"Chairmen of the several County Committees, who have certified the appointment of the agents to the petitioners ; viz.—Messrs. NEILSON, VIGER, CUVILLIER, Members of the Assembly of Lower Canadi. Lord Dalhousie has, since the presentation of these petitions, been recalled; and is now on his way to India, for the purpose of assuming a military command: a post far more fitted to his character than a civil situation. Under the present Governor, Sir James Kempt, affairs have taken a more favourable turn; and I will close this shorth sketch of Canadian history, by stating the result of the labours of the last session of the Provincial Parliament, so far as we have been enabled yet to learn them. Seventy-two Bills, of the greatest importance, have been passed, having received the Governor's assent. Among these Bills are, first, one providing for the payment of the arrears of the year 1826; and, secondly, another providing for the expenses of the current year: this last having been passed upon the same principle as that of the year 1825; viz. the money is voted in chapters, as we have formerly explained, upon condition that fifteen days after the next meeting of the Legislature, accounts of the monies disbursed shall be rendered to the House. This is, undoubtedly, a wise provision: but we cannot avoid expressing our surprise at the fact, that the Legislative Council, composed of the very same members during the whole time, should, in 1825, indignantly reject this Bill; in 1826 assent to it; in 1827 reject it; and, in 1828, again accept it. This single statement proves the influence of the Executive Council over the Legislative. Six other Bills also passed the House of Assembly and the Council, but have been referred to His Majesty, for his approbation. It is to be regretted that two important Bills, connected with the administration of justice, failed in the Lower House; one of which was introduced by Mr. Viger, and entitled a Bill of Judicature; the other, introduced by Mr. Vallieres de St. Réal*, respecting the qualifications of justices of the peace. The House, during this session, has exhibited a great degree of liberality in all its grants of money, having voted £.200,000 for general improvements. His Excellency Sir James Kempt's Speech, in proroguing the Provincial Parliament of Lower Canada, on the 14th of March, 1829. "Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, "Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, "After so long and so laborious a session, it affords me great pleasure to be enabled to release you from any further attendance in the Provincial Parliament, and to convey to you my best thanks for the great diligence with which you have discharged your legislative duties. "Your labours have been productive of a variety of useful and important Acts, which you have presented to me for His Majesty's assent; and I notice, with peculiar satis "Now judge for the district of Three Rivers. faction, the liberality of the appropriations for many objects of great public interest, calculated to promote the general welfare and prosperity of the province. It will be my earnest endeavour to see that monies so liberally granted are faithfully and judiciously applied to the several objects they are intended to promote. "Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, "I thank you, in His Majesty's name, for the supplies which you have granted in aid of the revenue, already unappropriated by law, for defraying the expenses of the civil government, and the administration of justice. "Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, "Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, "Several measures of public importance have come under your consideration, in the course of the present session, which the pressure of other business, and the want of time, have prevented your maturing; but I feel persuaded that they will engage your early attention in the next meeting of the Provincial Parliament. "I had entertained a hope, that the inhabitants of the province would have been relieved from any inconvenience to which they may be subjected, under the ordinances now in force, by the passing of the Militia Bill; and I cannot but express my regret that it has not taken place." It is to be hoped that the same good understanding will continue to exist between the Governor and the people, and that he will be able to remain equally independent of the Executive Council, and act according to the dictates of common sense and common honesty, rather than in compliance with the interested views of that, hitherto, all-powerful body. This, however, must of necessity be only a temporary remedy that which we shall hereafter propose will be of a much more permanent nature; depending, not upon circumstances of the moment, nor upon individual character, but grounded upon the principles of human nature, which are the same eternally. CHAPTER IV. Of the Character, Manners, Customs, Industry, and Religion of the Canadians-French Population-State of the People-Agriculture-Food-Clothing-Habitations — Amusements of the People—Their Character. HAVING given what I believe to be a correct, though, I fear, somewhat general, account of the political affairs of Lower Canada, I proceed to lay before the reader a description of the manners and customs of my countrymen. This task I have not undertaken from any feelings of partiality or vanity; nor, in fact, with an expectation of gaining the good will of my reader by attempting to please him: the subject indeed will, I suspect, hardly be found one of mere amusement, the end in view being not so much to give a lively picture of a state of society differing from our own here in England, as to convey a correct conception of the country and its inhabitants; and endeavouring, by that means, to make the English public completely understand, both the observations already advanced, and those which I intend to hazard respecting the remedies for the evils which so long have beset the government of the country. On a matter wherein many have already exposed themselves to criticism, it may be thought presumptuous in me to speak; and, indeed, I frankly own, that it is with great reluctance that I have undertaken to do so: I know full well, that, to describe either an individual or a people, without wounding some self-love, is utterly impossible: the necessity of the thing, however, has induced me to brave this danger, and to attempt to paint in his true colours the so often calumniated and caricatured Jean Baptiste*; to show that the Canadians are, although of French extraction, not French, nor even Iroquois, nor Germans, nor English, nor Scotch, nor Yankees, but that they are, assuredly, Canadians. "Qu'est-ce que les Canadiens? L'histoire dira, sans doute, que ce sont des sujets Britanniques dévoués et fidèles, qui dans un temps où toutes les colonies voisines se séparaient de l'empire d'où elles tiraient leur origine, sont seuls demeurés attachés à cet empire, quoiqu'ils n'en fussent membres que depuis quelques années et par adoption; que depuis ils ont invariablement soutenu leur gouvernement, et qu'ils ont montré le plus grand courage à le défendre. L'histoire dira de plus que le plan constant des ennemis du pays, a été d'en réduire les habitants à la nullité politique la plus complète, et de les faire passer pour des ignorants† incapables d'avoir part aux affaires, et de tâcher, par tous les moyens possibles, de les anéantir. La mère patrie est-elle coupable de ces attentats contre le plus paisible des peuples? Il est aisé de dire que non, parceque nous savons que tous les plans, tous les projets dont on nous a menacés, ont prit leur origine au milieu de nous; et que quand on est parvenu à suspendre la justice de l'empire Britannique, ce n'a été qu'en le trompant, et en lui faisant voir notre avantage dans * I have here, not having the dread of criticism before my eyes, hazarded the use of a provincial epithet. Jean Baptiste is used, with reference to the Canadian people, as is John Bull with reference to the English. In visiting Scotland last summer, I met, on board one of the steam boats, Captain Basil Hall, on his return from America. As he had visited Lower Canada, I did not fail to ask his opinion of that country. "Oh!" said he, "it is a very fine country, but the people are very ignorant; I am positively assured, that the greatest part of the representatives in the House of Assembly cannot even sign their names.' Such is Captain Hall's information respecting Lower Canada; I only hope, for his own sake, that what he has just now laid before the public, respecting the United States and other parts of North America, is more substantially correct, 2 |