12. The next topic of complaint is, that many of the recommendations contained in Lord Ripon's despatch of the 8th November 1832, have not been carried into effect. Amongst these are especially mentioned such as relate to the amendment of the election laws, the non-interference of His Majesty's officers at elections, the disclosure to the House of the receipt and expenditure of the Crown revenue, the exclusion of ministers of religion from the Legislative and Executive Councils, the reducing the costs of elections, the judicial independence, and the limitation of the number of public officers who may sit in the Assembly.

Adhering, without reserve or qualification, to all the instructions issued under His Majesty's commands by Lord Ripon, the King is pleased to direct that you do adopt that despatch as a rule for the guidance of your own conduct; and that you exert your legitimate authority and influence to the utmost possible extent, to carry into effect all such of his Lordship's suggestions as may still continue unfulfilled.

13. The selection of justices of the peace is said to "have been made chiefly from persons of a peculiar bias in politics, and to be the means of extending the power and influence of the colonial system." It is not in my power to verify the accuracy of this opinion; and I am happy to feel myself relieved from the necessity of such an investigation. If any such abuse exists, it cannot be too promptly or decisively remedied. Whenever any increase of the number may appear to you desirable, you will propose to any gentleman in Upper Canada, possessing the necessary qualifications of knowledge, property and character, and unquestionable fidelity to the Sovereign, the assumption of the office of a justice of the peace, without reference to any political considerations.

14. A very considerable part of the report is devoted to the statement and illustration of the fact that the executive government of Upper Canada is virtually irresponsible; and the conclusion drawn from this statement is, that under the present system there can be no prospect of a good and faithful administration of public affairs.

Without entering on the one hand unnecessarily into a discussion of those general principles to which my attention is thus invited, or digressing, on the other hand, into personal topics, it is enough for me to observe on the present occasion, that experience would seem to prove that the administration of public affairs in Canada is by no means exempt from the control of a practical responsibility. To His Majesty and to Parliament the governor of Upper Canada is at all times most fully responsible for his official acts. That this responsibility is not merely nominal, but that His Majesty feels the most lively interest in the welfare of His Canadian subjects, and is ever anxious to devote a patient and laborious attention to any representations which they may address to Him, either through their representatives or as individuals, is proved not only by the whole tenor of the correspondence of my predecessors in this office, but by the despatch which I am now addressing to you. That the Imperial Parliament is not disposed to receive with inattention the representations of their Canadian fellow-subjects, is attested by the labours of the Committees which have been appointed by the House of Commons during the last few years to inquire into matters relating to those provinces.

It is the duty of the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada to vindicate to the King and to Parliament every act of his administration. In the event of any representations being addressed to His Majesty upon the subject of your official conduct, you will have the highest possible claim to a favourable construction; but the presumptions which may reasonably be formed in your behalf will never supersede a close examination how far they coincide with the real facts of each particular case which may be brought under discussion.

This responsibility to His Majesty and to Parliament is second to none which can be imposed on a public man, and it is one which it is in the power of the House of Assembly at any time, by address or petition, to bring into active operation.

I further unreservedly acknowledge that the principle of effective responsibility should pervade every department of your government; and for this reason, if for no other, I should hold that every public officer should depend on His Majesty's pleasure for the tenure of his office. If the head of any department should place himself in decided opposition to your policy, whether that opposition be avowed or latent, it will be his duty to resign his office into your hands, because the system of government cannot proceed with safety on any other principle than that of the cordial co-operation of its various members in the same general plans of promoting the public good. The inferior members of the different offices should consider neutrality on this great litigated question of provincial policy as at once their duty and their privilege. Diligently obeying all the lawful commands of their superiors, they will be exempted from censure if the course which they have been directed to pursue should issue in any unfortunate results.

Some of the members of the local government will also occasionally be representatives of the people in the Assembly, or will hold seats in the Legislative Council. As members of the local legislature they will of course act with fidelity to the public, advocating and supporting no measures which, upon a large view of the general interest, they shall not think it incumbent on them to advance. But if any such person shall find himself compelled by his sense of duty to counteract the policy pursued by you as head of the government, it must be distinctly understood that the immediate resignation of his office is expected of him; and that, failing such a resignation, he must, as a general rule, be suspended from it. Unless this course be pursued, it would be impossible to rescue the head of the government from the imputation of insincerity, or to conduct the administration of public affairs with the necessary firmness and decision.

I need hardly say, that in the event of any public officer being urged into a resignation of his place by his inability to give a conscientious support to his official superior, the merits of the question would undergo an investigation of more than common exactness by His Majesty's Ministers, and that His Majesty's decision would be pronounced with a perfect impartiality towards those who had the honour to serve him in the province, however high or however subordinate might be their respective stations.

By a steadfast adherence to these rules, I trust that an effective system of responsibility would be established throughout the whole body of public officers in Upper Canada, from the highest to the lowest, without the introduction of any new and hazardous schemes; and without recourse to any system, of which the prudence and safety have not been sufficiently ascertained by a long course of practical experience.

