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THE

BUBBLES

CANADA.

THE

BUB B.L E S

CANADA.

BY THE AUTHOR OV

"SAM SLICK," "THE CLOCKMAKER,'
&c. <fec.

"I say, Jack, I'm bluw'd if he didn't call it a shap-po/ VVhy the devil
couldn't he call it a hat at oace—tluu comes now of his not speaking English."

PHILADELPHIA :
LEA & BLANCHARD,
SUCCESSORS TO CAREY & CO.
1839.

London, 2Uh Bee. 1838,
My dear Haliburton,
I shall offer no apology to you for the man
ner in which I have executed this work, as
you are well aware that I could command
neither the time nor the materials that were
necessary to do if ^properly: even the small
portion of time I have been able to devote to
it, out of a hasty visit to London, has been
.subject to constant interruptions ; and many
iraportant documents which ought to have
been referred to, have, I find (from the little
interest hitherto taken in Canadian affairs,)
not found their way to England. Wherever
I could obtain authentic works and official
papers, I have used them as freely as I could,
that as little as possible might rest on indivi
dual assertion.
Such as it is, I beg of you to accept it, as
a proof of my desire to comply with your
wishes, as far as it has been in my power to
do so. If you are satisfied with it, I am con
tent. As respects the rest of the world, we
know too little of each other to require that I
should explain or they should listen:
Yours always, S. S.
To James H.4L(burtox, Esq.,
&c. &c. &c.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page
LETTER I.
Introductory remarks - 9
LETTER II.
Charge of misgovernment, advanced by Lords Durham aud
Brougham, controverted — Evidence of the Duke de la
Rochefoucault Llaiicourt and Professor SiUiman - V15
LETTER III.
Extent, population aud trade of British America — Contradic
tory opinions of Lord Brougham — Establishment of Eng
lish laws in Canada-'— Impolitic and unjust abroga:tion of
them by Quebec Act - - - ' - -23
LETTER IV.
Constitutional act — Form of govemipent— Feudal laws — Pre
sent state of the law in Canada— ^People unfit for constitu
tional-government - -- . .- 36
LETTER V.
A review of the proceedings of the legislature of Canada.
from 1792, when it first assembled, to 1819, when a denj^nd
was made for a provision for the civil list - 50
LETTER VI.
Sources of revenue in Canada — ^Reference to committee of
Parliament of alleged grievances — Unjust electorial division
of Canada — ^Unconstitutional proceedings of Assembly —
Fresh grievances — Lord Goderich's review of proceedings 75

vm CONtENTS, Page
LETTER vn.
JJine£y-two resolutions of Canadian Assembly — Reference of
the same to committee of 183-1 — Report of committee - llO
LETTER VIH.
Review by Lord Aberdeen of the steps taken by government
to carry-out the rqeommendation of 09mmittee of 1828 . 15&
LETTER IX.
Appointment of commission of inq,uiry — Their instructions —
Lord Glenelg's rbply to the demands of the -Assembly' ;'176
LETTER X.
Abandonment of grievances and demand of constit-utional
cfeanges-^Specification of changes required, and separate
consideration of each.— 1st. That the Legislative Council
'sh9uld,be elective. — 9d. Tliaf the E.tecutive Council should,
be responsible to tho House of Assembly. — 3d. That the:
Tenures Act and^Land Company Act should be repealed.—
4th. That the (irown revenues sfaoUld be surrendered uncon
ditionally. — §th. That the hianagement of the waste.lands
' spouldbe given up to thera - - - . 188
:.„.:/'¦ , J^ETTER XL
ResolutionS^introduced by Lord John Russell— Right of Par
liament ta interfere considered— Conduct of Assembly 
Revolt-^Honduct of Catholic jclergy, and reflections thereoh.
^Mitigating circumstances attending the rebellion— Mis
sion of Ldrd Durham, dangerous schemes proposed by him,
l^ad eflcct of his proceedings on the other colonies — General
review of the topics embraced in this work — Importance of
the crisis;' and effect pf Canadian independence on the colo.
nial possessions of Great Britain - » . . 236

THE

BUBBLES OF CANADA

LETTER I.

My Dear Haliburton,
As the people of this country know but little of
the dissensions in Canada, they very wisely confine
their observations to the dissensions of those who
govern it. This is a more intelhgible as well as a
more amusing subject. Every body talks of Lord
Brougham and Lord Durham, but nobody speaks of
Canada. Instead, therefore, of inquiring what is to
become of that valuable colony, what measures are,
or ought to be adopted, to ensure its tranquillity, and
to protect British subjects and British property
there, people Very properly limit their attention to
the more interesting question what will the Gover
nor-General do when Parliament meets? To in-
quire whether the English or the French population
of Canada is in the right, requires some investiga
tion to ascertain facts, and some constitutional
knowledge to judge of those facts when collected.
It is, at best, but a dry subject. But to decide
whether Lord Brougham or Lord Durham has the
2

10 THE BUBBLES
best of the dispute is a matter so well suited for
easy conversation, and humorous argument, that it
is no wonder it has more attractions than the other.
Such, however, is the acerbity of politics in this
country, that even this affair is made a party ques
tion, and the worst motives are imputed for every
thing that is said or done by either. There are not
wanting those who gravely assert, ihat while Lord
Brougham was affecting to brush off the flies from
the heels of an old rival, he intentionally switched
him so hard as to arouse his temper and induce him
to kick. They maintain that there are two sorts of
tickling, one that is so delicate as to produce laugh
ter and pleasurable sensations, and another that ir
ritates both the skin and the temper by the coarse
ness of its application. They say that his lordship
is much addicted to the latter species, and applies
it equally to both friends and foes ; in short, that his
play is too rough to be agreeable. While, on the
other hand, there are some who are so unkind as to
insinuate that Lord Durham was very willing to
take offence, and to shelter himself under it. That
he felt he had voluntarily undertaken a load which
he was unable to draw, and that knowing greater
expectations had been formed of him than he could
ever realize, had no objection to kick himself out of
harness, and extricate himself by overthrowing friend
or foe, so long as the public were wilhng to be
lieve the fault to be that of the teemster, and not of
the steed.
Be that as it may, the exhibition has been an en
tertaining one, and they deserve some credit for
having afforded amusement and occupation to the

or CANADA. 1 i
pubHc at this dull season of the year. There they
are, the crowd has gathered round them, the idle
and the vulgar stand gaping, and each one looks
anxiously for what is to follow. What can be more
agreeable to a British mob, a people essentially fond
of the prize fight, than the contest of these two
champions, men who have always courted their ap
plause, and valued their noisy demonstrations of
pleasure higher than the quiet respect of those of
more taste and more refinement ? It affords, how
ever, no pleasure to the colonist. He regards one
as a man of splendid talents and no conduct, and
the other as a man without the possession of either,
has advanced to his present high station merely by
the force of extreme opinions. He has no sym
pathy with either. The one is too much actu
ated by his implacable hatred, the other by his
inordinate pride. The former is dangerous from his
disposition to do mischief, and the latter unsafe,
from his utter inability to effect any good.
After all the addresses that have been presented
by the Canadians, this language- may possibly ap
pear strange and strong ; but addresses afford no
proof. They are cheap commodities every where.
Place-hunters may flatter, and vulgar men may
fawn, and office-holders tremble and obey, but the
truth must still be told. A governor is the re
presentative of royalty, and colonists have been
taught to venerate the office, whatever they may
think of the man. At the present crisis it is the test
of loyalty. You will search in vain among those
addresses for the names of the disaffected ; and if
those who signed them have expressed themselves

12 THE BUBBLES
strongly, they felt it was no time to measure words,
when hesitation bears so strong a resemblance to
a repugnance springing from a different cause.
But even among these customary offerings of offi
cial respect, you will find several exhibiting a choice
of expression that bespeak a desire to separate the
approbation of measures from the usual deference
to rank and station, and others marking the distinc
tion in explicit terms. The colonist by no means
regrets his resignation, because he has shown from
his irritable temper, inconsiderate conduct, and
crude and dangerous schemes, that, of all men, he
was the most unfit depository for the extraordinary
powers that were intrusted to him ; but he does re
gret that public attention should be diverted from so
important a subject as our Canadian affairs, to so
unimportant a matter as my Lord Durham's private
quarrels. He is desirous that the questions at issue between
the people of Canada and Great Britain should be
understood, and he doubts not that the good sense
and good feeling of this country will apply the pro
per remedies. In coinpiling a statement of these
grievances, pretensions, or claims (or by whatever
other nanie you may choose to designate them,) I
shall hope to contribute towards this desirable ob
ject. I feel, however, my dear friend, that before
I enter upon the subject, I ought to apologize to
you for the bulk of this work. Indeed, when you
told me at Melrose that you had been in Egypt
during nearly the whole period of these Canadian
disputes, and therefore wished to have a history of
them, I had not the slightest idea that in under-

OF CANADA. 13
taking to give you one, I was going to write a book.
But, though I will fulfil my promise, I will not ex
ceed it. I shall confine myself to a sketch of the
origin, progress, and present state of agitation in
Lower Canada. I will show you the pretensions
that have been put forth, the concessions that have
been made, and the open questions that now remain;
you will then be able to judge whether these grie
vances have led to disaffection, or disaffection has
given rise to grievances, and in either case will be
able to perceive what ought to be the remedy.
Facts and not theories are wanted ; you must know
the cause and nature of a disease before you can
prescribe for it.
If ever you had the misfortune to have had the
tooth-ache, you have doubtless found that every
one of your friends had an infallible remedy, each
of which eventually proved, upon trial, to be nothing
more than a palliative, a nostrum that soothed the
anguish for a time, by conciUating the nerve; but that
the pain returned, with every change of atmosphere,
with increased power, while the sedative application
became less and less efficacious the oftener it was
repeated. You have also found, as others have ex
perienced before you, that while you were thus tem
porizing with an evil which required more prompt
and skifful treatment, you had lost the opportunity
of filling the cavity and preserving the tooth, by
suffering decay to proceed too far to admit of the
operation, and, after years of sufiering, had to sub
mit at last to cold iron, the ultima -ratio of dentists.
Whether the system of palliatives and concessions,
that has been resorted to in Canada, is a wise and
2*

14' THE BUBBLES
proper one, I shall not presume to say; but all men
must agree that it at least has the merit of displaying
an amiable inclination to avoid giving pain. What
ever doubts may arise as to the conciliatory mea
sures of past years, there can be none whatever
entertained that they cannot be persisted in any
longer with advantage. I shall content myself,
however, with merely presenting you with a state
ment of the case, and you shall decide for yourself
"wheitiei' stopping, or forcible extraction, be now the
proper remedy.

OF CANADA. 15

LETTER IL
After the late unhappy and wicked rebellion in
Canada was suppressed, it was found necessary to
punish with death a few of the most conspicuous
traitors, for the atrocious murders they had com
mitted. In the colonies, although the justice ofthis
act was fully admitted, the necessity that existed
for it was generally deplored. So much blood had
been shed in the field, and so much misery entailed
upon the country, by that rash and unprovoked re
volt, that the people would gladly have been spared
the spectacle of a farther sacrifice of human life, if
the outraged laws of the country had not impera
tively called for retribution. They felt, too, that
although nothing could justify their having desolated
the country with fire and sword, in support of mere
speculative points of government, some pity was
due to deluded men, who had been seduced from
their allegiance by promises of support, and direct
encouragement to revolt, by people of influence and
standing in the mother country; but although they
knew that mischievous counsels had been given,
they certainly were not prepared to hear similar
sentiments publicly avowed in the parliament of
the nation. It was, therefore, not without mingled
feelings of surprise and sorrow that they heard one
honourable memberinvoke defeat and disgrace upon
Her Majesty's troops, whose service was already

16 the BUBBLES
sufficiently painful without this aggravation; and a
noljle lord, in another branch of the legislature, de
nounce, with indignant eloquence, the juries who
had tried and the judges that had sentenced these
convicted criminals. They ought, however, to have
known, and certainly a little reflection would have
suggested, that the instinctive horror of those dis
tinguished men at such an event was quite natural,
and that they who advocate revolutionary doc
trines must necessarily shudder at the untimely fate
of those who have dared to act upon them. It was
a warning not to be disregarded, a consummation
that might be their own, and a lesson fraught with
a most salutary moral. As their perceptions were
acute enough to make the application, it is to be
hoped their prudence will be sufficient to avoid a
similar result. Nor is the language held by my
Lord Durham, in his recent valedictory proclama
tion, less surprising. He has thought proper, in
that extraordinary document, to give the sanction
of his high station to the popular error that the Ca-
nadas have been misgoverned, and thereby expressed
a deliberate censure upon the conduct of abler and
better men than himself who have preceded him.
Now, there are various kinds of misgovernment,
which may be effected by acts of commission or
omission, or of both, for a defective form of govern
ment and misgovernment are widely different. If
his lordship meant to use the word in either of those
senses, and considered the French Canadians as
the subjects of it, then I beg leave most respectfully
to state, that he was not warranted by facts in
saying so, and that it is an additional proof, if any

op CANADA. 17
were wanting, that he knew as little of the affairs
of the colony at his departure from thence, as he
admits that he did on his arrival there. If, on the
other hand, he used it as a cant term to adorn a
rhetorical flourish, we shall accept the explanation,
and consider it as such, classing it with promises
profusely made on his acceptance of office which
he has not performed, and similar ones ostenta
tiously offered on his resignation which he is equally
unable to fulfil.
My Lord Brougham has expressed more fully
and intelligibly the same opinion in the House of
Lords, and has since been at great pains to repub
lish it, first, in the pamphlet form, to circulate as a
cheap commodity; and, secondly, in a collection
of his speeches, to be impressed by his friend the
schoolmaster, as a specimen of eloquence, on the
minds of village Hampdens. Although this states
man is followed by few, and attached to none, he
is too eloquent and too powerful not to command
the attention of all, and presents the singular ano
maly of being unable to add weight or influence to
any party to which he may lend his support, and
yet being- the most fearful opponent in the House
to those whom it may be his pleasure to attack.
With respect to Canada, he was pleased to say,
"Another rule prevails — 'Refuse all they ask; turn
a deaf ear to every complaint; mock them with
hopes never to be realized; insult them with rights
which when they dare to use shall be rudely torn
from them ; and for abiding by the law, in seeking
redress of their wrongs, punish them by the inflic
tion of a dictator and a despotism.'" Ti-uisms are

18 THE BUBBLES
seldom repeated ; they require but to be enounced,
to be assented to. Paradoxes are more fortunate;
they startle and perplex, and he who cannot origi
nate can at least copy. I was, therefore, not sur
prised at hearing an humble imitation of this dia
tribe at a meeting of the lower orders of Edinburgh
at Carlton Hill. That the audience might find time
to attend, the assembly was held by torch-light, a
fitting emblem for incendiary doctrines. Tories ,
and Whigs were alike reprobated by an orator,
who, when he had exhausted the topics of domestic
misrule, deplored in most patJietic terms the lot
" of our oppressed and enslaved brethren in Ca
nada." If this be true of them, it is an appeal to
humanity, and when in Britain was that appeal
made in vain? It is, however, the character of
humanity to be credulous. The mendicant impos
tor, aware of the fact, profits by the knowledge of
it, and weaves a tale of misfortune or oppression to
excite pity and extort money; the political juggler,
in like manner, draws upon his imagination for
facts,, and having established a grievance, makes a
tender of his services as a reformer.
As this charge of misgovernment has been often
made of late, it is probable it will be repeated, and
as it must materially modify the opinion we are to
form, both of the revolt, and of the measures to be
adopted hereafter in consequence thereof, I shall
now proceed to controvert this assertion ; but be
fore I enter upon it, permit me to say, that I shall
not treat this as a party question. As a colonist,
at once a native and a resident of a distant part of
the empire, I am not only unconnected with, but

or CANADA. 19
perfectly independent of either of the great parties
of this country, of Tories or Whigs or Radicals;
nor do I consider this as a subject at all involving
the principles for which they severally contend.
The question is one wholly between the people of
this country and the colonists, and must be consi
dered as such ; and so far from my Lord Durham's
assertion being true, that there has been misgovern
ment, I am prepared to show, that every adminis
tration in this country, without exception, from the
conquest of Canada to the present time, whether
Tory or Whig, <5r mixed, or by- whatever name
they may be designated, have been actuated but
by one feeling, an earnest desire to cultivate a good
understanding with their new subjects of French
extraction, and on one principle, a principle of con
cession. Canada has had more privileges and in
dulgences granted to it than any other of our Ame
rican colonies: unpopular officers have been re
moved ; obnoxious governors have been recalled ;
constitutional points abandoned to them; all rea
sonable changes made (or, as they would express
it, grievances redressed:) and the interests of com
merce and of persons of British origin postponed
to suit their convenience, or accommodate their
prejudices; in short, every thing has been done,
and every thing conceded to conciliate them, that
ingenuity could devise or unbounded liberality grant,
and no sacrifice has been considered too great to
purchase their affections, short of yielding up the
colony to their entire control ; and for all this for
bearance and liberality they have been met with
ingratitude, abuse, and rebellion. For the truth of

20 THE BUBBLES
this assertion, I call upon France and the United
States to bear me testimony. Hear the Duke de
la Rochfoucault Liancourt : " No Canadian has just
grounds of complaint against the British Govern
ment ; the inhabitants of Canada acknowledge una
nimously that they are better treated than under
the ancient French government ; but they love the
French, forget them not, long after them, hope for
their arrival, will always love them, and betray
these feelings too frequently, and in too frank a
manner, not to incur the displeasure of the English,
who even in Europe, have not made an equal pro
gress with us in discarding the absurd prejudices
of one pe6ple against another.
" They pay no taxes, live well, at an easy rate,
and in plenty ; within the compass of their com
prehensions they cannot wish for any other good.
They are so little acquainted with the principles of
liberty, that it has cost a great deal of trouble to
establish juries in their country; they oppose the
introduction of the trial by jury; in civil cases
these are not yet in use. But they love France;
this beloved country engages' still their affections.
In their estimation a Frenchman is a being far su
perior to an Englishman."
" The farmers are a frugal set of people, but igno
rant and lazy. In order to succeed in enlarging and
improving agriculture in this province, the English
Government must proceed with great prudence and
perseverance; for in addition to the unhappy preju
dices which the inhabitants of Canada entertain in
common with the farmers of all other countries, they
also foster a strong mistrust against every thing

or CANADA. 21
which they receive from the English ; and this mis
trust is grounded on the idea that the English are
their conquerors, and the French their brethren.
There are some exceptions from this bad agricul
tural system, but they are few. The best cultiva
tors are always landholders arrived from England.
"Upon the whole, the work of education in Lower
Canada is greatly neglected. At Sorel and Three
Rivers are a few schools, kept by |he nuns; in
other places men or women instruct children. But
the number of schools is, upon the whole, so very
small, and the mode of instruction so defective, that
a Canadian who can read is a sort of phenomenon.
From the major part of these schools being governed
by nuns and other women, the number ofthe latter
who can .read is, contrary to the custom of other
countries, much greater in Lower Canada than that
of men.
" The English Government is charged with de
signedly keeping tbe people of Lower Canada in ig
norance; but were it sincerely desirous of producing
an advantageous change in this respect, it would
have as great obstacles to surmount on this head as
in regard to agricultural improvements."
Hear also Professor Silliman, a distinguished
American scholar:
" It is questionable whether any conquered coun
try was ever better treated by its conquerors than
Canada; the people were left in complete possession
of their religion and revenues to support it — of their
property, laws, customs, aqd manners ; and even
the defence of their country is without expense to
them ; and it is a curious fact, that) unless by the
3

22 THE BUBBLES
great counterbalancing advantages it produces,) so
far from being a source of revenue, it is a charge on
the treasury of the empire. It would seem as if the
trouble and expense of government was taken off
their hands, and as if they were left to enjoy their
own domestic comforts without a drawback. Sucb
is certainly the appearance of the population; and
it is doubtful whether our own favoured communi
ties are politically more happy ; — they are not ex
posed in a similar manner to poverty and the dan
ger of starvEition, which so' often invade the English
manufacturer, and which, aided by their dema
gogues, goad them on to every thing but open re
beUion. Lower Canada is a fine country, and will
hereafter becQ-me populous and powerful, especially
as the British and Anglo-American population shall
flow in more extensively, and impart more vigour
and activity to the community. The climate, not
withstanding its severity, is a good one, and very
healthy and favourable to the freshness and beauty
of the human constitution. All the most important
comforts of fife are easily and abundantly obtained."
This, you will observe, is but the evidence of
opinion; produce your facts. Agreed. To the
facts then let us proceed.

OF CANADA. 23

LETTER III.

BV the treaty of peace in the year 1763, Canada,
the conquest of which had been achieved on the
plains of Abraham, by General Wolfe, was ceded,
in full sovei-eignty and right, to his Britannic Majes
ty by the King of France, and the French inhabi
tants who chose to remain in the country became
subjects of Great Britain, and were secured in the
enjoyment of their property and possessions, and the
free exercise of their religion. Thus terminated the
power ef France in that portion of Norlh America;
and here it may be useful to pause and consider,
with this vast addition of territory, how extensive
and important are our translabtie possessions.
They maybe computed in round numbers to con"
prise upwards of four millions of geographical square
miles, extending across the whole Continent, from
the At'iintic in the east, to the shores of the North
Pacific Ocean on the west; on the parallel of the
49° of north latitude their exU-eme breadth is about
3,066 geographical miles, and their greatest depth
from the most southern point of Upper Canada in
Lake Erie, to Smith's Sound in the Polar regions,
rather more than 2,150, thus embracing a large
portion of the Aretic Seas, and of. the Atlantic and
Pacific. The population of this country may be .estimated
at httle short of two millions; while the export trade
to it exceeds that to Russia, Prussia, Denmark,

24 THE BUBBLES
Sweden, Norway, and Fra,nce collectively, and
nearly equals that to the United States, the most
commercial country in the world next to Great
Britain. These exports have increased above 40
per cent, in three years.
In carrying on this trade, about seven thousand
British vessels are employed; the tonnage of those in
wards and outwards being each way nearly 1 ,000,000
tons annua;lly, either to Great Britain or her other
colonies, all of them, be it remembered, navigated
by her own seamen, tlnd employing British capi
tal; and seven-eighths of the whole produce so
transported being paid for in labour to her own
people, and all the profits, agencies, and brokerages
of this enormous trade divided among her own sub
jects. Can the possible loss of such a trade be con
templated, without apprehending consequences se
rious to the manufacturing interests, and prejudicial
to national prosperity 1
In four years not less than £300,000 has been
paid by emigrants as passage-money to her ship
owners; and if out of the number of 170^000 who
emigrated during that period, only 20,000* had be
come burdensome at home, and had cost their pa
rishes only £,4 per head per annum, the expenses to
the community (which have been, saved) would
have been $320,000.
Such are the interests now at stake, and which
you are called upon to surrender.' My Lord
Brougham, the advocate " for the diffusion of use
ful knowledge," thus sanctions the doctrine that
colonies though large ate unwieldy, and though
* See Letter to E. Baines, Esq., M. P.

OF CANADA. 25
possessing intrinsic value, cost more for their sup
port and protection, than counterbalances any ad
vantage to be derived from them. " I have always
held (he observed on the 2d of February last, when
speaking on the Canada question,) the severance of
a colony to be a benefit and no loss, provided it
can be effected ih peace, and leave only feelings of
kindness on either side." At the same time he
" hurled defiance (I use his own words) at the head
of the premier," to point out where he had ever
changed his principles. The noble viscount was
silent, the challenge was not accepted,, and his con
sistency remained unimpeached. I am more inte
rested in colonial prosperity than either of them,
having no desire to be handed over to the tender
mercies of republicans, and will take the hberty to
refer to that instance that was so triumphantly de
manded. Lallude to a more deliberate opinion, the
result of study and reflection, emanating not' from
the excitement of debate and the conflict of party
spirit, but from the retirement of his closet. On a
former occasion he thus expressed himself on this
subject : —
" Each nation derives greater benefit from having
an increasing market in one of its own provinces,
than in a foreign country.
" The colonial trade is always increasing and ca
pable of indefinite augmentation ; every operation
of colonial traffic replaces two capitals, the employ.-
ment and distribution of which puts in motion and
supporlls the labour of the different members of the
same state.
" The increasiqg wealth of Russia, Prussia, &r
3*

20 THE BUBBLES
Denmark, can never benefit Great Britain unless by
the increasing demand for British produce which it
may occasion. It may, and often is, on the con
trary, turned against her wealth and power ; whilst
the riches of colonies have a certain tendency to
widen the market for British produce, and can never
injure the wealth or power of the mother country.
" The possession of remote territories is the only
thing which can secure to the population of a coun
try those advantages derived from an easy outlet,
or prospect of outlet, to those persons who may be
ill provided- for at home.
" It is absurd to represent the defences and go
vernment of colonies as a burden. It is ridiculous
for the United Kingdom to complain, that she is at
the expense of governing and defending- her colo
nial territories."
Among the benefits to be derived from the " dif
fusion of useful knowledge," it is certainly not the
least that .we are enabled to compare the professions
of public men with their acts, and the actors with
each other. My Lords Brougham and Durham
have both travelled the same road — selected similar
topics — supported them by the same arguments —
and aimed at one conclusion; and yet, strange to
say, they stand opposed to each other. Coming
from a small province, and a very limited sphere
of action, I may be allowed the privilege of a
stranger, and be permitted to express my surprise.
I had read in the speech to which I have referred
of certain commissioners of inquiry who were placed
in an extraordinary situation, "where each one
generally differed from his colleague in the views

or CANADA. 27
he took of the argument, and frequently also from
himself; but both agreeing in the conclusions at
which they arrived, by the course of reasoning one
way, and deciding another." It is an awkward po
sition for men to be found in ; but little did I antici
pate finding the noble author illustrating, in his own
person, the case he has described with such pointed
and bitter irony. But this is a digression, and I
must return to my subject.
Whether a country extending over such an im
mense space, containing such a great and growing
population, and affording such an extensive and pro
fitable trade, has been misgoverned, is therefore a
question of the first importance. The affirmative
of this proposition which the governor-general has
advanced, has inspired the rebels with new hopes;
and forms, no doubt, a principal ingredient of that
satisfaction which he says his adhiinistration has
given to the inhabitants of the neighbouring repub
lic. It is a charge, however, in which the honour
of the nation is deeply concerned, and should neither
be flippantly made ndr easily credited.
In the month of October following the treaty, His
Majesty published his proclamation, under the great
seal of Great Britain, for erecting fodr new civil go
vernments, to wit, those of Quebec, East Florida,
West Florida, and Granada, in the countries and
islands in America, which had been ceded to the
Crown by the definitive treaty.' In this proclama
tion the King exhorted his subjects as well of his
kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, as of his
colonies in America, to avail themselves, with all
convenient speed, of the great benefits and advan-

28 THE BUBBLES
tages that would accrue, from the great and valua
ble acquisitions ceded to his Majesty in America,
to their commerce, manufactures, and navigation.
As an encouragement to them to do so, he informed
them that in the commissions he had given to the
civil governors of the said four new provinces, he
had given express power and directions that, so
soon as the state and circumstances of the said
colonies would admit thereof, they should, with the
advice and consent of the members of his Majesty's
councils in the said provinces, summon and call ge
neral assembhes of the people within the said go
vernments, in such manner as was used in those
colonies and provinces in America which were
under his Majesty's immediate government; and
that in the mean time, and until such assemblies
could be called, all -persons inhabiting, in, or resort
ing to his Majesty's said colonies, might confide in
his Majesty's royal protection for the enjoyment of
the benefit of ihe laws of his realm of England; that
for that purpose his Majesty had given power, under
the great seal, to the governors of his Majesty's said
new colonies, to erect and constitute, with the advice
of his Majesty's said councils respectivdy, courts
of judicature and public justice, within the said
colonies, for the hearing and determining all causes,
as well criminal as civil, according to law and equi
ty, and as near as may be, agreeably to the laws of
England; with liberty to all persons who might think
themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts,
in all civil cases, to appeal, under the usual limita
tions and restrictions, to his Majesty in his Privy
Council.

OF CANADA. 29
On the 21st day of November 1763,* about six
weeks after the publication of the aforesaid procla
mation, his Majesty issued his commission of cap
tain-general and governor-in-chief of the province
of Quebec, to Major-general Murray, which was
received by him, and pubhshed in the province in
the month of August, 1764. This commission, and
the insurrection that accompanied it every where,
pre-supposed that the laws of England were in force
in the province, being full of allusions and references
to those laws on a variety of different subjects, and
did not contain the least intimation of a saving of
any part of the laws and customs that prevailed
there, in the time of the French government.
It appears, therefore, upon the whole, from the
proclamation and commission, to have been his
Majesty's intention, with respect to the said pro
vince of Quebec, to assimilate the laws and govern
ment of it to those of the other American colonies
and provinces which were under his Majesty's im
mediate government, and not to continue the muni
cipal laws and customsby which the conquered peo
ple had heretofore been governed, any farther^than
as those laws might be necessary to the preserva
tion of their propeirty. And his Majesty's minis
ters, at the time of passing those instrum^ents, were
evidently of opinion that, by' the refusal of General
Amherst to grant to the Canadians the continuance
of their ancient laws and usages; and by the refer
ence made in the fourth article of the definitive
treaty of peace -to the laws of Great Britain, as the
* See Smith's History of Canada.

30 THE BUBBLES
measure of the indulgence intended to be shown
them with respect to the exercise of their religion,
sufficient notice had been given to the conquered
inhabitants of that province, that it was his Majes
ty's pleasure that they should be governed for the
future according to the laws of England. It is evi
dent also, that the inhabitants, after being thus ap
prized of his Majesty's intention, had consented to
be so governed, and had testified their said consent,
hy continuing to reside in the country, and taking
the oath of allegiance to his Majesty, when they
might have 'withdrawn themselves from the pro
vince, with all their effects, and the produce of the
sale of their estates, within the eighteen months al
lowed by his Majesty in the treaty of peace, for
that purpose.
In consequence of this introduction of the laws of
England into the province, by the aforesaid procla
mation and commission, Governor Murray and his
Council, in the great ordinance dated on the 17th
day of September, 1764, (passed at the commence
ment of the civil government of the province, for the
establishment of courts of justice in it,) directed the
chief justice of the province (who was to hold tbe
superior court or Court of King's Bench, established
by that ordinance,) to determine all criminal and
civil causes agreeable to the laws of England, and
the ordinances of the province; and the judges of the
inferior court, established by the said ordinance
(which was called the Court of Common Pleas,) to
determine the matters before them agreeably to
equity, having regard nevertheless to the laws of
England, as far as the circumstances and situation

OF CANADA. 31
of things would permit, until such time as proper
ordinances for the information of the people could
be established by the governor and council, agreea
ble to the laws of England; with this just and pru
dent proviso, ' that the French laws and customs
should be allowed and admitted in all causes in the
said court between the natives of the said province,
in which the cause of action arose, before the 1st
day of October, 1764.'
In consequence of these instruments of govern
ment, the laws of England were generally intro
duced into it, and consequently became the rule and
measure of all contracts and other civil engagements
entered into by the inhabitants after the introduc
tion of them, that is, after the establishment of the
civil government of the province^ or after the said
1st day of October, 1764.
At this time the population of Canada amounted
to 65,000 souls, and was confined to the banks of the
St. Lawrence and its tributary streams. As the peo
ple had now become British subjects, it was deemed
expedient to introduce, as soon as possible, emigrants
of English extraction, as well for the purpose of
creating a defensive power within the province, as
to induce the French to acquire the language, and
adopt the habits of their conquerors. The officers
and soldiers of the army that had served in America,
were rewarded with grants of land in the country
which they had conquered, and liberal offers were
made to people in the other provinces, and to emi
grants from Europe to remove thither. The facili
ties of internal transport, the fertility of the soil, and
salubrity of the climate, operated so powerfully, that

32 THE BUBBLES
in a short time the influx of strangers was so great
as to induce the hope that it would speedily rival the
New England states in population and in wealth;
and no doubt can now be entertained that if the
terms of the proclamation had been honestly adhered
to, these expectations would have been fully realized.
As a matter of policy nothing could have been more
wise, than since it had now become a British colony,
to endeavour, as soon as possible, to make it so in
fact as well as in name. The introduction of Eng
lish laws had a natural tendency to disseminate the
language, by rendering the study of it necessary to
the Canadian French, and a constant intercourse
with the emigrants could not fail, by rendering their
customs familiar, to have gradually led to their adop
tion. This change, though great in the first instance,
and no doubt repugnant to their feelings, would have
gradually recommended itself to the French, and by
the time a new generation had sprung up, all incon
venience would have ceased to be felt any longer.
The first fatal error that was committed was order
ing a code of laws to be prepared for the province,
with such modifications as would secure to the French
the system of tenure and inheritance, to which they
had been accustomed. This occasioned much delay,
and enabled their leaders to represent that any change
would alienate the affections of the inhabitants, who
would naturally extend to the government the dis
like that they felt to their institutions. Unfortu
nately, while this was under consideration, the time
had arrived when they could enforce their demands
with a threat, and the rebellion which shortly after
wards broke out in the English colonies (now con-

or C.4.NADA. 33
stituting the United States,) made their conciliation
become a matter of state policy. It w&s, therefore,
determined at once to restore the French laws as
they existed at the conquest, and the celebrated
Quebec Act, 14 Geo. 3, c. 83, was passed for that
purpose. This statute enacted, " that his Majesty's
subjects professing the religion of the Church of
Rome, in the said province of Quebec, may have,
hold and enjoy, the free exercise of their religion,
subject to the King's supremacy, and that the clergy
of the said church may hold, receive, and enjoy their
accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such
persons only as shall profess the said religion; and
that it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs or
successors, to make such provision for the support
of the Protestant clergy within Ihe said province, as
he or they shall from time to time think necessary
and expedient." But by far the most important
clause was that which, after reciting that the English
laws which had prevailed there for ten years, admi
nistered and regulated under commissions to gover
nors, had been found inapplicable to the state and
circumstances of the country, enacted that from and
after the \st of May,, 1775, the said English Jaws and
practice of courts should be annulled. It is true that
the criminal law of England was excepted, and that
the system of torture which had been in previous
existence was abolished' for ever. During the time
they were under French domination a person sus
pected of crime was seized, thrown into prison, and
interrogated, without knowing the charge brought
against him, and without being confronted vrith his
4

34 THE BUBBLES
?tccuser. He was deprived of the assistance either
of his friends, relations, or counsel. He was sworn
to tell the truth, or rather to accuse himself, without
any value being attached to his testimony. Ques
tions were then artfully put, which are described as
more difficult for innocence to unravel than vice to
deny. The prisoner was never confronted with the
person who had deposed against him, except at the
moment before judgment was pronounced, or when
the torture was applied, or at his execution, which
judgment in capital cases was invariably followed
by confiscation of property. This act also consti
tuted a council with the power to make ordinances,
conjointly with the governor, but not to impose
taxes except for making roads. The ordinances
were to be laid before his Majesty for allowance, and
those touching religion not to be in force until for
mally approved of by the King.
This flagrant violation of the promises held out in
the proclamation, and of the terms upon which the
people of British origin had settled in the provinces,
filled them with dismay. They felt that they had
the wretched choice presented to them of abandon
ing their property and removing from the colony,
or of remaining a miserable minority, to be ruled
and governed by foreigners, whose favour could only
be conciliated by their forgetting their country, their
language, and religion, as soon as possible, and be
coming Frenchmen. They accordingly lost no time
in forwarding petitions, in which they were joined "
by the merchants of London, interested in the North
American trade, to the king and the two houses of
parliament, expressive of their sense of the injury

OF CANADA. 33
they had sustained, and of the misery likely to be
entailed by this act upon the province, but no repeal
was effected, and the act remained as it was passed.
Importunity often prevails against conviction, and
the most noisy applicant is generally the first re
lieved, not because he is the most deserving, but be
cause he is the most troublesome.' The French Ca
nadians appear to have been fully aware of this fact,
and to have acted upon it; and the English finding
their opponents first in the field, have been put oii-
the defensive, and instead of seeking what was due
to themselves, have been compelled to expostulate
that too great a share has been given to their rivals.
The advantage gained by this position, the former
have constantly maintained ; and it is a singular fact,
that while the latter are the only aggrieved party in
the country, the former have forestalled the attention
of the public, and engrossed the whole of its sym
pathy. Every page ' of this work will confirm and
illustrate this extraordinary fact. The Quebec Act
was obnoxious, not merely to the British part5'- in
Canada, but to the inhabitants of those colonies
whose gallantry so materially contributed to its con
quest. It has been the singular fate of this unfortu
nate bill to have excited two rebellions. It caused
the cup of American grievance, which was already
filled to the brim, to overflow into revolt, and has
subsequently given rise to a train of events that have
induced the very men that it was designed to conci
liate, to follow the fatal example that had been set
to them by their republican neighbours.

36 THE BUBBLES

LETTER IV.
As soon as the struggle had ended in the old co
lonies, by their successful assertion of independence,
a vast emigration of the loyalists took place into Ca
nada, comprising a great number of persons of cha
racter and property; and these people who had been
accustomed to the exercise of the electoral privilege,
united with those of their countrymen who had pre
viously settled there in demanding a modification of
the Quebec Act, and the establishment of a local le
gislature. The petitions of these people gave rise to
the Act of the 31st Geo. 3, c. 31, commonly called
the Constitutional Act, to which and to the Quebec
Act, of the 14th of the same reign, c. 83, alluded to
in my former letter, is to be attributed all the trouble
experienced in governing Canada. In the fatal con
cessions to the Canadians contained in these Acts, is
to be found the origin of that anti-British feeling
which, engendered by the powers conferred by those
Acts, has increased with -every exercise of those
powers, until it has assumed the shape of concen
trated hatred and open rebellion. By this Act Canada
was divided into two provinces, respectively called
Upper and Lower Canada. The latter, to which all
my remarks will hereafter be confined, lies between
the parallels of the 45° and 52° of North latitude, and
the meridian of 57° 50' and 80° 6' West longitude
from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by the
territory of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the east

OF CANADA. 37
by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the south by New
Brunswick and part of the United States, and on the
west by a line that separates it from Upper Canada,
and contains more than 250,000 square miles.
To this country this celebrated Act gave a consti
tution, consisting of a Governor, and Executive
Council of eleven members, appointed by the Crown;
a Legislative Council, forming the second estate, ap
pointed in like manner by the Crown, consisting of
fifteen members, (but subsequently, as we shall see,
increased to forty;) and a Representative Assembly,
or House of Commons, composed of fifty members,
(afterwards increased to eighty-eight,) each having
powers as nearly analogous to those of King, Lords,
and Commons, as the varied circumstances of the
two. countries and the dependence of the colony
would admit.
The enacting power they bestowed upon the co
lony, introduced from j'ear to year another set of
statutes, in addition to what they were subject to al
ready, so that they now have a union of French,
English, and provincial law. Such a confusion, you
may easily imagine, imposed great difficulties, as well
upon those who had to administer, as those who were
bound to obey those laws; but of the extent of those
difficulties, of the impediments they offered to the
transfer of real estate, of the frauds to which they
gave rise, and the obstaQles they presented to the
settlement and prosperity of the country, it is im
possible for an Englishman to form any idea without
first inquiring into the structure of this singular
code. The subject, however, is too important to be
4«

38 THE BUBBLfcS
disposed of in this cursory manner, and I shall,
therefore, even at the hazard of being thought tedi
ous, endeavour to give you some general account of
the situation of the country in this particular. I am
the more induced to do so, because, independent of
the explanation which it will give of much that I
have to say to you, it appears to be indispensable to
the full understanding ofthe Tenures' Act, which is
now one of the great complaints of the disaffected.
There exists in Lower Canada no regular code in
which the laws of the land are systematically incor
porated, nor would it indeed be a task of ordinary
difficulty to collect and condense them, so diverse
are their elements, and so complex their character.*
The jurisprudence of the country may be said to em
brace the French, the English, and the Roman or
civil laws, and these are all so blended in practice,
that it is often doubtful whence the rule of decision
will be drawn, although the line of distinction is bet
ter defined in theory. The statute law of the pro
vince may be stated under five heads: — 1st, The ar
ticles of capitulation, that form part of the guarantied
rights of the inhabitants; 2d, The 31st Geo. III. cap.
31, or the constitutional act, and all other British
statutes expressly extending to the colonies; 3d, The
edicts, declarations, and ordinances of the Kings of
France officially registered in the province; 4th, The
ordinances of the governor and council anterior to
1792; and, 5th, The acts ofthe provincial legislature
subsequent to 1792. The common law is the cus-
? See Bouchette.

op CANADA. 39
tom of Paris as modified by the customs of the coun
try, and this law was co-extensive with the whole
province until the passing of the Canada tenures' bill
in 1825, which restricted the application of the
French law to the feudal section of the colony, and
introduced bodily the English laws to the remainder
of the province. The criminal law of the province
is the English code as it stood in 1774, and the sta
tutes of a declaratory or modifying nature that have
since passed the local legislature.
When the country was first settled by the French,
the feudal tenure was in full vigour on the continent
of Europe, and naturally transplanted by the colo
nizers to the new world. The King of France, as
feudal lord, granted to nobles and respectable fa
milies, or to officers of the army, large tracts of
land, termed seigniories, the proprietors of which
were termed seigniors; and held immediately from
the King en fief, or en roture, on condition of render
ing fealty and homage on accession to seigniorial
property ; and in the event of a transfer, by sale, or
gift, or otherwise (except in hereditary succession,)
the seigniory was subject to the payment of a quijit,
or fifth part of the whole purchase-money ; and
which, if paid by the purchaser- immediately, en
titled him to the rabat, ov a reduction of two-thirds
of the quint. The custom still prevails, the King
of Great Britain having succeeded to the claims of
the King of France.*
The position and extent of these seigniorial grants
are: —
? See Martin's 'Canada,' and House of Common Report.

40

THE BUBBLES

Territorial Division.

= =
Q bo

Extent of Seignorial
Grants.

Almsst unfit
for
cultivation in

Arpents.

Acres.

the Seignio
ries and Fiefs.

a-jebec, including Anti- )
cost! and other Isles, j
Montreal and Islands
Three Rivers and St. )
Francis, &;c. j
Gasps and Isles -

79
63
25 1

5,639,319 3,268,966
1,220,3081,547.086

5,650,699
2,786,011 1,039,707
1,318,117

2,600,000 500,000
400,000
600,000

168

12,676,679

10,800,534

4,100,000

Estimating the number of acres of Land in Lower
Canada under cultivation, at 4,000,000, it will be
perceived what a large portion of territory is em
braced under the seigniories.
Quints is a fifth-part of the purchase-money of an
estate held en fief which must be paid by the pur
chaser to the feudal lord, that is, to the King. If the
feudal lord believes ihe fief to be sold under value,
he can take the estate to himself by paying the pur
chaser the price he gave for it, with all reasonable
expenses. Reliefe is the rent or revenue of one year
for mutation fine, when an estate is inherited only
by collateral descent. Lads et ventes, are fines of
alienation of one-twelfth part of the purchase-mo
ney, paid to the seigneur by the purchaser, on the
transfer of property, in the sanne manner as quints
are paid to the King on the mutation oifief; and
are held en roture, which is an estate to which heirs
succeed equally. Franc aleu noble is a. fief; or free
hold estate, held subject to no seignorial rights or
duties, and acknowledging no lord but the King.
The succession to fiefs is different from that of pro-

or CANADA. 41
perty held en roture or by villainage. The eldest
son, by right, takes the chateau, and the yard ad
joining it; also an arpent ofthe garden joining the
manor house, and the mills, ovens, or presses with
in the seigniory, belong to him; but the profit arising
from these is to be divided among the other heirs.
Females have no precedence of right, and when
there are only daughters, the fief is equally divided
among them. When there are only two sons, the
eldest takes two-thirds of the lands, besides the cha
teau, mill, &c., and the younger, one-third. When
there are several sons, the elder claims half the
lands, and the rest have the other half divided
among them. Censive is an estate held in the feudal
manner, subject to the seigniorial fines or dues. All
the Canadian habitans, small farmers, are censitaires.
Property, according to the laws of Canada, is either
propre, that is held by descent, or acquits, which
expresses being acquired by industry or other
means. Community de bien is partnership in pro
perty by marriage ; for the wife, by this law, be
comes an equal partner in whatever the husband
possessed before and acquires after marriage, and
the husband is placed in the same position in re
spect to the wife's dowry property. This law
might operate as well as most general laws, if both
husband anA femme came to the finale of life on the
same day; but very unhappy consequences have
arisen when the one died before the other. For in
stance, when the wife dies before the husband, the
children may claim half of the father's property, as
heirs to the mother ; and the mother's relations have
often persuaded and sometimes compelled them so
to do.

