work, on the Urion, contains the following paragraph : " Having thus finished our enquiry into the nature of the Bill of Union, now become the Law of the Land, and having considered how far this Act of Union is likely to carry out the principles men- ■ It : ;i 42 m if f ''I i: II I. lioncd, namely, to produce the return of a *' truly Constitutional Parliament or House of Assembly, we cannot but come to the conclusion, that the effect of the Bill of Union to produce this desirable end, is at least doubtful and uncertain, whereas, the principle we stated as the scale of representation which past events and the present state of the Pro- vince would have warranted was, *• that no doubt whatever should have been allowed to exist on this subject." Has not the last Session of the United Parliament exhibited scenes and events, rather prognostic of the doubt and uncertainty stated in the above extract? Hardly had the loyal and indomitable part of the population of the United Province time to recover from the baneful rTects of the rebellions and the "sympathizing attacks from our neighbors;" hardly had returning confidence and quiet begun to be en- joyed, and the hopes of men to look for the wise and steady operaiions of the Legislature, in advanc- ing the agriculture, commerce and geneial pros- perity of Ae United Province; when on a sudden, and as may be said " in the twinkling of an eye" men of known characters for loyalty, who had, for numerous years, served the Crown and the Province, with honor and ability, were summarily dismissed from their high stations, to make room for others, several of whom have been repeatedly charged with aiding or fostering the rebellions, without any refu- tation on their parts, that I have heard of, of those charges. Jt was not surprising, that the loyal population of the Province should have appeared thunder struck, ed UlS! C( fal oi 43 ,na for a toe inccdulous of .fee events. J^ .he BrUUh Goye™.e„t .n.n^^ t^^ tinction of or.g.n, to bias "^ P acquiesced in was well ff-'°;,i;;tmt electable Cana- by the loyalists. rUcie ar- ma y i ^^^^ dL families of French or.gu^ "^"^^ ,^, Ue Province, who had no con- > '-^^^^ ^, „,.,„ut disturbances-, '1---'^™ ^ f UPP^' ^»""'^=' and ability among h. r[™ .i.^.u^csebecnintro- of the same descr.pUon. Had « '"' , imcnlions duced into tl-Govornment he e lu^^We ^^^_ of the British Govornmcnt ^^ >U ha phed wUb, without th^vto XL ^^^^^ ^^^^„,, of the loyal, which has ><=^"^;" f j^^ Ministry Ithasbeen stated' however,.b ™o o ^^ ^.^ i„ E„sla..d, in ext---"°" 'J ,' "vas represent- Charles Bagot's Gover,>me> . Jat ^^„^^, of ed to them as a course. hd^^^^^^^^^^^^ the case rendered . "^^^f > eompletedly to From this statement, I beg dissent. „„ri>icin the countr)' Sir Charles had been some mo.A -ft ^^.^ .vithout assembling the Pa^ amen ^^^^^^ ^^^ f-e several ^i-— e-^.cat.^^^ ^^ ^^^ meant to pursue. Use' inhabitants of ,ion of a most vespectab.e ^o^^ (,^„„j,, eon- ,he John's Town D.s net m Wc tc ^^^^^ ^^_ eerning Mr. Buel, wl- was ' -. ^^ ^„, ,„„,Us far,ous conduct durmg '^^^'^ ^ ^ ,^ ,,,o„, that the on the Province; s.emed at lea_t ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^.^_^^ Governor had no very w a, .11 1 e ^^^^ ^^ of the loyalists in that part oiJ-J ^„, of that gave this indication wa., the icmo 44 the Judges of Montreal District, of British descent; one who for many years, obtained general approba- tion for the uprightness of his judicial conduct,and the general afTability of his manners. He had performed the duties of President of the Bench for three years, but was displaced by Judge Day, whose situation as Sollicitor General was destined to be given to a Canadian of French origin. The present Chief Justice, a French Canadian by birth, was placed on the Bench, though I believe it was the opinion of the public, that Judge Pyke for his long services ought to have had that honor conferred on him. Mr. Ilinck's also, of Western Canada, who had been either promised or appointed to the office of Inspector General, by Lord Sydenham, was con- firmed by the late Government. This step has in- curred very general disapprobation among the loyal and conservative party, in both divisions of the Province. Mr. Hindi's politics, I never considered, both be- fore and at the time of the disturbance in Western Canada,as much superior to those of Mr. Mackenzie. In order to secure the respect and consideration of the public, it appears to me that the men chosen to fill the high offices of Government, ought to be men of long standing and influence in the country, both by the property they hold in it, and the general estimation they are held in ; and I confess that this appointment of Inspector General, had an imme- diate effect with me, of lowering the character of the late Government lower, than any previous Gov- ernment I had known in the Canadas. As to the capacity required for that office, I conceive it no mi C( 45 Jnt; ba- Ithe led |ars, tion to a Ihief on n ol" ices greater, than what any clerk in the departments, of moderate abilities and application, might possess. In consequence of these measures, it was pretty v*ell known, before the meeting of the Parliament, that the confidence of the conservative party was gone from Sir Charles Bagot. The effect of this vacillating conduct must, of course, have immediate- ly raised the hopes and spirits of the radical part of the House, so that it is probable a vote of want of confidence was contemplated from diflcrent motives, by both parties. Sir Charles, was indeed then obliged to throw himself into the hands of one of them, and this is perhaps what has been called in his extenuation, by Lord Stanley, "the course which circumstances had rendered it needful for Sir Charles to pursue." " Ever since the first landing; of Sir Charles Ba2:ot in this Province, and indeed long before that, its political atmosphere had been perfectly cahn and quiet. Whatever unjustifiable means may have been employed during the late elections by Lord Sydenham, it is certain he carried through the public business with nearly the very same ncii who sat in the House of Assembly Avhich Sir Charles met, and I feel persuaded that had /ic, with promptitude and energy, sustained by his public conduct, whatever was loyal and true in the Province, (as the conservatives had a right to look for, from him) he would not only have been sustained by them in return, but would have thereby confirmed all waverers, and got triumphantly through the ses- sion, without the necessity of falling into those steps so derogatory to the dignity of the British Govern- 46 m I (It ! |l ' ment, which subsequently took place. In England, where what is called responsible Government, is in full force, the ministerial party, fjfenerally retires from oflice, when they have no longer a majority in ' Parliament to carry on the public business ; the opposite party take their places ; but it is not to be supposed, that should any one of that party, be taint- ed/vith treasonable practice, or even suspected of treasonable disposition, he would be permitted by the Crown to take otlice. Even in the most democratic states, no person could expect to have a sliare of that Government conferred on him, who had been guilty of treason- able designs against it. It is, therefore, no justifica- tion to say, that men of unimpeachec' loyalty could have been found among the Franco Canadians, or the reformers in Western Canada, but they had not the confidence of thosu parties. They, the repre- sentatives of those parties, should (if the public business could not proceed without) have been sent back to their constituents, who when it was under- stood by them that no men of known disloyal conduct, could be admitted to a share in the Government, would no doubt have found men v/orthy of their confidence, whose political conduct would not be D bar to their being appointed to a share in that Government. Public men have indeed very different modes of thought on public affairs ; and these difterent modes, are the origin of the various political parties, called Tory, Conservative, Whig, Reformers or Radical. They have a natural right to follow these modes of thought, and, if they can, to embody them constitu- |nd» is ires in the be iint- Id of by 47 tionally in such public cnactmcnls as they consider will promote the public gootl. But here their })oli- tical rights end. If, in pursuance of their political bias or creeds, they proceed to aid, or sanction the overthrow of the Government by illegal means, (hey . can have no right nor reason, to expect that Gov- ernment to give them additional power to do so, by appointing them to the high oflices of the Province. The paiHotic conduct of the British Icyal popu- lation all over the Province, on the occasion of the late disturbances, was highly extolled, not only in the Imperial Legislature of Great Britain, but it met with the warmest praise and admiration from the people of England themselves. Could the recent events then, have created a less sensation in the minds of the British population of the Province than it did ? Was it possible to believe that a British Governor, so shortly after these rebellions and these extolling prais s had taken place, would, on any account, whatever, have so far outraged their feel- ing as to dismiss, tried and faithful servants of the Crown and Province, to put in their places men of an entirely opposite description ? Even if the British Government had determined on introducing something like Responsible Government into the Province, they should have considered, that the practice was new here, that the minds of a great part of the population were opposed to it; and therefore^ they should have at least taken care, it should not be attended with those aggravating cir- cumstances. It is true, that Mr. Stanley, in his late debate on the motion of that great friend oj loyal Canada^ 43 % ^ M' 'S ►it!