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POLITIC^ 
 
 
 OF 
 
 LOWER CANADA ; 
 
 BEING 
 
 A REVIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 POLITICAL AND LEGISLATIVE HISTORY 
 
 OF THAT PROVINCE, 
 
 ^ » 
 
 UNDER THE ACT OF THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, 31, Geo. 111., Cai-. 31 
 
 •\VU1CH ESTABLISHED A 
 
 HOUSE OF AsSj: MBLY AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ; 
 
 ^ SHOWING 
 
 THE DEFECT. OF THIS CONSTITUTIONAL ACT, 
 
 AND PARTICULARLY ITS PRACTICAL DISCOURAGEMENT OF 
 
 BRITISH COLONIZATION. 
 
 With an introductory Chapter on the previous History of 
 Canada, and an Appendix of Documents, &c. 
 
 By a BRITISH SETTLER. 
 
 Bonum civem ilium dicimus qui jussis impera7iiiu7n prompt e parct^ qui 
 << ad bijnum publicum oninious viribus co7inititur^ ac pout illud p7'imiuni 
 bouuni liboiter habct y i/no qui nihil aibi bjnum credit^ niH idem bon ui/i 
 quoque ait cicitaliJ*'* Pcfffin'uorf, dc Officio lloi/iinia. 
 
 Qui aute/n pa7'li civlum conaului/t^ partem nc'^ligui/t, I'em pernieijsu^ 
 << aii/ia/n in civitatcni inducu7it<, seditioncni atquc discordia/n*'^ 
 
 Cicero, dc OlJiciia, 
 
 Concordia X>cirvae res crescu7tt ^ diaco7'did^ 7naximac dilabuni ur."'^ 
 
 Sallustius, dc Bello Caiaiin, 
 
 iHontieal: 
 
 Printed at the Office of the Montreal Herald, and 
 Nnv Montreal Gazette. 
 
 1828. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 iV PUBLICATION on the Politics of Lower Cana- 
 da, at the present crisis of affairs, requires little apology 
 to those who feel an interest in the peace and welfare 
 ot that extensive Colony. Nothing, in fact, of a con- 
 nected description, has hitherto appeared on the sub- 
 ject ; and it therefore seems only incumbent upon the 
 AVriter to state, with candour, the circumstances and 
 motives which have led him to the present undertak- 
 ing, and to lay before his intelligent readers his humble 
 opinion, as to the means of redressing those grievances 
 of His Majesty’s Subjects of British descent, which his 
 experience of them, during a residence of twenty-five 
 years, has brought home to his business and bosom. 
 
 AVhen the increasing differences between the 
 branches of the Legislature of Lower Canada, on va- 
 rious subjects, and between that Province and Upper 
 Canada, on the division of the produce of the Custom 
 Duties levied at Quebec, induced His Majesty’s Min- 
 isters, in the year 1822, to attempt a Union of both 
 Provinces under one Legislature, the Bill which they 
 introduced for that purpose, into the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, became an object of curiosity with speculative 
 politicians in Great Britain, and a subject of warm dis- 
 cussion among the interested, in the Canadas, ddie 
 principal modifications of the Constitutional Act, 31, 
 Geo. III., Cap. 31, which the Bill contained, had re- 
 ference to the political situation of Lower Canada ; 
 afid their salutary object 'was not well understood^ by per- 
 sons who had not long resided in that Province. 
 
 The AVriter of the following sheets, being a warm par- 
 tisan of the Union, had occasion to explain to distant 
 correspondents, the expediency of the proposed inodifi- 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 cations, wliicli lie found a task, not onlylaborions to liim- 
 s ’if, but unsatisfactory to those whom he addressed, who, 
 in reading the Constitution, liad been fascinated with it, 
 as containing an increase of freedom and frequency in 
 the choice of Representatives, and affording an interest- 
 ing exjieriment of the effects of, wliat they called, an im- 
 provement of the British Constitution, applied to a peo- 
 ple of foreign origin. While those correspondents ac- 
 knowledged the existing evils and embarrassments al- 
 leged by the Writer, they were more disposed to as- 
 cribe them to mismanagement in the Executive Gov- 
 ernment, than to defects in the Constitution, or 
 misconduct in the House of Assembly. This disposi- 
 tion convinced him, that a more comprehensive review 
 of the political experiment, than his avocations then 
 permitted, would be requisite to satisfy his friends, as 
 to the expediency of the changes contemplated by the 
 Union Bill, which, in the meantime, had been unfor- 
 tunately postponed, by the opposition, on general prin- 
 cijiles, of Sir James Macintosh, who does not appear 
 to have had the necessary information, nor the practi- 
 cal knowledge, which would have enabled him to pass 
 a correct judgment, upon a measure calculated for the 
 redress of grievances, in a Province so pecuharly cir- 
 cumstanced as Lower Canada. 
 
 The Writer long reflected upon this subject, and 
 sedulously watched the progress and developement of 
 the Constitution, in the popular branch, before the pre- 
 sent crisis of affairs. The exclusive domination of the 
 Trench Canadian Leaders in the House of Assembly, 
 and the unlimited and fanatical support which they 
 obtained last year from their Electors, enjoying imiver- 
 sal siffroge, were grave topics of conversation and just 
 cause of alaim among the friends of the Government, 
 and of the Colonial connection with Great Britain • 
 but many of them ascribed those results to the perso’ 
 nal characters of the Leaders, and erroneously assert- 
 ed, that their removal would speedily restore harm on v 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 V 
 
 and produce a House of Assemhhj competent and dispo- 
 sed to secure the peace, U'elfare and happiness of all classes 
 o f the mixed population of French an d FngUsh origin, in 
 the Province. This opinion appeared to the Writer 
 particularly dangerous, as tending to prevent the ag- 
 grieved portion of His IMajesty’s Subjects from recog- 
 nising the only proper remedies for the disorders whicli 
 they all acknowledged to exist ; and which appeared to 
 himtoderive its virulence from the natural consequences 
 of the Constitutional Act, 31, Geo.I II,Cap.3 1 , operating 
 upon the old law^s, so impolitically re-established by the 
 Act 14, Geo. Ill, Cap. 83, under the Administration of 
 Lord North, of unfortunate memory. Those Acts, 
 therefore, and their combined effects, during a long 
 series of years, in Lower Canada, he has now reviewed, 
 for the purpose, not only of justifying opinions long 
 since expressed to bis correspondents, but also 
 to enable many w^ell meaning Subjects of British 
 origin, to ascertain the real causes of their complicated 
 grievances, and to recognize the only pov/erful remedy, 
 which, devised by the wisdom of the Imperial Parliii- 
 ment, and administered by His Majesty’s Government, 
 will infallibly extirpate tbe disorders of a Colony, w'hicli, 
 from its intrinsic resources and its geographical posi- 
 tion, with reference to Upper Canada, New Brunswick 
 and Nova-Scotia, has been einpbatically denominated 
 the backbone of British North America. 
 
 In reviewing the progress of the present Consti- 
 tution of Lower Canada, our intelligent readers will 
 clearly perceive, that the natural consequences of the 
 Acts 14 and 31, Geo. III., have been the increasing 
 concentration of the French Canadians, as a separate 
 people, distinguished by an established Religion and 
 Raws, and by Language, Manners and Habits, from 
 the Subjects of British origin in the same Province, in- 
 ducing the former to consider the latter as intruders, 
 and legitimate olyects of jealousy to the “ Nation Ca- 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACi:. 
 
 KADinyKEy The strong temptation thus afTorJed to 
 the project of exclusive domination, on the pait o 
 the Frencli Canadian Leaders in the House of Assem. 
 bly, and of complete controii! in Legislation and 1 in- 
 ance over those branches ot the Provincial Govein- 
 ment, (tlie King’s Representative and the Legislative 
 (’oimcil,) which are constitutionally created by the 
 exercise of His Majesty’s Prerogative, is the prolinc 
 source of the present grievances of the Subjects of 
 British origin, and suggests the only remedies compa- 
 tible with the interests of British Colonisation. 1 he 
 Constitutional Powers of the House of Assemhhj must 
 either he greatly diminished, and sh'ictly confined to le- 
 gislating for the Inhabitants of the Seigniories, and 
 those of the other branches increased, for the protection 
 of the Inhabitants of British origin in the Townships ; — 
 or the composition of the House of Assembly must be 
 modified, to suit the purposes of British Colonisation. 
 The Subjects of British origin, in the Townships, have 
 at present no voice in the popular branch ; and the in- 
 fluence of the same description of persons, in the 
 Elections for the Towns and Counties of the Seignio- 
 ries, is ins'jflicient to return a siirgle uncompt'omising As- 
 sertor of their rights. Indeed, if it were possible for 
 them to separate, for a moment, their feelings and sense 
 of duty from the support of His Majesty’s Govern- 
 ment, they would unanimously withhold their votes at 
 Elections, allowing the natural consequences of the pre- 
 sent Constitution to take place, in producing an As- 
 sembly wholly French in name, as it already is Anti- 
 British and French, in fact. 
 
 If we could really suppose it possible that His 
 Majesty’s Ministers would longer defer moving the 
 Imperial Parliament, to devise, in its wisdom, soine re- 
 medy for the increasing disorder, we must apprehend 
 that, obedient to the primary laws of human societv, 
 and to the instinct of self-preservation, the population 
 of British origin would, in such case, form itself into 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vir 
 
 affiliated Associations throughout the Province, for the 
 })rotection of person and property, leaving the Execu- 
 tive to fight its own battles with the French Canadians 
 and their Leaders, for a morsel of bread. 
 
 The other remedy, more congenial to the feelings 
 of the writer, and which, in his humble o])inion, is 
 both practicable and safe, is a broad and decisive mea- 
 sure, calculated to alter the composition of the House 
 of Assembly ; and this remedy can be best applied, 
 by A Legislative Uniom of Upper and Lower Ca- 
 nada, on the principles of the Union Bill of 1822 . 
 
 If the alteration, from views of local convenience 
 and temporising policy, be confined to the Lower Pro- 
 vince, in its present separate political state, religious 
 distinctions must be adopted as the grounds of a di- 
 vision of power between Protestant and Roman Ca- 
 tholic Electors, which wmuld be more injurious to 
 peace and happiness, than any sectional jealousies ; but 
 the extensive measure of a Legislative Union of Low- 
 er with Upper Canada, would place a skilful Execu- 
 tive in a favourable position for holding the balance, 
 and compromising the disputes between the two par- 
 ties of French and English origin, in the new House of 
 Assembly. The political characteristics and preten- 
 sions of the French Canadians, now so offensive to 
 their fellow subjects, and so hostile to useful ameliora- 
 tions, might gradually disappear; their jealousy might 
 change to emulation ; and their ambition be restrained 
 by that just distribution of power, which, under the 
 guidance of a wise Executive Government, would im- 
 partially promote the peace, welfare and happiness of all 
 His Majesty’s Subjects in Canada, rendering it the 
 most useful, as it is the most extensive and most eligi- 
 ble for Emigration, of all the British Dominions on tlie 
 American Continent. 
 
 Having thus at the outset, explained his motives for 
 the present undertaking, and given his opinion as to 
 the only proper remedy, for the alarming disorder which 
 
VIII 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 afHicts the Country, the Writer respectfully takes Iiis 
 leave of the general reader ; but he yiresunies farther 
 to address the Imperial Parliament, in the language of 
 a great historian, appropriate to the present crisis of 
 affairs: — “ Aut tu mederi poles ; aut ornillenda est cu- 
 “ ra omnibus ; neque quis(jua7n le ad crudeles poenas^ 
 “ aul acerhajudicia invocat'* 
 
 Sallustius, de Rep, ordinanda. 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 Ita imperiitm semper ad optumum qucniquc ab minus bono iransfertur,'^ 
 
 The import n7ice of Canada^ ai'isingfrom a variety of causes. — Jts great extent . — 
 The brit/iant events co?i??ceted luithitsCon quest by Great Britain.-- The asylum 
 tvhieh it fur7iished to the American Loyalists. — Its Commercial resources . — 
 Its Geographical position^ extent^ Lakes. Rivers and bouiidaries.— Dispute 
 fvith the Uiiited States respecting the northeastern Boundary now refei'red to 
 the Emperor of Russia.— Government and political Constitution.^ with re* 
 marks.— Di vision into Counties^and appoi'tionmeiit of representatives.— Enu- 
 meration of Cities^ Towns, Improvements. — The unrepresented Town* 
 ships where the English Tenure exists. — Tipper Canada, its progressive settle* 
 ment, with an enumeration of its Cities and Tow?is. — The characteristics of 
 its p opulation, contrasted with those of the Lower Canadians. — The Canada 
 Company incorporated in 18 ' 26 ‘ — Population of Lower Canada compared 
 toith that of Upper Canada, and the relative proportions stated of Subjects 
 of French origin and those of British origin in both the Canadas. — Origin 
 of the 7iame of Canada. — Account of the discovery of the Country. — First 
 discovered by Cabot, under a Coinmission from Henry the VII. of Eiigland, 
 in the year 14 . 98 . — This part of CaboVs discoveries 7ieglected by England . — 
 Francis the of Fraiice sends Verra%ani to make discoveries in the same 
 direction. — Ve7'ra%ani enters the Gulph, afterwards called St. Lawrence, 
 and takes formal possessioii of the coasts for the Fi'ench Crown, calling the 
 Countiy New Fi'ance. — Progi'ess of discovery checked by VerraxaiiVs death, 
 and the war inEui'ope. — Pursuit of VerrazanV s discovery by JacquesCartier, 
 in the year 1534 .— - 1 ;^ his second voyage he discovers the places now called 
 Quebec and Moiitreal. — Cartier returns to France in the year 1536 , and re* 
 mains 7 ieglected Hill the year 1540 , when he is sent out under Be Roberval. 
 — The latter in 1541 discovers Cape Breto7i, where building a fort, a7id 
 leaviiig Cai'tier, he returns to Finance. — Next year he discovers the coast of 
 Labrador. — Death of Jacques Cartier, aiid of Roberval, and interruption of 
 the pi'Ogress of Disco very. — In the year 1598 , the Marquis De La Roche is 
 appointed by Henry the Fourth, Lieutenant Genei'al in Canada, S^c. — He 
 lands his Settlers on Sable Island, visits Acadia, now Nova-Scoiia, retui'ns to 
 France and dies. — Chauvin obtaiiis the government and exclusive trade of 
 
 Canada. He is succeeded by the Sieur De Monts, and Samuel De Champlain, 
 
 the founder of Quebec. — Champlain' s into'course with the natives— he inter* 
 feres in their wai's against the Iroquois, and makes the latter a perpetual 
 enemy of the Colony.-' Progress of set tlemeiit by Champlain, under the 
 Prince de Co 7 ide.— The Recollet Ecclesiastics arrive in Canada to convert 
 
 B 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the jiatives.^First arriml of the Jesuits, who quickly obtain the exclusijn 
 of De Caen and other Frotestants from the trade and settlement. C.eneral 
 conspiracy of the natives against the Trench., discovered and defeated. 'The 
 possession and trade of Canada granted as a Seigniory to the Company of 
 one hundred partners., under the patronage of Cardinal Cc Richeheu. — Cha^ 
 racter of this Association^ partly established from religious motives, l^ar 
 between England and France. — The English under Kertk take Quebec. 
 judicious and irritating conduct of Kertk towards Champlain and the Ec^ 
 clesiastics, — Restoration of Quebec to the Crown of France at the Treaty of 
 St. Germain en Laye, — Remarks on the situation of Canada at this period. 
 Review of the progress of the power and wealth of the Ecclesia.ticSy and more 
 particularly of the Jesuits.^This ambitious Order monopolises the instruc- 
 tion of the people.^ giving a peculiar character to the French Canadians.-^ 
 Character and conduct of the New England and New York Colonists^ con- 
 trasted with those of the Jesuits and their disciples^ particularly in refer- 
 ence to intercourse with the Indians — The Indians asserted to be deter- 
 iorated by the attempts of the Jesuits in Canada. — Foundation of the Jesu- 
 it's College at Quebec^ by Rene Rohault,— Death and character of Stomuel 
 De Champlain, — ilir. Montmagny succeeds him in the Government. — 3/r. 
 Maisonneuve obtains the Island of Montreal^ afterwards transferred to the 
 Order of St, Sulpicians, — Bad conduct of the Company. — An Hospital esta- 
 blished in Montrealj by Madame De Bouillon. — Montmagny succeeded by 
 Governor Daillebout, — Hostility of the Company to Colonisation, — Daille- 
 bout replaced by De Lauzon. — Last effort of the Company^ who obtain the 
 Government for the Baron D* Avangour,— Review of Religious Establish- 
 ments, including Nunneries and Convents. — Canada established as a Royal 
 Government — Legend of an Earthquake in Canada, considered as a pious 
 
 fraud of the Jesuits — Influence of the great Minister of Finance, Colbert 
 
 Administration ofDeMesy the first Royal Governor.— Institution of theWe t 
 India Company extended to Canada, with great privileges.— Administration 
 of Monsieur de Courcelles. — Improvements projected and executed by "Mr. De 
 Talon the Intendant. — Increase of population, — Means employed to attach, 
 
 the rising generation to France.— Administration of Count De Frontenac 
 
 The Mississippi explored. The Hest India Company' s privileges abolished 
 by the King.— Establishment of the Sovereign Council.— Appointment of a 
 Bishop.— Ambitious projects of the Royal Governors Review of the advan- 
 
 tages peculiar to each party, in the long rivalship between the French 
 Canadian Government and the English Colonies.-Administration of Mon- 
 sieur De La Barre.-His cruel attack on the English, produces an invasion 
 of Canada.— Causes of the failure of this invasion — Description of the Ca- 
 nadian Fur Trade.-Frontenac, by orders from France, prepares to invadl 
 the English Colony of New York.-The execution of this project prevented 
 bythepeaceofRyswic.-Plan of perpetual neutrality on the part of the 
 French and English Colonists defeated, by the ambition of the Canadian 
 Government.^Administration of De Callieres, and his intrigues with the 
 Indian Allies of the English Colonies — Administration of De Vaudreuil — 
 Improvements in the Laws and Commerce of Canada.- War between Great 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XI 
 
 Britain and France in Europe, accompanied hp an attack on Quebec . — 
 Causes of tJie Jailure of this invasion, — Peace of Utrecht, establishing Bri^ 
 tiih djminion in Nova-Scot ia.~-A1tenipts of De Vaudreuil to strengthen Ca- 
 nada daring the peace, — Disco verp of the Plant Giriseng in Canada. — Pro- 
 gress of Commerce,— Adniinut ration of the Marquis De Beauharnois 
 
 His efforts to strengthen Canada bp fortifications.— Jealousp of Burnet the 
 Gover7ior of New York ; and establishment of English forts contiguous to 
 those of the Frcnchon the frontiers, — Improvements in the laws and domestic 
 occonomp of Canada during the peace.— Project of the French C4overnment to 
 encroach on Nova-Scot ia, and withdraw the Acadians from their allegiance 
 to the British Crown , — The French attempt to keep the English settlements 
 within the line of the Alleganp Mountains, and establish Posts on the Ohio, 
 in order to impede the progress of Englidi settlements,— Administration 
 of De La Glassoiinicre,— Progress of encroachment on the side of NovaSco- 
 tia. — Proceedings to establish a line of demarcation after the Treatp of Aix- 
 La-Chapelle.—Jobs and speculations in Canada., during the intendancp of 
 JBegon,— Administration of De Jonquiers — His avarice and ambition,— Ad- 
 ministration of Du Quesne,— Affair at the Forks of the Ohio, in which the 
 celebrated George Washington was concerned. — Intrigues of Begon the In- 
 iendant, connected with the wcmte of Canadian resources — The hostilities 
 commence which ended in the destruction of French dominion in America, 
 — The French are successful on the Ohio, and at Ticonderoga. — Those suc- 
 cesses only increase the determination of the English Colo7iists to drive 
 French dominion from America,— Energetic Councils of Pitt's Administra- 
 tion in England, — Review of the resources of both parties in the final co 7 i- 
 test,—Plan of the campaig7i against Canada,— De Montcalm's plan of de- 
 fence a7id enumeration of his regular and militia foi'ce, — Arrival of a Bri- 
 tish fleet and armp near Quebec — Defeat of General Wolfe at Montmorenci, 
 
 — His gloi'ious victorp and death on the plains of Abraham before Quebec, 
 
 Surrender of Quebec,— Ope7'atio7is of the other divisions of the BiHtish forces, 
 — Capitulation of Quebec,— Cession of Canada to Gi'eat Britain bp Fi'ance, at 
 the Treatp of Paris, Yi^,— Be fiections.— Deplorable state of the iiihabitants 
 of Canada, at the Conquest, a7id efforts of the British Governjnent for their 
 relief,— Paper Currency of Canada U7ider the French Gover7iment,— Abuse 
 of the confidence of the Colonists in this currency bp the Intcndant Begon, 
 and its utter depreciation, bp the sudden dishonour of his Bills on the Trea- 
 sury of France, — The British Government obtain the redemption of the 
 Canada Paper Currency, by France, after the Cession, at the rate of about 
 four per cent, — Canada established as a separate Gover7i7nent tinder the 
 name of Quebec, and General Murray appointed Governor — His Brita?inic 
 Majesty's Proclamalion of the year lIGi, encouraging British Settlers by 
 the promise of the immediate introductio7i of the Laws of England, and the 
 establishment of a House of Assembly, so soo7i as circumstances might permiL 
 Wisdom and policy of this Proclamation, showing the intentio 7 i of His 
 
 Majesty to render Quebec a British Province in Jact as well as in 7iamc Ba- 
 
 pid progress of British Settlement — Establishment of a Press at Quebec, 
 and diffusion of British principles,— Introduction of the Laws of Engla 7 id 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ill 
 
 and erection of Coun ts of Criminal and. Civil Juri diclio7i>—CL^^^^^^ S 
 Court of Chancery, — Natural disaati faction of the new Si/hjccla at e 
 changes in the Laws^ which it was propo^icd to rernoic by lempjK J 
 fications of the practice of the Courts^ and by giving an Jm^hsh 
 lion to the rising generation.— Vroceedings of the Crown Luuyvisto p^c 
 pare a modification of the Laws of England for Canada.— Intt igue^ of ic 
 Trench Canadian leaders to obtain the restoration of the I tench munietpa 
 Laws, rendered successful by the Rebellion of the old Colonics. — Progress of 
 the Disputes between the British Government and those Colonxcs tiU 
 measures of coercion were resolved upon. — Preparatory to hostilities^ Go ter 
 nor Carleton advises the restoration of the Trench Laws in Quebec, a?id the 
 
 establishment of the Romish Religion. — This deplorable policy adopted in the 
 
 year 1774.— The Act 14, Geo. 111. Cap. 83, discourages British hiettlers 
 without obtaining the expected zealous co-operation of the Trench Canadi- 
 ans agaimt the old Colonies, which derive from this Act new motives and 
 reasons Jor continuing the Rebellion. — The Province of Quebec overrun by 
 the rebels. — The fort of Quebec besieged by Arnold and Montgomery.— Gal- 
 lant defence, by the military and British Settlers. — Apathy of the Ircnch 
 Canadians, with the exception of a few individuals belonging to the No- 
 blesse or Gentry of the Province.— The remainder generally neutral, but the 
 American expedition failed more from want of money than of men . — The 
 British Government provide Settlements for the American Loyalists, in the 
 Waste Lands of Canada.— In the progress of those Settlements, the Loyalists 
 prefer the Upper Part of the Province of Quebec.— Pet it ion in the year 
 1784, subscribed by Trench Canadians and English Colonists, for the c ta- 
 hlishnient of a House of Assembly, and the introduction of part of the Laws 
 of England. — Extraordinary delay of six years in proceeding on this 
 Petition.— During this delay, the intrigues of iiijiueniial individuals 
 prevail on His Majesty'^s Government to divide the Province of Quebec into 
 Upper and Lower Canada. — Co7iscquenccs of this impolitic measure referred 
 to as the subject of the succeeding Chapters oj the Work. 
 
 Canada, originally called New France, afterwards the Province 
 of Quebec, and, since its division into two Provinces by the Act of 
 the British Parliament, 31, Geo. Ill, Cap. 31, sometimes called the 
 two Canadas, is the principal British possession in North America. 
 
 This immense tract of Country, lying in the temperate zone, and 
 chiefly in a line running from North East to South West, was finally 
 ceded, by France to Great Britain, by the peace of Paris, in February, 
 1763. The glorious battle, on the plains oi* Abraham, belbre Que-^ 
 bee, where the brave and enterprising General Wolfe, died in the arms 
 of victory, 12th September, 1759, produced the immediate surrender 
 of that strong fortress, and led to the speedy subjugation of the whole 
 Country. This Conquest, acliievcd in a brilliant manner, and purtim»' 
 an end to French dominion, in North America, with all its vexatious 
 consequences to the old British Colonies, excited the admiration of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xin 
 
 Britisli nation for some time ; but, owing to various causes, wliich 
 sliall be bercaftcr mentioned, it was very much neglected, except as a 
 military position, for thirty years ; when the asylum which it was 
 calculated to afford to part of the Royalists wlio, after the successful 
 Rebellion of the old Colonies, had retreated with the Roj^al army, 
 excited the attention of the British Government. Its relative posi- 
 tion to the United States; its growing commercial importance; its 
 ability to supply the West India Islands with Lumberand Provisions; 
 its late defence against the American forces, and the unlimited ac- 
 commodation which it is calculated to afford to the surplus popula- 
 tion of Great Britain and Ireland, have now made it an object 
 of great importance to the United Kingdom, and to the interests of 
 the Empire at large. Its position also, with respect to the British 
 Colonies of New Brunswick and Nova-Scotio, with which it commu- 
 nicates by land and b}^ water ; its inland Lakes, the sources of great 
 rivers, which at different points, on the South and on the North, pay 
 tribute to the majestic St. Lawu’ence, raising it to the first rank among 
 the great rivers on the globe; — all these circumstances destine Cana- 
 da to be the seat of a great Empire, containing probably fifty mil- 
 lions of souls, characterised by British Laws, Language and Institu- 
 tions, and affording an unbounded theatre for human civilisation and 
 improvement. The Canadas, including the coast oi’ Labrador and the 
 Island of Anticosti, lie between the 60ih and 90th degrees of West 
 Longitude, and between the 43d and 49th degrees of North Latitude, 
 forming rather an irregular figure upon the Map, which some fanciful 
 persons, taking in view Nova-Scotia and New Brunswick, have com- 
 pared to a Camel kneeling to receive its load. The whole area of the 
 Canadas may be reckoned two hundred and fifty thousand square 
 miles : they are bounded, on the East, by the Straits of Bellisle 
 and the Gulph of the St. Lawrence; on the Norch by the 
 Territories of the Hudson’s Bay Company ; on the West and South- 
 west, by the United States and the Indian Tribes; and on the 
 South and South East by the American States of New York, 
 Vermont, Newdiampshire and Maine, and by the British Colonies of 
 New' Brunswick and Nova-Scotia. Their boundaries on the side of 
 the United States, have been lately settled by Commissioners, willi 
 the exception of the line betu^een Lower Canada and the new State 
 of Maine, now the subject of reference to the decision of a Sovereign 
 friendly to Great Ikituinand to the United States, the Autocrat of all 
 the Russias, Nicholas the First. 
 
 Canada, previously called the Province ofQuebec, in the year 1791, 
 was divided by His Majesty into two Provinces, under the name of 
 Lower and Upper Canada ; and this exercise of the Royal Prerogative 
 was accompanied by an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, 31 
 Geo. HI. Ca{). 31, giving to each lYovince a Political Constitution, 
 which may be said, like other 2 )apcr Constitutions^ to contain the ibrnis 
 and theory without the substance and practice of that of England- 
 
xrv 
 
 IxMTRODUCTION. 
 
 The pov.'er of making laws, for the peace, welfere and good govern- 
 ment of each Province, under certain restrictions, and, saving the in- 
 herent rights of the Imperial Parliament, was by this Act conferred 
 upon a House of Assembly, elected by, and intended to represent the 
 people, as in the British House of Commons ; a Legislative Council, 
 with attributes similar to those of the House of Lords (the Members in 
 the mean time being appointed for life by His Majesty), and a Gover- 
 nor, Lieutenant Governor, or presiding Administrator, representing the 
 King, assisted by an Executive Council, like the Privy Council, 
 appointed during pleasure. The operation of this Act, particularly in 
 the Lower Province, being the principal subject of the following Chap- 
 ters, we refer our readers to them; and we shall proceed briefly 
 to state the political Divisions, principal Towns and Settlements of 
 Ivower Canada. This Province is situated on both banks of the St. 
 Lawrence, and the river Ottawa, and is at present chiefly inhabited by 
 a population of French origin, professing the Romish Religion, holding 
 their Lands from Seigneurs under a Feudal Tenure, regulated in all 
 controversies respecting property and civil rights by the old French 
 hnvs ; and, by means, of an almost universal suffrage, possessed of the 
 complete controiil of the popular branch of the Legislature, in mat- 
 ters of Legislation and Finance, The population of British descent, 
 equally subjected to the French laws, and to the new’ regulations ori- 
 ginating in the popular branch, is about a sixth of the whole, and is 
 located in the proportion of about one half in the Towns and Roman 
 Catholic Parishes, and the rest in Townships beyond the Seigniories, 
 and chiefly on the South East of the St. LawTence. As mentioned 
 in the Preface, the inhabitants of these Townships, holding their 
 Lands under the English Tenure of Free and Common Soccage, are 
 not represented in the Provincial Legislature ; while the influence of 
 the other inhabitants of British descent, in the general elections 
 throughout the Seigniories, is not sufficient to return a single Member 
 devoted to their interests. 
 
 This Lower Province, agreeably to Lieutenant Governor Clarke's 
 Proclamation, dated 7th May, 1792, still continues divided into tw’en- 
 ty one Counties : Gaspe^ CornxvalliSy Devon, Hertford, Dorchesier, 
 iiuchin^hamshire, Itichelien, Bedford, Surrey, Kent, Huntingdon, 
 York, Montreal, Effingham, Leinster, Warmck, St. Maurice, Hamp- 
 shire, Quebec, Northumberland and Orleans : Eighteen of w hich send 
 tw o Members each, while Gaspe, Bedford and Orleans send one Mem- 
 ber each to the Provincial House of Assembly.* 
 
 Low er Canada contains the following Cities and Boroughs, besides 
 
 * The House of Assembly, owing to its French propensities, has quar- 
 relled much with the English names given to those Counties ; and, in the Bill lately 
 ititroduccd for a new Dividou, French names were substituted, thus affordino- one 
 of the many specimens which that incompetent body has given of its Lostilhy to 
 ’he native language of His Majesty. ^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 many Villages in the Seigniories and Townships Quebec, the 
 present Capital, situated chiefly on a lofty point of land, on the 
 Northwest side of the St. Lavvrence, nearly four hundred miles from 
 its mouth, very strong by nature, and completely fortified by art, con- 
 tains within and without the fortifications, about twenty thousand 
 souls; and sends four representatives to the Assembly, Montreal, 
 one hundred and eighty miles above Quebec, built on the East side 
 of an Island, formed by the junction of the St. Lawrence with the 
 Ottawa, the water boundary between both Provinces, contains about 
 twenty- five thousand inhabitants, and also returns four Members of 
 
 * Note. — The followinr; is the result of a Census of the Population of Lower 
 Canada, taken in the year 1825. 
 
 The Counties are placed in the same order as in Lieutenant Governor Clarke’s 
 rn clamation, already referred to : — 
 
 1 Gaspo (a Maritime District and County, which ooght to be joined by Law, as 
 
 it is by nature, to the Province of New- Brunswick) contains — C,425 
 
 2 Cornwallis — — — — -- — 20,012 
 
 5 Dorchester — — 19,707 
 
 6 Buckinghamshire, including several Townships, whose 
 
 Lands are held in Free and Common Soccage,,.,.,..^ 3.3,522 
 
 7 Richelieu, do. do. do. do. 
 
 8 Bedford, do. do. do. do. 
 
 9 Surrey,, 
 
 10 Kent, — 
 
 1 1 Huntingdon, including several Townships, « 
 
 12 York, including several Townships on the Ottawa,,™,^. 
 
 13 Montreal, an Island, including the City of that name,, 
 14.^ Effingham,^ 
 
 1.5 Leinster,, 
 
 16 Warwick, — — 
 
 St. Maurice, including the Borough of Three Rivers, „ 
 
 do.,^ 
 
 do.,,. 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 21 
 
 Hampshire, . 
 
 Quebec, including the City of the same name,. 
 Northumberland, 
 
 Orleans, an Island near Quebec,,, 
 
 36,256 
 23 65-t 
 11,57.3 
 10,890 
 39,586 
 30,096 
 37,085 
 1 L921 
 16,757 
 15,935 
 21,066 
 
 I. 3,312 
 28.023 
 
 II , 212 
 L022 
 
 423,630 
 
 Of this population, one sixth is of British descent, which being deducted 70,505 
 
 Leaves this number of French .353,125 
 
 And as Upper Canada, by a late Census, has been found to 
 
 contain 17 j,000 
 
 To which, adding the English in the Lower Province, 70,630 
 
 Making a total of — — — 245.6.30 
 
 It may therefore be concluded, that of the whole population of Upper and Lower 
 Canada, more than two fifths are Subjects of British descent, distinguished from 
 the population of French origin, by their attachment to English Laws, Language 
 and other characteristics: indeed, the continuation on the same scale of emigration 
 which has existed during the last twelve years, must make the Biitish equal to the 
 French population before the year 1840. 
 
XVL 
 
 INTRGDUCTION. 
 
 A';scml)Iy. TiiREE-RrvEns, n Tlntjnl Bormigh, situated 
 west side of the river St. Maurice at its confluence with the St. ^aw- 
 rence, nearly midway l>ct%vecn Quebec and Montreal, contmns a jout 
 three thousand inhabitants, and sends two representatives. W ir.MAM 
 Henry, also a Royal Borough, situated at the junction of the river 
 Sorel or Chambly with the St. Lawrence, in His Majesty s Seipiiory 
 of Sorel, contains about twelve hundred inhabitants, and sends one 
 Member to the House of Assembly, thus completing the fifty Mem- 
 bers allowed for the popular branch by the Act of the British Parlia- 
 ment, 31, (tco. III. Cap. 31. 
 
 Among the unrepresented Towns and Villages, we may mention in 
 the Seigniories, beginning with the North, Kamouraska, a place fre- 
 quented for the benefit of sea bathing ; Beaufort, near Quebec, and 
 Bertiher, places of some Irade; L Assomption, rather declining; 
 Terrebonne, having some Manufactures; Dorchester or St. Johns, 
 near the fort of Chambly, the scat of a Custom House for importations 
 by the route of Luke Champlain from the United States ; Isee-Aux- 
 Noix, a strong fort, containing, besides its military garrison, a few 
 traders and mechanics ; Laprairie, opposite Montreal, a sort of rest- 
 ing place for travellers and traders from the United States, waiting a 
 pa'ssage across the St. Lawrence ; LaCiiine, connected with Mon- 
 treal by a beautiful Canal for boats, saving the risk of navigating the 
 rapids of the St. Lawrence, containing Stores for His Majesty’s ser- 
 vice and for the merchandise of individuals ; Point Claire, and the 
 Cedars, small villages at present, but so favourably situated as to 
 promise improvement ; and lastly, on the line of the St. LawTcncc, 
 Coteau-du-Lac, containinga Custom-House to superintend the inter- 
 course of the United States and Upper Canada with the Lower Pro- 
 vince. Inland, we have the village of St. Eustache, on the route 
 from Montreal to the Settlements on the Ottawa; and, in the same 
 direction, the Lake of the two Mountains, which, with the vil- 
 lage of Lorette, near Quebec, and that of Sault St. Louis or 
 Coghnawaga, opposite LaChine, and Becancour, near Three-Ri- 
 vers, forms the principal residence of the Roman Catholic native In- 
 dians, under the special protection of the King. The Village of St. 
 Andrews, as containing an Episcopal and a Presby terian Church, a 
 Paper Mill, and other incipient establishments, should be mentioned, 
 in connection with the rising Settlements which gradually spread be- 
 tween the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. On this river, the Gren- 
 ville and Rideau Canals now carrying on at the expense of the 
 Imperial Government, with views of Military defence and interior 
 communication, are promising great encouragement to Settlements ; 
 and it is probable that a writer, undertaking a slight view of Lower 
 Canada, in the year 1850, will find it his duty to notice fifty Villages 
 between Montreal and the Lake Chaudicre on the Ottawa ; on the 
 Upper Canada side of which, in 1827, was founded Bytown, the 
 commencement of the Rideau Canal, connecting the waters of Lake 
 Ontario with those of the river Ottawa. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XVII 
 
 In the Townships, on the South East of Montreal, which are inha- 
 bited by about forty thousand souls of British descent, and chiefly enr 
 gaged in Agriculture, there are several flourishing Villages, including 
 Sherbrooke, where the District Court and Gaol of St. Francis were 
 recently established ; but the present state of those Townships affords 
 no satisfactory criterion to judge of their capabilities, tvhen they shall 
 have obtained English laivs^ a due share in the Pr .vincial Representa- 
 tion^ and Public Offices for the Registration of all mulaiions of Real 
 Estate and '^encumbrances thereon. 
 
 Though the state and politics of the Lower Province are the prin- 
 cipal objects of the following sheets, we shall slightly allude to those 
 of Upper Canada, 
 
 The Upper Province, having rapidly extended its settlements, has 
 undergone a variety of divisions into Counties, and the number of 
 Members of the House of Assembly, has gradually extended to 
 forty-four, in this present Parliament, elected in the year 1824'. 
 
 The principal Towns are York, the seat of Government, situated 
 near the head of Lake Ontario, and about 4*50 miles above Quebec, 
 Besides Barracks for Troops, and various Government buildings, it 
 contains a handsome Church, and several neat private Ilouses : its 
 population has been reckoned 2000 souls ; but it is neither consider- 
 ed well adapted for a Capital, nor for a Commercial Emporium : this 
 City returns one Member to the Assembly. Niagara, at the West 
 end of Lake Ontario, and about 525 miles above Quebec, notwith- 
 standing its entire destruction by the American General Maclure, 
 during last war, has been rebuilt, and is a well situated and thriving 
 place of trade. Queenstown is a place of great importance, at the 
 foot of the Falls of Niagara, which, interrupting the navigation, re- 
 quire the landing of all Merchandise and Stores, and their transpor- 
 tation by land, about ten miles to Chippewa, on the River Welland, 
 leading through the Grand River into Lake Erie : this portage will, 
 however, be rendered unnecessary, by the Welland Canal, a great 
 work now rapidly advancing to completion under the joint auspices 
 of the Provincial Government, and of a private Company. Return- 
 ing towards Lower Canada, we find the large Town of Kingston 
 385 miles above Quebec, near the egress of the River St. Lawrence 
 from Lake Ontario : this Town was commenced by the American 
 Loyalists in 1784, and has rapidly increased in Population and Com- 
 merce, and in Military and Naval importance : it was the great Na- 
 val Depot during the late war, when Naval predominancy was 
 contended for by the late Sir James Lucas Yeo^ against the Ameri- 
 can Commodore Chauncey, and when Ships of the Line first sailed 
 and fought upon the inland Seas of Canada. Kingston is commanded 
 by a strong Fort on Point Frederick, which protects its Naval Docks, 
 and the vessels of war now laid up in ordinary, in charge of Commo- 
 dore Barrie^ the Naval Commissioner* 
 
xvin 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Above and belovT Kingston, nmny places in t^ppe'' 
 rising to Commercial importance, both on the River 8t. / - 
 
 and in inland situations ; Oibarg, Bath, Prescott, Brochvillc, ' '■< ' 
 amslovon, Lancaster and Perth, are thriving Settlements, mu ^ 
 Churches, Schools, Court-houses, and Post Offices; Liockvi e ms 
 weekly Newspaper, the Brochville Recorder.* 
 
 Indeed, the Popuktion of Ui)per Canada forms a contrast to tnat 
 of the Lower Province, in general education and avidity 
 formation, more particularly with respect to parsing events anc to 
 vincial Politics, rivaling, in these respects, their American neighbours. 
 The Upper Canadians are also ambitious of Office, either m the ^ l i- 
 litia, or in the Civil and Legislative Departments : in this last, the 
 daily allowance to the Members of the Assembly, appears a hurtful 
 stimulus, inconsistent with the analogies of the British Constitutiuil, 
 and which has brought into the popular branch, many poor Membtrs 
 incompetent to legislate on the property of the Electors. An argu- 
 ment on this point, may be raised from the general pmerty of new 
 Settlements; but it still remains to be shown, whetlier an unpaid 
 House of Assembly, in Upper Canada, would not be more useful, as 
 well as more respectable, than one receiving pay, and in this respect, 
 divested of that Legislative independence which seems most congenial 
 to the British Constitution. 
 
 The derivation and meaning of the word Canada, the name 
 of this Country, are equally subjeets of conjecture. On the arri- 
 val of Jacques Cartier, at the Bay de Chalcurs, the Indians, in 
 answering the signs by which he intimated his desire to know the 
 name of the Country, frequently repeated an articulated sound w hich 
 this fanciful Frenchman compared to the Spanish w ords “ aca nada," 
 “ nothing here.” Having been disappointed in his expectation of 
 finding gold and silver in the Country, he was tempted to suppose 
 that the Spaniards had formerly visited it ; and, the precious metals 
 being the objects of their search, they might have frequently repeat- 
 ed “ aca nada," which the Indians recollecting, would naturally re- 
 peat to adventurers of similar appearance. Less fanciful enquirers 
 iiave derived the name Canada, from the Indian word Kaxata, sig- 
 nifying “ a collection oj huts.” 
 
 ♦ The Canada Company, incorporated in the year 1826, having purchased from 
 the Imperial Governiiicnt, the Crown Reserves and other waste lands in Upper 
 Canada, is now, under the superintendance of Mr. Galt, increasing the settlement 
 of many neglected parts of that Pfovince. JNJuch good indeed may be expected 
 from a Corporation, which can only reap a compensation for the employment of ca- 
 pital from an increase of population and industry in the Province, to promote and 
 facilitate which, good communications by land and by water are ncccsssry, as well 
 as encouragement to concentration, by founding Towns and Villages/in favourable 
 and healthlul situations. 'i'his ('ompany having identiHed its prosperity with that 
 of Upper Canada, connected wiihjhe Lower Province, by Geogiaphical positivn 
 and communication with the sea, should ftel an intense interest iu the concerns of 
 those provinces. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Tbi^ Country, inrluding tlie wliole Coast of the Oulph, appears Disco- 
 to hiive been first discovered by tlie celebrated Italian adventurers 
 John and Scha^itian Cahot ; and some writers have endeavoured Histo- 
 to give it accordingly the name of Caeotia. They sailed uii- 
 dor a Commission from Henry the seventh of England; and 
 their jirincipal object was, by a North-west course, to reach the 
 East Indies or China^ the latter Country being then called Ca- 
 thay ; and Sebastian Cabot, about the year one thousand Jour 
 hundred and nincty^cight, is supposed to have explored both the 
 Oulph of the St. Lawrence, and the Atlantic Coast, without, howe- 
 ver, taking formal possession of the Country, or attempting any set- 
 tlement. Meantime, France, rich in internal resources, with a po- 
 pulation peculiarly attached to their fine Country, felt little ambition 
 for such researches; and it was chiefly the personal jealousy of Fran- 
 cis THE FIRST, roused by the pretensions of Spain and Portugal to 
 monopolise the new world, which produced the first French voyage 
 of discovery. Italy, which produced the splendid discovery of ap- 
 plying the polarity of the magnet, under the mechanism and name of 
 the JMaidnefs Compass, to purposes of navigation, also supplied the 
 best navigators; and John Verrazani was the Italian chosen hy Fran- 
 cis, to open this new career of am!)ition, who after various attempts, 
 in which, according to Charlevoix, he discovered Florida, and thence 
 sailing back, around the American Coast, to the fifteenth degree of 
 latitude, there took formal possession of the Country, calling it La 
 Nou\"elle France,*' Ne^v France.” Returning to France in the 
 year J52J, with no specimens of the precious metals nor of valuable 
 merchandise, nor even enabled to present at Court strange men or 
 other objects of interest or curiosity, Verrazani was coldly received ; 
 and, with more particular instructions, he resumed his voyage of disco- 
 very ; but he had no sooner reached the Continent of America, and at- 
 tempted to correspond w^ith the Natives, than he excited their jealou- 
 sy, and lost his life in an affray. This unfortunate result, and the 
 arduous concerns of Francis in Europe, wdio was taken prisoner in 
 the year 1525, at the battle of Pavia, prevented further attempts till 
 the year 153-1 ; when the experience gradually obtained in fishing 
 voyages from St. Maloes to Newfoundland, had prepared native 
 Frenchmen to undertake discoveries on the American Coast. From 
 this period, therefore, we have distinct accounts of the progress made 
 in the discovery and settlement of Canada. 
 
 This year, Jacques Cartier, an experienced Navigator, was Com- 
 missioned by Francis the First, King of France, to continue the dis- 
 coveries of Verrazani, and endeavour to render them advantageous 
 to the Kingdom. Leaving St. Maloes, on the 20th of April, he 
 coasted great part of the Gulph, which he afterwards named St. 
 Lawrence, taking formal possession of the Country, and returning to 
 France with two of the Natives, but without any specimens of the 
 precious metals, which were the primary objects of European cupi- 
 
XX 
 
 INTUODUCTION. 
 
 ility. His enterprising Monarch, 
 
 A. D. following year, with three Vessels, the largest, cing q,^ 
 
 1535. burthen^4lled the and he was f ° 
 
 this voyage, by some young gentlemen, as volunteers, and b> the 
 Native^ L interpreted Having reached the Gulph, on the ftsmal 
 of St. Laivrence, he named it accordingly ; and, from the .a ^ 
 cidence of time, he called the Island, now known by ^am^ ^it 
 Anticosti, I'Assowption. Continuing his 
 mouth of a large River running Northwards into the St. 
 for which he adopted the Indian name Saguenay, which it sUn re- 
 tains. Leaving his vessel there, he proceeded in h's boats, " “h h > 
 volunteers, in search of winter quarters ; and, on the 8th ot Septem- 
 ber, reached the scite of Quebec, which name has been fancatully as- 
 cribed to the exclamation “ Quel Bec,” uttered by one of his bai- 
 lors, at sight of the bold point of land, which there advances and 
 contracts the broad current of the River. Here he found an in a- 
 bited Village, which the Indians called Stadacone ; and, r the 
 Village, at the mouth of the River, now called St. Charles, he laid 
 up two of his larger vessels, the Grande and Petite Hermines, and 
 sailed in the Emerillon, as far as that expanse of the River, which is 
 now called LflA-e St. Peter. Thence pursuing his voyage in boats, 
 he reached a Village, called by the Indians Hochelaga, situated 
 upon an Island at the foot of a Mountain, which last he called Mont 
 Royal, the origin of the present name of Montreal. 
 
 Having found the Indians every where friendly, and inclined to 
 consider himself and his crew superior to human beings, he left Mon- 
 treal ; and, returning to the wintering ground at the mouth of the 
 St. Charles, on the anniversary festival of the Holy Cross, he called 
 it St. Croix Harbour; where, on the 15th of November, (old style, J 
 his vessels were frozen in. 
 
 Though the River became navigable for Canoes opposite to St. 
 1536. Croix Harbour, on the 22d of February, the ice remained firm there 
 till the end of March ; and it was only on the fifth of April, that the 
 vessels were perfectly disengaged. During the winter, he had lost 
 twenty-five men, by the scurvy, which induced him to dismantle one 
 of his vessels ; and, having decoyed on board the Chief of the Indi- 
 an Village, he sailed for France on the 6th of May; and, proceeding 
 slowly, with the view of observing the Coasts and Islands of the Ri- 
 ver and Gulph, he left Cape Race^ Neivfouyjdland, on the 19th of 
 June, and, reaching St. IMaloes on the 16lh of July, he prepared his 
 Report to the King of France. 
 
 After this year, Cartier was left long to expatiate in vain, upon 
 the advantages to be derived from establishing a Colony in his new 
 discoveries ; for the French Court participated in the incorrect opini- 
 on then prevalent, that such distant Countries only as contained 
 154*0. mines of Gold and Silver were worth possessing. In the year 1540, 
 however, having succeeded in recommending his projects to certain 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXI 
 
 spirited individuals, he obtained an appointment ns Captain Generaly 
 under Frangois de la Roquc^ Seigneur de lloherml ; who was Com- A*D. 
 missioned, by Francis the First, as Viceroy and Lieutenant General 
 in Canada, Hochelaga, &c. 
 
