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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 11EC< ' if*"' ■ ' ^ t i *<■ "- ' f?»: • ,^1 *>) .. *»* The neighbo interest- quarters is suffici It is J a great d causes m tempora the chai into sud followiii far back the Cani Thee Canada. exertjisii be remo mal-adn they m« control themsel' lie lands to hiso\ longing ments, valuabU of them, is, the SI judges c RECOMMENDED FOR PERUSAL BY EVERY REFORMER. A COERECT ACCOUNT "^ *"""^ •'^^"'* r .... , OP THE iaiuib j^isE AND PROGRESS^ -ft^^'^* RECENT POPULAR MOVEMENTS •it , ..iiraD •>i. in;. LOWER PAN AD AlopviPt^ n t«i \From the Patriot, Extra, (United States NewspHpef,) Dec. iDch, 183/. '■■ The popular outbreak which has recently and unexpectedly occurred in tlie neighbouring Province of Lower Canada, has, it cannot be denied, excited much interest in the northern and eastern sections of the Uniom The papers from all quarters comrpont more or letss QU the subject. This, if there were no oth^f ^roof, is sufficient to show the direction towards which the public feelirig is setting. It is probable, however, that most of the citizens of the United States are yet in a great degree ignorant of the precise nature of the movement in the north ) of the causes which have led to the temporary triumph of ofie of the parties, and to the temporary defeat of the other. But above all, ffew of theifri aire acquainted with the chain of circumstances which hurried long-lived an<^ deep-rooted discontent into sudden resistance to the constituted executive authority of the colony. The following details will, it is hoped, enable the public to form, without going very far back into history, a more distinct and a clearer idea of the rise and nature of the Canada difficulties. ^ ^ .v^ The executive authority in that colony is perfectly irresponsibte'io ihe people of Canada. No matter how grave the malveinsation or misconduct of the Jiersons exercising it— no matter how unfit they may be for the station, they -cap ip^^ther be removed from office, punished, or controlled by the people whose affairs they mal-adtnidist^r, whose property or resources they waste, or whose liberties 6r tights they may invade or destroy. A consequence ot thisstate.of perfect freedom from control has been, that the members composing that executive have divided among themselves, their families and dependants, mor'e than a millfonbf Serbs of the pub- lic lands. They have permitted the treasurer of ihe Province to peculate and convert to hisown use, with impun ty, 600,000 dollars (£120,000) of the public money be- longing to the colonists; and they still share among themselves enormous emolu- ments, large fees established without the authority of law, have obtained most valuable portions of the public domain for little or nothing, and combine, many of them, in their own persons, executive, legislative, and judiciary functions. That is, the same individuals sit in one chamber as makers of the law ; in atfother, as judges of the law ; and in a third, as executors of the law. We need not tell our JOHN CHILDS AlfD SON, PBINTERSi BUNGAY. s cnlighteitcd citizens tliat every constitution of the Union wisely declares the exercifcc of these duties by tlie same persons to be incompatible. In the next place, the second branch of the Provincial Legislature, which is called the Legislative Council, and which is equivalent to the Senate of this State, is composed of persons appointed ybr life to that oftice by the authorities in Britain. The persons thus appointed are, nearly without an exception, the creatures of the ffovenimeiit—somo of them immoral men, and all of tliem totally independent and beyond the control of the people for whom they make laws. Let them behave ever so badly, they cannot be removed from office. Iho groat majority of the men holding seats in this branch of the Legislature are dependent on, or coimected with, the government in one way or another. Some of them hold offices of profit, of froni 4000 to 14,000 dollars a year. Others among them have their children or connexions in office; and many have had large grants of lands or leases of public property, for which they pay but a nominal sum, the continuance or renewal of which leases depend altogether on the good- will of the government. The independent members do not amount to more than half a dozen in a body of more than 30 members. it is evident from such a composition, that it is directly the interest of tlvesemen to support a system, in which the salaries are high — the patronage extensive ; to oppose small salaries, the economical administration of affairs, and the control of the public purse by the representatives of the people. From these feelings, they have ever steadily opposed the just demand of the House of Assembly to control the public purse; and in every possible way embar- rassed that body in the exercise of its just privileges of voting the salaries of the public officers. It is imnecessary to enumerate here all the measures which have been passed by the people's representatives, and destroyed in this Council. In 