15. I next advert to two subjects of far more importance than any of those to which I have hitherto adverted: I refer to the demand made partly in the report of the committee, and partly in the address from the Assembly to His Majesty, for changes in the mode of appointing legislative councillors, and for the control by the Assembly of the territorial and casual revenues of the Crown.

On these subjects I am, to a considerable extent, relieved from the necessity of any particular investigation; because claims precisely identical have been preferred by the Assembly of Lower Canada, and because, in the instructions' to the commissioners of inquiry who have visited that province, I have already had occasion to state the views which have received His Majesty's deliberate sanction. The principles of government in the two sister provinces must, I am well aware, be in every material respect the same; I shall therefore annex for your information, as an appendix to this despatch, so much of the instructions to the Earl of Gosford and his colleagues as applies to these topics.

In the prosecution of the inquiries of the commissioners in Lower Canada, they will be instructed to enter into full and unreserved communi1 See No. CXVIII.

cation with you upon these questions, and to frame their report in such a manner as may enable His Majesty to adopt a just and final conclusion upon the course to be pursued respecting them in both the Canadas. For this purpose you will supply the commissioners with all the information which you may think necessary for them to receive, and with every suggestion which you may think it expedient to make for their assistance in comparing the state of these questions in the two provinces. If it should ultimately appear desirable, the commission may perhaps be directed to resort to Upper Canada, there to pursue, in concurrence with yourself, a more exact inquiry into these subjects than they could institute at Quebec, in reference to the affairs of the upper province.

In general, the Earl of Gosford and his colleagues will be directed to enter into unreserved communication with you, not only on the points just mentioned, but on every subject of common interest to the two provinces. You on your part will conduct yourself towards them in the most cordial spirit of frankness and co-operation.

I have thus, in order, adverted to every subject to which the Assembly of Upper Canada have called the attention of His Majesty's Government. You will communicate to the Legislative Council, and to that House, the substance of this despatch, as containing the answer which His Majesty is pleased to make to the addresses and representations which I have had the honour to lay before Him from the two Houses in their last session. I trust that in this answer they will find sufficient evidence of the earnest desire by which His Majesty's councils are animated to provide for the redress of every grievance, by which any class of His Majesty's Canadian subjects are affected.

I close this communication with the expression of my earnest hope, and I trust not too confident belief, that the representatives of the people of Upper Canada will receive with gratitude and cordiality this renewed proof of His Majesty's paternal solicitude for the welfare of His loyal subjects in that province; and that, laying aside all groundless distrusts, they will cheerfully co-operate with the King, and with you as His Majesty's representative, in advancing the prosperity of that interesting and valuable portion of the British empire.

I have, &c.

(Signed) GLENELG.

CXX

EXTRACTS FROM PETITIONS OF HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, LOWER CANADA, 18362

[Trans.: Christie, op. cit.]

*

We solemnly repeat that the principal of the political reforms which this House and the people have for a great number of years used every effort to obtain, is to extend the elective principle to the Legislative Council. To render the Executive Council directly responsible to the representatives of the people, conformably to the principles and practice of the British Constitution,-to place under the wholesome and constitutional control of the House the whole public revenue from whatever source derived-to obtain the repeal of certain Acts of the Imperial Parliament, in which the people of the Province were not represented, with regard to the internal affairs of the Province, making its territory and best resources the subject

1 Head submitted a copy of these Instructions to the Legislature of Upper Canada (see his Narrative, p. 47, for his reasons for doing so). As a result, Gosford's work was severely hindered, and Papineau turned on him the same stream of abuse as he had poured on Aylmer. (See Kingsford, History of Canada, Vol. IX, p. 618.)

This document represents the final position of Papineau's party on the eve of the Rebellion. It contains the earliest reference in exact terms to a responsible executive. The next document contains the Resolutions of the House of Assembly on which it was founded.

of unfair speculation and monopoly-to ensure equal rights and impartial Justice to all classes-to abolish sinecures, and the accumulation of incompatible offices-to redress the numerous abuses which prevailed in the various departments of the public service-and to obtain for the Provincial Legislature with regard to the internal affairs of the Province, and more especially over the management and settlement of the waste land thereof for the benefit of all classes of His Majesty's subjects without distinction, that essential control which would be the direct consequence of the principles of the Constitution.

