in the Circular Letter', I beg to enclose to Your Grace-I have reason to believe this arrangement will in due Progress answer the intention.

The Towns of Kingston and that on the River Niagara from their situation must be places of great resort. I therefore beg to submit to Your Grace, That I think, It would be for the public Interest and the King's benefit, that These places should be incorporated and named the Cities of Kingston and Niagara; I should propose that the Corporation should consist of a Mayor and six Aldermen, Justices of the Peace ex officio, and a competent number of Common Council, to be originally appointed by the Crown, and that the succession to vacant seats might be made in such a manner as to render the Elections as little popular as possible; meaning such Corporations to tend to the support of the Aristocracy of the Country.

I should propose that these Corporations should have maritime Jurisdiction, if such shall either at present or in future be necessary to take place on the Lakes and River St. Lawrence-The whole Jurisdiction of Lake Ontario might well be divided between Niagara and Kingston and the intermediate Port of York.

The St. Lawrence might be divided between Kingston and Cornwall or New Johnstown-Erie might be divided between Niagara and the Post to be taken near to Long Point. From thence the Jurisdiction of Long Point, might extend to the Isle Bois blanc, and from thence, that of Chatham might begin and terminate at Cabots Head (Pennatangushene) or Gloucester should comprehend all the Maritime Jurisdiction beyond that on Lake Huron and Superior and the North Western territory.

It also appears, and possibly more eminently necessary, that I should observe to Your Grace, the propriety of establishing, probably by Treaty with the United States, some law to prevent Criminals of a certain description finding refuge in His Majesty's dominions and those of the States, respectively. It appears to me that a vigilant Police is most necessary on the limits of the two Countries for that express purpose; and perhaps, It may be proper to enact stricter Laws on this Subject, and applicable to Particular Spots, that might not be justifiable or necessary to be extended over the other parts of the Province. The straits of Niagara and the Port of Kingston are the general places at which strangers enter the Province, and where People leave it, It seems therefore, that establishing a Corporation at these places with adequate jurisdiction may be of public Service in these respects.

Great Britain from its insular situation (as far as I recollect) affords no examples of English laws being applicable to boundaries respecting a foreign Neighbour; and in particular, of communications by water; a division on which must form such a boundary. The term debateable land, when England and Scotland were separate Kingdoms seems to support the propriety of my wish that so soon as possible the Laws may define and comprehend for the purposes of internal Government both the land and water under certain Jurisdictions.

I have to observe to Your Grace these proposed Corporations, should have the right of "suing and being sued and sufficient powers for giving efficacy to all internal regulations and by these means of promoting the welfare of the Community, without any of those monopolies which exist in European Corporations

The Basis adopted for an equal Representation of the People of the Province was Its population, ascertained by the Militia Rolls- This Principle, liable from its own nature, and the situation of the Country to fluctuate, will in a more particular manner become unequal, should Detroit be relinquished to the United States- It therefore appears to me, seasonable that I should request Your Grace's directions on what established Principle the Extension of the number of Representatives should hereafter take place? and It may be worthy of your consideration whether in the present peculiar Instance It may or may not be proper to give the Right

1 See No. LXIII.

of electing Members to the Inhabitants of the proposed cities of Niagara and Kingston; which certainly will add to their respectability--both, should include a competent tract of Ground, and for all purposes, the former should include Queenstown, where some Proprietors mean to build largely the ensuing Year, and the present town of Newark.

In respect to existing circumstances, It appears to me of consequence, That Niagara should be incorporated so soon as possible, were it only to preserve its name in the King's Dominions. It is the policy of the United States to call themselves solely Americans, not only with the view to melt down in that general name every part of their Confederation, but to enforce when time shall suit, their principle, "that all Colonies connected with European Governments, or depending upon them are foreign, and invaders, and that They themselves only are the Natives."

Having no Chief Justice, and being at a distance from the Attorney General I have thought proper at the present Crisis to offer These ideas to Your Grace In Hopes that should they be deemed worthy of attention, Charters of incorporation with such powers may be forwarded to me from England, before the meeting of the next Session; and I am to observe to Your Grace, That as by Act of Parliament' the ensuing Session will be the last of the present House of Assembly, It will be provident, to pass every Bill, that may be necessary before it be dissolved, as it not be probable that a more loyal or better disposed set of men will be again reassembled.

It has been represented to me, that the Act of Parliament' which established the Constitution of this Country, specifying that the Lands should be granted in free and common soccage, is at variance with His Majesty's Instructions which preclude my granting Lands without The reservation of Mines which may be discovered; and It is stated to me that a Grant in free and common Soccage reserves only to the Crown, Mines of Silver and Gold.

