'trs . RECOMMENDED FOR PERUSAL BY EVERY REFORMER. A CORRECT ACCOUNT RISE AND PROGRESS RECENT POPULAR MOVEMENTS IN LOWER CANADA. From the Patriot^ Extra, (United States Newspaper,) Dec. I5th, 1837. The popular outbreak which has recently and unexpectedly occurred in the neiglibouring Province of Lower Canada, has, it cannot be denied, excited mucli interest in the nortliern and eastern sections of the Union. The papers from all quarters comment more or less on the subject. This, if there were no other proof, is sufficient to show the direction towards which the public feeling is setting. It is probable, however, that most of the citizens of the United States are yet in a great degree ignorant of the precise nature of the movement in the north ; of the causes which have led to the temporary triumph of one of the parties, and to the temporary defeat of the other. Put above all, few of them are acquainted with the chain of circumstances whicli hurried long-lived and deep-rooted discontent into sudden resistance to the constituted executive authority of the colony. The following details will, it is hoped, enable the public to form, without going very far back into history, a more distinct and a clearer idea of the rise and nature of the Canada difficulties. The executive authority in that colony is perfectly irresponsible to the people of Canada. No matter how grave the malversation or misconduct of the persons exercising it — no matter how unfit they may be for the station, they can neither be removed from office^ punished, or controlled by the people whose affairs they mal-administer, whose property or resources they waste, or whose liberties or rights they may invade or destroy. A consequence of this state of perfect freedom from control has been, that the members composing that executive have divided amon^ themselves, their families and dependants, more than a million of acres of the pub- lic lands. They have permitted the treasurer of the Province to peculate and convert to his own use, with impunity, 600,000 dollars (i/*l 20,000) of the public money be- longing to the colonists; and they still share among themselves enormous emolu- ments, large fees established without the authority of law, have obtained most valuable portions of the public domain for little or nothing, and combine, many'" of them, in their own persons, executive, legislative, and judiciary functions. That is, the same individuals sit in one chamber as makers of the law ; in another, as judges of the law ; and in a third, as executors of the law. We need not tell our JOHN CHILDS AND SOX, PRINTERS, BUNGAY. 2 cnligktened citizens that every constitution of the Union wisely declares the exercise of these duties by the same persons to be incompatible. In the next place, the second branch of the Provincial Legislature, which is called the Legislative Council, and which is equivalent to the Senate of this State, is composed of persons appointed for life to that office by the authorities in Britain. The persons thus appointed are, nearly without an exception, the creatures of the ffovernment— some of them immoral men, and all of them totally independent and beyond the control of the people for whom they make laws. Let them behave ever so badly, they cannot be removed from office. The great majority of the men holding seats in this branch of the Legislature are dependent on, or connected with, the government in one way or another. Some of them hold offices of profit, of from 4000 to 14,000 dollars a year. Others among them have their children or connexions in office; and many have had large grants of lands or leases of public property, for which they pay but a nominal sum, the continuance or renewal of which leases depend altogether on the good- will of the government. Tlie independent members do not amount to more than half a dozen in a body of more than 30 members. it is evident from such a composition, that it is directly the interest of these men to support a systern, in which the salaries are high — the patronage extensive ; to oppose small salaries, the economical administration of affairs, and the control of the public purse by the representatives of tlie people. From these feelings, they have ever steadily opposed the just demand of the House of Assembly to control the public purse; and in every possible way embar- rassed that body in tlie exercise of its just privileges of voting the salaries of the public officers. It is unnecessary to enumerate here all the measures which have been passed by the people’s representatives, and destroyed in this Council. In 14 years tliey amount to more than two hundred bills, of the nature of which the following may give an idea. They rejected the bill continuing common schools in the Province, and thus at one blow laid in ruins 1500 schools, and deprived 40,000 children of the means of acquiring the elements of education. There is not a public common school now in r.ower Canada. They have constantly rejected the bill to allow the people in the country parts of the Province to elect parish or town officers to regulate their local affairs, and have destroyed the corporations of Montreal and Quebec by refusing to pass the bills continuing them. In Lower Canada there is no law for the impartial drawing of juries. The sheriff, who holds an office worth from 10 to 14,000 dollars a year, during the plea- sure of the Governor, has the power to put whomsoever he pleases in the jury box. In common language, he can “pack” the jury. Whenever the government is prosecuting a person for political offences, it follows that the prisoner is sure of being found guilty, for the sheriff dares not displease the authority upon which his large emoluments depend. To rectify this vital grievance, the Assembly have passed a