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Siu, The Roman Catholic majority of the Assembly of New- foundland, having, in the session which has just terminated, refused to exercise their legislative functions, and thus pro- duced a crisis in the political condition of the island, which will, it is presumed, render necessary the interference of the Imperial Government— the Protestant minority of the As- sembly, in conjunction with a very large number of the most influential Protestant inhabitants of St. John's, desirous that in any change which may take place, their interests may not be overlooked, have deputed me respectfully to lay before you their views on this important subject, as expressed in the resolutions of the Protestant Committee of St. John's, which are herewith submitted. From the time of the first agitation by the Assembly of the subject of responsible government, in 1851, the Pro- testant inhabitants of the Colony have always been strongly opposed to its unqualified concession ; because they felt as- sured that with our existing constitution, the concession oi responsible s;overnment would in effect be the establishment b2 r' under the form of free institulions, of a despotistn from which there could be little chance of escape, by vesting the whole executive and legislative functions of the Government in the hands of the Roman Catholic Bishop. That this would undoubtedly be the result of such a change is now hardly denied in the Colony, and is apparent to every one at all acquainted with our local history, as it is notorious that of the fifteen members who compose the Assembly, eight at least — namely, two for Placentia and St. Mary's, one for Ferryland, three for St. John's, and two for Conception Bay, have been, and undoubtedly can be returned by the Roman Catholics, the great bulk of whom implicitly exercise th ir elective franchise in favour of the parties nominated by their clergy, irrespective of their merits or qualifications. And, as under responsible government, the control of the Assembly necessarily involves the power of the Executive, and con- sequently the nomination of the council, the influence that can return the majority of the Assembly becomes in effect the government of the country. If this position of affairs were the natural consequence of a superiority on the part of the Roman Catholics in numbers, wealth, or intelligence, the Protestants, however ill-disposed they might feel towards it, would perhaps have less cause of complaint, but knowing that three-fourths of the capital of the country is in their hands, and that they outnumber the Roman Catholics by about 3,000 in a population of about 96,000, they feel very strongly its injustice, and naturally deprecate the establishment of a system from which, having regard to the history of other Roman Catholic Governments, and to their local political experience they could hope for little, and would have much to fear. Relying, however, implicitly upon the justice and discretion ' of the Parent Government, the Protestants of Newfoundland, otism from vesting the iovernment : this would tiow hardly one at all ous that of y, eight at 's, one for eption Bay, the Roman ercise th ir ;ed by their i. And, as e Assembly t, and con- iuence that in effect the ^uence of a n numbers, ill-disposed iss cause of i capital of number the n of about d naturally ich, having >vernments, d hope for d discretion i^foundland. generally indisposed to political agitation of any kind, have hitherto contented themselves for the most part with offering through the local press and by the votes of their repre- sentatives in the Assembly, a consistent opposition to the efforts of the Roman Catholics; and the receipt of the despatch of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, of the 21st February last, which while it conceded the principle of Responsible Government to Newfoundland in common with other North American Colonies, based that concession upon certain con- ditions absolutely necessary to its just and practical operation, shewed that this confidence was not misplaced. Regarding the Despatch as a final settlement of the question of responsi- bility, the Protestant minority of the Assembly, in the session which has recently closed, were prepared earnestly to co- operate with the Roman Catholic members in fulfilling its conditions, and although themselves desirous, in common with their constituents, of a complete and extensive subdivision of the districts in order to a fair and full representation of the whole constituency, yet knowing that the Roman Catholic Members had, from an alleged fear of mercantile influence, always been strongly opposed to subdivision, they were willing to waive their desires upon this point and to acquiesce in such an arrangement, as while it confined division to two districts only, would enable the Protestants to return that reasonable majority of members to which their numbers alone would entitle them. The Roman Catholic members, however, who as the ma- jority of the Assembly initiated