and a half sterling, to aid the Province, for the double purpose of diminishing the pressure of the interest on the public debt, and of enabling it to proceed with those great public undertakings whose progress during the last few years has been arrested by the financial difficulties. I shall direct a measure to be submitted to you embracing a plan for this purpose, and I shall lay before you, for your information and that of the people of Canada, extracts from the despatches which convey to me this most gratifying assurance.

In immediate connexion with the outlay of capital upon public works is the subject of emigration and the disposal and settlement of the public lands. There exist within this Province no means so certain of producing a healthy flow of immigration from the mother-country, and of ultimately establishing the immigrant as a settler and proprietor within the Colony, as the power of affording sure employment for his labour on his first arrival. The assistance of Parliament for the public works which may be undertaken here, will in great measure provide for this; but with a view further to aid immigration, I am authorized to declare to you that Her Majesty's government are prepared to assist in facilitating the passage of the immigrant from the port at which he is landed to the place where his labour may be made available, and that a vote of money for this purpose will be proposed to the Imperial Parliament. The conditions which Her Majesty's government attach to this measure will be submitted to you at the same time that I shall draw your attention to a scheme for the settlement and disposal of the public funds.

It appears highly desirable that the principle of local self-government, which already prevails to some extent throughout that part of the Province which was formerly Upper Canada, should receive a more extended application there, and that the people should exercise a greater degree of power over their own local affairs. I have directed a measure upon this subject to be submitted to you, and I solicit your earnest attention to the establishment of such a form of local government for those districts of the Province which are unprovided with it, as may ensure satisfaction to the people whilst it preserves inviolate the prerogative of the Crown, and maintains the administration of justice pure from party and popular excitement.

A due provision for the education of the people is one of the first duties of the State, and in this Province, especially, the want of it is grievously felt. The establishment of an efficient system by which the blessings of instruction may be placed within the reach of all is a work of difficulty; but its overwhelming importance demands that it should be undertaken. I recommend the consideration of that subject to your best attention, and I shall be most anxious to afford you in your labours all the co-operation in my power. If it should be found impossible so to reconcile conflicting opinions as to obtain a measure which may meet the approbation of all, I trust that at least steps may be taken by which an advance to a more perfect system may be made, and the difficulty under which the people of this Province now labour may be greatly diminished. subject to such improvements hereafter as time and experience may point out.

Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,

The financial accounts of the Province will be immediately laid before you, and I shall direct the estimates for the public service to be submitted to you with the least possible delay. I rely upon your co-operation in the financial measures which it will be my duty to propose to you for taking advantage of the assistance which her Majesty's Government propose to afford, and for carrying into effect the public improvements which are deemed most desirable. I shall earnestly endeavour that whatever you may appropriate for this latter purpose shall be economically employed and rendered effective. Honourable Gentlemen and Gentlemen,

In your wisdom and prudence I confide for the regulation of the different important matters which must necessarily come before you. Canada, united under a constitution which the Imperial Legislature has

framed with an earnest desire for the welfare of this portion of the British Empire, cannot fail to prosper under prudent and sage counsels. The generous aid which I have already announced to you, the_determination which I am also empowered to state upon the part of the Government to devote annually a large sum for the military defences of the Provincethe fixed and settled determination which I have the Queen's commands to declare that her North American possessions shall be maintained at all hazards as part of Her Empire, are pledges of the sincerity with which the mother-country desires to promote the prosperity of Canada, and to assist in the well-working of the new institutions which it has established. The eyes of England are anxiously fixed upon the result of this great experiment. Should it succeed, the aid of Parliament in your undertakings, the confidence of British capitalists in the credit you may require from them, the security which British people will feel in seeking your shores, and establishing themselves upon your fertile soil, may carry improvement to an unexampled height. The rapid advance of trade and of immigration within the last eighteen months, afford ample evidence of the effects of tranquillity in restoring confidence and promoting prosperity. May no dissensions mar the flattering prospect which is open before us. May your efforts be steadily directed to the great practical improvements of which the Province stands so much in need, and under the blessing of that Providence which has hitherto preserved this portion of the British dominions, may your counsels be so guided as to ensure to the Queen attached and loyal subjects, and to United Canada a prosperous and contented people.

CLVIII

SYDENHAM TO HIS BROTHER

[Trans. Scrope, op. cit.]

28th August, 1841.