bill to regulate the drawing of jurors. The Legislative Council, the creatures of the government, destroyed the bill, so that it could not become a law. They have arrested all public improvements; the Assembly voted over 100,000 dollars in 1836 to finish a canal between St. John’s and Chambly, thereby to render uninterrupted the water communication from New York to Quebec; and also passed a bill to complete the docks and wharfs of Montreal. Both these bills were destroyed by the Legislative Council. This list could be extended to ten times its length ; but as it is meant only to convey an idea of what the country has suffered from the irresponsible constitution of the Council, these few will suffice. As a remedy, it is demanded that the mem- bers of that Council be elected to office for a limited time by the people, precisely as the senators of this state are elected. By that means, if they continued to pre- vent education and public improvements, or to refuse their consent to laws for the security of the people’s liberties, otlier and better men might be chosen in their stead. This prayer has been refused. The next demand of the people of Lower Canada is, that their representatives should have the control ot all the public revenues raised within the Province. Some persons are under the impression that Great Britain pays all the expenses of the colony. This is an error. Lower Canada pays all the expenses of her own government, and has at the same time a surplus sufficient to defray the expenses of common schools and public improvements. Great Britain contributes not a cent to the civil expenditure. Having thus to pay all the expenses, it is natural that the Assembly should insist on the exercise of its constitutional right of controlling all the revenue. The government, which is not willing to have the means of rewarding its favourites Curtailed — the office-holders, who like high salaries, have always opposed tliese rights of the representative branch of the Legislature. The Governor has conse- quently year after year expended large sums of the people’s money without the consent, and against the will, of their representatives: and althougn the govern- ment promised, so far back as 1796, to surrender all the revenues to the control of these representatives, it has never performed its promise. In spite of all that the Assembly can do, the flood-gates of corruption and extravagance continue unclosed ; and to destroy all opposition, the Governor has at last accused the leading members of the Assembly, who have supjxirted the people’s rights, of high treason ; he has moreover outlawed them and set a price on their heads. When the wolves wish to devour the sheep, tliey first wisely set about destroying the watch dogs. A few more samples of Canadian grievances, and we have done with that part of the subject. When the Province belonged to France, large tracts of valuable land were given in trust to the order of Jesuits for the purposes of public education. This property has been most shamefully wasted. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars of the proceeds have been squandered among officials and favourite churches — thousands of acres of the estates have been alienated for a mere nominal sum; and the college founded by the Jesuits in Quebec, where, in the last century, youth acquired a knowledge of science and the higher branclies of learning, has been positively converted into, and continues to be used as, a barrack for soldiers by the British government ! Does not this one fact suffice to show the nature of British rule in Canada? Again, nothing can give an idea of the difficulty which the people labour under of acquiring land to settle on. The militia of the Province were promised lots in return for their services during the last war. They fought and bled. Peace came. Their services and wounds were forgotten ; and government has by sys- tematic quibbling, ever since evaded the performance of the promise it gave in a moment of danger and fear. It has, on the contrary, in order to raise a revenue independent of law, and beyond the control of the Legislature, sold nearly a million of acres of the j))ublic lands to a company of speculators in London, at about twenty-five cents the acre; for which land this company, in return, demand and receive from a dollar and a half to three dollars the acre from emigrants and settlers. This land comnany has been chartered, and these lands sold, against the repeated protests of tlie local Assembly. As a remedy for their grievances, of which the above is necessarily but a brief and faint outline, the people of Lower Canada demand : — 1st. That the Provincial Executive Council should be responsible to the people through their representatives. 2nd. That the members of ihc Legislative Com/ici7 should be elected by the people, on the same principle as the senatoi-s of the State of New York. 3rd. That the representatives of the people should have the control of all the monies received in the public treasury, from public taxes and all other sources what- ever, and that not a cent should leave that treasury without the authority of law. 4th. That no official incumbent should hold more than one place, and that the public salaries should be reduced. Many office-holders now hold three and four offices each, and the salaries are enormously high : the Governor, for example, receiving 20,000 dollars a year, a sheriff 14,000 dollars, and judges from 4,000 to 9,000 dollars. 