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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 \ LIBRARY^ 
 
Section II., 1886. [ 43 ] Trans. Eoy. Soc. Canada. 
 
 II. — Local Government in Canada : an Historical Study. 
 
 By John George Bourinot. 
 
 I 
 
 (Presented May 27, 1886.) 
 
 " Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are 
 to liberty what primary schools are to science ; they bring it within the people's reach ; they teach men 
 how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the 
 spirit of municipal institutions, it cannot have the spirit of liberty." Db Tocqueville, Democracy in 
 America Vol. I. Ch. v. 
 
 . I. — Introductory. 
 
 I propose to give in this paper an historical review of the origin and growth of the 
 municipal system of Canada. Such a review suggested itself to me after a careful perusal 
 of the valuable series of essays that are appearing from the press of the Johns Hopkins 
 University in the state of Maryland. 1 These studies are remarkable for the information 
 they give on a subject to which historians of the United States have hitherto devoted very 
 little attention. The papers that have already been published with respect to the local 
 institutions of Virginia, of Maryland, and of the New England States, enable us to follow 
 step by step the progress of the people in self-government. Under the conviction that a 
 similar paper on local government in Canada may be of some value to students of political 
 science in the absence of any work or treatise hitherto devoted to the subject, I shall 
 endeavour to evolve out of a chaos of old documents, statutes, and histories such facts as 
 may give a tolerably accurate idea of the gradual development of those local institutions 
 on which must always rest, in a great measure, the whole fabric of popular liberty. 
 
 Such a subject ought to be interesting to every Canadian, but especially to the historical 
 student. The former may care to learn something of the history of those institutions 
 which perform so important a part in the economy of his daily life. The latter must find 
 a deeper attraction in tracing the origin of the municipal government of this country even 
 to those ancient institutions, which, very many centuries ago, kept alive a spirit of liberty 
 among our English forefathers and among the German nations. 2 
 
 1 Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Herbert B. Adams, editor. Three 
 series have already appeared. 
 
 ' " The origin of local government in England, like that of our civil liberty, must be sought in the primitive 
 
 but well ordered communities of our Saxon forefathers The German nations, as described by Caesar and 
 
 Tacitus, were nothing but associations of self-governed villages, or larger districts, occupied by separate families, 
 or clans, among whom there was not even the shadow of a common national allegiance, except for the purpose of 
 war. Such was the organization of the Saxons, Jutes and Angles, when they first settled in England." Cobden 
 Club Essays, 1875, Local Government in England, by Hon. G. C. Brodrick, p. 3. 
 
44 JOHN GBOEGB BOTJEINOT ON 
 
 The Dominion of Canada now extends over a territory between the Atlantic and 
 Pacific oceans, even greater in area than that of the United States. Its organized divis- 
 ions consist of the provinces of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
 Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia, each of which possesses a very liberal 
 system of representative government. Every province has a lieutenant-governor, appointed 
 by the government of the Dominion, and a legislature composed in Nova Scotia, New 
 Brunswick and Quebec, of a legislative council nominated by the crown, and 6f a 
 legislative assembly elected by the people on a very liberal franchise. In Manitoba, 
 British Columbia, and Ontario, there is no second chamber, while, in Prince Edward 
 Island, that body is elected by the people. The Northwest Territories which extend 
 from Manitoba to the frontier of British Columbia — territories out of which may be formed 
 many states as large and fertile as Minnesota — are as yet divided into mere territorial 
 districts, over which preside, a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the Ottawa government, 
 and a council, partly nominated by the crown, and partly elected by the people. In all 
 of the provinces, as well as in the principal settlements, villages and towns of the North- 
 west, now exists a system of municipal institutions which are the growth of the expe- 
 rience of the past forty years, since the people of the old provinces of Canada have grown 
 in population and wealth, and have fully recognized the necessity of managing their 
 purely municipal and local affairs in councils elected by themselves. These municipal 
 institutions are the creation, and are under the jurisdiction, of the provincial legislatures, 
 in accordance with the constitution, known as the British North America Act 186 l 7, which 
 gives the control of all general national affairs to the federal government, and the 
 administration of all local matters to the legislatures of the provinces. As the municipal 
 institutions of Canada, in the first instance, owe their existence to statutory enactments 
 of the legislatures of the provinces, so they can be amended only by the authority of the 
 same superior bodies. 
 
 The political history of Canada may be divided into three important epochs. First 
 of all, there was the era of the French Regime which lasted for about a century and a 
 half, from the 3rd of July, 1608, when Champlain established his seat of government on 
 the picturesque heights of Quebec, until 1760, when France gave up the contest with 
 England, for the supremacy on the continent of America. Then came the period from 
 1160 to 1840, when the prorinces slowly increased in population under British Rule, and 
 gained valuable experience in the working of representative institutions. Then followed 
 the important and interesting period from 1840 to 1867, when the political liberties of the 
 people were enlarged, and they were given responsible government in the full sense of 
 the term. Since 186*7, the various provinces, united as the Dominion of Canada, have 
 entered on a fourth era pregnant with promise. 
 
 II.— The French Regime, 1608-1760. 
 
 During the days of French domination in Canada, we look in vain for evidences of 
 self-government in any form, such as we see in the town-meetings of Massachusetts and 
 in the counties and parishes of Virginia, or in other local divisions of the old English 
 Colonies in America, in all of which we can see the germs of liberty and free institutions 
 
LOCAL GOVBENMBNT IN CANADA. 48 
 
 from the earliest days of their history. The system of government that was established 
 on the banks of the St. Lawrence was the very opposite of that to which the people of 
 New England always clung as their most valued heritage. While the townsfolk of 
 Massachusetts were discussing affairs in town-meetings, the French inhabitants of Canada 
 were never allowed to take part in public assemblies, but were taught to depend in the 
 most trivial matters on a paternal government. Canada was governed as far as possible 
 like a province of France. In the early days of the colony, when it was under the rule 
 of mere trading companies chartered by the king, the governors practically exercised 
 arbitrary power, with the assistance of a council chosen by themselves. Eventually, 
 however, the King, by the advice of the great Colbert, took the government of the 
 colony into his own hands, and appointed a governor, an intendant, and a supreme or 
 sovereign council to administer under his own direction the affairs of the country. The 
 governor, who was generally a soldier, was nominally at the head of affairs, and had the 
 direction of the defences of the colony ; but to all intents and purposes, the intendant, 
 who was a man of legal attainments, had the greatest influence in many ways. He had 
 the power of issuing ordinances which had the effect of law, and in the words of his 
 commission " to order everything as he shall see just and proper. " An examination of 
 these ordinances proves conclusively the arbitrary and despotic nature of the government 
 to which the people were subject, and the care that was taken by the authorities to give 
 them as little liberty as possible in the management of those local matters over which 
 the inhabitants of the British Colonies exercised the fullest control. These ordinances 
 regulated inns and markets, the building and repairs of churches and presbyteries, the 
 construction of bridges, the maintenance of roads, and all those matters which could 
 affect the comfort, the convenience, and the security of the community. 
 
 It is interesting to notice how every effort that was made during the continuance 
 of the French rule, to assemble the people for public purposes, and give them an oppor- 
 tunity, of taking an interest in public questions, was systematically crushed by the orders 
 of the government in accordance with the autocratic spirit of French monarchy. The 
 first meeting of the inhabitants was called on the 18th of August, 1621, by Champlain, in 
 Quebec, for the purpose of getting up a petition to the king on the affairs of Canada. 1 
 But this was a very exceptional event in the history of the colony. A public meeting of 
 the parishioners to consider the cost of a new church could not be held without 
 the special permission of the intendant. It was the custom in the early days of the 
 colony to hold public meetings in Quebec under the chairmanship of members of the 
 sovereign council for the purpose of discussing the price and quality of bread and the 
 supply of firewood, " Such assemblies, so controlled," says Parkman, " could scarcely, 
 one would think, wound the tenderest susceptibilities of authority, yet there was an 
 evident distrust of them, and after a few years this modest shred of self-government is 
 seen no more." 2 
 
 "We have a striking illustration of the arbitrary policy pursued towards the colony by 
 the king and his ministers in the action they took with reference to an attempt made by 
 Count de Frontenac in 16Y2 to assemble the different orders of the colony, the clergy, the 
 noblesse or seigneurs, the judiciary, and the third estate, in imitation of the old institutions 
 
 1 Doutre et Lareau, Histoire Generate du Droit Canadien, i. 13, 14. 
 
 2 Parkman's Old B6gime in Canada, pp. 280, 281. 
 
46 JOHN GBOEGB BOUKINOT ON 
 
 of France. He compelled the estates of Canada, as he called them, to take the new oath 
 of allegiance before a great assemblage of persons. The French king did not long leave 
 the haughty governor in doubt as to his opinion of this innovation on the policy laid 
 down for the government of the colony. " The assembling and division that you have 
 made," wrote Colbert, " of all the inhabitants of the country into three orders or estates 
 with the object of administering to them the oath of allegiance might have some effect for 
 the moment ; but it is well to consider that you should always observe in the administra- 
 tion of public affairs those forms which are followed here, and that our kings have deemed 
 it inexpedient for a long time past to assemble the states-general of their kingdom, with 
 the view perhaps of insensibly destroying the ancient system. Under these circumstances 
 you should very rarely, and in fact it would be better if you should never give this form 
 to the people of the country. It will be advisable, even after a while, when the colony is 
 more vigorous than at present, to suppress by degrees the syndic who presents petitions 
 in the name of the inhabitants, as it seems better that everyone should speak for himself, 
 and no one for all." 1 
 
 The history of the officer just named, the syndic, of itself gives us some striking 
 evidence of the stern determination of the government to stamp out every vestige of 
 popular institutions, however insignificant it might be. The syndics d' 'habitations are 
 said to have been originally constituted by Colbert to act as municipal officers appointed 
 by the people of the cities to preserve public rights. The references to these function- 
 aries in the history of those times are very vague : they appear to have existed in Quebec, 
 Montreal, and Three Rivers in 164 l 7, but they ceased to exist by 1661. The government 
 was determined to have no town-meetings or municipal officers in the province of 
 Quebec. In 1663, a meeting of the citizens of Quebec was called by the supreme council, 
 on the requisition of the attorney-general, to elect a mayor and two aldermen for that 
 town. The people accordingly chose Jean-Baptiste Legardeur, Sieur de Eepentigny, for 
 mayor, and Jean Madry and Claude Charron for aldermen; but these persons soon 
 resigned in consequence, it is well understood, of the influence brought to bear upon 
 them by the authorities. They declared that, having regard to the smallness of the 
 population, it would be better to appoint a syndic. The first election held for this pur- 
 pose was annulled, and another, called irregularly by the governor, made a nomination. 
 It appears that the bishop, Monseigneur de Laval, a haughty, determined man, who 
 proved himself during his memorable career in Canada a true descendant of the great 
 house of Montmorency, was opposed to the action taken in this matter, and his friends in 
 the council protested against the swearing in and installation "of the syndic. The gover- 
 nor, M. de Mezy, took upon himself to suspend the obstinate councillors, and consequently 
 committed a violation of the royal instructions ^ for he had no power of appointing these 
 functionaries without the consent of the bishop, or of dismissing or suspending them at 
 his own discretion. 2 "Without dwelling further on these official squabbles, frequent enough 
 in those times, it is only necessary to add that the sequel was that the country heard no 
 more of attempts to establish even a semblance of popular representative government in 
 the towns of Canada. The policy of the king and his advisers was determinately antago- 
 
 1 Doutre et Lareau, pp. 169,170; Chauveau, Notice sur la publication des Registres du Conseil Souverain, 
 etc., p. 34. 
 
 2 Chauveau, pp. 24-30 ; Garneau, i. 179, 180 ; Parkman's Old Regime, p. 281 ; Doutre et Lareau, p. 129. 
 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 47 
 
 nistic to such institutions. " It is of great consequence," wrote Menles to the minister in 
 1685, " not to give any liberty to the people to express their opinions." 1 
 
 The administration of local affairs was exclusively under the control of the king's 
 officers at Quebec. As I have already shown, the ordinances of the intendant and of the 
 council were the law. The local or territorial divisions of the colony had no connection, 
 as the townships, parishes, and counties of the English colonies in America, with the 
 local affairs of the people. The country was subdivided into the following divisions for 
 purposes of government, settlement and justice: 2 — 
 
 1. Districts. 
 
 2. Seigniories. 
 
 3. Parishes. 
 
 The Districts were simply established for judicial and legal purposes, and each of 
 them bore the name of the principal town within its limits ; viz., Quebec, also called the 
 PrdvdU de Quebec, Montreal, and Three Eivers. In each of these districts there was a 
 judge, appointed by the king, to adjudicate on all civil and criminal matters. An appeal 
 was allowed in the most trivial cases to the supreme or superior council, which also 
 exercised original jurisdiction. 3 
 
 The greater part of Canada was divided into large estates or seigniories, which were 
 held under a modified system of feudal tenure, established by Eichelieu in 162*1,* with 
 the view of creating a colonial aristocracy or noblesse, and of stimulating settlement in 
 a wilderness. By this system, which lasted until 1854, 5 lands were as a rule held 
 immediately from the king en fief or en roture. The seignior, on his accession to the 
 estate, was required to pay homage to the king, or to his feudal superior in case the lands 
 were granted by another than the king. 6 The seignior received his land gratuitously 
 from the crown, and granted them to his vassals who were generally known as 
 habitants or cultivators of the soil. The habitant or censitaire held his property by the tenure 
 of en censive, on condition of making annual payments in money or produce known as 
 cens et rente, which were ridiculously small in the early times of the colony. 7 He was 
 obliged to grind his corn at the seignior's mill (moulin banal 8 ), bake his bread in the 
 seignior's oven, give his lord a tithe of the fish caught in his waters, and comply with 
 other conditions at no time onerous or strictly enforced in the days of the French regime. 
 The land of the censitaire went to his heirs, but in case he sold it during his life time, one 
 twelfth Of the purchase-money was given under the name of lods et ventes to the seignior. 
 In -case the latter at any time transferred, by sale or otherwise, his seigniory — except of 
 
 1 Meules au Ministre, 1685. 
 
 2 Bouchette, A Topographical Description of the Province of Lower Canada, etc., pp. 86, 87. 
 
 3 Doutre et Lareau, p. 130. * Garneau, i. 171. 
 6 It was abolished after many years of agitation by 18 Vict. c. 3. 
 
 6 Parkman, p. 245. 
 
 7 Half a sou, and half a pint of wheat, or a few live capons, wheat and eggs, would represent the cens et 
 rente for each arpent in early days. Parkman's Old Regime, p. 249. 
 