 Roberval was detained, by unexpected difficulties, during this year ; 
 but he despatched Cartier, who, after a stormy voyage, reached St. 
 
 Croix Harbour, on the 24:th of August, and, proceeding upwards 
 four leagues, he built a fort at the mouth of a small River, which he 
 called Charlesbourg ; where he left a garrison, and returned to France, 
 
 In the year 1511, Roberval left France, with five vessels well ISI-l. 
 manned and equipped, having Cartier as chief Pilot or Conductor. 
 
 Much contradiction exists in the historical accounts of this voyage; 
 but it appears that, either on the Island of Cape Breton, originally 
 called Isle Royale, or on the adjoining Coast of the Gulph St. Law- 
 rence, Roberval and his associates built a fort ; where Cartier was 
 left Commander, with a numerous garrison, well provisioned, and 
 with one of the vessels belonging to the Expedition. Roberval^ 
 however, hastened back to France, for the purpose of obtaining ad- 
 ditional encouragement and Settlers^ 
 
 In the year 154?2, he had proceeded as far as Newfoundland, 1542, 
 having three Ships and two hundred persons, besides supplies 
 of provisions on board, for the new Settlement; when he was dis- 
 agreeably surprised at meeting Cartier returning with the remain- 
 der of the Colonists, whom the inhospitable nature of the Coun- 
 try, and the rising jealousy of the Indians, had induced to aban- 
 don the fort, and to embark for France. According to the His^ 
 iorian Charlevoix, Roberval being a man of firmness and address, 
 prevailed upon the fugitives to change their course, and second hint 
 in fulfilling the instructions of the King. Having restored order in 
 the garrison, which he again left under Cartier’s command, he des- 
 patched one of his Officers, named Alphonse, to examine the Coast 
 of Labrador, in the vain hope of finding a passage to the East In- 
 dies. He himself is stated to have ascended the River St. Lawrence, 
 and to have entered the River Saguenay ; but nothing satisfactory 
 has reached us, on the subject of his progress, or of his various voy- 
 ages to Canada, from this year till the year 1549; during which in- 
 terval, Jacques Cartier, ruined in health and in fortune, returned to 
 France, and died neglected by his thoughtless Countrymen. 
 
 Roberval’s pursuit of discovery and settlement, had been long in- 1549. 
 terrupted, by the duty of serving his King in the famous struggle for 
 power and glory, between Francis the 1st of France, and Charles the 
 5th of Spain ; but Francis being now dead, and the troubles of 
 France pacified, our noble Adventurer resumed his former career; 
 and, associating with himself his brother, of equal celebrity, he em- 
 barked for Canada, with a numerous train of enterprising young 
 men ; but they were never heard of afterwards, the whole being sup- 
 posed to have perished at sea. This misfortune destroyed, for a time. 
 
XXII 
 
 IXfilODUCTION. 
 
 all hopes of supporting ah establi^jlimcnt in Canada ; 
 
 A. D. fifty years, no measures were taken for succouring tlje t cscent an 
 of tlie few French Settlers who had remained in that Country. 
 
 1598. The Marquis de la Koche w^as appointed, by Henry the tourth, 
 his Lieutenant General in Canada, Hochclaga, &c. His Commission 
 is the first, which makes provision for partitioning the discovered an s 
 into Seigniories and Fiefs, to be held under the Feudal 1 enure, an 
 as a compensation for military service in the field, when require . 
 
 Having resolved to examine the Country, before cair\ing out 
 many Settlers, he embarked, along with about sixty persons r/ 
 ruined fortunes; forty of whom he landed on Sable Island, 
 a place totally unfit for cultivation. He next reconnoitered the 
 neighbouring coast of Acadia, now called Nova Scotia ; and, hav- 
 ing collected the information deemed necessary, he returned to 
 France, being prevented, by tempestuous weather, from executing 
 his design of withdrawing the forty persons left on Sable Island; and 
 twelve miserable survivors of those unfortunate people, were only 
 rescued from their hopeless situation in the year 1605. But the 
 Marquis dc la Roche was not destined to resume his career ; for his 
 private misfortunes retained him in France; where he is said to have 
 fallen a victim to disappointment and chagrin, soqn after his return. 
 
 1600. M. Chauvin, a Naval Officer, this year, obtained from Henry the 
 Fourth, a Commission grantmg to him an exclusive trade with Cana- 
 da, and other rights and powers similar to those conferred on the 
 Marquis de la Roche; and he associated with himself Pontgrave, a 
 skilful Navigator and Merchant at St. Maloes. They made two 
 gainful voyages to Tadoussac, near the mouth of the Saguenay Ri- 
 ver, carrying on an extensive trade in Furs, wdth the Indians; who, 
 for mere trifles, exchanged valuable Skins. 
 
 1603. While preparing for his third voyage, Chauvin died ; and Pierre 
 Dugast, Sieur de Monts, a Calvinist, received from Henry the Fourth, 
 a patent, conferring on him the exclusive trade and government of 
 the territory, situated between the 40th and the 46th degrees of lati- 
 tude : though himself of the reformed Religion, he was enjoined by 
 his patent of appointment, to convert the native Indians to the Ro- 
 man Catholic Tenets. To this gentleman, and to M. de Chatte, the 
 Governor of Dieppe, in Normandy, belong the credit of associating, 
 in their schemes of Trade, Discovery and Colonisation, the celebra- 
 ted Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec, and, by his per- 
 sonal character and exertions, contributed greatly to render Canada 
 an object of lasting interest to France and to European Christendom. 
 
 1607- After a variety of fortune in establishing trading posts, which he 
 left in charge of his associates, in L* Acadie, now' called Nova Scotia, 
 the Sieur de Monts lost his privilege ; and only obtained a renew al of 
 it, by agreeing to form a new establishment on the River St.Lawrence. 
 After this engagement, two vessels w ere equipped, and placed under 
 the command of Cliamplain and Pontgrave ; but the whole year w as 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXIli 
 
 passed in carrying on tlie Fur Trade from Tadoussac, while the Aca- 
 diaii Colony was suHered to go to ruin, and that, proposed on the St. A.D. 
 Lawrence, was delayed. 
 
 At length, Saiimel de Cliamplain, whose laudable ambition was 1G08. 
 not coniined to Commercial pursuits, resolved to effect the establish- 
 ment contemplated by the French Court ; and, sailing from France 
 with three Ships containing Emigrants, he entered the St. Lawrence ; 
 and, at the spot where that River is joined by the St. Charles, and 
 becomes contracted in its Channel, he landed, erected huts for his 
 Settlers, cleared some Land, sowed Wheat and Rye, and laid the 
 foundation of the City of Quebec, the Capital of New France, on 
 the Sd of Jul}^, 1608.* 
 
 Champlain’s infant establishment soon excited the curiosity of va- 1609. 
 rious tribes of Indians ; and the Mountaineers^ who inhabited the 
 lower part of the St. Lawrence, the Algonquins^ who occupied its 
 shores from Quebec to Montreal, the Hurons^ whose principal resi- 
 dence was on Lake Huron, and other less considerable tribes, all en- 
 gaged in war with the Iroquois, solicited and obtained the assistance 
 of the French. Without foreseeing the consequences, Champlain 
 taught them the use of fire* arms ; and even joined them in offensive 
 operations against the powerful Iroquois, or Five Nations. In this 
 thoughtless manner, began the ruinous contests between his Settlers 
 and the Iroquois, who afterwards obtained the support of the English 
 and Dutch Colonies, and continued their predatory and cruel war- 
 fare with little intermission, notwithstanding the conciliatory efforts 
 and intrigues of the Jesuits, till the final subjugation of Canada by 
 Great Britain, in the year 17.^9. 
 
 Leaving the Colony under the command of Pierre Chauvin, Cham- 
 plain returned to France, in the year 1609. 
 
 Champlain is stated by Charlevoix, this year, to have reached Ta- 1610. 
 doussac from the French Coast, in the remarkably short passage of 
 eighteen days. Elated with the admiration of the Indians, and hav- 
 ing made an easy campaign last year, against the Iroquois, Cham- 
 plain joined his allies ; and, after a fatiguing march, and some des- 
 perate fighting in the neighbourhood of the Lake, afterwards called 
 by his name. Lake Champlain, he again obtained the victory, 
 chiefly by the effects of his fire arms. 
 
 Having returned safely from this second expedition, Champlain 
 vvas preparing to form an establishment at Montreal ; when accounts 
 of the assassination of Henry the Fourth, obliged him to revisit 
 France ; and that melancholy event having deprived Mr. De Monts 
 of the support and patronage requisite fur the promotion of his Com- 
 mercial views, and for the protection of the infant Colony, he exhor- 
 
 ♦ Charlevoix fiays that Quibeio, in the Algonquin and Quelibec,\x\ the Abanaqui 
 tongues, dgnify a contraction ; and he thus accounts Tor the name of Quebec gi- 
 ven to the new City, in a less fanciful manner than lias been done elsewhere. 
 
XXIT 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tec! Champlain to seek a powerful patron at the Court of the Queen 
 
 A.D. Regent, Mauy de Medecis. 
 
 1611. Charles de Bourbon, Comte de Soissons, had hardly been saluted 
 Father of New France, appointing Champlain his Lieutenant, when 
 he died ; but he was immediately replacecl by De Conde, a Prince of 
 the Blood Royal, who confirmed Champlain’s appointment. 
 
 1612. This w'hole year was spent by Champlain in France, owing to the 
 intrigues of certain Merchants of St. Maloes, who obliged himself 
 and his associates to give them a share of the exaggerated advantages 
 of tlie exclusive Trade, conferred by the Royal Patent. 
 
 1613. Champlain sailed from St. Maloes, on the 6th of March, with only 
 one Ship, commanded by his friend Pontgrave, lately returned from 
 L’Acadie; and they reached Quebec on the 7th of May, which place 
 being found in good condition, they ascended to the Indian Village of 
 Flochelaga, near the present scite of Montreal ; where they amused 
 and astonished the natives, wdth w^arlike shows and exercises. 
 Thence, quitting Pontgrave, Champlain explored a part of the great 
 River Ottawa, whence, hastening to Quebec, he arrived with his 
 friend at St. Maloes, in the end of August. 
 
 1614. This year w^as passed in forming a new and more extensive Com- 
 mercial association with Merchants at St. Maloes, Rouen and Ro- 
 chelle, wdiich being approved by the Prince de Conde, Viceroy of 
 New France, he obtained the Royal Letters Patent for the establish- 
 ment of that Company, which, to promote the important object of 
 spreading Religion, agreed to defray the expenses of four Priests of 
 tlie Order of Recollets, w^ho undertook the dangerous voyage to 
 New France, for the purpose of administering spiritual consolation to 
 the Colonists, and founding Missions for the propagation of the Gos- 
 pel among the Indians. The apparent subserviency of Colonial Po- 
 licy and Commerce to the Religion of the State, in the progress of 
 events, will form an interesting contrast between the French and the 
 English Colonies, in North America. 
 
 1615. Indians began to practise upon Champlain’s easy temper and 
 romantic disposition, being desirous of using his troops chiefly to se- 
 cure the victory, without giving them a due share of the glory or of 
 the Spoil. This year, the Hurons went on an expedition, carrying 
 along with them, Father Joseph Carox, a RecoIIety leaving Cham- 
 plain behind, w^ho afterwards followed ; and his force and fire-arms 
 were found necessary to dislodge the enemy from a kind effort which 
 they had erected. On this occasion, Champlain w’as severely wound- 
 ed, which accident led to a hasty, but not disorderly, retreat on the 
 part of the allies, who obliged him and Father Caron, to pass the 
 winter in their Country. Submitting with a good grace, and availing 
 himself of his favourable position for exploring the Country, and 
 
 1616. studying the character of the Indians, Champlain visited the^Huron 
 Villages, extending his tour to Lake Nipising, where the AJo-on- 
 quins had some establishments. Learning, however, that his savage 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXY 
 
 allies Intenclod to drag liim into another expedition, he engaged some 
 Indians to seize the opportunity of the first opening of the naviga- A. D. 
 tion, to convey Father Caron and liimself to Quebec ; where they ar- 
 rived the 11th ot July, 1616, to the great surprise and joy of the 
 Colonists, who thought them both dead. 
 
 Father Joseph Caron, no less zealous in his vocation, had gained 
 some knowledge of the language of the Hurons, observed their 
 haunts, and fixed, in his own mind, the proper stations for Evangeli- 
 cal Missions among them. 
 
 After remaining a month at Quebec, Champlain and Father Jo- 
 seph Caron, returned to France, accompanied by the Superintendant 
 of the Evangelical Mission. 
 
 This year is memorable, on account of the combination of the 1617. 
 late allies of Champlain, for the extermination of the French ; their 
 machinations having been fortunately discovered, by one of them- 
 selves, to a Recollet Friar, named Pacifique Duplessis, he pre- 
 vented the calamity, by exciting jealousies and divisions, and bring- 
 ing over some influential individuals among the conspirators to his 
 views of peace. Their cruel resolution has been ascribed to their 
 fears of being severely punished, on the return of Champlain, for the 
 murder of two Frenchmen ; but the good Friar acted as a mediator ; 
 and Champlain, choosing a middle course between European and In- 
 dian ideas of justice, accepted the offer of the Savage to place one 
 of the murderers at his mercy; to present a large quantity of Furs 
 to the relations of the deceased, and to deliver two of their Chiefs as 
 hostages into his hands. 
 
 During three years, the troubles of the Regency in France, de- 1620/ 
 prived the Prince de Conde of his liberty, and of the due exercise of 
 his Viceroyalty; and combined with the avidity and jealousy of the 
 Traders, muler the Patent, to paralyse the efforts of Champlain for 
 the security and advancement of the Colony. But this year, Mar- 
 shal Montmorenci having purchased the Prince’s Viceroyalty for 
 eleven thousand Crowns, he confirmed Champlain’s Commission, 
 and appointed Monsieur Dolu, a highly respected Officer of 
 Justice, as Colonial Agent in France. Canadian prospects hav- 
 ing thus brightened, Champlain ventured to convey his family to New 
 France. He arrived at Tadoussac, in time to stop the intrusion of 
 some Rochelle Adventurers, whom he surprised not only violating 
 the rights of his associates to the exclusive Trade of the Country, 
 but likewise selling fire-arms to the Indians, which dangerous prac- 
 tice had been hitherto wu’sely avoided. 
 
 This year, the Iroquois or Five Nations seem to have extended their 1621. 
 views from merely predatory warfare against the Colony, to a settled 
 plan of extermination ; for they now perceived the new bond of Re- 
 ligion uniting the French with the Hurons, and wuth the other ob- 
 jects of their inveterate hostility. Dividing their forces^ they attack- 
 ed the Colonists and their allies, at three different points ; and, though 
 
XXVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 repulsed at the principal posts, they ravaged the surrounding Coun- 
 
 A. D. try, and excited such alarm in Champlain, that he called a Council 
 oi' the Priests, Officers, and chief Colonists, which advised the im- 
 mediate despatch of a Deputy to France, to lay before His Majesty 
 and the Duke of Montmorenci, the deplorable situation of the Colo- 
 ny, and the culpable neglect of the Association to provide for 
 its support, and to fulfil the general condition of their Patent. 
 Father George Bailliff, personally known to the young King, 
 being chosen Deputy on this occasion, succeeded in his important 
 Mission. The Company was suppressed; and the rights of the de- 
 linquent Association were transferred to William and Emeric de Caen, 
 two Protestants, admissible, under the wise and humane policy of the 
 edict of Nantz, to places of trust, power and profit, under the French 
 Crown. 
 
 1622 Fourteen years had now elapsed since the foundation of Quebec; 
 but its population did not exceed fifty souls ; its Commerce was in- 
 significant, and the principal station for the Fur Trade continued to 
 be Tadoussac, though another had been lately established at Three 
 Rivers, 25 leagues above Quebec. 
 
 1623 Mr. Pontgrave, one of the greatest benefactors of New France, 
 was this year obliged to return to Europe, on account of bad health ; 
 and William de Caen himself visited Quebec ; where, though a Cal- 
 vinist, he was well received, and continued popular for some time, 
 among Roman Catholics. 
 
 Champlain, whose department was not Commerce, but Military 
 and Civil Superintendance, was at this period alarmed by a report 
 that the Hurons intended to enter into alliance with the Iroquois ; 
 and he hastened to send back to the former Father Joseph Caron, ac- 
 companied by a Recollet Priest and a Friar, just arrived from France ; 
 in the hope of preventing a coalition so dangerous to the infant Co- 
 lony. 
 
 1624'. Champlain built this year, at Quebec, a Fort of stone, and he af- 
 terwards returned to France with his Famil}’, and there found Mar- 
 shal Montmorenci, in treaty with his Nephew, Henry de Levi, Duke 
 of Ventadour, who finally acquired the Viceroyalty of New France. 
 This nobleman purchased the charge from religious motives, being 
 zealous for the propagation of the Catholic Faith, among the Indians; 
 and, under his auspices, with the King’s permission, three Priests of 
 the order of Jesuits, were appointed to found a Mission at Quebec. 
 
 1625. The names of the Priests devoted to this Mission, were Charles 
 Lallemant, Enevionde Masse, and Jean de Brebantf; but it required 
 all the characteristic address and management of the Jesuits to over- 
 come the prejudices against their Order, which were deeply felt in 
 France, and industriously circulated in Canada. 
 
 This year, Nicholas Viel, a Recollet Priest, and a young Indian 
 Proselyte, returning to Quebec from Lake Huron, were drowned, by 
 the oversetting of their Canoe, in a rapid of the Channel which di- 
 
introduction; 
 
 XXVfl 
 
 vides the Island of Montreal from the Island of Jesus. The fatal 
 place is still known by the name of the Saiilt de Recollefy or the Re- A. D. 
 collet Rapid. This event was suspected by some, to have arisen from 
 design, on the part of the Indian Conductors of the Canoe, who, es- 
 caping with their lives, carried off the baggage of their late passen* 
 gers. ^ 
 
 This year, three more Jesuits arrived, with some Mechanics ; and, 1626. 
 under the superintendance of Father Enemonde Masse, Quebec be- 
 gan to improve, and to assume the appearance of a City. That jCc - 
 lousy against the Jesuits, experienced elsewhere, pursued them into 
 Canada, and produced a series of vexatious proceedings, on the part 
 of M. de Caen, who, being at their instance, as he supposed^ repri- 
 manded by the Viceroy, became still more troublesome from mo- 
 tives of revenge. 
 
 Champlain, having this year returned to Quebec, readily perceived 1627. 
 the lamentable effects of those jealousies and disputes, which not 
 only encouraged the insults and atrocities of the Indians, but like- 
 wise interrupted the building of houses and clearing of Land in the 
 surrounding Country. De Caen and his associates, attended to the 
 Fur Trade only; while Religious dissensions, combined with their 
 culpable neglect of Civil duty, to increase the disorders of the little 
 Colony. As a remedy to this desperate state of affairs, recourse was 
 had to the strong measure of transferring the Commerce of New 
 France to a powerful Association, called the Company of a Hundred 
 Partners^ consisting of Clergy and Laity, and established under the 
 special patronage and management of the celebrated Cardinal Da 
 Richelieu, Grand Master, Chief and Superintendant of the Naviga- 
 tion and Commerce of France. ^ 
 
 This Association, as declared by the Royal Edict of the 19th of 
 April, 1627, was established, for the primary purpose of converting 
 the native Indians to the Catholic Faith, by the precepts of a zealous 
 Clergy, and hy example of a respectable body of devout Settlers, 
 and with the secondary view of obtaining for his Majesty’s Subjects, 
 new Commercial advantages, derivable from a better management of 
 the Fur Trade, or from the desirable discovery of a route to the Pa- 
 cific Ocean, and to China, through the great Rivers and Lakes of New 
 France. 
 
 From such extensive views and motives of a spiritual and temporal 
 nature, the powers and privileges conferred on the Association, were 
 great and unprecedented ; but the duties imposed upon that body, 
 were so much evaded in the sequel, that none of the brilliant anticipa- 
 tions of worldly advantages to the French Nation, were ever realised. 
 
 The Company held New France, with the extensive privileges of a 
 Feudal Seigniory under the King ; to whom was owing fealty and 
 homage, and the presentation of a Crown of Gold at every new ac- 
 cession to the Throne. With the right of soil, a monopoly of Trade 
 was granted. The King only reserved, for the benefit of all his Sub- 
 
XXVIII 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 jects, the Cod and Whale Fisheries in tlie Gulph and Coasts of th^ 
 A. D. St. Lawrence ; and, to such Colonists as might not be servants of 
 the Company, was secured the right of trading with the native Indi- 
 ans for peltries, it being understood that, on pain or confiscation, they 
 should bring all their acquisitions of Beaver Skins to the Factors of 
 the Company, who were hound to purchase them at forty Sous a 
 
 piece. 
 
 1627. The religious features of the plan, characteristic of the great Car- 
 dinal de Richelieu, were strongly marked, and had a lasting induence 
 on posterity, and on the future destiny of the Country. The new 
 system entirely excluded Pkotestants and other Heretics, as well 
 as Jews ; the Jesuits were to be supported by the Companj^ ; and a 
 large field was opened for the exercise and display of the talents of 
 that ambitious Order, so eminently calculated for the instruction and 
 subjugation of uncivilised Nations. 
 
 To facilitate the duty imposed on the Company of settling the 
 Country, all the rights of Subjects, in Old France, were extended to 
 Emigrants and to their posterity ; so that their departure should not 
 derogate in the least, from their Civil Rights; and, even such Indian 
 Natives as might become Roman Catholics, were declared to be en- 
 titled to all the privileges of Frenchmen. Besides those advantages, 
 the Colonists were to receive, with their portion of the soil, rights of 
 Hunting and Fishing, yrom nJiich the Peasantry of the Parent State 
 were entirely debarred. 
 
 1628. Bul before the effects of all those encouragements, intended to 
 counteract the disadvantages of climate, could be ascertained, acci- 
 dental causes interfered ; and hostilities, on the part of the English, 
 combined with the incursions of the Iroquois, to disturb the execu- 
 tion of the great Cardinal’s gigantic plans for the conversion of the 
 Indians, and the establishment of Colonies in New France. 
 
 The siege of the important port of La Rochelle, the strong hold 
 of the French Protestants, undertaken by the King and Cardiifal De 
 Richelieu, in jicrson, had produced hostilities between England and 
 France ; and the very first vessels which the new Company despatch- 
 ed for Quebec, had been captured by the English. This year, there- 
 fore, in consequence of a Commission from Charles the First, of En- 
 gland, to David Kertk, a French refugee, authorising and command- 
 ing him to conquer Canada, the latter arrived at Tadoussac with a 
 squadron, and destroyed the Houses and Cattle about Cape Tour- 
 mente ; whence he sent a summons of surrender to Champlain, then 
 in Quebec, with his friend Pontgrave. ^ 
 
 Relying on the ignorance of the enemy, with respect to his re- 
 sources, and upon the bravery of his little garrison and inhabitants 
 Champlain gave such a spirited answer to the summons, as induced 
 Kertk to give up the expectation of immediate success. But one of 
 the numerous acts of individual indiscretion, so fatal to French Co- 
 lonisation, soon deprived France of Quebec, and clouded, for a time" 
 
INTRODUCTIOy. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 those brilliant prospects which had arisen upon the establishment of 
 the new Company. A.D. 
 
 Roqiiemont, one of the Partners, commanding a squadron 
 of vessels, freighted with emigrant families, and with all kinds of pro- 
 visions, had arrived in Gaspe Bay, whence he despatched a small craft 
 to convey to Champlain, a Royal Commission, continuing him as Go- 
 vernor, and to communicate his own arrival with extensive supplies. 
 
 It has been suspected by some, that De Roquemont’s departure from 
 b ranee, was discovered to Kertk, by William De Caen, who felt in- 
 dignant at the loss of his Patent of exclusive Trade. At all events, 
 
 Kertk provoked De Roquemont to an engagement; and the latter, 
 committing to the risk of battle, the principal resources of the Colo- 
 ny, rashly advanced with his laden and encumbered vessels, to the 
 unequal combat, which ended in his complete overthrow, and in the 
 capture of his whole fleet. The short-lived joy diffused in Quebec 
 by the arrival of the Craft, was soon changed to sorrow ; and her 
 crew being added to the little garrison, still farther reduced their 
 scanty rations, which previously sufficed for a daily allowance of only 
 Jive ounces (>f bread and a handfid of pease. 
 
 Deprived of its principal resources, the last hope of the Colony 1629. 
 was speedily blasted by the shipwreck of Father Philibert Nogrot 
 and Fathe- Charles Lallemant^ both Jesuits, on the Coast of Acadia; 
 where they had arrived on their way from France, in a small vessel, 
 with a cargo of provisions, which their friends had generously suppli. 
 ed. To those adverse circumstances, were added great fears of Indian 
 hostility, and a sense of internal weakness, arising from religious jea- 
 lousies among the Settlers. An expedition against the hostile Iro- 
 quois, had occurred to the mind of the gallant Champlain, as the only 
 means of procuring subsistence for about one hundred persons under 
 his command ; but no gunpowder could be found ; and he was finally 
 reduced to lead his unfortunate companions into the woods, to feed up- 
 on roots like the beasts of the field. In this extremity, the return of 
 the English was prayed for as a relief; and, towards the end of July, 
 the half famished inhabitants were rejoiced to hear that Louis and 
 Thomas^ brothers of David Kertk, had arrived with a squadron at 
 Point Levi. An honourable capitulation was obtained from the ene- 
 my, and a conveyance to France secured gratuitously to all who 
 might desire to leave the Colony; and, on the 20th of Julj", Louis 
 Kertk landed at Quebec, and took possession of the fort, assigning 
 the stipulated military protection to the two Convents and to the 
 Chapel of the Mission. Both the Commander and the English troops 
 acted honourably ; but some bVench heretical refugees, headed by 
 Pierre Rape, attempted to enjoy a vulgar triumph over their Coun- 
 trymen. Louis Kertk, by his friendly deportment and good manage- 
 ment, prevailed upon almost every Frenchman, who had cleared a 
 spot of ground, to remain in the Colony. The Priests, however, re- 
 tired ; and Champlain, before his departure, failed not to address his 
 
XXX 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pious exhortations to the Settlers, impressing strongly upon their 
 A. D, minds, that if their King should not be enabled, under Providence, 
 to re-conquer Quebec the following year, sending back the Priests to 
 administer the consolations of their Holy Religion, they ought to 
 take advantage of the conditions of the capitulation, and return to 
 Old France, jweferring to all *voorldly convenience and advantage^ the 
 salvation of their immortal souls. 
 
 The Conquest of Quebec, so quickly achieved, w'as attended with 
 some peculiar circumstances ; and it is worthy of remark, that David 
 Kertk had only left England on his successful enterprise, a few days 
 previously to the ratification of the treaty of peace between France , 
 and England, which event prevented the despatch of intended rein- 
 forcements and supplies, sufficient t« save the Colony, and that an 
 extraordinary delay of several months took place before the French 
 Court were made acquainted with the loss of their only possession in 
 the new world. 
 
 16S0. Before departing for England with his prisoners, David Kertk, the 
 Admiral in Chief, visited Quebec, where he had an interview with his 
 brother. He greatly admired the situation of the place, boasting of 
 many great things that the English would do, by availing themselves 
 of advantages neglected by the French, Intoxicated with success, and 
 instigated by Michel^ a heretical refugee, the Admiral, unmindful of 
 his duty, behaved ungenerously to Champlain, and more particularly 
 to the Jesuits, whom he was persuaded to consider as possessed of 
 wealth ; but being happily undeceived, he quickly joined with his En- 
 glish people, in violent reproaches against the Traitor, whose chagrin 
 and disappointed malignity produced insanity ; and, after being tor- 
 mented in his lucid intervals with the stings of remorse, this unwor- 
 thy Frenchman died in despair. His funeral rites, administered ac- 
 cording to the Protestant Church, were followed with scenes of 
 drunkenness and noisy mirth, that shocked the feelings of Champlain 
 and his pious companions. 
 
 Kertk, having arrived at Plymouth, pretended the utmost surprise, 
 on learning that peace between France and England had been re-es- 
 tablished; but there is reason to suspect that he was informed of 
 the fact before the reduction of Quebec, which perfidious achieve- 
 ment, the occasion of heavy expense to himself, was not destined to 
 give him the expected return of private wealth, or public reputation. 
 
 Ibis aggression, forming so extraordinary a sequel to a treaty of 
 peace, excited the indignation of the French Court, and more par- 
 ticularly shocked Cardinal de Richelieu. But the loss of Quebec 
 gave occasion to certain Courtiers, little scrupulous on points of ho- 
 nour and good faith, to depreciate Canada, in the public mind, as un- 
 
 1630 worthy of an effort for its restoration. Availing themselves of past 
 and misfortunes, and of the various objections to Colonisation, then in 
 
 1631 vogue, though happily exploded in the present day, those selfish and 
 narrow-minded individuals had almost prevailed against Champlain, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 and some other enterprising characters, who anticipated important ad- 
 vantages from an improved pursuit of the Fur Trade and Fisheries. A.D. 
 But here Religious motives interfered ; and the King, sensible of his 
 duty to support the cause of Religion, as well as the dignity of the 
 French Crown, opened a negotiation with England, rendered more 
 energetic by the equipment of six vessels of war, under the com- 
 mand of M. de Razilly ; and his Majesty quickly obtained, not only 
 the restoration of Quebec, but also the cession of Acadia and Isle 
 Royale, otherwise called by the English, Nova Scotia and Cape Bre- 
 ton. This Treaty, which soothed the national ambition, and opened 
 a wide field to the zeal of the Jesuits, for the propagation of the 
 Faith on exclusive principles, was signed at St. Germain-en-Laye, 
 on the 29th of March, 1632, and from this time till the final reduc- 
 tion of Canada, by Great Britain, in the year 1760, a rivalship and 
 growing hostility, partly Commercial and partly Religious, took place 
 between the French and English Settlers in North America, as ojten 
 evinced hy mutual aggression^ vohen profound peace existed between the 
 respective ?^atio7is in Europe^ At this important epoch, the estab- 
 lishments possessed by France, on the Gulph and River St. Law- 
 rence, consisted of the Fort of Quebec, surrounded by a few paltry 
 houses and huts; two or three hovels on the Island of Montreal, a 
 small number at Tadoussac and other posts, established for the con- 
 venience of the Fishery and the Fur Trade : the foundation of a 
 post at Three Rivers, and the ruins of the old Fort of Port Royal, in 
 Acadia. 
 
 Such, says the judicious Charlevoix, was the humble situation of 
 New France at this late period, exhibiting a mortifying picture to hu- 
 man vanity of the only fruits of the discoveries of Verrazani, Cartier 
 and Roberval, the great disbursements of the Marquis de la Roche 
 and M. de Monts, and the ill-directed industry and efforts of many 
 private individuals of the French Nation. The learned Jesuit, with 
 characteristic dexterity, thus prepares the minds of his readers, to 
 appreciate the merits of his powerful Society in the future manage- 
 ment of Canadian affairs, both temporal and spiritual, in which they 
 were destined to act so splendid a part. 
 
 The Province of New France, at this period, is perhaps more wor- 
 thy of philosophic consideration, as a theatre displaying the zeal and 
 ambition of the Jesuit Missionaries, than as a Colony established for 
 Commercial or Military purposes. A general enthusiasm for the 
 spreading of the Tenets of the Church of Rome, among Pagan and 
 Savage nations, distinguished the seventeenth century ; but that 
 wonderful Ecclesiastical Association, called the Jesuits, nearly mono- 
 polised, in every part of the world, the propagation of the Romish 
 Faith, and conciliated with it, in some degree, the political power of 
 the temporal Sovereign. In Canada, though other Orders of Eccle- 
 siastics began and continued Missions, they were stars of inferior 
 magnitude to the bright luminary of the Society of Jesus ; whose 
 
XXXII 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 influence upon the moral and political economy of Canada, has 
 tended beyond the Conquest of the {^lountry by Great Britain. To 
 this Society, the bulk of the population is still taught to look back 
 as the original promoter of instruction, and as having formed the com- 
 munity into that distinctive character, which marks a separate peo- 
 ple. This celebrated Society is indeed now extinguished in Canada ; 
 but tlie maxims of its Imperium in Imperio, are in no small degree 
 practised by the remaining Priests, who can still, covertly at least, 
 coiirroul the British Government, in every effort to Anglify the Coun- 
 try, or to render its resources subservient to the interest of the Em- 
 pire at large. Even, during the despotism of Lewis the 14 th, it 
 was found difficult to prevent the Jesuits, under pretext of being the 
 Stewards of the Poor, from monopolising the best lands ; and In- 
 dians, as well as Frenchmen, were occasionally exposed to their ex- 
 tortions.* Quickly monopolising the instruction of the people, they 
 instilled into them such ideas of concentration and local attachment, 
 as entirely prevented that spirit of extensive settlement, which, at a 
 contemporaneous period, began to distinguish the British Colonies ; 
 and though they permitted large numbers of young men to leave the 
 Parishes, it was rather for Military and Commercial purposes, than 
 for the formation of new’ Settlements. Indeed, according to their 
 principles of concentration, a Territory two hundred miles in length, 
 and twenty in breadth, embracing the St. LawTence and the mouths 
 of its tributaries, would for ages have remained the abode of the 
 wdiole agricultural population. These restricted views of settlement, 
 interfering wdth the objects of Colonisation, were among the causes 
 of the continual contentions between the Jesuits and the Governors, 
 who found that no enterprise could succeed, unless it accorded with 
 the peculiar view’s of those Ecclesiastics, ambitious of condensing an 
 increasing population around the spots wdiich had been selected for 
 the scites of Churches and Convents. The selfish principles of this 
 Society, however, did not prevent the display of much zeal, perse- 
 verance and fortitude in the conduct of their Missionaries among the 
 Indian tribes ; of whose jealousies, caprice and mutual warfare, they 
 W’ere the frequent victims. But it was proved by experience, that the 
 labours of the Jesuit Missionaries in Canada, never civilised the Sava- 
 ges, nor produced, for that purpose, the necessary confederation of se- 
 veral tribes. On the contrary, they themselves retrograded in civiliza- 
 tion, assumed the dress and occupations of savages, and were no 
 longer considered superior to the Pagan Jongleurs. These results 
 would not have taken place, if more generous sentiments and a deeper 
 acquaintance w ith the means of civilising Savages had existed in this 
 celebrated Society : had this been the case, the Missionaries would 
 
 ^ The Jesuits, at the Conquest, possessed in mortmain, about one million 
 of Acres of Land ; the other Clerical Communities, had an aggregate of 
 equal extent; while the share of the Lay-Subjects was about six milllions, makin«‘ 
 the total of Lands granted by the King of France, eight millions of Acres, ** 
 
INTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 have recomnicncKd the experiment of mixing a part of tlic French 
 population with the native Indians, instead of employing their whole A. D# 
 power to keep them separate, except as Military Allies of the French 
 Government, The propensities and gay dispositii)n of the French 
 nation were particularly favourable to this amalgamation ; and no- 
 thing less than the rooted prejudices of their rulers and spiritual con- 
 ductors, could have prevent*_d the eventual absorption of the whole 
 Indian population among the Colonists. The English Colonists were 
 far less suited for such an experiment ; but they happily found the 
 means of conciliating a part of their Indian neighbours, by the prin- 
 ciples of Commerce : they always, at least ostensibl^^ proposed an ex- 
 change of equivalents. They never, like the French and Jesuits, 
 asked possession of lands or goods for the benefit of protection, or 
 for the promise of future salvation ; but, whether really useful to the 
 Indians, or an adequate compensation for moveable and fixed 
 property, an exchange of worldly goods always took place, and gra- 
 dually introduced the primary ideas which promote civilisation and 
 industry. Thus alone, in fact, could the necessary stimulus be fur- 
 nished to the Savage : the English Colonists only r^w^arded him in 
 proportion to the fruits of his industry ; the Frenchmen and Jesuits, 
 till taught by experience, made him the usual present, whether he 
 brought little or much ; and the natural consequence was, that the 
 most active and successful Indians carried their Furs to the English ; 
 while the idle and unsuccessful adhered to the French. In this man- 
 ner, the principles of the French, and the ministrations of the Jes- 
 uits, operating upon the native Indians, produced permanent causes 
 of jealousy and warfare. The Indian tribes, among which the Jesuit 
 Missionaries had established their Clerical influence, could not be 
 completely restrained from a contraband Trade with the English, who 
 had long enjoyed the intercourse and alliance of the Iroquois or Five 
 confederated Tribes, inhabiting the Coasts of Lake Ontario, the 
 Southern Bank of the St. Lawrence, and the Coasts of Lake Cham- 
 plain. Against those difficulties, the Jesuit Missionaries long strug- 
 gled : they baptised the young Indians, thus admitting them into the 
 bosom of the Church of Rome ; they habituated them to the routine 
 of ceremonies, the meaning of which, and the language of the ac- 
 companying prayers, they did not understand ; while the principal 
 object which they could ever attain, was to excite a certain spiritual 
 pride, and to inspire those nominal converts with a bigotted hatred 
 of the Iroquois and other Pagan Indians. These converts, indeed, 
 by this progress, lost, in a great degree, the useful qualities of the 
 Savage, without acquiring the virtues of the Christian ; relaxed their 
 wonted courage and vigilance, and trusted to the Saints for defence 
 against their enemies ; depended upon the French, in many instances, 
 for protection and provisions ; and, as will hereafter appear, became 
 a heavy burthen, instead of proving a useful barrier to the Colony. 
 
 In the course of time, some progress was made by the English, in 
 
 E 
 
XXX I y 
 
 INTllODUCTIOX. 
 
 tlie conversion of the Iroquois or Five Nations to Cliristianity, under 
 A. D. tlie forms of the Protestant Church;* but it may be safely asserted, 
 that the hatred inspired by the Jesuits, between their savage proselytes 
 and all others ; and the practice adopted by the hVench Canadian Gov- 
 ernment, of treating all those Indian Tribes as enemies, who carried 
 their commodities to Albany, or who received Protestant Missiona- 
 ries, kept the Province of Canada in a st-te of perpetual jealousy or 
 contest, with the English, till the Conquest, in the year 1760. 
 
 From this view of the character and lasting effects of the designs 
 and operations of the Jesuits, we return to the brief history of the 
 Colony which our limits permit. After the peace, Champlain was 
 reappointed Governor, by the Company ; and he brought to Quebec 
 a number of respectable Colonists of the Romish Religion, rejecting 
 all Protestants as being likely to interfere with the religious tran- 
 quillity of the Country, and the propagation of the Faith. In the 
 16?5. year 1635, Rene’ lloitAULT, son of the Marquis de Gamachc, a 
 Jesuit, gave a donation of six thousand crowns towards the founda- 
 tion of a College for the education of young men, and for the sup- 
 port of Missions for the conversion of the Indians : this project suc- 
 ceeded ; but the general joy of the Colony at the prospect of this 
 establishment, was interrupted by the death of Champlain, the foun- 
 der of the French Empire in America. Respecting the character of 
 this extraordinary man, it is necessary to say a few wmrds. He is to 
 be ranked among those useful men, who only appear at intervals in 
 history, calculated to seize every circumstance of human society for 
 the promotion of a favourite enterprise. At the commencement of 
 his career, Champlain was a Protestant ; but no sooner did he per- 
 ceive that this profession would diminish the necessary confidence of 
 the men in power, after the death of Henry the Fourth, than he lis- 
 tened to the persuasions of the Romish Missionaries, and became a 
 Convert : — his natural credulity evinced by the absurd stories con- 
 tained in his historical Memoirs, conciliated this change with his 
 worldly projects ; and his apostacy, like that of his Master, Henry 
 the Fourth, was not accompanied by the usual spirit of persecution 
 which distinguishes the vulgar mass of renegades. As he advanced 
 in years and experience, he became prudent ; but his youth displayed 
 the valour and precipitation of the soldier, rather than the foresight 
 of a statesman ; and his w'anton interference in the quarrels between 
 the Iroquois and the other Indians, by offensive warfare ; w hile it pro- 
 duced a useless display of the resources of his genius, laid the foun- 
 dation on which the religious ambition of the Jesuits, built a lasting 
 hostility between the Freneh and English Colonists, leading, by cer- 
 tain, though slow steps, to the destruction of the French Empire in 
 America. It is indeed strange and almost unaccountable, at this 
 day, that Champlain should not have foreseen, that his display of Eu- 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 ropcan arms, in offensive warfare, would immediately force the ho- 
 quois to obtain European Allies on their side: be was not in the si- A 
 tuation of the Spaniards in South America, who knew well that their 
 native adversaries could receive no aid in arts or arms from European 
 rivals. Champlain was, however, undeceived by events ; and, before 
 liis death, he made many sacrifices to defend a continually harrassed 
 Colony, instead of carrying the war beyond its narrow bounds. For 
 this defence, he was eventually obliged to depend chiefly upon the 
 interest of the Ecclesiastics ; and he became so zealous in the pro- 
 pagation of the Faith, that, according to Charlevoix, he adopted the 
 maxim that the salvation of one soul xvas of more importance than 
 the conquest oj an Empire. Among the most estimable traits of 
 Champlain’s character, was his disinterestedness, which prevented his 
 securing for his descendants, that ample share of lands and worldly 
 goods, which would have been primary objects with common adven- 
 turers. When, afterwards, the moderate possessions of his posterity 
 were compared with his services, and with the acquisitions of the fa- 
 vourites of future Governors and Intendants, it became common, 
 among the British Officers, to remark when they recognised some mem- 
 ber of his family : “ that he had the glory and the mi fortune of being 
 descended from Samuel de Champlain, the first, the bravest, and the 
 most disinterested French Governor of Canada'' 
 
 On the death of Champlain, Monsieur Montmagny, became Go- 
 vernor ; and without any of the heroic qualities of his predecessor, 
 he w^as not deficient in zeal and integrity: the machine of Colonisa- 
 tion which Champlain had organised, his successor was calculated to 
 regulate and keep in motion; but he depended more, for this pur- 
 pose, upon the Company, than upon the resources of his own mind. 
 He duly represented the wants of the Colony, and endeavoured to 
 show the connection between its progress, and the interest, present 
 and future, of the Association of One Hundred Partners before men- 
 tioned; but he found them careless of every thing except the prose- 
 cution of the Fur Trade, the nature of which, is necessarily unfavour- 
 able to persevering industry in Agriculture and in the other arts of ci- 
 vilised life. As a sort of compromise, however, between the inter- 
 ested views of a mere Mercantile Company, which had entirely ne- 
 glected the obligations of Colonisation contained in its charter, the 
 Association could not refuse to grant lands to persons duly qualified 
 to form permanent Settlements, not less necessary for defence against 
 the Iroquois, than for the purposes of cultivating the soil, and con- 
 verting the friendly Indians. The first important concession on this 
 principle, was the fertile and well situated Island of Montreal, to 
 Monsieur Maisonneuve, and thirty-four associates, on the 17th of 
 December, 1640 ; and which, after its importance was ascertained in 
 France, both as a Mission and as a Commercial station, became the 
 property of the Religious Order of Sulpicians of Paris, by confirma- 
 tion of the King, on the 15th of February, 1614. This compromise 
 
XXXVI 
 
 INTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 between the interests of the Fur Traders, Colonisation and propaga- 
 A.D. tion of the Faith, was quickly followed by important establisliinents 
 and changes in the domestic economy of the Country, during the 
 minority of Louis the FourteexNth of France. The new channels 
 of information opened to the Regency, displayed, in glaring colours, 
 the mismanagement of the Company, and of its Servants ; and the ii • 
 compatibility of a complete monopoly of Trade, with the purposes of 
 Colonisation ; and gradually led to the establishment cf Canada, as 
 a Royal Government, in the year 1C63. The steps, however, to this 
 important measure, worthy of the age of Louis the FouHcenth, will 
 be briefly noticed. When the establishment of a S’ettlement and 
 Mission, at Montreal, had been decided, the information which justi- 
 fied its expediency likewise evinced the demoralisiiig effects and 
 other disadvantages of the monopoly of the Fur Trade ; and, while 
 the Hospital established in Montreal, by Madame de Bouillon, 
 provided for the care of its victims, it was also the means of ascer- 
 taining the grievances inflicted by the servants of the Company, not 
 only upon the native Indians, but also upon Frenchmen, whose la- 
 bour had been laid under contribution, for the selfish purposes of 
 persons, whose superiors, three thousand miles distant, could not ef- 
 fectually controul them. The first step in favour of Colonisation, in 
 consequence of this information, was the relinquishment of the mo- 
 nopoly of the Fur Trade, which, by an Arret of His Most Christian 
 Majesty, was confirmed. The Company still remained Lord of the 
 Soil ; but the Trade of the Country was laid open to all its Inhabi- 
 tants. Monsieur de Montmngny, who was favourable to those 
 changes, was recalled by the Company, and was succeeded, in the 
 
 1647. y^ar 1647, by Monsieur Daillebout. The new Governor endeavoured 
 to connect the interests of the Company with those of Colonisation ; 
 but all his projects appear to have been neglected, owing to that 
 want of capital and enterprise which has always formed a contrast 
 
 1648. between Frenchmen and Englishmen, in Colonial affairs. Monsieur 
 Daillebout, failing in every effort to strengthen the Country by Co- 
 lonisation, next endeavoured, in the year 1648, to form a perpetual 
 alliance with the New England Colonies, under the condition of res- 
 training the Iroquois from making war against the French and their 
 Indian Allies; but those Colonies, though willing to remain at peace, 
 could perceive no reciprocity of interest in the proposal, which virtu- 
 ally required them to make enemies of the Iroquois, or Five Confe- 
 derated Tribes ; whose intercourse and trade had been advantageous 
 to them. 
 
 1650. the year 1650, the Company resolved to separate its interest 
 from the expense and risk of Colonisation, sent out as Governor, one 
 of the Associates, Monsieur de Lauzon, who quicklv perceived the 
 inadequacy of the resources of the Company, to defend the Countrv 
 against the Iroquois, and preserve the respect of the Natives, and the 
 facilities of Trade. The majority, however, of the Company, wouhl 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 not listen to liis desponding Reports; and they replaced him by a 
 man of military courage and reputation, i\\Q Marquis d Argenson ; A. D. 
 but he found his instructions equally impracticable, and that no- 
 thing less than ^ great display of military force, would be required to 
 protect the Colony and the friendly Indians, for the purposes of Trade. 
 Meantime, the usual struggle between pride and poverty, took place 
 in the minds of the Majority of the Associates. The splendid rights 
 and titles with which they were invested, had a great effect upon the 
 vanity of Frenchmen; and the Company made another effort to re- 
 tain their power, by sending out in 1658, the Baron d Avan gour^ with 1658. 
 a small reinforcement of troops, which opportunely arrived to repel 
 an invasion of the Iroquois. 
 
 But, as the propagation of the Tenets of the Church of Rome had 
 more effect in keeping up an interest in favour of the Colony on the 
 part of influential persons at the Court of f^rance, it will be proper 
 to allude to the different establishments not already mentioned, which 
 took place with this view, from the death of Champlain, till the im- 
 portant appointment of a Bishop in Canada. The Jesuits had a great 
 share in all those establishments; and, under their protection, the 
 first Convent of Nuns was erected at Quebec, in the year 1639, by 
 Madame de la Peltrie, who arrived with three Ursulines^ accom- 
 panied by Father Le Jeune^ a Jesuit. The hospital of Quebec, call- 
 ed the Hotel Dieu, was founded the preceding year, at SiUery^ un- 
 der the patronage of Madame la Duchesse d Aiguillon. The year 
 1659, was distinguished by the foundation of the Sisters of the 1659* 
 Congregation, by Marguerite Bourgeois, for the education of 
 female children, at Montreal^ under the patronage of Monsieur de 
 Maisonneuve ; and this Institution, with the Seminary of the Sulpici- 
 ans of Paris, founded by the Abbe Quelus, in 1657, formed the 
 principal sources of the limited education intended for the Colonists. 
 
