.^-v ^.^' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 ■ SO "^~ i^HI ■^ 1^ 12.2 I ^ lis. IJil 1.4 v] "V-"^' '^ ^v / Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WEBSTIR.N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 •'^ #T^ \ <^ ^ •^ ■<^' CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques \ \ Tachnical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tachniquas at bibliographig* aa Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tho baat original copy avaiiabia for filming. 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This item Is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document eat film* au taux da rMuctlon indlqui ci-deaaoua. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y 12X lex 20X 24X 28X 32X re litails M du nodifier ir une ilmage Th« copy film«d h«r« hm b««n raproductd thankt to tho gonorotity of: Ligislaturo du QuMmc QuMmc Tho imagM appearing hara ara tha baat quality poaaibia conaidaring tha condition and lagibility of tha originai copy and in icaaping with tha fiiming contract apacifieationa. L'axampiaira filmi fut raproduit grica i la gAnAroalt* da: LAgiilature du Quebec QuMmc Laa Imagaa auivantaa ont 4t* raproduitaa avac la plua grand aoln, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da l'axampiaira film*, at an conformity avac laa conditiona du contrat da fllmaga. BS Original coplaa in printad papar eovara ara filmad beginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriate. 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Mapa, platea, charta, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratioa. Thoae too large to be entirely included in one expoaure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bottom, aa many framea aa required. The following diagrama illuatrata the method: Lee cartea, planchaa, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fiimAa A dee taux da rMuction dlffiranta. Loraque le document eet trop grand pour Atre reprodult en un aeul clichA, 11 eat filmi A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en baa, an prenant le nombre d'imagea nAcaaaaira. Lea diagrammea auivanta illuatrent la mAthode. errata to pelure, )n d 32X 1 2 3 6 -.1. f ^ MEMOIRS OP u THE ADMINISTRATION OJF THE GOVERNMENT OP LOWER CANADA, »>nk>' BY THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE, O. C. B. COMPREHENDING A PERIOD OF EIGHT YEARS, Tiit :~ FROM JUNE, 1820 TILL SEPTEMBER, 1888. •■MPBR BONOS, NOMENQUE TUUM, LAUDE8QT7E MAMBBDirV. QUEBEC: - PRINTED BY THOMAS CARY 1^ CO. vreeuabonb' hall. 1829. y. NOTICE. X HE favorable reception given by the public to the Memoirs heretofore published of the Administra- tions of the Government of this Province, from that of Sir James Henry Craig, inclusively, has induced the Author to hazard a continuance of them. He commits these to the public with a belief that they will be found accurate, and that if any errors (of which he is not conscious) are detected, they will be found unessential. He has not entered into details us minutely, as might in some instances have been done, but enough he apprehends, is said on every matter of any importance to enable the Reader to understand and judge of it. He has endeavoured to do justice to the undertaking. How far he has succeeded it is for the reader to determine. If the Author be allowed to express his own apprehension, it is, that he has fallen short of doing justice to the up- right and firm administration of the Nobleman just re- tired, with signal proofs of the approbation of his King and Country, from this Government, to a more splendid and important command. Quebec, 1st February, 1829. ADMINISTRATION OF THB EARL OF DALHOUSIE. CHAFFER XIII. f TIHE Earl of Dalhousie entered upon the govern- _|, ment of Lower-Canada under circumstances rather favourable. Sir Peregrine Maitland had left things in a state somewhat better than he had found them, having avoided all measures of a tendency to excite the public mind on those matters which had been in discussion un- der the preceding administrations. His Lordship's ad- ministration of the government in Nova Scotia had been very popular, ana hopes were entertained on all sides that he would prove not less successful in this Province. The dissolution consequent upon the death of His late Ma- jesty George the Third, afforded time for some abate- ment of the warmth which had arisen out of recent events, and gave him the advantage of a new Assembly chosen by a public with which, whatever might have been the matters in agitation before his assumption of the Government^ his Lordship^ personally had no kind of misunderstanding. Shortly after his ai'rival at Quebec,* he visited the upper Districts, to which however he was not a stranger, having the preceding summer while yet Lieu- tenant governor of Nova Scotia, paid a visit to the Duke of Richmond, then Governor in Chiefs and made with him a tour through the Canadas. * His Lordihiparrived at Quebec Id the Newcastle Frigate from Halifax 00 the 18th June, 1820. B Chap. XIII. 1820. Juue 18th. 212 Administration or Chap. XIII. 1820. The LeglsU- tnreoicei. No event occurred during the summer, worthy of no- tice, except the return of Mr. Plessis, the catholic bishop of Quebec, from a voyage to England, whither he had gone the year before, and where, through the introduction of the Duke of Richmond, he had been re- ceived with much attention by Lord Bathurst, the colo- nial minister. This prelate visited also France and Italy during his absence. The Legislature was convened on the 14th December, ' and Mr. Papineait being again chosen Speaker by the Assembly, was confirmed as such by the Governor in Chief. His Lordship, in his speech on opening the Session, paid a tribute of respect for the revered memory of the late King, and adverted also in the strongest terms of regard to that of his deceased predecessor, the late Duke of Richmond. " When the British Empire expressed its unfeigned sorrow upon the loss of a Monarch in whom the whole world acknowledged every public and private virtue, I believe," — said his Lordship — "that no part of his Majes- ty's subjects lamented that loss more deeply than you did in Canada." " The manly character of the late Duke of Richmond, his liberal mind, his experience in public affairs, his amiable disposition in private life, all qualified hioi in an eminent degree to fill the high station to which he was appointed ; and it is deeply to be regretted that his Grace has been lost to this Province before he had time to render it the services he had contemplated. It is," said he, "pleasing to me to offer this tribute to the memory of a friend whom 1 have known and honoured during thirty years." He called the attention of the Assembly to the ac- counts of the general expenditure in the administration of government for the last two years. He informed them that he .vould lay before them accounts of the ex- pense annually incurred in payment of the salaries and contingencies of the civil officers permanently establish* ed for the service and support of His Majesty's govern- ment in the Province, including such occasional pay- ments as were unavoidable under it ; and that to this, he would add a statement of the annual product of the 1 ^1 Thb Earl ov Dalhousie. 213 1820. m 5 JC • Q permanent taxes, and hereditary territorial revenue of Ch\p. the Crown. That from these documents formed upon an XIII.* average of the last six years, the Assembly would per- ceive that the annual permanent revenue was not equal to the amount of annual permanent charges upon the provincial civil list, by a deficiency of twenty-two thou- sand pounds j and that he had it in command from His Majesty to say, that having from past experience the fullest confidence in their loyalty, sense of duty, and at- tachment to the principles of the constitution. His Majesty did not doubt they would make a proper and permanent provision to supply the deficiency, and thereby enable him to sustain the civil government of the Province with honour and with advantage to his subjects. His Lordship also observed, that immediately after his arrival he had made it his duty to visit as much of the country as the regular despatch of business had permit- ted him to reach, m the course of the last summer ; — that although he had derived some local information by so doing, he did not presume to speak to the Legislature with confidence, of the various measures which might be suggested for the improvement of the Province, and therefore should confine himself to those points he con- sidered most immediately important. Of these, the first was the constitution of the several courts of law in the Province. His Lordship said, that he concurred in all that had been expressed on this sub- ject in a message from the late Duke of Richmond, to both Houses in March, 1819, and he therefore again recom- mended it to their consideration. The permanent enactment of the Revenue Laws, or at least for such a period as would give confidence to those whose interests in a great measure depended upon the stability of the commercial regulations, he deemed a sulyect highly worthy of their attention, convinced as he was, that great advantage would result from it to the Province in general, and in particular to the mercantile classes. The improvement of the agriculture of the Province and of the roads and interior communications, he con- sidered objects of great moment ; and as they had already extended a liberal hand to encourage these, he trusted 214 Administration or Chap. XIII. 1820. they would continue the support necessary to their suc- cess. He also recommended to early attention, the laws which had recently expired or that were about to expire, and among these, the militia laws. That system of constitutional defence, his Lordship observed, was pecu- liarly adapted to the state of the Province; and the events of the late war, had shewn how justly the con- fidence of His Majesty's government might rest upon it in the day of danger : — that the knowledge of what the Canadian militia was capable, taught them also the wisdom of watching over it, of holding it in a state of readiness, complete in formation, and respectable in officers. The settlement of the waste lands was a subject to which his Lordship thought proper to point their par- ticular attention. He observed that the great tide of emigration to the Province, promised to continue, and that the experience of several years had shewn the want of some measures to regulate and give effect to this growing strength — many of these people arrive, said his Lord«hip, in poverty and in sickness; many also, with abundant means ; but the settlement of both de- scriptions, is impeded by the want of legislative aid. In acknowledging the advantages which these Provin- ces miglit derive from the acquisition of so many thou - sands of Britisli subjects, he knew however that Lower Canada possessed in itself an abundant population to settle these waste lands, and the yet unconceded seignorial territories — that he was aware there were strong prejudices to be overcome, and therefore that inducements must be held out to make the people spread more widely, such as the erection of parochial churches, and the laying out of roads of access to the distant wood- lands : — that the subject was of difficult and distant ac- complishment, but in his idea, of the utmost importance to Canada. His Lordship, in conclusion, expressed his sense of the great trust His Majesty had been pleased to commit to him* and that it should be the object of his highest ambition to render himself worthy of such distinguished honor » — ^That it should be his constant study to adminis* t • I Thr Earl or Dalhovsik 216 t ter the Government according to the Laws, and in equal justice to all classes of His Majesty's subjects. " A it ** stranger among you" (said his Lordship) " I have no " partialities — no object but the good of the country. — All my exertions, and all my attempts must however be vain, unless 1 have the support of the provincial parliament ; and it is exactly to the extent ot that con- " fidencc which shall be placed in me, that I can hope '* to render myself useful to the country.'* His speech on the occasion, although plain and unam- biguous, some affected to consider as the reverse. Those Members of the Assembly who maintained that there ought not to be any " civil offices permanently estab- lished," nor " annual permanent charges upon the pro- vincial civil list," but that the whole civil expenditure should be annually controlled by this body, would hear of none other, than an annual appropriation by annual vote for the purpose, and were resolved to be very clear and explicit in their answer to this part of it. The As- sembly, which had pretended to the right of applying ijy items the revenue already previously appropriated in a permanent manner, as well under Acts of the Im- perial Parliament as of the Provincial Legislature, towards the support of the civil government of the Pro- vince, totally discountenanced the idea of making a per- manent provision of an annual sum of twenty-two thou- sand pounds sterling to cover the deficiency called for. They maintained that being required to provide for the gross expense of the civil government, all previous ap- propriations of public monies for this purpose by what- soever authority, were to be given up and left at the annual disposition of the Assembly, always applicable by it indeed to those purposes only, for which they were already permanently appropriated, but to be applied for these in such itemSy or salaries to the different officers, as the Assembly should think proper annually to appoint and direct. These pretensions were resisted by the Executive as an attempt to disappropriate the revenue, and dispossess the Crown of its permanent and hereditary funds des- tined towards the maintenance of the civil government of the Province, pursuaut to Act of the Imperial Parlia- ment — as tending to place the Judges and other civil officers of the Government in a state of annual and Chap. Xlil. 1830. S16 Administration or Chap. XIII. IWO. precarious dependence upon the Assembly ;•— and as contrary to the principles of the constitution, and to the practice observed by the British Pai'liamenft with respect to the civil list in England. The form in which the bill providing for the civil expenses should be drawn up, and sent to the Legis- lative Council, the members of the Assembly now affect- ed to consider of little importance, and were therefore disposed not to be tenacious in following that which had been sent up during the session under the Duke of Rich- mond's administration. Provided the main points were carried, that is to say, the exercise of an annual appli- cation of the appropriated funds, and an annual vote to supply the deficiency in those funds, they were deter- mined not to stickle much about forms. An understand- ing consequently arose early in the session that the bill should be cast into a different shape from that by items which had passed in the Assembly for the like purpose in a former session, and been rejected by the Legislative Council. It was hoped that the appearance of receding from the position previously taken up by the Assembly in a point now pretended to be one merely of form, would seem to the new administration, an act of great compliance and courtesy on their part, and be over compensated by the more solid advantages they should acquire from the corresponding compliance they pro- mised themselves on the part of the Executive — that is to say, an acquiescence in their apportionment of the appropriated funds, as well as of those to be appropriated in supply of the defic'ency, with an implied understand- ing between the Assembly and the Executive, that as all mention of items or salaries should be omitted in the bill, so also the Executive should consult the sense of the Assembly, and be regulated in its application of the monies according to the votes to be found on its journals in reference to those salaries. m ft it tt t( €( It was however clear that such an adjustment although it might place the Executive in a less apparent, would in reality leave it in a more essential state of dependence than before, and this the more discreditably, as it was thereby expeci;ed annually to submit by connivance to terms dictated by the Assembly, in which it would not directly by act of the three branches permanently concur. Thr Earl of Dalhousik. 217 Chap. XIII. 1820. But a settled determination in fact already prevailed in the Assembly to appropriate no monies not even for a single year, un less upon these terms. As to the establ ish- ment of a permanent revenue in the Province for any purpose whatsoever, they were entirely opposed to it. Revenue Acts of temporary and short duration, and the exhaustion of the public coffers were points deemed es- sential to success in reducing the Executive to a state of dependence on the Assembly ; and these it became fashionable to hold up as patriotic purposes. The Assembly by their Address in answer to his Lord- ship's speech, observed that they should " hold them- " selves wanting in that sincerity which was due to the Antwer t» " frankness of His Excellency's character; in that duty "•'P*'" •. ** and respect which they owed to their Sovereign by " whose command he had submitted the proposal of an " additional and permanent appropriation, which with " that already made, would exceed half the usual amount of the whole provincial revenue, were they not even at that early stage of the proceeding, most humbly to represent that the declared sense of their constituents, the duty which they owed to their posterity, and to that constitution of government which the wisdom and beneficence of the Mother Country had conferred on this Province, together with the variable and un- '' cei tain future amount of that revenue which, as well as " their resources depended on a trade at that moment pe- " culiarly uncertain, would preclude them from making " any other than an annual appropriation for the general " expenditure of the Province, conformably to the recom- " mendation of His Majesty's Government as signified " to the Parliament of this Province by His Excellency " Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, late Governor in Chiefs *' in his speech delivered from the throne at the opening " of the Session on the 7th January, 1818.* * It is astonishinf nith what assurancr, and disregard for fact, and (he plain meaning of words, the Assembly here for the first lima distorted, and afterwards persevered in (he distortion of Sir John Coa|ie Sherbrooke's languafts on that occasion. Sir John C. Sherbrooke in calling upon the Astsembly in His MBjesiy's name pursuant to the voluntary offer of th» CniniiionB in 1810, lo provide for the expenses of the Civil Government did not, as here pretended, require them to do it by an " annual appnt- rtriation" but to provide for the *'■ ordinary annual I'xpendiiure" and this n " a constitutional way" aieaniog unrlouhiedly in that constitutional way Banciinnpdby usafl^e of the Imperial Parliamfnt, tliat is losay, by a vote fixing once for all. ti>e amouRt at wliidt the annual expenditure towards the support i>f the ( i vii Government should, during the then present reign, be limited, with an appropriation of permanen( funds accordingly to cover the annual expease aa iO liinUed, rewrviog for annual dtecauioD , all contiogent it (S it (( it it 218 Administration or Chap. ^^^^V P»'ayed "His Excellency would accept their XIII.* ** humble assurance of the unalterable disposition of ^^"^/"^j " that House to vote annually in a constitutional man- ]g2Q^ ** ner according to that recommendation^ and to the . ' " voluntary offer of the Assembly in the year 1810 all the " necessary expenses of His Majesty's civil government *' in this colony, in the honorable and permanent sup- " port of which, none were more deeply and sincerely " interested, than His Majesty's loyal subjects w^hom ** they had the honor to represent ; or more anxious to ** merit the continuance of the confidence which His '* Majesty was graciously pleased to express of their loy- " alty and duty." To that part of the speech recommending a perma-* nent enactment of the revenue laws, the House observed that the " establishment of permanent taxes being im- *' practicable, they would carefully investigate the ef- " fects which might result to the Province, and to the " commercial classes in particular, from the duration of *' the revenue laws, and that they would endeavor to adopt ** every means in their power to inspire confidence into *' all His Majesty's subjects, and especially the mercan- " tile classes, by applying to this important subject all " that consideration which it merited.'* In concluding they observed, that in His Excellency's declaration, '^ that it would be his constant study to " administer the government according to the laws, in equal justice to all classes of His Majesty's subjects, they recognised the language and sentiments of our " gracious Sovereign whom he had the honor to tc represent," and assured him, " that in the course " which His Excellency had thus adopted as the general " rule of his administration, he might rely on the (( constant support of that House." The other topics in the Governor's speech were answered in a way affording hope for a fair understanding between the Assembly and the Executive. and extraordinary charf^es incidental to the administration of the GoTern> mentandolherobjectsof public improvement. Tl)e present call for a '* per* manent provision" was siismatlzeri as a piece of Inconsistency in tlie Execu- tive, inasmuch as the original request whs, nccordin; lo the'Assembly, for no more than an "annual approiirlation," but the other parly, in turn, re- preached these with a gross and flaxrant perversion of lansuage,in order to excuse their own prevaricatioa and want offaitb, andtoTmpoBe upoaaod mislead otbert. Tub Earl of Dalhousib. 