ating the revenues absolutely and indispensably requisite for defraying the civil expenditure of the Province, by means of which the Executive government has been rendered entirely dependent on the will and pleasure of the leaders in the Assembly for its very existence; and public authority, both administrative and judicial, from the Governor-in Chief and the Chief Justice of the Province to the most humble individual in the scale of office, has been subjected to their interested, partial, vindictive, or capricious control.

If any doubt could heretofore have been entertained as to the design and tendency of the proceedings of these men, that doubt must have been removed by the resolutions' passed in the Assembly on the 21st day of February, 1834, containing divers false and scandalous imputations of so general a nature as not to admit of answer or investigation, against the character and conduct of His Majesty's government in this Province,against the whole body of its officers, civil and military,-against the judiciary and the second branch of the Provincial Legislature,—against a large portion of the inhabitants of the colony engaged solely in the duties and pursuits of private life, and against the British government generally as respects this Province, since the cession of Canada to His Majesty by the Crown of France.

These resolutions passed by a majority of 56, of whom 51 were members of French origin, against 24, of whom 17 were not of that origin. They formally class and enumerate His Majesty's subjects in this Province as persons of "French origin" and of "British or Foreign origin," the former of whom are erroneously stated as consisting of 525,000 and the latter of 75,000 souls.

The address to His Majesty and to the two Houses of Parliament, wherein these resolutions are embodied,and which have been transmitted to England, claims a revision and modification, by the majority of the people of this Province, of the Constitutional Act; an extension of the elective system contrary to the prerogative of the Crown and the British constitu tion, for the purpose of investing the appointment to offices of honor and profit in the said majority of the people; the election of the second branch of the legislature, now appointed by the Crown for life, in virtue of the aforesaid act; threatening at the same time the British government and Parliament with the example of the late colonies, now the United States of America, and insisting upon being supported in the demands contained in the said resolutions, that the people of this Province 'may not be forced by oppression to regret their dependence on the British empire, and to seek elsewhere a remedy for their afflictions.'

In furtherance of the views of the framers of the said resolutions and address, the said resolutions were, shortly after the close of the last session of the Provincial Parliament, printed and distributed in great numbers throughout the Province at the public expense; and certain committees were therein invited to be formed, to aid in giving effect to the same, under a pledge of the "honor of the representatives of the people” to reimburse the expenses of the said committees to them, or to such persons as might advance money to them.

The party already referred to, composed of certain members of the House of Assembly, of French origin, has for several years past, as already stated, and as is well known, taken advantage of every opportunity, both by speeches delivered in the House of Assembly and elsewhere, and through means of newspapers under their control, to excite the ancient national prejudices of the inhabitants who are of French origin, against their fellow-subjects who are not of that origin; and particularly by the aforesaid resolutions printed and distributed as aforesaid, and by meetings and committees in support thereof, they have in fact so operated upon the prejudices of persons of their origin, as to excite a great number of them to frequent public expressions of hatred, and threatened violence to those not of the same national origin.

In consequence of these machinations and others connected with and 1 See No. CXIV.

resulting from them, it has come to pass, as might have been looked for under such circumstances, that at the late general election, (as the poll books kept of record according to law will shew,) majorities consisting of persons of French origin have chosen nearly the whole of the members who are to compose the House of Assembly for the ensuing four years, of persons of that origin who have publicly approved of the said resolutions, or pledged themselves to their support.

As subordinate to the grievances now stated, but contributing materially to the political evils of the Province, other departments of the government may be mentioned as to which measures of reform are urgently called for. The system of judicature as now established, it is universally known, is altogether insufficient and unsuited to the present state and condition of the Province. From the great extension of the settlements, and the increase of population in different districts, the courts of original jurisdiction have become inaccessible to the inhabitants at a distance from them, otherwise than at a ruinous expense, involving in many cases a denial or failure of justice; whilst the Court of Appeals, from its peculiar constitution, is unfit for the exercise of the powers with which it is entrusted. That a system of such vital importance to the public welfare, and yet so injuriously defective and inadequate, should have continued without alteration or improvement, is among the striking evidences of the imperfect exercise of powers entrusted to the Provincial Legislature.

In every well-regulated government it is essential that the executive authority should be aided by the advice of able and well-informed individuals, acting together and in a body, by which sound discretion, uniformity, consistency and system are imparted to its measures. Among colonial governments, which are generally administered by persons laboring under the disadvantage of a deficiency of local information, assistance of this nature is indispensable for the attainment of the ends of good government. This body of advisers ought to be found in the Executive Council of the Province; but its members are too few in number, and its composition too defective, to answer the purposes of its institution.

Whilst the greatest importance ought to be attached to the selection of fit persons for seats in the Legislative Council, it is indispensably necessary for the stability of the government as now constituted, and for the security of His Majesty's subjects within the Province, that the power of appointing members to that branch of the legislature should continue to reside exclusively in the Crown, but subject to such regulations as may be deemed proper for ensuring the appointment of fully qualified persons.

