40 1 ‘loivcto^X i i. C . 
 

 
 vr?-. WW .7 .-»».'y ;^* ; . r; -.> r^> ■• 
 
 .-WV- rr >; . 
 
BUBBLES 
 
 CANADA. 
 
 
Printed by J. L. Cox and So vs, 75, Great Queen Street, 
 Lincoln's-Inn Fields. 
 
 
London , Mth Dec . 1838. 
 
 My dear Haliburton, 
 
 I shall offer no apology to you for the manner in 
 which I have executed this work, as you are well aware 
 that I could command neither the time nor the materials 
 that were necessary to do it properly: even the small 
 portion of time I have been able to devote to it, out of a 
 hasty visit to London, has been subject to constant in¬ 
 terruptions ; and many important documents which ought 
 to have been referred to, have, I find (from the little 
 interest hitherto taken in Canadian affairs), not found 
 their way to England. Wherever I could obtain authen¬ 
 tic works and official papers, I have used them as freely as 
 I could, that as little as possible might rest on individual 
 assertion. 
 
 Such as it is, I beg of you to accept it, as a proof of 
 my desire to comply with your wishes, as far as it has 
 been in my power to do so. If you are satisfied with 
 it, I am content. As respects the rest of the world, we 
 know too little of each other to require that I should 
 explain or they should listen. 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 S. S. 
 
 To James Haliburton, Esq., 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Letter f. 
 
 Introductory remarks. 1 
 
 Letter II. 
 
 Charge of misgovernment, advanced by Lords Durham and 
 Brougham, controverted—Evidence of the Duke de la 
 Rochefoucault Liancourt and Professor Silliman. 8 
 
 Letter III. 
 
 Extent, population and trade of British America—Contradictory 
 
 opinions of Lord Brougham—Establishment of English laws 
 in Canada—Impolitic and and dnjust abrogation of them 
 by Quebec Act. lg 
 
 Letter IV. 
 
 Constitutional act—Form of government—Feudal laws—Pre¬ 
 sent state of the law in Canada—People unfit for constitu¬ 
 tional government. 34 
 
 Letter V. 
 
 A review of the proceedings of the legislature of Canada 
 from 1792 , when it first assembled, to 1819 , when a demand 
 was made for a provision for the civil list . 53 
 
 Letter VI. 
 
 Sources of revenue in Canada—Reference to committee of 
 Parliament of alleged grievances—Unjust electoral division 
 
 of Canada—Unconstitutional proceedings of Assembly_ 
 
 bresh grievances—Lord Goderich’s review of proceedings 85 
 
 Letter VII. 
 
 Ninety-two resolutions of Canadian Assembly—Reference of 
 the same to committee of 1834 —Report of committee _ 131 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Lelter VIII. 
 
 Review by Lord Aberdeen of the steps taken by government 
 to carry out the recommendation of committee of 1828 .... 192 
 
 Letter IX. 
 
 Appointment of commission of inquiry—Their instructions— 
 Lord Glenelg’s reply to the demands of the Assembly .... 21 ( J 
 
 Letter X. 
 
 Abandonment of grievances and demand of constitutional 
 changes—Specification of changes required, and separate 
 consideration of each.—1st. That the Legislative Council 
 should be elective.—2d. That the Executive Council should 
 be responsible to the House of Assembly.—3d. That the 
 Tenures Act and Land Company Act should be repealed.— 
 4th. That the crown revenues should be surrendered uncondi¬ 
 tionally.—5th. That the management of the waste lands 
 should be given up to them . 
 
 Letter XI. 
 
 Resolutions introduced by Lord John Russell—Right of Par¬ 
 liament to interfere considered—Conduct of Assembly 
 Revolt—Conduct of Catholic clergy, and reflections thereon 
 —Mitigating circumstances attending the rebellion Mis¬ 
 sion of Lord Durham, dangerous schemes proposed by him, 
 bad effect of his proceedings on the other colonies—General 
 review of the topics embraced in this work—Importance of 
 the crisis, and effect of Canadian independence on the colo¬ 
 nial possessions of Great Britain . 
 
THE 
 
 BUBBLES OF CANADA. 
 
 Letter 1. 
 
 My Dear Haliburton, 
 
 As the people of this country know but 
 little of the dissensions in Canada, they very 
 wisely confine their observations to the dis¬ 
 sensions of those who govern it. This is a 
 more intelligible as well as a more amusing 
 subject. Every body talks of Lord Brougham 
 and Lord Durham, but nobody speaks ol 
 Canada. Instead, therefore, of inquiring what 
 is to become of that valuable colony, what mea¬ 
 sures are, or ought, to be adopted, to ensure its 
 tranquillity, and to protect British subjects and 
 British property there, people very properly limit 
 their attention to the more interesting question 
 what will the Governor-General do when Par¬ 
 liament meets ? To inquire whether the Eng- 
 
 i*. 
 
2 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 lish or the French population of Canada is in 
 the right, requires some investigation to ascer¬ 
 tain facts, and some constitutional knowledge 
 to judge of those facts when collected. It is, 
 at best, but a dry subject. But to decide 
 whether Lord Brougham or Lord Durham has 
 the best of the dispute is a matter so well suited 
 for easy conversation, and humorous argument, 
 that it is no wonder it has more attractions than 
 the other. Such, however, is the acerbity of 
 politics in this country, that even this affair 
 is made a party question, and the worst motives 
 are imputed for everything that is said or done 
 by either. There are not wanting those who 
 gravely assert, that while Lord Brougham was 
 affecting to brush off the flies from the heels of 
 an old rival, he intentionally switched him so 
 hard as to arouse his temper and induce him 
 to kick. They maintain that there are two 
 sorts of tickling, one that is so delicate as to 
 produce laughter and pleasurable sensations, 
 and another that irritates both the skin and the 
 temper by the coarseness of its application. 
 They say that his lordship is much addicted 
 to the latter species, and applies it equally to 
 both friends and foes; in short, that his play is 
 too rough to be agreeable. While, on the other 
 hand, there are some who are so unkind as to 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 3 
 
 insinuate that Lord Durham was very willing 
 to take offence, and to shelter himself under it. 
 That he felt he had voluntarily undertaken a 
 load which he was unable to draw, and that 
 knowing greater expectations had been formed 
 of him than he could ever realise, had no ob¬ 
 jection to kick himself out of harness, and ex¬ 
 tricate himself by overthrowing friend or foe, 
 so long as the public were willing to believe 
 the fault to be that of the teemster, and not of 
 the steed. 
 
 Be that as it may, the exhibition has been 
 an entertaining one, and they deserve some 
 credit for having afforded amusement and 
 occupation to the public at this dull season of 
 the year. There they are, the crowd has 
 gathered round them, the idle and the vulgar 
 stand gaping, and each one looks anxiously 
 for what is to follow. What can be more 
 agreeable to a British mob, a people essentially 
 fond of the prize fight, than the contest of these 
 two champions, men who have always courted 
 their applause, and valued their noisy demon¬ 
 strations of pleasure higher than the quiet 
 respect of those of more taste and more re¬ 
 finement? It affords, however, no pleasure 
 to the colonist. He regards one as a man of 
 splendid talents and no conduct, and the other 
 
 b 2 
 

 THE BUBBLES 
 
 
 i ) 
 
 as a man who, without the possession of either, 
 has advanced to his present high station merely 
 by the force of extreme opinions. He has no 
 sympathy with either. The one is too much 
 actuated by his implacable hatred, the other 
 by his inordinate pride. The former is dan¬ 
 gerous from his disposition to do mischief, and 
 the latter unsafe, from his utter inability to effect 
 any good. 
 
 After all the addresses that have been pre¬ 
 sented by the Canadians, this language may 
 possibly appear strange and strong; but ad¬ 
 dresses afford no proof. They are cheap com¬ 
 modities everywhere. Place-hunters mayflatter, 
 and vulgar men may fawn, and office-holders 
 tremble and obey, but the truth must still be 
 told. A governor is the representative of roy¬ 
 alty, and colonists have been taught to venerate 
 the office, whatever they may think of the man. 
 At the present crisis it is the test of loyalty. 
 You will search in vain among those addresses 
 for the names of the disaffected; and if those 
 who signed them have expressed themselves 
 strongly, they felt it was no time to measure 
 words, when hesitation bears so strong a re¬ 
 semblance to a repugnance springing from a 
 different cause. But even among these cus¬ 
 tomary offerings of official respect, you will 
 
 /^\ 
 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 5 
 
 find several exhibiting a choice of expression 
 that, bespeak a desire to separate the approba¬ 
 tion of measures from the usual deference to rank 
 and station, and others marking the distinction 
 in explicit terms. The colonist by no means 
 regrets his resignation, because he has shewn 
 from his irritable temper, inconsiderate conduct, 
 and crude and dangerous schemes, that, of all 
 men, he was the most unfit depository for the 
 extraordinary powers that were entrusted to 
 him; but he does regret that public attention 
 should be diverted from so important a subject 
 as our Canadian affairs, to so unimportant a mat¬ 
 ter as my Lord Durham’s private quarrels. 
 
 He is desirous that the questions at issue be¬ 
 tween the people of Canada and Great Britain 
 should be understood, and he doubts not that 
 the good sense and good feeling of this country 
 will apply the proper remedies. In compiling 
 a statement of these grievances, pretensions, or 
 claims (or by whatever other name you may 
 choose to designate them), I shall hope to con¬ 
 tribute towards this desirable object. 1 feel, 
 however, my dear friend, that before 1 enter 
 upon the subject, I ought to apologise to you 
 for the bulk of this work. Indeed, when you 
 told me at Melrose that you had been in Egypt 
 during nearly the whole period of these Cana- 
 
6 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 dian disputes, and therefore wished to have a 
 history of them, I had not the slightest idea 
 that in undertaking to give you one, I was go¬ 
 ing to write a book. But, though I will fulfil 
 my promise, I will not exceed it. I shall con- 
 tine myself to a sketch of the origin, progress, 
 and present state of agitation in Lower Canada. 
 I will shew you the pretensions that have been 
 put forth, the concessions that have been made, 
 and the open questions that now remain; you 
 will then be able to judge whether these griev¬ 
 ances have led to disaffection, or disaffection 
 has given rise to grievances, and in either case 
 will be able to perceive what ought to be the 
 remedy. Facts and not theories are wanted ; 
 you must know the cause and nature of a dis¬ 
 ease before you can prescribe for it. 
 
 If ever you had the misfortune to have had the 
 tooth-ache, you have doubtless found that every 
 one of your friends had an infallible remedy, 
 each of which eventually proved, upon trial, to 
 be nothing more than a palliative, a nostrum that 
 soothed the anguish for a time, by conciliating 
 the nerve; but that the pain returned, with 
 every change of atmosphere, with increased 
 power, while the sedative application became 
 less and less eflicacious the oftener it was re¬ 
 peated. You have also found, as others have 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 7 
 
 experienced before you, that while you were thus 
 temporising with an evil which required more 
 prompt and skilful treatment, you had lost the 
 opportunity of filling the cavity and preserv¬ 
 ing the tooth, by suffering decay to proceed 
 too far to admit of the operation, and, after 
 years of suffering, had to submit at last to 
 cold iron, the ultima ratio of dentists. Whe¬ 
 ther the system of palliatives and concessions, 
 that has been resorted to in Canada, is a wise 
 and proper one, I shall not presume to say; but 
 all men must agree that it at least has the merit 
 of displaying an amiable inclination to avoid 
 giving pain. Whatever doubts may arise as to 
 the conciliatory measures of past years, there 
 can be none whatever entertained that they 
 cannot be persisted in any longer with advan¬ 
 tage. I shall content myself, however, with 
 merely presenting you with a statement of the 
 case, and you shall decide for yourself whether 
 stopping, or forcible extraction, be now the 
 proper remedy. 
 
8 
 
 TIIE BUBBLES 
 
 Letter II. 
 
 After the late unhappy and wicked rebel¬ 
 lion in Canada was suppressed, it was found 
 necessary to punish with death a few of the 
 most conspicuous traitors, for the atrocious mur¬ 
 ders they had committed. In the colonies, 
 although the justice of this act was fully ad¬ 
 mitted, the necessity that existed for it was gene¬ 
 rally deplored. So much blood had been shed 
 in the held, and so much misery entailed upon 
 the country, by that rash and unprovoked re¬ 
 volt, that the people would gladly have been 
 spared the spectacle of a further sacrifice of 
 human life, if the outraged laws of the country 
 had not imperatively called for retribution. 
 They felt, too, that although nothing could jus¬ 
 tify their having desolated the country with fire 
 and sw ord, in support of mere speculative points 
 of government, some pity was due to deluded 
 men, who had been seduced from their alle¬ 
 giance by promises of support, and direct en¬ 
 couragement to revolt, by people of influence 
 and standing in the mother country ; but al¬ 
 though they knew that mischievous counsels 
 had been given, they certainly were not pre- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 9 
 
 pared to hear similar sentiments pubiiclyavowed 
 in the parliament of the nation. It was, there¬ 
 fore, not without mingled feelings of surprise 
 and sorrow that they heard one honourable 
 member invoke defeat and disgrace upon Her 
 Majesty’s troops, whose service was already 
 sufficiently painful without this aggravation; 
 and a noble lord, in another branch of the 
 legislature, denounce, with indignant elo¬ 
 quence, the juries who had tried and the judges 
 that had sentenced these convicted criminals. 
 They ought, however, to have known, and cer¬ 
 tainly a little reflection would have suggested, 
 that the instinctive horror of those distinguished 
 men at such an event was quite natural, and 
 that they who advocate revolutionary doctrines 
 must necessarily shudder at the untimely fate 
 of those who have dared to act upon them. It 
 was a warning not to be disregarded, a consum¬ 
 mation that might be their own, and a lesson 
 fraught with a most salutary moral. As their 
 perceptions were acute enough to make the ap¬ 
 plication, it is to be hoped their prudence will 
 be sufficient to avoid a similar result. Nor is 
 the language held by my Lord Durham, in his 
 recent valedictory proclamation, less surprising. 
 He has thought proper, in that extraordinary 
 document, to give the sanction of his high 
 
10 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 station to the popular error that the Canadas 
 have been misgoverned, and thereby expressed 
 a deliberate censure upon the conduct of abler 
 and better men than himself who have preceded 
 him. Now, there are various kinds of mis- 
 government, which may be effected by acts of 
 commission or omission, or of both, for a de¬ 
 fective form of government and misgovernment 
 are widely different. If his lordship meant to 
 use the word in either of those senses, and con¬ 
 sidered the French Canadians as the subjects 
 of it, then I beg leave most respectfully to state, 
 that he was not warranted by facts in saying 
 so, and that it is an additional proof, if any 
 were wanting, that he knew as little of the 
 affairs of the colony at his departure from thence, 
 as he admits that he did on his arrival there. 
 If, on the other hand, he used it as a cant term 
 to adorn a rhetorical flourish, we shall accept 
 the explanation, and consider it as such, class¬ 
 ing it with promises profusely made on his 
 acceptance of office which he has not performed, 
 and similar ones ostentatiously offered on his 
 resignation which he is equally unable to fulfil. 
 
 My Lord Brougham has expressed more fully 
 and intelligibly the same opinion in the House 
 of Lords, and has since been at great pains to 
 republish it, first, in the pamphlet form, to cir- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 11 
 
 eulate as a cheap commodity ; and, secondly, in 
 a collection of his speeches, to be impressed by 
 his friend the schoolmaster, as a specimen of 
 eloquence, on the minds of village Hampdens. 
 Although this statesman is followed by few, 
 and attached to none, lie is too eloquent and 
 too powerful not to command the attention of 
 all, and presents the singular anomaly of being 
 unable to add weight or influence to any party 
 to which he may lend his support, and yet 
 being the most fearful opponent in the House 
 to those whom it may be his pleasure to attack. 
 With respect to Canada, he was pleased to say, 
 “ Another rule prevails—‘ Refuse all they ask ; 
 “ turn a deaf ear to every complaint; mock them 
 “ with hopes never to be realized ; insult them 
 “ with rights which when they dare to use shall 
 “ be rudely torn from them ; and for abiding by 
 “ the law, in seeking redress of their wrongs* 
 “ punish them by the infliction of a dictator and 
 “ a despotism.’ ” Truisms are seldom repeated ; 
 they require but to be enounced, to be assented 
 to. Paradoxes are more fortunate ; they startle 
 and perplex, and he who cannot originate can 
 at least copy. I was, therefore, not surprised 
 at hearing an humble imitation of this diatribe 
 at a meeting of the lower orders of Edinburgh 
 at Carlton Hill. That the audience might find 
 
12 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 time to attend, the assembly was held by torch¬ 
 light, a fitting emblem for incendiary doctrines. 
 Tories and Whigs were alike reprobated by an 
 orator, who, when he had exhausted the topics 
 of domestic misrule, deplored in most pathetic 
 terms the lot “ of our oppressed and enslaved 
 brethren in Canada.” If this be true of them, it 
 is an appeal to humanity, and when in Britain 
 was that appeal made in vain ? It is, however, 
 the character of humanity to be credulous. The 
 mendicant impostor, aware of the fact, profits 
 by the knowledge of it, and weaves a tale of 
 misfortune or oppression to excite pity and ex¬ 
 tort money ; the political juggler, in like man¬ 
 ner, draws upon his imagination for facts, and 
 having established a grievance, makes a tender 
 of his services as a reformer. 
 
 As this charge of misgovernment has been 
 often made of late, it is probable it will be 
 repeated, and as it must materially modify 
 the opinion we are to form, both of the revolt, 
 and of the measures to be adopted hereafter in 
 consequence thereof, I shall now proceed to 
 controvert this assertion ; but before I enter 
 upon it, permit me to say, that I shall not treat 
 this as a party question. As a colonist, at once 
 a native and a resident of a distant part of the 
 empire, I am not only unconnected with, but 
 

 OF CANADA. 13 
 
 perfectly independent of either of the great 
 parties of this country, of Tories or Whigs or 
 Radicals ; nor do 1 consider this as a subject at 
 all involving the principles for which they se¬ 
 verally contend. The question is one wholly 
 between the people of this country and the 
 colonists, and must be considered as such; and 
 so far from my Lord Durham’s assertion 
 being true, that there has been misgovernment, 
 I am prepared to show, that every administra¬ 
 tion in this country, without exception, from 
 the conquest of Canada to the present time, 
 w hether Tory or Whig, or mixed, or by what¬ 
 ever name they may be designated, have been 
 actuated but by one feeling, an earnest desire 
 to cultivate a good understanding with their 
 new subjects of French extraction, and on one 
 principle, a principle of concession. Canada 
 has had more privileges and indulgences 
 granted to it than any other of our American 
 colonies: unpopular officers have been removed; 
 obnoxious governors have been recalled ; con¬ 
 stitutional points abandoned to them ; all rea¬ 
 sonable changes made (or, as they would ex¬ 
 press it, grievances redressed); and the inte¬ 
 rests of commerce and of persons of British 
 origin postponed to suit their convenience, or 
 accommodate their prejudices ; in short, every- 
 
14 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 thing lias been done, and everything conceded 
 to conciliate them, that ingenuity could devise 
 or unbounded liberality grant, and no sacrifice 
 has been considered too great to purchase their 
 affections, short of yielding up the colony to 
 their entire control; and for all this forbearance 
 and liberality they have been met with ingra¬ 
 titude, abuse, and rebellion. For the truth of 
 this assertion, I call upon France and the 
 United States to bear me testimony. Hear the 
 Duke de la Rochfoucault Liancourt: “ No 
 Canadian has just grounds of complaint against 
 the British Government; the inhabitants of 
 Canada acknowledge unanimously that they 
 are better treated than under the ancient French 
 government; but they love the French, forget 
 them not, long after them, hope for their ar¬ 
 rival, will always love them, and betray these 
 feelings too frequently, and in too frank a man¬ 
 ner, not to incur the displeasure of the English, 
 who, even in Europe, have not made an equal 
 progress with us in discarding the absurd pre¬ 
 judices of one people against another. 
 
 “ They pay no taxes, live well, at an easy 
 rate, and in plenty ; within the compass of their 
 comprehensions they cannot wish for any other 
 good. They are so little acquainted with the 
 principles of liberty, that it has cost a great 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 15 
 
 deal of trouble to establish juries in theii 
 country; they oppose the introduction of the 
 trial by jury ; in civil cases these are not yet in 
 use. But they love France, this beloved country 
 engages still their affections. In their estima¬ 
 tion a Frenchman is a being far superior to an 
 Englishman.” 
 
 “ The farmers are a frugal set of people, but 
 ignorant and lazy. In order to succeed in enlarg¬ 
 ing and improving agriculture in this province, 
 the English Government must proceed with great 
 prudence and perseverance; for in addition to 
 the unhappy prejudices which the inhabitants 
 of Canada entertain in common with the far¬ 
 mers of all other countries, they also foster a 
 strong mistrust against every thing which they 
 receive from the English; and this mistrust is 
 grounded on the idea that the English are their 
 conquerors, and the French their brethren. 
 There are some exceptions from this bad agri¬ 
 cultural system, but they are few. The best 
 cultivators are always landholders arrived from 
 England.” 
 
 “ Upon the whole, the work of education in 
 Lower Canada is greatly neglected. At Sorel 
 and I hree Rivers are a few schools, kept by 
 the nuns; in other places men or women in¬ 
 struct children. But the number of schools is, 
 
16 
 
 THE BUBBI.ES 
 
 upon the whole, so very small, and the mode 
 of instruction so defective, that a Canadian who 
 can read is a sort of phenomenon. From the 
 major part of these schools being governed by 
 nuns and other women, the number of the latter 
 who can read is, contrary to the custom ofothci 
 countries, much greater in Lower Canada than 
 that of men. 
 
 “ The English Government is charged with 
 designedly keeping the people of Lower Canada 
 in ignorance; but were it sincerely desirous ol 
 producing an advantageous change in this re¬ 
 spect, it would have as great obstacles to sur- 
 * mount on this head as in regard to agricultural 
 improvements.” 
 
 Hear also Professor Silliman, a distinguished 
 American scholar: 
 
 “It is questionable whether any conquered 
 country was ever better treated by its conquer¬ 
 ors than Canada ; the people were left in com¬ 
 plete possession of their religion, and revenues 
 to support it—of their property, laws, customs, 
 and manners; and even the defence of their 
 country is without expense to them ; and it is 
 a curious fact, that (unless by the great coun¬ 
 terbalancing advantages it produces), so far 
 from being a source of revenue, it is a charge 
 on the treasury of the empire. It would seem 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 17 
 
 as if the trouble and expense of government 
 was taken oft' their hands, and as if they were 
 left to enjoy their own domestic comforts with¬ 
 out a drawback. Such is certainly the appear¬ 
 ance of the population; and it is doubtful 
 whether our own favoured communities are 
 politically more happy ;—they are not exposed 
 in a similar manner to poverty and the danger 
 of starvation, which so often invade the Eng¬ 
 lish manufacturer, and which, aided by their 
 demagogues, goad them on to every thing but 
 open rebellion. Lower Canada is a fine coun¬ 
 try, and will hereafter become populous and 
 powerful, especially as the British and Anglo- 
 American population shall flow in more exten¬ 
 sively, and impart more vigour and activity to 
 the community. The climate, notwithstanding 
 its severity, is a good one, and very healthy and 
 favourable to the freshness and beauty of the 
 human constitution. All the most important 
 comforts of life are easily and abundantly ob¬ 
 tained.” 
 
 This, you will observe, is but the evidence of 
 opinion; produce your facts. Agreed. To the 
 facts then let us proceed. 
 
 c 
 
s- J!+rr>\-;r • ••? >) J 
 
 --- 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 Letter III. 
 
 By the treaty of peace in the year 1763, Ca¬ 
 nada, the conquest of which had been achieved 
 on the plains of Abraham, by General Wolfe, 
 was ceded, in full sovereignty and right, to his 
 Britannic Majesty by the King of France, and 
 the French inhabitants who chose to remain in 
 the country became subjects of Great Britain, 
 and were secured in the enjoyment of their pro¬ 
 perty and possessions, and the free exercise of 
 their religion. Thus terminated the power of 
 France in that portion of North America ; and 
 here it may be useful to pause and consider, 
 with this vast addition of territory, how exten¬ 
 sive and important are our transatlantic pos¬ 
 sessions. 
 
 They may be computed, in round numbers, 
 to comprise upwards of four millions of geo¬ 
 graphical square miles, extending across the 
 whole Continent, from the Atlantic in the east, 
 to the shores of the North Pacific Ocean on the 
 west; on the parallel of the 49° of north lati¬ 
 tude their extreme breadth is about 3,066 geo¬ 
 graphical miles, and their greatest depth from 
 the most southern point of Upper Canada in 
 
 / 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 19 
 
 Lake Erie, to Smith’s Sound in the Polar re¬ 
 gions, rather more than 2,150, thus embracing 
 a large portion of the Arctic Seas, and of the 
 Atlantic and Pacific. 
 
 The population of this country may be esti¬ 
 mated at little short of two millions ; while the 
 export trade to it exceeds that to Russia, Prus¬ 
 sia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and France 
 collectively, and nearly equals that to the United 
 States, the most commercial country in the 
 world next to Great Britain. These exports 
 have increased above 40 per cent, in three years. 
 
 In carrying on this trade, about seven thou¬ 
 sand British vessels are employed ; the tonnage 
 of those inwards and outwards being each way 
 nearly 1,000,000 tons annually, either to Great 
 Britain or her other colonies, all of them, be it 
 remembered, navigated by her own seamen, 
 and employing British capital; and seven- 
 eighths of the whole produce so transported 
 being paid for in labour to her own people, 
 and all the profits, agencies, and brokerages of 
 tins enormous trade divided among her own 
 subjects. Can the possible loss of such a trade 
 be contemplated, without apprehending conse¬ 
 quences serious to the manufacturing interests, 
 and prejudicial to national prosperity? 
 
 In four years not less than £.100,000 has 
 
20 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 been paid by emigrants as passage-money to 
 her ship-owners ; and if out of the number of 
 170,000 who emigrated during that period, only 
 20,000* had become burdensome at home, and 
 had cost their parishes only £4 per head per 
 annum, the expenses to the community (which 
 have been saved) would have been £320,000. 
 
 Such are the interests now at stake, and 
 which you are called upon to surrender. My 
 Lord Brougham, the advocate “ for the diffusion 
 of useful knowledge,” thus sanctions the doc¬ 
 trine that colonies though large are unwieldy, 
 and though possessing intrinsic value, cost 
 more for their support and protection, than coun¬ 
 terbalances any advantage to be derived from 
 them. “ I have always held (he observed on 
 the 2d of February last, when speaking on the 
 Canada question), the severance of a colony to 
 be a benefit and no loss, provided it can be 
 effected in peace, and leave only feelings of 
 kindness on either side.” At the same time lie 
 “ hurled defiance (I use his own words) at the 
 head of the premier,” to point out where he 
 had ever changed his principles. The noble 
 viscount was silent, the challenge was not ac¬ 
 cepted, and his consistency remained nnim- 
 peached. I am more interested in colonial 
 
 * See Letter to E. Baines, Esq., M.P. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 21 
 
 prosperity than either of them, having no de¬ 
 sire to be handed over to the tender mercies 
 of republicans, and will take the liberty to refer 
 to that instance that was so triumphantly de¬ 
 manded. I allude to a more deliberate opinion, 
 the result of study and reflection, emanating 
 not from the excitement of debate and the con¬ 
 flict of party spirit, but from the retirement of 
 his closet. On a former occasion he thus ex¬ 
 pressed himself on this subject:— 
 
 “ Each nation derives greater benefit from 
 having an increasing market in one of its own 
 provinces, than in a foreign country. 
 
 “ The colonial trade is always increasing and 
 capable of indefinite augmentation ; every ope¬ 
 ration of colonial traffic replaces two capitals, 
 the employment and distribution of which puts 
 in motion and supports the labour of the dif¬ 
 ferent members of the same state. 
 
 “ The increasing wealth of Russia, Prussia, 
 or Denmark, can never benefit Great Britain 
 unless by the increasing demand for British 
 produce which it may occasion. It may, and 
 often is, on the contrary, turned against her 
 wealth and power; whilst the riches of colonies 
 have a certain tendency to widen the market 
 for British produce, and can never injure the 
 wealth or power of the mother country. 
 
22 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ The possession of remote territories is the 
 only thing which can secure to the population 
 of a country those advantages derived from an 
 easy outlet, or prospect of outlet, to those per¬ 
 sons who may be ill provided for at home. 
 
 “ It is absurd to represent the defences and 
 government of colonies as a burden. It is ridi- 
 culous for the United Kingdom to complain, 
 that she is at the expense of governing and 
 defending her colonial territories.” 
 
 Among the benefits to be derived from the 
 “ diffusion of useful knowledge,” it is certainly 
 not the least that we are enabled to compare 
 the professions of public men with their acts, 
 and the actors with each other. My Lords 
 Brougham and Durham have both travelled the 
 same road—selected similar topics—supported 
 them by the same arguments—and aimed at 
 one conclusion; and yet, strange to say, they 
 stand opposed to each other. Coming from a 
 small province, and a very limited sphere of 
 action, I may be allowed the privilege of a 
 stranger, and be permitted to express my sur¬ 
 prise. I had read in the speech to which I 
 have referred, of certain commissioners of in. 
 quiry who were placed in an extraordinary 
 situation, “ where each one generally differed 
 from his colleague in the views he took of the 
 
 
23 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 argument, and frequently also from himself; 
 but both agreeing in the conclusions at which 
 they arrived, by the course of reasoning one 
 way, and deciding another.” It is an awkward 
 position for men to be found in ; but little did 
 I anticipate finding the noble author illustrat¬ 
 ing, in his own person, the case he has described 
 with such pointed and bitter irony. But this 
 is a digression, and I must return to my sub¬ 
 ject. 
 
 Whether a country extending over such an 
 immense space, containing such a great and 
 growing population, and affording such an ex¬ 
 tensive and profitable trade, has been misgo¬ 
 verned, is therefore a question of the first 
 importance. The affirmative of this proposition 
 which the governor-general has advanced, has 
 inspired the rebels with new hopes; and forms, 
 no doubt, a principal ingredient of that satis¬ 
 faction which he says his adminstration has 
 given to the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
 republic. It is a charge, however, in which the 
 honour of the nation is deeply concerned, and 
 should neither be flippantly made nor easily 
 credited. 
 
 In the month of October following the treaty, 
 His Majesty published his proclamation, un¬ 
 der the great seal of Great Britain, for erect- 
 
 £ 
 
24 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 ing four new civil governments, to wit, those of 
 Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Gra¬ 
 nada, in the countries and islands in America, 
 which had been ceded to the Crown by the 
 definitive treaty. In this proclamation the 
 King exhorted his subjects as well of his king¬ 
 doms of Great Britain and Ireland, as of his 
 colonies in America, to avail themselves, with 
 all convenient speed, of the great benefits and 
 advantages that would accrue, from the great 
 and valuable acquisitions ceded to his Majesty 
 in America, to their commerce, manufactures, 
 and navigation. As an encouragement to them 
 to do so, he informed them that in the commis¬ 
 sions he had given to the civil governors of the 
 said four new provinces, he had given express 
 power and directions that, so soon as the state 
 and circumstances of the said colonies would 
 admit thereof, they should, with the advice and 
 consent of the members of his Majesty’s councils 
 in the said provinces, summon and call general 
 assemblies of the people within the said govern¬ 
 ments, in such manner as was used in those 
 colonies and provinces in America which were 
 under his Majesty’s immediate government; 
 and that in the meantime, and until such as¬ 
 semblies could be called, all persons inhabiting, 
 in, or resorting to his Majesty’s saitl colonies, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 25 
 
 might confide in his Majesty’s royal protection 
 for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of 
 his realm of England; that for that purpose 
 his Majesty had given power, under the great 
 seal, to the governors of his Majesty’s said new 
 colonies, to erect and constitute, with the advice 
 of his Majesty’s said councils respectively, 
 courts of judicature and public justice, within 
 the said colonies, for the hearing and deter¬ 
 mining all causes, as well criminal as civil, 
 according to law and equity, and as near as 
 may be, agreeably to the laws of England ; 
 with liberty to all persons who might think 
 themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such 
 courts, in all civil cases, to appeal, under the 
 usual limitations and restrictions, to his Ma¬ 
 jesty in his Privy Council. 
 
 On the 21st day of November 1763,* about 
 six weeks after the publication of the aforesaid 
 proclamation, his Majesty issued his commission 
 of captain-general and governor-in-chief of the 
 province of Quebec, to Major-general Murray, 
 which was received by him, and published in 
 the province in the month of August 1764. This 
 commission, and the insurrection that accompa¬ 
 nied it everywhere, pre-supposed that the laws of 
 England were in force in the province, being 
 
 * See Smith’s History of Canada. 
 
26 
 
 the bubbles 
 
 full of allusions and references to those laws on 
 a variety of different subjects, and did not con¬ 
 tain the least intimation of a saving of any part 
 of the laws and customs that prevailed there, in 
 the time of the French government. 
 
 It appears, therefore, upon the whole, from 
 the proclamation and commission, to have been 
 his Majesty’s intention, with respect to the 
 said province of Quebec, to assimilate the laws 
 and government of it to those of the other Ame¬ 
 rican colonies and provinces which were under 
 his Majesty’s immediate government, and not 
 to continue the municipal laws and customs by 
 which the conquered people had heretofore 
 been governed, any farther than as those laws 
 might be necessary to the preservation of their 
 property. And his Majesty s ministers, at the 
 time of passing those instruments, were evi¬ 
 dently of opinion that, by the refusal of Gene¬ 
 ral Amherst to grant to the Canadians the con¬ 
 tinuance of their ancient laws and usages ; and 
 by the reference made in the fourth article of 
 the definitive treaty of peace to the laws of 
 Great Britain, as the measure of the indulgence 
 intended to be shown them with respect to the 
 exercise of their religion, sufficient notice had 
 been given to the conquered inhabitants of 
 that province, that it was his Majesty’s plea- 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 27 
 
 sure that they should be governed for the future 
 according to the laws of England. It is evident 
 also, that the inhabitants, after being thus ap¬ 
 prised of his Majesty’s intention, had consented 
 to be so governed, and had testified their said 
 consent, by continuing to reside in the country, 
 and taking the oath of allegiance to his Ma¬ 
 jesty, when they might have withdrawn them¬ 
 selves from the province, with all their effects, 
 and the produce of the sale of their estates, 
 within the eighteen months allowed by his 
 Majesty in the treaty of peace, for that purpose. 
 
 In consequence of this introduction of the 
 laws of England into the province, by the 
 aforesaid proclamation and commission, Gover¬ 
 nor Murray and his Council, in the great ordi¬ 
 nance dated on the 17th day of September 1704 
 (passed at the commencement of the civil 
 government of the province, for the establish¬ 
 ment of courts of justice in it), directed the 
 chief justice of the province (who was to hold 
 the superior court or Court of King’s Bench, 
 established by that ordinance), to determine all 
 criminal and civil causes agreeable to the laws 
 of England, and the ordinances of the province; 
 and the judges of the inferior court, established 
 by the said ordinance (which was called the 
 Court ot Common Pleas), to determine the 
 
28 
 
 the bubbles 
 
 matters before them agreeably to equity, having 
 regard nevertheless to the laws oj England, as 
 far as the circumstances and situation ot things 
 would permit, until such time as proper ordi¬ 
 nances for the information of the people could 
 be established by the governor and council, 
 agreeable to the laws of England ; with this just 
 and prudent proviso, ‘ that the French laws 
 and customs should be allowed and admitted 
 in all causes in the said court between the na¬ 
 tives of the said province, in which the cause 
 of action arose, before the 1st day of October 
 1764.’ 
 
 In consequence of these instruments of go¬ 
 vernment, the laws of England were gene¬ 
 rally introduced into it, and consequently be¬ 
 came the rule and measure of all contracts and 
 other civil engagements entered into by the 
 inhabitants after the introduction of them, that 
 is, after the establishment of the civil govern¬ 
 ment of the province, or after the said 1st day 
 of October 1764. 
 
 At this time the population of Canada 
 amounted to 65,000 souls, and was confined to 
 the banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributary 
 streams. As the people had now become Bri¬ 
 tish subjects, it was deemed expedient to intro¬ 
 duce, as soon as possible, emigrants of English 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 29 
 
 extraction, as well for the purpose of creating 
 a defensive power within the province, as to 
 induce the French to acquire the language, and 
 adopt the habits of their conquerors. The 
 officers and soldiers of the army that had 
 served in America were rewarded with grants 
 of land in the country which they had con- 
 quered, and liberal offers were made to people 
 in the other provinces, and to emigrants from 
 Europe to remove thither. The facilities of 
 internal transport, the fertility of the soil, and 
 salubrity of the climate, operated so powerfully, 
 that in a short time the influx of strangers was 
 so great as to induce the hope that it would 
 speedily rival the New England states in popu¬ 
 lation and in wealth; and no doubt can now 
 be entertained that if the terms of the procla¬ 
 mation had been honestly adhered to, these ex¬ 
 pectations would have been fully realised. As 
 a matter of policy nothing could have been 
 more wise, than since it had now become a 
 British colony, to endeavour, as soon as pos¬ 
 sible, to make it so in fact as well as in name. 
 The introduction of English laws had a natural 
 tendency to disseminate the language, by ren¬ 
 dering the study of it necessary to the Canadian 
 French, and a constant intercourse with the 
 emigrants could not fail, by rendering their 
 
30 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 customs familiar, to have gradually led to their 
 adoption. This change, though great in the 
 first instance, and no doubt repugnant to then- 
 feelings, would have gradually recommended 
 itself to the French, and by the time a new 
 generation had sprung up, all inconvenience 
 would have ceased to be felt any longer. The 
 first fatal error that was committed was ordering 
 a code of laws to be prepared for the province, 
 with such modifications as would secure to the 
 French the system of tenure and inheritance, 
 to which they had been accustomed. This 
 occasioned much delay, and enabled then- 
 leaders to represent that any change would 
 alienate the affections of the inhabitants, who 
 would naturally extend to the government the 
 dislike that they felt to their institutions. Un¬ 
 fortunately, while this was under consideration, 
 the time had arrived when they could enforce 
 their demands with a threat, and the rebellion 
 which shortly afterwards broke out in the 
 English colonies (now constituting the United 
 States), made their conciliation become a matter 
 of state policy. It was therefore determined 
 at once to restore the French laws as they 
 existed at the conquest, and the celebrated 
 Quebec Act, 14 Geo. 3, c. 83, was passed for 
 that purpose. This statute enacted, “ that his 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 31 
 
 Majesty's subjects professing the religion of the 
 Church of Rome, in the said province of Que¬ 
 bec, may have, hold and enjoy, the free exercise 
 of their religion, subject to the King’s supre¬ 
 macy, and that the clergy of the said church 
 may hold, receive, and enjoy their accustomed 
 dues and rights, with respect to such persons 
 only as shall profess the said religion ; and that 
 it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs or 
 successors, to make such provision for the sup¬ 
 port of the Protestant clergy within the said 
 province, as he or they ^hall from time to time 
 think necessary and expedient.” But by far 
 the most important clause was that which , after 
 reciting that the English laws which had pre¬ 
 vailed therefor ten years, administered and 
 regulated under commissions to governors, had 
 been found inapplicable to the state and circum¬ 
 stances oj the country, enacted that from and 
 after the 1st of May, 1775, the said English 
 laws and practice of courts should be annulled. 
 It is true that the criminal law of England was 
 excepted, and that the system of torture which 
 had been in previous existence was abolished 
 for ever. During the time they were under 
 French domination a person suspected of crime 
 was seized, thrown into prison, and interro¬ 
 gated, without knowing the charge brought 
 
32 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 against him, and without being confronted with 
 his accuser. He was deprived of the assistance 
 either of his friends, relations, or counsel. He 
 was sworn to tell the truth, or rather to accuse 
 himself, without any value being attached to 
 his testimony. Questions were then artfully 
 put, which are described as more diflicult foi 
 innocence to unravel than vice to deny. T-he 
 prisoner was never confronted with the person 
 who had deposed against him, except at the 
 moment before judgment was pronounced, or 
 when the torture was applied, or at his execu¬ 
 tion, which judgment in capital cases was in¬ 
 variably followed by confiscation of property. 
 This act also constituted a council with the 
 power to make ordinances, conjointly with the 
 governor, but not to impose taxes except for 
 making roads. The ordinances were to be laid 
 before his Majesty for allowance, and those 
 touching religion not to be in force until for¬ 
 mally approved of by the King. 
 
 This flagrant violation of the promises held 
 out in the proclamation, and of the terms upon 
 which the people of British origin had settled in 
 the provinces, filled them with dismay. They 
 felt that they had the wretched choice presented 
 to them of abandoning their property and remov¬ 
 ing from the colony, or of remaining a miserable 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 33 
 
 minority, to be ruled and governed by foreign¬ 
 ers, whose favour could only be conciliated by 
 their forgetting their country, their language, 
 and religion, as soon as possible, and becoming 
 Frenchmen. They accordingly lost no time in 
 forwarding petitions, in which they were joined 
 by the merchants of London, interested in the 
 North American trade, to the king and the two 
 houses of parliament, expressive of their sense 
 of the injury they had sustained, and of the 
 misei y likely to be entailed by this act upon 
 the province, but no repeal was effected, and 
 the act remained as it was passed. 
 
 Importunity often prevails against convic¬ 
 tion, and the most noisy applicant is generally 
 the first relieved, not because he is the most 
 deserving, but because he is the most trouble¬ 
 some. 1 he French Canadians appear to have 
 been fully aware of tins fact, and to have acted 
 upon it; and the English finding their oppo¬ 
 nents first in the field, have been put on the 
 defensive, and instead of seeking what was due 
 to themselves, have been compelled to expos¬ 
 tulate that too great a share has been given to 
 their rivals. The advantage gained by this po¬ 
 sition, the former have constantly maintained ; 
 and, it is a singular fact, that while the latter 
 are the only aggrieved party in the country , the 
 
 n 
 
34 
 
 the bubbles 
 
 former have forestalled the attention of the 
 public, and engrossed the whole of its sympathy. 
 Every page of this work will confirm and illus¬ 
 trate this extraordinary fact. The Quebec Act 
 was obnoxious, not merely to the British party 
 in Canada, but to the inhabitants of those co¬ 
 lonies whose gallantry so materially contributed 
 to its conquest. It has been the singular fate 
 of this unfortunate bill to have excited two 
 rebellions. It caused the cup of American 
 grievance, which was already filled to the brim, 
 to overflow into revolt, and has subsequently 
 given rise to a train of events that have induced 
 the very men that it was designed to conciliate, 
 to follow the fatal example that had been set 
 to them by their republican neighbours. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 35 
 
 Letter IV. 
 
 As soon as the struggle had ended in the 
 old colonies, by their successful assertion of 
 independence, a vast emigration of the loyalists 
 took place into Canada, comprising a great 
 number of persons of character and property; 
 and these people, who had been accustomed to 
 the exercise of the electoral privilege, united 
 w ith those of their countrymen who had pre¬ 
 viously settled there in demanding a modifica¬ 
 tion of the Quebec Act, and the establishment 
 of a local legislature. The petitions of these 
 people gave rise to the Act of the 31st Geo. 3, 
 c. 31, commonly called the Constitutional Act, 
 to w hich and to the Quebec Act, of the 14th 
 of the same reign, c. 83, alluded to in my former 
 letter, is to be attributed all the trouble expe¬ 
 rienced in governing Canada. In the fatal 
 concessions to the Canadians contained in these 
 Acts, is to be found the origin of that anti- 
 British feeling which, engendered by the powers 
 conferred by those Acts, has increased with 
 every exercise of those powers, until it has 
 assumed the shape of concentrated hatred and 
 
 i) 2 
 

 36 THE BUBBLES 
 
 open rebellion. By this Act Canada was 
 divided into two provinces, respectively called 
 Upper and Lower Canada. I he latter, to 
 which all my remarks will hereafter be con¬ 
 fined, lies between the parallels of the 45° and 
 52° of North latitude, and the meridian of 57° 
 5<y and 80° 6' West longitude from Greenwich. 
 It is bounded on the north by the territory of 
 the Hudson’s Bay Company, on the east by the 
 Gulph of St. Lawrence, on the south by New 
 Brunswick and part of the United States, and 
 on the west by a line that separates it from 
 Upper Canada, and contains more than 250,000 
 square miles. 
 
 To this country this celebrated Act gave a 
 constitution, consisting of a Governor and 
 Executive Council of eleven members, ap¬ 
 pointed by the Crown ; a Legislative Council, 
 forming the second estate, appointed in like 
 manner by the Crown, consisting of fifteen 
 members (but subsequently, as we shall see, 
 increased to forty); and a Representative As¬ 
 sembly, or House of Commons, composed of fifty 
 members (afterwards increased to eighty-eight), 
 each having powers as nearly analogous to those 
 of King, Lords, and Commons, as the varied 
 circumstances of the two countries and the de¬ 
 pendence of the colony would admit. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 37 
 
 The enacting power they bestowed upon the 
 colony, introduced from year to year another 
 set of statutes, in addition to what they were 
 subject to already, so that they now have a 
 union of French, English, and provincial law. 
 Such a confusion, you may easily imagine, 
 imposed great difficulties, as well upon those 
 who had to administer, as those who were 
 bound to obey those laws; but of the extent 
 of those difficulties, of the impediments they 
 offered to the transfer of real estate, of the 
 frauds to which they gave rise, and the obstacles 
 they presented to the settlement and prosperity 
 of the country, it is impossible for an English¬ 
 man to form any idea without first inquiring 
 into the structure of this singular code. The 
 subject, however, is too important to be disposed 
 of in this cursory manner, and I shall, there¬ 
 fore, even at the hazard of being thought tedious, 
 endeavour to give you some general account of 
 the situation of the country in this particular. 
 I am the more induced to do so, because, inde¬ 
 pendent of the explanation which it will give 
 of much that I have to say to you, it appears 
 to be indispensible to the full understanding of 
 the T enures Act, which is now one of the great 
 complaints of the disaffected. 
 
 1 here exists in Lower Canada no regular 
 
38 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 v 
 
 code in which the law's of the land are syste¬ 
 matically incorporated, nor would it indeed 
 be a task of ordinary difficulty to collect and 
 condense them, so diverse are their elements, 
 and so complex their character.* The juris¬ 
 prudence of the country may be said to embrace 
 the French, the English, and the Roman or 
 civil laws, and these are all so blended in prac¬ 
 tice, that it is often doubtful whence the rule 
 of decision will be drawn, although the line of 
 distinction is better defined in theory. The 
 statute law of the province may be stated under 
 five heads :—1st, The articles of capitulation, 
 that form part of the guaranteed rights of the 
 inhabitants; 2d, The 31st Geo. III. cap. 31, or 
 the constitutional act, and all other British 
 statutes expressly extending to the colonies; 
 3d, The edicts, declarations, and ordinances of 
 the Kings of France officially registered in the 
 province ; 4th, The ordinances of the governor 
 and council anterior to 1792; and 5th, The 
 acts of the provincial legislature subsequent 
 to 1792. The common law is the custom of 
 Paris as modified by the customs of the coun¬ 
 try, and this law was co-extensive with the 
 whole province until the passing of the Canada 
 
 * See Bouchette. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 39 
 
 tenures' bill in 18*25, which restricted the ap¬ 
 plication of the French law to the feudal sec¬ 
 tion of the colony, and introduced bodily the 
 English laws to the remainder of the province. 
 The criminal law cf the province is the Eng¬ 
 lish code as it stood in 1774, and the statutes 
 of a declaratory or modifying nature that have 
 since passed the local legislature. 
 
 When the country was first settled by the 
 French, the feudal tenure was in full vigour on 
 the continent of Europe, and naturally trans¬ 
 planted by the colonizers to the new world. 
 The King of France, as feudal lord, granted to 
 nobles and respectable families, or to officers of 
 the army, large tracts of land, termed seigni¬ 
 ories, the proprietors of which were termed 
 seigniors ; and held immediately from the King 
 en JieJ\ or en rolure, on condition of rendering- 
 fealty and homage on accession to seigniorial 
 property; anti in the event of a transfer, by 
 sale, or gift, or otherwise (except in hereditary 
 succession), the seigniory was subject to the 
 payment of a quint, or fifth part of the whole 
 purchase-money; and which, if paid by the 
 purchaser immediately, entitled him to the 
 rabat, or a reduction of two-thirds of the quint. 
 The custom still prevails, the King of Great 
 
40 
 
 THE HUBBLES 
 
 Britain having succeeded to the claims of the 
 King of 1’rance.* 
 
 The position and extent of these seigniorial 
 grants are :— 
 
 Territorial Division. 
 
 Number of 
 
 Seigniories. 
 
 Extent of Seignioral 
 Grants. 
 
 Almost unfit 
 for 
 
 cultivation in 
 the Seignio¬ 
 ries and Fiefs. 
 
 Arpents. 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Quebec, including Anti-1 
 costi and other Isles. J 
 Montreal and Islands - 
 Three Rivers and St.l 
 Francis, &c. - -j 
 
 Gaspe and Isles - 
 
 79 
 
 63 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 5,639,319 
 3,269,966 
 1,220,308 
 
 1,547,086 
 
 5,656,699 
 
 2,786,011 
 
 1,039,707 
 
 1,318,117 
 
 2,600,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 600,000 
 
 168 
 
 12,676,679 
 
 10,800,534 
 
 4,100,000 
 
 Estimating the number of acres of land in 
 Lower Canada under cultivation, at 4,000,000, 
 it will be perceived what a large portion of ter¬ 
 ritory is embraced under the seigniories. 
 
 Quints is a fifth-part of the purchase-money 
 of an estate held en Jief which must be paid by 
 the purchaser to the feudal lord, that is, to the 
 King. If the feudal lord believes the Jief to 
 be sold under value, he can take the estate to 
 himself by paying the purchaser the price he 
 gave for it, with all reasonable expenses, Re¬ 
 lief c is the rent or revenue of one year for 
 
 * Sec Martin’s ‘ Canada,’ and House of Commons Report. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 41 
 
 mutation fine, when an estate is inherited only 
 by collateral descent. Loth et rentes, are fines 
 of alienation of one-twelfth part of the purchase- 
 money, paid to the seigneur by the purchaser, 
 on the transfer of property, in the same manner 
 as quints are paid to the King on the mutation 
 oijief; and are held en roture , which is an estate 
 to which heirs succeed equally. Franc cileu noble 
 is a jiej, or freehold estate, held subject to no 
 seignorial rights or duties, and acknowledging 
 no lord but the King. The succession to Jiefs 
 is different from that of property held en roture 
 or by villainage. The eldest son, by right, 
 takes the chateau, and the yard adjoining it; 
 also an arpent of the garden joining the manor 
 house, and the mills, ovens, or presses within 
 the seigniory, belong to him ; but the profit 
 arising from these is to be divided among the 
 other heirs. Females have no precedence of 
 right, and when there are only daughters, the 
 fiej is equally divided among them. When 
 there are only two sons, the eldest takes two- 
 thirds of the lands, besides the chateau, mill 
 &c., and the younger, one-third. When there 
 ;ire several sons, the elder claims half the lands, 
 and the rest have the other half divided among 
 them. Censive is an estate held in the feudal 
 manner, subject to the seigniorial fines or dues. 
 