5th. They next demand that various laws passed by the parliament of Great Britain, wherein they are not represented, and affecting the internal aflairs of the Province, be repealed ; and that the department of the public lands be regulated 4 by law, so that any man, whatever be his origin, language, or religion, who wishes to settle in the country, may have the means, at a very trifling expense, of so doing, without favour or partiality for any class of settlers. The House of Assembly, finally, have resolved not to vote any supplies to the government, until their various grievances be redressed ^ and in accordance with tliis resolution have steadily refused for the four past years to grant any supplies, v but with conditions annnexed : the Legislative Council have rejected those Bills of supply where conditions were annexed. The British government, in reply to these demands, reiterated for years, at length sent out a royal commission to inquire into their truth. This commission made its report in 1836. It is a singular fact, that all the evidence collected was from the oflice-holders and their political friends. Strange to say, the justice of all the complaints of the people are notwithstanding admitted. Stranger still, the com- missioners recommend the government to refuse all the reforms demanded by them. In conformity with these anomalous and unjustifiable recommendations. Lord John Russell, the British minister, introduced into the British parliament, last March, a series of resolutions, rejecting all the prayers of the Canadian reformers. Not content with this injustice, he went one step further. Following the bad and un- constitutional examples set him by the Grenvilles, the Norths, and the other ene* mies of American rights, and forgetful of the sound constitutional principle, that nobody has the right to dispose of a people’s money except their own freely chosen representatives, the minister submitted his resolution, authorizing the British House of Commons to dispose of — “ to give, and grant” the money foonging to the people of Canada. It is superfluous here to point out the blow aimed in this resolve against the very vitality of all constitutional freedom. It is the same unwarrantable pretension that the people of these States successfully opposed, in the shape of a stamp act and a tea tax, and which is so familiar to every school-boy throughout this Union. These resolutions were, after strong opposition on the part of the friends of American rights, passed by the British parliament by overwhelming majorities. In the House of Lords only one man was found to record his vote against them — that man was Henry Lord Brougham. Though passed in England, they were not, to her honour be it spoken, sub- mitted to in Canada. Her representatives persisted in refusing supplies, and de- manded that the eighth resolution be expunged from the Journals of parliament. Taking a leaf from the history of the American revolution, the people met in their several counties, and at once resolved not to consume any articles imported from Great Britain — to encourage domestic manufactures, and to trade almost exclusively with these States. Conformably to these resolutions, wine and other luxuries forthwith disappeared from the tables of the people. The members of the Assembly and the inhabitants, women as well as men, clothed themselves in cloth of domestic manufacture, and no tea or coffee was drank, except such as was introduced from this country with- out paying duty. A warfare such ns this, the government well knew would be fatal to its power, for the revenue proceeding in a great part from duties on imports, the non-con- sumption policy resorted to by the mass of the inhabitants, would most extensively alfect the treasury. To put a stop then to the spirit of incipient resistance, the Governor issued a proclamation, denouncing as “seditious” the meeting above mentioned. This proclamation fell still-born from the press. It was derided and treated with every possible contempt, and the meetings continued. Finding proclamations of no avail against the Democrats of Canada, Lord Gosford next had recourse to ter- rorism. He called magistrates and militia officers who attended the “ anti-coercion ” meeting, (as they were called,) to an account for so doing. These officers, with a spirit becoming tree-men, at once repelled this incipient attempt to coerce them in the expression of their opinions, or in the exercise of their inherent rights. The governor proceeded, thereupon, to dismiss them from office. These dismissals excited so much indignation throughout the country, that gentlemen who lield com- missions in the militia and in the magistracy came forward by legions in several 5 counties, and voluntary threw up the royal ” commissions which they held and accompanied their resignation by letters couched in the most manly and indepeiid- ent term^ Whole counties by this means were left without a magistrate or a militia officer. ® - To prevent society from falling into a state of disorganization, the reformers next commen^d laying the foundation of an elective system of local government. Un the 23rd October last, delegates from the six counties bordering on the river Kichelieu,* assembled at St. Charles, and passed a scries of resolutions, recom- mending the people to meet in the present month of December, in their several panshes, and to elect their own magistrates and militia officers. An address was al^ voted by this meeting to the people of Canada, containing a declaration of I^inciples, thoroughly democratic— recapitulating the grievances under which the Province laboured— protesting against the introduction of an armed soldiery in ^es ot profound peace, for the physical coercion and destruction of the people ot the 1 rovince, who were determined not to submit to the arbitrary measures of ministers; and finally, recommending to their brother patriots to organize in tlieir ^veral localities, so as to be prepared for whatever it might please the providence ^ UOD to bring about. This address expressed, at the same time, a