Under the foregoing view of the political state of the Province, the object of the Constitutional Association of Quebec will be,

By constitutional means,

1st. To obtain for persons of British and Irish origin, and others His Majesty's subjects laboring under the same privation of common rights a fair and reasonable proportion of the representation in the Provincial Assembly.

2nd. To obtain such reform in the system of judicature and the administration of justice as may adapt them to the present state of the Province.

3rd. To obtain such a composition of the Executive Council as may impart to it the efficiency and weight which it ought to possess.

4th. To resist any appointment of members of the Legislative Council otherwise than by the Crown, but subject to such regulations as may ensure the appointment of fit persons.

5th. To use every effort to maintain the connexion of this colony with the parent state, and a just subordination to its authority.

6th. To assist in preserving and maintaining peace and good order throughout the Province, and ensuring the equal rights of His Majesty's subjects of all classes.

Now WE, whose names are undersigned, taking the premises into our serious consideration, do hereby form ourselves into a Constitutional Association for the purposes stated in the foregoing declaration, and for mutual

support in the discharge of the duties of our allegiance to His Majesty, as lawful Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of this Province, dependent on and belonging to the said Kingdom.

Declaring that we wish for no preferences or advantages over our fellow-subjects of whatever national origin, nor for any infringement of the rights, laws, institutions, privileges and immunities, civil or religious in which those of French origin may be peculiarly interested, and to which they are entitled, or which they enjoy under the British government and the established constitution; desiring merely for ourselves the enjoyment of equal rights with our fellow-subjects, and that permanent peace, security and freedom for our persons, opinions, property and industry which are the common rights of British subjects.

And in furtherance of the purposes aforesaid, to the utmost of our Fower, we hereby pledge ourselves to each other and to our fellow-subjects throughout the Empire.

CXVI

AN ADDRESS BY THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS OF MONTREAL TO MEN OF BRITISH OR IRISH ORIGIN, 1834

Fellow Countrymen,

[Trans. Christie, op. cit.]

Engaged in a contest, the result of which must be felt throughout the Provinces of British America, we, your oppressed brethren of Montreal, solicit your attention to a brief and temperate exposition of our principles and grievances.

Connected with you by identity of origin, by community of feeling, by national recollections, and by one common interest, in this the hour of danger we look to you for support.

The population of Lower Canada, heterogeneous in its character, comprehends two distinct classes-a majority of French, and a minority of British descent-governed by feeling and attachments widely differing from cach other; the causes which have produced that division may be generally known.

The want of education among the French majority, and their consequent inability to form a correct judgment of the acts of their political leaders, have engendered most of our grievances. The extent of that ignorance may be collected from the facts, that within the last few years in each of two Grand Juries of the Court of King's Bench for the district of Montreal, selected under a provincial law, from among the wealthiest inhabitants of the rural parishes, there was found but one person competent to write his name; and that trustees of schools are specially permitted, by statute, to affix their crosses to their school reports.

The political information of that part of the Canadian population engaged in agricultural pursuits is, therefore derived exclusively from the few educated individuals scattered among them, who speak the same language, and who possess the means of directing public opinion, exempted from those salutary checks which education alone can bestow.

The persons who wield this mighty power are, generally speaking seigniors, lawyers and notaries, of French extraction, all of whom as will be shown hereafter, have a direct and selfish interest in maintaining a system of feudal law, injurious to the country, and bearing with peculiar severity on British interests.

Our endeavours to procure relief have been represented as an overt attack upon the customs and institutions of the Province; national prejudices have been called into action, national feelings excited, and a French majority, ignorant of the nature of the contest, is now arrayed against a British minority.

Passing by the petty vexations of the feudal tenure, such as the

seignior's right to call for the title deeds of every vassal; his exclusive right of grinding the grain of his seigniory; his right to assume any property within the limits of his seigniory, on reimbursing to the purchaser the cost of his acquisition; and other claims of a servile and arbitrary character incident to feudal law; we proceed to the subject of the more grievous burdens by which we are oppressed.

Throughout the seigniories of Lower Canada, within the limits of which are comprised the cities of Montreal and Quebec, upon the sale of real property the feudal Lord extracts from the purchaser a fine, equal to one-twelfth part of the price-a claim which recurs with each successive sale; thus every person who clears, or otherwise improves a farm, erects a building either in town or country, or invests capital in landed estate, bestows one-twelfth of his outlay on the seignior, whenever the property is brought to sale.

This odious law, so injurious in its effects, readily explains why this fine Province, although richly endowed by nature, is so far surpassed in the career of improvement by neighboring Provinces and States.

From the want of a bill for the registration of acquisition of real property, the validity of a title cannot be ascertained except by a course of expensive proceedings through Courts of Law, but secret incumbrances may still exist, unaffected by that procedure, for whose discovery no means are afforded; hence the difficulty of borrowing money on mortgage, and the frequent seizure and forced sale of real estate.

