^>. ^^.\n5^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ iia M 2.0 li£ 1-4 ill 1.6 V] ^> •c*l " signifie "A SUIVRE ". le symbols V signifie "FIN ". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droits, et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. >rrata to peluro, nd n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 8 , H ^ ■^ v^.'>; wmmmm T; •-*. \l ^ H ^ ■^ y •-V LEeT^RE. r->. -■ vDE.FE.(3TS OF • OuF System of Government. DELIVERED BY MR. EDWARD MI ALL BEFORE THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OTTAWA ON 3RD FEBRUARY, 1877. i OTTAWA: C. W. Mitchell, Jon Printer, Cor. Elgin and Queen Sts. 1892.- — ja.mJl.,J, ' IJJ. ' li 'l ' LEeTURE. DEFEGTS OF oUi? S^SteiM of goveu^nM^NT- BY MR, EDWARD MlilLL, Three years ago I had the hor)>)r of reading before the metubers of this Society, a paper upon " Various Forms and Functions of Government." I have selected this year a kindred subject : — one in fact wliich I intended to have formed a portion of that paper. As I proceeded, however, T found the basis of my argument developed to such goodly dimensions, that I should have taxed beyond measure the patience of my audience had I attempted to build upon it the superstructure, the plan of which I had already decided upon. I dare say, therefore, I shall be excused, if in leading up to my present subject I repeat, in as concise a way as T am able, some of the main features of the paper referred to. In the 6rst place then, I asserted that forms of Government or Constitutions to be enduring should be the product or outgrowth of the nature and life, the habits and instincts of the people, rather than the result of their deliberate purposes; that their development should be progressive, like the development of individual man, to which that of a nation is markedly analogous ; and there- fore that Governmental functions, in their nature and extent, must materially differ, in different stages of civilization, in different states of society. When mankind was set apart in families, a problem was thereby pro- pounded, in the solution of which most of the principles of National Gover- nance might also be evolved. In the development of individual man, there would seem to be four clearly defined periods of growth, each of which calls for a mode of treatment peculiar to itself ; namely, infancy, childhood, adolescence and manhood. The tirst stage calls for unlimited control on the part of the parent, unquestioning submission on that of the child. The vicioas and selfish tendencies of human nature assert themselves with his earliest breath, and unrestrained by reason can only be held in clipck by the efforts of a stronger will. So in National Life the earliest stage of progress has generally (so far as history bears reliable record) been that of reclamation from a state of barbarism and ignorance through tlie instrumentality of an absolute despotism. In thiir primitive state of savagery, each member of a tribe or nation, carved out his own fortunes by sheer physical force — Might was the sole measure of Right — and the weakest had practically to acknowledge the force of the doctrine of the tiurTiyal of the fittest ; until by virtue of greater prowess, some powerful chief- 1 tain asserted hin superior will and inaugurated a despotic rule. Under his ■way, they learned obedience and 8(:lf-reatraint, which important step towards oiTilization could perhaps hare been taken only by that means ; for unoivilized nations are averse to labor of a continuous kind, and it will be undertaken by them oaly under compulsion ; and yet no uingle step caa be taken towards civil- isation except through the charmed avenue of industry. Hence, it has often happened that nations have met their best tortunes in the loss of what they had deemed to be their freedom. The second stage in the progress of individual development is one mainly of education. The same obedience is rci]uireJ on the part of the governed, but it ceases to be so entirely an unreaRoning and unquestioning obedience. The parent abates nothing oi his authority, but he strivea to persuade rather than to force or bend the will. He otTerH to the child an occasional explanation of the reasonableness of his demands ; ho appeals now to his ambition, now to his senfte of duty or perhaps at times to his ripening religious convictions. For the boy has begun to reulixe that he is connected by innumerable ties of com- panionship and kinship to the great world of humanity moving around him ; he has began to realize that if he has deuires, they have rights ; if he is pressing forward in pursuit of some fondly cheriuhcd idea, they too have each their indi- vidual end in view, in some cases running counter to his own ; and he begins to comprehend as his childhood merges into y(*uth, that the blind obedience extorted from him in his earlier years, was but an easy apprenticeship to duty. In the same way the necessity for an absolute despotism disappears, as soon as the governed have learned to discriminate between their own selfish interests, and their individual share in the general interests of the nation of which they form