I shall be glad of Your Grace's immediate directions on this Point; in particular as I meant to submit to you whether the grant of Iron Mines might not be made by the Government of this Country, there is every probability that They may be usefully worked-And I presume that His Majesty's Ministers do not mean to follow any system which may preclude such rude Manufactures as may be necessary for the benefit of the Country.

I have the honour to be with great Respect and Deference.

Having thought it necessary for the public benefit to create Lieutenants of those Counties within the Province which are sufficiently populous to require such a Superintendency, I enclose to you a Commission under the Great Seal of Upper Canada appointing you Lieutenant of the County of

It may not be improper to observe that this high office under the Constitution of Great Britain is generally conferred upon the Persons who seem most respectable to His Majesty's Government for their property, Loyalty, Abilities and Discretion in their several Counties, and who from a combination of such Possessions and Qualities acquire that weight,

respect and public confidence which renders them the natural support of Constitutional Authority.

If on the one hand this Office has been at all times bestowed by the Sovereign with the Circumspection and Caution due to the Important Trusts which it involves; on the other; it has been a principal object of honourable Ambition which the British Constitution approves in the first Men of any State making a due provision of Power for that legal_Aristocracy which the Experience of Ages has proved necessary to the Ballance and Permanency of her inestimable form of Government.

In Naming You, Sir, to this office on the first establishment of the true British Constitution in her Colony of Upper Canada, I am influenced by the Consideration of finding you already at the Head of the Civil Jurisdiction of the County in which you reside, and having the same Opinion of Your Loyalty, and Character which occasioned Your Original Appointment, I am happy in adding my public Testimony to that of Lord Dorchester.

It is my wish, that the Magistrates whom you are now to superintend may appear to you to be worthy to be continued in Office, but should there be Improper persons in that Station, You will be pleased without hesitation to give me the necessary Information.

A Commission will probably be issued soon after the meeting of the Legislature, agreeably to the British Custom including Such persons in each County as shall appear proper to be continued, or added, if any Addition shall seem necessary to the Several Lieutenants as Justices of the Peace.

In regard to the Militia of your County, as it is to be supposed that the Legislature will shortly frame a General Act for the Province, I should not wish at present to make any Alterations in its Officers; You will be pleased however to be prepared with such lists as may be necessary to fill up any vacancies or to supply any Augmentation, should such appear requisite All Commissions are to be recommended by you, and if then they shall be approved by me, they are to be signed as in the British Act by you as Lieutenant I beg to observe that I consider all those who keep Taverns, however respectable in their private Character; as not admissable either as Officers of the Militia or Justices of the Peace. You will be pleased to take the customary Oaths with as much Publicity and Solemnity as possible.

Both the Measures' seem very unfit to be encouraged by the Parent State in a dependent Colony The Legislative Power being given up to an Assembly of their own, it is only thro' the executive Power, vested in the Person having the Government of the Province, that the Sway of this Country can be exercised Every kind of Authority that is not inconsistent with the Constitution given to the Province, ought, therefore, to be concentered in his hands - Whereas the evident tendency of both these measures, is to fritter down his direct Power, and to portion it out among Corporations and Lieutenants, who, on many occasions, may be disposed

1i.e. The plans of creating Corporations and of establishing Lieutenants of Counties (see Nos. LXII and LXIII). This despatch illustrates contemporary ideas of colonial government.

to use it in obstructing the Measures of Government, and, in all events, will require to be courted and managed, in order to secure the right direction of the Influence thus unnecessarily given them. I have entered pur posely more at large into these proposed Measures, because I observe that your adoption of them arises from an idea, that by assimilating the modes of the Government of the Province, to the modes of the Government of England, you will obtain all the beneficial effects which we receive from them-Whereas to assimilate a Colony in all respects to its Mother Country, is not possible, and if possible, would not be prudent. The one may have many Institutions which are wholly inapplicable to the situation of the other Some there may be, which we permit to continue here only, because they already exist, and are interwoven with other parts of the Government, but which, perhaps, if we had a choice, we should not now be disposed originally to introduce Such, in the Opinion of many, are Corporations, and separate Jurisdictions of all sorts. Others there are which may be objectionable in a Colony, as tending to lessen the Authority which the Parent State ought to possess over it, as long as that relation subsists between them— Of this description I conceive to be all subordinate Powers created in the Colony, beyond those which are absolutely necessary for its internal Police The Power of the Person having the Government, is the Power of this Country; but such subordinate Powers as are proposed, are not ours. We have no connection with, or direct Influence over, those who exercise them They are rather means and instruments of Independence. Having said thus much, it must depend on local circumstances and further consideration, how far it may be expedient to attempt to undo anything that has been already done; but I can see no ground that will authorize me to encourage the further prosecution of either of the Measures in question.