- ill ij] Mr, Roebuck; has sliown that Lord Stanley and the British Government were not disposed to con- found all distinction between loyalty and treason in this Province, and to cast aside the decision ol* its Laws. But, considering how the feelings of the loyal population of the Province, have befn outraged by the late events in it, it appears to me that some- thing more is required at the hands of the British Government, to allay and to quiet these feelings. If in pursuance of their policy, these feelings have been so outraged, it is their duty, not only on this account, but on account of the respect they ow^e to the feelings of the people of England, regarding the conduct of the loyal British population of Cana- da in the la(e rebellions, to show by some specific measure their approbation of that conduct. The first step towards this, should 1 conceive b3 : 1st Remuneration to those who suffered losses or wounds during the late disturbances. 2dly. Due compensation to those who have been removed from office by the late changes. 3dly. Rew^ards by j;rant of land conferred on such persons, as were distinguished by their active exertions in putting down the late disturbances, and who wish to settle on land. By measures of this kind, the determination of the British Government to sustain the reign of law, order and peace, in the Province, would be made manifest; the confidence of the loyal restored, and the efforts of the disaffected, should they revive in it, be frustrated. It would appear then, that the Union Act in this, its second session, has nearly " suffered a syncope." During this session, men, ir 49 who, if not directly concerned ir: the late disturb- ances, have supported tlicopini.)n,s iVoni which they arose hy their writings, or agitatin to be hoped, under the inlluenceorgratitmle for the concessions and honors conferred on thenii lliey show a moderation and an intention to advance, hy their j)ublic conduct the great interests of the Province ; if they exhibit talent and zeal sullicient to restore the almost pros- trate condition of its agriculture, and commerce, and the completion of its public improvements; it is to be trusted that, under the prudence and energy of the great public character, whom it is the good fortune of the Province, to find invested with its Governor General ship, the country may now be " destined to thrive and to prosper." It is indeed " (' )utly to be wished," diat the above principles . ^ direct the line of conduct of the next session of the Provincial Parliament. But it must be observed, there are many impulses to be guarded against, which, if followed, may produce a very contrary efTcct. li, by the heats of parly spirit, in the pursuit of such objc cts, as in consequence of the recent events in the Province, we cannot at present obtain, or, which as a colony, are not within our reach ; if, in the inconsiderate pursuit of such objects, the above named great wants of the Province, be neglected and overlooked, let them remember, that a revision of the Act of Union may possibly be found needful. Thv Union of the two Provinces is, as I trust to have shown in my last work on the Canadas, the only way perhaps, by D ki. i 50 which their general prosperity can be secured. — This Union is yet only in its infancy, it requires to be nurtured wiih care, and with patience ; its bear- ir.gs have to be Avatched with the scruiinizing eye of parental attention, and, whatever obstructions it may at first meet with, I boldly venture to predict, that the wisdom and energy will not be wanting in the British Government, to render its youth and its manhood productive of the above desirable end. I am not prepared to say, that those who oppose the •'Union of the Piovinces, wish for separation from the Mother Country, but, as that wish has been charged on certain classes, I here give my ideas on that important subject. In some of the daily prints wc are told, that Lord Stanley, in a late speech in the Parliament, the pr Ise words of which I do not recollect, but the purport was " that if Canada were not retained to Great Britain, through the wishes of the people of this Province, he ^vould not wish to retain posses- sion of it." Now, I musl confess, I cannot conceive the necessity of, or what good end such a de- claration could answer. Had not Lord Stanley, and the British Government sufficient evidence, that the people of Canada wish for the maintenance of their present relation with the parent State, by the final issue of the late rebellions and invasions of the Province? " Les Anglais ont le pays, et ils , Tauront toujours" said an old habitant farmer of the Quebec District, to me,many years since, and it must be allowed, that but one district of Lower Canada was concerned in these disturbances, and as for Western Canada, the people and the people 51 only of that part of the Province, put down the out- ^ break in it. A declaration of the above kind, then, could tend only, to give delusive hopes to designing and agitating persons ; for no doubt, numbers are to be found in it, unfavorable to British connection ; but the loyal and respectable British subjects of the Province, have a ri^ht to claim the continuation of this connection as their birth right, both on account of their long possession of it, and of the repeated dcclarati(«ns that have been made, I believe in both Houses of Parliament, thpt *' the British Colonies were to be considered as integral parts of the British Empire." The Constitution of Great Britain was not won by its people, until after ages of aibitrary Govern- ment. It was seceded and secured to them, by the most t'olemn organic charters. The pecple have now possessed it 155 years. All the social transactions of the country must have been forme J on the faith of the irievccabie and sacred guarante-^ of this con- stituticn. Nothing then, but the almost unanimous voice cf the Legislature and people of that country, woull have the right to change, or, upset that con- sdtution: and it is perhaps from this unfading con- fidence in its permanonr durability, as much as froir the regard and attachment of the nation for it, that its grandeur and power have been derived. The Colonies form a part of that Empire, and havu therefore an equal claim to possess and rrtain that share of the British Constitution, which has been conferred on them. The classes of people in Canada, who are s'lid ;il • »•: 5^ m to wish for separation from the Mother Country, are composed, first, of some of those who have resorted here from a neighbouring^ nation, and hav- ing been bred in the political creed of that nation, have not yet assimilated wiih our own; secondly, of some, from various parts of Great Britain, who have been disaffected there, jRid brought their discontent along with them ; 3(lly, of some among ourselves, who have either been imbued with imaginary grievances, or have some real ones to complain of. But all persons, who are not only well acquainted with the nature, degree of strength, and capacities of Canada, bvit with the relative power, ambition and characters of the Govern- ments, and people of the nations of Europe are well convinced, that Canada is in no situation, either internal or external to set up for itself, an so urgently demand. I shall now proceed to state u.y viewK, of the n 53 pjreat and eventftil question of Responsible Gov- ernment,— ami shall first present the reailej' with a few extracts from numbers 2 ami 3 of the work called " Considerations on the past, present, and future condition of the Canadas," as they contain our line of reasoning, to shew that the precise ,1 degree of llesponsible Government, practised in the Government of Great Britain, would be productive of baneful consequences in this country, and therefore, requires modification, adapted to its nature and circumstances. We shall next present a short statement of what took place, in the first and second sessions of the United Parliament, on the subject of Kesponsible Government, with answers to some of the speech- es. We shall also, give a copy of Lord John ^Russel's famous dispatch on that sui)ject, with a review thereof, proving that the dispatch contains those limits to the ])ractice of responsible Gov- ment, which the constitutional securit}', and the nature of circumstances in this Province require. In No. I. of the Considerations on the Canadas, pages 47 and 49, are the following remarks on Responsiblo Government in Upper Canada : •* The chief objection that has been stated to the constitution of the Upper Province, has been, that the Executive Council is not made responsible, and therefore subject to be removed by the House of Assembly, as is done by the House of Commons in England. "Almost all the leaders of the late rebellion in the Upper Province, were people from the old country. They had, probably, first imbibed their tMK ) 54 ffS' AM m m quire and seek this change. This, it is to be understood, is, provided the people are left to their own good sense and feelings on this subjeci, not inflamed and acted upon by designing agita- tors, misrepresenting the conduct of public men ; which, as l^r as the laws allow, should be pre- vented. The liberty of the press is certainly the great palladium of a free constitution; without it, no country can lay claim to the dignified name of freedom. To this liberty of the press belongs the right of free and full discussion, of all public affairs, of the measures and conduct of public men, and t)f the Legislature. The jress has the right to 4 : J, ;.