— 
 
 42 THE BUBBLES 
 
 All the Canadian habitans, small farmers, are 
 censitaires. Property, according to the laws 
 of Canada, is either propre, that is held by 
 descent, or acquits, which expresses being ac¬ 
 quired by industry or other means. Commu- 
 nite de bien is partnership in property by mar¬ 
 riage ; for the wife, by this law, becomes an 
 equal partner in whatever the husband pos¬ 
 sessed before and acquires after marriage, and 
 the husband is placed in the same position in 
 respect to the wife’s dowry property. This law 
 might operate as well as most general laws, if 
 both husband and femme came to th e finale of 
 life on the same day ; but very unhappy conse¬ 
 quences have arisen when the one died before 
 the other. For instance, when the wife dies be¬ 
 fore the husband, the children may claim half of 
 the father’s property, as heirs to the mother; 
 and the mother’s relations have often persuaded 
 and sometimes compelled them so to do. 
 
 The dot or dowry, is the property which the 
 wife puts into the communite de bien : moveable 
 or immoveable property, tailing to her by des¬ 
 cent, is a propre, and does not merge in the 
 communite. Dower in Canada, is eithei cus¬ 
 tomary or stipulate. The first consists ot half 
 the property which the husband was possessed 
 of at the time of marriage, and half of all the 
 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 43 
 
 property which he may inherit or acquire—of 
 this the wife has the use for life, and the chil¬ 
 dren may claim it at her death. If they be 
 not of age, the wife’s relations can take it out 
 ot the father’s hands for them, and may compel 
 him to sell his property to make a division. 
 Stipulated dower is a portion which the hus¬ 
 band gives instead of the customary dower. 
 
 Those farmers who hold land from the sei¬ 
 gneur en roture, and who are termed tenan¬ 
 cies or censitaires do so subject to certain 
 conditions, viz. : a small annual rent from 
 2s. Od. to 5s. (or perhaps more of late years) 
 for each arpent in front, to this is added some 
 articles of provision annually, according to the 
 means of the farmer, w ho is also bound to grind 
 his corn at the moulin banal , or the seigneur’s 
 mill, when one-fourteenth is taken for the lord’s 
 use as a mouture or payment for grinding. 
 The lads ct rentes form another part of the 
 seigneur’s revenue : it consists of a right to one- 
 twelfth part of the purchase money of every 
 estate within his seigniory that changes its 
 owner by sale or other means equivalent to 
 sale : this twelfth to be paid by the purchaser, 
 and is exclusive of the sum agreed on between 
 the latter and the seller, and if promptly paid, 
 a reduction of one-fourth is usually made (in 
 
44 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the same manner as two-thirds of the quint 
 due to the Crown is made.) On such an occa¬ 
 sion a privilege remains with the seigneur but 
 seldom exercised, called the droit de retrait , 
 which confers the right of pre-emption at the 
 highest bidden price within forty days after the 
 sale has taken place. 
 
 All the fisheries within the seigniories con¬ 
 tribute also to the lord’s income, as he re¬ 
 ceives of the fish caught, or an equivalent in 
 money for the same: the seigneur is also privi¬ 
 leged to fell timber any where within his seig¬ 
 niory for the purpose of erecting mills, con¬ 
 structing new or repairing old roads, or for 
 other works of public and general utility. In 
 addition to the foregoing obligations on the 
 farmer, he is, if a Roman Catholic, bound to 
 pay to his curate one twenty-sixth part of all 
 grain produced, and to have occasional assess, 
 ments levied on him for building and repairing 
 churches, parsonage houses, &c. 
 
 The duties of the seigneur to his tenants 
 are also strictly defined,—he is bound in some 
 instances to open roads to the remote parts of 
 his fief, and to provide mills for the grinding 
 of the feudal tenants’ corn ;—he cannot dispose 
 by sale of forest lands, but is bound to concede 
 them, and upon his refusal to do so, the appli- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 45 
 
 cant may obtain from the Crown the concession 
 he requires, under the usual seigniorial stipu¬ 
 lations, in which case the rents and dues 
 appertain to the King. 
 
 The soccage tenure, like the franc aleu 
 roturier, leaves the farmer or landholder wholly 
 unshackled by any conditions whatsoever a s 
 to rents, corv^es, mutation fines, banaleU (corn 
 grinding obligation) without in fact any other 
 obligation than allegiance to the King, and 
 obedience to the laws. The quantity of land 
 thus granted in Lower Canada amounts to 
 upwards of 7,000,000 acres—-while under the 
 seigniorial grants there are nearly 1 ] ,000,000 
 acres held by a vast number of small proprie¬ 
 tors. 
 
 It is very difficult to conceive how the states¬ 
 man who sanctioned the act that substituted 
 this extraordinary code for that of England, 
 could have imagined it could ever be productive 
 of anything but discord in a country inhabited 
 by two races of different origin and different 
 language. Any person at all acquainted with 
 the prejudices and passions that operate on 
 man, will easily understand that the French, 
 jealous of any innovation, are constantly sus¬ 
 picious of an intention on the part of the Eng¬ 
 lish to infringe upon their rights, and intro- 
 
40 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 duce their own system of jurisprudence, to 
 which they are accustomed and attached, in¬ 
 stead of that which they neither understand 
 nor approve; and, on the other hand, that 
 the English, naturally an enterprising and 
 commercial people, find the feudal tenure an 
 intolerable burden, and spurn with indignation 
 the idea of being subjected to the government 
 of a race whom they have conquered, and to 
 the operation of laws, which even the people 
 with whom they originated, have rejected as 
 unsuited to the exigencies of the times. In 
 addition to this grievous error of establishing 
 a code of laws that exists nowhere else, three 
 others were committed of equal magnitude : 
 first, in dividing Canada into two provinces, 
 and thus separating the French from the ma¬ 
 jority of the English ; secondly, in permitting 
 the language of the courts, and the records of 
 the legislature, to be French; and, thirdly, in 
 giving at so early a period, and before the 
 people were fitted to receive it, a constitutional 
 government. 
 
 The concentrated settlement of the French 
 along the shores of the St. Lawrence neces¬ 
 sarily excluded the English emigrants from 
 that fertile territory, and compelled them to 
 remove to the borders of the lakes. In addition 
 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 47 
 
 to this obvious cause of their not settling in 
 the immediate neighbourhood of the Canadians, 
 it is evident that the nature of the feudal tenure 
 to which those lands were subject, and the 
 introduction of French laws in direct contra¬ 
 vention of the proclamation, rendered such a 
 separation of the two races inevitable. Under 
 these circumstances one would naturally have 
 supposed that a wise government would have 
 endeavoured, as far as possible, to counteract 
 the tendency of these causes, to alienate, as 
 well as separate, these people of different ori¬ 
 gin. But, alas, the fatal principle of concilia¬ 
 tion had now been adopted as the rule of 
 action, and the favourable opportunity of An- 
 glifying the colony, and amalgamating the 
 population, by identifying the interests of both, 
 was not only neglected, but the most effectual 
 mode was adopted to make the distinction as 
 marked and as permanent as possible. Not 
 content with this act of folly and injustice, the 
 French were entrusted with an almost exclu¬ 
 sive possession of the popular branch of the 
 legislature, and even constituted, at the same 
 time, toll-keepers to the adjoining province. 
 Both the ports of Quebec and Montreal were 
 assigned to the French, and the inhabitants of 
 Upper Canada were thus cut off from all com- 
 
48 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 munication with the mother country, but such 
 as might be granted by the Americans or their 
 Gallic neighbours. If the persons who framed 
 that act had compared the state of the revolted 
 colonies with that of Canada, and reflected that 
 they were settled nearly a century later than 
 the other, they certainly never would have 
 attempted to do such injustice as to subject 
 the trade of another colony to the exactions of 
 an illiterate and prejudiced people. If, how¬ 
 ever, the necessities of the times demanded a 
 sacrifice on this important point, surely they 
 should have paused before they gave them a 
 constitutional government, and enquired whe¬ 
 ther they were sufficiently intelligent to receive 
 the institutions of a free and enlightened people. 
 The experiment of constitutional government 
 w as never tried by a people less qualified for the 
 task than the Canadians. 
 
 Until the conquest they may be said to have 
 known no other form of government than a 
 despotic one ; few of them could read or write, 
 and the habits of implicit obedience in which 
 they had been trained to their superiors rendered 
 them unable to comprehend the nature of their 
 own rights, or those of the other branches of 
 the legislature. The powers exercised by the 
 several French governors and intendants knew 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 49 
 
 no hounds; and, unrestrained by law, their 
 decisions were dictated by the caprice of the 
 moment. The inhabitants were compelled to 
 serve as soldiers without pay, in the frequent 
 wars with the English, and were treated with 
 the greatest severity by their superiors. The 
 exactions of the military, instead of being re¬ 
 strained were encouraged, and on all occasions 
 the protection of the governor or intendant was 
 necessary to insure success, while merit in 
 every instance was overlooked. Remonstrances 
 against oppression had frequently been trans¬ 
 mitted to the government in France, but were 
 always either suppressed or disregarded. Then- 
 character at this period is thus drawn by the 
 Abb£ Raynal, whose account, as his partiality 
 must have been all in their favour, I prefer as 
 the most unobjectionable. He observes: 
 
 “ That those whom rural labour fixed in the 
 country, allowed only a few moments to the 
 care of their Hooks and to other indispensable 
 occupations during winter. The rest of the 
 time was passed in idleness at public-houses, 
 or in running along the snow and ice in sledges, 
 in imitation of the most distinguished citizens. 
 When the return of spring called them out to 
 the necessary labours of the field, they ploughed 
 
50 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the ground superficially, without ever manur¬ 
 ing it, sowed it carelessly, and then returned 
 to their former indolent manner of life till 
 harvest time. 
 
 “ This amazing negligence might be owing 
 to several causes. They contracted such a 
 habit of idleness during the continuance of 
 the severe weather, that labour appealed in¬ 
 supportable to them even in the finest weather. 
 The numerous festivals prescribed by their re¬ 
 ligion, which owed its increase to their esta¬ 
 blishment, prevented the first exertion, as well 
 as interrupted the progress of industry. Men 
 are ready enough to comply with that species 
 of devotion that flatters their indolence. Lastly, 
 a passion for war, which had been purposely 
 encouraged among these bold and courageous 
 men, made them averse from the labours of 
 husbandry. Their minds were so entirely cap¬ 
 tivated with military glory that they thought 
 only of war, though they engaged in it without 
 
 pay. ? 
 
 “ The inhabitants of the towns, especially of 
 the capital, spent the winter as well as the 
 summer in a constant scene of dissipation. 
 They were alike insensible of the beauties of 
 nature or of the pleasures of the imagination. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 51 
 
 They had no taste for arts or science, for read¬ 
 ing or instruction. Their only passion was 
 amusement. 
 
 “ There appeared in both sexes a greater 
 degree of devotion than virtue, more religion 
 than probity; a higher sense of honour than 
 real honesty. Superstition took place of mo¬ 
 rality, which will always be the case whenever 
 men are taught to believe that ceremonies will 
 compensate for good works, and that crimes are 
 expiated by prayers.” 
 
 A greater folly can hardly be conceived than 
 conferring a constitutional government upon 
 ft people so situated. Wherever the experiment 
 has been tried, whether in France, in the re¬ 
 public of South America, in Spain, in Portugal, 
 Greece, Newfoundland, or Lower Canada, it 
 has invariably failed. The constitution of 
 England, as it now exists, is the growth of 
 ages, and would have been as unsuitable to our 
 ancestors five hundred years ago as it is to the 
 Lower Canadians of the present day. Regard 
 must be had to the character and condition of 
 the people to whom such a form of government 
 is offered. What may suit the inhabitants of 
 England may be, and is, very unsuitable to 
 those of any other country. It is not sufficient 
 that the machinery be good, but, if we desire 
 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 thf. bubbles 
 
 to avoid accidents and insure success, we 
 must place skilful people in the management 
 of it, who are thoroughly acquainted with its 
 power, and have a perfect knowledge of its 
 principle of action. 1 he limited monaichy ot 
 England was found unsuited to America, al¬ 
 though the people were of British extraction, 
 accustomed to free institutions, and perfectly 
 instructed in its practical operation. 1 hey 
 were so unfortunate as not to possess any 
 materials out of which to construct a House of 
 Lords, and therefore so modified their consti¬ 
 tution as to meet the altered circumstances of 
 the country. This humble imitation is a cheap 
 article, and good of its kind, though badly put 
 together; but a better and more costly one 
 would not have corresponded with the limited 
 means and humble station of a poor people. 
 Their choice is a proof of their wisdom, and 
 their having the opportunity to choose, at a 
 time of life when they were able to make a judi¬ 
 cious selection, is also a proof of their good 
 fortune. Had the Canadians been called upon, 
 at the time of the conquest, to point out what 
 government they would have preferred, they 
 would unquestionably have solicited that of a 
 single intendant; they had never known any 
 other, and it was the only one for which they 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 53 
 
 were fitted. So strong, indeed, is the force of 
 habit, that rejecting the constitution, which 
 they cannot understand, and do not appreciate, 
 they have, after a vain attempt to accommodate 
 themselves to it, resorted to the usage of former 
 days, and (however unfortunate they may have 
 been in the character and conduct of the person 
 they selected as their leader) have adopted the 
 usage of their forefathers, and implicitly yielded 
 their confidence and obedience to one man. 
 
T 
 
 54 THE BUBBLES 
 
 Letter V. 
 
 Having thus traced historically the mea¬ 
 sures of government, from the conquest of the 
 country to the time when the Constitutional 
 Act went into operation in the province (20th 
 December 1791), which forms the first import¬ 
 ant epoch in the history of the colony, I shall 
 divide the time that intervened between that 
 period and the present into four other portions: 
 The second extends from the meeting of the 
 first provincial House of Assembly 7 in December 
 1792 to 1818, when a demand was made for a 
 civil list; the third from thence to 1828, when 
 the pretensions of the Assembly had assumed 
 a distinct and definite form, and were referred 
 to a committee of Parliament; the fourth from 
 thence to 1834, when a further reference of 
 additional grievances was made to another par¬ 
 liamentary committee; and the fifth from 1834 
 to the present period. Such a division will 
 elucidate the growth and increase of those 
 revolutionary principles (the natural and ob¬ 
 vious result of such a form of government) 
 which first appeared in an insidious attempt 
 to monopolise the whole civil power by such 
 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 55 
 
 a complete control in matters of legislation and 
 linance as would render her Majesty’s repre¬ 
 sentative, and the Legislative Council, sub¬ 
 servient to the interests, prejudices, and pas¬ 
 sions ot the French Canadian majority, and 
 finally terminated in open rebellion. I do not 
 mean by this to affirm that all that has since 
 transpired was the result of a preconceived de¬ 
 sign, systematically acted upon ; but as uncon¬ 
 trolled power was given by the constitution 
 to the French party, that these pretensions 
 were the natural result of such a power, and 
 that they were unhesitatingly put forward as 
 soon as their leaders had become acquainted 
 with the working of the constitution, and aware 
 that they were invested with the means of im¬ 
 posing their own terms upon government. 
 
 The first assembly met on the 17 th of Decem¬ 
 ber 1792, and as the representation had been 
 most injudiciously based on the principle of 
 population, thirty-five out of the fifty members 
 of this first house were French, and fifteen only 
 English, a minority too large and respectable to 
 be suffered to continue longer than to teach the 
 majority the forms of business, and we accord¬ 
 ingly find, at a subsequent period, that it was 
 reduced to three . The change from arbitrary 
 to constitutional government was so great, that 
 
56 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the French were for some time under the in¬ 
 fluence of those grateful feelings which such a 
 state of things so naturally engendered. In 
 one of their addresses to his Majesty, soliciting 
 the establishment of a legislature, they thus 
 express their sense of his mild and paternal 
 government: 
 
 “ Sir,—Your most obedient and faithful new 
 subjects in the province of Canada take the 
 liberty to prostrate themselves at the foot of 
 your throne, in order to lay before you the sen¬ 
 timents of respect, affection, and obedience 
 towards your august person, with which their 
 hearts overflow, and to return to your Majesty 
 their most humble thanks for your paternal care 
 of their welfare. 
 
 “ Our gratitude obliges us to acknowledge, 
 that the faithful appearances of conquest by 
 your Majesty’s victorious arms did not long 
 continue to excite our lamentations and tears. 
 They grew every day less and less, as we gra¬ 
 dually became more acquainted with the hap¬ 
 piness of living under the wise regulations of 
 the British empire. And even in the very 
 moment of the conquest we were far from 
 feeling the melancholy effects of restraint and 
 captivity ; for the wise and virtuous general 
 who conqnered us, being a worthy representa- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 57 
 
 tive of the glorious sovereign who entrusted 
 him with the command of his armies, left us in 
 possession of our laws and customs; the free 
 exercise of our religion was preserved to us, 
 and afterwards was confirmed by the treaty of 
 peace; and our own former countrymen were 
 appointed judges of our disputes concerning 
 civil matters. This excess of kindness towards 
 us we shall never forget. These generous proofs 
 of the clemency of our benign conqueror will 
 be carefully preserved in the annals of our his¬ 
 tory ; and we shall transmit them from genera¬ 
 tion to generation to our remotest posterity. 
 These, Sir, are the pleasing ties by which, in 
 the beginning of our subjection to your Ma¬ 
 jesty’s government, our hearts were so strongly 
 bound to your Majesty ; ties which can never 
 be dissolved, but which time will only strengthen 
 and draw closer.” 
 
 Impressed with a sense of the benefits con¬ 
 ferred upon them by this great change, tramel- 
 led by parliamentary forms with which they 
 were wholly unacquainted, and not yet aware 
 of the unlimited means of annoyance, if not of 
 controul, with which they were invested, we 
 find them for some time proceeding with deco¬ 
 rum and moderation. But there were not 
 wanting those in the colony who were filled 
 
58 
 
 THE BUBUI.ES 
 
 with alarm at the sight of the first Canadian 
 assembly, which, even with the largest minority 
 ever known, contained a majority of more than 
 twice as many Frenchmen as Englishmen, and 
 possessed the power to increase that majority 
 at its pleasure. Even those whose faith in the 
 operation of British institutions, had led them 
 to hold a different opinion as to the result, 
 were constrained to admit their error, when 
 they found the house proceeding to choose a 
 speaker, who admitted his inability to express 
 himself in English (a precedent of choosing 
 that officer from the majority, which has ever 
 since been followed), and also resorting to the 
 expensive mode of recording their proceedings 
 in their own language. They perceived with 
 grief that the natural tendency of those things, 
 instead of stimulating the new subjects to the 
 study of constitutional law in its original 
 sources, was to force Englishmen to study 
 French, and in no small degree to become 
 Frenchmen, and coalesce with the Nation Ca- 
 nadienne, to give a complete ascendancy to 
 those of foreign origin, their laws, language, 
 and characteristics, in the popular branch of 
 the legislature, and to encourage in the leaders, 
 at a future day, that exclusive ambition that 
 now distinguishes them. They could not fail, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 59 
 
 also, to draw an unfavourable contrast between 
 this extraordinary concession, and the more 
 provident conduct of the American Congress, 
 which, while admitting the territory of Louis- 
 ianna, inhabited by Frenchmen, as one of the 
 states of the confederation, enacted that all 
 minutes of proceedings in the court and legis¬ 
 lature of their sister state should be exclusively 
 recorded in the language of the constituency of 
 the United States. This judicious enactment 
 lias naturally made the study of the English 
 tongue a primary object with the Louisianians, 
 and, though in numbers, at the time of admis¬ 
 sion, they were about half the amount of the 
 Canadians in 1791, they now generally speak 
 or understand English, and have changed their 
 old laws for a new code, while the legislature 
 and people of Canada remain as much French 
 as the inhabitants of Normandy. 
 
 It was felt that, as far as Englishmen and 
 their descendants were concerned, this consti¬ 
 tution was a mere delusion. At a very early 
 period we find them putting in practice that ma¬ 
 noeuvre, which became so common afterwards, 
 of absenting themselves from the house, when 
 measures were to be considered to which they 
 were averse, and thereby compelling the speaker 
 to adjourn the debate for want of a quorum. 
 
60 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 This first House of Assembly, after four ses¬ 
 sions, terminated on the 4th of May, 1796. 
 The conduct of the members, though respect¬ 
 ful both to the governor and the other branch 
 of the legislature, gave evident proof that they 
 would afford no encouragement to English 
 commerce or English settlers. 1 lie principle 
 adopted and acted upon most pertinaciously 
 was to avoid direct assessment, and throw all 
 public burthens, as well as local charges, upon 
 the revenue, to be derived from duties levied 
 off of trade. It was in some measure owing to 
 chance, but mainly to the influence of the 
 governor, that a road act, so important to the 
 country, which imposed a moderate contribu¬ 
 tion of money or labour on the people, for the 
 improvement of their property, was carried 
 through the Assembly. But an appeal to the 
 passions and prejudices of the people by their 
 embryo demagogues was so successful on this 
 occasion, in representing this necessary act as 
 the commencement of foreign taxation and 
 English oppression, that they attempted to 
 starve out the inhabitants of Quebec and Mon¬ 
 treal, by withholding all the usual supplies of 
 food. A bankrupt law was refused to the 
 request of the merchants, and they also declined 
 to sanction “ An Act to Amend the Laws, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 61 
 
 Customs, and Usages in force in the Province, 
 relative to the Tenure of Lands, and the rights 
 derived therefrom,” refusing to make the small¬ 
 est sacrifice to what they called the cupidity 
 of English landholders, and the prejudices of 
 American settlers. So peremptory, indeed, 
 was the refusal, that the faction was considered 
 decisive as to any innovation upon the French 
 laws, which, with the feudal tenures of lands, 
 were cherished as the means of deterring emi¬ 
 grants from seeking an asylum in the province; 
 thus rendered French in fact, though British 
 in name. During the existence of this house, 
 also, is to be found the first pretension to en¬ 
 croach on the right of the Crown, in an enquiry 
 into the forfeited lands of the Jesuits, and a 
 claim for their restoration to French controul. 
 It is, however, worthy of remark, as forming a 
 complete contrast with recent conduct, that of 
 eleven acts sanctioned at the end of the session, 
 all were permanent but one. 
 
 Thus, my dear friend, do you see that the 
 causes of the present posture of affairs are to 
 be traced back to a very early period, not as 
 my Lord Durham has asserted, to misgovern- 
 ment of the Canadians, but to inconsiderate con¬ 
 cessions, which though designed to conciliate 
 them, have not onlysignally failed of their object. 
 
62 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 but been productive of mischief to themselves, 
 and incalculable injury to the colony. That 
 this is the view that impartial men take of the 
 subject, appears from the following extract 
 from the work of a distinguished foreigner, the 
 author of the Resources of America :* 
 
 “ The unwise act of Lord Grenville, passed 
 through Parliament in the year 1794, permit- 
 ing the people of Lower Canada to conduct 
 their pleadings and promulgate their laws in 
 the French language, has prevented them from 
 ever becoming British, and so far weakened 
 the colony as an outwork of the mother coun¬ 
 try. It has always been the policy of able 
 conquerors, as soon as possible, to incorporate 
 their vanquished subjects with their own citi¬ 
 zens, by giving them their own language and 
 laws, and not suffering them to retain those 
 of their pristine dominion. These were among 
 the most efficient means by which ancient 
 Rome built up and established her empire over 
 the whole world; and these were the most 
 efficient aids by which modern France spread 
 her dominion so rapidly over the continent of 
 Europe. While Lower Canada continues to be 
 French in language, religion, laws, habits, and 
 manners, it is obvious that her people will not 
 be good British subjects ; and Britain may most 
 
 Bristow. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 63 
 
 assuredly look to the speedy loss of her North 
 American colonies, unless she immediately 
 sets about the establishment of an able, states¬ 
 manlike government there, and the direction 
 thitherward of that tide of emigration from her 
 own loins, which now swells the strength and 
 resources of the United States. Her North 
 American colonies gone, her West India islands 
 will soon follow.” 
 
 The second House of Assembly was opened 
 on the 25th of January, 1797, and ended in 
 1801. The privilege of participating in the 
 legislative power of the country for four years, 
 had awakened the members to a sense of their 
 own importance, and the Canadian French to 
 a knowledge of their supremacy; and they 
 accordingly returned a more democratic house 
 than the preceding, and representatives pledged 
 to an exclusive devotion to the interests of then- 
 own party. The prejudices awakened by the 
 Hoad Act, and the fraternising doctrines of the 
 French revolution, contributed also to produce 
 this result. It is true the minority were only 
 reduced to fourteen; but the attorney-general 
 was defeated as a candidate for the county of 
 Quebec, and several influential members of the 
 late house shared a similar fate; so that al¬ 
 though the numerical proportions were nearly 
 
64 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 similar, the British interest was evidently al¬ 
 ready on the decline. 
 
 A manifest change had taken place in the feel¬ 
 ings of the different branches of the legislature. 
 The governor, acting on the defensive, no longer 
 proposed measures of internal improvement, 
 which he knew would provoke angry dis¬ 
 cussions, or be met with a refusal; but relied 
 more upon the Legislative Council, which 
 alone represented or protected British interests, 
 while the house, finding that temporary acts 
 had a direct tendency to lessen the influence 
 and independence of the executive, discon¬ 
 tinued the practice of passing permanent laws. 
 To remedy the evil of having so many pre¬ 
 judiced and illiterate members in the assembly, 
 it was proposed by the minority to establish a 
 qualification, which, although it could not 
 possibly increase their own numbers, it was 
 hoped might at least have the advantage of 
 affording them more liberal and enlightened 
 colleagues; but this measure, like all others 
 introduced by them, was considered of foreign 
 origin, and excluded accordingly. The ma¬ 
 jority, however, though pertinacious, still pre¬ 
 served appearances, and as the minority felt 
 themselves unequal to procure the passage of 
 any bill, either of internal improvement or for 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 65 
 
 the facilitating the foreign trade, they forbore 
 to provoke the discussion, and preferred using 
 their influence to the mere preservation of what 
 few privileges were left to them. The third 
 provincial parliament began on the 1st of 
 January 1801, and terminated, after five ses¬ 
 sions, on the 2d of May 1804. The temper 
 of this house, and the proportion of its parties, 
 were similar to that of the last. 
 
 Among the topics insisted upon in the gover¬ 
 nor’s speech, was a recommendation fora grant 
 of money for free schools for the instruction of 
 the rising generation in the first rudiments of 
 useful learning, and in the English tongue ; 
 and it was noticed with feelings of grief, though 
 not with surprise, that the house, in their reply, 
 omitted the words “ English tongue,” and 
 shortly afterwards applied the commentary by 
 a vote for the purchase of “ French books,” for 
 the use of the members. Although there were 
 not a few of their number who were unfortu¬ 
 nately incapable, from a deficiency of educa¬ 
 tion, of using them, yet it was evident that there 
 existed as little inclination to adopt the lan¬ 
 guage, as there was to introduce the laws of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 In accordance with this spirit of preference 
 for French laws, an act was passed to revive 
 
 F 
 
 
66 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the serment decisoiro, or oath, by which, un¬ 
 der certain circumstances, a debtor may be 
 permitted to clear himself of a commercial debt, 
 by simply swearing to its having been paid and 
 satisfied, without even stating the time or place 
 of payment; an act which has been described 
 as a most prolific source of fraud and perjury, 
 and deeply injurious to the mercantile interests 
 of the country, as w'ell as to the character of the 
 people. Such, indeed, was the jealousy of the 
 majority of the English, that they were not 
 inclined to pass even those laws, which had an 
 exclusive application to them and their tenures. 
 Thus a bill was introduced for registering deeds 
 of lands in free and common soccage, which 
 only affected the English, but it met with the 
 customary fate of all such attempts. 
 
 The leaders began now to affect to perceive 
 a latent danger in every act of the government, 
 and a bill requiring rectors, curates, and priests 
 to read certain laws after divine service, was 
 denounced as opening a door for exercising an 
 influence over the clergy ; and an effort was 
 made to introduce in their stead the captains 
 of militia, which was only relinquished to avoid 
 the awkward admission that too many of those 
 officers were deficient in the necessary quali¬ 
 fication to perform the duty. The great in- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 G7 
 
 crease of the trade of the province at this time, 
 in consequence of the war, so far from exciting 
 the emulation of the French, and stimulating 
 them to participate in its advantages, awakened 
 their jealousy, and they stigmatised it as the 
 parent of crime, the source of undue distinc¬ 
 tions, and the means of filling the country with 
 persons of foreign origin. They not only de¬ 
 clined in any way to aid its extension, but 
 imposed taxes upon it for all those objects that 
 elsewhere in America are provided for by local 
 assessment. Such conduct could not fail to 
 retard the improvement of the country, by pre¬ 
 venting the investment of capital, and discou¬ 
 raging enterprise; and that it had this effect is 
 evident from the slow growth of Lower Canada, 
 when compared with that of the adjoining- 
 colony, where a different system prevailed. 
 The fourth house of assembly met on the 
 11th January, 1805, and terminated, after four 
 sessions, on the 14th April, 1808. 
 
 The pressure of the feudal tenure becoming 
 daily more and more severely felt by the inha¬ 
 bitants of the cities, two unsuccessful attempts 
 were now made to obtain some mitigation of 
 it. The first was a bill to abolish the re¬ 
 trait lignager, or right of redemption by the 
 relations of seignoral lands. Any relation, it 
 f 2 
 
G8 THK UUBJU.ES 
 
 was stated, of the seller, if of the same line, 
 from whence the property descended, may, within 
 a year and a day, by this law, take it from the 
 purchaser of the property, on condition of re¬ 
 turning the price. A person, therefore, buying 
 a lot of land for one hundred pounds, and ex¬ 
 pending upon it one thousand in buildings, 
 may be deprived of the whole, by a relation of 
 the seller* refunding the original purchase- 
 money, buildings not being considered necessary 
 expenses. 
 
 The second was “ a bill to enable the seig¬ 
 neurs to compound for their feudal rights and 
 dues with their vassals and censitaires.” This 
 was particularly intended as a relief against the 
 discouraging effects of lods and vents, by which 
 the twelfth part of the labour and expense of 
 erecting buildings (however expensive) on 
 ground, subject to the imposition, is for the 
 benefit of the seigneur. These bills, however, 
 like all that had preceded them, for similar 
 purposes, did not receive a second reading, nor 
 was any remedy applied until the Imperial 
 Parliament interfered nearly twenty years after¬ 
 wards. To show, however, the nature of the 
 change which these leaders were disposed to 
 patronise, they voted £750 for translating Hat- 
 sell’s Parliamenatry Proceedings into French, 
 
 * See u Political Annals also Canadian Magazine. 
 
Ck CANADA. 
 
 G9 
 
 and to rebut the charge of their aversion to 
 internal improvement, and to shew they were 
 not inattentive to the agricultural prosperity of 
 the province, they passed a bill enjoining the 
 application of tar to apple trees for the de¬ 
 struction of caterpillars. From a body thus 
 constituted little good could be expected. The 
 merchants and other British subjects resident 
 in Canada, finding all attempts in the legisla¬ 
 ture useless, appealed, through the medium of 
 the press, to the sympathies of the English 
 public. They contended that if the support of 
 the civil government were not to rest on direct 
 taxes, it should at least be secured by perma¬ 
 nent acts of indirect taxation—that local esta¬ 
 blishments, such as court-houses, gaols, and 
 houses of correction, should be defrayed by 
 assessments on the districts for whose benefit 
 they were required, and that recourse should be 
 had to indirect taxes of temporary duration, 
 only for the general improvement of the coun¬ 
 try in its internal communications with the 
 adjoining states and colonies, or its agriculture- 
 and commerce. 
 
 This was denounced by the demagogues of 
 the day as an attack upon the liberties of the 
 subject; and certain toasts at a public dinner, 
 approving of those commercial and financial 
 
70 THE BUBBLES 
 
 views of the minority, were voted to be an in¬ 
 sult to the majesty of the house, and warrants 
 were issued against the printers, who were 
 taken into custody, and compelled to apologise 
 for their conduct.* It is worthy of remark, 
 that at this time the first attempt was made to 
 procure a drawback of duties on articles that 
 were exported after having first paid a duty; 
 
 * That “ our oppressed and enslaved brethren in Canada ” knew 
 how to vindicate themselves, and entertained just notions on the 
 subject of the liberty of the press, will appear from a perusal of 
 the toasts that called down the indignation of the house, and 
 occasioned the issuing of warrants to apprehend the president of 
 the social meetings that sanctioned, and the printers that dared 
 to disseminate such wicked doctrines. 
 
 1. The honourable members of the legislative council, who 
 were friendly to constitutional taxation as proposed by our 
 worthy members in the House of Assembly. 
 
 2. Our representatives in provincial parliament, who proposed 
 a constitutional and proper mode of taxation, for building gaols, 
 and who opposed a tax on commerce for that purpose, as contrary 
 to the sound practice of the parent state. 
 
 3. May our representatives be actuated by a patriotic spirit for 
 the good of the province, as dependant on the British empire, and 
 divested of local prejudices. 
 
 4. Prosperity to the agriculture and commerce of Canada, and 
 may they aid each other as their true interests dictate, by sharing 
 a due proportion of advantages and burthens. 
 
 5. The city and county of Montreal, and the grand juries of the 
 district, who recommended local assessment for local purposes. 
 
 6. May the city of Montreal be enabled to support a newspaper, 
 though deprived of its natural and useful advantages, apparently 
 for the benefit of an individual. 
 
 7. May the commercial interests of this province have its due 
 influence on the administration of its government. 
 

 OF CANADA 
 
 71 
 
 but, as usual, it failed in a body whose whole 
 spirit was anti-commercial. These instances 
 are adduced, not for their intrinsic importance, 
 but as illustrative of the question proposed 
 by me for your consideration in my first letter, 
 whether disaffection has not given rise to griev¬ 
 ances, rather than grievances to disaffection. 
 Having now tasted the sweets of power in the 
 punishment of the printers, the house com¬ 
 menced a system of high-handed measures with 
 any person who obstructed their views; and 
 followed it up by removing from the house all 
 persons attached to the executive, and im¬ 
 peaching others holding high official stations, 
 in the hope that, by representing the adherents 
 of government as enemies to the country, the 
 affections of the people would be gradually 
 alienated from their rulers, and ultimately pre¬ 
 pare them to join in those measures of forcible 
 resistance, which now, for the first time, appear 
 to have been contemplated. Thefirstexperiment 
 was made by the expulsion from the house, 
 contrary to the constitutional act, of Ezekiel 
 Mart, on account of his professing the Jewish 
 religion. This measure naturally alarmed the 
 British inhabitants, and gavethem a melancholy 
 foreboding of the events that were in reserve 
 for them. The violent language of debate, the 
 
72 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 constant appeal to popular prejudice, the un¬ 
 disguised anti-English feeling of the legislative 
 demagogues,and the seditious and revolutionary 
 language of the “ Canadian” newspaper, de¬ 
 voted to their interests, left no room to hope 
 that the constitution could long work, in such 
 unskilful and unprincipled hands. The fifth 
 provincial parliament was opened by Sir James 
 Craig on the 10th of April, 1809, when their 
 attention was called to the unsettled state of 
 affairs with the Americans, and they were re¬ 
 quired to consider of such means as might be 
 necessary to place the province in a posture of 
 defence. Instead of proceeding, according to 
 the urgency of the case, to deliberate on this 
 pressing emergency, they commenced by an 
 attack on the judges, and devising the means 
 of removing them from the legislature; and 
 manifested so much heat in their proceed¬ 
 ings, and such a disrespectful inattention to 
 the subject submitted to them, that, after 
 five weeks wasted in angry discussions, the 
 governor was under the necessity of expressing 
 his displeasure by a dissolution. On meeting 
 the sixth parliament, which assembled on the 
 29th of January, 1810, he informed them that 
 he was instructed to assent to any bill for ren¬ 
 dering the judges, in future, ineligible to seats 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 73 
 
 in the house of assembly, in which the two 
 houses should concur. This house, though a 
 little moderated in tone by the firmness exhi¬ 
 bited in dissolving them, were not to be diverted 
 from its schemes of ambition ; and now, for the 
 first time, was developed that deep-laid plan, 
 which has since so signally succeeded, of plac¬ 
 ing every officer of the government at the mercy 
 of the popular branch, anti rendering the arm 
 of the executive perfectly powerless. On the 
 10th of February they resolved, most unex¬ 
 pectedly, “ that this house will vote in this 
 session the necessary sums for defraying the 
 civil expenses of the government of this pro¬ 
 vince." Animated by the prosperous state of 
 the revenue, in consequence of the American 
 embargo, the opportunity was considered a 
 favourable one, by assuming the civil list, to get 
 a controul over the officers of government, who, 
 being servants of the imperial state as well as 
 the colony, would, by this measure, be at the 
 mercy of the house, which would thus become 
 alike independent of foreign or domestic con¬ 
 troul. As long as the expenditure of the civil 
 establishment exceeded the revenue, derived 
 from taxes on commerce, their liberality was 
 content to permit the deficiency to be supplied 
 by parliament; but now that the treasury was 
 
74 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 more than adequate to the task, they thought 
 that a voluntary offer of this kind would throw 
 the government off of its guard, and be probably 
 accepted. The governor at once penetiated 
 their designs, and very prudently and properly 
 answered, that it would be necessary to have 
 the concurrence of the legislative council, “ in 
 a matter in which, not merely as a co-ordinate 
 branch of the legislature, but as composed of 
 individuals having a large stake in the country 
 it was interestedbut that he would transmit 
 to his Majesty their address as a proof of their 
 ability and their willingness to provide for the 
 civil expenditure when called upon so to do. 
 
 In this year (1810) the treasury receipts were, 
 
 £70,398 13 7 
 
 And the expenditure. 58,564 14 3 
 
 Leavingaclearsurplus revenueof 11,833 19 4 
 
 A bill disqualifying the judges was passed, 
 and sent to the legislative council, who agreed 
 to it, with a clause suspending its operation 
 to the end of the present house of assembly. 
 Anxious to shew their contempt of the legis¬ 
 lative council, and forgetful, as well of the 
 respect due to the representative of the King, 
 as of constitutional rights, they immediately 
 expelled the judges by resolution, as they had 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 75 
 
 previously done Mr. Hart, leaving the governor 
 in the dilemma of sanctioning the act by issu¬ 
 ing new writs forelections, or of dissolving 1 the 
 house. It is needless to say that he adopted 
 the latter course, and appealed again to the 
 sense of the public. But here, unhappily, there 
 was no public opinion to appeal to, which, in 
 the words of a very able provincial writer,* is 
 explained:—“by the peculiar habits of thought 
 and character, which distinguish the French 
 Canadians. These habits and character, origi- 
 nally formed by the despotic government, civil, 
 military, and ecclesiastical, of Louis the Four¬ 
 teenth of France, induced the French Canadian 
 population chiefly to regard the immediate 
 agents of authority, who came in daily or fre¬ 
 quent contact with them, by oral command or 
 communication. Thus, long after the conquest, 
 the lowest agent of authority had only to pre¬ 
 sent himself, in the name of the King, to be 
 instantly obeyed. It was not a king, a gover¬ 
 nor, a general, a judge, or a bishop, with whom 
 they had personal communication ; these awful 
 authorities they surveyed at a distance, with 
 due reverence ; but their immediate obedience 
 was considered as due to a seigneur, a justice of 
 peace, an officer of militia, a bailiff, and a cure, 
 or priest. When the British Parliament, there- 
 
 • Mr. Flemming. 
 
70 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 fore, established a house of assembly, the 
 members of that newly constituted authority, 
 though chosen by themselves, were admitted to 
 a great share of the habitual submission which 
 their constituents were accustomed to pay to 
 every agent of authority, who came into imme¬ 
 diate contact with them. By the new consti¬ 
 tution, the habitants, in fact, supposed that 
 they were commanded by the governor, at 
 every election, to choose rulers over themselves; 
 and, having once chosen them, they readily 
 admitted them to great authority and influence 
 over their opinions and conduct. Believing 
 this to be the disposition of the ignorant pea¬ 
 santry of Lower Canada, we can have no difli- 
 culty in supposing that what, in a free and 
 intelligent community, is properly called Pub¬ 
 lic Opinion, is in this province merely the effect 
 of the opinions of the immediate agents of 
 authority, including the members of the assem¬ 
 bly, operating upon the natural desires of a 
 people attached to the laws, language, habits, 
 manners, and prejudices of their French ances¬ 
 tors. The immediate agents of authority, there¬ 
 fore, who interfere the least with those charac¬ 
 teristics, will be the most favoured by them. 
 We flatter ourselves that these explanations 
 have enabled our readers to recognise the influ- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 77 
 
 ence which predominated at the new election 
 in April 1810. The sovereign was a Protes¬ 
 tant king of a Protestant nation; the governor 
 was a Protestant, as was the majority of his 
 executive council; the majority of the legisla¬ 
 tive council was also Protestant, and partly 
 composed of persons in office, who received 
 salaries. On the other hand, the members of 
 the dissolved assembly were persons who pro¬ 
 fessed the Romish religion, who held no lucra¬ 
 tive office under the government, and who had 
 been chosen as friendly to their civil and reli¬ 
 gious rights, and opposed to every measure 
 which could disturb the routine of their here¬ 
 ditary labours and enjoyments. Indolent, par¬ 
 ticularly in mind, they could not analyze the 
 conduct of their representatives, and discrimi¬ 
 nate the parts which belonged to inordinate 
 and selfish ambition, from those which might 
 be ascribed to zeal for their service. The old 
 members were so confident of the effects 
 of those characteristics of their constituents, 
 that they derided every doubt of re-election.” 
 
 These expectations were justified by the 
 event. The new and seventh house, assembled 
 on the 12th of December 1810, and the English 
 minority were now reduced to nine members. 
 In the interim, Sir James Craig, and the sup- 
 
78 
 
 THE miBm.ES 
 
 porters of his government, were continual ob¬ 
 jects of obloquy and ridicule, and reports of 
 the disapprobation of bis conduct, and ol his 
 speedy recal and disgrace by his Majesty, were 
 fabricated, as a means of enlisting the pea¬ 
 santry on the side of those who were deter¬ 
 mined systematically to oppose the King’s re¬ 
 presentative, whenever he would not consent 
 to become the tool of their ambition. 
 
 The seditious and revolutionary doctrines dis¬ 
 seminated through “ the Canadian,” a paper 
 devoted to this purpose, induced the governor 
 to seize the press and imprison the conductors, 
 and we are probably indebted to this firm and 
 decided measure, and to the determination* 
 
 * The nature of the arts used by the demagogues to inflame 
 the minds, and alienate the affections of the peasantry, will appear 
 from the following extracts from the governor’s proclamation : 
 
 “ It is true, the most base and diabolical falsehoods are indus¬ 
 triously promulgated and disseminated. In one part it is an¬ 
 nounced as my intention to embody and make soldiers of you, and 
 that having applied to the late house of representatives to enable 
 me to assemble twelve thousand of you for that purpose, and they 
 having declined to do so, I had therefore dissolved them. This 
 is not only directly false, such an idea never having entered into my 
 mind, nor the slightest mention having ever been made of it; but 
 it is doubly wicked and atrocious, because it has been advanced by 
 persons who must have been supposed to speak with certainty on 
 the subject, and was therefore the more calculated to impose upon 
 you. In another part you are told that I wanted to tax your 
 lands, and that the late house of assembly would consent only 
 to tax wine, and upon that account, I had dissolved the house. 
 Inhabitants of St. Denis! this is also directly false; I never had 
 the most distant idea of taxing you at all; such had never been 
 
manifested in these two successive dissolutions 
 of the assembly to the subdued and altered 
 tone of their debates. It is observable that in 
 their reply to his speech, they admit the fact 
 here contended for, and which they have since 
 so strenuously denied. “ That harmony and a 
 good understanding so conducive to the pros¬ 
 perity and happiness of the colony, are more 
 diflicult to be maintained in this province than 
 in any other of his Majesty’s colonies, from the 
 difference in opinions, customs, and prejudices 
 
 for a moment the subject of my deliberations, and when the late 
 house offered to pay the civil list, I could not have taken any step 
 in a matter of such importance without the King’s instructions, 
 and therefore it was still long before we came to the considera¬ 
 tion of how it was to be paid. In truth, not one word was ever, 
 to my knowledge, mentioned on the subject. 
 
 “ In other parts, despairing of producing instances from what 
 I have done, recourse is had to what I intend to do, and it is 
 boldly told you that I mean to oppress you. 
 
 “ For what purpose should I oppress you? Is it to serve 
 the King? Will that monarch, who during fifty years has never 
 issued one order, that had you for its object, that was not for your 
 benefit and happiness,—will he now, beloved, honoured, adored 
 by his subjects, covered with glory, descending into the vale of 
 years, accompanied with the prayers and blessings of a grateful 
 people,—will he, contrary to the tenor of a whole life of honour 
 and virtue, now give orders to his servants to oppress his Cana¬ 
 dian subjects? It is impossible that you can fora moment believe 
 it. You will spurn from you with just indignation the miscreant 
 who will suggest such a thought to you. 
 
 u These personal allusions to myself, these details, in any other 
 case, might be unbecoming, and beneath me ; but nothing can be 
 unbecoming, or beneath me, that can tend to save you from the gulf 
 of crime and calamity into which guilty men would plunge you.” 
 — See Christie's ‘ Canada' 
 

 L* I 
 
 of his Majesty’s subjects residing therein.” The 
 prompt check interposed by the executive to the 
 violation, of constitutional rights, in the expul¬ 
 sion of the judges* had the desired effect, and 
 they now passed a bill to disqualify them, to 
 
 which the governor assented, as he said, 
 
 peculiar satisfaction, not only because I think 
 the matter right in itself, but because I con¬ 
 sider passing an act for the purpose as a coin- 
 complete renunciation of an erroneous princi¬ 
 ple, which put me under the necessity of dis¬ 
 solving the last parliament.” Feeling that 
 
 nothing was to be gained from such a man bv 
 
 intimidation, they proceeded to the usual busi¬ 
 ness with more decency of conduct and more 
 dispatch, than had characterised any session 
 
 • Nothing can be more painful and humiliating than the situa¬ 
 tion of the judges of Lower Canada since this period. Ihey ha\e 
 been kept in a state of great pecuniary distress by the house with¬ 
 holding their salaries, and their peace of mind destroyed by the 
 most unfounded attacks on their character. If an attorney be de¬ 
 tected in fraudulent proceedings, and punished, or be dissatisfied 
 with a judgment of the court, the judge is at once impeached 
 amidst the plaudits of the house. After preliminary proceedings, 
 and an opportunity offered of abuse, the proceedings are generally 
 dropt, on the ground that government is partial and corrupt. By 
 a singular fatality, every man that accuses a judge finds it a step 
 to preferment. Judge Valliercs was the accuser of Judge Kerr, 
 on charges sixteen years old. Philip Parret, a party and witness 
 thereto, was made a judge in 1832. Ebenezer Peck, who brought 
 charges against Judge Fletcher, was presented with a silk gown 
 in 1832. And A. Quesnel, the same. See * Canada Question for 
 more particulars. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 81 
 
 since the constitutional act had gone into ope¬ 
 ration. In the mean time. Sir George Provost 
 arrived to take the command of the govern¬ 
 ment, and we are indebted to the determined 
 attitude assumed by his predecessor, to the 
 hereditary hatred borne by the Canadians to 
 the Americans, to the fear they entertained of 
 passing into the hands of an uncompromising 
 people, and to the large sum expended upon 
 the embodied militia, that they did not then 
 avail themselves of the opportunity of throw¬ 
 ing off the dependence, which it has since been 
 their unceasing object to effect. But though 
 their attention was in some measure directed to 
 the protection of their property from the com¬ 
 mon enemy, they did not fail to convince im¬ 
 partial men, by their conduct, that they were 
 preserving the country for themselves, and not 
 for the empire, of which they then formed a part, 
 by the fortune of war and not from choice. To 
 bring the government of the country into con¬ 
 tempt, it was necessary to impugn the integrity 
 of the bench and the impartial administration 
 of the law, and they therefore impeached the 
 judges ; and when the governor, whose liberal 
 patronage had hitherto shielded him from at¬ 
 tack, declined to suspend these functionaries 
 till the result of their complaint should be 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 known, and refused to make their punishment 
 precede their trial, they resolved “that Ins 
 excellency the governor-in-cliief, by his answer 
 to the address of the house, had violated the 
 constitutional rights and privileges thereof.” 
 
 Sufficient has now been said to show you 
 that the evils of Canada have their origin 
 in the defects of the constitutional act, which 
 by substituting French for English laws, by 
 securing to them an overwhelming majority in 
 the assembly, and in separating them from Up¬ 
 per Canada, have had the effect of making them 
 a French and not an English colony. National 
 antipathies, added to a difference in 1 elision, 
 laws, and language, have contributed to en¬ 
 gender and foster a feeling of hostility between 
 the two races, until it has found vent in open 
 collision. It would exceed the limits I have 
 assigned to myself to review the proceedings of 
 each separate house : suffice it to say, that the 
 system of persecution, the commencement of 
 which I have exhibited in the foregoing pages, 
 was subsequently pursued with unremitting 
 zeal. Having driven the judges from the 
 house, (though they failed in their impeach¬ 
 ment,*) they succeeded in extorting from 
 
 # “ The administrator-in-chief has received the commands of his 
 Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to make known to the house 
 
OF CANADA., 
 
 83 
 
 government, their discharge from the council. 
 They then vacated the seats of executive coun¬ 
 cillors by the unconstitutional mode of resolution, 
 and finding there was no means of controlling 
 their power, proceeded by repeated expulsions 
 
 of assembly of this province his pleasure, on the subject of cer¬ 
 tain charges preferred by that house against the chief justice of 
 the province, and the chief justice of the Court of King's Bench 
 for the district of Montreal. 
 
 “ With respect to such of those charges as relate to acts done 
 by a former governor of the province, which the assembly, as¬ 
 suming to be improper or illegal, imputed, by a similar assump. 
 tion, to advice given by the chief justice to that governor, his 
 Royal Highness has deemed that no inquiry could be necessary, 
 inasmuch as none could be instituted without the admission of the 
 principle, that the governor of a province might, at his own dis¬ 
 cretion, divest himself of all responsibility, on points of political 
 government. 
 
