I need not add that I shall be anxious to receive your answer to this letter, as well as the further details which you promise to communicate to To Field Marshall His Royal Highness Duke of Kent. 9 Oct., 1806. The following observations are humbly submitted to your Royal Highness for the information of His Majesty's Ministers which I trust will show that the existing laws and Constitution of His Majesty's two Provinces of Upper & Lower Canada are unequal to the promoting of those subjects so necessary for the good of this Kingdom to which the Canadians are so well calculated essentially to contribute. By the Legislature of Lower Canada, the goods bound through that Province to Upper Canada are subjected to a Duty, notwithstanding they have each a separate Government, an Upper and a Lower House of Parliament to Legislate for themselves this will ultimately lead to mischief although Lower Canada accounts to Upper Canada for their proportion2. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada is composed of Fifty Members, and notwithstanding the Government and Commerce of the Colony are in the hands of the English, still at the General Elections British Influence can never get more than Twelve Members returned who have to contend with the passions and prejudices of Thirty eight French; the majority of whom are by no means the most respectable of the King's Canadian Subjects; the cause of this is the British Act of Parliament which gives to the Provinces their present Constitution-by that Act the following qualifications are required of the Electors (vizt.) in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, Rent to the Amount of ten pounds p. annum or real property to the Amount of five Pounds p. annum, and in all the Counties two Pounds property entitles them to a vote, but no qualification is required by the Said Act for the Candidate, by which means immediately preceding all General Elections not only the nefarious & the Political Bankrupt, the Demagogue and the insidious and Ambitious title of Friend of the People are all united in the Same Person, which makes the Country ring throughout into the word "dont vote for an "English-Man, dont vote for a "Seignior, a "Merchant, a "Judge or a "Lawyer, all of whom are represented to have an interest in Taxing and oppressing the poor, in consequence of which, a number of the representatives are contracted in their ideas & Education, and of course inadequate to judge of the propriety of enacting Laws which in critical Times prudence and foresight would dictate, such as the Alien Act, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, or any other tending to strengthen His Majesty's Government. Another existing evil which I humbly submit to your Royal Highness is regarding the Government of the Militia in Lower Canada, the English and French Militia being kept in two distinct bodies, the one with the English, the other with the French word of Command, is as impolitic as absurd; for instance in Case of Insurrection Rebellion or Invasion by a Foreign Enemy, the Officer commanding His Majesty's Forces would of course give the word of Command and in the English Tongue, a great 1 Black was an Englishman who had resided in Canada for many years and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1796-1800. His "Observations" supplement Milnes' report (see No. LXV). 2 See p. 219. See Constitutional Act, § XX. (No. LV.) proportion, however, of the aid in which under such circumstances the Country reposes speaks the same language and receives the same word of Command as the assailants, the consequences of such a system are not so difficult to forsee as they are to contemplate with Horror. His Majesty's Dominions in America in their present disjointed state are dangerously weak from the following reasons (vizt) one province is not bound by Law to assist the other if attacked by an Enemy in case of Treason raising her standard in the Country, or if attacked from without by a Foreign Enemy, might not a misunderstanding take place between the General commanding the Kings Forces and the General commanding the Militia arising solely from this cause, similar to the differences which occurred in Sepr., 1759, amongst the French Officers, who were jealous of the Fame of General Montcalm and which contributed so much to the ultimate subjugation of the Province. Your Royal Highness will perceive that one Colony in the event of an attack, as things are at present, not only receives no aid from the others, but by the misunderstanding which it is possible might arise between the General and Governor, they might even become hostile to each other at the moment of danger. The Remedies which I would suggest for the Evils classed under the different Heads is to unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada if it conveniently can be done, if not erect eight new Counties on the three Million acres of Land recently granted who would return two Members each—to make the Parliament sit for seven years in lieu of four years, and render a qualification necessary for every Member to the extent of at least one hundred and fifty pounds p Annum in landed property, or a permanent Salary to that amount-I should here wish to observe to your Royal Highness, the impossibility the Country can prosper under the present constitution which draws forth a majority of the most inflamed of the worser order, whilst the qualification proposed would draw forth the Sense and Education of the Country. The uniting the Provinces or erecting eight new Counties would bring the English considerably nearer the French in point of Number, and as it is but too evident in all Countries the Head of a Party will prostitutionally oppose His Majesty's Government untill they are called into power or obtained some situation equal to their views. By having a seven years Parliament Your Highness will perceive that the evil of being obliged to provide for such scrambling Demagogues will more seldom occur; either uniting the two Provinces or erecting new Counties will add eight Members to the