confident hope that the people of these States would never permit the principles for which the lathers ot American freedom struggled in 1776, to be crushed in Canada in 1837. Ihis great meeting, and this bold address, were the signal for the British government in Lower Canada to develope its long-planned conspiracy against the liberties of the colonists — to hurry the people into resistance, in imitation of the pursued by Lord Castlereagh towards Ireland in 17^8, in order that it may the more easily crush all opposition and “ Polandize^^ the Province. f pai’t of this plot was un- folded. On that day a young men’s association called ‘‘ The Sons of Liberty,” held ^eir usual regular monthly meeting in Montreal. The government or tory party stated at an early hour their intention to assault these young men. The latter not yet aware that it was a crime to meet publicly and peaceably to express their opi- nions on the interests of their native or adopted country, treated the threats of the tones with no attention, and held their meeting, at which they passed a series of resolutions. During this meeting, stones were thrown at the young men, yet this passed unresented. On their way home from the meeting, they were however assaulted— the assault was repelled — their opponents retreated, and the magistrates most ot whom are violent partisans of the official or tory party, called out the trc^ps, and they paraded the streets accompanied by several pieces of cannon p K " assailants of the “ Sons of Liberty,” now safe under the protection ot Pritish bayonets and artillery, were not slow in committing excesses. The most prominent ot these was the breaking of Mr. Speaker Papineau’s windows ; after which they broke into the office of the FiWua^ornewspaper, a reform journal which, with the knowledge, and within the sight or hearing, of the magistrates! the city^of ^ undisturbed possession of Not to be behind these furious men in zeal, the Governor next proceeded to act Ins part in this lawless drama. His first step was to remove all the liberal magistrates from the commission of the peace in the district ot Montreal. He was well aware that so long as a reformer remained as a magistrate, the victims whom he intended to sacrifice might have ^me person to sympathize with them or give them advice. He deprived them of this liope, by removing in one day between sixty and seventy magistrates, who happened to be liberals or were suspected of liberalism, from the commission of the peace. 1 hen the reign of terror commenced in good earnest. Warrants were issued in torrents against every man who had dared to take a prominent part in the recent meetings. The president and divers officers of the “ Sons of Liberty ” were arrested on a charge of high treason, for merely having signed an address to tlmir brethren in the other colonies. Warrants were next issued against the officers ot themeetiDgof the six counties, and against the members of the Houseof Assembly ’ These counUes contain about the sixth part of the whole population of Lower Canada. 6 who had attended tliat meeting, as they were bound to do by the obligation they had entered into with their constituents, and the district jail was at once crammed with the victims of arbitrary government.* Liberty of speech, liberty of meeting, and the liberty of the press, were thus annihilated in the British Province on our immediate borders, in the short period of twenty-four hours. The people of the country parts of the district of Montreal, on learning that war- rants for high treason were issued against their public men, and aware that if the latter were once imprisoned, the chances were ten to one that their lives would be sacrificed, at once determined to oppose the execution of those warrants. To those acquainted witli the state of things in Canada, this determination does not seem strange. It rather does honour to the hearts of the Canadian farmers. The men doomed to incarceration, if not death, by the government, live among the people, are in daily intercourse with them, and have become connected with them ny various ties. They are among the most intelligent, liberal, and able men of the Province, and of high moral and personal standing. The jail to which these patriots were to be conveyed, is not situate in the counties in which they reside. There are indeed but three in the Lower Province, viz. at Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. Prisoners are removed in many instances fifty, sixty, and ninety miles from their homes, friends, and neighbours, and immured in damp cells, in solitary confinement, on bread and water. Add to this, the serious consideration, that they will receive only the mockery of a trial ; for in the absence of all law providing for the impar- tial drawing of juries, dependent sheriffs pack such juries as they expect will return verdicts to please the government. Thus the political prisoner has no barrier be- tween him and the vengeance of arbitrary power ; and convinced of this, the country pecmle determined to protect their representatives and public men. The first time on which this feeling was called forth, was in the early part of last month, when Dr. Davignon and Mr. Demaray were arrested on a charge of high treason at St. John’s. Instead of conveying these prisoners quietly to Montreal direct by the rail-road, the cavalry that captured them resolved on striking terror through the country, by conducting them around by Chambly and Longueiul, a distance of thirty-six miles, with iron fetters on their hands and feet, vmiii ropes around their necks. The people in the neighbourhood of Longueiul had a short notice of this arrest, assembled in a moment to the number of between thirty and forty men, and rescued the prisoners. The government seized