 “ With a view, therefore, to the general interests of the pro¬ 
 vince, his Royal Highness was pleased to refer for considera¬ 
 tion to the lords of the privy council such only of the charges 
 brought by the assembly as related to the rules of practice estab¬ 
 lished by the judges in their respective courts, those being points 
 upon which, if any impropriety had existed, the judges themselves 
 were solely responsible. 
 
 “ By the annexed copy of his Royal Highness’s Order in 
 Council, dated the 29th June 1815, the administrator-in-chief 
 conveys to the assembly the result of this investigation, which has 
 been conducted with all that attention and solemnity which the 
 importance of the subject required. 
 
 “ In making this communication to the assembly, it now becomes 
 the duty of the administrator-in-chief, in obedience to the com¬ 
 mands of his royal highness the Prince Regent, to express the regret 
 with which his royal highness has viewed their late proceedings 
 against two persons who have so long and so ably filled the high¬ 
 est judicial offices in the colony, a circumstance the more to be 
 deplored as tending to disparage, in the eyes of the inconsiderate 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 to drive out a member, for advice offered to the 
 governor in a ministerial capacity ; and repri¬ 
 manded another olficer for legal opinions given 
 to the executive in the usual course of his 
 profession. Every thing was done that inge¬ 
 nuity could devise, not only to weaken the 
 influence of government, but to represent that 
 influence as unfriendly to the country and pre¬ 
 judicial to its interests. Nothing, however, 
 occurred until the year 1818, to bring them 
 into direct collision with the mother country, 
 until Sir John Sherbrooke demanded that 
 they should provide for the civil expenses of 
 the province. 
 
 and ignorant, their character and services, and thus to diminish 
 the influence to which, from their situation and their uniform pro¬ 
 priety of conduct, they are justly entitled. 
 
 “ The above communication, embracing such only of the charges 
 preferred against the said chief justices as relate to the rules of 
 practice, and as are grounded on advice assumed to have been 
 .riven by the chief justice of the province to the late Sir James 
 Craig, the administrator-in-chief, has been further commanded to 
 sio-nifv to the assembly, that the other charges appeared to Ins 
 Majesty’s government to be, with one exception, too inconsider¬ 
 able to require investigation, and that that, (namely > m one 
 against the chief justice of the court of King’s Bench for the 
 district of Montreal, which states him to have refused a writ ot 
 habeas corpus), was, in common with all the charges which do not 
 relate to the rules of practice, totally unsupported by any evidence 
 
 whatever. ^ 
 
 (Signed) Gordon Drummond, 
 
 Administrator-in-Chicf.’ 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 85 
 
 Letter Vi. 
 
 The opportunity had now arrived that de¬ 
 signing- men had so craftily sought for, of fas¬ 
 tening a quarrel upon the government, of in¬ 
 volving it in a defence of its officers, and of 
 making their promised compliance a condition 
 for obtaining any change that might bethought 
 conducive to the great endsof weakening British 
 influence. After discussions, first on the gross 
 amount to be granted, and then on the specific 
 appropriation, had excited and consolidated 
 the party, they took the higher ground of dis¬ 
 puting the right of the crown to those revenues 
 which were secured to it by permanent grants. 
 In order that you may clearly understand the 
 question, it is necessary to state that the public 
 income of Lower Canada arises from three 
 sources: — 
 
 1st. The crown duties , levied under the Bri¬ 
 tish statute of the 14 Geo. Ill, or the imperial 
 act of 3 Geo. IV. 
 
 2d. Provincial duties, payable in virtue of 
 local laws, proceeding immediately from the 
 provincial legislature, or rendered permanent 
 
86 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 without their consent, by the last-mentioned 
 imperial act. 
 
 3d. The Queen’s casual and territorial reve¬ 
 nue, which arises from her Majesty’s landed 
 property ; namely, the Jesuits’ estates, the 
 Queen’s posts, the forges of St. Maurice, the 
 Queen’s wharf, droit de quents, lods and vents, 
 land fund, and timber fund. 
 
 With respect to crown duties, levied under 
 14 Geo. Ill, until they were unwisely surren¬ 
 dered in 1831, they were, with the territorial 
 revenue, controlled and dispensed by her Ma¬ 
 jesty’s responsible servants, while those levied 
 under the imperial act of 3 Geo. IV, and all pro¬ 
 vincial acts, have always been under the disposal 
 of the legislature. As the crown duties, levied 
 under the 14 Geo. Ill, had generally, if not 
 always, been inadequate to the support of the 
 civil government and the administration of jus¬ 
 tice, Sir John Sherbrooke was instructed, in 
 pursuance of the general system of retrench¬ 
 ment adopted throughout the empire, to call 
 upon the legislature to appropriate, out of the 
 provincial duties, a sum equal to the annual 
 deficiency. To this reasonable request they have 
 manifested a uniform repugnance, sometimes 
 granting it, always objecting, and, finally, refus¬ 
 ing altogether. They alleged now, for the first 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 87 
 
 time, that thecrownduties were illegal, inasmuch 
 as the statute under which they were levied had 
 been repealed. The reason of their making this 
 objection was, because the proceeds were not 
 under their control, and their object was to 
 make the executive dependent upon them for 
 its support, by an annual vote. The existence 
 of this statute was an insurmountable difficulty, 
 and as they had not the power to repeal it, 
 their only resource was to impugn its legality. 
 The appropriation of the duties was thus pro¬ 
 vided for in the Act:— 
 
 “ That all the monies that shall arise by the 
 said duties, except the necessary charges of 
 raising, collecting, levying, recovering, answer¬ 
 ing, paying and accounting for the same, shall 
 be paid by the collector of his Majesty’s cus¬ 
 toms into the hands of his Majesty’s receiver- 
 general in the said province for the time being, 
 and shall be applied in the first place in making 
 a more certain and adequate provision towards 
 defraying the expenses of the administration of 
 justice, and of the support of civil government 
 in that province; and that the lord high 
 treasurer, or commissioners of his Majesty’s 
 treasury, or any three or more of them for the 
 time being, shall be, and is or are hereby em¬ 
 powered from time to time, by any warrant or 
 
88 THE 15 U BI5LES 
 
 warrants under his or their hand or hands, to 
 cause such money to be applied out ol the said 
 produce of the said duties towards defraying 
 (lie said expenses ; and that the residue of the 
 said duties shall remain and be reserved in the 
 hands of the said receiver-general for the future 
 disposition of parliament.” 
 
 The statute on which they relied was the 
 18 th Geo. III. The history of that act of parlia¬ 
 ment you will doubtless recollect. Great Bri¬ 
 tain had set up a claim to impose taxes, for the 
 purpose of general revenue, upon the colonies 
 (now forming the United States), which, as 
 might naturally be supposed, excited universal 
 opposition—causing at first, popular tumult, and 
 afterwards open rebellion. Finding that this 
 claim could neither be justified nor enforced, 
 it w'as expressly renounced, in the following 
 w ords:— 
 
 “Whereas taxation by the parliament of 
 Great Britain for the purpose of raising a reve¬ 
 nue in his Majesty’s colonies, provinces, and 
 plantations in North America, has been found 
 by experience to occasion great uneasiness and 
 disorders among his Majesty’s faithful subjects, 
 who may nevertheless be disposed to acknow¬ 
 ledge the justice of contributing to the common 
 defence of the empire, provided such contribu- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 89 
 
 tion should he raised under the authority of the 
 general court or general assembly of each re¬ 
 spective colony, province, or plantation ; and, 
 whereas, in order as well to remove the said 
 uneasiness and to quiet the minds of his Ma¬ 
 jesty s subjects who may be disposed to return 
 to their allegiance, as to restore the peace and 
 welfare of all his Majesty's dominions, it is 
 expedient to declare that the king and parlia¬ 
 ment of Great Britain will not impose any 
 duty, tax, or assessment for the purpose of rais¬ 
 ing a revenue in any of the colonies, provinces, 
 or plantations. 
 
 1 hat from and after the passing of that act, 
 
 the king and parliament of Great Britain would 
 
 not impose any duty, tax, or assessment what¬ 
 ever, payable in any of his Majesty’s colonies, 
 provinces, and plantations in North America, 
 and the West Indies, except only such duties 
 as it might be expedient to impose for the regu¬ 
 lation of commerce; the net produce of such 
 duties to be always paid and applied to and for 
 the use of the colony, province, and plantation 
 in which the same shall be respectively levied, 
 in such manner as other duties collected by the 
 authority of the respective general courts, or 
 geneial assemblies of such colonies, provinces, 
 or plantations are ordinarily paid and applied.” 
 
90 the bubbles 
 
 That the renunciation of a right to impose 
 taxes hereafter involves a repeal of those in ex¬ 
 istence, is an assumption which it is not neces¬ 
 sary to refute. Indeed, no person did the party 
 the injustice to believe that they sincerely 
 thought so themselves, especially as in that 
 province there was a local act, 35 Geo. 111, c. 9, 
 adopting its phraseology, and recognizing its 
 existence and validity, by raising an additional 
 revenue, for the further support of the govei n- 
 ment, to which purpose this act alone had 
 any reference. It answered, however, the pur¬ 
 poses of the party; it disorganized the govern¬ 
 ment, and prevented English emigrants from 
 removing to a colony in which evident prepara¬ 
 tion was making for a separation from the 
 parent state. It also served to scatter the seeds 
 of complaints, which soon germinated, and 
 ripened into a plentiful harvest. It is the 
 fashion in this country to call every change re¬ 
 form, the exercise of every acknowledged right, 
 an abuse, and every salutary restraint a griev¬ 
 ance. In the colonies we have long looked to 
 Great Britain as our model, and we have im¬ 
 ported this fashion from her, as well as many 
 other modern innovations. If agitation is suc¬ 
 cessful here, why may not it be so there?—if 
 popular clamour requires and obtains conces- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 91 
 
 sions at home, there is no good reason why it 
 should not be equally fortunate abroad; if those 
 who are the most clamorous, are first attended 
 to, because they are the most distinctly heard, 
 why may not the colonists learn to exalt their 
 voices also, in hopes of similar success?—as the 
 old cock crows so does the young. The En¬ 
 glish have long held themselves up as models, 
 and such distinguished people must not be sur¬ 
 prised it they who ape their manners, occasion¬ 
 ally copy some of their follies also. The force 
 of example is too strong to be restrained by 
 precept. These financial disputes extended 
 over the whole period of the administration of 
 the Duke of Richmond, Lord Dalhousie, and 
 Sir James Kempt, with more or less intensity, 
 according to the supply of fresh fuel furnished 
 by irritating matter of an extraneous nature. 
 Complaints soon multiplied upon complaints ; 
 public meetings were held; violent speeches 
 made, valiant resolutions passed ; and, finally, 
 delegates chosen to demand a redress of griev¬ 
 ances from the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 When the delegates arrived in this country* 
 they found public opinion with them. It is the 
 interest, as well as the duty of theEnglish to go¬ 
 vern their colonies justly and kindly; and no 
 man but a Frenchman would affirm that their in¬ 
 clination requiresthe incitement of either. Their 
 
92 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 complaints were referred to a committee com- 
 posed of persons by no means indisposed towards 
 the petitioners, who, after a patient and laborious 
 investigation of the subjects .in dispute, made 
 a report, which was acknowledged by the 
 assembly to be both an able and an impartial 
 one, and quite satisfactory. It will be unne¬ 
 cessary to recapitulate the subjects referred, or 
 to transcribe the report, because both the one 
 and the other will be best understood by a 
 minute of Lord Aberdeen, to which I shall 
 hereafter allude more particularly, in which he 
 distinctly proves that the recommendations of 
 that committee, so far as depended upon the 
 government, were most strictly and fully com¬ 
 plied with. By adopting this course, I shall 
 be able to spare you a great deal of useless 
 repetition. 
 
 The manner in which the report of the com¬ 
 mittee was received by the dominant party in 
 Canada, the praise bestowed upon its authors, 
 and the exultation they expressed at theii suc¬ 
 cess, deceived the government as to the source 
 of these noisy demonstrations of pleasure. 1 hey 
 conceived it to be the natural impulse of gene¬ 
 rous minds towards those who had thus kindly 
 listened to their solicitations, and liberally 
 granted even morethan they had required. But 
 they knew not their men. It was the shout 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 93 
 
 of victory that they mistook for the plaudits of 
 loyalty. It was not designed to greet the ears 
 of benefactors with grateful acknowledgments, 
 but to wound the feelings of their neighbours 
 with the cheers of triumph. They devoted but 
 little time to mutual congratulations. Sterner 
 feelings bad supplied the place of rejoicing. 
 They set themselves busily to work to improve 
 their advantage; and, having established them¬ 
 selves in the outworks which were thus surren¬ 
 dered to them, they now turned their attention 
 to stoi ming the citadel. While government 
 was engaged in carrying into execution the 
 recommendations of the committee with as 
 much dispatch as the peculiar state of politics 
 in Great Britain at that time permitted, the 
 assembly put themselves in a posture of com¬ 
 plaint. again. Fourteen resolutions were passed, 
 embodying some of the old and embracing some 
 new' grievances, and an agent appointed to 
 advocate their claims. 
 
 While representations in the name of the 
 whole population were thus sent to England, 
 expressing only the sentiment of one portion of 
 the people, the settlers of British origin were 
 loud in their complaints that they were unre¬ 
 presented, and that they had no constitutional 
 means of being heard. Fearing that this re- 
 
94 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 monstrance, which was so well founded, might 
 be redressed in the same quarter to which they 
 had applied so successfully for relief them¬ 
 selves, the assembly affected to listen to their 
 petitions, and made a new electoral div ision of 
 the province. Territories inhabited principally 
 by persons of French origin, they divided into 
 numerous small counties; while others, where 
 a large body of those of British origin resided, 
 they so divided that, by joining that territory 
 w ith another more numerous in French inha¬ 
 bitants, the votes of the British were rendered 
 ineffectual. r lhe proportion stood thus . 
 
 Say 32 counties, returning two members 
 each, by French majorities 
 2 Ditto - - ditto, one each (say Mont- 
 morenci and Drummond) - 
 1 English majority, Megantic - 
 5 Ditto - - - - Sherbrooke, 
 
 Stanstead, Missisquoi, Ottawa, 
 and Shefford, 2 each - 
 
 Total - 40 Counties. 
 
 Two cities, French majority, Quebec and 
 Montreal, 4 each - - ’ - ' 
 
 Two towns - ditto - Three Rivers, 2; 
 and William Henry, 1 - 
 
 Total, 88 Members. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 95 
 
 Of the extreme partiality of this division 
 there never has been but one opinion in the 
 colonies, until they were so fortunate as to be 
 favoured with the distinction drawn by the 
 commissioners, who admitted that its operation 
 was a practical exclusion, but exonerated the 
 bill from a charge of unfairness—an instance of 
 even-handed justice (deciding in favour of both 
 parties) which ought to have won them the 
 praise of all men. In addition to this exclu¬ 
 sion, so extraordinarily designated as unjust 
 but not unfair, they established the quorum of 
 the house for the transaction of business at 
 forty, being only four less than a moiety of the 
 whole body. The large number thus required 
 to be present to constitute a house still further 
 depressed the influence of the minority, and 
 enabled the majority to deprive them of their 
 parliamentary privileges at pleasure, by render¬ 
 ing the transaction of business impossible, ex¬ 
 cept when it suited the convenience of the 
 stronger party to allow it. 
 
 Having disposed of the complaints of the 
 British settlers in a way to prevent them from 
 being troublesome in the house, they returned 
 to the consideration of their own grievances; 
 and that the motives actuating the party might 
 not be disclosed, and to prevent any member 
 
96 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 of the opposition from being present at their 
 deliberations, they adopted the extraordinary 
 mode of permitting a person moving for a com¬ 
 mittee to name all the individualsw horn he 
 desired to be appointed as members. They 
 also resolved that, if the legislative council did 
 not concur in a bill for paying their emissary to 
 England, they would, in the plenitude of then- 
 power, pay him themselves out ol the public 
 revenue without their concurrence. This sin¬ 
 gular assumption stands recorded thus :— 
 
 “ Monday, 28th March 1831.—Resolved, 
 that in the present state of the public affairs of 
 this province, it is indispensably necessary that 
 some person, having the confidence of this 
 house, should proceed forthwith to England, 
 to represent to his Majesty’s government the 
 interests and sentiments of the inhabitants of 
 the province, and support the petitions of this 
 house to his Majesty and both Houses of Par¬ 
 liament. 
 
 “ Resolved,—That in the event of the bill 
 sent up by this house to the legislative council, 
 on the 5th instant, not receiving the concur¬ 
 rence of that house in the present session, the 
 Honourable Denis B. Viger, Esq., member of 
 the legislative council, named agent of the pro¬ 
 vince in the said bill, be requested to proceed 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 97 
 
 to England without delay, for the purposes 
 mentioned in the foregoing resolution. 
 
 “ Resolved,—That it is expedient that the 
 necessary and unavoidable disbursements of the 
 said Denis Benjamin Viger, for effecting the 
 purposes aforesaid, not exceeding £l,000, be 
 advanced, and paid to him by the clerk of this 
 house, out of the contingent fund thereof, till 
 such time as the said disbursements can be 
 otherwise provided for.” 
 
 And to shew their contempt of that co-ordi¬ 
 nate branch of the legislature, and their deter¬ 
 mination to legislate for the colony without 
 their concurrence, and by their sole authority, 
 as well as to stigmatize the officers of the go¬ 
 vernment as enemies of the country, they fur¬ 
 ther resolved— 
 
 “ That until such time as the royal assent 
 shall be given to a bill conformable to a resolu¬ 
 tion of this house of the 17th March 1825, for 
 vacating the seats of members accepting offices, 
 and similar to the bills passed by this house in 
 the years 182b, 1827, 1828, and 1830, the se¬ 
 cond and fourth of which were reserved for the 
 signification of his Majesty’s pleasure, the seat 
 of any member of this house who shall accept 
 of any office or place of profit under the crown 
 in this province, or become accountable for any 
 
98 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 public money hereafter appropriated within this 
 province, shall, by this acceptance, be deemed 
 by this house to be vacant, and a new writ shall 
 be issued for a new election, as if such person 
 so accepting was naturally dead ; nevertheless 
 such person shall be capable of being again re¬ 
 elected, and of sitting and voting in this house, 
 as if his seat had not been vacated as afore¬ 
 said. 
 
 “ Resolved,— That any member of this house 
 sitting and voting therein after such acceptance, 
 be expelled this house.” 
 
 At the same time, while they refused to 
 government the means of paying its ofliceis, 
 they were most prodigal of the public money 
 upon themselves and their dependants. 1 here 
 are certain funds appropriated for the contin¬ 
 gent expenses of the house; and, legally, 
 neither the house nor any of its officers have 
 any right to apply them to any other purposes. 
 It is a trust fund, on the expenditure of which 
 doubtless a certain degree of discretion may be 
 exercised, but still a discretion having certain 
 limits. It is quite manifest that if the house 
 could legally apply this fund to other objects 
 than those for which it was specifically appro¬ 
 priated, they would, for all the purposes of 
 such application, exercise sole legislative power, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 99 
 
 to the exclusion of the other two branches of 
 the legislature. The case of Mr. Viger, above 
 referred to, is a flagrant violation of this prin¬ 
 ciple. The expenses for printing alone during 
 this year (1831) for the assembly, at one only 
 of its favourite establishments, was considera¬ 
 bly over £5,000, exclusive of other presses; 
 and this enormous sum is also exclusive of the 
 cost of printing the laws, or of the expenses 
 of the council. Pretexts were not wanted, 
 where the disposition existed, to provide for 
 their dependants. A subpoena was all that 
 was necessary to obtain a warrant for a gra¬ 
 tuity, which, to one individual, covered a 
 charge of£l20, and on one petition amounted 
 to £700. “ Some witnesses,” says a gentle¬ 
 
 man of the bar at Quebec, “ one sees as regu¬ 
 larly about a fortnight after the sessions as 
 swallows in the spring; and although they do not 
 last quite so long, yet they hardly leave Quebec 
 before either the house or the roads break up.” 
 
 It will hardly be credited, that this house, 
 which is so clamorous for cheap government, 
 expends on itself thirteen thousand pounds a 
 year —one thousand of which is paid to Mr. 
 Papineau, the patriot; and that the gross 
 amount of the legislative expenses is ,£18,000. 
 Some idea of the purity “ of our enslaved and 
 
 h 2 
 
100 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 oppressed brethren ” may be formed from the 
 fact that, previous to 1829, the amount of 
 monies voted for education had not exceeded 
 £2,500. At that period it was found it could 
 be turned to a better account than education, 
 they therefore constituted the members of the 
 house visitors of the schools in the counties 
 they represent, the money being drawn on 
 their certificates only, to which by law they 
 are privileged to affix their crosses, instead of 
 the more difficult process of writing their 
 names. Since then the grants have wonder¬ 
 fully increased. 
 
 In 1830 . . £27,840 
 
 1831 . . 25,261 
 
 1832 . . 29,233 
 
 1833 . . 22,500 
 
 When the fourteen resolutions above referred 
 to were passed, the governor, who had re¬ 
 cently arrived, could not but feel astonish ed 
 that the same people who had so lately ex¬ 
 pressed their delight and satisfaction at the 
 report of the proceedings of parliament, a ml 
 who knew that the recommendations of the 
 cornmitteewere in a train of execution, should 
 be again as clamorous as ever, and very pru¬ 
 dently and properly entreated them to put an 
 end to complaint, by bringing forward at once 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 101 
 
 every grievance they had, that it might be met 
 and redressed at the same time. The earnest 
 manner in which this is pressed upon them is 
 worthy of notice. What were the sources of 
 his lordship’s satisfaction, which he twice ex¬ 
 presses in this answer, I am utterly at a loss to 
 imagine, unless we may conjecture it to have 
 arisen from the consciousness of possessing a 
 philosophy which enabled him to subdue and 
 control his indignation at the insatiable demands 
 and gross ingratitude of those whom it was his 
 duty to address. 
 
 “ I can assure you,” he said, “ gentlemen, 
 that 1 have derived satisfaction from listening 
 to the petition which has just been read by 
 Mr. Speaker, because the subject-matter of it 
 is distinct and tangible, and because I feel 
 assured that of the causes of complaint therein 
 set forth, many will be eventually removed, and 
 others modified ; in the meanwhile it is very 
 agreeable to me to have it in my power to state 
 that some of those causes of complaint have 
 been already put by me in a train of ameliora¬ 
 tion at least, if not of removal altogether; and 
 I beg the house of assembly to believe that 
 my efforts shall be unremitting in pursuing the 
 same course to the utmost extent of my autho¬ 
 rity as the King’s representative. Thus far 1 
 
102 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 can, with a safe conscience, declare, that the 
 present communication is satisfactory to me; 
 but I cannot conceal from the house, that it 
 would have been infinitely more so, could I feel 
 assured that the whole matter of their complaints 
 is comprised in this petition. Gentlemen, I 
 must go a step further than this, and confess to 
 you, that I cannot divest my mind of anxiety 
 on tin's subject; it is with the view of being- 
 relieved from this state of anxiety that I now 
 come forward to entreat you will admit me 
 to your confidence, and acquaint me whether 
 I am to expect any, and what further, com¬ 
 munications on the subject of complaints and 
 grievances. 
 
 “ I think I have even a claim upon you for 
 the confidence I now solicit. The propositions 
 which upon a recent occasion I was commanded 
 by the King to make to you on the subject of 
 finance, were laid before you in the plainest 
 and most straightforward manner—nothing 
 was concealed—nothing was glossed over ; and 
 I even believe that I should have been justified 
 had I made those propositions more palatable 
 to you than I have done ; but I considered that 
 anything which could bear, even for a moment, 
 the appearance of trick or manoeuvre on so 
 grave an occasion, was unworthy of his Majes- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 103 
 
 ty’s government, and an injustice to the rank 
 and loyal character of the Canadian people. 
 What I now ask in return for this fair dealing, 
 is a corresponding proceeding on the part of the 
 house of assembly. Am I to understand, that 
 the petition which 1 have just heard read conveys 
 all that the house of assembly have to com¬ 
 plain of up to this day ? Or am I to understand 
 that there remains something behind—some 
 unripe grievance or complaint which it may be 
 intended to bring forward hereafter, when those 
 now produced shall have been disposed of? 
 This is the information I ask of you. This, 
 gentlemen, is the information which I will 
 even implore you to afford me, in the name of 
 the King, our sovereign, who is sincerity itself, 
 and in the name of the brave and honest people 
 of Canada, who are so well entitled to expect 
 fair dealing in every quarter : and now, if there 
 be any stray complaint, any grievance, however 
 inconsiderable in itself, which may have been 
 overlooked when this petition was adopted by 
 the house, I beseech you, gentlemen, to take 
 it back again, in order that the deficiency may 
 be supplied, and that thus both king and 
 people may be enabled at one view to see the 
 whole extent of what you complain of, and 
 what you require. 
 
104 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ Whether this appeal to your candour shall 
 draw from you any further declaration, stating 
 that your petition contains the whole matter of 
 your complaints and grievances, or that you 
 shall maintain silence, 1 shall equally consider 
 that I have acquired a full and distinct know¬ 
 ledge of the whole of your complaints and 
 grievances up to the present period ; and your 
 petition will be accompanied by an assurance 
 from me to that effect, and my most fervent 
 wishes that it may be productive of such mea¬ 
 sures as shall restore perfect harmony to this 
 favoured land, where 1 firmly believe a larger 
 share of happiness and prosperity is to be found 
 than amongst any people in the universe. 
 
 “ Castle of St. Louis, Quebec, 
 
 23d March 1831.” 
 
 Having given them this gracious reception, 
 his lordship communicated these resolutions to 
 the secretary for the colonies; to whose answer, 
 as it enumerates the complaints for the purpose 
 of giving to each a distinct and separate answer, 
 
 I refer you for the particulars as well of the 
 resolutions as of the remedies. 
 
 “ The King has been graciously pleased to 
 express his approbation of the efforts made by 
 your lordship to ascertain, with precision, the 
 full extent of the grievances of which the 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 105 
 
 assembly consider themselves entitled to com¬ 
 plain ; and assuming, in concurrence with your 
 lordship, that the address of the assembly 
 contains a full development of those grievances, 
 the exposition which is to be found there of the 
 views of that body, justifies the satisfactory 
 inference that there remains scarcely any ques¬ 
 tion upon which the wishes of that branch of 
 the legislature are at variance with the policy 
 which his Majesty has been advised to pursue; 
 and I therefore gladly anticipate the speedy 
 and effectual termination of those differences, 
 which have heretofore so much embarrassed the 
 operations of the local government. 
 
 “ No office can be more grateful to the King 
 than that of yielding to the reasonable desires 
 of the representative body of Lower Canada; 
 and whilst his Majesty’s servants have the satis¬ 
 faction of feeling, that upon some of the most 
 important topics referred to in the address of 
 the assembly, its wishes have been anticipated, 
 they trust that the instructions which I am now 
 about to convey to you, will still further evince 
 their earnest desire to combine with the due 
 and lawful exercise of the constitutional autho¬ 
 rity of the crown, an anxious solicitude for the 
 well-being of all classes of his faithful subjects 
 in the province. 
 
100 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ 1 proceed to notice the various topics em¬ 
 braced in the address of the assembly to the 
 King. I shall observe the order which they 
 have followed ; and, with a view to perspicuity, 
 1 shall preface each successive instruction, 
 which I have his Majesty’s commands to con¬ 
 vey to your lordship, by the quotation of the 
 statements made upon the same topic by the 
 Assembly themselves. 
 
 “ First, it is represented that the progress 
 which has been made in the education of the 
 people of the province, under the encourage¬ 
 ment afforded by the recent acts of the legisla¬ 
 ture, has been greatly impeded by the diversion 
 of the revenues of the Jesuits’estates, originally 
 destined for this purpose. 
 
 “ His Majesty’s government do not deny that 
 the Jesuits’ estates were, on the dissolution of 
 that order, appropriated to the education of the 
 people; and I readily admit, that the revenue 
 which may result from that property should be 
 regarded as inviolably and exclusively appli¬ 
 cable to that object. 
 
 “ It is to be regretted, undoubtedly, that any 
 part of those funds were ever applied to any 
 other purpose ; but although, in former times, 
 your lordship’s predecessors may have had to 
 contend with difficulties whicli caused and ex- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 107 
 
 cused that mode of appropriation, 1 do not feel 
 myself now called upon to enter into any con¬ 
 sideration of that part of the subject. 
 
 “ If, however, I may rely on the returns 
 which have been made to this department, the 
 rents of the Jesuits’ estates have, during the 
 few last years, been devoted exclusively to the 
 purposes of education, and my despatch, dated 
 24th December last, marked ‘ separate,’ suffi¬ 
 ciently indicates that his Majesty’s ministers 
 had resolved upon a strict adherence to that 
 principle several months before the present ad¬ 
 dress was adopted. 
 
 “ The only practical question which remains 
 for consideration is, whether the application of 
 these funds for the purpose of education should 
 be directed by his Majesty or by the provincial 
 legislature. The King cheerfully and without 
 reserve confides that duty to the legislature, in 
 the full persuasion that they will make such a 
 selection amongst the different plans which 
 may be presented to their notice, as may most 
 effectually advance the interests of religion and 
 sound learning amongst his subjects ; and I 
 cannot doubt that the assembly will see the 
 justice of continuing to maintain, under the 
 new distributions of these funds, those scho¬ 
 lastic establishments to which they are now 
 applied. 
 
108 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ I understand that certain buildings on the 
 Jesuits’ estates which were formerly used for 
 collegiate purposes, have since been uniformly 
 employed as a barrack for the King’s troops. 
 It would obviously be highly inconvenient to 
 attempt, any immediate change in this respect, 
 and I am convinced that the assembly would 
 regret any measure which might diminish the 
 comforts or endanger the health of the King’s 
 forces. If, however, the assembly should be 
 disposed to provide adequate barracks so as 
 permanently to secure those important objects, 
 his Majesty will be prepared (upon the com¬ 
 pletion of such an arrangement in a manner 
 satisfactory to your lordship) to acquiese in the 
 appropriation of the buildings in question to 
 the same purposes as those to which the gene¬ 
 ral funds of the Jesuits’ estates are now about 
 to be restored. 
 
 “ I should fear that ill-founded expectations 
 may have been indulged respecting the value 
 and productiveness of these estates ; in this, as 
 in most other cases, concealment appears to 
 have been followed by exaggeration, as its 
 natural consequence. Had the application of 
 the assembly for an account of the proceeds of 
 these estates been granted, much misapprehen¬ 
 sion would probably have been dispelled. My 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 109 
 
 regret for the effect of your decision to withhold 
 these accounts, does not, however, render me 
 insensible to the propriety and apparent weight 
 of the motives by which your judgment was 
 guided. Disavowing, however, every wish for 
 concealment, I am to instruct your lordship to 
 lay these accounts before the assembly in the 
 most complete detail, at the commencement of 
 their next session, and to supply the house 
 with any further explanatory statements which 
 they may require respecting them. 
 
 “ ^ appearing that the sum of £7,154.15,s. 4$d. 
 has been recovered from the property of the late 
 Mr. Caldwell, in respect to the claims of the 
 crown against him on account of the Jesuits’ 
 estates, your lordship will cause that sum to be 
 placed at the disposal of the legislature for 
 general purposes. The sum of £ 1,200. 3s. Ad., 
 which was also recovered on account of the 
 same property, must also be placed at the dis¬ 
 posal of the legislature, but should, with refe¬ 
 rence to the principles already noticed, be 
 considered as applicable to the purposes of 
 education exclusively.” 
 
 “ Secondly.—The house of assembly repre¬ 
 sent that the progress of education has been im¬ 
 peded by the withholding grants of land pro¬ 
 mised for schools in the year 1801. 
 
] 10 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ On reference to the speech delivered in 
 that year by the then governor to the two 
 houses of provincial legislature, I find that 
 such an engagement as the address refers to 
 was actually made; it of course therefore is 
 binding on the crown, and must now be carried 
 into effect, unless there be any circumstances 
 of which I am not apprised, which may have 
 cancelled the obligation contracted in 1801, or 
 which may have rendered the fulfilment of it 
 at the present time impracticable. If any such 
 circumstances really exist, your lordship will 
 report them to me immediately, in order that 
 the fit course to be taken may be further con¬ 
 sidered. 
 
 “ Thirdly.—The rejection by the legislative 
 council of various bills in favour of education 
 is noticed as the last of the impediments to the 
 progress of education. 
 
 “ Upon this subject it is obvious that his 
 Majesty’s government have no power of exer¬ 
 cising any control, and that they could not in¬ 
 terfere with the free exercise of the discretion 
 of the legislative council, without the violation 
 of the most undoubted maxims of the constitu¬ 
 tion. How far that body may have actually 
 counteracted the wishes of the assembly on this 
 subject I am not very exactly informed, nor 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 would it become me to express an opinion on 
 the wisdom or propriety of any decision which 
 they may have formed of that nature. The 
 assembly may, however, be assured, that what¬ 
 ever legitimate influence his Majesty’s govern¬ 
 ment can exercise, will always be employed to 
 promote in every direction all measures which 
 have for their object the religious, moral, or 
 literary instruction of the people of Lower 
 Canada. 
 
 “ Fourthly.—The address proceeds to state, 
 that the management of the waste lands of the 
 crown has been vicious and improvident, and 
 still impedes the settlement of those lands. 
 
 “This subject has engaged, and still occu¬ 
 pies, my most anxious attention, and I propose 
 to address your lordship upon it at length in a 
 separate despatch. The considerations con¬ 
 nected with the settlement of waste lands are 
 too numerous and extensive to be conveniently 
 embodied in a despatch embracing so many 
 other subjects of discussion. 
 
 “ Fifthly.—The exercise by parliament of 
 its power of regulating the trade of the pro¬ 
 vince, is said to have occasioned injurious un¬ 
 certainty in mercantile speculations, and preju¬ 
 dicial fluctuations in the value of real estate, 
 and of the different branches of industry con¬ 
 nected with trade. 
 
112 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ It is gratifying to find that this complaint 
 is connected with a frank acknowledgment that 
 the power in question has been beneficially 
 exercised on several occasions for the prospe¬ 
 rity of Lower Canada. It is, I fear, an una¬ 
 voidable consequence of the connexion which 
 happily subsists between the two countries, 
 that Parliament should occasionally require of 
 the commercial body of Lower Canada, some 
 mutual sacrifices for the general good of the 
 empire at large : I therefore shall not attempt 
 to deny, that the changes in the commercial 
 policy in this kingdom during the few last 
 years may have been productive of occasional 
 inconvenience and loss to that body, since 
 scarcely any particular interest can be men¬ 
 tioned in Great Britain of which some sacrifice 
 has not been required during the same period. 
 The most which can be effected by legislation 
 on such a subject as this, is a steady though gra¬ 
 dual advance towards those great objects which 
 an enlightened regulation contemplates. The 
 relaxation of restrictions on the trade of the 
 British Colonies, and the development of their 
 resources, have been kept steadfastly in view 
 amidst all the alterations to which the address 
 refers, and I confidently rely on the candour of 
 the house of assembly, to admit that, upon the 
 
 />^ 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 113 
 
 whole, no inconsiderable advance towards those 
 great ends has been made. They may rest 
 assured, that the same principles will be steadily 
 borne in mind by his Majesty’s government, 
 in every modification of the existing law which 
 they may at any future period have occasion to 
 recommend to parliament. 
 
 “ Sixthly.—The assembly in their address 
 proceed to state that the inhabitants of the 
 different towns, parishes, townships, extra- 
 parochial places and counties of the province, 
 suffer from the want of sufficient legal powers for 
 regulating and managing their local concerns. 
 
 “ I am happy in the opportunity which at 
 present presents itself, of demonstrating the 
 desire of his Majesty’s government to co¬ 
 operate with the local legislature in the redress 
 of every grievance of this nature. The three 
 bills which your lordship reserved for the sig¬ 
 nification of his Majesty’s pleasure in the last 
 session of the assembly, establishing the paro¬ 
 chial divisions of the province, and for the in¬ 
 corporation of the cities of Quebec and Mon¬ 
 treal, will be confirmed and finally enacted by 
 his Majesty in council, with the least possible 
 delay, and I expect to be able very shortly to 
 transmit to your lordship the necessary orders 
 in council for that purpose. 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ I very sincerely regret that the bill passed 
 for the legal establishment of parishes in the 
 month of March 1829, should have been de¬ 
 feated by the delay which occurred in transmit¬ 
 ting the official confirmation of it to the pro¬ 
 vince. The case appears to have been, that 
 owing to the necessity, whether real or sup¬ 
 posed, of laying the act before both houses of 
 parliament for six weeks before its confirmation 
 by the King in Council, many months elapsed 
 after its arrival in this kingdom before that 
 form could be observed, and his late Majesty s 
 protracted illness delayed still longei the 
 bringing it under the consideration of the King 
 in Council. 
 
 “ If it should be the opinion of the Colonial 
 legislature that additional provisions are w ant- 
 ins: to enable the local authorities in counties, 
 cities, or parishes, to regulate their own moie 
 immediate affairs, your lordship will under¬ 
 stand, that you are at liberty, in his Majesty s 
 name, to assent to any well-considered laws 
 which may be presented to you for that pur¬ 
 pose. 
 
 “ Seventhly.—I proceed to the next subject 
 of complaint, which is, that uncertainty and 
 confusion has been introduced into the laws for 
 the security and regulation of property, by the 
 

 OF CANADA. 115 
 
 intermixture of different codes of laws and rules 
 of proceeding in the courts of justice. 
 
 “ The intermixture to which the address 
 refers, so far as I am aware, arises from the 
 English criminal code having been maintained 
 by the British statute of 1774, and from the 
 various acts of parliament which have intro¬ 
 duced into the province the soccage tenure, 
 and subjected all lands so holden to the Eng¬ 
 lish rules of alienation and descent. 
 
 “ As a mere matter of fact, there can be no 
 doubt that the infusion of these parts of the 
 law of England into the provincial code, was 
 dictated by the most sincere wish to promote 
 the general welfare of the people of Lower 
 Canada; this w'as especially the case with re¬ 
 gard to the criminal law, as is sufficiently appa¬ 
 rent from the language of the 11th section of 
 the 14 Geo. Ill, c. 83. With regard to the 
 advantage to be anticipated from the substitu¬ 
 tion of tenure in soccage for feudal ser¬ 
 vices, I may remark, that Parliament could 
 scarcely be otherwise than sincerely convinced 
 of the benefits of that measure, since the maxims 
 upon which they proceeded are in accordance 
 with the conclusion of almost all theoretical 
 writers and practical statesmen. I am not, 
 indeed, anxious to show that these were just, 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 TUE BUBBLES 
 
 but 1 think it not immaterial thus to have 
 pointed out that the errors, if any, which they 
 involve, can be attributed only to a sincere zeal 
 for the good of those whom the enactments in 
 question more immediately affect. 
 
 “ I fully admit, however, that this is a subject of 
 local and internal policy, upon which far greater 
 weight is due to the deliberate judgment of 
 enlightened men in the province than to any 
 external authority whatever. Your lordship 
 will announce to the council and assembly, 
 his Majesty’s entire disposition to concur with 
 them in any measures which they may think 
 best adapted for insuring a calm and compre¬ 
 hensive survey of these subjects in all their 
 bearings. It will then remain with the two 
 houses to frame such law's as may be necessary 
 to render the provincial code more uniform, and 
 better adapted to the actual condition of society 
 in Canada. To any laws prepared tor that most 
 important purpose, and calculated to advance 
 it, his Majesty’s assent will be given with the 
 utmost satisfaction. It is possible that a woik 
 of this nature would be best executed by 
 commissioners, to be specially designated for 
 the purpose; should such be your lordships 
 opinion, you will suggest that mode of proceed¬ 
 ing to both houses of tire provincial legisla- 
 & 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 117 
 
 tare, who, I am convinced, would willingly 
 incur whatever expense may be inseparable 
 from such an undertaking, unless they should 
 themselves be able to originate any plan of 
 inquiry and proceeding, at once equally effec¬ 
 tive and economical. 
 
 “ Eighthly.—The administration of justice is 
 said to have become inefficient and unnecessa¬ 
 rily expensive. 
 
 “ As the provincial tribunals derive their 
 present constitution from local statute, and not 
 from any exercise of his Majesty’s prerogative, 
 it is not within the power of the King to im¬ 
 prove the mode of administering the law, or to 
 diminish the costs of litigation. Your lordship 
 will, however, assure the house of assembly, 
 that his Majesty is not only ready, but most 
 desirous, to co-operate with them in any im¬ 
 provements of the judicial system which the 
 wisdom and experience of the two houses may 
 suggest. Your lordship w ill immediately assent 
 to any bills which may be passed for that pur¬ 
 pose, excepting in the highly improbable event 
 of their being found open to some apparently 
 conclusive objection; even in that case, how¬ 
 ever, you will reserve any bills for improving 
 the administration of the law for the significa¬ 
 tion of his Majesty’s pleasure. 
 
118 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ Ninthly.—The address then states, that the 
 confusion and uncertainty of which the House 
 complain has been greatly increased by enact¬ 
 ments affecting real property in the colony 
 made in the Parliament of the United King¬ 
 dom since the establishment of the provincial 
 legislature, without those interested having 
 even had an opportunity of being heard; and 
 particularly by a recent decision on one of 
 the said enactments in the provincial court of 
 appeals. 
 
 “ His Majesty’s Government can have no 
 controversy with the house of assembly upon 
 this subject. The house cannot state in stronger 
 terms, than they are disposed to acknowledge, 
 the fitness of leaving to the legislature of Lower 
 Canada exclusively the enactment of every law 
 which may be required respecting real property 
 within that province. It cannot be denied, that 
 at a former period a different opinion was en¬ 
 tertained by the British government; and that 
 the statute-book of this kingdom contains va¬ 
 rious regulations on the subject of lands in 
 Lower Canada, which might, perhaps, have 
 been more conveniently enacted in the pro¬ 
 vince itself: I apprehend, however, that this 
 interference of Parliament was never invoked, 
 except on the pressure of some supposed neces- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 119 
 
 sity ; and that there never was a period in 
 which such acts were introduced by the minis¬ 
 ters of the crown without reluctance. 
 
 “To a certain extent, the statute 1 Will. IV, 
 c. 20, which was passed at the instance of his 
 Majesty’s Government in the last session of 
 Parliament, has anticipated the complaint to 
 which 1 am now referring, and has prevented 
 its recurrence, by authorizing the local legis¬ 
 lature to regulate whatever relates to the inci¬ 
 dents of soccage tenure in the province, with¬ 
 out reference to any real or supposed repug¬ 
 nancy of any such regulations to the law of 
 England. If there is any other part of the 
 British statute law, bearing upon this topic, to 
 which the council and assembly shall object, 
 his Majesty’s Government will be prepared to 
 recommend to Parliament that it should be 
 repealed.” 
 
 “ Tenthly.—It is stated that several of the 
 judges of the courts in the province have long 
 been engaged in, and have even taken a public 
 part in the political affairs and differences of 
 the province, at the same time holding offices 
 during pleasure, and situations incompatible 
 with the due discharge of the judicial functions. 
 
 “Under this head again, it is very gratifying to 
 the ministers of the crown to find, that they 
 
120 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 had, in a great measure, obviated by anticipa¬ 
 tion the complaint of the house of assembly. 
 In the despatch which I addressed to your 
 lordship, on the 8th February, No. 22, every 
 arrangement was made which could be either 
 suggested or carried into effect by his Majesty’s 
 authority, for removing the judges of the pro¬ 
 vince from all connection with its political 
 affairs, and for rendering them independent at 
 once of the authority of the Crown, and the 
 control of the other branches of the legislature; 
 thus placing them exactly in the same position 
 as that of the judges of the supreme courts at 
 Westminster. 
 
 “The judges themselves have, it appears, 
 with laudable promptitude, concurred in giving 
 effect to these recommendations by disconti¬ 
 nuing their attendance at the executive council. 
 Nothing therefore, in fact, remains for terminat¬ 
 ing all discussions upon this subject, but that 
 the house of assembly should make such a per¬ 
 manent provision for the judges as, without 
 exceeding a just remuneration, may be adequate 
 to their independent maintenance in that rank 
 of life which belongs to the dignity of their 
 station. 
 
 “ I am not aware that any judge in Lower 
 Canada holds any office, excepting that of ex- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 121 
 
 ecutive councillor, during the pleasure of the 
 Crown, or which is in any respect incompati¬ 
 ble with the due discharge of his official func¬ 
 tions ; if any such case exists, your lordship 
 will have the goodness immediately to report 
 to me all the circumstances by which it may be 
 attended, in order that the necessary instruc¬ 
 tions on the subject may be given. In the mean 
 time I may state, without reserve, that no judge 
 can be permitted to retain any office corres¬ 
 ponding with the description thus given by the 
 house of assembly, in combination with that 
 independent position on the bench to which I 
 have referred. 
 
 “Eleventhly.—The address proceeds to state 
 that, during a long series of years, executive 
 and judiciary offices have been bestowed almost 
 exclusively upon one class of subjects in the 
 province, and especially upon those least con¬ 
 nected by property, or otherwise, with its 
 permanent inhabitants, or who have shown 
 themselves the most averse to the rights, liber¬ 
 ties, and interests of the people. It is added, 
 that several of these persons avail themselves 
 of the means afforded by their situations to pre¬ 
 vent the constitutional and harmonious co-ope¬ 
 ration of the government and the house of 
 assembly, and to excite ill-feeling and discord 
 

 122 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 between them, while they are remiss in their 
 different situations to forward the public busi¬ 
 ness. 
 
 “ I quote thus largely the language of the 
 address, because I am desirous to meet every 
 part of it in the most direct manner, as well as 
 in the most conciliatory spirit. It is not from 
 any want of that spirit that I recommend you 
 to suggest for the consideration of the house 
 of assembly, how far it is possible that his 
 Majesty should clearly understand, or effectu¬ 
 ally redress a grievance which is brought under 
 his notice in terms thus indefinite. If any 
 public officers can be named who are guilty of 
 such an abuse of their powers, and of such 
 remissness in their duties as are implied in the 
 preceding quotation, his Majesty would not be 
 slow to vindicate the public interest by remov¬ 
 ing any such persons from his service. If it 
 can be shown that the patronage of the Crown 
 has been exercised upon any narrow and exclu¬ 
 sive maxims, they cannot be too entirely 
 disavowed and abandoned, especially if it be 
 true that the permanent inhabitants of the 
 colony do not enjoy a full participation in all 
 public employments, the house of assembly 
 may be assured that his Majesty can have no 
 desire that any such invidious distinctions 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 123 
 
 should be systematically maintained. Beyond 
 this general statement it is not in my power to 
 advance. I am entirely ignorant of the specific 
 cases to which the general expressions of the 
 assembly point. I can only state, that since 
 his Majesty was pleased to intrust to myself the 
 seals of this department, no opportunity has 
 occurred for exercising the patronage of the 
 Crown in Lower Canada, to which it is possi¬ 
 ble that the assembly can refer, nor have my 
 inquiries brought to light any particular case of 
 a more remote date to which their language 
 would appear to be applicable. 
 
 “ Twelfthly.—The next subject of complaint 
 is developed in the following words:—“ That 
 there exist no sufficient responsibility on the 
 part of the persons holding these situations, nor 
 any adequate accountability amongst those of 
 them intrusted with public money; the conse¬ 
 quence of which has been the misapplication of 
 large sums of public money, and of the money 
 of individuals by defaulters, with whom deposits 
 were made under legal authority, hitherto with¬ 
 out reimbursement or redress having been 
 obtained, notwithstanding the humble repre¬ 
 sentations of your petitioners.” 
 
 It would be impossible, without a violation of 
 truth, to deny that at a period not very remote 
 
124 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 heavy losses were sustained both by the public 
 and by individuals, from the want of a proper 
 system of passing and auditing their accounts. 
 
 I find, however, that in his despatch of the 29th 
 September, Sir George Murray adverted to this 
 subject in terms to which I find it difficult to 
 make any useful addition. Ilis words are as 
 follows :—“The complaints which have reached 
 this office respecting the inadequate security 
 given by the receiver-general and by the 
 sheriffs, for the due application of public money 
 in their hands, have not escaped the very se¬ 
 rious attention of the ministers of the Crown ; 
 the most effectual security against abuses of 
 this nature would be to prevent the accumula¬ 
 tion of balances in the hands of public account¬ 
 ants, by obliging them to exhibit their accounts 
 to some competent authority at short intervals, 
 and immediately to pay over the ascertained 
 balance. The proof of having punctually per¬ 
 formed this duty should be made the indispen¬ 
 sable condition of receiving their salaries, and 
 of their continuance in office. 
 
 “ In the colony of New South Wales a regu¬ 
 lation of this nature has been established under 
 his Majesty’s instructions to the governor of 
 that settlement, and has been productive of 
 great public convenience. If a similar practice 
 
 r 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 125 
 
 were introduced in Lower Canada for the regu¬ 
 lation of the office of receiver-general, and for 
 that of sheriff, the only apparent difficulty would 
 be to find a safe place of deposit for their 
 balances. I am, however, authorised to state, 
 that the lords’ commissioners of his Majesty’s 
 Treasury will hold themselves responsible to 
 the province for any sums which the receiver- 
 general or sheriff may pay over to the commis¬ 
 sary-general. Your excellency will, therefore, 
 propose to the legislative council and assembly 
 the enactment of a law binding these officers 
 to render an account of their receipts at short 
 intervals, and to pay over the balances in their 
 hands to the commissary-general, upon con¬ 
 dition thatcthat officer should be bound, on 
 demand, to deliver a bill on his Majesty’s Trea¬ 
 sury for the amount of his receipts. I trust 
 that, in this proposal, the legislature will find 
 a proof of the earnest desire of his Majesty’s 
 government to provide, as far as may be prac¬ 
 ticable, an effectual remedy for every case of 
 real grievance. > 
 
 “ If the preceding instructions have proved 
 inadequate to the redress of the inconvenience 
 to which they refer, I can assure your lordship 
 of the cordial concurrence of his Majesty’s 
 government in any more effective measures 
 
120 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 which may be recommended for that purpose, 
 either by yourself or by either of the houses of 
 the provincial legislature. 
 