219 overn- »• per* Siecu« ly, for rn, re- rder to on and Chap. XIII. 1820. ez- The estimate of the civil list divided into classes was laid before the Assembly on the 27th December. The first class consisted of the Governor in Chief and officers immediately attached to him. The second, of the legislature and the officers appertaining thereto. The third, of the Executive Council, and officers immediately appertaining to it. The fourth, of the judges and officers concerned in the administration of justice. The fifth of the Seere- u.J'ci'JiV", °' tary and Registrar of the Province and his allowance for pendUure. office rent; the Receiver General and allowance for a clerk; the Surveyor General and allowance for his clerks ; the Surveyor of woods ; the auditor of Land Patents; the Inspector of Provincial accounts and allowance for a clerk; the agent for the Province reisiding in London; the French translator to government; the Naval officer ; the Grand Voyers ; tht. Inspector of roads above the Long Sault on the Ottawa ; the Inspectors for preventing accidents by fire, for Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers ; the Clerk of the markets at Quebec; the Clerk of the Terrars ; the Inspector of merchandize at Coteau du Lac, and allowance for house rent ; the sum of £2000 for Schoolmasters ; and certain contin- gencies for the Secretary of the Province and Surveyor Generars department ; the sum total required for this class being £6667 I3s. 9d. sterling. The sixth consisted altogether of contingencies, relative as well to the legislature, as to the administration of justice, and other departments of government, and different objects of public charge, amounting in all to £5375 sterling. The total of the estimate amounted to £44877-ds. sterling. The charges of the fifth and sixth classes were at a subsequent period, denominated local, embracing items part of them fluctuating, and as such liable to annual variation by an annual vote of the legislature, .which the Executive thought ought rather to be provided for, out of the unappropriated funds at the disposition of the legislature, than out of the permanent but inadequate fund already appropriated and appertaining to the Crown, towards the support of the civil government of the Province, and which scarcely as yet sufficed, for the permanent salaries chargable upon it. The Assembly having entered upon the subject, and discussed the civil expenditure item by item, voted the supply with some reductions; and in the hope of reconcilmg the other branch to the doctrine of an C t:C-- 220 Administration of Chap. xm. 1821. annual appropriation of the supply, and the pretended right bf the Assembly to apply, by an annual vote^ the fund previously appropriated in support of the civil government, waved the form adopted in a former session, and passed a bill providing now by chapters, or classes, instead of items as before, a sum total, (including the appropriated revenue to be levied for the current year) of j£4^060 10s. 2d. sterling for the expenses of the year. This sum was to include the charge upon the pension list £3083 12s. 8d. sterling, and that of the militia staff i?1543 16s. 3d. sterling, neither of which however had been comprehended in the estimate laid before the House. But this spontaneous provision of the Assembly in matters of public expense not regularly before them by message from the Executive, gave umbrage, as premature and indicative of a disposition in that body to assume authority, and encroach upon the Executive. The Legislative Council threw out this bill, as well because it interfered with the appropriated funds permanently appertaining to the Crown in support of the civil government,* as because it had not in conformity with His Majesty's desire signified by the Governor's speech, made a permanent provision to cover the annual sum required to supply the deficiency called for in aid of those funds. I Various were the arguments in support of the pretensions of the Assembly, and of the position Uken by the Executive. An annual revision of the whole expense of the civil government, and an annual vote of the representatives of the people, as well for the distribution and application of those funds already appropriated towards supporting the civil government, as for the supply to be given in aid of them annually, was urged as indispensable to the prevention of abuses in the public expenditure. Without this annual check upon the Executive, burdensome and unnecessary charges it was said, might not only be irremediably perpetuated, * The bill was intituled "a bill to appropriate certain luniB of money therein mentioned to defray the expense of the civil government of Lower Canada foi the year 1821."— The following proviso was inserted, " provided *' always, and be it further enacted that the monies by law heretofore *' appropriated for the support of the civil government which now are or " that hereafter shall come into the hands of the Receiver General of this " Province, shall be applied in part payment for the purposes of this act, " and the remainder shall be made np and be taken from and out of any '* unappropriated monies which now are or that hereafter may come into " the hands of the Receiver General of the Province." The Earl of Dalhousie 221 t but new and vexatious ones might be imposed at the p leasure of any wasteful administration : The interference of the Assembly in the application of the appropriated fund was said to be justifiable^ from the reason and equity of the thing itself, for upon the economy in the application of that fund, must necessarily depend the quantum of the sum to be supplied in aid of it : and that unless the Assembly should have the previous right annually to regulate that economy, the amount to be supplied might be annually increased at the will of the Executive. That the commons constitutionally had an undoubted right through their representatives to limit, direct and appoint the application of all monies raised upon them : and that under this, the Assembly claimed the privilege as well of directing the application of all funds previously appropriated in support of the civil government, as of limiting and appointing the application of any sum they might vote in aid of it. Chap. Xlil. 1821 In behalf of the Executive, the inviolability of the funds vested in and applicable exclusively by the Crown towards the support of the government, and this by the paramount authority of an act of the Imperial Parlia- ment,* was strongly insisted upon. The Assembly were accused of seeking rather their own aggrandizement than the stability of the government, which if it were to depend upon an annual vote of the Assembly, could, it was argued, never be considered as permanently secured, but be rather thereby continued in a permanent state of precariousness, annually liable to dissolution, or to be paralised at the caprice of this, the popular branch of the legislature. That they preposterously endeavoured to bring within their own reach, the dangerous faculty of * 14th Geo. 3, ch. 88. The Prov. slat. 35(h Geo. 3, ch. 9, also appropriatea in a permanent manner, the annual sum of ^5000 stg. towards defraying the administration of justice in the Province, out of certain permanent duties levied under thist act. This appropriation, as well as that under the first mentioned act, the Assembly pretended they had a right to apply in such ilenu as they should think proper,confining themseives in the application of ii towards the purposes onlt/ for tehieh they tBereappropriated^funyadm'ittiQg that they coula not divert ihem to other purposes :— an argument which the Executive treated as a mere piece of subtility. The possession of appropriated fnnds which it could not apply without a previous vote of the Assembly, would, it waf>justly said, be nearly the same thing as if it had in reality none at its disposition, since diificullies might as well be started upon the application of these, as about the grantor appropriation of other monies for the same purpose. The Imperial act above referred to, expressly authorises the Lords of the Treasury to ap^pl^ the fundi raiiwd undsr and in virtue of it, to the purpose of its appropriation. 222 Administration of Chap, suspending at pleasure the necessary and indispensable XIII. operations of government^ which it was the first duty of i^S/'^^ the legislature to place beyond all risk of temporary 1821 suspension, whatever disturbance might occasionally at the annual sittings agitate the three branches. Their right of limiting, directing and .appointing their own money grants, was not denied, but that of interfering with grants already made, whether by act of the Imperial Parliament or of the provincial legislature, was contested as irrational ; and that the pretensions urged with respect to the supply towards the civil expenditure, were such as to render the proffered aid wholly inadmissible and nugatory, since it could not under the unconstitutional conditions attached to it, and unwarranted by precedent in the like cases in the parent state, be accepted by the Executive without a dereliction of principle, a sacrifice of its legal rights, and placing itself in a state of annual and precarious dependence on the Assembly. While the bill of supply was in progress in the Reioiuiions Assembly, the Legislative Council entered into certain resolutions, to remain as standing orders, which clearly indicated their predetermination with respect to the bill.* * Of these resolutions the following will suffice for (he inforination of the reader. " Resolved that the LegisTative Council will not ptioceed upon " anj bill of aid or supply, which shall not within the knowledge of this " house, have been applied for by the King's representative in this •« Province." " Resolved that the Legislative Council will not proceed upon any bill *' appropriating public money that shall not within the linowledge of this " bouse nave been recommenaed by the King's representative." ** Resolved that the Legislative Council will rot proceed upon any bill of ** appropriation for money issued in consequence of an address of the •> Assembly to the Kinx's represeninlive (addresses of the Assembly for ihe " eipenses of that house excepted) unless some extraordinary emergency " unforeseen at the commencemrni of a session, and which unforeseen *• emergency will not not allow of time for passing a bill of appropriatioa **■ for the same, in the session when the address shall have been voted." •• Resolved that the Legislative Council will not proceed upon any " appropriation of public money for any salary or pension hereafter to be *• created, or any augmentation thereof, unless the quantum of such salary, *• pension or augmentation shall have been recommended by the King's " representative. ' *' Resolved that the Legislative Council will sot proceed upon any bill of *^ appropriation for the civil list, which shall contain specifications therein *• by chapters or ittms, nor unlew tbe same ahall be gnated during tbe life •* of His Majesty the King." of theL.Coun cil. t ■ t I S -t < r t V h II C tl 1 tl C SI tl p BC m C c< ri The Earl or Daluousik. 223 Chap. XIII. f + -f t > t 1821. Address of The rejection of the supply bill, by the Legislative Council, leaving the Executive without the necessary means of defraying the civil expenditure for the year, the Assembly were willing, as far as depended upon them, to avert the inconvenience, and for this purpose to place at the disposition of the Executive, a sura „„„^^„ ,„ sufficient to defray the expenses of the current year ihe^Assembiy according to their vote, and accordingly passed a *"*''* ^®*®'°" resolution to that effect. Upon the resolution, an address **'* was drawn up, and presented to his Lordship, stating that from peculiar and unforeseen circumstances, it had not been in the power of the house to lay before him a bill of appropriation, but tendering on the part of the Assembly, out of the unappropriated funds of the Province, such sum as with the funds already appropriated, might makeup the sum of £46060 10s. 2d. sterling, (including £2000 for schoolmasters) for the expenses of the civil government during the year, and pledging themselves to make good the amount by bill at the ensuing session of the provincial parliament. To this his Lordship briefly answered, that the question out of which the address had sprung had been considered Governor** with the utmost attention of which he was capable, and Answer, his opinion was, that the grant now proposed was wholly ineffectual, without the concurrence of the Legislative Council. After the Governor had made this answer, the Assembly thought proper to take notice of the proceedings of the Legislative Council on the subject, and several resolutions were passed expressive of the views they entertained of their own privileges, and of the measures of the Council.* * <* Resolved :— That the Legislative Council cannot constitutionally prescribe to this house, the manner or Torm of proceeding on bills of aid or Bupply, nor upon any matter or thing whatsoever, and that every attempt of the Legislative Council for that purpose is a breach of the rights and privileges of this hoube. •< .. That the right of originating bills of aid or supply belongs solely and exclusively to this house. •< — — — . That the right of originating hills of appropriation of public money belongs solely and exclusively to this house. « .. That this house is astonished that the honorable the Legislative Council have passed resolutions and adopted rules which affect the constitutional rights and privileges of this house, without having heard the reasons to the contrary which might have been given on the part of this bouse. 234 Administration of Chap. Viere the matter rested until the ensuing session, XIII.* neither house evincing a disposition to relinquish the .^r\''^j ground taken up. The one would entertain no bill of ]S2I appropriation for the civil list containing specifications by chapters or items, nor unless it were granted during the life of the King. The other would not originate or pass any bill without such specifications, nor for a longer period than a year, nor even for this, unless the right of applying and apportioning by vote, the monies previously appropriated towards supporting the civil government, were conceded them. That part of the speech which related to the settlement of the crown lands, was early in the session made the Enquiry re- subjectof reference to a special committee, and continued Criyn *iaDdB* ^''^"S^ Several successive sessions, less with a view it tenure, &c. ' would sccm from a perusal of the reports made by the committee to the Assembly from time to time, to carry into effect the beneficent purposes of the Governor, than to extol the feudal over the soccage tenure, and to animadvert upon certain alleged abuses in the land ** . That the said resolutions have been adopted by the honorable the Legislative Council without anv difficulty or dispute havioii; arisen Iratweeo the said Legislative Council and this nou8<^ respectinx the matters tlierein set forth, and thnt the said resolutions adopted gratuitously and unnecessarily by the said Legislative Council, are of a nature to retard the re>establisbinent of that harmony, and that good understandinj; between the two houses which it is vo desirable should prevail fur the good government, peace and welfare of the people of this Province. ** I ■. That all resolutions by which one branch of the legislature lay down for themselves before band and in a general manner, a rule not to proceed on bills of a certain form or description which may be offered to them by another branch, is contrary to parliamenlary laws and usages, to the constitutional act, and to the liberties, rights and privileges of the other branciies of the legislature, and even of that branch which adopts such reiolutiont. '* ■. That by constant Parliamentary usage recognised by several acts of the Parliament of ihe United Kingdom, and of the leKislaiure of this Province, the Commons of the United Kingdom, and the Assembly of this Province, have frequently voted by address, advances of money when the exigencies of the state and country nave rendered it niecessary : and that the practice far from being disadvantageous, has been of very great assisiance to government, as Ihe converse would produce incalculable inconvenience, and fatal consequences to His Majesty's govarnment. ** . That it is the duty of this bouse towards his Majesty, and his people of this Province, to take into their consideration all salaries, pensions and augmentations thereof, and to provide for the same with liberality and justice, although the quantum be not mentioned in the recommendation made to the house by tne King's representative. ** . That the boaorable Ihe Legislative Council cannot directly or indirectly abridge or prolong the time fixed by bill of this house for the collection of any sum of money, nor change the mode established by bill of this house, either for the collection or application of public money.*' 1^ 1 Thb Earl of Dalhousib. 225 hU kries, Iwilh the |y or " the bill granting system. Much miscellaneous and possibly some Chap. useful matter on the subject, is collected in the journals Xlil.* of the house, to which the curious reader may refer, but v^rv^/ no practical public benefit has hitherto resulted from ig2] the inquiry. A bill for more effectually ascertaining the state of the public funds in the hands of the Receiver General, was brought forward in the Assembly. Bv it the Receiver General was annually to account to the legislature, and tell over the balance remaining in hand, and at its disposal. It was proposed instead of a salary to allow him a commission on the monies paid into his hands, he giving security for them. He was to be debarred from commerce, and to be in no wise concerned in trade of |o5Siifc!ltcr any kind. The bill was referred to a special committee, Geoerai. where it undei'went revision, but afterwards, being submitted to a committee of the whole, that committee rose without reporting upon it, and the measure was thus laid aside and lost, rather from a want of diligence on the part of the member who had taken it up, than from any aversion to the measure in the house. The Receiver General was largely concerned in the export trade of the Province ; and the possession of the provincial monies by a person engaged in commercial pursuits, was the subject of uneasiness to the Assembly, and of much ' jealousy among the merchants. A bill " for the trial of impeachments in this Province" was also introduced this session, fiy it the Legislative Council were to take cognizance of impeachments by the Assembly, and to be styled the " Provincial High Court of Parliament'* while in the exercise of this authority. The bill was declaratory. Bill relating the promoters of it pretending the right of judging in iraJJathaTenuJ cases of impeachment to be already inherent in the Legislative Council, by the analogies of the constitution of the Province with that of Great Britain ; and that such was the sense of the government at home, they appealed to the message which with respect to the impeachment of Judge Foucher, had by command of the King, while Regent, been sent to the Assembly. The bill was committed, but the measure was on discussion in committee of the whole, unanimously thought unnecessary, and accordingly relinquished. It 226 Administration of Chap. XIII. 1821. Resolutiuns was considered as a step rather adapted to aggrandize the upper house, and in subservience to the views of that branch) than for the general advantage of the Province.* The Duke of Richmond on proroguing the legislature in 1819, had, with that decision of character which distinguished him, fearlessly expressed to the Assembly his disapprobation of their conduct. The present Assembly thought the manner in which His Grace had dismissed the representatives of the Province on that occasion, as deserving their animadversion, and accordingly determined to notice it. The subject being brought forward, it was almost unanimously resolved that *' the speech of His Grace the Governor in Chief, " of the 24th April, 1819, contained a censure of the " proceedings of this branch of the legislature," — and that — " all censure of any proceeding of this branch of the " legislature, by either of the other branches thereof, of 'thVAssein! " is an assumption and exercise of power contrary to lile 'dU'"* **f ** '*^' * breach of the undoubted rights and privileges Kfchmond. " " of this housc, and subversive of the constitution of '< government as by law established in this Province." The Legislative Council in rejecting the bill of appropriation sent up from the Assembly in 1819, towards the support of the civil government, had also expressed by resolution, the views they entertained of the manner in which the Assembly chose to provide for it.f As that resolution, and the disapproval of their * The LeKiBlative Council on the 19th Febroary, 1819, adopted a resolution on the subject, to the following effect :-~'* The declaration of the royul pleasure contained in the message of the Governor in Chief of (he 9d March last, upon the subject of the address of this house to his Itoyal Highness the Prince Regent, of the 3d March, 1817, nssures to the L. Council tit the most unequivocal manner the privilege in the case of Mr. Justice Foucher, and in all similar cases of impeachment, whenever the same shall be preferred by the Assembly, to adjudge the charKOs preferred against the party accused, and that in the exercise of the powers and privileges of the L. Council in all cases of impeachments by the Assembly, this house will be guided as far as circumstances will admit, by the rules, usages and precedents to be found in the journals of the Imperial Purliamenl." ' f " — The mode adopted by this bill is unprecedented and unconstitutional, and a direct assumption on the part of the Assembly of the most important rights and prerogatives of the Crown :— that were this bill to be passed into a Taw, it would give to the Commons of this Province not merely the constituiional privilege of providing the supplies, but the power also of preseriblni; to the Crown the number and description of its servants, and of regulating and levrardine their services individually as the Assembly should from time to time judge meet or expedient, by which means they would be rendeied dependent on an elective body, instead of being 1 T ■♦• 1 The Eabl of Dalhousib. 