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REPORT
OP A
SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE
%iuiuUtm eouncil of Wiv»n enmt^,
UPON THE PROVISION MADE BY TLAW
FOR THE SUPPORT OF A
U 1
PROTESTANT CLERGY IN THAT PROVINCE.
TORONTO;
Priattd by B. Stanton, Printer to the King's Most Excellent M^estf.
1895.
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REPORT
>
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or A
SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE
EefiCfitlatCtie eounccc oc Uw^t €nnnrfit,
UPON THE PROTISION-MADE BY LAW
FOR THE SUPPORT OF A
PROTESTANT CLERGY IN THAT PROVINCE.
ill
TORONTO;
Printed by R. Stantox, Printer to the King's Moat Excellent Mujealy.
18 3 5.
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REPORT &c.
THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO WHOM
was referred the Bill sent up from Ihe House of
Assembly entitled, *' An Act for the disposal of the
•* Clergy Reserves in this Province for the jnnposes
•* of general Education,^^ with instructions to rejmrt
upon the principles and details of the Bill, and also
upon the provision made by law for the support of
Religion in this Province, as ivell as upon the
questions which have arisen respecting it, and the
measures vMch have been tahen in England and
in this Country in relation to the same, have
examined into the matters referred to them, and
have agreed upon the following Report, which they
trust may serve to bring the sul)ject under the view
of your Honorable House in its several bearings,
and in a connected manner :
When the Country which now constitutes the Pro-
vinces of Upper and Lower Canada became part of
the dominions of the British Crown, it contained a
population of about 05,000 inhabitants, lately subjects
of the French King, among whom the Roman Catho-
lic Religion exclusively prevailed. An Ecclesiastical
establishment with Priests, Curates and Missionaries,
probably adequate in number to the religious care
and instruction of the community, had existed under
the protection of the French Government, supported
,; t
by tithes, and by large endowments of real property
derived from the Crown. In the articles of capitula-
tion a very earnest and zealous desire was shewn by
the French commander to guard the integrity of this
provision, and to secure its perpetual continuance
under the change of circumstances which the Colony
was about to undergo, and to that end it was stipulat-
ed in the 27th and 34th articles of the capitulation,
** that the people should be obliged by the English
** Government to pay to the Priests the tithes they
<' had been used to pay under the Government of the
*' French King ; and that all the religious communi-
*' ties, and the Priests, should preserve the property
" and revenues of the Seigniories, and other estates
" which they possessed in the Colony, and that the
" same estates should be preserved in their privileges,
" rights, tenures and exemptions."
In the yepr 1774, when His Majesty and the Brit-
ish Parliament were making provision for the better
government of the Province of Quebec, a just sense
was shewn of the obligation to maintain, for the be-
nefit of these Roman Catholic subjects of the Crown,
the provision which had been made among them for
the support of religion and the maintenance of public
worship, for in the fifth and sixth sections of the
Statute 14 Geo. 3. Ch. 83. it is expressly enacted, that
the Clergy of the Church of Rome in the Province of
Quebec " may hold, receive and enjoy, their accus-
*' tomed dues and rights with respect to such persons
** only as shall profess the said religion" : and with
^
due regard to the interests of his Protestant subjec s
it was further enacted, *^ that it should be lawful for
'' His Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, to make such
" provision out of the rest of the said accustomed
'' dues and rights for the encouragement of the Pro-
'' testant religion, and for the maintenance and sup-
" support of a Protestant Clergy within the said Pro-
'^ vince, as should from time to time be thought
" necessary and expedient."
In the year 1791, His late Majesty King George
the Third, whose memory will ever be revered in this
Colony, deemed it expedient to divide the Province
of Quebec into two separate Provinces, to be called
Upper and Lower Canada ; and in the Royal mes-
sage sent to Parliament for the purpose of recom-
mending the enactment of the necessary provisions
for the good government of the said Provinces, His
Majesty was pleased to express his desire " to be en-
'' abled to make a permanent appropriation of lands
" for the due and sufficient support and maintenance
" of a Protestant Clergy within the said Provinces,
'' in proportion to such increase as might happen in
<< the population and cultivation thereof."
By this time (1791) a considerable number of per-
sons of British origin had settled in Canada ; and it
may be observed in how much more express and par-
ticular a manner the intention to provide for the sup-
port of the Protestant religion is announced in this
Act, than it had been in the one which was passed
\\l
M
6
in 1774. In that Statute tlie principal object of at-
tention evidently was to guard the rights of those who
instructed the people in the prevailing religion, by
giving the sanction of the law of England to the ex-
action of those tithes and dues, which had been
yielded to the Clergy under the French government.
It was deemed equitable to exempt from the payment
of them such British subjects as were not members
of the Roman Catholic Church; and inasmuch as
from them no tithes were to be demanded by the
Clergy of the Church of Rome, it was enacted, that
out of the rest of the said accustomed dues and
rights, that is, out of those tithes or dues payable by
Protestants, and therefore not to be received by the
Roman Catholic Clergy, His Majesty might make
provision for the maintenance and support of a Pro-
testant Clergy. Instead of this provision, burthensome
in its nature and not certain to be sufficiently produc-
tive for the maintenance of a Clergy among a widely
dispersed population, the Act of 1791 made a much
more just, adequate, and satisfactory provision by the
allotment of lands in the proportion therein specified.
His Majesty had, as we have already noticed, desired
in his message to Parliament '* that such appropria-
" tion should be permanent, and such as might best
** conduce to the due and sufficient support of a Pro-
** testant Clergy in proportion to such increase as
** might happen in the population," and Parliament
in this Statute which they passed, declared their re-
solution of '* fulfilling effectually His Majesty's gra-
:^
^* cions intentions, and of providing for the due cxe-
•" cution of the same in all time to comcJ*^
In a series of clauses* forming a great portion of
that Statute from which we derive our Constitution
and form of Government, direction is given to set
apart such allotments of land in this Province as
should be equal to one-seventh part of the quantity
of land granted by His Majesty. The most scrupu-
lous care is taken to ensure the appropriation being
made, and it is expressly declared, " that all and
every the rents, profits or emoluments which may
at any time arise from such lands so allotted and
*'' appropriated as aforesaid, shall be applicable solely
** to the maintenance and support of a Protestant
" Clergy within the Province, in which the same shall
** be situated, and to no oth^r use or purpose what-
*t
tt
91
*^ ever.
Particular provisions are next made respecting the
erection of Parishes, and the presentation of incum-
bents ; and it is then enacted, that the several pro-
visions in the Statute respecting the allotment and
appropriation of lands for the support of a Protestant
Clergy, and also respecting the constituting, erecting
and endowing Parsonages or Rectories, and the pre-
sentation of Incumbents or Ministers to the same,
and the mann.er in which such Incumbents or Minis-
ters shall hold and enjoy the same, shall be subject
to be varied or repealed by any express provision for
I . I - . I II
* For these clauses of the British Statute 31. Geo, 3. Chap. 31. see Appendix A,
8
8' ' ■"■
I
i
1
that purpose, contained in any Ace or Acts which may
be passed by the Legislative Council and Assembly
of this Province, and assented to by His Majesty :
Provided that no Act, for any of these purposes, shall
be assented to by His Majesty, until thirty days after
it shall have been laid before both Houses of Parlia-
ment in Great Britain ; nor shall it be assented to, if
within thirty days, either House of Parliament shall
address His Majesty to withhold his assent therefrom.
These are, in substance, the provisions by which
public support is ensured for the maintenance of the
Protestant Religion in this Province. It will be re-
marked, that they are framed with great care and
circumspection, and with an evident desire that the
provision should be permanent, and commensurate
with the growing wants of the population. Different
opinions, as your Committee is aware, have been
entertained respecting the power over this provision
given to the Provincial Legislature by the 41st Sec-
tion of the Act ; some persons conceiving, that it
extends only to the repeal of those Clauses of the
British Statute which authorise allotments of land to
be made, after which repeal any further appropriation
of lands, for the objects specified, would from thence-
forth cease ; while others maintain that it enables
the Provincial Legislature not merel} to interfere
prospectively, but to repeal and undo as it were, the
effect and past operation of the British Statute, or, in
ether words, to abolish, at any time, whatever cndow-^
9
ment might be in existence in consequence of ihc
executed provisions of the Act, and thus to leave
Religion totally and absolutely without public support
in the Colony. Your Committee merely advert to the
doubt which has been raised on this point, and ex-
press no opinion upon it. It becomes the less mate-
rial to determine which construction is proper, when
it is considered that no Act passed by this Legisla-
ture affecting the Reserves in any manner can have
the force of Law, unless it meets with the approba-
tion of every branch of the Imperial Parliament.
The earnest attention with which the Sovereign
and Parliament of Great Britain desired to secure an
adequate support for a Protestant Clergy within this
Colony, is especially worthy of remark, when it is re-
membered, that in the period which intervened between
the passing of the Statute 14 Geo. S, and the Statute
in question, a vast change had taken place in regard
to the dominions of the Crown on this continent. A
revolution had, in that interval, deprived Great Britain
of Colonial possessions more extensive and valuable
than can ever again be acquired by any Nation in the
world. From various causes, and perhaps chiefly
from the peculiar circumstances under which the
most considerable of these Colonies had first been
settled, it had happened that the Parent State had
abstained from laying in any of them, the foundations
of an Ecclesiastical establishment : besides therefore,
the experience on the one hand of the effect which
the maintenance of a resident and regular Clergy
10
'■: \
t i
had upon the interests and happiness of the United
Kingdom, His Majesty and the British Parliament
had the opportunity on the other hand, of judging
from recent events, how far the neglecting to make
any such provision among a people was likely to
prove consistent with the stability of Government, and
with a sound moral and religious condition of society.
The result of a mature consideration of the subject
seems to have led the King and his Parliamerjt to
the resolution of making an adequate provision for
the support of Religion, and to protect that provision
with scrupulous care. , T..
At the time this foundation was laid. Upper Cana*
da was supposed to contain 10,000 inhabitants, chiefly
of British descent ; the population at present is,
probably not less than 350,000, a small proportion of
which is contained in Towns and Villages, and the
remainder dispersed over a country not less in extent
than England and Wales, and inhabiting about 300
Townships or tracts of land, each of which is nearly
ten miles square. Allotments of land, called Clergy
Reserves, have been regularly set apart since the
passing of the Statute, in proportion as grants of
land have been made to individuals, and these Re-
serves have been usually distributed through the
Townships, in lots of 200 acres each. For many
years these lands produced little revenue, there being
no power to alienate them, even if a suitable price
could have been obtained ; and so long as the Crown
11
was in the course of making Grants in fee simple,
many of them gratuitously, and others on the pay-
ment of a moderate fee, to almost every one who
applied for them, it was not to be expected that a
considerable revenue could be obtained from rents of
uncleared lands.
• The fact is, that although a considerable number
of lots were leased, the rents were very trifling, and
were irregularly paid; and the few Clergy of the
Church of England who were stationed in the Pro-
vince, were indebted to the Society for Propagating
the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for their support.
Things were in this state until some time between
the years 1819 and 1821, or nearly thirty years after
the passing of the Statute, when, for the first time,
as your Committee believe, a question was raised
respecting the proper legal construction of the Act,
and the intention of the Parliament in passing it ;
and it was in this manner that the question arose.
The 39th section of that Statute, it will be perceived,
is very explicit and comprehensive in regard to the
rights which an incumbent shall possess upon being
inducted into a Rectory or Parish in Upper Canada,
when any shall be erected. The Legislature of the
Province seemed clearly to apprehend that it could
not have been intended that tiihes should be demand-
able, considering the provision which Parliament had
made for supporting a Protestant Clergy, by an ap-
propriation of lands, and conceiving that an explicit
declaration to this effect ougb^ to precede any mea-
12
sure for dividing the Province into Parishes, a short
Act was brought into the Legislature for that purpose,
wliich passed the f;wo Houses, but being necessarily
reserved for the assent of His Majesty, it failed to
receive attention in Englani], until the limited period
of two years had elapsed, and it could not therefore
become a law. In the year 1821,.a similar bill was
passed, which being sent to England, was assented
to in 1823, and is printed in our Statute Book, page
602.*
•; r ( i
This Bill met with no opposition that we are aware
of, and excited little or no discussion ; its object,
obviously, was just and reasonable ; no imagination
that a claim to tithes would ever be advanced by a
Clergyman of the Church of England in this Pro-
vince, had probably entered into the minds of any
one; and it was from extreme caution, and most
probably from a desire to remove any obstacle that
might seem to exist to the erection of Parishes, that
the suggestion of such an enactment arose.
During the little attention to the subject of the
Clergy Reserves, however, which the pendency of this
Bill excited, an opinion was advanced that the words
**a Protestant Clergy," used in the 31 Geo. 3, were
applicable to the Clergy of the Church of Scotland as
well as of the Church of England, and that thatChurcli
being established in one portion of the United King-
dom, the right of her Clergy to be supported from
* See copy of this Act, Appendix B.
13
the Reserves wns apparctit on the Statute, and was
also capable of being supported, under the articles
for the union of the two Kingdoms. >
This claim, on the part of the Church of Scotland,
was from that period advanced and persevered in :
the arguments in favor of it, and those in opposition,
have been from time to time placed before His Majes-
ty's Government in various shapes ; but up to this
time, as the Committee apprehend, no decision of
the question has been pronounced by any Judicial
authority, nor any definite measure taken in conse-
quence.
In this country, where the first conception of such
a claim seems to have originated, it is manifest it
could not be finally decided, and therefore it is, per-
haps, unfortunate that it should have been agitated
here, since the discussion has hitherto led to no de-
cisive result, and has been injurious, in no small de-
gree, to the public interests and tranquility. It soon
led the way to less definite pretensions, and to
claims which have depended for their support rather
upon the feelings which could be excited by a course
of industrious agitation, than upon any reasonable
construction or constitutional principle. In a short
time after a claim was put forward on behalf of the
Cb"rch of Scotland, it began to be asserted that the
term "a Protestant Clergy" might, in law, and ought
in equity to receive such a construction as would
comprehend the Ministers of every denomination of
r
to!"
14
Protestants, of which denominations there arc in this
Province at present many varieties, and to these many
more may from time to time be added. A claim,
however, to have the Reserves, or their proceeds
distributed among the several Sects has not been
strenuously pressed, perhaps from the conviction that
such a measure must obviously fail in affording an
adequate support for Christianity in any form ; or,
perhaps, from a consideration of the never ending
jealousies and contests to which the attempt at a
proportionate distribution must give rise.