on this petty, unexpected resist- ance as a pretext for levying war on the mass of the Canadian people inhabiting the district of Montreal. Immediately a force of 800 men, with four pieces of cannon and a howitzer, w as despatched, one-half to attack St. Denis, the remainder to storm St. Charles, w here several of the leading reformers from Montreal had retired, when they could no longer remain at their homes. So little expectation was there that such an armed force would be sent into the country on the grave expedition of arresting half a dozen of civilians, w hose only offence was, that they had attended the St. Cliarles meeting, at which they had taken an active part, that not the least preparation had been made to ojipose such a body. There were no more than thirty men in St. Denis previous to the arrival of the troops, and these were collected rather to prevent the sudden seizure of Dr. Neilson, by a posse of constables, than w’ilh any anticipation of contending against a regular armed force. The same may be said of St. Cliarles. When, however, it was know’n the troops w ere coming, the tocsin was sounded — a crowd of about 300 men, armed some with fowling-guns, and others w ith pitcli-forks, assembled at St. Denis, and after an engagement of five hours and a half, repulsed the soldiers, with a loss of * To-day, two yonn^ French lawyers (C. S. Cherrier and Mr. Peltier) were arrested, charged with treason, and committed to jail. I saw them marched from the court-house by one of the volunteer corps of this city — many of whom were AmericaJi~horn citizens ! May the free soil of our beloved country never again be polluted by their unhallowed footsteps. 'I'here is not a man m this ciw who dares to declare himself a patriot — the liberty of the press is destroyed, and to speak in favour of their cause will consign the body to chains and dungeons. To see these young Fretichmen, the descendants of the original proprietors of this city, driven to prison by a horde of hireling Britons, aided and abetted By a clan of mercenary American tories, w'as too much for my feelings, and I am not ashamed to confess that the revolting spectacle was almost hid from my vision by the blinding tears of sympathy .” — Letter from an American citizen, tempo- rarily in Montreal, dated Dec. 1. 7 fifty men ami one piece of cannon. At St. Charles, tlie only triumph the troo])s obtained, was the empty one of setting fire to a range of out-houscs, in which were stored a quantity of hay and grain, and from out of which the patriots, about 300 in number, had kept up a galling fire; and of compelling the patriots to withdraw, with a loss of some thirty men, killed Jind wounded.*— They afterwards burned the house of one of the vice-presidents of the St. Charles meeting, not being able to find its owner, against whom they had a warrant; and made a prisoner of “ a liberty tree,” planted some weeks before by the people in honour of “ Papineau,” the erec- tion of which, the Governor in council had solemnly, though not very legally, con- sidered to be an overt act of “ treason.” After a week’s campaign, the troops were obliged to return to Montreal, having lost in the collision with the peasantry nearly 100 men, without arresting a sin»>-le individual of those, to seize whom they had been despatched. ° Two steamers, with four companies of soldiers, sundry pieces of artillery, a troop of horse, and a supply of rockets, were next despatched on a second expedition to St. Denis, St. Charles, and St. Hyacinth, (the last-named village being 18 miles in the rear of the other two,) to bring in “ the rebel chiefs.” Not succeeding in the object of their expedition, and meeting with no opposition, the gallant band amused tbemselves with firing the houses of defenceless women, helpless men, and absent individuals. Their course through the country may be traced hy havoc and devas- tation similar to that resorted to by the British troops in these States during the revolutionary war. An impression prevails in this part of the Union, that the late movement in Lower Canada was the commencement of a system of revolutionary resistance to the go- vernment, regularly organized by the leaders of the Canadian people. This, it will be seen from what has preceded, is an error. The resistance to the troops was simply and purely the spontaneous impulse of the farmers, who were determined to prove their gratitude and attachment to a few of their public men, who happened to be in danger. If Dr, Neilson and Mr. Brown led the people on these occasions, it was rather from the immediate and uncontrollable necessity of the moment, than from any pre-arranged plan of general resistance. Under these circumstances it should not appear strange that advantage had been gained by regularly equipped and organized troops. The wonder should rather be, that the people had gained the day even at St. Denis. The nature of the recent commotion in Lower Canada is now before the public. It is evident from the details, that the movement was without the participation, and beyond the control, of the leading men of the country, who must be held guiltless of the charge of imprudence, to which subsequent events may seem to expose them ; but of which, now that the real merits of the case are explained, they cannot be ac- cused. The truth is, the British Government in Canada, and not the people, has been the aggressor. The latter pursued all along a strictly constitutional course. They met in their parishes, counties, and districts, where their proceedings were confined to the passing of resolutions, making speeches, and publishing addresses. — By these peaceable, and strictly legal measures, the people were becoming tho- roughly educated ; and the foundations were being deeply laid for the