33; conduct on the same subject which the Duke shortly after, in proroguing the legislature, expressed to the Assembly were connected, they took the present opportunity of placing on record their views of it also. They therefore by resolution declared it to be " the " undoubted right of this house in voting aids or supplies " or offering money bills for the consent of the other " branches of the legislature, (as well as in all its other " proceedings under the afore -recited act* of the " Parliament of Great Britain,) to adopt such order or " mode of proceedings as it may find conformable to its " rules, and to propound such matter as in its judgment " shall seem fittest and most conducive to the peace, " welfare and good government of this Province." Chap. XIII. 1821. Amidst other concerns, the representatives of the people were not unmindful of themselves, and an effort was made to obtain a vote for compensation during their Propowd attendance to the business of the legislature. The f°|^S^',"'i;j, subject was brought forward and discussed in committee of tha Antm- of the whole house, but the proposition was negatived **'*• by a small majority. The members generally considered ministerial, it was observed, voted against the measure ; those of the opposite side, for it. The appointment of an agent for the Province, in £ngland,again as in former sessions engaged the attention of the Assembly. James Stuart, Esq. was named as pJ^IJilJc!*.' *''* such, and a sum voted by that house not exceeding two thousand pounds per annum for the purpose. A bill was accordingly passed and sent to the Legislative Council where it was thrown out. A gentleman holding an appointment in the colonial office in England, already held at the recommendation of the Executive, the appointment of agent for the Province, with a salary of two hundred pounds sterling per annum, but this the Assembly refused to recognise, considering him rather as an .agent to the Executive than to the Commons of the Province, who had no participation in his nomination. Various messages had been sent down by the Governor dependent on the Crown, and mishi eventually be made instrumental to the overthrow of that authority whicii by their allegiance they are bound to aniiport." Journals L. G. 1819.— U is to be observed that the bill here alluded to, provided by items a sum of money to defray the expense of tha civil government of the Province for that year. * The Sltt Geo. 3, cb. 31, commonly called the conititutional act. D 228 Administration or Chap. XIII. during the session, recommending divers objects of public moment to the attention of the Assembly, but little attention however was paid to them. The house 1f%21 towards the close of the session presented an address apologising for the apparent backwardness of the matters Add u to '^commended. It stated " that the house had taken into th« Governor, its serious consideration the several objects recommended in his speech at the opening of the session, and the divers messages since transmitted for the attention of the legislature, but that the great importance of most of those objects and the multiplicity of business before the house, had prevented it from terminating several of them ; and that as they were now in a state of forwardness, the house would, at an early period of the ensuing session, resume their consideration so as to bring them to a speedy conclusion equally advantageous to His Majesty's government, and the general welfare of the Province." His Lordship in answer said, he was '' perfectly aware that many subjects of great importance had been brought under the consideration of the house of Assembly during the session, and was fully satisfied that the delay in terminating some of them might be unavoidable : that still he could not but express his regret that several of them had been deferred to a period so late as to make this delay necessary." The session being nearly at a close, the Assembly embodied in an address, with which they went up to the Address on c&stle. Certain matters deemed proper subjects for the grievances, consideration of the Executive. This was intended as a statement or petition of public grievances.^ His Lordship received it in a manner gratifying to the house, answering that he would not fail to transmit the resolutions of the Assembly for His Majesty's most gracious consideration, but that he could take no steps in regard to the purport of them until he had received His Majesty's commands upon them. These were after\vards signified to the Assembly, and will be noticed in their proper place. On the 17th of March> his Lordship prorogued the Assembly with the following speech :— * See appendix, A. 4 <( u u f< €€ tt €€ t€ €€ U €( (( (t IS <€ €( Majesty by the leaisluture of Lower Ciinuda, are (he ^ole " eifl of tl>e Assembly of'ihis Province, and all bills for granting such " aids and supplies ouj(h( to begin m ilh the Assembly ; as it is ihe undoubted *' right of (he Assembly to direct, limit and appoint in all such bills the " ends, purpof'es, considerations, condiiions, limitations and qualificatieot ** ofiucb granti, «rbichar« DOt alterabls by the Lrgi«laUv« Couocil*" Chap. XIY. 1832. Mi AdMiNiamATioy ov " in EngUttlijin renly to the honorable P. D. Debartzch,* " in the debate or the said Council, as follows :-^How " can we rescind our resolutions when there is a secret " committee sitting in the house of ulssemblt/, which is " perhaps deliberating on the appointment of a Governor •* of their choice, and on the removal of the person now *' in the castle, and putting their own in his place. The ** committee even sits tvithout the knowledge of several ** members of the house, of which there is no example in " England^ except in the time of Charles the first* The *' committee is perhaps a committee of public safety." This piece of important information was gravely referred to a select committee of five, who after gathering such ex-pnrte information relative to it, as they could get from bye-standers during the debates which had taken place in the Legislative Council, reported the whole to the Assembly. Long and vociferous debates ensued, abounding with invective, and some broad personal abuse against those who in presuming to disapprove of their conduct, arraigned said they, by implication, their constituents, the whole Canadian population. The language complained of, was exaggerated into atrocity, and the whole Legislative Council treated as delinquents for not having called to order nor censured the member who had dared to allude in such terms before that body, to proceedings in the Assembly. The offence was said to be the more heinous, as it came from one who being at the same time senior"\nember of the Executive Council, might, on a contingency, be invested with the temporary administration of the government, but who, it was observed by a member, was now by this his illiberal opinion of the representatives of the people, unworthy of governing them for a single moment on any contingency. That for this reason, it behoved them to endeavour to accomplish his removal from every situation of confidence, honour or profit he held under the crown, and, as far as in them lay, to fix upon that gentleman an indelible mark of public opprobrium, by stigmatizing him as an enemy to the country, and recording it on their journals. Such among others were in debate the. * It was Mr. Debartzch who moved in (he Legislative Council for lh« reicision of the rules relating to the civil list, already noticed, and which. It was alleged by that gentleman in debate, intrenched upon the rights and prlvUagaft.of tha Assenhly. ti (t (t (S ti t( (f ft tt tt tt tt tt tt tt tt ft tt tt tt tt tt tt ft tt tt tt tt tt The Earl op Dalhousib 243 i avowed motives that actuated the Assembly in Chap proceedings, whicti lo this moment remain unexpunged xiV * on the journals of that house. v^V^/ 1822 It was accordingly resolved by the Assembly " that ** the language an(l discourse «^f the honorable John " Richardson, a member of the Legislative Council, as ** proved before a committee of this house, are false, " scandalous, malicious : are a high contempt of this (be AMembly. " house : an odious attempt to destroy His Majesty's ** confidence in the fidelity and loyalty of this house, and "of the people of this Province, and a breach of the " rights and privileges of this house." " — ^That the information given to this house on the *' 29th instant, of the discourse and language used and " held on the 25th instant in the Legislative Council, " by the honorable John Richardson, u member of the " said Council, against the honor and loyalty of this " house ; the proofs or evidence before a committee of " this house, on the said information ; and also the " resolutions adopted by this committee be communicated " by message to the Legislative Council, that the said " discourse and language be laid to the charge of the " said honorable John Richardson, before the said " Legislative Council ; and that the Legislative Council " be desired to proceed in justice upon the said charge, " and to inflict upon the said honorable John Richardson, " a punishment adequate to so high an offence against " this house." " — That the information given to this house on the " 29th inst. of the language and discourse used and held " on the 25th instant, in the Legislative Council, by " the honorable John Richardson, member of the said " Council, against the honor and loyalty of this house, " and also the ])roots or evidence received before a " committee of this house on the said information, and " the resolutions adopted by the house, be conimuni'jated " by an humble address to His Excellency the Governor " irt-Chief, praying His Excellency would be pleased ** for the reasons contained in the said address, to remove " and dismiss the said John Richardson, from all offices *' and places of honor, trust or profit, which he may "hold during pleasure, under His Majesty's government " in this Province." F 244 Administration of Chap. XIV. 1822. Governor's Answer, Messengers were appointed who went up to the castle with this humble address. The Governor answered, that " the address involved consequences of the highest " importance. That the resolutions appeared to him " to be expressed in language inconsistent with the " calm dignity of a legislative body. They affected the " privileges of the Legislative Council, and especially " in that of the freedom of debate ; and that he must " for these reasons distinctly refuse the request of the " house of Assembly in this matter." This firm and temperate answer cooled the irritation of the members who had urged the hasty step which the Assembly had taken. They felt that the freedom of debate ought last of all to be assailed by a popular body, and that in respecting it, the Governor had liberally assumed a position in favor of the subject, which they had unwarily relinquished, in the pursuit of a vindictive and unworthy purpose. They finally endeavoured to back out, by a resolution on their journals, reprobating all attempts in any member of the Council to destroy the confidence of the King's Representative iii their honor and loyalty, — as a contempt of the house, and a breach of its rights and privileges : — as tending to destroy harmony, and to render useless the endeavours of the Assembly for the general welfare, adding, as a justifica- tion of their proceedings, that *' it is the incontestable right of this house to repress such attempts by every constitutional means in their power." The messengers who had taken up the humble address on this matter to the Castle, immediately afterwards, also laid the complaint of the Assembly before the Legislative Council, which, viewing the steps that body had adopted CompiaiDt to witli respcct to one of its members for language used in the L.Councii. dgbjite there, as a flagrant breach of its privileges, refused to compromise its own honour, or the rights of its members, by any measures on the subject, until reparation were made by the Assembly for the actual breach by them, of the jjrivileges of the Legislative Council in the same matter.* * Mr; Ricliardsun, when tho subject was taken up berorc the L. Council, repeated the substance of his observationH in tho debate which had given such oftencc. There was some variance between his statement and iho reports given of tlicm, arising probably from the imperfect recollection or inisconri>ption of the persons examined before the committee. He diJ not repent his observatious for the purpose of retracting them, he said, but i t The Earl of Dalhousie. 245 After the Assembly had refused to provide for the civil list during the King's life, and the resolution already noticed, of holding the Receiver General and all others concerned, responsible for all payments made from the public chest without the authority of an express provision of law, the Governor sent a message to the Assembly, acquainting them of the course he intended to adopt in consequence of their determination. Chap. XIV. 1822. He had, (his Lordship said) at the close of the last session, pointed out the difficulties which would follow Message from from the want of the usual appropriations of public *''^ ^''''^'■"•"■' monies to meet the public expenditure, and particularly stated that the government would be left without the pecuniary means which its exigencies would indispensa- bly require, if he did not advance them on his own personal responsibility. That accordingly he did so advance the difference between the amount of the royal revenue which was placed at his disposal, and the total amount of the civil expenditure of the Province, and had called upon the :h by rather to shew more clearly than ever his meaning, if (here could have been any donbt about it, intending fully to confirm nn furilier lefleciion, all he had then said, and wbirh the Assembly by their proceedings in (his matter bad strikingly exemplified. There were no debates in the Legislative Council on the subject. Mr. Richardson, after these observations withdrew, when the followin^^ resolution was unanimously adopted :— "Thit an answer bhould be sent to *' inform the Assembly, that the L. Council were extremely desirous to " preserve a good understanding between the two bouses nnd were willing " to inquire into the subject matter of the message of the Assembly and do ** right therein ; but that the house conceived it was not consistent with its •* honor or wiih the rights ofits members to proceed upon a presumed breach '' of the privileges of the Assembly, which the said message alleged, until •' the Legislative Council should have received reparation from the *« Assembly for the actual breach ef the privileges of 'he Legislative " Council by the Assembly, in the same matter, by their adJress to His *' Excellency the Governor in chief, praying him (u remove tho honorable ** John Richardson from all his offices and places of honor, trust or profit •< which he might hold during pleasure under His Mnjesty'ssovernment in *' this Province, and thereby censure and punish him tor words used by bim " in debate In that house, where only a memher thereof, for words so iised. <' can be questioned. The said address being a proceeding on the part of <' the Assembly, which inasmuch as it sought upon the application of the *' Assembly, to subject the members of the Legislative Council without *' hearing or enquiry, to censure and punishment by another branch of the ** legislature for their conduct in that house, restrains the freedom of debate, " and deeply affects the coogtitutional independence of the Legislative •' Council." 246 Administration op Chap. XIV. 1822. Assembly by message of the 8th of January last, to make good this difference.* That he therefore had not put in question the constitutional priiiciple, wliich directs the application of the public monies to the purposes for which they are appropriated. He had relied with confidence upon the faith of the Assembly which was pledged to pay the civil expenditure of the Province, and in the firm belief that he should act in conformity to the wishes of the legislature, he took upon himself this great responsibility in order to prevent consequences equally distressing to individuals, and ruinous to the general interests of the Province. That by the proceedings of the present session, circumstances were materially changed. It would not now be in his power to make further advances, nor would it be consistent with his duty to venture a greater stretch of responsibility. He therefore would apply the territorial and casual revenues, fines, rents and profits which were reserved to and belonged to His Most Christian Majesty at the conquest, and surrender of Canada to his late Majesty the King of Great Britain ; the monies raised by statutes of the Imperial Parliament, and the sum of £5000 sterling, raised by the provincial statute 35th Geo. 3, ch. 9, towards defraying the expenses in support of His Majesty's civil government, and of the administration of justice in the Province, according to the appropriations of those statutes. That should there be any surplus remaining after the payment of these expenses, he would then apply that surplus towards defraying the expenses of such local establishments and objects of public charge, as form no part of His Majesty's civil government, and are not connected with the administration of justice. He did not however flatter himself that there would be any such surplus : he therefore called upon the * By this message he had called « the attention of ilie Assembly to the enactment of a law to reimbirrse and make good to His Majeaty'sgovernment the Various advances in money for which provision had not'^been made hy the legislature, but which had been lound indispensably necessary lor the support of His Majesty's provincial iiovernment,a8al8o for certain public institutions lieretotore sanctioned and asisisted by the beneficenco of tMe legislature, as detailed in the accounts before the Assembly." The £arl or Dalhousib. 247 nor Chap. XIV. 1822. Assembly for the supply necessary for defraying the several expenses of those different local establishments and objects of public charge to which he had referred, and which, as appeared by the expenditure of last year, laid before the Assembly in this session, would amount to about £30,000, including the expenses of the legislature, and the collection of the public revenue — that he deemed it his indispensable duty to add, that if these supplies were not granted, he would have no means to defray the expenses of these local establishments and objects of public charge, except where payment had been provided by specific appropriations. The Assembly by an humble address to the Governor, thanked him for his message, assuring him that they had Address of received with the greatest satisfaction his declaration, that {"^^ Assembly he had not put in question the constitutional principles '" '^"^^ '^' that the public money should be applied only conformably to law ; and expressing " deep regret that the standing rules adopted by the Legislative Council in the preceding month of March, and still acted upon by that body in manifest violation of the constitutional rights of the Assembly, of advising His Majesty by bill in such manner as they might judge best and most conducive to the peace, welfare and good government of the Province, and particularly with regard to money bills, prevented the house from entertaining at present any hope that its invariable disposition to provide for all the necessary expenses of His Majesty's civil government in this Province, could have its proper and legal effect." They concluded by assuring His Excellency, " that the house, as soon as it should have been left in the full enjoyment of its rights and privileges, and His Excellency have communicated to the house his Majesty's gracious acceptance of the renewed offer of the house to vote annually all the expenses of his civil government in this Province, would not fail in the faithful discharge of its obligations, having regard to that just economy which the present circumstances of the Province imperiously demand." The Governor, in reply to the address, expressed his " most sincere regret that the House of Assembly should have thus resolved to grant no supply, nor means by which the expenses of the local establishments or objects of public charge in the Province could be paid that year." 248 Administration of Chap. XIV. 1822. The rules adopted by the Legi&Jative Council for it* own jafuidance in this matter, the Assembly held to be a violation of their rights; but these rights, it was alleged on the other hand, were in themselves nothing else than the extraordinary pretension which this house had on the same subject arrogated to itself, of dictating to the other branches. The professed regard for economy by the Assembly was treated as nugatory, there being, it was said, nothing extraordinarily unpromising in the circum- stances or commerce of the Province, and which would, on the whole, be less liable to be prejudicially atfected by a certain and permanent continuance of the duties in ex- istence, than by their temporary and uncertain duration. The sinister allusion to those circumstances seems to have been intended as a preliminary pretext for the discontinuance of the revenue act previously mentioned, a measure rather prompted by a desire to impoverish the treasury, than to relieve the trade, from which, it had hitherto rather than by land or other direct taxes on the subject, been the policy of the Assembly, exclusively to realize the whole revenue of the Province. I -f The Governor communicated by message to the Assembly, His Majesty's determination on most of the subjects which, as already noticed the Assembly, towards the end of the last session had represented.