In 1827, His Majesty's Government proposed and
procured from Parliament, an Act authorising the
sale, annually, of a limited portion of the Clergy Re-
serves, not to exceed in^any year 100,000 acres, nor
more in the whole than one-fourth of all the lands
reserved.*
In this Act Parliament gave no evidence of any
change of intention, in regard to the principles declared
in the Stat. 31 Geo. 3 ; on the contrary, the proceeds of
the sales are expressly directed to be applied " either
'*' for the improvement of the remaining part of the
" said Clergy Reserves, or otherwise, for the purposes
"for which the said lands were so reserved as afore-
** saidy and for no other purpose whatsoemry Thus
any doubt which may have arisen upon the construc-
tion of the former Statute, 31 Geo. 3. was not cleared
up when Parliament were again legislating upon the
♦ See Appendix C
15
subject, nor was tlie legal effect of that Statute in any
respect changed. The objects of this recent Statute
seem to have been, to render a portion of the Reserves
more immediately available for the support of Clergy-
men, by raising a fund to be applied in clearing and
improving them ; to diminish the pretence for com-
plaining that the Reserves obstructed the settlement
of the country, by providing for their gradual aliena-
tion ; and to enable the Crown to change any of the
Reserves for other lands either belonging to the Go-
vernment or to individuals, when, such an exchange
might seem desirable for any purpose. . ,
In 1828, the petitions and complaints proceeding
from the adjoining Province of Lower Canada, and
the diflSculties which had occurred there, occasioned
the affairs and interests of that Province to be brought
under the consideration of the House of Commons ;
and in the course of an inquiry conducted by a Com-
mittee of that House, the subject of the Clergy Re-
serves was examined and considered, with reference
to both these Provinces. The Attorney General, Sol-
isitor General, and Advocate General of England, had,
as it appears, been called upon in 1819, to give an opi-
nion on the proper construction of the 31 Geo. S. in
regard to the words " Protestant Clergy," and it will
be seen from their opinion, which we subjoin in the
Appendix,* that in their judgment, the Church of En-
gland alone could be endowed with any portion of the
'I' Appendix D.
16
**■
^v
^3
'\ 'i
lands ; that pecuniary assistance, however, might be
contributed to the support of the Clergy of the Church
of Scotland out of the rents or profits of the Reserves,
in the discretion, as they apprehended, of the Colonial
Government ; and that dissenting Ministers, not be-
longing to either of the national religious establish-
ments, did not come within the term " Protestant
Clergy,^ and could not therefore participate in the
provision.
The Committee of the House of Commons having
this opinion of the Crown Officers before them, de-
cliaed expressing their own in regard to the proper
legal construction of the Act ; but, without defining
what sense they give to the term " Clergy," they
seemed inclined to consider that the Church of En-
gland alone was intended to be endowed with lands ;
but, that with respect to the proceeds of the reserved
lands, generally, the Government might apply the
money, if tiiey so thought fit, to any " Protestant
Clergy."
The learned Counsel for the Colonial department,
Mr. Stephen, on his examination before the Commit-
tee, seems io have taken a middle course between the
Crown Officers and the Committee, giving it as his
opinion that no Clergy but those of England and Scot-
land can participate either in the Reserves, or in the
proceeds of them, but that in respect to the lands them-
selves, although the Clergy of the Church of England
alone could receive endowments of any portion of them
as parochial Ministers, yet the Crown might authorise
17
a part of them to be appropriated in perpetuity to tlie
tustentation of Clergymen of the Church of Scotland.
Thus upon the occasion when this provision was most
openly and minutely discussed in England, any doubts
which had arisen upon the construction of the Statute
were so far from being satisfactorily disposed of, that
the Crown Officers, and the learned Counsel for the
Colonial department, while they agreed in some re-
spects, differed in others ; and the Committee having
their opinions before them, declined the attempt to
dispose of the question as a legal question, but ex-
press sentiments as to the intention of Parliament
which are not in accordance with eitlier.
The Report of this Committee, however, indepen-
dently of the general and inconclusive terms in whicli
their views are expressed,* could for no purpose bo
properly appealed to as decisive of the questions which
had arisen, since the Members of that Committee
formed but a portion, and a small portion, of one
branch of the Legislature, and even in that House
from which they were delegated, no vote of concur-
rence in the Report was ever taken or proposed, that
your Committee is aware of; nor does the Report
seem to have br^en deliberately and expressly brought
into discussion in either House, in any Parliamentary
proceeding. The Committee in their Report, indeed,
** earnestly press the early consideration of the sub-
* See Report of Committee, Appenidx E.
18
» * !
I
'' ject of the Reserves upon his Majesty^s Government,
** with the view to an adjustment that might be satis-
** factory to the Province," but unfortunately at this
distance of time, seven years nearly having elapsed
since their Report, the whole matter remains in the
same state as at the time of their making this recom-
mendation.
In 1831, the Legislative Council of this Province,
feeling much anxiety for the speedy and certain ad-
justment of a matter so deeply interesting in its na-
ture, united in an address to his Majesty, of which a
copy is subjoined, and in which the sentiments of the
Council, in regard to this important subject, are dis-
tinctly expressed.* . , i
That address does not appear to have engaged the
consideration of his Majesty*s Government, at least,
your Committee are not aware that it has been ac-
knowledged or adverted to in any communication
from the Colonial department. It may, nevertheless,
have contributed, with representations from other
quarters, to call the attention of the Government to a
subject which appears to have occupied much of their
thoughts. The result of the further consideration
bestowed by his Majesty's Government upon it was
communicated to the Legislature by his Excellency
the Lieutenant Governor, in 1832, in a message in
which it will be perceived, that his Majesty's Govern-
ment ** invites the Legislature to consider how the
^1
I
«;
<" Appendix F.
19
"powers given to them by the Statute (31 Geo. 3.
** chap. 31.) to Tary or repeal its provisions, in respect
** to the support of a Protestant Clergy, can be called
*' into exercise most advantageously for the spiritual
*' and temporal interests of his Majesty^s faithful sub-
" jects in this Province." The Legislature were fur-
ther put in possession of the views and desire of his
Majesty^s Government in more definite terms, for in
the House of Assembly a bill was introduced by the
Attorney General, as appears by the Journals, the
principal object of which was to vest the Clergy Re-
serves in his Majesty, discharged from all trusts that
had been created by the Statute 31 Geo. 3. The
message with the draft of this bill, were printed by
order of the House of Assembly, and a copy is sub-
joined to this Report.f The bill was merely intro-
duced into the Assembly in that Session, and was no
further proceeded in. In the following Session of
1832-3, the same bill seems to have been again in-
troduced into the Assembly by the Attorney General,
when it was read the first time, and moved in no fur-
ther. . • ■ . • - , •
In 1834, a Bill similar to that which has been sub-
mitted to your Committee to be reported upon was
brought into the Assembly. Its object is distinctly
in opposition to that which had been introduced by
the Attorney General, in conformity to the wishes ex-
pressed by his Majesty's Government ; for instead of
t Appendix G.
^ '
:A
20
providing tliat the Clergy Reserves should be vested
in his Majesty, discharged of all trusts, in which case
his Majesty could make such disposition of them as
might seem expedient, either for the support of reli-
gion, or for any other purpose, — the object of the bill
introduced in 1834, was to enable certain Commis-
sioners nominated by the Assembly to sell the Clergy
Reserves, and to pay over the proceeds to the Recei-
ver General, to be disposed of for the promotion of
education, under the direction of the Legislature, and
for no other purpose.
Your Committee need scarcely recall to the recol-
lection of your Honorable House that a Bill, the same
in substance, was passed by the Assembly in 1 830,
and rejected by the Legislative Council. In 1834,
when it was again introduced into the Assembly, as
we have just stated, the opportunity was resorted to,
as appears by the journals of the Assembly, of taking
the sense of that House in regard to the measure that
had been proposed under the sanction of the Govern-
ment in the year 1832. An exact transcript of that
Bill was moved to be substituted by way of amend-
ment, in the place of the one introduced, but it was
rejected, as it appears, by a vote of 27 to 7, and the
measure recommended by the Government being thus
negatived, the original bill similar to that which has
been referred to your Committee, was proceeded in,
and passed by the Assembly, but it was rejected by
the Legislative Council, as it had been in 1830.
■WM
21
No measure has at any time originated in the Le-
gislative Council in consequence of the message of
his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, in 1832:
nor has any occasion arisen for taking the sense of
the Legislative Council, in regard to such an enact-
ment as is understood to have been recommended by
his Majesty's Government.
YOUR COMMITTEE having thus
endeavored to bring under view the facts and measures
which have preceded the introduction of the Bill now
deferred to them, beg leave next to report upon the
objects and provisions of that Bill,* which they have
carefully examined ; and before adverting to the prin-
ciples and details, your Committee think it not imma-
terial to remark, in respect to the grounds and reasons
set forth in the preamble as tlie inducement to passing
the Act: ' ■ -
Ist. That in reciting the provisions of the 31
Geo. 3. chap. 31, it is not set forth that his
Majesty's message to Parliament expressly
• ' proposed a permanent provision for the sup-
port of religion, which message is recited
* Appendix H,
22
' '* in the Act, and that it is expressly avowed
in the 36th clause " to be the intention of
" Parliament to fulfil his Majesty's gracious
** intentions, and to provide for the due ex-
** ecution of the same, in all time to come J"
2dly. That it is alleged, " that the Bishop and
** Clergy of the Church of England pretend,
*' contrary to the spirit and meaning of the
" Act, to have an exclusive right to the Re-
*' serves, and lo the rents, ^c. arising from
" them ;" for which ^legation, though it
would seem to imply the setting up an un-
expected and unreasonable claim on the part
of the Church of England, it must in justice
i be stated that there is no other ground, than
that when a claim was for the first time ad-
, vanced on the part of one or more Churches
to share in the provision, nearly thirty years
after the Statute was passed, the Church of
England endeavored to resist the efforts
made to lessen or deprive her of the endow-
ment, and acting on the defensive has con-
tended for that construction of the Act,
which up to that time, so far as we are aware,
was never publicly called in question.-^
. Your Committee states these facts, without
prejudice to the claim of any other Church.
3dly. That it is stated, ** that notwithstanding
" such pretensions of the Church of Eng-
23
. I
i
I
i
** land, and the liberal pecuniary aid annu-
** ally enjoyed by the Ministers thereof, from
** a benevolent Society in England, the num-
** ber of that Church is small, when compared
''to the number of some other sects of
" Protestants in this Province." In regard
to this allegation your Committee have to
remark, in the first place, that the aid for-
merly enjoyed from the benevolent Society
alluded to, however liberal in proportion to
their resources, clearly mu^t have been, and
always was very inadequate to the supply
of a resident Clergy throughout this exten-
sive Colony ; and inadequate as it necessa-
rily was, it has recently been withdrawn,*
and withdrawn too, as your Committee find,
in consequence of the hope held out by his
Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of this
Province that an equal sum might soon be
derived from the very provision which it is
the object of this Bill to repeal : and in the
next place, your Committee cannot express
their concurrence in the statement, that the
number of members of the Church of En-
gland in this Province is exceedingly small,
when compared to the number of many other
sects of Protestants ; because your Commit-
tee are confident in the opinion, that the
"* Sen Ippendix J.
V
24
members of the Church of England in Up-
per Canada, form a very numerous body
dispersed generally over the country, and
without desiring to speak disparagingly of
any other Church, they will add that the
language used in this part of the preamble
is calculated to convey a very erroneous im-
pression in regard to the actual state of the
Church of England in this Colony, which
when her numbers were very much smaller
was never so spoken of, until the design be
gan to be entertained of depriving her of the
provision in question.
UPON THE GENERAL OBJECTS OF THE BILL,
your Committee beg to observe, ^r«^, that this
measure is intended expressly and avowedly
to abolish totally the provision made by the
31 Geo. 3. for the support of the Protestant
religion in Upper Canada, without proposing
to substitute in its place any other provision,
for the same object, to any extent. 2dly. That
in proceeding to carry this intention into full
execution, the Bill provides for appropriating
, the proceeds of sales made under the autho-
, ^ rity of the Imperial Statute, passed in 1827,
, although the manner in which they shall be
disposed of is expressly declared in that Sta-
tute. In this respect the Bill assumes directly
to overrule tb'j enactments of Parliament.
25
;tly
Upon ther easons given in the Bill for this total
abolition of the provision made by law for the
support of the Ptotestant religion, your Com-
mittee offer no remark, and they forbear from
intruding upon your Honoiable House any
arguments of their own upon a question involv-
ing principles of so extensive and important a
character that it is impossible the considera-
tions attending it can fail to present themselves
upon a general discussion of the measure.
Your Committee, therefore, proceed in the next
place tu remark upon the details of the Bill, by which
it is proposed that this object shall be accomplished,
and upon these they beg leave to state ;
1st. That although it might seem a reasonable
consequence of repealing the enactments
under which the Clergy Reserves are appro-
priated, that those Reserves should revert to
his Majesty, upon whose gracious sugges-
tion they had hitherto been set apart for so
indispensable a purpose as the maintenance
of Religion, and that they shoni ' ^emain
from thenceforth at the disposal of his Ma-
jesty, with other lands of the Crown ; yet
this Bill proposes a very different method of
^ dealing with them, and provides that instead
of being granted as his Majesty may think
fit, they shall be sold as the Legislature may
direct, for purposes which they shall appoint,
Si
-A
'Li
> , and by Commissioners whom they have
nominated ; and no direction is given for
•• an account to be rendered to his Majesty,
through the Lords of the Treasury, of the
> receipt and expenditure of the monies, as is
usual in regard to all other public monies
received and expended in the Colonies.
2nd. That the whole of the Reserves may be
sold in four years by the Commissioners, at
whatever price they may be willing to ac-
cept for them. :^ i ,. iii^r ».
3d. That the Commissioners are all named by
the Assembly, one being selected for each
District, twelve in all : that of these twelve,
six are members of the Assembly, and five
are persons who were formerly in the As-
' sembly, but none are members of the Legis-
' lative Council, or serving in any department
of the Executive Government.
Utt
4th. That it is provided, that the House ofAs-
i. i,v.,i sembly may, afler the Act is passed, at any
;. ;iti session of the Legislature, appoint, by vote
■■•7
,ir,
Wr>i-'!<,.
of the House, any person to be Commissi-
oner instead of any Commistiioner named
in the Act ; a provision which appears to
your Committee to be so extraordinary, that
it cannot be necessary to enlarge upon it
27
5th. That upon the sales which the Commis-
sioners shall make of them, the Government
are to issue patents free of any cost, though
no provision is made for meeting the charge
of preparing those patents, and though the
Government is to have no control over the
proceeds of those sales. -.t.. ;,.■.. ...
6th. That each Commissioner is to give se-
curity in £1000, and to have authority to
receive all the monies paid for Reserves sold
in his District, of which there are some so
valuable that three or four lots would pro-
duce a sum larger than the whole extent of
the security. • * *
7th. That the monies are to be disposed of by
the Legislature, for the support and promo-
tion of Education, and to no other purpose
whatever, it being clearly stated in the Bill
that the education spoken of is not to in-
clude religious instruction or public worship
through the ministry of any clergy supported
by this fund ; and it is worthy of remark,
that this measure is introduced after the
Legislature have beeh Tjr three years entrus-
ted by the voluntary surrender of the Crown,
with the management of very large tracts
of land formerly set apart expressly for the
maintenance of Schools, in the course of
which three years not one step !ias been
■m
28
taken, nor any measure proposed for the
concurrence of the Legislative Council, for
' turning that liberal endowment to account.