 8 The government appear to have rigidly enforced the seignior's rights in the case of the moulin banal. For 
 instance, in 1706, the intendant issued an ordinance forbidding the Dame de La For6t from turning her mill in the 
 county of St. Laurent while there waa a moulin banal in that place. Doutre et Lareau, p. 237. 
 
48 JOHN GEOEGE BOUEINOT ON 
 
 course in the event of natural hereditary succession — he had to pay a quint or fifth part 
 of the whole purchase money to his feudal superior, but he was allowed a reduction 
 (rabat) of two thirds when the money was paid down immediately. 1 
 
 The system, irreconcilable as it is with our modern ideas of free settlement, had 
 some advantages in a new country like Canada, where the government managed every- 
 thing and colonization was not left to chance. The seignior was obliged to cultivate 
 his estate at the risk of forfeiture — and many estates were from time to time resumed by 
 the crown — and consequently it was absolutely necessary that he should exert himself 
 to bring settlers upon his lands. The conditions of the tenure were in early times so 
 trivial as not to burden the settler. The obligation of the censitaire to grind his corn in 
 the seignior's mill was an advantage, since it insured him the means of procuring bread 
 which it would have been otherwise difficult to find in a country where there was neither 
 money nor enterprise. The seigniories were practically so many territorial divisions 
 where the seigneur was master and adviser to his censitaires. He had the right of dispens- 
 ing justice in certain cases, though this was a right he very rarely exercised. 2 As 
 respects civil affairs, however, both lord and vassal were to all intents and purposes on 
 the same footing, for they were equally ignored in matters of government. 
 
 In the days of the French regime, the only towns for many years were Quebec, 
 Montreal and Three Rivers. Villages were but slow in growth, despite the efforts of the 
 government to encourage them. In remote and exposed places — like those on the 
 Richelieu, where officers and soldiers of the Oarignan regiment had been induced to 
 settle — palisaded villages had been built ; but in the rural parts of the province generally, 
 the people appear to have considered their own convenience. The principal settlements 
 were, in the course of time, established on the banks of the St. Lawrence from Quebec to 
 Montreal. The people chose the banks of the river, as affording them in those days the 
 easiest means of intercommunication. As the lots of a grant en censive were limited in 
 area — four arpents in front by forty in depth — the farms in the course of time assumed 
 the appearance of a continuous settlement on the river. These various settlements 
 became known in local phraseology as Cdtes, apparently from their natural situation on 
 the banks of the river. , This is the derivation of Cote des Neiges, Cote St. Louis, Cote 
 St. Paul, and of many picturesque villages in the neighborhood of Montreal and Quebec. 3 
 
 The parishes were established for ecclesiastical purposes, and were grouped on each 
 side of the St. Lawrence and Richelieu, Their extent was exactly defined in September, 
 l^l, by a regulation made by Messieurs de Yaudreuil and Begon, assisted by the Bishop 
 of Quebec, and confirmed by an Arr4t du Conseil of the 2nd of March, 1*722.* These parishes 
 are constantly referred to in the ordinances of the superior council, in connection with 
 the administration of local affairs. In the parishes, the influential men were the Cure, 
 the seignior, and the captain of the militia. 5 The seignior, from his social position, 
 
 1 For a succinct description of the main features of the seigniorial tenure, see Parkman's Old Regime, ch. 15 ; 
 Garneau, i. 171-174. 
 
 2 The seigniors rarely exercised their judicial rights ; the Seminary of St. Sulpice was almost the only one 
 to do so ; the council exercised superior jurisdiction in all cases. Doutre et Lareau, pp. 133, 305. , 
 
 3 Parkman's Old Regime, p. 234. 
 
 * Edits et Ordonnances, i. 443. Doutre et Lareau, pp. 259, 260. Bouchette's Canada, p. 86. 
 6 " The most important persons in a parish were the cur6, the seignior, and the militia captain. The seignior 
 had his bench of honour in the church. Immediately behind it was the bench of the militia captain, whose 
 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 49 
 
 exercised a considerable weight in the community, but not to the degree that the 
 representative of the church enjoyed. From the earliest time in the history of the colony, 
 we find the Eoman Catholic church exercising a dominant influence — an influence, it 
 must be admitted, discreetly and wisely used for the welfare of the people committed to 
 its spiritual care. 1 Next to the cure in importance was the captain of militia, who was 
 exceedingly useful in the absence of civil authorities in carrying out the orders and 
 instructions of the government in the parishes. The whole province was formed into 
 a militia district so that, in times of war, the inhabitants might be obliged to perform 
 military service under the French governor. In times of peace, these militia officers 
 executed the orders of the governor and intendant in all matters affecting the king. A 
 captain was appointed for each parish, and in some of the larger divisions there were 
 two or three. 2 
 
 By reference to the numerous ordinances of the intendant, we can see pretty 
 accurately how such local matters as the construction, maintenance, and repair of roads 
 and bridges were managed in the seigniories and parishes. In case it was considered 
 necessary to build a church or presbytery, the intendant authorized the habitants to 
 assemble for the purpose of choosing from among themselves four persons to make, with 
 the cure, the seignior, and the captain of the militia, an estimate of the expense of the 
 structure. It was the special care of the captain of the militia to look after the work, 
 and see that each parishioner did his full share. 3 It was only in church matters, in fact, 
 . that the people of a parish had a voice, and even in these, as we see, they did not take 
 the initiative. The Quebec authorities must in all such cases first issue an ordinance. 
 
 All the roads and bridges of the colony were under the supervision of the grand 
 voyer, or superintendent of highways, appointed by the king. We find in the proceedings 
 of the council on the 1st of February, 1*706, the regulations which governed this impor- 
 tant officer in the discharge of his duties. He was obliged to visit all the seigniories 
 at certain times of the year and make provision for the highways wherever necessary. 
 The roads and other local improvements were constructed after consultation with the 
 proprietors of lands and the most responsible persons of the place, at the expense of the 
 people immediately interested. All the work was performed under the direction of the 
 captain of militia in the parish. 4 
 
 The position of the people in French Canada for a century and a half has been tersely 
 set forth by the writers to whom we have frequently referred : " Without education, 
 without an opportunity of taking part in public affairs, without an interest in the publio 
 offices, all of which were filled up by persons sent out by the Government, the Canadian 
 people were obliged to seek, in the clearing of the forest, in the cultivation of the field, 
 in the chase, and in adventure, the means of livelihood, and hardly ever busied themselves 
 with public matters. Sometimes they thought they were becoming 'a people' on this 
 
 duty it was to drill the able-bodied men of the neighborhood Next in honor came the local judge, if any 
 
 there was, and the church-wardens." Parkman's Old Regime, p. 387. The precedence in church and processions 
 was regulated by ordinance. See Doutre et Lareau, p. 242. 
 
 1 " Lower Canada had, when we received it at the conquest, two institutions which alone preserved the sem- 
 blance of order and civilisation in the community — the Catholic Church and the militia, which was so constituted 
 and used as partially' to supply the want of better civil institutions." Lord Durham's Report, p. 31. 
 
 2 Doutre et Lareau, p. 136. 3 Edits et ordonnances, ii. 295. 
 
 L Edits et ordonnances, ii. 135, 
 
 Sec. II., 1886. 7. 
 
50 JOHN G-EOEGE BQUKINOT ON 
 
 continent, and might acquire a larger degree of liberty, but all such aspirations were 
 promptly checked by the governor, the intendant and the bishop, in obedience to the 
 instructions of the king. No social union existed between the people, no guarantees for 
 civil liberty were ever established. On every occasion the people were taught to have 
 no ambition for civil power, or for a share in public businesss. Reduced at last to a 
 state of passive obedience, they accepted the orders and edicts of the king without a 
 murmur." ' 
 
 It is easy to understand that the result of this autocratic, illiberal system of govern- 
 ment was complete social and political stagnation. 2 It was not until the people of 
 French Canada had been for many years under a British system of government, that they 
 awoke to the full consciousness of their rights, and began to take that practical interest 
 in public affairs which was the best evidence of their increased intelligence. 
 
 III.— Lower Canada, 1*760-1840. 
 
 For three years after the conquest of Canada, the government was in the hands of 
 military chiefs who had their headquarters at Quebec, Montreal and Three Eivers, the 
 chefs lieuz of the v three departments into which General Amherst, the first English 
 governor-general, divided the new province. During this military regime the people as 
 a rule settled their difficulties among themselves, and did not resort to the military 
 tribunals which were established to administer law throughout the conquered territory. 3 
 In 1Y63, King George III established four new governments in America, viz., Quebec, 
 East Florida, "West Florida, and Grenada. For nearly thirty years, the people of the govern- 
 ment of Quebec were not represented in a legislature, but were governed up to Vjli by 
 a governor-general, and an executive council, composed in the first instance, of the two 
 lieutenant-governors of Montreal and Three Rivers, of the surveyor-general of customs, 
 and of eight others chosen from leading residents of the province. 4 In lT^ the imperial 
 parliament for the first time intervened in the affairs of the country, and passed the 
 Quebec Act, by which the government was entrusted to a governor-general and a 
 legislative council appointed by the crown, inasmuch as it was deemed " inexpedient to 
 call an assembly." This irresponsible body was to contain not more than twenty-three and 
 not less than seventeen members, and had power with the consent of the governor-general 
 " to make ordinances for the peace, welfare, and good government of the province." It 
 had no authority, however, to impose any taxes or duties, except such as the inhabitants 
 of any town or district might be authorized to assess or levy within its precincts for the 
 
 1 Doutre et Lareau, p. 308. 
 
 2 " The institutions of France, during the period of the colonisation t>f Canada were, perhaps, more than those 
 of any other European nation, calculated to repress the intelligence and freedom of the great mass of the people. 
 These institutions followed the Canadian colonist across the Atlantic. The same central, ill-organized, unimprov- 
 ing and repressive despotism extended over him. Not merely was he allowed no voice in the government of the 
 province, or the choice of his rulers, but he was not even permitted to associate with his neighbours for the 
 regulation of those municipal affairs which the central authority neglected under the pretext of managing," 
 Lord Durham's Report, p. 9. 
 
 8 Attorney-general Thuriow's Report in Christie's History of Lower Canada, i. 49, 50. 
 * Christie, i. 49, 50. 
 
LOCAL GOVEENMENT IN CANADA. SI 
 
 purpose of making roads, erecting and repairing public buildings, or for any other purpose 
 respecting the local convenience and economy of such town or district. 1 
 
 During the military regime, the captains of militia dispensed justice and carried out 
 the orders of the authorities in the parishes. 2 The king, in 1*163, gave instructions to 
 Governor Murray, who succeeded General Amherst, to lay out townships and provide 
 town sites, with the view of encouraging the settlement of English-speaking people. 
 Provision was also made for building a church, and for giving 400 acres of land to the 
 support of a clergyman, and 200 acres for a schoolmaster. 3 In 1764 the governor 
 established courts of quarter sessions for the trial of petty causes. These courts were 
 composed of justices of the peace who had to address their warrants to the captains and 
 other officers of militia in the first instance. i The majority of the inhabitants dwelling 
 in each parish were also permitted to elect, on the 24th of June in each year, six men to 
 act as Baillis and Sous-Baillis. 5 The names of these men were sent in to the deputy 
 secretary of the province, and the governor-general, with the consent of the council, 
 appointed the persons who were to act. These officers had for some years the inspection 
 of the highways and bridges, and also acted as constables. In l l 77'7, it was deemed advis- 
 able to pass an ordinance providing for the repair and maintenance of the roads and 
 bridges in the province, under the direction of the grand voyer, whose office was reestab- 
 lished in accordance with the desire of the imperial government to continue the old 
 institutions of the country, to which the people were accustomed. The old French 
 system was practically again in force. The proprietors and farmers were required to 
 keep up the roads and bridges that passed by their respective properties. All repairs 
 were performed by statute labour or at the cost of the parish. The judges of common 
 pleas on circuit were to report on the state of the communications, as provided for in the 
 ordinance. 6 
 
 lb 1*791 a very important constitutional change took place in the political condition 
 of Canada. At the close of the American War of Indep endence, a large number of people 
 known as United Empire Loyalists, on account of their having remained faithful to the 
 British Crown during that great struggle, came and settled in the provinces. Some ten 
 thousand persons, at least, made their homes in Upper Canada, while a considerable num- 
 ber found their way to the Eastern Townships which lie to the south of the St. Lawrence, 
 between the Montreal district and the frontier of the United States. The Parliament of 
 Great Britain then thought it advisable to separate the French and English nationalities 
 by forming the two provinces on the "St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, known until 1867 
 as Lower Canada and Upper Canada. To the people of both sections were granted repre- 
 sentative institutions. 7 By a proclamation of the governor-general, dated 1th of May, 
 1792, Lower Canada was divided, for legislative purposes, into the following twenty-one 
 counties : — Bedford, Buckingham, Cornwallis, Devon, Dorchester, Effingham, Gaspe, Hamp- 
 shire, Hertford, Huntingdon, Kent, Leinster, Montreal, St. Maurice, Northumberland, 
 
 1 14 Geo. III. c. 83 ; Bourinot's Parliamentary Procedure, ch. i. on Parliamentary Institutions in Canada, 
 pp. 9-12. 
 