a i>art. This stage being reached. Absolutism generally gives place to a modified form of Government. Of such a nature was the mild but all-pervasive depotism of Augustus ; or more especially perhaps the extraordinary, and in many respects admirable government of the famous Incas of Peru, who without any contact with the outer world, fused a hetrogeneous muss of Indian tribes, into a compact nationality, and by Hcduloiis culture, made them capable of pro- ducing works of art, which struck their European conquerors du ub with wonder and admiration. The third period is that of adolescence, when the restrictions of parental discipline are to a very considerable extent withdrawn, and affectionate counsel substituted in their place. There has been a period analogous to this in the his- tory of every nation, before it has attaiuoil to complete self-government. A period when, the stability of national institutions under the preceding regime, having tended to expand eommercc and engender wealth, the more infiuential classes have been aduiitted to the Monarch's councils. With them he has in a measure shared the responsibilities of government ; on them in return he has showered his honors. In such times aristocracies and feudal tenure had their birth. But it may be remarked here, that if at this important stage the parental authority be too strongly enforced, youthful pride is apt to rebel and domestic anarchy result; or if tamely submitted to, the incipient spirit of manhood is broken, and the victims of pai eutal oppression becomes unfit to perform the duties, and shoulder the responsibilities whicL ^.evolve upon him at maturity. He is* ever the victim rather than the partial arbiter of circumstances. The history of Revolutions whether in Europe or upon this Continent, supplies the analogy in the one case, while in the other we may refer to the state of the Koman Empire after emerging from the heneficient despotism of Augustus, which pre- pared tho people for tho tyranny of Tiberius, and to the almost incredible &ct, that Pizarro and a few hundred adveiiturora were ablo to strike terror into the heartu of the PeriiTians and hand over thi'ir treasure and their territory to the throne of Spain. Then comes the period of maturity, when men and nations enter upon full manhood, and take upon themselves the respoDHibilities and the duties of self-government. As in the case of a ship, which has let go her moor< ings in the roadstead, if taut and staunch in hull and spar, and under control of a skilful master, the crew may Inugli at what others deem danger and set sail noeanward in every hope of a prosperous voyage. But if the vessel be crank and fragile, and have to contend not only against wind and wave, but a pilot's iDcapacityi then better were it by far that she should hug fast her moor- ings than run the risk of being dashed u|K)n the shoals. It would seem then, that as surely as every step taken by man in his advance from childhood to maturity tends to prepare him for ultimate self- government ; so every great movement ; whether social, religious or poliiical, which has engaged the attention of mankind since the Middle Ages, has directly or indirectly given fresh force or energy to those principles whose ultimate development is Democracy. To quote the words of De Toi^neville, ' The Book " of the Prince is closed forever as u State Manual, and the Book of the people, " a book perhaps of darker sophistries and more pressing tyranny, is as yet un- written." This tendency in the direction of Democracy is the most uniform, the most ancient, the most permanent and the most irresistable tendency, whiuh is to be found in history, and no discussion bearing upon the proper functions of Governments, or the relative values of Constitutional usages, can be had with- out weighing its probable results upon the present and the coming ages. It has vanquished kings, destroyed feudal tenures, and planted its heel on the necks of aristocracies, and at this moment capitalists are timidly enquiring who is to be the next victim of its malice. The torrent has been gathering force age after age for centuries. It is impossible that it can now be stayed. la it impoaaible that it may he guided ? The answer to this question no nation ever had a better opiiortunity of solving and of earning thereby an enduring place in history than Canada. A metaphor will sometimes convey an impression, which a page of logical sequences would utterly fail to produce. I shall venture to employ one here— Prescott, the historian, tells us that when the Spaniards first landed upon the Peruvian coasts, they gazed with an awe-stricken admiration upon the moun- tain slopes of the Andes, whose precipitous sides were clothed with luxuriant and cultivated verdure, while terrace upon terrace dotted over with comfortable villas rose upwards almost to the mountain peaks. They wondered at the fertil- ity of the usually barren hillsides ; but on enquiry they learned what progress this wonderful but isolated people had made in the science of husbandry, under the tuition of their Incas. High up on the mountains they were informed there