Upon these provisions of the Bill, your Committee
do «iot think it necessary to enter into any particular
discussion; they are merely pointed out to the atten-
tion of your Honorable House : and your Committee
omit to remark upon many minor points in the details^
which struck them as obviously unadvisable or im-
proper, thinking them of slight importance, in com-
parison with the objections which appear to your
Committee to exist against the general principles and
scope of the Bill.
Your Committee have already stated that it was
not their intention to enter upon a discussion, or even
upon a statement of the arguments which have been
used or may be used, for or against the claim of right
advanced by the Church of Scotland, or in behalf of
any other denomination of Christians ; and for the
same reasons for which they have omitted this, they
have avoided also engaging in any discussion of the
reasons for or against the maintenance of a Religious
Establishment, whether those reasons are of general
application, or such as may be deduced from the pre-
sent condition and future prospects of this Colony —
All these considerations are too important to be in
their nature overlooked, and before the question now
pending can be finally decided by the only competent
29
authorities, namely, the King and Parliament of Great
Britain, they must, and doubtless will be maturely
weighed and wisely and justly disposed of. To shew
what has been done and attempted, for the purpose
simply of presenting a connected view of facts and
proceedings in relation to this interesting subject, has
been the endeavor of the Committee ; and the follow-
ing summary, deduced from what they have related
more at length, will perhaps tend to bring the whole
matter more clearly in review.
From what the Committee have stated, it will be
seen that his late Majesty, King George the Third,
having acquired the territory which now forms the
Province of Upper Canada, gave immediate assurance
of his protection and support to the prevailing Reli*
gion of the country, which he found established.
That Parliament, a few years after, (1774,) secured
to the Clergy of that Religion, by Statute, the full
enjoyment of their accustomed dues and rights, giv-
ing them the sanction of law for the exaction of tithes ;
that in the same Statute, the British Parliament de-
clared their intention of providing for the encourage-
ment of the Protestant Religion, and for the mainte-
nance and support of a Protestant Clergy within the
Province of Canada. That this intention was carried
fully and effectually into execution, in the year 1791,
when his Majesty called upon Parliament, by Royal
Message, to concur with him in making a permenant
appropriation of lands, in both the Provinces of Cana-
30
da, for the maintenance and support of a Protestant
Clergy, and when Parliament, in consequence of that
Royal Message, declared their purpose of effectually
fulfilling his Majesty's gracious intention, and of pro-
viding for the due execution of the same in all time
to come, and proceeded by the Statute, 31 Geo. 3. c.
31, to authorise the setting apart the allotments of
land which form " the Clergy Reserves." ^:h;-
That the enactments contained in this Statute, for
effecting this declared object of his Majesty and the
British Parliament, have not to this time been altered
by any subsequent Statute in any particular that can
affect their legal operation ; so that, in order to de-
termine what right the Church of England or Church
of Scotland, or any other religious community can
legally claim in the Clergy Reserves or the proceeds
of them, the question is still confined to the words of
that Statute, aided by such helps to the construction
of it as can properly be admitted from the circumstan-
ces under which the Statute was passed, the history
of its passing, the evidence of contemporaneous con-
struction, and the light in which its provisions have
been found to be viewed, and the understanding with
which they were carried into effect by those with
whom it properly rested to place a construction upon
the Statute, in Great Britain and in the Colony, f ,.
That ribout thirty years after the passing of the Act,
questions were raised upon the object of its provi-
sions ; and the members of the Church of Scotland,
31
in particular, advanced a claim to participate in the
Reserves, or their proceeds,— ;/{r«<, on the ground that
that Church is included in the words of the Statute ;
and secondly, on the principle that, as a National
Church, she has a just claim to support, and ought to
be considered as coming within the spirit and inten-
tion of the Statute, unless the words can be shewn
expressly to exclude her :
That not long after, application was made to the
Legislature of the Colony and to the Government in
England, on behalf of all other denominations of Pro-
testants generally, setting forth a claim on their part
to participate in the advantages of the Clergy Re-
serves, which claim, it is proper to mention, received
the support of the House of Assembly :
That upon the claim of the Church of Scotland, or
of any other religious community, grounded upon the
legal operation of the Statute, no decision has yet
been pronounced by any judicial authority empow-
ered to determine the question :
That the Crown Officers in England have (in 1819).
expressed a qualified opinion in favor of the Church
of Scotland, as regards the discretion of the Govern-
ment in allowing her to participate in the rents and
proceeds of the Reserves, but not as regards the right
of her Clergy to hold any portion of the same, in the
nature of parochial endowments : \
32
That the legal adviser of the Colonial Department
has expressed an opinion that the Church of Scotland
may, if his Majesty thinks fit, have a portion of the
lands set apart for the support of her Clergy ; and
may also, in the discretion of the Government, be al-
lowed to share in the rents or proceeds of the land :
That these legal advisers of the Government all
concur in the opinion, that the term "Protestant Cler-
gy^^ used in the Statute, cannot be extended to the
Ministers or Preachers of any dissenting Sect, not
forming a Church established by law :
That although the construction of this Statute has
been in question about fifteen years, no express decla-
ration has been made by either House of Parliament
in England upon the subject, nor any act done from
which the understanding of either House might be
implied: . . .
'.'f '? VS >■;»:'• '.' r
That a Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons have deliberated npon the Act, and that having
received opinions respecting it, and examined wit-
nesses, they have made a report in which they decline
venturing any opinion upon the legal effect of the
Statute, but express their conviction that it was in-
tended by its provisions to enable his Majesty, if he
should think fit, to apply the money arising from the
Reserves to any Protestant Clergy — not, however,
expressly defining what they mean by the term
" Clergy :"
33
That this report did not, as your Committee believe,
undergo a public discussion in the House of Commons
in the Session in which it was made, nor at any time
afterwards ; nor has a vote of concurrence in the re-
port ever been proposed in that House, within the
knowledge of your Committee :
That his Majesty^s Government have evidently an
earnest desire to arrive at a satisfactory adjustment of
the question^ and so recently as 1832, have communi-
cated to the Legislature of this Province a proposition,
that the Reserves should, by a Colonial Act, be vested
in his Majesty discharged from any trust created by
31st Geo. 3. :
That in this communication his Majesty speaks of
the Reserves "as having been set apart as a provision
"for the Clergy of the Established Churches ofEng-
" land and Scotland, declaring the sacred obligation
" incumbent upon him to watch over the interests of
" all the Protestant Churches within his dominions,
" and that his Majesty can never consent to abandon
" those interests, with a view to any objects of tem-
"porary and apparent expediency":
That to this recommendation of his Majesty re-
specting the vesting of the Clergy Reserves in the
Crown, discharged from any trust, no effect has yet
been given. That a measure for that purpose has
been expressly rejected in one branch of the Legisla-
ture, and a Bill introduced of a different nature, which
34
haa for its object the total abolition of this provision^
for the support of Religion, and the depriving the*
Crown of the right to dispose of the lands, which, in*
case of repealing the provision in question, ought, in
the opinion of your Committee, to revert to his Majesty ::
That the Protestant Religion has no ;.issurance of
public support for its Ministers of any denomination
in the Province of Upper Canada, except such as may
be derived from the Reserves in question ; nor does
it appear to your Committee that such support can be
looked for from any other resource.
# ■ ,
This being the actual state of the question, your
Committee believe it may be confidently assumed
that no Bill of such a nature as is now before them-
will receive the concurrence of the Legislative Coun-
cil : and indeed it is manifest that, if there were no
doubt as to the power of this Legislature to pass such
a Bill, subject to the confirmation of his Majesty and
the British Parliament, the attempt to do &o could not
be successful ; for it is not to be supposed that his
Majesty and the British Parliament will disregard ob-
ligations admitted to be sacred, and surrender inter-
ests which his Majesty has solemnly pledged himself
^' should not be abandoned with a view to any objects^
" of temporary and apparent expediency," i .;rv7 r
■ r , ;, ; .y-r''<i ■■' --
Your Committee conceives it must be sufficiently
evident that no prospect whatever exists of effecting
a final settlement in regard to the Clergy Reserves by
155
any Act to be passed within the Colony. Without
contending for the interests of any particular Church,
or asserting or denying the validity of any claim that
has been advanced, your Committee is most desirous
of impressing upon your Honorable House the pro-
priety of interceding with his Majesty and the British
Parliament to bring this long pending question to a
decided and final termination. The continual agita-
tion of the claims which have been advanced, and the
indulgence of hopes which may or may not be ulti-
mately fulfilled, have a most unfavorable influence
upon the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people
of this Colony. The difficulty is rather increased
than diminished by delay ; and your Committee is
persuaded that no greater service could be rendered
by the Mother Country to this Province than the put-
ting a period, by an explicit and just measure, to all
further contests and fruitless expectations in regard to
the Reserves.
It is obvious that no Act that i;tm be passed here
can be effectual, unless it meets the approbation of his
Majesty and both Houses of the Imperial Parliament.
With that supreme authority it therefore rests to dis-
pose of the question ; and your Committee are per-
suaded that the Legislative Council will not hesitate
to declare their readiness to submit, with cheerfulness,
to whatever course they may think it just to adopt.
With this view, your Committee have proposed sev-
eral Resolutions, which, if they shall be approved of
by the Legislative Council, your Committee recom-
36
mend to be sent to the Assembly for their concurrence^
in order that a joint address to his Majesty and both
Houses of Parliament, may be framed upon them. If
the House of Assembly should not concur in them, then
your Committee rocommead, ihi an address from the
Legislative Council should be transmitted to his Ma-
jesty and both Houses of Parliament, framed in con-
formity to the Resolutions ; and that a copy of this
Report, and the documents appended to it, should
accompany the address.
It has occurred to your Committee that it may ap-
pear just and reasonable, that before the interposition
of Parliament is exercistjd, the legal claims which any
party may have advanced, or mdy desire to advance,
under the 31 George 3. chap. 31. should, if possible,
be decided upon, and the rigats of all ascertained by
th'^ judgment of some competent tribunal, if that can
be effected. Upon that point it is material to ob-
serve, that under a Statute passed in England so late-
ly as in August 1833, a provision is made, which it
appearR to your Committee would completely meet
♦his object. By the Statute referred to, (3d and 4th
William 4th, chap. 41.) a tribunal is constituted,
called ths "Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,'*
to consist of the President of his Majesty's Privy
Council for the time being, the Lord High Chancel-
lor, such of the Members of the Privy Council as hold
any of the offices following, namely. Chief Justice or
Judge of the King's Bench, Master of the Rolls, Vice-
37
it
ir
e-
Chancellor of England, Chief Just* :e or Judge of Uie
Common Pleas, Chief Baron or Baron of the Court of
Exchequer, Judge of the Prerogative) Court, Judge
of the High Court of Admiralty, Chief Judge of the
Court of Bankruptcy, and all Members of his Ma-
jesty's Privy Council who shall have been President
thereof, ui held the office of Lord Chancellor of
Great Britain, or any of the other Offices before
mentioned, and also any two other Members of the
Privy Council whom his Majesty may choose to ap-
point. The tribunal thus composed is to have all the
Jurisdiction incident to the former Court of his Majes-
ty in Council, as a Court of Appeal from the Colonies
and Plantations, with powers very considerably en-
larged ; and it is expressly enacted in the fourth sec-
tion of the Statute, " that it shall be lawful for his
" Majesty to refer to the said Judicial Committee, for
" hearing or consideration, any such other matters
" whatsoever as his Majesty shall think fir, nnd such
"Committee shall thereupon hear or consider the
^' same, a. id shall advise his Majesty therein." Thus
it is plain that the opinion of this Judicial Committee
may be had on the true legal construction and effijct
of the Statute 31 Geo. 3, although no litigation re-
specting i^ is depending in any Court ; and if his Ma-
jesty, at the request of any of the respective claim-
ants, should think fit under this clause of the Statute,
to refer to this most respectable Tribunal, such legal
questions as have arisen upon the provision made for
the support of Religion under the Statute 31 Geo. 3,
38
thap. 31. their decision, after sufficient opportunity
havi.ig been afforded to any party interested to be
heard before them, must, in the opinion of all reason-
able persons, be considered as conclusive in respect
to the legal right.
All which is respectfully submitted.
(Signed) THOMAS CLARK,
Chairman.
Committee Room of the Legislative Cottncil, ■
4tli April, 183').
TIESOLTJTIONS
Meported hy the Select Committee, and afterwards
adopted by the Legislative Council^ and sent to
the House of Assembly ^ for their concurrence.
The Select Committee appointed to report upon the Bill
entitled *' An Act for the disposal of the Clergy Re-
serves in this Province, far the purposes of general
Education," have taken the same into consideration,
and concur in not recommending it to j'our Honora-
ble House, but have agieed upon certain Resolutions,
w^hich they beg leave to offer for its adoption.
Resolved, — That His late Majesty, King George
the Third, having been graciously pleased, by mes-
sage to both Houses of Parliament, to express His
Royal desire to be enabled to make a permanent ap-
propriation of lands in this Province for the support
and maintenance of a Protestant Clergy within the
•same, provision was made for that purpose by Par-
liament, in the Statute passed in the 31st year of His
Majesty's re)gn, cliap. 31st, by directing a reservation
of lands to be made and set apart, in the proportion
of all the lands that should be granted by His Majesty
in ht^ said T*»'ovince, and by declaring that all and
eve ^b 5 rents, profits or emoluments, which might
at any ti'r^e arise from such lands so allotted and ap-
propriated as aforesaid, should be applied solely to
the maintenance and support of a Protestatit Clergy
within the Province, and to no other use or purpose
tvhatevei'.
^1 ilBMili
40
Resolutions.
Resolved. — That such allotments and appropria-
tions as the Act directs having been made from time
to time, and continuing to be set apart, under the
designation of Clergy Reserves, a claim was ad-
vanced in the year 1821, on behalf of the Church of
Scotland, to be allowed to share in those Reserves,
or in the rents, profits or emoluments, to be derived
from them; which claim was made, and has been
urged upon the footing of a legal claim, grounded
on the copstruction of the Statute, and on the rights
of the Church of Scotland as a Church established
in one part of the Unit :^ Kingdom.
Resolved. — That it has een advanced by other
portions of the people of this Province, that all Pro-
testant denominations have a right, in common with
the Church of England, to. have their Clergy sup-
ported from the Reserves in question, and that no
exclusive right can be vindicated under the Act, in
favor of any one or more Protestant Churches.
Resolved. — That efforts have also been made to
procure a total abolition of this provision for the sup-
port of religion, by obtaining an Act of the Provin-
cial Legislature, directing the sale of the Reserves,
and the appropriation of the proceeds to purposes of
general Education.
Resolved. — That by these conflicting claims and
opposing views, in regard to a subject of so great
interest and importance, the minds of His Majesty's
Resolutions.
41
to
P-
in-
es,
of
ind
cat
ty's
subjects in this Province have for a long period been
rendered anxious and unsettled, and in the opinion of
the Legislative Council, it is, for many reasons, much
to be desired, that a speedy and final settlement
should take place of the questions which have arisen
upon the effect of the enactments referred to, and
that it should be plainly, certainly, and firmly es-
tablished, to what specific objects the Clergy Reserves
shall be permanently applied.