• i i'. 86 I ».r,j.' !i mk enlighten the public mind in all these concerns. But if the first right of a free people be this liberty of the press, we may perhaps, with much truth, call the legal restraints on its licentiousness, the second right, of the same people. If for in- stance in the discussions of the conduct of public men, or of the Executive Government, no regard whatever be paid to truth ; if public writers con- tinue to misrepresent and to vilify that conduct, it is evident, that in course of time, the Govern- ment might be unjustly debased in the opinions cf a great part of the people. The consequence would be, if these mal-practices were Lot restrain- able b}' law, that seditious agitations might pro- duce tumultuous proceedings, and it was no doubt on the experience of these effects being produced by the unrestrained licentiousness of the press, that the Law of libel was enacted. We have had a very serious example of the bad effects of this unrestrained licentiousness of the press in this Pro- vince. ' Mr. Mackenz'.e in Upper ^Janada, and others here, vomited forth their libels many years, until at last, the late foolish rebellions were produced. Hail the Laws been put in force against them, in due time, it is probable these effects would not have ensued, and the lives and properties of many, been saved. As sedition, therefore, is generally the forerunning cause of rebellion, and civil war, it seems required for the safety of the people and their peace, that the unjust licentiousness of the press, should be limited by the operation of just and wise Laws. 57 The public mind in Canada, takes a reasonable share of interest in the political proceedings of its Legislature ; should any glaring acts of neglect, misconduct or injustice, or of an arbitrary nature, appear there, these would meet with its firm dis- approbation ; but apart from this, the people wish to pursue the occupations of private life, and its rational enjoyments, free from the restless turmoil, so common in a neighbouring country. Long may this continue to be the characteristic of the public mind in Canada. It is respectable, social, and competent to produce private and pub- lic happiness. But I do not know of any political cause, more likley to effect a thinge in this happy character for the worse, than the continual agita- tions of the public mind, which 1 consider would be the consequence of what is called Responsible Government, if it were not modified with such limits as the nature of circumstances in this Pro- vince require, on which important subject, we shall treat at length, when we come to consider the Dispatch of Lord John Kussell on thij» subject. We have shewn in the foregoing pages, the na- ture of the responsibility which the Government is amenable to, by the constitutional right of the people of the Province, to petition the Imperial Government, or Parliament. We believe this kind of responsibility, is amply sufficient to ensure the redress of their real grievances. But as Gov- ernment has determined on granting a degree of that responsibility to the House of Assembly, we have only to h(»pe, that the degree conferred by the above dispatch, may be used with sucli " wise ,:! in;' ^1' 53 m it moileration" as to preclude all dangerous ten- dencies. We have now to consider, the proceedings which took place in the Ist and 2iid Sessions of the Uniteil Parliament on this subject. We shall first make one observation on the singular concessions, made to the R-^formers and "Franco Canadians, so recently afterthe rebellions. 'I'he British (lovernment appear to have reasoned •• in the following manner. A part of your popula- tion have involved the Province in three rebellions ; we have quelled them, and punished the guilty, according to the laws of the land. We shall now give you a new proof of our wish to acquire your gratitude and attachment. We offer you a share in the Governmf^nt. If you use it for good, it is well ; if you bring the country again into disorder, you will find the laws and good order of the Pro- vince, will not be violated with impunity. In the Montreal Gazette of June 21st and 22nd, '* 1841, we have the following account of proceedings in the honorable House of Assembly on the 18th that month. " The House of Asseml>ly met this morning at ten, and were engaged during the forenoon, in adopting a set of rules. After the intermission of an hour, they met again at 3 P. IVl., when the special order of the day, the adlress upon the speech was taken up in committee of the whole, .Mr. Morris in the Chair. On Mr. Cameron the member for Lanark, bringing in the resolutions, on which the address (and echo of the speech) is to be founded, a most important debate ensfttjd, which 59 ultimately led to declarations on the part of gen- tlemen representing Government in the House, which must mark the day as an epoch in the annals of Canada. The opinions of reflecting men differ widely as to the probable result; while some look upon the communication of the new policy as a jiolitical advent, promisinj^ a long course of prosperity and greatness, others look upon it with sincere despondency, and with melancholy fore- bodings, that it is the first step towards those in- croachments upon executive authority, which must terminate in colonial Independence." Mr. Buchanan said, he did not wish the ad- dress to be discussed until a preliminary question was disposed of. He meant to ask of the gentle- men occupying the Treasury Benches, if th ?y were prepared to carry on the Government, in case they were not sustained by a majority of that House? This question brought up iMr. Attorney General Draper, who appears to act as leadei* for his colleagues. The time and limit assigned to this lettar, will not permit me to make any thing more than a meagre outline of a speech, replete with that gentleman*s lucid arrangement, and flowing eloquence, or with the other important speeches. Upon Mr. D's speech being made, ihii House plunged into the *^vexfid sea of Responsible Gov- ei'nment" from which they emerged as will be seen further on." Mr. Draper said, he was happy to have it in his power to make an exposition of tlie principles, which he, and those with whom he was associated, entertained. Thev understood each other, and ii iH m T^ ^ he (leclaretl that, what he was about to give as his opinion, wa^ the opinion of them ail. The honorable and learneiJ gentlemen, then at length, went into a statement o(" the powers and position of the Head of the Government in this country, he stated with beautiful precision, that not only was the Governor General the representative of Royalty, but also, a part of the Imperial Adminis- tration, to which he was deeply responsible. "In his niin'sterial capacity, he was liable to im- peachment, but not in this country, and therefore, from the source whence he derived his power, there was his responsibility. That power never could be transferred into other hands, for the ex- ercise of which, he alone was responsible. " With reference to the position of the advisers of the Government. ISIr. O, adverted to the dis- patches of Lord Gleneljr, 5th December, 1835, relating to the responsibility of the Executive t'ouncil; Lord John RusselTs resolutions in tJ«e House of (vommons, March 183(), anil his dispatch upon the tenure of ollice, and the Governor Gen- eral's reply at Halifax. Mr. D. believed that the Government ought to be conducted in accordance with the well understood wishes of the people, and that there could be no prosperity when the Exe- cutive was at war with them. It was the duty of the Government-, to restore harmony between it- self, and the representatives of the people, and in • case it could not be done, there were three reme- dies to be attempted. 