were hugh lakes, formed partly by the melting snows and partly from natural springs. These reservoirs were tapped by the people and their waters led through miles of aqueducts built of solid and substantial masonry and thence distributed through a thousand minor irrigating streams, to refresh the thirsty lands below. It were easy to imagine wi^h what destructive force these waters would have plunged down the mountain slopes, when swollen by the heavy rains which are common to all tropical lands ; how the habitations of man would have been swept ruthlessly away, and the scanty soil washed down to the pla- teaus beneath, but for the power which Art thus gave them to turn those other- wise destructive agents to a beneficial use. Now it is hardly necessary to inter- pret the picture. We are in the presence of a power, as potent, and if not judi- oiously turned to ar^count, as bnncfiil and irreHislible an n mountnin torrent, — but which may bo led iutc chnnnels and diHtribnted over the laud in hucIi a manner aa to vitalize the energies, and educate the mindH of the maHses. Ih our Govorumental Ryatem of a nature to attain thlH end t I confesH, with regret, I do not think it is, — I cannot avoid the conclusion that our CouKtitution waH rather the result of the deliberate purposoH of our public men, than tlio product and outgrowth of the nature and life, the iiabits and instinctH of the Canadian |)e(>plc. It owes its birth rather to the neccHsiticH of political partii'H, tlian to tlio maturod convic- tions of the leaders of public tliought ; and to providtt for thoHe neceHuities, we have been saddled with lugiHJativtt machinery enough to govern a nation of forty millions; the weight of which will prove mo burdcnHonie, financially and other- wise, that some moditication will h&vo to be Hought or the country's growth will be seriouuly retarded. Prior to Confederation, the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec had in their Township and County (.'ouncils an organization which was the pride of the country. It Ih tru«i they still exist, but the creation of the Provincial Houses of Parliament has dwarfed their importance. Inexpensive as they were eflicient, they enlisted the services of the best men in each locality to administer the affairs of the Township or Municipality. These Township Councillors were of necessity in advance of the average elector, and their Reeves who were chosen from amongst themselves, constituted the County Council. The Warden of the County being elected Ijy this body — already two grades removed from the level of the original electorate — was generally a man of pro- mise and ability. These men gave their services for the benefit of the commu- nity, within which all their interests were centred. The matters coming under their review, were matters with which every resident was more or less conver- sant and upon which he could express his convictions, more or less, intelligently to his neighbors. In his own locality, every mnn had a certain weight, and ho felt that he was a part of the whole ; he learned to discriminate between his own selfish interests and his individual share in the general interest of the commu- nity for he came into personal, and almost daily contact, with those whom his voice had aided in placu)g in the Council ; with them he conversed upon matters of local interest ; from them he gained intelligent ideas respecting the general political questions of the day ; by them he was gradually being educated up to a higher political standard. Had these organizations been extended to the incoming Provinces, and no internu?diate ]»ower created between them and the general Parliament of the Dominion, a short ten years would have efTectually buried everything like sectionalism and found us a united people. Indeed, I cannot but regard the establishment of the Provincial Governments, rather than the development of the more local system of ( rovernment, by means of County Councils as the pivotal error of the Union — the main defect in our Constitution. Firstly : It has tended, and must increasingly tend to perpetuate provincial instincts, to aggravate sectional feelings and prejudices, and to render the growth of a healthy national sentiment almost impossible. The Electoral body of Canada will probably compare favorably with that of any other country, but in the struggle for a living— few only can find time to pursue the study of poli- tical theories, or even to master the general political questions of the day. Their sympathies can hardly be expected to extend very far beyond the pale of local questions, which are forced upon their attention by their daily observa- tions. Men readily become local politicians, because their individual interests are impinged upon by local legislation. But it would be irrational to expect the great mass of the people to take any deep or intelligent interest in matters which affect them only indirectly, and which many of them cannot understand to affect them at all. If there were no halting place between our local sympa- ■cut, — but nanner as srumental >t tliiok it the result growth of t owes its >(1 convic-