application which he had been commanded to renew, for payment of the arrears due on account of the public service, and for the funds necessary to carry on the civil government of the province.

3. That the said House of Assembly, on the 3d day of October, 1836, by an address to the Governor of the said province, declined to vote a supply for the purposes aforesaid, and by the said address, after referring to a former address of the said House to the Governor of the said province, declared that the said House persisted, amongst other things, in the demand of an elective Legislative Council, and in demanding the repeal of a certain Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in favour of the North American Land Company; and by the said address, the said House of Assembly further adverted to the demand made by that House of the free exercise of its control over all the branches of the Executive Government; and by the said address, the said House of Assembly further declared, that it was incumbent on them, in the present conjuncture, to adjourn their deliberations until his Majesty's Government should, by its acts, especially by rendering the second branch of the Legislature conformable to the wishes and wants of the people, have commenced the great work of Justice and reform, and created a confidence, which alone could crown it with success.

4. That in the existing state of Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to make the Legislative Council of that province an elective body; but that it is expedient that measures be adopted for securing to that branch of the Legislature a greater degree of public confidence.

5. That while it is expedient to improve the composition of the Executive Council in Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to subject it to the responsibility demanded by the House of Assembly of that province.

6. That the legal title of the North American Land Company to the land holden by the said Company, by virtue of a grant from his Majesty, under the public seal of the said province, and to the privileges conferred on the said company by the Act for that purpose made, in the fourth year of his Majesty's reign, ought to be maintained inviolate.

7. That it is expedient, that so soon as provisions shall have been made by law, to be passed by the Legislature of the said province of Lower Canada, for the discharge of lands therein from feudal dues and services, and for removing any doubts as to the incidents of the tenure of land in fee and common soccage in the said province, a certain Act made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George IV., commonly called "The Canada Tenures Act," and so much of another Act passed in the third year of his said late Majesty's reign, commonly called "The Canada Trade Act," as relates to the tenures of land in the said province, should be repealed, saving nevertheless to all persons all rights in them vested under or by virtue of the said recited Acts.

8. That for defraying the arrears due on account of the established and customary charges of the administration of justice, and of the civil government of the said province, it is expedient, that after applying for that purpose such balance as shall, on the said 10th day of April, 1837, be in the hands of the Receiver-General of the said province, arising from his Majesty's hereditary, territorial, and casual revenue, the Governor of the said province be empowered to issue from and out of any other part of his Majesty's revenues, in the hands of the Receiver-General of the said province, such further sums as shall be necessary to effect the payment of the before-mentioned sum of £142,160. 14s. 6d.

9. That it is expedient that his Majesty be authorised to place at the disposal of the Legislature of the said province, the net proceeds of his Majesty's hereditary, territorial, and casual revenue arising within the same, in case the said Legislature shall see fit to grant to his Majesty a civil list for defraying 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 of the said provinces.

10. That great inconvenience had been sustained by his Majesty's subjects inhabiting the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada,

from the want of some adequate means for regulating and adjusting questions respecting the trade and commerce of the said provinces, and divers other questions, wherein the said provinces have a common interest; and it is expedient that the Legislature of the said provinces respectively be authorised to make provision for the joint regulation and adjustment of such their common interest.

CXXV

GOSFORD'S SPEECH TO THE LEGISLATURE, AUGUST, 1837 [Trans. Christie, op. cit.]

Gentlemen of the Legislative Council,
Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,

The Reports of the Royal Commissioners on the several subjects which came under their investigation during their stay in Lower Canada, having been laid before the two Houses of Parliament, a series of resolutions, ten in number, were shortly afterwards introduced by the Ministers relative to the affairs of this Province, copies of which I will communicate to you in the usual way at the earliest opportunity.

The principal objects of these resolutions are to declare:

1st. That in the existing state of Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to make the Legislative Council elective, but that it is expedient to adopt measures for securing to that branch of the Legislature a greater degree of public confidence.

2ndly. That while it is expedient to improve the composition of the Executive Council, it is unadvisable to subject it to the responsibility demanded by the House of Assembly.

3rdly. That the legal title of the British American 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 this Legislature shall make provision by law for discharging lands from feudal dues and services, and for removing any doubts as to the incidents of the Tenures 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 persons, the rights vested in them under or by virtue of those Acts.

5thly. That for defraying the arrears due on account of the establishment and customary charges of the Administration of Justice and of the Civil Government of the Province, it is expedient that after 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, territorial and casual revenues of the Crown, the Governor of the Province be empowered to issue, out of any other monies in the hands of the Receiver General, such further sums as shall be necessary to effect the payment of such arrears and charges up to the 10th April last.