 2 Doutre et Lareau, p. 485. 3 Ibid., p. 563. 
 
 * i Ibid., p. 589. 5 Ibid., p. 590. 
 
 6 Ordinances for the Province of Quebec (Brown and Gilmore), p. 86. 
 
 7 31 Geo. III. c. 31 ; Bourinot, p. 14. 
 
52 JOHN GEOEG-E BOTJEESTOT OK 
 
 Orleans, Quebec, Kichelieu, Surrey, "Warwick, and York. J The names of some of these 
 divisions recall well-known counties or shires in England. 
 
 The system of government established in 1191 continued in force until the suspen- 
 sion of the constitution of Lower Canada, as 1 a consequence of the rebellion of 183*7-8, 
 under the leadership of Papineau and other men whose names are familiar to all students 
 of Canadian political history. During these years, the country was practically governed 
 by the governor-general and the executive and legislative councils, both nominated by 
 the former. The popular house, however, had little influence or power as long as the 
 government was not responsible to the people's representatives, and was indifferent to 
 their approbation or support. The result was an irrepressible conflict between the 
 assembly, and the legislative and executive councils supported by the governor-general. 
 The fact was, the whole system of government was based on unsound principles. The 
 representative system, granted to the people, did not go far enough, since it should have 
 given the people full control over the public revenues and the administration of public 
 affairs, in accordance with the principles of ministerial responsibility to parliament as 
 understood in the parent state. More than that, it failed, because it had not been estab- 
 lished at the outset on a basis of local self-government, as was the case in the "United 
 States, where the institutions of New England and other colonies had gradually prepared 
 the people for a free system of government. Turning to the remarkable report on the 
 affairs of Canada which bearsthe name of Lord Durham, 2 who was governor-general and 
 high commissioner in 1839, we find the following clear appreciation of the weakness of 
 the system in operation for so many years in the old provinces of Canada : " If the wise 
 example of those countries in which a free and representative government has alone 
 worked well, had been in all respects followed in Lower Canada, care would have been 
 taken that, at the same time that a parliamentary system, based on a very extended 
 suffrage, was introduced into the country, the people should have been entrusted with a 
 complete control over their own local affairs, and been trained for taking their part in 
 the concerns of the province by their experience in the management of that local business 
 which was most interesting and most easily intelligible to them. But the inhabitants of 
 Lower Canada were unhappily initiated into self-government at exactly the wrong end, 
 and those who were not trusted with the management of a parish were enabled by 
 their votes to influence the destinies of a state." 3 
 
 The following divisions existed in Lower Canada, between 1*792 and 1840, none of 
 which, however, were constituted with a view to purposes of local government : — 
 
 1. Districts. 
 
 2. Counties. 
 
 3. Parishes. 
 
 4. Townships. 
 
 1 Bouchette's Topographical Description of Lower Canada, etc., p. 86. It appears that Nova Scotia was the first 
 province in British North America to establish the old Norman division of " County," which is the equivalent of 
 the Saxon "Shire." 
 
 2 This remarkable document, it is now well understood, was written by Mr. Charles Buller, who accompanied 
 Lord Durham in the capacity of secretary. "In fact written by Mr. Charles Buller, and embodying the opinions of 
 Mr. Gibbon Wakefield and Sir William Molesworth on Colonial policy." Note by Mr. Reeve to Greville's Memoirs 
 (second part), i. 142. s Lord Durham's Report, p. 35. 
 
LOCAL GOYEENMENT IN CANADA. 53 
 
 The four districts were Quebec, Three Eivers, Montreal, and St. Francis, which were 
 established for purely judicial purposes. The courts therein had unlimited and supreme 
 original jurisdiction. In addition to these superior districts there was the inferior division 
 of G-aspe with a limited jurisdiction. 
 
 The counties were, as I have already intimated, established for parliamentary objects j 
 for Lord Durham observed that he knew " of no purpose for which they were constituted, 
 except for the election of members for the house of assembly." ' The parishes, into which 
 the seigniories were divided, were the old divisions established in the days of the French 
 regime. The limits of the parishes, as set forth in the ordinance of 1*721, were not strictly 
 adhered to as the population spread, and settlements became more numerous. It was 
 consequently found necessary from time to time to build many new churches, that the 
 means and accommodation for religious worship might keep pace with the numerical 
 increase of the congregations. For the support of these churches, portions of ancient 
 parishes were, as the occasion arose, constituted into new ones. 2 The townships were 
 established a few years after the Conquest, principally for surveying purposes, in order to 
 meet the requirements of the considerable English population that in the course of time 
 flowed into Upper and Lower Canada. 3 
 
 The people that dwelt in the local divisions had no power to asfess themselves for 
 local improvements, but whenever a road or bridge was wanted it was necessary to apply 
 to the legislature. In consequence of this, the time of that body was constantly occupied 
 with the consideration of measures, which should have been the work of such local 
 councils as existed in different parts of the United States. The little schemes and intrigues 
 into which the representatives of different localities entered in order to promote and carry 
 some local work and make themselves popular with their constituents gave rise to a 
 great deal of what is known, in American parlance, as "log-rolling." " When we want 
 a bridge, we take a judge to build it " was the forcible way, according to Lord Durham's 
 Report, 4 in which a member of the provincial legislature described the tendency in those 
 days to retrench on the most important departments of the public service in order to satisfy 
 the pressing demands for local works. 
 
 It would be supposed that the British-speaking people of the townships, whose early 
 lives had been passed in the midst of the liberal local institutions of the old British 
 Colonies, would have been desirous of introducing into their respective districts at least a 
 semblance of municipal government. "We look in vain, however, for such an effort on 
 their part. They appear to have quietly acquiesced in a state of things calculated to 
 repress a spirit of local enterprise and diminish the influence of the people in the admin- 
 istration of public affairs. Indeed, we have some evidence that the government itself 
 was prepared for many years to discourage every attempt to introduce into Canada any- 
 thing like the local system that had so long existed in New England. British statesmen 
 probably remembered the strong influence that the town-meetings of Boston had in 
 encouraging a spirit of rebellion, and thought it advisable to stifle at the outset any 
 aspirations that the Canadian colonists might have in the direction of such doubtful insti- 
 tutions. " I understand," wrote Mr. Richards in a report to the secretary of state for the 
 
 Bouchette, p. 86. 
 
 1 Report, p. 35. 2 Bouchette, p. 
 
 8 Bouchette, p. 87 ; Lord Durham's Report, p. 36. * Report, p. 29, 
 
64 JOHN GEOEGB BOUKINOT ON 
 
 colonies, ordered by the house of commons to be printed as late as March, 1832, " that 
 the Yermonters had crossed the line and had partially occupied several townships, bring- 
 ing with them their municipal institutions ; and that when the impropriety of electing 
 their own officers was pointed out to them, they had quietly given them up, and promised 
 to conform to those of Canada." ' 
 
 "While the legislature was, to all intents and purposes, a large municipal council for 
 the initiation and supervision of all local improvements, the affairs of the differ- 
 ent parishes and townships were administered as far as consonant with the old 
 French system. The grand voyer and militia captain continued to be important function- 
 aries in the administration of local affairs. All the highways and bridges had to be 
 repaired and maintained under the direction of the grand voyer or his deputy. Whenever 
 it was necessary to open up a new road or to change an old one, it was the duty of 
 these officials, on receiving a petition from the locality, to call a public meeting with 
 reference to the matter, by a notice published at the parish church door after the morning 
 service. The grand voyer or his deputy had the power of dividing every parish, seigniory, 
 or township, into such sections as he should think proper, and allot to each an overseer of 
 highways and bridges, to be chosen at a meeting of householders, called and presided 
 over by the eldest* captain or senior officer of militia. These meetings were held 
 in the public room of the parsonage of the parish, or at such other place as the captain of 
 militia might direct. The grand voyer had alone the power of appointing a surveyor of 
 roads and of considering and deciding on reports made by such officers to him on the sub- 
 ject of highways. It was the duty of the justices of the peace, assembled in quarter 
 sessions, to hear and adjudicate on all questions that might arise under this law. The 
 same regulations, however, did not apply to the cities and parishes of Quebec and Mon- 
 treal. Here the justices of the peace in sessions had practically the regulation of high- 
 ways, streets, and local improvements, and appointed all the officers necessary to carry 
 out the same. They also fixed and determined the sums of money that had to be paid 
 for such purposes. 2 
 
 As a matter of fact, the grands voyers, who lived in Quebec, Montreal and Three Eivers, 
 had no very onerous functions to discharge. The people of the parishes and townships 
 learned to depend on the legislature and only performed the work imposed on them 
 by the law regulating statute labour. The absence of effective municipal institutions 
 was particularly conspicuous in the cities of Quebec and Montreal, where it would be 
 expected that more public spirit would be shown. " These cities, " I again quote from 
 Lord Durham's Eeport, 3 " were incorporated a few years ago by a temporary provincial 
 act of which the renewal was rejected in 1836. Since that time these cities have been 
 without any municipal government and the disgraceful state of the streets and the utter 
 absence of lighting are consequences which arrest the attention of all and seriously affect 
 the comfort and security of the inhabitants." 
 
 In every matter affecting the administration of civil and judicial affairs there appears 
 to have been a remarkable absence of anything approaching a workable system by which 
 the people might manage their affairs. More than that, there was actually an insufficiency 
 of public officers for the administration of justice. Outside the cities, the machinery 
 
 1 Lord Durham's Report, p. 36. 2 See Lower Canada Statutes, 1796. 3 Eeport, p. 36. 
 
LOCAL GOVEENMENT IN CANADA. 55 
 
 of civil government was singularly defective. A sheriff was appointed only for each of 
 the four judicial districts. Neither sheriffs nor constables nor parochial officers could be 
 found in the majority of the counties of the province. It is true there were a number of 
 justices of the peace who assembled in quarter sessions in accordance with the system so 
 long in vogue in England, and her colonies, but these men were appointed without much 
 regard to their qualifications for the position and even the permanent salaried chairmen, 
 appointed by the crown, were in the course of time abolished by the legislature, and 
 these inferior courts consequently deprived of the services of men generally of superior 
 attainments. * Practically, the affairs of each parish were regulated by the cure, the 
 seignior and the. captain of militia, as in the days of French government. Thanks to the 
 influence of these men, peace and order prevailed. Indeed as we review the history of 
 French Canada in all times, we cannot pay too high a tribute to the usefulness of the 
 French Canadian clergy in the absence of the settled institutions of local government. 
 In fact, it was only in ecclesiastical affairs that the people ever had an opportunity of 
 exercising a certain influence. The old institution of the fabrique — which still exists 2 in 
 all its vigour — enabled them to meet together whenever it was necessary to repair a 
 church or presbytery. When the religious services were over, the people assembled at 
 the church door and discussed their affairs. 
 
 No doubt the influences of the old French Regime prevailed in Lower Canada for a 
 long while after the conquest. A people whose ancestors had never learned the advan- 
 tages of local self-government, would be naturally slow to awake to the necessity of 
 adopting institutions under which the American colonists had flourished. It may be 
 true, as Mr. Parkman says, that the French colonists, when first brought to America, 
 could not have suddenly adopted the political institutions to which the English-speaking 
 colonists at once had recourse as the natural heritage of an English race. It is still more 
 true, as the eminent American historian adds, that the mistake of the rulers of New 
 France " was not that they exercised authority, but that they exercised too much of it, 
 and instead of weaning the child to go alone kept him in perpetual leading strings, mak- 
 ing him, if possible, more and more dependent, and less and less fit for freedom." "When 
 the French Canadian became subject to the British Crown, he was, literally, a child who 
 had never been taught to think for himself in public affairs. He was perfectly unskilled 
 in matters appertaining to self-government, and had no comprehension whatever of that 
 spirit of self-reliance and free action which characterizes the peoples brought up under 
 Teutonic and English institutions. In the course of time, however, the best minds 
 among them began to appreciate fully the advantages of free government, and to their 
 struggles for the extension of representative government, the people of British North 
 America owe a debt of gratitude. It took a long while, however, to educate the people of 
 
 1 Lord Durham's Report, p. 39. 
 
 2 The law still makes special provision for the erection and division of parishes, the construction and repair of 
 churches, parsonages, cemeteries and for the meeting of fabriques. Every decree for the canonical erection of a 
 new parish, or for the subdivision, dismemberment or union of any parishes, or with regard to the boundaries 
 of parishes, must be publicly read from the pulpit or chapel of the parish, and other formal steps taken to notify 
 the inhabitants of the proposed measure, before commissioners appointed by the state can give civil recognition 
 to the decree. On the prods verbal of these officers, the lieutenant-governor may issue a proclamation under the 
 great seal of the province, erecting such parish for civil purposes. See Consol. Stat. Low. Can., c. 18, and amending 
 Statutes. 
 
56 JOHN GBOEGB BOTJEINOT ON 
 
 French Canada up to the necessity of establishing a liberal system of municipal institu- 
 tions. As we shall see, before the close of this paper, it was not until after the Union of 
 1840 that the French Canadians could be brought to acknowledge the benefits of local 
 taxation imposed by their own local representatives. In this respect, they made less 
 progress than the people of Upper Canada, to whose history we shall now proceed to 
 refer. 
 
 IV.— Uppek Canada, 1792—1840. 
 
