Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

Qu'une telle Union feroit renaître ces dissensions résultant de la différence de langage, de religion, de lois et d'intérêt locaux qui agitèrent la Province de Quebec, et que sa division en deux gouvernements séparés și heureusement fait cesser; et qu'une Législature ainsi constituée, ne saurait parvenir aux fins utiles d'une Législation éclairée, qu'il ne pourroit résulter que des lois fondées sur des renseignements insuffisants et nuisibles aux droits, aux intérêts, aux sentiments et à la situation de ceux pour qui elles seroient faites.

Que la situation géographique, la différence de climat, et étendue des deux Provinces, dont quelques parties peuplées sont à plus de quinze cents milles les unes des autres forment ainsi que la difficulté des communications dans les pays nouveaux des obstacles insurmontables à l'Union projetée et que les sacrifices qui en résulteraient aux membres pour se rendre à leurs places, et aux constituants pour communiquer leurs besoins locaux au siège de la Législature, priveroient certainement une grande partie des sujets de Votre Majesté, dans l'une et l'autre Province de leurs justes droits, et de toute participation dans la législation de leur pays.

Que c'est avec la douleur la plus réele que vos Pétitionnaires voyent sans pouvoir se le dissimuler, que les dispositions principales de ce Bill, se dirigent contre les plus chers intérêts de cette partie des sujets de Votre Majesté, qui forment les neuf dixièmes de la population de cette Province. Et surtout qu'il y ait été introduit à l'égard de la langue et des établissements religieux d'un si grand nombre de vos sujets, des clauses qui doivent faire naitre parmi les habitants de cette partie de vos domaines, des jalousies et des préjugés, funestes à leur repos et à leur bonheur, et qui paroissent incompatibles avec la dignité, la sagesse et la justice du gouvernement de Votre Majesté.

Que la clause de ce Bill qui interdit dans l' Assemblée projetée l'usage de la Langue Françoise, la seule que parle et entend une si grande majorité des habitans de cette Province, leur ferait perdre indirectement le droit d'être élu à cette Assemblée equivaudroit en effet pour eux à une privation absolue d'un des plus grands avantages qu'aient les sujets de Votre Majesté, gèneroit et restreindroit leurs franchises et libertés, et diminuant le nombre des personnes propres à les représenter efficacement, et feroit des personnes qualifiées une classe privilégiée au sein d'une Colonie Britannique.

Que ce Bill en accordant au Haut-Canada dont la population n'est au plus qu'un cinquième de celle du Bas, autant de Membres qu'à cette dernière pour la représenter dans l'Assemblée Réunie, établiroit en faveur de la minorité, une préférance humiliante aux habitants de cette Province, contraire à leur droits, comme sujets Britanniques, et dangereuse pour leurs intérêts.

Et que vos Pétitionnaires jaloux de conserver la part que leur assure la division des deux Provinces dans le pouvoir constitutionnel, de faire les iois que les concernent, ne peuvent aussi que désirer que leur co-sujets de Haut-Canada, continuent à jouir d'un pareil avantage commun à toutes les autres Colonies de Votre Majesté.

Qu'outre ces sources fatales de discorde, d'injustice et de confusion, ce Bill contient relativement à l'approbation des subsides levés sur le peuple de cette Province, et à d'autres objets des dispositions contraires aux droits de naissance de vos Pétitionnaires comme sujets nés Britanniques, et à la déclaration expresse du Parlement.

Qu'il plaise donc à Votre Majesté que le dit Bill ne passe pas en loi, et que l'Heureuse Constitution et la Forme de gouvernement de cette Province, établi par le dit Statut soient conservés intactes à Vos Pétitionnaires et à leur postérité.

Et les Pétitionnaires de Votre Majesté ne cesseront de prier.

Bas Canada, 1822

N.B. La Petition aux deux Chambre est mot pour mot la même, à l'exception de ces différences de forme et de diction que le style Parlementaire exige suivant que l'on adresse au Roi, aux Lords ou aux Com

munes.