establishment of a purely democratic system of government. The British authorities foresaw this, and resolved, per fas et nefas, to goad the people into resistance, in order that they might have a pretext before the world, for extinguishing all constitutional govern- ment in Canada.! With this view, they began by at once destroying the liberal • The account which Col. Witherall, known here as the ' hero of St. Charles 1 * gives of the affair at that place, surpasses (if he is to be credited) even the barbarities of the Mexicans. He says that the patriots fought without a leader and without bayonets ; that the regulars charged and murdered with bayonets, and the butts of their muskets, ninety-six French Canadians, most of them young men, and many of whom had laid down their arms and begged for quarter! and that at last the British officers were obliged to interfere and prevent a blood-thirsty hireling sol- diery from massacring all who had surrendered.”— Letter from an American citizen, temporarilu in Montreal, Nov. 30. , ^ t The only offence committed by the people or their leading friends was, that of peaceably assembling, setting forth their grievances, passing and publiidiing resolutions, addresses, &c. It is a fact, that the government found great difficulty in clesignating any acts that could be con- sidered treasonable, and that the Council at last resorted to the pretext of the erection of a liberty 8 newspapers in the Province, and offering large rewards for the arrest of the editors and printers thereof.* Next, warrants were issued against the most influential members of the House of Assembly, w lio had hitherto consistently opposed the pre- tensions of Downing Street, and th^were charged with high treason, in order that all opposition on their part, in the Legislature, might be most effectually removed. Whilst the people were still fancying that the law would be respected, large masses of armed troops were sent into the interior of the country, to court collision, which would furnish an excuse for further coercion and violence on the part of the govern- ment. That collision has occurred, and the government, ever ready to curtail the rights of the people, has followed up the conspiracy on which it entered, by offering a price for the heads of the leading reformers, and declaring martial law. Thus all law— all constitutional right — all civil liberty, is extinguished in Ca- nada ; the words of the American Declaration of Independence are verified : — “ The free system of English law is abolished in a neighbouring province, and an arbitrary government established therein, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into other colonies.” It is not difficult to foretell the result of this deep-laid scheme against popular liberty, if the measures of the British authorities succeed. The limited privilege, hitherto pos- sessed by the people, of electing representatives, will be either entirely destroyed, or so modified as to render the Assembly what the Legislative Council now is — the creature of the colonial minister, for the oppression, not for the protection or defence, of the colony ; and the continent of North America will, in the nineteenth century, furnish Europe with the singular phenomenon of possessing, in the vicinity of each other, at one and the same time, the freest and most despotic systems of government. It remains to be seen whether the sympathies of the citizens of this enlightened Republic, will not save the Americans on the other side of the line from the gloomy fate which now seems to await them. pole surmounted by a liberty cap, by a few of the more ardent young men at the meeting of the six counties, as the overt act;** for which warrants were issued for high treason against some of the most intelli^nt, esteemed, and able men of the Province, and under which they were hunted down like wild beasts, by the myrmidons of power, with a price set upon their heads 1 * There is not one liberal newspaper now in Lower Canada. There were four in the begin- ning of last month. THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT FROM THE SPECTATOR OF THE 11th of FEBRUARY, 1838, IS WORTHY OF ATTENTION. HOUSE OF .COMMONS MINORITIES ON THE GOVERNMENT TREATMENT OF CANADA. A small section .” — All tJie Doioning Street Journals, passim. If large majorities could supply the want of wisdom and justice in a measure, then the coalition of Whigs, Tories, and, to their shame be it spoken, Radicals, might rejoice in the numbers which swelled the division-lists in favour of the Canada Coercion Bill. They carried matters with a hign hand, it must be con- fessed — ^justas Lord Grey’s majority carried it over the opponents of what O’Con- nell used to call the Algerine Act. The Tories and the mere Whigs acted in their vocation, well and cordially together, then as now : but there are not a few Liberal members who bitterly repented of the votes they gave for the infamous Coercion Bill ; and more, we venture to predict, will look back with shame and sorrow to their share of the atrocity towards Canada. Wait till the consequences of their doin^ are worked out. It may happen, for the first time in the history of nations, that wrong will produce affection, and tyranny peace I Let the Liberal members of the government majorities comfort themselves with the notion. In the mean while, believing that the post of honour was held by the minority, and that ere long such will become a prevalent opinion, we reprint from the Vote-paper the names of the small band who resisted the last outrage on a free people, or at least would have preserved the forms of decent deliberation in deciding their fate. EXPLANATION OF TOE SIX DIVISIONS. 1. For One Day't PrtMsff.