On my first taking upon myself the administration of the Affairs of this Province I was extremely struck with the wavering state in which I found the Interests of Government. I have since been at much pains to discover the real Causes of this situation of things which I plainly saw lay deeper than, I believe, is generally supposed by His Majesty's Ministers; and I am so forcibly impressed with a persuasion that this Subject ought to be attended to, that I feel it my Duty to lay before Your Grace, such Remarks as have occurred to me respecting it, in order that Your Grace may be fully apprized of the real State of the Country, and take such Measures as you may think fit to strengthen the Executive Power in Lower Canada.

However excellent in itself the new Constitution may be which His Majesty has graciously been pleased to grant to the Province, I conceive the Foundation of it must rest upon a due proportion being maintained between the Aristocracy and the lower Orders of the People, without which it will become a dangerous Weapon in the hands of the latter. Several Causes at present unite in daily lessening the Power and Influence of the aristocratical Body in Lower Canada: I cannot however but think that

1 This despatch illustrates the workings of the Constitutional Act of 1791. It is also valuable, as it throws light on the position of the Executive Government and the House of Assembly in Lower Canada before the racial struggle began to complicate the issues.

Measures might be adopted to counterbalance in some degree this Tendency, and I shall hereafter have the Honor to point them out to your Grace: but in order to make myself clearly understood I must first explain what I consider to be the principal Causes by which the Influence of the Aristocracy in this Country has gradually been reduced to it's present State.

The first and most important of these I am of opinion arises from the manner in which the Province was originally settled; that is, from the independent Tenure by which the Cultivators (who form the great Body of the People and are distinguished by the appellation of Habitants) hold their Lands; and on the other hand from the inconsiderable Power retained by those called the Seigneurs, and the little disposition they feel to encrease their Influence, or improve their Fortunes by Trade. Hence by degrees the Canadian Gentry have nearly become extinct, and few of them on their own Territory have the Means of living in a more affluent and imposing Style than the simple Habitants who feel themselves in every respect as independent as the Seigneur himself with whom they have no further Connexion than merely the obligation of having their Corn ground at his Mills, paying the Toll of a Fourteenth Bushel, which they consider more as a burthensome Tax than as a Return to him for the Lands conceded by his Family to their Ancestors for ever upon no harder Conditions than the obligation above mentioned, a trifling Rent, and that of paying a Twelfth to the Seigneur upon any transfer of the Lands.

The Second Cause which I apprehend tends to lessen the Influence of Government in this Province is, the prevalence of the Roman Catholic Religion and the Independence of the Priesthood': this Independence I find goes considerably further than what was intended by the Royal Instructions wherein it is particularly declared to be His Majesty's Pleasure "that no Person whatsoever is to have Holy Orders conferred upon him, or to have the Cure of Souls without a License for that purpose first had and obtained from the Governor," etc. etc. But this Instruction has hitherto never been enforced, by which means the whole Patronage of the Church has been thrown into the hands of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and all connexion between the Government and the People through that Channel is cut off, as the Priests do not consider themselves as at all amenable to any other Power than the Catholic Bishop.

A singular Instance lately occurred of this Independence: A Priest at Terrebonne near Montreal interfered in the most indecent manner in the late Election for the County of Effingham; he exerted all his Influence to prevent the Solicitor General from being chosen, and violently supported a Man who had been expelled from the last House of Assembly on account of his having been convicted of a Conspiracy, and who was consequently considered as a dishonored Person.". Upon this man's being chosen the Priest actually went so far as to perform High Mass in the Parish Church, to return Thanks as he termed it, "for the reelection of this Martyr." In justice to the Canadian Bishop I must add, that upon my Representation he did every thing which was proper to be done on the occasion.

Another Circumstance which has greatly tended to lessen the Influence of Government since the Conquest has arisen from the necessity which then existed of disembodying the Militia: but as I am by no means of Opinion, considering the Circumstances which took place a few years since, that it would be either practicable or prudent to call out the Militia at this particular moment. I shall not enter further into this Subject at present, though I shall hereafter revert to the Militia even in its present State as a Means by which a certain degree of Influence might still perhaps be established in the several Parishes.

It may be unnecessary to observe to your Grace how much more important the above Facts are become since the establishment of the new 1 For a further discussion of this point see Sir James Craig's despatch to Lord Liverpool, 1 May, 1810 (No. LXXIII).

i.e. Charles B. Bouc, who, after being expelled from the House of Assembly, successfully ran for the County of Effingham against Solicitor-General Foucher in 1800. He was disqualified by Act of Parliament in 1802.