XCIX

PETITION FROM KINGSTON, ETC., FOR UNION
[Trans. Brymner, op. cit.]

:

TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

The Petition of Sundry Inhabitants of the Town of Kingston and County of Frontenac in the Midland District and Province of Upper Canada,

Most humbly Sheweth:

That Your Majesty's Petitioners availing themselves of the opportunity graciously afforded them by the postponement of certain measures lately entertained in the Imperial Parliament, on the subject of uniting the Legislatures of the Canadian Provinces, beg leave with humility and deference to present at the Throne, their reasons and motives, for praying the immediate furtherance of that Union.

Not that your Petitioners are insensible to the value of that excellent Constitution which this Province received in the Thirty-first year of the Reign of our Late Most Beloved Sovereign, by which under the wise and fostering administration of the present Lieutenant Governor they acknowledge with gratitude, that this favoured portion of Your Majesty's Dominions enjoys much happiness and prosperity.

But that nevertheless this Province of Upper Canada being from its geographical situation dependent on the sister province of Lower Canada for a channel whereby to import or export the various articles of its Comcrce; and no adequate provision having been made on the division of the province, for its free use of that channel, numerous unhappy disputes have of late years arisen, as touching its due proportion of Revenue aris ing from Duties on Articles imported to the manifest injury of its fait and equitable claims, as has been fully laid before Your Majesty's Minis ters by a Commisssioner appointed by the Provincial Parliament for that express purpose.

That Your petitioners tho' they hail with all gratitude the measures which the parental and considerate wisdom of Your Majesty's Government has already devised, in the Canada Trade Act, for the remedying of these evil, yet humbly suggest their anxious fears that this Act does not go to their root.

They have too much reason to be assured that every impediment will still be thrown in the way of fair and equitable adjustment; and that as often as the right of objecting to Revenue Laws is exercised by Upper Canada; great and unpardonable offence will be given to the Legislature and people of Lower Canada, and that, in short, the misunderstanding now unfortunately existing on this subject between the provinces, will be kept up and thereby national prejudices and antipathy already violent will become so inveterate, that the Union of the Legislature, which your petitioners conceive must be the ultimate remedy, will in time be difficult, if not altogther impracticable.

Your petitioners further beg leave to suggest that the Canada Trade Act will not effectually remove the causes of complaint which exist from the nature of the present state of things, viz., the want of a cordial cooperation between the provinces in improving the navigation of the St. Lawrence, an object of the first importance to Upper Canada, but which without the concurrence of Lower Canada cannot be accomplished; together with the other numerous obstacles to the better regulations of Trade and Commerce, which the mutual jealousy of the two separately existing Legislatures rather tends to increase than to diminish.

That from the sketch which your petitioners have received thro' the medium of the public prints of the lately entertained Union Bill they are fully confident that it is sufficient to obviate effectually, the present existing causes of jealousy and distrust, to harmonize the mutual feelings of the two people, and to produce to both provinces an abundant increase

of strength, wealth and happiness; securing to each all the essential privileges of their present constitutions; or if affecting as is the opinion of some persons amongst us, the Elective franchise, and freedom of parliamentary proceedings; yet your petitioners rest contented, that in these and all other matters consistent with sound policy, Your Majesty will lend an indulgent ear to whatever may be the general wish of your faithful Canadian subjects.

And therefore your petitioners humbly request that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to recomend your Ministers to further the projected Union in the Imperial Parliament, in such way, and under such terms as may be deemed most expedient to our Mutual Wants and necessities and most conducive to the happiness and prosperity of both provinces. And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.

C

PETITION FROM WENTWORTH AGAINST UNION

[Trans. Brymner, op. cit.]

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Imperial parliament assembled.