* The Assembly wound up the business of the session by a series of resolutions declaratory of their views with Financial dif. **6»PGCt to the financial misunderstanding with Upper ficuiiies with Cauada.f A negotiation had, in the course of the Upper Cana- previous summer, been carried on at Montreal, by commissioners on t,e part of both Provinces, which was broken off; those of Lower Canada considering the claims of the Upper Province for the proportion of drawbacks on dutiable goods imported into Lower, and passing thence into Upper Canada, inordinate : while those of Upper Canada complained of the evasion and injustice done that Province, by the commissioners on the part of Lower Canada. By the last agreement that had been entered into,:|: one fifth of the whole duties * See appendix, U. -h See appendix C. t 1st May, 1817. This was ratified in the icBRion of 1818, and expired on the 1st July, 1819. + "•i** ssion with >per the by was the )n of and v^hile and on that Lities 4 f I I The Earl of Dalhousib. 249 Chap. XIV. 1822. raised in Lower Canada was allowed the Upper Pi'ovince, the expenses of collection first deducted. A greater proportion was now claimed, which the commissioners of Lower Canada refused. There was also a claim exceeding £20,000 for certain arrears of drawbacks in favor of Upper Canada, upon the crown duties, arising under the statute of the Imperial Parliament 14th Geo. 3, ch. 88 : and another, for a sum exceeding £ 10,000, due to the Upper Province previous to the last agreement in 1817, which had not then been settled, owing, as it was said, to a want of authority in the commissioners on the part of this Province, who were not empowered to that effect by the act appointing them. The com- missioners for Lower Canada endeavored to prevail upon those of the Upper Province, to adopt as the basis of their agreement with respect to the subject in discussion, the principle, that each Province should in future, collect its own revenue, bonding the goods, in transit through the Lower to the Upper Province, and vice versa, so that neither Province should be charged with the payment or refunding of proportions of duties or drawbacks to the other. With respect to the arrears claimed by Upper Canada, the commissioners for this Province declined all negotiation ; alleging that the act by which they were appointed did not give them that authority, and that their powers were only prospective. The collection of the revenue on so extensive a line as that dividing the Provinces, it was answ^ered, would absorb a great portion of the revenue of Upper Canada in the establishment of custom houses, and this proposal was therefore deemed inadmissible. The legislature of Upper Canada, thinking that Province aggrieved in the result of the negotiations with the commissioners of this Province,* took early measures to bring the subject under consideration of the Imperial Measures on Government. An agent was appointed, pursuant to an ''l.'r'canJda.'^* act passed for that purpose, and a suitable appropriation made to defray the expenses of his voyage to England. * These were Mr. Papineau, Mr. CuvUlier, Mr. Neilson, Mr. DavidsoD, and Mr. Garden, nil members of the Assembly, and named in the act under wlikh tliey wore to negotiate- The commissiuners for Upper Canada were appointed by the Executive government, and accountable to it only, under an act of the legislature of that Province passed several years previouily, giving power (o this effect to the Executive government. 250 Administration of Chap. XIV. 1822. Notice of the measure was officially forwarded to the government of Lower Canada^ but it reached Quebec too late in the session for communication to the Assembly, which nevertheless could not have been unaware of the proceedings of the Legislature of U. Canada, from their notoriety in the public prints, it was afterwards, however, pretended that the Executive of this Province had grievously wronged the Assembly, in not laying before it the proceedings alluded to. The omission, they said had given birth to the projected measure of an union of the two Canadas, and the Canada Trade Act, as it is usually termed, — mischiefs of the greatest magnitude, in the opinion of those who had been instrumental in placing the affairs of the Province in a crisis, imperiously demanding the interference of the government at home. The real indifference with which the Assembly viewed the existing misunderstanding with Upper Canada in a matter of urgency to the latter, as withholding a large proportion of the financial resources upon which it depended for the support of its civil government, may be conceived from the circumstance, that no notice whatever was taken by the Assembly of the report of the commissioners, although submitted to that house as early as the 5th January, until the last operative day before the prorogation, and then only for the purpose of enunciating its determination to persevere in the unaccommodating spirii, which had, in this as in other matters, become but too characteristic of this Assembly. The session was prorogued by the Governor on the , 18th of February, who in his speech observed, " that of the™A89e^- ^^ ^ ^"^1 Consideration of the situation of affairs, and of Wy. the peculiar circumstances which had If. I to it, he was satisfied that no benefit to the public could be expected from a continuance of the session, and he had therefore determined to prorogue the provincial parliament." He expressed his *' regret that it should have been thought proper to have recourse to the unusual practice of withholding the necessary supplies," but observed, that whatever might have been the intention of that measure, he was happy to state that it would not at all affect the administration of His Majesty's civil govern- ment, or of justice, or the officers employed in either of those departments. — That the effects would fall entirely upon the local establishments^ and be felt highly The Earl of Dalhousie 251 \ injurious to the interests of His Miijesty's loyal and />•„. faiflifnl eiiKiprta in th\a Prnvinno " YIV ^Va V • faithful subjects in this Province.' " The proceedings which have led to this measure," said his Lordship, "have afforded me the greatest satisfaction of knowing that the Legislative Council of this Proviuce duly appreciate the important duties of their elevated station. Their conduct has assured me that His Majesty may rest confident of their firm support in maintaining the true principles of the constitution and the just rights of the crown j so also it will be the object of my constant study to maintain these, and to employ the powers entrusted to me by His Majesty to the only end for which they were given j— the good of his subjects." The Assembly were stung at his Lordship's speech, which they felt had not less point than some of those humble addresses they had taken up to him in the course of the session. A circular was sent round early in May, under the signature of the Clerk of the Executive Council, inform- ing those persons considered by the Executive govern- ment, as upon the local establishment^ and ranked as such in the estimates which had been laid before the Assembly, that the future payment of their salaries was to be staid until funds were provided for the purpose. The salaries of those oflicers concerned in the adminis- tration of justice, or holding situations classed in the estimate, as appertaining to the civil government, were to be paid out of the funds arising from the appropriated revenue vested in the crown, and if any surplus should remain, it was to go in part discharge of the expenses of the local establishments, as stated in the message already noticed, which the Governor had sent to the Assembly on this subject. This, many considered unfair, as giving an undue preference to one class of public oflBcers, over another equally useful and necessary in the operations of government. They who with the Assembly pretended that the Executive had no right to apply the appropriated fund to the purposes of its establishment without the previous vote of application by the Assembly, were loud against the "partiality** and " injustice'* of such a system ; asserting that since the Executive " illegally" took upon itself the applica- G 1822. i 252 Administration of Chap ^*^" ^^ ^^^^^ funds without the previous vote or appoint- ^jY * ment of the Assembly, it ought, at least, to distribute f^y^i^/ them as far as they went, generally, by way of a dividend lfl22 through the whole list of those in the pay of government^ and proportionately to their respective salaries. The Lieutenant Governor of the Province, the honorable Sir Francis N. Burton, arrived at Quebec early in July, from England ; in consequence of the remonstrances of the Assembly, as previously noticed, and on the fifth of the month was sworn into office with the usual solemnities. Proposed union of the Canadai. The state in which the result of the last session had'l left the affairs of the Province, and the disputed claims' of Upper Canada, urged the Government at home to take measures of coercion, and for the adjustment of the financial difficulties between them. A legislative union of the two Provinces in combination with other measures was resolved upon, and a bill accordingly was introduced in the House of Commons. One of the avoM^ed objects of the union was to Anglicise Lower Canada, which joined in legislation, as it was in one common interest with a colony of British origin, would, it was thought, the sooner assume the true character of a. British Province. That part of the bill which related to the union being objected to in the House of Commons, as interfering in a way which might meet with the disapprobation of both Provinces, was relinquished by the minister until the sense of their inhabitants were taken in the matter. The Canada ^il^ divested of this measure, was passed in Parliament, Trade Act. and became a law, now known as the Canada Trade Act. By it every essential claim of Upper Canada was awarded, and with a view of securing it in future against the caprice of, or sustaining wrong, from the Assembly of Lower Canada, all the duties which at the time of the expiration of the last agreement* between the two Pro- vinces, were payable under acts of the legislature of Lower Canada, on the importation of goods into it, are permanently continued. The two temporary provincial acts previously noticed, (the one which the Assembly had purposely suffered to expire being also revived by » lit July, 1819, The £abl of Dalhousi£. 253 ippoint- istribute lividend rnment. iCe, the Quebec 5 of the noticed, ice with ion had'^ i claims' home to ;ment of ^^islative th other igly was of the ; Lower 3 in one ^ would, acter of n being ring in 1 of both ntil the pr. The lament. Trade ida was against jmbly of e of the vo Pro- iture of o it, are jvincial ssenibly ived by the Imperial act,) consequently became permanent law; liable always to be repealed or altered by act of the le- gislature of Lower Canada, in case such repeal or altera- tion should meet with the concurrence and sanction of the legislature of Upper Canada. Nor does the act stop here. It disables the legislature of Lower Canada from imposing new duties on articles imported by sea into this Province, unless with the sanction of the legislature of Upper Canada, or unless the bill passed for the purpose shall have been laid before the Imperial Parliament and the royal assent obtained. Thus were the schemes of party for im- poverishing the treasury and thereby reducing the Executive to implicit dependence on the Assembly, not only completely frustrated, but the Assembly itself in justice to the adjoining Province, restrained in the exer-. cise of its legislative powers in matters of finance. The intended union when made known in Lower Canada, produced great excitement. The Canada Trade Act was considered of little or no importance contrasted with the mischief anticipated from the extinguishment of the influence and ascendency which the population of French descent maintained under the existing con- stitution in the legislature of the Province ; and of which, those of British birth and descent in it, complained, as opposed to and prejudicial to improvement, and to the introduction of British enterprise and capital. By the union-bill, it was intended to unite the legislatures of bothCanadas, under the style or denomi- nation of " The Legislative Council and Assembly OF THE Canadas,'* The Governor was to have been authorised to erect the townships hitherto unrepresented, into counties, each to consist of not less than six townships and to return a member to the Assembly. — The whole number of representatives for each Province, was not to exceed sixty. As a qual ification, each member was to be possessed of a freehold in ^ef or in roture of the clear value of £500 sterling, over and above all incumbrances. Two members of each of the Executive Councils of either Province, were in virtue of an appointment under the hand and seal of the Governor, to take seats in the Assembly, with power of taking part in the debates, but not to vote. The Assembly was to Chap. XIV. 1822. Chap. XIV. 1822. 254 Administration or be quinquennial. Neither of the two houses was to be ca- pable of imprisoning for breach of privilege any of His Majesty's subjects not being members, or officers, or ser- vants of the house, until an act were passed by the Legisla- ture declaratory of the privileges of those bodies in this respect. All written proceedings of the Legislative Council and Assembly were to be in the English language only, and at the expiration of fifteen years after the union, all debates in those bodies were to be carried on solely in English. The free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, was respected, subject to the King's supremacy, and to the collation or induction into cures, a privilege which the bishop superintending the Catholic church in this Province, had been heretofore, (as he still is,) left in the enjoyment of. This circumstance seeming to the clergy a grievous interference with their church, gave umbrage to that body, who accordingly declaimed against the bill, embracing measures which they viewed with aversion. ♦ i I 4. Proceedings Resolutions, for and against the union, were adopted Lad^" w*i'h ^el ^* public meetings helci for the purpose. The Canadians of French descent were almost to a man, anti-unionists j for the >pect to ibc proposed union. •* those of British origii^ were, for the greatest part, unionists. Party spirit ran high, and all other political animosities seemed confounded in this matter, to which the attention of both parties was, for the present, wholly directed, as involving their future influence. The unionists in their petitions complained in strong terms of the grievances under which the inhabitants of British birth and descent laboured, by reason of the prejudices and systematic opposition of the French Canadians, having the ascendency in the legislation of the Province, to all improvements of a nature to encourage the introduction of British capital and enterprise. That instead of using their ascendency to assimilate the Province with the parent state, they abused it in checking every thing of a tendency in that way, recommended by the government or solicited by petition ; and that they only desired to maintain their power, that they might the more effectu- ally retard the assimilation of the laws, language, institutions and feelings of the Province, with those of England. — They were represented as anti-British and French at core, and the strong policy of prostrating at a single and determined blow the ascendency complained t I The Earl of^Dalhousib. 355 of, and thereby altering the Gallic and Foreign aspect of the Province was recommended and solicited.* Almost every township and settlement as well as the cities and towns, in which there were inhabitants of British birth or descent, prepared separate petitions to the King and Parliament on the subject ; but the anti* unionistsproceeded with greater unity and system than their adversaries, and indeed with a moderation and temperance of language, at least in their petition, which, in some instances the latter, in the fervor of party spirit, lost sight of altogether A public meeting was held at Montreal on the 7th October, and at Quebec another on the 14th of the same month, by the anti-unionists. At the former, a committee of seventeen, and at the latter place another committee of thirty members were ap- pointed to prepare petitions against the union. That of Montreal consisted wholly of Gallo-Canadians ; in that of Quebec there was a sprinkling of Anglo-Canadians, and persons of British birth, including among these, one *The peiilion from Montreal, excelled all others in asperity. It condemn- ed the policy that prompted the British government to divide the Province of Quebec into two Provinces, whereby *'the English population in Lower Canada, was rendered inefficient, from the comparative smallness of their numbers, and the whole power of the representative branch of the sovern- ment was ^iven to the French Canaoians." It represented that the ** French Canadian population for a short period of time after the adoption of ihe present constitution, partly from incapacity to exercise the political powers with which they had become invested, and partly from some remaining deference for their English fellow subjects, used their ascendency with moderation but this disposition was not of long continu- ance, anddoon yielded to inveterate anti- British, and anti.commercial pre- judices by which they have not ceased to be actuated." It was represented that '* all commercial enterprise and improvement had been crippled and obstructed, and that the countr^y remained with all the foreign characteristics which it possessed at the time of the conquest, that is, in all particulars, French." " Without an union, (it was said.) this population must retain its present ascendency in the government of the country, and will not of course of its own accord, cease to be French." Its progressive increase under the fostering protection of Great Britain, will therefore necessarily lead to a result, which, without on union, is anticipated." They added that they ** could not omit to notice that ihe unreasonable extent of political rights which had been conceded to this population, to the prejudice of their fellow subjects of Britisli origin, together with a sense of their growing strength, has already had the effect of realizing in the imagination of many of th«m, their fancied existence asa separate nation, under the name of the Nation Canadienne, implying pretensions not more irreconcilable with the rights of their fellow subjects, than witha just subordination to i be parent stale." They therefore "■ respectfully submitted whether a system of government which had had such effects, and which in iis ulterior consequences must expose Great Britain to the mortification and disgrace of having at immense expense reared to Ihe maturity of independence a foreign conquered colony, to become the ally of aforeign nation, and the scourge ofits native ■ubjects and their dependants, ought to be persisted to." Chap. XIV 1822. 266 Administration op Chap. XIV. 1822. of the judges. These committees, (styling themselves " constitutional committees") corresponded together, and concluded upon an address to the King and Parliament, in the name of the inhabitants of the Province, depre- cating the intended legislative union of the C&nadas. Messengers were dispatched throughout the country parishes for the purpose of obtaining subscribers. The signatures and crosses obtained from the various parts of the Province amounted as it was stated, to about sixty thousand in all. Mr. John Neilson, of Quebec, was deputed on the part of the Quebec committee, and Mr. Papineau, speaker of the Assembly, on the part of that D«putiesaeDt of Montreal to take home the Address. Mr. James to England, gj^^rt of Montreal, advocate, was appointed by the unionists to carry home their petititions. These persons accordingly proceeded to England, by way of New York, early in the winter, so as to be in time for the opening of t*arliament. The committee of anti-unionists at Quebec, during the progress of the petition, addressed printed circulars to several members of the British House of Commons, requesting that all proceedings with respect to the intended union might be stayed, until their petition should reach England and be laid before Parliament. The Governor, in this matter, prudently kept aloof^ not countenancing in particular either of the parties, but obligingly furnishing those who on the part of either had gone home, with letters introductory to the minister. THE ■sidered, lation, I cOoIed t ingly m circums] Mr. P the! Assc departui Union, the Asse was dat( GoVerho ner, beei ed them, cil, that, by whicl -service o rous that gave lea^ and that be chosei o'clock, J TheAfi Bourdagt Mr. Vige went son suCcessfu pointnien the presei nominati( together, tain the v whereas I self had I tween api * The quo itxei at (w( •Miduced to U The Earl of Dm^hovsul, 2&7 Chap. XV. CHAPTER XV. jg23. THE contemplated Union of the Caniidas being con- sidered, in this Province, by the majority of the popu- lation, a measure of coercion and of rigour, somewhat cOoled the ardour of the Representatives, who, accord- ingly met in Provincial Parliament, with a spirit of •circumspection, if not of conciliation.'* Mr. Papineau, the Speaker, informed the Clerk of tliei Assembly, by letter, that owing to his intended departure for England, with the Petitions against the }***.