the Representative Bill brought in a measure which, while they assumed that it would produce a return of fifteen Protestants and fourteen Roman Catholics, would in fact, as is shewn by the Table A, place the majority on the other side and thus perpetuate ...eir pre- sent ascendency. The majority professed to base their hypo- B thesis that the bill would return fifteen Protestants and fourteen Roman Catholics, upon the assumption that the dis- trict of Burin having a small Protestant majority would return both members of that persuasion ; but this assumption is con- tradicted by the fact which they would willingly overlook, but which the past history of the Colony had established beyond contradiction, and which ought always to be taken into account in framing a scale of representation for Newfoundland, viz., that although a district having a small Roman Catholic majority, can always return either a Roman Catholic or a Protestant, subservient to Roman Catholic control as it pleases, a district having even a considerable Protestant majority cannot control the election of its representatives in favour of Protestants, and that for this reason ; that, in election contests, the Roman Catholics are always ready to resort to violence and intimidation, to which the Protestants will never have recourse — thus in the district of Conception Bay, having a Protestant majority of over 4,000, the Protestants have been obliged, in consequence of the outrages by which elections there have been characterised, to come to an understanding with the Roman Catholics that two of each denomination should be returned ; in the district of Burin the return to the amalgamated legislature in 1843 of the present Roman Catholic member was petitioned against, on account of acts of violence and intimidation by which his return was alleged to have been secured ; and at *he last election for Conception Bay, the result was as is alleged, materially affected by the circumstance of a body of men armed with sticks, and headed by two persons known to be intimately associated with the Roman Catholic party in St. John's proceeding to Bay Roberts from St. John's, and assaulting and beating the Pro- testants voters, thereby occasioning a suspension of the poll, • and intimidating many from recording their votes. An- 1 estants nnd liat the dis- ould return >tion is con- rcrlook, but hed beyond into account [dland, viz., in Catholic itholic or a 18 it pleases, nt majority in favour of ion contests, to violence never have ly, having a ;8 have been ch elections iderstanding enomination ■eturn to the ent Roman int of acts of IS alleged to Conception cted by the ,and headed ed with the ing to Bay ing the Pro- of the poll, votes. An rendering sen Roman )f Concep- :he returns d populous •dly— They yed by the despatch : navista and itly altered he Roman I would be Assembly icted them, ) applied to just objec- !al applica- !clares that the laws by nted to the third member for Bonuvista, they insisted upon leaving Burin as before, and restored the third member to Placentia and St. Mary's. It is manifest, that the amendments made by the Assembly on the Council's amendments could not be accedti to by the latter body, because, while the Assembly admitted the right of the Protestants to a majority, their amendments at the utmost only placed both denominations on an equality, and although the Council offered, at a free conference, to* recede from the amendment regarding Burin if the Assembly persisted in their objections to it— (still maintaining however their position that Burin would, in any event, return one of each denomination,) the Assembly would not be satis- fied with this concession, and the bill was consequently lost. The Assembly then passed a resolution confirmatory of one adopted by them before the receipt of the Duke of Newcastle's despatch, refusing to transact any further business, and passed an address, praying for the immediate and unqualified con- cession of responsible government. That the prayer of this address will be acceded to the Protestants of Newfoundland do not at all apprehend. They cannot believe that the Imperial Government will, at the dictation of the Assembly, abandon conditions which it has declared to be essential to justice, or that the Local Govern- ment will be transferred at once to nine men, who have shown their qualifications for larger powers by a marked abuse of those which they now possess-who, for the purpose of maintaining an ascendency to which they are not entitled, have endeavoured to coerce a co-ordinate branch of the Legislature, not merely by refusing to entertain many bills of importance brought in by the minority of the assembly, but by exposing the subordinate oflicials to much suffering and privation,-by turning adrift, at a moment's notice, to° seek w^ 10 other means of living or to starve, the teachers of common schools; by putting a stop to education for twelve months; and by refusing all protection to our fisheries— a matter considered of such vital importance, that the Commercial Society