PLANS OF SYDENHAM

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my duty to the Queen to the last, and the deep interest which I now take in what concerns these provinces, would lead me to attempt the task under circumstances which I consider almost hopeless.

I am willing, however, if required, to yield to that consideration, and, above all, to the feelings of the people here, of whose confidence I have lately received so many and such flattering proofs, and I shall endeavour to work out the Act as it stands, by such means as I possess.

For Upper Canada it is out of my power to make any provision. In Lower Canada, however, I shall, with the assistance of the Special Council, provide such a system as may supply a part at least of what was intended to be given under the provisions of the Bill; at all events to the extent which is necessary to carry out fully the different ordinances of that body which have already passed, and provide for some local organization for the wants of the country districts. The Council will, under any circumstances, meet the middle of next month, to complete its labours preparatory to the Union; and I shall then propose to them measures to this effect.

I shall then be able to proclaim the Union at the earliest period at which, looking to the time when the elections could be held, and to the financial concerns of both provinces, it would be possible, namely at the beginning of January. The elections will take place as soon afterwards as they conveniently can, and when the united Parliament meets, I shall propose to them, on the part of the Government, to adopt for the whole province a system of local government which will already have been in operation here, with such additions as may appear necessary.1

1 Both in Upper and in Lower Canada Sydenham carried out the plan here outlined, and on August 28, 1841, was able to write to his brother: "My last feat has been to carry the Municipal District Bill for Upper Canada, word for word after my own Ordinance for the Lower Province; thereby not only giving the complement to the Union (for you know I always declared that without such institutions the Union could not work), but setting up my own particular legislation by the sanction of the United Parliament. But the trouble I have had to do this has completely justified all my anticipations of the next to impossibility of our getting such a measure through a Provincial Assembly, and the utter hopelessness of the effort, but for the course which I followed of dictating it, whilst I was dictator, for one part of the province first. One party hated the measure because it was to give power to the people; another because it placed that power under wholesome control by the Crown; a third because it deprived the

...

MY LORD,

DOWNING STREET,

25th October, 1840.

I have received your Lordship's Despatch, No. 160, of the 16th September, pointing out the injurious consequences which you anticipate from the departure in the Act for the reunion of Canada from the Bill which you had proposed, and more particularly from the omission of legislative provision for local government.

Partaking as I do in the general opinions which you have expressed on this subject, I nevertheless could not supply the want of Canadian authority for the municipal clauses, which induced Sir R. Peel and Lord Stanley, friendly as they were to the Bill, to support their omission. I may also observe that Mr. Gillespie and others in this country well acquainted with Canada, concurred in the objections made to those clauses in the House of Commons.

The benefit of municipal government being so great, it is difficult to conceive that the legislature of the United Province can long resist the introduction of a system so useful to the interests, and so directly tending to increase the power of the people, when recommended warmly and repeatedly by the executive of the province and supported by the Crown.

MY LORD,

I have, &c.,

(Signed) J. RUSSELL.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, KINGSTON, 25th June, 1841.

I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith the copy of the Speech with which, on the 15th instant, I opened the Session of the Legislature,

members of the Assembly of all their past power of jobbing. But I beat them all three, to the utter astonishment of the spectators; and at last carried my work—the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill-by a majority of forty-two to twenty-nine."

Under Sydenham's system municipal officers were largely nominated by the Crown. In 1845 this was changed in Lower Canada, and an elective system set up. In 1849 the Municipal Corporations Act did the same for Upper Canada. These Acts are still the foundation of the municipal systems of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. (See University of Toronto Studies: History and Economics, vol. ii., No. 2; Municipal Government in Ontario, by Adam Shortt.)

FIRST UNITED PARLIAMENT

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together with copies of the addresses presented to me in answer by both houses, and of my replies to those Addresses.1 The Legislature had been summoned, as your Lordship is aware, for the 14th instant; but as it was necessary, in compliance with the 33rd clause of the Union Act, that the Assembly should, in the first instance, proceed to elect their Speaker, I abstained, in conformity with the opinion of my Law Advisers, from meeting the Parliament until that preliminary had been completed. This departure from former practice was, as your Lordship will perceive, the necessary result of that provision of the Union Act which, contrary to the Parliamentary usage in England, invests the Assembly with the absolute power of selecting their Speaker without reference to the Executive Authority.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) SYDENHAM.