At the head of the reforms which we persist in considering as essential, is the introduction of the principle of popular election into the constitution of the Legislative Council. The people of the country, without distinction, regard this body, as at present constituted, as factitiously opposed to its institutions, its state of society, its feelings and its wants, and as having been and as being necessarily the strong-hold of oppression and abuses. They continue in like manner to believe that any partial reform which shall stop short of the introduction of the elective principle, will be altogether insufficient, and will, as leaving the inherent vice untouched, bring back the same evils and the same collisions. We think, that with regard to the constantly baneful action of the Legislative Council, we have amply explained ourselves to your Majesty, and that no other proof than the past and present acts of that body is needed to remove all doubt as to the nature and spirit of the improvement to be introduced into it. We look, in this respect, upon the Act of 1791, giving Legislators for life to the Canadian Provinces, at the mere pleasure of the Executive authority, as an unfortunate experiment, followed by most unhappy consequences. We also look upon this experiment as entirely foreign to the British constitution. We regret that in the extracts from the Despatches we have mentioned', an attempt is made by begging the question to infer an analogy which does not exist, for the purpose of aggravating certain specious objections against an elective Council. We would respectfully pray your Majesty to remark, that the influence which prevailed in the Councils of the Empire, at the period when the Act of 1791 was passed, was calculated to give an undue preponderance to the aristocratic principle, while in America, the independent state and the progress of society, repelled any doctrine of this nature, and demanded the extension of the contrary principle. We must also express our regret, that while your Majesty's representative in this Province has solicited the co-operation of the two Houses of the Provincial Legislature to labor at the reform of abuses, and while this House is fully disposed to grant that co-operation, the constant opposition of the Legislative Council is of a nature to prevent so important an appeal from being followed by any result. For ourselves, we are conscious that we have ever been, and are still guided in our labors by our conviction of what was for the greatest advantage of the people, and best adapted to cause your Majesty's Government in this Province to be respected, cherished and strengthened; and firm in our determination to pursue the same course, we pray your Majesty to believe that we shall not depart from it.

We

Respecting as we do the expression of the Royal pleasure, we yet regret that the Ministers of the Crown should have declared that your Majesty was most unwilling to admit that the question of an elective Legislative Council was a subject open to debate in this Province. beg to be permitted to represent to your Majesty, that it is not within the province of the Colonial Secretary to limit the subjects which are to engage the attention of this House and the people it represents, within the required forms, and with the view of improving the laws and condition of the Province. Against this infringement of the liberties of the subject, by one of your Majesty's responsible servants, we dare to appeal to the supreme

1 These instructions were made public by Sir Francis Head, the Lieut.-Gov. of Upper Canada, and communicated to Papineau by Bidwell, Speaker of the Upper Canadian Legislature.

authority of the Empire, to that of your Majesty, sitting in your high Court of Parliament.

We do not intend to discuss the historical points of English colonial government, on which we venture to differ with your Majesty's ministers. Time has solved the problem, and we firmly believe that those happy countries to which these questions refer, would never have attained the degree of prosperity which they now enjoy, either under the old colonial government, or under a system like that which successive colonial ministers have established and maintained in this colony.

On the subject of the Executive Council, we abstain from entering on any details, because we hold this question to be closely connected in practice with the other more important subjects of colonial policy. We shall confine ourselves in saying, that the full and entire recognition of the rights of this House and of the people, by those whom your Majesty may be pleased to call to your Councils, and their constitutional responsibility based upon the practice of the United Kingdom, will be essential motives for confidence in your Majesty's government.

On the subject of the independence of the Judges, we see with pleasure that there exists no difference between the views of His Majesty's Government and our own. We regret that we were mistaken in our efforts to carry them into effect. Since that time the modifications which have rendered the character of the Legislative Council worse, while it was pretended to make it better, have convinced us that it would be of no advantage to the due administration of justice, to proceed on the same basis. We shall not, however, abandon the consideration of the subject, and we shall attentively examine any plan which shall appear to us well adapted for the attainment of the desired end.

What we have now said will suffice to show your Majesty what our views are, with regard to the politics of the colony as a whole, to the functions and powers which be believe to belong to the Provincial Legislature on all matters relative to the internal affairs of the colony, and with regard to what we conceive to be the best means of ensuring activity, efficiency and responsibility in the public service. We would suggest to your Majesty, that there are on this portion of the American Continent, more than a million of your Majesty's subjects, composing the Colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, who, speaking different languages, and having a great diversity of origin, laws, creeds and manners, characteristics peculiar to them respectively, and which they have severally the right to preserve as a separate and distinct people, have yet come to the conclusion that the institutions common to the two countries ought to be essentially modified, and that it has become urgently necessary to reform the abuses which have, up to this day, prevailed in the administration of the Government. We rejoice that we have, in our just claims, the support of our brethren of Upper Canada. This support will render manifest to your Majesty and to our fellow subjects in all parts of the Empire, that we have been sincere in our declarations, that the circumstances and wants of the two Canadian Provinces do indeed require a responsible and popular government, and that we have been actuated by no narrow views of party or of origin in repeating to your Majesty for many years, our prayer that such a Government may be granted to us.

With regard to the protection and to the equality of the rights which your Majesty's Canadian subjects are entitled to, the remedy of evils and abuses, the abolition of sinecures and pluralities, the expected formation of an Executive Council on the principles we have set forth, and to divers other subjects more particularly mentioned in the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the present Session, we refer to the answer to His Excellency the Governor in Chief, and we ardently wish that the views and instructions of your Majesty's Government, on the essential points, may be of a nature to facilitate the results which your Majesty's Representative