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line of conduct that was pursued by the last House, although the present was, if possible, even worse composed; but that, till some radical change was made, so as to give to the King's Representative more influence, and to bring into the House a greater proportion of English members, I did not think the evil could be radically cured.

I must not omit to mention that several enquiries were put to me respecting the Militia, which gave me occasion to inform them that the Militia Act would expire at the end of the war, that four or five hundred only, in the towns of Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, learned the use of arms. One gentleman observed that he supposed the Militia were under the command of the Inspectors sent out from England. This was to me rather a puzzling observation, as I do not recollect those officers having ever come into contact with that body': I said that the Militia were under your command, as Governor in Chief of the Province, but that I feared circumstances were such as to render it impossible for you at this time to turn them to any good account.

In speaking of the number of regular troops in Canada (which they wished to learn from me!) I took occasion to mention the advantage we had gained by the exchange of the 98th for the 8th Regiment. In short, Sir, during the three-quarters of an hour that I remained with the Council, an infinite number of questions were put to me, which it is scarcely possible I should, nor do I imagine you would wish me to detail. One gentleman only kept silent; this was the master of the Rolls, who, you know, was in office in Canada some thirty years ago: he appeared to me to be lying perdu for the purpose of taking advantage of any incorrectness I might fall into, or of availing himself, after I was gone, of the intimate knowledge he had acquired of Canadian affairs by a short residence in the Province, when I was a boy. To this gentlemen's suggestions I am inclined to attribute the namby pamby system of conciliation; or, rather, that desperate line of politics which would make it necessary for a firm and dignified Representative of His Majesty to apologize to a band of contemptible demagogues for having frustrated their attempts to overthrow the constitu tion of their country.

If I do injustice to Sir William by my surmises I shall be most truly sorry for it, and I trust that my suggestions will on no account go beyond yourself.

I have the honor to be,

Dear Sir,

Your Excellency's most devoted and most faithful humble servant,

H. W. RYLAND.

P.S. Since I came to town I have had repeated interviews with some of the principal merchants concerned in the trade to the British North American Colonies, to whom I suggested the propriety of their coming forward at this moment to oppose the attempts of the French faction in Lower Canada, to overwhelm the English interests of that Province. The result has been a communication from the Committee of Merchants here to the Earl of Liverpool, of that part of the letter from the Committees of Trade at Quebec and Montreal, which relates to your Excellency's administration, and I have now the satisfaction of enclosing a copy of their Secretary's letter to His Lordship, on the subject.

I was anxious that this should be sent in before the departure of the September packet, as I am confident it will have a considerable effect on His Lordship's mind, by shewing how decidedly the whole of the mercantile interests concerned is with Your Excellency. Other measures (of which I shall have regular information) are contempleted; and should the

1 Never-their appointments were mere military sinecures at the expense of the Mother Country.-R. Christie. 2 It was said that in fact Sir James Craig held the Militia in utter contempt.R. Christie. Sir William Grant.

Minister be inclined to bring forward anything in Parliament relative to Canada, I have reason to believe he will be very strongly supported out of doors. At the same time that I mention these circumstances to Your Excellency, I beg you to be assured that I shall be very careful of committing myself with these gentlemen, or of going one step beyond what you would fully approve.

LXXVI

MEMORIAL FROM BRITISH MERCHANTS TO LORD LIVERPOOL, 3 SEPTEMBER, 1810

[Trans. Christie, op. cit.]

The Memorial of the Committee of Merchants interested in the Trade and Fisheries of His Majesty's North American Colonies, HUMBLY SHEWETH:

That your Memorialists, from the communications which have been made to them by their correspondents in Lower Canada, are much alarmed at the conduct adopted by the majority of the House of Assembly of that Province.

That your Memorialists do not presume to state to Your Lordship the proceedings which have taken place thereon, as they have reason to believe His Excellency the Governor General, Sir James Craig, has transmitted to Your Lordship official advices on the subject.

That your Memorialists apprehend the system which has recently been acted upon by the majority of the House of Assembly will, if permitted to be continued, render insecure the property of the British inhabitants of the Province, operate as a discouragement to other British subjects settling there, and endanger the tranquility and safety of the Colony.

That your Memorialists have long felt the existing laws of Lower Canada did not afford adequate protection to the British residents there, in as much as those laws are French, and are inapplicable to the present state of the Colony. And your Memorialists conceive it to be their duty candidly to state to Your Lordship, that so long as the present constitution of the Province remains unaltered, and especially with respect to the manner in which the House of Assembly is constituted, the Colony will not improve either in its agriculture or trade, from the baneful influence which predominates therein, notwithstanding the great encouragement which has been given by His Majesty's present Government to the Province; and your Memorialists regret that so far from a correspondent feeling being evinced by the Canadians towards Great Britain, the majority of the House of Assembly appear determined to oppose the judicious recommendation of His Excellency the Governor General who has uniformly shewn, by the various Acts of his Government, his great anxiety to promote the true interests of the Province.