Resolved. — That the Legislative Council, confiding
in the wisdom and justice of His Majesty and the
Imperial Parliament, think it expedient and proper
humbly to address His Majesty and both Houses of
Parliament, representing that the Legislature of this
Province has been unable to concur in any measure
respecting the Clergy Reserves, and earnestly re-
questing that the Imperial Parliament will, with as
little delay as possible, make such an enactment on
the subject as cannot appear to leave any room for
doubt or question in regard to the objects to which the
proceeds of the Clergy Reserves are to be applied ;
and that having regard to the present condition and
future welfare of this Colony, and maturely consider-
ing whatever has been urged, or may be urged, ia
regard to these Reserves, they will, by some measure
which shall be final and unequivocal, make such an
appropriation of them as shall appear to be most
consistent, with a due regard to religion, to the prin-
ciples of our Constitution, and to the permanent
welfare and tranquility of the Province.
«f.
ADDRESS TO THE KING,
Reporled by the Select Committee, and adopted hy tlie
Legislative Council. . .
TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
Most Gracious Sovereign :
We, Your Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects,
the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, in Provin-
cial Parliament assembled, humbly beg leave to re-
present to your Majesty, that the provision made for
the support of a Protestant Clergy in this Province, by
the Statute passed in the thirty-first year of the reign
of our late most gracious Sovereign King George
the Third, has given rise to questions which after
many years agitation of them are still unsettled, not-
withstanding the earnest desire of your Majesty, and
of your Royal Predecessor, to bring them to a satis-
factory issue- t
The first occasion for discussing the intention and
effect of the Statute referred to was presented by a
claim advanced on the part of the Church of Scotland
to be allowed to share in the allotment of lands called
Clergy Reserves, which claim was grounded upon the
language of the Statute, and upon the alleged right
of the Church of Scotland to be recognized in the
Colonies of the Empire as an established Church.
An opinion was not long afterwards publicly express-
ed that, not merely the Churches of England and
Address to the King.
45
Scotland, but every denomination of Protestants, with-
out distinction, should be allowed to participate in the
provision. ''
It is now many years since these claims and opini-
ons were first advanced, and during the period which
has intervened the minds of your Majesty's Subjects m
this Colony have been rendered anxious and unset-
tled, by the hopes which have been raised on the one
side, and the apprehensions which have been excited
on the other.
In the progress of the discussions to which this im-
portant subject has given rise, a new ground has been
taken, and a measure has been proposed to us for our
concurrence which has for its object the entire de-
struction of the provision which your Majesty's late
Royal Father, and his Parliament, have wisely made
for the maintenance of public worship, and the dis-
pensing of religious instruction in this extensive and
valuable Colony.
In any measure of this description we feel itimpos-
sible to concur ; and we are relieved from the appre^
hension that the Clergy Reserves will be ever appro-
priated to objects not immediately connected with
religion by the very explicit assurance conveyed
through the Right Honorable' the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, that your Majesty can never consent
to abandon the interests in question with a view to any
objects of temporary and appart.^nt expe M'^ncy.
frr-.
44
Address to the King.
We look upon these allotments as the only resource
from whence the Ministers of religion can ever derive
public support in this Colony. But while we decline
to take part in any measure which would deprive the
present and future generations of advantages, in their
nature inestimable, and which we consider it to be
among the first and most sacred duties of a Legisla-
tive body to ensure and perpetuate ; we nevertheless
deeply regret, that the questions which have been
agitated with respect to the Clergy Reserves should
continue unsettled ; and we think it is for many rea-
sons, much to be desired, that a speedy and final de-
cision should take place of the questions which have
arisen upon the effect of the Statute referred to, and
that it should be plainly, certainly and firmly esta-
blished, to what specific objects the Clergy Reserves
shall be permanently applied. Confiding freely in
the wisdom and justice of your Majesty and of Par-
liament, we earnestly hope, that with as little delay
as the subject may admit of, such an enactment may
be passed as shall not leave any room for doubt or
question, in regard to the objects to which the pro-
ceeds of the Clergy Reserves are to be applied, and
that having regard to the present condition and future
welfare of this Colony, and maturely considering
whatever has been urged, or may be urged in regard
to these Reserves, your Majesty and the Imperial
Parliament will by some measure, which shall be final
and unequivocal, make such an appropriation of them
as shall appear to be most consistent with a due re-
Address to the King.
45
gard to religion, to the principles of our constitution,
and to the permanent welfare and tranquillity of the
Province.
Being anxious to contribute to this desirable result
by every means in our power, we have applied our-
selves to this important subject during the present
session, for the purpose of presenting in as clear and
connected a view as we are able, the questions which
have arisen in regard to the Clergy Reserves, the
grounds on which they have been raised, and the
measures which have been taken in relation to them.
We have endeavored to accomplish this in a Report
which accompanies this our humble address, and in
which we have desired carefully to avoid entering in-
to discussion or argument upon the several questions
— reposing with entire confidence upon the wisdom
of Your Majesty and Parliament, for a just and right
decision upon a dispassionate and impartial consider-
ation of the existing law, and the interests of your
Majesty's subjects in this Province.
We beg to renew, upon this occasion, our assur-
ances of entire devotion to your Majesty's person and
Government.
u
*'"
APPENDIX
To the Report of the Select Committee to whom was
referred the Bill sent up from the House of Assem-
bly y entitled^ '^An Act for the disposal of the
Clergy Reserves in this Province, for the purposes
of general Education,^*
APPENDIX A.
Clauses of (he British Statute 31 Geo. 3. ch. 31, which relate
to the maintenance and support of a Protestant Clergy.
35. And whereas by the above mentioned Act, passed in the
fourteenth year of the reign of his present i.Jajesty, it was de-
clared, That the Clergy of the Church of Rome, in the Province
of Quebec, might hold, receive, and enjoy, their accustomed dues
and rights, with respect to such persons only as should profess the
said religion : Provided nevertheless, that it should be lawful for
his Majesty, his heirs or successors, to make such provision out of
the rest of the said accustomed dues and rights, for the encourage-
ment of the Protestant religion, and for the maintenance and sup-
port of a Protestant Clergy within the said Province, as he or
they should from time to time think necessary and expedient ; And
whereas by his Majesty's royal instructions, given under his Majes-
ty's royal sign manual on the third day of January, in the year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, to Guy
Carleton, Esquire, now Lord Dorchester, at that time his Majes-
ty's Captain- General and Governor-in-Chief in and over his
Majesty's Province of Quebec, his Majesty was pleased, amongst
other things, to direct, " That no incumbent professing the religion
of the Church of Rome, appointed to any parish in the said pro-
vince, should be entitled to receive any tythes for lands or posses-
sions occupied by a Protestant, but thut such tythes should b*
APPENDIX.
47
received by such persons as the said Guy Carlcton, Esquire, hi»
Majesty's Captain- General and Governor-in-Chief in and ov r
his Majesty's said Province of Quebec, should appoint, and should
be reserved in the hands of his Majesty's Receiver General of the
said Province, for the support of a Protestant Clergy in his Majes-
ty's said Province, to be actually resident within the same, and not
otherwise, according to such directions as the said Guy Carleton,r
Esquire, his Majesty's Captain-Gtnerul and Goveinor-in-Chief in
and over his Majesty's said Province, should receive from his
Majesty in that behalf; and that in like manner all growing rents
and profits of a vacant benefice should, during such vacancy, be
reserved for and applied to the like uses"; And whereas his Majes-
ty's pleasure has likewise been signified to the same effect in his
Majesty's royal instructions, given in like manner to Sir Frederick
Haldimand, Knight of the most Honorable order of the Bath, late
h'lS Majesty's Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over
his Majesty's said Province of Quebec; and also '\n liJs Majesty's
royal instructions, given in like manner to the said right honorable
Guy, Lord Dorchester, now his Majesty's Captain- General and
Governor-in-Chief in and over his Majesty's said Province of
Quebec — Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid^ that the said
declaration and provision contained in the said above mentioned
act, and also the said provision so made by his Majesty in conse-
quences thereof, by his instructions before recited, shall remain and
continue to be of full force and efftict in each of the said two
Provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada respectively, ex-
cept in so far as the said declaration or provisions respectively, or
any part thereof, shall be expressly varied or repealed by any act
or acts which may be passed by the legislative council and assembly
of the said Provinces respectively, and assented to by his Majesty,
his heirs or successors, under the restriction hereinafter provided.
lion
ro-
les-
S6. And whereas his Majesty has been graciously pleased, by
message to both Houses of Parliament, to express his royal desire
to be enabled to make a permanent appropriation of lands in tli«
said Provinces, for the support and maintenance of a Protestaot
AITENDIX.
Clergy wiiliin ihe same, in proportion to such lands as have been
already granted within tlie same by his Majesty : And whereas his
Majesty hits been graciously pleased, by his said message, further
to signify his royul desire that such provision may be made, with
respect to all future grants of land within the said Provinces respec-
tively, as may best conduce to the due and .sufficient support and
maintenance of a Protestant Clergy within the said Provinces, in
proportion to such increase as may happen in the population and
4'ultivation thereof: therefore, for the purpose of more cfiectually
fulfilling his Majesty's gracious intentions, as aforesaid, and of pro-
viding for ihe due execution of the same in all time to come — Be
it enacted hy the authority aforesaid^ That it shall and may be
lawful for his Majesty, his heirs or successors, to authorise the
Governor or Lieutenant Governor of each of the said Provinces
respectively, or the person administering the Government therein,
to make, from and out of the lands of the Crown within such Pro-
vinces, such allotment and appropriation of lands, for the support
and maintenance of a Protestant Clergy within the same, as may
bear a due proportion to the amoimt of such lands within the same
as have at any time been granted by or under the authority of his
Majesty : and that whenever any grunt of lands within either of
the said Provinces shall hereafter be made, by or under the au-
thority of his Majest}', his heirs or successors, there shall at the
same time be made, in respect of the same, a proportionable allot-
ment and appropriation of lands for the above mentioned purpose,
within the township or parish to which such lands so to be granted
shall appertain or be annexed, or as nearly adjacent thereto as
circumstances will admit ; and that no such grant shall be valid or
effectual unless the same shall contain a specification of the lands
so allotted and appropriated, in respect of the lands to be thereby
granted ; and that such lands, so allotted and appropriated, shall
be, as nearly as the circumstances and nature of the case will
admit, of the like quality as the lands in respect of which the same
are so allotted and appropriated, and shall be, as nearly as the same
can be estimated at the time of making such grant, equal in value
to the seventh part of the lands so granted.
APPENDIX.
49
Ito as
lid or
(lands
jreby
shall
will
[same
isame
lvalue
57. And be it furthtr enacted by the authority aforesaid^ That
all and every the rents, profits or emoluments, which may at any
time arise from such lands, so allotted and appropriated as afore-
said, shall be applicable solely to the maintenance and support of
a Protestant Clergy, within the Province in which the same shall
be situated, and to no other uso or purpose whatever.
38. And be ' further enacted by the authority aforesaid^ That
it shall and i. ? lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors,
to authorize the Governor or Lieutenant Governor of each of the
said Provinces respectively, or the person administering the Govern-
ment therein from time to time, with the advice of such Executive
Council as shall have been appointed by his Majesty, his Heirs or
Successors, within such Province, for the affairs thereof, to con-
stitute and erect, within every township or parish which now is or
hereafter may be formeJ, constituted or erected, within such Pro-
vince, one or more parsonage or rectory, or parsonages or rectories,
according to the establishment of the Church of Fngland; and
from time to time, by an instrument under the great seal of such
Province, to endow every such parsonage or rectory with so much
or such a part of the lands so allotted and appropriated as aforesaid,
in respect of any lands within such township or parish, which shall
have been granted subsequent to the commencement of this Act,
or of such lands as may have been allotted and appropriated for
the same purpose, by or in virtue of any instruction which may be
given by his Majesty, in respect of any lands granted by his
Majesty before the commencement of this Act, as such Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the Government,
shall, with the advice of the said Executive Council, judge to be ex<
pedient under the then existing circumstances of such township or
parish. ,
39. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That
it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors,
to authorise the Governor, Liautenant Governor, or person ad-
ministering the government of each of the said Provinces respec-
50
APPENDIX.
tirely, to present to every auch parsonage or rectory, an Incumbent
or Minister of the Church of EngiaiJ, who shall have been duly
ordained according to the rites ^f the said Church, and to Sv'oply
from time to time such vacancies as may happen therein ; and that
every person so presented to any such parsonage or rectory, snaii
hold and enjoy the same, and all rights, profits and emoluments,
thereunto belonging cr granted, as fuliy and amply, and in the same
manner, and on the sane terms and conditions, and liable to the
performance of the same duties, as the Incumbent of a parsonage or
rectory in England.
40. Prcvided always^ and he it furiher enacted by the authority
aforesaid^ That every such presentation of an Incumbent or Min-
ister to any such parsonage or rectory, and also the enjoyment of
any such parsonage or rectory, and of the rights, profits and emolu-
ments thereof, hy any such Incumbent or Minister, shall be subject
and liable to all rights of institution, and all other spiritual and
ecclesiastical jurisdiction and authority, which have been lawfully
granted by his Majesty^s royal letters patent to the Bishop of Nova
Scotia, or which may hereafter, by his Majesty*s royal authority,
be lawfully granted or appointed to be adnr.Inistered and executed
within the said Provinces, or either of them respectively, by the
said Bishop of Nova Scotia, or by any other person or persons, ac-
cording to the laws and canons of the Church of England, which
are lawfully made and received in England.
4^ . Provided always^ and ha it further enacted hi; the authority
aforesaid^ That the several provisions hereinbefore contained, re-
specting the allotment and appropriation of iands fur the support of
a Protestant Ciergy within the said Provinces, i^od also respecting
the constituting, erecting, and endowing parsonages or rectories
within the &aid Provinces ; and also lespecting the presentation of
Incumbents or Ministers to the same ; and also respecting the lUcin-
ner in which such Incumbents or Ministers shall hold ard enjoy the
same, shall be subject .o be varied or repealed by any expuss pro-
visions for that purpose, contained in any Act or Acts which may
be passed by the Legislative Council and Assembly of the said
qua])
»'o oj
custc
mani
dues]
use
any
or (\i
lishf
istersl
APPENDIX.
51
ent
luly
)piy
that
mail
ents,
tame
) the
76 or
koriij/
Min-
ent of
molu-
ubject
al and
iwfuUy
f Nova
hority,
(ecuted
by the
jns, ac-
whlch
uthority
ned, re-
pport of
specting
rectories
lation of
be ru'cin-
njoy the
•ss pro-
lich may
the said
Provinces respuctivdy, and assented to by his Majesty, his Heirs or
Successors, under the restriction hereinafter provided.
