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authority with which She has been invested by the favour of Divine Providence, for the promotion of their happiness and the security of her dominions.

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Sir,

CXLIII

RUSSELL TO POULETT THOMSON

[Trans. Imperial Blue Books relating to Canada, Vol. XIII.)

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It appears from Sir George Arthur's despatches that you may encounter much difficulty in subduing the excitement which prevails on the question of what is called "Responsible Government." I have to instruct you, however, to refuse any explanation which may be construed to imply an acquiescence in the petitions and addresses upon this subject. I cannot better commence this despatch than by a reference to the resolutions of both houses of Parliament, of the 28th April and 9th May, in the year 1837.

The Assembly of Lower Canada having repeatedly pressed this point, Her Majesty's confidential advisers at that period thought it necessary not only to explain their views in the communications of the Secretary of i State, but expressly called for the opinion of Parliament on the subject. The Crown and the two houses of Lords and Commons having thus decisively pronounced a judgment upon the question, you will consideri yourself precluded from entertaining any proposition on the subject.

It does not appear, indeed, that any very definite meaning is generally agreed upon by those who call themselves the advocates of this principle, but its very vagueness is a source of delusion, and if at all encouraged, would prove the cause of embarrassment and danger.

The constitution of England, after long struggles and alternate success. has settled into a form of government in which the prerogative of the Crown is undisputed, but is never exercised without advice. Hence the exercise only is questioned, and however the use of the authority may be condemned, the authority itself remains untouched.

This is the practical solution of a great problem, the result of a contest which from 1640 to 1690 shook the monarchy, and disturbed the peace of the country.

But if we seek to apply such a practice to a colony, we shall at once find ourselves at fault. The power for which a minister is responsible in England, is not his own power, but the power of the Crown, of which he is for the time the organ. It is obvious that the executive councillor of a colony is in a situation totally different. The Governor under whom he serves, received his orders from the Crown of England. But can the colonial council be the advisers of the Crown of England? Evidently not, for the Crown has other advisers, for the same functions, and with superior authority.

It may happen,therefore, that the Governor receives at one and the same time instructions from the Queen, and advice from his executive council, totally at variance with each other. If he is to obey his instructions from England, the parallel of constitutional responsibility entirely fails; if, on the other hand, he is to follow the advice of his council, he is no longer a subordinate officer, but an independent sovereign.

There are some cases in which the force of these objections is so manifest, that those who at first made no distinction between the constitution of the United Kingdom, and that of the colonies, admit their strength. I allude to the questions of foreign war, and international relations, whether of trade or diplomacy. It is now said that internal government is alone intended.

But there are some cases of internal government, in which the honour

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of the Crown or the faith of Parliament, or the safety of the state, are so seriously involved, that it would not be possible for Her Majesty to delegate her authority to a ministry in a colony.

I will put for illustration some of the cases which have occurred in that very province where the petition for a responsible executive first arose-I mean Lower Canada.

During the time when a large majority of the assembly of Lower Canada followed M. Papineau as their leader, it was obviously the aim of that gentleman to discourage all who did their duty to the Crown within the province, and to deter all who should resort to Canada with British habits and feelings from without. I need not say that it would have been impossible for any minister to support, in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the measures which a ministry, headed by M. Papineau, would have imposed upon the Governor of Lower Canada; British officers punished for doing their duty; British emigrants defrauded of their property; British merchants discouraged in their lawful pursuits-would have loudly appealed to Parliament against the Canadian ministry, and would have demanded protection.

Let us suppose the Assembly as then constituted, to have been sitting when Sir John Colborne suspended two of the judges. Would any councillor, possessing the confidence of the Assembly, have made himself responsible for such an act? And yet the very safety of the province depended on its adoption. Nay, the very orders of which your Excellency is yourself the bearer, respecting Messrs. Bedard and Panet, would never be adopted, or put in execution by a ministry depending for existence on a majority led by M. Papineau.

Nor can anyone take upon himself to say that such cases will not again occur. The principle once sanctioned, no one can say how soon its application might be dangerous, or even dishonourable, while all will agree that to recall the power thus conceded would be impossible.

While I thus see insuperable objections to the adoption of the principle as it has been stated, I see little or none to the practical views of colonial government recommended by Lord Durham, as I understand them. The Queen's Government have no desire to thwart the representative assemblies of British North America in their measures of reform and improvement. They have no wish to make those provinces the resource for patronage at home. They are earnestly intent on giving to the talent and character of leading persons in the colonies, advantages similar to those which talent and character, employed in the public service, obtain in the United Kingdom. Her Majesty has no desire to maintain any system of policy among her North American subjects which opinion condemns. In receiving the Queen's commands, therefore, to protest against any declaration at variance with the honour of the Crown, and the unity of the empire, you are at the same time instructed to announce Her Majesty's gracious intention to look to the affectionate attachment of her people in North America, as the best security for permanent dominion.