 As I have already stated, Upper Canada was settled by United Empire Loyalists, who 
 came into the country after the War of Independence. The majority of these people settled 
 on the shores of Lake Ontario, in the vicinity of Kingston and the Bay of Quinte, in the 
 Niagara district, and in other favoured localities by Lakes Ontario and Erie. 1 On the 24th 
 of July, 1788, the governor-general issued a proclamation 2 constituting the following 
 districts in Western or Upper Canada, viz., Luneburgj Mecklenburg, Nassau, Hesse. 
 
 Luneburg comprised the towns or tracts known by the names of Lancaster, Char- 
 lottenburg, Cornwall, Osnabruck, "Williamsburg, Matilda, Edwardsburg, Augusta and 
 Elizabethtown. Mecklenburg comprised Pittsburg, Kingston, Ernestown, Fredericksburg, 
 Adolphustown, Marysburg, Sophiasburg, Ameliasburg, Sydney, Thurlow, Eichmond, and 
 Camden. Nassau comprised the extensive district which extends from Trent to Long 
 Point on Lake Erie, and Hesse, the rest of the western part of Canada to Lake St. Clair. 3 
 To each of these districts were appointed a judge and a sheriff, and justice was administered 
 in courts of common pleas. The justices were taken from the best men the country offered 
 in the absence of persons of legal attainments. 4 The judges in those primitive times seem 
 to have possessed almost absolute power. 
 
 The first local divisions of Upper Canada appear to have been the townships. The 
 British Grovernment was extremely liberal in its grants of land to the Loyalists and the 
 officers and soldiers who settled in Upper Canada and the other provinces. The grants were 
 made free of expense on the following scale : to a field officer, 5,000 acres ; to a captain, 3,000 ; 
 to a subaltern, 2,000 ; to a private, 200. Surveys were first made of the lands extending 
 from Lake St. Francis, on the St. Lawrence, to beyond the Bay of Quinte. Townships were 
 laid out and divided into concessions and lots of 200 acres. Each township generally 
 extended nine miles in front and twelve in the rear, and varied from 80,000 to 40,000 acres. 
 The townships were not named for many years, but were numbered in two divisions. 5 One 
 
 ' Byerson's Loyalists in America, ii. 189. 
 
 2 See Proclamation in Collection of Acts and Ordinances relating to Upper Canada, York, 1818. Luneburg is 
 correctly spelt in the Proclamation, but in course of time it became, for some unexplained reason, " Lunenburg." 
 The name still survives in the changed form in Nova Scotia. 
 
 8 Canniff's History of the Settlement of Upper Canada, p. 62 ; also foregoing Proclamation. 
 
 * Judge Duncan of Luneburg was a storekeeper and a captain in the militia ; he dealt out law, dry goods and 
 groceries alternately. Ibid., p. 506. 
 
 5 Canniff; Byerson, ii. 224-5. Dr. Scadding, Toronto of Old, p. 362, gives an amusing account of the frivolous 
 way in which many of the old Townships of Upper Canada were named in the course of years. Flos, Tay and Tiny, 
 which are names of three now populous townships in the Penetanguishene district, are a commemoration of three 
 of Lady Sarah Maitland's lapdogs. Some one wrote Jus et Norma, as a joke, across a plan of a newly surveyed region, 
 and three townships were consequently known as "Jus", "Et", and "Norma" for years until they were changed 
 to Barrie, Palmerston and Clarendon respectively. " Aye," " Yea," and " No " were also designations of local divisions. 
 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 57 
 
 division embraced the townships below Kingston on the St. Lawrence, and the other the 
 townships westward to the head of the Bay of Quinte. One of the first settlers of Upper 
 Canada has given us the following description of the mode in which the townships were 
 granted by the government : — 
 
 " At length the time came in July, for the townships to be given out. The governor 
 came and having assembled the companies before him, called for Mr. Grass, and said, 
 Now you were the first person to mention this fine country, and have been here formerly 
 as a prisoner of war. You must have the first choice. The townships are numbered, 
 first, second, third, fourth and fifth ; which do you choose ? ' ' The first township ' (Kings- 
 ton). Then the governor says to Sir John Johnson, ' Which do you choose ? ' He replies, 
 'The second township' (Ernestown). To Colonel Rogers, 'Which do you choose? ' He 
 says ' The third ' (Fredericksburg). To Major Vanalstine, ' "Which do you choose ? ' ' The 
 fourth ' (Adolphustown). Then Colonel McDonell.got the fifth township, (Marysburg). 
 So, after this manner, the first settlement of Loyalists in Upper Canada was made." 1 
 
 The districts which were constituted in 1*788 were intended mainly for judicial 
 purposes, and were named after great houses in G-ermany, allied to the royal family of 
 England. The same was the case with the first townships that were laid out. The first 
 township was called Kingstown, after His Majesty G-eorge III ; Ernestown after Ernest 
 Augustus, eighth child of the King ; Adolphustown, after another son. 2 Provision was 
 made for future towns during the first surveys. A plot was generally reserved in some 
 locality which seemed especially adapted for a town. This was the case in Adolphus- 
 town, where a lot was granted to each of the settlers. But towns were of very slow 
 growth, until some years after the establishment of a separate government in Upper 
 Canada, when settlers began to flow steadily into a country whose fertility and produc- 
 tiveness commenced at last to be understood. Not a few of the towns owe their establish 
 ment to private enterprise and prescience in the first instance. 3 
 
 In 1791 Upper Canada was separated from French Canada, and became a province 
 with a legislature composed of a lieutenant-governor, a legislative council appointed by 
 the Crown, and a legislative assembly elected by the people.' 1 When lieutenant-governor 
 Simcoe undertook the administration of the affairs of the new province, he issued a 
 proclamation dividing it into nineteen counties, as follows : GMengary, Stormont, Dundas, 
 G-renville, Leeds, Frontenac,. Ontario, Addington, Lenox, Prince Edward, Hastings, 
 Northumberland, Durham, Tork, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent. 5 Some of 
 
 1 Ryerson, ii. 209. 
 
 2 " King George III. who died in 1820, aged 82, having reigned 60 years, had a family of 15 children, whose 
 names were George, Frederick, William Henry, Charlotte Augusta, Matilda, Edward, Sophia Augusta, Elizabeth, 
 Ernest Augustus, Augustus Frederick, Adolphus Frederick, Mary Sophia, Octavius, Alfred, and Amelia. These 
 royal names were appropriated to the townships, towns, and districts." Canniff, p. 439. 
 
 3 " Windsor (now Whitby,) was so named about 1819 by its projector, Mr. John Scadding, the original grantee 
 of a thousand acres in this locality. On a . natural harbour of Lake Ontario, popularly known as Big Bay, Mr. 
 Scadding laid out the town, built the first house, and named the streets, three of them after his three sons — John, 
 Charles and Henry." Byerson, ii. 260. One of these sons, here mentioned, is the well known antiquarian of 
 Toronto, Rev. Dr. Scadding. 
 
 * 31 Geo. Ill, c. 31. 
 
 5 See Proclamation in Statutes'of Upper Canada, i. 23. 
 
 Sec. II., 1886. 8. 
 
58 JOHN GEOEGE BOUEINOT ON 
 
 the well settled counties were divided into ridings, 1 each of which sent a representative 
 to the legislature. In other cases one representative was elected for two or more 
 counties. One of the first acts of the legislature was to change the names of the four 
 divisions established in 1*788 to the Eastern, Midland, Home, and "Western Districts. 2 In 
 the course of years the number was increased by the addition of the Johnstown, New- 
 castle, Niagara, London and Gore Districts. 3 These districts were intended mainly for 
 legal and judicial purposes. But all these old names, so familiar in provincial history, 
 have become obliterated by the county organisations. 
 
 The Duke de la Eochefoucault-Liancourt, who visited the country in "1795, and had 
 several interviews with Governor Simcoe, at Newark, now Niagara, the old capital of Upper 
 Canada, informs us that the division of the four districts into counties was "purely mili- 
 tary, and related merely to the enlisting, completing and assembling of the militia. The 
 militia of each county is commanded by a lieutenant."* "Whilst the Duke was, no doubt, 
 correct in the main, it must not be forgotten that the erection of counties was also 
 necessary for purposes of representation. A section of the act establishing the Constitu- 
 tion of Upper Canada expressly provided : His Majesty may authorise " the" governor 
 or lieutenant-governor of each of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada to issue a 
 proclamation dividing such province into districts or counties or circles, towns and town- 
 ships, and appointing the limits thereof, and declaring and appointing the number of 
 representatives to be chosen by each of such districts, counties or circles^ towns and 
 townships respectively." 5 Members for the legislature were then, and for many years 
 afterwards, chosen by freeholders having real property to the yearly value of forty shil- 
 lings in districts, counties or circles, and five pounds sterling in towns and townships, or 
 who paid a rental in the latter at the rate of ten pounds sterling a year. 6 
 
 The legislature was composed of plain, practical men, who went energetically to 
 work in the first sessions to provide for the wants of the few thousands of people scattered 
 throughout the wide extent of country over which their jurisdiction reached. For many 
 years their principal duties were confined to measures for carrying on local improvements. 
 It was considered "requisite, for the maintenance of good order and the rigid execution of 
 the laws, that proper officers should be appointed to superintend the observance thereof." 7 
 Accordingly, the people were authorised by statute to meet in any parish, township or 
 reputed township or place on the warrant of the high-constable, who was to preside on 
 such occasions. These assemblies were composed of the inhabitants who were house- 
 holders and ratepayers in the locality interested, and were held in the early times, for 
 convenience sake, in the parish church or chapel. They had to elect a parish or town 
 clerk, who was to make out annual lists of the inhabitants within a district, keep the 
 records, and perform other business connected with such ah office. The other officers 
 appointed were as follows : assessors, to assess all such rates and taxes " as shall be 
 imposed by any act or acts of the legislature;" a collector, "to receive such taxes and 
 
 1 Trithings or Hidings were divisions peculiar to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, though Robertson (Scotland 
 under her early Kings, iii. 433) is inclined to trace them in Kent and Surrey. Bishop Stubbs, however, (Constitu- 
 tional History, i. 100) considers the view " very interesting but very conjectural." 
 
 2 Upp. Can. Stat. 32, Geo. III. c. 8. " Bouchette, p. 590. Scadding's Toronto, p. 36 1. 
 
 4 De la Eochefoucault-Liancourt, Voyage dans les Etats Unis et le Haut Canada, i. 434. 
 
 5 31 Geo. Ill, c. 31. s. 14. K Imp. Stat. 31 Geo. Ill, c. 31. 
 ' Upp. Can. Stat. 33 Geo. Ill, c. 2. 
 
LOCAL GOYEENMENT IN CANADA. 59 
 
 rates in the manner authorised by the legislature ; " overseers of roads and highways, 
 " to oversee and perform such things as shall be directed by any act passed touching or 
 concerning the highways and roads in the province," and to act as fence-viewers " con- 
 formable to any resolutions that may be agreed upon by the inhabitants at such 
 meetings " ; a pound-keeper, to impound all stray cattle. The act also provided for two 
 town-wardens. As soon as there should be any church built for the performance of 
 divine service according to the use of the Church of England, then the parson or minister 
 was to nominate one warden and the inhabitants the other. These wardens were a cor- 
 poration to represent the whole inhabitants of the township or parish, with the right to 
 let or sell property, to sue and be sued. The high-constable, who called and presided 
 over the township meetings, was appointed by the justices in quarter sessions. The pre- 
 siding officer had to communicate a list of persons nominated at these meetings to a 
 magistrate, who was to administer to them the oath of office. In case the persons 
 appointed at the meeting refused to act, they were subject to a penalty, and the magis- 
 trates in sessions called for that purpose proceeded to fill the vacancies. In case there 
 werenot thirty inhabitants in a township, then they were considered to form part of the 
 adjacent township which should contain the smallest number of inhabitants. 1 
 
 The following extract from the early records of the township of Sophiasburg, or the 
 6th township lying on Picton and Quinte Bays, will be read with interest, because it 
 shows that there was an attempt made to establish a parish system on the basis of that so 
 long existent in the parent state. No similar record can be found in the annals of the old 
 townships of Upper Canada, although the references in the Constitutional Act of l^l, 
 and in several provincial statutes, 2 go to show that the erection of parishes was in the 
 minds of those who were engaged in developing local institutions in the country: — 
 
 ' " Passed at Sophiasburg, at a regular town meeting, 3rd March, 1800. And be it 
 observed — That all well-regulated townships be divided into parishes. Be it enacted by 
 the majority of votes, that this town shall be divided into parishes, and described as fol- 
 lows : St. John's, St. Matthew's, St. Giles, Mount Pleasant." 3 
 
 It does not appear, however, that parishes were established to any extent on the Eng- 
 lish system throughout Upper Canada, although they were general for ecclesiastical 
 purposes. The Church of England was the dominant religious body for many years, and 
 there was an effort made to establish it by giving it large reserves of public lands. We 
 shall see, however, later on, that parishes were established in the maritime provinces for 
 civil purposes as in some of the old English colonies in America. 
 
 In accordance with the British system of local government in counties, the magis- 
 trates in sessions performed an important part in the administration of local affairs. 
 
 1 One of the first recorded town meetings (Canniff, p, 454) held in accordance with the act, was that of 
 Adolphustown, which came off on the 6th of March, 1793. The following words are an exact transcript of the 
 record: — "The following persons were chosen to officiate in their respective offices, the ensuing year, and also the 
 regulations of the same: Reuben Bedell, township clerk; Paul Huff and Philip Dorland, overseers of the poor; 
 Joseph Allison and Garit Benson, constables; Willet Casey, Paul Huff and John Huyck, pound-keepers; Abraham 
 Maybee and Peter Rutland, fence-viewers. The height of fence to be 4 feet 8 inches ; water fence voted to be no 
 fence. Hoggs running at large to have yokes on 18 by 24 inches. No piggs to run until three months old. No 
 stallion to run. Any person putting fire to any bush or stable, that does not his endeavour to hinder it from doing 
 damage, shall forfeit the sum of forty shillings.'' (Signed) Philip Doeland, T. Clerk. 
 