1st to dismiss the Execu- V tive Council. 2n(l to dissolve rarliameni. .Od for the Executive ("ouncil to be recalled, or to resign. . '■•' '/ 61 *' Mr. Baldwin said, lie had listened with a great deal of pleasure to the learned Attorney (ieneral's remarks upon the great question, which had now come before the House. He admitted frankly, and never had disputed that tlie form of Government, which we possessed was a mixed one, and must necessarily ])ervadethe whole Government. The head of the Government here, had unlquestion- ably a deep responsibility to the present Govern- ment, for irie adiniriistrationof the Affairs of the Colony ; but his executive councillors, he con- ceived were responsible to the people of this country, for the fulfilment of their duty. They were bound to advance the good of the country ; if their advice was accepted, \vell, if not, they ought at once to resign, and not continue to hold office, in deliance of ])uldic opinion. Mr. 13. honest- ly believed, that, if the dispatches of the l-4th and 16th, October, I» sons. He then goes on to say, " He shall be willing to avail himself of Mr. Baldwin's services." These then are the contents of this " famous letter," and, to a loyal mind who has passed through the late scenes in this country, and been ready to defend it against internal or external attacks, it really appears incredible, that such a letter could have been penned by a Governor General of the United Province of Canada. These remarkable and uflexpected changes having then taken place in the Government, many people seem to be of opinion, that entire responsibility oi the Executive Government to the House of Assem- bly is established in the Province. But Sir Charles Bagot, it is to be observed, has never, any more than Lord Sydenham, by any public document, declared that responsibility. With re- spect to the changes and appointments stated in his letter, he must have conceived that he was authorized to make them by Lord John Russell's dispatch, for we know of no other, on the subject of responsibility, from the British Government, which had there been, would no doubt have been promul- gated long since, in his justification. I shall shew in my review of that dispatch, that it actually forbids the Governor of the Province to entertain the idea of such responsibility, the three branches I 70 of the Imperial Legislature having formally and constitutionally, denied it. Having now stated some of the speeches in favour of entire responsibility of the Government to the Houses of Assembly, I have to observe, that as it is conceded by them, that the Governor in Chief is not responsible thereto, the question embraces the responsibility of the Executive Councillors, only. The chief of the arguments for responsibility above stated, are based upon the supposed right of this Province to every part of the British Constitution. But it is to be remembered, that Canada is not England, nor is England Canada. The one is a Colony, having no power' nor voice in making peace or war with foreign nations; the other has that power, and therefore, responsibility to Parliament is of infinitely greater importance there, than in a Colony. As I have stated in No. 3, page 13, on the Union of the Canadas, the right of responsibility for the good government of every part of the empire, belongs to no particular district of it, but to the entire British Empire, and this right is transferred by the British Constitution to the Legislature of the Empire. Every British Colony is virtual'y represented there, and has an equal right to memo- rialize it, as any person or district in any part of Great Britain has. Parliament has not the power of taxation of the Province, except for the regulation of commerce ; therefore, as a Colony, we have not exactly the same claim to every part of the British Constitution as England, Ireland, and Scotland have. 71 Wisdom would teach us, that we must base our system of Government on the principle, that its present relation with the Parent State is to be maintained, and is best calculated for acquiring the prosperity and security of the Province. The question then to be decided is, how would this relation with the Parent State be affected or endan- gered, by entire and unrestricted responsibility of the Executive to the Houses of Assembly ? I shall now attampt to answer this question. I shall first take a short review of the composi- tion of society iti this United Province, as it may serve lo give us a tolerable insight into the course of conduct we may expect from its component parts. Entire prescience of the future, belongs indeed, to the Deity alone. Reasoning upon extended views of the consummate wisdom and energy of the laws by which the material world we live in, and the heavenly bodies which surround it are governed; reasoning further, from the s.me wisdom, by which he has adapted the societies of men and the individuals composing them, to fulfil the ends of the natures he has bestowed ; we are forced to conclude, that he, the Deity, must foresee the entire progress and final end of these various societies. To man, however, the Deity imparts some portion of this foreknowledge, by the pene- tration with which some minds are eminently endowed. But, in order to exert this faculty with advantage, it is of high importance to the Govern- ment of a country, to be possessed of an intimate knowledge of the component parts of the society composing it. It is from this knowledge, they may 'Hi! n m m m Pit $ form a just view of the measures needful to be taken, for the prevention of evil ensuing therefrom, and thus establish the security of the country en- trusted to their care and vigilance. One wciuld imagine, that in a young country like Canada, v;here nature reigns in wild and simple majesty, where life is sustained by the products of its soil, by a moderate, though steady degree of labour and industry ; where its scanty population is not burdened and distressed by the enormous load of rents and taxation, which occasions so much misery in Great Britain, and other countries, one would, I say, imagine, that this scanty population ought almost to resemble one common family, and draw continually together for the common good ; and so they probably would, were they all of one origin and one language, as long as wise hws, justly administered, existed among them. It has pleased Providence, however, to constitute the society of United Canada, of very dissimilar parts, in origin, in language, in religion, and in edu- cation, and of course in intelligence ; and derivable from these great elements of human society, have originated great difference in modes of thought ?nd in manners. I shall merely mention the existence of the aborigines of the country, because even those who are located, have yet had no share in the representation of the Province, conferred on them, though I should conceive they are equally com- petent thereto, as some of their neighbours. They have been employed in the defence of the coun- try in time of war, and have been greatly ser- 73 ..eable in .hat defence ;.ndl 2^^^^ more likely to promote their civrnz . bestowing on «- ^^^^xV:^^^^^^^^^^^ tation of the <=7"."'y- ,^f"J, Canada. Trans- Canadian population of ^^^'J: ^ .^ Great ferred in 1759 by a dfPO^'^^f^^t British Con- Britain, they ---f^^Xpar*aL«t,inl791; stitution by act of the BnUsh ^^ ^ and up to the yea 8I9.«h«^ ' ^ ^^^^^ „f the possession of *»' C'.nstum ._^^^^.,. congratulation among *eF ^"'^^ .Peering to ''"%°'%s:Sshctti;L^ ^ an admirer ot me cruis" v^ disturbances The discontents the ---- * a "oo well that have happe-^;'"- ''';V;m;oonbeb^ known tobe ^Pf.^^^'^'^^JV'.Xr Canadians origi- in eternal •' oubli." The */<="'". ^nd it is nated chiefly from ^"^"^-^'^^^.I'^^^on of the remarkable that some consideiable P forefathers of Englishme^ C^conquest. I from the sa- P ace. «t ^e N°^ ,^ ,,,,,3n ac- remember, m the yeaf - ' • ^ j j^ jf he was costing a Frer^hCan^ai^as^^^ „ot.. French fl' ^^.^^, jhat population m a Canadian. A°; ' . ^^ „o more French, general, consider themselves a than they do English. intelligent classes in Many of the educated and int ^^^^^^.^^ the towns, have no doubt der.veO^ ^^^ ^^^_ f'°™^rttXtcte" mIm literature, the sider the high faracter ^^^^^^ ^^^ ac«tenessandindus;y-*>^b.d.