It is necessary for this purpose that no official misconduct should be screened by Her Majesty's representative in the provinces; and that no private interests should be allowed to compete with the general good.

Your Excellency is fully in possession of the principles which have guided Her Majesty's advisers on this subject; and you must be aware that there is no surer way of earning the approbation of The Queen, than by maintaining the harmony of the executive with the legislative authorities.

While I have thus cautioned you against any declaration from which dangerous consequences might hereafter flow, and instructed you as to the general line of your conduct, it may be said that I have not drawn any specific line beyond which the power of the Governor on the one hand, and the privileges of the Assembly on the other, ought not to extend. But this must be the case in any mixed government. Every political constitution in which different bodies share the supreme power, is only enabled to exist by the forbearance of those among whom this power is distributed. In this respect the example of England may well be imitated. The sove

reign using the prerogative of the Crown to the utmost extent, and the House of Commons exerting its power of the purse, to carry all its resolutions into immediate effect, would produce confusion in the country in less than a twelve-month. So in a colony: the Governor thwarting every legitimate proposition of the Assembly; and the Assembly continually recurring to its power of refusing supplies, can but disturb all political relations, embarrass trade, and retard the prosperity of the people. Each must exercise a wise moderation. The Governor must only oppose the wishes of the Assembly where the honour of the Crown, or the interests of the empire are deeply concerned; and the Assembly must be ready to modify some of its measures for the sake of harmony, and from a reverent attachment to the authority of Great Britain. I have, etc.,

(Signed) J. RUSSELL.

Sir,

CXLIV

RUSSELL TO POULETT THOMSON

[Trans. Imperial Blue Books relating to Canada, Vol. XIII.]

Downing Street,
16th October, 1839.

I am desirous of directing your attention to the tenure on which public offices in the gift of the Crown appear to be held throughout the British Colonies. I find that the governor himself and every person serving under him are appointed during the royal pleasure, but with this important dif ference. The Governor's commission is, in fact, revoked whenever the interests of the public service are supposed to require such a change in the administration of local affairs. But the commissions of all other public officers are very rarely indeed recalled, except for positive misconduct I cannot learn that during the present or the two last reigns, a single instance has occurred of a change in the subordinate colonial officers, except in cases of death or resignation, incapacity or misconduct. This system of converting a tenure at pleasure into a tenure for life, originated probably in the practice, which formerly prevailed, of selecting all the higher class of colonial functionaries from persons who, at the time of their appointment, were resident in this country; and, amongst other motives which afforded such persons a virtual security for the continued possession of their places, it was not the least considerable, that, except on those terms, they were unwilling to incur the risk and expense of transferring their residence to remote, and often to unhealthy climates. But the habit which has obtained of late years of preferring, as far as possible, for places of trust in the colonies, persons resident there, has taken away the strongest motive which could thus be alleged in favour of a practice to which there are many objections of the greatest weight. It is time, therefore, that a different course should be followed, and the object of my present communication is to announce to you the rules which will be hereafter observed on this subject in the province of Lower Canada.

You will understand, and will cause it to be made generally known that hereafter the tenure of colonial offices held during Her Majesty's pleasure, will not be regarded as equivalent to a tenure during good beha viour; but that not only will such officers be called upon to retire from the public service as often as any sufficient motives of public policy may suggest the expediency of that measure, but that a change in the person of the governor will be considered as a sufficient reason for any alterations which his successor may deem it expedient to make in the list of public functionaries, subject of course to the future confirmation of the sovereign.

These remarks do not extend to judicial offices, nor are they meant to apply to places which are altogether ministerial, and which do not devolve upon the holders of them duties, in the right discharge of which the char

acter and policy of the government are directly involved. They are intended to apply rather to the heads of departments than to persons serving as clerks or in similar capacities under them. Neither do they extend to officers in the service of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The functionaries who will be chiefly, though not exclusively, affected by them, are the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, or Receiver-General, the Surveyor-General, the Attorney and Solicitor-General, the Sheriff or Provost Marshal, and other officers, who, under different designations from these are entrusted with the same or similar duties. To this list must also be added the members of the council, especially in those colonies in which the Legislative and Executive Councils are distinct bodies.

The application of these rules to officers to be hereafter appointed will be attended with no practical difficulty. It may not be equally easy to enforce them in the case of existing officers, and especially of those who may have left this country for the express purpose of accepting the offices they at present fill. Every reasonable indulgence must be shown for the expectations which such persons have been encouraged to form. But even in these instances it will be necessary that the right of enforcing these regulations should be distinctly maintained in practice, as well as in theory, as often as the public good may clearly demand the enforcement of them. It may not be unadvisable to compensate any such officers for their disappointment, even by pecuniary grants, when it may appear unjust to dispense with their services without such an indemnity.