 The Clergy was chiefly proposed to consist of persons from France, 
 who vv'ould form a confidential link of the Colonial connection ; and 
 this policy prevailed during the whole period of the dominion of 
 France. Meantime, the Jesuits, not finding such encouragement 
 from the Comjiany as they expected, in gratuitous Grants of Land, 
 obtained from the King, in the first instance, a Patent, enabling rhem 
 to purchase lands, which they, however, used to a very limited ex- 
 tent, looking forward to the approaching period of a resumption of 
 the rights of the Crown, and the establishment of a Royal Govern- 
 ment, instead of that of a Commercial Company. From the nature 
 of their Institute, this Society was gradually acquiring a complete 
 controul in the clerical affairs and instruction of the people of Cana- 
 da ; and, in the year 1670, they were not afraid to recommend the 
 appointment of a Bishop, exj)ecting, rather, that he would be an in- 
 strument or cloak to their ambition, than a check upon it. They al- 
 ways, in fact, formed a clerical Aristocracy, similar to the Aristocracy 
 of Venice, admitting only such a ruler of Lay-Clergy, as the Doge 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Venice, whose every action was secretly dictated to him, by a se- 
 A. D. lect Council. In the year 1662, the plan of gratuitous Missions was 
 1662. modified ; and in the parts of the Colony which w^ere cultivated by 
 Frenchmen, it was proposed to provide for a ParocKal Clergy, by 
 tythcs, as in France. This provision w^as not, however, efficiently 
 executed, till the circumstances of the Inhabitants w’ere more cor- 
 rectly ascertained under the Royal Government ; when the tythe was 
 reduced in Canada to one twenty-sixth part of the crop of Grain 
 raised for the food of man; this moderate provision was first estab- 
 lished by the Sovereign Council of Quebec, in the year 1667, and 
 confirmed, after a period of trial, by a Royal Order in the year 1679. 
 
 From this anticipation on the important subject of a Colonial es- 
 tablishment and support of the Clergy, we return to the course of 
 events which immediately preceded the abandonment of the territo- 
 rial rights of the Company. This Association, then reduced to 45 
 Members, appears, by choosing the Baron d'Avangour, to have rather 
 provoked an interference on the part of the King, than deprecated it. 
 He was a man more calculated to cut than untie the gordian knot 
 of difficulties ; and he no sooner, by personal inspection, had ascer- 
 tained the deplorable state of the Colony, than he directed the Co- 
 lonists to appeal to the King, who sent out a Commissioner to en- 
 quire into the facts alledged ; and his report having confirmed them, 
 166?. Majesty decided upon the immediate resumption of his rights, 
 and erecting Canada into a Royal Government. 
 
 At this critical period, the Jesuits, in their Journals, reported a 
 physical event, which, not being confirmed by the history or tradi- 
 tion of the English Colonies, and their Indian Allies, is considered as 
 a mere fabrication, calculated, like other pious frauds, to connect 
 disorders of Government with the alarming phenomena of nature. 
 The knowledge of the Country possessed by the Jesuits, emboldened 
 them, as is supposed, to insert the event in their secret Journals ; and 
 they securely calculated upon peculiar formations of hills and ra- 
 vines, indicating the effects of an earthquake in the Country below 
 Quebec, as supporting their assertion of the event at the time speci- 
 fied in those Journals. This Legend we merely allude to, as having 
 imposed upon some enquirers into Canadian History, who, in the 
 midst of uninteresting events, appear to have seized upon this wdth 
 avidity, in order to enchain the momentary attention of their rea- 
 ders : — it is stated to have taken place on the 5th of February, old 
 style, 1663, a daij dedicated to the worship of the Holy Virgin. 
 
 While this alleged earthquake was troubling the Territory and In- 
 habitants of Canada, the Company were deliberating upon the Royal 
 Orders of Reference, by which Louis the Fourteenth directed 
 them to consider the expediency of abandoning to the Crow n, their 
 Charter ; the obligations of wdiich, they w ere conscious that they had 
 not fulfilled; and it is worthy of remark, that their real interest as 
 mere Fur Traders, essentially prescribed hostility to French Coloni- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 sation, and to every measure wliich could interfere with any other 
 propensity of the native Indian, except his love of war. The mild A.D. 
 precepts of the Christian Religion, which the Company had long ex- 
 pected to check this propensity, had, on the contrary, been so much 
 distorted in practice, by the fanatical zeal with which the Jesuits in- 
 spired thir converts against all Pagan Indians; and the incursions of 
 the Iroquois were so frequent, that the Fur Trade, on the side of Ca- 
 nada, was very much reduced ; and the means of destruction in that 
 Country, were turned chiefly against the human race, instead of the 
 Fur bearing Animals. Under such circumstances and prospects, the 
 Company, on the 24-th of February, 1663, abandoned their rights to 
 the King, who accepted the same, by a Royal Edict. 
 
 Monsieur dc Mesi/y appointed Governor, Monsieur de Petrcey 
 Apostolical Vicar, and Monsieur Gaudais, King’s Commissioner, ar- 
 rived in Quebec, this year, accompanied by four hundred regular 
 troops, one hundred flimilies as Settlers, with Cattle, FJorses, and 
 Implements of Agriculture. 
 
 Monsieur de Gaudaisy having administered the Oath of Allegiance 
 to the Inhabitants, and made some temporary regulations, the Go- 
 vernor published his Commission and put in execution the Royal 
 Edict for the establishment of a Sovereign Council, to consist of 
 himself, Monsieur de PetreCy Monsieur lloherty the Intendant, and 
 four other Counsellors, to be chosen by them. The powers confer- 
 red on this Sovereign Council, extended to the cognisance of all 
 causes civil and criminal ; to judge, in the last resort, according to 
 the Laws and Ordinances of France, and the practice of the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris, reserving the general legislative power of the Crown 
 to be applied according to circumstances. This Council was farther 
 invested with the regulation of Commerce, the expenditure of the 
 Public Monies, the establishment of Inferior Courts at Three-Iiivers 
 Montreal : — indeed, the delegation of power was so extensive, 
 as to form a new era in the Colonial Government of an absolute 
 Monarch. 
 
 This change w’as partly owing to the imperious necessities of the 
 Colony, and partly to the enlightened views of Colbert, the great 
 Financial Minister of Louis the Fourteenth, who, in a period of ge- 
 neral peace, was animated by the example of Great Britain, to the 
 improvement of the Navigation and Commerce of France, by Colo- 
 nial establishments. Canada, therefore, which had languished for 
 more than a century, as an Ecclesiastical Mission, was henceforth 
 viewed in a temporal light also ; and began to improve in Population 
 and Agriculture. To the benefit of a regulated Civil Government, 
 was added increased military protection against the Iroquois. The 
 Colony was also gradually strengthened by the arrival, at intervals, 
 of Settlers from Normandy, Picardy, the Isle of France, and other 
 Provinces, all Roman Catholics, distinguished not less by simplicity 
 of manners, than by attachment to ancient customs and peculiar 
 
XL 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 motles of Cultivation. These Settlers, directed by the Jesuits and 
 
 A. D. other Ecclesiastics, gave a stable character to the population of Ca- 
 nada ; though a military spirit was eventually added, by locating the 
 disbanded Soldiers oi the Caiugnan and other Regiments ; whose 
 Officers became the principal Seigneurs of the Colony, on condition 
 of making Concessions of Land under the Feudal 1 enure, as it still 
 exists, to the Soldiers and other Inhabitants. In this manner, was 
 gradually formed and concentrated, under the powerful protection of 
 Louis the Fourteenth, an agricultural and military people, distin- 
 guished by habits of implicit submission to their spiritual and tem- 
 poral Leaders. 
 
 1664, To promote the views ascribed to Colbert, it was deemed expedi- 
 ent, in the year 1664*, to remodel and extend the West India Com- 
 pany, adding Canada to their possessions, subordinate to the Crown 
 of France, with powers controled by Ilis Majesty's Governors and 
 Intendants, in the different Colonies. The Edict, establishing this 
 new Company, is an important historical Document, displaying the 
 extensive views of the French Cabinet, both with respect to Colonial 
 and Political aggrandisement, forming, likewise, one of the links of 
 that chain of evidence, which convinces the unprejudiced reader, that 
 the ambition of Louis the Fourteenth, w^as not confined to Europe, 
 but embraced every quarter of the Globe. It is not foreign to our 
 subject to allude to those view^s ; because they will enable us to trace 
 that ambitious course of policy in Canada, w'hich, after exciting the 
 jealousy of the neighbouring British Colonies, finally led, under new 
 circumstances, to the expulsion of French dominion from North 
 America. This Edict, which confers civil and military powers on 
 the West India Company of France, similar to those afterwards 
 granted by Great Britain to the East India Company of England, is 
 distinguished fi'om the latter, by naturalising Foreign Stockholders. 
 But we shall translate a part of the General Enactment, and briefly 
 allude to the details. After stating the motives, the Royal Will pro- 
 ceeds as follows: — ‘‘ We hereby establish a West India Company, to 
 be composed of persons already interested in the Continent of Amer* 
 ica, and others of our Subjects who may wish to become Stockhold- 
 ers, for the purpose of carrying on the Commerce of that Country, 
 ^^frorn the River Amazon, to the Oronoco, likewise the Islands Antil- 
 ‘‘ les, possessed by Frenchmen, Canada, V Acadie, both Continent and 
 “ Islands, from the North of Canada, to Virginia and Florida ; 
 also the Coast of Africa, from Cape Verd, to the Cape of Good 
 Hope, so far as the said Company may he able to penetrate, whether 
 the said Countries may now appertain to us, as being, or having 
 “ been occupied by Frenchmen, or in so far as the said Company shall 
 establish itself by exterminating or conquering the Natives or Coic- 
 << }^isTs of such European Nations as are not our Allies f 
 
 Among the details, we find the following remarkable particulars: 
 
 1, The Company is bound to carry out and establish a sufficient num- 
 
iNTnODUCTlOy. 
 
 XLI 
 
 bcr of Priests, and to build Churcbes and Houses for their acconi- ^ 
 modation, and for the performance of their Holy Functions. 2. An A. D. 
 ijiterest in tlie Company should not derogate from the privileges of 
 the nobility of the Kingdom. 3. The Stock or Shares were made 
 transferable, and the revenue or profits of them alone, could be at- 
 tached for Debts owing by the Holders, even to the King himself, 
 
 4. The Company was to enjoy a monopoly of the Territories and the 
 Trade of the Colonies thus conceded, for forty years: it was not only 
 to enjoy tlie exclusive Navigation, but His Majesty conferred a boun- 
 ty of thirty Livres on every ton of Goods exported to France ; 
 and such imported Colonial Mercliandise as had paid the Cus- 
 tom and other duties on consumption, could be re-exported by 
 the Company, without any charge cf export duty. 5. The Company 
 was not only endowed as Seigneur with all the unconceded lands, 
 but invested with the right of extinguishing the titles of Seigniories 
 granted or sold by previous Companies, on condition of reimbursing 
 the Grantees and Purchasers for their costs and improvements. 6. 
 
 The King assumed all claims of previous Companies established in 
 the Colonies by himself or liis predecessors; and the new Company 
 was invested with all the Seigniorial rights and dues already borne 
 by the Inhabitants, as Seigniorial V^assals, with power to commute or 
 modify them, as well as to make new Grants or Sales. 7. The Com- 
 pany was to have a right to all Mines and Minerals, the power of 
 levying and recruiting Soldiers within the Kingdom, manufacturing 
 arms and ammunition for the defence of their possessions, building 
 forts, and even declaring and carrying on war by Sea and Land 
 against the native Indians or neighbouring foreign Colonies, in case 
 of insult. 8. To add to the splendour of the Company, a Coat of 
 Arms was also granted, as stated in the language of heraldry below 
 in a note;* but it was ordered that when those Arms should be af- 
 fixed to warlike instruments and equipments, they should be sur- 
 mounted by the Royal Arms of France. 9. The administration of 
 justice was to be according to the Laws and Ordinances of the 
 Kingdom, and the custom of Paris, and no other custom was to be 
 introduced into the Colonies. 10. To encourage emigration, as well 
 as to gratify the present Inhabitants, all Colonists and Converts pro- 
 fessing the Romish Faith, were declared capable of enjoying the 
 same rights in France and in the Colonies, as if they had been born 
 and resident within the Kingdom. 11. Lastly, in this munificent 
 Edict, His Majesty agrees to advance one tenth of the whole stock, 
 without interest, for four years, subject to a proportion of all losses 
 which might be incurred during that period, by the Company. 
 
 When this new monopoly was reduced to practice in Canada, the 
 Inhabitants made several complaints, which were listened to by the 
 Company ; and at length their grievances were decisively redressed by 
 
 ^ Un Ecusson, en champ d' Azur^ semi de Jleurs dc lys d'or sans nombre, deux 
 Sauvuges pour support^ et unc Couronne irejiee* 
 

 INTUODUCTIOX. 
 
 the compromising Royal Arret of the Council of State, dated the 8th 
 
 A. D. of April, 1666, which granted to the Inhabitants of Canada the Trade 
 in Furs, subject to an allowance of one fourth of all Beaver Skins, and 
 one tenth of all Buffalo Skins, and the total reservation to the Com- 
 pany of the Trade of Tadoussac, situated about seventy-five miles be- 
 low Quebec, at the mouth of the Saguenay River. This beneficial 
 arangemcnt, calculated to diminish the temptation to smuggling, 
 which a close monopoly would have produced, could not prevent it ; 
 and we are accordingly presented in the Records of the Colony, with 
 the usual stratagems of Smugglers to evade every regulation for the 
 preservation of rights and collection of dues, which appear ojily to be 
 a reasonable compensation for those expenses of the Administration 
 of Justice, to which the Company was subjected, and which His Ma- 
 jesty’s Commissioner, Monsieur De Gundois, had estimated at Forty 
 Eight Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty Livres, being the aggre- 
 gate of the Salaries of the ordinary Judges, exclusive of the other 
 Civil Officers, payable by the King. 
 
 1665. In the year 1665, Monsieur De Mezy was succeeded as Governor 
 by Monsieur De Courcelles ; and Monsieur De Talon was appointed 
 Intendant, whose Commission besides the usual duties of Superin- 
 tending Financial and Land Affairs, gave him jurisdiction in various 
 criminal and civil matters under the Governor. 
 
 1666. 1666, the Governor General, the Marquis De Tracy, 
 who had first attended to his duties in the West India Islands, visited 
 Caftada ; where he ordered the building of three forts as a part of the 
 military defence of the Colonj^ against the Iroquois : the first fort 
 was constructed by Monsieur Sorely at the mouth of the river Sorel 
 or Chamhly, and called by his name ; the second by Monsieur De 
 Chcmhly ; and the third by Monsieur De Sallieres, Colonel of the 
 Carignan Regiment, all on the same River ; the last fort was named 
 Sf» 'Iherese; where the Colonel established his Head Quarters. 
 
 This year, the Marquis De Tracy made an incursion into the 
 Country of the Iroquois, or Mohawks, usually called so by the 
 the English on account of their chiefly frequenting the banks of the 
 Mohawk River : — the Indians saved themselves by flight, with the ex- 
 ception of a few old men and women ; whose slaughter was celebrat- 
 ed, by singing Te Deuni in the Cathedral of Quebec, by order of the 
 Governor General. 
 
 Before this period, the successful incursions of the Iroquois had 
 suggested the expediency of concentrating the Settlements ; and a 
 Royal Edict, dated the 21st of March, 1663, directed that no more lands 
 should be cleared and inhabited, except in spots contiguous to each 
 other; this Edict, though not strictly obeyed, has given a decisive 
 characteristic to the French Canadian Settlements, which no modern 
 observer can account for, except on the principle of military defence ; 
 and this concentration, continued by various circumstances since the 
 Conquest, is one of the causes which have left the North Eastern 
 Irontier of Lower Canada nearly a desert, and exposed to the Tern- 
 
introduction. 
 
 XLIll 
 
 lorial pretensions of tlie United States ; for if, under the French and 
 English Government, tlie Ecclesiastical and Military Superiors of the A. D. 
 Canadians had encouraged back Settlements, we should never have 
 heard of the present pretensions of the new State of Maine upon 
 lands within twelve miles of Quebec : the fact of long occupancy 
 would have been decisive, preventing not only the possible loss of 
 Territory, but also the expenses of negotiation or warfare to obtain and 
 ])reserve an adequate land communication between Lower Canada 
 and New Brunswick. 
 
 This year, the Governor General, notwithstanding the remonstrance 1667. 
 of Monsieur DeTalon the Intendant, confirmed to theWest India Com- 
 pany, within Canada, the same rights, privileges and authority wdnch 
 had been enjoyed by the Company of One Hundred Associates alrea- 
 dy mentioned ; and being now^ more than seventy years of age, he re- 
 turned to France. 
 
 Monsieur De Tnlon^ a man of science and extensive view's, had 
 not been long in Canada, before he perceived the natural interest of 
 the Company to be adverse to Colonisation ; and the whole scope of 
 his measures in the Colony, and of his correspondence with the great 
 Minister Colbert^ tended to hasten that resumption of the rights of the 
 Crown, which his perseveiing remonstrances, combined with the 
 complaints of the Colonists, at length obtained, at a great pecuniary 
 sacrifice on the part of the King, in the year 1674-. 
 
 With these views, the Intendant endeavoured to direct the indus- 
 try of the Inhabitants to other objects than the Fur Trade ; he drew 
 the attention of Colbert to the means of obtaining warlike instruments 
 and naval stores within the Colony ; he pointed out the Iron Mines 
 of SU Maurice ; the Pine Masts and Oak for Shipbuilding, on the bor- 
 ders of the St. Lawi'ence ; the capability of the soil to produce 
 Hemp ; and the worthy correspondent of a great Minister, appears to 
 have had the most co»'rect and extensive views, as to the resources of 
 the Colony and the means of rendering them available, not only for 
 the interests of the Colonists, but for the Empire at large. 
 
 This year. Monsieur De Talon visited France ; and, by his energetic 
 representations, obtained the transmission of instructions to the Gov- 
 ernor, and a variety of measures calculated to favor Colonisation, An 
 interval of peace with the Iroquois, favored the views of the Intendant, 
 and permitted the location of part of the disbanded officers and soldiers 
 of the regiment Carignan, upon lands granted under the Seigniorial or 
 Feudal Tenure. The statement of the population given to Colberty 
 show ing a great excess of males, the King used means to encourage the 
 weaker sex to brave the dangers of a long voyage ; and several hun- 
 dreds of young women were induced, by temporal and spiritual mo- 
 tives, to go to Quebec ; where, under the patronage of the Govern- 
 ment, they speedily obtained husbands; and, under the direction of 
 the Priests, contributed much to improve the peace aud domestic 
 economy of the Country. This encouragement to legitimate popu- 1670. 
 lation, was followed by a RoyalEdict, dated the 12th of April, 1670, by 
 
XLlV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whicli liis Majesty granted a pension of three hundred livres to parents 
 A. D. vvlio h.ad ten children, and of four liundred livres to those who had 
 twelve, born in lawful wedlock, and alive and wxll at the period of 
 applying for the lioyal Bounty. On each marriage of a male of twenty, 
 with a female of sixteen years of age, and under, a patuity oi twenty- 
 five livres was ordered ; and the Sovereign Council was instructed to 
 impose penalties on all such Parents as should not join their childien in 
 marriage before they attained the ages before mentioned. These re- 
 gulations, favored in their execution by a variety of circumstances, had 
 a lasting effect upon the French population cl Canada ; and, at the pe- 
 riod when we write, though it contains a moderate proportion ofwidow s 
 and orphans, it exhibits fewer of the anomalies (jf old bachelors and old 
 maids, than any other population of European origin. 
 
 About this time, the experimental religious communities already 
 mentioned, established in Qlucbec, Three Rivers Montreal ^^o\' that 
 
 limited education of the people, which suited the ideas of the age ai d 
 views of temporal and spiritual dominalion, were confirmed by 
 Royal Edicts ; and large tracts of land were granted in mortmain for 
 their support. Under such circumstances, a population was gradually 
 moulded into a shape suited to the view’s of the Government of the 
 Mother Country, by the effect of French Institutions, and fitted to pi y 
 a conspicuous part, in advancing the Colonial ambition of France, 
 which, soon after this period, explored the course of the great River 
 Mississippi, by the enterprise of the unfortunate jMonsienrDe La Salle. 
 
 At this point of our historical summary, it may be proper to antici- 
 pate a few of the advantages which the increasing population of Ca- 
 nada offered to the ambitious view’s of Louis the 14 rM. The wonder- 
 ful zeal and perseverance of the Jesuit Missionaries were more instru- 
 mental in obtaining allies to the French, than converts to the tenets of 
 the Church of Rome; and, by their negotiations and intrigues, they 
 frequently paralysed the hostility of the Iroquois ; while the able and 
 active Administration of Talon, promoting Industry and Commerce, led 
 to that concentration of power in Canada, upon w hich basis, the Mon- 
 arch founded his future encroachments on the Knglish Colonies ; and 
 established, at last, a chain of military posts from Quebec^ on the S/.iato- 
 rencey to Neu) OrleanSy on the Mississippi. Among those advantages, 
 none are more w orthy of the attention of the reader of Canadian His- 
 tory, than the attachment to the glory of the ^Mother Country, which 
 the established Seminaries, superintended by natives of France, for the 
 education of the higher classes, and the instruction chiefly religious of 
 the people, tended to produce. The result of the measures of the 
 Civil, Military and Ecclesiastical Superiors of the Colonists, combined 
 in forming their character. From the earliest daw’n of intellect, the 
 ideas of the young Canadian w ere systejiiatically connected w ith the 
 greatness ol his King,^ and the glory of France. The Religious Rites 
 and Ceremonies, the Government, the Law's, the names of Civil, Milita- 
 ry and Religious Institutions, Edifices, Streets and Public Roads ; the 
 Language, Literature and Amusements weie calculated tore-produce in 
 
introduction. 
 
 XIA 
 
 the newColintry, all those characteristics of the old, wliich the climate 
 and other circumstances would permit. A.1-) 
 
 But, owing partly to the national ambition connected with these 
 characteristics, the French could not long preserve Canada from the 
 effects of the jealousy of the English Colonies, supported by the in- 
 creasing naval and military forces of Great Britain, which power, after 
 the expulsion of James the Secondy became the lasting rival of France, 
 in every part of the world. 
 
 Though Louis the Fourteenfhy in the year 1671, was chiefly occii- 
 pied in negotiations and intrigues, preparatory to his war against the 
 Du rcii, his Minister Colherty nevertheless, appears to have paid atten- 
 tion to the Representations of Monsieur Talon, on the means of en- 
 couraging Colonisation in Canada ; for a Royal Edict, dated the 4th of 
 June, >672, reduced the extent ofconcessions of land, one half, alleging, 
 as a reason for this act of power, that an investigation had proved that 
 the original concessions were larger than the means of cultivation pos- 
 sessed by the holders ; and that those concessions, being conveniently 
 settled on the banks of rivers, prevented His Majesty from adequately 
 encouraging Emigrants from France, except by this retrenchment. This 
 Edict may serve to readers of the present day, as a specimen of the ab- 
 solute authority exercised by the King over the property of his Colo- 
 nial Subjects, acting to them much in the same manner as he did, un- 
 der solemn treaties with foreign pow'ers ; in his ratification of which, 
 it was jocularly remarked, by aDutch Merchant, that his name should 
 have alvvays been preceded by the salvo, SauJ'erreurs et omissions J 
 The gradual approaches to the dissolution of the rights of the Com- 
 pany, were marked by yearly accessions of power to the Intendant, who 
 was this year authorised to frame Regulations of Police, for Canada and 
 L’Acadie, (called by the English, Nova Scotia,) which had been given 
 up by Great Britain, to France. Monsieur Talon was empowered by 
 the same Edict, to establish the ordinary Judges in the latter Colony- 
 Meantime, the French had profited by the peace with the Iroquois, 
 to combine in more strict alliance, the whole of the Indians on the 
 Canadian side of the St. Lawrence, and its parent Lakes. Monsieur 
 de Lussouy made a treaty with the North Western Tribes, at the 
 Falls of St. Mary; where a Cross, inscribed wuth the Arms of France, 
 was set up in token of the possession and protection of the whole 
 line of Territory by His Majesty. 
 
 The Iroquoisy Mohaxvhs or Five NntionSy as they are indiscrimin- 
 ately called, had pretensions on both banks of the St. Lawrence, and 
 on both coasts of the Lakes ; but the French now employed 
 all means of intrigue, to drive them from the Canadian side ; — 
 one of those means was negotiating for leave to establish Posts for 
 alledged Commercial purposes; and Monsieur de Courcelles obtained 
 permission to do so at the mouth of Lale Oniarioy which, under the 
 management of his Successor in the Government, Count Frontenac 
 became a Fort of considerable strength, and eventually served the 
 intended purpose of driving the Five Nations to the English side of 
 the Lakes and River. 
 
XhVI 
 
 IN rHODl'C TIOX 
 
 > After (lie accession of Coiinf Fro7i(erific, w ho w as of a violent and 
 A. I), arbitrary disposition, Monsieur 7'afon v,:\s prevailed on to remain, 
 ])artly by the express command of the King, and partly 
 desire to extend the dominion of France, in the interior. The great 
 River Mississippi, which the Indians of the Falls of St. Maty had 
 vaguely described as running fieiihet to the Fast nor to the lyorlh, 
 was now the great object to be explored ; and after a preliminary ex- 
 pedition, by Marquet, a Jesuit, and Joliet, a Geograjiher^ who de- 
 scended the Mississippi as far ns to its confluence with the Arcansas 
 River, the famous, though unfortunate l.a Salle, undertook to trace 
 it to the Gulph of Mexico. This great enterprise, patronised by 
 Frontenac, involved great difficulties ; La Salle could not, like the 
 Jesuit and his disguised Geographer, pass through the Indian Tribes, 
 without exciting their jealousy ; for he took with him a considerable 
 force, in order to establish a chain of Posts on his route from the 
 F'ailsofSt Mary, to the Mississippi. Those establishments occupied 
 him more than three years ; and, having descended the River in the 
 summer of 1682, so far as to ascertain its discharge into the Gulph 
 of Mexico, he returned to Quebec in the following spring ; and was 
 encouraged by the Governor and the Intendant, to go to France, 
 witli the view of ascertaining his discovery, by sailing from the Gulph 
 of Mexico, and then establishing a Colony on the banks of the Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 
 But we have anticipated on the course of events, ond must now 
 1674. return to the year IbYF; when the King of France, by an Edict dat- 
 ed in December, resumed his rights to all the Territories conceded 
 to the West India Company. Tliis resumption, ascribed to the joint 
 representations of the Intendant and the Colonists, has a greater ap- 
 jiearance of equity, than most of the Royal Mandates of absolute 
 Monarchs; the King assumes all the Debts of the Company and the 
 current value of the Stock, and takes upon him that expense of the 
 administration of justice, to which the Corporation was subjected. 
 1675* A Royal Edict dated the 5th of June, J675, confirmed the estab- 
 lishment of the Sovereign Council, which was ordered to be compos- 
 ed of the Governor, Francois de Laval, lately appointed Bishop, 
 by the Pope, or in his absence, the Grand Vicar, w ith seven other 
 Counsellors. In this Council, the Governor was first, the Bishop, or 
 his Representative, before mentioned, second, and the Intendant, 
 third in rank : it was also the duty of the Intendant, to take the 
 Votes, and pronounce the Decrcts of the Sovereign Council, and he 
 had the general superintendence of the King’s Courts. 
 
 Monsieur de Talon, having succeeded in destroying a Company 
 which he considered hostile to Colonisation, retired to France ; and 
 Monsieur de Chesnau was appointed in his place, with increased pow- 
 er. He was directed to superintend and support the Inferior Judo-es 
 and Officers ; to see that the Sovereign Council conformed in 'all 
 cases, Civil and Criminal, to the Ordinances of the Kingdom, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XLVH 
 
 the custom of Paris ; to make Police Regulations, in concurrence 
 U’ith the Council, to be executed by the Inferior Judges, and even to A.D. 
 make them at his discretion, in case of delay on the part of the 
 Council. The Intendant appears, in his Civil, as well as his Finan- 
 cial Department, responsible to the King only ; and from an investi- 
 gation ot the Colonial Records, it would seem that no Colonial Tri- 
 bunal could punish malversation in any Officer of the Civil Depart- 
 ment : but, by an act of power, on the personal responsibility of the 
 Governor, he might be suspended from his functions, dismissed, or 
 even imprisoned ; but his cause was always cognisable by Ilis Majes- 
 ty only.* 
 
 The Count de Fronlcnac was of a violent and arbitrary disposition ; 
 and, after quarrelling with the Priests, and also with various Civil 
 Officers, his disputes with the Intendant, who represented His Ma- 
 jesty in Financial matters, brought on a crisis producing the recall of 
 both. During the Administration of Monsieur de FrontenaCy his own 
 arbitrar}^ disposition extended to his Delegates, in the inferior and 
 sectional Governments ; and an Edict was issued by His Majesty, 
 dated the 7th of May, 1679, prohibiting the imprisonment of any 
 French Subject or Colonist, except by order of the Governor Gene- 
 ral, or by Decree of the Sovereign Council : these authorities were 
 justly considered by his Majesty, as more amenable to his tribunals 
 within the Kingdom, and more influenced by the salutary restriction 
 of responsibility, than the obscure Delegates of executive power in 
 the interior of the Colony. 
 
 In the year 1679, an attempt was made to establish the Parochial 
 Clergy, and to fix the right of patronage in the Seigneurs ; but the 
 conditions imposed upon them, of building Churches of stone, and 
 providing suitable accommodation for the Priest, were found too 
 burthensome ; and what is called the Parochial Clergy of Romish 
 persuasion in Canada, is merely a number of Missionaries, removable 
 at the discretion of the Bishop. Under these circumstances, an ex- 
 traordinary anomaly arose, and still exists: namely, that there is no 
 patronage of Churches in Canada ; but that the Vassals of the 
 Seigneurs, merely provide a place of worship, and then apply to the 
 Bishop for a Missionary, on condition of paying to him the modified 
 tythe of the twenty-sixth part of Wheat and other Grain. 
 
 ** In the year 1676, two restrictive regulations were made hy the wliicb, 
 
 however well intended, could never he executed : the first forbade, under heavy 
 penalties, the sale of Brandy to the Indians ; the second, prohibited all persons from 
 leaving the Settlements, Towns or Posts, to trade or barter with the Indians in the 
 forests. It was certainly good policy to accustom the Indians to visit the Settle- 
 ments for the purpose of trading, rather than to suffer the Coureurs des Bois, or 
 half Savage Pedlar«, to collect the Furs in the Hunting Grounds, and follow 
 their inclination of reselling them to the English Colonists. Both Regulations 
 were, however, evaded : the Indians were treated with Brandy gratis; and the 
 Coureurs des Bois preferred banishment, to the abandonment of a contraband trade, 
 which yearly increased till the period of the Conquest. A Census taken this year, 
 shows the number of French Settlers and converted Indians in their vicinity, to be 
 enly eight thousand four hundred and Jifteen souls. 
 
XLVin 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 About this time, began a series of enterprises and expe(4itions on 
 A. D. the part of the French Governors, which combuitd the extension an 
 security of the Fur Trade, with views of territorial dominion on t le 
 whole line of the St. Lawrence, the Lakes, the River Mississippi, and 
 its tributaries; the partial success of which, excited first the hostility 
 of the English Colonies, and eventually led to war between the Go- 
 vernments of France and Great Britain, ending, after a great variety 
 of fortune, in the Conquest of Canada, by the latter power, in the 
 year 1760. 
 
 Before more particularly alluding to the progress of these events, 
 we shall take the liberty of making a general remark upon the cha- 
 racter and genius of the French and English Governments respec- 
 tively ; in so far as they influenced the final result of their long ri- 
 valship in North America. 
 
 An impulse, favourable to the Colonisation of New’ France, was 
 first given during the vigorous Administration of the great Cardinal 
 de Richelieu^ which w as no longer felt under the follow ing female Re- 
 gency. The energetic reign of Louis the Fourteenth^ again supplied 
 the necessary stimulus to improvement, which gradually declined af- 
 ter his death ; and, notwithstanding the military habits of a growing 
 Colonial Population, and the national interests and glory involved in 
 the fate of Canada, it w as destined to fall during the licentious reign 
 of Louis the Fifteenihy when vice, irreligion, and female ascendancy 
 had debased the Court of France. 
 
 On the other hand, while the English Colonists had been gradual- 
 ly extending their Settlements, they also acquired strength from the 
 improvement of the Constitution of Great Britain, after the expul- 
 sion of James the Second, from the United Kingdom. At first, they 
 were frequently driven back towards the Atlantic Coast, by the in- 
 cursions of the F^rench and their Indian Allies ; but, in the reign of 
 King William the Third, they co-operated w ith his vigorous Admi- 
 nistration, in an invasion of Canada, renewing tlie war in America, 
 whenever it existed between the rival Nations in Europe; and seem- 
 ing to acquire fresh spirit at each defeat, they at length, during the 
 brilliant Administration of the elder Pitt, contributed largely, in 
 blood, treasure and talent, to the final expulsion of French dominion 
 from North America. 
 
 During this long contest, each party had advantages peculiar to 
 itself. Canada, comparatively weak in population, had the advantage 
 of being under one head, whose sole will called forth and regu; 
 lated the energies of the Colonists combined with the regular troops,' 
 and aided by the terrific warfare of their Savage Allies. The Bri- 
 tish Colonies, divided by different commands, unable to controul or 
 conciliate local interests, and deficient in that address which attaches 
 the Savage race of mankind, suffered repeated and humiliatino- de- 
 feats. It was only after they had studied the French system^ and 
 adopted its better parts ; w hen British Commanders of regular troops 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 XLIX 
 
 condescended to profit by the painful experience acquired by the 
 Colonists in American warfare, and when also adversity had driven A. D. 
 the wliole of the Colonies to unite in making one great effort, that 
 the British arms obtained decisive success in Canada. 
 
 From this digression, we return to that brief summary of events, 
 which suits the narrow limits of this Introduction. 
 
 In the year 1682, Count Frontenac was recalled ; and Monsieur 1682. 
 de la Barre was appointed Governor, with instructions to cultivate a 
 Commercial intercourse between Quebec and the Ports of the French 
 \\ est India Islands, then presided over by the Count de Blenac^ the 
 Governor General of all the possessions of Louis the Fourteenth^ in 
 the new world. 
 
 Notwithstanding the subserviency of Charles the Second^ of En- 
 gland, to the King of France, the British Colonists, obeying only 
 iheir Commercial propensities, were gradually attracting the Indians, 
 from the French to the English Trading Posts ; and Dongan^ the 
 Governor of New York, regardless of the orders of his Court, fa- 
 voured this project, by cherishing the hostility of the Five Nations, 
 against the French. This conduct induced Monsieur de la Barre^ 
 and his successor, the Marquis de Nonville^ to employ both intri- 
 gues and warfare for its counteraction ; and, wherever English Tra- 
 ders attempted to penetrate, they were speedily checked, by the es- 
 tablishment of a French Fort or Military Post. With this view, 
 
 Posts were gradually established at Cataraqui^ notu Kingston, A7a- 
 gcira^ Michilimackinac, Detroit, cSrc. 
 
 The interference of James the Second, of England, in the year 1687. 
 1687, had controuled this rivalship ; and the hostility of the Five 
 Nations against Canada, would, for a time, have been checked, if 
 the intrigues of the celebrated Le Rat, a Chief of the Huron Tribe, 
 in alliance with the French, had not destroyed their confidence in 
 the pacific intentions of the Governor of Canada. This ambitious 
 Indian Chief, apparently mortified by the pretension of the French 
 Commander, to negotiate without previous consultation with his In- 
 dian Allies, gratified his revenge by exciting the Five Nations to at- 
 tack the French Settlement on the Island of Montreal, by surprise, 
 which they did on the 26th of July, 1688, killing a thousand of the 1688. 
 Inhabitants, and destroying Houses, Crops and Cattle. This suc- 
 cess, and the consequent defection of the French Indians, kept the 
 Colony in a state of disquiet for some time, till the arrival of suc- 
 >cours from France, under the Sieur de Frontenac, who had been ap- 1689. 
 pointed with the intention of carrying the war into the Province of 
 New York, but found himself reduced by the unexpected circum- 
 stances of Canada, to act on the defensive, till the year 1690; when 
 he sent a party of French and Indians against that Province, who 
 succeeded in surprising and massacring the greater part of the In- 
 habitants of Skenectaday, on the 8th of February, 1690. This ter- 1690. 
 rific massacre so much alarmed the British Settlers at Albany, that 
 
 G 
 
L 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tliey prepared lo leave the Country, dreading more extem^ivc hostil- 
 A. D. itics, on account of the war which tlien existed between the Govern- 
 ments of Great Britain and France. They were, however, encour- 
 aged to remain by the strong attachment manifested by the Indian 
 Chiefs of the Mohawks, or Five Nations, and by the hope of rein- 
 forcements from New York, Meantime, tlie Indians made a pow’er* 
 ful diversion in favour of the British Settlers, by incursions into Ca- 
 nada, keeping Frontenac on the defensive within the French Ter- 
 ritory. 
 
 At tills crisis, the necessity of a mutual understanding and coali- 
 tion induced the New England Colonies to send Commissioners to 
 New York, who met on the 1st of May, 1690, and concerted an ex- 
 pedition against Canada. A Mission to London, explaining their 
 views, and soliciting naval and military co-operation in attacking 
 Quebec, was unsuccessful, owing to the exigencies of the war in Eu- 
 rope ; and this defect of reinforcements, caused the failure of the en- 
 terprise, which the Colonists persevered in, under every discourage- 
 ment. This attack is remarkable, as resembling, in its the last 
 
 and successful campaign of the year 1759, and will induce an 
 impartial historian to give great credit to the British Colonial Lead- 
 ers, for their direction of the regular forces, to the proper points of 
 invasion. 
 
 The attack, by land and inland Navigation, from the Southern 
 Frontier, first failed ; and the fleet sent round from Boston, with a 
 small army, commanded by Sir JVilliara Phipps^ having only reach- 
 ed Quebec on the 5th of October, Frontenac had sufficient time to 
 prepare for defence. Nothing proves more the determination of the 
 British Colonists to persevere, in the most desperate circumstances, 
 in the policy of destroying French dominion in America, than the 
 conduct of Governor Phipps : his army was not composed of regu- 
 lar troops, but of men excited to revenge injuries, inflicted by the 
 French and their Indian Allies, upon their relatives and fellow’ sub- 
 jects on the frontiers ; and this spirit impelled him to hazards which 
 astonished, though they did not intimidate Frontenac. On the 6th 
 of October, Phipps sent a Summons to surrender Quebec, which has 
 more the form of a Manifesto, than that which is usually employed 
 by regular Commanders, who are generally brief in their Mandates. 
 The Messenger found Frontenac in the Chateau St.Louis^ surrounded 
 by all wdio could give dignity to the Representative of Louis the 
 Fourteenth^ of France. With that vanity which distinguishes the 
 French Nation, he had prepared to dazzle the Messenger, by a dis- 
 play of Courtlike splendour, and he received him in the midst of his 
 Council, and answered the Summons verbally in the negative. The 
 British Commander then resolved upon an attack, influenced, proba- 
 bly, by the spirit of his forces ; but the French soon convinced him 
 of the impossibility of success, and sufficiently cooled the courage of 
 his men, to induce them to acquiesce in the decision of a Council of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LI 
 
 war, to return to Boston.* This prudent retreat, however, was not 
 effected without considerable loss in Ships and Men, from accidental A. D. 
 causes. 
 
 Frontenac doubtless deserves credit for his vigorous preparations ; 
 but the defence of Quebec, against undisciplined forces, was impro- 
 perly raised in France to an exaggerated degree of splendour. A 
 Medal was struck on the occasion, and profusely distributed ; and 
 Frenchmen, as usual, laid the foundation of future misfortune, by 
 despising an enemy, who only retreated with the determination of re- 
 turning in sufficient strength, at a distant day, to seek indemnity for 
 the past, and security for the future, by the utter annihilation of 
 French dominion in America. 
 
 After Quebec had been freed from the presence of an enemy, a 
 small fleet from France, which fear of that of the British Colonists, 
 had kept concealed in the Saguenay River, made its appearance, with 
 Troops and Provisions. These supplies, particularly tlie Provisions, 
 were essentially necessary, owdng to the destructive incursions of the 
 Iroquois or Five Nations, which h.ad, in a great measure, destroyed 
 the fruits of agricultural industry. 
 
 As the Fur Trade, which always constituted the chief value of 
 Canada to France, had about this period, assumed that regulated form 
 which existed with little variation till the Conquest, we shall briefly 
 describe its interior routine. It consisted of two parts : 1st, The 
 Trade carried on at the great Annual Fairs in the Cities, particularly 
 in Montreal ; where the Indians themselves brought their Furs to 
 market. This local Trade was open to all the Colonists, subject to 
 a contribution of one fourth of the Beaver, and one tenth of the 
 Buffaloe Skins, to the King, which right, His Majesty farmed out to 
 certain Patentees, or Farmers General. These Farmers General, by 
 an abuse common in French Finances, contrived to purchase most of 
 the Furs, but more particularly the Beaver and Buffaloe, from the 
 Merchants, blending together into one transaction, the receipt of the 
 contribution, and the purchase of the remainder ; and this worst spe- 
 cies of Monopoly, continued till the year 1701 ; when the Merchants 
 obtained a Royal Edict, for tbe establishment of a Company, to con- 
 sist of all persons willing to become Associates, for Shares of Fifty 
 Livres each. Holders of Twenty Shares, were entitled to deliberate 
 in all Meetings, and might be chosen Directors of the Company. 
 
 The whole of the Beaver Trade, and the claims of the Crown upon 
 it w'ere <franted for the consideration of an annual contribution to 
 the Colonial Treasury, of sixty thousand Livres. With the combined 
 views of checking the contraband trade to New York, and encourag- 
 ing the exertions of the Inland Traders, a liberal minimum price in 
 
 » See a curious account of the proceedings of the British Provincial Sea and 
 Land Forces before Quebec, by the second in Command, Colonel P. John Wally, 
 contained in a note to Smith’s History of Canada, vol. 1, p, 93, printed at Quebec, 
 in the year 1815, but not published till the year 1826, 
 
LII 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 movey, was fixed by this Edict, for Beaver Skins, distinguished into 
 A. D. three qualities, averaging two livres thirteen sous, or about two shil* 
 lings and three pence sterling, per pound. 2d. The second part of 
 this Trade, extended to the distant Posts and Places, whence the In- 
 dians could not be expected to bring their Furs to the Montreal Fair. 
 Licenses were granted to carry on this trade, as a royal bounty to 
 old Officers, or to the poor gentry of the Colony, which they sold to 
 the inland Traders. The extent of trade allowed to each License, 
 was Merchandise to the amount of One Thousand CroivnSy to carry 
 which, and to convey the returns, the purchaser of the License was 
 bound to employ two Canoes, with crews of six men in each. The 
 Seller of the License had also the right of furnishing Merchandise 
 suitable for this Trade, to the amount before mentioned, at an ad- 
 vance of 15 per Cent, upon the market price, making, with the an- 
 nual price of the Licence, namely. Six Hundred Crovons^ a hand- 
 some income, in those times of comparative economy. A success- 
 ful adventure, under such a License, generally gave to the Merchant 
 a profit of four hundred per cent, on the Merchandise, and six hun- 
 dred Crowns to each of the Canoe-men. But an essential part of 
 this regulated trade, should be more particularly alluded to : the 
 Canoe-men were not only entitled to provisions and clothing, but in- 
 terested in the result of the adventure, by having a legal right to di- 
 vide the surplus of the returns, after the cost of License, Merchan- 
 dise, and Four Hundred per cent, profit to the Merchant, had been 
 reimbursed. Those privileges excited a spirit of enterprise among 
 the young Colonists ; and almost every father of a family looked to 
 the inland Fur Trade as a means of regular employment to part of his 
 children. This employment had also peculiar attractions ; and the 
 Canoe-man, though originally intending merely to obtain a little mo- 
 ney to be employed in clearing and stocking a Farm, frequently dis- 
 sipated his share of the returns, and undertook another voyage. In 
 this manner, the avails of the Fur Trade were not so subservient to 
 Colonisation, as the King expected ; but they must have contributed 
 something towards the improvement of the Country; and, in a poli- 
 tical point of view, the effects of this Trade upon the Colonial popu- 
 lation were important, in breeding up a class of men familiarised 
 with the dangers and privations of a long inland navigation, and 
 fitting them to co-operate w’ith the Indian Allies of France, in har- 
 rassing the British Colonies. The brilliant accounts given by the 
 Canoe-men, of the scenes which they had visited, combined with the 
 military spirit diffused among the Settlers, by disbanded Soldiers, 
 rendered the Canadian Militia ambitious to accompany the re^^ular 
 forces in desultory warfare ; and, for many years before the Conquest, 
 it w^as the common boast of a Canadian, that he had been employed 
 in an expedition against the English on the Belle Rividre or Ohio 
 Having thus alluded to the Fur Trade, in its Commercial and Po- 
 litical effects, and connected the latter w ith those causes of alarm on 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Liir 
 
 the part of the British Colonies, which combined them in an unalter- 
 able determination to destroy French dominion in America, we re- ^ 
 turn to the course of events. 
 
 1'he vigorous Administration of Frontenac first accustomed the 
 Colonists to co-operate with regular troops, in distant expeditions, 
 against the English and their Indian Allies ; and, though he was 
 counteracted by the intrigues of the Seigneurs, and of the Parochial 
 Clergy, interested in keeping the population concentrated, he 
 |)ersevercd, and exhibited to the English and the Five Indian Na- 
 tions, their Allies, a formidable force, always ready to take advan- 
 tage ol their apathy, in order to take possession of every point cal- 
 culated to extend the dominion of France, cut off the British from 
 the Fur Trade, and hem them in between the highlands of Nova 
 Scotia and the Alleghany Mountains* 
 
 In the year 1693,* Frontenac began by chastising the Iroquois, 1693. 
 and, in the course of a few years, he w^eakened them by warfare, 
 and cliecked their incursions so much, by his judicious location of 
 Military Posts, that, except as auxiliaries to a British Force, they ne- 
 ver afterwards were capable of making an impression upon Canada. 
 
 In the year 1697, before the Treaty of Peace between Great Bri- 1697. 
 tain and France, concluded at Ryswick the 11th of September, or- 
 ders were received by Frontenac to prepare to co-operate with large 
 reinforcements from France, in the Conquest of New York; and he 
 made extraordinary exertions for that purpose. The news of the 
 Treaty, and the consequent orders to cease offensive hostilities 
 against the Provincials and the Iroquois, displeased the Governor, 
 and rendered him entirely hostile to an unambitious course of policy, 
 with respect to Indian trade and alliance, which was then contem- 
 plated by the aged Monarch of France. This change, as it would 
 have afforded a chance of the protraction of French dominion in 
 America, deserves particular notice. The granting of Licenses for 
 trading with the far distant Indians, was forbidden ; and it was in- 
 tended in future, to imitate the English, in merely attracting them to 
 die public Fairs and Markets, in the settled parts of the Colony. It 
 was justly argued by the authors of this policy, that the Fur 
 Trade might be divided between the French and the English Colo- 
 nists, without the necessity of either party taking an active part in 
 the wars of the native Indians, who would be left to choose the best 
 Market for the produce of their chase. The old system, however, 
 of identifying Indian trade with Indian alliance, was so deeply rooted 
 
 ♦ This year, the Court, called Justice Roynle^ was established at Montreal. It 
 was a Court Civil and Criminal, administered by a Lieutenant General, a Lieuten- 
 ant Particular, a King's Attorney, &c. See His Majesty’s Edict, dated the 5ih 
 of October, 169.3. The rights of the Seigneurs extended to having establishments 
 of Courts of Justice, Civil and Criminal, upon their Estates ; but the expenses 
 attending this Jurisdiction prevented its general execution, long before the Con- 
 quest introduced the Criminal Law of England, and its attribution of the powers 
 of life and death, to the Sovereign alone, and to his Delegates. 
 
LIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in Canada, that the Ordinance of Louis the Fourteenth, for the sup- 
 A.D. pression of Licenses, remained a dead letter; and the trade continu- 
 ed, as before, to be carried on under the patronage of Military men, 
 who found their account, in presenting to the English, on every point 
 of the frontier, impediments to the natural course of Indian Trade, 
 necessitating, on their side, a constant preparation for defence against 
 the predatory incursions of the Savages. This state of affairs, mak- 
 ing the existence of French dominion in Canada a continual object 
 of alarm and terror to the English Colonists, in the course of time, 
 combined them for its destruction ; which they attempted on every 
 occasion, when war existed in Europe, between the Governments of 
 Great Britain and France. 
 
 While Monsieur de Frontenac^ and the Jesuits were continuing 
 their intrigues among the Indian Tribes, in order to detach them 
 from English intercourse, he died at Quebec, on the 38th of Novem- 
 ber, 1698, in the 78th year of his age, and was succeeded by the 
 1699. Chevalier de Callieres, who was successful in making peace with the 
 Five Nations, as a power independent of Great Britain. 
 
 This peace, however, did not last ; and the rising hopes of the 
 Jesuits to convert the Five Nations to the rites of the Romish 
 Church, were soon prostrated ; and the English speedily recovered 
 that influence over them, which was so necessary for the preservation 
 of their frontier Settlements against the restless ambition of the 
 French Officers, on the line of Military Posts. 
 