My last feat has been to carry the Municipal District Bill for Upper Canada, word for word after my own ordinance for the Lower Province; thereby not only giving the complement to the Union (for you know I always declared that without such institutions the Union could not work), but setting up my own particular legislation by the sanction of the United Parliament. The bill has passed both Houses, and I proceed to-day in state to give it the royal assent, in order to make perfectly sure of its being law, even if I were to quit this world the day after. But the trouble I have had to do this has completely justified all my anticipations of the next to impossibility of our getting such a measure through a Provincial Assembly, and the utter hopelessness of the effort, but for the course which I followed of dictating it, whilst I was dictator, for one part of the province first. One party hated the measure because it was to give power to the people; another because it placed that power under wholesome control by the Crown; a third because it deprived the members of the Assembly of all their past power of jobbing. But I beat them all three, to the utter astonishment of the spectators; and at last carried my work, the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill, by a majority of forty-two to twenty-nine, or more than one third. I have now accomplished all I set much value on; for whether the rest be done now or some sessions hence, matters little. The five great works I aimed at have been got through the establishment of a board of works with ample powers; the admission of aliens; a new system of county courts; the regulation of the public lands ceded by the Crown under the Union Act; and lastly, this District Council Bill.

CLIX

RESOLUTIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF CANADA,

18411

[Trans. Journals of the Assembly of Canada, 1841, pp. 480 ff.]

I. Robert Baldwin's Proposals.

1. That the most important as well as the most undoubted of the political rights of the people of this Province is that of having a Provincial Farliament for the protection of their liberties, for the exercise of their constitutional influence over the Executive Departments of their Government and for legislation upon all matters which do not, on the grounds of absolute necessity, constitutionally belong to the jurisdiction of the Imperial Parliament, as the paramount authority of the Empire.

2. That the head of the Provincial Executive Government of the Province being within the limits of his Government, the representative of the Sovereign, is not constitutionally responsible to any other than the authorities of the Empire.

3. That the representative of the Sovereign for the proper conduct and efficient disposal of the public business is necessarily obliged to make use of the advice and assistance of subordinate officers in the administration of his Government.

4. That in order to preserve that harmony between the different branches of the Provincial Parliament which is essential to the happy conduct of public affairs the principal of such subordinate officers, advisers of the representative of the Sovereign, and constituting as such the Provincial administration under him as the head of the Provincial Government, ought always to be men possessed of the public confidence, whose opinions and policy harmonizing with those of the representatives of the people, would afford a guarantee that the well understood wishes and interests of the people, which Our Gracious Sovereign has declared shall be the rule of the Provincial Government, will at all times be faithfully represented to the head of that Government, and through him to the Sovereign and Imperial Parliament.

5. That as it is practically always optional with such advisers to continue in or retire from office at pleasure, this House has the constitutional right of holding such advisers politically responsible for every act of the Provincial Government of a local character, sanctioned by such Government while such advisers continue in office.

6. That for the like reason this House has the constitutional right of holding such advisers in like manner responsible for using, while they continue in office, their best exertions to procure from the Imperial authorities the exercise of their right of dealing with such matters affecting the interests of the Province as constitutionally belong to those authorities, in the manner most consistent with the well understood wishes and inter ests of the people of this Province.

II. S. B. Harrison's Amendments to Baldwin's Proposals.

1. That the most important, as well as the most undoubted, of the political rights of the people of this Province is that of having a Provincia! Parliament for the protection of their liberties, for the exercise of a constitutional influence over the Executive Departments of their Government, and for legislation upon all matters of internal Government.

2. That the head of the executive Government of the Province being, within the limits of his Government, the representative of the Sovereign is responsible to the Imperial authority alone; but that, nevertheless, the management of our local affairs can only be conducted by him, by and with the assistance, counsel and information, of subordinate officers in the Province.

1 These Resolutions were proposed by Robert Baldwin on Sept. 3, 1841. Harrison's amendments, which were carried, are generally assigned to Sydenham's own pen. See No. CXLII.

3. That in order to preserve between the different branches of the Provincial Parliament that harmony which is essential to the peace, welfare and good Government of the Province the chief advisers of the representative of the Sovereign, constituting a Provincial administration under him, ought to be men possessed of the confidence of the representatives of the people, thus affording a guarantee that the well understood wishes and interests of the people, which our Gracious Sovereign has declared shall be the rule of the Provincial Government, will, on all occasions, be faithfully represented and advocated.

4. That the people of this Province have, moreover, a right to expect from such Provincial Administration, the exertion of their best endeavours that the Imperial authority, within its constitutional limits shall be exercised in the manner most consistent with their well understood wishes and interests.

CLX

METCALFE TO STANLEY1

[Trans.: J. W. Kaye, Selections from the Papers of Lord Metcalfe, pp. 411

ff., London 1855.]

August 5, 1843.