14 years they amount to more than two hundred bills, of the nature of which the following may give an idea. They rejected the bill continuing common schools in the Province, and thus at one blow laid in ruins 1500 schools, and deprived 40,000 children of the means of acquiring the elements of education. There is not a public common school now in Lower Canada. They have constantly rejected the bill to allow the people in the country parts of the Province to elect parish or town officers to regulate their local affairs, and have destroyed the corporations of Montreal and Quebec by refusing to pass the bills continuing them. In Lower Canada there is no law for the impartial drawing of juries. The sheriff, who holds an office worth from 10 to 14,000 dollars a year, during the plea- sure of theiGovernor, has the power to put whomsoever he pleases in the jury box. In common language, he can "pack" the jury. Whenever the government is prosecuting a person for political offences, it follows that the prisoner is sure of being found guilty, for the sheriff dares not displease the authority upon which bis large emoluments depend. To rectify this vital grievance, the Assembly have passed a bill to regulate the drawing of jurors. The Legislative Council, the creatures of the government, destroyed the bill, so that it could not become a law. They have arrested all public improvements; the Assembly voted over 100,000 dollars in 1836 to finish a canal between St. John's and Chambly, thereby to render uninterrupted the water communication from New York to Quebec; and also passed a bill to complete the docks and wharfs of Montreal. Both these bills were destroyed by the Legislative Council. This list could be extended to ten times its length ; but as it is meant only to convey an idea of what the country has suffered from the irresponsible constitution of the Council, these few will suffice. As a remedy, it is demanded that the mem- ters of that Council be elected to office for a limited time by the people, precisely as the senators of this state are elected. By that means, if they continued to pre- vent education and public improvements, or to refuse their consent to laws for the security of the people's liberties, other and better men might be chosen in their stead. This prayer has been refused. The next demand of the people of Lower Canada is, that their representatives should have the control of all the public revenues raised within the Province. ! exercifcc which is his State, 1 Britain. I'es of' the ident and n beliave lature are r. Some Others had large nominal ;he good- nore than tlicse men nsive ; to control of nd of the ly embar- ies of the lich have jncil. In of which nd thus at I means of chool now py parts of , and have IS the bills ries. The ; the plea- jury box. 2rnment is is sure of which his mbly have mncil, the >me a law. ir 100,000 Y to render ; and also these bills mt only to onstitution the mem- , precisely led to pre- o laws for chosen in esentatives Province. 3 Some persons are under the impression that Great Britain pays all tlie oxpdnscs of the colony. This is an error. Lower C&nada pays all the expenses of her own government, and lias at the same time a surplus sullicient to defray the expenses of common schools and public improvements. Great Britain contributes not a cent to the civil expenditure. Having thus to pay all the expenses, it is natural that the Assembly should insist on the exercise of its constitutional right of controlling all the revenue. The government, which is not willing to have the means of rewarding its favourites curtailed — the office-holders, who like iiigh salaries, have always opposed these rights of the representative branch of the Legislature. The Governor has conse- quently year after year expended large sums of the people's money without the consent, and against the will, of their representatives: and although the govern- ment promised, so far back as 1796, to surrender all the revenues to the control of these representatives, it has never performed its promise. In spite of all that the Assembly can do, the flood-gates of corruption and extravagance continue unclosed ; and to destroy all opposition, the Governor has at last accused the leading members of the Assembly, who have supported the people's rights, of high treason ; he has moreover outlawed them and set a price on their heads. When the wolves wish to devour the sheep, they first wisely set about destroying the watch dogs. A few more samples of Canadian grievances, and we have done with that part of the subject. When the Province belonged to France, large tracts of valuable land were given in trust to the order of Jesuits for the purposes of public education. This property has been most shamefully wasted. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars of the proceeds have been squandered among officials and favourite churches — thousands of acres of the estates have been alienated for a mere nominal sum ; and the college founded by the Jesuits in Quebec, where, in the last century, youth acquired a knowledge oi science and the higher branches of learning, has been positively converted into, and continues to be used as, a barrack for soldiers by the British government ! Does not this one fact suffice to show the nature of British rule in Canada ? Again, nothing can give an idea of the difficulty which the people labour under of acquiring land to settle on. The militia of the Province were promised lots in return for their services during the last war. They fought and bled. Peace came. Their services and wounds were forgotten ; and government has by sys- tematic quibbling, ever since evaded the performance of the promise it gave in a moment of danger and fear. It has, on the contrary, in order to raise a revenue independent of law, and beyond the control of the Legislature, sold nearly a million of acres of the public lands to a company of speculators in London, at about twenty-five cents the acre; for which land this company, in return, demand and receive from a dollar and a half to three dollars the acre from emigrants and settlers. This land company has been chartered, and these lands sold, against the repeated protests of the local Assembly. As a remedy for their grievances, of which the above is necessarily but a brief and faint outline, the people of Lower Canada demand : — 1st. That the Provincial Executive Council should be responsible to the people through their representatives. 2nd. That the memhets oi i\ic Legislative Council ^\iOvi\^ he elected by the people, on the same principle as the senators of the State of New York. 3id. That the representatives of the people should have the control of all the monies received in the public treasury, from public taxes and all other sources what- ever, and that not a cent should leave that treasury without the authority of law. 4th.' That no oflicial incumbent should hold more than one place, and that the public salaries should be reduced. Many office-holders now hold three and four offices each, and the salaries are enormously high : the Governor, for example, receiving 20,000 dollars a year, a sheriff 14,000 dollars, and judges from 4,000 to 9,000 dollars. 6th. They next demand that various laws passed by the parliament of Great Britain, wherein they are not represented, and affecting the interval affairs of the Province, be repealed ; and that the department of the public lands be ivgulated by law, so tliat any man, whatever be his origin, language, or religion, who wixhcs to settle in the country, may have the means, at a very trifling expense, of so doing, without favour or partiality for any class of settlers. The House of Assembly, finally, have resolved not to vote any supplies to the government, until their various grievances be redressed ; and in accordance with this resolution have steadily refused for the four past years to grant any supplies, but with conditions annnexcd: the Legislative Council have rejected those Bills of supply where conditions were annexed. The British government, in reply to these demands, reiterated for years, at length sent out a royal commission to inquire into their truth. This commission made its report in 183G. It is a singular tact, that all the evidence collected was from the , office-holders and their political friends. Strange to say, the justice of all the complaints of the people are notwithstanding admitted. Stranger still, the com- missioners recommend the government to refuse all the reforms demanded by, them. In conformity with these anomalous and unjustifiable recommendations. Lord John Russell, the British minister, introduced into the British parliament, last March, a series of resolutions, rejecting all the prayers of the Canadian reformers. Not content with this injustice, he went one step further. Following the bad and un- constitutional examples set him by the Grenvilles, the Norths, and the other ene- mies of American rights, and forgetful of the sound constitutional principle, thr.t nobody has the right to dispose of a people's money except their own freely chosen representatives, the minister submitted his ciV/AM resolution, authorizing the British House of Commons to dispose of — '* to give, and grant" the money belonging to the people of Canada. It is superfluous here to point out the blow aimed in this resolve against the very vitality of all constitutional freedom. It is the same unwarrantable pretension that the i>eople of these States successfully opposed, in the shape of a stamp act and a tea tax, and which is so familiar to every school-boy throughout this Union. These resolutions were, after strong opposition on the part of the friends of American rights, passed by the British parliament by overwhelming majorities. In the House of Lords only one man was found to record his vote against them — that man was Henry Lord Brougham. Though passed in England, they were not, to her honour be it spoken, sub- mitted to in Canada. Her representatives persisted in refusing supplies, and de- manded that the eightn resolution be expunged from the Journals of parliament. Taking a leaf from the history of the American revolution, the people met in their several