6thly. That it is expedient to place at the disposal of this Legislature the net proceeds of the hereditary, territorial and casual revenues arising within the Province, in case the said Legislature shall see fit to grant a Civil List for defraying the charges of the Administration of Justice, and for the maintenance and unavoidable expenses of certain of the principal officers of the Civil Government of the Province, and

Lastly, that it is expedient that the Legislatures of Lower and Upper Canada respectively, be authorized to make provision for the joint regulation and adjustment of questions respecting their trade and commerce, and of other questions wherein they have a common interest.

Having thus laid before you an outline of the measures contemplated by the resolutions which were passed after full discussion in the House of Commons by large majorities, and in the House of Peers without a

division, I proceed, in obedience to the Royal Commands, to assure you that it was with the deepest regret and reluctance that Her Majesty's Government yielded to the necessity of invoking the interference of Parliament, in order to meet the pressing difficulties which other resources had failed to remove in the administration of the affairs of the Province. But with a view to abstain, as much as possible, from any interference which is not imperatively demanded by the force of existing circumstances, Her Majesty's Ministers have determined not to submit to the present Parliament the Bills to be founded on the resolutions of which I have just spoken. Yet as they cannot overlook the necessity of making immediate provision for the discharge of the debt from the Civil Government of this Province, they have resolved to propose to the House of Commons that a vote of credit should be passed for the advance, by way of loan, from British Funds, of the sum required for the payment of the debt.

Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,

The accounts showing the payments that have been made since the close of the Session in March, 1836, out of the revenues at the disposal of the Crown, in part liquidation of the large arrears then due in respect of the civil establishment of the Province, shall, as soon as possible, be submitted to you, with every explanation that you may desire, and I can supply. I have, likewise, in obedience to the injunctions I have received, directed that an account of the balance of arrears owing on the 10th April last for official salaries, and the other ordinary expenditure of the local Government, be made and laid before you, with an estimate for the current half year, and in recommending as I do most earnestly these matters to your early and favorable consideration, I am commanded to express to you, at the same time, the anxious hope that the Governor of this Province may not be compelled to exercise the power with which the Imperial Parliament has declared its intention of investing him, in order to discharge the arrears due in respect of public services, for the payment of which the faith of the Crown has been repeatedly pledged. The chief object, therefore, for which you are now called together, is to afford you an opportunity by granting the requisite supplies of rendering unnecessary, on the part of the Imperial Parliament, any further action on the 8th of the series of resolutions to which I have alluded; and it will, I can assure you, be to me a matter of unmixed satisfaction, should you resolve to concede to the united voice of the British people, as expressed through the several branches of their Legislature, that which you have not thought it expedient to yield to the solicitation of the Executive Government alone. Gentlemen of the Legislative Council,

Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,

I am further commanded to express to you the earnest desire of Her Majesty's Government to co-operate with you in the removal of every obstacle to the beneficial working of the existing Constitution, and in the correction of every defect which time and experience have developed in the laws and institutions of the Province, or in the administration of its government; and I am, also to assure you of a prompt attention on the part of Her Majesty's Government to every representation which may proceed from you, tending to effect improvements of this nature, calculated to strengthen the connexion subsisting between Great Britain and Lower Canada, by the promotion of the welfare and interests of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects in this Province.

At the time the summons was issued for assembling you on this day I had every reason to believe that it would have been in my power to announce to you, as effected, those alterations which you may gather from the resolutions of which I have spoken, it is intended to effect in the composition of the Executive and Legislative Councils, but the interruption occasioned by the demise of His late Majesty, to the progress of public business in the Imperial Parliament and the prospect of its early dissolution, have prevented the Ministers of the Crown from at once perfecting the measures they have in contemplation. These measures, there

fore, are not forsaken, but only unavoidably suspended for a session, and I trust I shall, at no very distant period, be enabled to appeal to the changes introduced into the two Councils, as well as to other salutary arrangements, as a proof of the sincerity with which Her Majesty's Government are disposed to carry into effect the intentions they have expressed on these points.

CXXVI

ADDRESS OF ASSEMBLY OF LOWER CANADA, AUGUST, 1837' [Trans. Christie, op. cit.]

May it please Your Excellency.

We, Her Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Lower Canada in Provincial Parliament assembled, humbly thank your Excellency for your Speech from the Throne at the opening of the present session. We assure your Excellency that at whatever season we may be called upon to perform the duties entrusted to us by the people of the Province, no personal inconvenience will prevent our labouring, as our first and most important occupation, to ensure the liberties and happiness of our fellow subjects, to remove the evils which have pressed, and still continue in a more aggravated form to press upon them, and to protect them against the system which has corrupted the Provincial Government, and has been sufficiently powerful not only to cause the Mother Country to refuse all justice to the people with regard to their demands and ours for the improvement of their political institutions, and for the reform of abuses, but to urge on the highest metropolitan authorities from whom we looked for justice and protection, to acts of violence, to a violation of the most sacred and best established rights of the Canadian people and of this Legislature, and to the destruction of the very foundations of Government. We are, then bound by our duty, frankly to declare to your Excellency, under the solemn circumstances in which we are placed, and after full and calm deliberation, that since the time when we were last called to meet in Provincial Parliament, we have seen in the conduct and proceedings of the Metropolitan Government, and of the Colonial Administration towards this country, nothing which could re-establish in the people the confidence and affection which the long and fatal experience of the past has almost destroyed; but that, on the contrary, every recent event has tended to efface what remained of these feelings, and to consolidate, in opposition to the liberties, interests and wishes of the people, the Colonial Oligarchy factiously combined against them, and the hitherto unbridled and uncontrolled sway of the Colonial Ministers in Downing Street.