I have, etc.,

(Signed) J. RUSSELL.

CXLV

POULETT THOMSON TO RUSSELL

[Trans. Imperial Blue Books Relating to Canada, 1839-40, Vol. XII.J

My Lord,

Government House, Montreal, 18th November, 1839.

I have the honour to inform your Lordship, that having summoned the Special Council by proclamation to meet on Monday, the 11th instant, I then submitted to them the question of the re-union of the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and solicited their opinion respecting it.

On Thursday, the 14th instant, I received from that body the address of which, and of my answer, I have the honour to enclose copies; and I likewise transmit an extract from the journals, from which your Lordship will learn their proceedings.

I beg your Lordship to remark, that the members composing the Special Council remain the same as during the administration of my predecessor. It may be necessary hereafter, in the exercise of my discretion, to make some alterations, with a view to increase the efficiency of that body; but I felt, that as the opinions of Her Majesty's Government in regard to the union are well known, it was extremely desirable that I should, if possible, submit the consideration of that important question to a Council in whose selection I had myself had no voice.

It appeared to me that to secure due weight in the mother country to the judgment of a body so constituted, it was indispensable to avoid even the possibility of an imputation that I had selected for its members those only whose opinions coincided with my own.

I had moreover every reason to believe, from the motives which guided my predecessor in his choice, that the Council contains a very fair representation of the state of feeling in the different districts of the province.

For these reasons I determined on making no alteration whatever; and it is with great satisfaction that I can now refer to the opinions of this body adopted almost unanimously. Their views as to the urgency of the union, and the advantages likely to result from it to the province, are set

forth in their address in terms so forcible as to leave me nothing to say with reference to their opinion. But I must add, that it is my decided conviction, grounded upon such other opportunities as I have enjoyed since my arrival in this country of ascertaining the state of public feeling, that the speedy adoption of that measure by Parliament is indispensable to the future peace and prosperity of this province.

All parties look with extreme dissatisfaction at the present state of government. Those of British origin, attached by feeling and education to a constitutional form of Government, although they acquiesced at the time in the establishment of arbitrary power, as a refuge from a yet worse despotism, submit with impatience to its continuance, and regret the loss, through no fault of their own, of what they consider as their birthright. Those of the French Canadians who remained loyal to their Sovereign and true to British connexion share the same feelings. Whilst among those who are less well-affected or more easily deceived, the suspension of all constitutional rights affords to reckless and unprincipled agitators a constant topic of excitement.

All parties therefore, without exception, demand a change. On the nature of that change there exists undoubtedly some difference of opinion. In a country so lately convulsed, and where passions are still so much excited, extreme opinions cannot but exist; and accordingly, while some persons advocate an immediate return to the former constitution of this province, others propose either the entire exclusion from political privileges of all of French origin, or the partial dismemberment of the province, with the view of conferring on one portion a representative system, while maintaining in the other a despotism.

I have observed, however, that the advocates of these widely different opinions have generally admitted them to be their aspirations, rather than measures which could practically be adopted, and have been unable to suggest any course except the union, by which that at which they aim, namely, constitutional government for themselves, could be permanently and safely established. There exists, too, even amongst these persons, a strong and prevailing desire that the Imperial Legislature should take the settlement of Canadian affairs at once into its own hands rather than that it should be delayed by a reference to individual opinions, or to the schemes which may be put forward by different sections of local parties.

The large majority, however, of those whose opinions I have had the opportunity of learning, both of British and French origin, and of those, too, whose character and station entitle them to the greatest authority advocate warmly the establishment of the union, and that upon terms of perfect fairness, not merely to the two provinces, but to the two races within this province. Of the extent to which this feeling, with regard to the upper province is carried, your Lordship will find a most conclusive proof in the resolution of the Special Council respecting the debt of Upper Canada. By this resolution a large sum, owing by that province on account of public works of a general nature, is proposed to be charged on the joint revenues of the United Province. Upon other details of the arrangement the same feeling prevails. It would be, however, useless for me to trouble your Lordship with respect to them, until I have had the opportunity of ascertaining the views and opinions entertained by the people of Upper Canada. If, however, as I trust, the principle of re-union should meet with their assent, I am of opinion that it can only be in consequence of demands of an unwarrantable character upon their part, that difficulty will arise in settling the principal terms.

I have, etc.,

(Signed) C. POULETT THOMSON.

ENCLOSURE I

To his Excellency the Right Honourable Charles Poulett Thomson, one of Her Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, Governor-General of British North America, and Captain-General, and Governor-in-Chief, in and over the Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, Nova

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