42

THE BUBBLES

The dot or dowry, is the property which the
wife puts into the communit6 de bien : moveable or
immoveable property, falling to her by descent, is
a propre, and does not merge in the community.
Dower in Canada, is either customary or stipulate.
The first consists of half the property which the
husband was possessed of at the time of marriage,
and half of all the property which he may inherit
or acquire — of this the wife has the use for life, and
the children may claim it at her death. If they be
not of age, the wife's relations can take it out of
the father's hands for them, and may compel him to
sell his property to make a division. Stipulated
dower is a portion which the husband gives instead
of the customary dower.
Those farmers who hold land from the seigneur
en roture, and who are termed tenanciers or censi
taires do so subject to certain conditions, viz. : a
small annual rent from 2s. 6d. to 5s. (or perhaps
more of late years) for each arpent in front, to this
is added some articles of provision annually, ac
cording to the means of the farmer, who is also
bound to grind his corn at the moulin banal, or the
signeur's mill, when one-fourteenth is taken for the
loj'd's use as a mouture or payment for grinding-.
The lods e< ventes form another part of the signeur's
revenue: it consists of a right to one-twelfth part of
the purchase money of every estate within his
seigniory that changes its owner by sale or other
means equivalent to sale : this twelfth to be paid by
the purchaser, and is exclusive of the sum agreed*
on between the latter and the seller, and if prompt
ly paid, a reduction of one-fourth is usually made
(in the same manner as two-thirds of the quint due

OF CANADA. 43
to the crown is made.) On such an occasion a
privilege remains with the seigneur but seldom ex
ercised, called the droit de retrait, which confers the
right of pre-emption at the highest bidden price
within forty days after the sale has taken place.
All the fisheries within the seigniories contribute
also to the lord's income, as he receives of the fish
caught, or an equivalent in money for the same : the
seigneur is also privileged to fell timber any where
within his seigniory for the purpose of erecting
mills, constructing new or repairing old roads, or
for other works of public and general utility. In
addition to the foregoing obligations on the farmer,
he is, if a Roman Catholic, bound to pay to his cu
rate one twenty-sixth part of all grain produced,
and to have occasional assessments levied on him
for building and repairing churches, parsonage
houses, &c.
The duties of the seigneur to his tenants are also
strictly defined, — he is bound in some instances to
open roads to the remote parts of his fief, and to pro
vide mills for the grinding of the feudal tenants'
corn ; he cannot dispose by sale of forest lands, but
is bound to concede them, and upon his refusal to do
so, the applicant may obtain from the Crown the
concession he requires, under- the usual seigniorial
stipulations, in which case the rents and dues apper
tain to the King.
The soccage tenure, like the franc aleu roturier,
Jeaves the farmer or landholder wholly unshackled
by any conditions whatsoever as to rents, corvees,
mutation fines, banaleti (corn grinding obligation)
without in fact any other obligation than allegiance

44 THE BUBBLES
to the King, and obedience to the laws. The quan
tity of land thus granted in Lower Canada amounts
to upwards of 7,000,000 acres — while under the
seigniorial grants there are nearly 11,000,000 acres
held by a vast number of small proprietors.
It is very difficult to conceive how the statesman
who sanctioned the act that substituted this extraor
dinary code for that of England, could have imagined
it could ever be productive of any thing but discord
in a country inhabited by two races of different ori
gin and different language. Any person at all ac
quainted with the prejudices and passions that operate
on man, will easily understand that the French, jealous
of any innovation, are constantly suspicious of an
intention on the part of the English to infringe upon
their rights, and introduce their own system of ju
risprudence, to which they are accustomed and at
tached, instead of that which they neither under
stand nor approve; and, on the other hand, that the
English naturally an enterprising and commercial
people, find the feudal tenure an intolerable burden,
and spurn with indignation the idea of being sub
jected to the government of a race whom they have
conquered, and to the operation of laws, which
even the people with whom they originated, have
rejected as unsuited to the exigencies of the times.
In addition to this grievous error of establishing a
code of laws that exists nowhere else, three others
were committed of equal magnitude: first, in di
viding Canada into two provinces, and thus sepa
rating the French from the majority of the English :
secondly, in permitting the language of the courts.

or CANADA. 45
and the records of the legislature, to be French;
and, thirdly, in giving at so early a period, and be
fore the people were fitted to receive it, a constitu
tional government.
The concentrated settlement of the French along
the shores of the St. Lawrence necessarily excluded
the English emigrants from that fertile territory,
and compelled them to remove to the boirders of the
lakes. In addition to this obvious cause of their
not settling in the immediate neighbourhood of the
Canadians, it is evident that the nature of the feudal
tenure to which those lands were subject,, and the
introduction of French laws in direct contravention
of the proclanqation, rendered such a separation of
the two races inevitable. Under these circum
stances one would naturally have supposed that a
wise government would have endeavoured, as far as
possible, to counteract the tendency of these causes,
to alienate, as well as separate, these people of dif
ferent origin. But, alas, th? fatal principle of con
ciliation had now been adopted as the rule of action,
and the favourable opportunity of Anglifying the
colony and amalgamating the population, by iden
tifying the interests of both, was not only neglected,
but the most effectual mode was adopted to make the
distinction as marked and as permanent as possible.
Not content with this act of folly and injustice,
the French were intrusted with an almost exclusive
possession of the popular branch of the legislature,
and even constituted, at the same time, toll-keepers
to the adjoining province. Both the ports of Quebec
and Montreal were assigned to the French, and the
inhabitants of Upper Canada were thus cut off from
5

46 THE BUBBLES
all communication with the mother country, h\xl
such as might be granted by the Americans or their
Gallic neighbours. If the persons who framed that
act had compared the state of the revolted colonies
with that of Canada, and reflected that they were
settled nearly a century later than the other, they
certainly never would have attempted to do such in
justice as to subject the trade of another colony to
the exactions of an illiterate and prejudiced people.
If, however, the necessities of the times demanded
a sacrifice on this important point, surely they
should have paused before they gave them a con
stitutional government, and inquired whether they
were sufficiently intelligent to receive the institu
tions of a free and enlightened people. The expe
riment of constitutional government was never tried
by a people less quahfied for the task than the Ca
nadians. Until the conquest they may be said to have
known no other form of government than a despotic
one; few of them could read or write, and the ha
bits of implicit obedience in which they had been
trained to their superiors rendered them unable to
comprehend the nature of their own rights, or those
ofthe other branches ofthe legislature; The powers
exercised by the several French governors and in-
tendants knew no bounds ; and unrestrained by law,
their decisions were dictated by the caprice of the
moment. The inhabitants were compelled to serve
as soldiers without pay, in the frequent wars with the
English, and were treated with the greatest severity
by their superiors. The exactions of the military,
instead of being restrained, were encouraged, and

OF CANADA, 47
on all occasions the protection of the governor or
intendant was necessary to ensure success, while
merit in every instance was overlooked. Remon
strances against oppression had frequently been trans
mitted to the government in France, but were always
either suppressed or disregarded. Their character
at this period is thus drawn by the A,bb6 Raynal,
whose account, as his partiality must have been all
in their favour, I prefer as the most unobjectiona-
able. He observes :
" That those whom rural labour fixed in the coun
try, allowed only a few moments to the care of their
flocks and to other indispensable occupations during
winter. The rest of the time was passed in idleness
at public-houses, or in running along the snow and
ice in sledges, in imitation of the most distinguished
citizens. When the return of spring called them out
to the necessary labours of the field, they ploughed
tlie ground superficially, without ever manuring it,
sowed it carelessly, and then returned to their for
mer indolent manner of life till harvest time.
" This amazing negligence might be owing to se
veral causes. They contracted such a habit of idle
ness during the continuance of the severe weather,
(that labour appeared insupportable to them even in
the finest weather. The numerous festivals pre
scribed by their rehgion, which owed its increase
to their establishment, prevented the first exertion,
as well as interrupted the progress of industry..
Men are ready enough to comply with that species
of devotion that flatters their indolence. Lastly, a
passion for war, which had been purposely en
couraged among these bold and courageous men,
made them averse from the labours of husbandry.

48 THE BUBBLES
Their minds were so entirely captivated with mili
tary glory that they thought only of war, though
they engaged in it without pay.
" " The inhabitants of the towns, especially of the
capital, spent the winter as well as the summer in
a constant scene of dissipation. They were alike
insensible of the beauties of nature or of the plea
sures of the imagination. They had no taste for
arts or science, for reading or instruction. Their
only passion was amusement.
" There appeared in both sexes a greater degree
of devotion than virtue, more religion than probity ;
a higher sense of honour than real honesty. Su
perstition took place of morality, which will always
be the case whenever men are taught to believe
that ceremonies will compensate for good works,
and that crimes are expiated by prayers."
A greater folly can hardly be conceived than con
ferring a constitutional government upon a people
so situated. Wherever the experiment has been
tried, whether in France, in the republic of South
America, in Spain, in Portugal, Greece, Newfound
land, or Lower Canada, it has invariably failed.
The constitution of England, as it now exists, is the
growth of ages, and would have been as unsuitable
to our ancestors five hundred years ago as it is to
the Lower Canadians of the present day. Regard
must be had to the character and condition of the
people to whom such a form of government is of
fered. What may suit the inhabitants of England
may be, and is, very unsuitable to those of any other
country. It is not sufficient that the machinery be
good, but if we desire to avoid accidents and en
sure success, we must place skilful people in the

or CANADA. 49
management of it, who are thoroughly acquainted
with its power, and have a perfect knowledge of
its principle of action. The limited monarchy of
England, was found unsuited to America, although
the people were of British extraction, accustomed
to free institutions, and perfectly instructed in its
practical operation. They were so unfortunate as
not to possess any materials out of which to con
struct a House of Lords, and therefore so modified
their constitution as to meet the altered circum
stances of the country. This humble imitation is a
cheap article, and good of its kind, though badly
put together; but a better and more costly one
would not have corresponded with the limited
means and humble station of a poor people. Their
choice is a proof of their wisdom, and their having
the opportunity to choose, at a time of life when
they were able to make a judicious selection, is also
a proof of their good fortune. Had the Canadians
been called upon, at the time of the conquest, to
point out what government they would have pre
ferred, they would unquestionably have solicited
that of a single intendant ; they had never known
any other, and it was the only one for which they
were fitted. So strong, indeed, is the force of ha
bit, that rejecting the constitution, which they can-
pot understand, and do not appreciate, they have,
after a vain attempt to accommodate themselves to
it, resorted to the usage of former days, and (how
ever unfortunate they may have been in the cha
racter and conduct of the person they selected as
their leader,) have adopted the usage of their fore
fathers, and implicitly yielded their confidence and
obedience to one man. 5*

50 THE BUBBLES

LETTER V.

Having thus traced historically the measures of
government, from the conquest of the country to
the time when the Constitutional Act went into ope
ration in the province (26th December, 1791,) which
forms the first important epoch in the history of the
colony,. I shall divide the time that intervened be
tween that period and the present into four other
portions: Tfie second extends from the meeting of
the first provincial House of Assembly in December,
1792, to 1818, when a demand was made for a civil
-^^t; the third from thence to 1828, when the pre
tensions of the Assembly had assumed a distinct
and definite form, and were referred to a commit
tee of Parliament ; the fourth from thence to 1834,
"^hen a farther reference of additional grievances
was.made to another pariiamentary committee; and
the fifth from 1834 to the present period. Such a
4,ivision will elucidate the growth and increase of
those revolutionary principles (the natural and ob
vious result of such a form of government), which first
appeared in an insidious attempt to monopolize the
whqle civil power by such a complete control in
matters of legislation and finance as would render
.her Majesty's representative, and the LegisUtive
.Council, subservient to the interests, prejudices, and
passions of the French Canadian majority, and final
ly terminated in open rebellion. I do not mean by
this to affirm that all that has since transpired was

OP CANADA. 51
the result of a preconceived design, systematically
acted upon ; but as uncontrolled power was given by
the constitution to the French party, that these pre
tensions were the natural result of such a power,
and that they were unhesitatingly put forward as
soon as their leaders had become acquainted with
the working of the constitution, and aware that they
were invested with the means of imposing their own
terms upon government.
The first assembly met on the 17 th of December,
1792, and as the representation had been most in
judiciously based on the principle of population,
thirty-five out of the fifty members of this first
house were- French, and fifteen only Enghsh, a mi
nority too large and respectable to be suffered to
continue longer than to teach the majority the forms
of business, and we accordingly find, at a subse
quent period, that it was reduced to three. The
change from arbitrary to constitutional government
was so great, that the French were for some time
under the influence of those grateful feelings which
such a state of things so naturally engendered. In
one of their addresses to his Majesty, soliciting the
establishment of a legislature, they thus express
their sense of his mild and paternal government:
" Sir, — Your most obedient and faithful new sub
jects in the province of Canada take the liberty to
prostrate themselves at the foot of your throne, in
order to lay before you the sentiments of respect,
affection, and obedience towards your august per
son, with which their hearts overflow, and to return
to your Majesty their most humble thanks for your
paternal care of their welfare.
" Our gratitude obliges us to acknowledge, that

32 THE BUBBLES
jthe faithful appearances of conquest by your Ma
jesty's victorious arms did not long continue to ex
cite our lamentations and tears. They grew every
day less and less, as we gradually became more ac
quainted with the happiness of living under the wise
regulations of the British empire. And eyen in the
very moment of the conquest we were far from feel
ing the melancholy effects of restraint and captivi
ty; for the wise and virtuous general who conquered
sovereign who intrusted him with the command of
us, being a worthy representative of the glorious
his armies, left us in possession of our laws and cus
toms; the free exercise of our religion was preserved
to us, and afterwards was confirmed by the treaty
of peace; and our own former countrymen were
appointed judges of our disputes concerning civil
matters. This excess of kindness towards us we
shall never forget. These generous proofs of the
clemency of our benign conqueror will be carefully
preserved in the annals of our history ; and we shall
transmit them from generation to generation to our
remotest posterity. These, Sir, are the pleasing
ties by which, in the beginning of our subjection to
your Majesty's government, our hearts were so
strongly bound to your Majesty; ties which can
never be dissolved, but which time will only strength
en and draw closer."
Impressed with a sense of the benefits conferred
upon them by this great change, tramelled by par
liamentary forms with which they were wholly un
acquainted, and not yet aware ofthe unlimited means
of annoyance, if not of control, with which they
were invested, we find them for some time proceed
ing with decorum and moderation. But there were

OF CANADA. 63
not wanting those in the colony who were filled
with alarm at the sight of the first Canadian as
sembly, which, even with the largest minority ever
known, contained a majority of more than twice as
many Frenchmen as Englishmen, and possessed
the power to increase that majority at its plea
sure. Even those whose faith in the operation of
British institutions, had led them to hold a different
opinion as to the result, were constrained to admit
their error, when they found the house proceeding
to choose a speaker, who admitted his inability to
express himself in English (a precedent of choosing
that officer from the majority, which has ever since
been followed,) and also resorting to the expensive
mode of recording their proceedings in their own
language. They perceived with grief that the na
tural tendency of those things, instead of stimu
lating the new subjects'to tlje_study of constitutional
law in its original sources, was to force English
men to study French, and in no small degree to be
come Frenchmen, and coalesce with the nation Ca-
nadienne, to give a complete ascendency to those
of foreign origin, their laws, language, and charac
teristics, in the popular branch of the legislature,
and to encourage in the leiaders, at a future day,
that exclusive ambition that now distinguishes them.
They could not fail, also, to draw an unfavourable
contrast between this extraordinary concession,
and the more provident conduct of the American
Congress, which, while admitting the territory of
Louisiana, inhabited by Frenchmen, as one of the
states of the confederation, enacted that all minutes
of proceedings in the court and legislature of their
sister state should be exclusively recorded in the

54 THE BUBBLES
language of the constituency of the United States.
Thig judicious enactment ha« naturally made the
study of the English tongue a primary object with
the Louisianians, and though in numbers, at the time
pf admission, they were about half the amount of
the Canadians in 1791, they now generally speak
or understand English, and have changed their old
laws for a new code, while the legislature and peo
ple of Canada remain as much French as the inha
bitants of Normandy.
It was felt that, as far as Englishmen and their de
scendants were concerned, this constitution was a
mere delusion. At a very early period we find them
putting in practice that manoeuvre, which became so
cornmon afterwards, of absenting themselves from
the house, when measures were to be considered
to which they were averse, and thereby compelling
the speaker to adjourn the de'(iate for want of a quo
rum. This first House oT Assembly, after four ses
sions, terminated on the 4th of May, 1796. The
conduct of the memlsers, though respectful both to
*he governor and the other branchof the legislature,
gave evident proof that they would afford no en
couragement to English commerce or English
settlers. The principle adopted and acted upon
most pertinaciously was to avoid direct assessment,
and throw all public burdens, as well as local
charges, upon the revenue, to be derived from du
ties levied off of trade. It was in some measure
owing to chance, but mainly to the influence of the
governor, that a road act, so important to the coun
try, which imposed a moderate contribution of mo
ney or labour on the people, for the improvement of
their property, was carried through the Assembly,

OP CANADA. 55
But an appeal to the passions and prejudices of the
people by their embryo demagogues was so success
ful on this occasion, in representing this necessary
act as the commencement of foreign taxation and
English oppression, that they attempted to starve
out the inhabitants of Quebec and Montreal, by with
holding all the usual supplies of food. A bankrupt
law was refused to the request of the merchants, and
they also declined to sanction " An Act to Amend
the Laws, Customs, and Usages in force in the Pro
vince, relative to the Tenure of Lands, and the rights
derived therefrom," refusing to make the smallest
sacrifice to what they called the cupidity of English
landholders, and the prejudices of American settlers.
So peremptory, indeed, was the refusal, thajt the fac
tion was considered decisive as to any innovation
upon the French laws, which, with the feudal te
nures of lands, were cherished as the means of de
terring emigrants from seeking an asylum in'the pro
vince; thus rendered French in fact, though British
in name. During the existence of this house, also,
is to be found the first pretension to encroach on the
right of the Crown, in an inquiry into the forfeited
lands of the Jesuits, and a claim for their restoration
to French control. It is, however, worthy of re
mark, as forming a complete contrast with recent
conduct, that of eleven acts sanctioned at the end of
the session, all were permanent but one.
Thus, my. dear friend, do you see that the causes
of the present posture of affairs are to be traced back
to a very early period, not as my Lord Durham has
asserted, to misgovernment of the Canadians, but to
inconsiderate concessions, which though designed to

56 THE BUBBLES
conciliate them, have not only signally failed of
their object, but been productive of mischief to them
selves, and incalculable injury to the colony. That
this is the view that impartial men take of the sub
ject, appfears from the following extract from the
work of a distinguished foreigner, the author of the
Resources of America:*
"The unwise act of Lord Grenville, passed through
Parliament in the year 1794, permitting the people
of Lower Canada to conduct their pleadings and pro
mulgate their laws in the French language, has pre
vented them from ever becoming British, and so far
weakened the colony as an outwork of the mother
country. It has always been the policy of able con
querors, as soon as possible, to incorporate their van
quished subjects with their own citizens, by giving
them their own language and laws, and not suffer
ing them to retain those of their pristine dominion.
These fvere among the most efiicient means by
which ancient Rome built up and established her
empire over the whole world; and these were the
most efiicient aids by which modern France spread
her dominion so rapidly over the continent of Eu
rope. While Lower Canada continues to be French
in language, religion, laws, habits, and manners, it is
obvious that her people will not be good British
subjects; and Britain may most assuredly look to the
speedy loss of her North American colonies, unless
she immediately sets about the establishment of an
able statesman-like government there, and the di
rection thitherward of that tide of emigration from
* Bristow.

OF CANADA. 57
her own loins, which now swells the strength and
resources of the United States. Her North Ameri
can colonies gone, her West India islands will soon
follow." The second House of Assembly was opened on
the 25th of January, 1797, and ended in 1801. The
privilege of participating in the legislative power of
the country for four years, had awakened the mem
bers to a sense of their own importance, and the Ca
nadian French to a knowledgeof their supremacy; and
they accordingly returned a more democratic house
than the preceding, and representatives pledged to
an exclusive devotion to the interests of their own
party. The prejudices awakened by the Road Act,
and the fraternising doctrines of the French revolu
tion, contributed also to produce this result. It is
true the minority were only reduced to fourteen; but
the attorney-general was defeated as a candidate for
the county of Quebec, and several influential mem
bers of the late house shared a similar fate; so that
although the numerical proportions were nearly si
milar, the British interest was evidently already on
the decline.
A manifest change had taken place in the feelings
of the different branches of the legislature. The
governor, acting on the defensive, no longer pro
posed measures of internal improvement, which he
knew would provoke angry discussions, or be met
with a refusal; but relied more upon the Legislative
Council, which alone represented or protected Bri
tish interests, while the house, finding that tempo .
rary acts had a direct tendency to lessen the influ -
ence and independence of the executive, disconti
6

58 THE BUBBLES
rtued the practice of passing permanent laws. Tc
remedy the evil of having so many prejudiced and
illiterate members in the assembly, it was proposed
by the minority to establish a qualification, which,.
although it could not possibly increase their own
numbers, it was hoped might at least have the ad
vantage of affording them more liberal and enlight
ened colleagues; but this measure, like all others in
troduced by them, was considered of foreign origin,
and excluded accordingly. The majority, however,
though pertinacious, still preserved appearances, and
as the minority felt themselves unequal to procure
the passage of any bill, either of internal improve
ment or for the facilitating the foreign trade, they
forbore to provoke the discussion, and preferred
using their influence to the mere preservation of
what few privileges were left to them. The third
provincial parliament began on the 1st of January,
ISOI, and terminated, after five sessions, on the 2d
of May, 1804. The temper of this house, and the
proportion of its parties, were similar to that of the
last. Among the topics insisted upon in the governor's
speech, was a recommendation for a grant of money
for free schools for the instruction of the rising gene
ration in the first rudiments of useful learning, and
in the English tongue; and it was noticed with feel
ings of grief, though not with surprise, that the house,
in their reply, omitted the words " Enghsh tongue,"
and shortly afterwards applied the commentary by
a vote for the purchase of " French books," for
the use of the members. Although there were not
a few of their number who were unfortunately

OF CANADA. 50
incapable, from a deficiency of education, of using
them, yet it was evident that there existed as little
inclination to adopt the language, as there was to
introduce the laws of Great Britain.
In accordance with this spirit of preference foi-
French laws, an act was passed to revive the ser-
ment d^cisoire, or oath by which, under certain
circurastances, a debtor may be permitted to clear
himself of a commercial debt, by simply swearing
to its having been paid and satisfied, without even
stating the time or place of payment; an act which
has been described as a most prolific source of
fraud and perjury, and deeply injurious to the mer
cantile interests of the country, as well as to the
character of the people. Such, indeed, was the
jealousy of the majority of the English, that they
were not inclined to pass even those laws, which
had an exclusive application to them and their te
nures. Thus a bill was introduced for registering
deeds of lands in free and common soccage, which
only affected the English, but it met with the custo
mary fate of all such attempts.
Tlie leaders began now to affect to perceive a
latent danger in every act of the government, and
a bill requiring rectors, curates, and priests to read
certain laws after divine service, was denounced
as opening a door for exercising an influence ox^er
the clergy; and an effort was made to introduce in
their stead the captains of militia, which was only
relinquished to avoid the awkward admission that
too many of those officers were deficient in the ne
cessary qualification to perform the duty. The
great increase of the trade ofthe province at this time,
in consequence of the war, so far from exciting the

60 THE BUBBLES
emulation of the French, and stimulating them to
participate in its advantages, awakened their jea
lousy, and they stigmatized it as the parent of drime,
the source of undue distinctions, and the means of
filling the country with persons of foreign origin.
They not only declined in any way to aid its exten
sion, but imposed taxes upon it for all those objects
that elsewhere in America are provided for by local
assessment. Such conduct could not fail to retard
the improvement of the country, by preventing the
investment of capital, and discouraging enterprise;
and that it had this effect is evident from the slow
growth of Lower Canada, when compared with
that ofthe adjoining colony, where a different system
prevailed. The fourth house of assembly met on the
llth January, 1805, and terminated, after four ses
sions, on the 14th April, 1808.
The pressure of the feudal tenure becoming daily
more and more severely felt by the inhabitants of
the cities, two unsuccessful attempts were now made
to obtain some mitigation of it. The first was a
bill to abohsh the retrait lignager, or right of re
demption by the relations of seignoral lands. Any
relation, it was stated, of the seller, if of the same
line, from whence the property descended, may,
within a year and a day, by this law, take it from
the purchaser of the property, on condition of re
turning the price. A person, therefore, buying a
lot of land for one hundred pounds, and expending
upon it one thousand in buildings, may be deprived
of the whole, by a relation of the seller* refunding
* See " Political Annals ;" also Canadian Magazine.

or CANADA. 61
the original purchase-money, buildings not being
considered necessary expenses. "
The second was " a bill to enable the seigneurs
to compound for their feudal rights and dues with
their vassals and censitaires." This was particularly
intended as a relief against the discouraging effects
of lods and vents, by which the twelfth part of the
labour and expense of erecting buildings (however
expensive) on ground, subject to the imposition, is
for the benefit of the seigneur. These bills, how
ever, hke all that had preceded them, for similar
purposes, did not receive a second reading, nor was
any remedy appKed until the Imperial Parliament
interfered nearly twenty years afterwards. To
show, however, the nature of the change which
these leaders were disposed to patronise, they voted
£750 for translating Hatsell's Parliamenatry Pro
ceedings into French, and to rebut the charge of
their aversion to internal improvement, and, to show
they were not inattentive to the 'agricultural pros
perity of the province, they passed a bill enjoining
the application of tar to apple trees for the destruc
tion of caterpillars. From a body thus constituted
little good could be expected. The merchants and
other British subjects resident in Canada, finding all
attempts in the legislature useless, appealed, through
the medium of the press, to the sympathies of the
English public. They contfended that if the support
of the civil government were not to rest on direct
taxes, it should at least be secured by permanent
acts of indirect taxation — that local establishments,
such as court-houses, jails, and houses of correction,
should be defrayed by assessments on the districts

62 THE BUBBLES
for whose benefit they were required, and that re
course should be had to indirect taxes of temporary
duration, only for the general improvement of the
country in its internal communications with the
adjoining states and colonies, or its agriculture and
commerce. This was denounced by the demagogues of the
day as an attack upon the liberties of the subject ;
and certain toasts at a pubhc dinner, approving of
those commercial and financial views of the mino
rity, were voted to be an insult to the majesty of
the house, and warrants were issued against the
printers, who were taken into custody, and com
pelled to apologisie for their conduct.* It is worthy
* That "our oppressed and enslaved brethren in Canada" knew
how to vindicate theraselves, and entertained just notions on the
subject of the liberty of the press, will appear frora a perusal of
the toasts that called down the indignation of tlie house, and oc
casioned the issuing of warrants to apprehend the president ofthe
social meetings that sanctioned, and the printers that dared to
disseminate such wicked doctrines.
1. The honourable members ofthe legislative council, who were
friendly to constitutional taxation as proposed by our worthy mera
bers in the House of Assembly.
2. Our representatives in provincial parliament, who proposed
u. constitutional and proper mode of taxation, for building jails,
and who opposed a tax on commerce for that purpose, as contrary
to the sound practice of the parent state.
3. May our representatives be actuated by a patriotic spirit for
the good of the province, as dependant on the British empire, and
divested of local prejudices.
4. Prosperity to the agriculture and commerce of Canada, and
raay they aid each other as their true interests dictate, by sharing
a due proportion of advantages and burdens.
5. The city and county of Montreal, and the grand juries of tlie
district, who recommended local assessment for local purposes.
6. May the city of Montreal be enabled to support a newspaper,

OF CANADA. 63
of remark, that at this time the first attempt was
made to procure a drawback of duties on articles
that were exported after having first paid a duty ;
but, as usual, it failed in a body whose whole spirit
was anti-commercial. These instances are ad
duced, not for their intrinsic importance, but as
illustrative of the question proposed by me for your
consideration in my first letter, whether disaffec
tion has not given rise to , grievances, rather than
grievances to disaffection. Having now tasted the
sweets of power in the punishment of the printers,
the house commenced a system of high-handed
measures with any person who obstructed their
views; and followed it up by reihoving from the
house all persons attached to the executive, and
impeaching others holding high official stations, in
the hope that, by representing the adherents of go
vernment as enemies to the country, the affections
of the people would be gradually ahenated from
their rulers, and ultimately prepare them to join in
those measures of forcible resistance, which now,
for the first time, appear to have been contem
plated. The first experiment was made by the
expulsion from the house, contrary to the constitu
tional act, of Ezekiel Hart, on account of his pro
fessing the Jewish religion. This measure naturally
alarmed the British inhabitants, and gave them a
melancholy foreboding of the events that were in
reserve for them. The violent language of debate,
though deprived of its natural and useful advantages, apparently
for the benefit of an individual.
7. May the commercial interests of this province have its due
influence on the administration of its government.

64 THE LOBBLES
the constant appeal to popular prejudice, the undis
guised anti-English feeling of the legislative dema
gogues, and the seditious and revolutionary lan
guage ofthe "Canadian" newspaper, devoted to
their interests, left no room to hope that the consti
tution could long work, in such unskilful and un
principled hands. The fifth provincial parliament
was opened by Sir James Craig on the 10th of
April, 1809, when their attention was called to the
unsettled state of affairs with the Americans, and
they were required to consider of such means as
might be necessary to place the province in a pos
ture of defence. Instead of proceeding, according
to the urgency of the case, to deliberate on this
pressing emergency, they commenced by an attack
on the judges, and devising the means of removing
them from the legislature; and manifested so much
heat in their proceedings, and such a disrespectful
inattention to the subject submitted to them, that,
after five weeks wasted in angry discussions, the
governor was under the necessity of expressing his
displeasure by a dissolution. On meeting the sixth
parliament, which assembled on the 29th of Janu
ary, 1810, he informed them that he was instructed
to assent to any bill for rendering the judges, in fu
ture, ineligible to seats in the house of assembly, in
which the two houses should concur. This house,
though a little moderated in tone by the firmness
exhibited in dissolving them, were not to be di
verted from its schemes of ambition ; and now, for
the first time, was developed that deep-laid plan,
which has since so signally succeeded, of placing
every officer of the government at the mercy of the

OF CANADA. 65
popular branch, and rendering the arm of the exe
cutive perfectly powerless. On the 10th of Febru
ary they resolved, most unexpectedly, " that this
house will vote" in this session the necessary sums
for defraying the civil expenses <)i the government
of this province." Animated by the prosperous
state of the revenue, in consequence of the Ame
rican embargo, the opportunity was considered a
favourable one, by assuming the civil list, to get a
control over the ofiicers of government, who, being
servants of the imperial state as well as the colony,
would, by this measure, be at the mercy of the
house, which would thus become alike independent
of foreign or domestic control. As long as. the ex
penditure of the civil establishment exceeded the
revenue, derived from taxes on commerce, their
liberality was content to permit the deficiency to
be supplied by pariiament; but now that the trea
sury was more than adequate to the task, they
thought that a voluntary offer of this kind would
throw the government off of its guard, and be pro-
balily accepted. The governor at once penetrated
'their designs, and very prudently and properly an
swered, that it would be necessary to have the
concurrence ofthe legislative council, "in a matter
in which, not merely as a co-ordinate branch of the
legislature, but as composed of individuals having
a large stake in the country it was interested ;" but
that he would transmit to his Majesty their address
as a proof of their ability and their willingness to
provide for the civil expenditure when called upon
so to do.

06 THE BUBBLES

In this year (1810) the treasury receipts were,
£70,398 13 7
And the expenditure, .... 58,564 14 3

Leaving a clear surplus revenue of 11,833 19 4
A bill disqualifying tbe judges was passed, and
sent to the legislative council, who agreed to it,
with a clause suspending its operation to the end of
the present house of assembly. Anxious to show
their contempt of the legislative council, and for
getful, as well of the respect due to the representa
tive of the King, as of constitutional rights, they
immediately expelled the judges by resolution, as
they had previously done Mr. Hart, leaving the go
vernor in the dilemma of sanctioning the act by is
suing new writs for elections, or of dissolving the
house. It is needless to say that he adopted the
latter course, and appealed again to the sense of
the public. But here, unhappily, there was no pub
lic opinion to appeal to, which, in the words of a
very able provincial writer,* is explained: — "by
the peculiar habits of thought and character, which
distinguish the French Canadians. These habits
and character, originally formed by the despotic
government, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, of
Louis the Fourteenth of France, induced the French
Canadian population chiefly to regard the immedi
ate agents of authority, who came in daily or fre
quent contact with them, by oral command or com
munication. Thus, long after the conquest, the
lowest agent of authority had only to present him
self, in the name of the King, to be instantly obey-
• Mr. Flemming.

OF CANADA. 67
ed. It was not a king, a governor, a general, a
judge, or a bishop, with whom they had personal
communication; these awful authorities they sur
veyed at a distance, with due reverence; but their
immediate obedience was considered as due to a
seigneur, a justice of peace, an officer of militia, a
bailiff, and a cure, or priest. When the British
Parliament, therefore, established a house of assem
bly, the members of that newly constituted authori
ty, though chosen by themselves, were admitted to
a great share ofthe habitual submission which their
constituents were accustomed to pay to every agent
of authority, who came into immediate contact with
them. By the new constitution, the habitants, in
fact, supposed that they were commanded by the
governor, at every election, to choose rulers over
themselves; and, having once chosen them, they
readily admitted them to great authority and influ
ence over their opinions and conduct. Believing
this to be the disposition of the ignorant peasantry
of Lower Canada, we can have no difficulty in sup
posing that what, in a free and intelligent commu
nity, is properly called Public Opinion, is in this
province merely the effect of the opinions of the im
mediate agents of authority, including the members
of the assembly, operating upon the natural desires
of a people attached to the laws, language, habits,
manners, and prejudices of their French ancestors.
The immediate agents of authority, therefore, who
interfere the least with those characteristics, will be
the most favoured by them. We flatter ourselves
that these explanations have enabled our readers to
recognise the influence which predominated at the

(38 THE BUBBLES
new election in April, 1810. The sovereign was a
Protestant king of a Protestant nation; the governor
was a Protestant, as was the majority of his execu
tive council; the majority of the legislative council
was also Protestant, and partly composed of per
sons in oflice, who received salaries. On the other
hand, the members of the dissolved assembly were
persons who professed the Romish religion, who
held no lucrative oflice under the government, and
who had been chosen as friendly to their civil and
religious rights, and opposed to every measure
which could disturb the routine of their hereditary
labours and enjoyments. Indolent, particularly in
mind, they could not analyze the conduct of their
representatives, and discriminate the parts which
belonged to inordinate and selfish ambition, from
those which might be ascribed to zeal for their ser
vice. The old members were so confident of the
effects of those characteristics of their constituents,
that they derided every doubt of re-election."
These expectations were justified by the event.
The new and seventh house, assembled on the 12th
of December, 1810, and the English minority were
now reduced to nine members. In the interim. Sir
James Craig, and the supporters of his government,
were continual objects of obloquy and ridicule, and
reports of the disapprobation of his conduct, and of
his speedy recall and disgrace by his Majesty, were
fabricated, as a means of enlisting the peasantry on
the side of those who were determined systemati
cally to oppose the King's representative, whenever
he would not consent to become the tool of their
ambition.

or CANADA. 69
The seditious and revolutionary doctrines disse
minated through " the Canadian," a paper devoted
to this purpose, induced the governor to seize the
press and imprison the conductors, and we are pro
bably indebted to this firm and decided measure, and
to the determination* manifested in these two suc-
* The nature of the arts used by the demagogues to inflame
the minds, and alienate the affections of the peasantry, wiU ap
pear from the following extracts from the governor's proclama
tion: " It is true, the most base and diabolical falsehoods are indus
triously promulgated and disseminated. In one part it is an
nounced as my intention to imbody and make soldiers of you,
and that having applied to the late house of representatives to en
able me to assemble twelve thousand of you for that purpose, and
they having declined to do so, I had therefore dissolved them. This
is not only directly false, such an idea never having entered into
my mind, nor the slightest mention, having ever been made of it;
but it is doubly wicked and atrocious, because it has been ad
vanced by persons who must have been supposed to speak with cer
tainty on the subject, and was therefore the more calculated to
impose upon you. In another part you are told that I wanted to
tax your lands, and that the late house of assembly would conseiit
only to tax wine, and upon that account, I had dissolved the house.
Inhabitants of St. Denis ! this is also directly false ; I never had
the most distant idea of taxing you at all; such had never been
for a moment the subject of my deliberations, and when the late
house offered to pay the civil list, I could not have taken any step
in a matter of such importance without the King's instructions,
and therefore it vvas still long before we came to the consideration
of how it was to be paid. In truth, not one word was ever, to my
knowledge, mentioned on the subject.
" In other parts, despairing of producing instances from what
I have done, recourse is had to what I intend to do, and it is bold
ly told you that I mean to oppress you.
" For what purpose should I oppress you? Is it to serve the
King? Will that monarch, who during fifty years has never is
sued one order, that had you for its object, that was not for your
benefit and happiness, — will he now, beloved, honoured, adored by
7

70 THE BUBBLES
cessive dissolutions of the assembly to the subdued
and altered tone of their debates. It is observable
that in their reply to his speech, they admit the fact
here contended for, and which they have since so
strenuously denied. " That harmony and a good
understanding so conducive to the prosperity and
happiness of the colony, are more diflicult to be
maintained in this province than in any other of
his Majesty's colonies, from the difference in opi
nions, customs, and prejudices of his Majesty's sub
jects residing therein." The prompt check inter
posed by the executive to the violation of constitu
tional rights, in the expulsion of the judges* had the
his subjects, covered with glory, descending into the vale of years,
accompanied with the prayers and blessings of a grateful people,
— will he, contrary to the tenor of a whole life of honour and vir
tue, now give orders to his servants to oppress his Canadian sub-»
jects? It is impossible that you can for a moment believe it. You
will spurn from you with just indignation the miscreant who will
suggest such a thought to you.
" These personal allusions to myself, these details, in any other
case, might be unbecoming, and beneath me ; but nothing can be
unbecoming, or beneath me, that can tend to save you from the
gulf of crime and calamity into which guilty raen would plunge
you." — See Christie''s ' Canada.'
* Nothing can bo more painful and humiliating than the situa
tion of the judges of Lower Canada since this period. They have
been kept in a state of great pecuniary distress by the house with
holding their salaries, and their peace of mind destroyed by the
most unfounded attacks on their character. If an attorney be de
tected in fraudulent proceedings, and punished, or be dissatisfied
with a judgment of the court, the judge is at once impeached
amidst the plaudits of the house. After preliminary proceedings
and an opportunity offered of abuse, the proceedings are generally
dropt on the g.round that government is partial and corrupt. By
a singular fatality, every man that accuses a judge finds it a step
to preferment. Judge Vallieres was the accuser of Judo-e Kerr

OP CANADA. 71
desired effect, and they now passed a bill to dis
qualify them, to which the governor assented, as he
said, " with pecuhar satisfaction, not only because
I think the matter right in itself, but because I con
sider passing an act for the purpose as a complete
renunciation of an erroneous principle, which put
me under the necessity of dissolving the last parlia
ment." Feeling that nothing was to be gained from
such a man by intimidation, they proceeded to the
usual business with more decency of conduct and
more despatch, than had characterized any session
since the constitutional act had gone into operation.
In the mean time, Sir George Provost arrived to
take the command of the government, and we are
indebted to the determined attitude assumed by his
predecessor, to the hereditary hatred borne by the
Canadians to the Americans, to the fear they enter
tained of passing into the hands of an uncompro
mising people, and to the large sum expended upon
the imbodied mihtia, that they did not then avail them
selves of the opportunity of throwing off the depen
dence, which it has since been their unceasing object
toeffect. But though theirattention was in some mea
sure directed to the protection of their property from
the common enemy, they did not fail to convince
impartial men, by their conduct, that they were pre
serving the country for themselves, and not for the
empire, of which they then formed a part, by the for
tune of war and not from choice. To bring the go
on charges sixteen years old. Philip Parrot, a party and witness
thereto, was made a judge in 1832. Ebenezer Peck, who brought
charges against Judge Fletcher, was presented with a silk gown
in 1832. And A. Quesnel, the same. See ' Canada Question ' for
more particulars.

72. THE BUBBLES
vernment ofthe country into contempt, it was neces
sary to impugn the integrity of the bench and the
impartial administration of the law, and they there
fore impeached the judges; and when the governor,
whose liberal patronage had hitherto shielded him
from attack, declined to suspend these functiona
ries till the result of their complaint should be known,
and refused to make their punishment precede their
trial, they resolved " that his excellency the go
vernor-in-chief, by his answer to the address of the
house, had violated the constitutional rights and pri
vileges thereof."
Sufficient has now been said to show you that
the evils of Canada have their origin in the defects
of the constitutional act, which by substituting
French for English laws, by securing to them an
overwhelming majority in the assembly, and in se
parating them from Upper Canada, have had the
effect of making them a French and not an English
colony. National antipathies, added to a difference
in religion, laws, and language, have contributed to
engender and foster a feeling of hostility between
the two races, until it has found vent in open colli
sion. It would exceed the limits I have assigned
to myself to review the proceedings of each sepa
rate house : suffice it to say, that the system of per
secution, the commencement of which I have ex
hibited in the foregoing pages, was subsequently
pursued with unremitting zeal. Having driven the
judges from the house, (though they failed in their
impeachment,*) they succeeded in extorting from
* "The administrator-in-chief has received the commands of his
Royal Higness the Prince Regent, to make known to the house

OF CANADA. 73
government their discharge from the council. They
then vacated the seats of executive counsellors by
the unconstitutional mode of resolution, and finding
of assembly ofthis province his pleasure, on the subject of certain
charges preferred by that house against the chief justice of the
province, and the chief justice of the Court of King's Bench for
the district of Montreal.
" With respect to such of those charges as relate to acts done
by a former governor of the province, which the assembly, as
suming to be improper or illegal, imputed, by a similar assump
tion, to advice given by the chief justice to that governor, his
Royal Highness has deemed that no inquiry could be necessary,
inasmuch as none could be instituted without the admission ofthe
principle, that the governor of a province might, at his own dis
cretion, divest himself of all responsibility, on points of political
government. " With a view, therefore, to the general interests of the province,
his Royal Highness was pleased to refer for consideration to the
lords of the privy council such only of the charges brought by
the assembly as related to the rules of practice established by
the judges in their respective courts, those being points upon
which, if any impropriety had existed, the judges themselves were
solely responsible.
" By the annexed copy of his Royal Highness's Order in
Council, dated the 29th June, 1815, the administrator-in-chief
conveys to the assemb'y the result of this investigation, which has
been conducted with all that attention and solemnity which the
importance ofthe subject required.
" In making this communication to the assembly, it now be
comes the duty of the administrator-in chief, in obedience to the
commands of his royal highness the Prince Regent, to express the
regret with which his royal highness has viewed their late pro
ceedings against two persons who have so long and so ably filled
the highest judicial offices in the Colony, u circumstance the more
to be deplored as tending to disparage, in the eyes of the inconsi
derate and ignorant, their character and services, and thus to di
minish the influence to which, from their situation and their uni
form propriety of conduct, they are justly entitled.
7*

74 THE BUBBLES
there was no means of controlling their power, pro
ceeded by repeated expulsions to drive out a mem
ber, for advice offered to the governor in a ministe
rial capacity ; and reprimanded another officer for
legal opinions given to the executive in the usual
course of his profession. Every thing was done
that ingenuity could devise, not only to weaken the
influence of government, but to represent that in
fluence as unfriendly to the country and prejudi
cial to its interests. Nothing, however, occurred
until the year 1818, to bring them into direct colli
sion with the mother country, until Sir John Sher
brooke demanded that they should provide for the
civil expenses of the province.
" The above communication, embracing such only of the charges
preferred against the said chief justices as relate to the rules of
practice, and as are grounded on advice assumed to have been
given by the chief justice of the province to the late Sir James
Craig, the administrator-in-chief, has been farther commanded to
signify to the assembly, that the other charges appeared to his
Majesty's government to be, with one exception, too inconsidera
ble to require investigation, and that that, (namely the one
against the chief justice of the court of King's Bench for the
district of Montreal, which states him to have refused a writ of
habeas corpus,) was, in common with all the charges which do
not relate to the rules of practice, totally unsupported by any evi
dence whatever. (Signed) Gordon Drummond,
Administrator- in-Chief."

