and possessed by the Commons House of Parliament in the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

80. Resolved, That it is one of the undoubted privileges of this House to send for all persons, papers and records, and to command the attendance of all persons, civil or military, resident within the province, as witnesses in all investigations which this House may deem it expedient to institute; and to require such witnesses to produce all papers and records in their keeping, whenever it shall deem it conducive to the public good to do so.

81. Resolved, That as the grand inquest of the province, it is the duty of this House to inquire concerning all grievances, and all circumstances which may endanger the general welfare of the inhabitants of the province, or be of a nature to excite alarm in them with regard to their lives, their liberty, and their property, to the end that such representations may be made to our Most Gracious Sovereign, or such legislative measures introduced, as may lead to the redress of such grievances, or tend to allay such alarm; and that far from having a right to impede the exercise of these rights and privileges, the Governor-in-chief is deputed by his Sovereign, is invested with great powers, and receives a large salary, as much for defending the rights of the subject and facilitating the exercise of the privileges of this House, and of all constituted bodies, as for maintaining the prerogatives of the Crown.

82. Resolved, That since the commencement of the present session, a great number of petitions relating to the infinite variety of objects connected with the public welfare, have been presented to this House, and many messages and important_communications received by it, both from His Majesty's Government in England and from His Majesty's Provincial Government; that many bills have been introduced in this House, and many important inquiries ordered by it, in several of which the Governorin-chief is personally and deeply implicated; that the said petitions from our constituents, the people of all parts of this province; the said communications from His Majesty's Government in England and from the Provincial Government; the said bills already introduced or in preparation; the said inquiries commenced and intended to be diligently prosecuted, may and must necessitate the presence of numerous witnesses, the production of numerous papers, the employment of numerous clerks, messengers and assistants, and much printing, and lead to inevitable and daily disbursements, forming the contingent expenses of this House.

83. Resolved, That from the year 1792 to the present, advances had constantly been made to meet these expenses, on addresses similar to that presented this year by this House to the Governor-in-chief, according to the practice adopted by the House of Commons; that an address of this kind is the most solemn vote of credit which this House can pass, and that almost the whole amount of a sum exceeding £277,000 has been advanced on such votes by the predecessors of his Excellency the Governorin-chief, and by himself (as he acknowledges by his message' of the 18th January, 1834), without any risk having ever been incurred by any other governor on account of any such advance, although several of them have had differences, attended by violence and injustice on their part, with the House of Assembly, and without their apprehending that the then next Farliament would not be disposed to make good the engagements of the House of Assembly for the time being; and that this refusal of the Govcrnor-in-chief, in the present instance, essentially impedes the despatch of the business for which the Parliament was called together, is derogatory to the rights and honour of this House, and forms another grievance for which the present administration of this province is responsible.

84. Resolved, That besides the grievances and abuses before mentioned, there exist in this province a great number of others (a part of which existed before the commencement of the present administration, which has maintained them, and is the author of a portion of them), with regard to which this House reserves to itself the right of complaining 1 See Christie, III, p. 531.

and demanding reparation, and the number of which is too great to allow of their being enumerated here: that this House points out, as among that number,

1stly. The vicious composition and the irresponsibility of the ExecuLive Council, the members of which are at the same time judges of the Court of Appeals, and the secrecy with which not only the functions, but even the names of the members of that body have been kept from the knowledge of this House, when inquiries have been instituted by it on the subject.

2dly. The exorbitant fees illegally exacted in certain of the public offices, and in others connected with the judicial department, under reguiations made by the Executive Council, by the judges, and by other functionaries usurping the powers of the legislature.

3dly. The practice of illegally calling upon the judges, to give their opinions secretly on questions which may be afterwards publicly and contradictorily argued before them; and the opinions themselves so given by the said judges, as political partizans, in opposition to the laws, but in favour of the administration for the time being.

4thly. The cumulation of public places and offices in the same persons, and the efforts made by a number of families connected with the administration, to perpetuate this state of things for their own advantage, and for the sake of domineering for ever, with interested views and in the spirit of party, over the people and their representatives.

5thly. The intermeddling of members of the Legislative Councils in the election of the representatives of the people, for the purpose of influencing and controlling them by force, and the selection frequently made of returning officers for the purpose of securing the same partial and corrupt ends; the interference of the present Governor-in-chief himself in the said elections; his approval of the intermeddling of the said legislative councillors in the said elections; the partiality with which he intervened in the judicial proceedings connected with the said elections, for the purpose of influencing the said proceedings, in a manner favourable to the military power and contrary to the independence of the judicial power; and the applause which, as commander of the forces, he bestowed upon the sanguinary execution of the citizens by the soldiery.

6thly. The interference of the armed military force at such elections, through which three peaceable citizens, whose exertions were necessary to the support of their families, and who were strangers to the agitation of the election, were shot dead in the streets; the applause bestowed by the Governor-in-chief and Commander of the Forces on the authors of this sanguinary military execution (who had not been acquitted by a petty jury) for the firmness and discipline displayed by them on that occasion.