— January 16. Motion made, that an humble address be presented to her Majesty. On a motion that the debate be adjounied to the following day, the House divided— Ayes 30 > Noes, 190 (including Tellers); majority against adjournment, 160. ’ 2. Against bringing in the January 17. The House divided on the question ” that leave be given to bring in a Bill to make tempor^ provision for the government of Lower Canada”— Ayes, 200; Noes, 9 (including Tellers) ; majority for bringing irf the Bill, 191. .3. For Information.— 17. Motion made, that an humble address be presented to her Majesty for copies of despatches explanatory of the causes of the issue of orders for the arrest of the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Low er Canada, and twenty-seven other persons : the House divided— Ayes, 15; Noes, 63 (including Tellers) ; majority against the motion, 4a 4. Against going into Committee on the Bill. — January 23. Motion made, “ that the Bill be committed •” the House divided— Ayes, 204 ; Noes, 18 (including Tellers) ; majority, 246. 5. Against hurrying the Bill throuah the House. — January 23. On a motion “ that the order of the day for the Committee on the Lower Canadian Government Bill have precedence of Notices of Motion onithe following Thursday, the House divided— Ayes, 103 ; Noes, 8 (including Tellers) ; majority, 95. 6. Against the Third Bending of the January 29. On the question that the Bill be read a third time, the House divided— Ayes, 112 ; Noes, 10 (including Tellers) ; majority for third reading, 102. LIST OF THE MINORITIES ON SIX DIVISIONS. Aglionby, II. A. . . Aglionby, Major . . Attwood, T Baines, E Bodkin, J. J. . . . i Brotherton, J. . . . Brown, R. D. ... Buller, C Butler, Hon. Col. . Callaghan, D. . . . Collins, W Currie, Raikes . . . •Darby, G Dennistoun, J. . . . •Eliot, Lord .... Finch, F •Forester, Hon. G. . Gillon, W. D. ... •Goddard, Ambrose Grote, G Hall, B Harvey, D. \V. . . . Hawes, B Hindley, Charles . . Hodges, T. L. . . . Hume, J Jervis, Swynfen . . Leader, J. T Lister, E. C •Marton, G Molesworth, Sir \V. O’Brien, W. S. . . . •Praed, W. M. . . . •Scarlett, Hon. R. . Somerville, Sir W. M. * Stewart, James . . Thornely, T Turner, W Vigors, N. A Villiers, C. P. ... Wakley, T Warburton, H. . . . Williams, W 1 2 3 4 5 6 - - 1 - - - - - 1 - - - - _ _ _ _ 1 I _ 1 _ 1 - 1 1 _ _ 1 - 1 1 _ 1 1 - - - - - _ 1 _ . 1 1 - - - - - - - I - - - 1 _ . _ 1 - - ■ 1 - 1 1 - - - - - 1 - - - - - 1 _ • _ _ _ 1 - 1 - - - 1 > . _ _ . 1 - 1 _ _ 1 1 _ _ 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - 1 - - • . 1 _ - 1 1 - 1 1 - 1 > . _ _ _ 1 1 1 1 1 1 , - - - 1 _ _ 1 1 1 1 1 1 - - 1 1 - 1 - - . _ 1 - - 1 1 1 - - - - 1 - - - - V 1 - - - - I - - - - 1 - - - - 1 - - - - - . 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 _ 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 - ■ 1 1 1 30 9 15 1 18 8 10 There are sonie Tories (*) in the above list of forty-three, who thought the de- mand for “ one day’s pause ” was not unreasonable, when the liberties of a people were at stake ; but of about seventy Irish Members, sworn to “justice,” eight only, including Hume, recorded their votes against the tyrannical coercion of Canada. The name of O’Connell is not in tlie catalogue. When the Bill was passed, and the balloting for Election Committees came on, the Irish Members flocked to St. Stephen’s — no longer under the fear of being summoned to vote according to their consciences and against the Ministers. O'Connell’s pledge to the Crown and Anchor meeting is not forgotten ; but it has not been redeemed. 11 PROTESTS AGAINST THE THIRD READING OF THE CANADA GOVERNMENT BILL. Dissentient, — 1 . Because it appears by a despatch from the Earl of Gosford, dated the 23d of December, 1837, that the measures adopted for putting down the revolt in Lower Canada have been crowned with entire success ; that the principal instigators and leaders have been killed, taken, or forced into exile; that the revolutionary press is no longer in existence; that the disposition of the Roman Catholic clergy is favourable; that numerous offers of service have been made by large portions of the population in various parts of the Province, to enrol themselves in volunteer corps for the defence of the government ; and that loyal addresses are pourino* in from the French Canadian population in all parts of the Province, expressing tlieir fidelity to the Queen and tlieir attachment to the British connexion, and strongly reprobating the selfish ambition and treasonable designs which have ruthlessly involved one of the fairest portions of the country in all the horrors of civil war. 2. Because, therefore, the averment in the preamble of the Bill, that in the pre- sent state of the Province of Lower Canada the House of Assembly cannot be called together without serious detriment to the interests of that Province, is not only not supported by facts, but negatived by the inference to be drawn from the latest facts of which the House is in possession. 3. Because the conduct of the House of Assembly being the alleged ground of the Bill, and certain members of that Assembly, who had mainly influenced its proceedings, having brought upon their country all the horrors of civil war, it is not just to suspend the constitution of the Province, with a view to its alteration by an act of the Imperial Parliament, without first dissolving the House of Assembly, and thus affording to the people the opportunity of showing that they have with- drawn their confidence from such of their late representative? as have proved unworthy of it, and that they do not approve the acts of the House of Assembly, which are deemed to justify the Bill. 4. Because the Bill gives to the Governor and Council power to make, with certain exceptions, all such laws and ordinances as the Legislature of Lower Canada, as now constituted, is empow'ered to make, and thereby places at the disposal of the Governor and Council all the monies hitherto appropriated by the House of Assembly, as well as all the monies heretofore appropriated by the Crown ; thus making much more extensive alterations in the constitution when order is restored, than the Executive Council deemed it expedient to recommend, when agitation distracted the Province and paralyzed its government. 