 “ The losses which the province sustained by 
 the default of the late Mr. Caldwell is a subject 
 which his Majesty’s Government contemplate 
 with the deepest regret—a feeling enhanced by 
 the painful conviction of their inability to afford 
 to the provincial revenues any adequate com¬ 
 pensation for so serious an injury; what is in 
 their power they have gladly done by the in¬ 
 struction conveyed to your lordship in the 
 early part of this despatch, to place at the dis¬ 
 posal of the legislature, for general purposes, 
 the sum of £7,154. 155. 4 %d., recovered from 
 Mr. Caldwell’s property. The assembly will, 
 I trust, accept this as a proof of the earnest 
 desire of his Majesty’s Government to consult 
 to the utmost of their ability the pecuniary 
 interests of the province. 
 
 “ Thirteenthly. The address proceeds to state 
 that “ the evils of this state of things have been 
 greatly aggravated by enactments made in the 
 Parliament of the United Kingdom, without 
 even the knowledge of the people of this colony, 
 which enactments have rendered temporary 
 duties imposed by the provincial legislature 
 permanent, leaving in the hands of public 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 127 
 
 officers, over whom the assembly has no effec¬ 
 tual control, large sums of money arising 
 within this province, which are applied by per¬ 
 sons subject to no sufficient accountability.” 
 
 “ I understand this complaint to refer to the 
 28th clause oftheStat. 3 Geo. IV, c. 119. The 
 duties mentioned in that enactment are con¬ 
 tinued until some act for repealing or altering 
 them shall be passed by the legislative council 
 and assembly of Lower Canada, and until a 
 copy of any such new act shall have been 
 transmitted to the governor of Upper Canada, 
 and shall have been laid before both houses of 
 Parliament, and assented to by his Majesty. 
 The motive for this enactment is explained in 
 the preamble, to have been the necessity of ob¬ 
 viating the evils experienced in the Upper Pro¬ 
 vince from the exercise of an exclusive control 
 by the legislature of Lower Canada over im¬ 
 ports and exports at the port of Quebec. I 
 acknowledge without reserve, that nothing but 
 the necessity of mediating between the two pro¬ 
 vinces would have justified such an interference 
 by Parliament; and if any adequate security 
 can be devised against the recurrence of simi¬ 
 lar difficulties, the enactment ought to be 
 repealed. The peculiar geographical position 
 of Upper Canada, enjoying no access to the 
 
128 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 sea, except through a province wholly inde¬ 
 pendent on itself, on the one hand or through 
 a foreign state on the other, was supposed in 
 the year 1822 to have created the necessity for 
 enacting so peculiar a law for its protection. I 
 should be much gratified to learn, that no such 
 necessity exists at present, or can be reasonably 
 anticipated hereafter; for upon sufficient evi¬ 
 dence of that fact, his Majesty’s Government 
 would at once recommend to Parliament the 
 repeal of that part of the statute to which the 
 address of the house of assembly refers. The 
 ministers of the Crown would even be satisfied 
 to propose to Parliament the repeal of the en¬ 
 actment in question, upon proof that the legis¬ 
 lature of the Upper Province deem such pro¬ 
 tection superfluous; perhaps it may be found 
 practicable to arrange this matter by communi¬ 
 cations between the legislatures of the two pro¬ 
 vinces. The ministers of the Crown are pre¬ 
 pared to co-operate to the fullest extent in any 
 measure which the two legislatures shall con¬ 
 cur in recommending for the amendment or 
 repeal of the Statute 3 Geo. IV, c. 119, s. 28. 
 
 “ Fourteenthly.—The selection of the legisla¬ 
 tive councillors and the constitution of that 
 body, which forms the last subject of complaint 
 in the address, I shall not notice in this place, 
 
129 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 any further than to say, that it will form the 
 matter of a separate communication, since the 
 topic is too extensive and important to be con¬ 
 veniently embraced in my present despatch. 
 
 “ The preceding review of the questions 
 brought by the house of assembly, appears to 
 me entirely to justify the expectations which 1 
 have expressed at the commencement of this 
 despatch, of a speedy, effectual, and amicable 
 termination of the protracted discussions of 
 several years. It would be injurious to the 
 house of assembly to attribute to them any 
 such captious spirit as would keep alive a con¬ 
 test upon a few minor and insignificant details, 
 after the statement I have made of the general 
 accordance between the views of his Majesty’s 
 government and their own, upon so many im¬ 
 portant questions of Canadian policy. Little 
 indeed remains for debate, and that little will, 
 I am convinced, be discussed with feelings of 
 mutual kindness and good will, and with an 
 earnest desire to strengthen the bonds of union 
 already subsisting between the two countries. 
 His Majesty will esteem it as amongst the 
 most enviable distinctions of his reign, to 
 have contributed to so great and desirable a 
 result. 
 
 K 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 131 
 
 Letter VII. 
 
 The time had now arrived (1832) when every 
 grievance, so far as the remedy lay with the 
 government, had been removed, according to 
 the recommendations of the committee. What¬ 
 ever required the co-operation of the assembly 
 themselves, remained untouched. I hey had 
 asked what they did not require, and hoped 
 would not be granted, so that the odium ot 
 refusal might serve as a pretext for further 
 agitation. Several of the changes solicited 
 would have weakened their influence, and they 
 preferred to suffer things to remain as they 
 were. There now existed no impediment to 
 the public tranquillity ; and, it their intentions 
 had been honest, we should have heard no 
 more of Canadian discontent. Several men of 
 character and standing in the colony, who had 
 hitherto acted with the French faction, now 
 separated themselves from them, declaring that 
 they had obtained all, and even more than they 
 had sought, and that they had now nothing 
 further to ask but to enjoy in tranquillity the 
 fruits of their labour. When they found there 
 was no corresponding feeling in the breasts ot 
 their colleagues, and that these concessions 
 were merely used as the groundwork ot further 
 
 k 2 
 
132 
 
 THE RUBBLES 
 
 changes, they became alarmed, and for the first 
 time were made sensible of what the public 
 had always known with unfeigned sorrow, that 
 they had been all along the dupes of their own 
 liberal notions and the artifices of others. They 
 had now full time to reflect upon the mischief 
 they had done and their own inability to make 
 reparation, and have added another illustra¬ 
 tion to the numbers we already have on 
 record of how much easier it is to open the 
 flood-gates of popular prejudice and passion, 
 than to close them against the force of the cur¬ 
 rent. They are now likely to become the vic¬ 
 tims of their own folly, and to be overwhelmed 
 in the ruins caused by the inundation to which 
 they have unfortunately contributed, by cutting 
 away the embankments. It is to be hoped that 
 the lesson will not be lost upon England ; and 
 it may, perhaps, afford these unhappy men 
 some consolation if the safety of others is con¬ 
 firmed by the contemplation of the fatal effects 
 of their folly. The request of Lord Aylmer, 
 that they would bring forward all their de¬ 
 mands, and, if they had any further ones, to 
 add them to their catalogue, or that he should 
 feel himself entitled to report there were none 
 others, was received with surprise, but in 
 silence, and he very fairly concluded that they 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 133 
 
 had exhausted their budget. This was the 
 natural inference, and it appears that parlia¬ 
 ment flattered itself also that the whole subject 
 was now fully before them. It is true the tone 
 and temper of the house of assembly were not 
 materially altered, and that the next four years 
 were consumed in local disputes, during w hich 
 no appropriation w as made for the public ser- 
 service; but all this was charitably supposed 
 to be the effect of previous excitement, and it 
 was thought not unnatural that some time 
 should elapse before their angry feelings could 
 wholly subside. But what was their astonish¬ 
 ment, after their declining the unprecedented 
 request of the governor to exhibit any further 
 complaints if they had any, to find that, in 
 1834, they were prepared to come forward with 
 ninety-two resolutions of fresh grievance ! This 
 extraordinary step revived the hopes of every 
 loyalist throughout the adjoining colonies. 
 Surely, they said, this last ungrateful, un¬ 
 provoked attempt will open the eyes of the 
 English nation to the ulterior views of Papineau 
 and his party ! It takes much provocation to 
 arouse the British lion; but, surely, this last 
 thrust will be more than he can bear! He 
 will make his voice to be heard across the wa¬ 
 ters and sedition will fly terrified to its cover. 
 
134 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 But, alas ! they were mistaken. Noble and 
 spirited as the animal once was, he is now old 
 and infirm—a timid people have filed his teeth, 
 and shortened his claws, and stupefied him 
 with drugs, and his natural pride disdains to 
 exhibit an unsuccessful imbecility. It was re¬ 
 ceived with a meekness and mildness that filled 
 every body that had known him in former 
 years with astonishment and pity; they could 
 not recognise, in the timid and crouching crea¬ 
 ture before them, the same animal whose indo¬ 
 mitable courage and muscular strength had for¬ 
 merly conquered these same Canadians, even 
 when supported by all the resources of France, 
 who now, single-handed and alone, defied him 
 to combat. But this is too painful a picture to 
 dwell upon. 
 
 This singular document is well worthy of 
 your perusal; its want of intrinsic weight is 
 more than compensated by its prolixity. The 
 astounding number of ninety-two resolutions 
 w'as well calculated to delude strangers, and 
 to induce them to think that the evils under 
 which they laboured were almost too many for 
 enumeration. As imagination is always more 
 fertile than truth, they very wisely resorted to 
 the former, and were thus enabled to supply 
 themselves with any charge they required. It 
 
OF CANADA. 100 
 
 would doubtless have appeared singular to the 
 sympathisers of England, it the aggregate had 
 amounted to so remarkable a number as one 
 hundred: it would have struck them as a sus¬ 
 picious coincidence that they should have ex¬ 
 actly reached “ a round number, and filled a 
 well known measure, and therefore, with an 
 acuteness peculiar to people accustomed to 
 fabricate tales of fictitious distress, they wisely 
 stopped at ninety -two. But it must not 
 
 be supposed that even Canadian exaggeiation 
 could find a grievance for each number. Some 
 were merely declamatory, and others personal; 
 some complimented persons on this side of the 
 water, whose politics they thought resembled 
 their own, and others expressed or implied a 
 censure against obnoxious persons, while not 
 a few were mere repetitions of what had been 
 previously said. Such a state paper, diawn 
 up on such an occasion by the most eminent 
 men in the house for the perusal of such a body 
 of men as the members of the imperial parlia¬ 
 ment, is of itself a proof how little fitted the 
 Canadians are for constitutional government. 
 
 1. Resolved, That Ilis Majesty’s loyal subjects, the 
 people of this Province of Lower Canada, have shown 
 the strongest attachment to the British Empire, of which 
 they are a portion : that they have repeatedly defended 
 
136 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 it with courage in time of war ; that at the time which 
 preceded the independence of the late British Colonies 
 on this continent, they resisted the appeal made to them 
 by those colonies to join their confederation. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the people of this province have 
 at all times manifested their confidence in His Majesty’s 
 Government, even under circumstances of the greatest 
 difficulty, and when the government of the province has 
 been administered by men who trampled under foot the 
 rights and feelings dearest to British subjects; and that 
 these sentiments of the people of this province remain 
 unchanged. 
 
 3. Resolved, That the people of this Province have 
 always shown themselves ready to welcome and receive 
 as brethren those of their fellow subjects who, having 
 quitted the United Kingdom or its dependencies, have 
 chosen this province as their home, and have earnestly 
 endeavoured (as far as on them depended) to afford 
 every facility to their participating in the political advan¬ 
 tages, and in the means of rendering their industry avail¬ 
 able, which the people of this province enjoy ; and to 
 remove for them the difficulties arising from the vicious 
 system adopted by those who have administered the go¬ 
 vernment of the province, with regard to those portions 
 of the country in w'hich the newcomers have generally 
 chosen to settle. 
 
 4. Resolved, That this House, as representing the 
 people of this province, has shown an earnest zeal to 
 advance the general prosperity of the country, by secu¬ 
 ring the peace and content of all classes of its inhabi¬ 
 tants, without any distinction of origin or creed, and 
 upon the solid and durable basis of unity of interest, 
 and equal confidence in the protection of the mother 
 country. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 137 
 
 5. Resolved, That this House has seized every occa¬ 
 sion to adopt, and firmly to establish by law in this 
 province, not only the constitutional and parliamentary 
 law of England, which is necessary to carry the Govern¬ 
 ment into operation, but also all such parts of the public 
 law of the United Kingdom as have appeared to this 
 house adapted to promote the welfare and safety of the 
 people, and to be conformable to their wishes and their 
 wants; and that this house has, in like manner, wisely 
 endeavoured so to regulate its proceedings as to render 
 them, as closely as the circumstances of this colony per¬ 
 mit, analogous to the practice of the House of Commons 
 of theUnited Kingdom. 
 
 6. Resolved, That in the year 1827 the great majority 
 of the people of this province complained, m petitions 
 signed by 87,000 persons, of serious and numerous 
 abuses which then prevailed, many of which had then 
 existed for a great number of years, and of which the 
 greater part still exist, without correction or mitigation. 
 
 7. Resolved, That the complaints aforesaid, and the 
 grievances which gave rise to them, being submitted to 
 the consideration of the Parliament of the United King¬ 
 dom, occasioned the appointment of a committee of the 
 House of Commons, of which the Honourable Edward 
 Geoffrey Stanley, now his Majesty’s principal secretary 
 of state for the colonial department, and several others, 
 who are now members of his Majesty s government, 
 formed part; and that, after a careful investigation and 
 due deliberation, the said committee, on the 18th July 
 1828, came to the following very just conclusions: 
 
 lstly. “ That the embarrassments and discon¬ 
 tents that had long prevailed in the Canadas, had 
 arisen from serious defects in the system of laws, 
 and the constitutions established in those colonies. 
 
138 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 2dly. “ That these embarrassments were in a 
 great measure to be attributed to the manner in 
 which the existing system had been administered. 
 
 3dly. " That they had a complete conviction that 
 neither the suggestions which they had made, nor 
 any other improvements in the laws and constitu¬ 
 tions of the Canadas, will be attended with the 
 desired effect, unless an impartial, conciliating, and 
 constitutional system of government were observed 
 in these royal and important colonies.” 
 
 8. Resolved. That since the period aforesaid, the con¬ 
 stitution of this province, with its serious defects, has 
 continued to be administered in a manner calculated to 
 multiply the embarrassments and discontents which have 
 long prevailed ; and that the recommendations of the 
 Committee of the House of Commons have not been 
 followed by effective measures of a nature to produce 
 the desired effect. 
 
 9. Resolved, That the most serious defect in the 
 Constitutional Act——its radical fault—the most active 
 princijjle of evil and discontent in the province; the 
 most powerful and most frequent cause of abuses of 
 jvower; of infractions of the laws ; of the waste of the 
 public revenue and property , accompanied by impunity 
 to the governing party , and the oppression aud conse¬ 
 quent resentment of the governed , is that injudicious 
 enactment , the fatal results of which were foretold by 
 the Honourable Charles James Fox at the time of its 
 adoption , which invests the Crown with that exorbitant 
 power , (incompatible with any government duly balanced 
 and founded on law and justice , and not on force and 
 coercion) of selecting and composing without any rule 
 or limitation , or any predetermined qualification, an 
 entire branch of the legislature , sujjposed from the 
 
 \ 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 139 
 
 nature of its attributions to be independent, but inevi¬ 
 tably the servile tool of the authority which creates, 
 composes amd decomposes it, and can on any day mo¬ 
 dify it to suit the interests or the passions of the 
 moment . 
 
 10. Resolved, That with the permission of a power 
 so unlimited, the abuse of it is inseparably connected; 
 and that it has always been so exercised in the selection 
 of the Members of the Legislative Council of this pro¬ 
 vince, as to favour the spirit of monopoly and despotism 
 in the executive, judicial, and administrative departments 
 of government, and never in favour of the public inte- 
 rests. 
 
 11. Resolved, That the effectual remedy for this evil 
 was judiciously foreseen and pointed out by the Com¬ 
 mittee of the House of Commons, who asked John 
 Neilson, Esquire ^one of the agents who had carried to 
 England the petition of the 87>000 inhabitants of Lower 
 Canada), whether he had turned in his mind any plan 
 by which he conceived the Legislative Council might 
 be better composed in Lower Canada; whether he 
 thought it possible that the said body could command 
 the confidence and respect of the people, or go in har¬ 
 mony with the house of assembly, unless the principle of 
 election were introduced into its composition in some 
 manner or other; and also, whether he thought that the 
 colony could have any security that the legislative coun¬ 
 cil would be properly and independently composed, unless 
 the principle of election were introduced into it in some 
 manner or other; and received from the said John Neil- 
 son answers, in which (among other reflections) he said 
 in substance, that there were two modes in which the 
 composition of the legislative council might be bettered ; 
 the one by appointing men who were independent of the 
 
140 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 executive, (but that to judge from experience there 
 would be no security that this would be done), and that 
 if this mode were found impracticable, the other would 
 be to render the legislative council elective. 
 
 12. Resolved, That, judging from experience, this 
 house likewise believes there would be no security in the 
 first mentioned mode, the course of events having but 
 too amply proved what was then foreseen ; and that this 
 house approves all the inferences drawn by the said 
 John Neilson from experience and facts ; but that with 
 regard to his suggestion that a class of electors of a 
 higher qualification should be established, or a qualifi¬ 
 cation in property fixed for those persons who might sit 
 in the council, this house have, in their address to his 
 Most Gracious Majesty, dated the 20th March 1833, 
 declared in what manner this principle could, in their 
 opinion, be rendered tolerable in Canada, by restraining 
 it within certain bounds, which should in no case be 
 passed. 
 
 13. Resolved, That even in defining bounds of this 
 nature, and requiring the possession of real property as 
 a condition of eligibility to a legislative council, chosen 
 by the people, which most wisely and happily has not 
 been made a condition of eligibility to the house of 
 assembly, this house seems rather to have sought to 
 avoid shocking received opinions in Europe, where cus¬ 
 tom and the law have given so many artificial privileges 
 and advantages to birth and rank and fortune, than to con¬ 
 sult the opinions generally received in America, where 
 the influence of birth is nothing, and where, notwith¬ 
 standing the importance which fortune must always 
 naturally confer, the artificial introduction of great poli¬ 
 tical privileges in favour of the possessors of large pro¬ 
 perty, could not long resist the preference given at free 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 141 
 
 elections to virtue, talents, and information, which 
 fortune does not exclude but can never purchase, and 
 which may be the portion of honest, contented, and 
 devoted men, whom the people ought to have the power 
 of calling and consecrating to the public service, in pre¬ 
 ference to richer men, of whom they may think less 
 highly . 
 
 14. Resolved, That this house is no wise disposed to 
 admit the excellence of the present constitution of Ca¬ 
 nada, although his Majesty s secretary of state for 
 the colonies has unseasonably and erroneously asserted, 
 that it has conferred on the two Canadas the institutions 
 of Great Britain ; nor to reject the principle of ex¬ 
 tending the system of frequent elections much further 
 than it is at present carried; and this system ought 
 especially to be extended to the legislative council r 
 although it may b e considered by the colonial secretary 
 incompatible with the British government, which he calls 
 a monarchical government, or too analogous to the in¬ 
 stitutions which the several states, composing the indus¬ 
 trious, moral, and prosperous confederation of the 
 United States of America, have adopted for themselves. 
 
 15. Resolved, That in a dispatch, of which the date 
 is unknown, and of which a part only was communicated 
 to this house by the governor-in-chief on the 14th 
 January 1834, his Majesty’s secretary of state for the 
 Colonial Department (this house having no certain 
 knowledge whether the said despatch is from the present 
 colonial secretary or from his predecessor) says, that 
 an examination of the composition of the legislative 
 council at that period (namely, at the time when its 
 composition was so justly censured by a Committee of 
 the House of Commons) and at the present, will suffi¬ 
 ciently show in what spirit his Majesty s Government 
 
142 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 has endeavoured to carry the wishes of Parliament into 
 effect. 
 
 16. Resolved, That this House receives with grati¬ 
 tude this assurance of the just and benevolent intentions, 
 with which, in the performance of their duty, his 
 Majesty’s ministers have endeavoured to give effect to 
 the wishes of parliament. 
 
 17. Resolved, That unhappily it was left to the prin¬ 
 cipal agent of his Majesty’s Government in this province 
 to carry the wishes of the Imperial Parliament into 
 effect; but that he has destroyed the hope which his 
 Majesty’s faithful subjects had conceived of seeing the 
 legislative council reformed and ameliorated, and has 
 confirmed them in the opinion that the only possible 
 mode of giving to that body the weight and respectabi¬ 
 lity which it ought to possess, is to introduce into it the 
 principle of election. 
 
 18. Resolved, That the legislative council, strength¬ 
 ened by a majority inimical to the rights of this house 
 and of the people whom it represents, has received new 
 and more powerful means than it before possessed of 
 perpetuating and of rendering more offensive and more 
 hurtful to the country the system of abuses of which 
 the people of this province have up to this day ineffec¬ 
 tually complained, and which up to this day, parlia¬ 
 ment and his Majesty’s government in England have 
 ineffectually sought to correct. 
 
 19. Resolved, That since its pretended reform the 
 legislative council has, in a manner more calculated to 
 alarm the inhabitants of this province, and more par¬ 
 ticularly in its Address to his Majesty of the 1st of April 
 1833, renewed its pretension of being specially ap¬ 
 pointed to protect one class of his Majesty’s subjects 
 in this province, as supposing them to have interests 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 143 
 
 which could not be sufficiently represented in the assem¬ 
 bly, seven-eights of the members of which are by the 
 said council most erroneously stated to be of French 
 origin and speak the French language : that this pre¬ 
 tension is a violation of the constitution, and is of a 
 nature to excite and perpetuate among the several 
 classes of the inhabitants of this province mutual dis¬ 
 trust and national distinctions and animosities, and to 
 give one portion of the people an unjust and factious 
 superiority over the other, and the hope of domination 
 and undue preference. 
 
 20. Resolved, That by such claim the legislative 
 council, after a reform which was held up as one adapted 
 to unite it more closely with the interests of the colony 
 in conformity with the wishes of parliament, calls down 
 as one of its first acts, the prejudices and severity of his 
 Majesty’s Government upon the people of this province 
 and upon the representative branch of the legislature 
 thereof, and that by this conduct the legislative 
 council has destroyed amongst the people all hope 
 which was left them of seeing the said council, so long 
 as it shall remain constituted as it now is, act in har¬ 
 mony with the house of assembly. 
 
 21. Resolved, That the legislative council of this 
 province has never been any thing else but an impotent 
 screen between the governor and the people, which by 
 enabling the one to maintain a conflict with the others 
 has served to perpetuate a system of discord and con¬ 
 tention ; that it has unceasingly acted with avowed hos¬ 
 tility to the sentiments of the people as constitutionally 
 expressed by the house of assembly ; that it is not 
 right under the name of a legislative council to impose 
 an aristocracy on a country which contains no natural 
 materials for the composition of such a body; that the 
 
144 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 parliament of the United Kingdom in granting to his 
 Majesty's Canadian subjects the power of revising the 
 constitution under which they hold their dearest rights, 
 would adopt a liberal policy, free from all consideration 
 of former interests and of existing prejudices ; and that 
 by this measure, equally consistent with a wise and 
 sound policy, and with the most liberal and extended 
 views, the parliament of the United Kingdom would 
 enter into a noble rivalry with the United States of 
 America, would prevent his Majesty’s subjects from 
 seeing any thing to envy there ; and would preserve a 
 friendly intercourse between Great Britain and this pro¬ 
 vince, as her colony so long as the tie between us shall 
 continue, and as her ally whenever the course of events 
 may change our relative position. 
 
 22. Resolved, That this house so much the more con¬ 
 fidentially emits the opinions expressed in the preceding 
 resolution, because, if any faith is to be placed in the 
 published reports, they were at no distantpenod emitted 
 with other remarks in the same spirit, in the commons 
 house of the United Kingdom, by the Right Honoura¬ 
 ble Edward Geoffrey Stanley, now his Majesty s prin¬ 
 cipal secretary of state for the Colonial department, and 
 by several other enlightened and distinguished members, 
 some of whom are among the number of his Majesty s pre¬ 
 sent ministers ; and because the conduct of the legislative 
 council since its pretended reform, demonstrates that the 
 said opinions are in no wise rendered less applicable or 
 less correct by its present composition. 
 
 23. Resolved, That the legislative council has at the 
 present time less community of interest with the province 
 than at any former period ; that its present composition 
 instead of being calculated so change the character of 
 
OF CANADA. 145 
 
 the body, to put an end to complaints, and to bring 
 aboutthat co-operation of the two houses of the legislature 
 which is so necessary to the welfare of the country, is such 
 as to destroy all hope that the said council will adopt 
 the opinions and sentiments of the people of this pro¬ 
 vince, and of this house with regard to the inalienable 
 right of the latter to the full and entire control of the 
 whole revenue raised in the province , with regard to the 
 necessity under which this house has found itself (for 
 the purpose of effecting the reformation which it has so 
 long and so vainly demanded of existing abuses) to 
 provide for the expenses of the civil government by an¬ 
 nual appropriations only, as well with regard to a variety 
 of other questions of public interest, concerning which 
 the executive government, and the legislative council 
 which it has selected and created, differ diametrically 
 from the people of this province and from this house. 
 
 24. Resolved, That such of the recently appointed 
 councillors as were taken from the majority of the As¬ 
 sembly, and had entertained the hope that a sufficient 
 number of independent men, holding opinions in unison 
 with those of the majority of the people and of their 
 representatives, w r ould be associated with them, must 
 now feel that they are overwhelmed by a majority hos¬ 
 tile to the country, and composed of men who have irre¬ 
 trievably lost the public confidence, by showing them¬ 
 selves the blind and passionate partisans of all abuses of 
 pow r er, by encouraging all the acts of violence committed 
 under the administration of Lord Dalhousie, by having 
 on all occasions outraged the representatives of the 
 people of the country ; of men, unknown in the country 
 until within a few years, without landed property or 
 having very little, most of whom have never been re- 
 
 1 , 
 
146 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 turned to the Assembly (some of them having even been 
 refused by the people), and who have never given any 
 proofs of their fitness for performing the functions of 
 legislators, but merely of their hatred to the country ; 
 and who, by reason of their community of sentiment 
 with him, have found themselves, by the partiality of the 
 governor-in-chief, suddenly raised to a station in which 
 they have the power of exerting during life, an influence 
 over the legislation and over the fate of this province, 
 the laws and institutions of which have ever been the 
 objects of their dislike. 
 
 25. Resolved, That in manifest violation of the con¬ 
 stitution, there are among the persons last mentioned 
 several who were born citizens of the United States, or 
 arc natives of other foreign countries, and who at the 
 time of their appointment had not been naturalized by 
 Acts of the British Parliament ; that the residence of 
 one of these persons (Horatio Gates) in this country 
 during the last war with the United States was only 
 tolerated ; he refused to take up arms for the defence of 
 the country in which he remained merely for the sake of 
 lucre ; and after these previous facts, took his seat in the 
 legislative council on the 16th March 1833; and fifteen 
 days afterwards, to wit, on the 1st April, voted for the 
 address before-mentioned, censuring those who during 
 the last war were under arms on the frontiers to repulse 
 the attacks of the American armies and of the fellow- 
 citizens of the said Horatio Gates: that another (James 
 Baxter) was resident during the said late war within the 
 United States, and was bound by the laws of the 
 country of his birth, under certain circumstances, forcibly 
 to invade this province, to pursue, destroy, and capture, 
 if possible, his Majesty’s armies, and such of his Cana- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 147 
 
 dian subjects as were in arms upon the frontiers to repulse 
 the attacks of the American armies, and of the said 
 
 James Baxter, who (being at the said time but slightly 
 
 qualified as far as property is concerned) became, by 
 the nomination of the governor-in-chief, a legislator for 
 life in Lower Canada, on the 22d of March 1833 ; and 
 eight days afterwards, on the 1st of April aforesaid, 
 voted that very address which contained the calumnious 
 and insulting accusation which called for the expression 
 of his Majesty’s just regret, “ that any word had been 
 introduced which should have the appearance of ascribing 
 to a class of his subjects of one origin, viewsat vari ance 
 with the allegiance which they owe to his Majesty.” 
 
 Resolved, That it was in the power of the present 
 governor-in-chief, more than in that of any of his prede¬ 
 cessors (by reason of the latitude allowed him as to the 
 number and the selection of the persons whom he might 
 nominate to be members of the legislative council) to 
 allay, for a time at least, the intestine divisions which 
 rend this colony, and to advance some steps towards 
 the accomplishment of the wishes of Parliament, by in¬ 
 ducing a community of interest between the said council 
 and the people, and by giving the former a more inde¬ 
 pendent character by judicious nominations. 
 
 27. Resolved, That although sixteen persons have 
 been nominated in less than two years by the present 
 governor to be members of the said council (a number 
 greater than that afforded by any period of ten years 
 under any other administration), and notwithstanding 
 the wishes of parliament, and the instructions given by 
 his Majesty’s government for the removal of the griev¬ 
 ances of which the people had complained, the same 
 malign influence which has been exerted to perpetuate in 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the country a system of irresponsibility in favour of public 
 functionaries, has prevailed to such an extent as to ren¬ 
 der the majority of the legislative council more inimical 
 to the country than at any former period ; and that this 
 fact confirms with irresistible force the justice of the 
 censure passed by the committee of the house of com¬ 
 mons on the constitution of the legislative council as it 
 had theretofore existed, and the correctness of the opi¬ 
 nion of those members of the said committee who thought 
 that the said body could never command the respect of 
 the people, nor be in harmony with the house of assem¬ 
 bly, unless the principle of election was introduced 
 into it. 
 
 28. Resolved, That even if the present governor-in- 
 chief had, by making a most judicious selection, suc¬ 
 ceeded in quieting the alarm and allaying for a time 
 the profound discontent which then prevailed , that 
 form of government would not be less essentially vicious 
 which makes the happiness or misery of a country de¬ 
 pend on an executive over which the people of that 
 country have no influence, and which has no permanent 
 interest in the country, or in common with its inhabi¬ 
 tants ; and that the extension of the elective principle 
 is the only measure which appears to this house to 
 afford any jnospect o f equal and sufficient protection 
 in future to all the inhabitants of the province without 
 distinction . 
 
 29. Resolved, That the accusations preferred against 
 the house of assembly by the legislative council, as re¬ 
 composed by the present governor-in-chief, would be 
 criminal and seditious, if their very nature did not render 
 them harmless, since they go to assert, that if in its libe¬ 
 rality and justice the parliament of the United Kingdom 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 149 
 
 had granted the earnest prayer of this house in behalf 
 of the province (and which this house at this solemn mo¬ 
 ment, after weighing the dispatches of the secretary of 
 state for the colonial department, and on the eve of a 
 general election, now repeats and renews), that the 
 constitution of the legislative council may be altered by 
 rendering it elective, the result of this act of justice and 
 benevolence would have been to inundate the country 
 with blood. 
 
 30. Resolved, That by the said address to his Ma¬ 
 jesty, dated the 1st of April last, the legislative coun¬ 
 cil charges this house with having calumniously accused 
 the King’s representative of partiality and injustice in 
 the exercise of the powers of his office, and with delibe¬ 
 rately calumniating his Majesty’s officers, both civil and 
 military, as a faction induced by interest alone to contend 
 for the support of a government inimical to the rights 
 and opposed to the wishes of the people : with reference 
 to which this house declares that the accusations pre¬ 
 ferred by it have never been calumnious, but are true 
 and well founded, and that a faithful picture of the 
 executive government of this province in all its parts is 
 drawn by the legislative council in this passage of its 
 address. 
 
 31. Resolved, That if, as this house is fond of be¬ 
 lieving his Majesty’s government in England does not 
 wish systematically to nourish civil discord in this colony, 
 the contradictory allegations thus made by the two 
 houses make it imperative on it to become better ac¬ 
 quainted with the state of the province than it now ap¬ 
 pears to be, if we judge from its long tolerance of 
 the abuses which its agents commit with impunity ; that 
 it ought not to trust to the self-praise of those who have 
 the management of the affairs of a colony, passing ac- 
 
150 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 cording to them into a state of anarchy ; that it ought to 
 be convinced that if its protection of public functionaries, 
 accused by a competent authority (that is to say by this 
 house, in the name of the people), could for a time, by 
 force and intimidation, aggravate, in favour of those 
 functionaries and against the rights and interests of the 
 people, the system of insult and oppression which they 
 impatiently bear, the result must be to weaken our con¬ 
 fidence in, and our attachment to his Majesty’s govern¬ 
 ment, and to give deep root to the discontent and in¬ 
 surmountable disgust which have been excited by admi¬ 
 nistrations deplorably vicious, and which are now excited 
 by the majority of the public functionaries of the colony, 
 combined as a faction, and induced by interest alone to 
 contend for the support of a corrupt government, inimi¬ 
 cal to the rights and opposed to the wishes of the 
 people. 
 
 32. Resolved, That in addition to its wicked and ca¬ 
 lumnious address of the 1st April 1833, the legislative 
 council, as recomposed by the present governor-in¬ 
 chief, has proved how little community of interest it has 
 with the colony, by the fact that out of sixty-four bills 
 which were sent up to it, twenty-eight were rejected by 
 it, or amended in a manner contrary to their spirit and 
 essence; that the same unanimity which had attended 
 the passing of the greater part of these bills in the assem¬ 
 bly, accompanied their rejection by the legislative coun¬ 
 cil, and that an opposition so violent shows clearly that 
 the provincial executive and the council of its choice, in 
 league together against the representative body, do not, 
 or will not, consider it as the faithful interpreter and the 
 ecpiitable judge of the wants and wishes of the people, 
 nor as fit to propose laws conformable to the public 
 will; and that under such circumstances it would hava 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 151 
 
 been the duty of the head of the executive to appeal to 
 the people, by dissolving the provincial parliament, had 
 there been any analogy between the institutions of Great 
 Britain and those of this province. 
 
 33. Resolved, That the legislative council, as recom¬ 
 posed by the present governor-in-chief, must be consi¬ 
 dered as embodying the sentiments of the colonial exe¬ 
 cutive government, and that from the moment it w as so 
 recomposed the tw r o authorities seem to have bound and 
 leagued themselves together for the purpose of proclaim¬ 
 ing principles subversive of all harmony in the province, 
 and of governing and domineering in a spirit of blind and 
 invidious national antipathy. 
 
 34. Resolved, That the address voted unanimously on 
 the 1st April 1833, by the legislative council, as recom¬ 
 posed by the present governor-in chief, was concurred 
 in by the honourable the chief justice of the province, 
 Jonathan Sewell, to whom the right honourable Lord 
 Viscount Goderich, in his dispatch, communicated to the 
 house on the 25th November 1831, recommended “ a 
 cautious abstinence ” from all proceedings by which he 
 might be involved in any contention of a party nature ; 
 by John Hale, the present receiver-general, who, in 
 violation of the laws, and of the trust reposed in him, 
 and upon illegal warrants issued by the governor, has 
 paid away large sums of the public money, without any 
 regard to the obedience which is always due to the law ; 
 by Sir John Caldwell, baronet, the late receiver-gene¬ 
 ral, a peculator, who has been condemned to pay 
 nearly £100,000 to reimburse a like sum levied upon the 
 people of this province, and granted by law to his Ma¬ 
 jesty, his heirs and successors, for the public use of the 
 province, and for the support of his Majesty’s govern- 
 
152 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 ment therein, and who has diverted the greater part ol 
 the said sum from the purposes to which it was destined, 
 and appropriated it to his private use ; by Mathew Bell, 
 a grantee of the crown, who has been unduly and ille¬ 
 gally favoured by the executive, in the lease of the 
 forges of St. Maurice, in the grant of large tracts of 
 waste lands, and in the lease of large tracts of land 
 formerly belonging to the order of Jesuits ; by 
 John Stewart, an executive councillor, commissioner of 
 the Jesuits’ estates, and the incumbent of other lucra¬ 
 tive offices: all of whom are placed by their pecuniary 
 and personal interests, under the influence of the execu¬ 
 tive ; and by the honourable George Moffatt, Peter 
 M'Gill, John Molson, Horatio Gates, Robert Jones, 
 and James Baxter, all of whom, as well as those before 
 mentioned, were, with two exceptions, born out of the 
 country, and all of whom, except one, who for a num¬ 
 ber of years was a member of the assembly, and has ex¬ 
 tensive landed property, are but slightly qualified in that 
 respect, and had not been sufficiently engaged in public 
 life to afford a presumption that they were fit to perform 
 the functions of legislators for life; and by Antoine 
 Gaspard Couillard, the only native of the country, of 
 French origin, who stooped to concur in the address, and 
 who also had never been engaged in public life, and is 
 but very moderately qualified with respect to real pro¬ 
 perty, and who, after his appointment to the council, 
 and before the said 1st of April, rendered himself de¬ 
 pendent on the executive by soliciting a paltry and su¬ 
 bordinate place of profit. 
 
 35. Resolved, That the said address, voted by seven 
 councillors, under the influence of the present head of 
 the executive, and by five others of his appointment. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 153 
 
 
 (one only of the six others who voted it, the Hon. 
 George Moffatt, having been appointed under his pre¬ 
 decessor) is the work of the present administration of this 
 province, the expression of its sentiments, the key to its 
 acts, and the proclamation of the iniquitous and arbi¬ 
 trary principles, which are to form its rule of conduct 
 for the future. 
 
 36. Resolved, That the said address is not less in¬ 
 jurious to the small number of members of the legis¬ 
 lative council who are independent, and attached to the 
 interests and honour of the country, w ho have been mem¬ 
 bers of the Assembly, and are known as having partaken 
 its opinions and seconded its efforts, to obtain for it the 
 entire control and disposal of the public revenue ; as 
 having approved the wholesome, constitutional, and 
 not, as styled by the council, the daring steps taken by 
 this house of praying by address to his Majesty that the 
 legislative council might be rendered elective ; as con¬ 
 demning a scheme for the creation of an extensive mono¬ 
 poly of lands in favour of speculators residing out of the 
 country; as believing that they could not have been 
 appointed to the council with a view to increase the con¬ 
 stitutional weight and efficacy of that body, in w hich they 
 find themselves opposed to a majority hostile to their 
 principles and their country ; as believing that the inte¬ 
 rests and wishes of the people are faithfully represented 
 by their representatives, and that the connexion between 
 this country and the parent state will be durable in pro¬ 
 portion to the direct influence exercised by the people in 
 the enactment of laws adapted to insure their welfare ; 
 and as being of opinion, that his Majesty’s subjects 
 recently settled in this country will share in all the 
 advantages of the free institutions and of the improve- 
 
•V 
 
 154 THE BUBBLES 
 
 ments which would be rapidly developed if, by means 
 of the extension of the elective system, the administra¬ 
 tion were prevented from creating a monopoly of power 
 and profit in favour of the minority who are of one origin, 
 and to the prejudice of the majority t who are of another 
 and from buying, corrupting, and exciting a portion of 
 this minority in such a manner as to give to all discus¬ 
 sions of local interest the alarming character of strife and 
 national antipathy ; and that the independent members 
 of the legislative council, indubitably convinced of the 
 tendency of that body, and undeceived as to the motives 
 which led to their appointment as members of it, now 
 refrain from attending the sittings of the said council, in 
 which they despair of being able to effect any thing for 
 the good of the country. 
 
 37. Resolved, That the political world in Europe is 
 at this moment agitated by two great parties , who in 
 different countries ajopear under the several names of 
 serviles , royalists, tories and conservatives on the one 
 side , and of liberals, constitutionals, republicans, 
 whigs, reformers, radicals and similar appellations on 
 the other ; that the former p arty is, on this continent, 
 without any weight or influence except what it derives 
 from its European supptorters, and from a trifling 
 number of persons who become their dependents for the 
 sake ofjjersonal gain, and from others, who from age 
 or habit cling to opinions which are not partaken by 
 any numerous class; while the second p arty overspreads 
 all America . And that the colonial secretary is mis¬ 
 taken if he believes that the exclusion of a few salaried 
 officers from the legislative council could suffice to 
 make it harmonise with the wants, wishes and opinions 
 of the people, as long as the colonial governors retain 
 
L 
 
 OF CANADA. 155 
 
 the power of preserving in it a majority of members 
 rendered servile by their antipathy to every liberal 
 idea. 
 
 38. Resolved, That this vicious system, which has 
 been carefully maintained, has given to the legislative 
 council a greater character of animosity to the country 
 than it had at any former period, and is as contrary to 
 the wishes of parliament, as that which, in order to 
 resist the wishes of the people of England for the par¬ 
 liamentary reform, should have called into the House 
 of Lords a number of men notorious for their factious 
 and violent opposition to that great measure. 
 
 39. Resolved, That the legislative council , represent- 
 ing merely the personal opinions of certain members of 
 a body so strongly accused at a recent period by the 
 people of this province, and so justly censured by the 
 report of the committee of the house of commons, is 
 not an authority competent to demand alterations in 
 the constitutional Act of the 31,y£ Geo. 3, c. 31, and that 
 the said act ought not to be and cannot be altered, ex¬ 
 cept at such time and in such manner as may be wished 
 by the people of this province, whose sentiments this 
 house is alone competent to represent ; that no inter- 
 ference on the part of the British legislature with the 
 laws and constitution of this province , which should not 
 be founded on the wishes of the people, freely expres¬ 
 sed either through this house, or in any other consti¬ 
 tutional manner, could in any wise tend to settle any of 
 the difficulties which exist in this province , but, on the 
 contrary, would only aggravate them and prolong their 
 continuance • 
 
 40. Resolved, That this house expects from the jus¬ 
 tice of the parliament of the United Kingdom, that no 
 
156 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 measure of the nature aforesaid, founded on the false 
 representations of the legislative council and of the 
 members and tools of the colonial administration, all 
 interested in perpetuating existing abuses, will be 
 adopted to the prejudice of the rights, liberties and 
 welfare of the people of this province; but that on the 
 contrary, the Imperial Legislature will comply with 
 the wishes of the people and of this house, and will 
 provide the 7nost effectual remedy for all evils present 
 and future, either by rendering the legislative council 
 elective, in the manner mentioned in the Address of this 
 house to his most gracious Majesty, of the 20 th March 
 1833, or by enabling the people to express still more 
 directly their opinions as to the measures to be adopted 
 in that behalf, and with regard to such other modifica¬ 
 tions of the constitution as the wants of the prople and 
 the mter est of his Majesty’s government in the province 
 may require ; and that this house perseveres in the 
 said Address. 
 
 41. Resolved, That his Majesty’s secretary of state 
 for the colonial department has acknowledged in his 
 despatches, that it has frequently been admitted that 
 the people of Canada ought to see nothing in the insti¬ 
 tutions of the neighbouring states which they could 
 regard with envy, and that he has yet to learn that any 
 such feeling now exists among his Majesty’s subjects in 
 Canada: to which this house answers, that the neigh¬ 
 bouring States have a form of government very fit to 
 prevent abuses of power, and very effective in repressing 
 them ; that the reverse of this order of things has always 
 prevailed in Canada under the present form of govern¬ 
 ment ; that there exists in the neighbouring States a 
 stronger and more general attachment to the national 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 157 
 
 institutions than in any other country, and that there 
 exists also in those States a guarantee for the progressive 
 advance of their political institutions towards perfection, 
 in the revision of the same at short and determininate 
 intervals, by conventions of the people, in order that 
 they may, without any shock or violence, be adapted to 
 the actual state of things. 
 
 42. Resolved, That it was in consequencejof a correct 
 idea of the state of the country and of society generally 
 in America, that the committee of the House of Commons 
 asked, whether there was not in the two Canadas a 
 growing inclination to see the institutions become more 
 and more popular, and in that respect more and more 
 like those of the United States; and that John Neilson, 
 Esq., one of the agents sent from this country, answered, 
 that the fondness for popular institutions had made great 
 progress in the two Canadas ; and that the same agent 
 was asked, whether he did not think that it would be 
 wise that the object of every change made in the institu¬ 
 tions of the province should be to comply more and 
 more with the wishes of the people, and to render the 
 said institutions extremely popular: to which question 
 this house, for and in the name of the people whom it 
 represents, answers, solemnly and deliberately, “ Yes, 
 it would be w T ise ; it would be excellent.” 
 
 43. Resolved, That the constitution and form of go¬ 
 vernment which would best suit this colony are not to be 
 sought solely in the analogies offered by the institutions 
 of Great Britain, where the state of society is altogether 
 different from our own; and that it would be wise to 
 turn to profit by the information to be gained by ob¬ 
 serving the effects produced by the different and infinitely 
 varied constitutions which the kings and parliament of 
 
]53 THE BUBBLES 
 
 England have granted to the several plantations and 
 colonies in America, and by studying the way in which 
 virtuous and enlightened men have modified such colonial 
 institutions, when it could be done with the assent of the 
 parties interested. 
 
 44. Resolved, That the unanimous consent with which 
 all the American states have adopted and extended the 
 elective system, shows that it is adapted to the wishes, 
 manners, and social state of the inhabitants of this con¬ 
 tinent ; that this system prevails equally among those of 
 British and those of Spanish origin, although the latter, 
 during the continuance of their colonial state had been 
 under the calamitous yoke of ignorance and absolutism ; 
 and that we do not hesitate to ask from a prince of the 
 House of Brunswick, and a reformed Parliament, all 
 the freedom and political powers which the princes of 
 the House of Stuart and their parliaments granted to 
 the most favoured of the plantations formed at a period 
 when such grants must have been less favourably re¬ 
 garded than they would now be. 
 
 45. Resolved, That it was not the best and most free 
 systems of colonial government which tended most to 
 hasten the independence of the old English colonies; 
 since the province of New York, in which the institutions 
 were most monarchical in the sense which that word 
 appears to bear in thedespatch of the colonial secretary, 
 was the first to refuse obedience to an act of the Parlia¬ 
 ment of Great Britain : and that the colonies of Con¬ 
 necticut and Rhode Island, which, though closely and 
 affectionately connected with the mother country for a 
 long course of years, enjoyed constitutions purely de¬ 
 mocratic, were the last to enter into a confederation 
 rendered necessary by the conduct of bad servants of the 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 159 
 
 Crown, who called in the supreme authority of the par¬ 
 liament and the British constitution to aid them to 
 govern arbitrarily, listening rather to the governors and 
 their advisers than to the people and their representatives, 
 and shielding with their protection those who consumed 
 the taxes rather than those who paid them. 
 
 46. Resolved, That with a view to the introduction 
 of whatever the institutions of the neighbouring States 
 offered that was good and applicable to the state of the 
 province, this house had among other measures passed 
 during many years, a bill founded on the principle of 
 proportioning arithmetically the number of representa¬ 
 tives to the populace of each place represented ; and 
 that if, by the pressure of circumstances and the urgent 
 necessity which existed that the number of representatives 
 should be increased, it has been compelled to assent to 
 amendments which violate that principle, by giving to 
 counties containing a population of little more than 
 4,000 souls, the same number of representatives as to 
 several others of which the population is five times as 
 great, this disproportion is, in the opinion of this house, 
 an act of injustice, for which it ought to seek a remedy: 
 and that in new countries where the population increases 
 rapidly, and tends to create new settlements, it is wise 
 and equitable that by a frequent and periodical census, 
 such increase and the manner in which it is distributed 
 should be ascertained, principally for the purpose of 
 settling the representation of the province on an equi¬ 
 table basis. 
 
 47. Resolved, That the fidelity of the people and the 
 protection of the government are co-relative obligations, 
 of which the one cannot long subsist without the other ; 
 that by reason of the defects which exist in the laws and 
 
ICO 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 constitution of this province, and of the manner in which 
 those laws and that constitution have been administered, 
 the people of this province are not sufficiently protected 
 in their lives, their property, and their honour ; and 
 that the long series of acts of injustice and oppression 
 of which they have to complain, have increased with 
 alarming rapidity in violence and in number under the 
 present administration. 
 
 48. Resolved, That in the midst of these disorders 
 and sufferings, this house and the people whom it repre¬ 
 sents, had always cherished the hope and expressed 
 their faith that his Majesty’s government in England did 
 not knowingly and wilfully participate in the political 
 immorality of its colonial agents and officers ; and that 
 it is with astonishment and grief that they have seen in 
 the extract from the despatches of the colonial secretary, 
 communicated to this house by the governor-in-chief, 
 during the present session, that one at least of the mem¬ 
 bers of his Majesty’s government entertains towards 
 them feelings of prejudice and animosity, and inclines to 
 favour plans of oppression and revenge, ill adapted to 
 change a system of abuses, the continuance of which 
 would altogether discourage the people, extinguish in 
 them the legitimate hope of happiness which, as British 
 subjects, they entertained, and would leave them only 
 the hard alternative of submitting to an ignominious 
 bondage, or of seeing those ties endangered which unite 
 them to the mother country. 
 
 49. Resolved, That this house and the people, whom 
 it represents, do not wish or intend to convey any 
 threat; but that, relying, as they do, upon the principles 
 of law and justice, they are, and ought to be, politically 
 strong enough not to be exposed to receive insult from 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 161 
 
 any man whomsoever, or bound to suffer it in silence ; 
 that the style of the said extracts from the despatches 
 of the colonial secretary, as communicated to this house, 
 is insulting and inconsiderate to such a degree that no 
 legally constituted body, although its functions were infi- 
 nately subordinate to those of legislation, could or ought 
 to tolerate them ; that no similar example can be found, 
 eveninthe despatches of those of his predecessors in office, 
 least favourable to the rights of the colonies; that the tenor 
 of the said despatches is incompatible with the rights and 
 privileges of this house, which ought not to be called in 
 question or defined by the colonial secretary, but which, 
 as occasion may require, will be successively promul¬ 
 gated and enforced by this house. 
 
 50. Resolved, That with regard to the following ex¬ 
 pressions in one of the said despatches, “ Should events 
 unhappily force upon parliament the exercise of its 
 supreme authority, to compose the internal dissensions 
 of the colonies, it would be my object and my duty, as 
 a servant of the crown, to submit to parliament such 
 modifications of the charter of the Canadas as should 
 tend, not to the introduction of institutions consistent 
 with monarchial government, but to maintaining and 
 strengthening the connexion with the mother country, 
 by a close adherence to the spirit of the British consti¬ 
 tution, and by preserving in their proper place and 
 within their due limits the mutual rights and privileges 
 of all classes of his Majesty’s subjects —if they are to 
 be understood as containing a threat to introduce into 
 the constitution any other modifications than such as are 
 asked for by the majority of the people of this province, 
 whose sentiments cannot be legitimately expressed by 
 any other authority than its representatives, this house 
 
162 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 would esteem itself wanting in candour to the people of 
 England, if it hesitated to call their attention to the 
 fact, that in less than twenty years the population of the 
 United States of America will be as great or greater 
 than that of Great Britain, and that of British America 
 will be as great or greater than that of the former 
 English colonies was when the latter deemed that the 
 time was come to decide that the inappreciable advan¬ 
 tage of governing themselves instead of being governed, 
 ought to engage them to repudiate a system of colonial 
 government which was, generally speaking, much better 
 than that of British America now is. 
 