 1702. The renewal of war between Great Britain and France, in May, 
 1702, was no sooner knowm in Canada, than Monsieur dc Callieres^ 
 aware of the jealousy excited in the English Colonists, by his in- 
 trigues with their Indian Allies, represented to the Court of France, 
 the necessity of reinforcements ; and he made the best preparations in 
 his power for the defence of the Colony. While employed in those 
 measures, he died on the 26th ot May, 1703, and was succeeded by 
 the Marquis de Vaudreuil, 
 
 Neutrality in America seemed at first the desire of the French 
 Court ; but this avowed attempt to preserve peace in America, w^as 
 accompanied with secret intrigues to weaken the influence of the 
 English over their Indian Allies, w hich, when discovered, led to the 
 most rancorous hostilities on both sides. The intolerance of the 
 trench King, in his old agCy and his cruel persecution of his Protes- 
 tant Subjects in France, likewise tended, at this peculiar crisis, to 
 favoiu the solicitations of the English Colonists for a pow^erful co- 
 operation with them, in the reduction of Canada. A circumstance 
 which showed the religious feelings of England towards France, pre- 
 ceded the approaching display of force in America. The Bishop of 
 Quebec, returning from a visit to France, In the year 1701, was taken 
 by the English on board ot the La Seine^ a French Frigate ; and he 
 was kept prisoner in England, with the hope of obtaining in ex- 
 change for his freedom, the release of many French Protestants then 
 confaned by their King as Galley Slaves. ^ The negotiation, through 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LV 
 
 a neutral power for tliis purpose, was unsuccessful; and tlie indigna- 
 tion of the English people at this result, was extremely favourable to A.. D. 
 the views of the Colonies of New England. 
 
 Before hostilities commenced, some improvements in the adminis- 1705 
 tration of Justice, and in the Commerce of Canada, were attempted, 
 under the patronage of Monsieur Raudot^ appointed Intendant, with, 
 increased powers, on the 1st of January, 1705. The number of 
 Frenchmen and their descendants, now in the Colony, had increased 
 to fifteen thousand ; and he found them influenced by such a spirit 
 of litigation, as disturbed the industry of Canada, in peace nearly 
 as much as the incursions of the Iroquois did in war. To allay this 
 spirit, a system of more summary and arbitrary proceedings in law- 
 suits, was introduced, which, along with its benefits, brought the evil 
 of interference with the due course of law by an Executive Officer, 
 destroying all certainty and satisfaction in the enjoyment of Civil 
 Rights. The Custom of Pivnis, the Laws and Ordinances of 
 France, and the mode of procedure in the Parliament of Paris, in- 
 troduced into Canada, had given the semblance of a Government of 
 law for nearly a century ; but, in practice, under the increasing pow- 
 er of the Intendants, they were virtually set aside, whenever a pica 
 of expediency or state necessity could be invented; and the will of 
 the King, expressed through the medium of the Intendant, particu- 
 larly during war, superseded every law, for the protection of private 
 interests, which could interfere with contributions of labour or mo- 
 ney, to His Majesty’s service. The accumulation of the fruits of 
 Colonial industry, during peace, was therefore chiefly encouraged, 
 with the view of having a fund on which to levy arbitrary contribu- 
 tions during war. 
 
 In the year 1706, the Government directed the attention of the 1706. 
 increasing population, to the Fisheries, and to other means of sup- 
 plying the French West India Islands ; but these undertakings appear 
 to have been premature, and farther obstructed by the periodical 
 close of the navigation of the St. Lawrence, owing to the rigour of 
 the climate ; — disadvantages which, even under the Free Government 
 of England after the Conquest, long repressed the Commercial in- 
 dustry and enterprise of Canada. 
 
 In the year 1708, the Romish Clergy were foiled in an attempt to 1708. 
 increase the tythe from one twenty-sixth, to one thirteenth part of 
 Grain, the latter being the allowance in France, which the King 
 wisely deemed too burthensome for a Colony, whose resources he 
 might have occasion to appropriate for warlike purposes. 
 
 The hostile designs of the English Colonies being ascertained, the 
 Governor of Canada resolved to anticipate them, by carrying the 
 war into their frontier Settlements, after negotiating for the neutrali- 
 ty of the Iroquois or Five Nations, who were flattered with the de- 
 signation of a power equally independent of the English or the 
 French. These measures and intrigues were, however, counteracted 
 
INTKODUCTION. 
 
 LVI 
 
 by the ^^nglish Colorjists ; and the Marquis de VnuJrcuil having 
 
 A.l). merely incensed them, by the destruction of the Village of Haver- 
 
 1709. hill, and tlie masacre of some of its Inhabitants, was reduced to re- 
 main on the defensive. For, in the year 1709, he was informed that 
 extensive preparations were intended, by the Government of En- 
 gland, for the reduction of Canada, by attacking Quebec from Sea, 
 through the St. Lawrence, and by land, on the New England fron- 
 tier. Such was the zeal of the New Englanders, that they had de- 
 cided on their march, by Lake Champlain, to the attack of Montre- 
 al, when their progress, this year, was interrupted by the intelligence 
 that the naval and military forces intended to co-operate in Canada, 
 had been required for the assistance of Portugal. 
 
 This gave time to the Marquis de Vaudreuil^ to prepare for de- 
 fence; and, as another year was spent by England in reducing Aca- 
 dia, now Nova Scotia^ supplies of men and money from France, were 
 superadded.* 
 
 1711. In the year 1711, instead of sufficiently combining operations, on 
 the side of Lake Champlain, against Montreal, with an attack of 
 Quebec, by Sea, the principal force w^as imprudently directed against 
 Quebec, subjecting the fate of the expedition to the chances of an in- 
 tricate, and almost unknown navigation. The naval and military 
 forces, w^hich left Boston in the beginning of July, w ere perfectly ade- 
 quate ; and proper means had been employed to recommend the inter- 
 est of the invaders to the Canadians ;f but the Fleet was so much da- 
 maged by tempestuous weather, and accidents arising from igno- 
 rance of the Coast, that the expedition was abandoned ; and the res- 
 toration of peace between Great Britain and France, by the defini- 
 tive Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, left the French in possession of Ca- 
 nada, and of extensive means of annoyance to the peace and com- 
 merce of the New England Colonies. 
 
 Meantime, a new stimulus to the extension and concatenation of 
 French Settlements in North America, arose from the establishment 
 of a French Colony on the Mississippi, which, under the patronage 
 of the Government of France, and, by the successive efforts of Mon^ 
 
 ♦ These delays, so favourable to the protraction of French dominion, were ac- 
 companied by a formidable domestic affliction ; in the year 1710 , a contagious fe- 
 ver raged in Quebec, which cut off a large proportion of the Garrison and its In- 
 habitants :~it was called the Purple Fever ; and may be conjectured to have been 
 introduced by the Troops from France, landed at Quebec, after a long voyaoe, 
 calculated to produce a contagious fever. ° 
 
 f A long Manifesto, translated into French, was issued by Admiral Walker and 
 General Hill, asserting the pretensions of Great Britain to the whole of -North 
 America, in virtue of original discovery; describing the possession of Canada, by 
 France, as an usurpation : it contained a variety of complaints against the Canadian 
 Govern^ment, and, among others, its barbarous practice of rewarding its Indian 
 Allies for killing Her Majesty s Subjects, by giving forty Livres for every human 
 scalp delivered to the Canadian War Department. The usual promises of an in- 
 vader to the invaded were liberally made, similar, in many respects, to the terms of 
 llie capitulation, in the year 1760 . ^ 
 
introduction. 
 
 evil 
 
 sicur Iberville, a native of Canada, and Monsieur Crozat, a rich , 
 Merchant, had acquired some celebrity, in the year 1714 . Its trade A. D. 
 in Furs was considerably extended by a new Company, established 
 this year, under the name of the West India Company ; the average 
 amount of whose exports, in Furs, exceeded one hundred thousand 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 During the peace, the Governor of Canada, the Marquis de Vau- 
 dreuil, made great exertions to increase the population and strength- 
 en the Colony, by soliciting encouragement to Emigration, from 
 France ; he also recommended, that one hundred and fifty of the 
 French Criminals, condemned to the slavery of the Gallies, should be 
 annually selected and transported to Canada. In his communica- 
 tions with the French Ministry, on those matters, the Rlarquis reck- 
 ons the Militia of Canada, as amounting to four thousand four hun- 
 dred and eighty, giving reason to infer that the whole population of 
 French descent, was then about twenty-five thousand souls. 
 
 In the year 1717, began the improved regulation of Notaries, fol- 1717. 
 lowed up by farther royal declarations, in 1724< and 1733 ; by which 
 those Officers, and all their proceedings, were placed under the su- 
 perintendance of the King's Attorney General. Those regulations, 
 so long called for by the complaints of the Colonists against the No- 
 taries, who bad frequently been employed by designing men to de- 
 fraud and oppress the peasantry, have been rendered less efficient 
 since the Conquest, which substituted the English, instead of the 
 French Criminal Law, and restricted the power of interference on the 
 part of the Executive. 
 
 The year 1718, is chiefly remarkable, by the discovery, in the fo- 1718. 
 rests of Canada, of the plant Ginseng, by the Jesuit Lqfitau. At in- 
 tervals, Ginseng has formed a valuable article of export from Cana- 
 da ; but, being only consumed by the Chinese, their distant market 
 has’not afforded that constant encouragement, which is requisite to 
 make its collection and preparation profitable to the Colonists. 
 
 In the year 1720, improvements of the fortifications of Quebec and 1720. 
 Montreal, were commenced, under the superintendance of Monsieur 
 Gaspard Chaussegros de Lery ; and to defray the expense of those 
 worL, as well as of Barracks for the Troops, an Assessment or di- 
 rect Tax, was imposed upon the Inhabitants of those Cities, and 
 continued during the French dominion.* . 
 
 In the year 1722, a definitive regulation of the distribution and 1722 
 limits of Parishes, took place: the draft prepared in Canada, by the 
 
 • In the year 1720, the number of Inhabitants of Quebec, was reckoned seven 
 thousand • that of Montreal, three thousand the superiority of Montreal to Que- 
 bee with respect to population, in the present century, arises from a combination of 
 physical and political circumstances, worthy of the attention of our readers : they 
 are to be looked for in advantages of soil, climate and situation, which under the 
 Free and Commercial Institutions of Great Britain, gradually superseding those of 
 Old France, will eventually render Montreal one of the greatest Commercial Em- 
 poriums of the American Continent. 
 
LVIll 
 
 IKTRODUrnON. 
 
 Governor, llio Intonclant and the Bishop, was adopted, and, in due 
 
 A. D. form proniidgated as an Ordinance, by the Duke (J Oileayts, then 
 Regent of Fiance. 
 
 1723. In tlie year 1723, tlie Commerce of the Colony was found to have 
 made considerable progress, during ten years of foreign and internal 
 tranquillity. Nineteen vessels cleared iVom Quebec, loaded with 
 Peltries^ 1. umber ^ Staves^ Tar^ Tobacco^ Flour, Pease, Pork, &;c ; six 
 Merchant Ships, and two Ships of War, were also built this year ; it 
 is also remarkable, by the Edict establishing the dower or entrance 
 money of Nuns, into the Convents of Canada, at Jire thousand Li- 
 vm, reduced afterwards, by the Edict of 1732, to the existing rate 
 of three thousand Limes, or about one hundred and twelve pounds 
 sterling.* 
 
 1725. The long and successful Administration of the Marquis de Vau- 
 dreuil, ended by his death, on the 10th of October, 1725 : a know- 
 ledge of his character, and confidence in his good intentions, com- 
 bined with his general success in his undertakings, had made the Co- 
 lonists extremely attached to his Administration ; and they not only 
 exhibited the greatest sorrow for his death, as a public loss, but they 
 extended their confidence to his descendants. 
 
 The death of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, was followed by the de- 
 parture of the able Intendant, Monsieur Bigon, to France, who was 
 replaced by Monsieur du Pvy> 
 
 1726# In the year 1726, the ISIarquis de Beauharncis, a natural son of 
 Louis the Fourteenth, succeeded to the Government of Canada ; and 
 his Administration contributed much to increase the military power 
 within the Colony, and to excite the jealousy and alarm of the Bri- 
 tish Colonies of New York and New England. The Colonial policy 
 of France w^as, at this time, more particularly directed to the increase 
 of Territory, and to the monopoly of the Fur Trade, making both 
 mutually subservient to the most ambitious designs against the En- 
 glish, whom it was proposed to encircle, as with a belt, betw een the 
 Allegany Mountains and the Atlantic Coast, depriving them of the 
 Navigation of the Lakes, and bridling their advancing Commerce, 
 by building forts along the heights of lands, and at the heads of ri- 
 vers. This ambitious course was much facilitated, by the intrigues 
 of the Jesuits among the Indian Tribes, confederated under the 
 name of the Five Nations. Uhe curious reader may here be refer- 
 red to the Maps published about the year 1754 ; where he will be 
 astonished to find that the French line of encroachment jrom Gaspe 
 
 In order to complete this dower, a subscription for a voluntary contribution 
 sometimes takes place, which is well calculated to excite the young men to enquire 
 into the character of the fair Novice, and to induce some one to solicit her to re» 
 turn to the road of nature, and to prefer matrimony, as more patriotic than religious 
 celibacy, in a Colony, where the divine recommendation to increase and multiply, is 
 facilitated in execution, by the extent of unoccupied lands: the History of Lower 
 Canada, might coinpuse many pleasing anecdotes on the impediments to taking 
 the Veil. ® 
 
rN’TRODUCTIO>^ 
 
 IJX 
 
 io ihe Mississippi, coniprelicnded about one third of the Territory, 
 nou occupied by more than three millions of the Citizens of the A.D 
 United States of North America. Every advance into the Interior, 
 which the increasing population and commercial enterprise of the 
 British Colonies made, was met by the erection of new forts, and b}'' 
 the display of military force, on the part of the Canadian Govern- 
 ment. This year, Burnett, Governor of New York, in consequence 
 of the urgent representations of the British Fur Traders, who stated 
 that the Canadians prevented the Indians from bringing the produce 
 of their chace to the best market, erected a trading house, protected 
 by a fort, at the mouth of the River Oswego, which falls into 
 Lake Ontario. Beauharnois, jealous of this measure, immediately 
 began to rebuild and strengthen Fort Niagara ; and, finding the En- 
 glish Governor resolved to support the new establishment at Oswe- 
 go, he made urgent representations to the Court of France, on the 
 subject of taking military possession of such a line, as alone could 
 prevent the English Fur Traders from enjoying the greater share of 
 this trade. His despatches were accompanied with a Map of the 
 debateable ground, carried to France, by Engineers capable of ex- 
 plaining the advantages of particular scites for forts and military 
 posts, on the proposed line. Those representations were successful ; 
 and, besides minor establishments, an important and well situated 
 fort was, in the year 1731, erected on Lake Champlain, near the 1731. 
 Fludson and Connecticut Rivers. The spot chosen for this forf| 
 w^as afterwards called Crown Point, and has become famous, in mili- 
 tary history, from the sanguinary contests which its possession excited. 
 
 In the year 1733, the Nuns of the General Hospital of Quebec, 1733. 
 were restricted by the King, from visiting persons of the Laity, how- 
 ever nearly related to them ; and they were strictly confined within 
 the w^alls of their conventual house and garden. 
 
 During the long peace between Great Britain and France, many 
 other regulations were made, affecting the domestic economy of the 
 Colony, w^hich our limits prevent us from mentioning ; but the Royal 
 Edict of the year 1743, checking effectually the propensity of the 
 Jesuits, and other Ecclesiastics, to acquire lands, should not be pass- 
 ed over. All the previous precautions and formalities of obtaining 
 written permissions from Governors and Intendants, had been frus- 
 trated by the intrigues of the Jesuits ; and it was deemed necessary 
 to apply the remedy of an absolute prohibition of all acquisitions in 
 mortmain, as the only means of preventing the Clergy from mono- 
 polising the superiority or possession of the greater proportion of the 
 cultivated lands in the Colony. 
 
 In the year 1744, an important change was made in the Law of 
 Canada ; by which only such of the laws of France as should be en- 
 registered in the Books of the Superior Council, by His Majesty's 
 special direction, should have force in the Colony. Owing to this 
 circumstance, the French Code Marchand or Law of Commerce, 
 
lA' 
 
 INTKODXjCTIOX. 
 
 nnd many regulations connected with llu? Trade of France, in its ad- 
 
 A. U. vancenicnt, during the reign of Louis the Fifteenth, were not found in 
 Canada at the Conquest. Tliis deficiency of Commercial Law has 
 never been repaired ; though the Government of Great Britain was 
 repeatedly solicited to do so, more particularly by the Subjects of 
 British and French descent, who joined in petitioning for a Provin- 
 cial House of Assembly, in the year 1784. In this same year 1744, 
 the Bishop of Quebec, Monsieur De Pont Briand, by order of the 
 French King, suppressed many of the Holidays, as being prejudicial 
 to the Sobriety and Industry of the Colonists. 
 
 1745. In the 3 'ear 1745, instead of introducing the law of primogeniture, 
 which is the most direct meansof preventing an endless subdivision of 
 lands, and its consequence of keeping the Colonists confined and 
 thickly settled, endeavoured vainly to counteract this old custom of 
 subdivision, particularly affecting the peasantry, by a very arbitrary 
 measure, which could not long be executed. His Majesty directed 
 that, except within the precincts of the towns, no buildings should be 
 erected but on tracts or farms containing one acre and a half in front, 
 by forty acres in depth, under a penalty of fifty livres. The partial 
 enforcement of this imprudent law, instead of having the desired efiect 
 of stimulating the Colonists to make new clearances, induced several 
 kindred families to live in the same house, exposed to many disagree- 
 ments and family quarrels ; from which the most restless individuals 
 escaped, by becoming day-labourers, canoe-men and soldiers. This 
 unforeseen result of the new law, however destructive to the interests 
 of Agriculture and Colonisation, was winked at by the military Go- 
 vernors and Fur Traders, as producing that proportion of vice and 
 misery, w hich, in fully peopled countries, renders labour cheap. No 
 Colony indeed has ever evinced such a mismanagement of the ener- 
 gies of a growing population as Canada ; and the effects of this eai ly 
 mismanagement are still visible, under the British Government, which, 
 by its own Acts of Parliament, has fortified the prejudices of the 
 French Canadians in favor of concentration, instead of encouraging 
 them to spread out, amalgamated with the Subjects of British des- 
 cent, into new Settlements. A different course of policy would have 
 made it an object of ambition, in the French Canadians, to mix, in 
 the clearance of the forest, with enterprising British Emigrants ; and 
 Lower Canada, at the present day, would exhibit the natural ap- 
 pearance w'hich suits a Country nearly as large as Russia in Europe; 
 and, instead of nearly half a million of souls being located on five* 
 millions of acres, we should see them spread out upon four times that 
 number. This consequence of the preposterous policy of the 
 British as well as of the French Governmenr is evinced by the con- 
 trast between Lower Canada and Upper Canada, and even between 
 the neglected Settlements of the Townships, inhabited by the Sub- 
 jects of British descent and the rest of Lower Canada ; where, with- 
 out the arbitrary Edict of 1744, there are on the average no buildings 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 LXI 
 
 on any tract of land, except in tlic precincts of towns and villages, con- 
 taining less than sixty French acres. 
 
 From this digression, we return to the course of events : — in the 
 year 174'5, the war between Great Britain and France, had produced 
 the splendid success of the latter power at Fontenoy^ which victory 
 was, by order of the King, solemnised in Canada by singing Te Deuvi^ 
 in the Cathedral of Quebec. This excitement of warlike spirit, pre- 
 pared the Colonists for the movement required to check the progress 
 of the English in America, who this year, conquered Cape Breton, 
 with a British naval and military force, combined with the Provincial 
 troops of the New England Colonies. 
 
 In the years 1746 and 1747, the French were prevented by acci- 
 dental causes from making any impression upon Nova Scotia, and no- 
 thing material happened till the negotiation for a line of demarcation 
 between the British and French territories in America took place, in 
 consequence of a clause of the Treaty of peace of Aix-La-Chapelle, 
 in the year 1 748. 
 
 The plan of the French, already alluded to, was to keep the Eng- 
 lish within their actual Settlements. The Count De Gallissonniercy 
 who had succeeded Monsieur l)e Beauharnois in the Government, 
 had transmitted to France an able statement of the national advan- 
 tages which might be derived from Canada, urging the expediency of 
 strengthening the Colony, by sending out at the expense of Govern- 
 ment, Ten Thousand Settlers, with the celebrated Engineer Du 
 Quesne, to mark out and settle the proposed line of demarcation, in- 
 tended to restrict the English within the Allegany Mountains, and 
 to prevent their approach to the Lakes, the St. Lawrence, the Missis- 
 sippi or their tributary streams. His zeal w^as praised by his efterni- 
 nate and licentious Monarch ; but his recommendations, so necessary 
 for preserving the French power in America, w^ere neglected. Left 
 to his own resources, he employed Monsieur Bienville to run the de- 
 sired line, and to sink, at proper distances, leaden plates, bearing the 
 Royal Arms of France. This proceeding was accompanied with a 
 display of military power, calculated to impress the Indians and Fur 
 Traders with the idea, that an exclusive right would be enforced by 
 France to the vast territory whicli the Engineer had surveyed, excit- 
 ing in their minds unprecedented jealousy and alarm, and tending to 
 produce that formidable union between the British Colonists and the 
 Indians of the Five Nations, which at length co-operated with the 
 measures of the British Government, in driving French dominion from 
 North America. 
 
 But Galisonniere was not satisfied with merely assuming a line of 
 demarcation on the limits already mentioned : he at the same time em- 
 ployed the intrigues of Le Loutre and other Priests, who succeeded 
 in seducing many of the French inhabitants to quit L’Acadie, now 
 Nova Scotia, and resort to a military Post established beyond its lim- 
 its. His first success in this intrigue was so agreeable to the Court of 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1716. 
 
 1747- 
 
XI. II 
 
 TN'l'KODUCTIOX. 
 
 France, tliat Iiis project of establisliing a new Colony, to be composed 
 A. IX of Actulians and C’anadians, received llie Itoyal sanction with an ap- 
 p'’opriation of Kight Hundred 'flioiisand Livres per annum. While 
 busily engaged in this plan, \\hich he vvas certainly toe best fitted to 
 execute, he was superseded in his Government by Monsieur DeJon- 
 quieres^ who showed such reluctance to proceed, that he vvas only stim- 
 ulated to action by fresh instructions from the King, in the year 1749. 
 
 After some discussions between the Chevalier De La Come, the 
 ^ military commander, and Father Le Loutre, the scite of a fort was 
 chosen, between the Bay of Fundy and La Baye Verte ; and, as a 
 subsidiary measure, a post was established near the mouth of the river 
 Ht. John; where a detachment of troops was stationed under the com- 
 mand of Monsieur De Boisheberd, counselled by Father St. Certnain, 
 a Jesuit of great influence among the Acadians and Indians. 
 
 Those posts, established under the pretext of merely supporting 
 the French Commissioner in his line of demarcation, excited the jea- 
 lousy of the Governor of isova Scotia, who well knew that 
 
 the Indians would flock to that spot, where a display of military force 
 should be made, and had already seen the alacrity of the Acadians to 
 quit their allegiance : he resolved therefore to make every opposition 
 in his limited power; and he very soon convinced the French that the 
 scope of their plan of encroachment was perfectly known to him, and 
 that he was ready even to take the high responsibility - of offensive 
 hostilities to counteract it. A French vessel, with supplies for the 
 post at the mouth of the St. John river, was captured by his orders ; 
 and a fort was erected opposite to that of the French, near the Bay of 
 Fundy ; where Major Lawrence, on the one side of the river Beaulassin, 
 and the Chevalier De La Come on the other, continued long to 
 strengthen their respective Posts, without mutual hostilities. 
 
 This year is remarkable for one of those Jobs which disgrac- 
 ed the Colonial Government, during the decline of French do- 
 minion in Canada. After a series of preliminary enquiries, an associa- 
 tion, consisting of the Governor, the intendant and other officers of the 
 Colony, despatched an expedition, at the expense of theCrown, with the 
 avowed purpose of exploring aroute to the Pacific Ocean, through the 
 Lakes, the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, as well as by a land 
 route, beyond Lake Superior. This Royal Expedition, which, conduct- 
 ed with zeal, loyalty and perseverance, might have anticipated the dis** 
 coverics of Sir Alexander McKenzie, a British Fur Trader, ended only 
 in obtaining the real objects of its Colonial Projectors, namely rich 
 returns of Furs ; of which the Governor’s share vvas worth about 
 Twelve Thousand Pounds Sterling. As the Intendant, and others 
 interested, had a due share in the returns, the failure of the expedi- 
 tion in its public purposes, was accounted for, in despatches to the 
 French Court, by asserting that insuperable difficulties existed in their 
 prosecution ; and “ the Queois PostF established by Monsieur De 
 la Verandrie, was the ne plus ultra of the French progress towards the 
 Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LXIll 
 
 In the year 1/50, Chniissegros De Ltry^ the son of the Engineer 
 helbre mentioned, superintended the erection of the fort at Beause- A.]), 
 jour, round which, Tather Leloutre collected the infatuated Acadians^ 1750. 
 whom he subjected to every labour and privation which religious fa- 
 naticism alone can endure. 
 
 Ibis year, the pretensions of the French, as to the line of de- 
 marcation, towards th.e Ohio, and other tributaries of the INIississippi, 
 were enforced ; and three individuals, who had licenses from the Go- 
 vernors of the English Colonies, .to trade wu‘th the Indians on the 
 Ohio, were seized with their Merchandise, and brought prisoners to 
 r^Iontreal : they were, how'ever, liberated as a matter of expediency ; 
 after they had been strictly examined respecting the Commercial and 
 Territorial view’s of the Colonial Authorities of New England and 
 New York. 
 
 Meantime, though the boundary Commissioners had met with all 
 the appearances of amicable negotiation, the Governor of Canada, 
 foreseeing w^ar as the inevitable result of the pretensions of Great 
 Britain and France in America, took early precautions. He renewed 
 his intrigues with the Iroquois or Five Nations^ wdiicli, supported as 
 they were by Picquet, one of the Priests of St. Sulpice, would have 
 succeeded, if they had not been counteracted by the wonderful in- 
 fluence acquired over that Confederation, by Sir William Johnson ; 
 whose w'arlike undertakings and adventures, among the Indians, are 
 fit subjects for history and romance. The French, however, were 
 suffered by those Indians, to erect the fort La Presentation, near 
 their borders, and thus, to add another proof of their perfect know- 
 ledge, arising from long study, of the proper points from w^hich the 
 English Colonies, and their Indian Allies, could be assailed, on the 
 side of Canada. 
 
 The approach of destruction to French dominion in America was, 
 however, signalised, not less by measures calculated to alarm and 
 unite the English Colonies, than by corruption in the French Officers 
 w’hich weakened the energies of Canada. The inadequate salaries 
 of the Civil and Military Officers ofthis Colony, had long tempted them 
 to combine in peculation and commercial adventures. These prac- 
 tices were, however, aggravated, wffien the licentious state of the 
 Court of France, produced the appointment of analogous characters 
 to the Government of the Colony. This year, Monsieur Bigot, the 
 Intendant of Canada, exhibited much of the license and prodigality 
 of the Court of France, and resorted to the most profligate means 
 for the support of his expenses ; the greater part of which were in- 
 curred to support the extravagance of a IMistress, whom he had se- 
 duced, or rather purchased, by protection and presents, from her 
 husband. In this aftair, indeed, the conduct of Louis the Fifteenth, 
 w^as exactly follow^ed : the Lady was endowed w ith a rich establish- 
 ment ; and her complaisant husband was first made Town-Major of 
 
I, XIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Quebec, and afterwards, by the continued interest and urgent solici- 
 A.D. tation of the paramour, created Chevalier de la Croix. * 
 
 In this manner, corrupt monopolies had interfered with the inter- 
 est of the Company, established for the general benefit in the prose- 
 cution of the Fur Trade; and an alarming division between the in- 
 terests of the rulers and the ruledy had been already accomplished, 
 before offensive operations against Canada took place, in the year 
 1755. 
 
 But we return to the course of events, by stating that in the midst 
 of his plans of avarice and ambition, Monsieur de Jonquieres died at 
 1752 Quebec, on the I7th of May, 1752,t regretted by no class of the 
 community, whom he had always endeavoured to render subservient 
 to the interests of himself and a few sharers, in the public spoil. Till 
 the arrival of a new Governor, the Administration of the Colony de- 
 volved upon Charles Le Moine^ Baron de Longueuil^ Governor of 
 Montreal. 
 
 The reiterated complaints of the Clergy, and other influential per- 
 sons in the Colony, which no intrigues could stifle, had induced iV/cw- 
 sieur de la Jonquitrey a few months before his death, to tender his re- 
 signation, having amassed a large fortune, which he desired to enjoy 
 in France ; and His Majesty, having decided on his recall, appointed 
 the Marquis du Quesne de Menneville Governor of Canada, Louisiana, 
 Cape Breton, St. Johns, and their Dependencies. He arrived at 
 Quebec in the month of August ; and showed, by his active prepar- 
 ations for hostilities, that he foresaw an approaching crisis, which his 
 disposition and character were calculated to hasten. 
 
 Besides organising, and periodically training the ]Militia, for in- 
 ternal defence, the new Governor sent detachments of Regulars, 
 Militia and Indians, to the Ohio; where he ordered the immediate 
 construction of fort Du Quesiie. and other posts, with the view of 
 keeping the English within the Apalachian or Allegany Mountains. 
 
 The English, on their part, still professing to act on the defensive, 
 built a fort, in the vicinity of Du Cluesne^ w hich they quaintly called 
 Necessity, destined to have a garrison of Colonial Troops from Vir- 
 ginia, CO nmanded by the afterwards celebrated George Vv'ashing- 
 TON, then holding the Commission of Lieutenant Colonel. During 
 Colonel Washington’s march tow ards fort Necessity, he met a re- 
 connoitring party from fort Du Quesne, under Monsieur de Jumon- 
 viile^ w ho, in a haughty manner, having w arned the English against 
 proceeding farther, caused a general burst of indignation throughout 
 
 • This title, to the great annoyance of the true Chevalier de la Comcy was, bj 
 some wags, similarly designated ; and the husband of the Intendaiu’s Mistress, 
 was familiarly called “ Lc nouveau Chevalier de la Come." 
 
 f This year, two cargoes of Canadian Wheat were shipped from Quebec to 
 INIarseilles, and gave satisfaction in that extensive market. A seventy-four Gun 
 Ship was also built for the Government ; but, owing to some mismanagement, 
 she broke her back in launching, near Cape Diamond. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LXV 
 
 the Colonial Troops; some of whom, disregarding all controul, irn- 
 mediately took aim at Juiiionville, killing himself and several of his A.D. 
 }jarty. This accident was suHicient to lead the French Com- 
 mandant, Contrecceiir^ to offensive hostilities; and he 
 
 quickly invested Fort Necessity, and obliged Washington to capitulate. 
 
 \\ hile this new check was contributing to alarm and rouse the En- 
 glish, uniting them as one man, against the French, the conduct of 
 the Intendant, and other Canadian Officers, was calculated to des- 
 troy the resources of the Government, and to alienate the affections of 
 the people, reducing the King, for the defence of Canada, to a de- 
 pendence upon that love of glory, which still animated some 
 Mihtary Commanders, and to the influence of the Bishop and other 
 Ecclesiastics, over a superstitious Community. 
 
 The Intendant, by degrees, had combined in his interested vie^s, 
 the degenerated Company of Canada, whose establishment w^e have 
 already mentioned. The details of his conduct, in connection with 
 this Association, as afterwards proved before the Tribunals of France, 
 are too tedious and disgusting; but we may be permitted to glance 
 at them, for the information of our readers. This connection is pro- 
 perly characterised as an extensive conspiracy to defraud the French 
 Government, in the expenditure of public monies, for every depart- 
 ment ; and it contributed much to hasten a state of war, as best cal- 
 culated to favour and conceal its nefarious purposes. The principal 
 feature of the plan w^as, that the French Government and the Colo- 
 nists should be obliged to purchase the principal part of the neces- 
 sary supplies from the creatures of the Intendant, and from the Com- 
 pany. For instance, the Intendant, while he purposely ordered 
 Irom France inadequate supplies for the troops, directed the Compa- 
 ny to import the deficiency, which he afterwards, on the plea of ne- 
 cessity of state, purchased from that Association, at an enormous 
 advance. On the other hand, under the same pretext of state neces- 
 sity, he purchased, or rather seized, at a low price, all the grain of 
 the Colony, and afterwards resold it to the Colonists, more particu- 
 larly to the Inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal and Three-Rivers, at a 
 profit of four hundred per cent. By means of his underlings, he al- 
 so contrived to embezzle great part of His Majesty's Merchandise, 
 intended as presents to the Indians ; and, at his Stores^ popularly de- 
 signated Les FriponneSj or the Fraudulent, all persons purchased 
 ivhat xvas intended by the munificent Monarch, to be distributed 
 to his Troops, and to his Indian Allies. 
 
 To cloak and support this conspiracy, various intrigues were car- 
 ried on at the profligate Court of France ; and Bigot himself, hav- 
 ing first placed his creatures in the management of the Colonial De- 
 partments, visited France in order to secure co-operation, by bribery 
 and corruption, which circumstances enabled him to accomplish, in 
 such an ingenious manner, that nothing but the necessary investiga-j 
 tions which always follow an unsuccessful war, could have caused 
 liis ruin. 
 
 I 
 
LX VI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 We have particularly alluded to this conspiracy, because the En- 
 
 A.D, glish writers on the Conquest of Canada, have been more solicitous 
 to ascribe it entirely to the force and valour of the Invaders, than to 
 state any causes of internal weakness and disunion. 
 
 After the reduction of Fort Necessity, the British Government pre- 
 pared for open war with France, which the state of Europe, and the 
 ambition of Fkederick of I^uussia soon rendered general. France 
 despatched a strong Fleet, with Troops and warlike Stores, to Que- 
 bec ; and England sent out a F'leet in pursuit, which only succeeded 
 in capturing two Frigates, with the Engineers and Troops on board, 
 on the banks of Newfoundland. 
 
 Meantime, the only offensive operations, by land, v/hich the- 'exi- 
 gencies of Europe would permit, on the part of England, were au 
 expedition of British Regulars, and Colonial Militia, under General 
 Braddock^ in the year 1155; the object of which appears to have 
 been confined to giving a decisive check to the encroachments of the 
 Canadian Government on the Ohio. 
 
 Jl55f This year, the Marquis du Qiccsne having resigned, was succeeded, 
 in July, by the Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cava^na/, the last Govern- 
 or of Canada, under the French dominion ; and the first great event, 
 during his Administration, was the defeat of General Braddocky oa 
 the 9th of July, in one of the defiles of the Apalachian, or Allegany 
 Mountains, owing, in a great measure, to his disregard of all thp 
 precautions against surprise and consequent confusion, which are re- 
 quisite in the woods, defiles, and morasses of North America. In 
 this conflict, Braddock was mortally wounded ; and much credit is 
 given to Colonel Washington, for bringing off the remains of the 
 British army, which afterwards joined about six thousand Provincial 
 Troops, under the command of Governor Shirley and General John- 
 son. The latter, with the view of attacking Croivn Pointy joined Gc- 
 iieral Lyynaiiy near Lalce George ; where, strongly posted, he was, 
 on the 8th of September, attacked by three thousand Men, Regu- 
 lars, Marines and Militia, commanded by Baron DeLhau ; when, 
 after a warm contest of four hours, the French were forced to re- 
 treat to Crown Point, with the loss of a thousand men. Baron Deis- 
 kau, severely wounded, was also taken prisoner on this occasion ; and 
 the success obtained restored the spirit of the British army, while 
 the conduct of the Provincials, acquired the respect and confidence 
 of the Regular Troops, with whom they had been brigaded. INIuch 
 credit was also given to General Johnson ; whom His Britannic iMa- 
 jesty rewarded with the dignity of Baronciy and a present of five 
 thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 This success was however not followed up, owing chiefly to the 
 inctliciency of a diversion in favour of Johnson s enterprise against 
 Crown Point, intended by Governor Shirley, who merely reinforced 
 the Garrison of Oswego ; and he closed the campaign by retiring to 
 Albany, in October, 175.^. 
 
lK"TROnUCTION. 
 
 lA'VII 
 
 Tn the vonr IT.^G, ’.vliilc the Mctf-qiiix de Vnndrciiil was occupied 
 in neifoliating with the Indians, and while Bigot, the intendant, and A. D. 
 his creatures, were destroying the internal resources of the Colony, 175'J. 
 hy the nefarious practices already mentioned, a large body of Troops 
 arrived from France, under the command of Major (toieral the 
 Jilarquis r/e MoxTCATAf, whose bravery was destined to throw a lustre 
 on the decline and fall of French dominion in America. His first 
 success was against Fort Oswego ; the garrison of which was reduced 
 to capitulate, in the month of August ; and the military propensities 
 of the Colonists, were gratified by the triumphant display of English 
 jn-isoners, regimental colours, and other warlike trophies, conveyed to 
 Montreal. The following winter was not entirely passed in dissipa- 
 tion ; for the active mind of Montcalm planned an expedition, which, 
 though it failed in the primary object of destroying fort George, suc- 
 ceeded in destroying the out-works, the adjoining store houses, and 
 a!)out thirty batteaus and sloops, prepared for the intended attack on 
 Crown Point. 
 
 The preparations of De Montcalm, for the Campaign of 1757, re- 
 quiring much labour, on the part of the Colonists, in the conveyance 
 of Troops and Stores, were signalised by the most flagrant abuses, 
 on the part of the Intendant and the Commissariat Department, 
 with which latter he connived, in oppressing the Inhabitants, and in 
 defrauding the Government, which was charged, by the Contractors, 
 at the rate of five Livres per quintal, for the conveyance of Stores 
 from Montreal to Lake Champlain, while the Intendant contrived to 
 have the labour done by the Colonists and Troops, bribing the Mili- 
 tary Officers, to prevent an immediate exposure of his nefarious con- 
 duct, and extending the system of paper currency in the Colony, in 
 order to lessen those demands on the Treasury of France, whieh 
 might otherwise have alarmed the Colonial Department, and excited 
 an inquiry into the enormous expenditure of Canada. 
 
 Amidst this waste and plunder of the resources of the nation and 
 of the Colony, Montcalm was entirely occupied with the plans of 
 warfare; and he signalised the campaign, by the capture of Fort 
 George, which was followed by a lamentable inability or neglect, on 
 liis part, to protect the English prisoners, in their march to Fort Ed- 
 ward ; during which they were surprised, and nearly all murdered by 
 his Indian Allies. This deplorable event, proving that the French 
 were either unable or unwilling to restrain the barbarities of the Indi- 
 ans, had a decisive influence on the future conduct of the war ; and 
 thenceforth the determination of the English Colonists to destroy 
 Frecich dominion in America, was supported by the indignation 
 of the British -Ministry, at this massacre of two thousand of His Ma- 
 jesty’s regular Troops. The elder Pitt, afterwards Earl Chatham, 
 was now Prime Minister of England : and the energy which he infused 
 into His Majesty’s home and Colonial Governments, was soon felt in 
 Europe and in America. 
 
LXVIII 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 The chnnpc of the Englisli Ministry enforced attention* on tlie 
 
 A, 1). part of the Marine and Colonial Department ol’ France, to tlie r(‘(|ni- 
 
 1758* sitions of De Montcalm for troops and sup[)]ies ; but the great Fnglish 
 Minister may bo said to have fought tlie battles of America, in Eu- 
 rope, by occupying the force of France. The effect, however, of this 
 diversion of force was not (piickly ascertained ; and the promises of 
 aid, with occasional shipments of ammanition and provisions from 
 France during the year ] 758, stimulated the native courage of De 
 Montcalm ; whose splendid military reputation inspired confidence in 
 the Colonists, andin their Indian Allies, notwithstanding the malversa- 
 tions and notorious peculations of the Intendant. Meantime the Ri.diop 
 and his Ecclesiastics, separating their cause from that of the profligate 
 Court of France, perceived that the Conquest of Canada, by the Pro- 
 testant Government of England, might diminish their power ; and 
 they unceasingly employed their great influence to cloak the crimes 
 of the Colonial Government, and to animate the inhabitants to defend 
 the Country against the enemies of FVance and of the Komish Ke- 
 ligion. The defensive resources of Canada were therefore still greater 
 in a religious or moral, than in a physical point of view; religion, orra- 
 ther fanaticism, was employed to excite resistance to the English, as 
 appears from the Mandtment or charge of the Bishop, dated 18th 
 April, 1759. 
 
 1759 limits forbid a detail of the military operations of the eventful 
 
 campaign of the year 1759; but we shall briefly allude to the plan 
 of invasion, and that of the defence, hastening forward to the results. 
 
 The British Government, having resolved that a measure, under- 
 taken at the urgent entreaty of the Colonists of New England and 
 New York, should be so conducted as to give them an opportunity of 
 complete co-operation between the regular land and sea forces and 
 the Provincial troops, directed the invasion of Canada to three prin- 
 cipal points, under three Generals of talent and reputation ; and, in 
 case of success, it was understood that the three divisions should meet 
 at Montreal, to concert the means of preserving their Conquests. The 
 forces directed against Quebec should be first mentioned, as their suc- 
 cess decided the fate of Canada. They were commanded by the he- 
 roic General Wolfe, who fell in the arms of victory on the heights 
 of Abraham, before Quebec. The troops, amounting to about Eight 
 Thousand men, were chiefly drawn from the army which, under "the 
 same commandei, the preceding year, had taken Fovt Louisbour^ in 
 Cape Dretou, and subdued that Island ; they were conveyed to%he 
 vicinity of Quebec, by a fleet of vessels of war and transports, com- 
 maiKiCd by AdmiTal Sainidei's ,* and they landed, iii two divisions, on 
 the Island of Oilcans, the 2/th of .Tune, and received orders to pre* 
 paie foi a vigoious campaign; while their hopes of success were 
 augmented by an intimation of the co-operation of the armies 
 directed against other points of Canada, intended to divide the 
 forces and distract the attention of the French Commanders. Gene- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LXIX 
 
 ral Wolfe, at the same time, published and distributed a Manifesto, 
 which is remarkable as not promising more favorable terms to tlie A. D« 
 French Canadians, for quiet submission, than were afterwards accord- * 
 ed by the Capitulations of Quebec and Montreal, when they had par- 
 ticipated in the most ferocious resistance to the invaders, joining the 
 scalping parties of Indians, and mingling in every species of cruelty, 
 till they were finally overpowered and disarmed. This conduct, how- 
 ever, was chiefly owing to the influence of the Clergy; whose exhor- 
 tations had infused religious fiinaticism into the minds of the Colo- 
 nists,* who were led to believe that the means were justified by the 
 proposed object, of securing their temporal and eternal salvacion, by 
 the extermination of the English heretics. So general indeed was 
 this feeling, that the Conquest of Canada is not more to be ascribed 
 to the talent of General Wolfe, than to the neglect of the French 
 Court to provide for the defence of that Colony, in a manner suitable 
 to its national importance, and in compliance with the requisitions of 
 the brave General De Montcalm^ who must have considered himself 
 and Canada, as destined sacrifices to the vices and exigencies of 
 his licentious Monarch, and profligate Court. 
 
 Under the complicated evils of national neglect and Colonial abu- 
 ses, De INIontcalm’s dispositions for defence were admirable ; and he 
 alone is the prominent figure in this last and desperate struggle, on 
 the part of France, for dominion in America. The Governor Gene- 
 ral, the Marquis De Vandreuil^ was too much implicated in the Colo- 
 nial Jobs and abuses of Bigot, the Intendnnt^ to deserve the praise 
 of an impartial historian ; and, except as the signer of the Capitulation 
 of Montreal, aiid the tool of Priests and military men, intriguing with 
 the victors to obtain unreasonable conditions of surrender, his name 
 and character will seldom be mentioned. 
 
 In the month of May, a Council of War decided on defending Que- 
 bec, in a manner which showed the lingering hopes of De Montcalm, 
 that powerful succours would still arrive from France, enabling him 
 to provide against attacks on other parts of the Colony. The forces 
 and their commanders are described as follows: — 
 
 The Quebec Brigade, commanded by Colonel De St. 
 
 Ou 7 ‘Sy on the right, — 3500 nien^ 
 
 The Brigade of Three-Rivers, commanded by Mon- 
 sieur De Borine, on the riglit, — ^ 900 men. 
 
 The centre, to be composed of regular troops, com- 
 manded by De Senezargues^ ™ — 2000 men. 
 
 The Montreal Militia, on the left, commanded by Mr. 
 
 Priidhomme^^^.^ — - 1100 men. 
 
 The Brigade of the Island of .Montreal, commanded 
 
 by Mr. Herbin^ 2300 men. 
 
 Total, 
 
 9,800 men. 
 
LXX 
 
 IX^TTlODUCTiON. 
 
 'I'licsvO were llio (lisposfil)lc forces ; nivl the reserve w?!s 
 
 A.D. composed of Cavalry, cliiedy rraulars, S 50 men* 
 
 ' Li^lit Mo()])s, chiefly Canadians and Aeadians, — 1400 men. 
 Indians, exclusive of those to be eriipioyed in scout- 
 ing and scalping parties, 4-50 men. 
 
 22C0 men. 
 
 In all 2200 men, commanded by Mr, Boishehtrt, 
 
 The artillery, stores and provisions, under the direction of Mr, 
 Mrrcirr, were, with the reserve, to be stationed at such points as 
 circumstances might require ; biit the disposable forces were to be 
 ranged in the order of battle before mentioned, from the river St. 
 Charles to the halls of Montmorcnci, with the view of opposing the 
 landing of the British forces : while the garrison of Quebec, w as to 
 consist chiefly of the City Militia, under the command of the Chevalier 
 De Ramsay. 
 
 To this small force and a few vessels of war, including fire ship?, 
 the defence of Canada may be said to have been abandoned, by Louia 
 the Fifteenth of France ; for the event proved, that a signal defeat of 
 this force w ould ensure the ultimate Conquest of that extensive Coun- 
 try, and the extinction of French dominion in North America. 
 
 The bravery of those forces, and the skill of their Commanders, 
 w ere first evinced by the failure of General olfe in his 
 
 attack on the intrenchments at Montmorenci ; and it appears, - 
 from the official despatches of that great warrior, that he had 
 great doubts of succeeding in the primary object of reducing 
 Quebec, during the year 1759. This object, indeed, was chiefly obtained 
 by one of the chances of w’ar, which are tempted by enterprising 
 Commanders, under a great responsibility to their Sovereign, and ne- 
 ver contemplated in the official plan of a Campaign. Meantime the 
 fire of the ships of w ar upon the Fort had done little damage to the 
 Citadel, though the Low’er Towm of Quebec had been nearly destroy- 
 ed ; and the hopes of success were at last solely founded upon the 
 jiracticability of gaining a position on the heights of Abraham, behind 
 the City ; where the utmost vigilance was exercised by De Montcalm, 
 to prevent an attack on what he considered the weakest point of the 
 fortification. .At this juncture, the genius and enterprise of General 
 Wolfe w ere displayed ; and his proposal, having been approved by a 
 Council of War, composed of the principal military and naval com- 
 manders, was executed on the morning of the memorable 12/4 Sep* 
 tember^ 1759, the movement being favoured by such a combination 
 ofsecrcc}', silence and address, in the officers and troops, as has never 
 been exceeded. The utmost vigilance of the French Commander 
 having been unavailing to guard this important pass, he seems to have 
 lost all forbearance ; and, finding that his antagonist had gained so 
 much by hazarding all, he dcs[)crately resolved to follow' his example, 
 and meet him in battle array, on the plains of Abraham. This im- 
 prudent conduct has never been satisfactorily accounted for ; and it 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lA’Xr 
 
 is to be classed among those anomalies in war, which exhibit the par- 
 interested to prolong the struggle, hurrying on the crisis desired by 
 its o[>ponent. I'liis battle displayed as much coolness and courage, 
 on the part of the English, as it did heat and precipitation, on tlie 
 part ol the French : the latter sallied forth from a strong fortress, 
 without field artillery, and without even waiting the return of the 
 large torcc, detached as a corps of observation, under De Boiionin^ 
 rille : the former, who knew that retreat from their peculiar position 
 would be as dangerous as a temporary confiict, waited the onset of 
 De Montcalm, using every precaution to cover their flanks and pre- 
 serve their communication with the shore. This battle, indeed, was 
 more remarkable for displays of courage, than for any scientific ma- 
 jiceuvres, and was chiefly decided by the use of the bayonet and broad- 
 sword, by the British, the agile Highlanders serving, in a great mea- 
 sure, to supply the want of cavalry ; while the steadiness of the Eng- 
 lish fusileers rendered the want of. artillery less felt than it 
 was by the French, whose ranks once broken, could never 
 be reformed, on the field. General Wolfe, after the first disposition 
 of the troops, appears to have bent bis whole attention to encourage 
 the steady advance of bis right division, exposing himself in the front 
 of the line, in a manner more heroic than judicious, considering his 
 chief command. Thus courting danger, be was repeatedly wounded, 
 and at last mortally, at the decisive moment, when the FVench gave 
 way and were pursued, with great slaughter, by the Highlanders, 
 sword in hand. His last words prove that he expected a more stout 
 resistance on the part of the French. Faint with the loss of blood, 
 and leaning on the shoulder of an officer, he was roused by the cry, 
 the^ run ! they run /” — te/jo runs?'" exclaimed the dying warrior : 
 the French,'' said his attendant. What ! do the coicards run al- 
 ready ? then I die happij." Thus died General Wolfe in the arms 
 of victory, at the very time when his Despatches to London arrived, 
 and had prepared the Government and the British nation for the fai- 
 lure of his enterprise. The reaction produced in tlie public mind, by 
 the account of bis victory and death, exceeded all precedent j and 
 the manifestations of national gratitude to his memory have tended to 
 pnhance the importance of the Conquest of Canada in the page of 
 history ; where it is always associated with the heroic character and 
 warlike glory of Wolfe. The fate of the French Commander in 
 Chief gives additional interest to this decisive battle : he also was 
 mortally wounded ; and both the conquerors and the conquered, 
 joined in bewailing their death as national losses. 
 