counties, and at once resolved not to consume any articles imported from Great Britain — to encourage domestic manufactures, and to trade almost exclusively ■with these States. Conformably to these resolutions, wine and other luxuries forthwith disappeared from the tables of the people. The members of the Assembly and the inhabitants, women as well as men, clothed themselves in cloth of domestic manufacture, and no tea or coiFee was drank, except such as was introduced from this country with- out paying duty. A warfare such as this, the government well knew would be fatal to its power, for the revenue proceeding in a great part from duties on imports, the non-con- sumption policy resorted to by the mass of the inhabitants, would most extensively affect the treasury. To put a stop then to the spirit of incipient resistance, the Governor issued a proclamation, denouncing as "seditious" the meetings above mentioned. This proclamation fell still-born from the press. It was derided and treated with every possible contempt, and the meetings continued. Finding proclamations of no avail against the Democrats of Canada, Lord Gosford next had recourse to ter- rorism. He called magistrates and militia officers who attended the " anti-coercion " meeting, (as they were called,) to an account for so doing. These officers, with a spirit becoming free-men, at once repelled this incipient attempt to coerce them in the expression of their opinions, or in the exercise of their inherent rights. The governor proceeded, thereupon, to dismiss them from office. These dismissals excited so much indignation throughout the country, that gentlemen who held com- missions in the militia and in the magistracy came forward by legions in several » lio wiulies ' 80 doing, ies to the lance with supplies, sc Bills of I, at length n made its i from the of all the , the com- d by them. ions, Lord ast March, lers. Not d and an- other ene* iciple, thp.t, ely chosen he British longing to it the very pretension mp act and Union, friends of majorities, ist them — 3ken, sub- js, and de- tarliament. let in their >rted from sxclusively isappeared n habitants, icture, and intry with- its power, e non-con- jxtensively >r issued a ned. This with every ions of no irse to ter- -coercion " ers, with a ce them in ghts. The dismissals held com- s in several counties, and voluntary threw up the •' royal " commissions which they held, and accompanied the;r resignation by letters couched in the most manly and independ- ent terms. Whole counties by this means were left without a magistrate or a militia officer. To prevent society from falling into a state of disorganization, the reformers next commenced laying the foundaticn of an elective system of local government. On the 23rd October last, delegates from the six counties bordering on the river Kichelieu,* assembled at St. Charles, and passed a series of resolutions, recom- mending the people to meet in the present month of December, in their several parishes, and to elect their own magistrates and militia officers. An address was also voted by this meeting to the people of Canada, containing a declaration of principles, thoroughly democratic— recapitulating the grievances under which the Province laboureo— protesting against the introduction of an armed soldiery, in times of profound peace, for the physical coercion and destruction of the people of the Province, who were determined n' t to submit to the arbitrary measures of ministers ; and finally, recommending to their brother patriots to organize in their several localities, so as to be prepared for whatever it might please the providence of God to bring about. This address expressed, at the same time, a confident hope that the people of these States would never permit the principles for which the fathers of American freedom struggled in 1776, to be crushed in Canada in 1837. This great meeting, and this bold address, were the signal for the British government in Lower Canada to develope its long-planned conspiracy against the liberties of the colonists — to hurry the people into resistance, in imitation of the well-known inhuman policy pursued by Lord Castlereagh towards Ireland in 1798, in order that it may the more easily crush all opposition and " Polandize" the Province. The 6th of last month was the day on which the first part of this plot was un- folded. On that day a young men's association called " The Sons of Liberty," held their usual regular monthly meeting in Montreal. The government or tory party, stated at an early hour their intention to assault these young men. The latter, not yet aware that it was a crime to meet publicly and peaceably to express their opi- nions on the interests of their native or adopted country, treated the threats of the tories with no attention, and held their meeting, at which they passed a series of resolutions. During this meeting, stones were thrown at the young men, yet this passed unresented. On their way home from the meeting, they were however assaulted — the assault was repelled — their opponents retreated, and the magistrates, most of whom are