4^^, Provided nevertheless^ and be it further enacted by the a«-
thority aforesaid^ That whenever any Act or Acts shall be passed
by the Legislative Council and Assembly of either of the said Pro-
vince?, containing any provisions to vary or repeal the above reci-
ted declaration and provisions contained io the said Act passed in
the fourteenth year of the ireigu of his present Majesty; or to vary
or repeal the above recitad provision contained in his Majesty's
royal instructions, given on the third day of January, in the year of
our Lord on thousand seven hundred and seventy- five, to the said
Guy Carle -n. Esquire, now Lord Dorchester ; or to vary or re-
peal the provisions hereinbefore contained fur continuing the force
and effect of the said declaration and provisions , or to vary or re-
peal any of the several provisions hereinbefore contained respecting
the allotment and appropriation of lands for the support of a Pro-
testant Clergy 'within the said Provinces ; or respecting the consti-
tuting, erecting, or endowing parsonages or rectories within the
said Provinces; or respecting the presentation of Incumbents or
Ministers to the same ; or respecting the manner in which such In-
cumbents or Ministers shall hold and enjoy tho same: and also
that whenever any Act or Acts shall be so pass>3d, contain ing any
provisions which shall io any manner relate to or affect thj enjoy-
meRt or exercise of any religious form or mode of worship : or
shall impose or create any penalties, burthens, disabilities, or dis-
qualifications, in respect of the same ; or shall in any manner relate
to or affect the paymeiJ, recovery or enjoyment, of any of the ac-
customed dues or rights hereinbefore mentioned ; or shall in any
manner relate to the granting, imposing, or recovering any other
dues or stipends, or muuluiuents whatever, to be paid to or for the
use of any Minister, Priest, Ecclesiastic or Teacher, according to
any religious fojn* or mode of worship, in respect of his said offico
or function ; or shall h\ any manner relate to or aflect the bstab-
lishraent or discipline of the Church of England, amongst the Min-
isters and members thereof within the said Provinces ; or shall in
52^
APPENDIX.
any maoner relate to or affect the King*s prerogative touching the-
granting of waste lands of the Crown within the said Provinces^
every such Act or Acts shail^ previous to any declaration or signifi-
cation of the King's assent theretOr be laid before both Houses of
Parliament in Great Britain ; and that it shall not be lawful for his
Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, to signify his or their assent to any
such Act or Acts, until thirty days after the same shall have been
laid before the said Houses, or to assent to any such Act or Acts,
in case either House of Parliament shaH, within the said thirty days,^
address his Mlajesty, his Heirs or Successor; to withhold his or their
assent from such Act or Acts,, and that no such Act shall be valid
or effectual to any of the said purposes, within either of the said
Provinces, unless the Legislative Council and Assembly of such*
Province shall, in the session in which the same shall have been
passed by them, have presented to the Governor, Lieutenant GoV'
ernor, or person administering the government of such Province,
an address or addresses, specifying that such Act contains provi-
sions for some of the said purposes herein before specially described,,
and desiring that, in order to give effect to the same, such Act
should be transmitted to England without delay, for the purpose of
being laid before Parliament previous to the signification of his
!Majesty*s assent thereto.
APPENDIX B.
An Act relative to the right of Tithes within this Province, (Pasted
by the Legislature of Upper Canada,)
(Tb« Royal Assent to this Bill was promulgfated by proclamation, bearing^ date
the 20th day of Febraary, 1823.]
WHEREAS notwithstanding his Majesty has been graciously
pleased to reserve for the support of a Protestant Clergy in this
Province, one-seventh of all lands granted therein, doubts have been
suggested that the tithe of the produce of land might still be legally
demanded by the Incumbent duly instituted, or Rector of any pa-
lish -^ Which doubt it is important to the well doing of this Colony to>
APPENDIX.
53
iceir
unifi-
es of
jrhis
oany
been
ACtSy
r daysr
r their
3 valid
le said
of such<
re been
It Gov-
'ovince,
} provi-
iscribedr
ich Act
rpose of
a of bi»
(arinfc date
iraciously
ly in tlii»
iiave been
Ibe legally
If any pa-
IColony to-
remove ; be it enacted by the Klog*s most excellent Majesty, by
and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and
Assembly of the Province of UppeL' Canada, constituted and assem-
bled by virtue of and under the authority of an Act passed in the
Parliament of Great Britain, entitled, " An Act to repeal certain
parts of an Act passed in the fourteenth year of his Majesty^s reign
entitled, * An Act for making more effectual provision for the Go-
vernment ef the Province of Quebec, in North America, and to
make further provision for the Government of the said Province,* **
and by the authority of the same. That no tithes shall be claimed^
demanded!, or received by any Ecclesiastical Parson, Rector or
Vicar, of the Protestant Church within this Province, any law;,
<cu8tora, or usa^^e to the contrary notwithstanding.
APPENDIX C.
AN ACT OF THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, PAf SBD
ANNO SEPTIMO & OCTAVO.
GEORGII IV. REGIS.
CHAP. LXII.
An Act to authorise the Sale of a part of the Clergy JReserua in
the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada
[2dJc, . I82r.i
WHEREAS by an Act passed in the thirty-first year of tho
reign of his late Majesty King George the Third, intituled, " An
Act to repeal certain parts of an Act passed in the fourteenth year
of his Majesty*s reign, intituled, * An Act for making more effectual
provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec, in North
America, and to make further provision for the Government of tho
said Province,* " it is among other things enacted, that it shall and
may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, to authorise
the Governor or Lieutenant Governor of each of the Provinces of
Upper Canada and Lower Canada respectively, or the person ad-
ministering the frovernracnt iherein, to make, from and out of th«
54
APPENDIX.
lands of the Crown wilhin such Provinces, fuch allotment and ap-
propriation of lands as therein mentioned for the support and main-
tenance of a Protestant Clergy within the same; and it was further
enacted, that all and every *he rents, profits or emoluments which
might at any time arise from such lands so allotted and appropriated
as aforesaid, should be applicable solely for the maintenance and
support of a Protestant Clergy within the Province in which the
seme should be situated, and to no other purpose whatever : And
whereas in pursuance of the said Act such allotments and appropri-
ation of land as aforesaid, have from time to time been reserved for
the purpose therein mentioned, which lands are known within the
said Provinces by the name of the Clergy Reserves : And whereas
the said Clergy Reserves have in great part remained waste and un-
productive, from the want of capital to be employed in the cultiva-
tion thereof; and it is expedient to authorise the sale of certain parts
of such Clergy Reserves, to the intent that the monies arising from
such sale may be employed in the improvement of the remaining
part of the said Clergy Reserves, or otherwise, for the purposes for
which the said lands are so reserved as aforesaid : Be it therefore
enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the ad-
vice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com^
xnons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of
the same — that it shall and may be lawful for the Governor and
Lieutenant Governor, or Officer administering the government of
the said Provinces, or either of them, with the consent of the Ex-
ecutive Council appointed within such Province for the affairs
thereof, in pursuance of any instructions which may be issued to
such Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or other officer as aforesaid,
by his Majesty, through one of his Principtl Secretaries of State, to
sell, alienate and convey, in fee simple, or for any less estate or
interest, a part of the said Clergy Reserves in each of the said
Provinces, (not exceeding in either Province one-fourth of the Re-
serves within such Province,) upon, under, and subject to such
conditions, provisoes and regulations, as his Majesty, by any such
instructions as aforesaid, shall be pleased to direct and appoint : —
Provided nevertheless^ that the quantity of the said Clorgy Reserves
APPENDIX.
55
•o tg be lold af aforesaid, in anj one year, in either of the said
Provinces, shall not in the whole exceed one hundred thousand
acres : Provided alto^ that the monies to arise by, or to be produced
from any such sale or sales, shall be paid over to such officer or
officers of his Majesty's revenue within the said Provinces respec-
tively, as his Majesty shall be pleased to appoint to receive the
same, and shall by such olficcr or officers be invested in the public
funds of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in such
manner and form as his Majesty shall from time to time be pleased
to direct : Provided also^ that the dividends and interest accruing
from such public funds, so to be purchased, shall be appropriated,
applied, and disposed of for the improvement of the remaining part
of the said Clergy Reserves, or otherwise for the purposes for which
the said lands were so reserved as aforesaid, and for no other
purpose whatsoever ; save only so far as it may be necessary to
apply the same, or any part thereof, in or towards defraying the
expenses of or attendant upon any such sale or sales as aforesaid ;
and which appropriations shall be so made in such manner and
form, and for such special purposes, as his Majesty from time to
time shall approve and direct. ,
II. And he it further enacted^ That it shall and may be lawful
for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or officer administering the
government of the said Provinces, with the consent of such Execu-
tive Council as aforesaid, in pursuance o<* any instructions which
may in manner aforesaid be issued to him, to givo and grant in
exchange for any part of the said Clergy Reserves, any lands of
and belonging to his Majesty within the said Provinces, of equal
value with such Clergy Reserves so to be taken in exchange, or to
accept in exchange for any such Clergy Reserves, from any person
or persons, any lands of equal value ; and all lands so taken in ex-
change for any such Cbrgy Reserves, shall be holden by his Ma-
jesty, his Heirs and Successors, in trust for the several purposes to
which the said Clergy Reserves are appropriated by the said Act,
so passed in the thirty-first year of the reign of his late Majesty
King George the Third, or by this present Act.
56
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX D.
Copy of th§ opinion of His Majesty* $ Law Officers relative to the
Clergy Reserves ; dated 15th ^vember, 1819.
DocTOR*s Commons, 15th Nov. 1819.
My Lord,
We are honored with your Lordship*s commands of the
l4th September last, stating that doubts have arisen how far, under
the construction of the Act passed in the 31st year of his present
Majesty, (c. 31.) the Dissenting Protestant Ministers resident in
Canada have a legal claim to participate in the lands by that Act
directed to be reserved as a provision Tor the support and mainte-
nance of a Protestant Clergy.
And your Lordship is pleased to request, that we would take the
same into consideration and report to your Lordship, for the infor-
mation of the Prince Regent, our opinion, whether the Governor
of the Province is either required by the Act, or wodd be justified
in applying the produce of the reserved lands to the maintenance
of any other than the Clergy of the Church of England resident in
the Province ; and in the event of our being of opinion that the
Ministers of Dissenting Protestant congregations have a concurrent
claim with those of the Church of England, further desiring our
opinion, whether, in applying the reserved lands to the endowment
of rectories and parsonages, as required by the 38th clause, it is en-
cumbent upon his Majesty to retain a proportion of those lands for
the maintenance of the Dissenting Clergy, and as to the proportion
in which, under such a construction, the provision is to be assigned
to the different classes of Dissenters established wiihin the Province.
We are of opinion, that though the provisions made by 31st Geo.
3. c. 31, § 36 and 42, for the support and maintenance of a Protes-
tant Clergy, are not confined solely to the Clergy of the Church
of England, but may be extended also to the Clergy of the Church
of Scotland, if there are any such settled in Canada, (as appears to
have been admitted in the debate upon the passing of the Act,) yet
APPENDIX.
57
I
that tliey do not extend (o tho Dissenling Miiiisteis, since we think
the terms, Protestant Clergy, can apply only to Protestant Clergy
recognized and established by law.
The 37th section which directs, " that the rents and profits of the
** lands, &.C. shall be applicable solely to the maintenance and sup-
" port of a Protestant Clergy," does not specify by what authority
the rents and profits are to be so applied. Supposing the Governor
to be duly authorised by the Act to make such application, we
think that he will be justified in applying such rents and profits to
the maintenance amd support of Clergy of the Church of Scotland,
as well as those of the Church of England, but not to the support
and maintenance of Ministers of Dissenting Protestant congrega-
tions.
With respect to the second question, the 38th clause, " which
" empowers his Majesty to authorise the Governor to constitute and
*' erect parsonages or rectories according to the establishment of the
" Church of England ;" provides also, " that he may endow every
** such parsonage or rectory with so much of the lands allotted and
" appropriated, in respect to any land within such township or par-
" ish which shall have been granted, as the Governor, with the ad-
" vice of the Executive Council, shall judge to be expedient."
Under these terms he might endow any particular parsonage or
rectory, with the whole lands allotted and appropriated in that
township or parish.
It would be inconsistent with this discretionary power, that any
proportion of such lands should be absolutely retained for any otiier
Clergy than those mentioned in that clause, and we think that it is
not incumbent on his Majesty so to retain any proportion of such
lands.
We have the honor to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship^s most obedient humble servants,
(Signed) Christ. Robinson,
R. GiFFOKD,
Earl Batiiurst, J. S. CorLr.v.
&c. &c. &c.
frsn^
u
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX E. ^
Extract from the Report of the Select Committee of the House of
Commons^ appointed in 1827, to Report on the Civil Government
of Canada. *
* It now remains for us to lay befuro the House the result of our
inquiries into the Clergy reserves, which appear, by the state-
ments of the petitioners from Upper Canada, to be the cause of
much anxiety and dissatisfaction in that Province. By the Act
of 1791, the Governor is directed to make from and out of the
Lands of the crown within such Provinces, such allotment and
appropriation of lands for the support and maintenance of a Pro-
testant Clergy within the same, as may bear a due proportion to
the amount of such lands within the same, as have at any time
been granted by or under any authority of his Majesty. And it
is further provided, that such lands so allotted and appropriated
shall be, as nearly as the circumstances and the nature of the case
will admit, of the like quality as the lands in respect of which the
same are so allotted and appropriated ; and shall be, as nearly as
the same may be estimated at the time of making such grant, equal
in value to the seventh part of the lands so granted.
* The directions thus given, have been strictly carried into effect,
* and tbe result is, that the separate portions of land which have
* been thus reserved, are scattered over the whole of the Districts
* already granted.
* It was no doubt expected by the framers of this Act that, as tho
other six parts of the land granted were improved and cultivated,
the reserved part would produce a rent, and that out of the profits
thus realized, an ample fund might be established fur the mainte-
nance of a Protestant Clergy. These anticipations, however,
have not as yet been, and do not appear likely to be soon realized.
Judging, indeed, by all tho information the Committee could ob-
tain on this subject, they entertain no doubt that these reserved
lands, as thoy are at present distributed over the country, retard
APPENDIX.
* more than anjr other circumstance the improTemont of the Colony,
* lying OS they do in detached portions in each township, and inter-
* vening between the occupations of actual settlers, who have no
' means of cutting roads through the woods and morasses which
* thus separate them from their neighbors. The allotment of those
* portions of reserved wilderness has, in fact, done much more to
* diminish the value of the six parts granted to these settlers, than
* the improvement of their allotments has done to encrease the value
* of the reserve. This we think must be apparent from the results
* of the attempts which have been made to dispose of these lands.
* A corporation has been formed within the Province, consisting of
* the Clergy of the Churcii of England, who have been empowered
* to grant leases of those lands for a term not exceeding 21 years.