 The precipitation of JDe Montcalm prevented the junction of JDc 
 Bougainville' s corps, which only approached the field when the victo- 
 ry had been obtained ; lie retreated with the remains of the army of 
 De Montcalm, leaving Quebec to its fate. The garrison dispirited by 
 the death of De Montcalm and the retreat of the army to the interior, 
 
LXXII 
 
 INTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 D surrendered, without a strujrt^Ie, by Capitulation, dated 13th Sep- 
 tember, 1759.* 
 
 Quebec having Capitulated, tlie entire Conquest of Canada became 
 comparatively easy to the co-operating armies ; and we chiefly find, 
 in the following campaign, some drawn battles and indecisive actions 
 between the Trench and English.f The only military event of impor- 
 tance as respects the Conquest of Canada, besides the surrender of 
 Quebec, in the year 1759, was the reduction of Fort Niagara, by 
 Sir William Johnson, and the fortification of Crown Point, and Ticon- 
 deroga, by General Amherst. Passing over a variety of accidents, im- 
 peding the execution of the plan of the campaign of 1759, we shall 
 merely state that the contemplated junction of the different divisions 
 of the invading forces took place on the Island of Montreal 
 in September 1760. This event, combined with the misconduct 
 of the Intendant Bigot, produced the Capitulation of Montreal, 
 dated the 8th of September, 1760, and the complete subjection of 
 Canada to Great Britain. 
 
 The nefarious conduct of Bigot and his Dependants had previous- 
 1760 alienated the affections of the Colonists; but, when at length the 
 Court of France,, aware of the enormous w aste and peculation w hich 
 had been practised, refused payment of his Bills of Exchange, and 
 thus deprived him of the usual means of redeeming the paper curren- 
 cy of the Colony, universal distrust and alarm took place. 
 
 Tiir Cakd Money, or Paper Currency of Canada, was founded 
 upon the reponsibility of the King of France, for the general expen- 
 ses of the Civil and Military establishments of the Colony ; and it 
 had been so faithfully redeemed, at the stipulated periods, during 
 thirty years, that it enjoyed unlimited credit. The portion annually 
 tendered for Bills of Exchange, was but a small part of the circulation, 
 being only what was required to purchase merchandise in France, for 
 the Company and for the private Traders. This credit enabled the 
 Intendant, for a long time, to conceal his waste and peculations ; but 
 
 • Note. The Population of Quebec, in the year 1759, was 6700 souls. 
 
 ..... Three Rivers, 1500 “ 
 
 — — . Montreal, 4000 “ 
 
 The whole of the Militia amounted to about Twenty Thousand men, from the 
 age of 16 to 60 years. 
 
 f The principal action in the vicinity of Quebec after its surrender, was 
 that of the 28th April, 1760 ; wlien General Murraj/y who had been left with a gar- 
 rison ot five thousand men, rashly decided on quilting his fortifications, and risking 
 a battle with the Chevalier De Leviy who, by unprecedented exertions, had collected 
 ail army of regulars and militia, amounting to twelve thousand men. The numbers 
 of the British engaged in this aflair were three thousand : they fought hravelv, dur- 
 ing about two hours ; but, overpowered by numbers, they were at lengthVorced 
 to retire to Quebec, with a loss of a thousand men and that of all their field artillery. 
 Following up his success, De Levi immediately besieged Quebec ; but his batteries 
 bad made but little impression before the arrival of a small squadron, under Com- 
 modore Swantoiiy with a reinforcement of troops from England, was announced, 
 causing the precipitate retreat of the ITeuch tow ards Montreal. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LXXIIf 
 
 when {]\?y h;ul cxtcnilcJ boyonil all precccti iU in the abuses incident 
 to absolute Governments, the Court of France, with characteristic le- A. D. 
 vity, suddenly dishonoured the Bills of Exchange, which Bigot had 
 drawn on the Treasury, amounting to tvtclve millions of Livres, or 
 five hundred thousand Founds sterling. Thus, while the British were 
 successfully attacking the Territory, the King of France, by one 
 blow , destroyed its financial resources, and facilitated the ruin of his 
 Empire in America.*^ 
 
 No Colony had ever such rational causes for satisfaction, at the 
 change of dominion, than Canada ; and previous history affords no 
 example of such forbearance and generosity, on the part of the con- 
 querors, towards the conquered. Our limits forbid our detailing the 
 sacrifices made by the British Commanders and Troops, to repair the 
 josses, and relieve the necessities of the Colonists ; but we can safe- 
 ly assure our readers that this conduct formed a new era in civilised 
 warfare, and that an admiring world admitted the claim of Great 
 Britain to the glory of conquering a people, less from views of am- 
 bition and the security of her other Colonies, than from the hope of 
 improving their situation, and endowing them with the privileges of 
 freemen. 
 
 The Capitulation granted by General Amherst, being particularly 
 referred to in tlie body of this work, may be here slightly alluded to, 
 as accoiding every security to life and property, religious and civil li- 
 ry, which could reasonably be requested, and by remarking that its 
 execution, on his part, was so faithful and energetic, that the subse- 
 quent negotiations with France, for the final cession of Canada, by 
 ' the Treaty of Paris, affords not a single instance of complaints ad- 
 dressed by the French Canadians to the King of France, except 
 against the misconduct and bad faith of his Financial Officers in the 
 Colony. 
 
 After the Conquest and Cession, the first important measure, on 
 the part of the new Sovereign, was the Proclamation, dated the 7th 1763. 
 of October, 17G3; which clearly states the benevolent and political 
 intentions of the Conqueror, with respect to liis new and old Sub- 
 jects, which intentions were unfortunately interfered with, by the sub- 
 sequent measures adopted by the British Ministry to coerce the old 
 Colonies, now the United States of North America. 
 
 The population of Canada, at the Conquest, was about sixty-five 
 
 ♦ The Paper Currency, unredeemed at the Conquest, exceeded Four Millions 
 Stfrlino ; Riid the only compensation obtained for the holders, by the interference 
 bf the British Government, was al>out four per cent, upon the original value : this 
 trifling dividend, however, Was chiefly beneficial to Speculators, who purchased the 
 Card Money from the great majority of the Colonists, at an average of one per 
 cent. It was a sligfit consolation to the French Canadians, to learn that Bigot, and 
 several of his Creatures, who had been the means of depriving them of tljc fruits 
 of many years of industry and economy, had been severely punished in France. 
 
 On this subjert, we must refer enquiring r^iaders to the Records of the French 
 Tribunals, 
 
 K 
 
LXXIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tliousanil souls, cliieHy employed in agriculture, inliabiiing a narrow 
 A.D. strip of territory, on the banks of the St. Ijawrence, and its tributa- 
 ry sticams. An increase of population, and an extension of Settle- 
 ments, were thus rendered expedient, by views of national interest, 
 and by the facilities afforded by a state of peace, to reward the la- 
 bours of the conquering army, by grants of the Waste Lands of the 
 immense acquisitions of territory, which its bravery had procured to 
 the British Empire. 
 
 The Proclamation contained a general invitation to British Settlers 
 to resort to (lanada, promising the enjoyment of the Laws of i.n- 
 gland, with the future benefit of a House of Assembly, or Represen- 
 tative Government. The Proclamation farther contained a promiscr 
 of Grants of Land to the Officers and Privates of the disbanded Re- 
 giments which had served during the war; all those encouragements, 
 not less benevolent than wise, produced, in a few years, a great re* 
 sort of British Settlers, both commercial and agricultural. With 
 those Settlers, were introduced the ideas of British privileges, pro- 
 moted by the establishment of a Press at Quebec ; where, for the 
 first time in Canada, a Newspaper, called the Quebec Gazette, 
 was jiublished in the year ITfi^. 
 
 This same year. Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction were es- 
 *, tablished by the Provisional Government, instructed to administer 
 justice in the Colony, agreeably to the laws and practice of the En- 
 glish Courts. This regulation was promulgated by Governor Murray, 
 in the form of an Ordinance of the Governor in Council, dated the 
 17th of September ; it contained an equitable proviso, that the French 
 laws and customs should be allowed and admitted in all causes, in 
 the Courts of Civil Jurisdiction, between the natives of Canada, in 
 the controversies originating before the 1st of October, 1764. 
 
 Thus woi’e the Laws of England introduced in perfect accordance 
 with the spirit of the Capitulation, and with the promise contained 
 in the Proclamation already referred to, and agreeably also to the 
 published instructions of the British Government to General Mur- 
 ray, who had been appointed Governor by Commission, dated the 
 21st of November, 1763. 
 
 In the month of November, 1764, the Governor and Council, in- 
 fluenced by the remonstrances of the Leaders of the new Subjects, 
 passed an Ordinance, enacting that, in actions relative to the tenure 
 of lands and rights of inheritance, the French laws and usages of 
 Canada, should be observed as the rule of decision ; and a Court of 
 Equity was also established by another Ordinance, in which the Oo- 
 ernor was to prccide as Chancellor, with two Masters, two Examin- 
 ers, and one Register, which Court continued to exist till the great 
 change in the year 1774, when it merged into the Courts erected in 
 virtue of the Act 14, Geo. III., Cap. 83. 
 
 It was not to be supposed that the introduction of the English 
 Laws should have givtin satisfaction to the Leaders of the new Sub- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LXXV 
 
 jects, however benehcial it might eventually be to the mass of the 
 population ; this measure was a matter of state policy, calculated to 
 attract Emigrants from Great Britain, and from the adjoining British 
 Colonies ill North America, x\)itk the vietv of Anglifijingthe Coujiiry^ 
 and making it liritish in Jacl^ ns ivell as in name. As a temporary 
 expedient, the Ordinances and Acts of the Government continued to 
 be published in trench, as well as in English ; but it appears to have 
 been fully intended to prepare the rising generation of French Cana- 
 dians, by an English education, to understand the laws and com- 
 mands of the Sovereign, in his native language, and thus, agreeably 
 to the most approved policy of all conquerors, ancient and modern, 
 to amalgamate the trench with the English Subjects. This course, 
 however, was tollowed in a conciliatory manner: the Crown Lawyers 
 were employed to devise a plan of a Code of Laws for Canada, suit- 
 ed to its present circumstances, and with a view to its ultimate des- 
 tiny, as an extensive British Colony ; and, among the elaborate re- 
 ports on this important proposal, that of Hir James Marriott, is par- 
 ticularly worthy of being referred to. To assist the Officers of the 
 Crown in conciliating the English Laws with those which had previ- 
 ously prevailed, a compilation of the laws existing before the Con- 
 quest, was framed so skilfully by Monsieur Cugnet, as to present the 
 appearance of a connected Code ; and it is worthy of remark that 
 this compilation was eventually employed to mislead the British Par- 
 Jiamfent in the year 1774*, and to give that body an idea that Canada 
 enjoyed a Constitution and a connected frame ot municipal laws be- 
 fore the Conquest. ^ 
 
 The plan of Sir James Marriot, if accidental causes had not unfortu- 
 nately intervened, would certainly have gone into effect ; and, with the 
 exception of the application of a part of the French Laws to the tenure 
 and inheritance of Lands granted by the King of France, English Civil, 
 Commercial and Criminal Law, administered according to English 
 practice, would have been definitively established in Canada. This 
 course, however, was regarded with great jealousy by the Leaders of 
 the French Canadians, who foresaw that it would diminish their pre- 
 tensions ; and they took every opportunity of insinuating to Governor 
 Murray, and’to his successor Governor Carleion, afterwards IjOrd Dor^ 
 Chester, that the contemplated changes, however beneficial in a Com- 
 mercial point of view, would prevent the attachment of the old Sub- 
 jects to His Majesty's Government, and gradually revive their parti- 
 alities to that of France. Thus, unfortunately, they produced hesitation 
 and delay in His Majesty s Ministry, and prepared the mind of Governor 
 Carleton, to propose, at a future crisis, the restoration of those French 
 Law's, which have for more than half a century discouraged the Set- 
 tlement of Subjects of British descent in Canada. The crisis was now 
 approaching when this measure could be represented as a necessity of 
 state. The unfortunate attempt, to raise a revenue for general pur- 
 poses, by imposing the Stamp Tax on the old Colonics, was made in 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 1765 
 
LX XVI 
 
 introduction. 
 
 the year 17G5,witlioiit due attention to the temper and strength ofthose 
 A. D. extensive Settlements ; the inhabitants of wliich three millions in num- 
 ber possessed the most exalted ideas of British priv ileges, and also those 
 physical and moral habits which disdained subjection to all laws which 
 they had no share in framing, or which they had not spontaneously adop- 
 ted, from a sense of their utility. I hey had submitted to the power of the 
 British Parliament, so far as regarded the regulation of trade, and the 
 monopoly existing under the navigation laws : they knew the advan- 
 tages derived to them from the Markets of Great Britain, and were 
 willing to preserve them by submitting to various restrictions, sane- 
 tioned by time. But the pretension of the British Parliament to raise 
 a revenue for general purposes, excited a jealousy, which was farther 
 encreased by the writings of speculative politicians, who asserted that, 
 according to the principles of the British Constitution, there could be 
 no taxation without representation. 
 
 Though, on the principle of expediency, the obnoxious Stamp Tax 
 wsf repealed, this repeal was followed by an Act declaring the legis- 
 lative power of the British Parliament, to hind the Colonics in all cases 
 •whatsoever ; and, in the meantime, exportation duties wxre imposed in 
 Great Britain upon articles shipped to the Colonies, which the latter 
 construed as merely a practical modification without an aban- 
 donment of the obnoxious principle. Those measures of the British 
 Parliament are, however, less censurable in the abstract, than they are 
 on the principal of expediency : all laws, and more particularly those 
 of revenue, are to be framed with due regard to the power of executing 
 them ; and, in the present case, formidable obstacles existed. The 
 old Colonies, connected together by similarity of origin, and by the 
 physical bond of a long line of coast, facilitating commercial inter- 
 course ; having also ascertained their military and naval strength, in 
 co-operating in the Conquest of Canada ; possessing likewise local Le- 
 gislatures, pretending to powers analogous to those of the British 
 Parlianvent, were not likely to submit to any new exercise of predo- 
 minancy, which accordingly produced determined resistance, first in 
 Tii£ New England Colonies, and afterwards in the others, who 
 sympathised and made common cause with them. This resistance 
 proceeded by degrees, calculated to admonish a prudent administra- 
 tion : riots and nocturnal depredations, remonstrances, by the Local 
 Legislatures ; Associations to prevent the importation and consump- 
 tion of British Manufactures, gradually took place, previously to that 
 open defiance, which distinguished Lexington and Bunker’s Hill. 
 
 The British Parliament, meantime, influenced not less by the na- 
 tural love of power, than by the arguments of the Ministry, proceed- 
 ed to coercive measures. The destruction of the cargoes of tea, 
 shipped by the East India Company, \yhich hud paid the export duly, 
 produced the Act shutting the Port of Boston ; and a variety of 
 measures were devised to divide and weaken the Colonies, previously 
 to any display of militai} coercion; on the part of the Imperial Go- 
 vernment. 
 
IXTUODUCTION. 
 
 LXXVII 
 
 Tlie incfficacy of those preliminary measures, prepared the Minis- 
 try for something more decisive; and, contemplating a demonstra- A. D. 
 tion of force on the side of Canada, against the old Colonjes, they 
 consulted Governor CarJetpu^ as to the means of exciting the zealous 
 co-operation of the Leaders of the French Canadians ; when he 
 suggC'^ted the restoration of French Laws, and, as far as possible, the 
 accordance of the original demands in the Capitulation of Montreal, 
 at the Conquest. Thus originated the celebrated Quebec Act, 14*, 
 
 Oo. ///., Cap. 83, described in the body of this work, which was 
 calculated to restore Canada to a situation entirely different from 
 that of the other British Colonics, distinguishing it by French laws, 1752 
 religion, manners, and language. The results of this measure are 
 described in the following chapters ; and it is shown that, instead of 
 forwarding the views of the Ministry, it merely added religious to po- 
 litical motives, for the resistance of the old Colonies, which might, 
 however, have been rendered ineffectual, by a prompt application of 
 an adequate military force* 
 
 During the succeeding long and expensive war, which, by the in- 
 fatuated interference of France, ended in the independence of the 
 old Colonies, no adequate benefit resulted from the sacrifices of the 
 interests of British Colonisation, made to the Leaders of the French 
 Canadians. The Country was invaded, and overrun by the rebels,* 
 and more particularly when Quebec was besieged by Arnold and 
 Montgoniery, it was defended chiefly by the regular troops and Bri • 
 
 |tish Inhabitants. The attack upon the rebellious Colonies on the 
 side of Canada, was unsuccessful ; and Great Britain, at the close of 
 the war, remained merely in military possession of Canada, which 
 she had rendered as much French, as it was at the period of the 
 Conquest, by her impolitic restoration of French Laws, before men- 
 tioned. But the impolicy of the Quebec Act, began to be more par- 
 ticularly felt, when accidental causes forced the introduction, at once, 
 of a large body of Settlers of British descent. 
 
 During the contest with the old Colonies, many thousands of res- 
 pectable Individuals preserved their Allegiance to the British Crown, 
 advancing, co-operating, and retreating with the British Troops ; and 
 under the name of Loyalists, they were chiefly located in the year 1 784, 
 in Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick, and the Province of Quebec, to the 
 Upper part of which latter Province, these Settlers chiefly proceeded. 
 
 • It has been asserted by the writer of the life of General Washington, that the 
 principal cause of the failure of the invasion of Canada, in the year 1775, was the 
 want of money, rendering the revolutionary Generals unable to pay for the sub - 
 sistence of the army, in specie. We find, also, by the Despatches of General Dur^ 
 goyney that Governor Cnrlcioix s expectation of obtaining the co-operation of a res- 
 pectable force of Canadian Militia, in the invasion of the old Colonies, was entire- 
 ly disappointed, and that only a few Companies of Volunteers, and some hundreds 
 of Indians could be induced to join in the unfortunate expedition of the year 1777, 
 which ended in the humiliating convention of Saratoga. 
 
lA'XVIII 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This led to a new era in Canadian affairs ; for the Quebec Act not 
 A. D. having established a representative Government, agreeably to the 
 promise of the Proclamation of 1763, the new Colonists used every 
 means to obtain this boon ; hence originated the celebrated Petition 
 of ITSi ; in which many French Canadians joined, soliciting the en- 
 tire repeal of the Quebec Act, and the establishment of a represen- 
 tative Constitution, with such a mixture of French and English Laws, 
 and such a distribution of elective suffrage between the old and the 
 new Subjects, as in the wisdom of the British Parliament, might be 
 deemed expedient. 
 
 Owing to a variety of causes, this Petition was neglected till the 
 year 1790; when, unfortunately, the British Ministry divided the 
 Province of Quebec into two Provinces, under the names of Upper 
 and Lower Canada, giving to each division, a Legislature, consisting 
 of a House of Assembly, representing the people, and a Legislative 
 Council, intended to exhibit the ariitocratic branch of the British 
 Constitution. 
 
 This arrangement, being the subject of criticism in the body of this 
 work, requires no remark in this introductory Chapter.* 
 
 * This Introduction, like the body of the Work, written on the spur of the oc- 
 casion, may be extended, in case that encouragement to publish a second edition, be 
 obtained. In such a case, the account of Canada will properly comprehend a view 
 of its Agriculture and Commerce, with a variety of details, which the writer, how- 
 ever anxious to enter into at present, is prevented by his private avocations from 
 giving to the public. 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 OF 
 
 LOWER CANADA. 
 
 — •oo©^-{^eoo«— • 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 A. D. 1759-1791. 
 
 Dejign of the Work, — Crisis of Political Affairs in Lower Canada, — Pretensions 
 of the House of Assembly more alarming when its composition is considered, 
 
 — Those pretensions partly owing to the defects in the Constitutional Acts 
 of the Imperial Parliament,— Investigation proposed theoretical and prac^ 
 Heal, — The pretensions not founded on the Articles of Cap itulation^ nor on 
 the Treaty of Cession, — Situation of the Fre7ich Canadians under the Ces^ 
 sion, — Review of Locuments, — Reference to the Constitutional Acts of 1771 
 and 1791, as the foundation of the power a 7 id pretensions of the French Cana- 
 dians.— Review of the Act 14 Geo. Ill, cap, SS.—Co7isequetices of its establish- , . 
 ment of the old French Law, and other i 7 } judicious e7iactme7its, the 7ion-cx- 
 ecution of section 9th producing a division of the Province oj Quebec.— This 
 Act, intended chief y to coerce the old Coloviics, had a contrary effect — Re- 
 view of the Act 31, Geo, IIL cap, 31, commonly called the Constitutional 
 
 j^ct, l 7 npo 7 ’tant omissions tn this Act, — It contains no provision fo7' re- 
 
 presenting new ^ttlements.—lt violates the pMge of giving English laws « 
 to British Emig 7 'ants, under the Proclamation of the year YlQZ.—^tricturc^ 
 on the division of the Province into Counties, by Lieutena7it Govcr7ior 
 Clarke,- Erroneous pi'inciple of represe7itation adopted, so far as regards a 
 vast Cou 7 itry 7 \quiri 7 ig extensive Settlements,— Omission to enact a qualifi- 
 cation of property for a seat in the House of Assembly.— Approved course of 
 policy for amalgamating the new with the old subjects neglected by the Con- ‘ 
 queror of Canada.- The legitimate objects of Colonisation counteracted by 
 the defects and errors of the Constitutional Act,- Anticipating review of the 
 progress of the ambition of the Leaders of the Fre72ch Canadians u7idcr the 
 new Co7istitution,^Co7iseque7ices of longer neglecting to check this ambition 
 by an interference on the part of the Imperial Parliaine7it. 
 
o 
 
 rOLlTICAL ANXALS 
 
 [CHA1». 
 
 W E propose to investigate the various causes which have combined 
 to produce the present extraordinary crisis of Political Affairs in Low- 
 er Canada. The French Canadian Leaders in the Provincial House of 
 Assembly, professing to act constitutionally, have brought themselves 
 and their adherents into direct collision, on matters of finance, with 
 his Majesty’s Executive, acting under instructions, advisedly given by 
 his Majesty’s Imperial Government. 
 
 The Imperial Parliament is the legitimate interpreter of the Con- 
 stitutional Acts, which established a civil government in this Province, 
 
 but until this interpretation be definitively announced, individuals are 
 
 left, uncontrouled by this high authority, to speculate upon the theory 
 and draw their own conclusions from the practice of the Constitution. 
 
 If we have formed a correct idea of the scope of the pretensions of 
 the House of Assembly, they extend to a virtual monopoly of the 
 powers of the civil government, by such a complete controul in legis- 
 lation and finance, as would render his Majesty’s Representative and 
 the Legislative Council subservient to the interests, prejudices, and 
 passions of the French Canadian majority. Tliese pretensions, hereaf- 
 ter to be historically reviewed, are the more alarming to Britons, when 
 considered as emanating from Members enabled to form the political 
 opinions of their uneducated Electors, professing the Romish religion, 
 and farther distinguished from the rest of his Majesty’s subjects, by 
 an indiscriminating attachment to the laws, language, manners and ha- 
 bits of their French ancestors. Believing, as we sincerely do, that 
 those pretensions have, in a great degree, arisen from the encourage- 
 ment afforded to the exclusive ambition of the French Canadian Lead- 
 ers, by the Constitutional Acts 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, and 31 Geo. III. 
 cap. 31, we shall first review their theoretical defects, and next, on 
 the principle of judging of a tree by its fruit, we shall examine tlieir 
 practical effects, from the period of their going into joint operation in 
 the year 1792, till the late prorogation of the Provincial Legislature 
 in the end of the year 1827. 
 
 We shall, however, previously remark, that several pretensions of 
 the French Canadians are erroneously founded upon the Articles of 
 the Capitulation and Cession of the Country. It will appear by the 
 following account of those Documents, that General Amherst, in the 
 first instance, tendered, and the King of France confirmed the con- 
 quered inhabitants of Canada to his Britannic Majesty, as deserving 
 objects of his benevolence, devoid of any pretensions which could in- 
 terfere with the approved policy of assimilating them to that accession 
 of population from the United Kingdom, which it was the interest and 
 intention of Great Britain to encourage, as expressed in his Majesty’s 
 Proclamation, dated the 7th October, 1763. The new Subjects, in 
 fact, might, by good management, have been speedily rendered mn- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 S 
 
 !•] 
 
 bitious of Anglification, if the sacrifice of their predilections and preju- 
 dices had been made the unavoidable condition of their being admit- 
 ted to a participation in the extensive privileges, which are the birth- 
 right of Britons. 
 
 In referring to those Capitulations, it is our duty, at the outset, to 
 declare them to be only temporary arrangements, and that they 
 should merely be consulted as containing the desires of the conquer- 
 ed, and the momentary decisions of the military men, who command- 
 ed the victorious armies that achieved the conquest. These temporary 
 compromises are 'well understood to be submitted to the definitive regu-^ 
 lations ofithe contending Sovereigns ; so that the first and only legiti- 
 mate Act of Diplomacy on which the conquered Colony can support its 
 rights, is such Articles of the Treaty of Cession, as maybe found insert- 
 ed in the general and definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and 
 France after the conquest of Canada. The obligations of his Britannic 
 Majesty which have reference to our subject, are briefly expressed in 
 a paragraph of the fourth article of the definitive treaty, concluded at 
 Paris, on the 10th February, 1763, as follows: — His Britannic 
 Majestyy on his side^ agrees to grant the liberty ofithe Catholic religion 
 to the inhabitants ofi Canada : he will consequently give the most effect 
 tual orders that his new Roman Catholic subjects may profess the war-- 
 ship ofi their religion^ according to the rites of the Romish Churchy as 
 fiar as the laws ofi Great Britain permit*' 
 
 But, as the injudicious Act 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, was less founded 
 on this discreet stipulation, than upon a general indulgence of the de- 
 sires of the conquered, expressed in the articles of capitulation de- 
 manded, we shall briefly review those of them which relate to civil 
 and religious rights, with the answers ofi the commanders of the victo- 
 rious fiorces." 
 
 As the Capitulation of Quebec contains nothing on this subject 
 which is not repeated in that of Montreal, concluded between Ma- 
 jor General Amherst and the Marquis de Vaudreuil, on the 8th 
 September, 1760, we shall attend to the contents of this document 
 only, referring our enquiring readers to the Capitulation of Quebec. 
 
 We cannot, however, avoid remarking that, on a general review of 
 the military, civil, and religious demands of the Marquis, we 
 can only account for them from the overweening vanity, which 
 has always characterised Frenchmen and their descendants, in war 
 and in peace. Would Buonaparte, whose name is still the rallying 
 cry of the majority of Frenchmen, have given the mild answer to con- 
 quered Britons, which General Amherst gave to the following extra- i 
 ordinary demand, contained in the 41st article ? 
 
 The Frenchy Canadians and AcadianSy of what state or condition 
 soevery who shall remain in the Colonyy shall not be forced to taJce arms 
 against his Most Christian Majesty, or his Allies, directly or indirectly, 
 on any occasion whatever ; the British Government shall only require 
 ofi them an exact neutrality:' To this demand, the British peneral 
 mildly answers They become Subjects of the King.’* 
 
4 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 After remarking that, on the principle of Charity begins at home^' 
 the French officers, civil and military, fill the greater part of the do- 
 cument with demands for their own dignity, interest, and safe con- 
 veyance, we turn to what more particularly regards the religious and 
 civil departments. 
 
 Article 27th demands the free exercise of the Romish religion, and 
 that the British Government shall oblige the people to pay the 
 Priests their tythes^ and all they u>ere used to 'pay under the French 
 Government of his Most Christian Majesty.^' The answer to this ar- 
 ticle is “ Granted^ as to their free exercise of their religion; the obli- 
 gation OF THEIR PAYING THE TYTHES TO THE PrIESTS, WILL DE- 
 PEND ON HIS Majesty’s pleasure.” 
 
 Articles 28th and 29th demand, that the Chapter, Priests, and Cu- 
 rates, and Missionaries shall continue, with an entire liberty, their ex- 
 ercise and functions of Cures in the parishes of the towns and coun- 
 tries ; that the Grand Vicars shall have the same liberty, exercising 
 all the jurisdiction they exercised under the French dominion, with 
 the right of administering the Episcopal Diocese during any vacancy. 
 The answer to these articles is, granted, except what regards 
 
 THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE. 
 
 Article 30th. ‘‘ If^ by the Treaty of Peace^ Canada should remain 
 in the po'wer of his Britannic Majesty^ his Most Christian Majesty 
 shall continue to name the Bishop of the Colony^ tvho shall always 
 be of the Roman communion^ and under whose authority the people shall 
 exercise the Roman religion'' The answer to this article is “ Re- 
 fused. ’ 
 
 Article 31st. The Bishop shally in case of needy establish new Pa- 
 rishes^ and provide for the rebuilding (f his Cathedral and his Episco- 
 pal Palace ; and in the mean-time^ he shall have liberty to dwell in the 
 tov^ns or parishes as he shall judge proper. He shall be at liberty to 
 visit his Diocese with the ordinary ceremonies^ and exercise all the ju- 
 risdiction which his predecessor exercised under the Fiench dominion^ 
 save that an oath of fdelity or promise to do nothing contrary to his 
 Britannic Majesty's service^ may be required of him," The answer to 
 this article is “comprised under the foregoing.” This answer 
 means that the nomination of a Bishop, by the Ring of France, being 
 refused, the jurisdiction of such a Bishop and the exercise of his func- 
 tions must also be refused. 
 
 Article 32d demands that the communities of the Nuns shall be 
 preserved in their constitutions and privileges; which was grmited. 
 
 Article 33d makes the same demand for the communities of Jesuits 
 and Recollets, and of the house of the Priests of St. Sulpice at Mon- 
 treal j and that these last shall preserve their right to nominate to 
 certain curacies and missions as heretofore. The answer to this is, 
 “ Refused, till the King’s pleasure be know n.” 
 
 Article 34th. “ All the Communities and all the Priests shall preserve 
 their moveables, the properly and revenues of the Seigniories and other 
 estates which they possess in the Colony, rfwhat nature soever they be; 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 1 .] 
 
 5 
 
 and the same estates shall be preserved in their privilefres^ rights^, honors 
 and exemptions"' The answer to this article is, ^‘Granted.” This 
 article has never been confirmed by his Majesty nor by the British 
 Parliament, as will appear by the exception in the 8th section, of the 
 Act 14 Geo, III. cap. 83, which stands unrepealed. Besides reasons 
 of state, rendering it inexpedient, this want of confirmation is natu- 
 rally ascribed to the banishment of the order of Jesuits from all the 
 unceded dominions of France, on the 6th August, 1762; xjohereas, 
 Canada xvas only ceded to Great Britain as already mentioned by the 
 Definitive Treaty of Peace^ signed at Paris^ \Oth Fehruarify 1763. 
 
 Article 41 st, demanding neutrality for the Canadians and Aca- 
 dian s, has been previously recited, and the answer given, namely, 
 
 They become Subjects of the King.” 
 
 Article 42d^ The French and Canadians shall continue to be gov- 
 erned according to the Custom of Paris^ and the lavos and usages es^ 
 tablished for this country ; and they shall not be subject to any other 
 imposts than those tvhich were established under the French dominion," 
 The answer to this Article is ‘‘answered by the preceding Articles, 
 and particularly by the last that is to say, they become subjects 
 of the King, and consequently, in the mean-time^ to British laws. 
 The demand, so far as regards French Laws, contained in this Article, 
 embodied with others, was injudiciously granted by the British Act 
 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, section 8, efter British laws with their powerful 
 attractions to British settlers had prevailed in the Province fourteen 
 YEARS. This may be well called generosity to foreigners and injustice 
 to Britons; and some persons have sarcastically remarked that, after 
 sanctioning this Act of Parliament, his late Majesty ought to have 
 given farther notice, that his Royal Proclamation of the 7th October, 
 1763, encouraging Britons to settle in the Province of Quebec, by 
 the promise of the enjoyment there of the benefit of the laws of En- 
 gland, civil as well as criminal, could not be performed ; but that, from 
 a sense of justice, and to atone for this violation of his royal word, he 
 would facilitate the return of disappointed and dissatisfied settlers to 
 their native country, and compensate their losses. This sarcasm on 
 the part of certain American Colonists, however disrespectful to the 
 memory of a benevolent King, naturally comes into the remembrance 
 of every writer who reflects upon the multiplied injuries inflicted by 
 the British Act 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, upon all settlers of British ori- 
 gin thus subjected to the Custom of Paris, and rendered /^^///French- 
 men, by the necessity of studying French laws, in the French lan- 
 guage. 
 
 We have now extracted and reviewed the articles of the Capitula- 
 tion of Montreal connected with our subject ; and we find that, though 
 the heroic conqueror of Quebec was dead. General Amherst would 
 not give up by the pen what was gloriously won by the sword : this in- 
 glorious course was left for Lord Nortli's administration. 
 
 The injudicious liberality of the British Government, first to the 
 Clerjjrv and hi^^hor classes in the year J 774, and next to the mass of the 
 
6 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 population in 1791, I>as placed the power of the French Canadians on 
 such a foundation, as encourages and enables ambitious leaders openly 
 or secretly to oppose the views of both the Imperial and Provincial Ad- 
 ministrations, for promoting the permanent security and welfare of this 
 Province, as a British Colony, subservient to the interests of the Em- 
 pire at large. 
 
 The deliberate conviction of our minds is, that if the intention of his 
 Majesty's Ministers in the year 1791, had preposterously been to 
 render as speedily as possible Lower Canada a hot-bed and nursery 
 of democratical principles ; or, in other words, if the question had 
 been proposed, in what manner the neighbourhood of that Province to 
 the United States could be best improved as the means of ripening its 
 inhabitants for independence, and alienating them from the British 
 nation, the answer must have embraced the principal enactments of 
 the present Constitution, strengthened as it is by the richly endowed 
 religion and peculiar code of French Laws, established by the Act of 
 1774. Tliis will more readily appear from a brief review of the con- 
 tents of those Statutes. 
 
 J. The Act 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, in its long and delusive pream- 
 ble, declares to the following effect : that the English civil laws which 
 had prevailed in the Province of Quebec for ten years, administered 
 and regulated under commissions to Governors, had been found inap- 
 plicable to the state and circumstances of the said Province, the in- 
 habitants whereof amounted at the conquest to about sixty-five thou- 
 sand persons professing the religion of the Church of Rome, and en- 
 joijing an established form oj constitution and system of laxcSy by xvhicb 
 iheir persons and property had been protected^ governed and orderedy 
 for a long series of years^ from the frst establishment of Canada ;* — 
 it therefore enacts that the said English laws and practice of Courts 
 shall be annulled from and after the 1st May, 1775. — The profession 
 of the religion of the Church of Rome is next secured ; and its Clergy 
 authorised to receive and enjoy their accustomed dues and rights, with 
 respect, however, to^such persons only as shall profess the said reli- 
 gion. The oath of allegiance prescribed in the first year of the reign 
 of Elizabeth, is modified, to suit the consciences of the new subjects; 
 and the property of all Canadians professing the Romish religion (the 
 religious orders and cojnmunities excepted) is confirmed, together w ith 
 all customs and usages relative thereto, and all other their civil rights 
 in so far as may consist w ith their allegiance to his Majesty and sub- 
 jection to the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain ; and it is far- 
 ther enacted, that in all matters of controversy, relative to property 
 and civil rights, resort shall be had to the law^s of Canada, as the rule 
 for the decision of the same ; subject, however, to be varied or altered 
 by any ordinance of the Governor and Legislative Council, appointed 
 
 • In an Act of the collective wisdom^ this assertion is highly reprehensible* and 
 we boldly refer to the published sentiments of the present Canadian Leaders to Wbut 
 this unworthy idea of an established form of Constitution, having existed in Cana- 
 da before the Conquest. 
 

 OK LOUVER CAXADA. 
 
 in a succeeding section of the said Act. Then follows a remarkable 
 section, the execution of which was prevented by some legal techni- 
 calities and anti-British policy, for more than half a century, namely; 
 sect. 9th, Proxiided alxvays that ?iothing in this Act contained shall ex- 
 tend or be construed to extend to any lands that have been granted by 
 his Majesty^ or shall hereafter be granted by his Majesty^ his heirs and 
 successors^ to be holden in free and common soccageS* 
 
 'Hus Statute which was hastily passed at the instance of Lord Nort!!, 
 of unfortunate memory, with the fallacious hope of thus obtaining 
 from Canadian Priests and Seigniors the means of coercing the old 
 Colonies,* has never been essentially modified, but remains the prin- 
 cipal basis of the existing pretension on the part of the French Cana- 
 dians to be a sepai'ate people, or as they shortly express it, ‘‘/a Nation 
 Canadienner 
 
 We may here remark in passing, that this Act, calculated to secure 
 to the settled part of the Province of Quebec a decidedly foreign as- 
 pect, disgusted the British, who had been encouraged to emigrate, by 
 the Proclamation of 1763, which promised English laws, and also the 
 Loyalists, who had adhered to the British Government in the American 
 Revolution, and it was the great cause of the next measure prolific of 
 evils, namely, /An/ of dividing the Province^ in the year 1791, when 
 a House of Assembly, with extensive privileges, was granted to each 
 division. These Loyalists having previously fled from French Lawg to 
 the Upper Districts of the Province of Quebec, were not unwilling to 
 have a separate Civil Government, leaving the Subjects of British des- 
 cent in the Lower Districts to be domineered over by a faction, arm- 
 ed by the British Parliament, with an authority which has gradually 
 been turned against the views and interests of the Empire. 
 
 Mean-time, the increasing importunity of the English part of the 
 community, which had settled under the faith of the Proclamation of 
 the year 1763, had prevailed upon the British Cabinet to take the 
 Petition of the year 1784? into serious consideration, and frame a free 
 Constitution, including a Legislative Council in a permanent form, 
 and a House of Assembly renewable quartennially, for this extensive 
 and peculiarly circumstanced part of the Continent of North America, 
 destined by nature, in spite of le/islative blunders, to be a powerful 
 Empire, fit to contain a hardy population of many millions of souls. 
 
 We now come to review the Act 31 Geo. III. cap. 31. 
 
 In examining this Act — commonly called the Constitutional Act 
 
 the consideration of what has been omitted may prove still more im- 
 portant than of what has been enacted ; and we shall, therefore, begin 
 by stating some imprudent omissions which are almost unaccountable, 
 considering the ample information respecting the state of the Pro- 
 
 • It is worthy of remark that, instead of serving the intended purpose, this extra- 
 ordinary measure forced upon the conscience of his late Majesty. George III. of 
 establishing Popery in a British dependency, furnished fresh means of strengthening 
 the revolutionary leaders, and added religious to political fanaticism in the minds of 
 the American people. — Tills result is particularly worthy of the attention of the phi- 
 losophical iu'storiun. 
 
8 
 
 POf.lTlCAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 vince, which Ministers asserted to have been collected for their use, 
 during Mr. Pitt’s administration, which had already lasted seven years. 
 Those Ministers had reason to know that the 14*th Geo. III. cap. 83, 
 commonly called the Quebec Act, organized and concentrated the 
 power and population of the French Canadians under the feudal te- 
 nure ; and tliat, unless some decisive enactment for the encourage- 
 ment of settlers on the lands granted in free and common soccage, or 
 English tenure, were introduced into this Constitutional Act, the basis 
 of a monopoly of power running counter to English law’s, language and 
 characteristics, would be laid in the proposed House of Assembly for 
 Low’er Canada, w hich, if not a complete Oligarchy, must merely re- 
 present the sixty-five thousand persons and their descendants, pro- 
 fessing the religion of the Church of Rome, as described in the pre- 
 amble to the former Act. The Ministers of the day ought also to 
 have known, that the ninth section of the Act 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, 
 intended, apparently, to protect the Settlers on the English tenure- 
 grants frem French laws, had been suffered to remain a dead letter; 
 and they were thus surely bound in honor to make at least some pro- 
 vision in the new Act for facilitating the participation of such Set- 
 tlers in Lower Canada, in the exercise of the pow’ers conferred on the 
 popular branch of the new Legislature. But a silence, savouring as 
 much of intrigue as of mere official negligence, was preserved on this 
 topic in the Ministerial speeches, w hich slurred and hurried over the 
 whole matter. Whether the offspring of Provincial intrigue or of cul- 
 pable neglect and ignorance, the defect is not less glaring of any de- 
 claration of the principle so necessary in colonization, that the repre- 
 sentation of the people should be regidatedby the joint consideration of 
 numbers and territorial extent^ thus providing for the progress of new 
 settlements, and encouraging those sw’arms, which good policy might 
 have conducted from the hive of native population, to be amalgamat- 
 ed with the enterprising loyalists and British emigrants, and rendered 
 capable of exercising, with moderation and intelligence, the privileges 
 of a free constitution. Nor w’as this defect in the enactment for a di* 
 vision into counties repaired in practice by the arrangements of Lieu- 
 tenant Governor Clarke and his Council, who seem to have been sa- 
 tisfied w ith dividing on the sole principle of actual population, and 
 doing nothing for Englishmen or the English language, except giving 
 English names to Counties rvholly inhabited by a people speaking 
 French. It w as ow ing partly to this mismanagement that the late 
 House of Assembly neither represented the property, the territorial 
 extent, the varied population, nor the commercial interests of the Co- 
 lony. The representation has, in fact, been hitherto confined to the 
 French Seigniories, or lands, held under the feudal tenure, forming a 
 narrow strip of land along the banks of the St. Lawrence ; w hile the 
 Townships, granted under the English tenure of free and common 
 soccage, exceeding the seigniories in extent^ and containing one eighth 
 (f the whole pop7dation of the Province^ have not a smgle voice in the 
 House of Assembly. And among those extraorditigry omissions in the 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 0 
 
 I.] 
 
 Constitutional Act which have rendered the popular branch incom- 
 petent, may be mentioned the silence preserved respecting a qualifi- 
 cation of property, in the persons eligible to serve as Members in the 
 House of Assembly. Owing to this unrepaired defect, we have 
 seen many poor Knights and Burgesses sent to Parliament, who 
 have repeatedly attempted to introduce the republican practice of 
 giving daily pay to Legislators. This omission was considered by 
 the Legislature of Upper Canada, so contrary to the analogies of 
 the British Constitution, that one of the early Acts of that body esta- 
 blished a qualification, which, however, w^as so low as to admit Mem- 
 bers inclined to support the practice before mentioned, of awarding 
 pecuniary compensation for Legislative service. 
 
 We might extend this subject of omissions very judging from 
 events^ but we desire to deal fairly with the memory of the great men 
 who were concerned in the passage of the Constitutional Act, which 
 is wholly silent as to the means of securing a permanent revenue for 
 the support of his Majesty’s Government, and the administration of 
 justice within the Province, — the employment of the English language 
 as the text of the laws, and other matters essentially requisite to 
 promote British Colonisation, and preserve this country to the British 
 Crown. 
 
 We, therefore, proceed to the enactments, leaving for the present 
 the sins of omission, with the view of describing such sins of commis- 
 sion as they may be found to contain. By the second section, the 
 Province of Quebec is divided, and a Legislative Council and House 
 of Assembly for each division respectively is enacted, forming, with 
 the King’s Representative, a semblance of the British Constitution. 
 A marked change of the policy and language of the Proclamation of 
 1763 is here observable : speaking of the House of Assembly intend- 
 ed for the Province of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and the 
 Island of Grenada, the Proclamation says, that such Assemblies shall 
 make law^s, an near an may he agreeable io the lavos of England ; while 
 the Act 31 Geo. III. cap. 31, proceeding on the principle of the 
 French law being restored, enacts that the Provincial laws shall be 
 merely not repugnant to the said Constitutional Act ; thus, it must be 
 allowed, consistently enough, discarding all analogy with English civil 
 law from the Legislative system of Lower Canada, The third section 
 states the lowest numbers which shall compose the Legislative Coun- 
 cil and Assembly of both Provinces, leaving us to infer a power in the 
 Provincial Parliament to increase the number of Members of the 
 House of Assembly, in accordance with the increase of settlements and 
 population, besides the undoubted exercise of the King’s prerogative 
 in summoning additional Legislative Councillors; the Members of 
 of w hich latter body are appointed for life. Here also we find a basis 
 for an aristocracy, with titles of honour, attempted to be provided, 
 but w hich the division of property, under the French law, will render 
 nugatory in Lower Canada ; where the rights of primogeniture, so ne- 
 cessary for the establishment of a [)ermanent landed aristocracy, do 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 POLITICAL ANXALS 
 
 [cHAPc 
 
 not exist. This enactment, indeed, is a glaring proof of the ignorance 
 of its sjipporters, and forms a striking anomaly in a Constitution 
 which is, in other respects, so defective in prospective policy, neglect- 
 ing to provide for the immediate voants of a new Country^ and makwg 
 provision for the characteristic vanities of an old Society. 
 