violent partisans of the official or tory party, called out the troops, and they paraded the streets accompanied by several pieces of cannon. The " loyal " assailants of the " Sons of Liberty," now safe under the protection of British bayonets and artillery, were not slow in committing excesses. The most prominent of these was the breaking of Mr. Speaker Papineau's windows ; aftei: which they broke into the office of the Vindicator newspaper, a reform journal, which, with the knowledge, and within the sight or hearing, of the magistrates, they utterly destroyed. Since that day, they have had undisturbed possession of the city of Montreal. Not to be behind these furious men in zeal, the Governor next proceeded to act his part in this lawless drama. His first step was to remove all the liberal magistrates from the commission of the peace in the district of Montreal. He was well aware that so long as a reformer remained as a magistrate, the victims whom he intended to sacrifice might have some person to sympathize with them or give them advice. He deprived them of this hope, by removing in one day between sixty and seventy magistrates, who happened to be liberals or were suspected of liberalism, from the commission of the peace. Then the reign of terror commenced in good earnest. Warrants were issued in torrents against every man who had dared to take a prominent part in the recent meetings. The president and divers officers of the " Sons of Liberty " were arrested on a charge of high treason, for merely having signed an address to their brethren in the other colonies. Warrants were next Issued against the officers of the meeting of the six counties, and against the members of the Houseof A&^'^^mbly * These counties contain about the sixth part of the whole population of Lower Canada. 6 wlio had attendtid that meeting, as they w(;r(! bound to do by tho obli^tioii they had entered into witti their eonHtitucntii, and the district jail was at once crammed with the victims of arbitrary government.* Liberty of speech, liberty of meeting, and the liberty of the press, were thus annihilated in the liritish Province ou our immediate borders, in the short period of twenty-four hours. 'I'lie peoph; uf the country warts of the district uf Montreal, c . learning that war- runts for hire once imprisoned, the chances w<>re ten tu one that their lives would be sucrifict'd, at once determined to oppose the execution of those warrants. To those ucquuinted with the state of things in Canada, this determination does not seem strange. It rather docs honour to the hearts of the Canadian farmers. The men doomed to incarceration, if not death, by the government, live among the f)co|)le, are in daily intercouriic with them, and have become connected with them )y various tics. They arc among the mostinlelligent, liberal, and able men of the J*rovincc, and of high moral and |iersonal standing. The jail to which these patriotn were to be conveyed, is not situate in the counties in which they reside. There are indeed but three in the Lower Province, viz. at Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. Prisoners arc removed in many instances fifty, sixty, and ninety miles from their homes, friends, and neighbours, and immured in damp cells, in solitary confinement, on bread and water. Add to this, the serious consideration, that they will receive (mly the mockery of a trial ; for in the absence of all law providing for the impar- tial drawing of juries, dependent sheriffs pack such juries as they expect will return verdicts to please the government. Thus tho political prisoner has no barrier be- tween him and the vengeance of arbitrary i>ower ; and convinced of this, the country people determined to protect their representatives and public men. The first time on which this feeling was called forth, was in the early part of last month, when Di. Davignon and Mr. Demaray were arrested on a charge of high treason at St. John's. Instead of conveying these prisoners quietly to M ntreal direct by the rail-road, the cavalry that captured them resolved on striking terror through the country, by conducting them around by Chambly and Longueiul, a distance of diirty-six miles, with iron fetters on their hands and feet, and ropes around their necks. The people in the neighbourhood of Longueiul had a short notice of this arrest, assembled in a moment to the number of between thirty and forty men, and rescued the prisoners! The government seized on this petty, unexpected resist- ance as a pretext for levying war on the mass of the Canadian people inhabiting the district of Montreal. Immediately a force of 800 men, with four pieces of cannon and a howitzer, was despatched, one-half to attack St. Denis, the remainder to storm St. Charles, where several of the leading reformers from Montreal had retired, when they could no longer remain at their homes. So little expectation was there that such an armed force would be sent into the country on the grave expedition of arresting half a dozen of civilians, whose only ofl'ence was, that they had attended the St. Cuarles meeting, at