OF CANADA. 75

LETTER VI.

The opportunity had now arrived that designing
men had so craftily sought for, of fastening a quar
rel upon the government, of involving it in a defence
of its officers, and of making their promised com
pliance a condition for obtaining any change that
might be thought conducive to the great ends of
weakening British influence. After discussions,
first on the gross amount to be granted, and then
on the specific appropriation, had excited and con
solidated the party, they took the higher ground of
disputing the right of the crown to those revenues
which were secured to it by permanent grants. In
order that you may clearly understand the question,
it is necessary to state that the public income of
Lower Canada arises from three sources : —
1st. The crown duties, levied under the British sta
tute of the 14 Geo. III., or the imperial act of 3
Geo. IV.
2d. Provincial duties, payable in virtue of local
laws, proceeding immediately from the provincial
legislature, or rendered permanent without their
consent, by the last-mentioned imperial act.
3d. The Queen's casual and territorial revenue,
which arises from her Majesty's landed property ;
namely, the Jesuits' estates, the Queen's posts, the
forges of St. Maurice, the Uueen's wharf, droit de
quents, lods and vents, land fund, and timber fund.
With respect to crown duties, levied under 14

76 THE BUBBLES
Geo. III., until they were unwisely surrendered in
1831, they were, with the territorial revenue, con
trolled and dispensed by her Majesty's responsible
servants, while those levied under the imperial act
of 3 Geo. IV., and all provincial acts, have always
been under the disposal of the legislature. As the
crown duties, levied under the 14 Geo. III., had ge
nerally, if not always, been inadequate to the support
of the civil government and the administration of
justice. Sir John Sherbrooke was instructed, in
pursuance of the general system of retrenchment
adopted throughout the empire, to call upon the le
gislature to appropriate, out of the provincial duties,
a sum equal to the annual deficiency. To this rea
sonable request they have manifested a uniform re^
pugnance, sometimes granting it, always object
ing, and, finally, refusing altogether. They al
leged now, for the first time, that the crown duties
were illegal, inasmuch as the statute under which
they were levied had been repealed. The reason
of their making this objection was, because the pro
ceeds were not under their control, and their object
was to make the executive dependent upon them
for its support, by an annual vote. The existence
of this statute was an insurmountable difficulty, and
as they had not the power to repeal it, their only
resource was to impugn its legality. The appropri
ation of the duties was thus provided for in the
Act: —
" That all the moneys that shall arise by the said
duties, except the necessary charges of raising, col
lecting, levying, recovering, answering, paying and
accounting for the same, shall be paid by the col
lector of his Majesty's customs into the hands of his

OF CANADA. 77
Majesty's receiver-general in the said province for
the time being, and shall be applied in the first place
in making a more certain and adequate provision to
wards defraying the expenses of the administration
of justice, and of the support of civil government in
that province ; and that the lord high treasurer, or
commissioner of his Majesty's treasury, or any three
or more of them for the time being, shall be, and is
or are hereby empowered from time to time, by
any warrant or warrants under his or their hand or
hands, to cause such money to be applied out of the
said produce of the said duties towards defraying
the said expenses ; and that the residue of the said
duties shall remain and be reserved in the hands of
the said receiver-general for the future disposition
of parliament."
The statute on which they relied was the 18th
Geo. III. The history of that act of parliament you
will doubtless recollect. Great Britain had set up
a claim to impose taxes, for the purpose of general
revenue, upon the colonies (now forming the United
States,) which, as might naturally be supposed, ex
cited universal opposition — causing at first, popular
tumult, and afterwards open rebellion. Finding
that this claim could neither be justified nor en
forced, it was expressly renounced, in the following
words : —
" Whereas taxationby the parliament of Great Bri
tain for the purpose of raising a revenue in his Ma
jesty's colonies, provinces, and plantations in North
America, has been found by experience to occasion
great uneasiness and disorders among his Majesty's
faithful subjects, who may nevertheless be disposed
to acknowledge the justice of contributing to the

KS THE BUBBLES
common defence ofthe empire, provided such con
tribution should be raised under the authority of the
general court or general assembly of each respective
colony, province, or plantation; and, whereas, in
order as well to remove the said uneasiness and to
quiet the minds of his Majesty's subjects who may
be disposed to return to their allegiance, as to restore
the peace and welfare of all his Majesty's domi
nions, it is expedient to declare that the king and
parliament of Great Britain will not impose any
duty, tax, or assessment for the purpose of raising
a revenue in any of the colonies, provinces, or plan
tations. " That from and after the passing of that act, the
king and parliament of Great Britain would not im
pose any duty, tax, or assessment whatever, paya
ble in any of his Majesty's colonies, provinces, and
plantations in North Am.erica, and the West Indies,
except only such duties as it might be expedient to
impose for the regulation of commerce ; the net pro
duce of such duties to be always paid and applied
to and for the use of the colony, province, and plan
tation in which the same shall be respectively le
vied, in such manner as other duties collected by
the authority of the respective general courts, or
general assemblies of such colonies, provinces, or
plantations are ordinarily paid and applied."
That the renunciation of a right to impose taxes
hereafter involves a repeal of those in existence, is
an assumption which it is not necessary to refute.
Indeed, no person did the party the injustice to be
lieve that they sincerely thought so themselves, espe
cially as in that province there was a local act, 35
Geo. IIL, c, 9, adopting its phraseology, and recog-

or CANADA. 79
nizing its vahdity, by raising an additional revenue,
farthefarther support ofthe government, to which pur
pose this act alone had any reference. It answered,
however, the purposes ofthe party; it disorganized
the government, and prevented English emigrants
from removing to a colony in which evident prepara
tion was making for a separation from the parent
state. It also served to scatter the seeds of complaints,
which soon germinated, and ripened into a plentiful
harvest. It is the fashion in this country to call
every change reform, the exercise of every acknow
ledged right, an abuse, and every salutary restraint
a grievance. In the colonies we have long looked
to Great Britain as our model, and we have import
ed this fashion from her, as well as many other mo
dern innovations. If agitation is successful here,
why may it not be so there ? — if popular clamour
requires and obtains concessions at home, there is
no good reason why it should not be equally fortu
nate abroad; if those who are the most clamorous,
are first attended to, because they are the most dis
tinctly heard, why may not the colonists learn to
exalt their voices also, in hopes of similar success?
— as the old cock crows so does the young. The
English have long held themselves up as models,
and such distinguished people must not be surprised
if they who ape their manners, occasionally copy
some of their folhes also. The force of example is
too strong to be restrained by precept. These
financial disputes extended over the whole period
of the administration ofthe Duke of Richmond, Lord
Dalhousie, and Sir James Kempt, with more or less
intensity, according to the supply of fresh fuel fur-

80 THE BUBBLES
nished by irritating matter of an extraneous nature.
Complaints soon multiplied upon complaints; public
meetings were held ; violent speeches made, valiant
resolutions passed ; and, finally, delegates chosen to
demand a redress of grievances from the Impe
rial Parliament.
When the delegates arrived in this country, they
found public opinion with them. It is the interest,
as well as the duty of the English to govern their
colonies justly and kindly; and no man but a
Frenchman would affirm that their inclination re
quires the incitement of either. Their complaints
were referred to a committee composed of persons
by no means indisposed towards the petitioners,
who, after a patient and laborious investigation of
the subjects in dispute, made a report, which was
acknowledged by the assembly to be both an able
and an impartial one, and quite satisfactory. It
will be unnecessary to recapitulate the subjects re
ferred, or to transcribe the report, because both the
one and the other will be best understood by a mi
nute of Lord Aberdeen, to which I shall hereafter al
lude more particularly, in which he distinctly proves
that the recommendations of that committee, so far
as depended upon the government, were most
strictly and fully complied with. By adopting this
course, I shall be able to spare you a great deal of
useless repetition.
The manner in which the report of the committee
was received by the dominant party in Canada, the
praise bestowed upon its authors, and the exulta
tion they expressed at their success, deceived the
government as to the source of these noisy demon
strations of pleasure. They conceived it to be the

OF CANADA. 81
natural impulse of generous minds towards those
who had thus kindly listened to their solicitations,
and liberally granted even more than they had re
quired. But they knew not their men. It was the
shout of victory that fhey mistook for the plaudits
of loyalty. It was not designed to greet the ears
of benefactors with grateful acknowledgments, but
to wound the feelings of their neighbours with the
cheers of triumph. They devoted but little time to
mutual congratulations. Sterner feelings had sup
plied the place of rejoicing. They set themselves
busily to work to improve their advantage ; and,
having established themselves in the outworks
which were thus surrendered to them, they now
turned their attention to storming the citadel. While
government was engaged in carrying into execu
tion the recommendations of the committee with as
much despatch as the peculiar state of politics in
Great Britain at that time permitted, the assembly
put themselves in a posture of complaint again.
Fourteen resolutions were passed, imbodying some
of the old and embracing some new grievances, and
an agent appointed to advocate their claims.
While representations in the name of the whole
population were thus sent to England, expressing
only the sentiment of one portion of the people, the
settlers of British origin were loud in their com
plaints that they were unrepresented, and that
they had no constitutional means of being heard.
Fearing that this remonstrance, which was so well
founded, might be redressed in the same quarter to
which they had applied so successfully for relief
themselves, the assembly affected to listen to their
petitions, and made a new electoral division of the
8

82

THE BUBBLES

province. Territories inhabited principally by per
sons of French origin, they divided into numerous
small counties ; while others, where a large body of
those of British origin resided, they so divided that,
by joining that territory with another more nume
rous in French inhabitants, the votes of the British
were rendered ineffectual. The proportion stood
thus :

Say 32 counties, returning two memb&rs each,
by French majorities
2 Ditto - - ditto, one each (say Montmo-
renci and Drummond) -
1 English majority, Magantic
5 Ditto - . - . Slierbrooke.
Stanstead, Missisquoi, Ottawa, and
Shefford, 2 each -

Total - 40 Counties.

British.

Foreign.

64

1

2

10

-

8

3

11

77

Two cities, French majority, Q.uebec and Mon-
• treal, 4 each ....
Two towns - ditto Three Eivers, 2; and
William Henry, 1 - ...

Total, 88 Members.
Of the extreme partiality of this division there
never has been but one opinion in the colonies, until
they were so fortunate as to be favoured with the
distinction drawn by the commissioners, who ad
mitted that its operation was a practical exclusion,
but exonerated the bill from a charge of unfair
ness — an instance of even-handed justice (deciding
in favour of both parties) which ought to have won
them the praise of all men. In addition to this ex
clusion, so extraordinarily designated as unjust but
not unfair, they established the quorum of the
house for the transaction of business at forty, being
only four less than a moiety of the whole body.

OF CANADA. 83
The large number thus required to be present to
constitute a house still farther depressed the in
fluence of the minority, and enabled the majority
to deprive them of their parliamentary privileges at
pleasure, by rendering the transaction of business
impossible, except when it suited the convenience
of the stronger party to allow it.
Having disposed of the complaints of the British
settlers in a way to prevent them from being trou
blesome in the house, they returned to the consi
deration of their own grievances; and, that the mo
tives actuating the party might not be disclosed,
and to prevent any member of the opposition from
being present at their dehberations, they adopted
the extraordinary mode of permitting a person
moving for a committee to name all the individuals
whom he desired to be appointed as members.
They also resolved that, if the legislative council
did not concur in a bill for paying their emissary to
England, they would, in the plenitude of their power,
pay him themselves out of the public revenue with
out their concurrence. This singular assumption
stands recorded thus :
" Monday, 28th March, 1831.— Resolved, that in
the present state of the public affairs of this pro
vince, it is indispensably necessary that some per
son, having the confidence of this house, should
proceed forthwith to England, to represent to his
Majesty's government the interests and sentiments
of the inhabitants of the province, and support the
petitions of this house to his Majesty and both
Houses of Parliament.
" Resolved, — That in the event of the bill sent up
by this house to the legislative council, on the 5th

84 THE BUBBLES
instant, not receiving the concurrence of that house
in the present session, the Honourable Denis B.
Vigor, Esq., member of the legislative council,
named agent of the province in the said bill, be re
quested to proceed to England without delay, for
the purposes mentioned in the foregoing resolution.
" Resolved, — That it is expedient that the neces
sary and unavoidable disbursements of the said Denis
Benjamin Viger, for effecting the purposes aforesaid,
not exceeding ;£1,000, be advanced, and paid to him
by the clerk ofthis house, out ofthe contingent fund
thereof, till such time as the said disbursements can
be otherwise provided for."
And, to show their contempt of that co-ordinate
branch ofthe legislature, and their determination to
legislate for the colony without their concurrence,
and by their sole authority, as well as to stigmatize
the officers of the government as enemies of the
country, they farther resolved —
" That until such time as the royal assent shall be
given to a bill conformable to a resolution of this
house of the 17th March, 1825, for vacating the
seats of members accepting offices, and similar to the
bills passed by this house in the years 1826, 1827,
1828, and 1830, the second and fourth of which were
reserved for the signification of his Majesty's plea
sure, the seat of any member of this bouse who shall
accept of any office or place of profit under the crown
in this province, or become accountable for any pub
lic money hereafter appropriated within this pro
vince, shall, by this acceptance, be deemed by this
house to be vacant, and a new writ shall be issued
for a new election, as if such person so accepting was

OF CANADA. 85
naturally dead; nevertheless such person shall be ca
pable of being again re-elected, and of sitting and
voting in this house, as if his seat had not been va
cated as aforesaid.
" Resolved, — That any member of this house sit
ting and voting therein after such acceptance, be ex
pelled this house."
At the sarae time, while they refused to govern
ment the means of paying its officers, they were
most prodigal of the public money upon themselves
and their dependants. There are certain funds ap
propriated for the contingent expenses of the house;
and, legally, neither the house nor any of its officers
have any right to apply them to any other purposes.
It is a trust fund, on the expenditure of which doubt
less a certain degree of discretion may be exercised,
but still a discretion having certain limits. It is
quite manifest that if the house could legally apply
this fund to other objects than those for which it was
specifically appropriated, they would, for all the pur
poses of such application, exercise sole legislative
power, to the exclusion of the other two branches of
the legislature. The case of Mr. Viger, above re
ferred to, is a flagrant violation of this principle.
The expenses for printing alone during this year
(1831) for the assembly, at one only of its favourite
establishments, was considerably over J5,000, ex
clusive of other presses; and this enormous sum is
also exclusive of the cost of printing the laws, or of
the expenses of the council. Pretexts were not
wanted, where the disposition existed, to provide for
their dependants. A supcena was all that was ne
cessary to obtain a warrant for a gratuity, which, to
8*

yt) THE BUBBLES
one individual, covered a charge of sS 120, and on one
petition amounted to £700. " Some witnesses,"
says a gentleman of the bar at Quebec, " one sees as
regularly about a fortnight after the sessions as swal
lows in the spring: and although they do not last
quite so long, yet they hardly leave Quebec before
either the house or the roads break up."
It will hardly be credited, that this house, which
is so clamorous for cheap government, expends on
itself thirteen thousand pounds a year — one thou
sand of which is paid to Mr. Papineau, the patriot;
and that t}ie gross amount of the legislative expenses
is £18,000. Some idea of the purity "of our en
slaved and oppressed brethren" may be formed from
the fact that, previous to 1S29, the amount of mo
neys voted for education had not exceeded £2,500.
At that period it was found it could be turned to a
better account than education, they therefore consti
tuted the members of the house visiters of the schools
in the counties they represent, the money being
drawn on their ccrlificates only, to which by law
they are privileged to affix l/itir crosses, instead oj
the more difficult process of ivriling their names.
Since then the grants have wonderfully increased.
In 1830 £27,840
1831 25,261
1832 - 29,233
1833 - - 22,500
When the fourteen resolutions above referred to
were passed, the governor, who had recently arrived

OF CANADA. 87
could not but feel astonished that the same people
who had so lately expressed their delight and satis
faction at the report of the proceedings of parliament,
and who knew that the recommendations of the
committee were in a train of execution, should be
again as clamorous as ever, and very prudently and
properly entreajted them to put an end to the com
plaint, by bringing forward at once every grievance
they had, that it might be met and redressed at the
same time. The earnest manner in which this is
pressed upon them is worthy of notice. What were
the sources of his lordship's satisfaction, which he
twice expresses in this answer, I am uUerly at a
loss to imagine, unless we maj' conjecture it lo have
arisen from the consciousness of possessing a phi
losophy which enabled him to subdue and control
his indignation at the insatiable demands and gross
ingratitude of those whom it was his duty to ad
dress. " I can assure you," he said, " gentlemen, that I
have derived satisfaction from listening to the peti
tion which has just been read by Mr. Speaker, be
cause the subject-matter of it is distitict and tangible,
and because I feel assured that of the causes of com
plaint therein set forth, many will be eventually re
moved, and others modified; in the mean while it is
very agreeable to me to have it in my power to state
that some of those causes of complaint have been al
ready put by me in a train of amelioration at least,
if not of removal altogether; and I beg the house of
assembly to believe that my efforts shall be unremit
ting in pursuing the same course to the utmost ex
tent of my authority as the King's representative.

88 THE BUBBLES
Thus far I can, with a safe conscience, declare, that
the present communication is satisfactory to me; but
I cannot conceal from the house, that it would have
been infinitely more so, could I feel assured that the
whole matter of their complaints is comprised in this
petition. Gentlemen, I must go a step farther than
this, and confess to you, that I cannot divest my
mind of anxiety on this subject; it is with the view
of being relieved from this state of anxiety that I
now come forward to entreat you will admit me to
your confidence, and acquaint me whether I am to
expect any, and what farther, communications on the
subject of complaints and grievances.
" I think I have even a claim upon you for the
confidence I now solicit. The propositions which
upon a recent occasion I was commanded by the
King to make to you on the subject of finance, were
laid before you in the plainest and most straightfor
ward manner — nothing was concealed — nothing was
glossed over; and I even believe that I should have
been justified had I made those propositions more
palatable to you than I have done; but I considered
that any thing which could bear, even for a moment,
the appearance of trick or manoeuvre on so grave an
occasion, was unworthy ef his Majesty's government,
and an injustice to the rank and loyal character of
the Canadian people. What I now ask in return for
this fair dealing, is a corresponding proceeding on
the part of the house of assembly. Am I to under
stand, that the petition which I have just heard read
conveys all that the house of assembly have to com
plain of up to this day? Or am I to understand
that there remains soifiething behind — some un-

OF CANADA. 8ff
ripe grievance, or complaint which it may be in
tended to bring forward hereafter, when those now
produced shall have been disposed of? This is the
information I ask of you. This, gentleman, is the
information which I will even implore you to afford
me, in the name of the King, our sovereign, who is
sincerity itself, and in the name of the brave and
honest people of Canada, who are so well entitled to
expect fair dealing in every quarter: and now, if
there be any stray complaint, any grievance, how
ever inconsiderable in itself, which may have been
overlooked when this petition was adopted by this
house, I beseech you, gentlemen, to take it back
again, in order that the deficiency may be supplied,
and that thus both king and people may be enabled-
at one view to see the whole extent of what you
complain of, and what you require.
" W^iiether this appeal to your candour shall
draw from you any farther declaration, stating that
your' petition contains the whole matter of your
complaints and grievances, or that you shall main
tain silence, I shall equally consider that I have ac
quired a full and distinct knowledge of the whole
of your complaints and grievances up to the present
period; and your petition will be accompanied by
an assurance from me to that effect, and my most
fervent wishes that it may be productive of such
measures as shall restore perfect harmony to this fa
voured land, where I firmly believe a larger share
of happiness and prosperity is to be found than
amongst any people in the universe.
" Castle of St. Louis, Quebec,
23d March, 1831."

90

THE BUBBLES

Having given them this gracious reception, his
lordship communicated these resolutions to the se
cretary for the colonies; to whose answer, as it enu
merates the complaints for the purpose of giving to
each a distinct and separate answer, I refer you for
the particulars as well of the resolutions as of the re
medies. " The King has been graciously pleased to express
his approbation of the efforts made by your lordship
to ascertain, with precision, the full extent of the
grievances of which the assembly consider them
selves entitled to complain; and assuming, in con
currence with your lordship, that the address of the
assem.bly contains a full development of those
grievances, the exposition which is to be found there
of the views of that body, justifies the satisfactory
inference that there remains scarcely any question
upon which the wishes of that branch of the legisla
ture are at variance with the policy which liis Ma
jesty has been advised to pursue; and I, therefore,
gladly anticipate the speedy and effectual termina
tion of those differences, which have heretofore so
much embarrassed the operations of the local govern
ment. " No office can be more grateful to the King than
that of yielding to the reasonable desires of the rep
resentative body of Lower Canada; and whilst his
Majesty's servants have the satisfaction of feeling,
that upon some of the most important topics referred
to in the address of the assembly, its wishes have
been anticipated, they trust that the instructions
which I am now about to convey to you, will still
farther evince their earnest desire to combine with

OF CANADA. 91
the due and lawful exercise of the constitutional au
thority of the crown, an anxious solicitude for the
well-being of all classes of his faithful subjects in the
province. " I proceed to notice the various topics, embraced
in the address of the assembly to the King. I shall
observe the order whicb they have followed; and,
with a view to perspicuity, I shall preface each suc
cessive instruction, which I have his Majesty's com
mands to convey to your lordship, by the quotation
of the statements made upon the same topic by the
Assembly themselves,
" First, it is represented that the progress which
has been made in the education of the people of the
province, under the encouragement afforded by the
recent acts of the legislature, has been greatly im
peded by the diversion of the revenues of the Je
suits' estates, originally destined for this purpose.
" His Majesty's government do not deny that the
Jesuits' estates were, on the dissolution of that order,
appropriated to the education of the people; and I
readily admit, that the revenue which may result
from that property, should be regarded as inviolably
and exclusively applicable to that object.
" It is to be regretted, undoubtedly, that any part
of those funds were ever applied to any other pur
pose; but although, in former times, your lordship's
predecessors may have had to contend with difficul
ties which caused and excused that mode of appro
priation, I do not feel myself now called upon to
enter into any consideration of that part of the sub
ject. " If, however, I may rely on the returns which

92 THE BUBBLES
have been made to this department, the rents of the
Jesuits' estates have, during the few last years, been
devoted exclusively to the purposes of education,
and my despatch, dated 34th December last, marked
'separate,' sufficiently indicates that his Majesty's
ministers had resolved upon a strict adherence to
that principle several months before the present ad
dress was adopted.
" The only practical question which remains for
consideration is, whether the application of these
funds for the purpose of education should be directed
by his Majesty or by the provincial legislature.
The King cheerfully and without reserve confides
that duty to the legislature, in the full persuasion
that they will make such a selection amongst the
different plans which may be presented to their no
tice, as may most effectually advance the interests of
religion and sound learning amongst his subjects;
and I cannot doubt that the assembly will see the
justice of continuing to maintain, under the new dis
tributions of these funds, those scholastic establish
ments to which they are now applied.
" I understand that certain buildings on the Je
suits' estates which were formerly used for collegiate
purposes, have since been uniformly employed as a
barrack for the King's troops. It would obviously
be highly inconvenient to attempt any immediate
change in this respect, and I am convinced that the
assembly would regret any measure which migbt di
minish the comforts or endanger the health of the
King's forces. If, however, the assembly should be
disposed to provide adequate barracks so as perma
nently to secure those important objects, his Majes-

OF CANADA. 93
ty will be prepared (upon the completion of such an
arrangement in a manner satisfactory to your lord
ship) to acquiesce in the appropriation of the build
ings in question to the same purposes as those to
which the general funds of the Jesuits' estates are
now about to be restored.
" I should fear that ill-founded expectations may
have been indulged respecting the value and pro
ductiveness of these estates; in this, as in most other
cases, concealment appears to have been followed by
exaggeration, as its natural consequence. Had the
application of the assembly for an account of the
proceeds of these estates been granted, much misap
prehension would probably have been dispelled.
My regret for the effect of your decision to with
hold these accounts, does not, however, render me
insensible to the propriety and apparent weight of
the motives by which your judgment was guided.
Disavowing, however, every wish for concealment,
I am to instruct your lordship to lay these accounts
before the assembly in the most complete detail, at
the commencement of their next session, and to sup
ply the house with any farther explanatory state
ments which they may require respecting theih.
"It appearing that the sum of £7,154. 15s. 4:id.
has been recovered from the property of the late
Mn Caldwell, in respect to the claims of the crown
against him on account of the Jesuits' estates, your
lordship will cause that sum to be placed at the
disposal ofthe legislature for general purposes. The
suna of £1,200. 3s. 4d., which was also recovered
on account ofthe same property, must also be placed
at the disposal of the legislature, but should, with
9

94 THE BUBBLES
reference to the principles already noticed, be con
sidered as applicable to the purposes of education
exclusively. " Secondly. — The house of assembly represent
that the progress of education has been impeded by
the withholding grants of land promised for schools
in the year 1801. '
" On reference to the speech delivered in that
year by the then governor to the two houses of
provincial legislature, I find that such an engage
ment as the address refers to was actually made; it
of course therefore is binding on the crown, and
must now be carried into effect, unless there be any
circumstances of which I am not apprized, which
may have cancelled the obligation contracted in
1801, or which may have rendered the fulfilment
of it at the present time impracticable. If any such
circumstances really exist, your lordship will report
them to me immediately, in order that the fit course
to be taken may be farther considered.
"Thirdly. — The rejection by the legislative coun
cil of various bills in favour of education is noticed
as the last of the impediments to the progress of
education. " Upon this subject it is obvious that his Majesty's
government have no power of exercising any con
trol, and that they could not interfere with the free
exercise ofthe discretion of the legislative council,
without the violation ofthe most undoubted maxims
of the constitution. How far that body may have
actually counteracted the wishes of the assembly
on this subject I am not very exactly informed, nor
would it become me to express an opinion on the

OF CANADA. 95
wisdom or propriety of any decision which they
may have formed of that nature. The assembly
may, however, be assured, that whatever legitimate
influence his Majesty's government can exercise,
will always be employed to promote in every direc
tion all measures which have for their object the
religious, moral, or literary instruction of the people
of Lower Canada.
" Fourthly. — The address proceeds to state, that
the management of the waste lands of the crown
has been vicious and improvident, and still impedes
t-he settlement of those lands.
" This subject has engaged, and still occupies,
my most anxious attention, and I propose to address
your lordship upon it at length in a separate d6spatch.
The considerations connected with the settlement
of waste lands are too numerous and extensive to
be conveniently imbodied in a despatch embracing,
so many other Subjects of discussion.
" Fifthly. — The exercise by parliament of its
power of regulating the. trade of the province, is
said to have occasioned injurious uncertainty in
metcantile speculations, and prejudicial fluctua
tions in the value of real estate, and of the different
branches of industry connected with trade.
" It is gratifying to find that this complaint is
connected with a frank acknowledgment that the
power in question has been betieficially exercised
en several occasions for the prosperity of Lower
Canada. It is, I fear, an unavoidable consequence
of the connexion which happily subsists between
the two countries, that Pariiament should occasion
ally require of the commercial body of Lower Ca-

96 THE BUBBLES
nada, some mutual sacrifices for the general good
of the empire at large : I therefore shall not attempt
to deny, that the changes in the commercial policy
in this kingdom during the last few years may have
been productive of occasional inconvenience and
loss to that body, since scarcely any particular in
terest can be mentioned in Great Britain of which
some sacrifice has not been required during the
same period. The most which can be effected by
legislation on such a subject as this, is a steady
though gradual advance towards those great objects
which an enlightened regulation contemplates. The
relaxation of restrictions on the trade of the British
Colonies, and the development of their resources,
have been kept steadfastly in view amidst all the
alterations to which the address refers, and I con
fidently relyon the candour ofthe house of assembly,
to admit that, upon the whole, no inconsiderable
advance towards those great ends has been made.
They may rest assured, that the same principles
will be steadily borne in mind by his Majesty's govern
ment, in every modification ofthe existing law which
they may at any future period have occasion to re
commend to parliament.
" Sixthly. — The assembly in their address pro
ceed to state that the inhabitants of the different
towns, parishes, townships, extraparochial places
and counties of the province, suffer from the want
of sufficient legal powers for regulating and ma
naging their local concerns.
"I am' happy in the opportunity which at present
presents itself, of demonstrating the desire of his
Majesty's government to co-operate with the local
legislature in the redress of every grievance ofthis

OF CANADA. 97
nature. The three bills which your lordship re
served for the signification of his Majesty's plea
sure in the last session of the assembly, establishing
the parochial divisions of the province, and for the
incorporation of the cities of Quebec and Montreal,
will be confirmed and finally enacted by his Majesty
in council, with the least possible delay, and I ex
pect to be able very shortly to transmit to your
lordship the necessary ordqrs in council for that
purpose. " I very sincerely regret that the bill passed for
the legal establishment of parishes in the month of
March, 1829, should have been defeated by the de
lay which occurred in transmitting the official con
firmation of it to the province. The case appears
to have been, that owing to the necessity, whether
real or supposed, of laying the act before both
houses of parliament for six weeks before its con
firmation by the King in Council, many months
elapsed after its arrival in this kingdom before that
form could be observed, and his late Majesty's pro
tracted illness delayed still longer the bringing it
under the consideration of the King in Council.
"If it should be the opinion ofthe Colonial legis
lature that additional provisions are wanting to ena
ble the local authorities in counties, cities, or pa
rishes, to regulate their own more immediate af
fairs, your lordship will understand, that you are at
liberty, in his Majesty's name, to assent to any well-
considered laws which may be presented to you for
that purpose.
" Seventhly. — I proceed to the next subject of
complaint, which is, that uncertainty and confusion
9*

98 THE BUBBLES
has been introduced into the laws for the security
and regulation of property, by the intermixture of
different codes of laws and rules of proceeding in
the courts of justice.
" The intermixture to which the address refers,
so far as I am aware, arises from the English crimi
nal code having been maintained by the British sta
tute of 1774, and from the various acts of parliament
which have introduced into the province the soccage
tenure, and subjected all lands so holden to the Eng
lish rules of alienation and descent.
"As a mere matter of fact, there can be no doubt
that the infusion of these parts of the law of Eng
land into the provincial code, was dictated bj' the
most sincere wish to promote the general welfare
of the people of Lower Canada; this was especially
the case with regard to the criminal law, as is
sufficiently apparent from the language of the llth
section of the 14 Geo. III., c. 83. With regard to
the advantage to be anticipated from the substitu
tion of tenure in soccage for feudal services, I may
remark, that Parhament could scarcely be other
wise than sincerely convinced of the benefits of that
measure, since the maxims upon which they pro
ceeded are in accordance with the conclusion of
almost all theoretical writers and practical states
men. I am not, indeed, anxious to show that these
were just, but I think it not immaterial thus to have
pointed out that the errors, if any, which they in
volve, can be attributed only to a sincere zeal for
the good of those whom the enactments in question
more immediately affect.
" I fully admit, however, that this is a subject of
local and internal policy, upon which far greater

OF CANADA. 99
¦J,
weight is due to the deliberate judgment of enlight
ened men in the province than to any external au
thority whatever. Your lordship will announce to
the council and assembly, his Majesty's entire dis
position to concur with them in any measures which
they may think best adapted for ensuring a calm and
comprehensive survey of these subjects in all their
bearings. It will then remain with the two houses
to frame such laws as may be necessary to render
the provincial code more uniform, and belter adapted
to the actual condition of society in Canada. To
any laws prepared for that most important purpose,
and calculated to advance it, his Majesty's assent
will be given with the utmost satisfaction. It is
possible that a work of this nature would be best
executed by commissioners,, to be specially desig
nated for the purpose: should such be your lordship's
opinion, you will suggest that mode of proceeding
to both houses of the provincial legislature, who, I
am convinced, would willingly incur whatever ex
pense may be inseparable from such an undertaking,
unless they should themselves be able to originate
any plan of inquiry and proceeding, at once equally
effective and economical.
" Eighthly. — The administration of justice is said
to have become inefficient and unnecessarily ex
pensive. " As the provincial tribunals derive their present
constitution from local statute, and not from any
exercise of his Majesty's prerogative, it is not with
in the power of the King to improve the mode of
administering the law, or to diminish the costs of
litigation. Your lordship will, however, assure the

100 THE BUBBLES
house of assembly, that his Majesty is not only
ready, but most desirous, to co-operate with them
in any improvements of the judicial system which
the wisdom and experience of the two houses may
suggest. Your lordship will immediately assent to
any bills which may be passed for that purpose,
excepting in the highly improbable event of their
being found open to some apparently conclusive
objection ; even in that case, however, you will
reserve any bills for improving the administration
of the law for the signification of his Majesty's
pleasure. " Ninthly. — The address then states, that the con
fusion and uncertainty of which the House complain
has been greatly increased by enactments affecting
real property in the colony made in the Parliament
of the United Kingdom since the establishment of
the provincial legislature, without those interested
having even had an opportunity of being heard;
and particularly by a recent decision on one of
the said enactments in the provincial court of ap
peals. " His Majesty's Government can have no con
troversy with the house of assembly upon this sub
ject. The house cannot state in stronger terms,
than they are disposed to acknowledge, the fitness
of leaving to the legislature of Lower Canada ex
clusively the enactment of every law which may
be required respecting real property within that
province. It cannot be denied, that at a former
period a different opinion was entertained by the
British government; and that the statute-book of
this kingdom contains various regulations on the

OF CANADA. 101
subject of lands in Lower Canada, which might,
perhaps, have been more conveniently enacted in
the province itself: I apprehend, however, that this
interference of Parliament was never invoked, ex
cept on the pressure of some supposed necessity;
and that there never was a period in which such
acts were introduced by the ministers of the crown
without reluctance.
" To a certain extent, the statute 1 Will. IV, c.
20, which was passed at the instance of his Ma
jesty's Government in the last session of Parlia
ment, has anticipated the complaint to which I am
now referring, and has prevented its recurrence,
by authorizing the local legislature to regulate
whatever relates to the incidents of soccage tenure
in the province, without reference to any real or
supposed repugnancy of any such regulations to
the law of England. If there is any other part of
the British statute law, bearing upon this topic, to
which the council and assembly shall object, his
Majesty's Government will be prepared to recom
mend to Pariiament that it should be repealed."
" Tenthly. — It is stated that several of the judges
ofthe courts in the province have long been engaged
in, and have even taken a pubhc part in the political
affairs and differences oi the province, at the same
time holding offices during pleasure, and situations
incompatible with the due discharge of the judicial
functions. " Under this head again, it is very gratifying to
the ministers of the crown to find, that they had, in
a great measure, obviated by anticipation the com
plaint of the house of assembly. In the despatch
which I addressed to your lordship, on the Sth

^^^ THE BUBRLES
February, No. 22, every arrangement was made
which could be either suggested or carried into ef
fect by his Majesty's authority, for removing the
judges of the province from all connexion whh its
political affairs, and for rendering them indepen
dent at once ofthe authority ofthe Crown, and the
control of the other branches of the legislature;
thus placing them exactly in the same position as
that of the judges of the supreme courts at West
minster. " The judges themselves have, it appears, with
laudable promptitude, concurred in giving effect to
these recommendations by discontinuing their at
tendance at the executive council. Nothing there
fore, in fact, remains for terminating all discussions
upon this subject, but that the house of assembly
should make such a permanent provision for the
judges as, without exceeding a just remuneration,.
may be adequate to their independent maintenance
in that rank of hfe which belongs to the dignity of
their station.
" I am not aware that any judge in Lower Ca
nada holds any ofiice, excepting that of executive
counsellor, during the pleasure of the Crown, or
which is in any respect incompatible with the due
discharge of his ofiicial fun^itions; if any such case
exists, your lordship will have the goodness imme
diately to report to me all the circumstances by
which it may be attended, in order that the neces
sary instructions on the subject may be given. In
the mean time I may state, without reserve, that
no judge can be permitted to retain any office cor
responding with the description thus given by the
house of assembly, in combination with that inde-

OF CANADA. 103
pendent position on the bench to which I have re
ferred. " Eleventhly. — The address proceeds to state that,
during a long series of years, executive and judici
ary offices have been bestowed almost exclusively
upon one class of subjects in the province, and espe
cially upon those least connected by property, or
otherwise, with its permanent inhabitants, or who
have shown themselves the most averse to the rights,
liberties, and interests of the people. It is added,
that several of these persons avail themselves of the
means afforded by their situations to prevent the
constitutional and harmonious co-operation of the
government and the house of assembly, and to ex
cite ill feeling and discord between them, while they
are remiss in their different situations to forward
the public business.
" I quote thus largely the language of the address,
because I am desirous to meet every part of it in
the most direct manner, as well as in the most con
ciliatory spirit. It is not from any want of that
spirit that I recommend you to suggest for the con
sideration of the house of assembly, how far it is
possible that his Majesty should clearly understand,
or effectually redress a grievance which is brought
under his notice in terms thus indefinite. If any pub
hc officers can be named who are guilty of such an
abuse of their powers, and of such remissness in
their duties as are implied in the preceding quota
tion, his Majesty would not be slow to vindicate the
public interest by removing any such persons from
his service. If it can be shown that the patronage
of the crown has been exercised upon any narrow
and exclusive maxims, they cannot be too entirely

104 THE BUBBLES
disavowed and abandoned, especially if it be true
that the permanent inhabitants of the colony do not
enjoy a full participation in all public employments,
the house of assembly may be assured that his Ma
jesty can have no desire that any such invidious
distinctions should be systematically maintained.
Beyond this general statement it is not in my power
to advance. I am entirely ignorant of the specific
cases to which the general expressions of the assem
bly point. I can only state, tbat since his Majesty
was pleased to intrust to myself the seals of this de
partment, no opportunity has occurred for exer
cising the patronage of the crown in Lower Cana
da, to which it is possible that the assembly can
refer, nor have my inquiries brought to light any
particular case of a more remote date to which
their language would appear to be applicable.
" Twelfthly. — The next subject of complaint is
developed in the following words : — " That there
exists no sufficient responsibihty on the part of the
persons holding these situations, nor any adequate
accountability amongst those of them intrusted with
public money; the consequence of v/hich has been
the misapplication of large sums of public money,
and of the money of individuals by defaulters, with
whom deposites were made under legal authority,
hitherto without reimbursement or redress having
been obtained, notwithstanding the humble repre
sentations of your petitioners."
It would be impossible, without a violation of
truth, to deny that at a period not very remote
heavy losses were sustained both by the public and
by individuals, from the want of a proper system of
passing and auditing their accounts. I find, how-

OP CANADA. 105
ever, that in his despatch of the 29th September, Sir
George Murray adverted to this subject in terms to
which I find it difficult to make any useful addition.
His words are as follow :— " The complaints which
have reached this office respecting an adequate se
curity given by the receiver-general and by the
sheriffs, for the due application of public money in
their hands, have not escaped the very serious at
tention of the ministers of the crown ; the most
effectual security against abuses of this nature
would be to prevent the accumulation of balances
in the hands of pubhc accountants, by obliging them
to exhibit their accounts to some competent author
ity at short intervals, and immediately to pay over
the ascertained balance. The proof of having
punctually performed this duty should be made the
indispensable condition of receiving their salaries,
and of their continuance office.
" In the colony of New South Wales a regulation
of this nature has been established under his Ma
jesty's instructions to the governor of that settlement,
and has been productive of great public convenience.
If a similar practice, were introduced in Lower Ca
nada for the regulation of the office of receiver-ge
neral, and for that of sheriff, the only apparent dif
ficulty would be to find a safe place of deposite for
their balances. I am, however, authorized to
state, that the lords' commissioners of his Majesty's
Treasury will hold themselves responsible to the
province for any sums which the receiver-general
or sheriff may pay over to the commissary-general.
Your excellency will, therefore, propose to the le
gislative council and assembly the enactment of a
law binding these officers to render an account of
10

106 THE BUBBLES
their receipts at short intervals, and to'pay over the
balances in their hands to the commissary-general,
upon condition that that officer should be bound, on
demand, to deliver a bill on his Majesty's Treasury
for the amount of his receipts. I trust that, in this
proposal, the legislature will find a proof of the ear
nest desire of his Majesty's government to provide,
as far as may be practicable, an effectual remedy
for every case of real grievance.
" If the preceding instructions have proved in
adequate to the redress of the inconvenience to
which they refer, I can assure your lordship of the
cordial concurrence of his Majesty's government in
any more effective measures vvhich may be recom
mended for that purpose, either by yourself or by
either of the houses of the provincial legislature.
" The losses which the province sustained by the
default of the late Mr. Caldwell is a subject which
his Majesty's Government contemplate with the
deepest regret — a feeling enhanced by the painful
conviction of their inability to afford to the pro
vincial revenues any adequate compensation for so
serious an injury ; what is in their power they have
gladly done by the instruction conveyed to your
lordship in the early part of this despatch, to place
at the disposal of the legislature, for general pur
poses, the sum of £7,154. 15s. 4id., recovered from
Mr. Caldwell's property. The assembly will, I
trust, accept this as a proof of the earnest desire of
his Majesty's Government to consult to the utmost
of their ability the pecuniary interests of the pro
vince. " Thirteenthly. The address proceeds to state
that ' the evils of this state of things have been

OF CANADA. 107
greatly aggravated by enactments made in the Par
liament of the United Kingdom, without even the
knowledge of the people of this colony, which en
actments have rendered temporary duties imposed
by the provincial legislature permanent, leaving in
the hands of public officers, over whom the assem
bly has no effectual control, large sums of money
arising within this province, which are applied by
persons subject to no sufficient accountability."
" I understand this complaint to refer to the 28th
clause of the Stat. 3 Geo. IV., c. 119. The duties
mentioned in that enactment are continued until
some act for -repealing or altering them shall be
passed by the legislative council and assembly of
Lower Canada, and until a copy of any such new
act shall have been transmitted to the governor of
Upper Canada, and shall have been laid before both
houses of Pariiament, and assented to by his Ma
jesty. The motive for this enactment is explained
in the preamble, to have been the necessity of ob
viating the evils experienced in the Upper Province
from the exercise of an exclusive control by the
legislature of Lower Canada over imports and ex
ports at the port of Quebec. I acknowledge with
out reserve, that nothing but the necessity of me
diating between the two provinces would have
justified such an interference by Parliament ; and if
any adequate security can be devised against the
recurrence of similar difficulties, the enactment
ought to be repealed. The peculiar geographical
position of Upper Canada, enjoying no access to the
sea, except through a province wholly independent
on itself, on the one hand, or through a foreign state
on the other, was supposed in the year 1822 to

108 THE BUBBLES
have created the necessity for enacting so pecuhar
a law for its protedtion. I should be riiuch gratified
to learn, that no such necessity exists at present, or
can be reasonably anticipated hereafter ; for upon
sufficient evidence of that fact, his Majesty's Go
vernment would at once recommend to Parliament
the repeal of that part of the statute to which the^
address of the house of assembly refers. The mi
nisters of the Crown would even be satisfied to pro
pose to Parliament the repeal of the enactment in
question, upon proof that the legislature ofthe Upper
Province deem such protection superfluous; perhaps
it may be found practicable to arrange this matter
by communications between the legislatures of the
two provinces. The ministers of the Crown are
prepared to co-operate to the fullest extent in any
measure which the two legislatures shall concur in
recommending for tbe amendment or repeal of the
Statute 3 Geo. IV., c. 119, s. 28.
" Fourteenthly. — The selection of the legislative
counsellors and the constitution of that body, which
forms the last subject of complaint in the address, I
shall not notice in this place, any farther than to
sa}', that it will form the matter of a separate com
munication, since the topic is too extensive and im
portant to be conveniently embraced in my present
despatch. "The preceding review of the questions brought
by the house of assembly, appears to me entirely to
justify the expectations which I have expressed at
the commencement of this despatch, of a speedy,
effectual, and amicable termination ofthe protracted
discussions of several years. It would be injurious
to the house of assembly to attribute to them anv

OF CANADA. 109
such captious spirit as would keep alive a contest
upon a few minor and insignificant details, after
the statement I have made of the general accord
ance between the views of his Majesty's govern
ment and their own, upon so many important ques
tions of Canadian policy. Little indeed remains
for debate, and that little will, I am convinced, be
discussed with feelings of mutual kindness and good
will, and with an earnest desire to strengthen the
bonds of union already subsisting between the two
countries. His Majesty will esteem it as amongst
the most enviable distinctions of his reign, to ha,ve
contributed to so great and desirable a result.
• " Your lordship will take the earliest opportunity
of transmitting to the house of assembly a copy of
this despatch. " 1 have, &c.
" (Signed) Goderich."