5. Because, from the experience of last year, there is reason to fear that this measure will not only revive the hostile feelings of those who have hitherto opposed the government, and increase their means of agitating the Province, but at the same time, excite the strongest disapprobation on the part of those who are most attached to British connexion, and who most reprobate the past proceedings of the House of Assembly. 6. Because the events which have taken place on the frontier of the United States, show the expediency of effecting, at the earliest period, a permanent, and therefore a conciliatory, settlement of all questions relating to Lower Canada; and the Bill interposes a long interval of despotism before any proposition for such settlement can be entertained. 7. Because it is impossible honestly so to modify tlie electoral franchise and the electoral districts in Lower Canada, as to deprive the French population of that Province, of the power of electing the majority of the Legislative Assembly ; and, therefore, any new Assembly which may be called together hereafter, must be elected by a constituency, essentially the same as that which elected tlie present Assembly, whose conduct is alleged to justify the Bill. 8. Because it is consistent with reason and experience, that the long arbitrary discontinuance of the use of a Parliament will, when that Parliament is at last called togetlier, greatly increase instead of diminisliiiig the difficulty of carrying on the government of which it is a part. 9. Because the Bill thus postpones the calling of a new Parliament to a period necessarily more unfavourable than the present; and, occupying the interval by a coercive despotism, tends at once to alienate the affections of the people of Lower Canada; to engage the sympathy of the people of the United States in their favour ; and to bring upon this country the accumulated evils of civil and of foreign war. 10. Because, if it be necessary to make alterations in the constitution of Lower Canada, Parliament is already in possession of ample information, the result of various recent inquiries, upon which, collected in times of tranquillity, it would be much safer, after mature deliberation, to legislate, than upon new opinions to be collected from parties still under the exasperation of civil contest; and to suspend the constitution for more than two years for the puri>ose of gathering such opinions upon the nature and extent of the reform assumed to be required, is calculated to create agitation where it is most desirable to re-establish tranquil habits under settled and free government. ELLENBOROUGH. For the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and lOtli reasons, February 8, 1838. ' BROUGHAM. Dissentient, — 1. Because it must be presumed, that the constitutional rights conferred upon the people of Lower Canada by the British Legislature were given them with the full knowledge that the House of Assembly in that Province would, and with the intent that it might, thereby be enabled to exercise that control over the Executive power, which the Commons of Great Britain are, by their undoubted privileges, enabled to exercise over the Executive power in the mother country. 2. Because this measure deprives the people of Lower Canada not only of the rights which were so given them by the British Legislature, but of the rest of the constitution which they had previously enjoyed. 3. Because the Bill being founded upon the assumption, that such privation is just, it appears to us that such assumption is erroneous. 4. Because it appears to us, in determining the justice or injustice of a penal measure against a whole community, the Legislature is not confined by those technical rules which govern courts of law, but is bound to institute a larger in- quiry : and that, there^re, it is necessary not merel}-^ to refer to the recent acts of that community, but to examine into the causes of those acts, and to ascertain their origin; which can only be effected through a careful investigation of the successive steps by which the accused party has proceeded, and of the circumstances by which it has been gradually led on to those proceedings which furnished the immediate grounds of this penal measure. 5. Because such investigation has satisfied us that the origin of those proceed- ings is to be found in the early mal-administration of the colony, by those branches of, the government which were more immediately connected with the mother country ; and therefore it is not just to deprive the colony, even for a time, of its political rights, upon the alleged ground of recent misconduct. 6. Because it appears to us, that this is only the first of a series of measures which may involve the nation in great difficulties — an opinion countenanced by the admission made in debate that her Majesty’s Ministers were prepared to apply to Parliament for an increase of our military forces, in which admission is obviously involved the further admission that, even according to the expectations of the authors of this measure, it may not improbably occasion an armed resistance in the colony. 7. Because, finally, we are determined not to incur the heavy responsibility of a measure which may involve our country in civil war. FITZWILLIAM. Feh 9, 1838. > BROUGHAM. JOHN CHILDS .AND SON, PRINTERS, BUNGAY,