which they had tak«u an active part, that not the least preparation had been made to oppose such a bodf . There were no more than thirty men in St. Denis previous to the arrival of t^e troops, and these were collected rather to prevent the sudden seizure of Dr. Neilson, by a posse of constables, than with any anticipation of contending against a regular armed force. The same may be said . f St. Charles. When, however, it was known the troops were coming, the tocsin was sounded — a crowd of about 300 men, armed some with fowling-guns, and others with pitch-forks, assembled at St. Denis, and after an engagement of five hours and a half, repulsed the soldiers, with a loss of * " To-day, two young French lawyers (C. S. Cherrierand Mr. Peltier) were arrested, charged with treason, and committed to jail. I saw them marched from the court-liouse by one of tho volunteer corps of this city — many of whom were Ajiieiican-horn citizetis ! May the free soil of our beloved country never again be polluted by their unhallowed footsteps. There is not a man in this city who dares to declare himself a patriot — the liberty of the press is destroyed, and to speak in iavour of their cause will consign the body to chains and dungeons. To see these young Frenchtiienj the descendants of the original proprietois of this city, driven to prison by a horde of hireling Britons, aided and abetted by 4 clan of mercenary American tories, was too mvch for my feelings, and I am not ashamed to confess that the revolting spectacle was almost hid from my vision by the blinding tears of sympathy."— Letfgr from an American citizen, tempo- rarily in Montreal, dated Dec. 1. our Hfty men and one piece of cuiinun. At St. Cliui-les, the only triunt|ili tin- troi>|)>i obtained, was the empty one of iictlin;^ tire to u ran^e of out-lionses, in wliicli were stored a quantity of hay and ({rain, and from out of whieh the patriots, about. 3(K) in number, hud kept up a gallinij' fire; and of eoninellin({ the ])alriots to uitivjraw, with a loss of some thirty men, killed and woumleu.* — They afterwards burned the house of one of the viee-presidents of the St. Charles meeting', nut bein,)!'. , ).(; - ^ > ' ' ' . .. ..'i'.r-;,. . v ■><;.«•' ^, . ,. .'i ■..-',:-.' ••• .', , •-...,.>.. ,1 / I ■ 1 5 '-Anil •:' f ■ > ■ .1 : 'iV =: ■! l/f i, -j f-fr^i -'h' Mjr ; ditorn ciitial pre- tbat r)ved. asses Khich vcrn- the ering- THE FOLLOWING KXTRACT FROM THE SPECTATOR OF THE llTii OF FEHRV .RY, 1838, IS WORTHY OF ATTENTION. HOUSE OF COMMONS MINORITIES ON TUB GOVERNMENT TREATMENT OF CANADA. A small Bcctlon."—AU tfte Downing Street Journals, passim. If large majorities could supply the want of wisdom and justice in a measure, then the coalition of Whigs, Tories, and, to their shame be it 8|)okcn, Radicals, iniglit rejoice in the numbers which swelled the division-lists in favour of the Canada Coercion Bill. They carried matters with a high hand, it must be con- fessed — ^justas Lord Grev's majority carried it over the opponents of what O'Con- j«ELL used to call the Algerine Act. The Tories and the mere Whigs acted in their vocation, weU and cordially together, then as now : but there are not a few Liberal members who bitterly repented of the votes they gave for the infamous Coercion Bill ; and more, we venture to predict, will look back with shame and aorrow to their share of the atrocity towards Canada. Wait till the consequences of their doings are worked out. It mat/ happen, for the first time in the liistc.*y of nations, that wrong will produce aftection, and tyranny peace ! Let the Liberal members of the government majorities comfort themselves with the notion. In the mean while, believing that the post of honour was held by the minority, and that ere long such will become a prevalent opinion, we reprint trom the Vote-paper the names of the small band who resisted the last outrage on a free people, or at least would have preserved the forms of decent deliberation in deciding their fate. / EXPLANATION OP THE SIX DIVISIONS. 1. fhr One Day's Pause.— January 10. Motion made, that an humble address be presented to her Majesty. On a motion that the debate be adjourned to the following day, the House divided — Ayes, 30; Noes, 100 (including Tellers); majority against adjournment, 160. 2. Amiimt bringing in the fii'W.— January 17. The House divided on the question " that leave be given to bring in a Rill to make temporary provisj'^'^ for :iie government of Lower Canada "—Ayes, 200; Noes, 9 (including Tellers) ; majority tor b 'iig^ngin the Bill. 191. 3. Fhr Information. — January 17. Motion made, tl •;' an humble address be presented to her Majesty for copies of despatches explanatory of the causes o» the issue of orders for the arrest of the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, and twenty-seven other persons : the House divided — Ayes, 15 ; Noes, 63 (iiicluding Tellers) ; majority against the motion, 48. 4. Against going into Committee on the Bill.— January 23. Motion made, " that the Bill be committed :" the House divided— Ayes, 264 ; Noes, 18 (including Tellers) ; majority, 246. 