 51. Resolved, That the approbation expressed by 
 the colonial secretary, in his said despatch, of the pre¬ 
 sent composition of the legislative council, whose acts, 
 since its pretended reform, have been marked by party 
 spirit and by invidious national distinctions and pre¬ 
 ferences, is a subject of just alarm to his Majesty’s Cana¬ 
 dian subjects in general, and more particularly to the 
 great majority of them, who have not yielded at any 
 time to any other class of the inhabitants of this province 
 in their attachment to his Majesty’s government, in 
 their love of peace and order, in respect for the laws, 
 and in their wish to effect that union among the whole 
 people which is so much to be desired, to the end that 
 all may enjoy freely and equally the rights and advan¬ 
 tages of British subjects, and of the institutions which 
 have been guaranteed to and are dear to the country ; 
 that the distinctions and preferences aforesaid have 
 almost constantly been used and taken advantage of by 
 the colonial administration of this province, and the 
 majority of the legislative councillors, executive coun¬ 
 cillors, judges, and other functionaries dependent upon 
 
OF CANADA. 1G3 
 
 it; and that nothing* but the spirit of the union among 
 the several classes of the people, and their conviction 
 that their interests are the same, could have prevented 
 collisions incompatible with the prosperity and safety of 
 the province. 
 
 52. Resolved, That since a circumstance, which did 
 not depend upon the choice of the majority of the people, 
 their French origin and their use of the French language, 
 has been made by the colonial authorities a pretext for 
 abuse, for exclusion, for political inferiority, for a sepa¬ 
 ration of rights and interests ; this house now appeals to 
 the justice of his Majesty’s government and of parlia¬ 
 ment, and to the honour of the people of England ; 
 that the majority of the inhabitants of this country are 
 in nowise disposed to repudiate any one of the advan¬ 
 tages they derive from their origin and from their 
 descent from the French nation, which, with regard to 
 the progress, of which it has been the cause, in civiliza¬ 
 tion, in the sciences, in letters, and in the arts, has 
 never been behind the British nation, and is now the 
 worthy rival of the latter in the advancement of the 
 cause of liberty and of the science of government; from 
 which this country derives the greater portion of its 
 civil and ecclesiastical law, and of its scholastic and cha¬ 
 ritable institutions, and of the religion, language, habits, 
 manners, and customs of the great majority of its inha¬ 
 bitants. 
 
 53. Resolved, That our fellow-subjects of British 
 origin, in this province, came to settle themselves in 
 a country, €€ the inhabitants whereof, professing the 
 religion of the church of Rome, enjoyed an established 
 form of constitution and system of law’s, by which their 
 persons and their property had been protected, governed* 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 and ordered during a long series of years, from the first 
 establishment of the province of Canada;” that prompted 
 bv these considerations and guided by the rules of jus¬ 
 tice and of the law of nations, the British parliament 
 enacted that, " in all matters of controversy, relative to 
 property and civil rights, resort should be had to the 
 laws of Canadathat when parliament afterwards 
 departed from the principle thus recognised, firstly, by 
 the introduction of the English criminal law, and after¬ 
 wards by that of the representative system, with all the 
 constitution and parliamentary law necessary to its per¬ 
 fect action, it did so in conformity to the sufficiently 
 expressed wish of the Canadian people ; and that every 
 attempt on the part of public functionaries or of other 
 persons (who on coming to settle in the province, made 
 their condition their own voluntary act) against the ex¬ 
 istence of any portion of the laws and institutions pecu¬ 
 liar to the country, and any preponderance given to such 
 persons in the legislative and executive councils, in the 
 courts of law, or in other departments, are contrary to 
 the engagements of the British parliament, and to the 
 rights guaranteed to his Majesty’s Canadian subjects, on 
 the faith of the national honour of England on that of 
 capitulations and treaties. 
 
 54. Resolved, That any combination, whether effected 
 by means of acts of the British parliament, obtained in 
 contravention to its former engagements, or by means 
 of the partial and corrupt administration of the present 
 constitution and system of law, would be a violation of 
 those rights, and would, as long as it should exist, be 
 obeyed by the people, from motives of fear and con¬ 
 straint, and not from choice and affection ; that the 
 conduct of the colonial administrations, and of their 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 1G5 
 
 agents and instruments in this colony, has, for the most 
 part, been of a nature unjustly to create apprehensions 
 as to the views of the people and government of the 
 mother country, and to endanger the confidence and 
 content of the inhabitants of this province, which can 
 only be secured by equal laws, and by the observance 
 of equal justice, as the rule of conduct in all the de¬ 
 partments of the government. 
 
 55. Resolved, That whether the number of that class 
 of his Majesty’s subjects in this province, who are of 
 British origin, be that mentioned in the said address of 
 the legislative council, or whether (as the truth is) it 
 amounts to less than half that number, the wishes and 
 interests of the great majority of them are common to 
 them and to their fellow-subjects of French origin, and 
 speaking the French language ; that the one class love 
 the country of their birth, the other that of their adop¬ 
 tion ; that the greater portion of the latter have acknow¬ 
 ledged the generally beneficial tendency of the laws and 
 institutions of the country, and have laboured in concert 
 with the former to introduce into them gradually, and 
 by the authority of the provincial parliament, the im¬ 
 provements of which they have, from time to time, 
 appeared susceptible, and have resisted the confusion 
 which it has been endeavoured to introduce into them, 
 in favour of schemes of monopoly and abuse, and that 
 all without distinction wish anxiously for an impartial 
 and protecting government. 
 
 5G. Resolved, That in addition to administrative and 
 judicial abuses, which have had an injurious effect upon 
 the public welfare and confidence, attempts have been 
 made, from time to time, to induce the parliament of 
 the United Kingdom, by deceiving its justice and abus- 
 
 
1C6 
 
 THE HUBBLES 
 
 in" its benevolent intentions, to adopt measures calcu¬ 
 lated to bring about combinations of tbe nature above- 
 mentioned, and to pass acts of internal legislation for 
 this province, having the same tendency, and with regard 
 to which, the people of the country had not. been con¬ 
 sulted ; that, unhappily, the attempts to obtain the 
 passing of some of these measures were successful, espe¬ 
 cially that of the act of the 6 Geo. 4, c. 59, commonly 
 called the “Tenures Act,” the repeal of which was 
 unanimously demanded by all classes of the people, 
 without distinction, through their representatives, a very 
 short time after the number of the latter was increased ; 
 and that this house has not yet been able to obtain from 
 his Majesty’s representative in this province, or from 
 any other source, any information as to the views of his 
 Majesty’s government in England, with regard to the 
 repeal of the said act. 
 
 57. Resolved, That the object of the said act was, 
 according to the benevolent intentions of parliament, 
 and as the title of the act sets forth, the extinction of 
 feudal and seigniorial rights and dues on land held en 
 fief and a cens in this province, with the intention of 
 favouring the great body of the inhabitants of the 
 country, and protecting them against the said dues, 
 which were regarded as burdensome; but that the pro¬ 
 visions of the said act, far from having the effect afore¬ 
 said, afford facilities for seigniors to become, in oppo¬ 
 sition to the interests of their censitaires, the absolute 
 proprietors of the extensive tracts of unconceded lands 
 which, by the law of the country, they held only for 
 the benefit of the inhabitants thereof, to whom they 
 were bound to concede them in consideration of certain 
 limited dues ; that the said act, if generally acted upon. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 1G7 
 
 would shut out the mass of the permanent inhabitants 
 of the country from the vacant lands in the seigniories, 
 while, at the same time, they have been constantly pre¬ 
 vented from settling on the waste lands of the crown on 
 easy and liberal terms, and under a tenure adapted to 
 the laws of the country, by the partial, secret, and 
 vicious manner in which the crow n land department has 
 been managed, and the provisions of the act aforesaid, 
 with regard to the laws applicable to the lands in ques¬ 
 tion ; and that the application made by certain seigniors 
 for a change of tenure, under the authority of the said 
 act, appear to prove the correctness of the view this 
 house has taken of its practical effect. 
 
 58. Resolved, That it was only in consequence of an 
 erroneous supposition that feudal charges were inherent 
 in the law of this country, as far as the possession and 
 transmission of real property, and the tenures recognized 
 by that law', were concerned, that it was enacted in the 
 said act that the lands, with regard to which a change 
 of tenure should be effected, should thereafter be held 
 under the tenure of free and common soccage ; that the 
 seigniorial charges have been found burdensome in cer¬ 
 tain cases, chiefly by reason of the want of adequate 
 means of obtaining the interference of the colonial 
 government and of the courts of law, to enforce the 
 ancient law of the country in that behalf, and that the 
 provincial legislature was, moreover, fully competent to 
 pass laws, providing for the redemption of the said 
 charges in a manner which should be in accordance with 
 the interests of all parties, and for the introduction of 
 the free tenures recognized by the laws of the country; 
 that the House of Assembly has been repeatedly occu¬ 
 pied, and now is occupied about this important subject ; 
 
168 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 but that the said Tenures Act, insufficient of itself to 
 effect equitably the purpose for which it was passed, is 
 of a nature to embarrass and create obstacles to the 
 effectual measures which the legislature of the country, 
 with a full knowledge of the subject, might be disposed 
 to adopt; and that the application thus made (to the 
 exclusion of the provincial legislature) to the parliament 
 of the United Kingdom, which was far less competent 
 to make equitable enactments on a subject so compli¬ 
 cated in its nature, could only have been made with a 
 view to unlawful speculations and the subversion of the 
 laws of the country. 
 
 59. Resolved, That independently of its many other 
 serious imperfections, the said act does not appear to 
 have been founded on a sufficient knowledge of the laws 
 which govern persons and property in this country, when 
 it declares the laws of Great Britain to be applicable to 
 certain incidents to real property therein enumerated ; 
 and that it has only served to augment the confusion and 
 doubt which had prevailed in the courts of law, and in 
 private transactions with regard to the law which applied 
 to lands previously granted in free and common soccage. 
 
 60. Resolved, That the provision of the said act which 
 has excited the greatest alarm, and which is most at 
 variance with the rights of the people of the country, and 
 with those of*, the provincial parliament, i3 that which 
 enacts that lands previously held en fief ox en censine 
 shall, after a change of tenure shall have been effected 
 with regard to them, be held in free and common soccage, 
 and thereby become subject to the laws of Great Britain, 
 under the several circumstances therein mentioned and 
 enumerated; that besides being insufficient in itself, this 
 provision is of a nature to bring into collision, in the old 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 1G9 
 
 settlements, at multiplied points of contiguity, two oppo¬ 
 site systems of laws, one of which is entirely unknown to 
 this country, in which it is impossible to carry it into 
 effect; that from the feeling manifested by the colonial 
 authorities and their partisans towards the inhabitants 
 of the country, the latter have just reason to fear that 
 the enactment in question is only the prelude to the final 
 subversion, by acts of parliament of Great Britain, 
 fraudulently obtained in violation of its former engage¬ 
 ments, of the system of laws by which the persons and 
 property of the people of this province were so long 
 happily governed. 
 
 61. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this country 
 have just reason to fear that the claims made to the 
 property of the seminary of St. Sulpice, at Montreal, 
 are attributable to the desire of the colonial administra¬ 
 tion, and its agents and tools, to hasten this deplorable 
 state of things; and that his Majesty’s government in 
 England would, by reassuring his faithful subjects on 
 this point, dissipate the alarm felt by the clergy, and 
 by the whole people without distinction, and merit their 
 sincere gratitude. 
 
 62. Resolved, That it is the duty of this house to 
 persist in asking for the absolute repeal of the said 
 tenures act, and until such repeal shall be effected, to 
 propose to the other branches of the provincial parlia¬ 
 ment such measures as may be adapted to weaken the 
 pernicious effects of the said act. 
 
 63. That this house has learned with regret, from one 
 of the said despatches of the colonial secretary, that his 
 Majesty has been advised to interfere in a matter which 
 concerns the privileges of this house: that in the case 
 there alluded to, this house exercised a privilege solemnly 
 
170 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 established by the house of commons, before the prin¬ 
 ciple on which it rests became the law of the land ; that 
 this privilege is essential to the independence of this 
 house, and to the freedom of its votes and proceedings ; 
 that the resolutions passed by this house, on the 15th of 
 February 1831, are constitutional and well-founded, and 
 are supported by the example of the commons of Great 
 Britain; that this house has repeatedly passed bills for 
 giving effect to the said principle, but that these bills 
 failed to become law, at first from the obstacles opposed 
 to them in another branch of the provincial legislature, 
 and subsequently by reason of the reservation of the last 
 of the said bills for the signification of his Majesty’s 
 pleasure in England, whence it has not yet been sent 
 back; that until some bill to the same effect shall be¬ 
 come law, this house persists in the said resolutions; and 
 that the refusal of his excellency, the present governor- 
 in-chief, to sign a writ for the election of a knight repre¬ 
 sentative for the county of Montreal, in the place of 
 Dominique Mondelet, Esq., whose seat had beendeclared 
 vacant, is a grievance of which this house is entitled to 
 obtain the redress, and one which would alone have 
 sufficed to put an end to all intercourse between it and 
 the colonial executive, if the circumstances of the country 
 had not offered an infinite number of other abuses and 
 grievances against which it is urgently necessary to 
 remonstrate. 
 
 64. Resolved, That the claims which have for many 
 years been set up by the executive government to that 
 control over and power of appropriating a great por¬ 
 tion of the revenues levied in this province, which 
 belong of right to this house , are contrary to the rights 
 and to the constitution of the country ; and that with 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 171 
 
 regard to the said claims, this house persists in the 
 declarations it has heretofore made. 
 
 G5. Resolved, That the said claims of the executive 
 have been vague and varying; that the documents relative 
 to the said claims, and the accounts and estimates of ex¬ 
 penses laid before this house have likewise been varying 
 and irregular, and insufficient to enable this house to pro¬ 
 ceed with a full understanding of the subject on the matters 
 to which they related ; that important heads of the public 
 revenue of the province, collected either under the pro¬ 
 visions of the law or under arbitrary regulations made 
 by the executive, have been omitted in the said accounts; 
 that numerous items have been paid out of the public 
 revenue without the authority of this house, or any ac¬ 
 knowledgment of its control over them, as salaries for 
 sinecure offices, which are not recognized by this house 
 and even for other objects for which, after mature deli¬ 
 beration, it had not deemed it expedient to appropriate 
 any portion of the public revenue ; and that no accounts 
 of the sums so expended have been laid before this 
 house. 
 
 66. Resolved, That the executive government has 
 endeavoured, by means of the arbitrary regulations 
 aforesaid, and particularly by the sale of the waste 
 lands of the Crown, and of the timber on the same, 
 to create for itself out of the revenue which this house 
 only has the right of appropriating, resources inde¬ 
 pendent of the control . of the representatives of the 
 people ; and that the result has been a diminution of 
 the wholesome influence which the people have consti¬ 
 tutionally the right of exercising over the administra¬ 
 tive branch of the government, and over the spirit and 
 tendency of its measures . 
 
THE BUBBLES 
 
 
 172 
 
 67. Resolved, That this house having, from time to 
 time, with a view to proceed by bill, to restore regula¬ 
 rity to the financial system of the province, and to pro¬ 
 vide for the expences of the administration of justice and 
 of his Majesty’s civil government therein, asked the 
 provincial government by address for divers documents 
 and accounts relating to financial matters, and to abuses 
 connected with them, has met with repeated refusals, 
 more especially during the present session and the pre¬ 
 ceding one; that divers subordinate public functionaries, 
 summoned to appear before committees of this house to 
 give information on the said subject, have refused to do 
 so in pursuance of the said claim set up by the provincial 
 administrations to withdraw a large portion of the public 
 income and expenditure from the control and even from 
 the knowledge of this house; that during the present 
 session one of the said subordinate functionaries of the exe¬ 
 cutive being called upon to produce the originals of sun¬ 
 dry registers of warrants and reports, which it was im¬ 
 portant to this house to cause to be examined, insisted 
 on being present at the deliberations of the committee 
 appointed by the house for that purpose ; and that the 
 head of the administration being informed of the fact, 
 refrained from interfering, although in conformity to 
 parliamentary usage, this house had pledged itself that 
 the said documents should be returned, and although 
 the governor-in-chief had himself promised communica¬ 
 tion of them. 
 
 68. Resolved, That the result of the secret and 
 unlawful distribution of a large portion of the public 
 revenue of the province has been, that the executive 
 government has always, except with regard to appro¬ 
 priations for objects of a local nature, considered itsell 
 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 173 
 
 bound to account for the public money to the lords 
 commissioners of the treasury in England, and not to 
 this house, nor according to its votes, or even in con¬ 
 formity to the laws passed by the provincial legislature ; 
 and that the accounts and statements laid before this 
 house from time to time have never assumed the shape 
 of a regular system of balanced accounts, but have been 
 drawn up, one after another, with such alterations and 
 irregularities as it pleased the administration of the day 
 to introduce into them, from the accounts kept with the 
 lords of the treasury, in which the whole public money 
 received was included, as well as all the items of 
 expenditure, whether authorized or unauthorized by the 
 provincial legislature. 
 
 69. Resolved, That the pretensions and abuses afore¬ 
 said have taken away from this house even the shadow 
 of control over the public revenue of the province, and 
 have rendered it impossible for it to ascertain at any 
 time the amount of revenue collected, the disposable 
 amount of the same, and the sums required for the pub¬ 
 lic service; and that the house having during many 
 years passed bills, of which the models are to be found 
 in the statute-book of Great Britain, to establish a regu¬ 
 lar system of accountability and responsibility in the 
 department connected with the receipt and expenditure 
 of the revenue ; these bills have failed in the legislative 
 council. 
 
 70. Resolved, That since the last session of the pro¬ 
 vincial parliament, the governor-in chief of this province, 
 and the members of his executive government, relying 
 on the pretensions above-mentioned, have, without any 
 lawful authority, paid large sums out of the public 
 revenue, subject to the control of this house ; and that 
 
174 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the said sums were divided according to their pleasure, 
 and even in contradiction to the votes of this house, as 
 incorporated in the supply bill passed by it duiing the 
 last session, and rejected by the legislative council. 
 
 71. Resolved, That this house will hold responsible 
 for all monies which have been, or may hereafter be paid, 
 otherwise than under the authority of an act of the 
 legislature, or upon an address of this house, out of the 
 public revenue of the province, all those who may have 
 authorized such payments, or participated therein, until 
 the said sums shall have been reimbursed, or a bill or 
 bills of indemnity freely passed by this house shall have 
 become law. 
 
 72. Resolved, That the course adopted by this house 
 in the supply bill, passed during the last session, of at¬ 
 taching certain conditions to certain votes, for the pur¬ 
 pose of preventing the accumulation of incompatible 
 offices in the same persons, and of obtaining the redress 
 of certain abuses and grievances, is wise and constitu¬ 
 tional, and has frequently been adopted by the house of 
 commons, under analogous circumstances: and that if 
 the commons of England do not now so frequently 
 recur to it, it is because they have happily obtained the 
 theentire control of the revenue of the nation, and because 
 respect shewn to their opinions with regard to the redress 
 of grievances and abuses, by the other constituted au¬ 
 thorities, has regulated the working of the constitution 
 in a manner equally adapted to give stability to his 
 Majesty’s government, and to protect the interests of 
 the people. 
 
 73. Resolved, That it was anciently the practice of 
 the house of commons to withhold supplies until griev¬ 
 ances were redressed ; and that in following this course 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 - 175 
 
 in the present conjuncture, we are warranted in our pro¬ 
 ceeding, as well by the most approved precedents, as 
 by the spirit of the constitution itself. 
 
 74. Resolved, That if hereafter, when the redress of 
 all grievances and abuses shall have been effected, this 
 house shall deem it fit and expedient to grant supplies, 
 it ought not to do so otherwise than in the manner men¬ 
 tioned in its fifth and sixth resolutions of the 16th March 
 1833, and by appropriating by its votes in an especial 
 manner, and in the order in which they are enumerated 
 in the said resolutions, the full amount of those heads 
 of revenue, to the right of appropriating which claims 
 have been set up by the executive government. 
 
 75. Resolved, That the number of the inhabitants of 
 the country being about 600,000, those of French origin 
 are about 525,000, and those of British or other origin 
 75,000 ; and that the establishment of the civil govern¬ 
 ment of Lower Canada for the year 1832, according to 
 the yearly returns made by the provincial administration, 
 for the information of the British parliament, contained 
 the names of 157 officers and others receiving salaries, 
 who are apparently of British or foreign origin, and the 
 names of 47 who are apparently natives of the country, 
 of French origin: that this statement does not exhibit 
 the whole disproportion which exists in the distribution 
 of the public money and power, the latter class being for 
 the most part appointed to the inferior and less lucrative 
 offices, and most frequently only obtaining even these 
 by becoming the dependants of those who hold the 
 higher and more lucrative offices; that the accumulation 
 of many of the best paid and most influential, and at the 
 same time incompatible offices, in the same person, 
 which is forbidden by the laws and by sound policy. 
 
176 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 exists especially for the benefit of the former class ; and 
 that two-thirds of the persons included in the last com¬ 
 mission of the peace issued in the province are apparently 
 of British or foreign origin, and one-third only of French 
 origin. 
 
 76. Resolved, That this partial and abusive practice 
 of bestowing the great majority of official places in the 
 province on those only who are least connected with its 
 permanent interests, and with the mass of its inhabi¬ 
 tants, had been most especially remarkable in the judi¬ 
 cial department, the judges for the three great districts 
 having, with the exception of one only in each, been 
 systematically chosen from that class of persons, who, 
 being born out of the country, are the least versed in its 
 laws, and in the language and usages of the majority of 
 its inhabitants ; that the result of their intermeddling in 
 the politics of the country, of their connexion with the 
 members of the Colonial administration, and of their 
 prejudices in favour of institutions foreign to and at va¬ 
 riance with those of the country, is that the majoiity of 
 the said judges have introduced great irregularity into 
 the general system of our jurisprudence, by neglecting 
 to ground their decisions on its recognised principles ; 
 and that the claim laid by the said judges to the power 
 of regulating the forms of legal proceedings in a man¬ 
 ner contrary to the laws, and without the interference 
 of the legislature, has frequently been extended to the 
 fundamental rules of the law and of practice ; and that 
 in consequence of the same system, the administration 
 of the criminal law is partial and uncertain, and such as 
 to afford but little protection to the subject, and has 
 failed to inspire that confidence which ought to be its 
 inseparable companion. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 177 
 
 77. Resolved, That in consequence of their connection 
 with the members of the provincial administrations, 
 and of their antipathy to the country, some of the 
 said judges have, in violation of the laws, attempted 
 to abolish the use in the courts of law of the language 
 spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the 
 country, which is necessary to the free action of the 
 laws, and forms a portion of the usages guaranteed 
 to them in the most solemn manner by the law of 
 nations and by the statutes of the British Parliament. 
 
 78. Resolved, That some of the said judges, through 
 partiality for political purposes, and in violation of the 
 criminal law of England as established in this country, 
 of their duty, and their oath, have connived with divers 
 law officers of the crown, acting in the interest of the pro¬ 
 vincial administration, to allow the latter to engross and 
 monopolize all criminal prosecutions of what nature 
 soever, without allowing the private prosecutor to inter¬ 
 vene or be heard, or any advocate to express his opinion 
 amicus cunce , when the Crown officers opposed it; that 
 in consequence of this, numerous prosecutions of a politi¬ 
 cal nature have been brought into the courts of law by the 
 Crown officers against those whose opinions were unfa¬ 
 vourable to the administration for the time being; while 
 it was impossible for the very numerous class of his 
 majesty’s subjects to which the latter belonged to com¬ 
 mence with the slightest confidence any prosecution 
 against those who, being protected by the administra¬ 
 tion, and having countenanced its acts of violence, had 
 been guilty of crimes or misdemeanors; that the tribunal 
 aforesaid have, as far as the persons composing them 
 are concerned, undergone no modification whatever, and 
 inspire the same fears for the future. 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 the bubbles 
 
 79. Resolved, That this house, as representing the 
 
 people of this province, possesses of right, and has exer¬ 
 cised within this province when occasion has required it, 
 all the powers, privileges, and immunities claimed 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 privi¬ 
 leges 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 witnes¬ 
 ses 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, when¬ 
 ever it shall deem it conducive to the public good to do 
 so. 
 
 81. Resolved, That as at the grand inquest of the pro¬ 
 vince, it is the duty of this house to inquire concerning 
 all grievances, and all circumstances which may endan- 
 aer Uie 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 intro¬ 
 duced, 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 privi¬ 
 leges, 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 faci¬ 
 litating the exercise of the privileges of this house and 
 of all constituted bodies, as for maintaining the preroga¬ 
 tives of the crown. 
 
 82. Resolved, That since the commencement of the 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 179 
 
 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 im¬ 
 portant inquiries ordered by it, in several of which the 
 governor-in-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 
 necessiate the presence of numerous witnesses, the pro¬ 
 duction of numerous papers, the employment of numer¬ 
 ous 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 pre¬ 
 sent, 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 the sum exceeding £277,000 has been 
 advanced on such votes by the predecessors of his 
 excellency the governor-in-chief, and by himself (as he 
 acknowledges by his message on the 18th January 1834), 
 without any risk having ever been incurred by any other 
 governor on account of any such advance, although 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 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 
 parliament would not be disposed to make good the 
 engagements of the house of assembly for the time being ; 
 and that this refusal of the governor-in-chief, in the pre¬ 
 sent instance, essentially impedes the dispatch 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 adminis¬ 
 tration 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 ri°ht of complaining 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, ' , . 
 
 Istly. The vicious composition and the irresponsibility 
 
 of the executive council, the members of which are at 
 the same time judges of the court of appeals, and the 
 secresy 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 
 iudicial department, under regulations made by the exe- 
 cutive council, by the judges, and by other functionaries 
 usurping the powers of the legislature. 
 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 181 
 
 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 administation 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 repre¬ 
 sentatives. 
 
 5thly. The intermeddling of members of the legisla¬ 
 tive councils in the elections 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 proceeding in a manner favourab^ 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 
 
 
 Jail 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 m: m 
 •ij.it 
 ;!$ 
 
 occasion. 
 
 7thly. The various faulty and partial systems which 
 have been followed ever since the passing of the constitu¬ 
 tional 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 exten¬ 
 sive 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 dispro¬ 
 portion of the salaries paid to public functionaries to the 
 services performed by them, to the rent of real property, 
 and to the ordinary income commanded by the exertions 
 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. 
 
 : 11 
 
 
 
 a I 
 
 ■;r 
 
 Ml 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 183 
 
 lOthly. 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 num¬ 
 ber 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 intro¬ 
 duced irregularity and uncertainty into the legislation 
 of the province, and is felt by this house as an impedi¬ 
 ment to the re-introduction of the bills reserved during 
 the then preceding sessions. 
 
 lit lily. 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. 
 
 l’2thly. 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 pro¬ 
 vincial execut ive, in favour of a member of the legislative 
 council, since those estates were returned to the legisla¬ 
 ture, 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 on them ; 
 and the refusal of the said executive to communicate the 
 
184 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 said lease, and other information on the subject, to this 
 house. 
 
 13thly. The obstacles unjustly opposed by the exe¬ 
 cutive, friendly to abuses and to ignorance, to the esta¬ 
 blishment of colleges endowed by virtuous and disinte¬ 
 rested men, for the purpose of meeting the growing 
 desire 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 
 
 * To illustrate the malignant spirit inherent in the party there 
 only needed this accusation. Mr. M‘Gill, a respectable resident, 
 on his demise some years ago, left £10,000, wherewith to endow a 
 college for the purpose of education, to be called after him. The 
 heir-at-law and executor, one of the clique, refused to part with 
 the funds, and disputed the will. After being worsted in the Colo¬ 
 nial courts, it was carried by appeal to London, and ultimately the 
 decision of the courts in Canada confirmed, by which the bequest, 
 with interest, now amounting to more than £21,000, is ordered to 
 be applied according to the testator’s will. We shall merely state 
 that Viger prosecuted the suit—that Papineau advised the defence 
 — and that Des Rivieres, the executor, since the cause has been 
 decided against him, is bankrupt. The crime of the will we sup¬ 
 pose, was, that it did not restrict the uses of the college to the 
 French party .—See Canada Question . 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 185 
 
 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 fore¬ 
 going resolutions, demonstrate that the laws and con¬ 
 stitutions 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 admi¬ 
 nistration, and render it necessary that his Excellency 
 Matthew Lord Aylmer, of Balrath, the present gover¬ 
 nor-in-chief of this province, be formally accused by 
 this house of having, while acting as governor, in con¬ 
 tradiction 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 repre¬ 
 sents, so recomposed the legislative council as to aug¬ 
 ment 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 par¬ 
 liament will briug impeachments, aud will support such 
 
180 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 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 here¬ 
 after 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,'! hat this house hopes and believes that 
 the independent members of both houses of the_Parlia* 
 ment of the United Kingdom will be disposed, both 
 from inclination and 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 espe¬ 
 cially by the present administration ; and so to act, that 
 the people of this province may not be forced by oppres¬ 
 sion to regret their dependance on the British empire, 
 and to seek elsewhere a remedy for their affliction. 
 
 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 
 executive councils in the two Canadas; and that the 
 interest thus shown for our own fate by him whom the 
 gratitude and blessings of his countryman 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 represen- 
 
187 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 tations 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 com¬ 
 munications 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 mem¬ 
 bers of the minority of the legislative council who par¬ 
 take the opinions of the people, the present members 
 
188 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 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 corres¬ 
 pondence, 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 committees, 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 inte¬ 
 rested, 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 consequence, 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 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 189 
 
 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 ot 
 the country. 
 
 91. Resolved, That the fair and reasonable expenses 
 of the said two committees of correspondence, incurred 
 by them in the performance 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 reim¬ 
 burse such expenses to the said committee, or to such 
 person as may advance money to them for the purposes 
 above-mentioned. 
 
 92. Resolved, That the message from his excellency 
 the governor-in-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 mes¬ 
 sage from the same, received on the 14th January last, 
 with the extract from the despatch which accompanied 
 it, be expunged from the journals of this house. 
 
 These resolutions, and the memorial accom¬ 
 panying them, were referred to a committee 
 composed, like the last, chiefly of liberal mem¬ 
 bers, and containing several persons whose 
 opinions were well known to be favourable to 
 their cause. The Canadian delegate, Mr. 
 
190 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 Morin,* was heard at great length, and I must 
 refer you to the testimony given by him as a 
 proof how all the vague assertions contained in 
 their petition and resolutions vanished, when 
 they were subjected to a critical and close ex¬ 
 amination. There are few instances on record 
 in which a witness was so skilfully examined, 
 or where a clever man, as he undoubtedly is, 
 was brought to refute himself so completely as 
 he has done. After a patient hearing of all he 
 could say, the committee reported (June 1834) 
 as follows:— 
 
 “ That the most earnest anxiety had existed, 
 on the part of the home government, to carry 
 into effect the suggestions of the committee of 
 1828; and that the endeavours of the govern¬ 
 ment to that end had been unremitting, and 
 guided by the desire, in all cases, to promote 
 the interest of the colony; and that in several 
 important particulars their endeavours had been 
 completely successful; that in others, however, 
 they had not been attended with that success 
 which might have been anticipated, heats and 
 animosities and differences having arisen ; that 
 it appeared to the committee some mutual mis- 
 
 • See the evidence taken before the committee, and published 
 by order of Parliament. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 191 
 
 conception had prevailed ; and that they be¬ 
 lieved they should best discharge their duty by 
 withholding any further opinion on the points 
 in dispute; and were persuaded the practical 
 measures for the future administration of Lower 
 Canada might best be left to the mature'con¬ 
 sideration of the government responsible for 
 their adoption and execution.” 
 
 * 
 
192 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 Letter VIII. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the whole of the pro¬ 
 ceedings of government, since the year 1828 to 
 the present period, were detailed in a very able 
 and lucid statement of my Lord Aberdeen, in 
 which lie claims for himself and colleagues the 
 credit of a full and faithful compliance with 
 the recommendations of the Canada committee, 
 as for as the powers of the executive permitted 
 them to do so. I have, therefore, abstained 
 from entering into the particulars myself, and 
 prefer giving this narrative to compiling one of 
 my own. It is not only infinitely better done 
 than I could hope to do it, but it is desirable, 
 in such cases, to draw one’s information from 
 the most authentic sources. I am neither the 
 advocate nor the panegyrist of any of these 
 administrations — what my opinion of their 
 policy may be is of little consequence; but 
 even if it were much more favourable than it 
 happens to be, I should refrain from expressing 
 it, for I have yet to learn how a poor man can 
 evdogise the character of those who are in 
 power, and yet sustain the reputation of his own 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 193 
 
 sincerity. With the wisdom of their measures 
 I have nothing to do at present; my object is 
 to show there has been no oppression, and that, 
 whatever imputation these proceedings deserve, 
 they are at least exempted from that of unkind¬ 
 ness. I must therefore request a careful perusal 
 of the follow ing document:— 
 
 In the following pages Lord Aberdeen will attempt 
 to shew that there was sufficient reason to anticipate the 
 entire conciliation of Lower Canada from the accom¬ 
 plishment of the resolutions of the Canada committee, 
 and that, to the utmost of the power of theCrowm, those 
 resolutions were, in fact, carried into execution. 
 
 The appointment of the Canada committee of 1828 
 was, on every account, an important proceeding. The 
 redress of grievances had been demanded, not by an 
 isolated party, but by both of those great bodies which 
 divide between them the wealth and political authority 
 of the province. With views essentially dissimilar, or 
 rather hostile, they had concurred in an appeal to the 
 metropolitan government. 
 
 By each body of petitioners were deputed agents au¬ 
 thorized to interpret their wishes, and to enforce their 
 claims. The committee itself was certainly not composed 
 of gentlemen unfavourable to the views of the great nu¬ 
 merical majority of the house of assembly. They pro¬ 
 secuted the enquiry with great diligence and zeal. They 
 examined the agents of both parties, and every other 
 person capable of throwing light on the subject referred 
 to them. None of the questions brought under their 
 
194 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 notice, either by the petitioners or by the witnesses, was 
 unexplored ; and, in the result, a report was made, in 
 which, with an explanation of every known or supposed 
 grievance, were combined suggestions for the guidance 
 of the executive government in applying the appropriate 
 remedies. 
 
 The house of assembly in Lower Canada, in their 
 answer to the address with which the administrator of the 
 government opened the session of the provincial parlia¬ 
 ment in the winter of 1828, characterized this report in 
 terms which may be transcribed as expressing, on the 
 highest local authority, the claims of that document to 
 respect, as affording a guide at once to the Canadian as¬ 
 sembly, and to the ministers of the crown, of the rights 
 to be asserted by the one, and conceded by the other. 
 
 « The charges and well-founded complaints,” observed 
 the house, t€ of the Canadians before that august senate, 
 were referred to a committee of the house of commons, 
 indicated by the colonial minister, that committee exhi¬ 
 biting a striking combination of talent and patriotism, 
 uniting a general knowledge of public and constitutional 
 law to a particular acquaintance with the state of both 
 the Canadas, formally applauded almost all the reforms 
 which the Canadian people and their representatives 
 demanded and still demand. After a solemn investiga¬ 
 tion, after deep and prolonged deliberation, the com¬ 
 mittee made a report, an imperishable monument of their 
 justice and profound wisdom, an authentic testimonial 
 of the reality of our grievances, and of the justice of 
 our complaints, faithfully interpreting our wishes and 
 our wants. Through this report, so honourable to its 
 
OF CANADA, 
 
 195 
 
 authors, his Majesty’s government has become better 
 than ever acquainted with the true situation of this pro¬ 
 vince, and can better than ever remedy existing griev¬ 
 ances and obviate difficulties for the future.” Lan¬ 
 guage more comprehensive or emphatic could not have 
 been found, in which to record the acceptance by the 
 house of assembly, of the report of 1828, as the basis on 
 which they were content to proceed for the adjustment 
 of all differences. The questions in debate became 
 thenceforth, by the common consent of both parties, 
 reducible to the simple enquiry whether the British 
 government had, to the fullest extent of their lawful 
 authority, faithfully carried the recommendations of the 
 committee of 1828 into execution. 
 
 On a review of all the subsequent correspondence. 
 Lord Aberdeen finds himself entitled to state that, in 
 conformity with the express injunctions, and the pater¬ 
 nal wishes of the King, his Majesty's confidential advi¬ 
 sers have carried into complete effect every suggestion 
 offered for their guidance by the committee of the house 
 of commons. 
 
 It is necessary to verify this statement by a careful 
 and minute comparison between the advice received, 
 and the measures adopted. To avoid the possibility of 
 error, the successive recommendations of the committee 
 of 1828 shall be transcribed at length, with no other 
 deviation than that of changing the order in which the 
 topics are successively arranged in their report, an 
 order dictated by considerations of an accidental and 
 temporary nature, but otherwise inconvenient, as post- 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 polling many of the weightier topics to some of compa- 
 ratively light importance. 
 
 First, then, the report of 1828 contains the following 
 advice of the Canada committee on the subject of finance 
 
 _ “ Although from the opinion given by the law officers 
 
 of the crown, your committee must conclude that the 
 legal right of appropriating the revenues arising from the 
 act of 1774 is vested in the crown, they are prepared to 
 say that the real interests of the provinces would be 
 best promoted by placing the receipt and expenditure 
 of the whole public revenue under the superintendence 
 and control of the house of assembly.” “If the officers 
 above enumerated are placed on the footing recom¬ 
 mended,” (that is, in a state of pecuniary independence 
 on the assembly) “ your committee are of opinion that 
 all the revenues of the province, except the territorial 
 and hereditary revenues should be placed under the con¬ 
 trol and direction of the legislative assembly.” 
 
 The strict legal right of the crown to appropriate the 
 proceeds of the statute 14 G. 111., c. 88, being thus directly 
 maintained, the renunciation of that right was recom¬ 
 mended, on condition that " the governor, the members 
 of the executive council, and the judges, should be made 
 independent of the annual votes of the house of assem¬ 
 bly for their respective salaries.” What then has been 
 the result ? His Majesty has renounced these his acknow¬ 
 ledged legal rights, but has not stipulated for the per¬ 
 formance, on the part of the assembly, of the condition 
 thus imposed upon them, and, to the present moment, 
 that condition remains unfulfilled. By the British statute 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 197 
 
 1 & 2 VV. IV., c. 73, which was introduced into parlia¬ 
 ment by his Majesty’s then confidential advisers, the ap¬ 
 propriation of the revenues of the 14 G.III., is transferred 
 to the assembly absolutely, and without either that qua¬ 
 lification which the committee proposed, or any other. 
 Here, then, it cannot be denied that their advice has 
 been followed, not only with implicit deference, but in 
 a spirit of concession which they did not contemplate. 
 
 Secondly. On the subject of the representation of 
 the people in Lower Canada, the opinion of the com¬ 
 mittee was expressed in the following terms:—" Your 
 committee are now desirous of adverting to the repre¬ 
 sentative system of Lower Canada, with respect to 
 which, all parties seem to agree that some change should 
 take place.” After detailing the various causes which 
 had led to an inequality in the number of the members 
 of the assembly in favour of the French inhabitants of 
 the seigniories, and therefore to the prejudice of the 
 inhabitants of English origin in the townships, the com¬ 
 mittee passed from the subject with the following gene¬ 
 ral remark. " In providing a representative system for 
 the inhabitants of a country which is gradually compre¬ 
 hending within its limits newly peopled and extensive 
 districts, great imperfections must necessarily arise from 
 proceeding in the first instance on the basis of population 
 only. In Upper Canada, a representative system has 
 been founded on the compound basis of territory and 
 population. This principle, we think, might be advan¬ 
 tageously adopted in Lower Canada.” 
 
 It was with the entire concurrence of his Majesty’s 
 government, that the legislature of Lower Canada as- 
 
198 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 sumed to themselves the duty of giving effect to this 
 part of the advice of the committee. That report had 
 laid down the general principle that, with one exception, 
 “ all changes, if possible, be carried into effect by the 
 local legislature themselves and to that principle the 
 ministers of the crown adhered, even in a case where the 
 dominant majority of the assembly had an interest di¬ 
 rectly opposed to that of the great body of English in¬ 
 habitants, for whose special relief the new representation 
 bill was to be enacted. Such a bill was accordingly 
 passed, aud was reserved for the signification of his Ma¬ 
 jesty’s pleasure. It actually received the royal assent, 
 and is, at this day, the law of the province. 
 
 In this case, also, the concessions made to the Cana¬ 
 dian inhabitants of French origin were far greater than 
 the authors of the report of 18*28 could have had in 
 contemplation. The Upper Canadian principle of com¬ 
 bining territory and population, as the basis of elective 
 franchise, was not adopted in Lower Canada: the assem¬ 
 bly substituted for it a new division of the country, of 
 which the effect has been to increase rather than to 
 diminish the disproportion between the number of mem¬ 
 bers returned by the English and those representing the 
 French Canadian interest. This result of the bill was 
 distinctly foreseen by the official advisers of the crown, 
 and it became the subject of grave deliberation whe¬ 
 ther his Majesty should be advised to acquiesce in a 
 scheme which followed the advice of the Canada com¬ 
 mittee, so far indeed as to effect a material change in 
 the representative body, and so far as to give to the 
 English settlers a few more voices in the assembly, but 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 199 
 
 not so far as to secure to them any additional weight in 
 the deliberations of that house. It is not "‘thin the 
 object of this minute to defend or to explain the mo¬ 
 tives of the ultimate decision in favour of the bill, * or 
 the present purpose it is enough to say, that the accep¬ 
 tance of it gave to the Canadians of French origin far 
 more than the report of 1828 authorised them to ex¬ 
 pect. 
 
 Thirdly. Inferior only in importance to the topics 
 already noticed, is that of the independence of the 
 judges, respecting which the following passage may be 
 extracted from the report of 1828:—“On the other 
 hand, your committee, while recommending such a con¬ 
 cession on the part of the crown,” (the concession, that 
 is, of the revenue), “ are strongly impressed with the 
 advantage of rendering the judges independent of the 
 annual votes of the house of assembly for their respec¬ 
 tive salaries. Your committee are fully aware of the 
 objections in principle, which may be fairly raised 
 against the practice of voting permanent salaries to the 
 judges who arc removable at the pleasure of the crown; 
 but being convinced that it would be inexpedient that 
 the crown should be deprived of the power of removal; 
 and having well considered the public inconvenience 
 which might result from their being left in dependence 
 on the annual vote of the assembly ; they have decided 
 to make the recommendation, in their instance, of a 
 permanent vote of salary. 
 
 Thus the Canada committee of 1828 were of opinion 
 that the judges ought to be independent of the assembly 
 for their incomes, but ought to continue liable to removal 
 
200 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 from office at the pleasure of the Crown. Yet so far 
 have the British government been from meting out relief 
 to the province grudgingly, or in any narrow spirit, that 
 they have left nothing unattempted which could secure 
 to the judges, not merely that pecuniary independence 
 which the committee advised, but that independent 
 tenure of office also, which their report expressly dis¬ 
 suaded. In the adjacent province of Upper Canada, 
 both objects have been happily accomplished. In his 
 dispatch of the 8th February 1831, No. XXII., the Earl 
 of Ripon explained to Lord Aylmer the course of pro¬ 
 ceeding which had been adopted for asserting the inde¬ 
 pendence of the judges in this kingdom, and signified to 
 the governor his Majesty’s commands to avail him¬ 
 self of the earliest opportunity for proposing to the 
 legislative council and assembly of Lower Canada, the 
 enactment of a bill declaring that the commissions of all 
 the judges of the supreme courts should be granted to 
 endure their good behaviour, and not during the royal 
 pleasure; and Lord Aylmer was further instructed, in 
 the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, to assent to 
 a bill for carrying that object into effect. Lord Ripon, 
 however, declared it to be, of course, an essential con¬ 
 dition of this arrangement, that “ an adequate and per¬ 
 manent provision should be made for the judges.” It 
 remains to state the result. A bill was passed by the 
 house of assembly, by which, indeed, the tenure of the 
 judicial office was made to depend on the good beha¬ 
 viour of the judges, and by which a provision, adequate 
 in amount, was made for them. But that provision was 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 201 
 
 so granted as to be liable to be diminished or taken 
 away by the annual votes of the house of assembly. 
 To this measure, so popular in its general character or 
 pretensions, were also “tacked” (to adopt the usual 
 parliamentary phrase) clauses by which a right to dis¬ 
 pose of the territorial revenue of the Crown was asserted, 
 and by which all the public officers in the colony, the 
 governor himself not being expressly excepted—were 
 made amenable to a tribunal, to be constituted for the 
 trial of all impeachments preferred by the representa¬ 
 tives of the people. Such was the return made to an 
 act of grace, which the Canada Committee themselves 
 had expressly dissuaded. To have acquiesced in it 
 would have involved a sacrifice of whatever is due to the 
 dignity of the King, and to the liberties of his Majesty’s 
 subjects. His Majesty’s assent was, therefore, with- 
 holden, though not without the expression of the deep¬ 
 est regret, and the most distinct offer to assent to any 
 other bill for establishing the independence of the judges 
 which should be exempt from such objections. The 
 house of assembly, however, have never since tendered 
 an act of that nature for the acceptance of his Majesty, 
 or of his Majesty’s representative in the province. 
 
 Fourthly. The next topic is that of the composition 
 of the legislative and executive councils, respecting which 
 the following suggestions occur in the report of 1828:— 
 « One” (it is said) “ of the most important subjects to 
 which their inquiries have been directed, has been the 
 state of the legislative councils in both the Canadas, and 
 the manner in which these assemblies have answered the 
 
202 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 purposes for which they were instituted. Your com¬ 
 mittee strongly recommend that a more independent 
 character should be given to these bodies ; that the 
 majority of their members should not consist of persons 
 holding offices at the pleasure of the Crown; and that 
 any other measures that may tend to connect more inti¬ 
 mately this branch of the constitution with the interest of 
 the colonies, would be attended with the greatest advan¬ 
 tage. With respect to the judges, with the exception 
 only of the chief justice, whose presence on particular 
 occasions might be necessary, your committee entertain 
 no doubt that they had better not be involved in the 
 political business of the house. Upon similar grounds, 
 it appears to your committee that it is not desirable that 
 judges should hold seats in the executive council.” 
 
 With what scrupulous exactness these recommenda¬ 
 tions have been followed, will now be shewn. With 
 respect to the judges. Lord Ripon, in the despatch of 
 the 8th of February already quoted, conveyed to Lord 
 Aylmer his Majesty’s commands to signify to the legis¬ 
 lative council and assembly, his Majesty’s settled pur¬ 
 pose to nominate, on no future occasion, any judge as a 
 member, either of the executive or of the legislative 
 council of the province. It was added, (hat the single 
 exception to that general rule would be, that the chief 
 justice of Quebec would be a member of the legislative 
 council, in order that the members of that body might 
 have the benefit of his assistance in framing laws of a 
 general and permanent character. But his Majesty de¬ 
 clared his purpose to recommend, even to that high 
 
203 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 officer, a cautious abstinence from all proceedings, by 
 which he might be involved in any political contentions 
 of a party nature. 
 
 It was not in the power of the King’s government to 
 remove from the legislative conncil any of (he judges 
 who had already been appointed to be members of that 
 body ; because the terms of the constitutional act secure 
 to them the enjoyment of their seats for life. But in 
 a private despatch of the same date, the four gentlemen 
 who had at that time combined the judicial character 
 with seats in the council, were earnestly exhorted to re¬ 
 sign their places as councillors, and were assured that 
 nothing should be wanting to rescue them from any pos¬ 
 sibility of misconstruction, as to the motives by which 
 that advice had been dictated or obeyed. In point of 
 fact, it was not accepted: but the judges unanimously 
 agreed to withdraw from all active interference in the 
 business of the council, and have never since attended 
 its sittings. The chief justice indeed, as was recom¬ 
 mended by the Canada committee, forms the single 
 exception ; but even that gentleman, as far as the infor¬ 
 mation of this office extends, has confined his interfe¬ 
 rence within the limits prescribed to him by the com¬ 
 mittee and by the Earl of Ripon. 
 
 The principles laid down by the committee of 1828, 
 for regulating the composition of the legislative council, 
 have been not less strictly pursued, in every other respect. 
 Since the date of their report, eighteen new members have 
 been appointed. Of that number there is not one who 
 holds any office or place of emolument at the pleasuie of 
 the crown, or who is in any other manner dependent upon 
 
204 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the favour of his Majesty, or his official advisers. Of the 
 eighteen new members, ten are of French origin. The 
 total number of counsellors is thirty-five, of whom only 
 seven hold public offices. Amongst them is the bishop of 
 Quebec, who is, in the fullest sense of the term, indepen¬ 
 dent of the crown. The chief justice, whose dependence is 
 altogether nominal, is another. Of the whole body of 
 thirty-five members, there remain therefore but five over 
 whom the executive government can, with any reason or 
 plausibility, be said to possess any direct influence. 
 
 It is therefore not without a reasonable confidence, that 
 the words in which the committee of 1828 suggest the 
 proper composition of the legislative council, may be 
 adopted as precisely descriptive of the manner in which 
 it is actually composed. " A more independent character” 
 has been given to that body. The '"majority of the mem¬ 
 bers” does not consist of "persons holding office at the 
 pleasure of the crown.” This branch of the constitution 
 has been connected “ more intimately with the interests 
 of the province,” by the addition of a large body of 
 independent Canadian gentlemen. 
 
 But the case may be carried still further, and it may be 
 shewn that, in respect to the councils, the efforts of Lord 
 Aberdeen’s predecessors have left behind them the advice 
 of the Canada Committee. The executive council has 
 also been strengthened by the addition of three members 
 of French origin. A seat was offered to Mr. Neilson, the 
 most prominent of the delegates from the house of as¬ 
 sembly of 1828, and to M. Papineau, the speaker of that 
 house. It need scarcely be said that it was impossible to 
 give a more decisive proof of the wish of the ministers of 
 
205 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 the crown, that the composition of the Canadian council 
 should be acceptable to the great majority of the people. 
 
 Fifthly. The next in order of the recommendations 
 of that committee relates to the clergy reserves, a sub¬ 
 ject on which they employed the following language: 
 
 “ As your committee entertain no doubt that the reser¬ 
 vation of these lands in mortmain is a serious obstacle to 
 the improvement of the colony, they think every proper 
 exertion should be made to place them in the hands of 
 persons who will perform upon them the duties of settle¬ 
 ment, and bring them gradually into cultivation. 
 