* It appears that in the Lower Province alone, the total quantity of
* Clergy Reserves is 488,594 acres, of which 75,639 acres aro
* granted on leases, the terms of which are, — that for every lot of
' 200 acres, 8 bushels of wheat or 25s. per annum, shall be paid for
* the first 7 years ; 16 bushels, or 50s. per annum, shall be paid for
' the next 7 years, and 24 bushels, or 75s. per annum, for the last
* 7 years. Under these circumstances, the nominal rent of the
* Clergy Reserves is £930 per annum. The actual receipt for the
* average of the last three years has been only jS50 per annum. —
* The great difference between the nominal and net receipt is to be
* accounted for by the great difficuliy of collecting rents, and by
* tenants absconding. We arc jnformcd also, that the resident
* Clerg}' act as local agents in collecting the rents, that a sum of
* £175 had been deducted for the expenses of management, and
* that at the date of the last communication on this subject, £250
* remained in the hands of the Receiver General, being the gross
* produce of the whole revenue of an estate of 954,488 acres.
* An attempt has been made to dispose of this estate by sale. —
* The Canada Company, established by the Act 6lh Geo. 4. chap.
* 75, agreed to'purchase a large portion of these reserves at a price
* to be fixed by Commissioners ; 3s. 6(1. per acre was the price
* estimated, and at this sum an unwillingness was expressed on tha
* part of the Church to dispose of iho lands.
60
APPENDIX.
* The Government, therefore, have made arrangementf with the
* Company, and an Act has since been passed authorising the sale
* of these lands to any person desiring to purchase them, provided
* the quantity sold does not exceed 100,000 acres each year.
* As your Committee entertain no doubt tliat the reservation of
' these lands in mortmain is a serious obstacle to the improvement
* of the Colony, they think every proper exertion should be made
* to place them in the hands of persons who will perform upon them
* the duties of settlement, and bring them gradually into cultivation.
* That their value, whatever it may be, must be applied to the
the maintenance of a Protestant Clergy, there can be no doubt.
And your Committee regret, that there is no prospect, as far as a
present and succeeding generation is concerned, of their produce
being sufficient for that object, in a country where wholly unim-
proved land is granted in fee for almost nothing to persons willing
to settle on it. It is hardly to be expected that with the excep-
tion of some favored allotments, responsible tenants will be found
who will hold on lease, or that purchasers of such land will be
found at more than a nominal price.
* Your Committee, however, are happy to find that the principle
of the progressive sale of these lands has already been sanctioned
by an Act of the British Parliament. They cannot avoid recom-
mending in the strongest manner the propriety of securing for th^
future any provision which may be deemed necessary for the re-
ligious wants of the community in those Provinces, by other mean^
than by a reservation of one-seventh of the land, according to thq
enactment of the Act of 1791. They would also observe that
equal objections exist to the reservation of that seventh, which in
practice appears to be reserved for the benefit of the Crown ; and
doubtless the time must arrive when these reserved lands will have
acquired a considerable value from the circumstance of their be-
ing surrounded by settle^ districts, but that value will have been
acquired at (he expense of the real interest of this Province, and
will operate to retard that course of general improvement, which
APPENDIX.
Gl
* if the true lourca of national wealth. Your Committee are of
* opinion therefore, that it may be well for the Government to con«
* sider whether these lands cannot bo permanently alienated, sub^
* ject to some fixed moderate reserved payment, (either in money
* or in grain, as may be demanded,) to arise after the first 10 or 15
* years of occupation. They are not prepared to do more than
* offer this suggestion, which appears to them to be worthy of more
* careful investigation than it is in their power to give it ; but in
* this or in some such mode, they are fully persuaded the lands thus
* reserved ought without delay to be permanently disposed of.
* To a property at once so large and so unproductive, it appears
* that there are numerous claimants.
* The Act of 1791 directs that the profits arising from this source
' shall be applied to a Protestant Clergy ; doubts have arisen
* whether the Act requires the Government to confine them to the
* use of the Church of England oily, or to allow the Church of
* Scotland to participate in them. The Law Officers of the Crown
* have given an opinion in favor of the rights of the Church of Scot-
* land to such participation, in which your Committee entirely con-
* cur ; but the question has also been raised, whether the Clergy of
* every denomination of Christians, except Roman Catholics, may
* not be included ; it is not for your Committee to express an up!-
* nion on the accuracy which the words of the Act legally convey.
* They entertain no doubt, however, that the intention of those
* persons who brought forward the measure in Parliament was to
* endow with Parsonage Houses and Glebe Lands, the Clergy of
* the Church of England, at the discretion of the local Government ;
* but with respect to the distribution of the proceeds of the reser-
* ved lands generally, they are of opinion that they sought to reserve
* to the Government the right to apply the money, if they s»
* thought fit, to any Protestant Clergy.
* The Committee see little reason to hope that the annual income
* to be derived from this source is likely, within any time to which
* they can look forward, to amount to a sufficient sum to provide
* for the Protestant Clergy of these Provinces ; but they venture
62
AI'PEMDIX.
* to press the early consideration of this subject on his Majestjr'i
* Goveinment, with a view to an adjustment that they may be salis-
* factory to the Province ; of the principle on which the proceeds
* from these hinds arc hereafter to be applied, and in deciding on
* the just and prudent application of these funds, tiie Government
' will necessarily be influenced by the state of the population, as to
' religious opinions, at the period when the decision is to be taken.
* At present it is certain that the adherents of the Church of Eng-
* land constitute but a small minority in the Province of Upper
* Canada. On the part of the Scotch Church, claims have been
' strongly urged on account of its establishment in the Empire, and
* from the number of its adherents in the Province. With regard
* to the other religious sects, the Committee have found much diffi-
* culty in ascertaining the exact numerical proportions which they
* bear one to the other ; but the evidence has led them to believe,
* that neither the adherents of the Church of England nor those of
* the Church of Scotland form the most numerous religious body
* within the Province of Upper Canada.'
APPENDIX F.
ADDRESS
Of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada^ on the tvhjed
of the Clergy Reserves.
Extract from the Journal of the LegislativeCouncil, March, 16. 1831.
TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
Most Gracious Sovereign :
We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Legislative
Council of Upper Canada, in Provincial Parliament assembled,
humbly beg leave to address ourselves to your Majesty, on a sub-
ject of the utmost consequence to the future welfare of ihis Colony.
APPENDIX.
c$
We observe with great concern the effurls which ure making in
this Colony to inculcate the opinion, tliut it is an infringement of
liberty to make provision for tho support of the Christian religion,
by maintaining some form of public worship, even although such a
provision should be made (as in th*s Province il has been made)
without impcsing a burthen upon any class of the people, and with-
out subjecting to any civil disability those persons who profess a
different faith.
As one of the branches of the Legislature of this Colony, we feel
it to be our duty to declare our dissent from such a position, as be-
ing directly repugnant to principles which have been long and
firmly established in every part of the British Empire, and express-
ly at variance with the original Constitution of this Province, and
:^'ilh the sacred pledge given by your Majesty*s late Royal Father
when Canada became a British Province.
In the first arrangments made by His late Majesty, and by Par-
liament, for tho Government of Canada, it was their principal care
to continue and assure to the inhabitants that provision which tho
French Government had made for the support of religion, and ac-
rordingly the Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church were secured
in vhe enjoyment o*" all their legal and accustomed rights ; and many
years afterwards, when the accession of a large English popula-
tion, particularly in this portion of Cinadu, rendered it proper to
divide the Province, and to make provision for two separate Go-
vernments, his Majesty, in a message to Parliament, expresslv re-
commended to them to consider of such provisions as should be
necessary for enabling his Majesty to make a permanent appropria-
tion of lands in th. said Provinces for the support and maintenance
of a Protestant Clergy within the same.
Concurring in this recommendation of his Majesty, the Parlia-
ment of Great Britain, by the Statute 31st Geo. 3. ch. 31st. made
a provision for the support of a Protestant Clergy in this Province
in the terms of the royal message ; and they secured it by enact-
ments so direct and positive, and so particular in their details, that
64
APPENDIX.
there can be no p^rt of tho British Empire in which a public pro-
vision for the maintenance of religiou stands on plainer ground thau
in the Provinces of Canada.
It was not until after this provision had existed, without complaint
or remonstrance, /or more th;in thirt)' years, that any attempt was
made to excite a feeling of dissatisfaction in respect to it. Among
the objections wh'ch have been urged against it since that period,
it has been stated, that the Reserves, by remaining waste, obstruct
the settlement of the Province, and that the quantity of the land re-
served is excessive in propoition to the object. With respect to
the first objection it has always been exaggerated, and the reason-
ing in support of it was daily becoming weaker iu consequence of
the occupation of the reserves by Lessees, even before the measures
which have lately been taken for their sale, undec the authority of a
recent Act of the Imperial Parliament.
Since they have been thus placed in a course of gradual aliena-
tion there not only remains no fair objection of that kind, but it is
in reality a great benefit to the country, that respectable emigrants
coming at this late period from Europe are enabled, by the oppor-
tunity of purchasing these Clergy Reserves, to obtain lands in eli-
gible situations, upon convenient and moderate terms.
With regard to the argument that the allotment for religious
purposes is excessive, and disproportioned to the object — it is easy
to set at rest any question on that point, and to afford the most con-
clusive assurance that nothing more than an adequate provision is
desired. This Province is divided into Townships, each of which
contains about one hundred square miles, and in many of which
there '.-re already populous villages, besides the agricultural popula-
tion generally dispersed over the whole surface.
It can easily be determined whether the support of two Clergy-
men of the Church of England, or of any given number beyond
that, would form a reasonable provision for the religious wants of
such a subdivision of the country, having in view what must be the
future condition of this colony. . i
APPENDIX.
C5
There can be at little difficulty In determinlog what stipend vrould
assure a barely adequate maintenance to such clergymen ; and if
Parliament were to place at the disposal of his Majesty the surplus
of the endowment in any township that may remain after this ade-
quate maintenance shall have been secured, such a measure must
necessarily remove the apprehension of those persons who conceive
the provision to be improvident and lavish.
It is not our intention, on this occasion, to express any opinion
respecting the claims which the Church of Scotland has preferred
to a participation, being content that it rests with your Majesty and
with Parliament to decide upon it.
We regret that it was ever thought advisable to agitate that ques-
tion in this Colony, where it could not be determined ; and we
earnestly hope, for the sake of religion itself, that it may be speedily
set at rest by a final decision. In the mean time, we cnnnot for-
bear to express our conviction that, the rulers oi the Church of
Scotland are more sincerely attached to the p;mciples of Christi-
anity than to desire that the only permanent provision for religious
instruction which exists in this country should be entirely abolished,
because it has appeared doubtful whether that particular church has
a right to share in it.
They must be aware, that it is not with those feelings that the
support of their venerable establishment is regarded in Scotland,
by their fellow subjects of other denominations ; and we do them
the justice to believe that they would be forward to disavow any
such sentiments in regard to this Province.
We find that the necessity of providing by p'ublic aid for the edu-
cation of the various classes in society is felt and acted upon in this
Province as well as in other countries, and we can by no means ad-
mit that their religious instruction can be treatc 1 as a matter of less
important concern, and one that may with greater safety be left to
the precarious liberality of individuals.
B
66
APPENDIX.
On the contrary, when we consider that the security of life and
property, and all that is protected by the due administration of pub-
lic justice, depends upon the religious obligation which the mind
attaches to an oath, we feel that the best interests of society are
involved in the maintenance of that provision which we earnestly
desire to preserve.
■ ■ ■ *- '
We beg leave further to represent to your Majesty, that within
the forty years which have elapsed since this endowment was allot-
ted, the population of Upper Canada has increased from ten thou-
sand, to two hundred and twenty thousand souls ; the Province
comprises within its present organized Districts a country not less
in extent than the Kingdom of England and Wales ; the fertility of
the soil and the excellence of the climate are favorable to the most
rapid advancement in population ; and we persuade ourselves that
your Majesty will not consider it expedient or right, that the mill-
ions of people who are to inhabit this country at no very remote
period, shall be left dependant upon chance for the rellg'?'j» isstruC'
tron they are to receive^ • ' "
On the contrary, we fully trust that your Majesty and the Impe-
rial Parliament, maintaining one of the first principles of the British
Constitution, will preserve to the inhabitants of Upper Canada the
advantage of an adequate and permanent provision for the support
of public worship, convinced that by such means the best security
will be provided for the moral conduct of the people, and for the
peace and happiness of society.
(Signed,)
Legislative Council Chamber ^
16th March, 1831.
JOHN B. ROBINSON,
Speaker.
APPENDIX.
G7
APPENDIX G.
MESSAGE
From his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, relative to the
Clergy Reserves in this Province ; and copy of Bill for re-
investing the same in his Majesty. ,
(Brought into the House of Assembly by the Attorney Genef al.)
(Copy.)
J. COLBORNE.
The Lieutenant Governor has received his Majesty's commands
to roake the i. ''owing communication to the House of Assembly, in
reference to the lands, which, in pursuance of the constitutional Act
of this Province, haVe been set apart for the support and mainte-
nance of a Protestant Clergy.
The representations which have at different times been made to
his Majesty and his Royal Predecessors, of the prejudice sustained
by his faithful subjects in this Province, from the appropriation of
the Clergy Reserves, have engaged his Majesty's most attentive
consideration.
His Majesty has, with no less anxiety, considered how far such
an appropriation of territory is conducive, either to the temporal
welfare of the ministers of religion in this Province, or to their spi-
ritual influence. Bound no less by his personal feelings, than by
the sacred obligations of that station to which Providence has culled
him, to watch over the interests of all the Protestant Churches
within his dominions, his Majesty could never consent to ubundoii
those interests with a view to any objects of temporary and appa-
rent expediency.
It has therefore been with peculiar satisfaction that in the result
of his inquiries into this subject, his Majesty has found that the
changes sought fpr by so large a proportion of the iuhabitauls of
68
APPENDIX.
this Province, may be carried Into efl'ect without sacrificing the Just
claims of the established Churches of England and Scotland. The
waste lands which have been set apart as a provision for the Clergj
of those venerable bodies, have hitherto )rielded no disposable
revenue. The period at which they might reasonably be expected
to become more productive is still remote. His Majesty has solid
grounds for entertaining the hope that before the arrival of that
period, it may be found practicable to afibrd the Clergy of those
Churches, such a reasonable and moderate provision as may be
necessary for enabling them properly to discharge their sacred
functions.
His Majesty, therefore, invites the House of Assembly of Upper
Canada, to consider hOw the powers given to the Provincial Legis-
lature by the Constitutional Act, to vary or repeal this part of its
provisions, can be called into exercise most advantageously, for
the spiritual and temporal interests of his Majesty's faithful sub*
jects in this Province.
Government House,
25th January, 1832
.}
Whereas, by an Act passed in the Pailiament of Great Britain,
in the thirty-first year of the reign of his late Majesty King George
the Third, entitled, -'An Act to repeal certain parts of an Act
passed in the fourteenth year of His Majesty's reign, entitled, 'An
Act for making more effectual provision for the Government of the
Province of Quebec, in North America,' and to make further pro-
vision for the Government of the said Province," it was amongst
other things enacted, that it should and might be lawful for his said
late Majesty, his heirs and successors, to authorise the Governor
or Lieutenant Governor of each of the said Provinces, respective-
ly, or the person administering the government therein, to make,
from and out of the lands of the Crown within such Provinces, such
allotment and appropriation of the lands for the support and main-
tenance of a Protestant Clergy within the same, as may bear a
APPENDIX.