5. Against hurrying the Bill through the House.— January 23. On a motion " that the order of the day for the Committee on the Lower Canadian Government Bill have precedence of Notices of Motion '" onjthe following Tliursday, the House divided— Ayes, 103 ; Noes, 8 (including Tellers) ; majority, 95. 0. Aqainst the Third Reading of the fii'W.— January 29. On the question that the Bill be read a third time, the House divided— Aj'cs, 112 ; Noes, 10 (including Tellers) ; majority for third reading, 102. 10 LIST OF THE MfNORITIES ON SIX DIVISIONS. VM jf tUit-iHI '.r» Aglionby, II. A. . . Aglionby, Major . , Attwood, T Baines, E Bodkin, J. J Brotherton, .1. ... Brown, R. D. ... Buller, C. ..... Butler, Hon. Col. . Callaghan, D. . . . Collins, W Currle, Raikes . . . •Darby, G Dcnnistoun, J. . . . •Eliot, Lord .... Fincb, F •Forester, Hon. G. . Gillon, W. D. ... •Goddard, Ambrose Grote, G Hall, B Harvey, D. W. . . . Hawes, B Hindley, Charles . . Hodges, T. L. . . . Hume, J Jervis, Svvynfen . . Leader, J. T Lister, E. C •Marton, G Molesworth, Sir VV. O'Brien, W. S. . . . •Praed, W. M. . . . ♦Scarlett, Hon. R. . Somerville, Sir W, M. • Stewart, James . . Thornely,T Turner, W'. Vigors, N. A Villiers, C. P. ... Wakley, T Warburton, H. . . . Williams, W 1 2 3 . . 1 •« 1 I „ . 1 I . 1 1 -^ . I 1 - - I - i - 4* I ^ - 1 - 1 1 - 1 1 1 . 1 1 - 1 - « I 1 « 1 1 1 - 1 30 9 15 4 5 18 8 1 I 10 .,^:i titU Hv^ ■^t'T?ff<»frr There are some Tories (*) in the above list o^ forty-ihree, who thought the de- mand for " one day's pause " was not unreasonable, when the liberties of a people were at stake ; but of about seventy Irish Members, sworn to "justice," eight only, including Hume, recorded their votes against the tyrannical coercion of Canada. The name of O'Connell is not in the catalogue. When the Bill was passed, and the balloting for Election Committees came on, the Irish Members flocked to St. Stephen's — no longer under the fear of being summoned to vote according to their consciences and against the Ministers. OConnell's pledge to the Crown and Anchor meeting is not forgotten ; but it has not been redeemed. ft.Us ti •i> •^.." PROTESTS AGAINST THE THIRD READING OF THE CANADA GOVERNMENT BILL. ■'ij Dissentient, — ' 1. Because itapjjears by a despatch from the Earl of Gosford, dated the 23d of December, 1837, that the measures adopted for putting down the revolt in Lower Canada have been crowned with entire success ; that the principal instigators and leaders have been killed, taken, or forced into exile; that the revolutionary press is no longer in existence; that the disposition of the Roman Catholic clergy is favourable; that numerous offers of service have been made by large portions of the population in various parts of the Province, to enrol themselves in volunteer corps for the defence of the government ; and that loyal addresses are pouring in from the French Canadian population in all partsof the Province, expressing their fidelity to the Queen and their attachment to the British connexion, and strongly reprobating the selfish ambition and treasonable designs which have ruthlessly involved one of the fairest portions of the country in all the horrors of civil war. 2. Because, therefore, the averment in the preamble of the Bill, that in the pre- sent state of the Province of Lower Canada the House of Assembly cannot be called together without serious detriment to the interests of that Province, is not only not supported by facts, but negatived by the inference to be drawn from the latest facts of which the House is in possession. 3. Because the conduct of the House of Assembly being the alleged ground of the Bill, and certain members of that Assembly, who had mainly influenced its proceedings, having brought upon their country all the horrors of civil war, it is not just to suspend the constitution of the Province, witli a view to its alteration by an act of the Imperial Parliament, without first dissolving the House of Assembly, and thus affording to the people the opportunity of showing that they have witn- drawn their confidence from such of their late representatives as have proved unworthy of it, and that they do not approve the acts of the House of Assembly, which are deemed to justify the Bill. 4. Because the Bill gives to the Governor and Council power to make, with certain exceptions, all such laws and ordinances as the Legislature of Lower Canada, as now constituted, is empowered to make, and thereby places at the disposal of the Governor and Council all the monies hitherto appropriated by the House of Assembly, as well as all the monies heretofore appropriated by the Crown; thus making much more extensive alterations in the constitution when order is restored, than the Executive Council deemed it expedient to recommend, when agitation distracted the Province and paralyzed its government. 5. Because, from the experience of last year, there is reason to fear that this measure will not only revive the hostile feelings of those who have hitherto opposed the j^overnment, and increase their means of agitating the Province, but at the same time, excite the strongest disapprobation on the part of those who are most attached to British connexion, and who most reprobate the past proceedings of the House of Assembly. 