 Although the views of the committee were thus limited 
 to the improvement of the clergy reserves, the govern¬ 
 ment advanced to the redress of the evil indicated in the 
 report, by a measure, not only far more decisive, but 
 eminently remarkable for the confidence it expressed in 
 the provincial legislature. The constitutional act having 
 authorised his Majesty, with the advice of the legislative 
 council and assembly, to vary or repeal any of the pro¬ 
 visions therein made for the allotment and appropriation 
 of lands for the support of the Protestant clergy. Lord 
 llipon, availing himself of that enactment, proposed 
 that the power of repeal should be exercised by those 
 bodies, and should be accompanied with a declaration 
 that the reserved lands should merge in the general 
 demesne of the crown. The object of this proposal was 
 to bring the reserves within the reach of the general 
 rules, under which all the waste lands of the province 
 are progressively sold to the highest bidder. To pre¬ 
 vent any possible misconception of the views of his 
 Majesty’s government, the draft of a bill fur the accom- 
 
206 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 plishment of this design was transmitted to Lord Ayl¬ 
 mer, with instructions to give his assent if such a law 
 should be presented for his acceptance. To obviate the 
 risk of offence being given, by suggesting to the house 
 of assembly the exact language as well as the general 
 scope of a measure to originate with them. Lord Ayl¬ 
 mer was directed to proceed with the most cautious 
 observance of the privileges of that body, and of all the 
 constitutional forms. Anticipating the contingency of 
 the measure being adopted in substance, but with varia¬ 
 tions in the terms. Lord Ripon further stated that, in 
 that event, the bill was not to be rejected by the gover¬ 
 nor, but was to be specially reserved for the signification 
 of his Majesty’s pleasure. 
 
 In obedience to these directions, tbe bill was intro¬ 
 duced into the house of assembly, but did not pass into 
 a law. That it would have effectually removed the 
 grievance pointed out by the Canada committee, has 
 not been disputed; nor can the ministers of the crown 
 be held in any sense responsible for the continuance of 
 an evil for which they had matured so complete a remedy. 
 The only explanation which has ever been given of the 
 failure of the proposal is, that the solicitor-general, Mr. 
 Ogden, had used some expressions, whence it was in¬ 
 ferred that his Majesty’s government w r ould reject the 
 bill if altered in a single word. It is scarcely credible, 
 that this should be an accurate surmise of the real cause 
 of the loss of the Clergy Lands Appropriation Bill. It 
 is not to be believed that the assembly of Lower Canada 
 would have rejected an unobjectionable proposal for 
 the redress of a grievance of which complaint had been 
 
 
OF CANADA. 207 
 
 long and loudly made, for no other reason than that a 
 public officer, not of the highest rank or qonsideration, 
 had used some casual expression, in which the ultimate 
 views of his Majesty’s advisers were inaccurately ex¬ 
 plained. To the governor application could have imme¬ 
 diately been made, for more authentic information ; and, 
 in fact, the tenour of the despatch which had been 
 received by Lord Aylmer, was perfectly well known 
 throughout the province to every person who felt any 
 interest in the subject. The measure has never since 
 been revived; and it must be therefore assumed, that 
 the assembly are less anxious than Lord Ripon supposed, 
 for the removal of this obstruction to agriculture and 
 internal improvement. Be that as it may, the British 
 government are completely absolved from the responsi¬ 
 bility thrown upon them by this part of the report of 
 the Canada committee. 
 
 Sixthly. That body proceeding to other subjects con¬ 
 nected with the wild lands of the province, expressed 
 their opinion that —“ It might be well for the govern¬ 
 ment to consider whether the crown reserves could not 
 be permanently alienated, subject to some fixed mode¬ 
 rate reserved payment, either in money or in grain, as 
 might be demanded, to arise out of the first ten or fif¬ 
 teen years of occupation.” They add that, “ they are 
 not prepared to do more than offer this suggestion, 
 which appears to them to be worthy of more considera¬ 
 tion than it is in their power to give to it; but that in 
 this or in some such mode, they are fully persuaded the 
 lands thus reserved, ought, without delay, to be perma¬ 
 nently disposed of.” 
 
208 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 In pursuance of this advice. Lord Ripon directed the 
 sale of the crown reserves throughout the province, as 
 opportunity might offer, precisely in the same manner 
 as any other part of the royal demesne. The system has 
 undergone an entire change ; and the crown reserves 
 considered as distinct allotments, left in their wild state 
 to draw a progressive-increasing value from the improve¬ 
 ment of the vicinity, have no longer any existence. 
 
 Seventhly. Another abuse connected with the wild 
 lands of Lower Canada was noticed by the committee, 
 in the following language :— €t One of the obstacles 
 which is said greatly to impede the improvement of the 
 country, is the practice of making grants of land in large 
 masses to individuals, who had held official situations 
 in the colony, and who had evaded the conditions of the 
 grant by which they were bound to provide for its culti¬ 
 vation, and now wholly neglect it. Although powers 
 have been lately acquired by the government to estreat 
 those lands, and although we think that, under certain 
 modifications, this power may be advantageously used, 
 we are nevertheless of opinion that a system should be 
 adopted similar to that of Upper Canada, by the levy 
 of a small annual duty on lands remaining unimproved 
 and unoccupied contrary to the conditions of the grant.” 
 
 The remedial measure of a tax on wild land, which is 
 suggested in the preceding passage, could, of course, 
 originate only with the representatives of the people, and 
 the house of assembly have not indicated any disposition 
 to resort to that mode of taxation. To such a bill, if 
 tendered by them, his Majesty’s assent would have been 
 cheerfully given. Yet the King’s government did not 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 209 
 
 omit to avail themselves of all those remedial powers 
 with which the Crown is entrusted. It is little to say 
 (though it may be stated with the strictest truth), that 
 since the date of the report, the system reprobated by 
 the committee, of granting land in large masses to indi¬ 
 viduals, has been entirely discontinued. It is more 
 material to add, that this change in practice is the result 
 of a series of regulations established, on Lord Ripon’s 
 advice, in Lower Canada, and indeed throughout all the 
 other British colonies. The system of gratuitous dona¬ 
 tions of land has been abandoned absolutely and univer¬ 
 sally ; and during the last three years all such property 
 has been disposed of by public auction to the highest 
 bidder, at such a minimum price as to ensure the public 
 at large against the waste of this resource by nominal or 
 fictitious sales. This is not the occasion for vindicating 
 the soundness of that policy, which, however, if neces¬ 
 sary, it would not be hard to vindicate. It is sufficient 
 for the immediate purpose of this minute to have shown, 
 that on this as on other topics, the ministers of the Crown 
 did not confine themselves to a servile adherence to the 
 mere letter of the parliamentary recommendation, but 
 embraced and gave the fullest effect to its genuine 
 spirit. 
 
 Eighthly. The committee sought to relieve the pro¬ 
 vince not only from the evils of improvident reserva¬ 
 tions and grants of wild lands, but from those incident 
 to the tenures on which the cultivated districts are 
 holden. The following passages on this subject appear 
 in their report:— f ' They do not decline to offer as their 
 opinion, that it would be advantageous, that the decla- 
 
210 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 ratory enactment in the Tenures Act, respecting lands 
 held in free and common soccage, should be retained. 
 
 “ Your committee are further of opinion that means 
 should be found of bringing into effective operation the 
 clause in the Tenures Act, which provides for the muta¬ 
 tion of tenure : and they entertain no doubt of the inex¬ 
 pediency of retaining the seigneurial rights of the crown, 
 in the hope of deriving a profit from them. The sacrifice 
 on the part of the crown would be trifling, and would 
 bear no proportion to the benefit that would result to the 
 colony from such a concession.” “ The committee can¬ 
 not too strongly express their opinion, that the Cana¬ 
 dians of French extraction should in no degree be dis¬ 
 turbed in the peaceful enjoyment of their religion, laws, 
 and privileges, as secured to them by the British acts of 
 parliament; and so far from requiring them to hold lands 
 on the British tenure, they think that when the lands in 
 the seigneuries are fully occupied, if the descendants of 
 the original settlers shall still retain their preference to 
 the tenure of fief et seigneurie , they see no objection 
 to other portions of unoccupied lands in the province 
 being granted to them on that tenure, provided that such 
 lands are apart from, and not intermixed with, the town¬ 
 ships.” 
 
 The British government are again entitled to claim the 
 credit of having, to the utmost possible extent, regulated 
 their conduct by the language, and still more by the 
 spirit of this advice. 
 
 No application has been made for the creation of a 
 new seigneurie, as indeed the period contemplated by 
 the committee, when the seigneurial lands would be 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 211 
 
 fully occupied, still seems very remote. It is almost 
 superfluous to add, that no attempt has been made to 
 superinduce upon those lands any of the rules of the law 
 of England* 
 
 The crown also has been prompt to bring into the most 
 effective operation the clause of the Canada Tenures Act 
 which provides for the mutation of tenures. But no lord 
 orcensitaire having hitherto invoked the exercise of the 
 powers of the Crown, they have of necessity continued 
 dormant. Respecting the soccage lands, some explana¬ 
 tion seems necessary. 
 
 The general principle adopted by the committee in the 
 passage already quoted, is that the inhabitants, both of 
 French and of British origin, should respectively be left 
 in the enjoyment of the law regulating the tenures of 
 their lands derived from their different ancestors, and 
 endeared to either party, by habit, if not by national pre¬ 
 judices. It has already been shown that the French 
 Canadians have enjoyed the benefit of this principle to 
 the fullest possible extent. In the anxiety which has been 
 felt to gratify their wishes, it may not be quite clear that 
 equal justice has been rendered to the inhabitants of 
 British descent. The maintenance of so much of the 
 Canada Tenures Act as rendered the soccage lands inhe¬ 
 ritable and transmissible according to English law, was 
 most unequivocally recommended in the extracts already 
 made from the report. The provincial legislature, how¬ 
 ever, in their session of 18*29, made provision for the 
 conveyance of such lands in a manner repugnant to this 
 British statute. Of course his Majesty could not be ad¬ 
 vised to assent to a law which directly contravened an 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 act of parliament. Such, however, was the anxiety of 
 the King’s ministers to avoid every needless cause of jea¬ 
 lousy, that a bill (1 W. IV, c.20) was introduced into 
 parliament by Lord Ripon, and passed into a law, in 
 order to relieve his Majesty from this difficulty. The 
 Canadian Act was then accepted. Nor was this all. 
 Striving to multiply, to the utmost possible extent, 
 every proof and expression of respect and confidence 
 towards the provincial legislature, the government intro¬ 
 duced into the British statute, which has been last men* 
 mentioned, a further enactment, of which the effect was 
 to absolve the Canadian legislature in future from every 
 restraint laid upon them, by any act of parliament regu¬ 
 lating the various incidents of the soccage tenure in the 
 province. The barriers erected for the defence of the 
 British settlers by the caution of parliament in the years 
 1791 and 1826 were thus overthrown, in order that 
 there might he the fewest possible exceptions to the 
 principle of confiding to the Canadian legislatnre, the 
 regulations of the internal interests of Lower Canada. 
 No one will deny that this unsolicited concession was 
 made in the spirit of the most large and liberal accept¬ 
 ance of the advice of the Canada committee, so far at 
 least as the views and interests of the dominant majority 
 of the house of assembly are concerned. 
 
 Ninthly. The next is the subject of the Jesuits 
 estates; in reference to which the views of the commit¬ 
 tee of 1828 are expressed as follows “ With respect 
 to the estates which formerly belonged to the Jesuits, 
 your committee lament that they have not more full 
 information. But it appears to them to he desirable 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 213 
 
 that the proceeds should be applied to the purposes of 
 general education. 
 
 Far indeed beyond the letter of this advice did the 
 concessions made by his Majesty, on the advice of Lord 
 Ripon, proceed. Not only were the Jesuits' estates 
 “ applied to the purposes of general education,” but 
 the provincial legislature were authorised to determine 
 what specific purposes of that kind should be preferred, 
 and the proceeds of the estates were placed for that 
 purpose unreservedly under their control. No suggestion 
 has been made impeaching the fulness of this conces¬ 
 sion, except as far as respects certain buildings occupied 
 for half a century past as barracks. Even if a rent 
 should be payable by the Crown for the use of those 
 barracks, (the single question admitting of debate,) it 
 would be idle, on that ground, to deny either the im¬ 
 portance of theconcession made, or the almost unbounded 
 confidence in the house of assembly, perceptible in the 
 form and manner in which the crown renounced to them, 
 not merely a proprietary right, but even an administra¬ 
 tive function. 
 
 Tenthly. To the positive recommendations which 
 have already been considered, succeeds another, of 
 which the end is rather to dissuade than to advise the 
 adoption of any specific measure. “ The committee (it 
 it said) are desirous of recording the principle which, in 
 their judgment, should be applied to any alterations in 
 the constitutions of the Canadas, which were imparted 
 to them under the formal act of the British legislature 
 of 1791. That principle is to limit the alterations which 
 it may be desirable to make, by any future British Acts, 
 
214 
 
 TIIE BUBBLES 
 
 as far as possible, to such points as, from the relation 
 between the mother country and the Canadas, can only 
 be disposed of by the paramount authority of the British 
 legislature, and they are of opinion that all other changes 
 should, if possible, be carried into effect by the local 
 legislature themselves, in amicable communications with 
 the local government. 
 
 So rigidly has this principle been observed, that of two 
 acts of parliament which, since 1821 , have been passed 
 with reference to the internal concerns of the province, 
 the common object has been so to enlarge the authority 
 of the provincial legislature as to enable his Majesty to 
 make with their concurrence, laws to the enactment of 
 which they were positively incompetent. The acts in 
 question are those already noticed, by which the reve¬ 
 nues of Geo. III. were relinquished, and the regulation 
 of soccage tenures was transferred to the governor, 
 council, and assembly. 
 
 Eleventhly. “ The committee ” (again to borrow their 
 own words) “ recommended, for the future, that steps 
 should be taken by official securities, and by a regular 
 audit of accounts, to prevent the recurrence of losses and 
 inconveniences to the province, similar to those w'hich 
 had occurred in Mr. Caldwell’s case,” and “ as connected 
 w ith this branch of the enquiry, they recommended that 
 precautions of the same nature should be adopted with 
 regard to the sheriffs.” 
 
 In reference to these suggestions. Sir George Murray 
 proposed to the house of assembly, and Lord Ripon 
 repeated the proposal, that the public accountants should 
 pay their balances, at very short intervals, into the hands 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 215 
 
 of the commissary-general, tendering the security of the 
 British treasury for the punctual re-payment of all such 
 deposits. The scheme embraced a plan for a regular 
 audit, and for the punctual demand of adequate securities. 
 Sir James Kempt and Lord Aylmer were successively 
 instructed to propose to the legislative council and as¬ 
 sembly the enactment of such a law. The proposal was 
 accordingly made to the assembly in the year 1829, and 
 was repeated in the year 1832. On each occasion it was 
 the pleasure of the house to pass it by in silence. I hat 
 they had good reasons for their conduct, it would be 
 unjust and indecorous to doubt. Those reasons, however, 
 remain to this moment completely unknown to the exe¬ 
 cutive government, who, having exhausted all their au¬ 
 thority and influence in a fruitless attempt to give effect 
 to this part of the Canada committee’s recommendations, 
 cannot, with any reason, be held responsible if they still 
 have failed to produce the advantage contemplated to the 
 province at large.* 
 
 Twelfthly. A further recommendation of the committee 
 
 * The executive government have not, however, abstained from 
 such measures as were within their own power. They have esta¬ 
 blished a fire-proof vault, with three keys, held by three separate 
 officers of high rank, all of whom must be present whenever it is 
 opened ; and they have provided that the receiver-general shall 
 not hold in his hands any balance exceeding £10,000 without depo¬ 
 siting it in this vault; and that once at least in every year the con¬ 
 tents of the vault shall be inspected, or reported on, by five persons 
 named by the governor for the purpose. They have also taken 
 security from the receiver-general to the extent of £10,000, with 
 two sufficient sureties, and have required him to render statements 
 of his accounts on the 1st January, 1st April, 1st July, and 1st 
 October, in every year. 
 
216 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 is conveyed in the report, in the following terms: “ Your 
 committee also beg leave to call the particular attention 
 of the government to the mode in which juries are com¬ 
 posed in the Canadas, with a view to remedy any defects 
 that may be found to exist in the present system.” 
 
 Here, again, the government pressed upon the house 
 of assembly the importance of giving effect to the views 
 of the committee ; and, in fact, a law has received the 
 royal assent, having for its object the improvement of the 
 jury system—an object which has been pursued by those 
 methods which the house of assembly themselves devised 
 or adopted. 
 
 Thirteenthly. Thereportproceeds to recommend/" that 
 the prayer of the Lower Canadians for permission to 
 appoint an agent, in the same manner as agents are 
 appointed by other colonies which possess local legis¬ 
 latures, should be granted.” 
 
 His Majesty’s government have accordingly repeatedly 
 authorised the governor to assent to any bill which might 
 be passed for that purpose. No such bill has, however, 
 been presented for Lord Aylmer’s acceptance. The as¬ 
 sembly, in opposition to the advice of the committee, that 
 the habits of other colonies should be followed as a pre¬ 
 cedent, have chosen to nominate, by resolutions of that 
 house alone, gentlemen deputed to represent them in 
 this kingdom, but who have not, as in other colonies 
 possessing legislative assemblies, been appointed by an 
 act of the entire legislature. 
 
 Fourteenthly. Upon the most careful perusal of the 
 report of 1828, no other recommendations can be found 
 addressed to the King’s government, although the com- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 217 
 
 mittee, addressing themselves in that instance rather to the 
 local legislature, have advised that mortgages should be 
 special, and that in proceedings for the conveyance of 
 lands, thesimplest and least expensiveformsofconveyance 
 should be adopted, upon the principles of the law of Eng¬ 
 land ; that form which prevails in Upper Canada, being 
 probably, under all circumstances, the best which could be 
 selected; and that the registration of deeds relating to 
 soccage lands, should be established as in Upper Canada. 
 
 In addition,” it is added , €€ to these recommendations, 
 it appears to be desirable that some competent jurisdic¬ 
 tion should be established, to try and decide causes 
 arising out of this description of property (that is the 
 soccage lands) s< and that circuit courts should be insti¬ 
 tuted within the townships for the same purposes.” 
 
 In these passages the design of the committee was to 
 administer to the relief of the settlers of English origin, 
 and their claims were pressed by Sir George Murray, on 
 the attention of the assembly. Some advance has been 
 accordingly made towards the establishment of a regis¬ 
 try of deeds, and of local courts in the townships. Re¬ 
 specting the law of mortgages, and the forms of convey¬ 
 ancing, it does not appear that the assembly have hitherto 
 interposed for the relief of that part of the constituent 
 body. 
 
 Concluding at this point the comparison between the 
 advice tendered to the government, and the measures 
 adopted in pursuance of it, it may be confidently assert¬ 
 ed, that the general statement made at the commence¬ 
 ment of this minute has been substantiated. To the 
 utmost limit of their constitutional power and legitimate 
 
218 
 
 TIIE BUBBLES 
 
 influence successive administrations have earnestly and 
 successively laboured to carry the report of 1828 into 
 complete effect in all its parts. It has already been 
 shewn with how cordial an acquiescence that report was 
 received by the house of assembly, with what liberal 
 eulogies the talent, the patriotism, the knowledge, and 
 intimate acquaintance with Canadian affairs, of its 
 authors, were commended; how that document was 
 hailed as the faithful interpretation of the wishes and 
 wants of the Canadian people; and how the British go¬ 
 vernment were called upon by the house of assembly to 
 look to that report as their guide in remedying existing 
 grievances, and obviating difficulties for the future. That 
 this guide should have been studiously followed, that 
 its suggestions should have been invariably construed 
 and enforced, with no servile adherence to the letter, 
 but in the most liberal acceptance of its prevailing spirit, 
 and yet that such efforts should have been unavailing to 
 produce the expected conciliation, may well justify the 
 deepest regret and disappointment. 
 
 (Signed) Aberdeen. 
 
 The perusal of this triumphant document na¬ 
 turally suggests two reflections ; first, that the 
 faithful execution of the recommendations of 
 the committee is much more entitled to our 
 approbation than the recommendations them¬ 
 selves ; and, secondly, that the Canadian as¬ 
 sembly were not to be satisfied with any con¬ 
 cession whatever, short of independence. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 219 
 
 Letter IX. 
 
 As the memorials addressed to government 
 by the English ami French parties were at 
 variance in every material point, a commission 
 of enquiry, of which the governor, Lord Gos- 
 ford, was head, was sent out to Canada in 
 1835. Whether this commission was necessary 
 or not, is a matter with which I have nothing 
 to do; I merely mention the fact as illustrative 
 of the earnest desire that existed to compose 
 these unfortunate difficulties, and to ascertain 
 on the spot how much of concession could be 
 made, consistently with retaining the sovereign¬ 
 ty of the country. The commissioners were 
 told “Your investigations will have for their 
 common object the advancement of the wel¬ 
 fare and prosperity of Lower Canada by all 
 methods compatible with the integrity of the 
 empire, and with the authority of the King 
 as supreme in all parts of the British domi¬ 
 nions. 
 
 “ You will ever bear in mind that you are 
 sent on a mission of peace and conciliation. 
 You will therefore proceed in a spirit not of 
 distrust, but of confidence ; remembering that 
 much of your success will depend, not only on 
 
220 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 the zeal, ability and fairness of your enquiries, 
 but also on your perfect separation from all 
 local and party disputes, and on the unquestion¬ 
 able frankness and impartiality of your general 
 conduct. 
 
 “ You will obse rve, that the legislature 
 of Lower Canada must ultimately be the in¬ 
 strument through which any benelits result¬ 
 ing from your mission must, to a very great 
 extent, be accomplished. 11 is Majesty disclaims 
 the intention of provoking any unnecessary par¬ 
 liamentary interference in the internal affairs 
 of the province. To mediate between adverse 
 parties, with an entire respect for the constitu¬ 
 tional rights common to them all, is (lie high 
 office appropriate to his royal station, and this 
 function the King, aided by your enquiries and 
 advice, is anxious on the present occasion to 
 perform.” 
 
 The governor was told by Lord Glenelg, 
 “your lordship therefore proceeds to Canada to 
 advocate no British interest, and to secure no 
 selfish ends. To maintain the peace and integ¬ 
 rity of the empire, and to mediate between con¬ 
 tending parties, by whom those blessings have 
 been endangered, is the high and honourable 
 trust confided to you.” 
 
 Every thing that was tangible in the cele- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 221 
 
 brated ninety-two resolutions, was put into 
 shape, and separately commented upon for his 
 guidance. 
 
 1. It is alleged, observes his Lordship, that 
 the patronage of his Majesty’s government in 
 Lower Canada has been exercised in such a 
 manner as to exclude the Canadians of French 
 descent, not only from the larger number, but 
 from all the more lucrative and honourable of the 
 public employments in their native country.* 
 
 • Had his Lordship thought proper to have entered into parti, 
 culars, he might have compiled the following table, to show how 
 utterly false this accusation was. He might also have stated that 
 the appointments contained in this table were made under every 
 possible disadvantage, in consequence of the avowed hostility of 
 the French to the government and institutions of the English, and 
 also from the extreme difficulty of finding persons among them 
 competent to discharge the duties assigned to them, and might 
 have illustrated the last assertion by reference to the fact that 
 out of two grand juries at this time at Montreal , only one person was 
 found that could write his name . Of the last seven hundred and 
 thirty-eight appointments the proportion stood thus— 
 
 Of French origin . 557 
 
 Of British and Foreign . 181 
 
 738 
 
 Of French origin appointed :— 
 
 To Legislative Council • 18 
 
 To Executive Council . 5 
 
 To other offices of profit 29 [having held in all 35 offices. 
 
 Of British or Foreign appointed 
 To the Legislative Council 
 To the Executive 
 To other offices 
 
 52 persons. 
 
 II 
 
 8 
 
 18 [having held in all 22 offices. 
 
 37 persons. 
 
222 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 The abuse of patronage is said to extend still 
 farther; some persons are represented as having 
 been preferred to offices, in performing the 
 duties of which they are unable to communi¬ 
 cate, except through an interpreter, with the 
 great body of those with whom their affairs are 
 to be transacted. Other successful candidates 
 for office are represented as persons who have 
 made themselves justly offensive to the house 
 of assembly; while, on the other hand, employ¬ 
 ments created at the instance of that house 
 with a view to public improvements, have, it 
 is alleged, been studiously denied to those 
 whom the governor had reason to believe would 
 be most acceptable to the assembly. 
 
 It would be scarcely possible to find any 
 terms more emphatic than those employed by 
 the Earl of Ripon, to enjoin the utmost impar¬ 
 tiality in the distribution of public offices in 
 Lower Canada, without reference to national 
 or political distinctions, or to any consideration, 
 except that of superior capacity and fitness for 
 the trust. I adopt my predecessor’s instructions 
 in their fullest extent; I concur with him in 
 thinking that personal merit and skill, or 
 knowledge, qualifying a candidate for the 
 vacant trust, are the chief circumstances to 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 223 
 
 which the governor of the province must have 
 regard ; and that in the distribution of offices, 
 it is impossible to adhere with any minute ex¬ 
 actness to the rule which the numerical propor¬ 
 tion subsisting between the two races might 
 afford. But your lordship will remember that 
 between persons of equal or not very dissimilar 
 pretensions, it may be fit that the choice should 
 be made in such a manner as in some degree to 
 satisfy the claims which the French inhabitants 
 may reasonably urge to be placed in the enjoy¬ 
 ment of an equal share of the royal favour. 
 There are occasions also on which the increas¬ 
 ed satisfaction of the public at large with an 
 appointment, might amply atone for some infe¬ 
 riority in the qualifications of the persons 
 selected. To take the most effectual security in 
 his Majesty’s power against the recurrence of 
 any abuse in the exercise of this part of his 
 delegated authority in Lower Canada, the King 
 is pleased to command that, in anticipation of 
 any vacancies which may occur in the higher 
 offices in that province, and especially in all 
 judicial offices, your lordship should from time 
 to time transmit to the Secretary of State, for 
 his Majesty’s consideration, the names of any 
 gentlemen resident in Lower Canada, whom 
 
 
THE BUBBLES 
 
 224 
 
 you may think best qualified to perform such 
 trusts with advantage to the public. His Ma¬ 
 jesty proposes to authorize the nomination, as 
 opportunity may occur, of the persons so to be 
 submitted for his choice, having regard to such 
 representations as he may receive from your 
 lordship, or from any other adequate authori¬ 
 ties respecting the competency of such persons 
 to the public service. His Majesty is further 
 pleased to direct that all offices in the gift of the 
 king, of which the emolument shall amount to 01 
 exceed 200Z. per annum, shall be granted under 
 the public seal of the province, in pursuance of 
 warrants to be issued by his Majesty for that 
 purpose \ and that, except when the successful 
 candidate shall have been previously approved 
 by his Majesty in the manner already men¬ 
 tioned, he should be informed that his appoint¬ 
 ment is strictly provisional, until his Majesty’s 
 pleasure could be known, llie control which 
 it is thus proposed to establish over the hitherto 
 unlimited powers of the governor, is not de¬ 
 signed and will not be used as a means of seem¬ 
 ing to his Majesty’s confidential advisers in this 
 kingdom any beneficial patronage whatever. 
 I have already expressed my entire approbation 
 of the system hitherto observed, of considering 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 225 
 
 public employments in Lower Canada as pro¬ 
 perly appropriate to the inhabitants of the pro¬ 
 vince. Without giving a pledge against any 
 deviation from that rule in any solitary case 
 (for such pledge might in the event prove 
 embarrassing to all parties, and prejudicial to 
 the welfare of the province), 1 can yet have no 
 difficulty in acknowledging the rule as a 
 general maxim from which no departure should 
 be admitted, unless on grounds so peculiar as 
 plainly to justify the exception. 
 
 It has also been represented that in some cases 
 the same individual is charged with numerous 
 offices of which the duties are incompatible, 
 either by creating a larger demand on the time 
 of the officer than any one man is able to meet, 
 or by placing him in situations of which the 
 appropriate functions clash and interfere with 
 each other. From the generality of the terms 
 in which this complaint has been made, it has 
 not been in my power to ascertain the extent 
 or reality of this grievance ; but in whatever 
 degree it may be found to exist, your lordship 
 will understand that his Majesty expects that 
 it should be completely remedied : that all per¬ 
 sons occupying any such incompatible employ¬ 
 ments should be called upon to renounce such 
 
 Q 
 
220 
 
 TIIF. BUBBLES 
 
 as they cannot efficiently execute ; and that in 
 future the general rule must be, that no person 
 should be entrusted with any office of which he 
 cannot discharge the proper duties with due 
 punctuality and method in his own person. 
 
 2. Complaint is made of an unjust partiality 
 in favour of the use of the English language in 
 all official acts. The foundation of this com¬ 
 plaint appears to be, that thirteen years ago a 
 bill for the union of the two Canadas was 
 brought into Parliament by the then govern¬ 
 ment, which, had it passed into a law, would 
 have made English the single official language 
 of both. I have no motive for defending a 
 scheme which was rejected by the house of 
 commons. A case is also said to have occurred 
 at the distance of about eleven years since, in 
 which the judges refused to entertain an action* 
 because some part of the proceedings had been 
 written in the French language. This is ad¬ 
 mitted to bean isolated case; and it is acknow¬ 
 ledged that neither in the courts of law nor in 
 the legislature is any preference of one language 
 over the other really shewn. I therefore do 
 not find any grievance on this subject suscep¬ 
 tible of a remedy; nor is it in ray power to 
 strengthen the injunctions of Lord Ripon, on 
 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 227 
 
 the impropriety of any such preference of the 
 English over the French tongue. As, however, 
 the complaint has been again urged by the 
 house of assembly, your lordship will take the 
 earliest opportunity of assuring them, that his 
 Majesty disapproves, and is desirous to discou¬ 
 rage and prevent to the utmost of his power, 
 the adoption of any practice which would 
 deprive either class of his subjects of the use in 
 their official acts of that tongue with which 
 early habits and education may have rendered 
 them most familiar. Your lordship will signify 
 your willingness to assent to any law which 
 may give, both to the French and the English 
 inhabitants, the most ample security against 
 any such prejudice. 
 
 3. Reference has been made to certain rules 
 of court made by the judges, of which the ear¬ 
 liest have been in force for thirty-four years, and 
 the latest for nineteen ; and which are said to 
 be illegal; and even to amount to a violation 
 of the faith of treaties, and of the pledges of 
 the King and parliament. It is admitted, that 
 until the year 1834, those rules had been fol¬ 
 lowed, without any complaint having been pre¬ 
 ferred to his Majesty’s government: I can, 
 indeed, undertake to say, that until the fact 
 
 q 2 
 
228 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 was stated in evidence before the Canada com¬ 
 mittee of last year, the existence of such rules 
 was altogether unknown in this country. Here, 
 as on so many other topics, I am compelled to 
 revert to the instructions of the Earl of Ripon, 
 and to instruct your lordship to renew the 
 proposal which he authorized Lord Aylmer to 
 make to the provincial legislature, that a com¬ 
 mission should be appointed to revise any rules 
 of court made by the judges; and that on the 
 report of such a commission, all such rules as 
 are either contrary to law or inexpedient should 
 be revoked. I am not less solicitous than my 
 predecessor, that such an inquiry should be 
 made to embrace all the practice and proceed¬ 
 ings of the superior tribunals, with a view to 
 rendering them more prompt and methodical, 
 and less expensive. If the house of assembly 
 should think that these objects can be better 
 effected by any other method than that of a 
 commission of inquiry, you will concur with 
 them in carrying it into effect. 
 
 4. It is said that exorbitant fees have been 
 exacted in some public offices. I have met 
 with no proof or illustration of this statement. 
 You will, however, acquaint the house of 
 assembly that his Majesty will be happy to 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 229 
 
 concur with them in the revision of the fees of 
 every otlice in the province without exception, 
 and in the appointment, should they think it 
 expedient, of a commission of inquiry for the 
 purpose. His Majesty has no wish on the 
 subject, but that the remuneration of all pub¬ 
 lic officers, from the highest to the lowest, 
 should be so regulated as to provide for the effi¬ 
 cient discharge of the public service; an object 
 which cannot be secured without a fair remu¬ 
 neration to the persons employed by the public. 
 
 5. A complaint is made of the practice of 
 calling upon the judges for extra-judicial opi¬ 
 nions on public questions. Here again I know 
 not how to reduce the general statement to any 
 specific form ; I can therefore advance no fur¬ 
 ther than to lay down, for your lordship’s guid¬ 
 ance, the general rule, that you do not call 
 upon the judges for their opinion on any ques¬ 
 tion which, by the most remote possibility, 
 may subsequently come before them for deci¬ 
 sion. I should scarcely hesitate to interdict 
 the practice of consulting them, altogether and 
 without a solitary exception, if I did not re¬ 
 member that there are public contingencies in 
 which the King would, for the common good 
 of his subjects, be bound to take counsel with 
 
230 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 his judges. Such cases, however, will be ex¬ 
 ceedingly infrequent, and will arise only upon 
 some of those great emergencies for which it 
 is scarcely possible, or even desirable, that any 
 definite provision should be made beforehand. 
 To protect the independent exercise of the 
 judicial office, not only against just censure, 
 but even against the breath of suspicion, will 
 be amongst your constant studies and most 
 anxious endeavours. 
 
 6. Complaint is made of the interference of 
 the government and the legislative council in 
 the election of members of the assembly. With 
 this general charge, I can deal only in terms 
 equally general. If any such practice prevailed, 
 of which however there is no proof before me, 
 your lordship will avoid with the utmost care 
 every approach to it. I acknowledge, with¬ 
 out any reserve or limitation, the duty of the 
 executive government of Lower Canada to 
 abstain altogether from interference, direct or 
 indirect, in the choice of the representatives of 
 the people; such an encroachment on the prin¬ 
 ciples of the constitution would be unattended 
 even with a plausible prospect of temporary 
 advantage. I earnestly hope that the assembly 
 were misinformed as to the existence of any 
 
L 
 
 OF CANADA. 231 
 
 such practices ; for 1 am well convinced, that 
 it is by very different methods that the legiti¬ 
 mate authority and influence of the King s 
 government in Canada is to be maintained. 
 
 7. 1 have read, not without deep concern, the 
 language in which the house of assembly have 
 spoken, in their ninety-two resolutions, of the 
 conduct of the troops during the elections at 
 Montreal: it is described as a sanguinary exe¬ 
 cution of the citizens by the soldiery. Anxious 
 as l am to conciliate, by all just concessions, 
 the favourable regard of the house, I am bound, 
 by the strcit obligations of justice to the Bri¬ 
 tish army, to protest against the application of 
 such language to any part of a body, not less 
 distinguished by their humanity and discipline, 
 than by their gallantry. T he house had ap¬ 
 pointed a committee to inquire into those pro¬ 
 ceedings, and had not received the report of 
 the committee when they proceeded to pronounce 
 this censure on the conduct of his Majesty’s 
 troops. The officers had been indicted before 
 a grand jury of the country, and the bills had 
 been thrown out lor want of evidence. In 
 assuming to themselves the power to inquire, 
 the assembly exercised their legitimate privi¬ 
 lege : in passing a sentence of condemnation 
 
232 
 
 T11E BUBIJLES 
 
 pending that inquiry, and in direct opposition 
 to the finding of the proper legal tribunal, they 
 exceeded their proper authority, and acted in 
 opposition to the parliamentary usages of this 
 country. Nor can I receive such an unautho¬ 
 rized expression of opinion with that deference 
 which it is my duty and inclination to show for 
 every judgment of the house, falling within the 
 appropriate sphere of their deliberation. 
 
 8. The assembly further complain that there 
 is no method by which legal demands against 
 the government can be enforced in the province. 
 In the absence of any distinct proof or illustra¬ 
 tion of the fact, I can only express his Majesty’s 
 desire that effectual means may be taken for 
 remedying this alleged defect in the law. 
 
 9. The too frequent reservation of bills for 
 the signification of his Majesty’s pleasure, and 
 the delay in communicating the King’s decision 
 upon them, is a grievance of which my inqui¬ 
 ries lead me to believe the reality. Your lord- 
 ship will understand that the power of reserving 
 bills, granted by the Constitutional Act of 1791, 
 is an extreme right, to be employed not with¬ 
 out much caution, nor except on some evident 
 necessity. You will also have the goodness to 
 remember the indispensable necessity of trans- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 233 
 
 mitting, with the least possible delay, the trans¬ 
 cript of every law of which the operation is 
 suspended, for the signification of the royal 
 pleasure; and of accompanying every such 
 transcript with such full and minute explana¬ 
 tions as may be necessary for rendering the 
 scope and policy of them perfectly intelligible, 
 and for explaining the motives by which your 
 lordship may have been influenced in declining 
 to give your decision in the first instance. You 
 will pledge his Majesty’s government in this 
 country to the most prompt and respectful 
 attention to every question of this nature which 
 may be brought under their notice. 
 
 10. My predecessors in office are charged 
 with having, on various occasions, neglected to 
 convey to the house his Majesty’s answers to 
 the addresses presented to him by that body. 
 Whether this statement could be verified by a 
 careful examination of any particular cases, I 
 am unable to state with certainty; nor on such 
 a subject is it fit to make a conjectural state¬ 
 ment. Your lordship will, however, assure the 
 house, that his Majesty lias been pleased to 
 command, in the most unqualified terms, that 
 every communication that either branch of the 
 provincial legislature may see fit to make to 
 
234 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 him, be laid before his Majesty immediately on 
 its arrival in this kingdom, and that his Ma¬ 
 jesty’s answer be conveyed to the province with 
 the utmost possible dispatch. The King can¬ 
 not, however, forget that the delay which may 
 occasionally have taken place in making known 
 in the province his Majesty’s decision upon 
 reserved bills, or upon addresses from either 
 house of general assembly, may in someinstances 
 have been either occasioned or prolonged by 
 circumstances which no promptitude or zeal in 
 his Majesty’s service could have obviated ; as, 
 for example, the rigour of the Canadian climate 
 obstructing, during a certain period of the year, 
 the direct approach to Quebec and Montreal, 
 and the imperfect nature of the internal com¬ 
 munications through his Majesty’s dominions 
 in North America. 
 
 11. Much complaint is made of the refusal 
 of information, for which the house of assembly 
 have at different times applied to the governor 
 of the province. After a careful examination 
 of the proceedings of the latest session in which 
 any such applications were made, I have not 
 been able to avoid the conclusion that there is 
 just ground for the complaint. 1 do not per¬ 
 ceive that any advantage would arise from 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 235 
 
 entering in this place into a very exact survey 
 of the communications between the house and 
 the governor respecting the production of pa¬ 
 pers. It is more useful, with a view to the 
 future, to state the general principle by which 
 your lordship will be guided. I think, then, 
 that the correspondence between your lordship 
 and the secretary of state cannot be considered 
 as forming part of those documents of which 
 the assembly are entitled to demand, as a matter 
 of course, the unreserved and universal inspec¬ 
 tion or perusal. In the official intercourse 
 between his Majesty and his Majesty’s repre¬ 
 sentative in the province, conducted as such 
 intercourse necessarily is, through the interven¬ 
 tion of the ministers of the crown, much confi¬ 
 dential communication must necessarily occur. 
 Many questions require to be debated copiously, 
 and in all the various lights in which they may 
 present themselves to the governor or to the 
 secretary of state: and in such a correspondence 
 it is necessary to anticipate emergencies which 
 eventually do not occur, to reason upon hypo¬ 
 thetical statements, and even to advert to the 
 conduct and qualifications for particular em¬ 
 ployments of particular individuals. It would 
 be plainly impossible to conduct any public 
 
236 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 affairs of this nature, except on such terms of 
 free and unrestrained intercourse. It is no less 
 plainly impossible to give general publicity to 
 such communications, without needless injury 
 to the feelings of various persons, and constant 
 impediment to the public service. A rule which 
 should entitle a popular assembly to call for 
 and make public all the despatches passing 
 between the King’s government and his Ma¬ 
 jesty’s local representative, would so obstruct 
 the administration of public affairs, as to pro¬ 
 duce mischiefs far outweighing the utmost 
 possible advantage of the practice. 
 
 In the same manner, there will occasionally 
 be communications, in their own nature con¬ 
 fidential, between the governor and many of 
 his subordinate officers, which should also be 
 protected from general publicity. 
 
 But though I think it right to make this 
 general reservation against the unlimited pro¬ 
 duction of all public documents, I am ready 
 to acknowledge that the restriction itself may 
 admit and even require many exceptions; and 
 that in the exercise of a careful discretion, the 
 governor, as often as he shall judge it conducive 
 to the general good of the province, may com¬ 
 municate to either branch of the legislature any 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 237 
 
 part of his official correspondence, such only 
 excepted as may have been expressly declared 
 or manifestly designed, by the secretary of state, 
 to be confidential. 
 
 But I am not aware of any other document 
 connected with the public affairs of the pro¬ 
 vince, the concealment of which from the as¬ 
 sembly would be really useful or justifiable: 
 especially whatever relates to the revenue and 
 expenditure in all their branches, or to the 
 statistics of the province, should be at once and 
 cheerfully communicated to them. For exam¬ 
 ple, it will be desirable to make to the two 
 houses such a communication of the blue books, 
 or annual statistical returns, which are com¬ 
 piled for the use of this department; and your 
 lordship will solicit the assistance of the two 
 houses of the local legislature, in rendering 
 those returns as accurate and as comprehensive 
 as possible. In short, the general rule must 
 be that of entire freedom from reserve. The 
 particular exception, as it arises, must be vin¬ 
 dicated by the terms of the preceding instruc¬ 
 tions, or by some explanation sufficient to show 
 that secrecy was demanded, not for the protec¬ 
 tion of any private interest, but for the well¬ 
 being of the province at large. In every case 
 
238 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 in which the production of any paper, in answer 
 to any address of either house, may be refused, 
 your lordship will immediately transmit to this 
 office a statement of the case, with an explana¬ 
 tion of the grounds of your decision. 
 
 12. The occupation as a barrack of the build¬ 
 ings which anciently were part of the Jesuits’ 
 college, is strongly reprobated by the assembly. 
 
 I can only remark theft this exception from the 
 general transfer of the Jesuits estates to their 
 disposal, was made and vindicated by Lord 
 Ripon on a ground which has rather acquired 
 a new force, than lost any of its original weight. 
 After an occupation of those buildings for this 
 purpose, for much more than half a century, 
 there has accrued to the Crown a prescriptive 
 title, of which, however, his Majesty has never 
 sought to avail himself. The King is, on the 
 contrary, anxious that the buildings should be 
 restored, as promptly as possible, to their ori¬ 
 ginal use; nor will that measure be delayed 
 for a single day, after other and adequate pro¬ 
 vision shall have been made for the accommo¬ 
 dation of the troops; but it is needless to remark 
 that his Majesty has no funds at his disposal 
 for that purpose. The proposed transfer of all 
 the sources of local revenue to the house of 
 
assembly has deprived the King of the means 
 of providing for this or any similar service. It 
 must rest, therefore, with the house to erect or 
 purchase other barracks sufficiently commo¬ 
 dious for the garrison, upon which the board 
 of ordnance will immediately issue the neces¬ 
 sary instructions for evacuating the buildings at 
 present occupied for that purpose. 
 
 13. The lease of the forges of St. Maurice to 
 Mr. Bell has been made, and is now irrevoca¬ 
 ble. I do not conceal my regret, that this pro¬ 
 perty was not disposed of by public auction to 
 the highest bidder. Whatever arrangements 
 may be hereafter settled respecting the territo¬ 
 rial revenue, it will be necessary to prevent the 
 granting of any crown property on lease in the 
 same manner by private contract, and more 
 especially when the contractor is a member of 
 the legislative council. 
 
 14. Impediments are said to have been need¬ 
 lessly raised to the endowment of colleges by 
 benevolent persons. I fear it is not to be 
 denied, that some unnecessary delay in de¬ 
 ciding upon bills reserved for his Majesty’s 
 consideration, having such endowments for 
 their object, did occur: a delay chiefly attri¬ 
 butable to political events and the consequent 
 
240 
 
 THE BURBLES 
 
 changes of the colonial administration in this 
 kingdom. I have no wish to withhold a frank 
 acknowledgment of error, when really due, to 
 the house of assembly, because I am persuaded 
 that in that frankness they will perceive the 
 best assurance of the sincerity with which, on 
 behalf of the ministers of the crown, a pledge 
 is given for the more prompt and exact atten¬ 
 tion hereafter to every measure which has for 
 its object the institution in the province of any 
 colleges or schools for the advancement of 
 Christian knowledge or sound learning. 
 
 15. On the subject of the clergy reserves, of 
 which complaint is still made, the arrangements 
 proposed by Lord Ripon leave his Majesty no¬ 
 thing further to concede. 1 he whole question 
 © 
 
 has been referred to the decision of the pro¬ 
 vincial legislature. To obviate misconceptions, 
 the draft of a bill for the adjustment of the 
 claims of all parties was framed under his lord¬ 
 ship’s directions, and brought into the house of 
 assembly. Anticipating the possibility that this 
 bill might undergo amendments in its progress 
 through the two houses, materially affecting its 
 character, Lord Ripon had instructed the go¬ 
 vernor, in that event, not to refuse his assent, 
 but to reserve the bill for the signification of 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 241 
 
 his Majesty’s pleasure. The loss of the bill 
 is, however, ascribed to the solicitor-general 
 having, in his place in the house, stated that 
 no amendment would be permitted. The so¬ 
 licitor-general’s expressions may have been 
 misunderstood ; but if this was their purport, 
 not only was the statement unauthorised, but 
 directly at variance with the spirit of the in¬ 
 structions of the home government. I much 
 regret the misapprehension, in whatever cause 
 it may have originated. It may perhaps be 
 ascribed to the fact, that Lord Aylmer did not 
 think himself at liberty to produce to the house 
 the Earl of Ripon’s despatches on the subject. 
 Your lordship will immediately communicate 
 copies of them, inviting the council and assem¬ 
 bly to resume the consideration of the question, 
 upon the terms of Lord Ilipon’s proposal, to 
 every part of which they may be assured of his 
 Majesty’s continued adherence. 
 
 1G. Lord Aylmer’s refusal to issue a writ for 
 the election of a new member of the assembly, 
 upon the declaration of the house that M. 
 Mondelet’s seat had become vacant, is con¬ 
 demned by that body as a violation of their 
 rights. The question has lost much, if not all, 
 of its practical importance since the passing of 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 THK BUBBLES 
 
 the recent law for vacating the seats of mem¬ 
 bers accepting places of emolument under the 
 crown. Still, in justice to Lord Aylmer, I am 
 bound to affirm the accuracy of the distinction 
 in reference to which he appears to have acted. 
 In cases where the vacancy of a seat may, con¬ 
 sistently with existing usages, be notified by 
 the house to the governor without assigning the 
 cause, he is bound to presume that the adjudi¬ 
 cation of the house is right, and must carry it 
 into effect by issuing a new writ. But in cases 
 where usage requires that in the notification to 
 the governor the cause of vacancies should be 
 stated, then, if the cause alleged be insufficient 
 in point of law, the governor is not at liberty to 
 comply with the request of the house. The 
 concurrence of the governor and the house in 
 any measure, cannot render it legal, if it be 
 prohibited by the law of the land. To that rule 
 obedience is emphatically due by those to whom 
 the constitution has assigned the high functions 
 of legislation and of the executive government. 
 If, therefore, Lord Aylmer rightly judged that 
 M. Mondelet’s seat had not been lawfully va¬ 
 cated, his lordship adhered to the strict line of 
 duty in declining to issue the writ for which 
 the house applied. If he entertained a serious 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 243 
 
 ond honest doubt on the subject, his lordship 
 was bound to pause until that doubt could be 
 removed by competent judicial authority. The 
 subsequent introduction by statute of a law for 
 vacating seats in such cases as that of M. 
 Mondelet’s, would seem sufficiently to esta¬ 
 blish that his acceptance of office was not fol¬ 
 lowed by that legal consequence. 
 
 17. I now approach the case of Sir John 
 Caldwell. It is a subject which has uniformly 
 excited the deepest regret of my predecessors ; 
 and I need hardly add, that I partake largely 
 of that feeling. His Majesty’s government have 
 offered to the province every reparation which 
 it has been in their power to make, for the ori¬ 
 ginal error of allowing monies to accumulate in 
 the hands of a public officer, without taking 
 full securities for the faithful discharge of his 
 trust: they have placed at the disposal of the 
 assembly whatever could be recovered from Sir 
 John Caldwell, or from his sureties; and your 
 lordship will now, on the terms to which I have 
 referred in my accompanying despatch, be au¬ 
 thorized to surrender to the appropriation of 
 that house, the only funds by which his Majesty 
 could have contributed towards making good 
 the defalcation. Every practical suggestion has 
 
 r 2 
 
244 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 also been made to the assembly, for preventing 
 the recurrence of similar losses. Nothing, in 
 short, has been left undone, or at least unat¬ 
 tempted, to mitigate the evil which the inade¬ 
 quacy of the securities taken from Sir John 
 Caldwell, and the accumulations of public 
 money in his hands, occasioned. Perhaps the 
 legal proceedings against his property might be 
 carried on with greater activity and effect; and 
 if so, your lordship will lend your aid with the 
 utmost promptitude to that object. It is, 
 indeed, much to be lamented, that for so many 
 years together, on such a case as this, the law 
 should have proved inadequate to secure for the 
 public such property as was in the possession 
 of the defaulter, or his securities, at the time 
 of his insolvency. 
 
 I feel, however, that incomplete justice has 
 hitherto been rendered to the people of Lower 
 Canada, in Sir John Caldwell’s case. That 
 gentleman has been permitted to retain his seat 
 at the legislative council, and still holds that 
 conspicuous station. Whatever sympathy 1 
 may be disposed to feel for individual misfor¬ 
 tune, and in whatever degree the lapse of years 
 may have abated those feelings of just indigna¬ 
 tion which were provoked by the first intelli- 
 
OF CANADA. 240 
 
 gence of so gross a breach of the public trust, 
 I cannot in the calm and deliberate administra¬ 
 tion of justice, hesitate to conclude that it is 
 not fitting that Sir John Caldwell should retain 
 a seat in the legislature of Lower Canada : his 
 continuance in that position, and his manage¬ 
 ment* and apparent possession of the estates 
 which formerly belonged to him in his own 
 right, must exhibit to the people at large an 
 example but too justly offensive to public feel¬ 
 ing. \ our lordship will cause it to be intimated 
 to Sir John Caldwell, that the King expects 
 the immediate resignation of his office of legis¬ 
 lative councillor; and that in the event of the 
 failure of that reasonable expectation, his Ma¬ 
 jesty will be compelled, however reluctantly, 
 to resort to other and more painful methods of 
 vindicating the government of the province 
 against the reproach of indifference to a diver¬ 
 sion of public money from its legitimate use to 
 the private ends of the accountant. 
 