Legislative Council. The Remedy for the evil complained of under the paragraph No. 6 with humble duty and submission to Your Royal Highness seems to require a measure calculated to unite the interests of the different Provinces, which I conceive cannot be effected in any other way so well as by His Majesty's Government appointing a Governor General and a Commander in Chief invested in the same person for the four Provinces with a Lieutenant Governor in each Province to give or withold the Royal assent to the Laws, and Patronage would in that case be equal to keeping the Parliament in order, by which means Laws would be soon made for the Provinces reciprocally to aid each other in time of danger, the Governor General and Commander in Chief I should conceive would be the proper person to receive all communications, Civil and Military Post Master General, Etc., Etc., and should be Master of the Geography of the County, the English, French and German Languages, it is also necessary he should be well acquainted with the four Provinces and the Characters of those in power at present, with the Manners and Customs of the French and Germans also, if possible, as there are a considerable number of both in british America. All of which is humbly submitted to Your Royal Highness who I hope will have the gracious and condescending Goodness to put a favor I need not add that I shall be anxious to receive your answer to this letter, as well as the further details which you promise to communicate to To Field Marshall His Royal Highness Duke of Kent. 9 Oct., 1806. The following observations are humbly submitted to your Royal Highness for the information of His Majesty's Ministers which I trust will show that the existing laws and Constitution of His Majesty's two Provinces of Upper & Lower Canada are unequal to the promoting of those subjects so necessary for the good of this Kingdom to which the Canadians are so well calculated essentially to contribute. By the Legislature of Lower Canada, the goods bound through that Province to Upper Canada are subjected to a Duty, notwithstanding they have each a separate Government, an Upper and a Lower House of Parliament to Legislate for themselves-this will ultimately lead to mischief although Lower Canada accounts to Upper Canada for their proportion2. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada is composed of Fifty Members, and notwithstanding the Government and Commerce of the Colony are in the hands of the English, still at the General Elections British Influence can never get more than Twelve Members returned who have to contend with the passions and prejudices of Thirty eight French; the majority of whom are by no means the most respectable of the King's Canadian Subjects; the cause of this is the British Act of Parliament which gives to the Provinces their present Constitution-by that Act the following qualifications are required of the Electors (vizt.) in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, Rent to the Amount of ten pounds p. annum or real property to the Amount of five Pounds p. annum, and in all the Counties two Pounds property entitles them to a vote, but no qualification is required by the Said Act for the Candidate, by which means immediately preceding all General Elections not only the nefarious & the Political Bankrupt, the Demagogue and the insidious and Ambitious title of Friend of the People are all united in the Same Person, which makes the Country ring throughout into the word "dont vote for an "English-Man, dont vote for a "Seignior, a "Merchant, a "Judge or a "Lawyer, all of whom are represented to have an interest in Taxing and oppressing the poor, in consequence of which, a number of the representatives are contracted in their ideas & Education, and of course inadequate to judge of the propriety of enacting Laws which in critical Times prudence and foresight would dictate, such as the Alien Act, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, or any other tending to strengthen His Majesty's Government. Another existing evil which I humbly submit to your Royal Highness is regarding the Government of the Militia in Lower Canada, the English and French Militia being kept in two distinct bodies, the one with the English, the other with the French word of Command, is as impolitic as absurd; for instance in Case of Insurrection Rebellion or Invasion by a Foreign Enemy, the Officer commanding His Majesty's Forces would of course give the word of Command and in the English Tongue, a great 1 Black was an Englishman who had resided in Canada for many years and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1796-1800. His "Observations" supplement Milnes' report (see No. LXV). 2 See p. 219. See Constitutional Act, § XX. (No. LV.) proportion, however, of the aid in which under such circumstances the Country reposes speaks the same language and receives the same word of Command as the assailants, the consequences of such a system are not so difficult to forsee as they are to contemplate with Horror. His Majesty's Dominions in America in their present disjointed state are dangerously weak from the following reasons (vizt) one province is not bound by Law to assist the other if attacked by an Enemy in case of Treason raising her standard in the Country, or if attacked from without by a Foreign Enemy, might not a misunderstanding take place between the General commanding the Kings Forces and the General commanding the Militia arising solely from this cause, similar to the differences which occurred in Sepr., 1759, amongst the French Officers, who were jealous of the Fame of General Montcalm and which contributed so much to the ultimate subjugation of the Province. Your Royal Highness will perceive that one Colony in the event of an attack, as things are at present, not only receives no aid from the others, but by the misunderstanding which it is possible might arise between the General and Governor, they might even become hostile to each other at the moment of danger. The Remedies which I would suggest for the