69
a
due proportion toihe amount of tuch lands within the same as had
at cny time been granted by or under the authority of his said late
Majesty, and that upon any grant of land within either of the said
Provinces, which should hereafter be made by or under the au-
thority of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, there should at the
same time be made in respect of the same, a proportionable allot-
ment and appropriation of land for the above mentioned purpose,
within the township or parish to which such lands so to be granted
should appertain or be annexed, or as nearly adjacent thereto as
circumstances would admit ; and that no such grant should be valid
or effectual, unless the same should contain a specification of iho
lands so allotted or appropriated in respect of the land to be thereby
granted ; and that such land so allotted and appropriated should bo,
as nearly as the circumstances and nature of the* case would admit,
of the like quality as the lands in respect of which the said land
should be so allotted and appropriated, and should be as nearly as
the same could be estimated at the time of making such grant equal
in value to the seventh part of the lands so granted. And it was
thereby further enacted, that all and every the rents, profits or
emoluments, which might at any time arise from such lands so al-
lotted and approrpiated as aforesaid, should be applicable solely to
the maintenance of a Protestant Clergy within the Province in
which the same should be situated, and to no other use or purpose
whatever. And whereas, various parts of the said Clergy Reserves
within this Province, have been demised by letters patent, under
the Great Seal of this Province, to divers persons for terms of years
which havo not yet expired. And whereas, by a certain Act of
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain aud Ireland,
passed in (^he seventh and eighth years of the reign of his late Ma-
jesty King George the Fourth, entitled, ** An Act to authorise the
sale of a part of the Clergy Reserves in the Provinces of Upper
and Lower Canada,^' it is enacted, that it shall end may be lawful
for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or officer administering the
government of the said Provinces, or either of them, with consent
of the Executive Council appointed within such Province for thd
t ' -' ^' t
70
APPENDIX.
affairs thereof, in pursuance of any instructions which may be issued
to such Governor, Lieutenant Goternor, or other officer as afore-
said, by his Majesty, through one of his Principal Secretaries of
State, to sell, alienate and convey, in fee simple, or for any less es-
tate or interest, a part of the said Clergy Reserves in each of the
said Provinces, not exceeding in either Province one-fourth of the
reserves within such Province, upon, under and subject to such
conditions, provisoes and regulations, as his Majesty by any such
instruction as aforesaid, shall be pleased to direct and appoint ; —
Provided nevertheless, tnat the quantity of the said Clergy Reserves
so to be sold as aforesaid, in any one year in either of the said Pro-
vinces, shall not in the whole exceed one hundred thousand acres :
Provided also, that the monies to arise by, or to be produced
from any such sale or sales, shall be paid over to such officer or
officers of his Majesty*s revenue, within the said Province respec-
tively, as his Majesty shall be pleased to appoint to receive the
same, and shall, by such officer or officers, be invested in the public
funds of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in such
manner and form as his Majesty shall from time to time be pleased
to direct ; provided also, that the dividends and interest accruing
from such public funds so to be purchased, shall be appropriated,
applied and disposed of for the improvement of the remaining part
of the. said Clergy Reserves, or otherwise for the purposes for
which the said lands were reserved, as aforesaid, and for no other
purpose whatever, save only so far as it may be necessary to apply
the same or any part thereof, in or towards defrayijig the expenses
of, or attendant upon any such sale or sales as aforesaid, and which
appropriations shall be so made in such manner and form, and for
such special purposes, as his Majesty from time to time shall ap-
prove and direct. And whereas, in pursuance of the said last reci-
ted Act, the Lieutenant Governor for the time being, of this Pro-
vince, with the consent of the Executive Council, hath, in pursuance
of instructions for that purpose, issued by his lute Majesty King
George the Fourth, throiigii one of his Principal Secretaries of
.State, effected sales of divers parts of the Clergy Reserves : Ani
APPENDIX.
71
whereas, by a message to both Houses of the Provluciul Legislature,
bearing date the 25th day of January, 1832, his Excellency Major
General Sir John Colborne, K. C. B. hath signified to both Houses
of the Legislature of this Province, his Majesty's most gracious in-
vitation to consider how far the powers given to the Provincial Le<
gislature by the constitutional Act, to vary or repeal that part of its
provisions which relate to the lands allotted and appropriated in
this Province, to the support and maintenance of a Protestant Cler-
gy, could bo called into exercise for the spiritual and temporal in-
terests of his Majesty's faithful subjects in this Province. Now,
therefore, be it enacted, &c. That so much as is hereinbefore re-
cited of the said Act of the British Parliament, so passed as afore-
said, in the thirty-first year of the reign of his late Majesty King
George the Third, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed.
And be i7, Sfc. That from henceforth no grant heretofore made
by, or on behalf of his Majesty, or any of his royal predecessors,
of any lands situated wiihin this Province, shall be or be deemed
invalid or ineffectual, or be liable to be impeached, vacated or set
aside, by reason that any such grant did not contain a specification
of the lands allotted and {ippropriated for the support and mainten-
ance of a Protestant Clergy, in respect of the lands thereby granted ;
but every grant of land within this Province, heretofore made by,
or on behalf of his Majesty or of any of his royal predecessors, in
which any specifications made had been omitted, shall henceforth
be and shall be deemed and taken from the day of the date thereof,
to have been as valid and effectual in the law as though such grants
had contained the specification aforesaid.
And be it, 6fc. That all the lands heretofore appropriated witiiin
this Province, for the support and maintenance of a Protestant
Clergy, now remaining unsold, shall be and they are hereby declar-
ed to be vested in his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, as of his
and their estate, absolutely discharged from all trusts for the benefit
of a Protestant Clergy, and of and from all and every the claims
and demands of such Clergy, upon or in respect of the same.
72
APPENDIX.
Provided always^ and be tV, Sec. That nothing herein contained
■hall take away or affect, or be construed to take away or affect the
right or title of any person or persons, in, or to any lands which
may by any such person or persons be holden or enjoyed, or
which any such person or persons may claim to hold or enjoy, by
virtue of any sale, alienation, conveyance or contract, made, exe-
cuted or entered into, in pursuance of the above recited Act of
Parliament, passed in the seventh and eighth year of his said late
Majesty's reign ; but that every such sale, alienation or contract,
shall be as valid and effectual in the law, and shall henceforth have
and continue to have the same force and effect as if this present
Act had not been made ; provided also, that nothing herein con-
tained shall extend, or be construed to extend to render invalid or
ineffectual, any lease or demise of any part of the said Reserves so
passed under the great seal of this Province, ai aforesaid.
App-\DIX H.
Bill for the Disposal of the Clergy Reserves in this Province^
for the purpose of Education.
[Upon which this Committee has been instructed to report. —
Passed by the Assembly in 1835, and sent up to the
Legislative Council.]
Whereas by an Act passed in the thirty-first year of the reign of
his late Majesty King George the Third, entitled, M An Act to
repeal certain parts of an Act passed in the fourteenth year of his
Majesty's reign, entitled, ' An Act for making moro effectual pro-
vision for the Government of the Province of Quebec, in North
America, and to make further provision for the Government of the
APPENDIX.
73
said ProviDce," it «ras enacted that it should and might be lawful
for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to authorise (lie Governor
or Libutenant Governor, of each of the Provinces therein-bcfure
named respectively, or the person administering the Government
(herein, to make, from and out of the lands of the crown within
such Provinces, such allotment and appropriation of lands for (he
support and maintenance ot a Protestant Clergy within the same,
Rs might bear a due proportion to the amount of such lands within
the same as have at any time been granted by or under the au-
thority of bis Majesty; and that whenever any grant of lands,
within either of the said Provinces, should thereafter be made by
or under the authority of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, thero
should at the same time be made in respect of the same, a pro-
portionable allotment and appropriation of lands for the above
mentioned purpose, within the township or parish to which such
lands so to be granted shall appertain or be annexed, or as nearly
adjacent thereto as circumstances would admit ; and that no such
grant should be valid and eflectual unless the same should contain
a specification of the lands so allotted and appropriated in respect
of the lands to be thereby granted ; and that such lands so allotted
and appropriated should be, as nearly as the circumstances and
nature of the case would admit, of the like quality as the lands in
respect of which the same are so allotted and appropriated, and
should be, as nearly as the same can be estimated at the time uf
making such grant, equal in value to the seventh part of the lands
80 granted : And whereas it was, in and by the said in part reci-
ted act, further enacted, that all and every the rents, piofits or
emoluments, which might at any time arise from such lands so
allotted and appropriated as aforesaid, should be applicable solely
to the maintenance and support of a Protestant Clergy within the
Province in which the same should be situated, and to no other
use or purpose whatever : And whereas^ in pursuance of the said
Act, such proportionable allotments and appropriations of lands ns
aforesaid, have from time to time been reserved for the purpososs
therein mentioned; which lands nio known by tlio name of ^' tho
74
APPENDIX.
Clergy Reserves**: And whereas also^ the Bishop and Clergy c^f
the Church of England pretend, contrary to the 8piriland meaning
of the said in part recited Act, to have an exclusive right to the
said Reserves, and to the rents, issues and profits, arising from
them, although, notwithstanding such pretentions, and the liberal
pecuniary aid annually enjoyed by the Ministers thereof from a
benevolent Society in England, the number of that Church is
exceedingly small, when compared to the number of some other
sects of Protestants in this Province : And whereas the continu-
ance of those lands, and the said pretentions of the said Bishop
and Clergy to an unjust monopoly of them, are exceedingly inju-
rious to the interests, and oflfensive to the feelings of avast majority
of the inhabitants of this Province, and to the harmony of the
Christian community : And whereas it is wisely provided by the
said Act, section 41st, ** that the several provisions herein before
*' contained, respecting the allotment and appropriation of lands
*' for the support of a Protestant Clergy within the said Provinces^
** and also respecting the constituting, erecting and -endowing, par-
sonages or rectories within the said Provinces : ^d also respect-
ing the presentation of Incumbents or Ministbi ^ to the same ;
and also respecting the manner in which such Incumbents or
" Ministers shall hold and enjoy the same,*' shall be subject to be
varied or repealed by any express provisions for that purpose con-
tained in any Act or Acts which may be passed by the Legislative
Council and Assembly of the said Provinces respectively, and as-
sented to by his Majesty^ his Heirs or Successors : And whereas
it is inexpedient and unwise \n this Province, to have any one or
■more profession, denomination, or religious societies, anywise con-
nected with the State, or receiving any endowment, pension, sine-
cure or salary, for their Ministers or Clergy, from the proceeds of
ithe Clergy Reserves, or the public revenues of the State; but that
it is expedient they should severally depend for their support upon
(the voluntary contributions of the people, and that the said Re-
serves should be sold for the purposes of general Education : And
whereas by another Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom uf
t(
tt
ti
APPENDIX.
4iJ
Great Britain and Ireland, passed in the eighth y«ar of the reign of
his late Majesty, entitled, '*An Act to authorise the sale of a part
of the Clergy Reserves in the Provinces of Upper and Lower
Canada,** it was enacted, that a part of the said Clergy Reserves
(not exceeding one-fourth of the said Reserves in this Province)
should be sold, in the manner, and subject to the conditions and
limitations in said last mentioned Act contained : And whereas it
is highly expedient and necessary to provide by law for the sale or
leasing of so much of the said Reserves, whether converted into
parsonages or rectories, or what are called glebes, as have not
been sold under the authority of the last mentioned Act, or which
are not now under sale : And tvhereas it is also expedient to pro-
vide for the sale of such of the aforesaid lands ihat are now under
lease, as soon as such lease shall expire : And whereas it is just
and expedient that the proceeds arising from the sale of the said
land, as well such portions as have already been sold as those to
be hereafter sold, and also arising from such as have been or here-
after shall be leased, should be applicable and appropriated to tlio
support of general Education, by which all his Majesty's subjects
may equally participate : And whereas it is inexpedient that such
reservations should hereafter continue to be made.— Be iV, ^c.
That so much of the said Act, entitled, "An Act to repeal certain
" parts of an Act passed in the fourteenth year of his Majesty's
*' reign, entitled ' An Act for making more effectual provision for
** the Government of the Province of Quebec, in North America,
"and to make further provision for the Government of the said
"Province«*' as is above recited, be, and the same is hereby
lepealed.
2. And be t7, S^c. That the persons hereafter appointed, and
their successors duly appointed, agreeably to the provisions of this
act, shall be, and are hereby declared to be Commissioners, for
taking charge of and superintending, selling, or leasing the said
Reserves, and for the collecting the money arising from such sales
or leases ; — and also for collecting tlic money now duo, or hereaf-
ter becoming due, on such as have heretofore been sold and leased;
76
▲ ITENDIX.
niid wlio shall be known by the names of " Commissioners of
Clergy Rcscves ;** and it shall be the duty of the several Commis-
sioners fur their respective districts, to collect all such sum or sums
iis mny be due as aforesaid, for the purchase or lease as aforesaid,
fur any lot or parcel of the said land situate in his district; and
who is hereby authorised to use the same means to recover the rent
due on any of (ho said leased Reserves, thai a landlord by law now
has, and who shall pay over, once in every three months, all such
sums as may come into his hands, by virtue of his office, to the
Receiver General of the Province, for the purposes hereafter pro-
vidcd by this act, except the sum of five per cent, as a compensa-
tion for his services, responsibility, &.C., together with the expense
of advertising the sales of lands in newspapers; as also such sum
as mny bo allowed to the collectors and clerks of the several town-
ships of the district, as a compensation for their services imposed
upon Ihem by this act ; and it shall be the duty of the respective
Commissioners to record in a book to be kept for that purpose, all
such sum or sums as he may receive and transmit as aforesaid, as
well as all proceedings connected with their duties and office as
Cummissioncrs as aforesaid, which book shall bo carefully preserv-
ed and kept by such Commissioners, and handed over to their
successors in office, a copy of which they shall make out and
transmit to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person admin-
istering the government, on the fust day of November in each and
every year during their continuance in office, to be by him laid be-
fore the Legislature.
3. And be itf ^t . That it shall and may be lawful for the Go-
vernor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the govern-
ment of this Province, for the time being, to cause to be mado out
a list of the said Reserves, in the several districts, contained in
each township in the same, in this Province, and which list shall
shew distinctly the situation of the several lots or parts of lots
whether sold or not — if sold, at what price — and how much has
been paid—- what remains yet to be paid ; — if leased, the terms of
the lease, together with its date, and time it will expire ;•— as also
APPENDIX.
77
what it due and uupuid on said lease— and also (he applicnitons
that may have been made, the name or nHines of the uppiicnnt or
applicants, with their place of residence, to purchase or lease any
of the said Reserves which have not yet been sold or leased, and
which list shall, with the least possible delay, be, after the passing
of this act, transmitted to the Clerk of the Peace of the respective
districts, to be by him handed over to the Couiniissioners of (he
said districts.