The profits which accrue to the seignior from this state of things are obvious; and the interest of the French lawyer and notary in maintaining a system of law that fosters litigation and produces corresponding expense is equally intelligible.

Such are the considerations which govern a party exercising a paramount influence in the House of Assembly: and thus it is that British liberality which conferred upon the French population the elements of free government has been perverted by designing and interested individuals to the means of retaining laws adverse to national prosperity and to the spirit of free institutions.

The repugnance of Britons to a slavish and antiquated system of feudal jurisprudence has drawn upon them the undisguised hostility of the French party; an hostility which has been manifested by attempts even of a legisiative character to check emigration from the British Isles, and to prevent a permanent settlement in the Province of that class of His Majesty's subjects, whom they have invidiously described as of "British or Foreign origin."

The most prominent of these enactments, and the most unjust, is the imposition of a tax on British emigrants, and British emigrants only, in violation of the most sacred rights we inherit from our fathers, and contrary to the best interests of the Province.

They have denounced, as a mischievous monopoly, a Land Company, cstablished for the purpose of settling, with a British population, lands which, by their distance from a market and want of roads, would otherwise be inaccessible to individual enterprise; wilfully overlooking the fact, that the immense tracts of land still held by the Crown, and offered for sale, in small parcels, at low rates, secure the advantages of competition, and will prevent the Company from using the privileges to the detriment of the community.

In the formation of counties for the election of representatives, the townships, which are held by the tenure of free and common soccage, and are therefore the natural resort of British settlers, have been divided into counties, according to the actual population, without making any provision for their future growth, although the territory thus parcelled out is of much larger extent that the French seigniores; so that were the respective sections of the Province peopled in proportion of their productive powers, a majority of British constituents would return a minority of representatives.

They have excluded co-tenants and co-proprietors from the elective

franchise, as being generally Britons, whilst to co-heirs, as being chiefly French, the right of voting has been carefully secured.

The qualification of magistrate, of militia officers and of jurors, is made to depend upon real estate; the possession of which, in properties of limited value, is generally confined to Canadians, whilst Britons, whose capitals are more commonly embarked in commercial and manufacturing pursuits, are virtually debarred from those offices and public trusts; thus confining our liberties to the discretion of a body of men, the greater number of whom are devoid of education, and have been taught to regard Britons as their natural enemies.

Their abuse of power and contempt of enlightened public opinion, (confident in the support of an unlettered French majority,) are exemplified by their proceedings in the House of Assembly. We have seen Mr. Christie' expelled from successive Parliaments, despite the remonstrances of the disfranchised electors of Gaspé, and contrary to every principle of a representative government-Mr. Mondelet expelled by a forced construction of an illegal resolution, a construction, from which the framer of the resolution declared his dissent; and contrary to the precedent in the case of Mr. Panet who under like circumstances, was permitted to retain his seat The West Ward of Montreal, containing a majority of independent British electors, disfranchised for two years-a pretended enquiry into the melancholy riot of the 21st of May, 1832, where individuals were pronounced guilty before the examination of a single witness; and where, in violation of a solemn pledge, and of common justice, the evidence for the prosecution was sent forth to the world without any evidence having been received in defence-public monies misapplied under resolutions of the Assembly, without the assent of the co-ordinate branches of the legislature -the contingent expenses of the Assembly charged with a salary to Mr. Viger, originally of £1000, but gradually increased to £1700 per annum—a sum so disproportionate to the services rendered, as to justify the conclusion, that the vote itself was a convenient pretext for the secret misapplication of Provincial funds and, their daring contempt of all public and constitutional principles during the last session, and on the eve of a dissolution, in attempting to commit a new Parliament to the reimbursement of the expenses attendant upon the convening of public meetings throughout the Province, avowedly for the purpose of influencing the general election.

The laws governing commercial transactions introduced from France, remain as they were at the conquest. Applications to the Assembly for a bankrupt law, and other modifications of the existing jurisprudence, suited to the altered circumstances of the country, have been uniformly neglected, and we continue subjected to the uncertain and ill defined provisions of a body of laws long since repudiated in that France, whence it was originally derived.

The provincial banks called into existence by acts of the Provincial Legislature, and by the terms of their charters, compelled annually to exhibit statements of their affairs, have been openly denounced by Mr. Papineau, late Speaker of the Assembly, and organ of the French party, from no other possible motive than a desire to inflict injury upon commerce, and consequently on Britons, by whom the commerce of the country is chiefly conducted.

The same individual has publicly recommended to the French party to abstain from all intercourse with Britons: an advice which has been acted upon to a considerable extent.

Not satisfied with the powers with which they are constitutionally invested, the French party in the Assembly have been incessantly occupied in attempting to arrogate to themselves supremacy in the concerns of the Province.

Their refusal to pass laws, except of temporary duration, has involved in uncertainty important interests which would require to be regulated by permanent enactments.

1 Christie gives a full account of his expulsion, etc., in his History. For the Mondelet case and the Montreal riot, see pp. 380, 385.