The Petition of the Inhabitants of the County of Wentworth in the District of Gore and Province of Upper Canada most respectfully sheweth. That your petitioners, His Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects many of whom emigrated to this province at an early period of its existence as such (for the purpose of enjoying the blessings of British government) immediately drew forth the Paternal care and solicitude of His late Majesty George the third, who in the thirty-first year of His Reign by and with the advice of the British parliament gave to Canada a Constitution a transcript of their own and at the same time for good and sufficient reasons divided Canada into two provinces; the Upper Province being principally settled by subjects of His Majesty who were accustomed to British Laws and using the English language.

Every circumstance that has arisen during the period elapsed has tended to unfold its benefits by bringing its enactments into practical operation, raising our admiration of, and attachment to a constitution so well adapted to our feelings and contributing so largely to our happiness.

Conscious that our gratitude and attachment to His Majesty's gov ernment had been manifested on every proper occasion, it was with deepest regret and almost astonishment that we received the heads of a bill brought before Your Honourable House during its last session for altering the said Act of 31st Geo. 3rd, Ch. 31. Altering the same so as to destroy our liberty altogether, without our consent, or even our knowledge and without any misconduct on our part amounting to a forfeiture.

We beg leave to assure Your Honourable House, that, the proposed alterations could only have originated in misrepresentations of the grossest nature and from utter ignorance of the localities of the Country and the Wants, Circumstances and feelings of the people.

It was thought proper in the present Constitution to leave the quantum of property possessed by Representatives to be assigned by the Provincial Legislature which has been done so as to secure the respectability of the assembly without circumscribing too far the choice of the Electors; but raising the qualification of members to £500 Sterling agreeably to the Bill before your Honourable House at its last session, would have the effect of disfranchising the electors altogether, some Counties not being able to select such qualified persons out of their whole population. Landed property likewise being made answerable for demands against the owners, in cases where Chattels would only be liable in England, causes real estate in this province frequently to change possessors. We would rather therefore resign the Representative Branch altogether, than to have the House of Assembly established on such principles, and to be told of every Act

with which we could not accord, that it was our own when we might, and frequently would be under the necessity of choosing men for our Representatives, no other way qualified, than by holding large tracts of wild iand which is in effect one of the greatest nuisances in the province.

The lengthening the duration of each Parliament to five years is to us particularly objectionable as extending too far the period before which the Representatives could again meet their constituents, and the vesting of the Executive government of each province with power to introduce Two Members into the Assembly without the exercise of the elective franchise, is we believe, without a precedent, and would give an undue influence to the Executive which in our opinion already possesses enough for all the proper purposes of government; for in this Country officers under the government are not excluded from the legislature as in England, by whom every wish of the Executive may be made known and ably supported, as has been constantly the case.

The requisition likewise made upon the Legislature to make permanent provision for the administration of Justice and support of the Civil Government, would at once render that power a nominal and unsubstantial one, and deprive the House of Assembly of the only proper and effectual check necessary to balance the otherwise overwhelming force of the Executive. For our own short history has taught us that times of plenty are times of profusion, and by granting a permanent supply, the House of Assembly will part with the power to accommodate the expenditure to the amount their resources may enable them to grant, to curtail cnormous contingencies, or to afford compensation to services that may imperatively call for reward. The propriety of this observation has become more evident by the experience of a few years for from 1812 to 1816 an unusual quantity of money was in circulation in this province, and as might be expected, abundance in receipt produced extravagance in expenditure, both public and private. The reverse has been great and sudden, for we have experienced and do still experience a period of depression beyond parallel, during which, all the usual means of the country have scarcely been equal to the nett supply of an increased expenditure. We proceed humbly to state our objections to an union of the Legislatures of the Canadas on any terms.

The population of this province is chiefly composed of subjects who have emigrated from Great Britain and Ireland, or from His Majesty's late American Colonies and their descendants, who from a sameness of origin, Language, Customs and Government, easily unite, commix and become one people.