*'"* "^"'« Union, he could not attend his duties as Speaker of *'*«"'•'"• the Assembly at the approaching Session. His letter was dated at Montreal, on the 6th of January. The Goverhor, after the Assembly had, in the usual man- ner, been summoned to the Council Chamber, inform- ed them, through the Speaker of the Legislative Coun- cil, that, " being apprised of Mr. Papineau's absence, by which he had rendered himself unable to attend the service of the Assembly, as Speaker, and being desi- rous that the public affairs might receive no delay, he gave leave to the Assembly, to choose a new Speaker, and that they were to present the person, who should be chosen, to His Excellency on the morrow at two o'clock, for his approbation." The Assembly having returned to their Chamber, Mr. Bourdages being proposed as Speaker, was rejected, Mr. Vigor being next proposed, his political life under- went some severe scrutiny, not mitigated by the un- successful candidate, who, chagrined at his own disap- pointment, and determined to break the strength of the the present one, insisted that such as were to be put in nomination for the Speakership, should be proposed together, in order that the House might at once ascer- tain the whole of the Candidates, and exercise a choice, whereas by putting the Candidates up singly, as he him- self had been, there was no choice, or alternative be- jtween approval or rejection of the proposed candidate. * The quorum viWwh in (he last Setaion, as previously itoticed, had been tflxed at twenty-six, a majority of tb« whole Assembly itai this Seuio* «e4ttc«d to twenty-ooe. m Administration or. Chap. XV. 1823. This seeming fair, Mr. Taschereau and Mr. Valli^res, were successively proposed. The former, however, be- being called upon to declare, whether if the choice of the House were to fall on him, he would resign his other offices, expressing himself in the negative, waved by this, the chance he otherwise might have had for the Chair, to which, the two others put in competition with him being successively negatived, Mr. Vallieres was. unanimously chosen, although a very young member of the House. It is deserving of notice, that the parliamentary con- duct of Mr. Viger, during the late war, was on this occasion strongly reprobated by some of those, who, then, had most decidedly approved of it, and co-operated M'ith him ; persons whose present popularity had chief- ly arisen from a perseverance in the policy they now sheeted to condemn in that gentleman, whom they represented as having been hostile to the Government, and averse to measures which had been found essential in carrying it successfully through the war. The Govei'nor having confirmed the Speaker elect, opened the Session with the Speech inserted belov^.=^ * Oenflemen of ihe Legislative Council, Gentlemen of tlie Assembly, Since I Inst met you here, the whole system of Navigation Laws, with tke general circumstances of Briiish and Colonial Commerce, have been brought under the consideradon of the Imperial Parliament, and two Acts have in consequence been passed, materially affecting the Trade of t-^aining the sentiments ' *^® ^^^^* passed several resolutions by a very great ma- posed Union, jority, after some warm debates. The House declared, " that it participated in the surprise and grief felt by a " very large majority of His Majesty's subjects in this *' Province, on hearing that His Majesty's Ministers had " proposed to Parliament an alteration in the provln- " cial constitution, with a view of uniting the Legisla- " tures of Upper and Lower Canada." The last of their resolutions stated, " that were the proposed alterations " adopted by Parliament, the result would be, that two " Provinces, having laws, civil and religious institu- " tions and usages essentially different, would be sub- " jected to one and the same Legislature, whose deci- " sions would alternately endanger the laws and '* institutions of either Province. That there would " thence result well founded apprehensions respecting ** the stability of those laws and institutions ; fatal " doubts of the future lot of these colonies, and a relaxa- " tion of the energy and confidence of the people, and " of the bonds which so strongly attach them to the " mother country." * la the Legislative Council, the followin;; protest was entered against the vole, for an Address (o His Majesty, praying that an Union of the Ca- nadas might not take place.—" Desseniienl— Fiist— Because the Union of Upper and Lower Canada, under one Legidature, would ufTord satisfac- tory, constitutional, and eft'ectuai means of removing those fi->rai difficnliies which have hitherto existed, and which, under ihe present order of things must continue to exist, and excite jealousy and disaffection between the Provinces. *( Serondl)'— Because such Union would encourage the introduction of a numerous population from the parent stale, and give to the Province of Lower Canada, a British character." ••Thirdly— Because such Union would greatly increase the physical strength of both Provinces, and facilitate above all otiier measures, their power of resisting a common enemy." '< Fourthly— Because such Union, by encouraging the seitle/nent of lh» wastelands (as well seigniorial as others) would greatly augment our com- mercial resources, encrease the value of all real property, and^lve an im- petus to the prosperity nnd improvement of both Provinces, which would render them one of the most valuable appendages of the British Empire." (Signed) John Richardson, James Irvine, Herman W. Ryland, Roderick McKeneie^ Charles W. Grant, William B. Fel (on. Thb Earl of Dalhousie. 201 '1 1 Chap. XV. 1823. The Union ofEngland and Scotland, distinct in their respective laws, civil and religi^rs institutions and usages, and the history of the Empire since that event, were appealed to in refutation of the reasons, if such they may be termed, by which the majorities in both houses professed themselves actuated. These were in debate, also, plainly told, that the loss of that power already too long abused and perverted to the prejudice of their fellow subjects of British descent and birth, im- migrating to the Province, was their chief apprehension : and that this, and the dread of seeing it pass into hands, by which, possibly it might in turn be used against them as they had done against others, were the real cause of their aversion to an union. The reason urged in the second article of the protest made in the Legislative Council, was probably as powerful a motive at bottom with the Anti-unionists, as with the party seeking the union, though in policy or propriety, the former could not openly avow it. The resolutions oi •' \ssembly were embodied in petitions to the King « ^ rliament. That to His Ma- jesty, was at the request of the Assembly transmitted to England by the Governor. The addresses to the two Houses, were forwarded to Messrs. Papineau and Neil- son, in England, to be by them submitted. His Lordship, at an early period of the Session of the Message re- Legislature, acquainted the Assembly by Message that Jating lo the the arrival of the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Francis N. ''•• <=''""''""'• Burton, made it necessary that a residence should be provided for him, and that a furnished house had accordingly been taken for His Excellency, in the month of July preceding, at the rate of £500 currency, per annum, which, his Lordship recommended the Assembly to provide for; and that in order to enable the Lieut. Governor to live in the Province in a manner becoming his situation, a sum not exceeding £1000 Stg. be added to his present Salary, and a suitable residence found him, or an allowance of £500 per annum, until such residence were provided, should be made him. The Lieutenant Governor, by his affability and ame- nity of manner, had become popular ; and the Assembly cheerfully voted the full allowance reconmiended. A Bill was accordingly passed, augmenting his salary. 262 Administration of Chap. XV. 1823. Eastern Town ' ships. (which previously stood at £1500) to two thousand five hundred pounds^ Sterling, during his residence in the Province ; and the further allowance of £600 cur- rency, for house rent. The Eastern Townships, hitherto neglected, were, this Session attended to by the Assembly. Separated from Montreal and iiuebec, by an intermediate wilder- ness, through which there hardly was a practicable foot- path, whereby the inhabitants could come to market with their produce, or to the Courts, for justice, loud complaints of oppression and injustice were made by them against the majority of the Assembly, as Anti- British, and opposed to the progress of the Townships, where the British population principally lay. The sensation produced by the intended union, operated in favor of the £astern Townships ; the Gallo-Canadians being sensible, that while they were deprecating a measure which they considered as unjust, they should also quiet the complaints of these, their Anglo-Canadian fellow subjects, lest their remonstrance might Induce the Government at home, to do them that justice which had been withheld here, and in doing this, also take steps to place them on a more equal footing than heretofore. Inferior Dis. The Assembly, pursuant to the recommendation of irict of Saint the Govemor, took the subject into consideration, and ed. passed a bill, erecting a new District, comprehending several of the Eastern Townships, under the name of the Inferior District of St. Francis, from the river of that name which traverses it. A Provincial Court, with ju- risdiction in personal actions, to the amount of twenty pounds, sterling, as well as a Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, were established in the newDistrict. Esiimate for the year. The estimate for the year was laid before the Assem- bly, on the 5th February, by message, stating, that his Lordship, in order to show more clearly the nature of the general expenses of the Government of the Province, for the current year, had classed them into two sche- dules. One comprehended those salaries and contin- gencies provided for, by permanent Acts and other re- venues of the Crown ; and it gave him, he observed, plea- sure to express his hopes, that in consequence of the Act passed in the last Session of the Imperial Parliament, the revenue raised by the Act of 14th Geo. III. chap. 88, Thb Earl of Dalhousie. 263 and applicable to these services, would be nearly, if not fully adequate to the payment of them. The other was an estimate of the expenditure to be incurred in defraying the local and provincial establishments, to which his Message of the 6th February last, particularly referred, and for which it again became his duty to call upon the Legislature to provide. The first of these schedules, consisted of a class, com- prehending the Governor, Lieutenant Governor,* and certain officers immediately attached to the former, in- cluding the Agent of the Province ; the Surveyor Gene- ral and contingencies of his department : — the Judges and officers connected with the administration of justice: the salaries, of £100 each, to nine Members of the Exe- cutive Council : the Clerk of the Council, and contin- gencies for the office, as well as to the Committee of Audit ; and to the Inspector of Public Accounts : and the salaries and contingencies of the Receiver General j and Clerk of the Terrars, amounting in all to £32083 11 3, Sterling. The second, comprehended those offices and objects of public charge, denominated "local establishments." These consisted of : — first, the Legislature and its permanent officers, including the Speakers of the Legislative Coun- cil and Assembly : — secondly, the expenses in printing the laws : — thirdly, salaries to schoolmasters : — fourthly, the pension list : — fifthly, rents and repairs of public buildings, and the salaries and disbursements of those employed in the charge of them : — sixthly, the expense of collecting the public revenue, under provincial laws : — seventhly, the expenses of the Trinity House : — eighthly, the Militia Staff and contingencies : — ninthly, the expenses for criminals and for houses of correction ; and finally, a tenth chapter or article of miscellaneous charges, consisting of salaries to the Grand Voyer, to the Inspectors of Chimnies of Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers ; Clerk of the Market at Quebec ; to resi- dents on Anticosti to assist mariners in distress ; iissess- ments on public buildings, and other small charges, making a total of £30225 19 5 Sterling. * It is to be observed, ihiit the addition made, (his St'ssion, by the As- Bembly, to the Lieutenant Governor's salary, as already noticed, was to be takfn from the unappropriated funds, at tlie disposal of the Legislature. The Salary he previously held, was from the pertnanent revenue vested in the Crown, lowurda the support of the civil government. He therefore coniinued (o stand on the schedule for the amount of bis permanent salary, independent of any vote of the Absembly. Chap. XV. 1823. 264 Administration or Chap. XV. 1823. Local eipen- cea voted. (f tc a te This classification was strongly animadverted upon^ out otf as well as in the Assembly, as springing from the interested and sordid policy of those living upon the public money, and (as asserted) in the confidence of the Governor. Notwithstanding the disgust they expressed, the Assembly, probably keeping in view the attention which the Government at home, seemed disposed to give the affairs of the Province, voted the sums necessary to defray the salaries and pensions for the year. In doing this, they prefaced their votes with certain resolutions, tantamount to a protest against the classification adopted by the Executive, professing also their willingness ** to fulfil their engagement toward His Majesty, by granting annually ^ every necessary aid towards de- fraying the whole expense of the Civil Government, and the administration of justice, and other objects of public charge in the Province,'' as often as they should be thereunto required by His Majesty, or his Represen- tative in this Province. Some in the Assembly, entertained a notion that the Canada Trade Acty ought to be taken into considera- tion, but it was thought prudent to defer this for the present. That Act being for the purpose of justice, and for affording relief to Upper Canada from alleged grie- vances occasioned by the Lower Province, it might prove impolitic to remonstrate against the measure, lest the former should, in theirown vindication, again move in the matter, and thereby afford Ministers immediate cause for carrying into effect an Union of the Provinces. While imploring the Government not to unite the two Legislatures, they avoided measures which might bring on the evil, they were anxious to avert. Bills of indemnity for the monies expended, without the sanction of Acts of the Legislature, towards sup- porting the civil government for the preceding four years, were passed by the Assembly; taking always their own votes during those several years, as the standard by which the proposed indemnity was to be regulated. The title to these bills being to " reimburse and indem- nify His Majesty," gave umbrage in the Legislative Council, as unbecoming and offensive. The Bills were rejected, as well on this account, as because they did not cover the entire amount of expenditure necessarily incurred : and also, because they contained clauses afiiect- ing the appropriated revenue. Thb Earl or Dalhousib. 265 The Bill of appropriation for defraying the expenses Ch«p of the local establishments for the current year, specified v'y ' by items, the several salaries allotted to the respective v^rv"^> Officers. The monies appropriated for the purpose, were j^oo according to the appropriating clause "to be taken from **''^' and charged against the General Funds of the Pro- ^'| *,?^ oppro- viNCB, arising; from any Act or Acts in force therein, *" * ""' and from any of the revenues of His Majesty, applica- ble to the purposes'' of the Act ; that is to say, towards the support of the Civil Government. The Assembly intended, under the ambiguous terms of " General Funds of the Province,'* (no such funds being legally established in the Province, or in existence in it, under that denomination) to save their pretensions to the controul of all monies levied in the Province, un- der whatsoever authority, including the appropriated as well as the unapropriated. The Legislative Council did not overlook the ambiguity, but viewing the words, general funds, as meaning nothing more than the unap- propriated monies, over which the Assembly had an undoubted controul, and not the appropriated revenue of the Crown, over which it was maintained they had none, and which therefore could not in legal interpre- tation be within the purview of the bill, passed it ; with" a protest, however, declaring they would not in future pass another of the same kind ; the present being acceded to, only on account of the particular circum- stances under which matters were at the moment. The bill was considered as objectionable, principally on ac- count of the specifications it contained. The Assembly resumed the consideration of the ap- A^eni for ihe pointment of an Agent in England, and agreably to the Province. advice of Mr. Marryat as already noticed, requested the Legislative Council, to concur in the appointment of a person or persons to reside as such near His Majesty's Government in England, to attend to the interests of this Province, and from time to time, to transact such pub- lic business as might be committed to his care. The Legislative Council refused to concur in the measure, and nothing further was done towards it during the Session. Among the matters of minor importance that occurred, some deserve notice. The excitement produced by the intended union, vented itself in acrimonious reflections 266 Administration of Chap. XV. 1823. on either side, through the press ; each party represent- ing the designs of the other, as hostile to the Government or oppressive to the people : the unionists reproaching their opponents with disaffection, and the latter retorting upon the former, their disposition to rule with arbitrary sway. After the Resolutions of the two houses of the Legislature had gone abroad, the unionists, provoked at the determined aversion which had prevailed there, a- gainst their favourite measure, expressed themselves in some instances more warmly than excusable, even under the mortification of party discomfiture. Offence was ih/^SftJr "S *^^®" ** '^*® remarks of the Editor of the Canadian the Canadian TiMES, (a paper then published at Montreal) who ob- Timet. served, that " the Resolutions and Addresses of the " Legislative Council, and the House of Assembly, could " not be productive of surprise, when the majorities by ** which they were carried, shew how completely anti- " British was the composition of these bodies.'' The Legislative Council took no notice of these re- marks, but the Assembly by a resolution, declared them a false and scandalous libel upon the House, and a mani- fest breach of its privileges. It was therefore ordered, that the Editors and publishers of the paper be accord- ingly taken into custody by the Sergeant at Arms, and brought to the bar of the House. Ariel Bowman, one of the Editors, was taken into custody, by a Messenger despatched to Montreal for the purpose, but immediate- ly after his apprehension, effected his escape. The other, Edward V. Sparhawk, kept out of the way and was not apprehended. Sheriff of Que- bec. The Office of Sheriff for the District of Quebec, hav- ing been vacated by the removal of Mr. DeGasp^, who had proved insolvent, the son of the Chief Justice of the Province, Mr. Sewell, was appointed in his stead. The appointment of this gentleman caused dissatisfaction, because, in cases where the Sheriff might be party, the Chief Justice must according to law (as it was said) abstain from giving an opinion, owing to his paternity, and that the public would therefore in such cases forego the benefit of the advice of the highest law authority in the Province.* The House, at the instance of Mr. Andrew Stuart, took up the subject, and having passed resolutions upon * See Appendix D. Thb Earl of Dalhousib w lart, pon it, addressed the Governor in Chief, praying His Ex- cellency would be pleased to take the matter into con- sideration, and in his wisdom adopt such means for obviating the inconveniences complained of, and apply- ing a remedy, as His Excellency should deem meet. The Governor answered, that the inconveniences and the danger apprehended, to the proper administration of the laws, and justice, in the Country, as represented in the Address of the Assembly were assuredly of the highest importance. That he would most readily give his serious attention to the subject, and adopt such measures there- on, as the circumstances of the case might require. Thus the matter remained, until the following Session, when the steps pursued by his Lordship were made pub- lic, which however, did not disturb the Sheriflf in the possession of his Office, the Judges who gave their opinion on the subject not seeing any legal objection to his retention of it, on the grounds urged by the Assembly. In the embarrassments of the Receiver General, who it would seem had for some time been upon the verge of insolvency, his Lordship was induced, for the pur- pose of enabling him to pay the expenses of the Civil Government, for the half year, expired on the first of May, 1822, and to meet other incidental public expen- ses during the remainder of the year, to place upon his own responsibility in the Provincial Treasury, thirty thousand pounds from the Military Chest. He ac- quainted the Assembly of the circumstance, early in the feession, and called upon the House for immediate re- payment of the amount to the Military Chest. The Assembly would consider the Loan in no other light \ than as a personal favor to the Receiver General, who, at that time, instead of being deficient, ought, it was said, to have upwards of one hundred thousand pounds of the public money in his hands, and therefore took no no- notice of the call, but proceeded to vote the necessary sums for public purposes, as if this money were actually in the chest, although it was now too manifest that there was a serious defalcation. It was observed, that to reim- burse this sum, would be an assumption of the Recei- ver General's responsibility : and that while the Execu- tive virtually proclaimed that ofiicer Bankrupt, it was in- consistent, in suffering him to continue in the receipt of the public revenue, and still more so, in expecting the sanction of the Assembly. Chap. XV. 1823. 