7thly. The various faulty and partial systems which have been foliowed ever since the passing of the Constitutional Act, with regard to the management of the waste lands in this province, and have rendered it impossible for the great majority of the people of the country to settle on the said lands; the fraudulent and illegal manner in which, contrary to His Majesty's instructions. Governors, Legislative and Executive Councillors, Judges and subordinate officers have appropriated to themselves large tracts of the said lands; the monopoly of an extensive portion of the said lands in the hands of speculators residing in England, with which the province is now threatened; and the alarm generally felt therein with regard to the alleged participation of His Majesty's Government in this scheme, without its having deigned to re-assure his faithful subjects on this head, or to reply to the humble address to His Majesty adopted by this House during the last session.

8thly. The increase of the expenses of the Government without the authority of the Legislature, and the disproportion of the salaries paid to public functionaries for the services performed by them, to the rent of real property, and to the ordinary income commanded by the exertions 1 For the history, see Christie, III, ch. XXXII ff.

Y

of persons possessing talent, industry and economy equal to, or greater than those of the said functionaries.

9thly. The want of all recourse in the courts of law on the part of those who have just and legal claims on the Government.

10thly. The too frequent reservation of bills for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure, and the neglect of the Colonial-office to consider such bills, a great number of which have never been sent back to the province, and some of which have even been returned so late that doubts may be entertained as to the validity of the sanction given to them; a circumstance which has introduced irregularity and uncertainty into the legislation of the province, and is felt by this House as an impediment to the re-introduction of the bills reserved during the then preceding session.

11thly. The neglect on the part of the Colonial-office to give any answer to certain addresses transmitted by this House on important subjects; the practice followed by the administration of communicating in an incomplete manner, and by extracts, and frequently without giving their dates, the despatches received from time to time on subjects which have engaged the attention of this House; and the too frequent references to the opinion of His Majesty's Ministers in England, on the part of the provincial administration, upon points which it is in their power and within their province to decide.

12thly. The unjust retention of the college at Quebec, which forms part of the estates of the late Order of Jesuits, and which from a college has been transformed into a barrack for soldiers; the renewal of the lease of a considerable portion of the same estates, by the provinciai executive, in favour of a member of the Legislative Council, since those estates were returned to the Legislature, and in opposition to the prayer of this House, and to the known wishes of a great number of His Majesty's subjects to obtain lands there, and to settle them; and the refusal of the said executive to communicate the said lease, and other information on the subject, to this House.

13thly. The obstacles unjustly opposed by the executive, friendly to abuses and to ignorance, to the establishment of colleges endowed by virtuous and disinterested men, for the purpose of meeting the growing desires of the people for the careful education of their children.

14thly. The refusal of justice with regard to the accusations brought by this House, in the name of the people, against judges, for flagrant acts of malversation, and for ignorance and violation of the law.

15thly. The refusals on the part of the governors, and more especially of the present Governor-in-chief, to communicate to this House the information asked for by it, from time to time, and which it had a right to obtain, on a great number of subjects connected with the public business of the province.

16thly. The refusal of His Majesty's Government to reimburse to the province the amount for which the late Receiver-general was a defaulter, and its neglect to enforce the recourse which the province was entitled to against the property and person of the late Receiver-general.

85. Resolved, That the facts mentioned in the foregoing resolutions, demonstrate that the laws and constitutions of the province have not, at any period, been administered in a manner more contrary to the interests of His Majesty's Government, and to the rights of the people of this province, than under the present administration, and render it neces sary that his Excellency Matthew Lord Aylmer, of Balrath, the presen' Governor-in-chief of this province, be formally accused by this House, of having, while acting as Governor, in contradiction to the wishes of the Imperial Parliament, and to the instructions he may have received, and against the honour and dignity of the Crown, and the rights and privileges of this House and the people whom it represents, so recomposed the Legislative Council as to augment the dissensions which rend this colony; of having seriously impeded the labours of this House, acting as the grand inquest of the country; of having disposed of the public

revenue of the province, against the consent of the Representatives of the people, and in violation of the law and constitution; of having maintained existing abuses, and created new ones; of having refused to sign a writ for the election of a representative to fill a vacancy which had happened in this House, and to complete the number of representatives established by law for this province; and that this House expects from the honour, patriotism and justice of the reformed Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the Commons of the said Parliament will bring impeachments, and will support such impeachments before the House of Lords against the said Matthew Lord Aylmer, for his illegal, unjust and unconstitutional administration of the government of this province; and against such of the wicked and perverse advisers who have misled him, as this House may hereafter accuse, if there be no means of obtaining justice against them in the province, or at the hands of His Majesty's Executive Government in England.