 I am not aware that there remains a single 
 topic of complaint unnoticed, either in the pre¬ 
 ceding pages or in my accompanying instruc¬ 
 tions to your lordship and your fellow commis¬ 
 sioners. It has been my endeavour to meet 
 each successive topic distinctly and circumstan- 
 
246 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 tially, neither evading any of the difficulties of 
 the case, nor shrinking from the acknowledg¬ 
 ment of any error which may be discovered in 
 the administration of affairs so various and 
 complicated. I dismiss the subject for the 
 present, with the expression of my earnest hope 
 that his Majesty’s efforts to terminate these 
 dissensions may be met by all parties in the 
 spirit of corresponding frankness and good-will; 
 assured that, in that case, his Majesty will not 
 be disappointed in that which is the single 
 object of his policy on this subject—the pros¬ 
 perity of Canada, as an integral and highly 
 important member of the British empire. 
 
 
OF CANADA 
 
 247 
 
 Letter X. 
 
 The arrival of the Commissioners of Inquiry 
 in Canada put an end to all further prospect 
 of grievances, and at once damped the hopes 
 and awakened the anger of the disaffected. 
 The very act of investigating the complaints 
 which they themselves had preferred was made 
 a subject of invective; the commission was 
 denounced as an insult to the assembly, whose 
 voice alone should be heard, and whose deci¬ 
 sions neither admitted of question by the 
 council nor by the government. Knowing that 
 the instructions given to the commissioners 
 were of the most conciliatory description, that 
 every change would be effected that they had 
 desired, and that, by their own showing, they 
 would be compelled to be tranquil, they 
 promptly changed their ground, abandoned 
 the untenable local topics, and boldly attacked 
 the constitution. The mask was now thrown 
 off, and republicanism openly avowed as their 
 object. That this development was prematurely 
 
248 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 hastened by the unexpected and immediate 
 concession of their requests, and their object 
 disclosed sooner than they had intended, is 
 evident from their address to the governor, so 
 lately as in 1831, whom it was their interest 
 and intention to deceive. Early in that year 
 they said to him, “ It will be our earnest desire 
 that harmony may prevail among the several 
 branches of the legislature, that full effect may 
 be given to the constitution as established bylaw, 
 and that it may be transmitted unimpaired to 
 jmstei'ity." Now different language was held, 
 and that there might be no mistake, Mr. Pa- 
 pineau said: 
 
 “ The people of this province were now 
 merely preparing themselves for a future state 
 of political existence, which he trusted would 
 be neither a monarchy nor an aristocracy. He 
 hoped Providence had not in view for his 
 country a feature so dark as that it should be 
 the means of planting royalty in America, near 
 a country so grand as the United States. He 
 hoped, for the future, America would give 
 republics to Europe.” 
 
 As proofs are always preferable to as¬ 
 sertions, and as this is too important a charge 
 to rest on the authority of an anonymous writer, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 249 
 
 I shall adduce a few more instances where the 
 avowal is distinct and unequivocal. In a 
 French journal devoted to the party, published 
 in Montreal, we find the following senti¬ 
 ments : 
 
 “ In examining with an attentive eye what 
 is passing around us, it is easy to convince one¬ 
 self that our country is placed in very critical 
 circumstances, and that a revolution will per¬ 
 haps be necessary to place it in a more natural 
 and less precarious situation. A constitution 
 to remodel, a nationality to maintain—these 
 are the objects which at present occupy all 
 Canadians. 
 
 “ It may be seen, according to this, that there 
 exist two parties, of opposite interests and 
 manners—the Canadians and the English. 
 These first-born Frenchmen have the habits 
 and character of such. They have inherited 
 from their fathers a hatred to the English; 
 who, in their turn, seeing in them the children 
 of France, detest them. These two parties can 
 never unite, and will not always remain tran¬ 
 quil ; it is a bad amalgamation of interests, of 
 manners, of language, and of religion, which 
 sooner or later must produce a collision. It is 
 sufficiently believed that a revolution is pos- 
 
250 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 sible, but it is believed to be far off; as for me, 
 I think it will not be delayed. Let them con¬ 
 sider these words of a great writer, and they 
 will no longer treat a revolution and a separa¬ 
 tion from the mother country as a chimera—‘The 
 greatest misfortune for man politically,’ says 
 he, * is to obey a foreign power; no humiliation 
 no torment of the heart, can compare to this. 
 The subjected nation, at least if she be not pro¬ 
 tected by some extraordinary law, ought not 
 to obey this sovereign.—We repeat it, an im¬ 
 mediate separation from England is the only 
 means of preserving our nationality. Some 
 time hence, when emigration shall have made 
 our adversaries our equals in number, more 
 daring, and less generous, they will deprive us 
 of our liberties, or we shall have the same fate 
 as our unhappy countrymen the Acadians. 
 Believe me, this is the fate reserved for us, if 
 we do not hasten to make ourselves indepen¬ 
 dent ! ” 
 
 In a pamphlet written by Mr. Papineau, he 
 says of the French : 
 
 “ It (the French party) has not, it ought not 
 to entertain a shadow of hope that it will obtain 
 any justice whatsoever from any of the autho¬ 
 rities constituted as they are at present in this 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 251 
 
 country. If it would entertain the same opi¬ 
 nion of the authorities in England that it enter¬ 
 tains of the authorities in this country, these 
 obstacles could easily be overcome.” 
 
 He then claims the colony as belonging 
 solely to his party : 
 
 “ In consequence of the facilities afforded by 
 the administration for the settlement of Britons 
 within our colony, they came in shoals to our 
 shores to push their fortunes.” 
 
 “ They have established a system of paper- 
 money, based solely upon their own credit, and 
 which our habitans have had the folly to receive 
 as ready money, although it is not hard cash, 
 current among all nations, but on the contrary, 
 which is of no value, and, without the limits of 
 the province, would not be received by any per¬ 
 son.” 
 
 To obstruct the arrival of emigrants as much 
 as possible, resort was had to one of those mea¬ 
 sures so common in Canadian legislation, in 
 which the object of the bill is at variance with 
 its preamble. An Act was passed, 0 Will. IV., 
 c. 13, which, under the speciously humane pre¬ 
 tence of creating a fund to defray the expence 
 of medical assistance to sick emigrants, and of 
 enabling indigent persons of that description to 
 
252 
 
 THE HUBBLES 
 
 proceed to the place of their destination, a capi¬ 
 tation tax was imposed, which affected emigra¬ 
 tion to Upper as well as Low r er Canada; and 
 the operation of it was such, that even an in¬ 
 habitant of the former province, returning to 
 his home by the St. Lawrence, was liable to 
 this odious impost. 
 
 When every topic appeared to be exhausted, 
 Mr. Rodier, a member of the assembly, was so 
 fortunate as to have discovered a new one, in 
 the cholera, w hich he charged the English with 
 having introduced among them. Absurd as 
 this may seem to be, it was not without its 
 effect, and the simple-minded credulous pea¬ 
 santry were induced to believe it of a people of 
 whom they had lately heard from their leaders 
 nothing but expressions of hatred and abuse. 
 
 “WhenI see,” said he “my country in mourn¬ 
 ing, and my native land presenting to my eye no¬ 
 thing but one vast cemetery, I ask, what has been 
 the cause of all these disasters ? and the voices 
 of thousands of my fellow citizens respond from 
 their tombs,—it is emigration. It is not enough 
 to send amongst us avaricious egotists, without 
 any other spirit of liberty than could be be¬ 
 stowed by a simple education of the counter, to 
 enrich themselves at the expense of the Cana- 
 
253 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 dians, and then endeavour to enslave them— 
 they must also rid themselves of their beggars, 
 and cast them by thousands on our shores— 
 they must send us miserable beings, who after 
 having partaken of the bread of our children, 
 will subject them to the horrors of hunger 
 and misery ; 'they must do still more—they 
 must send us, in their train, pestilence and 
 death. If I present to you so melancholy a 
 picture of the condition of this country, 
 I have to encourage the hope that we may 
 yet preserve our nationality, and avoid those 
 future calamities, by opposing a barrier to this 
 torrent of emigration. It is only in the house 
 of assembly* we can place our hopes, and it is 
 only in the choice the Canadians make in their 
 elections, they can ensure the preservation of 
 their rights and political liberties.” 
 
 Things were now rapidly drawing to a crisis. 
 The legislature was assembled by the new 
 governor, and addressed by him in a long and 
 conciliatory speech, in which the evilsofinternal 
 dissensions were pointedly and feelingly alluded 
 
 * In a work published in France, for circulation in Canada, a 
 very intelligible hint is given on this subject. As the house of 
 assembly votes rewards for the destruction of wolves, it is no less 
 urgent to devise means to prevent immigration from being a cala¬ 
 mity for these colonies.” 
 
252 
 
 TtfE BUBBLES 
 
 proceed to the place of their destination, a capi- 
 tatioa tax: was imposed, which affected emigra¬ 
 tion to Upper as well as Lower Canada; and 
 the operation of it was snch, that even an in¬ 
 habitant of the former province, returning to 
 his home by the St. Lawrence, was liable to 
 this odious impost. •* 
 
 When every topic appeared to be exhausted, 
 Mr. Rodier, a member of the assembly, was so 
 fortunate as to have discovered a new one, in 
 the cholera, which he charged the fclngiish with 
 having introduced among them. Absurd as 
 this may seem to be, it was not without its 
 effect, and the simple-minded credulous pea¬ 
 santry were induced to believe it of a people of 
 whom they had lately heard from their leaders 
 nothing but expressions of hatred and abase. 
 
 “WhenI see," said he “my country in mourn¬ 
 ing, and my native land presenting to my eye no¬ 
 thing but one vast cemetery, I ask, what has been 
 the cause of all these disasters ? and the voices 
 of thousands of my fellow citizens respond from 
 their tombs, — it is emigration. It is not enough 
 to send amongst us avaricious egotists, without 
 any other spirit of liberty than could be be¬ 
 stowed by a simple education of the counter, to 
 enrich themselves at the expense of the Cana- 
 
OF CA5ADA. 
 
 25:3 
 
 ilians. and then endeavour to enslave them — 
 they must also rid themselves ot' their beggars, 
 and cast them by thousands on our shores — 
 they must send us miserable beings, who after 
 having partaken ot’ the bread ot’ our children, 
 will subject them to the horrors of hunger 
 and misery ; -they must do still more—they 
 must send us, in their train, pestilence and 
 death, it’ I present to you so melancholy a 
 picture of the condition of this country, 
 i have to encourage the hope that we may 
 yet preserve our nationality, and avoid those 
 future calamities, by opposing a barrier to this 
 torrent of emigration. It is only in the house 
 of assembly * we can place our hopes, and it is 
 only in the choice the Canadians make in their 
 elections, they can ensure the preservation of 
 their rights and political liberties. 
 
 Things were now rapidly drawing to a crisis. 
 The Legislature was assembled by the new 
 governor, and addressed by him in a long and 
 conciliatory speech, in which the evilsot internal 
 dissensions were pointedly and feelingly alluded 
 
 « tn a work published in France, for circulation in Canada, a 
 very mteUitfible hint is iiven on this -mhjeet. ‘• A* uie honae of 
 launn hiv rotes rewards iiir the destruction of wolves, it is an lew 
 orient ai devise means m prevent innmifrarion trom lieinif a eaiie* 
 mi tv ft»r rhtwe onlnmesv 
 
254 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 to, and concessions sufficiently numerous made 
 to have gratified the vanity and appeased the 
 irritation of any other people than those to 
 whom it was addressed. Among other things, 
 they were informed, that intending to remedy 
 the evils of persons holding a plurality of 
 offices, he had begun with the highest, and 
 discharged some of his executive councillors. 
 This announcement was received in the same 
 spirit as all others of a similar nature ; and his 
 excellency having cancelled the commission of 
 one gentleman, in consequence of his holding 
 a legal appointment under the house , the as¬ 
 sembly thought that so good an example could 
 not be followed too speedily, and immediately 
 dismissed him from the one he retained, because 
 he teas in the council. A supplicant for money 
 must learn to subdue his feelings, and he who 
 asks for bread must be prepared to encounter 
 insolence as well as destitution ; a dignified 
 demeanour is but too apt to render poverty 
 ridiculous, and a wise man generally lays it 
 aside, to be worn on the return of happier days. 
 The local government was in great pecuniary 
 distress; they were humble suitors at the 
 portals of the house, and showed their dis¬ 
 cretion, in regarding as a mistake what was 
 
OK CANADA. 
 
 255 
 
 intended as an insult. Warrants were also 
 tendered to each branch of the legislature for 
 their contingent expenses; as these charges 
 contained, on the part of the house, the salary 
 of Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Viger, agents in Eng¬ 
 land, not appointed conjointly with the council, 
 but by simple resolutions of the house, such an 
 appropriation without law had always been 
 violently opposed, and the constitutionalists, 
 fearing such a sacrifice of principle would be 
 made, had, previously to the meeting of the legis- 
 latiu-e, made it the subject of much animadver¬ 
 sion, and presented the governor with a resolu¬ 
 tion, “ That the claim which has recently been 
 insisted upon by the house of assembly, and 
 occasionally acted upon by the legislative 
 council, to obtain, by separate addresses to the 
 governor, advances of unappropriated money, 
 under the plea of defraying contingent ex¬ 
 penses, hut in reality embracing the payment 
 of salaries or allowances not legally established, 
 and more particularly as regards the preten¬ 
 sions of the assembly for expenses not incurred 
 or to be incurred for the business of the ses¬ 
 sions of tiiat house, is altogether unfounded in 
 law, unsupported by parliamentary usage, and 
 subversive of the rights and liberties of the 
 British subject.” 
 
 
25G 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 Independent of the constitutional objection 
 to the application of the public funds to the 
 payment of persons whom the legislative council 
 had not only not concurred in appointing, but 
 to whose mission they had pointedly objected, 
 they deeply deplored that so extraordinary a 
 concession should be made as the payment of 
 every demand of that body that obstinately 
 persisted in refusing to make any vote for the 
 support of the government. Peace, however, 
 was deemed paramount to every other consi¬ 
 deration, and that nothing might to be left 
 undone to attain it, even this sacrifice was not 
 considered too great. 
 
 They were now called upon, in the usual 
 manner, to provide for the support of the judges 
 and the officers of government, the public chest 
 containing at the time .£130,000 sterling. 
 
 The house had no sooner retired from hear¬ 
 ing this address, than their speaker adopted 
 his usual mode of inflaming his party by the 
 most violent invectives against all the authori¬ 
 ties both at home and in the colony, charging 
 the one with deceit and hypocrisy in their 
 words, and the other with oppression and 
 peculation in their deeds. In a short time lie 
 brought matters to that condition he had so 
 long desired. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 257 
 
 The house voted an address to his Majesty, in 
 which they announced that they had postponed 
 the consideration of the arrears, and determined 
 to refuse any future provision for the wants of 
 the local administration, in order the better to 
 insist upon the changes which they required 
 from the imperial authorities. Their utmost 
 concession (and they desired it might not be 
 taken for a precedent) was to offer a supply for 
 six months, that time being allowed to his 
 Majesty’s government and the British parlia¬ 
 ment to decide on the fundamental alterations 
 of the constitution and other important mea¬ 
 sures included in the demands of the assem¬ 
 bly. 
 
 In this bill of supply, which was for six 
 months only, and merely passed for the pur¬ 
 pose of throwing the odium of rejection on the 
 other branch of the legislature, they excluded 
 the salaries of the councillors, of their assistant 
 clerk, one of the judges, some usual incidental 
 charges of the civil secretary’s office, besides 
 other important salaries; and, as they had 
 hoped, it was not concurred in. This was the 
 first time they had left the executive without 
 the means of conducting the government, for the 
 sole and avowed purpose of procuring changes 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 the BUUbl.ES 
 
 in the constitution. Of the confusion and dis 
 tress which this repeated refusal of the assembly 
 to co-operate with the other branches of the 
 legislature produced in the province, it is diffi¬ 
 cult to convey any adequate idea. 
 
 The province was far advanced in the fourth 
 year since there had been any appropriation of 
 provincial funds to the use of government; 
 and although a sum, temporarily contributed 
 from the British Treasury, had relieved the civil 
 officers, so far as to give them one year’s salary 
 during that period, the third year was passing 
 away, during which theyhad not had the smallest 
 fraction of their earnings in the service of the 
 public. The distress and embarrassment which 
 this state of circumstances inflicted on the 
 functionaries of the province, whose private 
 resources are generally very limited, were as 
 humiliating as they were unmerited. Many 
 were living on money borrowed at an exor¬ 
 bitant interest; some could not but be reduced 
 to the verge of ruin; and to show that this 
 suffering of individuals was not unattended 
 with danger to the general welfare, it may be 
 enough to remark, without painfully dwelling- 
 on private circumstances, that the judges of the 
 country were amongst those who were left to 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 259 
 
 provide for their subsistence as best they might, 
 after three years’ stoppage of their official 
 incomes. 
 
 This condition of affairs might naturally have 
 been expected to terminate with the commence¬ 
 ment of the present session. In the two pre¬ 
 vious years the supplies had failed in the 
 assembly, either from differences with the 
 governor for the time being, or from the refusal 
 of funds for the payment of their contingent 
 expenses; but when the provincial parliament 
 last met, these grounds of dissension were re¬ 
 moved. You will not perceive (the commissioners 
 observed) amongst the grounds assigned for pro¬ 
 longing the financial difficulties, any complaint 
 against the existing provincial administration,or 
 the assertion of any demerit in the parties who 
 continued to be deprived of their lawfulremune- 
 ration. No local cause of quarrel was alleged, 
 of which the settlement might be indispensable 
 before the public business could proceed; on 
 the contrary, it was stated openly and without 
 disguise, that changes of a political nature were 
 the end in view, and that until certain acts 
 should be done, competent to no other autho¬ 
 rity than the imperial parliament, and com¬ 
 prising organic changes in the constitution, by 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 TIIF. BUBBLES 
 
 virtue of which the assembly itself existed, 
 that the house would never make another pecu¬ 
 niary grant to the government. Thus the 
 public servants, no parties to the contest, were 
 afflicted merely as instruments, through whose 
 sufferings to extort concessions totally inde¬ 
 pendent of their will to grant or to refuse. It is 
 scarcely necessary to remark, that the objects, 
 for the enforcement of which even such means 
 as these were thought expedient, had never 
 been positively refused, but had only been 
 referred to the commission of inquiry, in order 
 that, before the executive branch of the govern¬ 
 ment undertook to recommend changes of a 
 very important and extensive nature, it might 
 receive advice from persons entrusted with the 
 confidence of his Majesty. This, however, 
 did not prove enough. Apprehensions of 
 delay from the commission, and doubts of the 
 freedom with which it would act, were expressed 
 in the address; and the assembly intimated, 
 with frankness, that it would allow of no deli¬ 
 beration ; that either its demands must be 
 acceded to forthwith, or that it would employ 
 its poweroverthe supplies, to render the govern¬ 
 ment of the country impossible. 
 
 The sufferings of these officers was a matter 
 of undisguised satisfaction to the disaffected. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 261 
 
 who made them the subject of much facetious 
 comment on every occasion. The commis¬ 
 sioners very naturally observed on this pecu- 
 culiarity : 
 
 “ If proof were wanting- that national distinc¬ 
 tions do exercise an influence on the course of 
 affairs in this province, it might be supplied in 
 the absence of all sympathy on the part of the 
 house of assembly in the existing distress of the 
 public otlicers. Those oflicers of government 
 are for the most part of English origin, which, 
 we think, explains the treatment of the public 
 functionaries by the members of assembly. If 
 both spoke the same language, used the same 
 habits, and had those ordinary feelings of sym¬ 
 pathy which must follow from any familiar in¬ 
 tercourse in private life, we do not believe it 
 possible that one of the two could find resolu¬ 
 tion to plunge indiscriminately the whole of 
 the other class into difficulties, not for any acts 
 of their own, not even for any obnoxious senti¬ 
 ments they might hold, but in order that, by 
 their losses, a third party might be induced 
 through compassion to surrender objects de¬ 
 sired at its hands.” 
 
 Such, however, were the means through 
 which they hoped to effect their object, which 
 they now announced as follows : 
 
262 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 I. That the legislative council should he 
 elective. 
 
 2 That the executive council should be 
 converted into a ministry, responsible to the 
 assembly. 
 
 3. That the Tenures’ Act and Land Com¬ 
 pany’s Act should be repealed. 
 
 4. That the Crown revenues should be sur¬ 
 rendered unconditionally. 
 
 o. That the management of the waste lands 
 should be given up to them. 
 
 And they further declared, that they would 
 pay no arrears, or vote any civil list, until these 
 demands should be complied with. 
 
 Here the government also made its stand, 
 and very properly said, We shall concede no 
 further; these demands involve a surrender ot 
 the colony to one party within it, and we aie 
 not justified in granting them, consistently with 
 the duty we owe to the Crown, to the public, 
 or to the colonists of British origin. 
 
 In order that you may understand the bear¬ 
 ings of these demands, which are now the real 
 points in dispute (all others having been dis¬ 
 posed of), it will be necessary for me to consi¬ 
 der them separately; but as I have already 
 shewn you that “ nationality,” “ indepen- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 2G3 
 
 deuce,” and republicanism weie their avowed 
 ultimate objects, and also the quo ammo in 
 which they were demanded, you may naturally 
 infer that they themselves considered them as 
 materially contributing to that end, and essen¬ 
 tial to prepare the country (as Mr. Papineau 
 described it) for a future state of political ex¬ 
 istence, which he trusted would be neither a 
 monarchy nor an aristocracy. Indeed this has 
 never been denied any where but in England, 
 and here only by a party who are desirous of 
 applying the same elective principle to the 
 house of lords, most probably with the view of 
 producing a similar result. 
 
 1st. The first demand was that the legisla¬ 
 tive council should be elective. 
 
 The legislative council is contemporaneous 
 with the house of assembly, owing its existence 
 to the constitutional act of 1791, and was the 
 first instance known in the colonies of such a 
 body having a distinct existence, separate and 
 apart from the executive council. It consisted at 
 first of fourteen members, and, in October 1837, 
 of forty, eighteen of whom were French Cana¬ 
 dians ; but as there were several unable to 
 attend from infirmities and old age, Lord (»os- 
 ford reported that not more than thirty-one 
 

 
 264 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 could be assembled, thirteen English and 
 eighteen French members, of whom three at 
 most were persons holding office under govern¬ 
 ment. This body has, as far as the dependant 
 nature of a colony permits, analogous duties to 
 perform to those of the house of lords, and, 
 when judiciously selected, is essential to deli¬ 
 berate and useful legislation, to sustain the 
 prerogative, to uphold the connexion between 
 the mother country and the colony, and to 
 give security to the hundred and titty thousand 
 subjects of British origin in the province. This 
 much was admitted even by the commissioners 
 of inquiry, whose reluctant tribute appears not 
 to have been given until ingenuity had sought 
 in vain for a better substitute. 
 
 “ In the revision and correction of bills sent 
 up to them by the assembly, we have no doubt, 
 however, that the council has often rendered 
 valuable services to the country, and has no 
 less fulfilled one, perhaps, of its peculiar func¬ 
 tions, by its rejection of measures which the 
 constitution would not admit, thereby relieving 
 the representative of the King from the duty of 
 withholding tlie royal assent to them: such as 
 bills in which the assembly encroached upon 
 the royal prerogative, tacked to their grants of 
 money conditions deemed in England unpar- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 265 
 
 liamentary, or took it upon themselves to at¬ 
 tempt the repeal of a British statute. 
 
 It has been the unceasing aim of Mr. Papi- 
 neau and his party to libel this body as a com¬ 
 bined faction, actuated by interest alone to 
 struggle for the support of a corrupt govern¬ 
 ment, adverse to the rights and wishes of the 
 people. One of the charges brought against it 
 was that there were too many persons in it 
 holding office, and that complaint was not with¬ 
 out foundation. Indeed it was so apparent, 
 that, from 18*29 to 1835, twenty-one new coun¬ 
 cillors were appointed wholly independent of 
 government. Another charge preferred against 
 Tt was the rejection in ten years of 169 bills 
 sent to them by the other house, as contained 
 
 in the follow ing tables : 
 
 ; Rejected by 
 YEAR. 1 the Council. 
 
 Amended by 
 Council. 
 
 Total. 
 
 jp 1 
 
 1822 
 
 1823 
 
 1824 
 
 1825 * 
 
 1826 
 
 1827 
 
 1828 | 
 
 1829 5 * 
 
 1830 
 
 1831 - 
 
 1832 - 
 
 8 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 No Session. 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 No Session. 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 27 
 
 No Session. 
 
 24 
 
 24 
 
 14 
 
 22 
 
 Total - 
 
 122 
 
 47 
 
 169 
 
266 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 This charge has been reiterated in the other 
 colonies, where the explanation never followed, 
 and in some instances, from the circumstantial 
 and formal manner in which it is made, has not 
 been without its effect. It will he observed 
 that they are charged with rejecting 16.0 in¬ 
 stead of 122 bills, every exercise of the con¬ 
 stitutional right of amendment being considered 
 equivalent to rejection. Every successive year 
 the bills which had been disagreed to were 
 again transmitted to them, to swell by their re¬ 
 jection the amount of their offences. Deducting 
 the number produced by this multiplying pro¬ 
 cess, the amount of bills rejected falls Under 
 forty, which is an average of less than four a 
 year. In addition to this formidable list which 
 h<ul not been concurred in, another intermi¬ 
 nable one was offered of those which had not 
 been considered, the explanation of which I 
 
 find in the words of the commissioners:_ 
 
 Much obloquy has also, we must assert, 
 been unjustly attempted to be thrown on the 
 council for the rejection of bills sent up to them 
 late in the session, when there were no longer 
 the means of forming a house in the assembly 
 to take into consideration any amendments that 
 might be made on them.” 
 
J 
 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 Instead of preferring complaints against this 
 body for acts of omission, they might have been 
 more successful had they rested satisfied with 
 charging them with acts of commission ; for, 
 although they can be justified for their rejection 
 of pernicious bills, what shall we say to then 
 want of firmness in afterwards passing some of 
 those very bills, under the dictation of that 
 assembly that was arming itself with fresh 
 charges from these instances of its weakness ? 
 But the time had now arrived when it was 
 alike independent of the crown and the people, 
 and could neither be influenced by the timid 
 fears of the executive, nor the violence anti 
 invective of the assembly. So long as a majo¬ 
 rity of office-holders and people connected 
 with government had seats at the council board, 
 the factious majority of the house could exer¬ 
 cise a control over the council, through the 
 state of dependence and subjugation in which 
 they kept the executive. Every governor had 
 lately shewn a desire to win the honour of paci¬ 
 fying Canada,—had receded and conceded, 
 offered conciliation and endured affronts, borne 
 and foreborne, in a manner that it is quite hu¬ 
 miliating to contemplate, and had used Ins 
 influence in the legislative council to aid in the 
 
268 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 execution of instructions which, although they 
 are justly entitled to the merit of kind intentions, 
 have not so much claim upon our admiration on 
 the scoreof their merit or their dignity Wefind, 
 indeed, the aid of the secretary for the colonies 
 called in, and Mr. Stanley reproving them for 
 even insinuating a doubt of the loyalty of these 
 omnipotent men, and regretting that any word 
 had been introduced which should have the ap¬ 
 pearance of ascribing to a class of his Majesty’s 
 subjects of one origin views at variance with the 
 allegiance which they owe to his Majesty. The 
 house had, however, by their incessant com¬ 
 plaints, purified the board of every person upon 
 whom this influence coidd be exerted. This 
 independence of executive influence is thus 
 alluded to by Lord Aylmer:—“ It would be 
 difficult, perhaps, to find in any British colony 
 a legislative body more independent of the 
 Crown than the legislative council of Lower 
 Canada; and so far am I J'rom possessing, as 
 the King's representative, any influence there, 
 that I will not conceal that I have, on more 
 than one occasion, regretted the course adopted 
 by the council. But whilst I make this confes¬ 
 sion, 1 w ill not deny but I have, on the con¬ 
 trary, much satisfaction in avowing that 1 
 
f 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 repose great confidence in that branch of the 
 colonial legislature. It is a confidence derived 
 from my knowledge of the upright, indepen¬ 
 dent, and honourable character of the great 
 majority of those who compose it, and of their 
 firm and unalterable attachment to his Ma¬ 
 jesty’s person and government, and to the 
 constitution of the colonies as by law esta¬ 
 blished.” The council had actually become, 
 what it ought to be, the representative of the 
 independent people of the country of the 
 wealth, intelligence, and virtue of the colony. 
 The assembly, therefore, voted that it was more 
 mischievous than ever, and resolved that it 
 should be elective. It is but due to them 
 here to say that this idea is not thought 
 to have originated in Canada, but to have 
 been communicated to them, with other 
 equally judicious advice, from England. It 
 is certain that it has been advocated here, if 
 not strongly, at least warmly, and was sup¬ 
 ported in the house of lords by Lord Brougham. 
 From a careful perusal of what his lordship 
 said upon the occasion, which was declamatory 
 and not argumentative, 1 am inclined to believe 
 it received his support, not so much because he 
 thought so, as because the ministry did not 
 
270 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 think go, as the whole speech appears to be the 
 effect of strongly excited feelings. 
 
 Any organic change in the legislative council 
 must be well considered, before it is granted, 
 in two distinct and separate bearings, first, as 
 it affects the connexion with this country, and, 
 secondly, as it affects the interests of the colon¬ 
 ists themselves. The avowed object of the as¬ 
 sembly in advocating this change, is to procure 
 an identity of views in the two branches, which 
 would be effected by their being elected by the 
 same persons, or what is the same thing, by the 
 same influences. Were this to take place, it 
 would be a duplicate of the house, registering 
 its Acts, but. exercising no beneficial legisla¬ 
 tion upon them. A difference of opinion then, 
 whenever it occurred, would not be between 
 the two houses, hut between them and the 
 governor, and it is easy to conceive how un¬ 
 tenable his position would soon become. At 
 present, although possessing a veto, and form¬ 
 ing a constituent, he can hardly be said to be 
 a deliberative branch of the legislature, but by 
 this change either such duties must necessarily 
 devolve upon him, and occasion the exercise of 
 incompatible powers, or in every instance 
 where he differed in opinion, he would be 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 271 
 
 compelled to resort to a rejection of the mea¬ 
 sure. The commissioners, whose reasoning on 
 the subject is not very intelligible, have been 
 more fortunate in the expression of their im¬ 
 partiality, having recorded at the same time 
 their approbation of the principle, and their 
 conviction of the danger of its application. The 
 object of the French party, it is said, is to as 
 similate their institutions to those of the United 
 States; but the situation of the country is so 
 different from that of any state in the union, 
 that there is no analogy whatever. Instead of 
 two co-existent but independent chambers, it 
 would in fact be only one body occupying two 
 halls. 
 
 In Canada there is unfortunately wanting 
 among the French population, the salutary 
 controul of public opinion. The population is 
 wholly unfit for the exercise of the important 
 duties of self-government. Scattered over a 
 large surface, ignorant of constitutional prin¬ 
 ciples, and inattentive to public affairs, they 
 implicitly follow a few leaders, who have the 
 choice and the management of their represen¬ 
 tatives in their own hands, and who, if this 
 change were conceded, would place in both 
 houses such persons as would follow their in¬ 
 structions. It were needless to ask in such a 
 
272 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 case what would become of the British popu¬ 
 lation ? That Mr. Papineau knows but little of 
 the constitution of the United States which he 
 affects to admire, and claims to imitate, will 
 best appear from the following extracts from 
 American constitutional writers: 
 
 “ All the powers of government,” says Mr. 
 Jefferson, “ legislative, executive, and judi¬ 
 ciary, result to the legislative body. The 
 concentration of these in the same hands is 
 precisely the definition of a despotic govern¬ 
 ment. It w'ill be no alleviation, that these 
 powers will be exercised by a plurality of 
 hands, and not by a single one. One hundred 
 and seventy-three despots would surely be as 
 oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn 
 their eyes on the republic of Venice. An elective 
 despotism is not the government we fought for ; 
 but one which should not only be founded on 
 free principles, but in which the powers of go¬ 
 vernment should be so divided and balanced 
 among several bodies of magistracy, as that no 
 one could transcend their legal limits without 
 being effectually checked and restrained by the 
 others.” 
 
 Another author says, 
 
 “ Another and most important advantage 
 arising from this ingredient is, the great diffe- 
 
OP CANADA. 
 
 273 
 
 rence which it creates in the elements of the 
 two branches of the legislature ; which consti¬ 
 tutes a great desideratum in every practical 
 division of legislative power. In fact, this divi¬ 
 sion (as has been already intimated) is of little 
 or no intrinsic value, unless it is so organized, 
 that each can operate as a real check upon un¬ 
 due and rash legislation. If each branch is 
 substantially framed upon the same plan, the 
 advantages of the division are shadowy and 
 imaginative; the visions and speculations of 
 the brain, and not the waking thoughts of states¬ 
 men or patriots. It may be safely asserted, 
 that for all the purposes of liberty, and security 
 ot stable laws, and of solid institutions, of per¬ 
 sonal rights, and of the protection of property, 
 a single branch is quite as good as two, if their 
 composition is the same, and their spirit and 
 impulses the same. Each will act as the other 
 does; and each will be led by some common 
 influence of ambition, or intrigue, or passion, 
 to the same disregard of public interests, and 
 the same indifference to the prostration of pri¬ 
 vate rights. It will only be a duplication of 
 the evils of oppression and rashness with a du¬ 
 plication of obstruction to effective redress. In 
 this view the organization of the senate becomes 
 
 I 
 
 T 
 
THE BUBBLES 
 
 274 
 
 of’ inestimable value.” Again be says, “ 1 be 
 improbability of sinister combination will 
 always be in proportion to tbe dissimilarity of 
 tlie genius of tbe two bodies; and tberefoie 
 every circumstance consistent with harmony' in 
 all proper measures, which points out a distinct 
 organization of tbe component materials of 
 each, is desirable.” 
 
 And again this is very powerfully put by an 
 eminent republican writer: 
 
 “The division of the legislature into two 
 separate and independent branches, is founded 
 on such obvious principles of good policy, and 
 is so strongly recommended by the unequivocal 
 language of experience, that it has obtained the 
 general approbation of the people of this coun- 
 trv. One great object of this separation of the 
 legislature into two houses acting separately, 
 and with co-ordinate powers, is to destioy the 
 evil effects of sudden and strong excitement, and 
 of precipitate measures, springing from passion, 
 caprice, prejudice, personal influence, and paity 
 intrigue, and which have been found by sad 
 experience, to exercise a potent and dangerous 
 sway in single assemblies. A hasty decision is 
 not so likely to arrive to the solemnities of a law 
 when it is to be arrested in its course and made 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 275 
 
 to undergo the deliberation, and probably the 
 jealous and critical revision, of another and a 
 rival body of men, sitting in a different place, 
 and under better advantages, to avoid the pre¬ 
 possessions and correct the errors of the other 
 branch. The legislature of Pennsylvania and 
 Georgia consisted originally of a single house. 
 The instability and passion which marked their 
 proceedings were very visible at the time, and 
 the subject of much public animadversion : and 
 in the subsequent reform of their constitutions, 
 the people were so sensible of this defect, and 
 of the inconvenience they had suffered from it, 
 that in both states a senate was introduced. No 
 portion of the political history of mankind is 
 more full of instructive lessons on this subject, 
 or contains more striking proofs of the faction, 
 instability, and misery of states under the do¬ 
 minion of a single, unchecked assembly, than 
 those of the Italian republics of the middle 
 ages, and which in great numbers, and with 
 dazzling but transient splendour, in the interval 
 between the fall of the western and eastern 
 empire of the Romans.* They were all alike ill- 
 
 * I would refer the reader, if he feels inclined to pursue this 
 subject, to Sir James McIntosh’s celebrated Introductory Lecture, 
 written in 17^7 J in which by anticipation he composed with great 
 skill and ability the condemnation of his own conduct on the 
 Reform Rill. 
 
 T 2 
 
270 
 
 THE BURBLES 
 
 constituted, with a single unbalanced assembly. 
 They were all alike miserable, and ended in 
 similar disgrace. 
 
 The second demand was that the executive 
 council should be converted into a ministry re¬ 
 sponsible to the assembly. The existence of a 
 council to advise the governor in the conduct 
 of affairs may be traced back to the first esta¬ 
 blishment of a civil government in this pro¬ 
 vince under the authority of Great Britain. 
 The royal instructions to General Murray, 
 dated 7th December 1763, commanded him to 
 appoint a council as therein specified. The sta¬ 
 tute of the 14th of Geo. III., c. 83, established 
 it in a more formal manner, and conferred upon 
 it certain legislative powers; but in 1791 the 
 constitutional act provided for the existence of 
 two councils, a legislative and an executive one; 
 and accordingly, by royal instructions, dated 
 the 16th September of that year, the latter was 
 appointed to consist of nine members, with a 
 salary to each one respectively of one hundred 
 pounds. Additional or honorary members have 
 since been occasionally added to the board. 
 Of the functions of the executive council the 
 most comprehensive description is that they are 
 bound to give their advice to the governor when- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 277 
 
 ever it is requested.* There are certain eases in 
 which the governor is required to act by and 
 w ith their advice, but in far the greater part of 
 the business of government he is at liberty to 
 receive their advice or not as he pleases. It 
 audits public accounts, has some direction of 
 the crown lands, and constitutes a court of 
 appeal. It can assemble only on summons from 
 the governor, is sworn to secresy, and confers 
 no privilege on its members of either recording 
 their several opinions or entering their protests 
 individually. 
 
 This body, it is demanded, should be con¬ 
 verted into a ministry and be made responsible 
 to the assembly ; the answer to this is strongly 
 and pointedly given in the report of the com¬ 
 missioners :— 
 
 “ The house of assembly, in their answ er to 
 the governor's speech at the opening of the late 
 session, and in their subsequent address to his 
 Majesty, dated the 20th of February 1836, 
 expressed their desire for a 4 constitutional les- 
 ponsibility’ of the executive council, based on 
 the practice of the United Kingdom. We have 
 already had occasion to advert to this proposal 
 
 See Appendix to Report of Commissioners. 
 
278 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 incidentally in our report of the 12th of March, 
 but a recapitulation of what we then advanced, 
 and some further examination of the project, 
 may not be superfluous here, especially as the 
 subject has excited such keen interest in Upper 
 Canada since the time when we last noticed it. 
 On that occasion we observed, that while in 
 England it was a maxim of the constitution 
 that no wrong could be imputed to the sacred 
 person of his Majesty, the head of the execu¬ 
 tive here was a servant of his Majesty, respon¬ 
 sible to the King and to parliament for his con¬ 
 duct ; that therefore it was necessary that his 
 measures should be under his control, in like 
 manner as their consequences rested upon his 
 character; that to render the executive council 
 responsible to any but the governor himself, 
 would demand the allotment to them of new 
 powers commensurate with their new responsi¬ 
 bility, and would require a corresponding di¬ 
 minution of the powers of the governor; that 
 thus the direct tendency of a council, respon¬ 
 sible in the sense we were then considering, 
 was to withdraw part of the administration 
 from his Majesty’s representative in this pro¬ 
 vince, and to abridge to that extent the effi¬ 
 ciency of the functionary on whom, above all 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 279 
 
 others, his Majesty must rely for retaining the 
 allegiance of the colony. 
 
 “ We would now remark further, that the 
 question is not between responsibility and 
 irresponsibility absolutely, but only as to a 
 peculiar sort of responsibility, which it is wished 
 to attach to the executive council. The weigh¬ 
 tiest responsibility which can attach to any man 
 in matters of a public nature for which he is 
 not punishable by law, or by loss of office, is 
 the accountability to public opinion, and from 
 this the executive councillors are not even now 
 exempt, though, in consequence of the rule of 
 secresy (which we shall presently propose ma¬ 
 terially to relax), they are not so much open to 
 it as might be wished. They are already amena¬ 
 ble to the courts of law for any offence, legally 
 punishable, which may be brought home to 
 them; they would also, we apprehend, be 
 made amenable to the jurisdiction of any court 
 which may be established for the trial of im¬ 
 peachments against public functionaries ; and 
 they are liable to be dismissed by the same 
 authority which appoints them. These different 
 
 liabilities constitute a responsibility, than which 
 
 we know not what other is borne by any public 
 servants. 
 
280 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ But if the councillors were rendered ac¬ 
 countable for the acts of government, and 
 accountable not to the executive authority by 
 which they are appointed, but immediately 
 to the house of assembly, we think that a 
 state of things would be produced incompa¬ 
 tible with the connexion between a colony and 
 the mother country. The council having to 
 answer for the course of government, must in 
 justice be allowed also to control it; the respon¬ 
 sibility, therefore, of the governor to his Ma¬ 
 jesty must also cease, and the very functions of 
 governor, instead of being discharged by the 
 person expressly nominated for that high trust, 
 would in reality be divided among such gentle¬ 
 men as from time to time might be carried into 
 the council by the pleasure of the assembly. 
 1 he course of affairs would depend exclusively 
 on the revolutions of party within the province. 
 All union with the empire, through the head of 
 the executive, would be at an end ; the country 
 in short would be virtually independent; and 
 if this be the object aimed at, it ought to be put 
 in its proper light, and argued on its proper 
 grounds, and not disguised under the plausible 
 demand of assimilating the constitution of these 
 provinces to that of the mother country.” 
 
I 
 
 OF CANADA. 281 
 
 1 shall not weaken the effect of this by any 
 remarks of my own, but merely observe, that if 
 a majority in the house, appointing the legisla¬ 
 tive council, and controling the executive, is 
 not a state of independence as regards Great 
 Britain, and of despotism as regards the pro¬ 
 vince, it must at least be admitted, that it con¬ 
 fers all the advantages of such a condition but 
 the name. 
 
 The third was a demand for the repeal of 
 the Tenures Act and the Land Company’s Act. 
 On neither of these topics is it necessary to 
 dwell longer than to explain the nature of them. 
 1 have already observed that Canada was sub¬ 
 ject to the old feudal law of France, and I refer 
 you to page 35 of this work for an account of their 
 more prominent features. The inconvenience 
 of this sort of tenure has been very strongly 
 felt, and particularly in towns, as preventing 
 the transfer of property and its consequent 
 improvement. The English population, espe- 
 pecially of Montreal, complain that to allow 
 the exercise of seigneurial rights over a city 
 destined by its situation to become a great com¬ 
 mercial emporium,* is not merely to give a fatal 
 
 • See Letters of Anti-Bureaucrat. 
 
282 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 wound to the progress of the city itself, but it 
 is weakly, impolitically, and unjustly to sacri¬ 
 fice the interests of trade and of future genera¬ 
 tions, throughout a large portion of both pro¬ 
 vinces, to which its extended commerce under 
 happier auspices, might be capable of giving 
 prosperity and comfort. They say that the 
 lods et rentes, or mutation fines, amounting 
 by law to one-twelfth of the price upon every 
 sale, constitute one of the greatest grievances, 
 but by no means the only one, arising from 
 the present tenure, and which can not be 
 removed while the seigneury continues to be 
 held in mortmain. 
 
 Supposing a manufactory or building, worth 
 £12,000, to be erected upon a lot not worth 
 £100, if the proprietor has occasion to sell, and 
 could even find a purchaser willing to give him 
 the sum he has expended in the erection of 
 the edifice, he is nevertheless liable to lose 
 £1,000 as a punishment for having had the 
 industry, the means, and the enterprise to 
 build; because the claim of the seigneurs is 
 not the twelfth of the original value of the 
 ground merely, but the twelfth of the amount 
 of the money and labour of others laid out upon 
 the building also. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 283 
 
 This, under the feudal system, becomes a 
 privileged debt to the seigneurs, who have not 
 expended a farthing. But this is not all—the 
 next and the next vendor, ad infinitum , must 
 each in turn lose to the seigneurs a twelfth of 
 the purchase-money. So that if, in the exigen¬ 
 cies of trade, or by inevitable misfortunes, the 
 building should change hands a certain num¬ 
 ber of times, the seigneurs will benefit by these 
 evils to the amount of £ 12,000, the full cost of 
 the edifice, to which they have contributed 
 nothing, being one hundred and twenty times 
 the original value of the lot. Instances are 
 known where the claim for lods ct vcntcs , de¬ 
 ferred until the occurrence of several sales, has 
 swept away at once the whole price for which 
 the lot, buildings and all, have been sold. 
 
 It has been asserted* by men of great local 
 knowledge, that the entire value of all the real 
 estate and buildings in the city of Montreal 
 (the property of, and erected at the cost of 
 many thousands of individuals) must, every 
 forty years or less, be paid into the hands of the 
 seigneurs ; and this is exclusive of the rents of 
 the seigneury. Thus the value of all the real 
 
 * J. Thom, Esq. 
 
 I 
 
THE BUBBLES 
 
 284 
 
 estate and buildings existing forty years ago, 
 when the buildings were much fewer, and the 
 value of the real estate far less than at present, 
 has certainly, within the last forty years, passed 
 into their hands. In like manner the number 
 of buildings, and value of real estate, will of 
 necessity be so much augmented during the 
 next forty years, that at the end of that period 
 it is likely that the present value of all the real 
 estate and buildings will also have passed into 
 their hands, should the feudal tenure be allowed 
 by sufferance still to retain its possession. It 
 is to be remarked that this enormous contribu¬ 
 tion, this appalling and blighting exaction, is 
 principally raised from improvements of which 
 Englishmen and English commerce are the 
 creators and cause. 
 
 This old law also allows of a system of mort¬ 
 gage called hypotheque, which may affect the 
 land in a variety of ways without enabling any 
 one creditor of the owner of the land to 
 know what is passing or has passed between 
 his debtor and any other person. The system 
 of general mortgage aggravates in a tenfold 
 degree the evils of secret obligations. For 
 where mortgages spring from such a variety 
 of circumstances, and are created in such a 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 285 
 
 variety of ways, their secresy, even if they were 
 special, would be sufficiently pernicious; but 
 their generality engenders evils absolutely into¬ 
 lerable and altogether incredible. Through that 
 generality of mortgages, a man cannot hold real 
 property for an hour without vitiating its title 
 to the amount of all his previously granted no¬ 
 tarial obligations. In this way, a man may pol¬ 
 lute the title of real property, that virtu¬ 
 ally never belonged to him. He may have 
 bought a farm or a house on credit, may have 
 been obliged by want of funds to restore it to 
 the seller, and may thus have burthened it 
 with a hundred previously contracted debts of 
 indefinite amount. 
 
 The tacit hypotheque is of five kinds:— 
 1. The dower of his wife, unless barred by an 
 ante-nuptial contract; 2. Security to his ward, 
 in the event of his being appointed guardian to 
 any minor, which he may be without his own 
 consent, the office being in many cases compul¬ 
 sory ; 3. The same obligation in the event of 
 his being named curator, trustee, or adminis¬ 
 trator of any intestate person; 4. The obli¬ 
 gation of an heir, entering on his inheritance, 
 to the payment of the debts of the person from 
 whom he received it, or sans benefice d'inven- 
 
28G 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 taire ; 5th, and lastly. The liability of public 
 servants for the due performance of their trusts. 
 The wife's dow er, moreover, is the inheritance 
 of the children of the marriage, and conse¬ 
 quently an entail is created by it, as well as a 
 life interest. 
 
 The British government thought it was con¬ 
 ferring a great benefit upon the Lower Cana¬ 
 dians in proposing to change the tenures, so as 
 to get rid of those circumstances which thus 
 depreciated the value of land, and retarded the 
 improvement of Canadian trade and agricul¬ 
 ture ; and all unbiassed men would, and did, 
 agree with the government on this point. 
 
 The first provision on this subject con¬ 
 sisted of two clauses of the Canada Trade Act 
 (.'1 Geo. IV., c. 119, s. 31 & 32), by which his 
 Majesty was empowered to agree with all seig¬ 
 neurs for the commutation of their dues to 
 the Crown, and also to commute with such 
 censitaires as held immediately of the Crown, 
 and to re-grant both to one class and the other 
 their lands in free and common soccage. In 
 addition to, and amendment of this Act was 
 passed the 6 Geo. IV., c. 59. 
 
 The most important clauses are as follow : 
 
 Sec. I—Provides for the commutation (on 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 287 
 
 request) of the tenures of land held of the 
 Crown. 
 
 Sec. 2—Provides that rights of the seigneur 
 shall not be affected till such commutation is 
 fully made. 
 
 Sec. 3—Declares that persons holding lands 
 in fief, and obtaining a commutation from the 
 Crown, shall be bound to grant a like commu¬ 
 tation, if required, to those holding under them, 
 for such indemnity as shall be fixed by experts, 
 or (sec. 4), by proceedings in a court of law. 
 
 Sec. 5—Declares that on such agreement or 
 adjudication the tenure shall be converted into 
 free and common soccage, but sec. G provides 
 that this shall not discharge a man of dues or 
 services then accrued to the lord. 
 
 S ec . 7—Persons applying for commutation 
 are to give public notice to mortgagees and 
 others having claims on the lands. 
 
 Sec. 8—Lands holden in free and common 
 soccage in Lower Canada, are to be subject to 
 the laws of England. 
 
 Sec. 0—Provided, nevertheless, that nothing 
 herein contained shall extend to prevent his 
 Majesty, with the advice and consent of the 
 legislative council and assembly of the province 
 of Lower Canada, from making and enacting 
 
288 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 any such laws or statutes as may be necessary 
 for the better adapting the before-mentioned 
 rules of the laws of England, or any of them, 
 to the local circumstances and condition of the 
 said province of Lower Canada, and the inha¬ 
 bitants thereof. 
 