While His Majesty's subjects, our Brethren of Lower Canada sprung from a distinct origin, speak a different language, profess a different form of Religion, are wedded to their own peculiar manners and customs and each Legislature having enacted, adopted and retained Laws suitable to their own usages, customs and local wants; and these two provinces having been separated into different governments for more than thirty years; your petitioners do not believe that two bodies so heterogeneous and discordant in all their parts as the Legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada must necessarily be can unite, cement and become one so far as to render equal advantages to both, which each has a right to expect from its own separate Legislature; and if an ascendancy should be given to the Representation of Upper Canada over that of Lower Canada, to which we do not feel entitled from our population it would be offering injustice to our Brethren of the Lower Province, with whom we have no desire to quarrel nor by any measure to break in upon their rights and peace; and should the advantage be on the part of Lower Canada we must be at their mercy, and we have no right to expect that attention to our interests which our wants and circumstances require, the only ground of difference heretofore existing between us being an account of our Quota of the Revenue which having been put in an amicable train of adjustment by the prompt and timely interference of the British Parliament and His Majesty's Government at once does away with every semblance of rea

sonable argument that might be offered by those anxious for a reunion:and also the extent of Territory would be so great that were it inhabited by the same people throughout, it must necessarily present such varied local interests that the wants of some parts of so extensive a colony will be more liable to suffer from neglect, from ignorance or from clashing interests than a less extent of territory would be.

To sum up all, Your Petitioners are of opinion that the different origin of the population of the two Provinces, the difference of their languages, habits, manners, customs and Religions, together with their varied interests, will necessarily produce efforts for ascendancy, create jealousies, strifes, animosities and contentions, which may break out in consequences of an alarming nature, and all, without answering any one desirable object which we can foresee, or that may balance the least of the evils that appear to us so obvious.

Wherefore, We his Majesty's faithful subjects most earnestly beseech Your Honourable House to abstain from placing us in a situation so perilous, so contrary to our wishes, and as we fear so destructive of our best interests, and that Your Honourable House would forebear passing the said or any other Bill, of a like nature into a Law for uniting the Legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada, at any future Session of the Imperial Parliament.

And Your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.

(329 signatures are attached.)

CI

LORD DALHOUSIE'S SPEECH PROROGUING THE LEGISLATURE OF LOWER CANADA'

[Trans. Christie, op. cit.]

9th March, 1824. Gentlemen of the legislative council, gentlemen of the assembly,-I am now to close a session of the provincial parliament, the result of which I am much afraid will prove to be of little public advantage; at the same time your long and laborious attendance is entitled to my best thanks; but before I prorogue this parliament, I think it important to the country that I should here, as his Majesty's representative, express my sentiments upon the general result of your proceedings during the several sessions in which I have met you: I declare those sentiments in an earnest desire to attract the serious attention of every member of this parliament, of every man who values the prosperity of Canada, and I trust I know too well the principles of the British Constitution, to express myself in any manner inconsistent with that respect which one branch of the legislature owes to another, or with those rights and privileges which belong to each respectively.

A claim has been made to an unlimited right in one branch of the legislature, to appropriate the whole revenue of the province according to its pleasure, including not only that part of it heretofore granted to his Majesty, and which is appropriated by acts of the provincial parliament to specific purposes, and subject to such distribution as the king may see fit, but even that portion also of the revenue which is raised by the authority of the Imperial Parliament, appropriated to defray the expenses of the administration of justice and of his Majesty's civil government in this province, and directed by an act passed in the British parliament, long before the establishment of the present constitution in this province, to be so applied, under the authority of the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury; this claim, made by one, has been formally denied by the other two branches of the provincial parliament;

1 Dalhousie's speech and the following documents (Nos. CII, CIII, CIV, CVII) illustrate the difficulties which arose over the disposal of the revenue.

2 See No. XXVI.

« AnkstesnisTęsti »