HONOURABLE

GENTLEMEN OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY,

I have deemed it right to assemble you at the earliest period which the circumstances of the Province and the duties imposed upon me by the Imperial Act for the Union of the Canadas, under which this Legislature is constituted, have admitted; and it is with sincere satisfaction that I now meet you to deliberate on the great and important interests committed to our charge.

A subject of Her Majesty, an inhabitant of this Province, has been forcibly detained in the neighbouring States charged with a pretended crime. No time was lost by the Executive of this Province in remonstrating against this proceeding, and provision was made for insuring to the individual the means of defence pending the further action of Her Majesty's Government. The Queen's Representative at Washington has since been instructed to demand his release. Of the result of that demand I am not yet apprised, but I have the Queen's commands to assure her faithful subjects in Canada of her Majesty's

1 The speech is given below. The addresses, which merely expressed willingness to carry out the reforms proposed, are omitted.

fixed determination to protect them with the whole weight of her power.1

Arrangements were completed during the course of last summer by which, under the directions of the Treasury, the rates of Postage between all parts of this Colony and the United Kingdom were greatly reduced; and a more speedy and regular conveyance of letters between different parts of this Province has since been established by arrangements made by the Deputy Postmaster-General under my directions. A commission has been appointed by me to inquire into and report upon the Post-office system of British North America, and I confidently anticipate that the result of its labours will be the establishment of a plan securing improvements in the internal communication by post within the Colony equal to those which we have already obtained in the communication with the mother-country.

Many subjects of deep importance to the future welfare of the Province demand your early attention, upon some of which I have directed bills to be prepared, which will be submitted for your consideration.

Amongst them, first in importance at the present juncture of affairs is the adoption of measures for developing the resources of the Province by well-considered and extensive public works. The rapid settlement of the country-the value of every man's property within itthe advancement of his future fortunes are deeply affected by this question. The improvement of the Navigation from the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Huron to the Ocean

1 After his abortive rebellion, William Lyon Mackenzie fled to the United States, and gathered a band of ruffians, who entrenched themselves on Navy Island, in the Niagara River, where they set up a provisional Government. On the night of December 29, 1837, a small American steamer, the Caroline, which was supplying them with provisions, was attacked by Canadian volunteers while at anchor on the American side, captured, and set on fire. In the struggle an American was killed. This naturally aroused great excitement in the United States, and the British and American Governments came within measurable distance of war.

On November 12, 1840, Alexander McLeod, a Canadian citizen, was arrested while on a visit to the State of New York, and charged with complicity in this so-called "murder and arson." After spending some time in prison, McLeod was put on trial in October, 1841, and acquitted. Under the circumstances, his hanging would have meant war. (See Dent, The Last Forty Years, vol. i., pp. 164 78; Scrope, Life of Lord Sydenham, pp. 224-6.)

PUBLIC WORKS AND EMIGRATION

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-the establishment of new internal communications in the inland districts are works requiring a great outlay, but promising commensurate returns. To undertake them successfully large funds will undoubtedly be required, and the financial condition of the Province, as it stands at present, would seem to forbid the attempt. But I have the satisfaction of informing you that I have received authority from Her Majesty's government to state that they are prepared to call upon the Imperial Parliament to afford their assistance towards these important undertakings. In the full belief that peace and tranquillity will be happily re-established in this province, under the constitution settled by Parliament, and that nothing but a relief from its most pressing difficulties is wanting to its rapid advancement to prosperity, they will propose to Parliament, by affording the guarantee of the Imperial Treasury for a loan to the extent of no less than a million and a half sterling, to aid the Province, for the double purpose of diminishing the pressure of the interest on the public debt, and of enabling it to proceed with those great public undertakings whose progress during the last few years has been arrested by the financial difficulties. I shall direct a measure to be submitted to you embracing a plan for this purpose, and I shall lay before you, for your information and that of the people of Canada, extracts from the despatches which convey to me this most gratifying assurance.

In immediate connexion with the outlay of capital upon public works is the subject of emigration and the disposal and settlement of the public lands. There exist within this Province no means so certain of producing a healthy flow of immigration from the mother-country, and of ultimately establishing the immigrant as a settler and proprietor within the Colony, as the power of affording sure employment for his labour on his first arrival. The assistance of Parliament for the public works which may be undertaken here, will in great measure provide for this; but with a view further to aid immigration, I am authorized to declare to you that Her Majesty's government are prepared to assist in facilitating the passage of the immigrant from the port at which he is landed to the place where his labour may be made available, and that a vote of money for this purpose will be proposed to the Imperial Parliament. The conditions which Her Majesty's govern