268 Administration of Chap. XV. 1823. Mr. Caldwell, was, notwithstaiuliiig, after this^ suf- fered to remain iu Office, until the opening of the ensu- ing Session, by wliicli time, his embarrassments had, become so insuperable as to render his removal indis- pensable. There is cause to believe that this would have taken place at a much earlier period, had not some assurance by that Gentleman's friends been held out, that the difficulties with which he had to contend when the circumstance first drew the Governor's attention, were but temporary ; and that the public would lose nothing by any indulgence he might from continuance in office be permitted to enjoy. The sum in which at the time of his removal, he was deficient, was, it is said, less by three thousand pounds, than it had been for some months previously. The Province, therefore lost nothing by the temporary indulgence shewn him. Canada Trade ^^^ Assembly took into consideration tbe Canada Act. Trade j4cty and requested the Governor to lay before them, copies of any address or addresses to His Ma- jesty, by the Legislative Council and Assembly of Up- per Canada upon the financial concerns of tliat Province with Lower-Canada, and of the papers and documents accompanying the same, that had been transmitted to His Excellency by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper-Cana- da, during the last Session of the Legislature of this Province. The Governor in compliance with the re- quest, accordingly transmitted to the Assembly the papers received on this subject from Upper-Canada, and which, as he informed them, had come too late to be laid before the last Session of the Legislature. Tliey contained the Report of a Joint Committee of the Legis- lative Council and Assembly of the Province, dated 22d October 1822, giving a detailed and lucid statement of the matters in discussion between the two Provinces, and of the fruitless negociation which had been carried on between their respective Commissioners. This do- cument drawn up with great ability, and grounded upon official and notorious facts, proving satisfactory to the Minister, he accordingly brought the subject before Parliament ; and without reference to the Assem- bly of Lower Canada, took immediate steps in Parliament to relieve the Upper Province from further dependance upon the temporizing policy by which the Assembly of The Eakl of Dalhousib. 269 The deliberations of the Assembly on this Act, evapo- rated in a resohition towards the termination of the Session, tliat tliey would at an early periuci of the ensuing Session, lake the Act into most serious consideration. Chap. XV. 1823. Several appropriations were made this Session, ex- clusive of the monies voted for the local establishments appertaining to the Civil Government. The Company incorporated by an Act of the Legislature in 1818, for cutting a navigable Canal from St. Johns to the Basin of ^JJ,^"^^*' Chambly, being unable to realize funds sufficient for the undertaking, an Act appropriating fifty thousand pounds, was passed, for the purpose. Twelve thousand pounds in addition to the appropriation already made, for the Lachine Canal, were also given. A pension of three hundred pounds a year was conferred upon the widow of the late Mr. Panet, who had filled the impor- tant post, of Speaker, in the Assembly for many years, Avithout remuneration. Pensions were also at the re- commendation of the Crown, provided for Mr. Monk, Chief Justice at Montreal, and Mr. Ogden, a Judge of the Court of King's Bench at the same place, both su- perannuated, and who therefore, on retiring, were, by the vote now passed in their favor, to receive, the former five hundred and fifty, and the latter, four hundred and fifty pounds, sterling a year. Two thousand one hun- dred pounds, currency, were appropriated for the en- couragement of Agriculture. Eight hundred and fifty pounds were conferred upon the society of the Montreal General H'-^itai, and upwards of two thousand pounds upon the L.iMiosof the Hotel Dieu of Quebec, as an aid to enable them to complete certain improvements to their Hospital. Two hundred pounds were also granted in favor of a Society for Education at Quebec, consisting of individuals avIio had formed by voluntary contribution a small fund for this purpose, and which the Legislature therefore encouraged. His Lordshij) closed the Session on the 22d of March, which, having been characterized by diligence and libe- rality, enabled him to part with the Asst.nbly in terms of commendation. The following is the Speech at the prorogation : — •* Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, " Gentlemen of the Assembly ; Chap. XV. 1823. Governor't Bptecb. 270 Administration op "I have seen with great satisfaction that the various " subjects submitted to your consideration in the course " of this Session, have been discussed with all that dili- " gence and attention, which the peculiar circumstances " of the Province so much required. f( The Acts passed by you to facilitate the Administra- *' tion of Justice and to extend the advantages of it to " the distant parts of the Country, the encouragement " continued to Agricultural Societies and to Canals, the " regulations adapted to the Trade of the Province, and ^' the assistance afforded to charitable institutions, are " unequivocal testimonies of the public spirit which has " animated you in the discharge of your Legislative " duties. !) u a tt <« it (( Gentlemen of the Assembly, it (t « I thank you for the Supplies granted, and the liberal Appropriations made for the purposes which 1 have '" recommended. I hope to find that the means also have been duly considered and adequately provided, fie assured that on my part they shall be faithfully " applied. " Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, " Gentlemen of the Assembly ; '' I regret that so much difficulty has been found " in the establishment of Offices of Registry. I hope, " however, that the subject will still be kept in view as " one of the highest importance, affecting equally the " security and the value of private property, and that ** you will, at a future period, again take it into consi- " deration. " I have not failed to transmit your respective Ad- " dresses to His Majesty upon the subject of the Union *' of the Legislatures of the Canadas. I trust that the " people of this Province will now await the decision of ^' this important question with that full confidence, " which, from the experience of more than sixty years of " happiness and prosperity under the British Crown, " they ought to place in the wisdom and justice of the " Imperial Parliament, and in the paternal views and " intentions of their Sovereign. i t9 !j Thx Earl of Dalhousib. 271 " It only remains for me to offer my warmest thanks " for your assiduous and laborious attendance. The " hopes 1 lately expressed to you, have been kully realiz- " ed, and 1 think it must be gratifying to you to be as- " sured, that I esteem the result of the Session to be at "once honorable to yourselves and useful to your ** Country." ' Chap. XV. 1823. r I ^ 272 Administration op Chap. XVI. 1823. The Governor visits Nova- Scotia. Official Gazattf. CHAPTER XVI. THE Govcrnor-in-Chief sailed for Halifax on the 24th of June, on a visit to Nova-Scotia, where he was received with every demonstration of respect and enthusiasm by the inhabitants. His exertions while Lieutenant Go- vernor of that Province in promoting its agriculture had been crowned with wonderful success, and he now after an absence of three years, had a fair opportunity of witnessing the improvements resulting from them, se- conded as they were, by an intelligent and industrious population. He visited various parts of the Province, every where receiving the most gratifying proofs of the high estimation in which he was universally held. His Lordship having accomplished his tour, reached Quebec on the 12th August, (His Majesty's birth day) in time to review the troops in garrison, and to celebrate the day with the accustomed honors. A new Official Gazette, under the immediate authority of the Executive Government, was issued in October, a commission which some time previously had been given to Mr. Samuel Neilson^ as King's Printer, being revoked, and another issued for the purpose, in favour of J. C. Fisher, Esquire, an English gentleman of literary ac- quirements, who had recently been Editor of the Albion, a paper of English principles, published at New- York. The public conduct of the elder Mr. Neilson, for some years a member of the Assembly of the Province, and Owner of the Press from which the old Quebec Gazette had issued, a paper which the Government, not having a Gazette of its own, had patronized and employed as the organ of conveying to the public, such official information as from time to time it had been ne- cessai'y to impart, had become obnoxious. The politics to which his Gazette was inclined, were also thought irreconcileable with the course an official paper, ought to follow. It was therefore deemed necessary by the Executive, that an Officer should be appointed as King's Printer, and a Commission to that effect was offered the elder Mr. Neilson. This he declined, pro- /:! Ill ''I 'I ;( 'I I 'nil %^} The Earl of Dalhousik. 273 ed, C. ac- lON, tics ght )er, ary as vas ro- I' ■1 !'■ 'I III i, bably not wishing to place himself in the situation of a dependent upon tlie Executive, and, at the same time, also relinquished the editorial responsibility of the Gazette, upon certain stipulated term-i, to his Son, who took the Commission. After this, his Gazette pur- ported to issue by authority* and continued so until the appointment of Mr. Fisher. Mr. Neilson thinking himself aggrieved, applied for redress to the Court of King's Bench, against Mr. Fisher, but failed. He considered an Ordinance of the Governor and Council, passed in the year 17H5, requiring the publication of all sales of real property by the Sheriff to be made in the Quebec Gazette, as investing the per- sons vi'ho at that period issued the paper, with the ex- clusive privilege of this publication and the emoluments arising from it. Mr, N. being the legal representative of the person who then published the Gazette, the first ever published in Canada, and continued without inter- ruption ever since, claimed, as proprietor, that the public cation should by order of the Court be made in his, the original and ancient Quebec Gazette. The Court did not consider Mr. Neilson as maintaina- ble in his pretentions. — ^That he could not claim a right which had not been vested in those who preceded him. The Ordinance without vesting an exclusive privilege or right in any one, required that certain formalities as to publication should precede every Sheriff's sale of real property, and the formality of publication in the Quebec Gazette^ was an indispensable one : — but the Gazette in- tended, must legally be understood to be that which should be Published by Authority of His Majesty's Go- vernment, rather than that not published under its au- thority. In the existence of two Gazettes of the same denomination, that edited by the King's Printer, must be understood to be the one in which the legal notices by Law required, ought to be made. The Legislature met on the 25th Novr. which being the last Session of that Parliament, it was expected would be an eventful one. The Governor informed the two Houses that it was painful to him to meet the Legislature each succeeding year with statements of difficulties in • T «k nUc* in July I8S2. Chap. XVL 1823. 274 Administration of Chap. XVL 1823. Legidatura meet. the financial affairs, but that as they still existed, it was incumbent on him to bring them forward in the fullest detail, and that it was for that especial purpose he had called them to meet at this early period. His Speech was short and conciliatory. " We are" (said his Lord- ship, in concluding it) " at the last Session of this Par- *' liament. Let it be the anxious desire of all to close " our labours in that harmony and effectual concert " which always promote public good, and ensure public " prosperity. In that desire, I think I need not assure " you of my cordial concurrence." Tlie Judicature Bill and that for the establishment of Register Offices which had already been under consideration, he recommended them to resume. The Receiver General, Mr. Caldwell, was formally suspended from the duties of his office, on the 23d No- vember, which in fact he had virtually been from the 14th August preceding : the Revenue by Law payable into his hands, having then been placed under the con- troul of two persons, one a Member of the Executive Council, the other a Member of the Assembly, without Receiver Ge- whose order he neither could receive or pay away any nerai suspend- public mouics. Of this measure the Governor gave the Assembly notice, by message.* * The Governor in Chief having experienced great difficuKiei in the Public Service during the last Summer, by the embarrassment of the Re- ceiver General's Office, lays before ihe AfiSembly for ilieir consideration a full statement of the circumstanres that have occurred. Having directed his attention immediately on the close of (he last Session of the Legislature, to ascertain the slate of ihe Fundti upon which the large Appropriations had been granted during the Session, there appeared to be an available Balanc^ in the Receiver General's hands, of ninety-six thousand pounds, and he called upon that Officer to declare whether be was prepared to meet Warrants to that amount. The Receiver Gederal produced various Accounts and Statements shew- ing claims on the part of the Province on the imperial Trea&ury and the Military Chest, the payment of which into his hands would enable him to meet the demands of Government, and in lime to pay up the actual Balance of his Accounts with the Public; but it appeared that he was not then prepared with ihat Balance to meet the Warrants for the Public Salaries, to be drawn npon him, and a further request was submitted by him that the Warrants for the Public Salaries payable on the first May, might not be issued until the first of July, when the Revenue of the current year would place Funds in the Chest. The Governor in Chief agreed to this last request ; bui the question as to this repayment of the sums claimed bv the Receiver General ns due -fb the Province, being one on which His Majesty's Government could nlone de- cide, it was accordingly referred to them, and Mr. Davidson was sent to England as a Messenger, both on the part of the Provincial Government and of the Receiver General, with voluminous papers to be submitted to the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury. TbeGovernor in Chief returning to Quebec in August, from a distant Eart of his Government, was informed by public rumour, of encreased em>- arrassmentin the Receiver General's Office, and bhorlly afterwards re* The Earl of Dalhousie 276 (IS to -fb the le d«« nt to meat ed to Chap. XVI. 1823. . propoiitions. The defalcation in the Provincial Chest amounted to £96117 13 4 Stg. according to Mr. Caldwell's own statement. He had, however, on entering office in 1811 assumed the responsibility for £39874 10 10 Sterlini*-, upon the strength of which, his Father and predecess or in office, had by the Exchequer at home been declareU even and quit, and this vvhich it is believed, was never Defalcation, in reality paid over to the Receiver General, although he assumed the responsibility of it, accounted for so much of the existing deficit. It is to be observed that the inade* quacy of the Salary (£500, including allowance for a Clerk, Office Rent, and Stationary,) to the charge and responsibility upon the Receiver General, whose prede- cessor, had not even so much, has been almost univer- sally admitted. This sum, he proposed before a Committee of the Assem- bly,to which the matter had been referred, in consequence of a message on the subject from the Governor, to dis- *''"-^''H*'*"'» charge by an assignment or propertv, tor the purpose of sale, valued by him at £32,000 Currency, and by the annual payment, during his life, of the sum of £1500 arising from the Seigniory of Lauzon, which he pre- tended to be entailed upon his Son by the will of his late Father, the usufruit remaining with himself for life He submitted to the liberality of the Legislature a claim for some allowance in the nature of a set off, for services rendered by his late Father and himself, in performing ceived n declaration from that Officer himself, that he nns unable to meet any further Warrants to be drawn upon him. Under these circumstanres it became the duty of the Governor in Chief, to take immediate measures lo f^nard the public inieiests, and lo prevent any embarrassment in the necessary operations of Government, For th?se purposes and until an answer sliould be received from HisMiijehty's Go« vernment, he appointed a Commission of two gentlemen, to inspect nnd controul (he operations of the Receiver Gemrnl's Office, and took upon himself the reinon^ibility of ^rantine; Loans from the Military Chest, ac- cording to ihe urgent necessiiies of the Civil Government. No intimation having yet been received from (he Lords of His Majesty's Treasury, that ihey will admit the claims advanced liy Ihe Receiver Gene- ral on the part of the Piovince ; but there being reason on the contrary to believe that this will not be done ; Ihe Governor in Chief has been com« pelled, in the absence of the expected instructions from His Majesty's Go- vernment with respect to the Receiver General, to fake that step by Tvhich alone under these circumstances the Public Service can be continued in a legal, secure, and regular course, by suspending the Receiver General from his Office, and appointing another person to (ill it, until His Majesty'it pleasure shall be known, or until such arrangements shall be made, us shall replace the deficient balance in the Chest, and conssequently render this measure no longer a matter of necessity. (Signed) DALHOUSIE. Caitleof St. Lewis, Quebec, S9lh Novr. 1823. 276 Administration of Chap. XVI. 1823. Propoiitions. duties not required of them under their respective patents, in receiving and paying large sums under Provincial Acts, for which no charge hitherto had heen made, or per centage allowed. The amount of monies received by himself and his Father under these Acts, he stated to have exceeded a million and a half. An allow- ance, upon the sum so received, of three per cent, as given the Receiver General in Upper-Canada, by Act of the Legislature in that Province, would amount to £45471 9 3, which he considered, ought in equity to be allowed him. He also expressed his willingness to pay into the Provincial Treasury, a further sum of a thousand pounds per annum, in the event of his restor- ration to Office with a provision by the Legislature suited to its responsibility, until the whole debt were extinguished. The proposals were disregarded, the Assembly being averse to make any compensation for services attended with a breach of trust. The House had at various periods shewn a disposition to look into the state of the Provincial Treasury, but no Bill on the subject had hitherto been passed and laid before the Legislative Council. It was pretended in the Assembly that the res- ponsibility of his failure ought to rest upon the Imperial Government, whose Officer he was ; and upon which therefore it was incumbent to have adopted measures to guard against the event that had occurred. It is, however, to be observed, that for all monies levied under Acts of the Provincial legislature and paid into his hands, there is authority to this effect in those same Acts, and it was therefore contended, that although with respect to the Crown duties or monies raised under Imperial Acts, he was exclusively the servant of the Crown and solely accountable to the Treasury ; yet, that as the Legislature had authorized the paynient of the Provincial duties to \)e made into his hands, he had thereby been made their Officer. The Assembly, however, considering the Imperial Government bound in equity to make good the defalca- Defprminatlon tion, declined Hieasurcs pursuant to the proposals of the late Receiver General, mtending to lay claim for the amount against the Government at home. The Com- mittee made a Iroluminous report, upon the subject, giving It as their opinion^ that the monies levied on th^ of (he Asserii' biy. i 1 *^ \ The £arl of Dalhousi£. 