10*

110 the BUBBLES

LETTER VII.
The time had now arrived (1832) when every
grievance, so far as the remedy lay with the go
vernment, had been removed, according to the re
commendations of the committee. Whatever re
quired the co-operation of the assembly themselves,
remained untouched. They had asked what they did
not require, and hoped would not be granted, so that
the odium of refusal might serve as a pretext for
farther agitation. Several of the changes soliciled
w'ould have weakened their influence, and they
preferred to suffer things to remain as they were.
There now existed no impediment to the public
tranquillity; and, if their intentions had been honest,
we should have heard no more of Canadian discon
tent. Several men of character and standing in the
colony, who had hitherto acted with the French
faction, now separated themselves from them, de
claring that they had obtained all, and even more
than they had sought, and that they had now no
thing farther fo ask but to enjoy in tranquillity the
fruits of their labour. When they found there was
no corresponding feeling in the breasts of their col
leagues, and that these concessions were merely
used as the groundwork of farther changes, they
became alarmed, and for the first time were made'
sensible of Vi hat the public had always known with
unfeigned sorrow, that they had been all along the
dupes of their own liberal notions and the artifices

OF CANADA. Ill
of Others. They had now full time to reflect upon
the mischief they had done and their own inability
to make reparation, and have added another illus
tration to the numbers we already have on record
of how much easier it is to open the flood-gates of
popular prejudice and passion, than to close them
against the force of the current. They are now
likely to become the victims of their own folly, and
to be overwhelmed in the ruins caused by the inun
dation to which they have unfortunately contributed,
by cutting away the embankments. It is to be hoped
that the lesson will not be lost upon England; and
it may, perhaps, afford these unhappy men some
consolation if the safety of others is confirmed by
the contemplation of the fata! effects of their folly.
The request of Lord Aylmer, that fhey would bring
forward all their demands, and, if they had any
farther ones, to add them to their catalogue, or that
he should feel himself entitled to report there were
none others, was received with surprise, but in si
lence, and he very fairly concluded that they had
exhausted their budget. This was the natural in
ference, and it appears that parliament flattered it
self also that the whole subject was now fully be
fore them. It is true the tone and temper of the
house of assembly were not materially altered, and
that the next four years were consumed in local
disputes, during which no appropriation was made
for the public service; but all this was charitably-
supposed to be the effect of previous excitement,
and it was thought not unnatural that some time
should elapse before their angry feelings could
wholly subside. But what was their astonishment,.

112 the BUBBLES
after their declining the unprecedented request of
the governor to exhibit any farther complaints if
they had any, to find that, in 1834, they were pre
pared to come forward with ninety-two resolutions
of fresh grievance! This extraordinary step re
vived the hopes of every loyahst throughout the
adjoining colonies. Surely, they said, this last un
grateful, unprovoked attempt will open the eyes of
the English nation to the ulterior views of Papineau
and his party 1 It takes much provocation to arouse
the British lion; but, surely, this last thrust will be
more than he can bear! He will make his voice
to be heard across the waters and sedition will fly
terrified to its cover. But, alas, they were mis
taken. Noble and spirited as the animal once was,
he is now old and infirm — a timid people have filed
his teeth, and shortened his claws, and stupefied
him with drugs, and his natural pride disdains
exhibit an unsuccessful imbecility. Il was received
with a meekness and mildness that filled every body
that had known him in former years with astonish
ment and pity; they could not recognise, in the timid
and crouching creature before them, the same animal
whose indomitable courage and muscular strength
had formerly conquered these same Canadians, even
when supported by all the resources of France, who
now, single-handed and alone, defied him to combat.
But this is too painful a picture to dwell upon.
This singular document is well worthy of your
perusal; its want of intrinsic weight is more than
compensated by its proli.Kity. The astounding num
ber of ninety-tv^o resolutions was well calculated to
delude strangers, and to induce them to think that

OF CANADA. 113
the evils under which they laboured were almost too
many for enumeration. As imagination is always
more fertile than truth, they very wisely resorted to
the former, and were thus enabled to supply them
selves with any charge they required. It would
doubtless have appeared singular to the sympathizers
of England, if the aggregate had amounted to so rcr
markable a number as one hundred: it would have
struck them as a suspicious coincidence that they
should have exactly reached " a round number," and
filled a well known measure, and therefore, with an
acuteness peculiar to people accustomed to fabricate
tales of fictitious distress, they wisely stopped at
ninety-two. But it must not be supposed that even
Canadian exaggeration could find a grievance for
each number. Some were merely declamatory, and
others personal; some complimented persons on this
side of the water, whose politics they thought re
sembled their own, and others expressed or implied
a censure against obnoxious persons, while not a few
were mere repetitions of what had been previously
said. Such a state paper, drawn up on such an oc
casion by the most eminent men in the house for the
perusal of such a body of men as the members of the
imperial parliament, is of itself a proof how little fit
ted the Canadians are for constitutional government.
1. Resolved, That His Majesty's loyal subjects, the people
of this Province of Lower Canada, have shown the strongest
attachment to the British Empire, of which they are a portion :
that they have repeatedly defended it with courage in time of
war; that at the time which preceded the independence ofthe
late British Colonies on this continent, they resisted the ap
peal made to them by those colonies to join their confedera
tion.

114 THE BUBBLES
2. Resolved, That the people of this province have at all
tiraes manifested their confidence in His Majesty's Govern
ment, even under circumstances of the greatest difficulty, and
when the government of the province has been administered
by men who trampled under foot the rights and feelings dear
est to British subjects ; and that these sentiments of the people
ofthis province remain unchanged.
3. Resolved, That the people of this Province have always
shown themselves ready to welcome and receive as brethren
those of their fellow subjects who, having quitted the United
Kingdom or its dependencies, have chosen this province as
their home, and have earnestly endeavoured (as far as on them
depended) to afford every facility to their participating in the
political advantages, and in the means of rendering their in
dustry available, which the people of this province enjoy; and
to remove for them the difficulties arising from the vicious
system adopted by those who have administered tho govern
ment of the province, with regard to those portions of the
country in which the new-comers have generally chosen to
settle. 4. Resolved, That this House, as representing the. people of
this province, has shown an earnest zeal to advance the gene
ral prosperity of the country, by securing the peace and con
tent of all classes of its inhabitants, without any distinction of
origin or creed, and upon the solid and durable basis of unity
of interest, and equal confidence in the protection of the mo
ther country.
5. Resolved, That this House bas seized every occasion to
adopt, and firmly to establish by law in this province, not only
the constitutional and parliamentary law of England, which is
necessary to carry the Government into operation, but all such
parts of the public law of the United Kingdom as have ap
peared to this house adapted to promote the welfare and safety
of the people, and to be conformable to their wishes and their
wants; and that this house has, in like manner, wisely endea-'
voured so to regulate its proceedings as to render them, as
closely as the circumstances of this colony permit, analogous
to the practice of the House of Commons of the United King
dom.

OF CANADA. 115
6. Resolved, That in the year 1827, the great raajority of
the people of this province complained, in petitions signed by
87,000 persons, of serious and numerous abuses which then
prevailed, many of which had then existed for a great number
of years, and of which the greater part still exist, without cor
rection or mitigation.
7. Resolved, That the complaints aforesaid, and the
grievances which gave rise to them, being submitted to the
consideration of the Parliament ofthe United Kingdom, occa
sioned the appointment of a committee of the House of Com
mons, of which the Honourable Edward Geofirey Stanley, now
his Majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonial de
partment, and several others, who are now members of his
Majesty's government, formed part ; and that, after a careful
investigation and due deliberation, the said committee, on the
ISth of July, 1828, came to the following very just conclu
sions : 1st. " That the embarrassments and discontents that
had long prevailed in the Canadas, had arisen from serious
defects in the system of laws, and the constitutions esta
blished in those colonies.
2dly. " That these embarrassments were in a great
measure to be attributed to the manner in which the ex
isting system had been administered.
3dly. " That they had a complete conviction that nei
ther the suggestions which they had made, nor any other
iraprovements in the laws and constitutions of the Cana
das, will be attended with the desired effi^ct, unless an
impartial, conciliating, and constitutional system of go
vernment were observed in these royal and important co
lonies."
8. Resolved, That since the period aforesaid, the constitu
tion of this province, with its serious defects, has continued to
be administered in a manner calculated to multiply the embar
rassments and discontents which have long prevailed ; and that
the recommendations of the Committee of the House of Com
raons have not been followed by effective measures of a nature
to produce the desired effect.

116 the BUBBLES
9. Resolved, That the most serious defect in the Constitu
tional Act — its radical fault — the most active principle of evil
and discontent in the province; the most powerful and most
frequent cause of abuses of power ; of infractions of the laws ;
of the waste of the public revenue and property, accompanied
by impunity to the governing party, and the oppression and
consequent resentraeut of the governed, is that injudicious
enactraent, the fatal results of which were foretold by the Ho
nourable Charles James Fox at the time of its adoption, which
invests the Crown with that exorbitant power, (incompatible
with any government duly balanced and founded on law and
justice, and not on force and coercion) of selecting and com
posing without any rule or limitation, or any predetermined
qualification, an entire branch ofthe legislature, supposed from
the nature of its attributions to be independent, but inevitably
the servile tool of the authority which- creates, composes, and
decomposes it, and can on any day modify it to suit the inte
rests or the passions ofthe moment.
10. Resolved, That with the permission of a power so un
limited, the abuse of it is inseparably connected ; and that it
has always been so exercised in the selection of the Members
of the Legislative Council of this province, as to favour the
spirit of monopoly and despotism in the executive, judicial, and
administrative departments of government, and never in favour
ofthe public interests.
11. Resolved, That the effectual remedy for thisevil was
judiciously foreseen and pointed out by the Committee of the
House of Commons, who asked John Neilson, Esquire, (one of
the agents who had carried to England the petition of the
87,000 inhabitants of Lower Canada,) whether he had turned
in his mind any plan by which he conceived the Legislative
Council might be better composed in Lower Canada; whether
he thought it possible that the said body could command tho
confidence and respect of the people, or go in harmony with
the house of assembly, unless the principle of election were
introduced into its composition in some manner or other; and
also, whether he thought that the colony could have any se
curity that the legislative council would be properly and inde
pendently composed, unless the principle of election were in-

OF CANADA. 117
troduced into it in some manner or other; and received from
the said John Neilson answers, in which (among other reflec
tions) he said in substance, that there were two modes in
which the composition of the legislative council might be bet
tered ; the one by appointing men who were independent of
the executive, (but that to judge from experience there would
be no security that this would be done,) and that if this raode
were found impracticable, the other would be to render the
legislative council elective.
12. Resolved, That, judging from experience, this house
likewise believes there would be no security in the first men
tioned mode, the course of events having but too amply proved
what was then foreseen; and that this house approves all the
inferences drawn by the said John Neilson from experience
and facts; but that with regard to his suggestion that a class
of electors of a higher qualification should be established, or a
qualification in property fixed for those persons who might
sit in the council, this house have, in their address to his
Most Gracious Majesty, dated the 20th of March, 1833, de
clared in what manner this principle could, in their opinion,
be rendered tolerable in Canada, by restraining it within cer
tain bounds, which should in no case be passed.
13. Resolved, That even in defining bounds of this nature,
and requiring the possession of real property as a condition of
eligibility to a legislative council, chosen by the people, which
most wisely and happily has not been made a condition of eli
gibility to the house of assembly, this house seems rather to
have sought to avoid shocking received opinions in Europe,
where custom and the law have given so many artificial pri
vileges and advantages to birth and rank and fortune, than to
consult the opinions generally received in America, where the
influence of birth is nothing, and where, notwithstanding the
importance which fortune must always naturally confer, the
artificial introduction of great political privileges in favour of
the possessors of large property, could not long resist the pre
ference given at free elections to virtue, talents, and informa
tion, which fortune does not exclude but can never purchase,
and which may be the portion of honest, contented, and devoted
11

118 THE BUBBLE*
men, whom the people ought to have the power of calling an<5
consecrating to the public service, in preference to richer raen,
of whom they may think less highly.
14. Resolved, That this house is no wise disposed to admit
the excellence ofthe present constitution of Canada, although
his Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies has unseason
ably and erroneously asserted, that it has conferred on the two
Canadas the institutions of Great Britain ; nor to reject the
principle of extending tbe system of frequent elections much
farther than it is at present carMed ; and this system ought
especially to be extended to the legislative council, although
it may be considered by the polonial secretary incompatible
with the British government, which he calls a monarchical go
vernment, or too analogous to the institutions which the seve
ral states, composing the industrious, moral, and prosperous
confederation of the United States of America, have adopted
for themselves.
15. Resolved, That in a despatch of which the date is un
known, and of which a part only was communicated to this
house by the governor-in-chief on the 14th of January, 1834,
his Majesty's secretary of state for the Colonial Department
(this house having no certain knowledge whether the said
despatch is from the present colonial secretary or from his
predecessor) says, that an examination of the composition of
the legislative council at that period (namely, at the time-
when its composition was so justly censured by a Comraittee
ofthe House of Commons) and at iho present, will sufficiently
show in what spirit his Majesty's Government has endeavoured
to carry the wishes of Parliament into effect.
16. Resolved, That this House receives with gratitude this
assurance of the just and benevolent intentions, with which,
in the performance of their duty, his Majesty's ministers have
endeavoured to give efliect to the wishes of parliament.
17. Resolved, That unhappily it was left to the principal
agent of his Majesty's Government in this province to carry
the wishes ofthe Imperial Parliament into effect; but that he
has destroyed the hope which his Majesty's faithful subjects
had conceived of seeing the legislative council reformed and
ameliorated, and has confirmed them in the opinion that the

OF CANADA. 11^
¦»
¦only possible mode of giving to that body the weight and re
spectability which it ought to possess, is to introduce into it
the principle of election.
18. Resolved, That the legislative council, strengthened by
a majority inimical to the rights of this house and of the peo
ple whom it represents, has received new and more powerful
¦means than it before possessed of perpetuating and of render
ing more offensive and more hurtful to the country the system
¦of abuses of which the people of this province have up to this
•day ineffectually complained, and which up to this day, parlia
ment and his Majesty's government in England have ineffec-
¦tually sought to correct.
19. Resolved, That since its pretended reform the legisla
tive council has, in a manner more calculated to alarm the
inhabitants of this province, and more particularly in its Ad-
¦dress to his Majesty of the 1st of April, 1833, renewed its
pretension of being specially appointed to protect one class of
his Majesty's subjects in this province, as supposing thera to
have interests which could not be sufficiently represented in
the assembly, seven-eighths ofthe members of which are by the
said council most erroneously stated to be of French origin and
.¦speak the French language : that this pretension is a violation
of the constitution, and is of a nature to excite and perpetuate
amcilig the several classes of the inhabitants of this province
mutual distrust and national distinctions and animosities, and
to give one portion of the people an unjust and factious supe-
fiority over the other, and the hope of domination and undue
(preference. 20. Resolved, That by such claim the legislative council,
after a reform which was held up as one adapted to unite it
more closely with the interests of the colony in conformity
with the wishes of parliament, oalls down as one of its first
acts, the prejudices and severity of his Majesty's Government
upon the people of this province and upon the representative
branch of the legislature thereof, and that by this conduct the
legislative council has destroyed amongst the people all hope
which was left them of seeing the said council, so long as it
¦ihall remain constituted as it now is, act in harmony with the
Iwuse of assembly.

120 THE BUBBLES
21. Resolved, that the legislative council of this province
has never been any thing else but an impotent skreen between
the governor and the people, which by enabling the one io
maintain a cortflict with the others has served to perpetuate a
system of discord and contention ; that it has unceasingly act
ed with avowed hostility to the sentiments of the people as
constitutionally expressed by the house of asserably; that it is
not right under the name of a legislative council to impose an
aristocracy on a country which contains no natural materials
for the composition of such a body; that the parliament ofthe
United Kingdom in granting to his Majesty's Canadian sub
jects the power of revising the constitution under which they
hold their dearest rights, would adopt a liberal policy, free
from all consideration of former interests and of existing pre
judices; and tbat by this measure, equally consistent with a
wise and sound policy, and with the most liberal and extended
views, the parliament of the United Kingdom would enter
into a noble rivalry with the United States of America, would
prevent his Majesty's subjects from seeing any thing to envy
there; and would preserve a friendly intercourse between
Great Britain and this province, as her colony so long as tbe
tie between us shall continue, and as her ally whenever the
course of events may change our relative position.
22. Resolved, That this house so much the more confiden
tially emits the opinions expressed in the preceding resolution,
because, if any faith is to be placed in the published reports,
they were at no distant period emitted with other remarks in
the same spirit, in the commons house ofthe United Kingdom,
by the Right Honourable Edward Geoffrey Stanley, now his
Majesty's principal secretary of state for the Colonial depart
ment, and by several other enlightened and distinguished mem
bers, some of whom are among the number of his Majesty's
present ministers; and because the conduct of the legislative
council since its pretended reform, demonstrates that the said
opinions are in no wise rendered less applicable or less correct
by its present composition.
23. Resolved, That the legislative council has at the pre
sent tirae less community of interest with the province than
at any former period ; that its present composition, instead of

OF CANADA. 121
being calculated to change the character of the body, to put
an end to complaints, and to bring about that co-operation of
the two houses of the legislature which is so necessary to the
welfare of the country, is such as to destroy all hope that the
said council will adopt the opinions and sentiments of the peo
ple of this province, and of this house with regard to the in
alienable right of the latter to the full and entire control of
the whole revenue raised in the province, with regard to the
necessity under which this house has found itself (for the pur
pose of effecting the reformation which it has so long and so
vainly demanded of existing abuses) to provide for the expenses
of the civil government by annual appropriations only, as well
with regard to a variety of other questions of public interest,
concerning which the executive government, and the legisla
tive council wbich it has selected and created, differ diametri
cally from the people of this province and from this bouse.
24. Resolved, That such of the recently appointed counsel
lors as were taken from the majority of the assembly, and had
entertained the hope that a sufficient number of independent
men, holding opinions in unison with those of the majority of
the people and of their representatives, would be associated
with them, must now feel that they are overwhelmed by a ma
jority hostile to the country, and composed of men who have
irretrievably lost the public confidence, by showing themselves
the blind and passionate partisans of all abuses of power, by
encouraging all the acts of violence committed under the ad
ministration of Lord Dalhousie, by having on all occasions out
raged the representatives of the people of the country; of men,
unknown in the country until within a few years, without land
ed property or having very little, raost of whom have never
been returned to the assembly, (some of them even having been
refused by the people,) and who have never given any proofs
of their fitness for pe^rforming the functions of legislators, but
merely of th«ir hatred to the country; and who, by reason of
their community of sentiment with him, have found them
selves, by the partiality of the governor-in-chief, suddenly
raised to a station in which they have the power of exerting
during life, an influence over the legislation and over the fat«
11*

122

THE BUBBLES

of this province, the laws and institutions of which have ever
been the objects of their dislike.
25. Resolved, That in manifest violation of the constitution,
there are among the persons last mentioned several who were
born citizens of the United States, or are natives of other fo
reign countries, and who at the time of their appointment had
not been naturalized by Acts of the British Parliament; that
the residence of one of these persons (Horatio Gates) in thia
country during the last war with the United States was only
tolerated; he refused to take up arms for the defence of the
country in which he remained merely for the sake of lucre;
and after these previous facts, took his seat in the legislative
council on the 16th March, 1833 ; and fifteen days afterwards,
to wif, on the 1st April, voted for the address before-mentioned,
censuring those who during the last war were under arms on
the frontiers to repulse the attacks of the American armies and
of the fellow-citizens of the said Horatio Gates: that another
(James Baxter) was resident during the said lafe war within
the United States, and was bound by the laws of the country
of his birth, under certain circumstances, forcibly to invade
this province, to pursue, destroy, and capture, if possible, his
Majesty's armies, and such of his Canadian subjects as were
in arms upon the frontiers to repulse the attacks of the Ame
rican armies, and of the said James Baxter, who (being at the
said time but slightly qualified as far as property is concerned)
became, by the nomination of the governor-in-chief, a legisla
tor for life in Lower Canada, on the 22d of March, 18.33; and
eight days afterwards, on the 1st of April aforesaid, voted that
very address v.'hich contained the calumnious and insulting ac-
cusation which called for the expression of his Majesty's just
regret,' 'yhat any word had been introduced which should have
the appearance of ascribing to a class of his subjects of one
origin, vievvs at variance with the allegiance which they owe
to his Majesty."
26. Resolved, That it was in the power of the present go-
vernor-iii-chief, more than in that of any of his predecessors,
(by reason of the latitude allowed him as to the number and
the selection of the persons whom he might nominate to be
members of the legislative council,) to allay, for a time at

OF CANADA. 133
least, the intestine divisions which rend this colony, and to ad
vance some steps towards the accomplishment ofthe wishes of
Parliament, by inducing a community of interest between the
said council and the people, and by giving the former a more
independent character by judicious nominations.
27. Resolved, That although sixteen persons have been no
minated in less than two years by the present governor to be
members of the said council, (a number greater than that af
forded by any period of ten years under any other administra
tion,) and notwithstanding the wishes of Parliament, and the
instructions given by his Majesty's government for the removal
of the grievances of which the people had complained, the
same malign influence which has been exerted to perpetuate
in the country a system of irresponsibility in favour of public
functionaries, has prevailed to such an extent as to render the
majority of the legislative council more inimical to the coun
try than at any former period; and that this fact confirms with
irresistible force the justice of the censure passed by the com
mittee of the house of commons on the constitution of the le
gislative council as it had theretofore existed, and the correct
ness of the opinion of those members of the said committee
who thought that the said body could never command the re
spect of the people, nor be in harmony with the house of as
sembly, unless the principle of election was introduced into it.
28. Resolved, That even if the present governor-in-chief
had, by making a most judicious selection, succeeded in qui
eting the alarm and allaying for a time the profound discon
tent which then prevailed, that form of government would not
be less essentially vicious which makes the happiness or mise
ry of a country depend on an executive over which the people'
of that country have no influence, and which has no permanent
interest in the country, or in common with its inhabitants; and
that the extension ofthe elective principle is the only measure
which appears to this house to afford any prospect of equal and
sufficient protection in future to all the inhabitants of the pro
vince without distinction.
29. Resolved, That the accusations preferred against the
house of assembly by the legislative council, as re-composed
by the present go vernor-in -chief, would be criminal and sedi-

124 THE BUBBLES
tipusi if their very nature did not render them harmless, since
they, go to assert, that if in its liberality and justice the par-
liainent of the United Kingdom had granted the earnest prayer
of this house in behalf of the province (and which this house
at this solemn moment, after weighing the despatches of the
secretary of state for the colonial department, and on the eve
of a general election, now repeats and renews,) that the con
stitution ofthe legislative council may be altered by rendering
it elective, the result of this act of justice and benevolence
would have been to inundate the country with blood.
30. Resolved, That by the said address to his Majesty, dated
the 1st of April last, the legislative council charges this house
with having calumniously accused the King's representative
of partiality and injustice in the exercise of the powers of his
office, and with deliberately calumniating his Majesty's officers,
both civil and military, as a faction induced by interest alone
to contend for the support of a government inimical to the rights
and opposed to the wishes of the people : with reference to
which this house declares that the accusations preferred by it
have never been calumnious, but are true and well founded,
and that a faithful picture of the executive government ofthis
province in all its parts is drawn by the legislative council in
this passage of its address.
31. Resolved, That if, as this house is fond of believing his
Majesty's government in England does not wish systematically
to nourish civil discord in this colony, the contradictory alle
gations thus made by the two houses make it imperative on it
to become better acquainted with the state of the province
than it now appears to be, if we judge from its long tolerance
of the abuses v/hich its agents commit with impunity; that it
ought not to trust to the self-praise of those who have the
management of the affiairs of a colony, passing according to
them into a state of anarchy; that it ought to be convinced that
if its protection of public functionaries, accused by a competent
authority (that is to say by this house, in the name ofthe peo
ple,) could for a time, by force and intimidation, aggravate, in
favour of those functionaries and against the rights and inte
rests of the people, the system of insult and oppression which
they impatiently bear, the result must be to weaken our con-

OF CANADA. 125
fidence in, and our attachment to his Majesty's government,
and to give deep root to the discontent and insurmountable
disgust which have been excited by administrations deplorably
vicious, and which are now excited by the majority of the
public functionaries of the colony, combined as a faction, and
induced by interest alone to contend for the support of a cor
rupt governraent, inimical to the rights and opposed to the
wishes ofthe people.
32. Resolved, That in addition to its wicked and calum
nious address of the 1st April, 1833, the legislative council, as
recomposed by the present governor-in-chief, has proved how
little community of interest it has with the colony, by the fact
that but of sixty-four bills which were sent up to it, twenty-
eight were rejected by it, or amended in a manner contrary
to their spirit and essence; that the same unanimity which
had attended the passing of the greater part- of these bills in
the asserably, aocompanied their rejection by the legislative
council, and that an opposition so violent shows clearly that the
provincial executive and the council of its choice, in league
together against the representative body, do not, or will not,
consider it as the faithful interpreter and the equitable judge
of the wants and wishes of the people, nor as fit to propose
laws conformable to the public will; and that under such cir
cumstances it would have been the duty ofthe head ofthe ex
ecutive to appeal to the people, by dissolving the provincial
parliament, had there been any analogy between the institutions
of Great Britain and those of this province.
33. Resolved, That the legislative council, as recomposed
by the present governor-in-chief, must be considered as im
bodying the sentiments of the colonial executive government,
and that from the moment is was so recomposed the two au
thorities seem to have bound and leagued theraselves together
for the purpose of proclairaing principles subversive of all har
mony in the province, and of governing and domineering in a
spirit of blind and invidious national antipathy.
34. Resolved, That the address voted unanimously on the
1st April, 1833, by the legislative council, as recomposed by
the present governor in chief, was concurred in by the honour
able the chief justice ofthe province, Jonathan Sewell, to whons

126 THE BUBBLES
the right honourable Lord Viscount Goderich, in his despatch,
communicated to the house on the 25th November, 1831, re-
commended " a cautious abstinence" from all proceedings by
which he might be involved in any contention of a party nature ;
by John Hale, the present receiver-general, who, in violation
of the laws, and of the trust reposed in him, and upon illegal
warrants issued by the governor, has paid away large sums of
the public money, without any regard to the obedience which
is always due to the law; by Sir John Caldwell, baronet, the
late receiver-general, a peculator, who has been conderaned
to pay nearly £100,000 to reimburse a like sum levied upon
the people of this province, and granted by law to his Majesty,
his heirs and successors, for the public use ofthe provindfe, and
for the support of his Majesty's government therein, and who
has diverted the greater part ofthe said sum from the purposes
to which it was destined, and appropriated it to his private
use ; by Mathew Bell, a grantee of the crown, who has been
unduly and illegally favoured by the executive, in the lease
of the forges of St. Maurice, in the grant of large tracts of
waste lands, and in the lease of large tracts of land formerly
belonging to the order of Jesuits; by John Stewart, ah exe
cutive counsellor, commissioner of the Jesuits' estates, and the
incumbent of Other lucrative offices: all of whom are placed
by their pecuniary and personal interests, under the influence
of ido executive; and by the honourable George MoSatt, Peter
M'Gill, John Molson, Horatio Gates, Robert Jones, and James
Baxter, all of whom, as well as those before raentioned, were,
with two exceptions, born out of the country, and all of whom,
except one, who for a number of years was a member of the
assembly, and has extensive landed property, are but slightly
qualified in that respect, and had not been sufficiently engaged
in public life to afford a presumption that they were fit to per
form the functions of legislators for life; and by Antoine Gas-
pard Couillard, the only native of the country, of French ori
gin, who stooped to concur in the address, and who also had
never been engaged in public life, and is but very moderately
qualified with respect to real property, and who, after his ap
pointment to the council, and before the said 1st of April, ren
dered himself dependent on the executive by soliciting a paltry
and subordinate place of profit.

OF CANADA. 127
35. Resolved, That the said address, voted by seven coun
sellors, under the influence of the present head of the execu
tive, and by five others of his appointment, (one only ofthe six
others who voted it, the Honourable George Moffatt, having
been appointed under his predecessor) is the work of the pre
sent administration of this province, the expression of its sen
timents, the key to its acts, and the proclamation of the ini-
quitious and arbitrary principles, which are to forra its rule of
conduct for the future.
36. Resolved, That the said address is not less injurious to
the small nuraber of raembers of the legislative council who
are independent, and attached to tbe interests and honour of
the country, who had been members of the Assembly, and are
known as having partaken its opinions and seconded its ef
forts, to obtain for it the entire control and disposal of the pub
lic revenue; as having approved the wholesome, constitutional,
and not, as styled by the council, the daring steps taken by this
house of praying by address to his Majesty that the legislative
council might be rendered elective ; as condemning a scheme for
the creation of an extensive monopoly of lands in favour of specu
lators residing out ofthe country; as believing that they .could
not have been appointed to the council with a view to increase
the constitutional weight and efficacy of that body, in which
they find themselves opposed to a majority hostile to their prin
ciples and their country; as believing that the interests and
wishes of the people are faithfully represented by their repre
sentatives, and that the connexion between this country and
the parent state will be durable in proportion to the direct in
fluence exorcised by the people in the enactment of laws
adapted to ensure their welfare ; and as being of opinion, that
his Majesty's subjects recently settled in this country will
share in all the advantages of the free institutions and of the
improvements which would be rapidly developed if, by means
of the extension of the elective system, the adrainistration were
prevented from creating a monopoly of power and profit in fa
vour of the minority who are of one origin, and to the preju
dice ofthe majority, vvho are of another, and from buying, cor
rupting, and exciting a portion of this minority in such a man
ner as to give to all discussions of local interest the alarming
character of strife and national antipathy ; and that the inde-

128 THE BUBBLES
pendent members of the legislative council, indubitably con
vinced ofthe tendency of that body, and undeceived as to the
motives which led to their appointment as members of it, now
refrain from attending the sittings of the said council, in which
they despair of being able to effect any thing for the good of
the country.
37. Resolved, That the political world in Europe is at this
moment agitated by two great parties, who in different coun
tries appear under the several names of serviles, royalists, to
ries and conservatives on the one side, and of liberals, consti
tutionals, republicans, whigs, reformers, radicals and similar
appellations on the other; that the former party is, on this con
tinent, without any weight or influence except what it derives
from its European supporters, and from a trifling number of
persons who become their dependents for the sake of personal
gain, and from others, who from age or habit cling to opinions
which are not partaken by any numerous class; while the se
cond party overspreads all America. And that the colonial
secretary is mistaken if he believes that the exclusion of a few
salaried officers from the legislative council could suffice to
make it harmonize with the wants, wishes and opinions of the
people, as long as the colonial governors retain the power
of preserving in it a majority of members rendered servile by
their antipathy to every liberal idea.
38. Resolved, That this vicious system, which has been
carefully maintained, has given to the legislative council a
greater character of animosity to the country than it had atany
former period, and is as contrary to the wishes of parliament,
as that which, in order to resist the wishes of the people of
England for the parliamentary reform, should have called into
the House of Lords a number of men notorious for their fac
tious and violent opposition to that great measure.
39. Resolved, That the legislative council, representing
merely the personal opinions of certain members of a body so
strongly accused at a recent period by the people of this pro
vince, and so justly censured by the report ofthe committee of
the House of Commons, is not an authority competent to de
mand alterations in the constitutional Act of the 31st Geo. 3,
c. 31, and that the said act ought not to be and cannot be al
tered, except at such time and in such manner as may be wished

OF CANADA. 129
oy the people ofthis province, whose sentiments this house is
alone competent to represent; that no interference on the part
ofthe British legislature with the laws and constitution ofthis
province, which should not be founded on the wishes of the
people, freely expressed either through this house, or in any
other constitutional manner, could in any wise tend to settle
any of the difficulties which exist in this province, but, on the
contrary, would only aggravate them and prolong their con
tinuance. 40. Resolved, That this house expects from the justice of the
parliament ofthe United Kingdom, that no measure ofthe na
ture aforesaid, founded on the false representations ofthe legis
lative council and ofthe members and tools of the colonial ad
ministration, all interested in perpetuating existing abuses, will
be adopted to the prejudice of the rights, liberties, and welfare
of tho people of this province ; but that on the contrary, the Im
perial Legislature will comply with the wishes of the people
and of this house, and will provide the most effectual remedy
for all evils present and future, either by rendering the legis
lative council elective, in the manner mentioned in the Address
ofthis house to his most gracious Majesty, of the 20th March,
1833, or by enabling the people to express still more directly
their opinions as to the measures to be adopted in that behalf;
and with regard to such other modifications of the constitution
as the wants of the people and the interest of his Majesty's go
vernment in the province may require; and that this house
perseveres in the said Address.
41. Resolved, That his Majesty's secretary of state for the
colonial department has acknowledged in his despatches, that
it has frequently been admitted that the people of Canada
ought to see nothing in the institutions of the neighbouring
states vvhich they could regard with envy, and that he has yet
to learn that any such feeling now exists among his Majesty's
subjects in Canada: to which this house answers, that the
neighbouring States have a form of government very fit to pre
vent abuses of power, and very effective in repressing them ;
that the reverse ofthis order of things has always prevailed in
Canada under the present form of government; that there ex
ists in the neighbouring States a stronger and raore general at
tachment to the national institutions than in any other coun-
12

130 THE BUBBLES
try, and that there exists also in those States a guarantee for
the progressive advance of their political institutions towards
perfection in the revision ofthe same at short and determinate
intervals, by conventions ofthe people, in order that they may,
without any shock or violence, be adapted to the actual state
of things.
42. Resolved, That it was in consequence of a correct idea
of the state of the country and of society generally in Ameri
ca, that fhe committee ofthe House of Coramons asked, whe
ther there was not in the two Canadas a growing inclination
to see the institutions become more and more popular, and in
that respect more and more like those of the United States;
and that John Neilson, Esq., one of the agents sent from this
country, answered, that the fondness for popular institutions
had made great progress in the two Canadas ; and that the
same agent was asked, whether he did not think that it would
be wise that the object of every change made in the institu
tions of the province should be to comply more and more with
the wishes ofthe people, and to render the said institutions ex
tremely popular: to which question this house, for and in the
name ofthe people whom it represents, answers, solemnly and
deliberately, " Yes, it would be wise; it would be excellent."
43. Resolved, That the constitution and form of govern
ment which would best suit this colony are not to be sought
solely in the analogies offered by the institutions of Great Bri
tain, where the state of society is altogether different from
our own; and that it would be wise to turn to profit by the in
formation to be gained by observing the effects produced by the
diff'erent and infinitely varied constitutions which the kings
and parliament of England have granted to the several planta
tions and colonies in America, and by studying the way in
which virtuous and enlightened men have modified such colo
nial institutions, when it could be done with the assent of the
parties interested.
44. Resolved, that the unanimous consent with which all
the American states have adopted and extended the elective
system, shows that it is adapted to the wishes, manners, and
social state ofthe inhabitants of this continent; that this sys
tem prevails equally among those of British and those of Spa-

OF CANADA. 131
nish origin, although the latter, during the continuance of their
colonial state had been under the calamitous yoke of ignorance
and absolutism ; and that we do not hesitate to ask from a
prince ofthe House of Brunswick, and a reformed Parliament,
all tho freedom and political powers which the princes of the
House of Stuart and their parliaments granted to the most fa
voured ofthe plantations foi-med at a period when such grants
must have been less favourably regarded than they would now
be. 45. Resolved, That it was not the best and most free sys
tems of colonial government which tended most to hasten the
independence of the old English colonies; since the province
of New York, in which the institutions were most monarchical
in the sense vvhich that word appears to bear in the despatch
of the colonial secretary, was the first to refuse obedience to
an act of the Parliament of Great Britain: and that the colo
nies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, which, though closely
and aflfectionately connected with the mother country for a
long course of years, enjoyed constitutions purely democratic,
were the last to enter into a confederation rendered necessary
by the conduct of bad servants ofthe Crown, who called in the .
supreme authority of the parliament and the British constitu
tion to aid them to govern arbitrarily, listening rather to the
governors and their advisers than to the people and their re
presentatives, and shielding with their protection those who
consumed the taxes rather than those who paid them,
46. Resolved, That with a view to the introduction of what
ever the institutions of the neighbouring States offered that
was good and applicable to tho state of the province, this house
had among other raeasures passed during many years, a bill
founded on the principle of proportioning arithmetically the
number of representatives to the populace of each place re
presented; and that if, by the pressure of circumstances and
the urgent necessity which existed that the number of repre
sentatives should be increased, it has been compelled to assent
to araendments which violate that principle, by giving to coun
ties containing a population of little more than 4,000 souls,
the same number of representatives as to several others of
which the population is five times as great, this disproportion

132

THE BUBBLES

is, in the opinion of this house, an act of injustice, for which
it ought to seek a remedy: and that in new countries where
the population increases rapidly, and tends to create new set
tlements, it is wise and equitable that by a frequent and peri
odical census, such increase and the manner in which it is dis
tributed should be ascertained, principally for the purpose of
settling the representation of the province on an equitable

47. Resolved, That thq fidelity of the people and the pro
tection of the government are co-relative obligations of which
the one cannot long subsist without tbe other; that by rea
son of the defects which exist in the laws and constitution of
this province, and ofthe manner in which those laws and that
constitution have been administered, the people of this pro
vince are not sufficiently protected in their lives, their proper
ty, and their honour ; and that the long series of acts of in
justice and oppression of which they have to complain, have
increased with alarming rapidity in violence and in number
under the present administration.
48. Resolved, That in the midst of these disorders and suf
ferings, this house and the people whom it represents, had al
ways cherished the hope and expressed their faith that his
Majesty's government in England did not knowingly and wil
fully participate in the political immorality of its colonial
agents and officers; and that it is with astonishment and grief
that they have seen in the extract from the despatches of the
colonial secretary, communicated to this house by the gover
nor-in-chief, during the present session, that one at least of the
members of his Majesty's government entertains towards them
feelings of prejudice and animosity, and inclines to favour plans
of oppression and revenge, ill adapted to change a system of
abuses, the continuance of which would altogether discourage
the people, extinguish in them the legitimate hope of happi
ness which, as British subjects, they entertained, and would
leave them only the hard alternative of submitting to an ig
nominious bondage, or of seeing those ties endangered which
unite them to the mother country.
49. Resolved, That this house and the people, whora it repre
sents, do not wish or intend to convey any threat; but that, rely-

OF CANADA. 133
ing, as they do, upon the principles of law and justice, they are,
and ought to be, politically strong enough not to be exposed to
receive insult from any man whomsoever, or bound to sufferit in
silence ; that the style of the said extracts from the despatches
ofthe colonial secretary, as communicated to this house, is in
sulting and inconsiderate to such a degree that no legally con
stituted body, although its functions were infinitely subordinate
to those of legislation, could or ought to tolerate them ; that no
similar example can be found, even ih the despatches of those
of his predecessor^, in office, least favourable to the rights of
the colonies; that the tenor of the said despatches is incom
patible with the rights and privileges of this house, which
ought not to be called in question or defined by the colonial
secretary, but which, as occasion may require, will be succes-
eively promulgated and enforced by this house.
50. Resolved, That wilh regard to the following expressions
in one ofthe said despatches, " Should events unhappily force
upon parliament the exercise of its supreme authority, to com
pose the internal dissensions of the colonies, it would be my
object and ray duty, as a servant of the crown, to submit to
parliament such modifications of the charter ofthe Canadas as
should tend, not to the introduction of institutions consistent
wilh monarchical government, but to maintaining and strength
ening the connexion vvith the mother country, by a close ad
herence to the spirit of the British constitution, and by pre
serving in their proper place and within their due limits the
mutual rights and privileges of all classes of his Majesty's
subjects:" — if they are to be understood as containing a threat
lo introduce into the constitution any other modifications than
such as are asked for by the majority of the people of this
province, whose sentiments cannot be legitimately expressed
by any other authority than its representatives, this house
would esteem itself wanting in candour to the people of Eng
land, if it hesitated to call their attention to the fact, that in.
less than twenty years the population of the United States of
America will be as great or greater than that of Great Britain,
and that of British America will be as great or greater than
that of the former English colonies was when, the latter
deemed that the time was come to decide that the inapprecia-
12*

134 THE BUBBLES
ble advantage of governing themselves instead of being go
verned, ought to engage them to repudiate a system of colo
nial government which was, generally speaking, much better
than that of British America now is.
51. Resolved, That the approbation expressed by the colo
nial secretary, in his said despatch, of the present composition
of the legislative council, whose acts, since its pretended re
form, have been marked by party spirit and by invidious na
tional distinctions and preferences, is a subject of just alarm to
his Majesty's Canadian subjects in general, and more particu
larly to the great majority of them, who have not yielded at
any time to any oth'er class of the inhabitants of this province
in their attachment to his Majesty's government, in their love
of peace and order, in respect for the laws, and in their wish
to effect that union among the whole people which is so much
to be desired, to the end that all may enjoy freely and equally
the rights and advantages of British subjects, and of the insti
tutions which have been guarantied to, and are dear to the
country ; that the distinctions and preferences aforesaid have-
almost constantly been used and taken advantage of by the co
lonial administration of this province, and the majority of the
legislative counsellors, executive counsellors, judges, and:
other functionaries dependent uponit; and that nothing but
the spirit ofthe union among the several classes of the people,
and their conviction that their interests are the same, could
have prevented collisions incompatible with the prosperity
and safety of the province.
52; Resolved, That since a circumstance, which did not
depend upon the choice of the majority of the people, their
French origin and their use ofthe French language, has been.
made by the colonial authorities a pretext for abuse, for exclu
sion, for political inferiority, for a separation of rights and in
terests; this house now appeals to the justice of his Majesty's-
government and of parliament and to the honour ofthe people
of England; that the majority of the inhabitants ofthis coun
try are in nowise disposed to repudiate any one of the advan
tages they derive from their origin and from their descent
from the French nation, which, with regard to the progress,
of which it has been the cause,, in civilization,, in the sciences,.

OF CANADA. 135
in letters, and in the arts, has never been behind the British
nation, and is now the worthy rival of the latter in the ad
vancement of the cause of liberty and ofthe science of govern
ment; from which this country derives the greater portion of
its civil and ecclesiastical law, and of its scholastic and chari
table institutions, and of the religion, language, habits, man
ners, and customs of the great majority of its inhabitants.
53. Resolved, That our fellow-subjects of British origin, in
this province, came to settle themselves in a country, " the in-
iiabitants whereof, professing the religion of the church of
Rome, enjoyed an established form of constitution and system
of laws, by which their persons and their property had been
protected, governed, and ordered during a long series of
years,froni the first establishment of the province of Canada;"
that prompted by these considerations and guided by the rules
of justice and of the law of nations, the British parliament
enacted that, " in all matters of controversy, relative to pro
perty and civil rights, resort should be had to the laws of Ca
nada;'' that when parliament afterwards departed frora the
principle thus recognised, firstly, by the introduction of the Eng
lish criminal law, and afterwards by that ofthe representative
system, with all the constitution and parliamentary law neces
sary to its perfect action, it did so in conformity to the suffi
ciently expressed wish ofthe Canadian people; and that every
attempt on the part of public functionaries or of other persons-
(who on coming to settle in the province, made their condi
tion their own voluntary act) against the existence of any por
tion of the laws and institutions peculiar to the country, and
any preponderance given to such persons in the legislative and
executive councils, in the courts of law, or in other depart
ments, are contrary to the engagements of the British parlia
ments and to the rights guarantied to his Majesty's Canadian
subjects, on the faith ofthe national honour of England on that
of capitulations and treaties.
54. Resolved, That any combination, whether effected by
means of acts of the British parliament, obtained in contraven
tion to its former engagements, or by means of the partial and
corrupt administration of the present constitution and system of
kw, would be a violation of those rights^ and would, as long

130 THE BUBBLES
as it should exist, be obeyed by the people, from motives of fear
and constraint, and not from choice and afiection ; that the con
duct of the colonial administrations, and of their agents and in
struments in this colony, has, for the most part, been of a na
ture unjustly to' create apprehensions as to the views of the
people and government of the mother country, and to en
danger the confidence and content of the inhabitants of this
province, which can only be secured by equal laws, and by the
observance of equal justice, as the rule of conduct in all the
departments ofthe government.
.55". Resolved, That whether the number of that class of his
Majesty's subjects in this province, vvho are of British origin,
be that mentioned in the said address of the legislative coun
cil, or whether (as the truth is) it amounts to less than half
that number, the wishes and interests of the great majority
of them are common to them and to their fellow-subjects of
French'origin, and speaking the French language; that the
one class love the country of their birth, the other that of their
adoption ; that the greater portion of the latter have acknow
ledged the generally beneficial tendency of the laws and insti
tutions of the country, and have laboured in concert vvith the
former to introduce into them gradually, and by the authority
ofthe provincial parliament, the improvements of wbich they
have, from time to time, appeared susceptible, and have resist
ed the confusion which it has been endeavoured to introduce'
into them, in favour of schemes of monopoly and abuse, and
¦that all without distinction wish anxiously for an impartial and
protecting government.
56. Resolved, That in addition to administrative and judi
cial abuses, which have had an injurious effect upon the public
welfare and confidence, attempts have been inade, from lime
to lime, to induce the parliament of the United Kingdom, by de
ceiving its justice and abusing its benevolent intentions, lo adopt
measures calculated to bring about combinations ofthe nature
above mentioned, and to pass acts of internal legislation for this
province, having the same tendency, and with regard to which,
the people ofthe country had not been consulted ; that, unhap
pily, the attempts to obtain the passing of some of these mea
sures were successful, especially that of the act of the 6 Geo.