^^ wonder they prosecuted m France, ^vc i hi 74 ''Mr should have that predilection. Canadian men of literature, however, should, in my humble opinion, consider, that if Lord Durlinm is correct in his opinions on Canada, as to the future character of its population, the French race can never become the dominant one. And indf^cd, when we rellect that population is every year becoming more and more redundant in Great Britain, whilst apparently, employment is yearly diminishing, we cannot doubt that emigration from that country must continue to extend. These Canadian men of literature should, therefore, be on their guard against letting their minds be imbued with modes of thinking hostile to this probable condition of the Province ; but rather assimilate them thereto. From the year 1759, the year of the cession to Great Britain, to the year I'^IO, about which ti.ue the differences in the Provincial Legislature began, the French Canadian population exhibited a pic- ture of content and social happiness, which pro- bably was not surpassed on the face of the earth. During the last war, ihey showed themselves in general ready and willing to defend the countrj^ and (lid do so,effectively, on t lie descent of the Ame- rican army down the St. Lawrence to Chateaugway. It is but justice to allow ihem the merit of that ac- tion ; that was the act of the people themselves. But their representatives, in the foimer Mouses of As- sembly have been charged with not keeping pace with the spirit of the times, in advancing the agri- culture, commerce, and public improvements of the country. The deficiency of .-security in the purchase of landed estate ])articu!ai ly, has been long and ti 76 loudly complainrd of by the Jiritisli population in this part of the Province. It is certain that no prudeijt buyer of land will like to venture on a purchase; so insecure. But a person wishing to purchase land has a right, in every well governed society, to demand such security from the seller. Whatever, therefore, may be the policy of with- holding such security, it is evident that in the present enlightened state of societj', this demand, so consistent with every principle of justice, can- not be much longer resisted, and that, therefore, registry offices must be established. In the pre- sent state of agriculture, and particularly of wheat agriculture in this Eastern part of the United l*ro- vin-^e, the withholding this establishment of regis- try jffices, is particularly unjust to the Canadian cultivators who wish to sell, for it prevents them from settling on lands in Upper Canada, where they might produce from twenty to thirty bushels of wheat per i«cre. The French Canadian component part of the population of United Canada, amounts at this time to between 5 and 000,000. That part of it which inhabits the District of Three Riveis, the Quebec District and the part below it, I am more acquainted with than with the inhabitants of the Montreal District. The former have always borne the character of a moral, religious, and social people. Tliey therefore deserve to be happy ; and as they enjoy a mild, just, and generous Government, it v/ill be their own fault or that of their leaders if they are not so. I was born, and have lived long among them, and should be happy 7« 1 ^'U •h I 41 i to be an humble instrument of Providence in advancin/j^ their prosperity. It was lately stated in the British Parliament, 1 believe by Lord Stanley, that one motive with the British Government for givinjij the French Cana- dian party a share in the Government was, that the Union, having now taken place, that party touhl no longer have an overwhelming power in the Houses of Assembly ; but it is to be remem- bered that there is a party in the Western part of the Province who call themselves reformers. Now it was by the junction of these parties that Sir Charles Bagot (who had lost the Conservative influence), was led into the line of conduct he pursued last session, and which has caused so much irritation among the Conservatives of the entire Province. The question is now, what will be the future conduct of these parties ? It is well known that the Reformers of the Upper part of the Province were formerly at least, not very friendly or zealous, for extensive public improve- ments. They inclined more to the economic side, and in my humble opinion, if their politics had prevailed, the great public works now going on in the Province would not have proceeded to their final accomplishment; yet it is highly probable these works will change the face, character, and condition of the Province, in its agriculture, and its trade and commerce, in an immense ratio. The French Canadian party also, have never been remarkable for their zeal for public improvements. They seem yet to wish to remain stationary in their institutions. Now stability in these institu- 77 • ln.t it m»y so h»PP;;';J,;'„ £'s advancement, gooa in one s age of hi- ^^, ^,^^ ^„„,,,y ^c but not in anolWer. U settlements and rapidly changmg, by e«=" j, ^i,out to clvation; if =>" ^'''^^f ^ X^ge. it is evident be the consequence of th»c^^^ JJ ,^.^ ^^^ending that facilities must ^e P'0"^« ;„ ,,hich de- agriculture. -7;/=;,; :i ne "essary in institu- mands may render change ^^ ^^^^^ tions. however sanctioned by former duration. therefore, that these It is much »« »'«i'Xe;ure.eaviewof the parties .iU --^^^^^^^.^t in which the I'ovince actual stage of ^'^'^^'2^. ^^^^„^, a„d energy m now is, and ^'"P'X ch 1 1 "st to have shewn, in sustaining it, »«'' ^''"'„f\,;i"\vork, the country the foregoing pages ^^^ fystefu^S care requires ="* ^h^"^ ***",• ,. ^ble character who has of\e great, P-^ftwitlle Government of these now been "'tested w.A the ^_^^ .^^^,f Provinces, a good oppoU" y ^ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^ . or United Empire Loyal- ists, and ihcMvvell deserve that honourable name; for I believe a mare devoted and determiueJ set i if 82 .1.1 ■hi m f§ t< of men in the defence of their con. .try is not to be Ibunil in Her IMnje^;ty^s fi:ioiions Knu^iie. They p^reatly distinguished themselves iu the h\!>t Ame- rican war. It is not to be (ienied, that SvS I have slated in No. 1 of my Consideratiors on the Canathis, "that from the near vicinity of Upper Canachi to the neighbounng republic, many persons from thence are continually emiL^ruting into that Province, who seldom fail to retaira, and even to ])romulgate to their neighbours, ; :;eir predilection for republican institutions." And it is this very vicinit3% anil consequent emigration from the United States into the I'ro- vince, that forms one of the chief objections to the introduction of unrestricted responsibility of the Government. The inhabitants of Western Canada may not all be inf)rnicd, that even in that much boasted republic, v/hose institutions are so plausiljly exhi- bited to their ears, the troubles, the animosities-, and the storms of opposite parties are in almo^t continual action. They may not all be informed, although repealed instances appear of it in the American prints, that the decisions and judgments of their courts of law are sometimes obstructed and resisted, aful the law taken into the hands of bodies of the ])eople, who inflict punishment with- ' idjre or iurv. Ail this is at nro.soi i' 15 jury thank God, or/rary to the wishes and charactei of the people of ( ninda. Anil they h^'ve shewn their detestation of thosncli- dates for the people's favour. Having, pti haps, no qualities very superior to their neighbou;?;, the IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) &c /. ^ ^£o 1.0 1.1 11.25 140 u 2.0 1.6 ^ % ^f ^^^ Hiotographic Sdences Corporation .4 ^ <^ o^ 23 «VEST fttAIN STREET WFrS^ER, I'J.Y. 14580 (/j«) 873-4503 ^^. ^"^ 90 only way they can ingratiate themselves with the electors is, by the promise of boons to be procured for them. The bait succeeiis ; the new members are elected, and, to keep their promise, new con- cessions are to be demanded from the Government. These, according to the nature of their political character, generate more or less paity strife. If the concessions are acquired, they infuse into the electors a taste for the growing power of the rapresentatives, and succeeding Parliaments con- tinue to be stocked with new ones, on the same conditions. It is indeed probable, that some candidates among them will appear, who will be found pos- sessed of nobler motives of public action ; a real desire and purpose to advance the ])rosperity of the country ; but I am feign to believe, from the nature of things here, that the majority of the candidates will seek to acquire their scats on account of the advantages this power of unre- stricted responsibility would confer on them. We have as yet considered only the bright side of this question; namely, that the representatives in these successive Parliaments, still proceed on constitutional principles and motives of action. But the tiaie may come when men, not possessed of those constitutional principles, may wish to obtain the emoluments and power which this unre- stricted responsibility is found to confer. To succeed in obtaining their election^ and fmding, perhaps, that no more boons can be obtained from (iovernment for the electors, they proceed to i^xcite a spirit of discontent with the then order of 91 things ; ihey agitate the |)eo[)!e, incessantly ; they spf'.ak to them ol" things which are not constitu- tional ; they misrepresent; they use their abiUties to convince them that these things are for their advantage and interest. Tliey at length, perhaps, preach up separation from the Parent State as one of these advantageous things. The people's passions become excited ; the idea of indepen- dence is seductive, especially when the improba- bility of being able to maintain that independence long, and the dangers attending it are carefully kept out of their