86. Resolved, That this House hopes and believes, that the independent members of both Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom will be disposed, both from inclination and from a sense of duty, to support the accusations brought by this House, to watch over the preservation of its rights and privileges which have been so frequently and violently attacked, more especially by the present administration; and so to act, 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.

87. Resolved, That this House learned, with gratitude, that Daniel O'Connell, Esq., had given notice in the House of Commons in July last, that during the present Session of the Imperial Parliament, he would call its attention to the necessity of reforming the Legislative and ExecuLive Councils in the two Canadas; and that the interest thus shown for our own fate by him whom the gratitude and blessings of his countrymen have, with the applause of the whole civilized world, proclaimed Great and Liberator, and of whom our fellow-countrymen entertain corresponding sentiments, keeps alive in us the hope that through the goodness of our cause and the services of such a friend, the British Parliament will not permit a minister, deceived by the interested representations of the provincial administration and its creatures and tools, to exert (as there is reason from his despatches to apprehend that he may attempt to do,) the highest degree of oppression, in favour of a system which in better times he characterized as faulty, and against subjects of His Majesty who are apparently only known to him by the great patience with which they have waited in vain for promised reforms.

88. Resolved, That this House has the same confidence in Joseph Hume, Esq., and feels the same gratitude for the anxiety which he has repeatedly shown for the good government of these colonies, and the amelioration of their laws and constitutions, and calls upon the said Daniel O'Connell and Joseph Hume, Esqrs., whose constant devotedness was, even under a tory ministry, and before the reform of Parliament, partially successful in the emancipation of Ireland, from the same bondage and the same political inferiority with which the communications received from the Colonial Secretary during the present session menace the people of Lower Canada, to use their efforts that the laws and constitution of this province may be amended in the manner demanded by the people thereof; that the abuses and grievances of which the latter have to complain may be fully and entirely redressed; and that the laws and constitution may be hereafter administered in a manner consonant with justice, with the honour of the Crown and of the people of England, and with the rights, liberties and privileges of the people of this province, and of this House by which they are represented.

89. Resolved, That this House invites the members of the minority of the Legislative Council who partake the opinions of the people, the present members of the House of Assembly, until the next general election, and afterwards all the members then elected, and such other persons

as they may associate with them, to form one committee or two committees of correspondence, to sit at Quebec and Montreal in the first instance, and afterwards at such place as they shall think proper; the said committees to communicate with each other, and with the several local com mittees which may be formed in different parts of the province, and to enter into correspondence with the Hon. Denis Benjamin Viger, the agent of this province in England, with the said Daniel O'Connell and Joseph Hume, Esqrs., and with such other members of the House of Lords or of the House of Commons, and such other persons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as they may deem expedient, for the purpose of supporting the claims of the people of this province and of this House; of furnishing such information, documents and opinions as they may think adapted to make known the state, wishes and wants of the province; the said committees also to correspond with such persons as they shall think proper in the other British colonies, which are all interested, that the most populous of their sister colonies do not sink under the violent attempt to perpetuate the abuses and evils which result as well from the vices of its constitution as from the combined malversation of the administrative, legislative and judicial departments, out of which have sprung insult and oppression for the people, and, by a necessary conse quence, hatred and contempt on their part for the provincial government.

90. Resolved, That the Honourable Denis Benjamin Viger be requested to remain at the seat of His Majesty's Government, at least during the present session of the Imperial Parliament, to continue to watch over the interests of the province with the same zeal and the same devotedness as heretofore, without suffering himself to be discouraged by mere formal objections on the part of those who are unwilling to listen to the complaints of the country.

91. Resolved, That the fair and reasonable expenses of the said two Committees of Correspondence, incurred by them in the performanc of the duties entrusted to them by this House, are a debt which it contracts towards them; and that the representatives of the people are bound in honour to use all constitutional means to reimburse such expenses to the said Committee, or to such persons as may advance money to them for the purposes above mentioned.

92. Resolved, That the message from his Excellency the Governorin-chief, received on the 13th of January last, and relating to the writ of election for the county of Montreal, with the extract from a despatch which accompanied it, the message from the same, received the same day, and relating to the Supply Bill, and the message from the same, received on the 14th January last, with the extract from a despatch which accompanied it, be expunged from the journals of this House.1

CXV

DECLARATION'

Of the causes which led to the formation of THE CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATION OF QUEBEC, and of the objects for which it has been formed.

[Trans. Christie, op. cit. Vol. IV.]

The political evils under which Lower Canada has long labored, have recently been increased in so alarming a degree, that the subversion of government itself is to be apprehended, with the consequent disorders of

1 For the message of 13 January, see Christie, III, p. 524; for that of 14 January, see No. CXIII.

This document and Nos. CXVI, CXXII, CXXVII, illustrate the parting of the ways in Lower Canada. They represent the platform of the Moderates irrespective of creed or race, who, while determined on reform, were far removed from Papineau and the language of "The 92 Resolutions."