OF CANADA. 137
^'-
4, c. 59, commonly called the " Tenures Act," the repeal of
which vvas unanimously demanded by all classes ofthe people,
without distinction, through their representatives, a very short
time after the number of the latter was increased; and that
this house has not yet been able to obtain from his Majesty's
representative in this province, or from any other source, any
information as to the views of his Majesty's government in
England, with regard to the repeal of the said act.
57. Resolved, That the object of the said act was, according
to the benevolent intentions of parliament, und as the title of
the act sets forth, the extinction of feudal and seigniorial rights
and duos on land held enfiefani a cens in this province, wilh
the intention offavouringthegreatbody of the inhabitants ofthe
country, and protecting them against the said dues, which vvere
regarded as burdensome; but that the provisions of the said
act, far from having the effect aforesaid, afford facilities for
seigniors to become, in opposition to the interests of their cen
sitaires, the absolute proprietors ofthe extensive tracts of un-
conceded lands which, by the law of the country, they held
only for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof, to whom tliey
vvere bound to concede them in consideration of certain limit
ed dues; that the said act, if generally acted upon, would shut
out the mass ofthe permanent inhabitants ofthe country from
the vacant lands in the seigniories, while, at the same time,
Ihey have been constantly prevented from settling on the waste
lands of the crown on easy and liberal terms, and under a te
nure adapted to the laws ofthe country, by the partial, secret,
and vicious manner in which the crown land department has
been managed, and the provisions ofthe act aforesaid, with re
gard to the laws applicable to the lands in question; and that
the application made by certain seigniors for a change of
tenure, under the authority of the said act, appear to provethe
correctness of the view this house has taken of its practical
effect. 58. Resolved, That it was only in consequence of an erro
neous supposition, that feudal charges were inherent in the law
of this country, as far as the possession and transmission of
real property, and the tenures recognised by that law, were
concerned, that it was enacted in the said act that the lands.

138

THE BUBBLES

with regard to which a change of tenure should be effected,
should thereafter be held under the tenure of free and com
mon soccage; that the seigniorial charges have been found
burdensome in certain cases, chiefly by reason of the want of
adequate means of obtaining the interference of the colonial
government and of the courts of law, to enforce the ancient
law ofthe country in that behalf, and that the provincial legis
lature was, moreover, fully competent to pass laws, providing
for the redemption of the said charges in a manner which
should be in accordance vvith the interests of all parties, and
for the introduction ofthe free tenures recognised by the laws
of the country; that the House of Assembly has been repeat
edly occupied, and now is occupied about this important sub
ject ; but that the said Tenures Act, insufficient of itself to
effect equitably the purpose for which it was passed, is of a na
ture to embarrass and create obstacles to the effectual mea
sures which the legislature of the country, with a full know
ledge of the subject, might be disposed to adopt; and that the
application thus made (to the exclusion ofthe provincial legis
lature) to the parliament of the United Kingdom, which was
far less competent to make equitable enactments on a subject
so complicated in its nature, could only have been made with
a view to unlawful speculations and the subversion ofthe laws
ofthe country.
.59. Resolved, That independently of its many other serious
imperfections, the said act does not appear to have been found
ed on a sufficient knowledge ofthe laws which govern persons
and property in this country, when it declares the laws of
Great Britain to be applicable lo certain incidents to real pro
perly therein enumerated; and that it has only served to aug
ment the confusion and doubt which had prevailed in the courts
of law, and in private transactions vvith regard to the law
which applied to lands previously granted in free and common
soccage. 60. Resolved, That the provision of the said act which has
excited the greatest alarm, and which is raost at variance with
the rights of the people of the country, and with those of the
provincial parliament, is that which enacts that lands pre
viously held en fief or en censine shall, after a change of te-

OF CANADA. 139
nure shall have been effected with regard to them, be held in
free and common soccage, and thereby become subject to the
laws of Great Britain, under the several circumstances therein
mentioned and enumerated; that besides being insufficient in
itself, this provision is of a nature to bring into collision, in
the old settlements, at multiplied points of contiguity, two op
posite systems of laws, one of which is entirely unknown to
this country, in which it is impossible to carry it into effect;
that from the feeling manifested by the colonial authorities
and their partisans towards the inhabitants of the country, the
latter have just reason to fear that the enactment in question
is only the prelude to the final subversion, by acts of parlia
ment of Great Britain, fraudulently obtained in violation of its
former engagements, of the system of laws by which the per
sons and properly of the people of this province were so long
happily governed.
61. Resolved, That the inhabitants ofthis country have just
reason lo fear that the claims made to the property of the se
minary of St. Sulpice, at Montreal, are attributable to the de
sire of the colonial administration, and its agents and tools, lo
hasten this deplorable state of things ; and that his Majesty's
government in England would, by reassuring his faithful sub
jects on this point, dissipate the alarm felt by the clergy, and
by the whole people without distinction, and merit their sin
cere gratitude.
62. Resolved, That it is the duly of this house to persist in
asking for the absolute repeal ofthe said tenures act, and until
such repeal shall be effected, to propose to the other branches
of the provincial parliament such measures as may be adapted
to weaken the pernicious effects of the said act.
63. Resolved, That this house has learned wilh regret, from
one of the said despatches of the colonial secretary, that his
Majesty has been advised to interfere in a matter which con
cerns the privileges of this house: that in the case there al
luded to, this house exercised a privilege solemnly established
by the house of commons, before the principle on which it
rests became the law of the land ; that this privilege is essen
tial to the independence of this house, and to the freedom of
its votes and proceedings; that the resolutions passed by this

140 THE BUBBLES
house, on the 15th of February, 1831, are constitutional and
well founded, and are supported by the example of the com
mons of Great Britain ; that this house has repeatedly passed
bills for giving effect to the said principle, but that these bills
failed to become law, at first from the obstacles opposed to
them in another branch of the provincial legislature, and sub
sequently by reason of the reservation of the last of the said
bills for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure in England,
whence it has not yet been sent back; that until some bill to
the same effect shall become law, this house persists in the
said resolutions ; and that the refusal of his excellency, the pre
sent governor- in-chief, to sign a writ for the election of a
knight representative for the county of Montreal, in the place
of Dominique Mondelet, Esq., whose seat had been declared
vacant, is a grievance of .which this house is entitled lo obtain
the redress, and one which would alone have sufficed to put an
end to all intercourse between it and the colonial executive,
if the circumstances of the couQlry had not offered an infinite
number of other abuses and grievances against which it is ur
gently necessary to remonstrate.
64. Resolved, That the claims which have for many years
been set up by the executive government to that control over
and power of appropriating a great portion of the revenues le
vied in this province, which belong of right to this house, arc
contrary lo the rights and lo the constitution of the country ;
and that with regard lo the said claims, this house persists in
the declarations it has heretofore made.
65. Resolved, That tho said claims of the executive have
been vague and varying; that the documents relative to the
said claims, and the accounts and estimates of expenses laid
before this house have likewise been varying and irregular,
and insufficient to enable this house to proceed with a full un
derstanding of the subject on the matters to which they re
lated ; that important heads of the public revenue of the pro
vince, collected either under the provisions of the law or under
arbitrary regulations made by the executive, has been omitted
in the said accounts; that numerous items have been paid out
of the public revenue without the authority of this house, or
any acknowledgment of its control over them, as salaries for

or CANADA. 141
sinecure offices, which are not recognised by this house, and
even for objects for which, after mature deliberation, it had not
deemed it expedient to appropriate any portion of the public
revenue; and that no accounts of the sums so expended have
been laid before this house.
66. Resolved, That the executive government has endea
voured, by means of the arbitrary regulations aforesaid, and
particularly by the sale of the waste lands of the Crown, and
of the timber on the same, to create for itself out of the reve
nue which this house only has the right of appropriating, re
sources independent of the control of the representatives of the
people ; and that the result has been a diminution of the whole
some influence which the people have constitutionally the
right of exercising over the administrative branch of the go
vernment, and over the spirit and tendency of ils measures.
67. Resolved, That this house having, from time to time,
with a view to proceed by bill, to restore regularity lo the
financial system of the province, and to provide for the ex
penses ofthe administration of justice and of his Majesty's ci
vil government therein, asked the provincial government by
address for divers documents and accounts relating to financial
matters, and to abuses connected with them, has met with re
peated refusals, more especially during the present session and
the preceding one ; that divers subordinate public functionaries,
summoned to appear before committees of this house to give
information on the said subject, have refused to do so in pur
suance of the said claim set up by the provincial administra
tions to withdraw a large portion of the public income and
expenditure from the control and even from the knowledge of
this house; that during the present session one of the said
subordinate functionaries of the executive being called upon to
produce the originals of sundry registers of warrants and re
ports, which it was important to this house to cause to be exa
mined, insisted on being present al the deliberations of ths
committee appointed by the house for that purpose ; and that
the head of the administration being informed of the fact, re
frained from interfering, although in conforraity to parliamen
tary usage, this house had pledged itself that the said doCu-
13

142 THE BUBBLES
ments should be returned, and although the governor-in-chief
had himself promised communication of them.
-68. Resolved, That the result of the secret and unlawful
distribution of a large portion ofthe public revenue ofthe pro
vince has been, that the executive government has always,
except with regard to appropriations for objects of a local na
ture, considered itself bound to account for the public money
to the lords commissioners ofthe treasury in England, and not
to this house, nor according to its votes, or even in conformity
to the laws passed by the provincial legislature ; and that the
accounts and statements laid before this house from time to
time have never assumed the shape of a regular systera of ba
lanced accounts, but have been drawn up, one after another,
with such alterations and irregularities as it pleased the admi
nistration ofthe day to introduce into them, from the accounts
kept with the lords of the treasury, in which the whole public
money received was included, as well as all the items of ex
penditure, whether authorized or unauthorized by the provin
cial legislature.
69. Resolved, That the pretensions and abuses aforesaid
have taken away from this house even the shadow of control
over the public revenue of the province, and have rendered
it impossible for it lo ascertain at any time the amount of
revenue collected, the disposable amount of the same, and
tKe suras required for the public service; and that the house
having during many years passed bills, of which the models are
to bo found in the statute-book of Great Britain, to establish a
regular system of accountability and responsibility in the de
partment connected with the receipt and expenditure of the
revenue; these bills have failed in the legislative council.
70. Resolved, That since the last session of the provincial
parliament, the governor-in-chief of this province, and the
members of his executive government, relying on the preten
sions above-mentioned, have, without any lawful authority,
paid large sums out of the public revenue, subject to the con
trol ofthis house; and that the said sums vvere divided accord
ing to their pleasure, and even in contradiction to the votes
of this house, as incorporated in the supply bill passed by it
during the last session, and rejected by the legislative council.

OF CANADA. 143
71. Resolved, That this house will hold responsible for all
moneys which have been, or may hereafter be paid, otherwise
than under the authority of an act of the legislature, or upon
an address of this house, out of the public revenue of the pro
vince, all those who may have authorized such payments, or
participated therein, until the said sums shall have been re
imbursed, or a bill or bills of indemnity freely passed by this
house shall have become law.
72. Resolved, That the course adopted by this house in the
supply bill, passed during the last session, of attaching certain
conditions to certain votes, for. the purpose of preventing the
accumulation of incompatible offices in the same persons, and
of obtaining the redress of certain abuses and grievances, is
wise and constitutional, and has frequently been adopted. by
the house of commons, under analogous circumstances : and
that if the comraons of England do not now so frequently recur
to it, it is because they have happily obtained the entire control
of the revenue of the nation, and because respect shown to
their opinions with regard to the redress of grievances and
abuses, by the other constituted authorities, has regulated the
working of the constitution in a manner equally adapted to
give stability to.his Majesty's government, ahd to protect the
interests of the people.
73. Resolved, That it was anciently the practice of the
House of Commons to withhold supplies until grievances were
redressed ; and that in following this course in the present con
juncture, we are warranted in our proceeding, as well by the
most approved precedents, as by the spirit of the constitution
itself 74. Resolved, That if hereafter, when the redress of all grie
vances and abuses shall have been effected, this house shall
deem it fit and expedient to grant supplies, it ought not to do
60 otherwise than in the manner mentioned in its fifth and sixth
resolutions, of the 16lh March, 1833, and by appropriating by
its votes in an especial manner, and in the order in which they
are enumerated in the said resolutions, the full amount of those
heads of revenue, to the right of appropriating which clairas
have been set up by the executive government
75. Resolved, That the number of the inhabitants of the
country being about 600,000, those of French origin are about

144 THE BUBBLES
525,000, and those of British or other origin 75,000 ; and that
the establishraent of the civil government of Lower Canada for
the year 1832, according to the yearly returns made by the
provincial administration, for the information of the British
parliament, contained the names of 157 officers and others re
ceiving salaries, who are apparently of British or foreign ori
gin, and the names of 47 who are apparently natives of the
country, of French origin : that this statement does not exhibit
the whole disproportion which exists in the distribution of the
public money and power, the latter class being for the raost
part appointed to the inferior and less lucrative offices, and
most frequently only obtaining even these by becoraing the de
pendants of those who hold the higher and more lucrative of
fices; that the accumulation of many ofthe best paid and most
influential, and at the same time incompatible offices, in tbe
same person, which is forbidden by the laws and by sound poli
cy, exists especially for the benefit of the former class ; and
that two-thirds of the persons included in the last commission
ofthe peace issued in the province are apparently of British or
foreign origin, and one-third only of French origin.
76. Resolved, That this partial and abusive practice of be
stowing the great majority of official places in the province
on those only who are the least connected with its permanent
interests, and with the mass of its inhabitants, had been most
especially remarkable in the judicial department, the judges
for the three great districts having, with the exception of one
only in each, been systematically chosen frora that class of per
sons, who being born out ofthe country, are the least versed in
its laws, and in the language and usages of the majority of its
inhabitants; that the result of their intermeddling in the politics
ofthe counlryj of their connexion with the members ofthe Co
lonial administration, and of their prejudices in favour of the in
stitutions foreign to and at variance withthose of the country, is
that the majority of the said judges have introduced great irregu
larity into the general system of our jurisprudence, by neglect
ing to ground their decisions on its recognised principles; and
that the claim laid by the said judges to the power of regu
lating the forms of legal proceedings in a manner contrary to
the laws and without the interference of the legislature, has
frequently been extended to the fundamental rules of the law

OF CANADA. 145
snd of practice ; and that in consequence of the same system,
the administration ofthe criminal law is partial and uncertain,
and such as to afford but little protection to the subject, and
' has failed lo inspire that confidence which ought to be its in
separable companion.
77. Resolved, That in consequence of their connexion with
the members of the provincial administrations, and of their an
tipathy to the country, some of the said judges have, in viola
tion of the laws, attempted to abolish the use in tbe courts of
law ofthe language spoken by the majority ofthe inhabitants
of the country, which is necessary to the free action of the
laws, and forms a portion of the usages guarantied to them in
the most solemn manner by the law of nations and by the sta
tutes ofthe British Parliament.
78. Resolved, That some of the said judges, through parti
ality for political purposes, and in violation ofthe criminal law
of England as established in this country, of their duty, and
their oath, have connived with divers law officers of the crown,
acting in the interests of the provincial administration, to al
low the latter to engross and monopolize all criminal prosecu
tions of what nature soever, without allowing the private pro
secutor to intervene or be heard, or any advocate to express
his opinion amicus curim, when the Cxown officers opposed it;
that in consequence of this, numerous prosecutions of a politi
cal nature have been brought into the courts of law by the
Crown officers against those whose opinions were unfavoura
ble lo the administration for the time being; while it was im
possible for the very numerous class of his majesty's subjects
to which the latter belonged to commence with the slightest
confidence any prosecution against those who, being protected
by- the administration, and having countenanced its acts of vio
lence, had been guilty of crimes or misdemeanors; that the
tribunal aforesaid have, as far as the persons composing them
are concerned, undergone no modification whatever,, and iur
spire the same fears for the future.
79. Resolved,- That tliis house, as representing the people
of this province, possesses of right, and has exercised within
this province wlien occasion has required it,: all the powers,
.privileges, and immunities claimed and possessed by the Com.-
13*

146

THE BUBBLES

mons house of Parliament in the kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland. 80. Resolved, That it is one of the undoubted privileges of
this house to send for all persons, papers, and records, and to
command the attendance of all persons, civil or military, resi
dent within the province, as witnesses in all investigations
which this house may deem it expedient to institute ; and to
require such witnesses to produce all papers and records in their
keeping, whenever it shall deem it conducive to the public
good to do so.
81. Resolved, That as at the grand inquest of the province,
it is the duty of this house to inquire concerning all grievances,
and all circumstances which may endanger the general wel
fare ofthe inhabitants ofthe province, or be of a nature to ex
cite alarm in them wilh regard lo their lives, their liberty, and
their property, to the end that such representations may be
made lo our most gracious Sovereign, or such legislative mea
sures introduced, as may lead to the redress of such grievances,
or tend to allay such alarm ; and that far from having a right
to impede the exercise of these rights and privileges, tbe go
vernor-in-chief is deputed by his Sovereign, is invested with
great powers, and receives a large salary, as much for defend
ing the rights ofthe subject and facilitating the exercise ofthe
privileges of this house and of all constituted bodies, as for
maintaining the prerogatives ofthe crown.
82. Resolved, That since the commencement ofthe present
session, a great number of petitions relating to the infinite
variety of objects connected with the public welfare, havebeen
presented to this house, and many messages and important com
munications received by il, both from his Majesty's govern
ment in England and from his Majesty's provincial govern
ment; that many bills have been introduced in this house,
and many important inquiries ordered by it, in several of which
the governor-in-chief is personally and deeply implicated; that
the said petitions from our constituents, the people of all parts
of this province; the said communications frora his Majesty's-
governraent in England and from the provincial government;
the said bills already introduced or in preparation; the said
inquiries commenced and intended to be diligently prosecuted.

OF CANADA. 147
may and must necessitate tbe presence of numeroup wit
nesses, the production of numerous papers, the employment of
numerous clerks, messengers, and assistants, and much print
ing, and lead to inevitable and daily disbursements, forming
the contingent expenses of this house.
83. Resolved, That from the year 1792 to the present,
advances had constantly been made to meet these expenses,
on addresses similar lo that presented this year by this house
to the governor-in-chief, according to the practice adopted
by the House of Commons ; that an address of this kind is
the most solemn vote of credit which this house can pass,
and that almost the whole amount of the sum exceeding
£277,000 has been advanced on such voles by the pre
decessors of his excellency the governor-in-chief, and by
himself (as he acknowledges by his message on the 18lh
January, 1834,) without any risk having ever been incurred
by any other governor on account of any such advance, al
though several of thera have had differences, attended by vio
lence and injustice on their part, wilh the house of assembly,
and without their apprehending that the then next parliament
would not be disposed to make good the engagements of the
house of assembly for the time being; and tbat this refusal of
the governor-in-chief, in the present instance, essentially im
pedes the despatch of the business for which the parliament
was called together, is derogatory lo the rights and honour of
this house, and forms another grievance for which the present
adn-iinistration of this province is responsible.
84. Resolved, That besides the grievances and abuses before-
mentioned, there exist in this province a great number of others
(a part of which existed before the commencement ofthe pre
sent administration, which has maintained them, and is the
author of a portion of them,) with regard to which this house
reserves to itself the right of complaining and demanding re
paration, and the number of vvhich is too great lo allow of
their being enumerated here; that this house points out as
among that number, —
Istly. The vicious composition and the irresponsibility of
the executive council, the members of which are at the same
time judges of the court of appeals, and the secrecy with which
not only the functions, but even the names of the members of

14® THfi BUBBLES
that body have been kept from the knowledge of this house,
when inquiries have been instituted by it on the subject.
2dly. The exorbitant fees illegally exacted in certain of the
public offices, and in others connected wilh the judicial depart
ment, under regulations raade by the executive council, by the
judges, and by other functionaries usurping the powers of the
legislature. Sdly. The practice of illegally calling upon the judges to
give their opinions secretly on questions which may be after
wards publicly and contradictorily argued before them; and
the opinions themselves so given by the said judges, as political
partisans, in opposition lo the laws, but in favour ofthe adminie-
tration for the time being.
4thly. The cumulation of public places and offices in the
same persons, and the efforts made by a nuniber of families
connected with the administration to perpetuate this state of
things for their own advantage, and for the sake of domineering
for ever, wilh interested views and in the spirit of parly, over
the people and their representatives.
5thly. The intermeddling of members of the legislative
councils in the elections of the representatives of the people,
for the purpose of influencing and controlling them by force,
and the selection frequently made of returning officers for the
purpose of securing the same partial and corrupt ends; tlie
interference of the present governor-in-chief himself in the
said elections; his approval of the intermeddling of the said le
gislative counsellors in the said elections; the partiality with
which he intervened in the judicial proceedings connected
with the said elections, for the purpose of influencing the said
proceeding in a manner favourable to the military power, and
contrary to the independence of the judicial power; and the
applause which, as commander of the forces, he bestowed
upon the sanguinary execution of the citizens by the soldiery.
6lhly. The interference of the armed military force at such
elections, through vvhich three peaceable citizens, whose ex
ertions were necessary to the support of their farailies, and
who were strangers to the agitation of the election, were shot
dead in the streets; the applause bestowed by the governor-in-
chief and commander of the forces on the authors of this
sanguinary military execution (who had not/ been aequitted

OF CANADA. 149
by a petty jury,) for the firmness and discipline displayed by
them on that occasion.
7thly. The various faulty and partial systems which have
been followed ever since the passing of the constitutional act,
with regard to the manageraent of the waste lands in this
province, and have rendered it impossible for the great major
ity of the people ofthe country to settle on the said lands; the
fraudulent and illegal manner in which, contrary to his Ma
jesty's instructions, governors, legislative and executive coun
sellors, judges, and subordinate officers have appropriated to
themselves large tracts of the said lands; the monopoly of an
extensive portion of the said lands in the hands of speculators
residing in England, with which the province is now threat
ened ; and the alarm generally felt therein with regard to the
alleged participation of his Majesty's governraent in this
scherae, without its having deigned to re-assure his faithful
subjects on this head, or lo reply to the humble address to his
Majesty adopted by this house during the last session.
8thly. The increase ofthe expenses ofthe government with
out the authority of the legislature, and the disproportion of
the salaries paid to public functionaries to the services per
formed by them, to the rent of real property, and to the ordi
nary income commanded by the exertions of persons possessing
talent, industry, and economy, equal to or greater than those
ofthe said functionaries.
9thly. The want of all resource in the courts of law on the
part of those who have just and legal clairas on the governraent.
lOthly. The too frequent reservation of bills for the signifi
cation of his raajesty's pleasure, and the neglect of the Colonial
Office to consider such bills, a great number' of which have
never been sent back to the province, and some of which have
even been returned so late that doubts may be entertained as
to the validity of the sanction given to them ; a circumstance
which has introduced irregularity and uncertainty into the
legislation of the province, and is felt by this house as an im
pediment to the re-introduction of the bills reserved during the
then preceding sessions.
llthly. The neglect on the part of the Colonial Office to
give any answer to certain addresses transmitted by this house
on important subjects ; the practice followed by the administra-

150 THE BUBBLES
tion of communicating in an incomplete manner, and by ex
tracts, and frequently without giving their dates, the despatches
received from time to tirae on subjects which have engaged
the attention of this house; and the too frequent references to
the opinion of his Majesty's ministers in England, on the part
ofthe provincial administration, upon points which it is in their
power and within their province to decide.
12thly. The unjust retention of the college at Quebec,
which forms part ofthe estates ofthe late order of Jesuits, and
which from a college has been transformed into a barrack for
soldiers ; the renewal of the lease of a considerable portion of
the same estates, by the provincial executive, in favour of a
member of the legislative council, since those estates were re
turned to the legislature, and in opposition to the prayer of this
house, and to the known wishes of a great number of his Ma
jesty's subjects, to obtain lands there and to settle on them ;
and the refusal of the said executive to communicate the said
lease, and other information on the subject, to this house.
13thly. The obstacles unjustly opposed by the executive,
friendly lo abuses and to ignorance, to the establishment of
colleges endowed by virtuous and disinterested men, for the
purpose of meeting the growing desire of the people for the
careful education of their children.*
14thly. The refusal of justice with regard to the accusations
brought by this house, in the name of the people, against judges
for flagrant acts of malversation, and for ignorance and viola
tion ofthe law.
ISlhlj. The refusals on the part of the governors, and
* To illustrate tlie malignant spirit inherit in the party there only needed
this accusation. Mr. M'Gill, a respectable resident, on his demise some
years ago, left illO.OOO, wherewith to ehdowa college for the purpose of edu
cation, to be called after him. The heir-at-law and executor, one of the
clique, refused to part wilh tiie funds, and disputed the will. After being
worsted in the Colonial courts, it was carried by appeal to London, and ul
timately the decision of the courts in Canada confirmed, by which the bequest ,
with interest, now amounting to more than i)21,000, is ordered to be applied
according to the testator's will. We shall merely state that Viger prosecuted
the suit— that Papineau advised the defence — and that Des Rivieres, the
executor, since the cause has been decided against him, is bankrupt. The
crime of the will, we suppose, was, that it did not restrict tire uses of the col
lege to tlie French party. — See Canada ^uestion._

OP CANADA. 151
more especially of the present governor-in-chief, to commu
nicate to this house the inforraation asked for by it frora tirae to
time, and which it had a right to obtain, on a great number of
subjects connected with the public business of the province.
16thly. The refusal of his Majesty's Government to reim
burse to the province the amount for which the late receiver-
general was a defaulter, and its neglect to enforce the recourse
which the province was entitled to against the property and
person ofthe late receiver-general.
85. Resolved, That the facts mentioned in tho foregoing re
solutions, demonstrate that the laws and constitutions of the
province have not, at any period, been administered in a man
ner more contrary to the interests of his Majesty's government,
and to the rights ofthe people ofthis province, than under the
present administration, and render it necessary that his Excel
lency Matthew Lord Aylraer, of Balrath, the present governor-
in-chief of this province, be forraally accused by this house of
having, while acting as governor, in contradiction to the wishes
ofthe Imperial Parliament, and to the instructions he may have
received, and against the honour and dignity of the crown, and
the rights and privileges ofthis house and the people whom it
represents, so recomposed the legislative council as to augment
the dissensions which rend this colony; of having seriously im
peded the labours ofthis house, acting as the grand inquest of
the country; of having disposed of the public revenue of the
province, against the consent ofthe representatives ofthe peo
ple, and in violation of the law and constitution ; of having
maintained existing abuses, and created new ones; of having
refused to sign a writ for the election of a representative to filf
a vacancy vvhich had happened in this house, and to complete
the number of representatives established by law for this pro
vince; and that this house expects from the honour, patriotism,
and justice ofthe reformedParliament of the United Kingdom,
tbat the commons of the said parliament will bring impeach
ments, and will support such impeachraents before the House
of Lords against the said Matthew Lord Aylmer, for his illegal,
unjust, and unconstitutional administration of the government
ofthis province; and against such of the wicked and perverse
advisers who have misled him, as this house may hereafter ac-

152 THE BOBBLES
case, if there be no means of obtaining justice against them in
the province, or at the hands of his Majesty's executive govern
ment in England.
86. Resolved, That this house hopes and believes that the
independent members of both houses of Parliament of the
United Kingdom will be disposed, both from inclination and a
sense of duty, to support the accusations brought by this house;
to watch over the preservation of its rights and privileges,
which have been so frequently and violently attacked, more
especially by the present administration; and so to act, that the
people of this province may not be forced by oppression to re
gret their dependence on the British Empire, and to seek else
where a remedy for their affliction.
87. Resolved, That this house learned, with gratitude, that
Daniel O'Connell, Esq., had given notice in the House of Com
mons in July last, that during the present session ofthe Impe
rial Parliament, he would call its attention to the necessity of
reforming the legislative and executive councils in the two
Canadas; and that the interest thus shown for our own fate by
him whom the gratitude and blessings of his countrymen have,
with the applause ofthe whole civilized world, proclaimed great
and liberator, and of whom our fellow-countrymen entertain cor
responding sentiments, keeps alive in us the hope that, through
the goodness of our cause and the services of such a friend, the
British Parliament will not permit a minister, deceived by the
interested representations of the provincial administration and
its creatures and tools, to exert (as there is reason from his
despatches lo apprehend that he may attempt to do) the high
est degree of oppression in favour of a system which, in bet
ter times, he characterized as faulty, and against subjects of
his Majesty who are apparently only known to him by the
great patience wilh which they have waited in vain for pro
mised reforms.
88. Resolved, That this house has the same confidence in
Joseph Hume, Esq., and feels the same gratitude for the anx
iety which he has repeatedly shown for tbe good governraent of
these colonies, and the amelioration of their laws and constitu
tions, and calls upon the said Daniel O'Connell and Joseph
Hume, Esqrs., whose constant devotedness was, even under a

OF CANADA. 153
tory rainistry, and before the reform of parliaraent, partially
successful in the emancipation of Ireland, from the same bon
dage and the sarae political inferiority with which the com
munications received from the colonial secretary during the
present session menace the people of Lower Canada, to use
their efforts that the laws and constitution ofthis province may
be amended in the manner demanded by the people thereof;
that the abuses and grievances of which the latter have to
complain may be fully and entirely redressed ; and that the
laws and constitution raay be hereafter administered in a raan
ner consonant with justice, with the honour ofthe crown and
of the people of England, and with the rights, liberties, and pri
vileges ofthe peopleof this province, and ofthis house by which
they are represented.
89. Resolved, That this house invites the members of the
minority ofthe legislative council who partake tho opinions of
the people, the present members of the House of Assem
bly, until the next general election, and afterwards all the
members then elected, and such other persons as they may as
sociate with them, to form one committee or two committees of
correspondence, to sit at Quebec and Montreal in the first in
stance, and afterwards at such place as they shall think pro
per; the said committees to communicate with each other and
vvith the several local committees, which may be formed in
different parts of the province, and to enter into correspondence
with the Honourable Denis B. Viger, the agent ofthis province
in England, with the said Daniel O'Connell and Joseph Hume,
Esqrs., and with such other members of the House of I.iords or
of the House of Commons, and such other persons in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as they may
deem expedient, for the purpose of supporting the claims of the
people ofthis province and ofthis house; of furnishing such in
formation, documents, and opinions as they may think adapted
to make known the state, wishes, and wants of the province:
the said committees also to correspond with such persons as
they shall think proper in the other British colonies, which are
all interested, that the most populous of their sister colonies do
not sink under the violent attempt to perpetuate the abuses and
evils which result as well from the vices of its constitution as
14

J54 THE BUBBLES
from' the combined malversation of the administrative, legisla
tive, and judicial departments, out of which have sprung insult
and oppression for the people, and, by a necessary consequence,
hatred and contempt, on their part, for tbe provincial govern
ment. 90. Resolved, That the Honourable Denis Benjamin Viger be
requested to remain at the seat of his Majesty's governraent,
at least during the present session ofthe Imperial Parliament,
to continue to watch over the interests of the province with the
same zeal and the same devotedness as heretofore, without suf
fering himself to be discouraged by raere formal objections on
the part of those who are unwilling to listen to the complaints
of the country.
91. Resolved, That the fair and reasonable expenses of the
said two committees of correspondence, incurred by them in
the perforraance of the duties intrusted to them by this house,
are a debt which it contracts towards them ; and that the re
presentatives ofthe people are bound in honour to use all con
stitutional means lo reimburse such expenses lo the said com
mittee, or to such person as may advance money to them for
the purposes above-mentioned.
92. Resolved, That the message from his excellency the
governor-in-chief, received on the 13th of January last, and
relating to the writ of election for the county of Montreal, with
the extract from a despatch which accompanied il, the message
from the same, received the same day, and relating to the sup
ply bill, and the message from the same, received on the 14th
January last, wilh the extract from the despatch which accom
panied it, be expunged from the journals ofthis house.
These resolutions, and the memorial accompany
ing them, were referred to a committee composed,
like the last, chiefly of liberal members,*and contain
ing several persons whose opinions were well known
to be favourable to Iheir cause. The Canadian dele
gate, Mr. Morin,* was heard at great length, and I
* See the evidence taken before the committee, and published
by order of Parliament.

OF CANADA. 155
must refer you to the testimony given by him as a
proof how all the vague assertions contained in their
petition and resolutions vanished, when they were
subjected to a critical and close examination. There
are few instances on record in which a witness was
so skilfully examined, or where a clever raan, as he
undoubtedly is, was brought to refute himself so
completely as he has done. After a patient hearing
of all he could say, the committee reported (Jane,
1834,) as follows: —
" That the most earnest anxiety had existed, on
the part of the home government, to carry into ef
fect the suggestions of the committee of 1828; and
that the endeavours of the government to that end
had been unremitting, and guided by the desire, in
all cases, to promote the interest of the colony; and
that in several important particulars their endeavours
had been completely successful; that in others, how
ever, they had not been attended with that success
which might have been anticipated, heats and ani
mosities and differences having arisen; that it ap
peared to the committee some mutual misconception
had prevailed; and that they believed they should
best discharge their duty by withholding any farther
opinion on the points in dispute; and were persuaded
the practical measures for the future administration
of Lower Canada might best be left to the mature
consideratitjn of the government responsible for their
adoption and execution."

156 THE BUBBLES

LETTER VIII.

Shortly afterwards the whole of the proceedings
of government, since the year 1828 to the present
period, were detailed \n a very able and lucid state
ment of my Lord Aberdeen, in which he claims for
himself and colleagues the credit of a full and faith
ful compliance with the recommendations of the Ca
nada committee, as far as the powers of the execu
tive permitted them to do so. I have, therefore,
abstained from entering into the particulars myself,
and prefer giving this narrative to compiling one of
my own. It is not only infinitely better done than
I could hope to do it, but it is desirable, in such
cases, to draw one's information from the most au
thentic sources. I am neither the advocate nor the
panegyrist of any of these administrations — what my
opinion of their policy may be is of little conse
quence; but even if it were much more favourable
than it happens to be, I should refrain from express
ing it, for I have yet to learn how a poor man can
eulogize the character of those who are in power,
and yet sustain the reputation of his own sincerity.
W^ith the wisdom of their measures I have nothing
to do at present; my object is to show there has been
no oppression, and that, whatever imputation these
proceedings deserve, they are at least exempted from
that of unkindness. I must, therefore, request a
careful perusal ofthe folio wing'document: —

OF CANADA. -157
In the following pages Lord Aberdeen will attempt to show
that there was sufficient reason to anticipate the entire conci
liation of Lower Canada from the accomplishment of the reso
lutions ofthe Canada committee, and that, to the utmost ofthe
power of the Crown, those resolutions were, in fact, carried
into execution.
The appointment of the Canada committee of 1828 was, on
every account, an important proceeding. The redress of
grievances had been demanded, not by an isolated party, but
by both of those great bodies which divide between them the
wealth and political authority of the province. With views
essentially dissimilar, or rather hostile, they had concurred in
an appeal to the metropolitan government.
By each body of petitioners were deputed agents authorized
to interpret their wishes, and to enforce their claims. The
committee itself was certainly not composed of gentlemen un
favourable to the views of the great numerical majority ofthe
house of assembly. They prosecuted the inquiry with great
diligence and zeal. Tliey examined the agents of both par
ties, and every other person capable of throwing light on the
subject referred to them. None of the questions brought un
der their notice, either by the petitioners or by the witnesses,
was unexplored ; and, in the result, a report vvas made, in
which, vvith an explanation of every known or supposed
grievance, were combined suggestions for the guidance of the
executive government in applying the appropriate remedies.
The house of assembly in Lower Canada, in their answer
lo the address with vvhich the administrator ofthe government
opened the session of the provincial parliament in the winter
of 1828, characterized this report in terms vvhich may be tran
scribed as expressing, on the highest local authority, the
claims of that document to respect, as afibrding a guide at
once lo the Canadian assembly, and to the ministers of the
crown, of the rights to be asserted by the one, and conceded
by the other. "The charges and well-founded complaints,"
observed the house, " of the Canadians before that august se
nate, were referred to a committee of the house of comraons,
indicated by the colonial minister, that committee exhibiting
a striking combination of talent and patriotism, uniting a gc-
14*

15S TtlE BUBBEfeS
neral knowledge of public and constitutional law to a partlca-
lar acquaintance with the state of both the Canadas, formally
applauded almost all the reforms which the Canadian people
and their representatives demanded and still deraand. After
a solemn investigation, after deep and prolonged deliberation,
the committee made a report, an iraperishable raonument of
their justice and profound wisdom, an authentic testimonial of
the reality of our grievances, and of the justice of our com
plaints, faithfully interpreting our wishes and our wants.
Through this report, so honourable to its authors, his Majesty's
governraent has become better than ever acquainted wilh the
true situation ofthis province, and can better than ever reme
dy existing grievances and obviate difficulties for the future."
Language more comprehensive or emphatic could not have
been found, in which to record the acceptance by the house of
assembly, of the report of 1628, as the basis on which they
were content to proceed for the adjustment of all differences.
The questions in debate became thencefortb, by the common
consent of both parties, reducible to the simple inquiry whe
ther the British government had; to the fiillest extent of their
lawful authority, faithfully carried the recommendations ofthe
committee of 1828 into execution.
On a review of all the subsequent correspondence, Lord
Aberdeen finds himself entitled to slate that, in conformity
with the express injunctions, and the paternal wishes ofthe
King, his Majesty's confidential advisers have carried into
complete effect every suggestion offered for their guidance by
the committee of the house of commons.
It is necessary to verify this statement by a careful and mi
nute comparison between the advice received, and the mea
sures adopted. To avoid the possibility of error, the succes
sive recommendations of the committee of 1828 shall be tran
scribed at length, vvilhno other deviation than that of changing
the order in which the topics are successively arranged in
their report, an order dictated by considerations of an acci
dental and temporary nature, but otherwise inconvenient, as
postponing many of the weightier topics to sorae of compara
tively light importance.
First, theOf the report of 1828 contains the following advice

OP CANADA. 159
of the Ctmada committee on the subject of finance — " Al
though from the opinion given by the law officers of the crown,
your coraraittee must conclude that the legal right of appro
priating the revenues arising from the act of 1774 is vested in
the crown, they are prepared to say that the real interests of
the provinces would be best promoted by placing the receipt
and expenditure ofthe whole public revenue under the super
intendence and control of the house of assembly." " If the
officers above enumerated are placed on the footing recom
mended," (that is, in a state of pecuniary independence on the
assembly) " your committee are of opinion that all the revenues
ofthe province, except the territorial and hereditary revenues
should be placed under the control and direction of the legisla
tive assembly."
The strict legal right of the crown to appropriate the pro
ceeds of the statute 14 G. III., c. 88, being thus directly main
tained, the renunciation of that right was recommended, on
condition that " the governor, the members of the executive
council, and the judges, should be made independent of the an
nual votes of the' house of assembly for their respective sala
ries." What then has been the result 1 His Majesty has re
nounced these bis acknowledged legal rights, but has not
stipulated for the performance, on the part of the assembly, of
the condition thus imposed upon them, and, lo the present mo
ment, that condition remains unfulfilled. By the British statute
1 & 2 W. IV., c. 73, which was introduced into parliament by
his Majesty's then confidential advisers, the appropriation of
the revenues of the 14 G. III., is transferred to the assembly
absolutely, and without either that qualification which the
comraittee proposed, or any other. Here, then, it cannot be
denied that their advice has been followed, not only with im
plicit deference, but in a spirit of concession which they did
not contemplate.
Secondly. On the subject of the representation of the peo
ple in Lower Canada, the opinion of the committee was ex
pressed in the following terms: — "Your comraittee are now
desirous of adverting lo the representative system of Lower
Canada, with respect to which, all parlies seem to agree that
seme change should take place." After detailing the various

160 THE BUBBLES
causes which had led to an inequality in the number of the
merabers of the assembly in favour of the French inhabitants
ofthe seigniories, and therefore to the prejudice ofthe inhabi
tants of English origin in the townships, the committee passed
frora the subject with the following general remark. " In pro
viding a representative system for the inhabitants of a country
which is gradually comprehending within its limits newly peo
pled and extensive distriets, great imperfections must necessa
rily arise from proceeding in the first instance on the basis of
population only. In Upper Canada, a representative system
has been founded on the compound basis of territory aud popu
lation. This principle, we think, might be advantageously
adopted in Lower Canada."
It was wilh the entire concurrence of his Majesty's govern
ment, that the legislature of Lower Canada assumed lo them
selves the duty of giving eflect to this part of the advice ofthe
committee. That report had laid down the general principle
that, vvith one exception, "all changes, if possible, be carried
into effect by the local legislature themselves;'' and to that
principle the ministers of the crown adhered, even in a case
vvhere the dominant majority of the assembly had an interest
directly opposed to that of tbe great body of English inhabi
tants, for whose special relief the new representation bill was
lo be enacted. Such a bill was accordingly passed, and was
reserved for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure. Il ac
tually received the royal assent, and is, at this day, the law of
the province.
In this case, also, the concessions made to the Canadian in
habitants of French origin were far greater than the authors
ofthe report of 1828 could have had in contemplation. The
Upper Canadian principle of combining territory and popula
tion, as the basis of elective franchise, was not adopted in
Lower Canada: the assembly substituted for it a new division
ofthe country, of which the effect has been to increase rather
than to diminish the disproportion between the number of mem
bers returned by the English and those representing the French
Canadian interest. This result of the bill was distinctly fore
seen by the official advisers of the crown, and it became the
subject of grave deliberation whether his Majesty should be ad-

OF CANADA. 161
vised to acquiesce in a scherae which followed the advice of
the Canada committee, so far indeed as to effect a material
change in the representative body, and so far as to give to the
English settlers a few raore voices in the asserably, but not so
far as to secure to them any additional weight in the delibera
tions of that house. It is not within the object of this minute
to defend or to explain the motives of the ultimate decision in
favour of the bill. For the present purpose it is enough to say,
that the acceptance of it gave to the Canadians of French ori
gin far more than the report of 1828 authorized them to ex
pect. Thirdly. Inferior only in importance to the topics already
noticed, is that of the independence of the judges, respecting
vvhich the following passage may be extracted from the report
of 1828: — " On the other hand, your committee, while recom
mending such a concession on the part of the crown," (the
concession, that is, of the revenue,) "are strongly impressed
with the advantage of rendering the judges independent of
the annual votes of the house of assembly for their respective
salaries. Your committee are fully aware ofthe objections in
principle, which may be fairly raised against the practice o
voting permanent salaries to the judges who are removable at
the pleasure of the crown; but being convinced that it would
be inexpedient that the crown should be deprived ofthe power
of reraoval; and having well considered the public inconve
nience which raight result from their being left in depen
dence on the annual vote of the assembly; they have decided
to make the recommendation, in their instance, of a permanent
vote of salary.''
Thus the Canada comraittee of 1828 were of opinion that
the judges ought to be independent of the assembly for their
incomes, but ought to continue liable to removal from office at
the pleasure of the Crown. Yet so far have the British go
vernment been from meting out relief to the province grudging
ly, or in any narrow spirit, that they have left nothing unat-
tempted which could secure to the judges, not merely that
pecuniary independence which the committee advised, but that
independent tenure of office also, which their report expressly
dissuaded. In the adjacent province of Upper Canada, both ob-

162 THE BUBBLES
jects have been happily accomplished. In his despatch of the
Sth February, 1831, No. XXII., the Earl of Ripon explained to
Lord Aylmer the course of proceeding which had been adopt
ed for asserting the independence of the judges in this king
dom, and signified to the governor his Majesty's comraands
to avail himself of the earliest opportunity for proposing to the
legislative council and assembly of Lower Canada, the enact
ment of a bill declaring that the commissions of all the judges
of the supreme courts should be granted to endure their good
behaviour, and not during the royal pleasure; and Lord Ayl
mer was farther instructed, in the name and on the behalf of
his Majesty, to assent to a bill for carrying that object into ef
fect. Lord Ripon, however, declared it lo be, of course, an
essential condition ofthis arrangement, that "an adequate and
permanent provision should be made for the judges." It re
mains to state the result. A bill was passed by the house of
asserably, by which, indeed, the tenure of the judicial office
vvas raade to depend on the good behaviour ofthe judges, and
by which a provision, adequate in amount, was made for them.
But that provision was so granted as to be liable to be di
minished or taken away by the annual votes of the house of
assembly. To this raeasure, so popular in its general charac
ter or pretensions, were also " tacked " (to adopt the usual
parliamentary phrase) clauses by vvhich a right to dispose of
the territorial revenue of the Crown was asserted, and by
which all the public officers in the colony, — the governor
himself not being expressly excepted — vvere made amenable
to a tribunal, to be constituted for the trial of all impeachments
preferred by the representatives of the people. Such was the
return made to an act of grace, which the Canada Committee
themselves had expressly dissuaded. To have acquiesced in
it would have involved a sacrifice of whatever is due to the
dignity of the King, and lo the liberties of his Majesty's sub
jects. His Majesty's assent was, therefore, withholden, though
not without the expression ofthe deepest regret, and the most
distinct offer to assent to any other bill for establishing the in
dependence of the judges which should be exerapt from such
objections. The house of assembly, however, have never since

OF CANADA. 163
tendered an act of that nature for the acceptance of his Majes
ty, or of his Majesty's representative in the province.
-Fourthly. The next topic is that of the composition of the
legislative and executive councils, respecting which the fol
lowing suggestions occur in the report of 1828 : — " One " (it is
said) "ofthe raost important subjects to which their inquiries
have been directed, has been the slate of the legislative coOn-
cils in both the Canadas, and the manner in which these assem
blies have answered the purposes for which they vvere insti
tuted. Your committee strongly recomraend that a more in
dependent character should be given to these bodies ; that the
majority of their raembers sbould not consist of persons holding
offices at the pleasure ofthe Crown ; and that any other mea
sures that may tend to connect more intimately this branch of
the constitution with the interest ofthe colonies, would be at
tended with the greatest advantage. With respect to the
judges, wilh the exception only of the Chief justice, whose
presence on particular occasions might be necessary, your
committee entertain no doubt that they had better not be in
volved in the political business of the house. Upon similar
grounds, it appears lo your comraittee that it is not desirable
that judges should hold seats in the executive council."
With what scrupulous exactness these recommendations
have been followed, will now be shown. Wilh respect to the
judges. Lord Ripon, in the despatch ofthe Sth of February al
ready quoted, conveyed to Lord Aylmer his Majesty's com
mands to signify to the legislative council and assembly, his
Majesty's settled purpose to nominate, on no future occasion,
any judge as a member, either of the executive or of the legis
lative council of the province. It was added, that the single
exception to that general rule would be, that the chief justice
of Quebec would be a member of the legislative council, in
order that the merabers of that body might have the benefit of
his assistance in framing laws of a general and permanent cha
racter. But his Majesty declared his purpose to recommend,
even to that high officer, a cautious abstinence from all pro
ceedings, by which he might be involved in any political con
tentions of a party nature.
It was not in the power of the King's government to remove

164 THE BUBBLES
from the legislative council any ofthe judges who had already
been appointed to be members of that body ; because the terms
ofthe constitutional act secure to them the enjoyment of their
seats for life. But in a private despatch of the same date, the
four gentlemen who had at that time combined the judicial
character with seats in the council, were earnestly exhorted to
resign their places as counsellors, and were assured that no
thing should be wanting to rescue them from any possibility of
misconstruction, as to the motives by which that advice had
been dictated or obeyed. In point of fact, it was not accepted :
but the judges unanimously agreed to withdraw from all active
interference in the business of the council, and have never
since attended its sittings. The chief justice, indeed, as was
recommended by the Canada committee, forms the single ex
ception ; but even that gentleman, as far as the information of
this office extends, has confined his interference within the li
mits prescribed to him by the committee and by the Earl of
Ripon. Tho principles laid down by the comraittee of 1828, for re
gulating the composition of the legislative council, have been
not less strictly pursued, in every other respect. Since the
date of their report, eighteen new members have been ap
pointed. Of that number_there is not one who holds any office
or place of emolument at the pleasure of the crown, or wlio is
in any other manner dependent upon the favours of his Majes
ty, or his official advisers. Ofthe eighteen new members, ten
are of French origin. The total number of counsellors is thir
ty-five, of whom only seven hold public offices. Amongst them
is the bishop of Quebec, who is, in the fullest sense of the term,
independent of the crown. The chief justice, whose depen
dence is altogether nominal, is another. Ofthe whole body of
thirty-five members, there remain, therefore, but five over
whom the executive government can, with any reason or
plausibility, be said to possess any direct influence.
It is, therefore, not without a reasonable confidence, that the
words in which the committee of 1828 suggest the proper com
position ofthe legislative council, may be adopted as precisely
descriptive of the manner in which it is actually composed.
" A more independent character " has been given to that botjy.