 2 See before, p. 58. 3 Canniff, p. 472. 
 
60 JOHN GEOKGE BOUEINOT ON 
 
 These courts of quarter sessions have long existed in English counties, and their functions 
 have been regulated by a series of statutes commencing in the Tudor times and coming down 
 to the present day. The English counties were subdivided into petty sessional divisions. 
 At the head of this civil organisation in a county is the lord-lieutenant and the Custos 
 Rotulorum. These two offices are usually held by one person, who holds office under 
 a special commission from the Crown, and is generally a peer of the realm or large land- 
 owner. " His office," says Hallam, " may be considered as a revival of the ancient local 
 earldom, and it certainly took away from the sheriff a great part of the dignity and impor- 
 tance which he had acquired since the discontinuance of that office. Yet the lord-lieutenant 
 has so peculiarly military an authority that it does not in any degree control the civil power 
 of the sheriff as the executive minister of the law." 2 
 
 It would appear from the old records that there was a similar officer appointed in the 
 early times of Canada. Speaking of Lower Canada, Lord Durham says : " The justices of 
 the peace scattered over the whole of Lower Canada are named by the governor on no very 
 accurate information, there being no lieutenants or similar officers of counties in this as in 
 the upper province." 3 The Duke de la Eochefoucault, writing in 1795, says : " Simcoe 
 is by no means ambitious of investing all power and authority in his own hands, but 
 consents that the lieutenants, whom he nominates for each county, should appoint the 
 justices of the peace and officers of the militia." 4 From these and other references to the 
 duties of the officer, he appears to have discharged functions similar to those of the lord- 
 lieutenant in England, since he appointed justices and commanded the militia. The 
 title, however, appears to have fallen* into disuse in the course of a few years, though 
 there was a custos rotulorum or chairman of sessions in all of the provinces. The lieut- 
 enancy in Upper Canada never assumed as, much importance as did the same office in 
 Virginia. 6 
 
 As I have already shown, the justices in sessions appointed as in England a high 
 constable, and discharged certain functions now performed by municipal bodies in 
 Canada. All moneys collected by assessors of taxes were to be paid into the hands of 
 treasurers who were appointed by the justices in general quarter sessions. The justices 
 so assembled directed how the moneys were to be disbursed in accordance with the law. " 
 The legislature, from time to time, regulated the time and place for holding these courts. 
 The quarter sessions were held in 1*793, at Adolphustown, Kingston, Michillimackinac, 
 Newark, New Johnstown,' and Cornwall, then the principal towns of the province. The 
 jurisdiction of the justices was very extensive in those times. They had the carrying out 
 in a great measure of the acts of the legislature providing for the defraying of the expenses 
 of building court houses and jails, of keeping- the same in repair,.of the payment of jailers, of 
 the support and maintenance of prisons, of the building and repairing of houses of correc- 
 tion, of the construction and repairs of bridges, of the fees of coroners and other officers, 
 
 1 The English Citizen Series. Local Government in England, M. D. Chalmers, p. 93. 
 
 2 Const. Hist., (fing. ed. 1881) ii. 134. * Report, p. 41. * Vol. i. 416. 
 
 6 "One is struck by the prominence of the lieutenant, anciently the commander, who, besides being the chief, 
 of the militia in his county, was a member of the Council, and as such a judge of the highest tribunal in the county. 
 With Commissioners of the Governor he held monthly courts for the settlement of suits, not exceeding in value 
 one hundred pounds of tobacco, and from this court, appeal was allowed to the Governor and Council." Local 
 Institutions of Virginia. By Ed. Ingle (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) p. 83. 
 
LOCAL GOVEKNMENT IN CANADA. 61 
 
 and of all other matters that were essentially of a local character. "Whenever it was necessary 
 to establish a market, the legislature had to pass a special act giving the requisite power 
 to the court of sessions. For instance, we find an act authorising the justices in this 
 court "to fix, open and establish some convenient place in the town of Kingston as a 
 market, where butcher's meat, butter, eggs, poultry, fish and vegetables, shall be exposed 
 to sale, and to appoint such days and hours as shall be suitable for that purpose, and to 
 make such other orders and regulations relative thereto as they shall deem expedient." ! 
 The justices of the peace had also other important functions to discharge out of the ses- 
 sions. For instance, it was on their certificate that the secretary of state granted licenses 
 to public houses. These licenses were only granted after full inquiry and discussion at 
 public meetings duly called for that purpose by the high constable or other public 
 officer. 2 Thejustices in quarter sessions also appointed surveyors of highways to lay out, and 
 regulate statute labour on the public roads. All persons were liable to work on the roads, 
 in proportion to the assessment on their real and personal property. 3 
 
 For the first fifteen or twenty years of the history of the administration of civil affairs 
 in Upper Canada, the burdens of the people were exceedingly small. A Canadian his- 
 torian says on this point : " No civilised country in the world was less burdened with 
 taxes than Canada West at this period. A small direct tax on property, levied by the 
 district courts of sessions, and not amounting to j£3,500 for the whole country, sufficed 
 for all local expenses. There was no poor rate, no capitation tax, no tithes, no ecclesias- 
 tical rates of any kind. Instead of a road tax, a few days of statute labour annually 
 sufficed." 4 
 
 Under such circumstances we can easily understand why the condition of Kingston, 
 for many years the most important town of Upper Canada, should have been so pitiable 
 according to a writer of those early times : " The streets [in 1815] require very great 
 repairs, as in the rainy seasons it is scarcely possible to move about without being in 
 mud to the ankles. Lamps are required. . . . But first the legislature must form a code 
 of laws, forming a complete police. To meet expense, government might lay a rate upon 
 every inhabitant householder in proportion to value of property in house." 5 Subse- 
 quently, when Kingston became the seat of government, the municipal authorities were 
 encouraged to make improvements in streets, drainage, sidewalks, and otherwise. "When 
 the town of York was incorporated as a city, in 1834, under the name of Toronto, it had 
 not a single sidewalk within its limits, and the first mayor, Mr. "W. Lyon Mackenzie, had 
 to initiate a system of local improvements under great difficulties. 6 
 
 As the country filled up, and the necessity arose for roads and bridges and other 
 local improvements, the taxes increased ; although they never became heavy under the 
 unsatisfactory system that prevailed, until after the reunion of the Canadas in 1841. The 
 time of the legislature was constantly occupied in passing acts for the construction of public 
 works necessary for the comfort, safety and convenience of particular localities. A large 
 amount of " parish " business was transacted in those days by the legislature which 
 might as well have been done by local councils. As compared with Lower Canada, how- 
 
 1 Upp. Can Stat. 41 Geo. Ill, c. 3. 2 Ibid., 34 Geo. Ill, c. 12 
 
 3 Ibid., 48 Geo. Ill, c. 12. 4 McMullen's History, p. 247. 
 
 6 Ganniff, p. 432. 6 Lindsey's Life of Mackenzie, i. 312. 
 
62 JOHN GEOEGB BOUEINOT ON 
 
 ever, the people had eventually a workable system of local government, which enabled 
 them to make many improA r ements for themselves. The construction of canals and other 
 important works of provincial importance, on an. expensive scale, at last left so little funds 
 in the treasury that the parliament of this province alone, among the. North American 
 colonies " was, fortunately for itself, compelled to establish a system of local assessment, 
 and to leave local works in a great measure to the energy and means of the localities them- 
 selves." ' Still the system, as the country became more populous and enterprising, proved 
 ultimately quite inadequate to meet the requirements of the people and to develop their 
 latent energies. The legislature was constantly called upon to give power to local authori- 
 ties to carry out measures of local necessity. Whatever taxation was necessary for local pur- 
 poses had to be imposed through the inconvenient agency of courts of quarter sessions, 
 over which the people exercised little or no control. If the people of a city or town 
 wished to be incorporated, they were forced to apply to the legislature for a special act. 
 The powers granted to these corporations were by no means uniform, and great confusion 
 resulted from the* many statutes that existed with respect to these bodies. " No lawyer," 
 says a writer on the subject, 2 " could give an opinion upon the rights of an individual in 
 a single corporation without following the original act through the thousand sinuosities 
 of parliamentary amendment, and no capitalist at a distance could credit a city or town 
 without a particular and definite acquaintance with its individual history." It was not, 
 however, until after the reunion of the Canadian provinces, that steps were taken to estab- 
 lish in Upper Canada a larger system of popular local government in accordance with 
 the wise suggestions made by Lord Durham and other sagacious British, statesmen. But 
 before we can refer to this part of the subject, I must first review the early local history 
 of the maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. 
 
 V. — The Maritime Provinces. 
 
 When Nova Scotia became a possession of England by the treaty of Utrecht in 1T13, 
 the only place of any importance was Port Royal, originally founded by a French gentle-" 
 man-adventurer, Baron de Poutrincourt. The English renamed the place " Annapolis 
 Royal," in honour ol Queen Anne, and for some years it was the seat of government. The 
 province in those days had a considerable French Acadian population, chiefly settled in the 
 Annapolis valley, and in the fertile country watered by the streams that flow into the Bay 
 of Fundy. For some years there was a military government in Nova Scotia. In 1*719, the 
 governor received instructions to choose a council for the management of civil affairs 
 from the principal English inhabitants, until an assembly would be formed to regulate 
 matters in accordance with the instructions given to the American colonies generally. 
 This first council was composed exclusively of officers of the garrison and of officials 
 of the public departments. The French inhabitants in their respective parishes were 
 permitted, in the absence of duly appointed magistrates, to choose deputies from among 
 themselves for the purpose of executing the orders of the government and acting as 
 
 1 Lord Durham's Report, p. 48. 
 
 1 J. Sheridan Hogan, Prize Essay on Canada, 1885, p. 104. 
 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 63 
 
 arbitrators in case of controversies in the French settlements. An appeal was allowed 
 to the governor at Annapolis. 1 
 
 In 1749, the city of Halifax was founded by Governor Cornwallis on the shores of 
 Ohebucto Bay, on the Atlantic coast. The government of the province was vested in a 
 governor and council, and one of their first acts was to establish a court of general 
 sessions, similar in its nature and conformable in its practice to the courts of the same 
 name in the parent state. 2 In 1*751 they passed an ordinance that the town and suburbs 
 of Halifax be divided into eight wards, and the inhabitants empowered to choose annually 
 the following officials " for managing such prudential affairs of the town as shall be 
 committed to their care by the governor and council : — eight town-overseers, one town- 
 clerk, sixteen constables, eight scavengers. 3 
 
 It was only after the establishment of the first legislature that Nova Scotia was 
 divided into local divisions for legislative, judicial, and civil purposes. The first House of 
 Assembly, elected in 1*758, was composed of twenty-two representatives, of whom sixteen 
 were chosen by the province at large, four by the township of Halifax, and two by the 
 township of Lunenburg. It was at the same time provided that whenever fifty qualified 
 householders were settled at Pisiquid (now Windsor), Minas, Oobequid, or at any other 
 township which might be thereafter erected, it should be entitled to send two representa- 
 tives to the assembly. 4 In 1759, the governor and council divided the province into five 
 counties : Annapolis, Kings, Cumberland, Lunenburg and Halifax. 5 A few years later the 
 whole island of Cape Breton was formed into a county. 6 
 
 The legislature appears to have practically controlled the administration of local 
 affairs throughout the province, except so far as it gave, from time to time, certain powers 
 to the courts of quarter sessions to regulate taxation and carry out certain public works 
 and improvements. In the first session of the legislature, a joint committee of the council 
 and assembly choose the town officers for Halifax, viz., four overseers of the poor, two 
 clerks of the market, four surveyors of the highways, two fence viewers, and two hog-reeves. 7 
 We have abundant evidence that at this time the authorities viewed with disfavour 
 any attempt to establish a system of town government similar to that so long in operation 
 in New England. On the 14th of April, 1770, the governor and council passed a resolu- 
 tion that " the proceedings of the people in calling town-meetings for discussing questions 
 relative to law and government and such other purposes, are contrary to law, and if per- 
 sisted in, it is ordered that the parties be prosecuted by the attorney-general." 8 The 
 government of Nova Scotia had before it, at this time, the example of the town-meetings 
 of Boston, presided over by the famous Samuel Adams, and doubtless considered them as 
 the very hotbeds of revolution. 9 What the Tories thought of these popular bodies can be 
 
 1 Haliburton's History of Nova Scotia, i. 93, 96. 2 IU&., p. 163. 
 
 3 Murdoch's Hif-tory, ii. 199. * Haliburtou, i. 208. Murdoch, ii. 334, 351. 
 
 5 Murdoch, ii. 373,374. In the election for the Assembly that came off in August of the same year, the coun- 
 ties in question returned two members each ; the towns of Lunenburg, Annapolis, Horton, and Cumberland, two 
 each, and the township of Halifax, four, or twenty-two representatives in all. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 454. ' Ibid., p. 361. * Haliburton, i. 248. 
 
 s Bancroft very truly considers Samuel Adams more than any other man, " the type and representative of the 
 New England town-meeting." History of the Constitution, ii. 260- For an interesting account of his career, see 
 Samuel Adams, the Man of the Town Meeting, by J. K. Hosmer. Here the reader will be able to obtain a very 
 accurate idea of the important influence that Adams and the town-meetings of Boston exercised over the destinies 
 of America. No wonder was it that the governing class in Halifax frowned upon all manifestations of popular 
 feeling in the province. 
 