That your Memorialists regret to observe, the conduct of the majority of the House of Assembly shews they are ignorant of the principles of British Jurisprudence, and evinces a narrow minded and illiberal policy, ill-calculated to conciliate the minds and affections of the people to His Majesty's Government, whilst at the same time their conduct has been most disrespectful to the King's Representative in Lower Canada, whose power they not only seem desirous to infringe, but likewise to assume the functions of the other branches of the Legislature of the Colony, of which they only constitute a part.

Under the circumstances, and from the vital importance of the Colony to the maritime interests of Great Britain, your Memorialists appeal with great deference to Your Lordship, in the hope that His Majesty's Government will take into their early consideration the political state of Lower Canada; that they will support His Excellency the Governor General in

the measures he has been obliged to adopt, and that they will condescend to recommend to the favorable consideration of the Imperial Legislature such alterations in the constitution of Lower Canada as will promote and secure the British interests in that Province.

And your Memorialists will ever pray, etc., etc.

(Several signatures of business firms follow.)

London, 3rd September, 1810.

LXXVII

MR. RYLAND TO SIR J. H. CRAIG, K.B.

....

...

[Trans. Christie op. cit.]

LONDON, Tuesday, 11th September, 1810.

DEAR SIR,-Just as I was about to set off for the country yesterday, I received a note informing me that. . . . Lord Liverpool would be glad to see me. He has had the goodness to read to me his public despatch to Your Excellency, the purport of which is nearly such as I expected. His Lordship candidly stated the reasons why His Majesty's Ministers could not, without stronger grounds, venture on bringing the affairs of Canada before Parliament. He particularly remarked that Lord Grenville, as father of the Canada Act of 1791, would rally his whole strength in support of his own Child; that an outcry would be raised concerning the oppressed Canadians, etc., etc. In short, Sir, I felt persuaded that, as matters stood, you would not think it decorous or expedient for me to offer any observations in opposition to what His Lordship has stated in his despatch as the reasons for not adopting, at this time, the more decisive measures which you have proposed. His Lordship had the goodness to observe, that there were several points which did not require legislative interference, particularly the ecclesiastical affairs of the Province, and he gave me full liberty to call his or Mr. Peel's attention to them at any time, saying, that they should be taken up in the course of the winter.'

*

*

Sir,

LXXVIII

LIVERPOOL TO CRAIG

[Trans. Doughty and McArthur.]

Downing Street, 12th Sepr., 1810.

Your dispatches have received all the consideration to which they are entitled from the very important Information contained in them-And from the very clear and able manner in which you have discussed the different Topics connected with it.

I proceed now to communicate to you the Sentiments of His Majesty's Government, upon the Points which you have brought under their consideration, in the order in which they appear to arise.

It is much to be regretted that the Constitution established for the Province of Lower Canada, by the Act of the British Parliament of the year 1791, should appear to have so entirely disappointed the expectations of those who introduced it, and that the Conduct of the Assembly should afford such strong ground for concluding that the Constitution was not only repugnant to the established habits and prejudices of_the_Canadians. but likewise ill-calculated to produce those benefits to the English Settlers which they were led at the time to suppose would result from it.

But even supposing that His Majesty's Government should feel the 1 See page 280 for these "points."

2 No. LV.

objections to the Constitution of Lower Canada, as established at present -and the Inconveniences which you describe to arise from it, as strongly as you do, yet it would be a question of great delicacy and difficulty, how far, under the present Circumstances it would be justifiable to interpose by the Authority of Parliament for the purpose of abolishing or even of altering it.

The Act of the 31st of the King does not profess itself to be temporary or experimental-It contains in it no Clause, by which the Right of Parliament to alter the Constitution is specially reserved. It appears clearly from the 14th Clause, that it was the intention of Parliament that in ordinary cases at least, such alterations as Circumstances might render necessary should be made by the Assembly of the Province, in concurrence with the Council and Governor - And tho' the Parliament of the United Kingdom under its right of general legislation for all parts of the Empire, must be considered as unquestionably possessing within itself, the inherent Right of altering the Constitution of any of its Colonies or Settlements, if it shall be found necessary for the safety or prosperity of the Empire, it would probably be thought by Parliament to require a very strong practical case, to justify the exercise of such a right in the case of Canada, after such an Act as that of 1791 — And notwithstanding the Evil Spirit which has made its appearance, and is too evidently gaining ground in the Province notwithstanding the intemperate Proceedings of the Assembly on more than one occasion, His Majesty's Government doubt very much whether upon the Information they at present possess, such a Special Case could at this time be laid before Parliament as would induce Parliament after having so recently established the Constitution, to interfere by its Authority for the purpose of altering it.