have, since the prorogation of the Legislature, at their own expense, furnished to the Local Government the funds necessary to maintain a small force near Cape John. Those whom I represent, rather desire to place before H, M. Government the real condition of parties and affairs in Newfoundland, leaving it to their wisdom to devise the proper remedy. Should it however, be deemed expedient in accordance with the principles of the Duke of Newcastle's despatch, to make a new arrangement of the electoral divisions of the Colony, I may be permitted to observe, that in 1885, an Act, brought in by a Soman Catholic member, passed the Local Legislature, by which this was effected, but which Act was disallowed by the Home Government, because it included in its arrange- ment a part of the French shore \ and that in 1844, a bill was brought into the amalgamated Legislature for the like purpose, which, although supported by a majority of the Assembly, was withdrawn after eight days debate, in conse- quence of the continued resistance of a Roman Catholic minority, which threatened to persevere in its opposition by speaking against time, so as to obstruct all other public business. Either of these measures, with a slight modification, would afford a full and fair representation. The Duke of Newcastle's despatch having conceded the principle of responsible government, renders it now unneces- sary for me to refer to many matters which had previously been considered of importance upon both sides j but there are still a few points in relation to this subject, to which I may be permitted shortly to allude. ■5? of common months ; and iT considered lociety have, )wn expense, necessary to ose whom I Government !wfoundland, raedy. ardance with ;h, to make a olony, I may ught in by a gislature, by sallowed by its arrange- 1844, a bill for the like arity of the te, in conse- an Catholic pposition by )ther public :ition, would )nceded the ow unneces- l previously i; but there , to which I " U The majority of the Assembly have endeavoured to repre- sent the question of the present concession of responsible government, as one subsisting solely between themselves and the council. It is, on the contrary, a question between the council, the Protestant minority of the Assembly, and the Protestant majority of the people on one side, and the Roman Catholic minority of the people on the other, a question raised by the attempt on the part of the Roman Catholic minority to maintain and perpetuate in the Assembly, and consequently (under responsible government), in the Local Government, an ascendency to whi ' they are not entitled, whether as regards their numbers, their wealth, or their intelligence. It is a religious question solely, as is manifest— from the character of the divisions in the Assembly when the Repre- sentative Bill was under consideration, the Protestants, (with one exception), voting always on one side, and the Roman Catholics on the other; from the addresses of the Law and Commercial Societies in answer to Earl Gray's despatch of January, 1862, and from the opinions of the Local Press ; from the admissions of the Roman Catholic members themselves; from the letter of Dr. MuUuck, the Roman Catholic Bishop, to Mr. Little, under date of the 7th February, 1852; from the numerous petitions got up in answer to the appeal from the Protestant Committee, constituted in St. John's at the very time that the Duke of Newcastle's despatch was on its way to the colony; from the constant and active interference of the Roman Catholic Clergy at contested elections ; from the fact that the Roman Catholic majority of the assembly have repeatedly rejected a bill brought in for the purpose of giving a member to the exclusively Protestant district of Bruges and La Poile-a district, which although containing a population computed at over 3000, and returning to the [^ i 1» revenue nearly double as much as the Roman Catholic district of riacentia and St. Mary with its two members, is still, not- withstanding its appeals, both to the Local Legislature and the Imperial Government, wholly unrepresented; and from the consideration that, all the Protestant denominations, al- though sometimes differing with each other upon other local subjects, are unanimous upon this question. Again, the majority of the assembly have repeatedly alleged that the difference between them and the council is merely the result of an effort on the part of the officials in the latter body to preserve the power and office which they at present enjoy. In the colony, however, it is well known, that the only officials who are in the council are desirous of retiring from their present positions if they can do so by the adoption of any course not involving a sacrifice of principle, and this knowledge has, with some not well acquainted with the character of these gentlemen, rendered them suspected of dealing much too tenderly with the measures of the assembly. The names upon the Protestant Committee, moreover, many of whose members are well and honorably known in London, and