OF CANADA. 165
The "majority of the members" does not consist of persons
holdingoffice at the pleasure of the crown." This branch of
the constitution has been connected "more intimately with the
interests of the province," by the addition of a large body of
independent Canadian gentlemen.
But the case may be carried still farther, and it may be
shown that, in respect to the councils, the efforts of Lord
Aberdeen's predecessors have left behind them the advice of
the Canada committee. The executive council has also been
strengthened by the addition of three members of French ori
gin. A seat' was offered to Mr. Neilson, the most prominent of
the delegates from the house of asserably of 1828, and to M.
Papineau, the speaker of that house. It need scarcely be said
that it was impossible to give a more decisive proof of the wish
ofthe ministers ofthe crown, that the composition of the Ca
nadian council should be acceptable to the great majority of
tiie people.
Fifthly. The next in order of the recommendations of that
committee relates to the clergy reserves, a subject on which
they employed the following language: — " As your committee
entertain no doubt that the reservation of these lands in mort
main 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 du
ties of settlement, and bring them gradually into cultivation."
Although the views of the committee were thus limited to
the improvement of the clergy reserves, the government ad
vanced to the redress of the evil indicated in the report, by a
raeasure, not only far more decisive, but eminently reraarkable
for the confidence it expressed in the provincial legislature.
The constitutional act having authorized his Majesty, with the
advice of the legislative council and assembly, to vary or re
peal any of the provisions therein made for the allotraent and
appropriation of lands for the support ofthe Protestant clergy.
Lord Ripon, availing himself of that enactment, proposed that
the power of repeal should be exercised by those bodies, and
should be accompanied with a declaration that the reserved
lands should merge in the general demesne of the crown.
The object of this proposal was to bring the reserves within tho
15

166 THE BUBBLES
reach ofthe general rules, under which all the waste lands of
the province are progressively sold to tho highest bidder. To
prevent any possible misconception of the views of his Ma
jesty's government, the draft of a bill for the accomplishment
of this design was transmitted to Lord Aylmer, with instruc
tions to give his assent if such a law should be presented for
his acceptance. To obviate the risk of offence being given,
by suggesting to the house of assembly the exact language as
well as the general scope of a measure to originate with thera.
Lord Aylraer was directed to proceed with the most cautious
observance ofthe privileges of that body, and of all the consti
tutional forms. Anticipating the contingency, of the measure
being adopted in substance, but with variations in the terms,
Lord Bipon farther stated that, in that event, the bill was not
to be rejected by the governor, but was to be specially re
served for the signification of his Majesty's-pleasure.
In obedience to these directions, the bill vvas introduced irtto
the house of assembly, but did not pass into a law. That it
would have effectually removed the grievance pointed out by
the Canada committee, has not been disputed ; nor can the rai
nisters of the crown be held in any sense responsible for the
continuance of an evil for which they bad matured so complete
a remedy. The only explanation which has ever been given
ofthe failure ofthe proposal is, that the solicitor- general, Mr.
Ogden, had used some expressions, whence it was inferred that
his Majesty's government would reject tlie bill if altered in a
single word. It is scarcely credible, that this should be an ac
curate surmise of the real cause of the loss of the Clergy
Lands Appropriation Bill. It is not to be believed that the as
sembly of Lower Canada would have rejected an unobjection
able proposal for the redress of a grievance of which complaint
had been long and loudly made, for no other reason than that
a public officer, not of the highest rank or consideration, had
used some casual expression, in vvhich the ultimate views of
his Majesty's advisers were inaccurately explained. To the
governor application could have immediately been made, for
more authentic inforraation; and, in fact, the tenour ofthe de
spatch which had been received by Lord Alymer, was perfect
ly well known throughout the province to every person who

OF CANADA. 1(57
felt any interest in the subject. The measure 'has never
since been revived ; and it must be therefore assumed, that the
assembly are less anxious than Lord Ripon supposed, for the
removal of this obstruction to agriculture and internal im
provement. Be that as it may, the British government are
completely absolved from the reponsibility thrown upon them
by this part ofthe report ofthe Canada committee.
Sixthly. That body proceeding to other subjects connected
with the wild lands of the province, expressed their opinion
that — "It might be well for tho government to consider whe
ther the crown reserves could not bo permanently alienated,
subject to some fixed moderate reserved payment, either in
money or in grain, as might be demanded, to arise out of-- the
first ten or fifteen years of occupation." They add, that " they
are not prepared to do more than offer this suggestion, which
appears to them to be worthy of more consideration than it is
in theii- power to give to it; but that in this or in sorae sucU
mode, they are fully persuaded the lands thus reserved, ought,
without delay, to be permanently disposed of"
In pursuance of this-advicc. Lord Ripon directed the sale ofthe
crown reserves throughout the province, as opportunity might
oflier, precisely in the same manner as any other part of the
royal demesne. The system hag undergone an^entire change ;
and the crown reserves considered as distinct allotments, left
in their wild stat^ to draw a progressive-increasing value from
the improvement ofthe vicinity, have no longer any existence.
Seventhly. Another abuse connected with the wild lands of
Lower Canada was noticed by tho comraittee, in the following
language : — " One ofthe obstacles which is said greatly to im
pede the improvement ofthe country, is the practice, of raaking
grants of land in large masses to individuals, who had held offi
cial situations in the colony, and who had evaded the condi
tions of the'grant by which they were bound to provide for its cul
tivation, and now wholly neglect it. Although powers have been
lately acquired by the government to estreat those lands, and
although we think that, under certain modifications, this powqj-
may be advantageously used, we are, nevertheless, of opinioa
that a system should be adopted similar to that of Upper Cana-

168 THE BUBBLES
da, by the levy of a small annual duty on lands remaining un
improved and unoccupied contrary to the conditions of the
grant." The reraedial measure of a tax on wild land, which is sug
gested in the preceding passage, could, of course, originate only
with the representatives ofthe people, and the house of assem
bly have not indicated any disposition to resort to that raode of
taxation. To such a bill, if tendered by them, his Majesty's
assent would have been cheerfully given. Yet the King's go
vernment did not omit to avail themselves of all those reme
dial powers with which the Crown is intrusted. It is little to
say (though it may be stated with the strictest truth,) that
since the date of the report, the system reprobated by the com
mittee, of granting land in large masses to individuals, has
been entirely discontinued. It is more material to add, that
this change in practice is the result of a series of regulations
established, on Lord Ripon's advice, in Lower Canada, and in
deed throughout all the other British colonies. The system of
gratuitous donations of land has been abandoned absolutely and
universally ; and during the last three years all such property has
been disposed of by public auction to the highest bidder, at such
a minimum price as to ensure the public at large against the
waste of this resource by nominal or fictitious sales. This is
not the occasion for vindicating the soundness of that policy,
which, however, if necessary, it would not be hard to vindicate.
It is sufficient for the immediate purpose of this minute to
have shown, that on this, as on other topics, the ministers of the
Crown did not confine theraselves to a servile adherence to
the mere letter ofthe parliamentary recommendation, but em
braced and gave the fullest effect to its genuine spirit.
Eighthly. The committee sought to relieve the province
not only from the evils of improvident reservations and grants
of wild lands, but from tliose incident to the tenures on which
the cultivated districts are holden. The following passages
on this subject appear in their report: — "They do not decline
to offer as their opinion, that it would be advantageous, that
the declaratory enactment in the Tenures Act, respecting
lands held in free and common soccage, should be retained."
" Your committee are farther of opinion that means should be

OF CANADA. 169
found of bringing into effective operation the clause in the Te
nures Act, which provides for the mutation of tenure : and they
entertain no doubt of the inexpediency of retaining the seig-
neurial rights of the crown, in the hope of deriving a profit
from them. The sacrifice on the part of the crown would be
trifling, and would bear no proportion to the benefit that would
result to the colony from such a concession." "The commit
tee cannot too strongly express their opinion, that the Cana
dians of French extraction should in no degree be disturbed in
the peaceful enjoyment of their religion, laws, and privileges,
as secured to them by the British acts of parliament ; and so
far from requiring them to hold lands on the British tenure,
they think that when the lands in the seigneuries are fully oc
cupied, if the descendants of the original settlers shall still re
tain their preference to the tenure of fief et seigneurie, they
see no objection to other portions of unoccupied lands in the
province being granted to them on that tenure, provided that
such lands are apart from, and not interraixed with, the town
ships." The British government are again entitled to claim the cre
dit of having, to tho utmost possible extent, regulated their
conduct by the language, and still more by the spirit of this
advice. No application has been made for the creation of a new
seigneurie, as indeed the period contemplated by <the commit
tee, when the seigneurial lands would be fully occupied, still
seems very reraote. It is almost superfiuous to add, that no
attempt has been made to superinduce upon those lands any
ofthe rules ofthe law of England.
The crown also has been prompt to bring into the raost ef
fective operation the clause ofthe Canada Tenures Act which
provides for the rautation of tenures. But no lord or censi«
-taire having hitherto invoked the exercise of the powers of
the Crown, they have of necessity continued dormant. Re
specting the soccage lands, some explanation seems neces
sary. The general principle adopted by the comraittee in the pas
sage already quoted, is that the inhabitants, both of French
and of British origin, should respectively be left in the enjoy-
15*

170 TEfB BUBBLES
tnent of the law regulating the tenures of their lands derived
frora their different ancestors, and endeared to either party, by
habit, if not by national prejudices. It has already been shown
that the French Canadians have enjoyed the benefit of this
principle to the fullest possible extent. In the anxiety which
has been felt to gratify their wishes, it raay not be quite clear
that equal justice has been rendered to the inhabitants of Bri
tish descent. The maintenance of so much of the Canada
Tenures Act as rendered the soccage lands inheritable and
transmissible accordirig to English law, was most unequivocal
ly recommended in the extracts already made from the report.
tThe provincial legislature, however, in their session of 1829,
•made provision for the conveyance of such lands in a raanner
repugnant to this British statute. Of course his Majesty could
not be advised to assent to a law which directly contravened
an act of parliament. Such, however, was the anxiety of the
King's rainisters to avoid every needless cause of jealousy, that
a bill (1 W. IV., c. 20) was introduced into parliament by Lord
Ripon, and passed into a law, in order to relieve his Majesty
frorn this difficulty. TheCanadian-^ct-was then accepted. Nor
was this all. Striving to multiply, to the utmost possible extent,
every prOof and expression of respect and confidence towards
the provincial legislature, the government introduced into the
British statute, which has been last raentioned, a farther enact
ment, of vvhich the effect vvas to absolve the Canadian. legisla
ture in future from every restraint laid upon them, by any act
of parliaraent regulating the various incidents of the soccage
tenure in the province. The barriers erected for the defence
of the British settlers by the caution of parliaraent in the years
1791 and 1826 were thus overthrown, in order that there
might be the fewest possible exceptions to the principle of con
fiding to the Canadian legislature, the regulations of the in
ternal interests of Lower Canada. No one will deny that this
unsolicited concession was raade in the spirit ofthe raost large
and liberal acceptance of theadvice of the Canada coraraittee, so
far at least as the views and interests ofthe dorainant majority
f the house of asserably are concerned.
Ninthly. The next is the subject of the Jesuits' estates; iu
reference lo which the vievvs of the committee of 1828 are ex-

OF CANADA. 171
pressed as follows:— With respect to the estates which former
ly belonged to the Jesuits, your committee lament that they
have not raore full information. But it appears to thera to be
desirable that the proceeds should be applied to the purposes
of general education.
-Far indeed beyond the letter of this advice did the conces
sions raade by his Majesty, on the advice of Lord Ripon, pro
ceed. Not only were the Jesuits' estates " applied to the pur
poses of general education," but the provincial legislature
were authorized to determine what specific purposes of that
kind should be preferred, and the proceeds of the estates were
placed for that purpose unreservedly under their control. No
Suggestion has been made impeaching the fulness of this con
cession, except as far as respects certain buildings occupied
for half a century past as barracks. Even if a rent should be
payable by the Crown for the use of those barracks; (the -sin
gle question admitting of debate,) it would be idle, on that
ground, to deny either the importance of the concession made,
or the almost unbounded confidence in the house of assembly,
perceptible in the form and manner in vvhich the crown re
nounced to thom, not merely a proprietary right, but even an
administrative function.
Tenthly. To the positive recommendations which have al
ready been considered, succeeds another, of which the end is
rather to dissuade than to advise the adoption of any speci
fic measure. " The coraraittee (it is said) are desirous of re
cording the principle which, in their judgraent, should be ap
plied to any alterations in the constitutions of the Canadas,
which were imparted to them under the formal act of the Bri
tish legislature of 1791. That principle is to limit the altera
tions which it may be desirable to make, by any future British
Acts, as far as possible, to such points as, from the isolation be
tween the mother country and the Canadas, can only be dis
posed of by the paramount authority ofthe British legislature,
and they are of opinion that all other changes should, if possi
ble, be carried into effect by the local legislature themselves,
in amicable coraraunications with the local government.
So rigidly has this principle been observed, that of two acts
of parliament which, since 1821, have been passed wilh refo-

i72 THE BUBBLES
rence to the internal concerns of the ptovince, the common
object has been so to enlarge the authority of the provincial
legislature as lo enable his Majesty to make with their con
currence, laws to the enactment of vvhich they were positively
incompetent. The acts in question are those already noticed,
by which the revenues of Geo. III. vvere relinquished, and the
regulation of soccage tenures vvas transferred to the governor,
council, and assembly.
Eleventhly. "The committee" (agaiti to borrow their own
words) " recommended, for the future, that steps should be
taken by official securities, and by a regular audit of accounts,
to prevent the recurrence of losses and inconveniences to the
province, similar to those which had occurred, in Mr. Cald
well's case," and " as connected with this branch of the in
quiry, they recommended that precautions of the same nature
should be adopted with regard lo the sheriffs."
In reference to these suggestions. Sir George Murray pro
posed to the house of assembly, and Lord Ripon repeated the
proposal, that the public accountants should pay their balances,
at very short intervals, into the hands of the commissary-ge
neral, tendering the security of the British treasury for the
punctual re-payment of all such deposites. The scheme em
braced a plan for a regular audit, and for the punctual demand
of adequate securities. Sir James Kempt and Lord Aylmer
were successively instructed to propose lo the legislative coun
cil and assembly the enactment of such a law. The proposal
was accordingly made to the assembly in the year 1829, and
was repealed in the year 1832. On each occasion it was the
pleasure of the house to pass it by in silence. That they had
good reasons for their conduct, it would be unjust and indeco
rous lo doubt. Those reasons, however, remain to this nloment
completely unknown to the executive government, who, having
exhausted all their authority and influence in a fruitless attempt
to give effect to this part of the Canada committee's recom
mendations, cannot, with any reason, be held responsible if they
still have failed to produce the advantage contemplated to the
province at large.*
* The executive government have not, however, abstained from such mea
sures as were within their own power. They have established a Sre-prsof

OF CANADA. 173
Twelfthly. A farther recommendation of the committee is
conveyed in the report, in the following terms: "Your com
mittee also beg leave lo call the particular attention ofthe go
vernment to the mode in which juries are coraposed in the Ca
nadas, with a view to remedy any defects that may be found to
exist in the present system."
Here, again, the governraent pressed upon the house of as
sembly the importance of giving effect to the views of the
committee; and, in fact, a law has received the royal assent,
having for its object the improvement of the jury system — an
object which has been pursued by those methods which the
house of assembly themselves devised or adopted.
Thirteenthly. The report proceeds to recommend, " that the
prayer of the Lower Canadians for permission to appoint an
agent, in the sarae manner as agents are appointed by other
colonies which possess local legislatures, should be granted."
His Majesty's government have accordingly repeatedly au
thorized the governor to assent to any bill which might be
passed for that purpose. No such bill has, however, been pre
sented for Lord Aylmer's acceptance. The asserably, in oppo
sition to the advice of the committee, that the habits of other
colonies should be followed as a precedent, have chosen to no
minate, by resolutions of that house alone, gentlemen deputed
to represent them in this kingdom, but who have not, as in
other colonies possessing legislative asseftibles, been appointed
by an act of the entire legislature.
Fourteenthly. Upon the raost careful perusal of the report
of 1828, no other recommendations can be found addressed to
the King's governinent, although the committee, addressing
themselves in that instance rather lo tho local legislature, have
vault, with three keys, held by three separate officers of high rank, all of
whom must be present whenever it is opened ; and they have provided that
the receiver-general shall not hold in his hands any balance exceeding £10,000
without depositing it in this vault ; and that once at least in every year tbe
contents of the vault shall be inspected, ©r reported on, by tive person^ named
by the governor for the purpose. They have also taken security from tbe re
ceiver-general to the extent of £10,000, with two sufficient sureties, and have
required him to render statements of his accounts on the 1st January, 1st
April, 1st July, and 1st October, in every year.

174 '^ THE BUBBLES
advised that mortgages should be special, and that in proceed
ings for the conveyance of lands, the simplest and least expen
sive forms of conveyance should be adopted, upon the princi
ples of the law of England; that form which prevails in Up
per Canada, being probahly, under all circumstances, the best
which could be selected; and that the registration of deeds re
lating to soccage lands, should be established as in Upper Ca
nada. "In addition," it is added, " to these recommendationb.
It appears to be desirable that some competent jurisdiction
should be established, to try and decide causes arising out bf
this description of properly;" (that is the soccage lands) "and
that circuit courts should be instituted within the townships
for the same purposes.''
In these passages the design ofthe committee was to admi
nister to the relief of the settlers of English origin, and their
claims were pressed, by Sir George Murray, on the attention
of the assembly. Some advance has been accordingly raade
towards the establishment of a registry of deeds, and of local
courts in the townships. Respecting the law of mortgages,
and the forms of conveyancing, it does not appear that the as
sembly have hitherto interposed for the relief of that part of
the constituent body.
Concluding at this point the comparison between the advice
tendered to the government, and the measures adopted in pur
suance of it, it may be confidently asserted, that the general
statement raade at the commencement ofthis minute has been
substantiated. To the utmost limit of their constitutional
powerand legitimate infiuence, successive administrations have
earnestly and successively laboured to carry the report of
1828 into complete effect in all its parts. It has already beeri
shown with how cordial an acquiescence that report was re
ceived by the house of assembly, with what liberal eulogies
the talent, the patriotism, the knowledge, and intimate ac
quaintance with Canadian affairs, of its authors, were com
mended ; how that document was hailed as the faithful inter
pretation ofthe wishes and wants ofthe Canadian people; and
how the British government were called upon by the house of
assembly to look to that report as their guide in remedying ex
isting grievances, and obviating difficulties for the future.

OF CANADA. 175
That this guide should have been studiously followed, that its
suggestions should have been invariably construed and en
forced, with no servile adherence to the letter, but in the raost
liberal acceptance of its prevailing spirit, and yet that such
eflorts should have been unavailing to produce the expected
conciliation, may well justify the deepest regret and disappoint
ment. (Signed) Aberdeen.
The perusal of this triumphant document naturally
suggests two reflections: first, that the faithful exe
cution of the recommendations of the committee is
much more entitled to our approbation than the re
commendations themselves; and, secondly, that the
Canadian assembly were not to be satisfied with any
concession whatever, short of independence.

176

THE BUBBLES

LETTER IX.
As the memorials addressed to government by the
English and French parties were at variance in eve
ry material point, a commission of inquiry, of which
the governor. Lord Gosford, was head, was sent out
to Canada in 1835. Whether this commission was
necessary or not, is a matter with which I have no
thing to do; I merely mention the fact as illustrative
of the earnest desire that existed to compose these
unfortunate difficulties,, and to ascertain on the spot
how much of concession could be made, consistently
with retaining the sovereignty of the country. The
commissioners were told " Your investigations will
have for their common object the advancement of
the welfare and prosperity of Lower Canada by all
methods compatible with the integrity of the empire,
and with the authority ofthe King as supreme in all
parts of the British dominions.
." You will ever bear in mind that you are sent on
a mission of peace and conciliation. You will there
fore proceed in a spirit not of distrust, but of confi
dence; remembering that much of your success will
depend, not only on the zeal, ability, and fairness of
your inquiries, but also on your perfect separation
from all local and party disputes, and on the unques
tionable frankness and impartiality of your general
conduct. " You will observe, that the legislature of Lower
Canada must ultimately be the instrument through

OF CANADA. 177
which any benefits resulting from your mission
must, to a very great extent, be accomplished. His
Majesty disclaims the intention of provoking any un
necessary parliamentary interference in the internal
afifairs of the province. To mediate between ad
verse parties, with an entire respect for the constitu
tional rights common to them all, is the high office
appropriate to his royal station, and this function the
King, aided by your inquiries and advice, is anxious
on the present occasion to perform."
The governor was told by Lord Glenelg, " your
lordship therefore proceeds to Canada to advocate no
British interest, and to secure no selfish ends. To
maintain the peace and integrity of the empire, and
to mediate between contending parties, by whom
those blessings have been endangered, is the high
and honourable trust confided to you."
Every thing that was tangible in the celebrated
ninety-two resolutions, was put into shape, and sepa
rately commented upon for his guidance.
1. It is alleged, observes his Lordship, that the pa
tronage of his Majesty's government in Lower Ca
nada has been exercised in such a manner as to ex
clude the Canadians of French descent, not only from
the larger number, but from all the more lucrative
and honourable of the public employments in their
native country.*
* Had his Lordship thought proper to have entered into parti
culars, he might have compiled the following table, to show how
utterly false this accusation was. He might also have stated that
the appointments contained in this table were made under every
possible disadvantage, in consequence of the avowed hostility of
the French to the government and institutions of the English, and
also from the extreme difHculty of finding persons among them
16

178 THE BUBBLES
The abuse of patronage is said to extend still far
ther; some persons are represented as having been
preferred to offices, in performing the duties of
which they are unable to communicate, except
through an interpreter, with the great body of those
with whora their afifairs are to be transacted. Other
successful candidates for office are represented as per
sons who have made themselves justly ofifensive to
the house of assembl)'; while, on the other hand,
employments created at the instance of that house
with a view to public improvements, have, it is al
leged, been studiously denied to those whom the go
vernor had reason to believe would be most accepta
ble to the assembly.
competent to discharge the duties assigned to them, and might
have illustrated the last assertion by reference to the fact that
out of two grand juries at this time at Montreal, only one person
was found that could write, his name. Of the last seven hundred
and thirty-eight appointments the proportion stood thus: —

Of French origin

S57

Of British and Foreign

181

738

Of French origin appointed: —

To Legislative Council

18

To Executive Council

5

To other oflSces of profit

29 [having held in all 35 of-

— fices.

52 persons.
Of British or Foreign appointed:-
To the Legislative Council 11
To tlie Executive . . 8
To other offices . . 18 [having held in all 22 of
fices.
37
OP CANADA. 179
It would be scarcely possible to find any terms
more emphatic than those employed by the Earl of
Ripon, to enjoin the utmost impartiality in the dis
tribution of public offices in Lower Canada, without
reference to national or political distinctions, or to
any considertaion, except that of superior capacity
and fitness for the trust. I adopt my predecessor's
instructions in their fullest extent; I concur with him
in thinking that personal merit and skill, or know
ledge, qualifying a candidate for the vacant trust, are
the chief circumstances to which the scovernor of the
province must have regard; and that in the distribu
tion of offices, it is impossible to adhere with any
minute exactness to the rule which the numerical
proportion subsisting between the two races might
afiford. But your lordship will remember that be
tween persons of equal or not very dissimilar pre
tensions, it may be fit that the choice should be made
in such a manner as in some degree to satisfy the
claims which the" French inhabitants may reasona
bly urge to be placed in the enjoyment of an equal
share of the royal favour. There are occasions also
on which the increased satisfaction of the public at
large with an appointment, might amply atone for
some inferiority in the qualifications of the persons
selected. To take the most efifectual security in his
Majesty's power against the recurrence of any abuse
in the exercise of this part of his delegated authority
in Lower Canada, the King is pleased to command
that, in anticipation of any vacancies which may oc
cur in the higher offices in that province, and espe
cially in all judicial offices, your lordship 'should
from time to time transmit to the Secretary of State,

180 THE BUBBLES
for his Majesty's consideration, the names of any
gentlemen resident in Lower Canada, whom you
may think best qualified to perform such trusts with
advantage to the public. His Majesty proposes to
authorize the nomination, as opportunity may occur,
of the persons so to be submitted for his choice,
having regard to such representations as he may re
ceive from your lordship, or from any other ade
quate authorities respecting the competency of such
persons to the public service. His Majesty is farther
pleased to direct that all offices in the gift of the
king, of which the emolument shall amount to or ex
ceed 2001. per annum, shall be granted under the
public seal of the province, in pursuance of warrants
to be issued by his Majesty for that purpose; and
that, except when the successful candidate shall have
been previously approved by his Majesty in the man
ner already mentioned, he should be informed that
his appointment is strictly provisional, until his Ma
jesty's pleasure could be known. The control which
it is thus proposed to establish over the hitherto un
limited powers of the governor, is not designed and
will not be used as a means of securing to his Majes
ty's confidential advisers in this kingdom any bene
ficial patronage whatever. I have already expressed
roy entire approbation of the system hitherto ob
served, of considering public employme.nts in Lower
Canada as properly appropriate to the inhabitants of
the province. Without giving a pledge against any
deviation from that rule in any solitary case (for such
pledge might in the event prove embarrassing to all
parties, and prejudicial to the welfare of the province,)
I can yet have no difficulty in acknowledging the

or CANADA. 181
rule as a general maxim from which no departure
should be admitted, unless on grounds so peculiar as
plainly to justify the exception.
It has also been represented that in some cases
the same individual is charged with numerous of
fices of which the duties are incompatible, either
by creating a larger demand on the time of the of
ficer than any one man is able to meet, or by
placing him in situations of which the appropriate
functions clash and interfere with each other.
From the getierality of the terms in which this
complaint has been made, it has not been in my
power to ascertain the extent or reahty of this
grievance; but in whatei'er degree it may be found
to exist, your lordship will understand that his Ma
jesty expects that it should be completely re
medied: that all persons occupying any such in
compatible employments should be called upon to
renounce such as they cannot efficiently execute ;
and that in future the general rule must be, that no
person should beihtrusted with any office of which
he cannot discharge the proper duties with due
punctuahty and method in his own person.
2. Complaint is made of an unjust partiality in
favour ofthe use of the English language in all of
ficial acts. The foundation of this complaint ap
pears to be, that thirteen years ago a bill for the
union of the two Canadas was brought into Par
liament by the then government, which, had it
passed into a law, would have made EngHsh the
single official language of both. I have no motive
for defending a scheme which was rejected by the
house of commons. A case is also said to have
16*

1182 THE BUBBLES
occurred at the distance of about eleven years
since, in which the judges refused to entertain an
action, because some part of the proceedings had
been written in the French language. This is ad
mitted to be an isolated case ; and it is acknow
ledged that neither in the courts of law nor in the
legislature is any preference of one language over
the other really shown. I therefore do not find any
grievance on this subject susceptible of a remedy;
nor is it in my, power to strengthen the injunctions
of Lord. Ripon, on the impropriety of any such pre
ference of the English over the French tongue.. As,
however, the complaint has been again urged by
the house of assembly, your lordship will take the
earliest opportunity of assuring them, that his Ma
jesty disapproves, and is desirous to discourage and
prevent to the utmost of his power, the adoption of
any practice which would deprive either class of
his subjects ofthe use in their. official acts of that
tongue with which early habits and education may
have rendered them most familiar. Your lordship
will signify your willingness to assent to any law
which may give, both to the French and the Eng
lish inhabitants, the most ample security against
any s.uch prejudice.
3. Reference has been made to certain, rules of
court made by. the judges, of which the earliest
have been in force, for thirty-four years, and the
latest for nineteen ; and which are said to be illegal ;
and even to amount to a violation of the faith of
treaties, and of the pledges of the King and parlia
ment. It is admitted, that until the year 1834,
those rules had, been followed, without any com-

OF CANAOi. " IS3
plaint having been preferred to his Majesty's gij-
vernment: I can, indeed, undertake to say, that
until the fact was stated in evidence before the Ca^
nada committee of last year, the existence of such
rules was altogether unknown in this country.
Here, as on so many other topics, I am compelled
to revert to the instructions of the Earl of Ripon,
and. to instruct your lordship to renew the proposal
which, he authorized Lord Aylmer to make to the
provincial legislature, that a. commission should, be
appointed to revise any rules of eourt made by the
judges; and that on the report of such a commission,
all such rules as are either contrary to law or inex
pedient should be revoked. I am not less-solicitous
than my predecessor, that such an inquiry should be
made to embrace all the practice and proceedings
of the superior tribunals, with a view to rendering;
them more prompt and methodical, and less ex
pensive. If the house of assembly should think
that these objects can be better effected by any
other method than that of a commission of inquiry,
you will concur with them, in carrying it into
effect. 4. It is said that exorbitant fees have been ex.-
acted in some public offices. I have met with no
proof or illustration of this statement. You will,
however,, acquaint the house of assembly that his.
Majesty will be happy to concur with them in the
revision of the. fees of every office in the province
without exception, and in the appointment, should
they think it expedient, of, a commission of inquiry.
for the purpose. His Majesty has no wish, on the.
subject, but that the remuneration of all public of
ficers, from the highest to the lowest, .should be so

184

THE BUBBLES

regulated as to provide for the efficient discharge
of the public service; an object which cannot be se
cured without a fair remuneration to the persons
employed by the public.
5. A complaint is made of the practice of calling
upon the judges for extra-judicial opinions on public
questions. Here again I know not how to reduce
the general statement to any specific form ; I can
therefore advance rio farther than to lay down, for
your lordship's guidance, the general rule, that you
do not call upon the judges for their opinion on any
question which, by the most remote possibility, may
subsequently come before them for decision. I
should scarcely hesitate to interdict the practice of
consulting them, altogether and without a solitary
exception, if I did not remember that there are
public contingencies in which the King would, for
the common good of his subjects, be bound to take
counsel with his judges. Such cases, however,
will be exceedingly infrequent, and will arise only
upon some of those great emergencies for which it
is scarcely possible, or even desirable, that any de
finite provision should be made beforehand. To
protect the independent exercise of the judicial of
fice, not only against just censure, but even against
the breath of suspicion, will be amongst your con
stant studies and most anxious endeavours.
6. Complaint is made of the interference of the
government and the legislative council in the elec
tion of members of the assembly. With this gene
ral charge, I can deal only in terms equally gene
ral. If any such practice prevailed, of which, how
ever, there is no proof before me, your lordship will
avoid with the utmost care every approach to it. I

or CANADA. 185
acknowledge, without any reserve or limitation, the
duty of the executive government of Lower Canada
to abstain altogether from interference, direct or in
direct, in the choice of the representatives of the
people; such an encroachment on the principles of
the, constitution would be unattended even with a
plausible prospect of temporary advantage. I
earnestly hope that the assembly were misinformed
as to the existence of any such practices ; for I am
well convinced, that it is by very different methods
that the legitimate authority and influence of the
King's government in Canada is to be maintained.
7. I have read, not without deep concern, the
language in which the house of assembly have
spoken, in their ninety-two resolutions, of the con
duct of the troops during the elections at Mon
treal ;. it is described as a sanguinary execution of
the citizens by the soldiery. Anxious as I am to
conciliate, by all just concessions the favourable re
gard of the house, I am bound, by the strict obli
gations of justice to the British army, to protest
against the application of such language to any
part of a body, not less distinguished by their hu
manity and discipline, than by their gallantry. The
house had appointed a committee to inquire into
those proceedings, and had not received the report
of the committee when they proceeded to pro
nounce this censure on the conduct of his Majesty's
troops. The officers had been indicted before a
grand jury of the country, and the bills had been
fhrowa out for want of evidence. In assuming to
themselves the power to inquire, the assembly ex
ercised their legitimate privilege: in passing a. sen
tence of condemnation pending that inquiry, and in

186 THE BUBBLES
direct opposition to the finding of the proper legal
tribunal, they exceeded their proper authority, and
acted in opposition to the parliamentary usages of
this country. Nor can I receive such an unautho
rized expression of opinion with that deference
which it is my duty and inclination to show for
every judgment of the house, falling within the ap
propriate sphere of their deliberation.
8. The assembly farther complain that there is
no method by which legal demands against the
government can be enforced in the province. In
the absence of any distinct proof or illustration of
the fact, I can only express his Majesty's desire
that effectual means may be taken for remedying
this alleged defect in the law.
9. The too frequent reservation of bills for the sig
nification of his Majesty's pleasure, and the delay
in communicating the King's decision upon them,
is a grievance of which my inquiries lead me to be
lieve the reality. Your lordship will understand
that the power of reserving bills, granted by the
Constitutional Act of 1791, is an extreme right, to
be employed not without much caution, nor ex
cept on some evident necessity. You will also have
the goodness to remember the indispensable neces
sity of transmitting, with the least possible dela)',
the transcript of every law of which the operation is
suspended, for the signification ofthe royal pleasure;
and of accompanying every such transcript with
such full and minute explanations as may be neces
sary for rendering the scope and policy of them
perfectly intelligible, and for explaining the motives
by which your lordship may have been influenced
in declining to give your decision in the first in-

OF CANADA. 187
stance. You will pledge his Majesty's government
in this country to the most prompt and respectful at-
tention to every question ofthis nature which may
be brought under their notice.
10. My predecessors in office are charged with
having, on various occasions, neglected to c'onvey
to the house his Majesty's answers to the addresses
presented to him by that body. Whether this state
ment could be verified by a careful examination
of any particular cases, I am unable to state with
certainty; nor on such a subject is it fit to make a
conjectural statement. Your lordship will, how
ever, assure the house, that his Majesty has been
pleased to command, in the most unqualified terms,
that every communication that either branch of the
provincial legislature may see fit to make to him,
be laid before his Majesty immediately on its arri
val in this kingdom, and that his Majesty's answer
be conveyed to the province with the utmost pos
sible despatch. The King cannot, however, forget
that the delay which may occasionally have taken
place in making known in the province his Majes
ty's decision upon reserved bills, or upon addresses
from either house of general assembly, may in some
instances have been either occasioned or prolonged
by circumstances which no promptitude or zeal in
his Majesty's service could have obviated ; as, for
example, the rigour of the Canadian climate ob
structing, during a certain period of the year, the
direct approach to Quebec and Montreal, and the
imperfect nature of the internal communications
through his Majesty's dominions in North Ame
rica. *
11. Much complaint is made of the refusal of in-

188 THE BUBBLES
formation, for which the house of assembly have at
different times applied to the governor of the pro
vince. After a careful examination of the proceed
ings of the latest session in which any such appli
cations were made, I have not been able to avoid
the conclusion that there is just ground for the com
plaint. I do not perceive that any advantage would
arise from entering in this place into a very exact
survey of the communications between the house
and tlie governor respecting the production of pa
pers. It is more useful, with a view to the future,
to state tlie general principle by which your lord
ship will be guided. I think, then, that the corre
spondence between your lordship and the secretary
of state cannot be considered as forming part of
those documents of which the assembly are entitled
to demand, as a matter of course, the unreserved
and universal inspection or perusal. In the official
intercourse between his Majesty and his Majesty's
representative in the province, conducted as such
intercourse necessarily is, through the intervention
of the ministers of the crown, much confidential
communication must necessarily occur. Many
questions require to be debated copiously, and in all
the various lights in which they may present them
selves to the governor or to the secretary of state:
and in such a correspondence it is necessary to an
ticipate emergencies which eventually do not occur,
to reason upon hypothetical statements, and even to
advert to the conduct and qualifications for particu
lar employments of particular individuals. It would
be plainly impossible to conduct any public ^ffairs
of this nature, except on such terms of free and un
restrained intercourse. It is no less plainly impossi-

OF CANADA. 189
ble to give general publicity to such communica
tions, without needless injury to the feelings of
various persons, and constant impediment to the
public service. A rule which should entitle a po
pular assembly to call for and make public all the
despatches passing between the King's government
and his Majesty's local representative, would so ob
struct the administration of public affairs, as to pro
duce mischiefs far outweighing the utmost possible
advantage ofthe practice.
In the same manner, there will occasionally be
communications, in their own nature confidential,
between the governor and many of his subordinate
oflicers, which should also be protected from general
publicity. But though I think it right to make this general
reservation against the unlimited production of all
public documents, I am ready to acknowledge that
the restriction itself may admit and even require
many exceptions; and that in the exercise of a care
ful discretion, the governor, as often as he shall
judge it conducive to the general good of the pro
vince, may communicate to either branch of the
legislature any part of his official correspondence,
such only excepted as may have been expressly de
clared or manifestly designed, by the secretary of
state, to be confidential.
But I am not aware of any other document con
nected with the public afifairs of the province, the
concealment of which from the assembly would be
really useful or justifiable; especially whatever re
lates to the revenue and expenditure in all their
17

190 THE BOBBLES
branches, or to the statistics of the province, should
be at once and cheerfully communicated to them.
For example, it will be desirable to make to the two
houses such a communication of the blue books, or
annual statistical returns, which are compiled for the
use ofthis department; and your lordship will solicit
the assistance of the two houses of the local legisla
ture, in rendering those returns as accurate and as
comprehensive as possible. In short, the general
rule must be that of entire freedom from reserve.
The particular exception, as it arises, must be vindi
cated by the terms of the preceding instructions, or
by some explanation sufiicient to show that secrecy
was demanded, not for the protection of any private
interest, but for the well-being of the province at
large. In every case in which the production of any
paper, in answer to any address of either house, may
be refused, your lordship will immediately transmit
to this office a statement of the case, with an expla
nation ofthe grounds of your decision.
12. The occupation as a barrack of the buildings
which anciently were part of the Jesuits' college, is
strongly reprobated by the assembly. I can only re
mark that this exception from the general transfer
of the Jesuits' estates to their disposal, was made and
vindicated by Lord Ripon on a ground which has
rather acquired a new force, than lost any of its ori-
nal weight. After an occupation of those buildings
for this purpose, for much more than half a century,
there has accrued to the Crown a prescriptive title,
of which, however, his Majesty has never sought to

OF CVNADA. 191
avail himself. The King is, on the contrary, anx
ious that the buildings should be restored, as prompt
ly as possible, to their original use; nor will that
measure be delayed for a single day, after other and
adequate provision shall have been made for the ac
commodation ofthe troops; but it is needless to re
mark that his Majesty has no funds at his disposal
for that purpose. The proposed transfer of all the
sources of local revenue to the house of assembly has
deprived the King of the means of providing for this
or any similar service. It must rest, therefore, vvith
the house to erect or purchase other barracks suffi
ciently commodious for the garrison, upon which
the board of ordnance will immediately issue the ne
cessary instructions for evacuating the buildings at
present occupied for that purpose.
13. The lease of the forges of St. Maurice to Mr.
Bell has been made, and is now irrevocable. I do
not conceal my regret, that this property was uot
disposed of by public auction to the highest bidder.
Whatever arrangements may be hereafter settled re
specting the territorial revenue, it will be necessary
to prevent the granting of any crown property on
lease in the same manner by private contract, and
raore especially when the contractor is a member of
the legislative council.
14. Impediments are said to have been needlessly
raised to the endowment of colleges by benevolent
persons. I fear it is not to be denied, that some un
necessary delay in deciding upon bills reserved for
his Majesty's consideration, having such endow-