277 to subject in tills Province, vested in His Majesty, under the Royal Instructions,* and paid over to the Receiver General, accountable to His Majesty through the Lords of the Treasury, were in the nature of a deposit in the hands of the Imperial Government. The Report also stated, that the Government in England, by former proceedings and addresses of the Assembly, to His Majesty, in relation to the civil expen- diture and revenues, had been sufficiently informed of the insufficiency of the check, which hitherto existed, on the issues of monies from the Provincial funds. — ^That no remedy, or Legislative provision, had such been deemed necessary, either in the opinion of His Majesty's Govern- ment at home, or those acting under its instructions here, had since, or at any previous time, been recom- mended to the Legislature, although without such recommendation, such provision could not be successful.f That both must have been fully aware from the Receiver General's semi-annual accounts, that the balances in his hands were generally less than the money stated annually by the Colonial Government to be actually there, and at the disposal of the Legislature. The Committee ex- pressed its opinion of the propriety of an appeal to the honor and liberality of the British Government on the present occasion. The monies levied on the Inhabitants of the Colony for the public uses thereof, deposited in the hands of an Officer of that Government, in confor- mity to Royal Instructions, and accountable only to it, had, they observed, been diverted from their uses without the possibility of its being prevented, on the part of the people of this Colony. J * These instructions were originally given to His Exrellency Alured Clarice, Esqui'e, Lieutenant Governor of the Province, by whom tliey were communicated on the 26th February 1793 to the Assembly for thrir guidance. They are as follows— vizt : '^ That in all laws or ordinances for •« levying money or imposing fines, forfeitun-s or penal lies, express meution ** be made, that (he same are granted or reserved to us, our heirs und sue* ** cessnrs, for the public u.>es of the said Province, and the support of the ** Government thereof, as hy the said law shall be directed, and that a *' clause be Inserted, declaring that the due applicaiion of such money *' pursuant to the direction of such laws be accounted for unto us, through •< Our Commissionors of Our Treasury for the time being, in such manner " and form as we shall direct." -f The reader will give what credit he pleases to this last assertion by the Committee. It is by its boldness imposins, but it Is also absolutely f;raiuitous. They preposterously declare success to have beeu hopeless, without having once ever made a trial for it, % This aigu is rather a bold uBserlion, and ref«rable to the prtceding note. Chap. XVL 1824. 278 Administration of Cl|AP. XVI. 1824. Address of the Aaserably relative to the defalcation. The Report further observed, that although all the responsibilities of the Receiver General, and the secu- rities given by him, were towards His Majesty's Treasury only, they had, nevertheless, thought it expedient to call upon him to slate what means he had of making good the defalcation acknowledged by him ; but that having come to an opinion, that the House ought to look to the Justice of the Imperial Government for the amount of defalcation in the Provincial funds entrusted to the Re- ceiver General, they could not presume to pronounce on the reasonableness of his offer, or on the claims therewith connected. Pursuant to the suggestion of the Committee, the Assembly addressed His Majesty, representing the failure of the Receiver General as an " evil which had occurred " in the Administration of the Affairs of the Colony under " the controul of the authority of the Empire ; and which " it had not been in the power of the Assembly of the " Province to prevent." ** That the nomination and controul of His Majesty's ** Receiver General for this Province, is vested in the " Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury in the " United Kingdom j and that in virtue of Royal Instruc- " tions, signified to the Assembly of the Province pre- " vious to its passing any money bills, all the laws *' passed therein for raising money on the subject, vested " the same !n His Majesty ; and provided that the said " monies should be accounted for to the Lords Commis- " sioners of the Treasury." ■' That these as well as other monies levied by Acts of " Parliament on the subject in this Province, had been " paid into the hands of the Receiver General, who, at no " time, had accounted to the Assembly of the Province, ** but had been exclusively under the controul of His " Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom." " That being informed by Message from the Governor " in Chief, of a defalcation in the monies levied on His " Majesty's subjects in this Province, it had been on '* enquiry, before a Committee, found to be as stated by " the Receiver General £219064 7|, of which the '^ Receiver General claimed to have advanced on Letters " of Credit, and for other Payments uncovered by War- t The £arl of Dalhousie. 279 His '< rants £122946 7 7> leaving an acknowledged balance in cash due by him of £96117 13 0| Sterling." {( Chap. XVI. 1824. (( ft (C (( <( The Assembly therefore submitted their case to His Majesty " on the part of all His Majesty's subjects in " this Province, in the hope that these might not suffer in their property, confided under Royal Instructions, and by Act of Parliament, to an Officer over whom they had no controul ; and that all losses of the said monies in the hands of the said Officer, or disburse- ments thereof, without the authority of law would be made good to His Majesty's subjects in this Province " for the uses for which they were levied." This Ad- dress was on the Petition of the Assembly, forwarded by the Governor to His Majesty's Ministers. The Governor, early in the Session, informed the As- sembly by Message, that he had not failed to take into Menage re- most serious consideration their Address to him of the lating to Mr. 25th February 1823, respecting the appointment of Mr. SteriffSeweii. W. S. Sewell, as Sheriff of the District of Quebec ; and that having consulted the Judges of the Court of King's Bench in the several Districts, he had been convinced by the reports he had received on this reference of the sub- ject, that there was not any illegality in this appointment, nor any real danger from it to the rights of His Majesty's subjects, in the Administration of Justice criminal or civil in this Province. That for these reasons, and having every cause to be satisfied with Mr. Sewell's conduct in that situation, he felt it is duty to maintain him in the enjoyment of it. This communication inflamed the Assembly, who voted an Address, (a single voice dissenting) praying his Lordship would be pleased to lay before the House, copies of the Reports made by the Judges who had been consulted on the subject. His Lordship answered, that he could not but feel sensibly this further step of the Assembly upon the subject, as pointedly doubting the grounds of the Message he had sent the House, but that he would, nevertheless, cause the papers asked for, to be sent down. He accordingly sent down to the Assembly transcripts ofthe documents required,* observing in his Message * See Journals of the Aiiembly 183S-4. 280 Administration of Chap. XVI. 1824. Is referred io A Committee. Sir <3eorge Pre vest's ad- miaiitration. on the occasion, that in addition to the opinions therein stated, he had the advantage of the advice of the Chief Justice, personally, in whose talents and upright charac- ter, he placed the fullest reliance ; and that he had also reason to know the concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Kerr, who having early solicited the appointment for his Son, must therefore have thought there was no illegality or danger to the public interests in such an appointment. His Lordship added, that he also had the decided opinion to the same effect, of His Majesty's Executive Council for the Province, whose advice he would always consider, as the hest he could obtain to guide him in the public interests. This Message instead of satisfying the Assembly, rather encreased the excitement in it. The subject was in the first instance taken into consideration by the whole House, and afterwards referred to a Committee of five members, who did not report until near the end of the Session ; and there the matter has since been left at rest. The report expatiated largely on the subject, but made no observations on the opinion of the Judges. The Committee, however, expressed their regret, that the dangerous practice of obtaining from the Judges, extra- judicial opinions, should upon the present occasion have been resorted to. The Committee recommended as the result of their deliberations, the introduction of a Bill, to disqualify the relatives within certain degrees, of any one of the Justices of the King's Bench, from holding the Office of Sheriff or of Coroner, or of Prothonotary in the District wherein such Justices respectively sit. The Assembly resumed early in the Session, at the instance of Mr. Bourdages, the consideration of the Prevost administration, of which he had been an active supporter. Resolutions were adopted expressive of the high sense they entertained of the services of that Governor, in the administration of the Government of the Province, and in his successful defence of the same during the late War. They declared that it had been solely owing to circumstances beyond the controul* of the Commons of the Province, that the resolutions of the Assembly, of the 21st March 1815, to appropriate the sum of five thousand pounds, for the purchase of a Service * These were,— the refusal of the Legislative Council to concur in the appropriations voted for the purpose by the Aaiembly. The Earl of Dalhousik. 281 Chap. XVI. 1824. of Plate, to have been presented to him on their behalf, had not been realized. A Committee was appointed to take into consideration, and report to the Assembly, the most proper means and effectual method of carrying into effect, and commemorating the sense of tlie Com- mons of Lower- Canada, with respect to the public ser- vices of that Governor. The Committee recommended that an Equestrian Statue should be erected to his me- mory, in a proper situation, fronting the EdiAce in which the Commons of Lower-Canada hold their Ses- sions.* The question of concurrence in the recommen- dation, was not however, put in the House, consequently the measure has since remained imperfect. East India ft The illicit importation of Tea from the United States China Trada. carried on for several years, to an extent very prejudicial to the Revenue of the Province, and to the lair trader, drew the attention of both Bi anches of the Legislature, which, in this Session by a joint Address, prayed His Ex- cellency would be pleased to represent to His M.'ijosty's Ministers, the expediency of advising such mcasures'as might be most proper to enable the Inhabitants of the Canadas, to obtain from India and China, such goods as they might require from those countries ; particularly Tea, either by some arrangement with the East-India Company for an annual supply, or by granting to His Majesty's subjects the benefit of direct importation. This application was attended to by the East-India Company, and Tea more than sufficient for the consumption of the Province, has since, been annually imported to Quebec, direct from Canton, in ships employed by the Company. Messieurs Papineau and Neilson, who had went to * It wasatsn recommended by tlie Committee, that the following Legend or Inscri^ilion should be borne npon the Monument— vizt : In niemorlam Illustrissimi viri D. Georsii Prevoit. Baroneil, Hujusce ProvinrliB Gubernatorii, Atque Copiarum Ducis, Canadarum Servaioiia, in the Hoc Monumentum Grato nnimo Decreverunt Communes Inferioris Canadn, Die Januarii 1824. 282 Administration or Chap. XVI. 1824. England with the Petitions against the Union, laid be- fore the Asseiubiy, in letters addressed to the Clerk, the result of their mission on that subject. They stated, that the Minister having informed them that His Majesty's Government had not determined to bring the measure forward, the Petitions to the two Houses of Parliament had not been presented. — ^That if the consideration of an Union of the Provinces were resumed, the circumstance would previously be notified through the Governor, to the Inhabitants of the Colony, in time to enable them to be heard in Parliament, if they should think proper, by Commissioners, by Petition, or in such other manner as they should see fit. Canada Trade The consideration of the Canada Trade Act was ^ctconiider. revived in the present Session. Mr. fiourdages proposed several strong resolutions on the subject. These were supported by Mr. Valli^res, the Speaker, but successfully opposed by Mr. Papineau, who maintained the measure to have been one of necessity, arising from the state of affairs between the two Canadas. This gentleman, who had been one of the Commissioners appointed by Act of the Legislature of this Province, to negotiate with Upper-Canada on the subject of Drawbacks claimed by that Province, and which had given rise to the Act, was roughly handled in the debates. The majority were "' however, with him, against the proposed resolutions, of which two series were at separate periods submitted, (the second of a more qualified and temperate character than the first) and they accordingly fell to the ground. It was then proposed to address the Governor, praying Referred to a ^® would beseech His Majesty to recommend to Parlia- Committee. ment, the repeal of the Act, on account of certain dis- positions it contained, contrary, as it was said, to the rights and interests of the Province. This proposition was rejected by a strong majority. The matter was finally referred to a Committee of seven members, for the purpose of enquiring into and reporting upon the advantages or disadvantages, resulting from the Act, to the constitutional rights and interests of the Province. The Committee made no report upon the subject, which thus was left at rest. It was interesting to the public, rather by the trial of strength, to which it gave occasion between the late, and the present Speaker, than otherwise. Thb £arl or DALUoL'Sfii. '26d Chap. XVI. J824. A Petition from several Mercliants in Quebec, com- plaining of the exaction of illegal fee$ and other wrongs, by the Collector and Comptroller of the Customs^ was laid before the Legislative Council and Assembly. An enquiry was instituted in both Houses, and the Petitioners having substantiated their complaints to the satisfaction intM^'*'"* of these bodies, they severally addressed the Governor Coiieci«r*^«nd upon them. The address of the Assembly prayed Hit Coropiroiur. Lordship to adopt such measures, as to him might an 1)ear effectual for remedying the abuses of which tin Petitioners complained. le To this he answered ; that having no proof satisfactory * to him that the conclusions or resolutions upon the Petition alluded to, were well founded ; on the contrary, being firmly persuaded that the Collector of the Customs at the Port of Quebec, was an Officer of upright integrity, GoT«rnor'» honorable in principle, diligent in the duties of his Aoiwer. office, and obedient to the laws and instructions he re- ceived, he could not undertake to comply with the Address in any other manner than by laying it before His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. His Lord- ship's answer to the Legislative Council on the same subjecti was nearly to the like effect. These answers in which encomiums were passed upon a public functionary, whose official conduct had been the subject of representation by both Houses, seldom of the same opinion in matters of alleged grievance, were thought very unsatisfactory, and gave great offence, particularly to the mercantile world. The matter, however, did not rest here. — Indignant at the manner in which the Addresses of the two Houses of the Legislature had been received, the Petitioners deter- mined to adopt legal measuies in order to obtain redress, and the subject'was accordingly submitted to the Grand Jury, at the ensuing criminal term of the Court of King's Bench for Quebec. The Grand Jury made the exaction of illegal fees by the Collector of the Customs at Quebec and the several Officers under him, the subject of a pre- sentment to the Court. An action was also instituted against the Collector by one of the Petitioners who had considered himself individually aggrieved by the exaction of certain fees which he contended were illegal. The prosecutor succeeded in his suit, the Collector being con- 284 Administration of Chap. *Jemned to make restitution, but against this judcfment, XVI * (rendered in April 1825) he appealed. Some of the fees ^^/i^^ complained of, were, however discontinued by orders from 1824 England in the course of the present year, in conse- quence of the remonstrances of the Legislative Council and Assembly. The Eslimale •ent down. Tlie Assembly had sat upward.^ of two months and a forthe^ExS- ^^^ before the estimate of the general expenses of the set of the year civil government for the year was sent down. The delay caused some murmuring, it being thought intentional, and with a view to take the advantage of a thin House at the end of the Session, so as to carry every point which otherwise might be overruled j but it was in fact owing to some misunderstanding on the subject among the oflicers whose duty it was to prepare the necessary papers. The classification previously adopted, was also pre- served in the Estimate now sent down, the line of distinction between those Officers deemed to be provided for by permanent funds, and those considered as only of local establishment, and as such tq be provided for by the Legislature, being more clearly defined than before. Each class formed the subject of a distinct document. The first was denominated " a schedule of the probable ** expenditure to be incurred in the year 1824 for the " regular Offices, and their contingent expenses, of His " Majesty's Civil Government, or of the Administration " of Justice," and comprehended six chapters*. The salaries attached to the offices included in this class amounting in all to £33455 11 3 Sterling, the Execu- tive Government considered to be permanently provided for, by the permanent revenue appropriated towards the Administration of Justice and support of the Civil Go- vernment of the Province. The second was denominated an ** estimate of the usual charges and contingent ex- penses of local and provincial establishments for the year 1824," comprehending ten chapters, amounting in all to £34191 12 2 Sterling, and for which, the Go- vernor in Chief called upon the Legislature to provide. Supply to. The Assembly in Committee of the whole resolved by Ti?St e''^ *^'" ^ ™*J<*^^*y of one only (14 for, and 13 against it) that a le'j.' " **''*''' supply should be granted to His Majesty, in which the House concurred ; but on motion being made, that the House should on the ensuing day resolve itself into a « See Appendix to the Journals of the Assembly 1834— letterT. 4- The Eabl or Daliiousib 285 4. general Committee to consider of the supply, it was at the instance of Mr. Papineau, enjoined the Committee to take also into consideration certain propositions (which he then submitted) connected with the financial affairs of the Province. Accordingly when the Supply came under considera- tion, the Committee by way of preface to their vote of Supply, adopted with little alteration the propositions submitted. In these the Executive was accused of pro- vas with great concern thev observed the internal communication by the St.Lawrence, from Upper to Lower-Canada, was threatened with interrup- tion, by reason of the Commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent, liaving awarded to the United States Barnharts' Island, above Cornwall, in the Upper Province, whereby no practicable channel of descent, for boats, rafts, or other conveyancep by water was left on the British side of that River; and that consequently this communication seemed to be placed at the mercy of the States. The Legislative Council therefore besought the Governor to submit these important points to the consideration of His Majesty's Ministers, and earnestly to recommend that His Majesty might be advised not to concede to the United States upon any terms, the navigation through the River St. Lawrence to sea. They also expressed their hope,that means might be taken to procure by ne- gociation, the reciprocal right or exercise of navigation, during peace, of the several internal channels of the St. Lawrence, soutliward of the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, in whatsoever territor)' those channels might be situate,in order to prevent those collisions which must otherwise take place, to the injury of both nations. 1 The Earl of Daliiousie. 289 1 The Legislative Council by messaafe to the Assembly requested the concurrence of this body in the Address, which, however, they declined, an opinion prevailing tliere, that the dangers antici[)ated by the Council were far over rated, while others thought, or feigned to think them, merely visionary. Chap. XVI. 1824. The Governor laid before the Asscmblv at a late period of the Session, certain resolutions of the Assembly of from'iji)p«"" Upper-Canada, relating to losses sustained by inhabi- Cwiadii, tants of that Province during the late war, from pilhige of their property and devastation of their estates, by the enemy. The British Government had consented, that a loan towards indemnifying the sufferers to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds should be effected, and for which it would guarantee half the annual interest, (£2500 per annum) the Province providing for the re- mainder. This, Upi)er-Canada, was of itself unable to effect, and its Legislature therefore recurred to this Province, in the hope that the Legislatiu'e thereof would aid the former, by an imposition of new duties on imports at Quebec. In these resolutions, in Avhich both houses of the Up- per-Canada Legislature had concurred, it was said that " Lower-Canada, although a separate Colony was dis- tinctly identified with Upper-Canada in the issue of the late contest with the United States of America, and was in a great measure preserved from t!ic dangers and de- vastations of war, by the successful resistance made to the enemy in Upper-Canada, at so ruhious an expense to the fortune of many of its inhabitants ; and that an ap- peal might properly be made to the sympathy and jus- , ticc of Lower -Canada, to participate in the payment of the iudemnity, to which the sufferers had so distinct a claim." In answer to this application, it was resolved by the Aniwerofth* Assembly " that inasmuch as Upper-Canada made in Assembly, the late 'war, the same meritorious efforts as J»wcr- Canada, to repel the American invasion; and as all the disposable resources of both Provinces Mere emj) loved in resisting the urgent dangers which threatened them, this House sympathises with the Legislature and people of Upper-Canada in the sufferings and ruin experienced in that Province, as in this, by a large number of persons. 