My Lord,-Regarding Lord Sydenham as the fabricator of the frame of government now existing in this province, I have read his despatches to her Majesty's Secretary of State with attention, in search of some explanation of the precise view with which he gave to the local executive administration its present form; or of any clear understanding which he authorized the colony to entertain on the mooted question of Responsible Government. I find that in the early portion of his despatches, whenever the notion of Responsible Government is alluded to, in the sense in which it is here understood, he scouts it. There are some remarkable passages in his letters from Halifax, or about the time of his mission to Nova Scotia, which indicate decisively his view of that question. In speaking of a vote of want of confidence passed in the Legislative Assembly of that province, with regard to a member or members of the Executive Council, he reprobates such a vote as unconstitutional. He does not entertain the same opinion of a petition from the House to her Majesty for the removal of the Governor. This proceeding he regards as the constitutional mode by which a colony may express its disapprobation of the administration of the government, and seek redress against the measures of the Governor. Nothing could more clearly define his view of the responsibility of a colonial Government, which evidently was, that the Governor is the responsible Government; that his subordinate executive officers are responsible to him, not to the Legislative Assembly; and that he is responsible to the Ministers of the Crown, and liable to appeals from the colony against his proceedings; it being, at the same time, incumbent on him to consult local feelings, and not to persist in employing individuals justly obnoxious to the community.

Regarding this as the view taken of the question by Lord Sydenham, it is beyond measure surprising that he adopted the very form of administration that was most assuredly calculated to defeat that purpose, and to produce or confirm the notion of Responsible Government which he had before reprobated; that is, the responsibility of the executive officers of the Government to the popular Legislative Assembly. In composing his Council of the principal executive officers under his authority, in requiring that they should all be members of the Legislature, and chiefly of the popular branch, and in making their tenure of office dependent on their commanding a majority in the body representing the people, he seems to me to have

1 Metcalfe's despatch illustrates the breaking down of Sydenham's system of “responsible government." Kaye's note is reprinted at the end of the despatch. For Metcalfe's government, see J. C. Dent, Canada Since the Union of 1841 (Toronto, n. d.); and E. Gibbon Wakefield, (?) View of Sir Charles Metcalfe's Government of Canada (1844).

ensured, with the certainty of cause and effect, that the Council of the Governor should regard themselves as responsible, not so much to the Governor as to the House of Assembly. In adopting the very form and practice of the Home Government, by which the principal Ministers of the Crown form a Cabinet, acknowledged by the nation as the executive administration, and themselves acknowledging responsibility to Parliament, he rendered it inevitable that the Council here should obtain and ascribe to themselves, in at least some degree, the character of a Cabinet of Ministers. If Lord Sydenham did not intend this, he was more mistaken than from his known ability one would suppose to be possible; and if he did intend it, he, with his eyes open, carried into practice that very theory of Responsible Colonial Government which he had pronounced his opinion decidedly against.

I cannot presume to account for this apparent inconsistency otherwise than by supposing either that he had altered his opinion when he formed his Council after the union of the two provinces, or that he yielded against his own conviction to some necessity which he felt himself unable to resist. His despatches do not furnish any explanation as to which of these influences he acted under; at least, I have not discovered in his latter despatches any opinion on the subject on which he had previously declared his decision against the theory, which he practically carried into effect, by avowedly making the tenure of office dependent on the support of a majority in the popular branch of the Legislature.

It is understood that he was little accustomed to consult his Council, and that he conducted his administration according to his own judgment. His reputation for ability stands very high in this country; but it is believed that he could not have carried on his Government much longer without being forced to yield to the pressure of the Legislative Assembly on his Executive Council. Before the commencement of the first session of the Parliament of Canada, the only session of the united province that he lived, or ever intended, to go through, he was threatened with a vote of want of confidence against a part of his Council-the very vote which he had pronounced to be unconstitutional. This was averted during that session by a division in the Reform party, but the session, I am informed, was scrambled through with difficulty, the majorities reckoned on in support of the Government on some questions not exceeding one voice, and there not being in every instance even that. The first week of the session was occupied in extorting from the members of the Council an avowal of their responsibility to the majority, according to the popular construction of Responsible Government. The vote of want of confidence was averted in that session only to be brought forward in the next, when, as is known, the dread of it operated with decisive effect.

I dwell on Lord Sydenham's administration because it has had most important influence, which is likely to be permanent, on the subsequent government of this province. He established, among the last acts of his administration, what is here called Responsible Government, and left the problem of the success of that system in Colonial Government to be solved by futurity. It may have been that to carry the measures which he had immediately at heart he could not avoid what he adopted.

The term Responsible Government, now in general use in this colony', was derived, I am told, from the marginal notes of Lord Durham's report. Previously to the publication of that document, the Democratic party in Upper Canada had been struggling for a greater share than they possessed in the administration of the Government of the country; but they had no precise name for the object of their desires, and could not exactly define their views. Lord Durham's report gave them the definition, and the words Irresponsible Government, Responsibility of the Government, Responsibility of the Officers of the Government, occurring repeatedly in the marginal notes, it is said furnished the name. From that time "Responsible Govern

1 On May 14, 1829, however, a petition signed by over two thousand inhabitants of Upper Canada was presented to the House of Commons asking for “a local responsible ministry."