6. Because the events which have taken place on the frontier of the United States, show the expediency of effecting, at the earliest period, a permanent, and therefore a conciliatory, settlement of all questions relating to Lower Canada; and the Bill interposes a long interval of despotism before any proposition for such settlement can be entertained. 7. Because it is impossible honestly so to modify the electoral franchise and the electoral districts in Lower Canada, as to deprive the French population of that Province, of the power of electing the majority of the Legislative Assembly ; and, fherefore, any ne\y Assembly which may be called together hereafter, must be elected by a constituency, essentially the same as that which elected the present Assembly, whose conduct is alleged to justify the Bill. 8. Because it is consistent with reason and experience, that the long arbitrary discontinuance of the use of a Parliament will, when that Parliament is at la.st M' 12 caJled togetlier, greatly increase instead of diminishing the difficulty of carrying on the government of which it is a part. 0. Because the Bill thus postpones the calling of a new Parliament to a period necessarily more unfavourable than the present; and, occupying the interval by a coercive despotism, tends at once to alienate the affections of the people of Lower Canada ; to engage the sympathy of the people of the United States in their favour } and to bring upon this country the accumulated evils of civil and of foreign war. 10. Because, if it be necessary to make alterations in the constitution of Lower Canada, Parliament is already in possession of ample information, the result of various recent inquiries, upon which, collected in times of tranquillity, it would be much safer, after mature deliberation, to legislate, than upon new opinions to be collected from parties still under the exasperation of civil contest ; and to suspend the constitution for more than two years for the purpose of gathering such opinions upon the nature and extent of the reform assumed to be required,, is. calcuLaii^ fc»> -^ create agitation where it is most desirable to re-establish tranquil habits under settled and free government. ELLENBOROUGH. For the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th reasons. February 8, 1838. Dissentient, — BROUGHAM. i ' 1. Because it must be presumed, that the constitutional rights conferred Upon the people of Lower Canada by the British Legislature were given them with the full knowledge that the House of Assembly in that Province would, and with the intent that it might, thereby be enabled to exercise that control over the Executive power, which the Commons of Great Britain are, by their undoubted privileges, enabled to exercise over the Executive power in the mother country. 2. Because this measure deprives the people of Lower Canada not only of the rights which were so given them by the British Legislature, but of the rest of the constitution which they had previously enjoyed. 3. Because the Bill being founded upon the assumption, that such privation is just, it appears to us that such assumption is erroneous. 4. Because it appears to us, in determining the justice or injustice of a penal measure against a whole community, the Legislature is not confined by those technical rides which govern courts of law, but is bound to institute a larger in- quiry : and that, therefore, it is necessary not merely to refer to the recent acts of that community, but to examine into the causes of those acts, and to ascertain their origin ; which can only be effected through a careful investigation of the successive steps by which the accused party has proceeded, and of the circumstances by which it has been gradually led on to those proceedings which furnished the immediate grounds of this penal measure. 5. Because such investigation has satisfied us that the origin of those proceed- ings is to be fouod in the early mal^adHMnwtration of the colony, by those branches of the government which were more immediately connected with the mother country ; and therefore it is not just to deprive the colony, even for a time, of its political rights, upon the alleged ground of recent misconduct. 6. Because it appears to us, that this is only the first of a series of measures which may involve the nation in great difficulties — an opinion countenanced by the admission made in debate that her Majesty's Ministers were prepared to apply to Parliament for an increase of our military forces, in which admission is obviously involved the further admission that, even according to the expectations of the authors of this measure, it may not improbably occasion an armed resistance in the colony. 7. Because, finally, we are determined not to incur the heavy responsibility of a measure which may involve our country in civil war. FITZWILLL\M. Fe6. 9, 1838. BROUGHAM. JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS, HrNGAY.[