 Section 14 contains the authority to be delegated to the Governor, 
 for the purpose of dividing the said Province into Districts, Counties, 
 Circles, Towns and Townships, and declaring and appointing the 
 number of Members of Assembly to be chosen by each respectively ; 
 but this was executed without any of those extensive and statesman- 
 like views, which ought to have distinguished the personage entrusted 
 with setting in motion the new machine of Government. When a 
 conquest, such as a little Island or Province, is fully peopled^ or mere- 
 ly held as a military post, it is of less consequence that its population 
 should be assimilated to that of the conquering power; but, when 
 the extent of the country, and the natural course of human affairs, 
 destine a conquest, such as Canada, to support an immense popula- 
 tion, whose prejudices or opinions must eventually controul the Go- 
 vernment, it becomes the duty of self-preservation that the conquer- 
 ing power should take early and decisive measures for impressing its 
 national characteristics upon the new conquest ; — by publishing law s, 
 and diffusing education and knowledge in the language of the con- 
 queror, introducing and encouraging the settlement of old Subjects 
 among the new, and employing every means of enlightened and be- 
 nevolent policy to produce a mutual sympathy, by softening or obli- 
 terating every remembrance of hostility, and creating common objects 
 of ambition and noble emulation, consistent w ith the permanent in- 
 terests and welfare of the Empire at large. Having thus adverted 
 to a principle which, in an evil hour, was lost sight of, in the prelimi- 
 nary arrangements for the introduction of a Representative Govern- 
 ment into Lower Canada, we proceed in our review^ of the Constitu- 
 tional Act, and observe, that through tw^enty sections, regulating the 
 mode of election, and describing the Voters and Candidates, no enact- 
 ment is found calculated to prevent the eiuire ascendancy of the 
 French Canadian Inhabitants of the Seigniories over the rest of his 
 Majesty’s Subjects, or to ensure to the Executive Government of his 
 Majesty, a single adherent in the House of Assembly. This want of 
 precaution w'ould hardly be pardonable in giving a Constitution to a 
 homogeneous population of British origin ; but its consequences, in 
 the present case of legislating for a people chiefly composed of per- 
 sons differing in manners, habits, customs, religion, and language, 
 from the British nation, threaten to destroy every rational and legiti- 
 mate object of colonisation ; one of which is to raise up a ivorthy^Re- 
 presentative 0/ the Mother Country^ willing to receive her inst) uctions^ 
 and to afford every assistance for the accommodation of her surplus po* 
 pulationj in the extensive forests and unlocated lands (fthis Continent. 
 Considering those enactments with more immediate reference to the 
 previously concentiated pow’cr conferred on the French Canadians, in 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 11 
 
 the establishment of French laws and the Romish religion by the 
 Quebec Act, we perceive that the almost universal suffrage extended 
 by the Constitutional Act to this part of the population, must tend to 
 perpetuate their Inclination to be a separate people, and to direct 
 them in choosing Representatives, pledged to maintain this favorite 
 object ; and a scrupulous attention to the redemption of this pledge 
 has never foiled to insure the re-election of the old Members ; many 
 of whom already consider their political power and functions in the 
 Government as thus secured during their natural lives. On this point, 
 indeed, we chiefly rest our hypothesis of the monopolising ambition of 
 tlie French Canadian Leaders in the House of Assembly. In these 
 enactments, and in the peculiar characteristics, and insulating preju- 
 dices of the Electors, we find the text, while the measures of the 
 elected facilitate the comment of our doctrine on this important sub- 
 ject, fraught with danger to British Colonisation and Ascendancy in 
 this Country. But, before descending to the particular acts, indicating 
 the purposes of the elected, we shall describe, in general terms, the ef- 
 fects of the present Constitution upon the spirit and disposition of the 
 great majority of the Electors. Partly from incapacity to appreciate 
 and exercise the political power with which they had been invested, 
 and partly from some remaining deference for their English Fellow 
 Subjects, they used their ascendancy at first with moderation ; but 
 this disposition was not of long continuance ; and, so early as the se- 
 cond election, in the year 1796, it yielded to the inveterate anti-Bri- 
 tish and anti-commercial prejudices, by w'hich, under the increasing 
 excitement of their Leaders, they have not ceased to be actuated. 
 During some years, while many sanguine and active British Capital- 
 ists heartily combined in exercising that influence which their fortunes 
 and their means of giving favors and employment, produced upon a 
 peasantry generally poor, a few Members friendly to the British and 
 Mercantile interests were chosen ; but when the native I.eaders, 
 ( Laivyers and Notaries J by looking on, had obtained some know- 
 ledge of the game, those interests were quickly undermined ; and it is 
 a humiliating fact that, notwithstanding vigorous efforts renewed at in- 
 tervals, the British and Mercantile Minority has dwindled to insignifi- 
 cancy, exhibiting in various Sessions of recent Parliaments, the alarm- 
 ing case of the Provincial Administration being supported, in rights 
 and measures absolutely necessary for its beneficial existence, by on- 
 ly three Members, out of the fifty which compose the popular branch 
 of the Legislature. This point gained in the steady march towards 
 complete ascendancy, under the banners of a vicious Constitution, 
 has now apparently enabled the French Canadian Leaders to dictate 
 terms to his Majesty’s Representative and to the Colonial Depart- 
 ment of the Imperial Government ; and if we could suppose the ac- 
 ceptance of those terms, we could have no doubt but the triumphant 
 Majority w ould speedily contrive the means of making the whole Pro- 
 vince contribute to the w^ealth and permanent power of themselves 
 and their friends. That the Leaders in question flatter themselves 
 
12 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 with having a nearer prospect than ever of this consummation we can- 
 not doubt, and that they will not be scrupulous as to the means of 
 obtaining their ends we feel convinced, not only by the history of 
 parties in other countries, but likewise by that review which we have 
 recently taken of the most remarkable steps evincing ambition in the 
 House of Assembly, and which w e shall now' proceed to bring before 
 our readers, w ith all due deference to their judgment. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA 
 
 IL] 
 
 1 0 
 
 O 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 A. D. 1792-1791. 
 
 T?ic firat House o f Assembly, — Us composition and the consequences of being 
 formed entirely on the principle of actual population^ insuring French 
 Canadian Ascendancy, — Practical inco?7veniencies of the Act 31 Geo, IJL 
 Cap, 31 . — The impo^taiit omission of not prescribing that the Miuutes of 
 Proceedings should be in the English larhguage only.— Provident conduct of 
 the Congress of the United States co7itrasted with this omission,— First Ses- 
 sion opened by Lt, Gov. Clarke, — The choice of Mr, Paifet as Speaker^ 
 though unfit to express him elf in the native language of the Sovereign . — 
 Debate upon this choice of a Speaker^ with the names of the Membet's in fa- 
 vor of a Speaker acquainted with both languages — First Proceedings to re- ^ 
 cover the Jesuits' Estates^ reserved by the Crown. — Decorum preserved in the 
 House and the cause of its moderation. — Reflections arising from the imme- 
 diate operation of the new Constitution in perpetuating the ascendancy of 
 Frerch laws, language^ and char act ei'istics. — The Members chiefly occupied 
 
 with framing Rules a7id Regulations for the proceedings of the House 07} e 
 
 Money Bill only passed^ to provide for the payment of the Salaries of the 
 Officers of both branches of the legislature,— Aboj'tlve attempt by the Majo- 
 rity to 7 'ecord prefatory Speeches 07i Motions in the ,Tournals of the House, 
 
 — Delusion of the Minority as to the effects of the new C>onstitution,— Second 
 Session opened by Loi'd Dorchester^ the Governor General.— His Speech to 
 both Houses^ fialteri7ig the popular branch. — The Judicature Bill — The Mi- 
 litia BilL — The Bill for 7'egulating Aliens, — The 7nan(BUvre of the Majo 7 'i- 
 ty to delay or defeat the 7nea^ures proposed by the Executive or Legislative 
 Council^ by causing adj our n7nents from want of the ordinary (juorum^ be- 
 ing 17 Members, — Refiectio7i on this mana-uvre^ iiidicaling a ge7itlene$s of 
 7 nan 7 ierj which was afterwards abandoned. 
 
 Our review of tlie most remarkable steps evincing ambition in 
 the Leaders of the House of Assembly, may conveniently contain 
 brief notices of the most important measures of the Legislature and 
 Government, chronologically arranged; but this will be considered 
 secondary to the main object of enquiry; — for the attainment of which, 
 it will be proper to decide on particular epochs, not entirely confin- 
 ing tliem to the duration of one Assembly. 
 
 The first epoch, however, we wish to comprehend the first House 
 of Assembly, during which the natural operation of the Constitution 
 and tlie first dawnings of that ambition, which has only recently reach- 
 ed its noontide altitude, are discernahle. 
 
 The first House of Assembly, summoned by Lieutenant Gov- 
 
11* POLITICAL ANNALS [CHAP. 
 
 ernor Clarke, met on the 17th December, 1792, and was prorogued 
 by liim on tlie 9th May, 1793. 
 
 The Representation, as already mentioned, having been entirely re- 
 gulated on the principle of actual population, the trench Canadians, 
 notwithstanding their comparative ignorance of the management of a 
 free government, returned thirty-five Members from among them- 
 selves, out of the fifty which composed the whole popular branch, 
 leaving for the English an influential Minority of fifteen, consisting 
 chiefly of respectable merchants and traders, deeply interested in the 
 advancement of the country, and in the developement of its commer- 
 cial resources. 
 
 The inconvenience of the Act 31 Geo. III. cap. 31, containing the 
 same Constitution for two Provinces, widely differing in the origin and 
 disposition of their respective population, was experienced by the Mi- 
 nority before mentioned, at the commencement of this Session, 
 However politic and desirable, the Act in question had not enacted 
 that the minutes of proceedings in the Assembly should be recorded 
 in the native language of the Sovereign and, by this negligence, 
 the Members were left without any effectual stimulus to acquire the 
 English language, or to study Precedents of Legislative proceed- 
 ings, agreeably to the practice of the British Constitution, in their 
 original dress, being tempted on the contrary to trust to translations, 
 on subjects requiring the greatest nicety of discrimination. We do 
 not here allude to translations used merely as a means of acquiring a 
 language, but to that characteristic propensity of establishing French 
 as the text and standard of Canadian Legislation and Legislative pro- 
 ceedings. The Majority, in obedience to this propensity and to the 
 narrow view of personal convenience, obtained the expensive record of 
 the proceedings of the Assembly in the French language ; and the 
 uniform tendency of its measures has been to turn English law and 
 politics into French, instead of accommodating the rest of his Majes- 
 ty’s Subjects with translations of French law into English. The Par- 
 liament of Great Britain neglected the policy of stimulating the new 
 Subjects to the study of constitutional law in its original sources, while 
 the whole tendency of the Canadian legislation and practice is to 
 force Englishmen to study French, and in no small degree to become 
 Frenchmen, and coalesce with the Nation Canadienne, The next cir- 
 cumstance worthy of remark is, that though the Majority of this first 
 and hest House of Assembly professed great eagerness to draw con- 
 stitutional information from English sources, they, nevertheless, did 
 not elect as their Speaker or oracle of constitutional law, an English- 
 
 * It is not unworthy of remark here, that an important arrangement of this na- 
 ture was duly provided for by the Congress of the United States, vi hen, in com- 
 pliance with their Treaty with France, tliey admitted the Territory of Louisiana, 
 chiefly inhabited by a French population, into their Confederation. The Act of 
 Congress on the occasion, enacted that all minutes of proceedings in the Senate, 
 Courts and Legislature should be exclusively recorded in the language of the Con- 
 stitution of the United Stales^ that is to say, in the English language. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA 
 
 15 
 
 IJ.J 
 
 man, as they might have clone, well versed in both languages, but they 
 chose a French Canadian, M’ho, in the usual ceremonial of induc- 
 tion into office, declared to the Governor that he could only express 
 himself in the primitive language of his native country. This practice 
 of choosing a French Canadian as a Speaker, has been uniformly fol- 
 lowed ; and the verbal communications of the House of Assembly 
 with an English Governor, have always grated his ear with a foreign 
 accent.* 
 
 • This affair of the choice of a Speaker of the first House of Assemhly is so im- 
 portant, that we shall here give a particular account of its management. 
 
 The minority appear to have desired time for deliberation, but the majority had 
 made up their minds on the subject, and with difficulty allowed a delay from the 
 evening of Monday till Tuesday, at 10 o’ Clock, * A. M. 
 
 Mr. Duniere proposed J. A. Panet, Esq., as Speaker, and was seconded by Mr. 
 Debonne, who stated that Mr. Panet possessed a fundamental knowledge of the 
 municipal law of the country, which rendered him peculiarly qualified for the office. 
 
 Mr. McGill proposed William Grant, Esq., as Speaker ; — he said that an essen- 
 tial qualification in the Speaker was a perfect knowledge of the English and French 
 languages, without which in that House, where some Members understood no En- 
 glish, and others spoke no French, the business without the ready instruction of the 
 Speaker, would be continually retarded ; — that Mr. Panel’s deficiency and Mr. 
 Grant’s qualification in this particular were equally well known ; that the latter had 
 a knowledge equal to that of any other person in the laws of the country — and 
 from long residence, was well acquainted with its local interests ; that his former si- 
 tuation in the service of Government, gave him the knowledge of forms and the ha- 
 bits required for conductmg public business; and in fine, taking all Mr. Grant’s 
 qualifications together, he considered him the fittest person to be Speaker of the 
 House. 
 
 Mr. Dambourges seconded the motion. Mr. Bedard said that Mr. Panet knew 
 enough of the English language to conduct the public business. 
 
 Mr. Richardson observed that it was not a smattering knowledge of either lan- 
 guage that could enable the Speaker to do justice to the House in mutual explana- 
 tions between Members, in translating motions and other papers, and in commu- 
 nications with his Majesty’s Representative — that the transactions between the 
 Speaker and the King’s Representative, should be in the language of the Empire, to 
 which we had the happiness to belong, whatever might be the language of debate in 
 that House. 
 
 Mr. P. Louis Panet said, “ To solve the question, I will ask whether this Colo- 
 iiy is, or is not, an English Colony ? what is the language of the Sovereign, and 
 “ of the Legislature from w hom we hold the Constitution w-hich assembles us tliis 
 “ day? what is the general language of the Empire ? what is that of one part of our 
 fellow subjects? what will that of the other and of the whole Province be at a 
 certain epoch? It is my opinion that there is an absolute necessity that the Cana- 
 dians in course of time adopt the English language, as the only means of <iissi- 
 paling the repugnance and suspicions which the difTcrence of language would 
 keep up between people united by circumstances and necessitated to live toge- 
 “ ther; but in expectation of the accomplishment of this happy change, I think it 
 “ is but decent that the Speaker, on whom we may fix our clioice, be one who can 
 express himself in English when he addresses himself to the Representative of 
 our Sovereign.” 
 
 In the course of the debate, Mr. Papineau having ‘said that he understood 
 that some objection lay against Mr. Grant’s election, and Mr. Debonne adding that 
 a Petition was actually signed by a number of the P^lectors of the Upper lown of 
 Quebec against his return, Mr. Grant said he had heard of no sucli Petition— nor 
 
IG 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 This first Session was further remarkable by a Petition from the 
 County of Quebec, praying the Assembly to use means for placing 
 the property of the late Order of Jesuits at the disposal of the Pro- 
 vincial Legislature, and applying it to its original destination, which 
 was alleged to be the support of colleges and seminaries for the edu- 
 cation of the natives of Canada- On this subject, an Address to his 
 Majesty was voted on the 11th of April, 1793, the result of which will 
 be hereafter mentioned. The remains of the old French politeness, 
 and a laudable deference to their fellow suBjects kept up decorum in 
 the proceedings of the Majority during this Session ; but the natural 
 operation of the new Constitution must already have struck every man 
 of observation, and induced him to anticipate its tendency to give a 
 complete ascendancy to the French Canadians^ their laws, language^ 
 and characteristics in the popular branch of the Legislature, and to en- 
 courage in their leaders at a future day, that exclusive ambition which 
 now distinguibhes them, and which, if not speedily and effectually 
 checked, will make the whole country tributary to their aggrandise- 
 ment, and to the support of their families and dependents. 
 
 The time of the Members during the first Session had been so much 
 occupied with the preliminaries of legislation, including the adoption of 
 Rules and Regulations for proceedings, that only eight Acts were pass- 
 ed, consisting chiefly of temporary prolongations of previous ordinances 
 
 was he aware of any ground of complaint against his election ; but if the present al- 
 legations should have any weight with the Members, he would, in such case, recom- 
 mend the attention of the House to Mr. McGill, who was master of the languages, 
 and in every respect better qualified than be, or perhaps than any other Member, to 
 fill the office of Speaker. 
 
 Mr. Lees then, alluding to a precedent in the House of Commons of Great Bri- 
 tain, moved that Mr. M‘Gill be elected Speaker of the House, which being seconded 
 by Mr. Grant, Mr. Walker anticipating an objection to Mr. M‘Gill from bis being 
 an Executive Councillor, moved that Mr. Jordan be elected Speaker of the House — 
 wliich motion was curried. 
 
 After a long debate and much desultory conversation, the original question was 
 finally put, “That Mr. J. A. Panel be elected Speaker of this Housie,** when there 
 
 appeared for the question 28 
 
 Against, 18 
 
 IVIajority for INIr. Panet.^10 
 
 Mr. Panel was then conducted to the Chair by several Members. 
 
 1 he following are the names of Members who voted against Mr. Panel, and who 
 may be considered to have been in favor of having a Speaker perfectly acquainted 
 with both languages 
 
 Messrs. Salaberry, 
 
 “ Dambourges, 
 
 “ P. Louis Panel, 
 “ James M‘Gill, 
 Grant, 
 
 ‘ ‘ Frobisher, 
 
 “ Lesier, 
 
 “ Young, 
 
 “ Macnidcr, 
 
 Messrs. O’Hara, 
 
 “ Walker, 
 
 “ Coffin, 
 
 “ Richardson, 
 “ Jordan, 
 
 “ Todd, 
 
 Lynd, 
 
 “ l.ees, 
 
 “ Barnes. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 17 
 
 n.] 
 
 of the Governor and Legislative Council, under the Act 14^ Geo. IIL 
 cap. 83. One Money Bill, however, was passed, 33 Geo. III., cap 8, 
 entitled, an Act to establish a Fund for defraying the Salaries of the 
 Officers of the Legislative Council and Assembly^ together voith the 
 contingent expenses thereof f which is the more worthy of being men- 
 tioned, because the revenue derived therefrom, has been lavishly ap- 
 propriated to the expenses of the House of Assembly ; the alarming 
 encrease of which will hereafter be noticed. 
 
 It has been plausibly asserted, that if the habits of business pos- 
 sessed by some of the English Members had not interfered, the ab- 
 surdity of the experiment of conferring power on the French Canadian 
 Majority would have been shown in a convincing light this first Ses- 
 sion ; and one little fact tends strongly to support this assertion, 
 namely, that some of the Leaders insisted upon having a long speech, 
 under the disguise of a preface to a motion, recorded in the Journals 
 of the Assembly. This was checked by the minority ; and the Gov- 
 ernment was thus deprived of the means of contemplating a full 
 length picture of the sentiments and designs of the Majority. The 
 cry of the Minority was — Let us all put our shoulders to the voheel^ and 
 let the English Constitution have a fair trial among Frenchmenr Be- 
 nevolence or vanity in some, expectation of office in others, all the 
 passions combined at the moment to cover the defects of the Consti- 
 tution ; and the Lieutenant Governor in his Speech at the close of the 
 Session, assisted in concealing from the public, the waste of time which 
 had taken place. A reference to our preceding remarks will convince 
 every unprejudiced mind that the Acts 14 Geo. III. cap. 83, and 31, 
 Geo. III. cap. 31, both combining to form the Constitution, are a mere 
 outward semblance of the British Constitution, and that the circum- 
 stance of their being founded upon the re-establishment of French 
 laws, and the endowment of the Romish religion, renders the pre- 
 tended resemblance and analogy to the British Constitution a conii- 
 plete delusion, so far as Englishmen and their descendants are con-- 
 cerned. 
 
 The first Session of the Assembly had only proceeded on Finance 
 *?o far as the feeling of self-preservation suggested, by providing a fund 
 for the contingent expenses of the new Legislature ; but a new scene 
 was presented to the Members next Session, which was opened by 
 his Excellency the Governor in Chief, Guy Lord Dorchester, with a 
 most gracious speech, peculiarly flattering to the popular branch, in 
 which he intimated that detailed accounts of the Provincial Revenue 
 of the Crown would be laid before them, but that no subsidy would 
 be required, till deliberation during the present Session had enabled 
 them to mature their plans for a financial system, suited to the cir- 
 cumstances of the Province. The establishment of Courts of Jus- 
 tice and of a Militia Law was particularly pressed upon the attention 
 of both branches of the Legislature ; and the Addresses in reply were 
 replete with loyalty to the King, and compliment to his Representative* 
 
18 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 This Session was remarkable for industry, owing, in some measure, 
 to the prospect of places and salaries, w^hich the Judicature and Mili- 
 tia Bills held forth ; and the passage of the Alien Bill, or Act for the 
 better preservation of his Majesty’s Goveniment, conferred powers 
 on the Executive which evinced confidence in its moderation. 
 
 We shall mention one incident of this Session, rather on account 
 of its giving rise to a favorite manoeuvre of the Majority, than on ac- 
 count of its intrinsic importance. A Member, belonging to the Mh 
 nority, having obtained leave of absence, and being about to quit the 
 Province, was arrested on an action of debt, which alleged breach of 
 Parliamentary privilege gave rise to warm and long debates, con- ' 
 ducted with much ability. The Speaker himself, in his capacity of 
 Advocate, had sued out the writ, and was naturally unwilling to ac- 
 knowledge any offence by having thus acted'; while, on the other 
 hand, several of his usual supporters so highly valued the privilege 
 claimed, of freedom from arrest, that he w^as finally obliged to suc- 
 cumb and make an apology to the House. This affair had been be- 
 fore the House from the ^Tth November till the 2d January ; and its 
 decision had been protracted by the manoeuvre of Members absenting 
 themselves without leave, and obliging the House to adjourn for want 
 of a quorum. A call of the House for the 20th January at length j 
 brought the busines to issue, and a Resolve was passed making re- 
 ference to the practice of the Commons of Great Britain, and declar- 
 ing the persons of Members free from arrest, by civil process. The 
 individuals concerned in the arrest were voted guilty of a breach of 
 privilege, and forced to make submission and apology at the bar of the 
 House. This occasion gave rise to another Resolve, namely, “ Thai 
 ‘‘ in all unprovided enses^ resort shall be had to the ruleSy usages^ and 
 forms of the Parliament of Great Britain^ which shall be followed 
 
 until the House shall think ft to make a I'ule or rules applicable to 
 “ such unprovided casesf 
 
 From the means before mentioned employed to defeat, or at least | 
 delay, the question of privileges, w e perceive that the French Canadi- 
 ans were as yet only prepared to assert their supremacy, suaviter in mo^ 
 doy and this manoeuvre of producing an adjournment for w ant of a 
 quorum, was the favorite defensive measure till the majority com- 
 pletely threw off the mask during the administration of Sir James 
 Craig; when the proposal of paying the Civil List was urged upon his 
 Majesty’s Government, and the prospect of binding and controling 
 the Provincial Executive in all cases whatsoever dazzled the views oi 
 the lawyers and notaries, and other native leaders of the “ Nation 
 Canadiennef 
 
 This second Session of the first House of Assembly was closed with a very 
 complimentary speech by Lord Dorchester, on the 31st May, 1794; and six Bills 
 were passed, of which one, the Judicature Bill, was reserved for the si tonification 
 of his Majesty’s pleasure, and only became a law the llUi of December, f79L 
 
iir.J 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 19 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 A. D. 1795 & 1796. 
 
 Third Sc^fsion opened bj/ Lord Dorchestery who in his Speech to both Houses calls 
 the Provincial Legislature bp the new name of Provincial Parliament.— 
 His Messages, recommending the well ordering of the Fi nances. Abortive at-- 
 tempt to modify theFeudal Tenure of Lands. Hostility of the Majority to such 
 modification accounted for, and the future plans for the extension of that 
 tenure involving an extension of French Laws to the new Settlements . — U?ia- 
 fiimity of this House in a permanent Act of Supply — The hostility of later As^ 
 semblies to permanent Acts ascribed to ambition — Influence of theMinority.— 
 Arrangement with Upper Canada, for the division of the product of Custom 
 JOuties.— Police Regulations connected with the powers conferred upon the 
 Executive by Acts imposing Duties on Licenses. — Act for the Inspection of 
 Pot and Pearl Ashes.— Act for the Registration of Marriages, S^c.—Quaran^ 
 tine Act. — Co7itrast between the general conduct of this first House of Assem-- 
 bly, and its more recent Successors.— Closing Speech of Lord Dorchestery 
 with reflections upon his vain and sanguine expectations of the benefits of 
 the new Constitution.— Primary and permanent causes, frustrating those 
 expectations with respect to the subjects of British origin. — Fourth Sessiouy 
 rendered important by events during the I'ecess, producing a more extensive 
 exercise of the legislative and controling powers of the popular branch — 
 Opened by Lord Dorchester, who applies to the Provincial Parliament for 
 an Act of Indemnity on account of the Embargo.— This Act passed with mo-, 
 difications, showing the influence of the Minority.— Some good effects of the 
 scarcity which rendered the Embargo necessary. — The Road Bill, and the 
 difficulties with which it had to struggle in the House of Assembly.— This 
 salutary measure becomes a law by the united influence of the Executive and 
 Legislative Council.— Rjesistance to the principle of this law ascribed to the 
 habits of the great majority of the elective body, and existing in nearly 
 equal force at the present day.— The bad winter roads, causedby theformand 
 tacklingofthe Canadian train. — Abortive attempts on the part of the Legis^ 
 lative Council^ and the Minority of the House of Assembly to obtain a Bank- 
 rupt Law. — The desire of the French Canadian Majority to introduce the 
 Code Marchand of France. — The Consolidation Act, its effects and consequen- 
 ces.— The wise policy of his Majesty'' s Imperial Government in leaving it dor- 
 mant.— The temper of the Legislature in making this Act permanent, con- 
 ti'asted with that of future Assemblies.— Some other Acts of this Session, and 
 the projects of a Canal and Turnpike Road from Montreal to La Chine — 
 End of the first Provincial Parliament of Lower Canada^ and of Lord Dor- 
 chesteFs Administration* 
 
90 
 
 TOI.ITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 In proceeding to trace the progress of the ambition of the Leaders 
 of the late Houses of Assembly, we shall have occasion to notice the 
 abortive efforts of the British and commercial minority to obtain some 
 modifications of the old French law, so far as regarded the feudal te- 
 nure of lands and its peculiar burthens, by which the natural effects 
 of trade in the encrease of buildings and improvement of the soil, 
 were materially checked. The tenacity evinced by the French Cana- 
 dian Leaders on this point during the Session, of which we are about to 
 treat, proves that they consideed it a most important means of se- 
 curing the monopoly of power to themselves, and to the “ Nation Can- 
 adienne — it was reserved, however, for their more bold successors 
 to attempt, at a future daj', in the administration of Lord Dalhousie,* 
 to overturn the English, and extend the feudal tenure, with its anti- 
 commercial burthens and old French laws, to every part of Lower Ca- 
 nada, in defiance of the letter and spirit of British Legislation. 
 
 The third Session of what, for the first time, was this year called, 
 by Lord Dorchester, the Provincial Parliament, was opened by his 
 Lordship with a most gracious Speech, 5th January, 1795, followed 
 up by a variety of Messages recommending the well ordering of the 
 Finances and Police of the Country. 
 
 The extensive influence of the French revolutionary principles dur- 
 ing the previous year, had alarmed all who had a large stake in the 
 Country and an Association entered into for the support of his Majes- 
 
 ty’s Government had, for the moment, united all men of property and 
 mitigated party spirit. This Session, therefore, was considered a pro- 
 pitious season by the English Seigneurs and other Proprietors, for ob- 
 taining some modifications of the feudal tenure; and they were 
 so sanguine of eventual success, that they had made private agree- 
 ments with new Settlers from the United States, for the commutation 
 of all the burthens except cens et rentes, resolving the whole into a 
 moderate and immutable ground rent. The efforts of an influential 
 Minority, after much debate and delay, at length prevailed on the 
 House of Assembly to go into committee, 2d March, “ to consider 
 the laws, customs, and usages in force in this Province, relative to the 
 tenure of lands, and the rights derived therefrom.” On this occasion, 
 the Chairman, as a matter of form, reported progress, and obtained 
 leave to sit again ; but it soon appeared that the Majority would not 
 consent to make the slightest sacrifices to what they called the cupi- 
 dity of English Landholders, and the prejudices of American Settlers; 
 by a sort of compromise, the affair was allowed to pass into oblivion, 
 and no report on the subject was ever made. The proposed enquiry 
 into the feudal tenure was perfectly consistent with the views of the 
 
 • The frequent change of Governors in this Province, has aiforded opportunities 
 to the French Canadian Majority to revive ami iiious projects repeatedlv defeated ; 
 and it is worthy of remark, that in the second year of every new administration, af- 
 ter a careful study of the Governor’s character, a suitable selection of claims incom- 
 patible with the prerogatives of the Crown and witli the existence of British ascendan- 
 cy are brought forward. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 21 
 
 III.] 
 
 British Government, and with those of Lord Dorchester, who had, 
 many years before this Session of the new Legislature, recommended 
 the subject ; so that the present failure was considered decisive ; and 
 the House of Assembly was not troubled with any farther measures 
 of innovation, during his Lordship’s administration. 
 
 But a difference of opinion on one or more points was not yet 
 considered sufficient to prevent the most decisive measures for the pe- 
 cuniary support of the Civil Government within the Province. The 
 vote for a Supply to his Majesty was unanimous, and the appropri- 
 ation was made permanent, as were the Duties of Customs imposed 
 this Session. This Supply amounting to Five Thousand Pounds Ster- 
 ling, added to the produce of the duties imposed by the Imperial 
 Parliament, previously to the Act of l8 Geo. III. cap. 12, and the 
 casual and territorial revenue of the Crown, granted by his Majesty 
 for the use of the Province, have recently been the only means of 
 preventing the dissolution of the Government, in consequence of the 
 unconstitutional conditions of the Bills of Appropriation passed by 
 the House of Assembly, and generally rejected by the Legislative 
 Council ; whose conduct has been uniformly approved of by every 
 Governor and Administrator since the beginning of the financial dis- 
 putes. 
 
 The influence of the commercial minority was displayed this Ses- 
 sion, in obtaining the approval of the House of Assembly to an im- 
 portant arrangement, made by,Commissioners appointed the previous 
 Session by the respective Legislatures, for partitioning the new Cus- 
 tom Duties levied at the port of Quebec, between the Provinces of 
 Lower and Upper Canada. At that period of comparatively good 
 feeling, it required no high handed interference on the part of the 
 British Parliament, to obtain for Upper Canada a just compensation 
 for depriving itself of the natural right of imposing duties on goods le- 
 gally imported into Lower Cannda, and passing into Upper Canada. 
 By Ihis first agreement, the Upper Province was allowed one eighth 
 part of the net produce of the Custom Duties already imposed, or to 
 be imposed, by the Legislature of Lower Canada, on imported goods. 
 
 The expectations entertained by the country at large, of deriving 
 advantage from the labours of the Legislature, w'ere evinced this 
 Session, by the confidence with which all classes applied for the re- 
 dress of grievances, and for the enactment of laws for the benefit of 
 trade. The purpose of combining revenue with the salutary regula- 
 tion of certain occupations, was effected by an Act granting additional 
 duties on Licenses, by which the conduct of the persons licensed was 
 subjected to the controul of the proper authorities ; and many abuses 
 which had become prevalent in houses of public entertainment, 
 post houses, and liquor shops, were thus checked for some years, till 
 party spirit increased and interfered with the impartial execution of 
 the law. 
 
 The improvement of the manufacture of Pot and Pearl Ashes, was 
 much advanced by the Act of this Session, appointing Inspectors of 
 
n 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 that important article of Canadian export, and making various enact- 
 ments for the enhancement of its character in the British market. By 
 another Act this same Session, Pot and Pearl Ashes were allowed to 
 be imported, free of duty, from the United States; and a foundation 
 was thus laid for the extensive and beneficial intercourse, which af- 
 terw^ards took place under the commercial treaty between Great Bri- 
 tain and the United States of America, which was ratified and be- 
 came a law to both powers and to their dependencies, in the course 
 of tlie year 1795. 
 
 During this Session, the important Act for the regulation of Regis- 
 ters of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials was passed; and this law, to- 
 gether with the establishment of a Quarantine, for the preservation of 
 the country from the introduction of pestilential diseases, evinced the 
 solicitude of the Legislature for the domestic peace, morals and health 
 of the people. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, as forming a complete contrast with recent 
 conduct, that, of the eleven Acts sanctioned at the end of this Ses- 
 sion, all w ere permanent Acts except the one for the regulation of 
 Aliens. The behaviour of the Majority was, in general, decorous, 
 and particularly respectful to his ^lajesty’s Representative, w^hose 
 messages were received with thanks, and promptly taken into consi- 
 deration. No visible interference took place with the King’s prero- 
 gative of appointing his officers, and paying them according to his 
 judgment of their services ; and if any one, pretending to the spirit of 
 prophecy, had said that the French Canadian Leaders of the rising ge- 
 neration would bring their constituents into direct collision with 
 the Imperial Parliament on pecuniary affairs, his propheev would 
 have been treated with scorn, and his person spumed from all decent 
 society. 
 
 This Session was closed on the 7th of May, after a Speech from 
 Lord Dorchester, replete with approbation of the measures and con- 
 duct of both Houses. It is, indeed, too probable that his Lordship, 
 prepossessed in favour of the French Canadians, participating also 
 in the delusion common to Englishmen, as to the magical effect of 
 the British Constitution in surmounting all difficulties — entertained 
 the fallacious hope, that the semblance of that Constitution, under the 
 uncontrolled and sinister influence of French laws and insulating pre- 
 judices, might, nevertheless, secure the welfare of his Majesty’s Sub- 
 jects of English origin, and uphold the ascendancy of British princi- 
 ples and power throughout the extensive Province of Lower Canada. 
 
 The period of the third recess of this first Provincial Parliament, 
 had been unusually eventful, rendering the measures of this last Ses- 
 sion extremely interesting to the student of the Constitutional Histo- 
 ry of Lower Canada. New opportunities were afforded for develop- 
 ing the disposition of the Majority, and show ing the control w hich the 
 popular branch endeavoured to establish over every department of the 
 civil service. 
 
 The Majority continued their ambitious career, but acted with gen- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 23 
 
 III. 3 
 
 tleness and decency, using the expedient before mentioned, of produc- 
 ing adjournments for want of a quorum, and thus succeeding in de- 
 laying measures of improvement, obnoxious to the prejudices and apa- 
 thy of the great body of their constituents. 
 
 This Session, which was opened by Lord Dorchester, 20th Novem- 
 ber, 1795, is distinguished as-firnishing the first instance, under the 
 Constitution, of an Act of Indemnity required by ihe Executive for an 
 exercise of power during the recess ; and this sanction was sued for, 
 and obtained, in strict accordance with the practice of the British Mi- 
 nistry in similar cases. 
 
 In consequence of the failure of the crops of grain, first in the Unit- 
 ed Kingdom, in the autumn of the year 1794, and next in Lower Ca- 
 nada, in that of 1795, the Governor in Council, proclaimed an 
 embargo 18th May, prohibiting the export of wheat, flour and pease, 
 except to Great Britain and her dependencies ; and again, on the 10th 
 of September, wholly prohibiting, till the 10th of December, the ex- 
 port of wheat and other grain, wheaten flour and biscuit. For this last 
 general embargo only, the necessity of obtaining an Act of Indemnity 
 was acknowledged ; and the Bill for that purpose was introduced, and 
 passed with a promptitude and unanimity which did honour to the 
 House of Assembly. This Act, modified at the instance of the com- 
 mercial minority, continued the embargo till 1st September, 1796, 
 with the proviso, that those articles might be exported to Upper Ca- 
 nada, the trading posts in the Indian country, and his Majesty’s gar- 
 risons on the frontiers. The third section of this Act allowed the im- 
 portation of the flour of wheat and other grain from the United States, 
 by the way of Lake Champlain, and the River Richelieu, or Sorel ; 
 but it was not deemed expedient to appropriate any part of the pub- 
 lic monies to relieve the distresses occasioned by the existing scar- 
 city, which was left to be mitigated by the exertions of private bene- 
 volence, and by the adoption of potatoes, as an important auxiliary to 
 the subsistence of the peasantry. 
 
 The measure, however, which excited the most discussion this Ses- 
 sion, and which is rendered memorable by the open expression of dis- 
 content, and the manifestation of a disposition, in the French Cana- 
 dians under some native Leaders, to resist the execution of the laws, 
 was the Road Act, which, in a variety of ways, disturbed the routine 
 and habits of the peasantry. This law, so interesting to the trade and 
 inland communication of the country, laying a moderate contribution 
 of time or money upon the people, for the improvement of their pro- 
 perty, was, nevertheless, deprecated by some in the House of Assem- 
 bly, as a precedent for direct taxes of dangerous tendency. Every 
 means, short of open violence, were used by the Members, most close- 
 ly connected in prejudice and interest with the ignorant Cultivators, 
 to defeat, or at least, delay the measure. The established quorum, 
 reduced to seventeen Members, could seldom be obtained for the dis- 
 cussion of this Bill ; and, if the Executive, from views of the public 
 service, had not decidedly patronised the tneasurc, it must have fallen 
 
^24 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 to the ground.* The principal opponents, apparently intimidated, 
 were absent on the final decision : they were those who now, with 
 their descendants, are the most distinguished in resisting every inno- 
 vation in the peculiarities of their countrymen, and to whom we owe 
 all the incalculable inconveniences of bad winter roads, caused by the 
 vicious construction of the common train or cariole. The opponents of 
 the Road Act, in short, w^ere the men whose spirit induces the pre- 
 sent Majority to fortify their constituents in prejudices, which ob- 
 struct the improvement of the country, consoling themselves appa- 
 rently for their own share of privations, with the contemplation of the 
 sufferings of Intruders, as they now denominate the inhabitants 
 of British origin, who have chiefly drawn forth, under every dis- 
 couragement, the resources of the country. 
 
 Leaving these peculiarities of the “ Nation Canadienne' to be col- 
 lected at a future day, to excite the scepticism of the Antiquarians of 
 the tvoentieth century^ we proceed to notice the progress of other mea- 
 sures, preferring, however, such as display, in striking colours, the 
 disposition of the Majority of the first and least formidable House of 
 Assembly. The zeal and influence of the British and commercial 
 minority, were signalised in both Houses, but many of their projected 
 laws miscarried, through the jealousy of the Majority. An essay, for 
 instance, towards a Bankrupt Law, was made in the Legislative Council, 
 which body passed, and sent dow n for concurrence, 4th March, a Bill, 
 entitled, “ An Act for more effectually securingy and for equally dis^ 
 tributing among creditor Sy the estate and ^ects of persons Jailing in 
 traded 
 
 This Bill, being much required by the state and trade of the coun- 
 try, was verj politely received by the Majority ; but, in the course of 
 the month, while going through the usual stages, some of the Mem- 
 bers, learned in the French law', represented that the law' of the coun- 
 try formerly comprised certain parts of the Code Marchand of Louis 
 XIV., which, if properly revived, would prevent the necessity of in- 
 troducing the technicalities of the Bankrupt Law of England ; that the 
 cessions de biensy cessio honorumy which compelled the debtor to give 
 up all his effects for the benefit of his creditors, stipulating for person- 
 al freedom only without a discharge, would suit every purpose of jus- 
 tice or mercy, and that it was preposterous to throw behind their 
 backs the natural law of the country, as restored in the year 1774, 
 for the mere gratification of the partialities of a few' individuals. The 
 
 • As much party spirit was called forth in the House and in the Country by this 
 Bill, affecting, in no small degree, the election of Members for the next Assembly ; 
 — we shall subjoin the Yeas and Nays; — on the 31st of March, Mr. Taschereau, 
 seconded by Mr. Frobisher, moved that the Bill do pass ; whereupon, the House di- 
 vided upon the question, and the names were taken down as follows; Yeas, 
 
 Messrs. Marcoux, O’Hara, Todd, Frobisher, Lynd, Duchesnay, Taschereau, Grant, 
 Young, Barnes, Lester, Lees and Richardson. 
 
 Nays, Messrs. J. A. Panel, (formerly Speaker,) De Rocheblave, Boudreau, and 
 Berthelot. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 25 
 
 iil] 
 
 Bill struggled through this opposition till it was actually committed on 
 the 7th April ; but no progress was made, and Mr. Young, seconded by 
 INIr. Richardson, having moved a recommitment for the 11th April, Mr. 
 
 J. A. Panel, seconded by Mr. Grant, moved in amendment, that the 
 recommitment should be postponed to 5th September next; this 
 amendment was carried, and the Bill consequently lost, by the cast- 
 ing vote of the S[)eaker.^ This result created great disappointment 
 on the part of the framers of the Bill, who had formed the most san- 
 guine expectations of its success. 
 
 Among the measures, supported by both sides of the House, was 
 a Bill (introduced in the spirit of the Governor’s recommendation to 
 simplify the Finances of the Province) for the purpose of consolidating 
 into one Act, and appropriating to the support of the Administration 
 of Justice and of his Majesty’s Civil Government, the Duties levied 
 under the British Act of Parliament, 14 Geo. III. cap. 88, and the 
 Provincial Acts, 33 Geo. IIL cap. 8, and the 35th Geo. III. cap. 9. 
 The course of events, and the rising ambition of the House of Assem- 
 bly, have proved that this arrangement, obliterating every trace of 
 the power of taxation on the part of the British Parliament, for the 
 purposes of internal revenue^ would have been more convenient than 
 politic ; and we have, therefore, reason to congratulate the friends of 
 the British connection, that this measure, repeatedly carried to the 
 foot of the throne, has not yet become a law ; and that his Majesty’s 
 Ministers have been too well advised of the tendencies of provincial 
 intrigue and ambition, to suffer the support of his Majesty’s civil es- 
 tablishment in Lower Canada, to depend entirely upon the will of the 
 local Legislature. The British Act,‘ 18 Geo. HI. cap. 12, is merely 
 prospective, restricting the Imperial Parliament from imposing new 
 taxes on the Colonies, for the purpose of revenue; and by no subtle- 
 ty of construction can it be made to interfere with the product and 
 appropriation of the long previous Act, 14 Geo. IIL cap. 88. The 
 truth is, that the essence of every Colonial Government and connec- 
 tion is subordination to the Government of the Empire ; and that 
 every cavil against this impost and its accustomed application, is 
 merely symptomatic of the natural desire of all Colonies and Conquests 
 to approximate to independence, and which in North America has, in 
 a very important instance, been prematurely obtained. It is, how- 
 ever, just to remark, that the substitute offered to his Majesty’s Gov- 
 ernment, by this first House of Assembly, for tlie Act before mention- 
 ed, was a permanent lavo^ and that the French Canadian Majority had 
 not yet dared to propose that the support of the Provincial Government 
 should depend, like the Mutiny Bill of England, upon an annual vote 
 and appropriation. 
 
 * This contest on the subject of English aijd French Commercial Law, is so in- 
 teresting, that we shall give. the names of the voters on the question. For the amend- 
 ment, and consequently against the Bill: the Speaker, (Lanaudiere,) J. A, Pa- 
 net, Grant, De Rocheblave, Boudreau, Bedard, Berthelot, Duniere and De Sala- 
 berry. Against the amendment, and for the Bill : Messrs. Lynd,,Lce«, Lestcr| 
 Young, Richardson, OTiara, Todd and Macnider. 
 
 E 
 
Political annals 
 
 ^26 
 
 [chap. 
 
 The present was such a busy Session, for those Members who had 
 not absented themselves for electioneering and other purposes, that we 
 must pass lightly over the great variety of projects and proceedings, 
 which was brought forward by their zeal for the public service. 
 Among the Bills which became laws, and of great benefit to the coun- 
 try, beside those already mentioned, were — 
 
 1. An Act for the greater security of this Province, by the better 
 regulation of the Militia thereof, passed in consequence of the special 
 recommendation of the Governor in Chief. 
 
 2. An Act for the safe Custody and Registration of all Letters Pa- 
 tent, whereby any grant of the waste or other Lands of the Crown, 
 lying within this Province, shall hereafter be made. 
 
 3. An Act for better regulating the weights and rates at which 
 certain Coins shall pass current in this Province, and for preventing 
 the falsifying, impairing, or counterfeiting the same. 
 
 Among the projects, showing a laudable desire to promote im- 
 provement, and which, though at the time pronounced prema- 
 ture, were eventually admitted, with suitable modifications, into 
 the Statutes of the Province, we ought to mention a Bill for en- 
 couraging the cutting of a Canal from Montreal to Lachine, and 
 a Bill for making a Turnpike Road on a different route from Mon- 
 treal to Lachine ; both which were introduced by the same patri- 
 otic and indefatigable individual, who, in the administration of Lord 
 Dalhousie, has had the satisfaction of seeing the Canal completed, 
 and becoming annually more useful to the trade of both Provinces, 
 under his superintendance as first commissioner. 
 
 This eventful Session, being the fourth and last of the first 
 Provincial Parliament, was closed on the 4th May, 1796, with a 
 Speech from Lord Dorchester, in which his Lordship held forth the 
 example of the present Parliament as worthy of the imitation of all 
 future Legislatures of Low er Canada. An extraordinary extent of 
 unfinished business, chiefly connected with the police of the country, 
 w^as left for the next Parliament ; the formation of which, appears at 
 an early part of the Session to have occupied the thoughts of the 
 French Canadian Majority, to the exclusion of the regular perform- 
 ance of their legislative duties. 
 
IV.] 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA 
 
 27 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 A. D. 1 797-1 T98. 
 
 Second Provincial Parliament , — The seco7id Home of Assembly more democratic 
 and hostile to improvement than the first, — Mr, Panet re-elected Speaker,-^ 
 General PrescotVs Administration energetic and favorable to British Colo"' 
 fiisation.—New arraiigement for the division of Revenue with Upper Cana- 
 da,— Defects of this arrangement, — Attempt of the Majority to alter the 
 Road Act. — This attempt defeated by the energy of the Government^ and by 
 the support of men of property^ alarmed at the riotous proceedings of the 
 Peasantry, — Drench Emissaries fomenting discontent in the Province,^ 
 The Governor's Proclamation denouncing them, — Temporary Act for the 
 better preservation of his Majesty's Government, — End of the first Session , — 
 Note on the Commercial Treaty betaeen Gi'eat Britain arid the United States^ 
 as affecting the Trade of Lower Canada,- Second Session, — Preliminary 
 observations on the bad conduct of the Land Granting Department, — Mea- 
 sures of the Governor to obtain redress for the\injured Settlers, — Royal In» 
 structions for the equitable arrangement of their claims and pretensions , — 
 Intrigues of the Members of the Land Boards who obtain the support of 
 Chief Justice Osgoode, — Consequent resistance of the Executive Councilto the 
 publication of the Royal Instructions. — These disputes weaken the Go vernment 
 and encourage the ambition of the French Canadiafi Majority in the House 
 of Assemblyf— Digression on the pernicious efiects of lavish grants of Lands 
 in Free and Common Soccage^ causing a ixaction in favor of the Feudal Te* 
 nurc, — C-lovernor' s Speech at the opening of the second Session^ and his warm 
 recommendation of the interests of Upper Canada, — Improving conduct of 
 the Minority, — Risiiig jealousy between the House of Assembly and the Le- 
 gislative Council, — TheMajority of the House of Assembly begins to show the 
 characteristic hostility of its successors to po'manent Acts.— Much debating 
 and lo'^s of time in the House of Assembly, — Reciprocal communication of 
 Statutes between the popular branches of th^ Legislatures of Lower and Up^ 
 per Canada,— End of the second Session. 
 
 The election of Members for the second House of Assembly vyas 
 influenced by the discontents of the Peasantry on account of the Road 
 Act, by the alarms of the Notaries and Lawyers, arising from the at- 
 tempt to introduce the English Commercial Law, in-the Bankrupt Bill, 
 and the vaulting ambition of several young men, who, in studying 
 the Constitution, had perceived the extent of power conferred on the 
 great mass of the population, and expected to profit by flattering their 
 prejudices. Some of the successful Candidates indeed were political 
 fanatics, fired by the perusal of the doctrines of the French Repub- 
 licans, and of their supporters in the United States, being affected by 
 
28 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 such reading in the same manner as the famous Don Quixote, who, 
 by reading romances of chivalry> was led to devote his life to the re- 
 dress of all imaginable grievances. The Majority of this House of 
 Assembly, though it contained only eight Members of the first House, 
 preserved and extended in its practice the principle of guarding, with 
 jealousy, that monopoly of power conferred by the Acts, H Geo. 
 III. cap. 83, and 31 Geo. III. cap. 31, on French Canadians of the 
 Romish religion, who alone might be said to be represented in the po- 
 pular branch of the Legislature of Lower Canada. It is true that four- 
 teen Members of British origin w’ere returned, and that the Executive 
 had the Crown Lawyers and a few other officers belonging to the civil 
 department in this House ; but it was soon evident that the influence of 
 this Minority was much inferior to that of the first House of Assembly, 
 and that the commercial interest had been materially weakened by the 
 retirement of some zealous and indefatigable Members. Meantime, 
 I. ord Dorchester, the Governor in Chief, had left the Province ; and his 
 absence was soon particularly felt, in the want of that deference, to the 
 views of the Executive, which a long and successful military and civil 
 career had inspired in the minds of the elders of the community. 
 
 The second House of Assembly having been organized by the re- 
 election of Mr. J. A. Panet as Speaker, the first Session of this Pro- 
 vincial Parliament was opened by the Lieutenant Governor, General 
 Robert Prescott, 25th January, 1797, in a speech addressed as usual 
 to both Houses, replete with business, but devoid of complimentary 
 matter, conformably to the frank and military charticter of his Excel- 
 lency. The Addresses of both Houses on this occasion w ere nearly 
 echoes to the Speech ; and the House of Assembly having expressed 
 gratitude to his Majesty for the appointment of such a distinguished 
 officer to the government of the Province in the absence of Lord 
 Dorchester, the compliment was acknowledged in the answ er of his 
 Excellency. 
 