4. And be it, Sfc. That the said Comniissionors for the respec-
tive districts shall, immediately upon the receipt of such list, give
public notice, by putting up a notice in three of the most public
places in the several townships in which there are uuy lands as
aforesaid, which have been applied for and mentioned in the list as
aforesaid, but which has not either been sold or leased, at least for
thirty days, stating that they will, on a certain day and hour, and
at a certain place, meet (he township Clerk and the Collector for
the township, whose duly it shall be, to nieel the said Commission-
ers at such time and place, for the purpos ) of hearing and deter-
mining upon the several claims for the several lots or parcels of
land as aforesaid, and the said Commissioner for any district,
together with such township Clerk and Collector, shall form a
Board to hear and determine upon all chums as aforesaid, that may
be brought before them, and may adjourn from time to
time, as they may deem expedient ; and it shall be lawful for the
said Commissioner to issue a summons for the attcncaucc of any
witness or witnesses that may be desired b}' any party claiming
any lot or parcel of land as aforesaid ; and such Board to hear
such witnesses upon oath, as may be produced, <.viiich oath the said
Commissioner is hereby authorised to administer, which shall be in
the form of the schedule to this Act, marked C ; and also may hoar
the party or parties oitlicr under oath or otherwise, as they may-
deem expedient : and in case the said township Clerk nr Collector
shall neglect or refuse to attend and perform the duties imposed
upon them by this Act, the said Commissioner is hereby auihoris-
78
APPENDIX.
eJ and empowered to suniinons one or more dr interested freehold-
ers, as occasion may require, tu supply tho place, and act instead
of the said township Clerk or Collector, for all the purposes of this
Act.
5. And be tY, Sfc, That it shall and may be lawful for any per-
son or persons who may have made application to purchase or lease
any land in said Township, to prefer his, her or their claim to the
said Board, and sustain the same by such proof as he may be in
possession of, and desire to adduce.
6. And be «V, ^c. That the several Township Clerks and Col-
lectors, or such perLjn or persons who perform the duties required
of the Township Clerks and Collectors by this Act, in case of their
refusal, as is herebefore provided, shall be entitled to receive the
sum of five shillings for each and every day which they may neces-
sarily be employed in performing the said duties, which sum the
Commissioner is hereby aithorised and required to pay out of any
monies that may come into his hands, by virtue of his ofBce.
7. And be tV, Sfc. That it shall and may be lawful for the said
Board to hear and determine upon all such matters as aforesaid,
as raay be brought before them, and decide the same according to
The best of their ability and judgment ; and in all cases where they
find that according to equity and good conscience, that any person
is entitled to a lease for any lot or parcel of land as aforesaid, or
])ui chase at piivate sale, cs is provided by this Act, they shall re-
cord the same in the book to be kept as aforesaid, together with
the amount that is found due and payable as back rent, in case it is
to bo leased, on the said lot or parcel of land ; and it shall and may
be lawful for the said Comriissioner of any District, and he is
hereby required, as soon as may be after the said Board for any
Township havo finished their sitting, to proceed to examine and
value all such lands as may !iave been decided to be liable to be
purchased as aforesaid, by any person or persons, and shall record
his opinion of the value of the several lots or tracts of hnds in said
APPENDIX.
79
book ; and also transmit or deliver to the respective persons having
a claim, and whose claim has been confirmed by said Board, on any
land as aforesaid.
8. And be if, ^c. That it shall and may be lawful for each per«
son prefering such claim, to pay, or cause to be paid, the first in-
stalment on such land, within the space of six months after r>3ceiv-
ing such statement or valuation ; which instalment shall be in
proportion to the whole amount, according to the ratio hereinafter
provided : Provided always^ that if such person neglects or refuses
to pay such instalment within the time aforesaid, then, and in that
case, the said lands shall be sold at public auction., in the same way
and manner as other lands are provided to be so'd by this Act.
9- And be it^ S^c. That the Commissioners for their respective
Districts shall meet the Collector and Township Cleric in the seve-
ral Townships, and form Boards in regular rotation, giving due
notice as aforesaid, beginning with the Township containing the
greatest number of souls; and no Board shall contirme its sittings
more than one week, from the commeiicement of such sitting, in
any one Township ; and that in all cases where a Township is not
entitled to hold a Township meeting, it shall be taken and consi-
dered for the purposes of this Act, to belong to the same Townsiiip
to which it belongs for the purposes of Township meetings.
10. And be it, Sfc. That it shall and may be lawful for the seve-
ral Commissioners, after forming Boards in the several Townsliips,
and after performing and completing the duties imposed upon tUem
by the former provisions of this Act, and ihey are hereby required
to make out a full and fair list of such lands as remain undisposed
of, and record the same in the book as aforesaid; from wliicli list
they shall select annually, such lots or parcels as in their disci etiou
they shall deem expedient, not exceeding one quarter of whin so
remains in any one Township, and expose the same for sale at
public auction, to the highest bidder, in the Township in which the
land is situated, after first giving public notice of the time and [)hco
^i^
APPEJVDIX.
of sale, and the particular lots or parcels of land to be told, by put-
ting up a notice in three of the most public places in the Township ;
and also causing it to be published in three public newspapers in
most extensive circulation in the District, at least six months pre-
vious to said sale, and renew their sale every twelve months from
the date of their first sale, until the whole be disposed of: Pro-
vided always, that such lands shall be put up at such upset price
as shall be previously approved of and decided upon by the Board
of the said Township.
11. And be it^ S^c, That in case any lot so exposed for sale
shall not be sold, or shall be bid ofT by any person, and ths col-
ditioos of the sale shall afterwards not be complied with, such lot
shall be taken and considered as part of the land yet remaining to
be sold, and offered again for sale at the next annual sale, and be
subject to the same terms, and liable to be sold in the same way aud
manner, as thoughit hid never been so exposed or offered for sale.
12. And be it, Sfc. That the conditions of all sales of lands sold
under the provisions of this Act, shall bo one-tenth down, and the
lemainder in nine equal annual instalments, wit'i interest : Provided
always, that in case the Board of any Township shall think it
right and expedient, they may allow any person a reasonable time
to pay the first instalment nn any land, which they may find him
entitled to purchase at private sale, not ex^oeding, however, the
term of six months, free of all charge : Provided also, that any
purchaser, upon paying off the whole of the purchase money within
tiix months after such sale and purchase, shall be entitled to a de-
duction of five pounds, upon every hundred pounds, and so in
proportion for any greater or less sum fur the nine last instalments.
13. And be it, Sfc. That when and so often as any lease for
any of the reserves .vhich are now given, or hereafter to be given,
shall expire, the Commissioners for the District in which the same
are situated, shall proceed to sc. the same, in the same way and
manner as is provided by this Act for the public sale of other lands :
APPENDIX.
81
Provided always, that from and after the first four annual sales,
all the lands in any township liable to be sold, shall be exposed
for sale at every annual sale, until the whole be sold : Pro-
vided always^ that if the lessee, oi any one claiming under him,
shall desire again to renew his lease, or become the purchaser of
any particular lot, or part of a lot, tract or parcel of said Re-
serves, and shall make the same known to the Commissioner for
the District for the time being, it shall be the dul}' of said Com-
missioner (in case such person desires to purchase) to examine and
appraise the said lot, tract or parcel of land, and allow such person
to purchase the same, on the same terms and conditions that per-
sons are allowed to purchase at private sale under the provisions
of this Act : Provided always, that all such land shall be valued
at what it would be worth at the time of said valuation, in a state
of nature, and no more ; or such Commissioner shall grant a lease
for the same, as the case may be.
14. And he it, S^c. That the following persons shall be, and are
hereby declared to be the Commissioners for the respective Dis-
frictSi who s! all continue to be such until other Commissioners
«;hall bo appoinied, as is iiereinafter provided, viz :
For the Ottawa District, — Charles Waters.
For ihe Eaitern District, — Peter Shaver.
For the Johnstown District, — Matthew M. Howard.
' For tlio Bathnrst District, — Donald Fraser.
Fur the Midland Dl3trict,™Peter Perry.
Fur the Newcastle District, — Ebenczer Perry.
for tlio flome District, — .Tesse Ketchum.
For the Gore District, — Caleb Hopkins.
For the Niagara District, — William WoodrutV.
For tho London District, — Charles Duncombe,
Fot the Western District, — Francis Baby.
For the Prince Edward District, — John Roblin.
F
■IP'
82
APPENDIX.
Provided always, That in case any one or nioie of llie fiaid
Commissioneis, appointed under and by the provisions of this Act,
shall refuse to serve as sucli, or shall die, or remove out of the
District for which he is appointed, it sliall and may be lawful for
the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering iho
Government, to appoint some other person instead thereof.
15. And be i<, S^c. That it shall and may be lawful for the
House of Commons of this Province, at any Session of the Legis-
lature after the passing of this Act, to appoint by vote of the said
House, such person or persons as the said House may deem ex-
pedient, instead of any Commissioner or Commissioners that may
have been appointed according to tho provisions of this Act.
16. And be it, S^c, That it shall be the duty of the Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the Government for
the time being, to notify the Clerk of the Peace of the respective
Districts, of any Commissioners appointed under the provisions of
this Act, within thirty days after such appointment ; and it shall
be the duty of the Clerk of the Peace for any District leceiving
such notice, to acquaint such person of his appointment without
delay, and request such person to come forward and qualify him-
self for his office according to law ; and in case such person does
not qualify himself for the duties of his office, in the way and
manner provided in this Act, within tho space of thirty days, such
Clerk of the Peace shall, without loss of time, cwnmunicate the
circumstance to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person
administering the Government for the time being, in order to the
appointing another person in their stead.
17. And he it. Sec That no Commissioner appointed under the
provisions of this Act, shall enter upon the duties of his office
until he has taken and subscribed the oath in the schedule to this
Act, marked A., which ho is hereby required to do within the
space of thirty days after receiving notice of his appointment,
before 'he Clerk of the District, which oath the said Clerk is
APPfiNDlX.
83
lieroby authorised tu udminister to such Commissioner, and also
enter into bonds for the due performance of the duties of his office,
of one thousand pounds, with two good and sufficient sureties, of
five hundred pounds each, to be approved by said Clerk, which
bond shall be iu the form of the schedule to this Act, marked B.,
which bond shall be kept in the office of the Clerk of the Peace ;
and it shall and may be lawful for any Commissioner so appointed
and qualified for any District, (except those Commissioners ap-
pointed and named in this Act) and be is hereby authorised and
required, to proceed forthwith to demand and receive from his
predecessor, his heirs, executors or administrators, all such papers
and documents in his or their possession, relating to his office as
said Commissioner ; and upon the receipt of the same, to transmit
a true and correct copy of all such records as relate to the trans-
actions of said Commissioner in the duties of his office, to the
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the Go-
vernment, in order that the same may be laid before the Legisla-
ture ; and in case such Commissioner, or his heirs, executors or
administrators, shall refuse to deliver over such papers to sucli
Commissioner as aforesaid, then such Commissioner shall report
the same to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person ad-
ministering the Government, in order to the prosecuting of any the
bonds of such Commissioner.
IS. And he it, *^'c. That it shall and may be lawful for any
Commissioner, having sold any lot or parcel of land "pon the
credit and on the terms aforesaid, to exchange with such purchaser
u counlerpait of a voucher under hand and seal, according to the
form to this Act annexed.
If). And be it, Sfc. That upon payment of the purchase money,
it sliull and may be lawful for the said purchaser, his heirs, ex-
ecutors, administrators or assigns, to ask, and for the Commissioner
or his successor in office to give a certificate, endorsed upon the
back of the said vouchers, that the terms of the sale have been
fuKilled on such lot, parcel, or tract of land.
84
APPENDIX.
20. And be i7, Sfc. That the money received from time to time
by the Commissioner under this Act, shull be paid into the hands
of the Receiver General of this Province, to be applied to the
purposes of this Act, and no other.
21. And be it^ <^*c. That upon producing the Commissioner's
certificate as aforesaid, with the petition for a deed to the Lieu-
tenant Governor in Council, it shall and may be lawful for the
Governor in Council to muko an order for a deed to issue to such
person, with the least possible delay, and without any fees or other
charge therefor.
22. And be it^ <5*c. That every Commissioner receiving monies
by sales or otherwise, under this Act, shall, and he is hereby re-
quired, immediately, or once in at least three months, to transmit
the same to his Majesty's Receiver General, who shall annually
prepare an account thereof for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
or person administering the Government of this Province for the
time being, to be by him laid before the Provincial Legislature.
23. Afid be it^ Sfc. That the monies raised and paid into the
hands of the said Receiver General as aforesaid, shall be by him
credited as a fund under this Act for the support and promotion of
Education, in such manner and proportion as shall hereafter be
provided by any law of this Province ; and that the said fund shall
bo applied to the said purposes, and to no other purposes what-
soever.
24. And he it, SfC. Tliut the Commissioner shall exchange with
the snid purchaser, a counterpart of a voucher, under hand and
seal, in the form Ibllowing : —
I, A. 13., Commissioner of the District, under and by
virtue of an Act passed , entitled, "An Act," &c. [here
insert the title of this Act] have, for the consideration hereinafter
mentioned, sold by public auction, [ or otherwise^ as the case may
be\ to C. D. of — , in the District, the Clergy Re-
APPENDIX.
85
serve known as lot number , [or, as the case may be] in the
■ concession, in tlie Township of , in consideration
whereof, the said C. D. halh hereby undertaken to pay me, and
my successors, the sum of £> , in the manner following : —
Sealed with my seal, and dated at this day of .
Witness,
25. And be it^ 6fc. That in case any purchaser of a lot, tract,
or parcel of land as aforesaid, under this Act, shall neglect to
comply with the conditions of the sale, and thereby forfeit his
claim thereto, and shall not within six months from the time when
any of the said payments become due, pay all money due, with
interest on the same from the time it became due, it shall and may
be lawful for the Commissioner, and he is hereby required, to pro-
ceed again to the sale of such lot, in the same manner as if it had
never been put up at auction; and every purchaser tliereof at any
second or subsequent sale from forfeiture as aforesaid, shall, and
he is hereby empowered, to proceed against any person or persons
withholding the peaceable possession from him, in the same manner
and form as a for a forcible detainer by the laws of ibis Provitjce.
KxTRACT
■
86
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX I.
IC
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C(
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Extract of a Letter from R. W. Hay, Esquire, to
the Honorable J. K. Stewart, dated JJawning-
Street, 23rd April, 1834.
In consequence of the withdrawal of the aid heictofore received
from Parliaxnent, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
appears to have found it impossible to maintain its former es-
tablishments ; and it announced last year that in Upper Canada,
where Government had been able to provide an annual payment
of £100 to each Missionary at present employed, the present
average being £200, the allowances of the Society to its Mis-
sionaries would be discontinued after the year 1834; and that in
all the other North Amoricau Colonies they would be reduced
by one-half, after the year l8vS5."
FiiHted \ty order of the Hosorabi.k the LtfiisLA-nvK Coum u.,
■
to
vg-
ved
spel
es-
lent
sent
^is-
t ill
ced