64 JOHN GEOEGB BOUEINOT ON 
 
 understood from the following extract, which gives the opinion of a rabid writer of those 
 revolutionary times. " This is the foulest, subtlest, and most enormous serpent ever issued 
 from the egg of sedition. I saw the small seed when it was implanted ; it was a grain 
 of mustard. I have watched the plant until it has become a great tree." 1 
 
 In the course of time the province was divided for legislative, judicial and civil pur- 
 poses, as follows : — 
 
 1. Divisions. or circuits, generally, consisting of one or more counties, for purposes 
 connected with the courts. 
 
 2. Districts, generally of one or more townships, established, as a rule, for the con- 
 venience of the people, who had the privilege conferred upon them of having a court of 
 sessions of the peace for the regulation of. their internal affairs. 
 
 3. Counties, generally established for legislative purposes. 
 
 4. Townships, which were simply subdivisions of the county intended for purposes 
 of local administration or of representation. 
 
 In each county there was a sheriff and justice of the peace, whose jurisdiction 
 extended throughout the same. Each district was generally provided with a court house 
 which belonged to the county. The townships did not contain any definite quantity of 
 land, as was generally the case in Upper Canada. The inhabitants appear, according to 
 Judge Haliburton, " to have had no other power than that of holding an annual meeting 
 for the purpose of voting money for the support of the poor." 2 Up to very recent times, 
 the justices in sessions were practically the local governing bodies in the various divisions 
 of the province. Even Halifax was not allowed a special act of incorporation as a city 
 until 1841, although its people made frequent applications to the legislature for power 
 to manage their own affairs. 3 The time of the legislature was taken up with making 
 provision for local wants. All the roads and bridges were built and maintained, and 
 the public schools supported by the legislature. The system that so long prevailed, by 
 which members of the legislature controlled the expenditures for local works, was well 
 calculated to demoralize public men and encourage speculation and jobbery. Large sums 
 were frittered away by the appointment of road' commissioners with reference only to 
 political considerations. 4 It was one well adapted to stimulate the energies' of village 
 politicians, and the spirit of party in the counties. 
 
 As respects local affairs, the people had little or no voice. The grand jury, in the 
 court of sessions of the peace, annually nominated such number of persons for town 
 officers as the justices should direct, and out of them the latter made the appointments. 
 
 1 Daniel Leonard, cited by Hosmer, p. 45. 2 Haliburton's Hist., ii. 8, 9. 
 
 3 Murdoch, ii. 449. In 1850 Mr. Howe attempted to pass a bill dividing the county of Halifax.into townships, 
 and conferring certain municipal privileges upon the inhabitants. The people were to have the power to raise 
 funds by assessment for the support of education and for other public purposes, and to elect their own township 
 officers, including magistrates. Lord Grey, however, took exception to the measure, and the Queen's assent was 
 withheld. Speeches and Public Letters of Hon. Joseph Howe, i. 642. < 
 
 4 " According to a report presented to me by Major Head, an assistant commissioner of enquiry whom I sent to 
 that colony [Nova Scotia], a sum of £10,000 was, during the last session, appropriated to local improvements ; this 
 sum was divided into 830 portions, and as many commissioners were appointed to expend it, giving, on an aver- 
 age, a commissioner for rather more than every £12, with a salary of 5s. a day, and a further remuneration of two 
 and a half per cent, on the money expended, to be deducted out of each share.'' Lord Durham's Eeport, p. 29. 
 This demoralising and wasteful system lasted until very recently in Nova Scotia. 
 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 65 
 
 The grand jury had also the power to raise money for certain public purposes within a 
 particular division. Of their own knowledge, or on the representation of three freeholders, 
 they could make presentments for money for building or repairing jails, court-houses, 
 pounds, or for other necessary local purposes. In the event of their neglecting to act, in 
 certain cases the justices in sessions could amerce the county. The officers appointed at 
 the sessions were a county treasurer and assessors. The clerk of the peace, as in England, 
 was appointed by the custos, as chairman of the sessions ; the office of sheriff was a 
 government appointment. Practically, in Nova Scotia, as in the other provinces, the 
 English county system prevailed. 
 
 If we now turn to the province of New Brunswick, we find that a similar system 
 existed until very recently. This province originally fofmed part of the extensive 
 and ill-defined territory known in French times as " Acadie." For some years it was 
 governed by the governor and council of Nova Scotia, until the settlement of a large 
 number of Loyalists on the banks of the St. John River brought about a change in its 
 political constitution. Then the imperial authorities thought it expedient to create a 
 separate province, with a government consisting, in the first instance, of a governor 
 and council of twelve members, exercising both executive and legislative powers; and, 
 eventually, of an assembly of twenty-six members. 
 
 On the 18th of May, 1*185, a charter was granted by G-overnor Oarleton for the incor- 
 poration of Parr Town, on the east side of the St. John River, and of Oarleton, on the west 
 side, as a city under the name of, St. John. The inhabitants were given a mayor, recorder, 
 six aldermen and six assistants, and the city was divided into six wards. 1 St. John, 
 consequently, was the first city incorporated in British North America, and it remained so 
 for many years, as Halifax and other towns were refused the same privileges for a long 
 while. 
 
 In 1786 the governor, council and assembly passed an act providing that the 
 justices of the general sessions of the peace for the several counties of the province should 
 annually appoint, out of every town or parish in the same, overseers, clerk, constables, 
 clerks of markets, assessors, surveyors, weighers of hay, fence-viewers. It will be seen 
 from this and other acts that the divisions for local purposes consisted of counties, 
 townships and parishes. In 1786, an act was passed for the better ascertaining and 
 confirming of the boundaries of the several counties within the province, and for 
 subdividing them into towns or parishes " for the more convenient and orderly distribution 
 of the respective inhabitants, to enable them, in their respective districts, to fulfil the 
 several duties incumbent on them, and for the better administration of justice therein." 
 
 Town and parish appear to have been always synonymous terms in this province. 
 In the interpretation clause of a recent act, "parish" is defined as "parish, incorporated 
 town or city." 2 This designation of one of the civil divisions of New Brunswick is, no 
 doubt, so much evidence of the desire of the early settlers, many of whom were from 
 Virginia and Maryland, 3 to introduce the institutions of their old homes. In all of the 
 British colonies, indeed, the town system had long been in use. In the first instance, the 
 
 1 Murdoch, iii. 42. . » N.B. Cons. Stat., c. 100, s. i. 
 
 3 Among the members of the first council of New Brunswick, 1784, were Chief Justice Ludlow, formerly a 
 judge of the supreme court of New York ; Judge Israel Allen, of Pennsylvania; Gabriel G. Ludlow, of Maryland; 
 Judge John Saunders, of Virginia. Not a few Virginia Loyalists settled in New Brunswick. Murdoch, iii. 42. 
 
 Sec. II., 1886. 9. 
 
66 JOHN GEOKGE BOTJEINOT ON 
 
 colonists introduced the local institutions of the parent state, with such modifications as 
 were suitable to the conditions of their existence. But the " parish " of the colonies, as a 
 rule, bore little resemblance to the historic " parish " of England. The latter was simply 
 the old township of the Saxons in an ecclesiastical form : " the district assigned to a church 
 or priest; to whom its ecclesiastical dues and generally also its tithes are paid. The 
 boundaries of the parish and the township or townships with which it coincides, are 
 generally the same ; in small parishes the idea arid even name of township is frequently, 
 at the present day, sunk in that of the parish ; and all the business that is not manorial is 
 despatched in vestry meetings, which are however primarily meetings of the township 
 for church purposes." ' 
 
 Throughout New England the township was the political unit. It is true that 
 the religious convictions of the people dominated in all their arrangements for the 
 administration of civil affairs. An eminent authority has said of the people of Massa- 
 chusetts : " They founded a civil state upon a basis which should support the worship of 
 . G-od according to their conscientious convictions of duty ; and an ecclesiastical state com- 
 bined with it, which should sustain and be in harmony with the civil government, 
 excluding what was antagonistic to the welfare of either." 2 In England the parish was 
 invested with civil functions, and the old Saxon township became gradually absorbed in 
 former. But in New England the parish and township had really distinct meanings. 
 Whenever the word " parish " was there used, it was to denote the township from an ecclesi- 
 astical point of view, as well as a portion of township not possessing town rights. Con- 
 sequently the "parish of Massachusetts " was essentially a term used for religious purposes, 
 and had no reference to civil matters which were all discharged in the township or political 
 unit of the community. 3 In Virginia, however, the parish attained considerable promin- 
 ence in the administration of local affairs. The early settlers of the old Dominion were 
 men wedded to the ancient institutions of the parent state, and they set up the system 
 long established in England, with such changes as were adapted to the circum- 
 stances of the country. Parishes were originally coterminous with the old plantations or 
 with the counties, and covered immense areas. In the course of time, when the country 
 became more settled, counties were laid out and divided into parishes. Some of these 
 parishes sent representatives to the house of burgesses in early times of the colony, and they 
 were always important local units in the civil organisation of the country. It does not, 
 however, appear that they ever possessed powers entirely equal to those enjoyed in the 
 parent state. 4 No doubt the loyalists who settled in New Brunswick and other sections 
 of British North America were so accustomed to this division that they naturally introduced 
 it when they came to organise the new province. We have already seen, in our sketch of 
 local government in Upper Canada, that there was an effort made to establish parishes in 
 that section. It is only in New Brunswick, however, that the name has become perma- 
 nently inscribed on the civil organisation of the country. I do not of course refer in this 
 connection to French Canada, where the division was constituted purely for ecclesiastical 
 purposes, and had no relation to the English parish which is the descendant of the 
 
 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist., i. 85. 2 Parker's Lowell Institute Lectures, p. 403. 
 
 3 The English Parish in America; Local Institutions in Virginia, by E. Ingle, p. 52. 
 1 Local Institutions, etc., pp. 52, 53. 
 
LOCAL GOVEENMENT IN CANADA. 67 
 
 township of early English times — itself developed from the mark communities of the 
 Teutonic tribes. 1 
 
 The Island of Prince Edward, originally known as St. John's, formed part of the 
 province of Nova Scotia until 1*769, when it was created a separate province, with a 
 lieutenant-governor, a combined executive and legislative council, and in 17Y3 a legislative 
 assembly of eighteen members. 2 The history of this island is interesting from the fact that it 
 gives an instance of a land system which kept the province in a state of agitation for many 
 years, until it was finally settled soon after the union with the Dominion. The island was 
 surveyed by Captain Holland in 1765, and in 116*1 divided into sixty-seven townships, 
 containing in the aggregate 1,360,600 acres. 3 This extensive tract was conveyed by ballot 
 with some reservations, to officers and other individuals who had claims or supposed 
 claims on the crown, and a landed monopoly was in this way established in the island. 
 The grantees were to settle in the province or establish a certain number of settlers within 
 ten years, but these proper conditions were practically laid aside and an absentee owner- 
 ship allowed to grow up, to the great injury of the tenants who farmed the lands. In 
 those days the crown availed itself lavishly of its prerogatives with very little regard to 
 future settlement on the public lands of the country over which it exercised dominion. 
 Previous to the arrangement just mentioned, a British nobleman had applied to the king 
 for a grant of the whole island. His proposition was to divide it into hundreds 4 as in 
 England, or baronies as in Ireland. These hundreds or baronies were to be divided into 
 manors over which would preside a court baron, in accordance with the old English system. 
 Townships were to be carved out of hundreds ; courts leet and courts baron were also 
 to be established under the direction of the lord paramount. A local historian has clearly 
 epitomised the whole proposition as follows : " There was to be a lord paramount of the 
 whole island, forty capital lords of forty hundreds, four hundred lords of manors, and eight 
 hundred freeholders. For assurance of the said tenures, eight hundred thousand acres 
 were to be set apart for establishments for trade and commerce in the most suitable parts 
 of the island, including one county town, forty market towns, and four hundred villages." 
 
 1 " Primarily the parish is merely the old township in its ecclesiastical aspect. We can, therefore, trace the 
 descent of the modern civil parish through the ecclesiastical parish, up to the old Saxon township. It may be safely 
 said that the English parish is the legitimate descendant of the Teutonic mark, and that the English parish, the 
 New England township, the French or Belgian commune, and the village community of Northern India, arj but 
 variations of one common type which reproduces itself wherever the Aryan race is found. Whether the Teutonic 
 mark system was ever introduced into England by our Saxon forefathers is an open question, but the Saxon town- 
 ship owed many of its distinguishing characteristics to the mark system. The township was so called from the 
 tun or hedge which surrounded the group of homesteads." Chalmers' Local Government in England, p. 36. 
 
 2 Bourinot, p. 69. 8ee also copy of commission of the first lieutenant-governor, Captain W. Paterson. Canada 
 Sessional Papers, 1883, No. 70, p. 2. 
 
 3 Campbell's History, pp. 3, 19. Colonial Office List, 1885, p. 38. 
 
 4 It does not appear that " hundreds " were ever established in Canada. The union of a number of townships 
 for the purpose of judicial administration, peace and defence, formed what is known as the hundred or wapentake, 
 in Anglo-Saxon times. " It is very probable," writes Stubbs (i. 96, 97) " that the colonists of Britain arranged 
 themselves in hundreds of warriors ; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal districts. The only 
 conclusion that seems reasonable is that, under the name of geographical hundreds, we have the variously sized 
 pagi or districts in which the hundred warriors settled." The first civil divisions of the infant settlement of Mary- 
 land were called " hundreds," and the election district of " Bay Hundred " on the eastern shore of the state, is a 
 memorial of those old times. Local Institutions of Maryland, by L. "W. Wilhelm, p. 39. A similar division was 
 also known in the early history of Virginia. Ingle, pp. 40-47. 
 