 Such are the provisions of the act, the repeal of 
 which is so imperiously demanded. Unreasona¬ 
 ble, however, as the request was, thus to make a 
 disgraceful retrogade movement to barbarous 
 usages, it was met in the only way it could be : 
 the act 1 W. IV., c. 20 was passed, leaving 
 the whole subject to be dealt with by the 
 provincial legislature as it should think fit. 
 The repeal of the Canada Land Companies 
 act is next insisted upon. On this subject, it 
 will be quite sufficient to state their demand, 
 to which no honest man could give any other 
 answer than it has already received—an un¬ 
 qualified refusal. They require that an act of 
 parliament, incorporating this company, and 
 conferring upon them certain privileges, and a 
 title to lands, upon which they have expended 
 large sums of money, should be repealed, and 
 the property confiscated. The only charitable 
 way of viewing the demand, is to consider it not 
 so much an evidence of moral turpitude, as a 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 289 
 
 manifestation of contempt and insolence to¬ 
 wards the party, to whom it was addressed.* 
 Fourth.—Then followed a demand for the 
 unconstitutional surrender of the crown reve¬ 
 nues. You will recollect that the Canada com¬ 
 mittee of parliament, as it was called, reported, 
 that although the duties, before alluded to, 
 were vested in the Crown, they were prepared 
 to say the real interests of the colony would 
 be best promoted by placing them under 
 the controul of the house of assembly. Being- 
 prepared to say a thing, and being prepared 
 to show or prove a thing, happen, unfortu¬ 
 nately, to be widely different; and, as the 
 committee contented themsel ves with the former, 
 we are not in possession of the grounds upon 
 which they felt prepared to say so. They 
 were doubtless quite sufficient at the time, 
 although they, unfortunately, did not continue 
 
 * But although they considered every institution and usage of 
 their own so sacred as to admit of no change, they viewed those 
 of the English in a very different light. The conceding and res¬ 
 pectful conduct of Government formed an amusing contrast with 
 their audacious insolence. To mark their contempt for regal 
 rights, they passed an Act to make notice of action served on the 
 attorney-general, for damages against the Crown, legal and bind¬ 
 ing. If the suit went against the Crown, it was provided, that 
 execution might issue against the governor, and the furniture, or 
 the guns of the fortress. 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 to be so long enough for the act (1st and 2d 
 Will. IV.) to reach Canada. For the real inte¬ 
 rests of the colony, it is very evident, have not 
 been best promoted thereby. It would appear 
 also that that great and single minded man, the 
 Duke of Wellington, (who probably knew 
 quite as much of the French as the committee 
 did), was not prepared to say so, but, on the 
 contrary, he entered his protest against the 
 measure : “ These persons,” said he, (meaning 
 the judges), “ will thus become dependent 
 upon the continued favour of the legislative 
 assembly, for the reward of their labours and 
 services; the administration, within the province 
 of Lower Canada, can no longer be deemed 
 independent; and his Majesty’s subjects will 
 have justice administered to them by judges, 
 and will be governed by officers situated as 
 above described.” The event has justified his 
 grace’s expectations, and disappointed those 
 of the committee. This unconditional surren¬ 
 der was made on the full understanding that a 
 civil list would be granted, and the adminis¬ 
 tration of justice permanently provided for :— 
 the former they refused. They had now got 
 the officers of government at their mercy, and 
 were determined to keep them so; and the 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 291 
 
 judges they made independent of the Crown, 
 hut dependent, upon them for their annual 
 allowance, depriving the government of the 
 power of removing them, except upon impeach¬ 
 ment, and reserving the right themselves to 
 remove them at pleasure, by withdrawing their 
 salaries. Having succeeded in this, they now 
 demanded the rents of the real estate, belonging 
 to the King, in Canada, and this too they are 
 promised, when they shall vote the civil list,— 
 one of the resolutions introduced by Lord 
 John Russell, being, “ That it is expedient to 
 place at the tlisposal of the legislature the net 
 proceeds of the hereditary,territorial, and casual 
 revenues of the Crown, arising within the pro¬ 
 vince, in case the said legislature shall see fit 
 to grant a civil list, for defraying the necessary 
 charges of the administration of justice, and 
 for the maintenance and unavoidable expense 
 of certain of the principal officers of the civil 
 government of the province.” The great error 
 that has been committed in these unconditional 
 surrenders of the revenue of the Crown, is in 
 attempting to keep up an analogy, that does 
 not exist, to the practice in England. The 
 committee lost sight of the important distinc¬ 
 tion that Canada is a colony, and that what 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 might be very right and proper here, would 
 be neither right nor expedient there. The 
 officers of government are not merely the offi¬ 
 cers of Canada, but the officers of Great Britain, 
 and, by giving the legislature a controul over 
 them, they surrender the imperial power over 
 the province. They should be removeable, 
 not when the legislature, like the committee of 
 parliament, is “ prepared to say” so, hut when 
 it is “prepared to prove” that they ought to be 
 but their salaries should be beyond the con¬ 
 troul of the local assembly. This position is 
 too obvious, and has received too much painful 
 corroboration, in recent events, to require any 
 further comment. 
 
 Lastly.—They required the management of 
 the waste lands to be given up to them The 
 object of this extraordinary claim, now for the 
 first time put forward ni the history of coloni¬ 
 zation, was for the avowed purpose of control- 
 ing emigration from Great Britain, which they 
 had already impeded by a capitation tax, by re¬ 
 fusing to establish an efficient quarantine, or to 
 give aid to the improvement of the harbour of 
 Montreal; by endeavouring to alarm settlers on 
 the score of insecurity of title, and in an 
 attempt to ruin the banks. 
 
1 
 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 293 
 
 Ill Mr. Papineau’s celebrated pamphlet, to 
 which I have previously alluded, he says, “ the 
 protection, or, to speak more plainly, English 
 sovereignty over Canada, brought other evils in 
 its train. A swarm of Britons hastened to the 
 shores of the new colony, to avail themselves of 
 its advantages to improve their own condition.” 
 History affords so many proofs of the license used 
 by a people when flushed with victory, that this 
 gentleman’s surprise at the English taking the 
 liberty of settling on the waste lands of a colony, 
 which they had so gallantly conquered, affords 
 a pleasing proof that the natural simplicity of the 
 Canadian character was not yet wholly destroy¬ 
 ed by the study of politics. “ That, however, ’ 
 he continued, “ was not sufticient for their cu¬ 
 pidity, they established themselves in our cities, 
 and made themselves masters of all the trade, as 
 well foreign as domestic.” “ For many years they 
 took but a small share in our political affairs. 
 The elections remained free from their intrigues 
 because they covdd have had no chance of 
 practicising any amongst a population nine 
 times more numerous than themselves. But 
 within these five or six years they go about 
 
 boldly”.\ T ° FeVent 
 
 this evil, which was growing in magnitude 
 
294 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 every year, “of their interesting themselves 
 in the political affairs of the province,” in pro¬ 
 portion to their numbers, they demanded the 
 control of the wild lands, and, reverting to 
 abstract principles, started this new doctrine: 
 
 “ That in any new discovered or newly occu¬ 
 pied country the land belongs to the govern¬ 
 ment of the nation taking possession of it, and 
 that settlers in it, so long as they retain the 
 character only of emigrants from the mother 
 country, can claim no more than what 
 has been granted to them as individuals; 
 but that, when a distinct boundary has been 
 assigned to them, and they come to be incor¬ 
 porated into a body politic, with a power of 
 legislation for their internal affairs, the territory 
 within their boundary becomes, as a matter of 
 right, the property of the body politic, or of the 
 inhabitants, and is to be disposed of according 
 to rules framed by their local legislature, and 
 no longer by that of the parent state.” 
 
 On this point the commissioners reported as 
 follows :— 
 
 “ This proposition rests, as we understand it, 
 entirely upon abstract grounds, and we believe 
 that we are authorized in saying that it never 
 has been entertained by Great Britain or any 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 295 
 
 oilier colonizing - power. That the ungranted 
 lands in any colony remain the property of the 
 Crown has, on the contrary, we believe, been 
 the universally received doctrine in Great 
 Britain, and although the constitutional act 
 does not expressly assert a right of which its 
 framers probably never contemplated a doubt, 
 the lands of the province are mentioned in the 
 30th clause as being thereafter to be granted 
 by his Majesty and his successors. While, 
 therefore, we are quite ready to admit, that in 
 the disposal of the ungranted lands the interests 
 of the first settlers ought never to be lost sight 
 of, and also that the wishes of the local legis¬ 
 lature should be consulted, provided they are 
 made known to his Majesty in a constitutional 
 manner, we cannot recognize in any way the 
 abstract principle set up for it in opposition, 
 not merely to the general laws and analogies 
 of the British empire, but to the clear meaning 
 of the Act by which alone the body preferring 
 the claim has its existence. It must, we ap¬ 
 prehend, be the main object in every scheme 
 of colonization, that the parent state should 
 have the right to establish her own people on 
 such terms as she may think fit in the country 
 colonized; and at present perhaps her North 
 
296 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 American colonies are more valuable to Eng¬ 
 land as receptacles for her surplus population 
 than in any other way. We cannot, therefore, 
 believe that England will consent to a doctrine 
 that will go to place at the discretion of any 
 local legislature the terms on which emigrants 
 from her shores are to be received into her 
 colonies.” 
 
 Here, however, the government again shewed 
 its anxiety to gratify their wishes as far as it 
 was possible; and in their undeviating spirit of 
 conciliation, although they could not grant the 
 whole demand, endeavoured to meet them half 
 way, by replying that they had no objection to 
 the legislature prescribing the rule of manage¬ 
 ment for the Crown lands, but their application 
 must be confined to the executive. Such are 
 the demands which were then made, and are 
 still put forward by the leaders of the Canadian 
 party ; demands, which it is evident amount to 
 a claim by one part of her Majesty’s subjects, 
 to an independent controul of the colony. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 297 
 
 Letter XI 
 
 As the assembly had separated with a decla¬ 
 ration that they would never vote a civil list, 
 until all their requests were granted, it was 
 necessary for parliament to interfere, and 
 Lord John Russell proposed and carried cer¬ 
 tain resolutions, of which the substance is as 
 follow s: 
 
 “ lstly. That in the existing state of Lower 
 Canada, it is unadvisable to make the legis¬ 
 lative council elective, but that it is expedient 
 to adopt measures for securing to that branch 
 of the legislature a greater degree of public 
 confidence. 
 
 “ 2dly. That while it is expedient to im¬ 
 prove the composition of the executive council, 
 it is unadvisable to subject it to the responsi¬ 
 bility demanded by the house of assembly. 
 
 “ 3dly. That the legal title of the British 
 American Land Company to the land they 
 hold under their charter, and an act of the 
 imperial parliament, ought to be maintained 
 inviolate. 
 
298 THE BUBBLES 
 
 “ 4 thly. That as soon as the legislature 
 shall make provisions by law for discharging 
 lands from feudal dues and services, and for 
 removing any doubts as to the incidents of the 
 tenure of land, in free and common soccage, 
 it is expedient to repeal the Canada Tenures 
 Act, and the Canada 1 rade Act, so far as the 
 latter relates to the tenures of land in this pro¬ 
 vince, saving, nevertheless, to all persons the 
 rights vested in them under or in virtue of 
 those Acts. 
 
 “ 5 thly. That, for defraying the arrears due, 
 on account of the established and customary 
 charges of the administration of justice, and of 
 the civil government of the province, it is ex¬ 
 pedient, that, after applying for that purpose 
 such balance as should, on the 10th day of 
 April last, be in the hands of the receiver- 
 general, arising from the hereditary, territorial, 
 and casual revenues of the Crown, the governor 
 of the province be empowered to isssue, out of 
 any other monies in the hands of the receiver- 
 general, such further sums as shall be necessary 
 to effect the payment of such arrears and 
 charges up to the 10th of April last. 
 
 “ bthly. That it is expedient to place at the 
 disposal of the legislature the net proceeds of 
 
1 
 
 OF CANADA. 299 
 
 the hereditary, territorial, and casual revenues 
 of the Crown, arising within the province 
 in case the said legislature shall see fit to 
 grant a civil list for defraying the necessary 
 charges of the administration of justice, and for 
 the maintenance and unavoidable expenses of 
 certain of the principal officers of the civil 
 government of the province; and, lastly, 
 
 “ That it is expedient that the legislatures 
 of Lower and Upper Canada respectively, be 
 authorized to make provision for the joint regu¬ 
 lation and adjustment of questions respecting 
 their trade and commerce, and of other ques¬ 
 tions wherein they have a common interest.” 
 
 Whether the spirit of concession had not been 
 heretofore carried too far, and whether the pub¬ 
 lic a flairs of Canada ought to have been suffered 
 (even for the amiable and praiseworthy object 
 of endeavouring, if possible, to satisfy the domi¬ 
 nant party in the house), ever to have arrived 
 at this crisis, are questions upon which I have 
 no desire, on this occasion, to enter, being 
 foreign to my object, which is to show you that 
 the French-Canadians have no claim to sym¬ 
 pathy “ as our oppressed and enslaved bre¬ 
 thren.” But that these resolutions were indis¬ 
 pensable, that they were not resorted to till 
 
300 THE BUBBLES 
 
 they were necessary, and that parliament was 
 justified in this exercise of its supreme authority, 
 no unprejudiced and right-thinking man can 
 doubt. A colony is a dependent province, and 
 Great Britain is an independent metropolitan 
 state. The controlling power must obviously 
 be greater than the power controlled. The 
 power, therefore, of a colony being limited, if 
 it assumes to pass those limits, it is no longer 
 dependent but independent. It is not only the 
 right but the duty of Parliament, to restrain 
 within their constitutional limits, provincial 
 legislatures, in the same manner as it is the right 
 of the colonists to exercise those powers con¬ 
 stitutionally, and their duty not to attempt to 
 exceed those limits. When one branch of a 
 legislature resolves that it will never perform 
 its functions until a co-ordinate branch, deriving 
 its authority from the same source as itself, is 
 destroyed, it exceeds its due bounds, or rather 
 linquishes the exercise of all constitutional 
 power. In the pamphlet already alluded to, 
 Mr. Papineau says, “ The constitution has 
 ceased to exist of right, and in fact can no 
 longer be maintained but by force.” Here, 
 then, was a case for the legitimate interference 
 of Parliament, an interference which no re- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 301 
 
 fleeting colonist will ever object to, else there 
 would be no appeal but to the sword whenever 
 a designing demagogue should unfortunately 
 obtain a majority of obstructive members in the 
 assembly; but these resolutions were said to be 
 a violation of the declaratory act of 1778, and 
 an unconstitutional mode of levying taxes 
 on the Canadians, and appropriating their 
 money without their consent ? 
 
 It is not material to the argument to mention, 
 it is a singular fact, that the revenue happens 
 but not to have been raised by people of French 
 origin, and that therefore as far as they are 
 concerned, their money has not been appro¬ 
 priated without their consent. The question is 
 often asked by the Upper Canadians, on what 
 does a French inhabitant pay duty ?* Is it, they 
 say, on woollen stuffs of his own manufacture ? 
 Is it on wooden shoes, the produce of his forest ? 
 Is it on tobacco, the produce of his own fields? 
 Is it on sugar, the juice of his own maple 
 groves ? Is it on wine which he never tastes ? 
 Is it on books which he cannot read; or on 
 postage of letters he cannot write ? Or is it on 
 spirits distilled from his own grain? But this 
 js not to the purpose, it was money that they 
 had a right to dispose of themselves, if they had 
 
 * See letters of Camillus* 
 
 
 *8 
 
 
 
302 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 thought proper to do so, and must so far he 
 considered the revenue of the whole public. 
 
 These resolutions imposed no taxes, they 
 merely applied towards the discharge of sala¬ 
 ries of the civil officers of the government, cer¬ 
 tain monies already accumulated under exist, 
 ing laws, in the hands of the treasury, to enable 
 the executive to carry on the government. That 
 it was applied without their consent to this 
 purpose, is true, not because they did not con¬ 
 sent to vote supplies, (and it is most material to 
 observe this distinction), but because they had 
 refused to discharge any of their duties as an 
 assembly, or in any manner to co-operate with 
 the other branches ; and had themselves, by this 
 suicidal act, suspended the constitution and 
 thrown the whole country into anarchy and 
 confusion. It was a case fully within the limi¬ 
 tation prescribed by Burke: 
 
 “ For my part,” says that great man, “ I 
 look upon the rights stated in that act exactly 
 in the manner in which I viewed them on 
 its very first proposition, and which I have 
 often taken the liberty, with great humility, 
 to lay before you. 1 look, I say, on the 
 imperial rights of Great Britain, and the 
 privileges which the colonists ought to enjoy 
 
OF CANADA. 303 
 
 under these rights, to be just the most recon- 
 cileable things in the world. The parliament of 
 (ireat Britain sits at the head of her extensive 
 empire in two capacities; one as the local 
 legislature of this island, providing for all 
 things at home, immediately, and by no other 
 instrument than the executive power. The 
 other, and I think her nobler capacity, is what 
 I call her imperial character; in which, as from 
 the throne of heaven, she superintends all the 
 several inferior legislatures, and guides and 
 controls them all without annihilating any. As 
 all these provincial legislatures are only co-or¬ 
 dinate to each other, they ought all to be subor¬ 
 dinate to her ; else they can neither preserve 
 mutual peace, nor hope for mutual justice, nor 
 effectually afford mutual assistance. It is neces¬ 
 sary to coerce the negligent, to restrain the vio¬ 
 lent, and to aid the weak and deficient, by the 
 over-ruling plenitude of her power. But in 
 order to enable Parliament to answer all these 
 ends of provident and beneficent superintend¬ 
 ence, her powers must be boundless. The gen¬ 
 tlemen who think the powers of Parliament 
 limited, may please themselves to talk of requi¬ 
 sitions. But suppose the requisitions are not 
 obeyed ? What! shall there be no reserved 
 
 i 
 
304 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 power in the empire to supply a deficiency 
 which may weaken, divide, and dissipate the 
 whole ? 
 
 “ This is what I meant when I have said, at 
 various times, that I consider the power of tax¬ 
 ing in Parlament as an instrument of empire, 
 and not as a means of supply. 
 
 “Such, sir, is my idea of the condition of 
 the British empire, as distinguished from the 
 constitution of Britain ; and on these grounds 
 I think subordination and liberty may be suffi¬ 
 ciently reconciled through the whole ; whether 
 to serve a refining speculist or a factious dema¬ 
 gogue, I know not; but enough surely for the 
 ease and happiness of man.’ 7 
 
 But, although the right of Parliament to in¬ 
 terfere, and its intention to do so, were thus 
 asserted, there was still so strong a repugnance 
 felt by Government to exercise the power, that 
 they desired Lord Gosford to call the assembly 
 together again, and give those misguided men 
 another opportunity of reconsidering their con¬ 
 duct. They met as summoned, but again re¬ 
 fused all supplies which had now been withheld 
 for five years, and again declined to exercise 
 any legislative functions. There was now no 
 power to make new r laws, no means of paying 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 305 
 
 those who administered the existing ones, no 
 appropriation for the public service in any de¬ 
 partment ; schools were neglected, roads unre¬ 
 paired, bridges dilapidated, jails unprovided 
 for, temporary laws expired or expiring, and 
 confusion and disorganization every where; 
 and yet we are gravely told Parliament ought 
 not to have interfered ! that it was one of the 
 dearest and most sacred rights of the colonists 
 to produce this extraordinary state of things, 
 and that they ought not to be interrupted in the 
 enjoyment of what had cost them so much time 
 and trouble to bring about. 
 
 If this opinion were founded on conscientious 
 scruples, it would deserve our respect; but it 
 is the liberality of accomplices; and they 
 may well be generous who replenish their cof¬ 
 fers by plunder. We must not be surprised 
 therefore to find among those who invest the 
 Canadians with this novel power, men who 
 offer to mercenaries the pillage of the church, 
 and who, loaded with the spoils of vested 
 rights, which they have violently torn from 
 their lawful owners, kindly bestow this stolen 
 one upon comrades engaged in the same un¬ 
 holy cause as themselves. They are accom¬ 
 plished and dextrous men, and, knowing the 
 
 x 
 
306 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 numerous covers of law, resort to its shelter, 
 and boldly call upon the real owners to make 
 out their case, and prove their property. It is 
 difficult to decide whether the amiable advo¬ 
 cates of this intelligible doctrine are best en¬ 
 titled to our pity or our contempt. 
 
 Those persons who had always espoused 
 their cause in England, seem to have fully pe¬ 
 netrated their object. “ I do not marvel at it,” 
 said my Lord Brougham; “to me it is no 
 surprise —I expected it.” Men of sanguine 
 temperament are apt to expect confidently 
 what they desire ardently. That he wished 
 them to be independent, he made no secret. 
 Whatever we may think of his lordship, as a 
 statesman, for entertaining such a patriotic 
 wish, we cannot but admire the unflinching 
 friendship that induced him, through good 
 report and evil report, to adhere to the cause 
 he had determined to advocate. That they 
 might not feel discouraged by partial reverses, 
 he held out the language of promise to them 
 that the day was not far distant when they could 
 hope to realise the object of their wishes. He 
 deprecated our thinking too harshly of them 
 for their vain attempt. “ Where,” he continued, 
 “ in what country—from what people did they 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 307 
 
 learn the lesson ? of whom but ourselves, the 
 English people? We it is that have set the 
 example to our American brethren ; let us be¬ 
 ware how we blame them too harshly for fol¬ 
 lowing it.” Not content with interceding for 
 their pardon, he solicited, as a boon for them, 
 what they had failed in an attempt to seize as 
 plunder. “ I hold these colonies,” he said, 
 “ as worth nothing; the only interest we have 
 in the matter concerns the manner in which a 
 separation, sooner or later inevitable, shall take 
 place. Is it not, then, full time we should 
 make up our minds to a separation so beneficial 
 to all parties. These, my lords, are not opinions 
 to which I have lately come; they are the 
 growth of many a long year, and the fruit of 
 much attention given to the subject.” The 
 effect of this language upon the loyal popula¬ 
 tion of the provinces it is not easy to conceive. 
 At no time could such a doctrine be heard 
 with indifference, but during a period of un¬ 
 usual excitement it was too mischievous not to 
 awaken a general indignation. On the minds 
 of the Americans it has had a powerful effect, 
 in speculating upon the result of an active 
 sympathy on their part. 
 
 Disaffection having now succeeded in pro- 
 x 2 
 
308 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 ducing anarchy and bloodshed, assumed the 
 shape of insurrection, the natural result of so 
 many years of agitation. The tragical events 
 of this sad revolt are too recent and too im¬ 
 pressive to be forgotten, and the recital would 
 be as painful as it is unnecessary. Anxious, 
 however, as I am not to dwell on the mournful 
 picture which it presents, justice requires that 
 I should pause and pay the tribute of my respect 
 to the pious, amiable, and loyal Catholic clergy 
 of Canada. They have preserved a large portion 
 of their flock from contamination, and we are 
 mainly indebted to their strenuous exertions 
 that the rebellion has not been more general 
 and more successful. They have learned from 
 painful experience, what ecclesiastics have ever 
 found under similar circumstances, that treason 
 always calls in infidelity to its aid ; that there 
 is a natural alliance between the assailants of 
 the throne and the altar, and that they w ho re¬ 
 fuse to render tribute to Caesar are seldom 
 known to preserve, for any length of time, 
 “ the fear of God before their eyes.” The 
 history of this Canadian revolt is filled with 
 instruction to the people of England. It teaches 
 them the just value of the patriotism of those 
 who are the intemperate advocates of extreme 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 309 
 
 opinions ; it shows that courage in debate may 
 sometimes evaporate in the field, and that 
 those who lead others rashly into danger are 
 not unfrequently the first to desert them basely 
 in the hour of need. It exhibits in bold relief 
 the disastrous effects of incessant agitation, and 
 demonstrates that the natural result of con¬ 
 tinued concession to popular clamour is to 
 gradually weaken the powers of government, 
 until society resolves itself into its original 
 elements. These truths are too distinctly 
 marked to require to be retouched. He who 
 runs may read, but he that would carry away 
 the moral must pause and consider. It is 
 written in the blood and suffering of the co¬ 
 lonists, and prudence suggests the propriety of 
 their availing themselves of the painful expe¬ 
 rience of others, instead of purchasing it by 
 the severe and painful process of personal expe¬ 
 rience. The successful advocacy here of similar 
 opinions must necessarily produce the like 
 results, aggravated by the increased power ot 
 numbers, and the greater value ot the plunder. 
 I have seen enough of England to. admire it, 
 of its institutions to respect it, of the character 
 of its people to love it, and of the blessings 
 conferred by its limited monarchy, to know. 
 
 
310 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 how to estimate the enviable lot of those who 
 have the good fortune to inhabit it. 
 
 O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint. 
 
 I should feel indeed that kindness could awaken 
 no emotion, and hospitality no gratitude, if, 
 after having received as an obscure provincial 
 author, the most flattering indulgence, as a co¬ 
 lonist, the most hearty welcome, and a stranger 
 the most considerate attentions, I did not ex¬ 
 press warmly what I feel deeply. My know¬ 
 ledge of its constitution preceded that of its 
 people; and if my studies have led me to ad¬ 
 mire its theory, personal observation of its 
 practical effect has confirmed and increased 
 that favourable impression. It is a noble and 
 admirable structure ! Esto perpetua. 
 
 Before 1 quit the subject of this rebellion 
 1 must allude to the mitigating circumstances 
 that attended it. Excited by every stimulant 
 that parliamentary declamation could apply, 
 or British sympathy suggest, or American re¬ 
 publicanism offer—encouraged at home, aided 
 from abroad, and nowhere opposed or threat¬ 
 ened, is it to be wondered at that the prospect 
 of plunder and impunity seduced these mis¬ 
 guided people from their allegiance, or that the 
 contagion should spread from Lower to Upper 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 311 
 
 Canada. When such a man as Hume was 
 known to be a supporter of the government, 
 can we wonder if ignorant men, three thousand 
 miles off, supposed he was expressing the sen¬ 
 timents of that government, when he said, 
 “ my wish would be to set the Canadas and the 
 whole of British North America, free to govern 
 themselves, as the United States do, by their 
 own representatives, and to cultivate a good 
 connection with the mother country for their 
 mutual interest. Until that takes place, nei¬ 
 ther the Canadas nor Great Britain will derive 
 those advantages which they ought to have from 
 a different and more economical management 
 of their resources.” Or when confidentially 
 communicating to his friend, M‘Kenzie, a man 
 devoted to revolutionary doctrines, he boldly 
 asserted, “ Your triumphant election on the 
 10 th, and ejection from the assembly on the 
 17th, must hasten that crisis which is fast ap¬ 
 proaching in the affairs of the Canadas, and 
 which will terminate in freedom and indepen¬ 
 dence from the banejul domination of the mo¬ 
 ther country, and the tyrannical conduct of a 
 small and despicable faction in the colony.” 
 
 .“ The proceedings between 1772 
 
 and 1782, in America, ought not to be for- 
 
312 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 gotten, and to the honour of the Americans, 
 and for the interests of the civilized world, let 
 their conduct and their result be ever in view,” 
 could they mistake the import of the term 
 baneful domination, or despise the advice so 
 judiciously given by the representative of a 
 metropolitan county. Knowing little of Bath, 
 but its reputation of being the resort of wealth 
 and fashion, was it unnatural for them to infer 
 that the member for that town spoke the sen¬ 
 timents of a powerful and influential class, 
 when he said, “ One resource, and one resource 
 alone, remains: to be a free people you must 
 resist the British parliament.” When the work¬ 
 ing men’s societies, patronised by practical and 
 powerful men, held similar language, was it a 
 great stretch for the credulity of thos e poor 
 people to believe, that accession of Canada would 
 immediately follow a demonstration of revolt. 
 Their case is, indeed, one that commands our 
 pity rather than our resentment; but what shall 
 we say of those who went still further than their 
 councillors, and pursued the wicked course of 
 advising an armed resistance to the govern¬ 
 ment, of exciting them to sedition, and evoking 
 the evil passions of the human heart, to insur¬ 
 rection and slaughter. The receiver is more 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 313 
 
 criminal than the thief, and the seducer more 
 vile than his victim. The exile and the pri¬ 
 soner, the houseless settler, and his starving 
 suffering family, the smouldering villages, the 
 spirits of the dead, and the voice of the dying, 
 call aloud for vengeance on the authors of all 
 these accumulated aggravated evils. He who 
 knew the facility of man to fall into error, and 
 the miseries entailed upon us by guilt, lias merci¬ 
 fully taught us to offer our daily prayer that 
 we may not be led into temptation; and for 
 the credit of our common nature, be it spoken, 
 so few have been the instances where men 
 have incited to crime, when they were not to 
 profit by the offence, that no provision is made 
 against the sin of holding out temptation to 
 others. It was not to be supposed that w icked¬ 
 ness could exist without reward, or crime with¬ 
 out an object. Unfortunate victims of false 
 friends, deluded objects of cold unfeeling ad¬ 
 vice, you deserved the lenity that has been 
 extended to you; it would have been unfair, 
 indeed, to have visited upon you, the mere in¬ 
 struments of others, the punishment due to the 
 authors of your folly and your guilt. 
 
 Such were the feelings entertained thoughout 
 the adjoining colonies, but here a different lan- 
 
314 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 guage was held. They were pitied, not because 
 they were misguided, but because they were un¬ 
 successful. Indignation was expressed, in no 
 measured terms, not against the tempter or the 
 tempted, but the gallant and loyal militia who 
 suppressed them, and their vigilant, able, and 
 intelligent governor. My Lord Brougham was 
 loud and vehement in his invectives, denouncing 
 these brave and devoted men “ as an undisci¬ 
 plined and insubordinate rabble, and the pre¬ 
 siding genius, whose penetration discovered, and 
 whose foresight provided the means of crushing 
 this rebellion, as a person planting snares, with 
 the base purpose of catching the unwary. That 
 his lordship, the advocate and eulogist of a 
 republic, should grieve over the vain attempt 
 of others to establish it in Canada, is not to be 
 wondered at; but that he whose physical cou¬ 
 rage no man doubts, and whose moral courage 
 is so great as to enable him to stand forth boldly, 
 unaided and alone, among his peers, the op¬ 
 ponent and assailant of all parties, could feel 
 no sympathy for those brave men who, in the 
 deadly conflict of war, rushed forth amid the 
 storms of their inclement winter, in support 
 of their laws, their religion, and their homes; 
 prepared to conquer or to die in their defence, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 315 
 
 that he could find no terms of approbation, no 
 figures of speech, no not one word of praise, for 
 those heroic men; that he could see nothing 
 peculiar in their case, who had to contend with 
 violators of law within, and violators of treaties 
 without the province, and scorn and contumely 
 here, and who, braving privation, the climate, 
 and the enemy, rallied round the standaid 
 of their country with an enthusiasm, of which 
 history can scarcely find a parallel that 
 he could discern no worth in loyalty, and 
 no merit in those “ who fear God and ho¬ 
 nour the king,” is, indeed, a fruitful source of 
 astonishment. How is it? Is this a cha¬ 
 racteristic of democracy? Does it indeed 
 harden the heart and deaden all the glowing 
 impulses of our nature ; or is it that philosophy 
 is cold and speculative, regulating the passions, 
 and subduing and chastening the imagination. 
 Or may it be that unused to panegyric, his 
 lordship feels and knows his power of sarcasm, 
 and prefers the path in which he excells all 
 contemporaries, to one in which unequal powers 
 forbid the hope of pre-eminence. Whatever it 
 may be, for his own sake, for the sake of the 
 noble house of which he is a member, and of 
 the country of which his eloquence is at once 
 
 

 3lG THE BUBBLES 
 
 the pride and the boast, it is deeply to be de¬ 
 plored that he should have adopted a course 
 that, unfortunately, confers but little honour 
 on the qualities of his head ; and, it is to be 
 feared, still less on the feelings of his heart. 
 
 This rebellion had scarcely been put down, 
 when my Lord Durham was appointed, with 
 extraordinary powers, to complete the pacifica- 
 tion. On this part of the history of Canada it 
 is needless to dwell. It has proved a failure: 
 not from a deficiency of power, but from a de¬ 
 ficiency of conduct iii the dictator. Instead of 
 assembling around him a council of the most 
 influential and best-informed men in the colony, 
 according to the evident spirit of the act and his 
 instructions, he thought proper to appoint to 
 that responsible situation, officers attached to 
 his household, or perfect strangers, with the mag¬ 
 nanimous view, as he informs us, of assuming 
 the whole responsibility of his own measures. 
 As might naturally be expected, owing to his 
 having neglected to obtain the best professional 
 advice at his command in the colony, and 
 acting on his own view of the case, his first step 
 was illegal. Now, by assuming the whole 
 responsibiltiy, we were given to understand 
 that, having full confidence in his own judg- 
 

 OF CANADA. 
 
 317 
 
 ment as well as liis own integrity, he was dis 
 posed to monopolize the whole honour of suc¬ 
 cess, at the hazard of incurring the whole 
 censure of failure. The praise or the blame 
 was to be exclusively his own. It was the 
 decision of a confident and vain man. His 
 next act was indicative of a weak and petulant 
 mind. Instead of being willing to bear the 
 whole responsibility, as he announced, he 
 shewed that he was unwilling or unable to 
 bear any. As soon as Parliament felt itself 
 called upon to pronounce the illegality of his 
 measures, and stepped in to rescue him from 
 the consequences of his precipitate conduct, he 
 relinquished his government, not in the usual 
 and proper form, by tendering his resignation, 
 and waiting until his successor should be ap¬ 
 pointed, but by instantly leaving the colony. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of a public servant 
 committing an offence more serious in its nature, 
 and more pernicious in its example than thus 
 abandoning his post without leave; and it was 
 incumbent on the government to have vindicated 
 the honour of the Crown, by ordering the cap¬ 
 tain of the Inconstant to return immediately to 
 Quebec with his lordship, and to deliver to him, 
 within his government, the acceptance of his 
 
 
 
 ni 
 
THE BUBBLES. 
 
 318 
 
 resignation. It would have taught the mis¬ 
 guided people of Canadas to respect, if they 
 could not love, the even-handed justice that 
 could visit with punishment the disobedience of 
 a governor-general as well as that of a peasant; 
 and they would have seen in the return of the 
 one, and the exile of the other, a practical illus¬ 
 tration of the only equality that honest and 
 sensible men ever desire to behold—“ the equa¬ 
 lity of all in the eye of the law.” The moral 
 effect of such a measure, combining vigour with 
 impartiality, would have gone far towards tran¬ 
 quillizing Canada, and would have enabled his 
 lordship, when he next addressed the people of 
 England, to have pointed to it as a proof that 
 his mission, however it might have affected 
 himself, had terminated in a manner that was 
 useful to the colony and honourable to the 
 government. 
 
 Of the ill-advised and ill-timed manifesto 
 it is unnecessary for me to speak; its effects 
 are but too visible in a new revolt, to which 
 its unguarded language gave too much encou¬ 
 ragement. Nor shall 1 enter upon the serious 
 charges lie has brought against that august 
 body, of which he has the honour to be a mem¬ 
 ber, of legislating, w here Canada is concerned, 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 319 
 
 “in ignorance and indifference.” To shake the 
 confidence of the colonists in the justice and 
 integrity of that high tribunal, to which they 
 have to look as a last resource, was indeed un¬ 
 kind to them, unworthy of himself, and inju¬ 
 rious to the honour of the house he 1ms assailed. 
 He who advocates democratic institutions will 
 soon find the effect of his theory influencing 
 his own conduct, and though he may com¬ 
 mence in the assertion of principles, he is apt 
 to end in the expression of feeling. The na¬ 
 tural tendency of such opinions is to level all 
 distinctions. Although we have great cause 
 therefore Cor regret, we have none for surprise, 
 in this attempt to measure his noble colleagues 
 by so humble a standard. I am willing, how¬ 
 ever, to do his lordship the justice to believe, 
 that when the irritation that caused this ebulli¬ 
 tion of feeling shall subside, he will himself 
 regret, as deeply as every right-thinking man 
 now does, that he should have judged that 
 assembly in temper and pique; and that he 
 will feel he has afforded some room for ill- 
 nature to suggest, that although he had a right, 
 if he thought proper, in the exercise of a laud¬ 
 able diffidence, to have appropriated those 
 attributes to himself, he was not justified in 
 
320 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 extending an indiscriminate application of them 
 to others. That many of the measures he 
 proposed for the benefit of Canada were good, 
 it would be uncharitable to doubt; but as none 
 of them have been matured, it would be pre¬ 
 sumptuous to say so. That others, however, 
 were of a dangerous nature, we have reason to 
 know. The evils to be reaped from this mis¬ 
 sion have not yet ripened for us to gather; but 
 the seed is sown, and it is to be feared taken 
 root too extensively. What could be more in¬ 
 judicious than to send to the contented and 
 happy colonies of Nova Scotia and New 
 Brunswick, and ask for deputies, to listen to 
 crude and undigested schemes for their future 
 government, or to give their own visionary 
 plans in exchange for his ? What more cruel 
 than to unsettle men’s minds as to the form of 
 their government, and make the stability of 
 their institutions a matter of doubt? What 
 more pernicious than to open a political bazaar 
 at Quebec for the collection and exhibition of 
 imaginary grievances ? In the Lower Pro¬ 
 vinces we are contented and happy. We need 
 no reforms but what we can effect ourselves; 
 but we are alarmed at changes which we never 
 asked, and do not require. The federative 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 321 
 
 union proposed by his lordship lias opened a 
 wide field for speculation, directed men's 
 minds to theoretical change, afforded a theme 
 for restless young demagogues to agitate upon, 
 and led us to believe that our constitution is 
 in danger of being subverted. Most people 
 think, and all reflecting men know, that it 
 would ripen the colonies into premature inde¬ 
 pendence in less than ten years; and who, I 
 would ask, that is attached to the mother 
 country, and desirous to live under a monar¬ 
 chical form of government, can contemplate a 
 scheme pregnant with so much danger, without 
 feelings of dismay ? Who would continue to 
 live in New Brunswick, if at every disturbance 
 in Canada, the governor-general is to propose 
 to new model their form of government? Who 
 would consent that that united and loyal co¬ 
 lony should have its peace and happiness jeo¬ 
 pardized by any union with the disaffected and 
 troublesome French Canadians, or will ap¬ 
 prove of the political cjuackery that would 
 compel Nova Scotia to swallow a nauseous 
 medicine, for the purpose of effecting a cure in 
 Canada? The danger arising from such vi¬ 
 sionary schemes as have lately been unfolded 
 to the colonies, is passed for the present, and 1 
 
THE BUBBLES 
 
 322 
 
 heartily rejoice that it is, but it is to be hoped 
 that powers co-extensive with the Lower Pro¬ 
 vinces, may never again be entrusted to any 
 man. In this country there is a general and 
 very natural repugnance manifested to give up 
 the bodies of deceased friends for experiments 
 for the benefit of science. It is difficult to 
 imagine how so sensitive a nation could con¬ 
 sent that their colonists should be considered 
 of less value, and be delivered alive into the 
 hands of the operator, for the advancement of 
 politics. 
 
 In Paris, I heard with horror that a lecturer 
 had illustrated his theory by applying his dis¬ 
 secting knife to the limbs of a living animal. I 
 shuddered at the recital of such atrocious cru¬ 
 elty; but little did I dream that, at that very 
 time, a kind and merciful Providence was gra¬ 
 ciously averting a similar fate from our own 
 species on the other side of the water. 
 
 All British America has been agitated dur¬ 
 ing the past summer, by substantial fears, or 
 mocked by unreal hopes, and ambition has 
 now reached where sedition failed to penetrate. 
 The absurd and impracticable scheme of colo¬ 
 nial representation in Parliament, although 
 disgusting, from its rank properties, to deli- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 323 
 
 cate palates, was well suited -to the rapacious 
 appetites of provincial sycophants. The bait 
 was well selected, and soon attracted the long¬ 
 ing regard of a shoal of political sharks. The 
 self-denying tenets of the sour sectarian have 
 not been proof against the temptation. IIis 
 nostrils have been too powerful for his con¬ 
 science, and scenting the strong odour of this 
 savoury appendage from afar, he has hurried to 
 the surface to regale himself with its flavour. 
 The canting hypocrite has offered his aspera- 
 tions for the conversion of Parliament to such 
 liberal views ; and the profligate demagogue of 
 the village has expressed a hope, that a defi¬ 
 ciency of morals may be compensated by an 
 abundance of zeal. They have been lulled to 
 sleep by its soporific effect, and have dreamed 
 of this ladder, as did Jacob of old, and of the 
 ascent it offered to high places. The woolsack 
 and the ermine—the treasury and the peerage 
 —appear within their grasp, and they invoke 
 blessings on the man who promises so much, 
 and who hints at his power to do even more. 
 If 1 did not feel too indignant at all this, I too 
 might weep over the scene of lolly and of weak¬ 
 ness, and would mingle my tears of sorrow with 
 those that pride has shed, and blot out all trace 
 of it for ever. 
 
324 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 The advocate of the ballot box and extended 
 suffrage is not the man to govern a colony. 
 While you have been speculating upon the 
 theory we have been watching the experiment. 
 When the lower orders talk of these things, we 
 know what they mean ; their language is intel¬ 
 ligible, and their object not to be mistaken ; 
 but when a nobleman advocates democratic 
 institutions, we give him full credit for the 
 benevolence of his intentions, but we doubt 
 the sanity of his mind. Keep such men at 
 home, where there is so much of rank, intelli¬ 
 gence, and wealth to counterbalance them. Here 
 they serve to amuse and gratify agitators, and 
 make useful chairmen of popular assemblies, by 
 preserving a propriety of conduct and a decency 
 of language, where violence and outrage might 
 otherwise prevail. But send them not among 
 us, where their rank dazzles, their patronage 
 allures, and their principles seduce the ignorant 
 and unwary. If we trespass upon your rights 
 of sovereignty, repress us ; but while you main¬ 
 tain your own privileges, respect the inviola¬ 
 bility of ours. When we ask in the Lower 
 Provinces for a federative union, it will be time 
 enough to discuss its propriety; but in the 
 mean time spare us the infliction of what to us 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 325 
 
 is so incomprehensible and so repugnant—a 
 radical dictator and a democratic despot. 
 
 I have already far exceeded the limits I had 
 designed to confine myself to, and must, there¬ 
 fore, draw to a close. 1 have now shown you, 
 that after the conquest of Canada, that country 
 was governed by English laws ; that the royal 
 proclamation invited British subjects to remove 
 there; and promised them the protection and 
 enjoyment of those laws ; and that in violation 
 of that promise, in order to conciliate theFrench, 
 their legal code was substituted for our own : 
 that an injudicious division ot the province 
 was made, whereby the French were separated 
 from the great body of English subjects, in 
 consequence of which Canada became a Gallic 
 and not a British colony. That they have been 
 kept a distinctive people by those means, and 
 by permitting the language of the country and 
 the recording language of their parliament to 
 be French ; that they have always had an over¬ 
 whelming majority of members of their own 
 origin in the legislature, who have been distin¬ 
 guished by an anti-commercial and anti-British 
 feeling; that this feeling has been gradually 
 growing with the growth of the country, until 
 they were in a condition to dictate terms to go- 
 
326 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 vernment; thatthis feeling was manifested by the 
 manner in which they have constantly resisted 
 local assessments, and made commerce to bear 
 every provincial expenditure,—in the way they 
 neutralized the electoral privileges of the voters 
 of British origin,—in the continuance of the 
 oppressive tenure of the feudal law,—in taxing 
 emigrants from the mother country, and them 
 only,—in their attempts to wrest the crown 
 land from government,—in their attack on the 
 Land Company, and the introduction of set¬ 
 tlers by them,—in their opposition to a system 
 of registry,—in their mode of temporary legis¬ 
 lation,—in their refusal to vote supplies, and 
 in the whole tenour of their debates and votes. 
 I have shown you that the policy of every 
 government, whether Tory or Whig, lias been 
 conciliatory (a fatal policy, 1 admit, and one 
 that naturally admits and invites demands), 
 and that every reasonable change required (with 
 many very unreasonable ones) has been con¬ 
 ceded to them ; that they are a people exempt 
 from taxes, in possession of their own laws, 
 language, and religion, and of every blessing- 
 civil, political, and religious; in short, that 
 Canada is the most favoured colony of Great 
 Britain, and that the demands they now make 
 are inconsistent with colonial dependence. 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 327 
 
 This statement I offer in refutation of my 
 Lord Durham’s assertion of misgovernment, 
 used in its invidious sense, or as explained at the 
 meeting at Carlton Hill, that they are “ our 
 oppressed and enslaved brethren anti in proof 
 of my own position that the evils now existing 
 are the natural consequences of the Quebec and 
 constitutional acts, and not the result of tyranny 
 and oppression. The review which 1 have just 
 concluded, indicates the remedy too plainly to 
 render it at all necessary for me to offer a pre¬ 
 scription. If, however, you can entertain any 
 doubt upon the subject, you will at least be 
 satisfied that the cure is not to be effected by 
 concession. Of this all men, I think, must now 
 be convinced. Since the termination of the 
 late abortive attempt at colonial government, 
 one of my Lord Durham’s official coadjutors 
 has publicly proclaimed that all his precon¬ 
 ceived opinions on the subject of Canada were 
 erroneous. This was a work of supererogation. 
 He might have spared himself the trouble of 
 the announcement, and the pain of a recanta¬ 
 tion. All those who were at the trouble of in¬ 
 quiring into the nature of his views were already 
 convinced of his error. His lordship also has 
 informed the good people of Devonport that he 
 
328 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 has made important discoveries on the other 
 side of the water. Had his mission been merely 
 designed for his own instruction, the public, 
 while they admitted the necessity that existed 
 for it, would have applauded his zeal in such 
 a useful and necessary pursuit; but as it was 
 undertaken at no inconsiderable expense to the 
 nation, they have reason to regret that this re¬ 
 markable illumination was deferred until the 
 moment of his return. What the extent of 
 these recent revelations may be, we are not 
 informed, but we may be permitted to hope 
 that he has learned this important truth, that 
 he who undertakes the benevolent office of 
 calming the excited passions of others, should 
 first learn to govern his own. That there are 
 serious difficulties in the way of the pacification 
 of Canada there can he no doubt, hut greater 
 difficulties have been overcome by Van Am- 
 burgh, who exhibits every night for the edifica¬ 
 tion of government and the amusement of 
 Cockneys, animals, whose natures are more fe¬ 
 rocious, and antipathies more powerful than 
 those of the English and French, living in the 
 same cage in the utmost harmony; and what 
 is still more important, enjoying the most un¬ 
 restrained freedom of action within their as- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 329 
 
 signed limits, and yet making no resistance to 
 the salutary controul of an external power. 
 
 Justum et tenacem propositi virum 
 Non civium ardor prava jubentium. 
 
 Non vultus instantis tyranni 
 Mente quatit solida. 
 
 But let me not be misunderstood by the na¬ 
 ture of this allusion. It must not be supposed 
 that the assembly, because they have done so 
 much that is objectionable, were always wrong- 
 in what they required, or the legislative coun¬ 
 cil, because it is such a loyal and respectable 
 body, were always right in what they refused. 
 This was far from being the case. Many of the 
 demands of the Canadians were reasonable and 
 just, and many of the changes they desired, 
 were for the benefit of the country; but, unfor¬ 
 tunately, the violence of their language, and 
 the unconstitutional and arbitrary acts to which 
 they resorted, in the attainment of those ob¬ 
 jects, left no room to doubt that they were more 
 bent upon having a grievance than seeking re¬ 
 dress ; and that they would rather have pro¬ 
 voked a refusal than obtained a concession. 
 On the other hand, the council, like most similar 
 bodies, has always contained some men who 
 were selfish in disposition and ultra in opinions, 
 
330 
 
 THE BUBBLES 
 
 and whose conduct was calculated to irritate 
 the opposite party, and to do more mischief 
 than if they had openly espoused their cause 
 and adopted their principles. But whether the 
 assembly was right or wrong in what it re¬ 
 quired, or the council justified or not in its 
 opposition, the former has succeeded in all its 
 demands. 
 
 The subject has now assumed a new' aspect. 
 Pretensions have been put forth that involve 
 the question of independence, and Great Bri¬ 
 tain must now decide whether she is to retain 
 the province or not. It is a crisis in the his¬ 
 tory of this country which other nations regard 
 with intense interest. The fate of Canada will 
 determine that of all the other colonies. The 
 retreat of the soldiers will invite the incursions 
 of the barbarians, and the withdrawal of the 
 legions, like those of Rome, from the distant 
 parts of the empire, will show that England,* 
 
 * As a colonist it would be unpardonable in me not to acknow¬ 
 ledge in adequate terms the obligation we are under to the chair¬ 
 man of the finance committee for the important discoveries he has 
 recently made in colonial matters. Other men may rival him in 
 industry, but for masterly and statesman-like views he is without a 
 competitor. It is singular that the egregious error Great Britain 
 has heretofore committed in considering her foreign possessions of 
 great value should never have been detected before, and that our 
 forefathers should have had so little knowledge of political econo- 
 
OF CANADA. 
 
 331 
 
 conscious of her present weakness and past 
 glories, is contracting her limits and concen¬ 
 trating her energies, to meet, as becomes her 
 
 my as to return as sources of wealth, and power, what it now ap¬ 
 pears have always been productive of a fearful annual loss. It 
 would seem that the surface of Great Britain, instead of being too 
 small for her population, is too extensive, and that, instead of car¬ 
 rying on her immense colonial trade herself, she might be spared 
 the trouble by transforming the colonists into foreigners, and per¬ 
 mitting others to do that drudgery for her. It is said that the 
 same error has been committed by the owners of timber-trees, in 
 permitting the absurd arrangement of nature, with respect to the 
 limbs to continue unreformed, that they would be much more vi¬ 
 gorous if the branches, with their prodigious expenditure on the 
 leaves, were all lopped off, (for it is a well-known fact that the 
 trunk supplies the branches with sap, and not the branches the 
 trunk,) and that the stem would be larger, stronger, and better 
 without such useless and expensive appendages. Truly this is the 
 age of wonders, but this discovery of the worthy chairman is the 
 most wonderful one of modern times, although, strange to say, it 
 is by no means appreciated as it deserves to be. It would be un¬ 
 fair, as well as ungenerous, to detract from his merit, by saying 
 that he borrowed the idea from agriculture, but it must be ad¬ 
 mitted that there is a wonderful coincidence between his principle 
 and that of the ditcher. A drain, it is well known, is lengthened 
 by being cut at both ends. Now he appears to have applied this 
 principle to England, and infers most justly that the more she is 
 reduced in size, the greater will be her circumference. Having 
 proved this most satisfactorily, he advances some most important, 
 but startling propositions, namely, that the smaller your property, 
 the less you have to defend ; the fewer markets you can command, 
 the more will be open to you; the more dependant you are upon 
 foreigners for sale or supply, the more certain you are of 
 never wanting either; and others of a similar nature. His ac¬ 
 curacy in figures is truly astonishing, and is only to be equalled b) 
 the truth of the principles they evolve. Then comes the important 
 question, “ If England has grown so great, so rich, and so power- 
 
332 
 
 THE BUBBLES OF CANADA. 
 
 character, the destiny that awaits all human 
 greatness. 
 
 ful, in spite of all these expensive possessions, how much greater, 
 richer, and more powerful would she be without them.” Every 
 true lover of his country must rejoice to see that its real interests 
 are so well understood, and so ably supported—“ Nildesperandum, 
 auspice Teucro.” 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by J. L. Cox and Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, 
 Lincoln’s-Inn Fields.