 The topics of the Lieutenant Governor’s Speech were deliberated 
 upon, and committees appointed for their examination, and the first 
 being the Order of the Governor in Council, for the regulation of Trade 
 between Lower Canada and the United States, under the late Com- 
 mercial Treaty,* a Bill w^as speedily passed, continuing the Act which 
 
 • The third article of this Treaty stipulated in one part to the following effect: — 
 That all merchandise that could be lawfully imported into his Majesty’s territories 
 in North America, might, for the purposes of commerce, be carried into the same by 
 land and inland navigation, by the citizens of the United States, and that such merchan- 
 dise should be subject to no higher or other duties than would be payable by his Majes- 
 ty’s subjects on the importation of the same from Europe into the said territories ; and 
 that, in like manner, all merchandise that could be lawfully imported into the United 
 States, might freely be carried into the tame as aforesaid, by his Majesty’s subjects, 
 and such merchandise should be subject to no higher duties than would be payable 
 by the citizens of the United States on the importation of the same in American 
 vessels into the Atlantic ports of the United States, and the same principle was re- 
 ciprocally applied to exports on either side. When this principle of apparent reci- 
 procity came into practice, it was found to operate almost exclusively in favor of the 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 29 
 
 IV.] 
 
 had authorised the framing and promulgation of that Order as the la^T• 
 of the land, till the 1st January, 1798, and from thence to the end of 
 the then next Session of the Provincial Parliament. This Bill which 
 displayed much confidence in the administration of Lord Dorchester, 
 was in some measure connected with a Bill for ratifying a provisional 
 agreement for ascertaining the allowance of drawbacks to the govern- 
 ment of Upper Canada, for the amount of all duties levied on import- 
 ed goods at the port of Quebec, which should afterwards be exported 
 to that Province by the route of Coteau-du-Lac, from which draw- 
 backs were to be deducted, the duties payable in Lower Canada, on 
 all such goods from the United States as might be imported in the 
 first instance into Upper Canada, and thence re-exported to Lower 
 Canada by the route before mentioned. For this purpose, an Inspec- 
 tor was appointed by the concurrence of both Governments, arid res- 
 ponsible to each, with extensive powers for the execution of his office. 
 J'his arrangement substituted for the previous agreement of allowing 
 to Upper Canada one eighth of the net produce of all duties of Cus- 
 toms, levied under Acts of the Provincial Parliament of Lower Cana- 
 da, at the port of Quebec, did not afford correct information, nor ob- 
 tain a just division for either party. It originated in jealousy, and the 
 disagreements to wdiich it led, were so much aggravated by the perti- 
 nacious conduct and insulating prejudices of the Majority of the 
 House of Assembly of this Province, that during the administration 
 of Lord Dalhousie, the Imperial Parliament interfered, as will in due 
 season be described, re-establishing the principle of awarding a quota 
 to Upper Canada by a mode of examination and arbitration, which, 
 under many disadvantages to Lower-Canada, will probably continue 
 so long as party prejudice and ambition shall be permitted to prevent 
 the just and necessary measure of re-uniting those Provinces under 
 one Legislature. 
 
 Returning to the proceedings of the first Session of the second 
 House of Assembly, we find a part of the Majority clamorous for al- 
 terations in the Road Act, having pledged themselves to their consti- 
 tuents, to use every effort for its modification, to suit the stagnant 
 habits of the peasantry, whose ideas on such subjects, had been long 
 obsolete in all commercial and civilised countries, and were more par- 
 cularly contrary to those of the Settlers in Upper Canada, and in the 
 neighbouring States of America. The Executive and Commercial 
 Minority, however, had sufficient influence to delay this retrograde 
 movement, having derived much strength for this purpose, from the 
 violent and seditious resistance to the law exhibited by some ignorant 
 cultivators, who were so far misled by demagogues, as to endeavour 
 to prevent the supply of the public markets with the necessaries of 
 
 commerce of the United States, whose enterprising inland traders brought info com. 
 petition with the goods imported into Quebec by the British ir.erchants, vast 
 quantities of East India cottons, teas, silks, and in short the merchandise of the whole 
 n’orld. 
 
30 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 lifo* ; thus more particularly alarming the citizens of Montreal and 
 Quebec, and strengthening the hands of an intelligent and enterpris- 
 ing Governor.* , . u <. 
 
 The course of previous events had also so much alarmed all men of 
 capital and large landholders within the Province, that additional pow- 
 ers were accorded to the Executive for the support of his Majesty’s 
 Government and the preservation of social order. Ihe extension of 
 the revolutionary principles of France, by means of the press, being 
 found difficult among the unlettered peasantry of Canada, Emissa- 
 ries were employed to spread the contagion by oral communication : 
 renegade adventurers in the pay of the French Minister Adet, near 
 the Government of the United States, were made known to the Pro- 
 vincial Executive ; and a Proclamation, dated the 30th October, had 
 been published by order of Lieutenant Governor Prescott, denouncing 
 the practices of those Emissaries ; and in the most energetic manner, 
 calling upon all Magistrates, Captains of Militia, and others, his Ma- 
 jesty’s good subjects, to apprehend all such disturbers of the peace 
 and trancjuility of the country. This subject had been also presented 
 to the deliberation of the Legislature at the commencement of the 
 Session ; and such alarming information was afterwards communicated 
 to the liousc of Assembly, by the Crown Lawyers, that the attention 
 of the new Majority was turned, in a great degree, from petty and 
 imaginary grievances, to the means of displaying that lojalty to the 
 King, which was so necessary to promote their ulterior views of am- 
 bition. This Session, therefore, is distinguished by the extension of 
 the Alien Act, to the end of the war, then existing between Great 
 Britain and France, and by a still more formidable law, extending to 
 the 1st May, 1798, and entitled, “An Act for the better preservation 
 “ of Ills Majesty’s Government, as by law happily established in this 
 “ Province.” By this Act, which was renewed from year to year, 
 till the year 1812, the Provincial law of Habeas Corpus could 
 be suspended at the discretion of the Executive ; and saving the 
 privileges of the Provincial Parliament, all persons imprisoned by 
 warrant, signed by three Executive Councillors, for treason, treason- 
 able practices, or suspicion of the same, might be detained during the 
 period before-mentioned, without hail or mainprise. 
 
 Having thus provided, effectually, for the public peace, the remain- 
 der of the Session was occupied with the discussion of various plans 
 connected with the local establishments for the administration of Jus- 
 tice, the amelioration of the Police, and the introduction of Education 
 
 ♦ This plan of starving the cities, had been adopted with more success some years 
 before, when the Governor and the Legislative Council having made an ordinance 
 prescribing under a slight penalty, a small alteration in the form of the Canadian 
 train or cariole, the supply of provisions was attempted to be cut off. This riotous 
 and almost treasonable proceeding, instead of exciting the energy required to sup- 
 port the dignity of the Government, liad the humiliating e fleet of intimidating it to 
 a speedy repeal of a most valuable measure ; and this instance of submission had, 
 no doubt, been successfully quoted by the agitators of the Habitans in the year 1796. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 31 
 
 IV.] 
 
 throughout the Province ; but nothing beyond resolves and addresses 
 took place on those subjects till the following Session. The clos- 
 ing speech of General Prescott, who had recently been appointed Go- 
 vernor General, was pronounced, on the 2d of May, conveying his fa- 
 vourable opinion of the measures and disposition of both Houses, 
 and stating such information of the late naval successes of Great Bri- 
 tain, as showed that he, for the moment, supposed that the Members 
 identified their interests with those of the United Kingdom, and would 
 readily participate in the good or bad fortune which might attend her 
 enterprises against her formidable loes. 
 
 In tracing the progress of the ambition of the French Canadian 
 Leaders of the late Houses of Assembly, we now approach a period 
 when their views were in no small degree promoted by the bad con- 
 duct of a part of his Majesty’s Council, called the Land Board. This 
 was a Committee of that body, specially charged with the manage- 
 ment of those portions of the Waste Lands of the Crown, which, by 
 Instructions from his Majesty’s Government, dated the 16th September, 
 1791, were to be granted with the combined views of more speedily 
 settling the country, providing for the maintenance of a Protestant 
 Clergy, and restoring to his Majesty’s allegiance, many individuals, 
 w hose intentions of quitting the old Colonies after the Revolution, had 
 been hitherto prevented, by a variety of discouragements, from tak- 
 ing effect. To promote these combined views of the Government, it 
 would, to a disinterested person, have seemed expedient and neces- 
 sary — 1st, to choose a tenure of lands suited to the character and ha- 
 bits of the expected Settlers. 2d. If, as forcibly suggested by such 
 character and habits, the tenure chosen should be the English tenure 
 of Free and Common Soccage, then the emancipation of those Settlers, 
 or, at the least, their lands, from the rules of the French law, and 
 placing them under English law, would alone be consistent and bene- 
 ficial. 3d. Every means should have been devised, including publici- 
 ty of proceedings, to prevent large quantities of lands from being mo- 
 nopolised by a few individuals ; and, for this purpose, the exaction, 
 with vigilance, if not wdth rigour, of the performance of settlement 
 duties was essentially necessary. 4th. To have appointed, as Mem- 
 bers of this Board, persons adequately compensated by salaries, and 
 free from suspicion of land-jobbing propensities, and to have subjected 
 riieir conduct to frequent examination. 5th. To have placed at the 
 disposal of this Land Board, under proper regulation, the pecuniary 
 means of opening roads of communication from the proposed settle- 
 ments to the great river St. Lawrence, in the direction of Montreal, 
 Three-Rivers, and Quebec. 6th. To have made an experiment on a 
 moderate scale, and on a spot advantageously situated, whence, as 
 from a centre, new lines of settlement might have been extended. 
 7th. To have scrupulously avoided any such mode of locating reserves 
 in behalf of the Clergy or of the Crown, as could interfere with the ef- 
 forts of the Settlers to improve their properties and keep up an easy 
 communication. 8th. Above all, to have supported the reputation of 
 
32 
 
 POLITICAL ANXALS 
 
 - [chap. 
 
 the British Goyernnient for good faith and wisdom, by the strictest 
 performance of all promises of encouragement and protection to Set- 
 tlers leaving tlieir native country, and resorting with their families to 
 his Majesty’s allegiance. 
 
 Suffice it at present to say, that the Land Board utterly failed in 
 most of those particulars, disgracing the local administration, and pre- 
 venting, for interested purposes, the fulfilment of the gracious inten- 
 tions of his Majesty to encourage the settlement of the Waste Lands 
 of the Crown, with a well selected and educated population ef British 
 origin. It is not too much to say that the Eastern Townships of 
 Lower Canada, so early as the year J <98, by this nefarious conduct, 
 were deprived of the accession of thousands of Emigrants from the 
 United States, skilled in Agriculture, and in all the arts connected 
 with clearing and improving a new country. Those of the Emigrants 
 who, relying on the terms of the invitation, had laid out all that they 
 possessed or could borrow in making clearances and settlements, re- 
 mained in penuiy ; and about this period, had succeeded in excitin<y 
 the benevolence of Governor Prescott, who was seconded in his inves- 
 tigation of the conduct of the Land Board, by a patriotic and faithful 
 Secretary ; and in the first year of his administration, he convinced his 
 Majesty’s Government that the system hitherto pursued in the Land 
 Granting Department, was equally derogatory to the honour and to 
 the interest of the Empire, and producing neither respectability, 
 strength, nor revenue to the Province. But it is in the nature of 
 every system, good or bad, of some standing, to accumulate the 
 n^ans of at least temporary support; and it cannot be speedily and 
 effectually overthrown, without powerful and judicious effortl In 
 the present instance, it fatally occurred that the remedy could, in the 
 first instance, only be applied by a compromising choice of the evils 
 
 conduct of 
 
 tlK Land Boaid. 1 heir bad faith had driven away most of the res- 
 pectable Settlers ; and their culpable neglect had admitted many in- 
 truders, whose only right was possession, and a kind of equitable claim 
 of compensation for their labour and cultivation. The difficulty of 
 devising an alleviation of these evils, was fully appreciated by his^Ex- 
 cellency, who, actuated by the most benevolent mid extensive views 
 transmitted a full and ft ir representation of the cases of all the class- 
 es of claimants to his Majesty's Government; and in the year 1798 
 ample and libera instructions to meet the emergency arrived ThLe 
 instructions partly untied, and partly cut the g'^rdian knot of difficuT- 
 ties; and w'ere most remarkable in evincino- not or aimciii 
 
 only to redeem the pledged faith of Governraem, but et en “S’inW 
 aimcab e arrangements tor those pretensions of rights, »d,"eh thTcu 
 ble neglect or connivance of the Land Board had |i,e^ rise to The rl 
 
 were^lmosttatary s„ X rwthe?^^^^^^ 
 ations for defence, 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 83 
 
 IV.] 
 
 tual than could have been expected. The matter of the Instructions 
 afforded less hope of resistance, than the manner in which they had 
 been obtained. The whole Executive Council had not been apprised 
 of the nature of his Excellency’s communications with his Majes- 
 ty’s Government on the Land Granting System ; and so late as the 
 17th of April, 1797, nothing farther had been intimated, than that 
 Government contemplated to raise, by the disposal of the Waste Lands 
 in future, a fund, to be applied towards defraying the expenses of 
 the Provincial Government. The judicious silence of the Governor, 
 Bo necessary at that peculiar crisis to prevent the influence of Provin- 
 cial intrigue upon the Colonial Department, was industriously repre- 
 sented by those Members who were implicated in the malversations 
 in question, as evincing a want of respect towards the Executive 
 Council ; and the pride of Chief Justice Osgoode, the Chairman, at 
 once, and his prejudices aftewards, were enlisted against his Excel- 
 lency. Under such pernicious influence, the Council declared against 
 the publication of the Instructions ; and on this point, to the great in- 
 jury of British interests and principles in Lower Canada, an open 
 breach took place between Governor Prescott and the Chief Justice, 
 causing the return of both to England, leaving the claims of the most 
 deserving Settlers at the mercy of a Junta, who had conspired their 
 ruin. 
 
 It is not well ascertained whether the Majority of the House of As- 
 sembly took an active part in these secret intrigues ; but it is certain 
 that some years afterwards when the monopolising land jobbers had 
 been countenanced by the Provincial Government, in driving out great 
 numbers of Settlers whose pretensions of right were equitably consider- 
 ed in the Instructions referred to, the House of Assembly gave way to 
 their rooted hostility and prejudice against those unfortunate intrud- 
 ers, and congratulated the Executive and the Country on the exter- 
 mination of men who had been goaded into resistance by the most un- 
 feeling conduct of those, who, without the intention or even the means 
 of performing the settlement duties, had prevailed on successive Ad- 
 mistrations to give them grants exceeding a million of acres.* That 
 
 • The settlement duties now very generally enforced by the Government of 
 Upper Canada, and a failure in the execution of which leads to forfeiture are, to clear 
 and fence five acres on every hundred acres granted, to build a bouse not less than 
 16 feet by 20 ; and to clear one half of the road in front of each lot ; an allowance 
 for road, "independent of the full quota granted, being left by the Surveyor, in eveiy 
 instance, so that no lot is without a public highway. These settleinent duties may 
 be valued at six pounds per hundred acres ; and if they had been rigidly enforced in 
 Lower Canada, we should never have heard of the crying abuses above mentioned j 
 nor would the majority of the Executive Council of that time, who approved of the 
 conduct of their colleagues of the Land Board, have received six Townships. On 
 this important subject, it may be permitted to anticipate a little, and here give our 
 readers the information presented to the House of Assembly in the year 1824', by 
 the Surveyor General, w’ho thus stated the division of the spoil. 
 
 To 6 Executive Councillors, 5 Legislative Councillors, 1 Law Office for 
 
 the Crown, and 7 Civil OflScers of the Crown, one hundred and ninety-five 
 
 F 
 
34 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 the Majority of the House of Assembly, representing in fact the occu- 
 piers of land under the feudal tenure, should look on with complacen- 
 cy while the ruin of the Settlements under the English tenure was 
 perpetrating, was natural ; and we have presumptive proof of this dis- 
 position in the recent attempts during the Administration of Lord Dal- 
 housie to extend the feudal tenure, and consequently the French laws 
 in every direction, by recommending to an English Monarch to abuse 
 his prerogative, by erecting Seigniories, and thus prostrating every 
 hope of the Anglification of this Province. 
 
 The fatal events connected with the Land Granting abuses, have 
 been dwelt upon, because they have a bearing on the ambitious career 
 of the Majority of the late Houses of Assembly. The unfortunate 
 men, injured by the monopolising Junta before mentioned, unaware 
 of the inveterate prejudices and anti-British feelings of the Leaders of 
 the French Canadians, attempted to obtain their interference, and 
 though this was withheld under plausible pretences, the discontents 
 against the Executive were secretly fostered, and the Government 
 proportionably brought into the hatred and contempt of no small 
 number of the population of English origin in the Province. We 
 shall soon arrive at an epoch, when, feeling the strength of this ano- 
 malous alliance, the Majority of the House of Assembly will assume 
 a higher tone, appointing their grand committees of grievances, assum- 
 ing the language of protectors, and uniformly exerting their influ- 
 ence and their hired presses in excusing insubordinate conduct, except 
 in such cases as interfere with that peculiar ambition which we have 
 ascribed to them, of keeping their countrymen a separate people, dis- 
 tinguished by French laws, a feudal tenure of lands, and a religion 
 and language different from that of the Sovereign and of three fourths 
 of the British nation. 
 
 But from this anticipation of our history, we return to review the 
 events of the second Session of the second Provincial Parliament of 
 Lower Canada, which was opened by Governor General Prescott’s 
 Speech to both Houses, 20th February, 1798; in which we find him 
 addressing the local Legislature, as if that body took a sincere interest 
 in the fortunes of the British nation, and in the general measures of its 
 Government; a mode of address, be it observed here, which was event- 
 ually abandoned when the real disposition of the popular branch 
 could no longer be disguised. The remainder of the Speech regarded 
 the quota of the produce of Custom Duties to be allowed to Upper 
 Canada, with a recommendation of the interest of that Province, as 
 being intimately blended with that of Lower Canada, and stating his 
 Excellency’s opinion that the most liberal intercourse would be most 
 
 tliousand acres, as Leaders of Townships, exclusive of their associates, 195,000 
 
 To 6 Merchants, as leaders of Townships, exclusive of their associates, 112,900 
 
 To a variety of persons from the United States, being almost the only Leaders 
 
 possessing tlie will and the means of settniijr^, .. 376,260 
 
 ''**Wvy»Vrewrv»vwvww^ Cbl,100 
 
 Total amount of Acres. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 35 
 
 IV.J 
 
 conducive to theii 'mutual advantage ; a renewal likewise of the Act 
 for the preservation of his Majesty’s Government was recommended, 
 together with a perseverance in the harmony which his Excellency 
 was pleased to say had hitherto influenced their deliberations. 
 
 The English Minority in this Parliament abandoned almost every 
 pretension to introduce innovations on French laws, coalescing with 
 the French Canadian placemen, who happened to be Members of the 
 Assembly ; and this Session is more distinguished by differences of 
 opinion evinced in the details of measures than by any collision of 
 principles in the popular branch of the Legislature. On the other 
 hand, several Bills, including that for amending the Road Bill, were 
 lost by the tenacity evinced by the House of Assembly and the Le- 
 gislative Council, respectively, on some points ; and the influence of 
 the Executive appeared to be exerted against that encrease of the 
 number of parishes, and alteration of their boundaries, which were so- 
 licited by a part of the Roman Catholic Clergy and Laity. Some un- 
 quiet spirits having obtained seats in the Assembly, both sides of 
 the House occasionally agreed in repressing their attempts at Legis- 
 lation ; of these, Messrs. Black and Bouc were particularly viewed 
 with jealousy ; and a proposal by the former, for the regulation of 
 Notaries was chiefly neglected from want of respect for his personal 
 conduct and private character. 
 
 The Majority of the Assembly now began to shew their jealousy of 
 permanent Acts, or of those of indefinite duration ; and in this res- 
 pect their jealousy of the Executive was evinced by rejecting a clause 
 introduced into the Bill for the better preservation of his Majesty’s 
 Government, which extended its duration till the end of the war, by 
 a majority of 17 to 5. But great decorum continued to prevail ; and 
 an address of thanks was voted to his Excellency for his Message, 
 dated 16th March, accompanying various Documents on the Finan- 
 cial relations of this Province with Upper Canada. Those Documents, 
 shewing that the provisions of an Act of the last Session had not been 
 satisfactory to the Legislature of Upper Canada, two Bills which af- 
 terwards became laws, were introduced, allowing, for the previous 
 year, a just proportion of the produce of Custom Duties to Upper Ca- 
 nada, to be calculated agreeably to the certified Report of the Col- 
 lector established at Coteau -du-Lac ; and appointing Commissioners 
 to meet those of Upper Canada, for the purpose of coming to a bet- 
 ter understanding with that Province on the subject of Custom Du- 
 ties, and “ on the ‘pToportion to be received or to be paid o/" o,ny Duties 
 “ already imposed or hereajler to be imposed.” 
 
 Much time appears to have been lost this Session ; for though the 
 Road Act Amendment Bill and the Judicature Act Amendment Bill 
 had been long deliberated upon, they were finally postponed. 
 
 Towards the close of the Session, the Speaker communicated to the 
 House a letter from the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Upper 
 Canada, dated September, 1797, which accompanied three setts of the 
 Acts of the Legislature of that Province, and suggested the propriety of 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 3 () 
 
 [chap. 
 
 a rpciprocnl communication of laws passed in each of the two Provinces, 
 so intimately connected in political and commercial relations. This 
 suggestion had been promptly acted upon, the Speaker having immedi* 
 ately sent in return three setts of the Ordinances of the Council and the 
 I'arliamentary Statutes passed in Quebec from the year 1774'. 
 
 This Session, leaving much unfinished business, was closed 17th 
 May, 1798, by a Speech from the Governor General to both Houses, 
 in which his Excellency congratulated them upon the internal peace 
 and tranquility of the Country, which he ascribed to the well-founded 
 conviction in the minds of the great majority of his Majesty’s Subjects 
 that they enjoyed the fullest protection of person and property, with 
 that security against foreign aggression, which the powerful arm of 
 Great Britain alone could have afforded, amidst the collisions of the 
 most warlike nations of the world. His Excellency further recom- 
 mended to the Members the expediency of cherishing, among their 
 constituents, those sentiments of loyal satisfaction which would render 
 them worthy of the continued regard of the Sovereign, and of a par- 
 ticipation in all the benefits which their connection with the British 
 Empire was calculated to obtain. 
 
V.] 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA 
 
 37 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 A. D. 1799 & 1800. 
 
 Third Session o f the second Provincial Parliament,— A busy Session,, prolific in 
 new Laws.— Governor' s Speech,— Flattering Address of the House of Assembly^ 
 intended to mortify the LegislativeQouncil, — Reading of a Bill before reading 
 his Excellency's Speech,— Symptoms of Improvement in conducting the bu- 
 siness of the House,— Modifications of the Rodd Act,, as far as regarded the 
 Cities of Quebec and Montreal, — These Modifications described^ and recom- 
 mended as analogous to British and Colonial practice, — Permanent hostility 
 to the principles of those modifications in the Majority of the Assembly and of 
 the elect i ve body, — Bill for the establishment of Houses of Correction, — Defects 
 of such establishments on the present system, — Bill for the better regulation of 
 Weights and Measures, — Bill to pro videaFund to defray the expense ofbu tid- 
 ing Court-Houses,— Its principles deviated from afterwards, — Bill for re- 
 enacting the Consolidation Act,— Reflections on this Act, — Modification of the 
 agreement with Upper Canada on the division of Revenue,— Bill for the re^ 
 gulation ofMaitres de Post e,— Attempt to encourage the Cultivation of the 
 Sugar Maple Tree,— Petitions for the establishment of new Parishes. — Gov- 
 ernor's Speech at the end of the Session, mentioned in connection with his 
 intended departure to London, — Fourth Session, — Preliminary remarks on 
 the feelings of the French Canadians, as evinced by the failure in obtaining 
 voluntary contributions,— Addresses to Governor Prescott on his departure 
 from the Province,— Accession of Sir Robert Shore Milnes as Lieutenant 
 Governor, — His long Administration, and its pernicious effects on British 
 Colonisation,— His first Speech described, with a remark upon the Address of 
 the House of Assembly, — Attempt to obtain encouragement for the Cultiva- 
 tion of Hemp, — Renewal of the Claim on the part of the Province to the Je^ 
 suits' FAtaies, — Address to the Lieutenant Governor on this subject, — His 
 Excellency's Reply, — Bridge over the River Jacques Cartier, — Unsuccessful 
 attempt on the part of the Minority to establish a qualification of Property 
 for a seat in the House of Assembly,— F.X pulsion of a Member without a call 
 of the House,— Fncreased jealousy between the House of Assembly and the 
 Legislative Council, — End of the second House of Assembly^ and its charac^ 
 ter. —Enumeration of new Acts. 
 
 The third Session of the second Provincial Parliament of Lower 
 Canada, pregnant with the deliberations of previous Sessions, was un- 
 usually prolific in laws, principally, however, of a local description. 
 It was opened on the 28th of March, 1799, with a Speech from the 
 Governor General, which alluded to the late important exploit? of his 
 Majesty’s Navy, under the command of the heroic Nelson; recommend- 
 ed the re-enactment of the Consolidation Act, and the continuation 
 
38 
 
 l>OLITfCAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 of the Act for the better preservation of his Majesty’s Government, to 
 the support of which in due vigour, was justly ascribed the peace, 
 prosperity, and extending commerce of the Country. 
 
 The Addresses of both Houses in reply, were nearly echoes of the 
 Speech ; and, owing probably to the knowledge possessed by the Ma- 
 jority of the House of Assembly of the differences between the Gov- 
 ernor and several Members of the Executive and the Legislative 
 Councils on the Land-business, the language of the Commons was flat- 
 tering to his Excellency, whose Administration was characterised as 
 benevolent. 
 
 The vigilant ambition of the Majority appeared, in adopting an 
 analogous practice of the House of Commons of Great Britain, by 
 postponing the reading of his Excellency’s Speech till after their privi- 
 lege of originating laws should, as matter of form, be exercised. Ac- 
 cordingly, when the House had returned from the Legislative Coun- 
 cil Chamber, where the Provincial Parliament had been opened, a 
 Bill continuing a previous Act for the appointment of Returning Offi- 
 cers was read for the first time ; after which the Speaker reported the 
 Speech of the Governor ; and a Committee of five Members was ap- 
 pointed to frame an Address. 
 
 Some improvement in conducting the routine of public business 
 was evident this Session; for we find that the renewal of expiring 
 laws occupied the first attention of the Legislators ; and the Bills 
 were promptly brought in and considered. 
 
 The violent aggressions on the public authorities by the opponents 
 of the Road Act, having been properly resisted by the Governor, 
 those who had any just grievances resorted to Constitutional mea- 
 sures, praying for a modification of some of the enactments ; and a 
 Bill was introduced which became a law this Session, modifying and 
 improving the previous Act, with reference chiefly to the cities and 
 vicinities of Quebec and Montreal. This Act, imposing an Assess- 
 ment on Rent, and enacting a composition for public labour, is analo- 
 gous to what, in Great Britain and Upper Canada, is termed Coun- 
 ty Rates, a species of local and direct taxes, which forms the legiti- 
 mate fund for the expenses of local establishments and improvements. 
 
 It will hereafter appear that the ^Majority of the House of Assembly, 
 influenced both by interest and anti-commercial prejudices, were re- 
 solved to raise by taxes on Commerce, instead of County, or rather 
 District Rates, the means of building and repairing Court-Houses 
 and Gaols, thus deviating, in an important point, from the practice of 
 other Countries, and leading to a lavish expenditure of the public mo- 
 nies. 
 
 The increasing population of the Province, attended by a large 
 augmentation of inhabitants in Quebec and Montreal, exposed to the 
 usual temptations, prescribed the necessity of a Legislative Provision 
 for the correction of various minor offenders ; but the views of the 
 Legislature at that time extended no farther than to make distinctions 
 between the prisoners in the District Gaols, confined as culprits, and 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 39 
 
 v.] 
 
 others confined for punishments awarded. The first essay towards a 
 House of Correction merely declared the Common Gaol to be a re- 
 ceptacle for various minor offenders, who should be employed at hard 
 labour, under the superintendance of Commis^sioners, interfering in no 
 small degree with the responsibilities of the Sheriff, and leading to in- 
 conveniencies which can only be removed by establishments for the 
 Correctional Police of Quebec and Montreal, entirely separated from 
 the Common Prisons of the Districts. The Act for the restricted pur- 
 pose aforesaid, however, gave rise to various temporary expedients, 
 tending to show the necessity of establishing, as soon as possible, a 
 House of Correction, worthy of the name ; and of wiiich the Institu- 
 tions of the United Kingdom and of the United States afford so many 
 models. 
 
 The Bill for the better regulation of Weights and Measures through - 
 out the Province, which became a law this Session, was of great uti- 
 lity ; but in the course of its discussion, the tenacity of the Majority 
 to old denominations, was particularly evinced in retaining the Cana- 
 dian Minot, which is about eight per cent larger tlian the Winchester 
 bushel, and five per cent larger than the bushel comprised in the Im- 
 perial Quarter of eight bushels, established in England in the year 
 1825. 
 
 The House of Assembly was employed in deliberating on the con- 
 tinuation of various temporary Acts, and on the Bills before men- 
 tioned, till the 23d April, when a Message was received from his Ex- 
 cellency signifying his Majesty’s gracious intention to advance a suffi- 
 cient sum of Money for the erection of Court Houses in the Districts 
 of Quebec and Montreal. An address of thanks was voted for this 
 Message ; and a Bill was soon after introduced for the purpose of ap- 
 plying this Money by Commissioners, and devising means of repay- 
 ment. The expenses were limited to Five Thousand Pounds for 
 Quebec and Montreal respectively; and the means of repayment 
 were established by taxes on various Writs, issuing in due course 
 of law in his Majesty’s Provincial Courts. This Bill having be- 
 come a law, had a considerable influence on the future conduct of the 
 Majorities of the House of Assembly, who, being partly composed of 
 Lawyers, were led by professional interest to deprecate such restric- 
 tions upon the litigious spirit of their clients. Taxes on Merchandise 
 were more agreeable to that influential profession ; and were success- 
 fully recommended as the ways and means for providing, at a future 
 day, new Gaols for the Districts of Quebec, Montreal, and Three 
 Rivers. 
 
 The re-enactment of the Consolidation Act, which had not been 
 assented to by his Majesty in the time limited by the Constitution, 
 was carried through with the utmost unanimity ; and as this law has a 
 bearing upon the Financial disputes, which have long agitated the 
 branches of the Provincial Legislature, it may be proper here to state 
 its object and consequences. The object of this Act, 39 Geo. III. 
 cap. 9, was to obtain the repeal of the British Act 14 Geo. III. cap 88, 
 
40 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 and 28 Geo. III. cap. 39 — and by offering a permanent Act, with per- 
 manent appropriations amounting to Twelve Thousand Pounds Ster- 
 ling, to obliterate all traces of Taxation by the Imperial Government 
 for the purposes of internalKevenue. The consequences of a compliance, 
 on the part of the British Parliament with the object of this Colonial 
 Act would have been, theoretically at least, to make the existence of his 
 Majesty’s Civil Govennraent depend on the wiW of the Canadian Legis- 
 lature. The British Ministry, however, have never moved Parliament 
 to comply with the conditions of this Act, which remains a dead let- 
 ter upon the Statute Book of Lower Canada. This hesitation was 
 the most decisive proof then afforded by his Majesty’s Government, 
 that the operation of the Constitutional Act had not answ ered the ex- 
 pectation of its framers ; and, aware of the composition of our local 
 Legislature, no person, acquainted with the tendencies of Colonial af- 
 fairs, and sincerely attached to the British connection, can avoid ac- 
 knowledging the judicious conduct of the Colonial Department, 
 which seems perfectly to have understood that there are occasionally 
 repeated and urgent calls to action, which true policy suggests the 
 expediency of answering, bj/ doing nothing at alL 
 
 But, returning to the proceedings of the House of Assembly, we 
 have to remark, that the negociations between the Commissioners of 
 Low er Canada, respecting the division of Revenue, was successful ; and 
 that additional articles of agreement, one of which suspended the ex- 
 ecution of the 6th article of the previous agreement, wtiich stipulated 
 the Imposition by Upper Canada of the same duties on imports from 
 the United States into that Province, as existed on imports from those 
 States into the Lower Province, w ere sanctioned. This part of the 
 arrangement was extremely favourable to Upper Canada, and was 
 permitted to exist so long as the Government of the United States 
 abstained from imposing duties on imports from Upper Canada.* 
 
 As connected with the Road Act, we should mention that the case 
 of Maitres dc Poste, or persons keeping horses and carriages for the 
 accommodation of travellers, was taken into consideration this SessioD, 
 and that a law was passed regulating the duty and compensation of 
 
 • To persons desirous of taking a retrospect of the intercourse between this Pro- 
 vince and Upper Canada, it may not be uninteresting to state the dutiable Articles 
 reported as liaving passed upwards by Coteau du Lac, namely 
 68,989^ gallons of Jamaica Spirits, or Rum, 
 
 2,625 do. foreign Brandy, or Spirits, 
 
 638 do. Molasses, 
 
 5000J do. Madeira iviiie, 
 
 13,804f do. Port and all other ^Vines except Madeira, 
 
 28,801 lbs. of Loaf or Lump Sugar, 
 
 ) 1,520 do. Muscovatlo Sugar, 
 
 8,445 do. Coffee, 
 
 2 do. Leaf Tobacco, 
 
 1,182 packs Playing Curds, 
 
 2,914 minots Salt. 
 
 The 2^ per cent, duty on dry goods did not exist at this time; consequently, the 
 amount of them and of many other articles cannot be found in the Report. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 41 
 
 those persons in a manner which encouraged the intercourse by land 
 between the principal Cities on the line of the St. Lawrence, varying 
 the rates of milage according to the state of the roads in the Spring and 
 Autumn, and admitting of an extra charge for relays of horses requir- 
 ed by persons travelling in their own carriages. 
 
 Several abortive projects for the encouragement of articles of Ca- 
 nadian produce were brought forward, and among others, a Bill for the 
 preservation of the Sugar Maple and Plane Trees, with a view to the 
 extension of the manufacture of Sugar. In a Commercial Colony, in- 
 terested in keeping up an intercourse with the British Sugar Colonies, 
 tuis proceeding was of doubtful expediency, and was opposed by the 
 Mercantile interest, with the same views as any direct encouragement 
 for the manufacture of Whiskey would now be opposed. 
 
 Applications for the establishment of new Parishes were again 
 made this Session, but without effect ; and the remote concessions, 
 inhabited by persons of the Romish Religion, were accommodated 
 with Missionaries, it being considered that the establishment of new' 
 Parishes was a matter of State policy, worthy of the deliberation of 
 the Imperial Parliament, and which long afterw^ards was attempted to 
 be provided for in the postponed Bill for uniting the Legislatures of 
 Low'er and Upper Canada, in the year 1822. 
 
 At the end of this Session of the Provincial Parliament, 3d June, 
 1799, the Royal Assent was given to ten Bills; and, in his closing 
 Speech to both Houses, the Governor in Chief bestowed ample praise 
 on the Members of the House of Assembly, appearing to solicit trom 
 them a testimony to their Constituents in favour of his public con- 
 duct ; and it is probable, from the unusual warmth of his expressions, 
 that his Excellency was desirous of obtaining farther proofs^ of attach- 
 ment to his Administration before visiting London, where his presence 
 had unfortunately been rendered necessary, in consequence of his du- 
 ferences with Cln'ef Justice Osgoode and the Executive Council, oa 
 the subject of publishing his Majesty’s gracious Instructions, to faci- 
 litate a jusi and liberal arrangement of the Claims of numerous de- 
 serving Individuals, wdio had been invited to lay out their money and 
 labour upon the Waste Lands of the Crown. , o 
 
 Before treating of the Fourth and last Session of the Second House 
 of Assembly, it will be proper to allude to some events t..row 
 
 light upon the spirit and ambition of the Majority of tnat Body, and 
 upon the general disposition of their Constituents, to whose sense so 
 many and fatiguing appeals, by repeated dissolutions and re-elections, 
 have been made, in his Majesty’s name, since the year 18UJ. 
 
 The extraordinary efforts required to carry on the V^ar between 
 Great Britain and the Revolutionary Government of Trance, haying 
 nearly exhausted the ingenious devices of Taxation, Prime Minis- 
 ter, the illustrious Mr. Pitt, w^as induced to feel the Pulse of the Na- 
 tion, by calling for voluntary contributions for the suppor^ - 
 just and necessary War, 
 
 of the 
 
 in rviiich, for the preservation of the Thrones, 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 the Altars and the Independence of European States, His Majesty 
 and his Allies were engaged. The result proved tliat the Pulse of 
 the British people beat high with loyalty and patriotism. The Con- 
 tributions, in which the widow’s mite was not despised, produced 
 millions of money in the United Kingdom ; and the occasion was 
 seized with avidity by Britons throughout the world, to manifest their 
 zeal for the National Cause, and forAhe support of the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment. Persons of this description, and the more immediate ad- 
 herents of the Administration of Low er Canada, in Quebec, Montreal, 
 Three Rivers and William-Henry, attempted to second the general 
 movement, and, by their example, to draw from the pockets of the 
 French Canadians and their Representatives, a few thousands of 
 pounds, but without effect. The French Canadians and their influ- 
 ential Representatives, from the causes already mentioned, had in no 
 manner sympathised with the British Nation, nor identified themselves 
 with its fortunes or its glory. On the contrary, the disposition of the 
 
 Nation Canadienne' and the ambition of its Representatives, fos- 
 tered by the preposterous policy of the Conquering Powder, were to 
 remain a separate people, distinguished from Englishmen by Laws, 
 Language, Manners and Customs of their own. Under such circum- 
 stances, it was unnecessary for the Majority of the House of Assem- 
 bly to take open measures against the Subscription, to alarm the 
 Peasantry by the spectre of Taxation and bad precedents; they 
 merely acquiesced in the national feeling expressed in the proverb, 
 
 Charity begins at home^' adding significantly, on the present occa- 
 sion, that it ought also to end there. The result may be easily guess- 
 ed by our readers : instead of obtaining fifty thousand pounds, as 
 some sanguine calculators expected, from a Province containing that 
 number of Householders, the Subscription was chiefly confined to 
 persons of British origin in the Cities nrd Boroughs, and did not ex- 
 ceed one tenth of that sum, th.oaghout the Canadas. 
 
 A contemporaneous event, however, show’ed that a little manage- 
 ment could obtain compliments and professions, costing little, and 
 pledging less of money or service. The intention of Governor Pres- 
 cott to visit London produced ^Xddresses warmly expressed and nu- 
 merously subscribed ; and the few' who sincerely esteemed that excel- 
 lent man w’ere joined by the many who considered his vigorous Ad- 
 ministration as unfavourable to their views, combining expressions of 
 sorrow for his departure with their secret hopes that he w^ould never 
 return. 
 
 The Administration now, w ith diminished lustre, was to be con- 
 ducted by a Civil Governor ; and the long continuation of Sir Robert 
 Shore Milnes, in the capacity of Lieutenant Governor, had a lasting 
 effect on the Affairs of the Province, by producing those compromis- 
 ing measures w hich entirely lost sight of the means of rendering the 
 Canadas subservient to the interest of the Empire at large. This Ad- 
 ministration, indeed, was chiefly occupied in dividing among its 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 43 
 
 V.] 
 
 greedy adherents the wrecks of the New Settlements on the Free and 
 Common Soccage Lunds ; and, in the absence of a Military Governor, 
 Lawyers and Priests encreased their influence and intrigues, while 
 nothing but the tenacity or vis inertice of Government and Party was 
 displayed. If our readers, however, w'ere satisfied with appearances 
 on paper^ they would admire the interested jugglery now displayed 
 by the Executive, in numerous grants of Townships, under pretext of 
 settling the Waste Lands of the Crown. To a judicious observer, 
 liowever, the List of Grants, during this long Administration, conveys 
 the revolting idea of vast tracts of fertile Land being conveyed to 
 persons devoid alike of the talent and capital requisite to form bene- 
 ficial Settlements ; while the conduct of those monopolists, in eject- 
 ing many deserving occupants of those Lands, forcibly reminds us of 
 the bitter sarcasm of Galgacus against the Romans, ^^xvken the^^ have 
 made a desert they call it jjeare,'' 
 
 This Session was opened by the Lieutenant Governor, 5th March, 
 
 1 SCO, with a Speech to both Houses ; in which he alluded to the tran- 
 quillity insured to Canada, and to the other Dependencies of the Brit- 
 ish Empire in North America, by the protection of his Majesty’s 
 Arms ; but, considering the unabated spirit of intrigue which charac- 
 terised the French Government, then administered by Napoleon Buo- 
 nai)arte, as First Consul, he recommended the continuance of these 
 temporary Laws, for the support of his Majesty’s Government and the 
 regulation of Aliens, which had already produced the most salutary 
 effects. Adverting to a contagious disease which had prevailed 
 among the Troops landed from a Transport towards the close of the 
 past year, he recommended a revisal of the Quarantine Act, and the 
 investment of the Executive, with additional powers for the preven- 
 tion of the introduction and spreading of such diseases. His Excel- 
 lency, addressing the Flouse of Assembly, next promised a state- 
 ment of the Provincial Revenue of the Crown, and alluded to the 
 cheerful and successful manner in which the British Nation support- 
 ed the unexampled burthej)S of the War. Addressing both Houses, 
 he injudiciously boasted of an alledged success in obtaining voluntary 
 Contributions, w'ithin the Province, for the support of the War in 
 Europe ; and, after a transition to the friendly relations then existing 
 with the United States, his Excellency ended with stating that he 
 deemed it unnecessary to recommend to both Branches of the Legis- 
 lature, a continuation of that zealous attention to the public welfare, 
 which, he w'as pleased to say, had hitherto so highly distinguished 
 their proceedings. 
 
 The Addresses of both Houses were nearly echoes to his Excellen- 
 cy’s Speech; but the Majority of the House of Assembly, very judi- 
 ciously prevented any allusion to the paragraph which boasted of vo- 
 luntary Contributions, well knowing how little share themselves or their 
 Constituents had in such tokens of loyalty ; but this Body coincided 
 with the Legislative Council in complimentary expressions to his Ex- 
 cellency on his accession to the Government of the Province. 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 U 
 
 [chap. 
 
 1 he House of Assembly began the public business, by adverting 
 to the expiring Laws; and it was resolved to take the Speech of his 
 Excellency into consideration, the 12th March. On the 10th of 
 March, an attempt was made by the Commercial Minority, to obtain 
 some direct encouragement by bounty, for the culture of Hemp, an 
 article to which the soil of some parts of the Province was said to be 
 well adapted, and which the wants of the British Navy w ould render 
 saleable at a fair remunerating price in the British Market. But, 
 when a motion was make to refer the subject to a Committee of five 
 Members, the Majority, remarking that the demand for the article 
 w^ould chiefly depend upon the contingency of a long duration of the 
 present War, negatived the question ; and they have generally refused 
 to vote the money of their Constituents for similar purposes, leaving 
 such objects to the influence of external Commerce, and to the pa- 
 tronage of the Imperial Government. 
 
 After the House bad expeditiously passed the Bills for continuing 
 the Act for the better preservation of his Majesty’s Government, and 
 for tlie regulation of Commerce between this Province and the United 
 States, the Majority resumed the subject of the Estates of the lately 
 proscribed and extinct Order of Jesuits, which they had learned had 
 recently been taken possession of by the Executive under the prero- 
 gative of Conquest, and the reservation of Rights mentioned in the 
 capitulation of Montreal, and again adverted to in the unrepealed 
 clauses of the Act 14, Geo. III. cap. 83. Jealous of this legitimate 
 appropriation of Estates, the Revenue of which if afterwards applied by 
 the Crow n to purposes of Education might not be so applied as to 
 suit the view s of keeping the Nation Canadienne a separate people, 
 the Majority voted an Address to his Excellency, praying for certain 
 documents to facilitate the investigation of the Claims and Pretensions 
 of the Province on the Jesuits’ College, converted into Barracks, and 
 to the Estates of that Order originally granted by the King of France, 
 for the purpose of educating the Natives of he Country. The reply 
 of his Excellency stated, that in consequence of the Address of the 
 First Flouse of Assembly, on the 11th April, 1793, the Claims of the 
 Province had been considered by his Majesty in Council, and that 
 the result of this consideration had been an Order to take possession 
 for the Crown ; that if, after this explanation, the House ^ihould deem 
 it advisable to investigate, they should have access to the Documents 
 required ; but his Excellency having insinuated that farther applica- 
 tion on the subject might be inconsistent with their accustomed re- 
 spect for the decisions of his Majesty on matters connected with iiis 
 Prerogatives, the House passed to the order of the day ; and the 
 Jesuits Estates and the Commissioners for their management have 
 ever since been merely topics of occasional declamation in the Grand 
 Committee of Grievances. 
 
 Among Local INIatters should be mentioned a Bill which became a 
 Law for the erection of a Bridge over the River Jacques Cartier, the 
 rapidity of whose current had recently been fatal to passengers in the 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 45 
 
 V-] 
 
 ferry-boats. The Expenditure on this object was to be fifteen hun- 
 dred pounds, which, as usual, the Majority would not suffer to depend 
 upon a County Rate, but ordered to be taken from the General Fund 
 of Taxation on Commerce. 
 
 This Session is rendered remarkable by an abortive attempt to es- 
 tablish a qualification to entitle persons to be elected Members of 
 the House of Assembly, a subject which long afterwards was intro- 
 duced into the Union Bill of the year 1822. It will hereafter appear 
 that the Majority were more inclined (as in the instance of revising 
 admission to a Jew) to establish a Religious Test than a pecuniary 
 qualification. 
 
 The expected General Election and other circumstances produced 
 frequent instances of adjournment of the House, and of Committees 
 fur want of a quorum ; but an attempt, towards the end of the Ses- 
 sion, to reduce the Quorum fi'om 17 to 10, was resisted as tending to 
 sacrifice the interest of the Ruling Party to the Business of the Coun- 
 try, which appears to have been readily postponed for Electioneering 
 purposes ; and this Session passed without a call of the House, not- 
 withstanding the following important affair. After some ])reliminary 
 proceedings, including a hearing of Counsel, the House, on the 2d 
 April, resolved, by a Majority of 21 to 8, that C. B. Bouc, Esq., having 
 been convicted in the Court of King’s Bench, Montreal, of a conspira- 
 cy, w'ith sundry other persons, to defraud Etienne Drouin of divers 
 large sums of money, be expelled the House of Assembly. 
 
 The Majority show^ed great jealousy of all measures originating in 
 the Legislative Council ; and on this account, some necessary amend- 
 ments of the Judicature Act had been long retarded. On the 8th 
 April, a Bill for this purpose, sent down by the Council for concur- 
 rence, was taken into consideration ; but little progress was made in 
 it during the remainder of the Session. 
 
 The want of a Quorum, before mentioned, was the principal cause 
 of much unfinished Business being left for the consideration of a New 
 Parliament ; and having prolonged the Session with little effect, dur- 
 ing April and May, it was closed on the 20th of the latter month, 
 with a Speech from his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, of the 
 most conciliatory description. This course, on the eve of a General 
 Election, may have suited the purpose of the Executive ; but we think 
 that the praise that could at any time be justly bestowed on this Par- 
 liament, is rather of a negative description. This Second House of 
 Assembly displayed no extensive views for the improvement of the 
 Country, either in Agriculture or in Commerce; and it is worthy of 
 remark, that though their Financial Concerns were so nearly connect- 
 ed with the Trade of the Country, no General Statement of the Im- 
 ports and Exports is to be found in their Journals. 
 
 Besides continuations of previous Acts, the following Laws were 
 made this Session : — An Act to give further powers to the Executive 
 
4G 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Government to prevent the introduction or spreading of Infectious 
 or Contagious Diseases in this Province ; An Act for the Erection of 
 a Bridge on the River Jacques Cartier; A Declaratory Act respect- 
 ing Suits for Criminal Conversation ; an Act to prevent the harbour- 
 ing of Runaway Seamen. 
 
 Notk. — J(*an Joseph Ca^of , the last of the Canadian Jesuits, died on the 10th 
 March, 1800, and the expectation of this event gave occasion to the present renewal 
 ot the Question which liad not been agitated in the Assembly since the year 1793. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 47 
 
 V.J 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 A. D. 1801 & 1802. 
 