Evils classed under the different Heads is to unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada if it conveniently can be done, if not erect eight new Counties on the three Million acres of Land recently granted who would return two Members each-to make the Parliament sit for seven years in lieu of four years, and render a qualification necessary for every Member to the extent of at least one hundred and fifty pounds p Annum in landed property, or a permanent Salary to that amount-I should here wish to observe to your Royal Highness, the impossibility the Country can prosper under the present constitution which draws forth a majority of the most inflamed of the worser order, whilst the qualification proposed would draw forth the Sense and Education of the Country. The uniting the Provinces or erecting eight new Counties would bring the English considerably nearer the French in point of Number, and as it is but too evident in all Countries the Head of a Party will prostitutionally oppose His Majesty's Government untill they are called into power or obtained some situation equal to their views. By having a seven years Parliament Your Highness will perceive that the evil of being obliged to provide for such scrambling Demagogues will more seldom occur; either uniting the two Provinces or erecting new Counties will add eight Members to the Legislative Council. The Remedy for the evil complained of under the paragraph No. 6 with humble duty and submission to Your Royal Highness seems to require a measure calculated to unite the interests of the different Provinces, which I conceive cannot be effected in any other way so well as by His Majesty's Government appointing a Governor General and a Commander in Chief invested in the same person for the four Provinces with a Lieutenant Governor in each Province to give or withold the Royal assent to the Laws, and Patronage would in that case be equal to keeping the Parliament in order, by which means Laws would be soon made for the Provinces reciprocally to aid each other in time of danger, the Governor General and Commander in Chief I should conceive would be the proper person to receive all communications, Civil and Military Post Master General, Etc., Etc., and should be Master of the Geography of the County, the English, French and German Languages, it is also necessary he should be well acquainted with the four Provinces and the Characters of those in power at present, with the Manners and Customs of the French and Germans also, if possible, as there are a considerable number of both in british America. All of which is humbly submitted to Your Royal Highness who I hope will have the gracious and condescending Goodness to put a favor able construction on the humble efforts thus made for the good of my Country, for whose welfare Your Royal Highness is well acquainted how much I have suffered during these last twelve years and upwards and if I am so happy to give one single new idea, I shall consider it the hap piest moment in the Life of Your Royal Highness's, most devoted humble, 9 Octr., 1806. JOHN BLACK, Paul Street, Finsbury Sqre. LXVIII OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO THE POLITICAL STATE OF LOWER CANADA, BY MR. RYLAND1 There is reason to apprehend that the time is fast approaching when the House of Assembly of Lower Canada will become the centre of sedition, and a receptacle for the most desperate demagogues in the Province; nor does there at this moment appear to be any existing means, (except such as arise from the known vigour and ability of the Governor in Chief,) to counteract the projects which such a House of Assembly may form. To remedy the evil it will require much wisdom, joined to a preponderating English influence, both in the Legislative and Executive Councils. It will equally require intelligence, firmness and capacity on the part of His Majesty's Justices of the Provincial Courts of King's Bench, who may eventually have to decide on points of the highest importance arising out of the wild, disorganizing pretensions of the Assembly. It must be evident to every person who is acquainted with the actual state of things here, that neither the Bench nor the Councils, as they are at present composed, would be able to afford an adequate check to a bold, systematical attempt on the part of the Assembly to obtain a mischievous proponderance in the Provincial Legislature; much less could those bodies be expected to co-operate in a general plan for assimilating the Colony in its religion, laws and manners, with the Parent State. It is humbly suggested that, preparatory to measures of a more particular nature, it would be advisable to add eight or ten members to the Legislative Council, three or four of whom might be Canadians of the most respectable character and families, and the remainder Englishmen of the best stamp and abilities, that are to be found in the Province, and whose attendance might at all times be depended on. It may be well deserving the attention of Government to consider whether it would not be advisable to give a seat in the Council to two or more Military Officers of the higher ranks holding staff appointments in the Province, that may be regarded as permanent. It is suggested that the two senior Judges at Quebec, (who are both of them upwards of seventy-three years of age,) should be permitted to retire on pensions; that, in appointing their successors, the utmost care should be taken to select men of capacity and firmness; Englishmen whose natural ties and habits attach them to the laws and religion of the Parent State.* By English in here meant persons born and educated in any part of His Majesty's European Dominions. 1 Herman Witsius Ryland (1760-1838) was an Englishman who held several official appointments in Canada. He was strongly anti-French and represented Sir James Craig in England on an unsuccessful political mission. He had considerable influence over Milnes (see No. LXV). His writings and letters are the best contemporary comment on the ideals of the extreme British party. |