His Majesty's Government are convinced that an Appeal on this Subject to Parliament, at the present time, would be highly inconvenient, and as it might even be attended with very mischievous consequences', They are clear that unless it should become absolutely and indispensably necessary, it ought to be avoided. This opinion receives additional weight from the consideration that such a diversity of sentiment appears to prevail amongst the best informed Persons in Canada as to the nature of the Reform which it would be most expedient to adopt, and as to the efficacy of the different Remedies if adopted.

In such a state of things, it would be in vain to calculate with any degree of confidence what might be the determination of Parliament — And the most fatal Effects might be produced in Canada from the ferment which would be excited by discussions in Parliament upon this Subject, if they were not followed by the most decisive and effectual Measures, and supported by such a general concurrence of opinion as might reasonably ensure a perseverance in them.

I come then to the next Question, What under the Circumstances above stated is the course most fitting to be adopted.

His Majesty's Government have no difficulty in delivering it as their opinion that the most advisable course, if practicable would be to endeavour to obtain for Government by a frank exposition of the liberal and beneficial views of His Majesty, and by every Measure of conciliation-the support of the Assembly as at present constituted — His Majesty's Government understand that the English Representatives in the Assembly, as far as their numbers extend, may be considered as generally favorably disposed towards Government And they most earnestly recommend that every Endeavour should be used by personal communications, to conciliate the most moderate amongst the Canadians, and to reconcile them to the fair support of the Government against the violent designs of the disaffected and factious, as the best means of promoting the Prosperity of the Province and of averting Measures to which Government may otherwise be indispensably compelled to resort.

1 Cf. No. LXXVII.

If however every Effort of this nature should prove abortive they do not see that there exists any such necessary dependence of the Executive Government in Canada upon the House of Assembly, as need prevent your adopting consistently with the most strict and rigid adherence to every legal form-a firm, temperate but persevering resistance to all the Encroachments and usurpations of the Assembly.

It is provided by the 31st of the King that the Assembly should be called once every year', and it is impossible not to acknowledge that by such a Provision the Parliament intended to secure to the Colony the important Benefits which cannot fail to result from the Opportunity which is thereby afforded of collecting the Sentiments of the Community, and of providing by occasional legislation such Improvements as from time to time may be rendered necessary.

These are undoubtedly most important considerations which ought never to be lost sight of in the view which is to be taken of this Subject, but notwithstanding these considerations there does not exist any absolute necessity as in the case of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the Assembly should continue sitting, after it had been once convened.

It would indeed have been wholly inconsistent with the nature of a Colony, and its necessary connection with the Mother Country, that the Executive Government should have been placed in the same state of dependence upon a local Legislature, as most usefully subsists reciprocally between the Crown and the Parliament of the United Kingdoin.

In Canada therefore, the Executive Government is not dependent upon the Assembly, either for the Supplies requisite for defraying the Expences of the Civil Government of the Province nor for the Military force essential for its security and protection2.

The Military Force which is judged necessary for these purposes is provided from home, and I understand that the permanent Revenue of the Province, together with what it has been usual to draw from the Military Chest is fully sufficient for all the Expences of the Civil Government.

The Executive Government therefore, in Canada, is in no way necessarily dependent upon the House of Assembly - All Laws to regulate the Commercial Intercourse between Canada and other parts of the World, may according to the Constitution, be passed by the Imperial Parliament'.

There may indeed be some Laws which have been passed by the Legislature of Lower Canada for a limited time, the Expiration of which, might prove inconvenient to the Government. With respect to the Alien Law, this observation applies only to a limited extent-for as long as the War continues, the Crown and its Representatives have a clear and undoubted Right by common Law, to send all alien Enemies out of the British Dominions, without the necessity of any Legislative Act for that purpose.

The Expiration of the Law for the safety of the King's Government, by suspending the Habeas Corpus, might be some inconvenience, but it does not appear to be of a sufficient magnitude to counterbalance the advantages which would arise from the course of proceeding now proposed, compared with that of any other which has been hitherto suggested.

With respect to Laws for internal Improvement, the want of them will be much to be regretted by the Government and by all who are interested in the welfare of the Province. The Inhabitants of the Province must feel, in the first instance, the inconvenience arising from the interruption of all Legislative Proceedings of this nature, and it is to be hoped that they will be led to ascribe it to its true cause the factious and intemperate Conduct of their own Representatives.

If this Sentiment once gains ground amongst the Inhabitants of the Province it may operate more powerfully than any other Measure in bringing them to a due sense of their Interest and their duty.

His Majesty's Government therefore altho' they see much that is

1 See Constitutional Act, § 27 (No. LV).

A contemporary and official clear-cut statement of the exact place of the Assembly

in the scheme of Government.

See Constitutional Act, § 46 (No. LV).

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