amongst whom, with the exception of the writer, there is not a single paid official, sufficiently demonstrate that the position taken by the council is fully sustained by the Protestant majority of the people. Further, the present struggle has been represented as one between "the Mercantile Monopolists," as the majority of the assembly term the mercantile community, and the people ; the former endeavouring to preserve the monopoly, which it is alleged they now possess, the latter seeking by means of a greater freedom in their political institutions, for that advantage which some anticipate from Free Trade with America, and from the settlement on our shores of American citizens; but without entering into a consideration of the lolic district is stillj not- slature and ; and from nations, al- other local he majority I difference »ult of an to preserve y. In the fficials who eir present course not 'ledge has, ir of these much too rhe names ' of whose ndon, and bere is not be position Protestant Lted as one aajority of be people ; T, which it means of , for that rade with American on of the 13 resolutions adopted by the assembly and the Commercial Society respectively, on the subject of Free Trade, I would observe, that the resolutions of the assembly passed that body unanimously, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike sup- porting them ; that I am not aware of any monopoly in Newfoundland, other than that advantage, which, where the laws are equal, the possession of capital will always give, and that whatever might be said of the Newfoundland merchants of a former time, who, residing altogether in England, looked upon the colony in accordance with the settled policy of the Imperial Government as a station where they might fish, but could not reside; the merchants of the present day, a very different class of men, are too closely connected with it by many and powerful ties, not to be as deeply interested in its permanent prosperity as many, who, having no real stake in the colony, with a suddenly acquired zeal, make loud pro- fessions of disinterested patriotism,-and that the recent offer of the Commercial Society, made in anticipation of the loss of the Revenue Bill, voluntarily to continue the payment of Customs duties, an offer, unparalleled in Colonial history, sufficiently attests, that in opposing the views of the majority of the assembly, they are influenced, not by selfish and sectional motives, but by a desire to promote the best in- terests of the country of their nativity or their adoption. Agam, It is aUeged by the Roman Catholic party, that taking the aggregate result of the five general elections which have been held since the first establishment of the Legisla- ture, a majority of Protestants have been returned to the assembly, but an investigation of this point will shew that the tact IS not so, a majority of Roman CathoUcs having been returned, as will always be the case under the present division of districts, and deducting the first house which was elected before parties were organised, and when the interference 14 of the Roman Catholic Clergy at elections was not so active as it has since been, the aggregate return shews a large majority of Roman Catholics. In conclusion, Sir, I would respectfully but earnestly re- mind you that what the Protestants of Newfoundland require in this matter is simple justice, — that they the majority should not be placed at the mercy of the ecclesiastical ruler of the minority, and that they should not, by a change in the struc- ture of their political institutions, be now deprived of that civil and religious liberty which they have heretofore enjoyed, and which is their birthright as British subjects. Soliciting your favourable consideration to tliis appeal, I have the honour to remain. Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, H. W. HOYLES, Member of the Assembly of Newfoundland, Rider's Hotel, Salisbury Square, London, July 12, 1854, was not so hews a large earnestly re- iland require jority should ruler of the in the struc- 1 of that civil enjoyed, and liciting your ible Servant, ,ES, swfoundlatid. TABLE A. Distribution of Members, according tc Census of 1845. Popula- tion. 25196 8801 7227 2920 St. John's, divided into two districts Trinity District Bona^^sta do. jFortune Bay do. ..:;:;;;:;;... ,,^„ ,JLa Poile do , 2I8O "^erryland do. .,,. !!!!|4581 Jurin do I 4353 'lacentia and St. Mary's do. . . .' .*: 6473 iTwillingate and Fogo do j 6744 I I fDonception Bay is divided into r four districts, viz. — JRorso Cove to Cupid's, inclusive. . 6722 11*. do Grave to Bay Eoberts „ .. 4612 |Span. Bay to H. Grace „ . . 6182 g^arbonear to Musquito „ ,[ 5071 roshwater to Bay Beverds „ .'.' 5439 96506 Protes- tant. 6210 7518 5418 2557 2151 182 2407 1018 5616 2614 3806 3698 2340 3988 Koman Catholic. 18986 1283 1809 363 29 4399 1951 5455 1128 4108 806 2484 2731 1451 49523 140983 14 15 Members. P. Propor- tion t3 I each K. C. Jlember. 6 I 4199 2933 3613 2920 i 2180 2 I 2290 1 I 2179 2157 3872 2 3361 4612 3091 5071 5639 1