192 THE BUBBLES
ments for tbeir object, did occur: a delay chiefly at
tributable to political events and the consequent
changes of the colonial administration in this king
dom. I have no wish to withhold a frank acknow
ledgment of error, when really due, to the house of
assembly, because I am persuaded that in that frank
ness they will perceive the best assurance of the sin
cerity with which, on behalf of the ministers of the
crown, a pledge is given for the more prompt and
exact attention hereafter to every measure which
has for its object the institution in the province of
any colleges or schools for the advancement of Chris
tian knowledge or sound learning.
15. On the subject of the clergy reserves, of which
complaint is still made, the arrangements proposed
by Lord Ripon leave his Majesty nothing farther to
concede. The whole question has been referred to
the decision of the provincial legislature. To ob
viate misconceptions, the draft of a- bill for the ad
justment of the claims of all parties was framed
under his lordship's directions, and brought into the
house of assembly. Anticipating the possibility that
this bill might undergo amendments in its progress
through the two houses, materially afiecting its cha
racter. Lord Ripon had instructed the governor, in
that event, not to refuse his assent, but to reserve
the bill for the signification of his Majesty's plea
sure. The loss of the bill is, however, ascribed to
the solicitor-general having, in his place in the hou'Se,
stated that no amendment would be permitted. The
solicitor-general's expressions may have been mis-

OF CANADA. 193
understood; but if this was their purport, not only
was the statement unauthorized, but directly at va
riance with the spirit of the instructions of the home
government. I much regret the misapprehension,
in whatever cause it may have originated. It may
perhaps be ascribed to the fact, that Lord Aylmer
did not think himself at liberty to produce to the
house the Earl of Ripon's despatches on the subject.
Your lordship will immediately communicate copies
of them, inviting the council and assembly to resume
the consideration o£ the question, upon the terms of
Lord Ripon's proposal, to every part of which they
may be assured of his Majesty's continued ^adhe
rence. 16. Lord Aylmer's refusal to issue a writ for the
election of a new member of the assembly, upon
the declaration of the house that M. Mondelet's
seat had become vacant, is condemned by that body
as a violation of their rights. The question has lost
much, if not all, of its practical importance since
the passing ofthe recent law for vacating the seats
of members accepting places of emolument under
the crown. Still, in justice to Lord Aylmer, I am
bound to affirm the accuracy of the distinction in
reference to which he appears to have acted. In
cases where the vacancy of a seat may, consistently
with existing usages, be notified by the house to the
governor without assigning the cause, he is bound
to presume that the adjudication of the house is
right, and must carry it into effect by issuing a new
writ. But in cases where usage requires that in

194 THE BrBBLES
the notification to the governor the cause of vacan
cies should be stated, then, if the cause alleged be
insufficient in point of law, the governor is not at
liberty to comply with the request of the house.
The concurrence of the governor and the house in
any measure, cannot render it legal, if it be pro
hibited by the law of the land. To that rule obe
dience is emphatically due by those to whom the
constitution has assigned the high functions of legis
lation and of the executive government. If, there
fore. Lord Aylmer rightlyjudged that M. Mondelet's
seat had not been lawfully vacated, his lordship ad
hered to the strict line of duty in declining to issue
the writ for which the house applied. If he enter
tained a serious and honest doubt on the subject,
his lordship was bound to pause until that doubt
could be removed by competent judicial authority.
The subsequent introduction by statute of a law for
vacating seats in such cases as that of M. Mondelet's,
would seem sufficiently to establish that his accep
tance of office was not followed by that legal con
sequence. 17. I now approach the case of Sir John Caldwell.
It is a subject which has uniformly excited the deep
est regret of my predecessors: and I need hardly
add, that I partake largely of that feeling. His
Majesty's government have offered to the province
every reparation which it has been in their power to
make, for the original error of allowing moneys to
accumulate in the hands of a public officer, without
taking full securities for the faithful discharge of his
trust: they have placed at the disposal of the as-

OF CANADA. 195
sembly whatever could be recovered from Sir John
Caldwell, or from his sureties; and your lordship will
now, on the terms to which I have referred in my
accompanying despatch, be authorized to surrender
to the appropriation of that house, the only funds
by which his Majesty could have contributed
towards making good the defalcation. Every prac
tical suggestion has also been made to the assembly,
for preventing the recurrence of similar losses.
Nothing, in short, has been left undone, or at least un-
attempted, to mitigate the evil which the inadequacy
of the securities taken from Sir John Caldwell, and
the accumulations of public money in his hands,
occasioned. Perhaps the legal proceedings against
his property might be carried on with greater acti
vity and effect; and if so, yourship will lend your aid
with the utmost promptitude to that object. It is, in
deed, much to be lamented, that for so raany years
together, on such a case as this, the law should have
proved inadequate to secure for the public such pro
perty as was in the possession of the defaulter, or
his securities, at the time of his insolvency.
I feel, however, that incomplete justice has hi
therto been renderfed to the people of Lower Cana
da, in Sir John Caldwell's case. That gentleman
has been permitted to retain his seat at the legisla
tive council, and still holds that conspicuous station.
Whatever sympathy I may be disposed to feel for
individual misfortune, and in whatever degree the
lapse of years may have abated those feelings of
just indignation which were provoked by the first
intelligence of so gross a breach of the public trust,

196 THE BUBBLES
I cannot in the calm and deliberate administration
of justice, hesitate to conclude that it is not fitting
that Sir John Caldwell should retain a seat in the
leo'islature of Lower Canada: his continuance in
that position, and his management and apparent
possession of the estates which formerly belonged
to him in his own right, must exhibit to the people
at large an example but too justly offensive to public
feeling. Your lordship will cause it to be intimated
to Sir John Caldwell, that the King expects the im
mediate resignation of his office of legislative coun
sellor; and that in the event of the failure of that
reasonable expectation, his Majesty will be com
pelled, however reluctantly, to resort to other and
more painful methods of vindicating the government
of the province against the reproach of indifference
to a diversion of public money from its legitimate
use (to the private ends ofthe accountant.
I am not aware that there remains a single
topic of complaint unnoticed, either in the pre
ceding pages or in my accompanying instructions to
your lordship and your fellow commissioners. It
has been my endeavour to meet each successive
topic distinctly and circumstantially, neither evading
any of the difficulties ofthe case, nor shrinking from
the acknowledgment of any error which may be
discovered in the administration of affairs so various
and complicated. I dismiss the subject for the pre
sent, with the expression of my earnest hope that
his Majesty's efforts to terminate these dissensions
may be met by all parties in the spirit of correspond
ing frankness and good-will; assured that, in that

OF CANADA. 197
case, his- Majesty will not be disappointed in that
which is the single object of his policy on this
subject — the prosperity of Canada?, as an integral
and highly important member of the British em
pire. 'I:'

198 THE BUBBLES

LETTER X.
The arrival of the commissioners of Inquiry in Ca
nada put an end to all farther prospect of grievances,
and at once damped the hopes and awakened the
anger of the disaffected. The very act of investi
gating the complaints which they themselves had
preferred was made a subject of invective; the com
mission was denounced as an insult to the assembly,
whose voice alone should be heard, and whose de
cisions neither admitted of question by the council
nor by the government. Knowing that the instruc
tions given to the commissioners were of the most
conciliatory description, that every change would
be effected that they had desired, and that, by their
own showing, they would be compelled tc be tran
quil, they promptly changed their ground, aban
doned the untenable local topics, and boldly at-,
tacked the constitution. The mask was now thrown
off, and republicanism openly avowed as their ob
ject. That this development was prematurely has
tened by the unexpected and immediate concession
of their requests, and their object disclosed sooner
than they had intended, is evident from their address
to the governor, so lately as in 1831, whom it was
their interest and intention to deceive. Early in
that year they said to him, " It will be our earnest

OF CANADA. 199
desire that harmony may prevail among the several
branches of the legislature, that full effect may be
given to the constitution as established by law, and
that it may be transmitted unimpaired io posterity."
Now different language was held, and, that there
might be no mistake, Mr. Papineau said :
"The people of this province were now merely
preparing themselves for a future state of political
existence, which he trusted would be neither a
monarchy nor an aristocracy. He hoped Provi
dence had not in view for his country a feature so
dark as that it should be the means of planting royalty
in America, near a country so grand as the United
States. He hoped, for the future, America would
give republics to Europe."
As proofs are always preferable to assertions,
and as this is too important a, charge to rest on the
authority of an anonymous writer, I shall adduce a
few more instances where the avowal is distinct and
unequivocal. In a French journal devoted to the
party, published in Montreal, we find the following
sentiments: " In examining with an attentive eye what is pass
ing around us, it is easy to convince oneself that our
country is placed in very critical circumstances,
and that a revplution will perhaps be necessary to
place it in a more natural and less precarious situa
tion. A constitution to remodel, a nationality to
maintain — these are the objects which at present
occupy all Canadians.
" It may be seen, according to this, that there
exist two parties, of opposite interests and manners
• — the Canadians and the English. These first-born

200 the bubbles
Frenchmen have the habits and character of such.
They have inherited from their fathers a hatred to
the English; who, in their turn, seeing in them the
children of France, detest them . These two parties
can never unite, and will not always remain tran
quil; it is a bad amalgamation of interests, of man
ners, of language, and of religion, which sooner or
later must produce a colUsion. It is sufficiently be
lieved that a revolution is possible, but it is believed
to be far off; as for me, I think it will not be delayed.
Let them consider these words of a great writer,
and they will no longer treat a revolution and a
separation from the mother country as a chimera
— 'The greatest misfortune of man politically,' says
he, 'is to obey a foreign power; no humiliation, no
torment of the heart, can compare to this. The
subjected nation, at least if she be not protected by
some extraordinary law, ought not to obey this so
vereign. — We repeat it, an immediate separation
from England is the only means of preserving our
nationality. Some time hence, when emigration
shall have made our adversaries our equals in num
ber, more daring, and less generous, they will de
prive US' of our liberties, or we shall have the same
fate as our unhappy countrymen the Acadians. Be
lieve me, this is the fate reserved for us, if we do
not hasten to make ourselves independent!"
In a pamphlet written by Mr. Papineau, he says
of the French :
" It (the French party) has not, it ought not to
entertain a shadow of hope that it will obtain any
justice whatsoever from any of the authorities con
stituted as they are at present in this country. If

op CAN.ADA. 201
it would entertain the same opinion of the authori
ties in England that it entertains of the authorities
in this country, these obstacles could easily be over
come." He then claims the colony as belonging solely to
his party:
"In consequence of the facilities aflbrded by the
administration for the settlement of Britons within
OUR colony, they came in shoals to our shores to
push their fortunes."
" They have established a system of paper-money,
based solely upon their own credit, and which our
habitans have had the folly to receive as ready mo
ney, although it is not hard cash, current among all
nations, but on the contrary, which is of no value,
and without the limits of the province, would not
be received by any person."
To obstruct the arrival of emigrants as much as
possible, resort was had to one of those measures
so common in Canadian legislation, in which the
object of the bill is at variance with its preamble.
An Act was passed, 6 Will. IV., c. 13, which under
the speciously humane pretence of creating a fund
to defray the expense of medical assistance to sick
emigrants, and of enabling indigent persons of that
description to proceed to the place of their destina
tion, a capitation tax was imposed, which affected
emigration to Upper as well as Lower Canada; and
the operation of it was such, that even an inhabi
tant of the former province, returning to his home by
the St. Lawrence, was liable to this odious impost.
When every topic appeared to be exhausted, Mr.
Rodier, a member of the assembly, was so fortu-
18

202 THE bubbles
nate as to have discovered a new one, in the cho
lera, which he charged the English with having in
troduced among them. Absurd as this may seem
to be, it was not without its effect, and the simple-
minded credulous peasantry were induced to be
lieve it of a people of whom they had lately heard
from their leader's nothing but expressions of hatred
and abuse.
" Wben 1 see," said he, " my country in mourn
ing, and my native land presenting to my eye no
thing but one vast cemetery, I ask, what has been
the cause of all these disasters? and the voices of
thousands of my fellow citizens respond from their
tombs, — it is emigration. It is not enough to send
amongst us avaricious egotists, without any other
spirit of liberty than could be bestowed by a sim
ple education of the counter, to enrich themselves
at the expense of the Canadians, and then endea
vour to enslave them — they raust also rid them
selves of their beggars, and cast them by thousands
on our shores — they must send us miserable beings,
who after having partaken of the bread of our chil
dren, will subject them to the horrors of hunger and
misery; they must do still more — they must send
us, in their train, pestilence and death. If I pre
sent to you so melancholy a picture of the condi
tion of this country, I have to encourage the hope
that we may yet preserve our nationality, and avoid
those future calamities, by opposing a barrier to this
torrent of emigration. It is only in the house of
assembly* we can place our hopes, and it is only in
• In a work published in France, for circulation in Canada, a
very intelligible hint is given on this subject. " As the house of

OF CANADA. 203
che choice the Canadians make in their elections,
they can ensure the preservation of their rights and
pohtical liberties."
Things were now rapidly drawing to a crisis.
The legislature was assembled by the new gover
nor, and addressed by him in a long and conciUa-
tory speech, in which the evils of internal dissen
sions were pointedly and feelingly alluded to, and
concessions sufficiently numerous made tp have
gratified the vanity and appeased the irritation of
any otiier people than those to whom it was ad
dressed- Among other things, they were informed,
that intending to remedy the evils of persons hold
ing a piurah'ty of offices, be had begun with the
highest, and dischai-ged some of his executive coun
sellors. This announcement, was received in the
same spirit as all others of a similar nature; and
his excellency having cancelled the comraission of
one gentleman, in consequence of his holding a legal
appointment itnd^r the house, the assembly thought
that so good an example could not be followed to©
speedily, and immediately dismissed him from the
¦one he retained, because he was in the council. A
supplicant for money must learn to subdue his feel
ings, and he who asks for bread must be prepared
to encounter insolence as well as destitution; a dig
nified demeanour is but too apt to render poverty
ridiculous, and a wise man generally lays it aside,
to be worn on the return of happier days. The
assembly vote rewards for the destruction of wolves, it is no less
urgent to devise raeans to prevent immigration frora being a cala-
raitv for these colonies."

204 THE bubbles
local government was in great pecuniary distress;
they were humble suitors at the portals of the house,
and showed their discretion, in regarding as a mis
take what was intended as an insult. Warrants
were also tendered to each branch of the legislature
for their contingent expenses; as these charges con
tained, on the part of the house, the salary of Mr.
Roebuck and Mr. Viger, agents in England, not ap
pointed conjointly with the council, but by simple
resolutions of the house, such an appropriation witb
out law had always been violently opposed, and the
constitutionalists, fearing such a sacrifice of princi
ple would be made, had, previously to the meeting of
the legislature, made it the subject of much ani
madversion, and presented the governor with a re
solution, " That the claim which has recently been
insisted upon by the house of assembly, and occa
sionally acted upon by the legislative council, to
obtain, by separate addresses to the governor, ad
vances of unappropriated money, under the plea of
defraying contingent expenses, but in reality em
bracing the payment of salaries or allowances not
legally established, and raore particularly as regards
the pretensions of the assembly for expenses not in
curred or to be incurred for the business of the ses
sions of that house, is altogether unfounded in law,
unsupported by parliamentary usage, and subver
sive of the rights and liberties of the British sub-
- ject." Independent of the constitutional objection to the
application of the public funds to the payment of
persons whom the legislative council had not only
not concurred in appointing, but to whose mission

or CANADA. 205
they had pointedly objected, they deeply deplored
that so extraordinary a concession should be made
as the payment of every demand of that body that
obstinately persisted in refusing to make any vote
for the support of the government. Peace, how-^
ever, was deeraed paramount to every other consi
deration, and. that nothing might be left undone
to attain it, even this sacrifice was not considered
too great.
They were now called upon, in the usual man
ner, to provide for the support of the judges and the
officers of government, the public chest containing
at the time £130,000 sterling.
The house had no sooner retired from hearing
this address, than their speaker adopted his usual
raode of inflaming his party by the most violent in
vectives against all the authorities both at home
and in the colony, charging the one with deceit and
hypociisy in their words, and the other with op
pression and peculation in their deeds. In a short
time he brought matters to that condition he had so
long desired.
The house voted an address to his Majesty, in
which they announced that they had postponed
the consideration of the arrears, and determined fo
refuse any future provision for the wants of the lo
cal administration, in order the better to insist upon
the changes which they required from the imperial
authorities. Their utmost concession (and they de
sired it might not be taken for a precedent) was to'
offer a supply for six months, that time being allow
ed to his Majesty's government and the British par
liament to decide ^n the fundamental alterations of
18*

206 THE bubbles
the constitution and other important measures in
cluded in the demands of the assembly.
In this bill of supply, which was for six months
only, and merely passed for the purpose of throw
ing the odium of rejection on the other branch of
the legislature, they excluded the salaries of the
counsellors, of their assistant clerk, one of thejudges,
some usual incidental charges ofthe civil secretary's
office, besides other important salaries ; and, as they
had hoped, it was not concurred in. This was the
first time they had left the executive without the
means of conducting the government, for the sole
and avowed purpose of procuring changes in the
constitution. Of the confusion and distress which
this repeated refusal of Ihe assembly fo co-operate
with the other branches of the legislature produced
in the province, it is difficult to convey any ade
quate idea.
The province was far advanced in the fourth
year since there had been any appropriation of pro
vincial funds to the use of government; and although
a sum, temporarily contributed from the British
Treasury, had relieved the civil officers, so far as
to give them one year's salary during that period,
the third year was passing away, during which they
had not had the smallest fraction of their earnings
in the service of the public. The distress and em
barrassment which this state of circumstances in
flicted on the functionaries of the province, whose
private resources are generally very limited, were
as humihating as they were unmerited. Many were
living on money borrowed at an exorbitant interest ;
«ome could not but be reduced to the verge of ruin ;

or CANADA. 207
and to show that this suffering of individuals w.is
not unattended with danger to the general welfare,
it may be enough to remark, without painfully dwell
ing on private circumstances^that thejudges ofthe
country were amongst those who were left to pro
vide .for their subsistence as best they might, after
three years' stoppage of their official incomes.
This condition of affairs might naturally have
been expected to terminate with the commencement
of the present session. In the two previous years
the supplies had failed in the assembly, either from
differences with the governor for the time being, or
from the refusal of funds for the payment of their
contingent expenses ; but when the provincial par
liament last met, these grounds of dissension were
removed. You will not perceive (the commission
ers observed), amongst the grounds assigned for
prolonging the financial difficulties, any complaint
against the existing provincial administration, or
the assertion of any demerit in the parties who con
tinued to be deprived of their lawful remuneration.
No local cause of quarrel was alleged, of which the
settleraent might be indispensable before the public
business could proceed ; on the contrary,, it was
stated openly and without disguise, that changes of
a political nature were the end in view, and that
until certain acts should be done, competent to no
other authority than the imperial parliament, and
comprising organic changes in the constitution, by
virtue of which the assembly itself existed, that the
house would never make another pecuniary grant
to the government. Thus the public servants, no
parties to the contest, were afflicted merely as in-

208 the bubbles
struments, through whose sufferings to extort con
cessions totally independent of their will to grant or
to refuse. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that
the objects, for the enforcement of which even such
means as these were thought expedient, had never
been positively refused, but had only been referred
to the commission of inquiry, in order that, before
the executive branch of the government undertook
to recommend changes of a very important and ex
tensive nature, il might receive advice from per
sons intrusted with the confidence of his Majesty.
This, however, did not prove enough. Apprehen
sions of delay from the commission, and doubts of
the freedom with which it would act, were ex
pressed in the address; and the assembly intimated,
with frankness, that it would allow of no delibera
tion; that either its demands must be acceded to
forthwith, or that it would employ its power over the
supplies, to render the government qf the country
impossible. The sufferings of these officers vvas a matter of
undisguised satisfaction to the disaffected, who made
them the subject of much facetious comment on
every occasion. The commissioners very natural
ly observed on this peculiarity :
" If proof were wanting that national distinctions
do exercise an influence on the course of affairs in
this province, it might be supplied in the absence of
all sympathy on the part of the house of assembly
in the existing distress of the public officers. Those
officers of government are for the most part of Eng
lish origin, which, we think, explains the treatment
of the public functionaries by the members of as-

OF CANADA. 209
sembly. If both spoke the same language, used the
same habits, and had those ordinary feelings of sym
pathy which must follow from any familiar inter
course in private life, we do not believe it possible
that one of the two could find resolution to plunge
indiscriminately the whole of the other class into
difficulties, not for any acts of their own, not even
for any obnoxious sentiments they might hold, but
in order that, by their losses, a third party might be
induced through compassion to surrender objects
desired at its hands."
Such, however, were the means through which
they hoped to effect their object, which they now
announced as follows :
1. That the legislative council should be elec
tive. 2. That the executive council should be convert
ed into a ministry, responsible to the assembly.
3. That the Tenures' Act and Land Company's
Act should be repealed.
4. That the Crown revenues should be surren
dered unconditionally.
5. That the management of the waste lands should
be given up to them.
And they farther declared, that they would pay
no arrears, or vote any civil list, until these demands
should be complied with.
Here the government also made its stand, and
very properly said. We shall concede no farther;
these demands involve a surrender of the colony
to one party within it, and we are not justified in
granting them, consistently with the duty we owe

210 THE BUBBLES
to the Crown, to the public, or to the colonists of
British origin. ¦
In order that you may understand the bearings
of these demands, which are now the real points in
dispute (all others having been disposed of,) it will
be necessary for me to consider them separately ;
but as I have already shown you that " nationali
ty," " independence," and republicanism were their
avowed ultimate objects, and also the quo animo in
which they were demanded, you may naturally infer
that they themselves considered them as materially
contributing to that end, and essential to prepare the
country (as Mr. Papineau described it) for a future
state of political existence, which he trusted would
be neither a monarchy nor an aristocracy. Indeed
this has never been denied any where but in Eng
land, and here only by a. party who are desirous of
applying the same elective principle to the house of
lords, most probably with the view of producing a
similar result.
1st. The first demand was that the legislative
council should be elective.
The legislative council is contemporaneous with
the house of assembly, owing its existence to the
constitutional act of 1791, and was the first instance
known in the colonies of such a body having a dis
tinct existence, separate and apart from the execu
tive council. It consisted at first of fourteen mem
bers, and, in October 1837, of forty, eighteen of
whom were French Canadians ; but as there were
several unable to attend from infirmities and old age,
Lord Gosford reported that not more than thirty-
one could be assembled, thirteen English and eigh-

OF CAJj^DA. all
teen French members, of whom three at most were
persons holding office under government. This
body has, as far as the dependent nature of a colo
ny permits, analogous duties to perform to those of
the house of lords, and, when judiciously selected,
is essential to deliberate and useful legislation, to
sustain the prerogative, to uphold the connexion be
tween the mother country and the colony, and to
give security to the hundred and fifty thousand sub
jects of British origin in the province. This much
was admitted even by the comraissioners of inquiry,
whose reluctant tribute appears not to have been
given until ingenuity had sought in vain for a bet
ter substitute.
" In the revision and correction of bills sent up to
them by the assembly, we have no doubt, however,
that the council has often rendered valuable ser
vices to the country, and has no less fulfilled one,
perhaps, of its peculiar functions, by its rejection of
measures which the constitution would not admit,
thereby relieving the representative of the King from
the duty of withholding the royal assent lo them :
such as bills in which the assembly encroached upon
the royal prerogative, tacked to their grants of mo
ney conditions deemed in England unparliamentary,
or took it upon themselves to attempt the repeal of
a British statute."
It has been the unceasing aim of Mr. Papineau
and his party to libel this body as a combined
faction, actuated by interest alone to struggle for
the support of a corrupt government, adverse to
the rights and wishes of the people. One of the
charges brought against it was that there were too

212 THE l^BBLES
many persons in it Yielding office, and that com
plaint was not without foundation. Indeed it was
so apparent, that, from 1829 to 1835, twenty-one
new counsellors were appointed wholly independent
of government. Another charge preferred against
it was the rejection in ten years of 169 bills sent to
them by the other house, as contained in the fol
lowing tables: —

YEAR.

Rejected by
the Council.

Amended by
Council.

TOTAt.

1822 1823
18241825
1826 1827
18281829 1830
1831
1832

8
14
12
12 19
No Session. 16
16 11
14

0
25
58
No Session. 8
838

8
16
17
17
27
No Session. 2424 14
21

ToTiL

122

47

169

This charge has been reiterated in the other co
lonies, where the explanation never followed, and
in some instances, from the circumstantial and for
mal manner in which it is raade, has not been with
out its effect. It will be observed that they are
charged with rejecting 109 instead of 122 bills,
every exercise of the constitutional right of amend
ment being considered equivalent to rejection.
Every successive year the bills which had been
disagreed to were again transmitted to them, to
swell by their rejection the amount of their of
fences. Deducting the number produced by this
multiplying process, the amount of bills rejected
falls under forty, which is an average of less than

OF CANADA. 213
four a year. In addition to this formidable list
which had not been concurred in, another intermi
nable one was offered of those which had not been"
considered, the explanation of which I find in the
words of the commissioners : —
" Much, obloquy has also; we must assert, been
unjustly attempted to be thrown on the council for
the rejection of bills sent up to them late in the ses
sion, when there were no longer the means of form
ing a house in the assembly to take into considera
tion any amendments that might be made on them.'
Instead of preferring complaints against this body
for acts of omission, they might have been more suc
cessful had they rested satisfied with charging them
with acts of commission; for, although they can
be justified for their rejection of pernicious bills,
what shall we say to their want of firmness in after
wards passing some of those very bills, under the
dictation of that assembly that was arming itself
with fresh charges from these instances of its weak
ness? But the time had now arrived when it was
alike independent of the crown and the people, and
could neither be influenced by the timid fears of the
executive, nor the violence and invective of the as
sembly. So long as a majority of office-holders and
people connected with government had seats at the
council board, the factious majority of the house
could exercise a control over the council, through the
state of dependence and subjugation in which they
kept the executive. Every governor had lately
shown a desire to win the honour of pacifying Ca
nada, — had receded and conceded, offered concilia-
19

214 THE BUBBLES
tion and endured affronts, borne and forborne, in a
manner that it is quite humiliating to contemplate,
and had used his influence in the legislative council
to aid in the execution of instructions which, al
though they are justly entitled to the merit of kind
intentions, have not so much claim upon our admira
tion on the score of their merit or their dignity. We
find, indeed, the aid of the secretary for the colonies
called in, and Mr. Stanley reproving them for even
insinjaating a doubt of the loyalty of these omnipo
tent men, and regretting that any word had been in
troduced which should have the appearance of as
cribing to a class of his Majesty's subjects of one ori
gin views at variance with the allegiance which they
owe to his Majesty. The house had, however, by
their incessant complaints, purified the board of eve
ry person upon whom this influence could be ex
erted. This independence of executive influence is
thus alluded to by Lord Aylmer: — " It would be dif
ficult, perhaps, to find in any British colony a legis
lative body more independent of the Crown than the
legislative council of Lower Canada; and so far am
I from possessing, as the King's representative, any
infiuence there, that 1 will not conceal that I have, on
more than one occasion, regretted the course adopted
by the council. But whilst I make this confession, I
will not deny but I have, on the contrary, much sa
tisfaction in avowing that I repose great confidence
in that branch of the colonial legislature. It is a
confidence derived from my knowledge of the up
right, independent, and honourable character of the
great majority of those who compose it, and of their

OF CANADA. 215
firm and unalterable attachment to his Majesty's per
son and government, and to the constitution of the
colonies as by law established." The council had
actually become, what it ought to be, the representa
tive of the independent people of the country — of
the wealth, intelligence, and virtue of the colony.
The assembly, therefore, voted that it was more
mischievous than ever, and resolved that it should
be elective. It is but due to them here to say that
this idea is not thought to have originated in Cana
da, but to have been communicated to them, with
•other equally judicious advice, from England. It is
certain it has been advocated here, if not strongly, at
least warmly, and was supported in the house of
lords by Lord Brougham. From a careful perusal
of what his lordship said upon the occasion, which
was declamatory and not argumentative, I am in
clined to believe it received his support, not so much
because he thought so, as because the ministry did
¦not think so, as the whole speech appears to be the
effect of strongly ej^eited feelings.
Any organic change in the legislative council must
be weU considered, before it is granted, in two dis
tinct and separate bearings, first, as it affects the con
nexion with this country, and, secondly, as it affects
the interests of the colonists themselves. The avowed
object of the assembly in advocating this change, is
to procure an identity of views in the two branches,
¦which would be effected by their being elected by
the same persons, or, what is the same thing, by the
same influences. Were this to take place, it would
be a duplicate pf the house, registering its Acts, but
e?£reising no beneficial legislation upon them. A

216 THE BUBBLES
difference of opinion then, whenever it occurred,
would not be between the two houses, but between
them and the governor, and it is easy to conceive how
untenable his position would soon become. At pre
sent, although possessing a veto, and forming a con
stituent, he can hardly be said to be a deliberative
branch of the legislature, but by this change either
such duties must necessarily devolve upon him, and
occasion the exercise of incompatible powers, or in
everyinstance where he differed in opinion, he would
be compelled to resort to a rejection of the measure.
The commissioners, whose reasoning on the subject
is not very intelligible, have been more fortunate in
the expression of their impartiality, having recorded
at the-same time their approbation of the principle,
and their conviction of the danger of its application.
The object of the French party, it is said, is to assi
milate their institutions to those of the United
States; but the situation of the country is so differ
ent from that of any state in the union, that there is
no analogy whatever. Instead of two coexistent but
independent chambers, it would in fact be only one
body occupying two halls.
In Canada there is unfortunately wanting among
the French populatiori, the salutary control of public
opinion. The isopulation is wholly unfit for the ex
ercise of the important duties of self-government.
Scattered over a large surface, ignorant of constitu
tional principles, and inattentive to public affairs,
they implicitly follow a few leaders, who have the
choice and the management of their representatives
in their own hands, and who, if this change were
conceded, would place in both houses such persons

OF CANADA. 217
as would follow their instructions. It were needless
to ask in such a case what would become of the Bri
tish population? That Mr. Papineau knows but lit
tle of the constitution of the United States which he
affects to admire, and claims to imitate, will best ap
pear from the following extracts from American con
stitutional writers:
" All the powers of government," says Mr. Jeffer
son, " legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to
the legislative body. The concentration of these in
the same hands is precisely the definition of a de
spotic government. It will be no alleviation, that
these powers will be exercised by a plurality of
hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and
sevehty-three despots would surely be as oppressive
as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on
the republic of Venice. An elective despotism is
not the government we fought for; but one which
should not only be founded on free principles, but in
which the powers of government should be so di
vided and balanced among several bodies of magis
tracy, as that no one could transcend their legal li
mits without being effectually checked and restrained
by the others."
Another author says,
*' Another and most important advantage arising
from this ingredient is, the great difference which it
creates in the elements of the two branches of the
legislature; which constitutes a great desideratum in
every practical division of legislative power. In fact,
this division (as has been already intimated) is of
little or no intrinsic value, unless it is so organized,
that each can operate as a real check upon undue and
rash legislation. If each branch is substantially
19*

218 THE BUBBLES
framed upon the same plan, the advantages of the
division are shadowy and imaginative; the visions
and speculations of the brain, and not the waking
thoughts of statesmen or patriots. It may be safely
asserted, that for all the purposes of liberty, and se
curity of stable laws, and of solid institutions, of per
sonal rights, and of the protection of property, a sin
gle branch is quite as good as two, if their composi
tion is the same, and their spirit and impulses the
same. Each will act as the other does; and each
will be led by some common influence of ambition,
or intrigue, or passion, to the same disregard of pub
lic interests, and the same indifference to the pros
tration of private rights. It will only be a duplica
tion of the evils of oppression and rashness with a du
plication of obstruction to effective redress. In this
view the organization of the senate becomes of inesti
mable value.'* Again he says, " The improbability of
sinister combination will always be in proportion to
the dissimilarity of the genius of the two.bodies ; and,
therefore, every circumstance consistent with har
mony in all proper measures, which points out a dis
tinct organization of the component materials of each,
is desirable."
And again this is.very powerfully put by an emi
nent republican writer :
" The division of the legislature into two sepa
rate and independent branches, is founded on such
obvious principles of good policy, and is so strongly
recommended, by the unequivocal language of ex
perience, that it has obtained the general approba
tion of the people of this country. One great ob
ject of this separation of the legislature into two

OF CANADA. 219
houses acting separately, and with co-ordinate
powers, is to destroy the evil effects of sudden and
'strong excitement, and of precipitate measures,
springing from passion, caprice, prejudice, personal
influence, and party intrigue, and which have been
found by sad experience, to exercise a potent and
dangerous sway in single assemblies. A hasty de
cision is not so likely to arrive to the solemnities of
a law wlien it is to be arrested in its course and
made to undergo the deliberation, and probably the
jealous and critical revision, of another and a rival
body of men, sitting in a different place, and under
better advantages, to avoid the prepossessions and
correct the errors of the other branch. The legis
lature of Pennsylvania and Georgia consisted ori
ginally of a single house. The instability and pas
sion which marked their proceedings were very
visible at the time, and the subject of much public
animadversion: and in the subsequent reform of their
constitutions, the people were so sensible of this de
fect, and of the inconvenience they had suffered from
it, that in both states a senate was introduced. No
portion of the pohtical history of mankind is more
full of instructive lessons on this subject, or contains
more striking proofs of the faction, instability, and
misery of states under the dominion of a single, un
checked assembly, than those of the ItaUan repub
lics of the middle ages, and which in great numbers,
and with dazzHng but transient splendour, in the in
terval between the fall of the western and eastern
empire of the Romans.* They were all alike ill-
* I would refer the reader, if he feels inclined to pursue this
subject, to Sir James M'lntosh's celebrated Introductory Lecture,

220 THE BUBBLES
, constituted, with a single unbalanced assembly.
They were all alike miserable, and ended in similar
disgrace. The second demand was that the executive coun
cil should be converted into a ministry responsible
to the assembly. The existence of a council to ad
vise the governor in the conduct of affairs may be
traced back to the first establishment of a civil go
vernment in this province under the authority of
Great Britain. The royal instructions to General
Murray, dated 7th December, 1763, commanded
him to appoint a council as therein specified. The
statute of the 14th Geo. IIL, c. 83 established it
in a more formal manner, and conferred upon it
certain legislative powers; but in 1791 the consti
tutional act provided for the existence of two coun
cils, a legislative and an executive one ; and accord
ingly, by royal instructions, dated the 16th Sep-
teniber of that year, the latter was appointed to
consist of nine members, with a salary to each one
respectively of one hundred pounds. Additional or
honorary members have since been occasionally
added to the board. Of the functions of the execu
tive council the most comprehensive description is
that they are bound to give their advice to the go
vernor whenever it is requested.* There are cer
tain cases in which the governor is required to act
by and with their advice, but in far the greater part
of the business of government he is at liberty to re
written in 1797; in which by anticipation he composed with great
skill and abiUty the condemnation of his own conduct on the Re
form Bill.
* See Appendix to report of Commissioners.

OP CANADA. 221
ceive their advice or not as he pleases. It audits
public accounts, has some direction of the crown
lands, and constitutes a court of appeal. It can
assemble only on summons from the governor, is
sworn to secrecy, and confers no privilege on its
members of either recording their several opinions
or entering their protests individually.
This body, it is demanded, should be converted
into a ministry and be made responsible to the as
sembly ; the answer to this is strongly and pointedly
given in the report of the commissioners : —
" The house of assembly, in their answer to the
governor's speech at the opening of the late session,
and in their subsequent address to his Majesty, dated
the 26th of February, 1836, expressed their desire
for a ' constitutional responsibility ' of the executive
council, based on the practice of the United King
dom. We have already had occasion to advert to
this proposal incidentally in our report of the 12th
of March, but a recapitulation of what we then ad
vanced, and some farther examination of the project,
may not be superfluous here, especially as the sub
ject has excited such keen interest in Upper Canada
since the time when we last noticed it. On that oc
casion we observed, that while in England it was a
maxim of the constitution that no wrong could be
imputed to the sacred person of his Majesty, the
head of the executive here was a servant of his Ma
jesty, responsible to the King and to parliament for
his conduct ; that therefore it was necessary that
his measures should be under his control, in like
manner as their consequences rested upon his cha
racter; that to render the executive council respon
sible to any but the governor himself, would de-

222 THE BUBBLES
mand the allotment to them of new powers commen*
surate with their new responsibility, and would re
quire a corresponding diminution of the powers of
the governor; that thus the direct tendency of a
council, responsible in the sense we were then con
sidering, was to withdraw part of the administra
tion from his Majesty's representative in this pro
vince, and to abridge to 'that extent the efficiency
of the functionary on whom, above all others, his
Majesty must rely for retaining the allegiance of
the colony.
" We would now remark farther, that the ques
tion is not between responsibility and irresponsibi
lity absolutely, but only as to a peculiar sort of re
sponsibility, which it is wished to attach to the ex
ecutive council. Theweightiest responsibility which
can attach to any man in matters of a public nature
for which he is not punishable by law, or by loss of
office, is the accountability to public opinion, and
from this the executive counseUors are not even now
exempt, though in consequence ofthe rule of secrecy
(which we shall presently propose materially to re
lax,) they are not so much open to it as might be
wished. They are already amenable to the courts
of law for any offence, legally punishable, which
may be brought home to them ; they would also,
we apprehend, be made amenable to the jurisdiction
of any court which may be estabhshed for the trial
of impea,chments against public functionaries ; and
they are liable to be dismissed by the same autho
rity which appoints them. These different liabili'
ties constitute a responsibility, than which we know
not what other is borne by any public servants.
" But if the counsellors were rendered accountable

OF CANADA. 223
for the acts of government, and accountable not to
the executive authority by which they are ap
pointed, but immediately to the house of assembly,
we think that a state of things would be produced
incompatible with the connexion between a colony
and the mother country. The council having to
answer for the course of governmeilt, must m jus
tice be allowed also to control it; the responsibility,
therefore, of the governor to his Majesty must also
cease, and the very functions of governor, instead of
being discharged by the person expressly nomi
nated for that high trust, would in reahty be di
vided among such gentlemen as from time to time
might be carried into the council by the pleasure of
the assembly. The course of affairs would depend
exclusively on the revolutions of party within the
province. All union with the empire, through the
head of the executive, would be at an end ; the
country in short would be virtually independent!
and if this be the object aimed at, it ought to be put
in its proper light, and argued on its proper grounds,
and not disguised under the plausible demand of as
similating the constitution of these provinces to that
of the mother country."
I shall not weaken the effect of this by any re
marks of my own, but merely observe, that if a
majority in the house, appointing the legislative
council, and controlhng the executive, is not a state
of independence as regards Great Britain, and of
despotism as regards the province, it must at least
be admitted, that it confers all the advantages of
such a condition but the name.
The third was a demand for the repeal of the
Tenures Act and the Land Company's Act. On

224 THE BUBBLES
neither of these topics is it necessary to dwell
longer than to explain the nature of them. I have
already observed that Canada was subject to the
old feudal law of France, and I refer you to page
36 of this work for an account of their more pro
minent features. The inconvenience of this sort of
tenure has been very strongly felt, and particularly
in towns, as preventing the transfer of property and
its consequent improvement. The English popula
tion, especially of Montreal, complain that to allow
the exercise of seigneurial rights over a city de
stined by its situation to become a great commer
cial emporium,* is not merely to give a fatal wound
to the progress of the city itself, but it is weakly,
impolitically, and unjustly to sacrifice the interests
of trade and of future generations, throughout a
large portion of both provinces, to which its ex
tended commerce under happier auspices, might be
capable of giving prosperity and comfort. They
say that the lods et ventes, or mutation fines, amount
ing by law to one twelfth of the price upon every
sale, constitute one of the greatest grievances, but
by no means the only one, arising from the present
tenure, and which cannot be removed while the
seigneury continues to be held in mortmain.
Supposing a manufactory or building, worth
£12,000, to be erected upon a lot not worth £100,
if the proprietor has occasion to sell, and could
even find a purchaser willing to give him the sum
he has expended in the erection of the edifice, he is
nevertheless hable to lose £1,000 as a punishment
for having had the industry, the means, and the en-
* See Letters of Anti-Bureauerat.

OF CANADA. 22.5
terprise to build ; because the claim of the seigneurs
is not the twelfth of the original value of the ground
merely, but the twelfth of the amount of the money
and labour of others laid out upon the building also.
This, under the feudal system, becomes a privi
leged debt to the seigneurs, who have not expended
a farthing. But this is not all — the next and the
next vendor, ad infinitum, must each in turn lose to
the seigneurs a twelfth of the purchase-money. So
that if, in the exigencies of trade, or by inevitable
misfortunes, the building should change hands a
certain number of times, the seigneurs will benefit
by these evils to the amount of £12,000, the full cost
of the edifice, to which they have contributed no
thing, being one hundred and twenty times the ori
ginal value of the lot. Instances are known where
the claim for lods et ventes, deferred until the con
currence of several sales, has swept away at once
the whole price for which the lot, buildings, and
all, have been sold.
It has been asserted* by men of great local know-
ledge,-that the entire value of all the real estate and
buildings in the city of Montreal (the property of,
and erected at the cost of many thousands of indi
viduals) must, every forty years or less, be paid into
the hands of the seigneurs ; and this is exclusive of
the rents of the seigneury. Thus the value of all
the real estate and buildings existing forty years
ago, when the buildings were much fewer, and the
value of the real estate far less than at present, has
certainly, within the last forty years, passed into
their hands. In like manner the number of buildings,
and value of real estate, will of necessity be so
• J. Thom, Esq.
20

226 > THE BUBBLES
much augmented during the next forty years, that
at the end of that period it is likely that the prescHit
value of all the real estate and buildings will als©.
have passed into their hands, should the feudal
tenure be allowed by sufferance still to retain its
possession. It is to be remarked that this enor
mous contribution, this appalling and blighting ex
action, is principally raised from improvements of
which Englishmen and English commerce are the
creators and cause.
This old law also allows of a system of mortgage
called hypotheque, which may affect the land in a
variety of ways without enabling any one creditor
of the owner of the land to know what is passing
or has passed between his debtor and any other
person. The system of general mortgage aggra
vates in a tenfold degree the evils of secret obliga
tions. For where mortgages spring from such a
variety of circumstances, and are created in such a
variety of ways, their secrecy, even if they were
special, would be sufficiently pernicious; but their
generality engeixlers evils absolutely intolerable and
altogether incredible. Through that generality of
mortgages, a man cannot hold real property for an
hour without vitiating its title to the amount of all
his previously granted notarial obligations. In this
way, a man may pollute the title of real property,
that virtually never belonged to him. He may have
bought a farm or a house on credit, may have been
obliged by want of funds to restore it to the seller,
and may thus have burdened it with a hundred
previously contracted debts of indefinite amount.
The tacit hypotheque is of five kinds: — 1. The
dower of his wife, unless barred by an ante-nuptial

OF CANADA. 227
contract; 2. Security to his ward, in the event of
his being appointed guardian to any minor, which
he may be without his own consent, the office being
m many cases compulsory; 3. The same obligation
in the event of his being named curator, trustee, or
administrator of any intestate person ; 4. The obU
gation of an heir, entering on his inheritance, to
the payment of the debts of the person from whom
he received it, or sa?is benefice d'inventaire; Sth, and
lastl}^. The liability of public servants for the due
performance of their trusts. The wife's dower,
moreover, is the inheritance of the children of the
marriage, and consequently an entail is created by
it, as well as a life interest.
The British government thought it was conferring
a great benefit upon the Lower Canadians in pro
posing to change the tenures, so as to get rid of
those circumstances which thus depreciated the
value of land, and retarded the improvement of Ca
nadian trade and agriculture; and all unbiassed men
would, and did, agree with the government on this
point. The first provision on this subject consisted of
two clauses of the Canada Trade Act (3 Geo. IV.,
c. 119, s. 31 & 32,) by which his Majesty was em
powered to agree with all seigneurs for the com
mutation of their dues to the Crown, and also to
commute with such censitaires as held immediately
ofthe Crown, and to re-grant both to one class and
the other their lands in free and common soccage.
An addition to, and amendment of this Act, was
passed the 6 Geo. IV., c. 59.
The most important clauses are as follow:
Sec. 1 — Provides for the commutation (on re
quest) of the tenures of land held of the Crown.