view ; and Jn the course of per- haps years of agitation of the people in this way, succeeding Parliaments may be found to declare Ihat separation is the wish of the people. I trust that, considerincj the nature of men and things in this Province, the description of the component parts of it:; population, and the influ- ence of its near vicinity to the neighbourin;^ republic, that I have not much overcharged this prospective view of the probable effects of unre- stricted responsibility of the Executive Govern- ment, to the Houses of Assembly in producing great danger to the existaig relation of this Vvo- vince with the Parent State ; being the answer to the question proposed above. In the physical vvorlil, from the geological struc- ture of our earth, for instance, we know, that we are subject to the most destructive explosions every day of our lives. The idea even of central iire, of an immense ocean of that element, extending down to the centre of the earth, is being I h 92 now promulgated by some eminent geologists ; and although, I trust, I have successfully confuted that opinion, in a late work published by me on the Creation of our Globe, yet that we are exposed, from other causes, to the dreadful effects of volca- nic action, at uncertain times and places, all over the earth, constant experience teaches us. And I verily believe, that on a review of the component parts of its society, and our relative circumstances to other countries, we may not inaptly compare the moral and political situation of this Province, with the physical one above mentioned ; that is to say, in the event of entire and unrestricted respon- sibility, existing in it. When the revolution of 1789 broke out in France, as long as it was kept within the bounds of reason, moderation, and humanity, the good wishes of a great part of mankind, wished it suc- cess. This was the case pending the duration of their first Houses of Assembly. Many of the Girondine and Brissotine parties were men of real and pure patriotism and philanthropy, and several of them were men of high respectability, adorned with the most splendid gifts of scientific knowledge. But, if we wish to discover the fatal effects of all power being derived from agitation of the people, we find here a most awful and instruc- tive lesson. The virtuous characters above men- tioned, whose talents and energies had been exerted for the liberty and happiness of France, were soon displaced by the ambitious machinations of men of a very different description. The fears, 93 the jealousies, and all the other evil passions of the multitude, were artfully excited. Party after party, of worse and worse character, succeeded each other by the same means, and followed to the scaffold, until the character of the verj' people l)ecame changed and hardened to crime, by these eicited passions, and the country deluged with blood. Human nature could endure it no longer. France appeared glad to seek protection in the arms of military power. It is to be recorded, to the honour of the people of French origin in Canada, that they held these proceedings in utter horror, as did the rest of civilized society. The character of the united population of Canada, is still social and humane, and I trust and pray to God it may ever continue so. But we know now, from history the potent bad effects of party spirit, when employed in agitating the people. We know that too much of this has already existed here : the wise and the good deprecate its effects, and would be glad of a preventative ; and I therefore conclude, that I am fairly borne out in the opinion above stated, that the Government should firmly retain their constitutional powers, for the good purpose mentioned. We now proceed to a review of Lord John Kussell's dispatch on this subject of responsibility, which we hope to find will be a more gentle, safe, though no less efficacious remedy for any political disorders, than the violent and hazardous one we have been discussing. I I m 4 94 The following is a copy of this famous dispatch : Dispatch from Lord John Russell to the Right Hon. C. Poxdett Thorapsouy Governor General, 8fc. Downing Street, Uih Oct. 1839. Sir, — It iippears from Sir George Arthur's dispatch, liiat you may encounter much tJifficulty in eubduing the exciteuienl which prevaiU on the question of what is called " Kesjiondibic Govern- ment." I have to instruct you, however, to refuse any explana- lion which may be construed to imply an acquiescence in the petitions and addresses upon this subject. I cannot better com- mence this dispatch than by a reference to tho Resolutions of boili Houses of Parliament, of the i28th April and 9ih May, in the year 1837. 2. The Assembly of Lower Canada, having repeatedly pressed this point, Her Majesty's confidential advisers at that period, thought it necessary not only to explain their views in the communications of the Secretary of State, but expressly callod for tlie opinion of Parliament on the subject. The Crown and the two Houses of Lords and Commons having thus decisively pronounced a jui^g- nienl upon the question, you will consider yourself precluded from, entertaining any proposition on the subject' 3. It does not appear, indeed, that any very definite meaning is generally agreed upon, by those vvho call themselves the advocates of this principle; but its very vagueness is a source of delusion, and would prove the cause of embarrassment and danj;er. i. The constitution of Eiiglaml, after long slrut;gles and alternato success, has fettled into a form of government, in which the |.ro- rogalive of the Crown is undisputed, but is never exercised without advice. Hence the exercise only is qtiestioned, and however the use of the authority may be cojidemncd, the auiiiority itself remains imtouelieL. 5. This is the practical solution of a great problem, the result of a contes', which iVom 1640 to 101^)0 shook the monarchy, and disturbed the peace of the country. 6. But if we seek to apply such a practice to a colony, we shall at once find ourselves at fault. The power for which a minister is responsiule in England, is not liii own power, but the power of the Crown, of which he is for the time the organ. It is obviovis that the executive (juncillor of a colony is in a situation totally different. The Governor, whom ho serves, receives his orders from the Crown of England. IJut can the colonial council be tho advisers of the Crown of England ? Evidently not, for the Crown has other advisers, for the same function?, and with superior authority. 05 7. It may hnpp-'n, llicit-forc, Ihat the Governor receives at one ami the same ti;rie insiruclions from tlie Queen, anil advicu from his executive council, totally at variance with cacli other. Ii" lie is to ohey his inslruclioiis iVoni Kng'aiiii, the parallel of conslilij. tional responsihility entirely fails ; if on the other liamJ, he is' to follow the advice of his council, he u no longer a tiuhoidinatc officer, but an independent s'overei^ii. 8. There are some cases in whioh the force of these ohjeclions ih so manifest, that those wiio at first made no distinction heiween the constitution of the United Kingdom and that of the colonies, admit their strength. I allude to the questions of foreign war, and international relations, whether of trade or diplomacy. It is now saiil, that internal government is alone intended. 9. But there are some case^ of internal government, in which the honour of the Crown, or the faith of Parliament, or the safety of ih'3 state, are so seriously involved, ihat it would not be possible for Her Mnj-'sty to delegate her authority to a minister in a colonv. 10. I will put, for illustration, some of the cases which liavw occurred in that very Province, where ihe petition for a responsible executive first arose — I mean Lower Canada. 11. During the time when a large majority of the Astcmbly of Lower Canaila, followed jNI. Papineau as their leader, it was obviously the aim of that gentleman to difcouroge all who did their duty towards the Crown within the Province, and deter all who i-hould resort te Canada widi British habits and feelings from without. I need not say, that it would have been impossible for any minister to support, in the Parliament (!f the United Kingdom, the measures a ministry headed by M. Papincau, would have imposed upon the Governor of Lower Canada ; — British ofliccr:i punished for doing their duly ; British emigrants defrauded of their property ; British merchanti discouraged in their lawful pun-uiiF, — would have loudly appealed to Parliament nganst the Canadian Ministry, and wou d have demamled protection. 12. Let us suppose the Assembly as then constituted, to have been sitting when S.r John Colborne suspended two of the Judges. Would any councillor, po.'-sessing the confidence of the Assembly, have made himself responsible for such an act 1 And yet the very safety of the Province depended on its adoption. Nay, the very orders of which your Excellency is yourself the bearer, respecting Messrs. Bedard and Panet, would never be adopted, or put in execution by a minister depending for existence on M. Papineau. 