The avowal which it has pleased your Excellency to make to us, that the disposition of the authorities and of Parliament with regard to us, and the oppressive and unconstitutional measures which have been the result, are the consequences of the recommendations made by certain pretended authorities known by the name of the Royal Commissioners, has convinced us of the correctness of the opinions we have hitherto expressed with regard to this Commission, which, constituted and acting under no iaw, and without regard to law, and bound beforehand by its instructions to the partial views and narrow policy of the British Ministry in the government of the colonies, could not possibly co-operate in doing justice to the inhabitants of this Province, and in establishing their institutions, their liberties and their prospects for the future, on the solid basis of their wishes and their wants, as well as on the principles of the constitution. We were therefore in nowise astonished at discovering in the productions of this pretended commission nothing but preconceived opinions, prejudices at variance with its mission and its duty, ideas of government founded on data utterly foreign to the country, or at finding it fomenting divisions and national distinctions, forgetful of constitutional principles, calumniating 1 This Address is the reply to No. CXXV.

the provincial representation, and practising deception towards this House and towards the people. We are bound especially to notice in the reports in question one essential and paramount contradiction which pervades every part of them, and forms their essence. It is, that, while they admit the reality of the greater portion of the abuses and grievances of which we have complained, the Commissioners do not recommend their removal and the destruction of the causes which have produced them, but an act of aggression against this House which has denounced them, and the absolute destruction of the representative government in the Province, by the illegal and violent spoliation of the public moneys of the people, by the Ministers or by the Parliament; whereas it was the duty of the Commission and of the Mother Country to assist this House in the entire removal of these cvils, and in rendering their recurrence impossible, by constituting the second branch of the Legislature by means of the elective principle,-by repealing all laws and privileges unjustly obtained, and by ensuring the exercise of the powers and legitimate control of this House over the internal affairs of the Province, and over all matters relative to its territory and the wants of its inhabitants, and more especially over the public revenue raised therein.

These remarks will render unnecessary a portion of those which we might have been led to make on the series of resolutions spoken of by your Excellency, and which being proposed by Lord John Russell, one of the Ministers of the Crown, were adopted by the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom'. We perceive in this measure on the one hand, a formal and total refusal of the reforms and improvements demanded by this House, and by the people, and on the other, an abuse of the powers of Parliament, for the purpose of destroying the laws and constitution of this Province by force, violating with regard to us the most sacred and solemn engagements, and of thereby establishing irremediably on the ruins of our liberties, and in place of the legitimate, efficient and constitutional control which this House, and the people through it, have a right to exercise over all the branches of the Executive Government, corruption and intrigue, the pillage of the revenue, and the self-appropriation of the best resources of the country by the colonial functionaries and their dependents, the domination and ascendancy of the few, and the oppression and servitude of the mass of the inhabitants of this Province, without distinction of class or of origin.

It is our duty, therefore, to tell the Mother Country, that if she carries the spirit of these resolutions into effect in the Government of British America, and of this Province in particular, her supremacy therein will no longer depend upon the feelings of affection, of duty and of mutual interest which would best secure it, but on physical and material force, an element dangerous to the governing party, at the same time that it subjects the governed to a degree of uncertainty as to their future existence and their dearest interests, which is scarcely to be found under the most absolute governments of civilized Europe. And we had humbly believed it impossible that this state of permanent jeopardy, of hatred and of division, could be wittingly perpetrated by England on the American continent; and that the liberty and welfare of every portion of the Empire were too dear to the independent body of the English people to allow them to prefer maintaining, in favor of the functionaries accused by the people of this Province, the system which has hitherto been its bane.

If, even before the opening of the present session, we had been undeceived in this fond hope by public report, if we had little expectation that a sudden change in the councils of the Empire should place us at once in possession of the benefits of the constitutive reforms which we had declared to be essential, and such as would alone be sufficient, it was still natural that we should most anxiously look forward to our being called together in Parliament, because it was to be supposed, at least, that most important reforms had been effected in the administration of the Government, and that others were speedily to follow them: We have learned with 1 See No. CXXIV.