68 JOHN GEOEGE BOUEINOT ON 
 
 Each hundred or barony was to consist of somewhat less than eight square miles, and the 
 lord of each was bound to erect and maintain forever a castle or blockhouse as the capital 
 seat of his property, and as a place of retreat and rendezvous for the settlers ; and thus, on 
 any alarm of sudden danger, every inhabitant might have a place of security within four 
 miles of his habitation. A. cannon fired at one of the castles would be heard at the next, 
 and thus the firing would proceed in regular order from castle to castle, and be " the 
 means," adds the noble memorialist, " of putting every inhabitant of the whole island 
 under arms and in motion in the space of one quarter of an hour." l 
 
 But this proposition was not entertained by the king, who had had some experience 
 of a similar plan which failed in Carolina. 2 The division, however, of the whole island, 
 among a few proprietors, appears to have had consequences probably fully as disastrous 
 as would have been the concession to a single nobleman, who might have taken a deep 
 interest in its settlement, as was notably done by Lord Baltimore in Maryland. 
 
 The island was originally laid out in counties, 3 parishes and townships. The county 
 lines appear to have been run from north to south across the island at two of its widest 
 parts. Where the boundaries of townships or parishes touch the county lines, they are 
 coterminous therewith. The same is true of the township and parish lines. The average 
 area of the townships is 20,000 acres, though number 66, the last regular township 
 surveyed, contains only 6,000, and number 6*7, an irregular block in the centre of the 
 island, is somewhat larger than the average. 
 
 Each parish includes from three to six townships. In addition to the territorial 
 divisions before mentioned, there was laid out in each county, at the time of the original 
 survey, a site for a chef lieu, or county town. For Queen's County, a town plot was laid 
 out on the site of the. present city of Charlottetown, at the head of Hillsboro' Bay, where 
 the North- West and Hillsboro' Rivers unite. The town of King's County was laid out at 
 Georgetown, on the south-east coast, on Cardigan Bay, and, for Prince County, a town site 
 was surveyed on the east side of Eichmond or Malpeque Bay, near its mouth. To each 
 of these town sites there were attached distinct areas of land called " commons"* and 
 " royalties," 5 which covered about 6,000 acres each, and were not included in any of the 
 townships. Instead of being reserved for their original purpose, the common and royalty 
 attached to each town site were subsequently sold by the crown as farm lands, and are 
 
 1 Campbell's History, oh. i. p. 11. 
 
 2 Shaftesbury and Locke attempted to frame a constitution for Carolina, which would " connect political power 
 with hereditary wealth." Bancroft's History of the United States, ii. 146. 
 
 3 "In 1768 the Island was divided into three counties :— (1.) King's, containing 20 townships, 412,100 acres; 
 county town, Georgetown, 4,000 acres (Les Trois Rivieres). (2.) Queen's, 23 townships, 486,600 acres ; county town, 
 Charlottetown, 7,300 acres (Port la Joie). (3.) Prince County, 23 townships, 467,000 acres ; county town, Princetown, 
 4,000 acres (Malpeque)." Murdoch's History, ii. 474. The names in parentheses are those of the old French 
 settlements. 
 
 4 These common lands were a memorial of Anglo-Saxon times. "The pleasant green commons or squares 
 which occur in the midst of towns and cities in England and the United States most probably originated from the 
 coalescence of adjacent mark-communities, whereby the border-land used in common by all was brought into the 
 centre of the new aggregate. ... In old towns of New England. ... the little park. . . . was once the common 
 pasture of the town." Fiske's American Political Ideas, pp. 39, 40. 
 
 6 " In its primary and natural sense, ' royalties ' is merely the English translation or equivalent of 
 regalitates, jura regalia, jwra regia." See an interesting definition of the term given by the judicial committee of 
 the privy council, Legal News (Montreal), vi. 244 ; and Bourinot, p. 690. 
 
, LOCAL GOVBETSfMBNT IN CANADA. 69 
 
 now occupied and cultivated as such, though, the city of Charlottetown extends beyond 
 the old town site, and covers a portion of the common. The county town of Prince County 
 was not established at Princetown, but at a point on the shores of Bedeque Bay, on the south 
 coast, now called " Summerside." 
 
 As we have just seen, there was an attempt made in Prince Edward Island to 
 establish parishes as in other parts of the old colonies, but, in the course of time, these 
 local divisions became practically useless, and are seldom mentioned now, except in legal 
 proceedings connected with old land titles. It is only in Prince Edward Island, I may 
 add, that we come across the term " royalties " as reservations of the crown, in the vicinity 
 of the old settlements. In the other provinces, however, provision was made for the 
 establishment of commons, 1 though, in the course of time, they, too, in the majority of 
 cases, were leased for private purposes and ceased to become available for the general use 
 of the community. The legislature of Nova Scotia, for instance, passed an act in 1816 to 
 lease twenty-five acres of the Halifax common, in half acre lots, for 999 years. 2 
 
 In this island, the several divisions to which we have referred appear to have been 
 established chiefly for representative and judicial purposes. No system of local govern- 
 ment ever existed in the counties and parishes, as in other parts of America. The legis- 
 lature has been always a municipal council for the whole island. 
 
 VI. — The Establishment op Municipal Institutions in the Provinces of the 
 
 Dominion. 
 
 We have now brought this review of local government up to the time when a 
 new era in the history of political institutions commenced in all the provinces of British 
 North America. The troubles which culminated in the Rebellion of lSS^-S led to the 
 reunion of the Canadas and the concession of a more liberal system of government to the 
 people. The British authorities recognised the necessity of leaving the people free to 
 control their own internal affairs, and of giving up that system of paternal government 
 which had worked so unsatisfactorily. Between 1840 and 1854 all the provinces were 
 granted responsible government in the real sense of the term, and entered almost 
 immediately on a career of political and national progress which was in remarkable 
 contrast with the condition of things previous to 1840. The legislation of the province 
 was distinguished by greater vigour as soon as the people obtained full control of their 
 own taxation and revenue. The result was the improvement of the communications of 
 the country and the passage of measures in the direction of increasing the responsibilities 
 of the people in the management of their local affairs. 
 
 In the speech with which Lord Sydenham, then governor-general, opened the legisla- 
 ture of 1841, he called attention to the fact that it was "highly desirable that the principles 
 of local self-government, which already prevail to some extent throughout that part of the 
 province which was formerly Upper Canada, should receive a more extended application 
 and that the people should exercise a greater control over their own local affairs." 3 The 
 
 1 Nova Scotia Archives, Aikins, p. 700. 2 Murdoch, iii. 415. 
 
 3 Assembly Journals, 1841, p. 8. 
 
70 JOHN GEORGE BOUEINOT ON 
 
 legislature accordingly went energetically to work to provide for the internal government 
 of the upper province. Some difficulties arose in dealing with this question on account 
 of the position taken by Lower Canada. During the suspension of the constitution in 
 French Canada, an ordinance had been passed by the special council " to provide for the 
 better internal government of this province by the establishment of local or municipal 
 institutions therein." The province was divided into twenty-two districts, comprising 
 certain seigniories, townships, and parishes. The governor and council fixed and deter- 
 mined the number of councillors who were elected for every district. The warden was 
 appointed by the governor-general, and his duties were regulated by instructions from 
 the same high functionary. The meetings of householders, at which the parish or town- 
 ship officers as well as the district councillors were elected and other business was trans- 
 acted, were convened on the authorisation of the warden by one of the justices of the 
 peace for the district. The governor had the power to dissolve a. district council under 
 extraordinary circumstances. Insiructions were issued by the governor and council to 
 the chairmen of parish or township meetings, assessors, collectors, surveyors of highways 
 and bridges, overseers of the poor, and other local officers. * 
 
 Consequently, the system in operation in Lower Canada w as entirely controlled by 
 the government. It was the desire of the Upper Canadians, who had been gradually edu- 
 cated for more popular local institutions, to elect the warden and other officers. The 
 measure which was presented in 1841, by Mr. Harrison, provincial secretary of the 
 upper province, provided that the inhabitants of each district should be a body corporate 
 within the limits prescribed by the act, and provision was made for the formation of 
 municipal councils, to consist of a warden and a fixed number of councillors in each dis- 
 trict. Power was given to these councils to assess and collect from the inhabitants such 
 moneys as might be necessary for local purposes, and generally to adopt measures for the 
 good government of the respective districts represented in these local bodies. The Upper 
 Canadians naturally wished to elect their own warden, but it was argued that it was inex- 
 pedient to concede to one province privileges not given to the other. The French 
 members in the legislature were not only opposed to the measure passed by the special 
 council, but believed that, if they sanctioned the passage of a liberal measure in Upper 
 Canada, it would be followed by similar legislation for Lower Canada. The most influen- 
 tial men in that province were opposed at that time to any system that might impose local 
 direct taxation on the people. 2 
 
 Imperfect as was the act of 1841, it was the commencement of a new era in municipal 
 government in Canada. In the course of a few years the act was amended, and the people 
 at last obtained full control of the election of their own municipal officers. Statutes 
 passed from time to time swept away those numerous corporate bodies which had 
 been established by the legislature of the old province, and provided by one general law 
 " for the erection of municipal corporations and the establishment of police regulations in 
 and for the several counties, cities, towns, townships and villages in Upper Canada." 3 
 Lower Canada was also brought into the general system, according as the people began 
 to comprehend the advantages of controlling their local affairs. The ordinance of the 
 
 1 Canada Sessional Papers, 1841, App. X. 2 Dent's Canada since the Union of 1841, i. 146. 
 
 3 Con. Stat. 12 Vict. c. 80, and 12 Vict. c. 81. 
 
LOCAL GOVBENMBNT IN CANADA. 71 
 
 special council was repealed in 1845 by an act, which provided that every township or 
 parish should constitute a municipal corporation, represented by a council elected by the 
 people, and presided over by a president or mayor, also elective. * This parish organisa- 
 tion seemed peculiarly well adapted to the habits of the people of French Canada, where 
 the parish is connected with their dearest and most interesting associations ; but for 
 . some reason or other it was soon changed to a county government, which lasted for a 
 number of years. 2 "Without, however, dwelling on the numerous acts which occupied 
 considerable time in the legislature for years with the object of maturing and perfecting 
 a general municipal system acceptable to the people and commensurate with their 
 progress in self-government, it is sufficient to say that some time before 186*7, when the 
 provinces were confederated, Upper and Lower Canada enjoyed at last local institutions 
 resting on an essentially popular basis, and giving every possible facility for carrying out 
 desirable public improvements in the municipal divisions. The tendency of legislation 
 indeed for years took a dangerous direction. Acts were passed, in 1853 and subsequent 
 years, enabling the municipalities to borrow money for the construction of railways on the 
 guarantee of the province. 8 The result was much extravagance in the public expendi- 
 tures and the increase of local taxation in many municipalities of Canada, which 
 hampered the people for many years, notwithstanding the benefits derived from the 
 construction of important public works, until the government was forced to come to their 
 assistance and relieve them of the burdens they had imposed upon themselves. 
 
 At the present time, all the provinces of the Dominion of Canada enjoy a system of 
 local self-government which enables the people in every local division, whether it be a 
 village, town, township, parish, city, or county, to manage their own internal affairs in 
 accordance with the liberal provisions of the various statutory enactments which are the 
 result of the wisdom of the various legislatures of the different provinces within half a 
 century. It is in the great province of Ontario that we find the system in its complete 
 form. "While this system is quite symmetrical in its arrangement, it is also thoroughly 
 practical, and rests upon the free action of the ratepayers in each municipality. The 
 whole organisation comprises : — 
 
 (1.) The minor municipal corporations, consisting of townships, being rural districts 
 of an area of eight or ten square miles, with a population of from 3000 to 6000. 
 
 (2.) Villages with a population of over *150. 
 
 (3.) Towns with a population of over 2000. Such of these as are comprised within a 
 larger district termed a " county," constitute 
 
 (4.) The county municipality, which is under the government of a council composed 
 of the heads of the different minor municipal divisions in such counties as have already 
 been constituted in the province. 
 
 (5.) Cities are established from the growth of towns when their population exceeds 
 15,000, and their municipal jurisdiction is akin to that of counties and towns combined. 
 The functions of each municipality are commensurate with their respective localities. 4 
 
 1 Turcotte, Canada sous l'Union, ii. 24. 
 
 ' In 1855 Mr. Drummond, then attorney-general, brought in a bill restoring the parish municipality, while 
 preserving the county organization. Turcotte, ii. 260. 
 3 Turcotte, ii. 202. See Consol, Stat. 22 Vict. c. 83. 
 i Canadian Economics; Montreal Meeting of the British Association, 1884, p. 317. 
 