13. Nor can any one take upon himself to say, that such cases will not again occur. The principle once sanctioned, no one can say how soon its application might lie dangerous, or even dishon- ourable, whi'e all will agree that to recall the power thus concede^J would be impossib'e. 11 11 06 H. While I thus see insuperable objections to the adoption of the principle as it has been slated, I see little or none to the prac- tical views of the Colonial Government recommended by Lord Durham, as I understand them. The Queen's Government have no desire to thwart the representative assemblies of British North America in their measures of reform and improvement* They iiave no wish to make those Provinces the resource for patronage at home. They are earnestly intent on giving to the talent and character of leading persons in the Colonies, advantages eimilar to those which talent and character, employed in the public service^ obtain in the United Kingdom. Her Majesty has no desire to maintain any system of policy among her North American sub- jects, which opinion condemns. In receiving the Queen's com- mands, therefore, to protest against any declaration at variance with the honour of the Crown, and the unity of the Empire, I am at the same time instructed to announce Her Majesty's gracious intention, to look to the affectionate attachment of her people in North America, as the best secuiity for permanent dominion. 15. It is necessary for this purpose that no official misconduct should be screened by Her Majesty's representative in the Pro- vinces ; and that no private interests should be allowed to compete with the general good. 16. Your Excellency is fully in possession of the principles which have guided Her Majesty's advisers on this subject ; and you must be aware that there is no surer way of earning thft approbation of the Queen than by maintaining the harmony of the executive with the legislative authorities. 17. While I have thus cautioned you against any declarartion from which dangerous consequences may hereafter flow, and instructed you as to the general line of your conduct, it may be said, ihat I have not drawn any specilic line beyond which the power of the Governor on the one hand, and the privileges of the Assembly on the other, ought not to extend. But this must be the case in any mixed government. Every political constitution, in which different bodies share the supreme power, is only enabled to exist by the forbearance of those among whom this power is distributed. In this respect the example of England may well be imitated. The Sovereign using the prerogative of the Crown to the utmost extent, and the House of Commons exerting its power of the purse, to carry all its resolutions into immediate effect,, would produce confusion in the country in less than a twelvemonth.. So in a colony : the Governor thwarting every legitinaate proposi- tion of the Assembly ; and the Assembly continually recurring to its power of refusing supplies, can but disturb all politkal relations, embarrass trade, and retard the prosperity of the people. Each must exercise a wise moderation. The Goveinor must only oppose the wishes of the Assembly, where the honour of tihe 97 Grown, or the interests of the Empire are deeply concerned ; and the Assembly must be ready to modify some of its measuses for the sake of harmony, and from a reverent attachment to the authority of Great Britain. I have, &c> J. RUSSEI.!.' ■ The Right Hon. C Poulett Thompson, \ &c* &c< &c> ^ * '' There is perhaps, no greater instance of an erro- neous idea being propagated among> the public, than the one, that unrestricted responsibility of the Execu- tive Council of this Province, to the Houses of As- smbly, now exists in this Province. The gradually increasing circulation of this idea, resembles much the gradually increasing velocity of a falling weight, augmented by the height it falls from. So, because some of the ministers of the Sydenham Govern- ment, declared in the House of Assembly, that if they did not obtain their approbation or confidence in their general conduct, they would retire: be- cause Sir Charles Bagot, by certain measures, pre- vious to the meeting of the late House of Assembly, had lost the support of the Conservative party, was obliged to throw himself into the hands of the oppo- site one, and formed his Government mainly, from that party; it was immediately promulgated, that "Responsible Government," meaning entire respon- sibility to the House of Assembly, was to exist in the Province. Now, the declaration of Lord Sydenham's minis- ters, could only have been made, in consequence of his (Lord Sydenham's) intention of exercising the right which Lord John Russell's dispatch gave him, to comply with the wishes of the House of Assembly, when he considered, that, as the dispatch says, " neither the honour of the Crown nor the interest of m m 98 the Empire were opposed to their wishes." So, Sir Charles Bagot, (ahhough many of the first characters of the Province are of opinion, that neither the " honour of the Crown nor the interests of the Empire" were well supported by his com- pliance with the wishes of his house of Assembly ;) yet he, Sir Charles, probably thought, or was coun- selled, differently. There is no other subsequent dispatch, regulating the conduct of the Governor on the subject of responsibility ; and it is highly impro* bable, that any dispatch of the British Government 2(joM/t/ authorize any thing contrary to the " honour of the Crown or the interests of the Empire." We shall, therefore, narrowly examine the various parts of this dispatch, and endeavour to find out its true meaning, and the nature, degree, and limits of that responsibility it authorizes. The first two paragraphs of this dispatch are as completely decisive as language can make them, that " Responsible Government" is not conceded to this Province, in the way it is practised in England ; namely, that when the ministers of the Crown are found no longer to possess a majority in the House I' of Commons, or as it is called, the confidence of that House, they are to retire from office. Now this is the very, kind of responsibility which the petitions' and addresses to the Home Government from this Province, have requested and sought for, for the internal Government of the Province. I re- fer the reader to these paragraphs, which he will find condude with saying, ** The Crown and the two Houses of Lords and Commons having thus deci- sively proipounced a judgment upon the question, I i 99 you imll consider yourself precluded from entertaining any proposition on the subject.*^ The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs are explanatory of the difference existing between Co- lonies and the Parent State, as it relates to the sub- ject of responsibility. The seventh paragraph strongly shews the impos- sibility of any fixed and invariable practice of responsibility being established in the Colonies. That the case referred to, of variance between instructions from the Crown, and advice to the Governor from his Executive Council, would likely very soon happen, if this entire responsibility were in practice, we may reasonably conclude, from the gradual effects, that 1 have above shewn, would ensue from that practice, on the representatives. The consequence would be, the Governor would be constrained to dismiss his Council, although posses- feing the confidence of the House of Assembly. ( The eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and. twelfth paragraphs treat upon cases in point, relating to past events in this Eastern part of the Province, in con- firmation of the contents of the seventh paragraph. • The thirteenth paragraph says: "Nor can any one take upon himself to say, that such cases will not again occur. The principle once sanctioned, (that is the entire responsible principle,) no one can say, how soon its application might be dangenus, or even dishoncarable, while all will agree, that to recall the power thus conceded would be impos- sible." There is not a doubt in my mind that such cases would soon occur, if the practice of entire arid i; 100 absolute responsibility were established ; and I trust to have shewn, in the foregoing pages, that in the course of successive Parliaments, it would become very dangerous, not only to the internal peace, but to the present relations of the Province with Great Britain. But, as to the last sentence of the para- graph, I do not at all agree with it. Errors are frequent in all human transactions, and political regulations are not exempt from them. " To man it belongs," says a great writer, *'to correct his errors." To correct this, if the responsible principle had been conceded to the Province, could not be ** impossible," if that be done, as soon as its dange- rous effects appeared; and it would then be the duty of a protecting Government to retract it. The fourteenth paragraph begins : " While I thus see insuperable objections to the adoption of the prin- ciple, (meaning