228 THE BUBBLES
Sect. 2 — Provides that rights ofthe seigneur shall
not be affected till such coramutation is fully made.
Sec. 3 — Declares that persons holding lands in
fief, and obtaining a commutation from the Crown,,
shall be bound to grant a like coramutation, if re
quired, to those holding under them, for such in
demnity as shall be fixed by experts, or (sec. 4,)
by proceedings in a court of law.
Sec. 5 — Declares that on such agreement or ad
judication the tenure shall be converted into free
and common soccage, but sec. 6 provides that
this shall not discharge a man of dues or services
then accrued to the lord.
Sec. 7 — Persons applying for commutation are
to give public notice to mortgagees and others
having claims on the lands. ,
Sec. 8 — Lands holden in free and common soc
cage in Lower Canada, are to be subject to the
laws of England.
Sec. 9 — Provided, nevertheless, that nothing
herein contained shall extend to prevent his Majesty,
with the advice and consent of the legislative coun
cil and assembly of the province of Lower Canada,
from making and enacting any such laws or statutes
as may be necessary for the better adapting the
before-mentioned rules of the laws of England, or
any of them, to the local circumstances and con
dition of the said province of Lower Canada, and
the inhabitants thereof.
Such are the provisions of the act, the repeal of
which is so imperiously demanded. Unreasonable,
however, as the request was, thus to make a disgrace
ful retrogade movement to barbarous usages, it was
met in the only way it could be: the act 1 W. IV.,
c, 20 M as passed, leaving the whole subject to be

OF CANADA. 229
dealt with by the provincial legislature as it should
think fit. The repeal of the Canada Land Compa
nies act is next insisted upon. On this subject, it
will be quite sufficient to state their demand, to which
no honest man could give any other answer than it
has already received — an unqualified refusal. They
require that an act of parliament, incorporating this
company, and conferring upon them certain privi
leges, and a title to lands, upon which they have ex
pended large suras of raoney, should be repealed,
and the property confiscated. The only charitable
way of viewing the demand, is to consider it not
so much an evidence of moral turpitude, as a ma
nifestation of contempt and insolence towards the
party, to whom it was addressed.*
Fourth. — Then followed a demand for the uncon
stitutional surrender of the crown revenues. You
will recollect that the Canada committee of parlia
ment, as it was called, reported, that although the
d-uties, before alluded to, were vested in the Crown,
they were prepared to say the real interests of the
colony would be best promoted by placing them
under the control of the house of assembly. Being
prepared to say a thing, and being prepared to show
* But although they considered every institution and usage of
their own so sacred as to admit of no change, they viewed those
of the English in a very different light. The conceding and re
spectful conduct of Government formed an amusing contrast with
their audacious insolence. To mark their contempt for regal
rights, they passed an Act to make notice of action served on the
attomey-general, for damages against the Crown, legal and bind
ing. If the suit went against the Crown, it was provided, that
execution might issue against the governor, and the furniture, or
the guns of the fortress.
20*

230 ' THE BUBBLES
or prove a thing, happen, unfortunately, to be wide
ly different; and, as the committee contented them
selves with the former, we are not in possession of
the grounds upon which they felt prepared to say
so. They were doubtless quite sufficient at the
time, although they, unfortunately, did not continue
to be so long enough for the act (1st and 2d Will.
IV.) to reach Canada. For the real interests of the
colony, it is very evident, have not been best pro
moted thereby. It would appear also that that great
and single-minded man, the Duke of Wellington,
(who probably knew quite as much of the French
as the committee did,) was not prepared to say so,
but, on the contrary, he entered his protest against
the measure: "These persons," said he, (meaning
the judges,) " will thus become dependent upon the
continued favour of the legislative assembly, for the
reward of their labours and services; the administra
tion, within the province of Lower Canada, can no
longer be deemed independent; and his Majesty's
subjects will have justice administered to them by
judges, and will be governed by officers situated as
above described." The event has justified his grace's
expectations, and disappointed those of the commit
tee. This unconditional surrender was made on the
full understanding that a civil list would be granted,
and the administration of justice permanently pro
vided for: — the former they refused. They had
now got the officers of government at their mercy,
and were determined to keep them so; and the
judges they made independent of the Crown, but
dependent upon them for their annual allowance,
depriving the government of the power of removing

OF CANADA. 231
them, except upon impeachment, and reserving the
right themselves to remove them at pleasure, by
withdrawing their salaries. Having succeeded in
this, they now demanded the rents of the real estate,
belonging to the King, in Canada, and this too they
are promised, when they shall vote the civil list, —
one of the resolutions introduced by Lord John Rus
sell, being, " That it is expedient to place at the dis
posal of the legislature the net proceeds of the here
ditary, territorial, and casual revenues ofthe Crown,
arising within the province, in case the said legisla
ture shall see fit to grant a civil list, for defraying
the necessary charges of the administration of justice,
and for the maintenance and unavoidable expense of
certain of the principal officers of the civil govern
ment of the province." The great error that has
been committed in these unconditional surrenders of
the revenue of the Crown, is in attempting to keep
up an analogy, that does not exist, to the practice in
England. The committee lost sight of the impor
tant distinction that Canada is a colony, and that
what might be very right and proper here, would
be neither right nor expedient there. The officers
of government are not merely the officers of Canada,
but the officers of Great Britain, and, by giving the
legislature a control over them, they surrender the
imperial power over the province. They should be
removeable, not when the legislature, like the com
mittee of parliament, is " prepared to say " so, but
when it is " prepared to prove " that they ought to
be; but their salaries should be beyond the control of
the local assembly. The position is too obvious, and
has received too much painful corroboration, in re
cent events, to require any farther comment.

232 , THE BUBBLES
Lastly. — They required the management of the
waste lands to be given up to them. The object of
this extraordinary claim, now for the first time put
forward in the history of colonization, was for the
avowed purpose of controlling emigration from
Great Britain, which they had already impeded by
a capitation tax, by refusing to establish an efficient
quarantine, or to give aid to the improvement of the
harbour of Montreal; by endeavouring to alarm set
tlers on the score of insecurity of title, and in an at
tempt to ruin the banks.
In Mr. Paprneau's celebrated pamphlet, to which
I have previously alluded, he says, " the protection,
or, to speak more plainly, English sovereignty over
Canada, brought other evils in its train. A swarm
of Britons hastened to the shores of the new colony,
to avail themselves of its advantages to improve their
own condition." History affords so many proofs of
the license used by a people when flushed with vic
tory, that this gentleman's surprise at the English
taking the liberty of settling on the waste lands of a
colony, which they had so gallantly conquered, af
fords a pleasing proof that the natural simplicity of
the Canadian character was not yet wholly destroyed
by the study of politics. " That, however," he con
tinued, " was not sufficient for their cupidity, tbey
established themselves in our cities, and made them
selves masters of all the trade, as well foreign as do
mestic." " For many years they took but a small
share in our political affairs. _ The elections remained
free from their intrigues because they could have
no chance of practising any amongst a population
nine times more numerous than themselves. But

OF CANADA. 233
within these five or six years they go about boldly "
 To prevent this evil, which
was growing in magnitude every year, " of their in
teresting themselves in the political affairs of the
province," in proportion to their numbers, they de
manded the control of the wild lands, and, reverting
to abstract principles, started this new doctrine:
" That in any new-discovered or newly occupied
country the land belongs to the government of the
nation taking possession of it, and that settlers in it,
so long as they retain the character only of emi
grants from the mother country, can claim no more
than what has been granted to them as individuals;
but that when a distinct boundar}' has been assigned
to them, and they come to be incorporated into a
body politic, with a power of legislation for their in
ternal affairs, the territory within their boundary be
comes, as a matter of right, the property of the body
politic, or of the inhabitants, and is to be disposed of
according to rules framed by their local legislature,
and no longer by that of the parent state."
On this point the commissioners reported as fol
low: —
" This proposition rests, as we understand it, en
tirely upon abstract grounds, and we believe that
we are authorized in saying that it never has been
entertained by Great Britain or any other colonizing
power. That the ungranted lands in any colony re
main the property of the Crown has, on the contrary,
we believe, been the universally received doctrine
in Great Britain, and although the constitutional act
does not expressly assert a right of which its framers
probably never contemplated a doubt, the lands of

234 THE BUBBLES
the province are mentioned in the 36th clause as
being thereafter to be granted by his Majesty and
his successors. While, therefore, we are quite ready
to admit, that in the disposal of the ungranted lands
the interests of the first settlers ought never to be
lost sight of, and also that the wishes of the local le
gislature should be consulted, provided they are
made known to his Majesty in a constitutional man
ner, we cannot recognise in any way the abstract
principle set up for it in opposition, not merely to
the general laws and analogies of the British empire,
but to the clear meaning of the Act by which alone
the body preferring the claim has its existence. It
must, we apprehend, be the main object in every
scheme of colonization, that the parent state should
have the right to establish her own people on such
terms as she may think fit in the country colonized;
and at present, perhaps, her North American colo
nies are more valuable to England as receptacles for
her surplus population than in any other way. We
cannot, therefore, believe that England will consent
to a doctrine that will go to place at the discretion
of any local legislature the terms on which emigrants
from her shores are to be received into her colo
nies." Here, however, the government, again showed its
anxiety to gratify their wishes as far as it was pos
sible; and in their undeviating spirit of conciliation,
although they could not grant the whole demand,
endeavoured to meet them half way, by replying
that they had no objection to the legislature pre
scribing the rule of management for the Crown
lands, but thejr application must be confined to the

OF CANADA. 235
executive. Such are the demands which were then
made, and are still put forward by the leaders
of the Canadian party; demands, which it is evi
dent amount to a claim by one part of her Ma
jesty's subjects, to an independent control of the
colony.

230 THE BUBBLES

LETTER XI.

As the assembly had separated with a declara
tion that they would never vote a civil list, until
all their requests were granted, it was necessary for
parliament to interfere, and Lord John Russell pro
posed and carried certain resolutions, of which the
substance is as follows :
" Istly. That in the existing state of Lower Ca
nada, it is unadvisable to make the legislative coun
cil elective, but that it is expedient to adopt mea
sures for securing to that branch of the legislature
a greater degree of public confidence.
" 2dly. That while it is expedient to improve the
composition of the executive council, it is unadvi
sable to subject it to the responsibility demanded
by the house of assembly.
" 3dly. That the legal title of the British Ame-
rfcan Land Company to the land they hold under
their charter, and an act of the imperial parliament,
ought to be maintained inviolate.
" 4thly. That as soon as the legislature shall
make provisions by law for discharging lands from
feudal dues and services, and for removing any
doubts as to the incidents of the tenure of land, in
free and common soccage, it is expedient to repeal
the Canada Tenures Act, and the Canada Trade
Act, so far as the latter relates to the tenures of
land in this province, saving, nevertheless, to all

OF CANADA. 237
persons the rights vested in them under or in vir
tue of those Acts.
" 5thly. That, for defraying the arrears due, on
account, of the established and customary charges
ofthe administration of justice, and ofthe civil go
vernment of the province, it is expedient, that, af
ter applying for that purpose such balance as should,
on the 10th day of April last, be in the hands of the
receiver-general, arising from the hereditary, terri
torial, and casual revenues of the Crown, the go
vernor of the province be empowered to issue, out
of any other moneys in the hands of the receiver-
general, such farther sums as shall be necessary to
effect the payment of such arrears and charges up
to the 10th of April last.
" 6thly. That it is expedient to place at the dis
posal of the legislature the net proceeds of the he
reditary, territorial, and casual revenues of the
Crown, arising within the province in case the said
legislature shall see fit to grant a civil list for de
fraying the necessary charges of the administration
of justice, and for the maintenance and unavoidable
expenses of certain of the principal officers of the
civil government ofthe province; and, lastly,
" That it is expedient that the legislatures of
Lower and Upper Canada respectively, be autho
rized to make provision foT the joint regulation and
adjustment of questions respecting their trade and
commerce, and of other questions wherein they have
a common interest."
Whether the spirit of concession had not been
heretofore carried too far, and whether the public
affairs of Canada ought to have been suffered (even
for the amiable and praiseworthy object of endea-
¦21

238 THE BOBBLES
vouring, if possible, to satisfy the dominant party in
the house,) ever to have arrived at this crisis, are
questions upon which I have no desire, on this oc
casion, to enter, being foreign to my object, which
is to show you that the French-Canadians have no
claim to sympathy " as our oppressed and enslaved
brethren." But that these resolutions were indis
pensable, that they were not resorted to till they
were necessary, and that parliament was justified
in this exercise of its supreme authority, no unpre
judiced and right-thinking man can doubt. A co
lony is a dependent province, and Great Britain is
an independent metropohtan state. The control
ling power must obviously be greater than the
power controlled. The power, therefore, of a co
lony being limited, if it assumes to pass those li
mits, it is no longer dependent, but independent.
It is not only the right but the duty of Parliament,
to restrain within their constitutional limits, provin
cial legislatures, in the same manner as it is the
right of the colonists to exercise those powers
constitutionally, and their duty not to attempt to ex
ceed those limits. When one branch of a legisla
ture resolves that it will never perform its functions
until a co-ordinate branch, deriving its authority
from the same source as itself, is destroyed, it ex
ceeds its due bounds, or rather rehnquishes the ex
ercise of all constitutional power. In the pam
phlet already alluded to, Mr. Papineau says, " The
constitution has ceased to exist of right, and in
fact can no longer be maintained but by force."
Here, then, was a case for the legitimate inter
ference of Parliament, an interference which no
reflecting colonist will ever object to, else there
would be no appeal but to the sword whenever a

OF CAN'ADA. 239
designing demagogue should unfortunately obtain a
majority of obstructive members in the assembly;
but these resolutions were said to be a violation of
the declaratory act of 1778, and an unconstitu
tional mode of levying taxes on the Canadians,
and appropriating their money without their con
sent! It is not material to the argument to mention, but
it is a singular fact, that the revenue happens not to
have been raised by the people of French origin, and
that therefore as far as they are concerned, their
money has not been appropriated without their con
sent. The question is often asked by the Upper
Canadians, on what does a French inhabitant pay
duty ?* Is it, they say, on woollen stuffs of his own
manufacture? Is it on wooden shoes, the produce
of his forest ? Is it on tobacco, the produce of his
own fields ? Is it on sugar, the juice of his own ma
ple groves? Is it on wine which he never tastes?
Is it on books which he cannot read; or on postage
of letters he cannot write ? Or is it on spirits dis
tilled from his own grain ? But this is not to the pur
pose, it was money that they had a right to dispose
of themselves, if they had thought proper to do so,
and must so far be considered the revenue of the
whole public.
These resolutions imposed no taxes, they merely
applied towards the discharge of salaries of the ci
vil officers of the government, certain moneys al
ready accumulated under existing laws, in the hands
of the treasury, to enable the executive to carry on
the government. That it was apphed without their
consent to this purpose, is true, not because they did
* See letters of Camillus,

240 THE BUBBLES
not consent to vote supplies, (and it is most material to
observe this distinction,) but because they had refused
to discharge any qf their duties as an assembly, or in
any manner to co-operate loilh the other branches ; and
had themselves, by this suicidal act, suspended the con
stitution and thrown the -whole country into anarchy a?id
confusion. It was a case fully within the limitation
prescribed by Burke :
"For my part," says that great man, "I look
upon the rights stated in that act exactly in the man
ner in which I viewed them on its very first pro
position, and which I have often taken the liberty,
with great humility, to lay before you. I look, I
say, on the imperial rights of Great Britain, and the
privileges which the colonists ought to enjoy under
these rights, to be just the most reconcileable things
in the world. The parliament of Great Britain sits
at the head of her extensive empire in two capaci
ties; one as the local legislature of this island, pro
viding for all things at home, immediately, and by
no other instrument than the executive power. The
other, and I think her nobler capacity, is what I
call her imperial character; in which, as from the
throne of heaven, she superintends all the several
inferior legislatures, and guides and controls them
all without annihilating any. As all these provin
cial legislatures are only co-ordinate to each other,
they ought all to be subordinate to her; else they
can neither preserve mutual peace, nor hope for
mutual justice, nor effectually afford mutual assis
tance. It is necessary to coerce the negligent, to
restrain the violent, and to aid the weak and defi
cient, by the over-ruling plenitude of her power.
But in order to enable Parliament to answer all

or CANADA. 241
these ends of provident and beneficent superinten
dence, her powers must be boundless. The gentle
men who think the powers of Parliament Hmited,
may please themselves to talk of requisitions. But
suppose the requisitions are not obeyed ? What !
shall there be no reserved power in the empire to
supply a deficiency which may weaken, divide, and
dissipate the whole ?
" This is what I meant when 1 have said, at va
rious times, that I consider the power of taxing in
Parliament as an instrument of empire, and not as a
raeans of supply.
" Such, sir, is my idea of the condition of the
British empire, as distinguished from the constitution
of Britain; and on these grounds I think subordi
nation and liberty may be sufficiently reconciled
through the whole; whether to serve a refining spe-
culatist or a factious demagogue, I know not; but
enough surely for the ease and happiness of man."
But, although the right of Parliament to interfere,
and its intention to do so, were thus asserted, there
was still so strong a repugnance felt by Government
to exercise the power, that they desired Lord Gos
ford to call the assembly together again, and give
those misguided men another opportunity of recon
sidering their conduct. They met as summoned,
but again refused all supplies, which had now been
withheld for five years, and again declined to exer
cise any legislative functions. There was now no
power to make new laws, no means of paying those
who administered the existing ones, no appropria
tion for the public service in any department; schools
were neglected, roads unrepaired, bridges dilapi-
lated, jails unprovided for, temporary laws expired
21* '

242 THE B0BBLE3
or expiring, and confusion and disorganiization every
where; and yet we are gravely told Parliament ought
not to have interfered ! that it was one ofthe dear
est and most sacred rights of the colonists to pro
duce this extraordinary state of things, and that
they ought not to be interrupted in the enjoyment
of what had cost them, so much time and trouble to-
bring about.
If this opinion were founded on conscientious
scruples, it would deserve our respect; but it is the-
liberality of accomplices ;. and they may well be ge
nerous who replenish their coffers by plunder. We
raust not be surprised, therefore, to find among those
who invest the Canadians wilh this novel power,.
men who offer to. mercenaries the pillage of the
church, and who, loaded with the spoils of vested.
rights, which they have violently torn fi'om their
lawful owners, kindly bestow this stolen one upon-
comrades engaged in the same unholy cause as,
themselves. They are accomplished and dexterous
men, and, knowing the numerous covers of law^
resort to its shelter, and boldly call upon the real.
owners to make out their case, and prove their pro
perty. It is difficult to decide whether the amiable
advocates of this intelligible doctrine are best en--
titled to our pity or our contempt.
Those persons who had always espoused their
cause in England, seem to have fully penetrated
their object., " I do not marvel at it," said ray Lord.
Brougham ; " to me it is no surprise — 1 expected it."
Men of sanguine temperament are apt to expect
confidently what they desire ardently. That he
wished them to be independent, he made no secret..
Whatever we may think of his lordship, as a statesr-

OF CANADA. 243
man, for entertaining such a patriotic wish, we can
not but admire the unflinching friendship that in
duced him, through good report and evil report, to
adhere to the cause he had determined to advocate.
That they might not feel discouraged by partial re
verses, he held out the language of promise to them
that the day was not far distant when they coqld
hope to reahze the object of their wishes. He de
precated our thinking too harshly of thera for their
vain atterapt. " Where," he continued, " in what
country — from what people did they learn the les
son ? of whom but ourselves, the English people ?
We it is that have set the example to our Ameri
can brethren ; let us beware how we blame them
too harshly for following- it." Not content with in
terceding for their pardon, he solicited, as a boon
for them, what they had failed in an attempt to^
seize as plunder. " I hold these colonies," he said,,
" as worth nothing; the only interest we have in the-
matter concerns the manner in which a separation,
sooner or later inevitable,, shall take place. Is it
not, then, full time we should make up our minds to
a separation so beneficial to all parties?- These, my
lords, are not opinions to which I have lately come;.
they are the growth of many a long year, and the
fruit of much attention given to the subject." The
effect of this language upon the loyal population of
the provinces it is not easy to conceive. At no.
time could such, a doctrine be heard with indiffer
ence, but during a period of unusual excitement it
was too mischievous not to awaken a general in
dignation. On the minds of the Americans it has
had a powerful effect, in speculating upon the result.
Qf an active sympathy on, their part..

244 THE BUBBLES
Disaffection having now succeeded in producing
anarchy and bloodshed, assumed the shape of in
surrection, the natural result of so many years of
agitation. The tragical events of this sad revolt
are too recent and too impressive to be forgotten,,
and the recital would be as painful as it is unneces
sary. Anxious, however, as I am not to dwell on
the mournful picture which it presents, justice re
quires that I should pause and pay the tribute of my
respect to the pious, amiable, and loyal Catholic
clergy of Canada. They have preserved a large
portion of their flock from contamination, and we
are mainly indebted to their strenuous exertions
that the rebellion has not been more general and
more successful. They have learned from painful
experience, what ecclesiastics have ever found un
der similar circumstances, that treason always calls,
in infidelity to its aid; that there is a natural alliance
between the assailants of the throne and the altar,
and that they who refuse to render tribute toCassar
are seldom known to preserve, for any length of
time, " the fear of God before their eyes." The
history of this Canadian revolt is filled with instruc
tion to the people of England. It teaches them the
just value of the patriotism of those who are the in
temperate advocates of extreme opinions ; it shows
that courage in debate may sometimes evaporate in
the field, and that those who lead others rashly into
danger are not unfrequently the first to desert them
basely in the hour of need. It exhibits in bold re
lief the disastrous effects of incessant agitation, and
demonstrates that the natural result of continued
concession to popular clamour is to gradually
weaken the powers of government, until society re-

or CANADA. 245
solves itself into its original element. These truths
are too distinctly marked to require to be retouched.
He who runs may read, but he that would carry away
the moral must pause and consider. It is written
in the blood and suffering ofthe colonists, and pru
dence suggests the propriety of their avaihng them
selves of the painful experience of others, instead
of purchasing it by the severe and painful.^rocess
of personal expei-ience. The successful advocacy
here of similar opinions raust necessarily produce
the like results, aggravated by the increased power
of numbers, and the greater value of the plunder. I
have seen enough of England to admire il, of its
institutions to respect it, of the character of its peo
ple to love it, and of the blessings conferred by its
hmited monarchy, to know how to estimate the en
viable lot of those who have the good fortune to in
habit it. O fortunalos nimium sua si bona norint.,
I should feel indeed that kindness could awaken no
emotion, and hospitality no gratitude, if, after having
received as an obscure provincial author, the most
flattering indulgence, as a colonist, the most hearty
welcome, and a stranger the most considerate at
tentions, I did not express warmly what 1 feel deeply.
My knowledge of its constitution preceded that of
its people; and if my studies have led me to admire
its theory, personal observation of its practical ef
fect has confirmed and increased that favourable
impression. It is a noble and admirable structure!
Esto perpetua.
Before I quit the subject of this rebellion I must
allude to the mitigating circumstances that attended
it. Excited by every stimulant that parliamentary

246 THE BUBBLES
declamation could apply, or British sympathy sug
gest, or American republicanism offer — encouraged
at home, aided from abroad, and nowhere opposed
or threatened, is it to be wondered at that the pros
pect of plunder and impunity seduced these mis
guided people from their allegiance, or that the con
tagion should spread from Lower to Upper Canada.
When such a man as Hume was known to be a sup
porter of the government, can we wonder if igno
rant men, three thousand miles off, supposed he was
expressing the sentiments of that government, when
he said, "my wish would be to set the Canadas and
the whole of British North America, free to govern
themselves as the United States do, by their own
representatives, and to cultivate a good connexion
with the mother country for their mutual interest.
Until that takes place, neither the Canadas nor Great
Britain will derive those advantages which they
ought to have from a different and more economical
management of their resources." Or when confi
dentially communicating to his friend, M'Kenzie,
a man devoted to revolutionary doctrines, he
boldly asserted, " Four triumphant election on the
16th, and ejection from the assembly on the 17th„
must hasten that crisis which is fast approaching
in the affairs of the Canadas, and which will termi
nate in freedom and independence from the baneful
domination of the mother country, and the tyrannical
conduct of a small and despicable faction in the co
lony."  " The proceedings between
1772 and 1782, in America, ought not to be forgot
ten, and to the honour of the Americans, and for
the interests of the civilized world, let their conduct
and their result be ever in view," could they mis
take the import of the term baneful domination^ or

OF CANADA. 247
despise the advice so judiciously given by the rep
resentative of a metropolitan county. Knowing
little of Bath, but its reputation of being the resort
of weahh and fashion, was it unnatural for them to
infer that the member for that town spoke the sen
timents of a powerful and influential class, when he
said, " One resource, and one resource alone re
mains : to be a free people you must resist the Bri
tish parliament." When the working men's so
cieties, patronised by practical and powerful men,
held similar language, was it a great stretch forthe
credulity of those poor people to believe, that acces
sion of Canada would immediately follow a demon
stration of revolt. Their case is, indeed, one that
commands our pity rather than our resentment; but
what shall we say of those who went still farther
than their counsellors, and pursued the wicked
course of advising an armed resistance to the go
vernment, of exciting them to sedition, and evokiflg
the evil passions of the human heart, to insurrection
and slaughter. The receiver is raore criminal than
the thief, and the seducer more vile than his victim.
The exile and the prisoner, the houseless settler, and
his starving suffering family, the smouldering vil
lages, the spirits of the dead, and the voice of the
dying, call aloud for vengeance on the authors of
all these accumulated aggravated evils. He who
knew the facility of man to fall into error, and the
miseries entailed upon us hy guilt, has mercifully
taught us to offer our daily prayer that we may not
be led into temptation; and for the credit of our
common nature, be it spoken, so few have been the
instances where men have incited to crime, when
they were not to profit by the offence, that no pro-

248 THE BUBBLES
vision is made against the sin of holding out temp
tation to others. It was not to be supposed that
wickedness could exist without reward, or crime
without an object. Unfortunate victims of false
friends, deluded objects of cold unfeeling advice,
you deserved the lenity that has been extended
to you ; it would have been unfair, indeed, to have
visited upon you, the mere instruments of others,
the punishment due to the authors of your folly and
your guilt.
Such were the feelings entertained throughout
tbe adjoining colonies, but here a different language
was held. They were pitied not because they were
misguided, but because they were unsuccessful. In
dignation was expressed, in no measured terms, not
against the tempter or the tempted, but the gallant
and loyal mihtia who suppressed them, and their
vigilant, able, and intelligent governor. My Lord
Brougham was loud and vehement in his invectives,
denouncing these brave and devoted men " as an
undisciphned and insubordinate rabble," and the
presiding .genius, whose penetration discovered, and
whose foresight provided the means of crushing this
rebellion, as a person planting snares, with the base
purpose of catching the unwary. That his lord
ship, the advocate and eulogist of a republic, should
grieve over the vain attempt of others to establish
it in Canada, is not to be wondered at; but that he
whose physical courage no man doubts, and whose
moral courage is so great as to enable him to stand
forth boldly, unaided and alone, among his peers,
the opponent and assailant of all parties, could feel
no sympathy for those brave men who, in the dead
ly conflict of war, rushed forth amid the storms of

OF CANADA. 249
their inclement winter, in support of their laws,
their religion, and their homes; prepared to conquer
or to die in their defence, that he could find no
terras of approbation, no figures of speech, no not
one word of praise, for those heroic men; that he
could see nothing peculiar in their case, who had to
contend with violators of law within, and violators
of treaties without the province, and scorn and con
tumely here, and who, braving privation, the climate,
and the enemy, rallied round the standard of their
country with an enthusiasm, of which history can
scarcely find a parallel — that he could discern no
worth in loyalty, and no merit in those " who fear
God and honour the king," is, indeed a fruitful
source of astonishment. How is it ? Is this a cha
racteristic of democracy ? Does it indeed harden the
heart and deaden all the glowing impulses of our
nature; or is it that philosophy is cold and specula
tive, regulating the passions, and subduing and chas
tening the imagination. Or raay it be, that, unused
to panegyric, his lordship feels and knows his power
of sarcasm, and prefers the path in which he excels
all contemporaries, to one in which unequal powers
forbid the hope of pre-eminence. Whatever it may
be, for his own sake, for the sake of the noble house
of which he is a member, and of the country of
which his eloquence is at once the pride and the
boast, it is deeply to be deplored that he should have
adopted a course that, unfortunately, confers but
little honour on the qualities of his head ; and, it is
to be feared, still less on the feehngs of his heart.
This rebelhon had scarcely been put down, when
my Lord Durham was appointed with extraordina-
22

250 THE BUBBLES
ry powers, to complete the pacification. On this
part ofthe history of Canada it is needless to dwell.
It has proved a failure : not from a deficiency of
power, but from a deficiency of conduct in the dicta
tor. Instead of assembling around him a council of
the most influential and best-informed men in the co
lony, according to the evident spirit ofthe act and his
instructions, he thought proper to appoint to that re
sponsible situation, officers attached to his household
or perfect strangers with the magnanimous view, as
he informs us, of assuming the whole responsibility of
his own measures. As might naturally be expected,
owing to his having neglected to obtain the best pro
fessional advice at his command in the colony, and
acting on his own view of the case, his first step was
illegal. Now, by assuming the whole responsibility,
we were given to understand that, having full con
fidence in his own judgment as well as his own in
tegrity, he was disposed to monopolize the whole
honour of success, at the hazard of incurring the
whole censure of failure. The praise or the blame
was to be exclusively his own. It was the decision
of a confident and vain man. His next act was indi
cative of a weak and petulant mind. Instead of be
ing willing to bear the whole responsibility, as he
announced, he showed that he vvas unwilling or un
able to bear any. A soon as Parliament felt itself
called upon to pronounce the illegality of his mea
sures, and stepped in to rescue him from the con
sequences of his precipitate conduct, he relinquished
his government, not in the usual and proper form,
by tendering his resignation, and waiting until his
successor should be appointed, but by instantly
leaving the colony.

OF CANADA. 251
It is difficult to conceive of a public servant com
mitting an offence raore serious in its nature, and
more pernicious in its example than thus abandon
ing his post without leave; and it was incumbent
on the government to have vindicated the honour
of the Crown, by ordering the captain of the In
constant to return immediately to Quebec with his
lordship, and to deliver to him, within his govern
ment, the acceptance of his resignation. It would
have taught the misguided people of the Canadas to
respect, if they could not love, the even-handed
justice that could visit with punishment the disobe
dience of a governor-general as well as that of a
peasant; and they would have seen in the return of
the one, and the exile of the other, a practical il
lustration of the only equality that honest and sen
sible men ever desire to behold — " the equality of
all in the eye of the law." The moral effect of
such a measure, combining vigour with impartia
lity, would have gone far towards tranquillizing
Canada, and would have enabled his lordship,
when he next addressed the people of England, to
have pointed to it as a proof that his mission, how
ever it might have affected himself, had termi
nated in a manner that was useful to the colony
and honourable to the government.
Of the ill-advised and ill-timed manifesto it is
unnecessary for me to speak; its effects are but too
visible in a new revolt, to which its unguarded lan
guage gave too much encouragement. Nor shall
I enter upon the serious charges he has brought
against that august body, of which he has the ho-

252 THE BUBBLES
nour to be a member, of legislating, where Canada
is concerned, "in ignorance and indifference." To
shake the confidence of the colonists in the justice
and integrity of that high tribunal, to which they
have to look as a last resource, was indeed unkind
to them, unworthy of himself, and injurious to the
honour of the house he has assailed. He who ad
vocates democratic institutions will soon find the
effect of his theory influencing his own conduct,
and though he may commence in the assertion of
principles, he is apt to end in the expression of
feeling. The natural tendency of such opinions is
to level all distinctions. Although we have great
cause therefore for regret, we have none for sur
prise, in this attempt to measure his noble colleages
by so humble a standard. I am willing, however,
to do his_ lordship the justice to beheve, that when
the irritation that caused this ebullition of feeling
shall subside, he will himself regret, as deeply as
every right-thinking man now does, that he should
have judged that assembly in temper and pique ;
and that he will feel he has afforded some room
for ill-nature to suggest, that although he had a
right, if he thought proper, in the exercise of a
laudable diffidence, to have appropriated those at
tributes to himself, he was not justified in extending
an indiscriminate application of them to others.
That many of the measures he proposed for the
benefit of Canada were good, it would be uncha
ritable to doubt; but as none of them have been
matured, it would be presumptuous to say so. That
others, however, were of a dangerous nature, we
have reason to know. The evils to be reaped from

t)F CANADA. 253
this mission have not yet ripened for us to gather;
but the seed is sown, and it is to be feared taken
root too extensively. What couldHae more inju
dicious than to send to the contented and happy
colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and
ask for deputies, to listen to crude and undigested
schemes for their future government, or to give
their own visionary plans in exchange for his?
What more cruel than to unsettle men's minds as
to the form of their government, and make the sta
bility of their institutions a matter of doubt? What
more pernicious than to open a political bazaar at
Quebec for the collection and exhibition of imagi
nary grievances ? In the Lower Provinces we are
contented and happy. We need no reforms but
what we can effect ourselves; but we are alarmed
at changes which we never asked, and do not re
quire. The federative union proposed by his lord
ship has opened a wide field for speculation, di
rected men's minds to theoretical change, afforded
a theme for restless young demagogues to agitate
upon, and led us to' believe that our constitution is
in danger of being subverted. Most people think,
and all reflecting men know, that it would ripen
the colonies into premature independence in less
than ten years ; and who, I would ask, that is at
tached to the mother country, and desirous to live
under a monarchical form of government, can con
template a scheme pregnant with so much danger,
without feelings of dismay ? Who would continue
to live in New Brunswick, if at every disturbance
in Canada, the governor-general is to propose to
new-model their form of government? Who would
22*

254 THE BOBBLES
consent that that united and loyal colony should
have its peace and happiness jeopardized by any
union with the disaffected and troublesome French
Canadians, or will approve of the political quackery
that would compel Nova Scotia to swallow a nau
seous medicine, for the purpose of effecting a cure
in Canada ? The danger arising from such vision
ary schemes as have lately been unfolded to the
colonies, is passed for the present, and I heartily
rejoice that it is, but it is to be hoped that powers
co-extensive with the Lower Provinces, may never
again be intrusted to any raan. In this country
there is a general and very natural repugnance ma
nifested to give up the bodies of deceased friends
for experiments for the benefit of science. It is
difficult to imagine how so sensitive a nation could
consent that their colonists should be considered
of less value, and be delivered alive into the hands
of the operator, for the advancement of politics.
In Paris, I heard with horror that a lecturer had
illustrated his theory by applying his dissecting
knife to the limbs of a living animal. I shuddered
at the recital of such atrocious cruelty ; but little
did I dream that, at that very time, a kind and
merciful Providence was graciously averting a si
milar fate from our own species on the other side
of the water.
All Bntish America has been agitated during the
past summer, by substantial fears, or mocked by
unreal hopes, and ambition has now reached where
sedition failed to penetrate. The absurd and im
practicable scheme of colonial representation in
Parliament, although disgusting, from its rank pro-

OF CANADA. 255
perties, to dehcate palates, was well suited to the
rapacious appetites of provincial sycophants. The
bait was well selected, and soon attracted the long
ing regard of a shoal of political sharks. The self-
denying tenets of the sour sectarian have not been
proof against the temptation. His nostrils have
been too powerful for his conscience, and scenting
the strong odour of this savoury appendage from
afar, he has hurried to the surface to regale him
self with its flavour. The canting hypocrite has
offered his aspirations for the conversion of Par
liament to such liberal views; and the profligate
demagogue of the village has expressed a hope,
that a deficiency of morals may be compensated
by an abundance of zeal. They have been lulled
to sleep by its soporific effect, and have dreamed
of this ladder as did Jacob of old, and of the ascent
it offered to high places. The woolsack and the er
mine — the treasury and the peerage — appear with
in their grasp, and they invoke blessings on the
man who promises so much, and who hints at his
power to do even more. If I did not feel too in
dignant at all this, I too might weep over the scene
of folly and of weakness, and would mingle my
tears of sorrow with those that pride has shed, and
blot out all trace of it for ever.
The advocate of the ballot box and extended suf
frage is not the man to govern a colony. While
you have been speculating upon the theory we
have been watching the experiment. When the
lower orders talk of these things, we know what
they mean ; their language is intelligible, and their
object not to be mistaken ; but when a nobleman

S5B THE BUBBLES
advocates democratic institutions, we give him full
credit for the benevolence of his intentions, but we
doubt the sanity of his mind. Keep such men at
home, where there is so much of rank, intelligence,
and wealth to counterbalance them. Here they
serve to amuse and gratify agitators, and raake
useful chairmen of popular assemblies, by preser
ving a propriety of conduct and a decency of lan
guage, where violence and outrage might otherwise
prevail. But send them not among us, where their
rank dazzles, their patronage allures, and their prin
ciples seduce the ignorant and unwary. If we tres
pass upon your rights of sovereignty, repress us ;
but while you maintain your own privileges, re
spect the inviolability of ours. When we ask in
the Lower Provinces for a federative union, it will
be time enough to discuss its propriety ; but in the
mean time spare us the infliction of what to us is
so incomprehensible and so repugnant — a radical
dictator and a democratic despot.
I have already far exceeded the limits I had de
signed to confine myself to, and raust, therefore,
draw to a close. I have now shown you, that
after the conquest of Canada, that country was
governed by English laws ; that the royal procla
mation invited British subjects to remove there;
and promised them the protection and enjoyment
of those laws; and that in violation of that promise,
in order to concihate the French, their legal code
was substituted for our own: that an injudicious
division of the province was made, whereby the
French were separated from the great body of
English subjects, in consequence of which Canada

OF CANADA. 257
became a Gallic and not a British colony. That
they have been kept a distinctive people by those
means, and by permitting the language ofthe coun
try and the recording language of their parliament
to be French ; that they, have always had an over
whelming majority of merabers of their own origin
in the legislature, who have been distinguished by
an anti-commercial and anti-British feeling; that
this feeling has been gradually growing with the
growth of the country, until they were in a condi
tion to dictate terms to government ; that this feel
ing was manifested by the manner in which they
have constantly resisted local assessments, and
made commerce to bear every provincial expendi
ture, — in the way they neutralized the electoral
privileges of the voters of British origin, — in the
continuance of the oppressive tenure of the feudal
law, — in taxing emigrants from the mother coun
try, and them only, — in their attempts to wrest the
crown land from government, — in their attack on
the Land Company, and the introduction of settlers
by them, — in their opposition to a system of regis
try, — in their raode of temporary legislation, — in
their refusal to vote supplies, and in the whole te
nour of their debates and votes. I have shown
you that the policy of every government, whether
Tory or Whig, has been conciliatory (a fatal po
licy, I admit, and one that naturally admits and in
vites demands,) and that every reasonable change
required (with many very unreasonable ones) has
been conceded to them; that they are a people ex
empt from taxes, in possession of their own laws,
language, and rehgion, and of every blessing civil.

258 THE BUBBLES
political, and religious ; in short, that Canada is the
most favoured colony of Great Britain, and that
the demands they now makenare inconsistent with
colonial dependence.
This statement I offer in refutation of my Lord
Durham's assertion of misgovernment, used in its
invidious sense, or a^ explained at the meeting at
Carlton Hill, that they are, "our oppressed and en
slaved brethren;" and in proof of my own position
that the evils now existing are the natural conse
quences of the Quebec and constitutional acts, and
not the result of tyranny and oppression. The
review which I have just concluded, indicates the
remedy too plainly to render it at all necessary for
me to offer a prescription. If, however, you can
entertain any doubt upon the subject, you will at
least be satisfied that the cure is not to be effected
by concession. Of this all men, I think, must now
be convinced. Since the termination of the late
abortive attempt at colonial government, one of my
Lord Durham's official coadjutors has pubhcly pro
claimed that all his preconceived opinions on the
subject of Canada were erroneous. This was a
work of supererogation. He might have spared
hiraself the trouble of the announcement, and the
pain of a recantation. All those who were at the
trouble of inquiring into the nature of his views
were already convinced of his error. His lordship
also has informed the good people of Devonport
that he has made important discoveries on the
other side of the water. Had his mission been
merely designed for his own instruction, the public,
while they admitted the necessity that existed for

OP CANADA. 259
it, would have applauded his zeal in such a useful
and necessary pursuit; but as it was undertaken at
no inconsiderable exp'ense to the nation, they have
reason to regret that this remarkable illumination
was deferred until the moment of his return. What
the extent of these recent revelations may be, we
are not informed, but we may. be permitted to hope
that he has learned this important truth, that he
who undertakes the benevolent office of calming
the excited passions of others, should first learn to
govern his own. That there are serious difficulties
in the way of the pacification of Canada there can
be no doubt, but greater difficulties have been over
come by Van Amburgh, who exhibits every night
for the edification of government and the amuse
ment of Cockneys, animals, whose natures are
more ferocious, and antipathies more powerful
than those of the English and French, living in the
same cage in the utmost harmony: and what is still
more important, enjoying the most unrestrained
freedom of action within their assigned limits, and
yet making no resistance to the salutary control
of an external power.
Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni
Mente quatit solida.
But let me not be misunderstood by the nature
of this allusion. It must not be supposed that the
assembly, because they have done so much that is
objectionable,5were always wrong in what they re-

260 THE BUBBLES
quired, or the legislative council, because it is such
a loyal and respectable body, were always right in
what they refused. This was far from being the
case. Many of the demands of the Canadians were
reasonable and just, and many of the changes they
desired, were for the benefit of the country; but,
unfortunately, the violence of their language, and
the unconstitutional and arbitrary acts to which they
resorted, in the attainment of those objects, left
no room to doubt that they were more bent upon
having a grievance than seeking redress; and that
they would rather have provoked a refusal than
obtain a concession. On the other hand, the coun
cil, like most similar bodies, has always contained
some men who "were selfish in disposition and ultra
in opinions, and whose conduct was calculated to
irritate the opposite party, and to do more mischief
than if they had openly espoused their cause and
adopted their principles. But whether, the assembly
was right or wrong in what it required, or the
council justified or not in its opposition, the former
has succeeded in all its demands.
The subject has now assumed a new aspect.
Pretensions have been put forth that involve the
question of independence, and Great Britain must-
now decide whether she is to retain the province or
not. It is a crisis in the history of this country
which other nations regard with intense interest.
The fate of Canada will determine that of all the
other colonies. The retreat of the soldiers will in
vite the incursions of the barbarians, and the with
drawal ofthe legions, like those of Rome, from the
distant parts of the empire, will show that Ens'-

OF CANADA. 261
land,* conscious of her present weakness and past
glories, is contracting her limits and concentrating
* As a colonist it would be unpardonable in me not to acknow
ledge in adequate terms the obligations we are under to the chair
man of the finance committee for the important discoveries he has
recently made in colonial matters. Other men may rival him in
industry, but for masterly and statesman-like views he is without a'
competitor. It is singular that the egregious error Great Britain
has heretofore committed in considering her foreign possessions of
great value should never have been detected before, and that our
forefathers should have had so little knowledge of political econo
my as tp retum as sources of wealth, and power, what it now ap
pears have always been productive of a fearful annual loss. It
would seem that the surface of Great Britain, instead of being too
small for her population, is too extensive, and that, instead of car
rying on her immense colonial trade herself, slie might be spared
the trouble by transforming the colonists into foreigners, and per
mitting others to do that drudgery for tier. It is said that the
same error has been committed by (lie owners of timber trees, in
permitting the absurd arrangement of nature, wilh respect to the
limbs to continue unreformed, that they would be much more vi
gorous if the brandies, with their prodigious expenditure on the
leaves, were all lopped off, (for it is a well-known fact that the
trunk supplies the branches with sap, and not the branches the
trunk,) and that the stem would be larger, stronger, and better
witliout such useless and expeiisive appendages. Truly this is the
age of wonders, but tliis discovery of the worthy chairman is the
most wonderful one of modern times, although, strange to siy, it
is bj' no means appreciated as it deserves lo be. It would be un
fair, as well as ungenerous, to detract from his merit, by saying
that he borrowed the idea from agriculture, but it must be admit
ted that there is a wonderful coincidence between his principle
and that of the ditcher. A drain, it is well known, is lengtheiied
by being cut at both ends. Now he appears to have applied this
principle to England, and infers most justly that the more she is
reduced in size, the greater will be her circumference. Having
proved this most satisfactorily, he advances some most important,
but startling propositions, namely, that the smaller your property,
23

262 THE BOBBLES OF CANADA.
her energies, to meet, as , becomes her character,
the destiny that awaits all human greatness.
the less you have to defend ; the fewer markets you can command,
the more will be open to you; the more dependant you are upon
foreigners for sale or supplj', the more certain you are of never
wanting either; and others of a similar nature. His accuracy in
figures is truly astonishing, and is only to be equalled by the truth
of the principles they evolve. Then comes the important ques
tion, " If England has grown so great, so rich, and so powerful, in
spite of all these expensive possessions, how much greater, richer,
and more powerful would she be without them." Every true
lover of his country must rejoice to see that its real interests are
so well understood, and so ably supported — "Nil desperandum,
auspice Teucro."

THE END^