72 JOHN GBOEGB BOUEINOT ON 
 
 The council of every county consists of the reeves and deputy reeves of the townships 
 and villages within the county, and one of the reeves or deputy reeve shall be the warden. 
 The council of every city consists of the mayor, and three aldermen for every ward. The 
 council of every town consists of the mayor and of three councillors for every ward where 
 there are less than five wards, and of two for each ward where there are five or more 
 wards. The council of every incorporated village and of every township consists of one 
 reeve (who presides) and of four councillors. The persons elected must be natural-born 
 or naturalised subjects of the Queen, reside within the municipality, and be possessed of a 
 certain legal or equitable freehold or leasehold varying from $400 in townships to $1,500 in 
 cities for freehold, and from $800 to $3,000 for leasehold. The electors must be ratepayers 
 in the municipality. Every election must be held in the municipality to which the 
 same relates. The election is by ballot, and complete provision is made for the trial of 
 controverted elections and the prevention of corrupt practices. The municipal officers 
 comprise a warden, mayor or reeve, clerk, treasurer, assessors, collectors, auditors, valuators. 
 The mayors, reeves, aldermen and councillors are elected by the taxpayers, but the warden 
 and all the other municipal officers are appointed by the councils. The powers of 
 these bodies are exercised by by-law, 1 when not otherwise authorised or provided for. 
 Certain by-laws require the assent of the ratepayers. The councils have the power to 
 pass such laws creating debts and levying rates under certain restrictions set forth in the 
 statute : for the purchase of property ; for the appointment of municipal officers ; for the 
 aid of agricultural and other societies, manufacturing establishments, road companies, 
 indigent persons and charities ; for taking a census ; with respect to drainage, the purchase 
 of wet lands, the planting of ornamental trees, driving on roads and bridges, the seizure 
 of bread or other articles of light weight, or short measurement ; for the security of 
 wharves and docks and the regulation of harbours ; for the laying out and improvement 
 of cemeteries, the prevention of cruelty to animals ; for the purchase of property required 
 for the erection of public schools thereon ; and providing for the establishment and sup- 
 port of public schools according to law ; for the regulation of fences ; for the preservation 
 of the public peace and morals ; for the licensing of ferries ; for the establishment of 
 markets, fire companies, sewerage and drainage ; for the aid of railways, by taking stock 
 or granting a loan or bonus to the same. 2 These municipal bodies can be restrained in 
 Ontario, as indeed in other provinces, by the superior courts when their by-laws are in 
 excess of their powers. The courts may also compel them to exercise their power in 
 proper cases. The provincial legislature grants the municipal authorities certain powers, 
 and at the same time commits the proper exercise of those powers to the controlling care 
 of the courts. 3 
 
 The council of every municipal district in Ontario has now the power to make such 
 material improvements as are necessary for the convenience and comfort of the people ; 
 but, more than that, the whole municipal organisation has been satisfactorily adapted to 
 the requirements of a national system of education. On the enterprise and liberality of 
 
 1 This legal term is a historic link that binds our municipal system to the old English township. In the shires 
 of England where the Danes acquired a firm foothold the township was often called "by"; it had the power of 
 enacting its own " by-laws," or town laws, as municipal corporations have generally to-day. Fiske's American 
 Political Ideas, p. 46. 
 
 2 Bevised Statutes of Ontario, c. 174. 3 O'Sullivan's Manual of Government, p. 191. 
 
LOCAL GOVEKNMENT IN CANADA. 73 
 
 the municipalities depends the efficiency of the educational system of the province. The 
 wealthy communities are able to erect school houses, which are so many evidences of 
 their deep interest in public education and of the progress of architectural taste in the 
 country. The legislature has also given power to any incorporated city, town or village 
 to establish free libraries whenever a majority of the taxpayers express themselves in 
 favour of such institutions. 1 In Ontario, as a rule, municipalities have taken advantage of 
 the admirable opportunities which the law gives them of promoting the welfare and 
 happiness of all classes, which are so intimately connected with the education and 
 culture of the people. The city of Toronto, indeed, immediately availed itself of the law 
 providing for free libraries, and has set an example which it is to be hoped will be followed 
 by other communities in Canada. 
 
 In all the other provinces the municipal system, if not quite so symmetrical as that 
 of Ontario, is based on the same principles. In the province of Quebec the municipal 
 divisions consist of villages, towns, parishes, or townships and counties. The parish is 
 necessarily recognised in the general law provided for the municipal organisation of the 
 province. "When a canonical parish has been once formed by the proper ecclesiastical 
 authority, 2 it may at any time be erected into a municipality by civil authority. 
 Although the law makes a general provision for the civil erection of a parish, it is also 
 frequently found expedient to avoid the expense of the necessary proceedings by obtaining 
 special powers from the legislature for erecting and confirming a parish for all civil pur- 
 poses. 3 The county council is composed of the mayors of the several local municipalities 
 of the county in which those officials have been elected. The councillors elect one of 
 their number to be mayor of the local municipality, while the warden is chosen by the 
 county council. The principal officers are the secretary-treasurer, who receives and pays 
 out taxes and other moneys in accordance with law, auditors, inspectors of roads and 
 bridges, pound-keepers, and valuators. The cities and towns of the province are, 
 however, incorporated by special acts, and their mayors as well as councils are elected by 
 the people. 
 
 In the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the people were more laggard 
 
 in adopting a municipal system than in Upper Canada. Nova Scotia had for years a 
 
 permissive act on its statute book, by which any county might be incorporated when the 
 
 people made formal application to the governor-in-council in the manner provided. It 
 
 was not, however, until 18*19 that an act 4 was passed providing for the incorporation of 
 
 the whole province. The county councils now consist of a warden and councillors. 
 
 The council elect a warden from among themselves, a clerk, treasurer, auditors, assessors, 
 
 pound-keepers and overseers of highways. All the powers and authorities previously 
 
 vested in the grand jury and sessions, in special sessions, or in justices of the peace, to 
 
 make by-laws, impose rates or assessments, and appoint township or county officers, 
 
 are now exercised by the various municipal councils in the province. The money 
 
 annually voted for road and bridge service is now appropriated by the councils of the 
 
 municipalities under the inspection of supervisors or commissioners. 5 Cities and towns 
 
 are incorporated by special acts, and the mayors and wardens are elected by the inhabit- 
 
 1 Ont. Stats., 45 Vict. c. 22. 2 See before, p. 55,;note. 
 
 3 For example, Quebec Stat, 45 Vict. c. 41. 4 Nova Scotia Stat., 42 Vict. c. i. 
 
 5 N. S. Stat., 44 Vict c i., and by 45„Vict c. i. and 46 Vict. c. i. 
 
 Sec. II...1886. 10. 
 
74 JOHJST GEOKGKE BOURINOT ON 
 
 ants duly qualified by law. 1 In New Brunswick a similar municipal system has been for 
 years in operation. 2 
 
 The little province of Prince Edward Island, however, has never established a 
 complete municipal system ; the legislature is practically the governing body in all 
 matters of local improvement. It passes acts establishing and regulating markets, and 
 making provision for the relief of the poor, for court houses, jails, salaries, fire depart- 
 ment, ferries, roads and bridges, and various other services which, in the more advanced 
 provinces, are under the control of local corporations. Every session the house resolves 
 itself into a committee of the whole, to consider all matters relating to the public roads, 
 and to pass resolutions appropriating moneys for this purpose, in conformity with a certain 
 scale arranged for the different townships. 3 Oharlottetown and Summerside have special 
 acts of incorporation. Provision, however, was made some years ago for the establish- 
 ment of certain municipal authorities in towns and villages of the island. Wardens may 
 be elected by the ratepayers of a town or village, to perform certain municipal duties of a 
 very limited character. 4 
 
 In British Columbia, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories very liberal provision 
 exists for the establishment of muncipal corporations on the basis of those that exist in 
 Ontario. 5 
 
 VII. — Conclusion. 
 
 I have attempted in the preceding pages to trace, step by step, the various stages 
 in the development of that system of local self-government which lies at the foundation 
 of the political institutions of the provinces of the Dominion. "We have seen that 
 progress in this direction was very slow until the people increased in wealth and political 
 knowledge, and were granted a larger measure of liberty in the administration of provin- 
 cial affairs. We look in vain during the days of the French Regime for anything 
 approaching those free institutions which are the natural heritage of an Anglo-Saxon 
 people. Under the invigorating inspiration of those political representative institutions, 
 which followed the supremacy of England in Canada, the French Canadians, like all other 
 classes of the population, learned, at last, to appreciate the advantages of being permitted 
 to manage their own local affairs. It is noteworthy, however, that we do not find 
 anything approaching the town system of New England during the early times of British 
 North America. Those primary assemblies of Massachusetts, which were so many repre- 
 sentatives of the folkmoot of early English times, 6 were never reproduced among the 
 
 1 See act incorporating town of Sydney, 48 Vict. c. 87. It is not easy to understand why the municipal heads 
 of towns in this province should be called " wardens." A distinction should certainly be made between the warden 
 of the county and the heads of the other municipalities. It is confusing, to say the least. 
 
 2 Eevised Statutes of New Brunswick, c. 99. 3 Assembly Journals, 1884, p. 222. 
 
 4 P. E. I. Stat., 33 Vict. c. 20. 
 
 5 See Brit. Col. Stat., c. 129 ; Man. Stat., 46 and 47 Vict. c. 1 ; Ordinances of N. W. T., No. 2, 1885. In the North- 
 west Territory, the heads of the councils, outside of cities and towns, are designated " chairmen." Elsewhere these 
 officers are known as ''mayors." In Manitoba, the old titles of ''reeve" and "mayor" are preserved in the 
 municipalities. 
 
 6 " A New England town meeting is essentially the same thing as the folk-mote," E. A. Freeman, American 
 Institutional History, p. 16, 
 
LOCAL GOVBENMBNT IN CANADA. 75 
 
 people that settled the provinces. Indeed, the conditions under which those countries 
 were peopled were antagonistic to the establishment of the town organisations of New 
 England. The British government, after its experience of the old Thirteen Colonies, 
 decided to guide the affairs of their remaining possessions with the hand of a gentle 
 despotism, and did not permit the formation of institutions which might weaken the 
 allegiance of the people to the crown. It was however a mistaken idea, as it was clearly 
 pointed out in Lord Durham's Eeport, to have discouraged the establishment, at an early 
 period, of a municipal system in Canada, which would have educated the people in self- 
 government, and made them more capable of grappling with the difficulties of the repre- 
 sentative institutions granted them in 1791. However, the genius of an English race for 
 managing their own affairs rose superior to the influence of a paternal government many 
 thousand miles distant, and won, at last, for the people of Canada, a complete municipal 
 system, which may well be the envy of the British people, who are now endeavouring to 
 extricate themselves from the chaos of local laws, which make local government in the 
 parent state so unintelligible to the ordinary citizen. 1 All sections and peoples of the 
 Dominion are equally favoured in this respect. Throwing aside the traditions of a race 
 unfamiliar in early times with the institutions of the Teutonic peoples, the French 
 Canadians have also been brought into the van of municipal progress, and enabled to pro- 
 mote many measures of local necessity, which, otherwise, they could not have accomplished. 
 In a paper of a strictly historic scope, it would be out of place to dwell at any length 
 on the merits and demerits of the institutions which now prevail throughout the 
 Dominion. It is only necessary to say that we should not conceal from ourselves the fact 
 that there is always danger in a system which hands practically to the few the control of 
 the affairs of the many — which, in a measure, encourages the tendency of the majority 
 to shift responsibility on to others, and, consequently, gives constant opportunities to the 
 corrupt and unscrupulous demagogue to manage the municipal affairs of a community in 
 a manner most detrimental to the public interests. Indifference to municipal affairs on the 
 part of those who should have the greatest stake in their careful, economical management, 
 is an ever present peril under a system like ours. The abstention of the educated and 
 wealthy classes from participation in local affairs, is a growing evil Which, in some 
 communities in the United States, has led to gross extravagance, corruption and misman- 
 agement. No doubt, if it were possible to resort to the folkmoot of the old times of our 
 ancestors, or to their best modern exemplar, the township meetings of New England, and 
 permit the people to assemble and consult together on their local affairs, a public advan- 
 vantage would be gained ; but, unfortunately, such assemblages seem only possible in 
 primitive times, when population is sparsely diffused, and large cities and towns are the 
 exception. 2 The rapid increase of population, and the numerous demands of our complex 
 
 1 " English local government can only be called a system on the lucus non lucendu principle. There is neither 
 coordination nor subordination among the numerical authorities which regulate our local affairs. Each authority 
 appears to be unacquainted with the existence, or, at least, with the work of the others. ' There is no labyrinth so 
 intricate,' says Mr. Goschen, ■ as the chaos of our local 'laws.' Local government in this country may be fitly 
 described as consisting of a chaos of areas, a chaos of authorities, and a chaos rf rates." Chalmers' Local Govern- 
 ment in England, p. 15. No wonder then that English statesmen have at last awoke to the necessity of grappling 
 with a problem which Canada herself has in a great measure solved- 
 
 2 Since the remarks in the text were penned, I have had an opportunity of reading a paper on the Town and 
 City Government of New Haven by C. H. Swetmore, Ph. D., in which the impracticability of the old town system 
 
76 BOUKINOT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 
 
 civilisation, have forced on us a municipal system which must be representative in its 
 character — which must entrust to a chosen few the management of the affairs of the 
 whole community. The dangers of the system are obvious to all, and should be carefully 
 borne in mind by the intelligent and sagacious leaders and thinkers of every community. ' 
 Happily, as the peril is apparent, so the remedy is always open to the majority. The 
 security of our local institutions rests on the vigilance of an outspoken press, on the 
 watchfulness of the superior legislative bodies, and on the frequency of elections, 
 during which the people have abundant opportunity of criticising and investigating the 
 administration of municipal affairs. On the whole, then, it would be difficult to devise and 
 mature a system better calculated to develop a spirit of self-reliance and enterprise in a 
 community, or to educate the people in the administration of public affairs. It is not too 
 much to say that the municipal bodies of this country are so many schools where men 
 may gain a valuable experience, which will make them more useful, should they at any 
 time win a place in that larger field of action which the legislature offers to the ambitious 
 Canadian. 
 
 of New England under modern conditions is clearly proved. In New Haven, there is a dual system of town and 
 city government. The annual town meeting, the ancient general court for the town (the folkmoot of all the voters 
 resident in the Eepublic of New Haven), is still periodically held for the election of town's officers, authorising and 
 estimating expenditures, and determining the annual town tax for 75,000 people. The author cited says (p. 69) : — 
 "This most venerable institution in the community appears to-day in the guise of a gathering of a few citizens, 
 who do the work of as many thousands. Only the few understand the subjects which are under discussion. But 
 citizens of all parties and of all grades of respectability ignore the town-meeting and school-meeting alike. Not 
 one-seventieth part of the citizens of the town has attended an annual town-meeting ; they hardly know when it 
 is held." The proposal to abolish this dual system where it exists in New England, and substitute a simple 
 administration, is now familiar to every one. The old system, in fact, has outlived its usefulness. 
 
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