290 Administration of CiiAr. XVI. 1824. but that the very unfavorable state of the commerce of this Province, renders impossible for the present, the imposition of new taxes." The articles upon which it was proposed by Upper-Canada to impose new duties, were, wines, refined sugar, muscovado sugar, and an ad valorem duty on merchandize. In the Upper Province, this answer was considered evasive and unsatisfactory. AddteM of the '^^^ Assembly addressed His Majesty in favour of the AMembiy re Clergy and People of the established Church of Scotland, Clergy "reser- ''^siding in the Province, and of other Protestants dis- ▼M. ' senting from the Churches of England and Scotland. — They conceived, they said, the true sense and meaning of the constitutional Act in appropriating a reserve of the Waste Lands of the Crown towards the support of a Protestant Clergy, equal to one seventh of all Lands to be thereafter granted in Canada, was, to give an equal right to the Clergy of the established Church of Scot- land, to participate in common with that of the estab- lished Church of England in the advantages and re- venues to arise from those reserves. It was also said in the Address, that if the Ministers charged with the religious instruction of protestant dissenters, had not an equal right to participate in the revenues which those ^ i lands might produce, they had an equitable claim to that effect, in consideration of their utility, with respect to the religious instruction which it was just, they ob- served, to facilitate, to a class so numerous in this Pro- vince as Protestant Dissenters from the Established Church of England and Scotland, who in consequence of a conscientious separation, justly authorized by the Laws, ought not to be excluded ft om civil advantages nor • ^ from any act of royal munificence and protection which other classes of the King's subjects enjoyed. This Address from the Assembly, consisting chiefly of Roman Catholics, gave great offence to the Clergy and members of the established Church of England, who deemed it an improper interference in their concerns on the part of the Assembly. It was ascribed less to a spirit of christian charity, or liberality to protestants generally, than to a desire to weaken the infant establishment of the Church of England in the Canadas, for which the British Parliament had wisely and liberally provided. Arrears due to The Upper Province had claimed certain arrears of l/ppcrUnada drawbacks, alleged to be due by Lower-Canada upon J '^M The Earl of Dalhousie. 291 CrjAP. XVI. k f\ W I'l importations into that Province during the late war as already noticed, but of which no exactor proper entries at the Custom' House could be procured. This matter being provided for in the Canada Trade Acty had been \qs%a referred to Arbitrators, who in 1823, awarded the sum *^'**» of £12,220 17 6 currency to Upper-Canada. The Go- vernor at an early period of the Session sent down a message, informing the Assembly, that application had been made to him on the part of Upper-Canada for pay- ment of this amount, but that the embarrassment of the financial affairs of this Province had placed it out of his power to make payment, and he therefore submitted the subject to the Assembly, that they might make pro- vision accordingly. This message caused much dissatisfaction in the As- sembly, being there considered as intended by the Exe- cutive, to involve that body in a certain degree of res- ponsibility for the failure of the Receiver General, which they pretended rested wholly with the Government. — Little or no notice of the message was taken until near the termination of the Session, when it was resolved, 5®^^"*'°\?^ *' that the Arbitrators having determined, that the ® *^°* ' amount of the arrears due to Upper-Canada was £12,220 17 6 currency, and their decision being final, that sun had thenceforth ceased to form part of the dispo- sable finds of chis Province, ought to have been paid to Upp^^r-Canada, and not to have been retained to- wards paying the Public Officers up to the first of November last, six months of their Salaries j and that by suspending the execution of the said Act of the Imperial Parliament, His Excellency the Governor in Chief has exposed this Province to the misfortune of a renewal of the difficulties with Upper Canada." This was a virtual admission that the sum awarded Upper Canada ought now forthwith to be paid ; but the message being wholly unconnected witli the Salaries paid the Public Officers, the reflection on this subject embodied in the resolution, and that of the danger of a renewal of difficulties with the other Province, were j^ratuitous and angry sarcasms indicative of the spirit which influenced the Session. By the Canada Trade Act, it is among other matters provided that persons holding lands in this Province in Commutation fief et seigneuritf may on rendering the same to His Ma- of tenure. 292 Administration ov Chap. XVI. 1824. jesty obtain re-grants of them in free and common soc- cage, by paying a certain sum in consideration of the change of tenure and relinquishment by the King of the fines and other dues to His Majesty. This enactment was indubitably prompted by the liJberality of the Gov- ernment at home^ with a view to the gradual disenthral- ment of the subject in this Province from the feodal tenure. But by the laws of the Province the seignior is obliged to concede the ungranted lands in his seigniory to applicants desirous of settling on them^ and this on the like conditions as have been originally imposed on the first grants made in the seigniory. The seignior, it is to be observed is not absolute proprietor of the lands within his fief or seigniory — His property in them is of a qualified and limited nature. He cannot legally sell or dispose of them in such manner as to exempt them from all feodal liabilities in time to come, and to which by the nature of the original grants from the crown, lands under that tenure are subjected. He must concede them according to the tenure, and that system of laws under which ht himself holds them. Any agreement between him and the grantee by which it might be intended to evade, or frustrate these, would in the end prove a mere nullity. He is, on the concession of the ungranted lands, entitled to a small annual rent in perpetuity, amounting to scarcely any thing more than an acknowledgment for his right in them, from the owner or censitaire. He is also entitled to Lods et Ventes, or a mutation fine equal to one twelfth of the purchase money, upon every sale of land within his fief or seigniory, payable by the purchaser.— These being paid the seignior, it is not in his power to disturb the possessor of the land who in some respects may be considered as tenant in common with the former, both having rights, but of a different nature, in the same soil. The enactment alluded to, puts it however, now in the power of the seignior to commute, and by that means instead of being the qualified proprietor to become the absolute owner of the lands remaining ungranted in his seigniory. A commutation effected with the crown with respect to the whole extent of any seigniory, enables the seignior in his turn to agree with his censitaires for a commutation of their respective lands from the feodal tenure, to that in free and common soccage, and which lands upon such change of tenure, thereupon become sub- ject to other laws than those previously affecting them. The Earl of Dalhousie. 298 ^T <- Chap. XVL 1824. Address of The introduction of a new system of laws incidental to the tenure in free and common soccage, was disliked. It was considered as a scheme gradually to undermine and overthrow the old laws for the maintenance of which in their integrity, it was said the Canadians pre- ferred the imaginary inconveniences of the old tenure, to the doubtful advantages of the one proffered. The Assembly took up the subject, and by resolution declared '^ that any arrangement which might be made under the said Act between His Majesty and the holders of waste lands en fief et seigneurie, would deprive a third party of ^thl^era^ct' a legal right whicli is beneficial to the indiviilual, advan- to change of tageous to the community — and granted by thi capitula- tenure, tions of the Colony, — by an Ac;t of the fourteenth year of the reign of His late Majesty.'* They therefore address- ed the Governor, praying " that in any conditions which may be imposed on any seignior rendering lands under the said Act, to obtain a grant thereof in free and com- mon soccage, such conditions may be imposed on such seignior in conformity to the said Act, as may preserve entire the right of the subject to a grant of sush waste lands at the usual redevances or dues and conditions.'' This was in effect, a request that no change of tenure should be permitted. In answer to the request. His Lordship said he would pay every attention to the sub- ject when any exchange of the seigneurial tenure should come under his consideration. Among the last proceedings of the Session was a vote of thanks to Sir James Mcintosh, and other members of g. the Parliament, who, as it was said " influenced by a M'lntosh!*' sense of justice, and attachment to the principles of the British constitution, succeeded in persuadini[( His Ma- jesty's Ministers to relinquish their support of a Bill in- troduced in the House of Commons in J 822, for altering the established constitution of the Canadas, until such time as the Inhabitants of the Provinces could have an opportunity of making known their sentiments thereon." The Governor prorogued the Legislature on the ninth March, with the following Speech : " Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, " Gentlemen of the Assembly, 294 Administration of Chap. XVI. 1824. *' I am now to close a Session of the Provincial Par- liament, the result of which I am much afraid will prove to be of little public advantage ; at the same time your long and laborious attendance is entitled to my best thanks j but before I prorogue this Parliament, I think it important to the Country that 1 should here, as His Majesty's Representative express my sentiments upon the general result of your proceedings during the several Sessions in which 1 have met you : I declare those sen* timents in an earnest desire to attract the serious atten- tion of every Member of this Parliament, of every man who values the prosperity of Canada, and I trust 1 know too well the principles of the British Constitution to ex- press myself in any manner inconsistent with that respect which one Branch of the Legislature owes to another or with those rights and privileges which belong to each respectively. " A claim has been made to an unlimited right in one Branch of the Legislature to appropriate the whole Re- venue of the Province according to its pleasure, include ing not only that part of it heretofore granted to His Majesty, and which is appropriated by Acts of the Pro- vincial Parliament to specific purposes, and subject to such distribution as the King may see fit, but even that portion also of the Revenue which is raised by the autho- rity of the Imperial Parliament, appropriated to defray the expenses of the administration of Justice and of His Majesty's Civil Government in this Province, and direct- ed by an Act passed in the British Parliament long be- fore the establishment of the present Constitution in this Province, to be so applied, under the authority of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury ; this claim, made by one, has been formally denied by the other two Branches of tlie Provincial Parliament j ne- vertheless it has been persisted in, and recourse has been had to the unusual proceeding of withholding the Sup- plies, except upon conditions which would amount to an acknowledgment of its constitutional validity. " This subject has occupied every Session from th* first to the last, and is now transmitted to those which shall follow : It has caused incalculable mischief to the Province ; and now leaves it to struggle under difficul- ties, while every Inhabitant of it must see that the en- couraging aid of the Legislature is alone wanting to t 1" ^}^ I t ■r Thb Earl of Dalhousib. 295 i 1 arouse powerful exertions and draw forth those resources which without that aid must in a great measure lie dor- mant and useless within its reach. But, Gentlemen, I see with infinite satisfaction, that notwithstanding these unfavorable circumstances, Canada is powerfully ad- vancing in improvement, and that the differences which continue to disturb its Legislature, have not interrupted in the smallest degree that general contentment which the people enjoy under the paternal care and protection of His Majesty, ** In former years, when the Supplies necessary for the support of His Majesty's Government and the honor of His Crown in this Province, were not granted, 1 averted the unhappy consequences which must have resulted from a strict adherence to the letter of the Law, and I trust that my conduct on these occasions will be justified and approved, where alone 1 am responsible : But as my advice has been unavailing to prevent this result at the present period, I shall interfere no further ; adhering now to the letter of the Law, I shall guide the measures of tlie Executive Government by that rule, and accord- ing to my best judgment, lamenting that the Public must feel those consequences which have so long impended over it, and which I can no longer avert. " Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, " 1 feel myself called upon to acknowledge the calm, firm and dignified character of your deliberations and conduct in the discussion of the Public Business, and I take it upon me, in a sense of duty, to thank you in His Majesty's Name, for the support you have uniformly given to the measures I have from time to time recom- mended to you for the good of the Province. *' I fervently pray that the wisdom of your proceedings may make a just impression upon the loyal Inhabitants of the Province, and lead them to that temperate and conciliating disposition which is always best calculated to give energy to public spirit, to promote public har- mony, and ensure public happiness ; these are the great advantages which result from a wise exercise of the powers and pr'i 'ileges of Parliament." The encomiums passed on the conduct of the Legis- Chap. XVL 1824. 296 Administration oi*' Chap. XVI. lative Council, were offensive to the Members of the other House, as indirect censure upon it. Thus the As- sembly and the Governor parted, without having made 1824 ^^^ ^^^^^ progress during the four years of this Parlia- ment, towards an adjustment of the difficulties in which it was involved when his Lordship assumed the Govern- ment. These had even multiplied, and parties seemed to be still further from a good understanding than at any previous period since the introduction of the subject from which they had chiefly sprung. T^he dissolutions which had taken place under some former administrations, had been lield up as the great obstacle to an adjustment of difficulties between the Executive and the Assembly, which it was said, could not, while scarcely free from the excitement of recent elections, and probably excited by the prospect of fresh ones be supposed to meet with that disposition necessary to produce harmony. This pretext was, however, now totally wanting, the present administration having from first to last of this Parliament evinced the fullest forbea- rance and moderation towards the assembled represen- tatives of the public, and which to give the experiment a fair trial, it must have been his Lordship's determination from the outset, should not be wanting on his part, to secure success, if such were to be secured by those means. The formation and establishment of a Literary and Formation of HISTORICAL Society at Quebec, under the auspices and a Literary & patronage of His Lordship took place this spring. Its origin is indeed owing to the patriotic feeling, and anxiety for the honor and the welfare of the Province which characterized the Earl of Dalhousie. The atten- tion and munificence of its noble founder and patron towards the institution, seconded by the exertions of its members, have already brought it forward to a grade among the scientific institutions of this continent, highly respectable, and will be the means of securing and per- petuating its existence. The purposes of the Society were, by an address to the public, issued shortly after its institution, declared to be the " investigation of points of history immediately connected with the Canadas. — To discover and rescue from the unsparing hand of time the records which yet remain of the earliest history of Canada. To preserve while in our power such docu- Historical So ciety 15th March 1884. ■ ' I t * » 1^ Tub Earl or Daluousib. 297 Chap. XVI. ( I t ments as may be found amid the dust of yet unexplored depositaries^ and which may prove important to general history and to the particular histoiy of this Province." — Men of learning and taste were invited to join the Society, ,r^^ which concluded the address issued on the occasion by '"•*• soliciting "the assistance and co-operation of a liberal and enlightened public in the prosecution of a cause which in so many ways conduced to the advancement of historical knowledge, and consequently to the honor and ornament of this Province." His Lordship visited Montreal in the month of May, ^JTS^^J^h where an address was presented him by a numerous and * "*>"••*• respectable body of the Inhabitants desirous of testifying their respect for his public character previous to bis departure from the Province, on an intended visit to Britain, for which purpose he had obtained leave. An address from the Inhabitants of Quebec was also pre- sented shortly before his Lordship sailed for England, expressive of their respect for his public and private character, and regret at his intended departure and temporary absence from the Province. He embarked with his family the 6th June, on board the Athol, frigate, for England, upon which, the admi- nistration of the Civil Government of the Province devolved on the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Francis N. Burton. Although much towards public improvements had been done during the four years which had elapsed of this administration, much also of what had been parti- cularly recommended by the Governor, had been left undone. Besides those topics embraced in his Speeches to the Legislature, others of major importan(re were from time to time brought under notice by message. In the first Session, his Lordship recommended a revi- sion of the system of Road Laws, and in connection with this subject, the establishment of an office of Grand Voyer for the Province, in whom tlie superintendence of all general improvements by the opening of new high- ways throughout the Province, and controul of the expenditure of all public monies on roads, or internal communications should centre. The decayed state of the Castle of St, I. iiii Ui lU u ■uui. ■ 4.0 m 1 '-^^ 1 '-^ 1 '-^ < 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4503 ^" ^ "^ 1^ r 296 Administration op ,1 i. Chap. XVI. 1834. w General, was brought under consideration : as ulso the expedience of providing a suitable House for the accom- modation of the Public Offices, immediately connected with the Civil Government. He' ftirther recommended in this Session, as a matter that concerned both the honor of the Country and the dignitv of its Parliament, that steps should be taken with a view to erect in the course of future years a Public Building for the seat of the Legislature, suited to the circumstances and cor- responding with the rank which this Province holds among the sister Provinces of His Majesty's North American dominions. In the Session of 1823, he by message recommended the enactment of a law for the public registry of instru- ments conveying, charging, or affecting real property, with a view to give greater security to the possession and transfer of such property, and to commercial trans- actions in general. The possession of large tracts of township lands by absentees, and owners who had made no improvements on them, and who in no wise contributed towards open- ing the roads of communication which gave value to their lands — a burden, which fell chiefly on the settler, and resident landholder, — had long been deemed a griev- ance, that essentially retarded the progress of the town- ships. This the Governor anxiously desired to remove, and he accordingly in 1824 sent a message to the Assembly, recommending Legislative enactments for the escheat and forfeiture to the Crown of large tracts held, under Letters Patent, in the townships, on which no improve- ments had been made according to the conditions of the patents. He also, this Session, recommended measures, by which he might be enabled to cause an inspection to be made into the state of the Divisions and Battalions of Militia, principally with a view to check abuses which had grown into practice in the appointments and pro- motion of Militia Officers. These, however, as well as other measures of importance which he recommended to the Legislature, were disregarded. * M i