responsible principle,) as it has been stated, I see little or none to the practical views of Colonial Government, recommended by Lord Durham, as I understand them." Vide 1 4th paragraph to the end of it. There are, I believe, many persons in the Pro- vince, who have regarded, or so pretend, the refe- rence in this parrgraph to "Lord Durham's practical views of Colonial Government," as an acquiescence in his " responsibility ;" but it is plain. Lord John Russell refers here, to his other practical views, respecting Government by the Departments, &c., for as I have shewn, all the former paragraphs of the dispatch, refuse all acquiescence in the responsible principle, therefore L^ rd John Russell must have understood him differently on that head. With y 101 respect to the declarations contained in this para- graph, on the part of Her Majesty ; they are gracious, and I have no doub^ the practice of these declara- tions will be productive of the attachment of the people of British North America to Her Majesty, the honour of her Crown, and the unity of the Empire. The fifteenth and sixteenth paragraphs must con- vince even the most ultra radical in the House, of the intention of Her Majesty, to preserve harmony and good Government in the Province. The last paragraph. This finally discloses the true meaning and extent of the dispatch ; evidently, that it is not to give entire and unrestricted respon- sibility to the Houses of Assembly, as a general pledge of Government, but to modify its former practice. That whereas, formerly Governors may have thwarted the legitimate propositions of those Houses with too high a hand, they are now directed to ^* exercise a wise moderation," and not to " op- pose the wishes of those Houses, except where the honour of the Crown and the interests ol the Empire are deeply^ concerned." The Houses of Assembly are also to use " a wise moderation, and to modify their measures, for the preservation of harmony," and thereby to avoid em- barrassing the political relations, and retarding the prosperity of the people. In fine, the responsibility of the Government now given, is to be under the discretion of the Governor. Having now analized this dispatch, I trust to have shewn, in my dissertation on the real causes of discon- tent in this country, and also in my observations on the if i;. 102 various paragraphs of the dispatch, that it contains ** those limits to the practice of the responsible principle, which the constitutional security and the nature of circumstances in this Province require.'* It will be agreed by all prudent men, by all who love to see the peace, the prosperity, and the hap- piness of the Province secured, that, in contem- plating the effects of so great a power in the Houses of Assembly, as unrestricted responsibility would give them, we must not limit our views of this power, to the time present. The representa- tives of the present House, and perhaps of some succeeding Houses of Assembly, may have good intentions ; but we know the usual effects of power, and especially of popular power, and we know the baneful effects of the talents and activity of design- ing and ambitious men, when employed in agitating the minds of the people, to obtain that poioer. We must, therefore, in order to have a thorough view of the effects of this unrestricted responsibility, look into futurity. I trust to have shewn, as proposed, the wisdom of attending in this great question, ** strictly to the nature of circumstances of this Province, in order to preserve its permanent peace and w ell-being." JVow as the degree of responsi- bility, conferred by the dispatch of Lord John Russell, is perfectly comp3tent to secure the above good effect, and will prevent the dangers of unre- stricted responsibility ] therefore, wisdom and moderation would lead us to be satisfied wilh it* At all events, the Union of the Piovinces ought, and I trust will be, strenuously maintained. It is impossible the British population of Eastern Canadu T 103 ran return to the old state of things produced by the former Houses of Assembly. This Union was formed very soon after the late disturbances. The Province had hardly recovered a state of quietude. When the security of that quietude is established, it is probable that several provisions of the act may be relaxed. But, on the contrary, if the representative branch of the Legislature, instead cf promoting that security, instead of advancing the great interests of the country, in regard to its agricultural and com- mercial improvement ; if t*his branch involve itself too deeply, in pursuits incompatible with our rela- tive situation with the Parent State, it is probable revision and amendment of this act of Union a may be made by the Imperial Parliament, in order to condense it into a form, that shall ensure more constitutional Legislation, and which shall not op- pose the progress of the Province, in its industry, prosperity, and welfare. I say, if the necessity of such a change is forced on the Imperial Legislature, it is possible it may adopt it; but, as the British Government has now so abundantly shewn its wish to draw a veil over what has passed, and even to promote some who formerly opposed the laws, we have a right to expect its Legislative branches will cheerfully join issue with it, in advancing the great interests of the Province; and that under the able direction of the great and energetic character now at the head of the Government, and the blessing of Divine Providence, a happy era is going to arise out of the Union of the Canadas. THE END. 104 1 •a £B.ivAXA< -, r Pi«e 47, line 32, for « Mr. Stanley in his," read « the." . j Pa«e 55, after line 9, read the following omitted paragraph i ** Sut indeed a power of responsibility hoi been given to the Frovineei more >afe and of leai evil consequence than In trusting that power to its representativei «.tl7. The people of erery Colony have at this moment the power of calling the Governor to account by the right of the subject in every part of the British Dominions, to petition the Throne or the Imperial Parliament. We have even seen Governors recalled upon slight indications of unpopularity, and when, in the opinion of well informed men, their continuance in office would have been serviceable to ihe country. That the bulk of the people of the Provinces would not, if left to thtir own uncontrolled feelingt, exert (his right with'iul good reason, I think, is highly probable, and coming from them, it is, I think, much less likely to arise from party spirit than if emanating from the Houses of As- sembly." Page 63, line, 4, for " the composition of the composition," read " the con- pesUion." Page 75, line 23, for "between 5 and 600,000," read " near 500,000." LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Judge Pyke, 3 copies ; F. G. Johnson, 2 copies ; A. Hall, M. D., 2 copies; Allan Giimour, 2 copies ; Chas. Wilson, D. Smilie, R. N. Kirkup, R. Ruston, F. Bruneau, M.J. Hayes, H. Matlhewson, C. M. Mead, E. C. Tuttle, W. & C. Brewster, J. L. Mathewson, J. Foster, R. Campbell, Wm. Learmont, J. Hutchison, R- W. S. M'Kay, John George, Thos. Mussen, Wm. Sinclair, A. Benning, Edward Goldsmilh, R. Hutchins, Chas. Geddes, Jas. Geddes, Chas. Brent, Alfred Savage, Arch. .Macfarlane, William Workman, John Sproston, John Young, Gale &, Woolrich, Wm. Thompson, C M. Murray, W. Gunn, R. Gibb, Farquhar Fraser, James Knapp, Richard Gerrard, Mechanics' Insti- tute, John Smith, J. H. Juseph, J. C. Panton, T. Bell, B. Holmes, D. David- son, Los;an Cringan & Co , James Stokes, S. Smith, M. D., 3. H. Lemoine, John Blackwood, W. F. Hagar, L. Haldimand, J. White, H. Harper, J. D. Bernard, T. B. Anderson, G. French, Froste & Harrison, David Smith, Wm. M'Kenzie, H. L. Routh, John E. Mills, 6. B. Rolleston, Joseph Webster, C. T. Palsp;riive, John T. Bad^eley, Judge Gale, D. Handyside, J. Macfarlane, W. Robertson, A. Wells, Joshua Bell, Edwin Atwater, J. Beers, R. VJ. Mac- hay, James Court, William Miller, T. T. Blicknder, Ed. Field, G. Rhynas, John Dyde, James Rosm. John Lovell, J. W. Gilbert, James Scott, Hon. C. C. de Bleury, M. Drolet, M. D., John. J. Day, William Clarke, J. L.Cilley, Jas. Robertson, W. Badgeley, J. J. Gibb, John Mack, S. Monk, Wm. Milne, Thos. Hood, Mr. Tait, Janes Turner, Wm. Crosby, John Gillan, Wm. Christie, B. Robertson, Joseph Bourret, P. W. Dease, C. S. Cherrier, T. W. Oliver, Wm. Kingsford, Wm. Footner, J C. Webster, Wm. Francis, Ashley Hibbard, J. A. Evans, H. Stuart, W. C. Meredith, J. Wilson, Wm. Carr, Geo. M. Todd, A. Furniss. G. H. Hall, Col. Hughes, John Thornton, W. Snaith, Wm. Kerr &. Co., J. Rattray, J. Ruthven, R. H. Hamilton, John Burton, Edmund Brown, O. C. Relffenstein, Francis Boy, Jr., Wm. Douglas, W. J. Grassett, James Ross, J. W. Johnson, Alex. Ewing, Jos. M*Killip« Rev. Mr. I^eftch, Wpi. Ewart, D. Gorrie, Ferguson, Joseph CAte, W. Moodie, B. Ibbotaan, John C. Becket, Wm. Fallis, L. P. Boivin, Montreal ; W. Brodie, Lachine Road ; John Twigg, Boiiclterville ; Christopher Purcell, Kildare ; P. Muir, Sorel; A. Laurie, Quebec.