 General Election for the Third House of Assembly* — The Executive prevents 
 the return of any Member inimical to the Land Board.— Composition of the 
 House described.— Pa 7 'ty Spirit not yet an impediment to Public Business. 
 — The Imperial Govei'nment appai'eni^y unaware of the obstacles to Anglic 
 fcation caused by the Constitutional Acts- — First Session. — Mr. Panet is re^ 
 elected Speaker, — Lieutenant Governor's Speech . — The Addi’ess of the House 
 of Assembly^ in alluding to Tree Schools^ shows its exclusive attachment to 
 the French Language. — Be-election of C. B. BouCy the expelled Member . — 
 His case compared with that of John TVilkes. — Thi^ Session remarkable for 
 the number of Acts passed. — Judges and Lawyers combine with the Country 
 Members in taxing Commerce . — This sy Uem of Taxation^ and a ternporary 
 pro perity, produce a lavish disposition of Public Monies, — Act emp rwering 
 the Judges of the Court of King's Bench to make Rules and Orders of Prac^ 
 tice* — Important consequences of the exercise of th ^se powers at a future day . — 
 rebates on the Act respecting Wills and Testaments.— The introduction of the 
 Dec isory Oath censured.— Aboi'tive attempt to modify the Feudal Law asre^ 
 spects his Majesty's Tenants en Roture — Supply to his Majesty by two perma- 
 nent Acts. — Act for the Advancement of Learning.— Obstacles to the executvm 
 of this Act. — Act for removing the old Fortifications of Montreal.— End of the 
 Session. — Second Session. — Preliminary Remarks . — The Executive eludes the 
 dangerous consequences of the powers of the Popiclar Branchy by temp jris- 
 ing expedients. — Allusion to the Civil List.— Lieutenant Governot 's Speech. 
 — The Address of the Asseinbly re-echoes his abuse of the American Settlers 
 ejected by the Patentees. — /Abortive attempt to improve the Road Acty by Mr. 
 Taschef eau. — Lespatch of Business . — Utility of Executive Councillors in the 
 Ho7ise of Assembly. — l7iconve7iiencies caused by their futui^e exclusion. — Axt 
 to encotcrage the culture of Hemp. — Attempt to obtain a pecuniary allows 
 ance for the service of Members of the Assembly y defeated by the iempoi'ary 
 combination of English Members and Canadian Placemen — This Sessioji 
 closed with a Speech suited to the temporising views of Sir Robert Shore 
 Millies' Admin istrat ion. 
 
 The Elections of the Members for the Third House of Assembly of 
 Lower Canada, were distinguished by considerable warmth ; and some 
 important local interests, combined with personal and professional am- 
 bition, to render a seat in the House of Assembly an object of competi- 
 tion. The Executive, anxious to prevent the arrangements of the Land 
 Business from being disturbed, took great pains to keep out any one 
 likely to represent the persons aggrieved by those arrangements ; and 
 
48 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 they succeeded bo well in this object, that the disappointed Settlers 
 could not second their views of obtaining relief through a mission to 
 London, by exciting some interest in their favour in the House of As- 
 sembly, 
 
 The Executive were then able to return wliom they pleased for the 
 Borough of William-Henry ; and they, therefore, instructed the At- 
 torney-General, Mr. Sew'ell, to try his fortune as a Candidate for the 
 County of Quebec ; for which purpose, Mr. Black retired in his fa- 
 vour ; but the French Canadian interest was too strong, and that Of- 
 ficer owed his seat in the House to his Majesty's Borough, aforesaid. 
 In the Borough of Three-Rivers, also, the Executive prevailed; while 
 in the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, the Mercantile interest com- 
 bined with the Executive, in returning a favourable majority ; and on 
 a review of the whole composition of this Third House of Assembly, 
 it might have been predicted that the immediate interests of the Gov- 
 ernment, apart from any views of the anglification of the Country, 
 and of making beneficial Settlements of the Crown Lands, would be 
 upheld ; and that the influence of men in office would be so much in- 
 creased as to produce a considerable jealousy and reaction an the part of 
 the French Canadians at a future day.* Tin’s House consisted of 
 thirty-six French Canadian and fourteen English Members ; and 
 among those fifty v/ere four Members of the Executive Council, three 
 Judges of the Court of King s Bench, four Seigneurs, Proprietors un- 
 der the Feudal Tenure, some Notaries and Lawyers, including the At- 
 torney-General and Solicitor-General, three Merchants engaged in 
 extensive Foreign Trade, three holders of minor Offices under Gov- 
 ernment, thirteen Habitants or Peasants, some of who).i were unable 
 to write their names^ the remainder consisting of Inland Traders, Auc- 
 tioneers, Shopkeepers, <S:c. This Assembly, indeed, was as well com- 
 posed as the circumstances of the Country and its vicious Constitu- 
 tion, giving almost univer al suffrage to the French Canadians, would 
 permit ; — and the business done, in its contracted sphere, will prove 
 the activity of various interests, influencing the march of the Admi- 
 nistration. It will also be observed, that party spirit and competi- 
 tion between the Branches of the Legislature could still be soothed 
 into compromise, and that measures rather than the men or the depart- 
 ments in which they originated^ were taken into consideration. iNIean- 
 
 ♦ The followinrr Members prenerally voted with the Government: (Executive 
 
 Councillors and Odicers under Government) : INIessrs. Youn^^ M'Gill, Lees, Be 
 Bonne, l\ L. Panct, Sewell, Foucher, Croigie, Caldwell, Coffin, Plante, Baby. — (Law- 
 yers and Merchants); JYalker, Lester, Bell, Badglei/:^{iSeigneurs) ; James Cuthhert, 
 Boss Cnlhbert, 
 
 There was no formidable opposition to the restricted and temporising views of 
 this Administration ; but the following names were generally adverse to Govern- 
 ment measures during the present Session ; Messrs. Bedard, Poulin, Archambault, 
 and Tellier, Both sides of the House, however, were unanimous in granting Sup- 
 plies to his Majesty in aid of the permanent Revenue, which already exceeded twen- 
 ty thousand pounds sterling. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 49 
 
 VI.] 
 
 time, the British Government, losing sight of the consequences of the 
 Constitutional Acts, li and 31, Geo. IIL, appear, by the Instructions 
 of the Colonial Department, to have adverted to the anglilication of 
 the Country as a mere matter of routine ; and the very terms of that 
 part of his Excellency’s Speech which alluded to the establishment 
 of Free-Schools, hereafter mentioned, proved that they had no idea o£ 
 the obstacles to their wishes of sp'eadingthe English Language, tohich 
 their own Acts, as njhresaid, had created. 
 
 This Third Provincial Parliament was begun on the 1st January, 
 1801, by the preliminary arrangement of choosing a Speaker, when 
 some feeble attempts were made by the Minority — first, to choose a 
 French Canadian Placeman, in the person of Judge Debonne — and 
 next to elect a British-born Subject, and Executive Councillor, Mr. 
 Young ; but Mr. J. A. Panet, the former Speaker, being the choice of 
 the Majority, was approved by Lieutenant Governor Milnes, in terms 
 of eulogium exceeding the accustomed forms of etiquette and reserve, 
 practised by his predecessors. 
 
 On the lOfh January, the House being returned from the Legisla- 
 tive Council Chamber, and the salvo of privilege having taken place, 
 by giving leave to introduce and read a Bill, the Speaker reported his 
 Excellency’s Speech, embracing a variety of topics, chiefly connected 
 with the fmmediate wants and the Police of the Province. After al- 
 luding to the uncertain' results of negociations for Peace in Europe, 
 his Excellency recommended a continuance of the Acts for the better 
 preservation of his Majesty’s Government and the regulation of Aliens ; 
 and, adverting to the recent distressing Fires which afflicted Quebec, 
 lie recommended that some regulations should be made, to render the 
 assistance of the Public more immediate and effectual on such occa- 
 sions. Having next recommended a provision for the support of the 
 Insane and Foundlings, and promised to submit a Statement of the 
 Provincial Revenue of the Crown and of the Expenditure, remarking, 
 at the same time, the encrease of Trade, his Excellency communicat- 
 ed the intentions of his Majesty to set apart a suitable portion of the 
 Lands of the Crown, and appropriate their Revenue for the purpose of 
 supporting a competent number of Free-Schools for the instruction of 
 the rising generation, in the first rudiments of useful Learning, and in 
 the English tongue, and also, as occasion might require, for founda- 
 tions of a more large and comprehensive nature. * 
 
 By command of his Majesty, the Lieutenant Governor acknowledged 
 
 • The Act which was passed this Session, in consequence of the communication 
 aforesaid, and entitled “ An Act for the establishment of Free-Schools and for the 
 “ advancement of Learning in this Province,” contemplated two objects— the esta- 
 blishnientof Colleges by a Corporation called the Royal LiUitution, which, during 
 nearly thirty years, has remained inelScient. and the erection of Free-Schools, which 
 party and sectarian obstacles made difficult of execution. The natural jealousy of 
 the French Canadians was roused by the power which this Act gave to the Govern- 
 ment in appointing Teachers and in diminishing the accustomed controul of the 
 Romish Clergy in the education of the people. A different plan originally brought 
 
50 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap.’ 
 
 the loyalty of his Canadian Subjects, as evinced by the voluntary 
 Contributions adverted to in our l^st Chapter ; and be concluded liis 
 Speech by anticipating unanimity and dispatch in Public Business 
 from Memberb whom he personally recognised as acquainted with I 
 the necessary routine, and animated with correct views of the public i 
 
 w'elfare. ^ ! 
 
 \ The Addresses of both Houses were filled with compliments to his 
 Excellency, and expressions of loyalty to his Majesty ; but it is wor- 
 ! thy of remark, that the Assembly, in nearly echoing the clause of the 
 ' Speech respecting Free-Scbools, omitted the words Evglkk iovgve' 
 
 showing that this part of the proposed instruction was uncongenial 
 
 I to the feelings of the Majority; and it will hereafter appear that the 
 jpreservaiion of the French tongue^ and its eviploi/merd in the contwuhi- 
 cation of English Constitutional Imvcs aiid Freetdents veere parnwount 
 objects in their minds. The Coin of the Realm excepted, they were 
 disposed to quarrel with every thing that was not presented in a French 
 dress ; and this propensity was very much indulged in their social and 
 political intercourse with the King’s Representative, who carried his 
 complacency to an unprecedented extent, in the annals of temporising 
 Policy. 
 
 Before adverting to the Legislative conduct of the Assembly in this 
 Session, we must remark a curious instance of the tenacity of the 
 Constituents of the Majority, who then, as more recently, evinced 
 their obstinacy in returning old Members, however obnoxious to Law, 
 and lost in character and reputation. The proposed subject is also 
 interesting as having somie distant analogy to the famous case of the } 
 Middlesex Elections in England : when the pseudo patriot, John Wilkes, 1 
 after having been expelled, was re-elected a Member of the House ] 
 of Commons.* 3 
 
 As formerly mentioned, Charles Baptiste Bouc, one of the ? 
 Members for the County oPEffingham, had been expelled from the 
 House of Assembly, during the last Session of the Second Parliament, >2 
 in consequence of a previous conviction of conspiracy, with others, to 3 
 defraud one Etienne Drouin of divers sums of money. But when the | 
 Elections for the Third Parliament approached, the partiality of the | 
 Electors to tins man, and their contradictory spirit, were evinced in I 
 
 forward this very Session by ]\Ir. Perrault, and laid aside by the influence of the | 
 Executive, was recently modified, and has gone into ellect in a manner con- f 
 sistent with the intentions of the INJajoriiy, to distii^uish the French Canadian Ka- f 
 tion from the rest of his jMajesty*s Subjects, in their Language and other character- / ^ 
 istics. ' 
 
 * The principal difTercnce between the two popular favourites was, that W’ii.kes [ 
 
 was a man of talents and education, while Bocc was deficient in both : these two -I 
 
 worthies, however, resembled each other in that species of low cunning, w hich, aided ’ 
 by impudence, always finds dupes in the multitude; and the cry of persecution by 
 the Government was raised with similar efl'ect in both cases. At a recent date, the 
 clemency of his Majesty’s Representative was exerted in paidoning Mr. Bouc ; but ^ 
 we have not heard that, like Mr. V^ilkes, he has obtained any office of honour or of 
 profit, from a public body. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 51 
 
 VI.] 
 
 an extraordinary manner. The cry in favour of the rejected Member 
 resounded throiij^i the whole County of CfBngham. The opportunity 
 ot asserting what they called their Rights was seized with avidity by 
 the Electors, vvdio triumphantly returned the same Charles Baptiste 
 Bone, as a Member of the Honourable House. He was again ex- 
 pelled with less ceremony than before — but was re-elected on the 30th 
 April, after the Prorogation of the House ; and his annual annoyance 
 could only be prevented by the unprecedented measure of passing an 
 Act in the Second Session for disqualifying and restraining Charles 
 ** Baptiste Bouc from being elected, and sitting and voting as a 
 
 Member of the House of Assembly f 
 
 This Session is remarkable by the number of Acts passed, and the 
 variety of subjects brought into discussion. The Crown Lawyers and 
 several Judges of the Court of King’s Bench of Quebec and Montreal, 
 being Members of the House, important Amendments of the Laws 
 were suggested by their experience, while deference to their authori- 
 ty facilitated their obtaining the concurrence of the other Branches of 
 the Legislature. This professional influence was likewise exhibited 
 in ample appropriations to finish the Court Houses of Quebec and 
 Montreal ; the expenditure for which was now calculated to be nearly 
 double the suras first contemplated. The jSrosperity of the Country, 
 owing to an abundant Crop, and to the temporary demand for Grain 
 in the British Market, had for the present produced a lavish disposi- 
 tion, evinced at once by encreased appropriations for the expences of 
 the House of ^Assembly, in Salaries of Officers, and for the purchase 
 of Furniture and French Books, and preparing for the following Ses- 
 sion a project of granting pecuniary compensation, not only to the 
 Speaker but also to the Members of the House. 
 
 The general importance of this Session, and our principal object of 
 pointing to the ambition of the Majority, will render it necessary to 
 enter into some details ; and we, therefore, proceed in order of time, 
 to notice the progress of Business in the Popular Branch. 
 
 In Amendments of the Laws, the late Mr. Justice Panel distinguish- 
 ed himself this Session ; and we find him, at its very commencement, 
 seconding the motion of Mr. Bertheloty for leave to bring in an im- 
 portant Bill, which, after much discussion and modification, became 
 a Law, entitled An Act to amend certain forms 'proceeding, in 
 the Courts of Civil Jurisdiction in this Province, an^^ to facilitate the 
 Administration of Justice'' This Act, however, is not so celebrated 
 for its admitted benefits in its original enactments, as for the conse- 
 quences of the employment, by the Judges, at a future day, of the 
 powers conferred by Sections 16th and 17th, which we shall here 
 transcribe: Section 16, enacts that the different Courts of Civil Judu 
 cature in this Province shall have power and authority to make and es- 
 tablish such Orders and Rules of Practice in the said CourtSy in all Ci- 
 vil matterSy touching all services of Processy executions and returns of 
 all Writs, proceedings for bringing Causes to issue as well in Term as 
 out (f Ter my and other matters of ^Regulation within 'the said Courts. 
 
52 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [C^IAP. 
 
 Section 17, evncts that ike Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction 
 tvilhin this Province shall have povoer and authority within their respect- 
 ive Jurisdictions to make a Talde oj Pees for the Cjfcers of the said 
 Courts, which Table the said Courts of Justice may alter and correct 
 from time to time, as they may see necessary. And the Officers of the 
 said Courts respectively are directed to conform to the same. It would 
 be premature here to describe the manner in which those extensive 
 powers, capable by construction of innovating on the Laws and de- 
 grading the profession of Barristers were exercised. Suffice it at pre- 
 sent to say that, owing to the mode of executing the first mentioned 
 Section, the Chief Justice of the Province, Mr. Sewell, and the late 
 Cliief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench for the District of Mon- 
 treal, Mr. Monk, w’^ere severally impeached by the House of Assem- 
 bly in the year 1814, and that the alleged abuse of powers conferred 
 by the 17th Section, produced a temporary secession of all the Bar- 
 risters practising in the Court of King’s Bench of Montreal. 
 
 Those results, with their injurious influence on Provincial Politics, 
 will in due time be presented to our readers ; and we now return to 
 the Session. Mr. Justice Panet brought in a Bill which excited the 
 discussion of an important question of Public Morals. The Bill even- 
 tually became a Law, entitled “ An Act to explain and amend the Low 
 respecting Wills and Testaments^ His principal-object was to pre- 
 vent the technicalities of the French Law^ from interfering with the 
 true intent and meaning of a provision in the Act 14, Geo. III. cap. 
 83; considered favourable to the interests of the Settlers of British 
 origin, which enacted that* every owner of Lands, Goods or Credits in 
 the said Province, having a right to alienate the same in his or her life 
 time, by Deed of Sale, Gift or otherwise, may devise or bequeath the 
 same, at his or her death, by his or her last Will and Testament. In 
 the Bill of Amendment, the Third and Fourth Provisoes, w hich re- 
 stricted the married Testator to the rule of the French Law w ith re- 
 spect to Bequests in favour of Illegitimate Children, were struck out, 
 by Majorities of 13 to 5, after some interesting Debates ; in which a 
 recurrence to the old Law of Bastardy was viewed as calculated to 
 introduce into the Province, under the Feudal designation of Children 
 of the State, a degraded race, burthensome to the Government ; it be- 
 ing justly remarked that if the natural affection of the Parent w’ere re- 
 stricted in providing for the Child, the grievance of abandonment of 
 Illegitimate Children would be augmented, and the Public Expense, 
 for the support of Foundlings, proportionably ena*eased. 
 
 Another attempt in favour of the French Law w as more success- 
 ful ; but in our humble opinion it had not even the pretext of morali- 
 ty in its favour : we allude to the admission of the Sfrment Deci^oire, 
 or Oath by v^hich, under certain circumstances, a Debtor may be per- 
 mitted to clear himself of a Commercial Debt by simply sxvearing to 
 its having been paid and satisfied, without even stating the time or place 
 of payment. We are bold to assert that this retrograde movement to 
 French Law has been more prolific of perjury than all the tempta- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 53 
 
 vl] 
 
 tions to that crime which tlie practice of the English Criminal Law 
 and Rules of Evidence has introduced into the Province; and it is 
 one of the deplorable instances, in which the Sovereign may be said 
 to tempt the people to commit sin, and become obnoxious to the re- 
 tributions of a future state of existence. 
 
 And from success in reviving hurtful laws, we have little consolation 
 in adverting to the failure of an attempt to give limiied relief to the 
 holders of lands under the Feudal Tenure. In the progress of the 
 Bill for the relief of Persons holding Lands or Immoveable Property 
 of His Majesty en Roture^ upon which Lods et Vefiics, or Miitation 
 Fives are due, Mr* Youngs seconded by M?'. Cuthbert, proposed a 
 clause, enabling His Majesty to conform to the practice of the old 
 Colonies, and the spirit of the Proclamation of 1763 already men- 
 tioned, by establishing, instead of those Feudal Burthens, an Annual 
 Rent* This, however, was of course resisted, as an important inno- 
 vation on the French and Feudal Law; and no effectual relief of this 
 description was afforded, till the Imperial Parliament interfered, as 
 will be hereafter mentioned, in the years 1822 and 1825. 
 
 The limits which we have prescribed to ourselves, prevent our en- 
 tering into the merits of various Acts of a local description passed 
 during this Session ; but we ought to mention the more important 
 matter of the supplies voted to His Majesty, which consisted of the 
 following permanent Acts, 41 Geo* Ill.y Cap. 14:^ granting to His 
 Majesty certain new Duties on the Importation into this ProvincCy 
 of all manufactured Tobacco and and for disalloxcing the draw)- 
 
 hack on Tobacco manufactured within this Province: 41 Geo* IIL^ 
 Cap* 13, granting to His Majesty a duty on licensing Billiard Tables 
 for hirCy and regulating the same* The most important Acts passed 
 this Session, besides those already alluded to in this Chapter, wei'e an 
 Act to amend an article of the Code Civil, with its derogations as it 
 hath been usually received in this Province, which directs and fixes 
 the degree of affinity and consanguinity of witnesses in civil suits. 
 
 The following Bills, though reserved for His Majesty’s assent, be- 
 came Laws eventually, and were introduced into the Statute Book 
 next Session:— a Bill for the establishment of Free Schools, and the 
 advancement of learning in this Province ; and a Bill for removing 
 the old Walls and Forifeations that surround the City of Montreal, 
 and otherwise provide for the salubrity, convenience and embellishment 
 of the said City* 
 
 This busy Session of the Provincial Parliament, was closed on the 
 8th of April, 1801, with a speech expressive of the utmost confidence 
 in the good intentions and approbation of the measures of both 
 Houses ; and, in the accustomed mode of giving them credit for taking 
 a deep interest in the fortunes of the British Empire, His Excellen- 
 cy, in the course of his speech, announced the completion of the Le- 
 gislative Union between the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland; 
 and he w^as pleased to say that this important event so effectually 
 consolidating the strength, security and prosperity of the Empire, 
 
54 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [[chap. 
 
 would no doubt he sensibly felt in this Province, which, part a Icing in 
 the geiieral beneJU^t would not )(iil to partake also in the zalisj^aclion 
 which it conveyed to the paternal bosom of our most gracious Sovereign. 
 
 From the facts detailed in our previous Chapters, it will have ap- 
 peared to our readers that the present Administration was distinguish- 
 ed bv a prudence approaching pusillanimity, in never risking a reconj- 
 ineudation originating in itself^ to the IL)use of Assembly, calcula- 
 ted to excite the prejudices and strenuous opposition of the majori- 
 ty. The Constitution, in its developement, blending itself wbh the 
 French Laws and Feudal Tenure, could not fail to alarm such an 
 administration, and every occasion of enabling the French Canadian 
 Majority to display their pow'er, \vas sedulously avoided. This system 
 is connected with the refusal of His Majesty’s ?Jinisters to move the 
 Imperial Parliament to give effect to the Consolidation Act before 
 mentioned, which might have procured a repeal of the few" British 
 Acts, including 14- G^o. IIL, Cap. 88, and made the support of the 
 Civil Government, and the regidaiion arid application of the whole 
 Provincial Revenue of the Crown, depend upon, and be controvled by 
 the Provincial Legislature. This system of eluding the general con- 
 troul of the Revenue, will be more clearly perceived, when we come 
 to state the hesitation evinced by Sir James Craig, in the year 1810, 
 to applaud the offer of the House of Assembly to vote the necessary 
 sums for defraying the civil expenses of the Government of the Pro- 
 vince ; the consequences of an acceptance of which, and the ambi- 
 tion in which it originated, w’ere w-ell understood by that intelligent 
 Officer, and by His Majesty’s Executive and Legislative Councillors. 
 
 Having thus pointed at the interest and disposition of the Govern- 
 ment, preferring the course of obstructing the career, instead of re- 
 forming the abuses of a vicious Constitution, w’e proceed to review the 
 events of the second Session of the third Provincial Parliament of 
 Lower Canada. 
 
 This Session w'as opened by the Lieutenant Governor, recently 
 raised to the dignity of n Baronet of the United Kingdom, with a 
 most gracious speech, beginning with delusive expectations of settled 
 peace in Europe, and alluding to the late successes of His IMajesty’s 
 arms in Egypt. After remarking the tranquillity and prosperity of the 
 Province, blessed with abundant crops of Grain, His Excellency con- 
 gratulated both Houses on the entire suppression of the troubles 
 caused by discontented occupiers of the Crown Lands, many of 
 whom having been ejected by the Patentees, had broken out into ri- 
 otous proceedings, before quitting the Province, subjecting themselves 
 to being stigmatized by his Excellency, as a band of lawless adven- 
 turers, to exterminate whom, it had been necessary to appeal to the 
 loyalty of the great majority of His Majesty’s Subjects. The late 
 coalition of the Northern Powers of Europe, had induced His Majes- 
 ty’s Ministers to look to the Colonies for supplying some portion of 
 Naval Stores, in case of future emergency; and His Excellency stated 
 the commands of His Majesty to take into consideration the means 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 55 
 
 VI.] 
 
 of introducing and encouraging the culture of hemp in this Province, 
 which subject, was therefore recommended to the Legislature ; and 
 expectations, equally sanguine and delusive, of success were express- 
 ed. * The continuation of the Act for establishing Houses of Cor- 
 rection, was recommended ; with reference to which establishment, 
 His Excellency made some pertinent remarks as to the means of pro- 
 ducing habits of industry in convicts, particularly those who might 
 be still young and guilty of minor offences. After announcing his 
 intention of laying the accounts of the Provincial Revenue of the 
 Crown before the House of Assembly, His Excellency ended his 
 speech, by stating to both Houses, his confidence in their zeal and 
 prudence in pursuit of the prosperity of the Province, and his anxr- 
 ous wish that no Session of the present Parliament should pass by, 
 without being distinguished by some plgns conspicuously productive 
 of public advantage. 
 
 The addresses of both Houses were confined to the topics of the 
 speech, divelling emphatically on the extermination (if the lawless ad- 
 venturers ; and it is worthy of remark that the Legislative Council 
 introduced the same topic, in an extraordinary address presented at 
 the satne period to congratulate His Excellency on the hereditary 
 rank of Baronet, conferred upon him by His Majesty. 
 
 On the 12th of January, Mr. Taschereau, Grand Voyer, or Super- 
 intendant of Roads and Bridges, brought in a Bill to explain^ 
 amend and reduce into one Act of Parliament^ the laws for makings 
 repairing and altering the Highways and Bridges in the country parts 
 of this Province." This measure was proposed, after due deliberation, 
 bv the Officer who had experienced the deficiencies of the laws ; and, 
 in the course of the discussion of merits, many suggestions of im- 
 provement were made, calculated to combine local with general ad- 
 vantages ; but the old opposition to the Road Act, reappeared, with 
 all their prejudices and jealousies ; and employing the manoeuvre of 
 absenting themselves, a quorum could seldom be obtained ; and this 
 promising Bill, languishing through several stages, died a natural 
 death before the end of the Session. 
 
 It should be mentioned that the presence of men, with habits of 
 business, gave great activity during the Session; and w^e occasionally 
 find at once a reference to a Committee of the whole House, of 
 measures recommended by the Executive, particularly when tl»e con- 
 tinuance and amendment only of previous Acts were in question ; 
 
 • Tt requires extraordinary encourag^ennent to induce a people to cultivate any 
 article with no other and more immediate view than Commerce ; but when their 
 own wants oblige them to attempt the production of what is connected with their 
 subsistence or luxurious indulgence, in eating, or drinking and clothing, they are 
 easily stimulated to action by Government. On this principle, the cultivation of 
 Tobacco, the br-eding of Cattle and Hogs, the raising of a surplus of Grain, the 
 distillation of Spirituous Liquors, could easily he promoted in the Canadas ; — in 
 the same manner, also, we have seen the cultivation of Cotton and Rice and the 
 extensive breeding of Sheep for the sake of their fleeces, aiiiiost spontaneously in- 
 troducing themselves into the United States. 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 56 
 
 [chap. 
 
 the despatch of business was also facilitated by the circumstance of 
 several Executive Councillors, in the House, being enabled to state 
 vobether His Majesty s prerogiitive xjoould admit of the progress of the 
 measures proposed. It will hereafter appear that, when the jealousies 
 and intrigues of the Majority had prevented the election of Members 
 belonging to the Executive, several measures were introduced and 
 passed by the Assembly, which were necessarily rejected in the Le- 
 gislative Council, on account of their interference, vokether casual or 
 ddsigned, with the prerogative of the Crown. 
 
 , When it was found that the English practice, of making Counties 
 or Cities pay for local improvements, would not be enforced in Low- 
 er Canada, but that improvements would be paid out of taxes on 
 Commerce, the peasantry readily combined in petitioning for Roads 
 and Bridges at the public expense ; and various applications this Ses- 
 sion w ere made, which might have induced an intelligent man to an- 
 ticipate the extraordinary vote of Fifty-five Thousand Pounds for the 
 improvement of internal communications in the year 1817.* When 
 persons interested applied for a Road or a Bridge at the public ex- 
 pense, talcing the opportunity of some fatal accident arising from 
 their negligence to perform road labour^ they alledged that the safety 
 of His Majesty's Subjects, Travellers, and the interest of Commerce, 
 required such an expenditure ; and the petitions, signed by the Cw- 
 ratesy Captahis of Militia^ and Seigneurs^ were generally urged upon 
 the Members of the Assembly, who, if not otherwise interested, 
 w ere given to understand that their re-election would depend on their 
 success in obtaining the prayers of such petitions. Instead^ there- 
 forCy of County or District Roadsy Bridges^ or Court- Houses y and 
 Gaolsy as customary in Britain, in Upper Canada, and in the Uiiited 
 States, being their otvn expenditure, U'e have such xvor/cs at the general 
 charge of the Province. 
 
 The encouragement of the culture of Hemp was taken into consi- 
 deration at an early period of this Session, and the Committee ap- 
 pointed, reported favourably on the subject. 
 
 On the 19th of February, Mr. M-Gill presented a Petition, pray- 
 ing for an Act to regulate Apprentices, Journeymen, and Domestics, 
 wdio were represented as violating their engagements with impunity. 
 A Bill was introduced for the redress of those grievances, empow^er- 
 
 ♦ We have hoard of the British and other liberal Governments voting money 
 for the cutting of Canals, reserving, however, to themselves, the produce of the 
 lolls; vvehave heard, likewise, that the Government of Great Britain have occasionally 
 contril'uted half the expense of the County Hoads; but we could never have ima- 
 gined that any Government should have acted as that of Lower Canada, in taking 
 a sum equal to a whole year’s re\enue of the Country, for the purpose of applying 
 it through interested Commissioners, to merely local improvements. 71 ie H>usc 
 of Assembbj which orighialed, the Legislative Coinicil ami the Governor who sanction- 
 ed such a measure, 7nust be charged by posterity tvilh their just shares of blame in so 
 Jlogrant a deviation from their icspcctive duties ; let us, at least, hope that such an 
 application of public monies, for private purposes, as proved by facts, will never 
 recur. 
 
OF LOVv’ER CAXADA. 
 
 VI.] 
 
 -^7 
 
 ing tlic local magl^;tracy to make regulations, subject to the approval 
 ot the Court of King s Bench oi Quebec jind Monireah 
 
 1 he Act of this Session, continuing an Act for establishing 
 Houses ot Correction, authorised the application of one hundred 
 pounds for renting a house, paying a keeper, and providing the stock 
 of materials requisite for setting convicts to work. This essay to- 
 wards an establishment, separate from the District Gaol, has, of late 
 years, been very injudiciously abandoned ; and the lower part of the 
 said Gaol, appropriated as a House of Correction, from vievos of eco^* 
 nom^, has only tended to the increase cf crimes, by the communica- 
 tion, v/hich this location facilitates, between the objects of the correc- 
 -tional Police, and the more hardened inmates of the Prison. 
 
 On the 13th of February, Mr. Beriheiot^ seconded by Mr. Plante^ 
 moved to resolve that, on the 15th of February, the House would go 
 into Committee to consider the expediency of establishing a pecunia- 
 ry allowance to be made to the Speaker and Members of the As- 
 sembly. This motion was strenuously opposed, as contemplating a 
 measure contrary to the practice and spirit of the British Constitu- 
 tion ; but the united elforts of the English Members and the Cana- 
 dian Placemen, could not at once defeat the motion. By obtaining, 
 however, a call of the Flouse for the 8th of March, they were able 
 to rally their whole force and influence, and on that day, they suc- 
 ceeded in throwing cut the motion, by the usual vote of a postpone- 
 ment till the 1st of August next. 
 
 On the 2l6t of March, an important Bill, which afterwards became 
 a law, was passed for the regulation of the Police, wdthin the Cities 
 of Quebec and Montreal, and the Towm of Three-Rivers. This Act 
 is remarkable as containing the first symptom of prospective policy in 
 the Majority of the House of Assembly; for it has a proviso, that, 
 wdienever the Inhabitants of any Village, consisting of not less than 
 thirty inhabited houses within a space of fifteen acres square, shall 
 petition the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the 
 District in wdiich it may be situated, for the establishment of regula- 
 tions of Police, the Justices are authorised and required to grant the 
 prayer of such Petition, by framing Rules and Orders, with proper 
 fines and penalties, and submitting the same for approval to the 
 Justices of the Court of King’s Bench, as provided in the same Act, 
 v/ith respect to the Cities of Quebec and Montreal, and the Towm of 
 Three-Rivers. 
 
 The accounts of the Provincial Revenue of the Crown showed an 
 increase of seven thousand pounds ; but the only appropriations 
 required and sanctioned by Government, w’^ere four thousand pounds 
 to replace the like sum advanced by His Majesty for the erection of 
 Court Houses, and two hundred pounds sterling, likewise advanced, 
 pursuant to an Address of the House of Assembly, for the purchase 
 of Books, X chi^y French. 
 
 \ The Library of the House of Assembly, was this Session under consideration 
 of Mr. Justice Panet, and other Members of a Special Committee, who classed the 
 
 I 
 
58 
 
 rOLlTlCAI. ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 The Annual Vote for printing tiie Journals of the House, was tin’s 
 Session accompanied with an order to frame Indexes, to facilitate 
 reference to the contents of the whole scries, which had now extend- 
 ed to ten volumes. 
 
 Some differences of opinion occurred between both Houses, this 
 Session, causing the loss of a Bill introduced by Mr. Justice Panet, 
 to regulate the mode of granting the remedy under the French Law, 
 called Dcnejice d" Inventaire^ which materially interested the natives 
 of the Country. 
 
 On the 5th of April, the Lieutenant Governor gave the Royal As- 
 sent to eleven Acts, five of wliich were for the purpose of continu- 
 ing previous Acts, and all were for definite times, except that for dis- 
 qualifying Charles Baptiste Bouc, which was to continue in force un- 
 til it should please His Majesty to grant him his gracious pardon, and 
 release him from the legal consequences of his conviction of conspi- 
 racy to defraud Etienne Drouin. 
 
 It does not appear, from inspecting the Journals, that the brilliant 
 expectations of His Excellency, from the labours of the Assembly, 
 w ere realized ; but it seems to have been resolved by the Executive, 
 to pursue the laudatory strain. The closing Speech of the Lieuten- 
 ant Governor, avoiding all invidious distinctions between the conduct 
 of the two Houses, ascribes to both an active and steady zeal ybr 
 the general mterests of the Province. His Excellency expresses, in 
 the warmest manner, his reliance on the beneficial influence of the 
 Members in their several Countias during the recess, and points to 
 the foundation of the prosperity and happiness of the Country, rest- 
 ing upon Agriculture and Commerce, and secured by a correct ad- 
 ministration of justice, under the free and protecting Institutions of 
 the Mother Country, the benefit of which w ould be fully appreciated 
 by the increasing intelligence of a loyal people. 
 
 Books, and ordered them to be preserved in portable cases, having the contents of 
 each case marked on the outside ; the House passed Resolves, allowing the use of 
 the Library to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, the Executive and Legislative 
 Councillors, &c. ; which Resolves were communicated to the Legislative Council 
 by Message, and thankfully received by that body. 
 
VII.J 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA 
 
 •^9 • 
 
 CHAP. vir. 
 
 A. D. 1803 & 1804. 
 
 Preliminary Remarks on the temporising conduct oj the Administration^ and 
 the probable causes oj this coTiduct. Views of influential individuals^ as to 
 the establishment of a Landed Aristocracy and hereditary Titles of Honour 
 in Lower Canada.-- The Clergy Reserves, — Speculations in long Leases of 
 Lands and Rights^ held in mortmai 7 i by Nunneries, — Third Session, — Lieu-- 
 tenoTit Governor's Speech. — Fffects of War iti Europe on the Trade of Cana’* 
 da. -Fresentments of the Grand Juries of the Districts of Quebec and Mon^ 
 treaL on the subject of new Gaols and Houses of Correction, — hnprovemesit 
 of the Militia Laws recommended by his Excellency, — Despatch of Busi- 
 ness recommended, —Tendency of the Constitution to the formation of an 
 Oligarchy, eonjiecled with the Executive. — The House of Assembly reports 
 in favour of new Gaols^ ^c.^State of the Provincial Revenue, — S^jrne 
 French Canadian Placemen in favour of innovations,— Mr, Justice Pa-- 
 net' s project of abolishing Interment in the Churches of the Pt'ovince , — 
 Conveyance of Travellers by the Maitres de Poste at this time contrasted 
 with the facilities afforded by Steamboats — The Militia Laws amended,— 
 New mode of intercourse between the Legislative Council and the House of 
 Assembly, — Call of the Members of the House of Assembly, — Agitation of the 
 question of abolishing the Slavery of Negroes within the Province, — This 
 question superseded by the opinion of Chief Justice Monk^ in favour of the 
 absolute freedom of all Kegroes^ while residing in the Province. — Precau- 
 t ions of the House of Assembly on the subject of Grants of Tolls,— Bill of 
 Supply to His Majesty, — Abortive attempt^ on the part of Mr, Youngs to es- 
 tablish a Register Office, — Reflections, — Pt'opensity of the Majority to ex- 
 pend the Public Money in translating EngHsh Precedents into French, — End 
 of the Session — Fourth., or extraordinary Session of the Provincial Parlia^ 
 menty held in consequence of the renewal of War in Europe. — Prompt attend- 
 ance of the great Majority of the Members of the House of Assembly. — The 
 Lieutenant Governors Speech to both Houses, read in the absence of Mr. Papi- 
 neau^ without the usual salvo of previously reading a Bill, Addresses in 
 reply to the Lieutenant Governor's Speech,— Una7iimity and despatch of the 
 House of Assembly in passing the Bills for the renewal of the Acts for the 
 better preser vat io 7 i of His Majesty' sGovamment and the Regulation of Aliens, 
 
 Differences on the Bill from the Legislative Council,, making it the duty 
 
 of Romish and other Parish Priests to 7'cad Acts of Parliame7it^ Proclama^ 
 
 Hons., Bill for the Regulation of Volunteers^ i7itrodnced by Mr. Papi- 
 
 neau^ rejected by the Legislative Council,— End of the Session, — The effects 
 of the lenewal of the War in Eui'opc upon the Cominerce of the Canadas , — 
 Progress of indmtvy and Jnierfial Trade ascribed ohiefly to cxtetmal and 
 
60 
 
 rOLITICAL AKNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 fortuitous causes. — Auti -commercial System of the Assembly iv taxing yicr^ 
 chandise fur all purposes. -This System deters the I'xecutiie from pr.p >s^ 
 ing Internal Improvements. — Fifth Session of the Third provincial Farha- 
 ment.—Ilis Excellency' ^ Speech ^ its rec^mmerdati jns. and commonplace 
 eulogiums on the Legislative Bodies. — The Address of the Legislative Coun^ 
 ci' not the usual echo to his Excellency's Speech., and differing in this re- 
 spect from that of the House of Assembly.— The House chief y occupied on 
 the question of building new Gaols., arid on the means of preventing A.cci^ 
 dents by Fire in Quebec arid Montreal.— Ahoi^ive attempt to establish an ad'- 
 ditional Judge and Court Term for the District of Three-Rivers.— State of 
 the Frovincial Revenue and Expenditure. — Progress of Population and Coin- 
 tnerce in Upper Canada.— Important Presentment of the Grand Jury of the 
 District of Montreal., recommending an Assessment to defray the expense of 
 building a Gaol f.r that District.— Characteristic Treatment of that Pre- 
 sentment by the Trench Canadian Ma^jorily of the House of Assembly— 
 The Quorum of the House reduced for the remainder of the Session to Twelve 
 Members. — Bill for amending ike Ordinance for the prevention of Acci- 
 dents by Eire.— Causes of its rejection in the Legislative Council.— Ref ec- 
 tions on the well founded jealousy of the other Branches of the Legislature 
 with respect to the systematic Policy of the Assembly in t eplacing perma- 
 nent by temporary Acts. — The Legislative Council objects to the appoihtmerd 
 of Commissioners by Bill to treat on Financial matters with Upper Canada. 
 — Conduct of the Majority of the House of Assembly on the subject of a 
 Grant solicited from the Crown for the scite of the District Gaol in Mon- 
 treal.— Important question as to the Religious Rights of Presbyterians in 
 Lower Cajiada., excited by the opinion expressed by the Chief Justice of the 
 Province in the Court of Appeals. — Claims of Presbyterian Congregathns 
 in connection with the National Church of Scotland- — Supply to His Majes- 
 ty this SessioTi* — Act for the Inspection of Beef and Pork. — Number of Acts 
 passed. — End of this Session^ and of the Third Provincial Parliament.— 
 Befeciion on Grievances^ real and imaginary. 
 
 In our last Chapter, we touched upon the temporising Policy of the 
 present Administration, The Members of the Executive were gene- 
 rally advanced in years ; and the few English comprised in it, having 
 been foiled in every effort to introduce the spirit of British Legisla- 
 tion into the practice of the Constitution, now appear to have turned 
 their attention to the improvement or repair of their private fortunes, 
 leaving, the Country to vegetate like an univeeded garden. That Sec- 
 tion of the Constitutional Act, which authorised Ills Majesty to add 
 hereditary titles of honour to the office of Legislative Councillor, had 
 long fixed the attention of some individuals ambitious of founding fa- 
 milies ; and the French Law of Substitution or Entail, restricted to 
 the third generation, w’^as chosen as the first means of securing the 
 fortunes of descendants, till the course of events should facilitate the 
 introduction of the English Law of Primogeniture, so well calculated 
 for establishing a landed aristocracy on a stable foundation. An im- 
 
VII.] 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 61 
 
 portant instance ot the employment of the French Law of SnbstitiUion, 
 with the view of founding a family, is that of the late Honourable 
 Henry Caldwell, who entailed one of his Seigniories upon his grand- 
 son. On the other hand, those who had obtained large Grants of the 
 Waste Lands of the Crown under the English Tenure, looked forward 
 to the period when, agreeably to the spirit oj the ninth Section of the 
 Act 14^, Geo, III, cap, 83, the English Laws of Descent^ and conse- 
 quently the right of Primogeniture, should be introduced into the Town- 
 ships of Lower Canada, Not only, therefore, were the applicants for 
 Township Lands animated with views of immediate interest, but like- 
 wise with the hope of establishing an Aristocracy at a future day ; 
 and, as many of them entered into the composition of the Govern- 
 ment, they naturally expected to render the duties and expenses of 
 Settlement almost nominal, or at all events capable of being trans- 
 ferred as a burthen upon those who might purchase a portion of their 
 Lands. The Clergy, secured in one seventh of the Township Lands, 
 equally looked forward to the performance of Settlement Duties by 
 means of their Lessees ; and as the Lots were scattered systematic- 
 ally, no improvement in Roads throughout those Lands could take 
 place, without encreasing the value of the Clergy Reserves. The en- 
 virons of the Cities and Boroughs likewise, under the present Laws 
 and Establishments of the Country, afforded opportunities for specu- 
 lation to persons possessing some influence in the Executive and Le- 
 gislative Departments. The Lands and Rights, and even Servitudes, 
 of the Religious Communities of Nuns, permitted to exist in Quebec, 
 Montreal and Three-Rivers, were obtained on long Leases of ninety- 
 nine years, and turned to account by ingenious Speculators; in whose 
 hands a mere right to establish a Fishery ivas converted to that of erect- 
 ing Wharves and Buildings,, first for the use of the Lessee, and after 
 the end of the long Lease, to revert to the Lessor ; and thus to perpe- 
 tuate the wealth and importance of those anomalous Institutions, 
 
 After those preliminary notices, calculated to account for the apa- 
 thy with which influential individuals looked upon the defects and vi- 
 ces of the Constitution, w^e proceed to review the events of the Third 
 Session of the Third Provincial Parliament. It was opened on the 
 8th February, 1803, by the Lieutenant Governor, with a gracious 
 Speech from the Throne, addressed to both Houses, which began 
 with congratulations upon the ratification of the Definitive Treaty of 
 Peace between his Britannic Majesty, the French Republic and other 
 Powders. This event, contrary to all theory and past experience, was 
 asserted to be fraught with Commercial benefits to Canada.* His 
 
 ^ It is chiefly when Britain is engaged in War that the Commercial resources 
 of the Canadas are drawn forth and encouraged, by the wants of the Mother Coun. 
 try. To War alone, or to the prospective Policy of preparing for its exigencies, 
 have the Canadas been indebted for the extent of their Trade, more particularly in 
 Grain, Lumber and Provisions. To the same event and policy they owe the bene- 
 fits arising from the great expenditure of Britiah Revenue in Public Works; and, 
 
rOLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 C)2 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Excellency next alluded to Presentments from tlie Grand Juries of 
 Quebec and Montreal respectively, demonstrating the insufficiency of 
 their (jaols, and the urgent necessity of establishing Houses of Cor- 
 rection in those Cities, for the use of their extensive Districts. A 
 provision for those important objects was urged upon their immediate 
 attention ;and His Excellency enlarged upon the duty of the Legisla- 
 ture to use means for the effiectual application of the Laws to the cor- 
 rection of minor offences, as being eventually not less important to 
 public morals and the peace of society, than the punishment of flagrant 
 crimes. The continuation and improvement of the Militia Acts were 
 next recommended. After promising to order Statements of the Ci- 
 vil Expenditure of the past year, and of the Provincial Revenue of 
 the Crown, to be laid before the Assembly, his Excellency, address- 
 ing both Houses, recommended a continuance of the zeal which, he 
 was pleased to say, liad been manifested by them in the previous Ses- 
 sion for the public w^elfare, ending his Speech by recommending des- 
 patch of Business, as the obvious means of enabling them speedily to 
 return to the occupations and comforts of their respective private sta- 
 tions. The Addresses of both Houses were echoes to the Speech, 
 promising attention to the objects recommended, with compliments to 
 Ills Excellency in return for his expressions of unqualified approba- 
 tion of their previous conduct. 
 
 It is, however, remarkable, and in apparent contradiction to this 
 last recommendation, that Mr. Justice Debonne proposed, instead of 
 meeting daily as previously practised, that the House of Assembly 
 should meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and that, though 
 tliis pioposal was not formally sanctioned, the House, during this 
 Session, did not actually, on the average, meet oftener than three 
 times a week. * 
 
 On the 1 1th of February, the House proceeded to take into consi- 
 deration, the Speech of His Excellency ; 3/r. McGill and Mr. Jus- 
 iicc Debonne taking the lead in proposing Committees on different 
 subjects; and on the 16th of February, the House in Committee, re- 
 in tins rospect, the Colonies of Great Britain, on this Continent, have advantages 
 during War exceeding those of neutral Countries, which are subjected to the plun- 
 der and vexations of all the Bellige«^ents, on vaiious pretences. 
 
 • 'J'liis may be ascribed to the wish of the Judges and other Placemen, that 
 their hgislativc duties should not interfere with their judicial avocations; they na- 
 turally considered their presence in the House, essentially calculated to promote the 
 views of tlie Administration, and correctness in legislative proceedings, which the 
 less informed character of many of the Members was inadequate to supply. This 
 proposal likewise proves the tendency of ^he Government towards an Oligarchy^ 
 being the onh/ form under the present Constitution^ ichich could prevent the complete 
 ascendancy of the French CanodianSy as already nientiuiied in our first Chapter; and 
 we may here remark, that the frequent changes of Governors, and the vicissitudes 
 of peace and war, together with other circumstances, render an Oligarchy imprac- 
 ticable in (he subordinate Government of Lower Canada, without the expenditure 
 of money for conciliatiirg the Members of the popular Branch, which would render 
 it bimlicusomc to the supreme Government. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 (ki 
 
 VII.] 
 
 ported in favour of new Gaols and Houses of Correction, for tlic 
 Districts of Quebec and Montreal, and a Special Committee was ap- 
 pointed to enquire into the fittest places for their erection within 
 those Cities, and into the expenses likely to attend the building of 
 the same. 
 
 On the 18 th of February, a Message was received from His Ex- 
 cellency, accompanying Statements of the Provincial Revenue and 
 Expenditure. "Ihe former, having been increased b}' the amount of 
 arrears ot Territorial Revenue, exceeding six thousand pounds, was 
 this year above thirty-two thousand pounds currency, or nearly thirty 
 thousand pounds sterling, while the abstract of warrants granted for 
 the public service, including the quota of duties payable to the Pro- 
 vince of U|)per Canada, amounting to eleven hundred and seventy- 
 two pounds currency, was thirty-seven thousand and eiglit pounds 
 seventeen shillings and six pence sterling. The expenses of the Le- 
 gislative Council, for the past y'ear, w^erc eight hundred and forty- 
 seven pounds nineteen shillings and two pence, and for the House of 
 Assembly, twelve hundred and fifty-one pounds four shillings and 
 four pence, together, two thousand and ninety-nine pounds three 
 shillings and six pence currency. Of the whole expenditure, about 
 twenty^ thousand pounds sterling w^ere for salaries and other expenses 
 of the Civil Government ; three thousand pounds for Pensions and 
 Allowances ; and the rest for advances towards the building of Court- 
 houses and Bridges, and the support of other local Establishments, 
 
 We find the late Mr. Justice Panel, this Session, zealous to intro^ 
 duce improvements, bearing upon the health and morals of the com- 
 munity, and suggested to his intelligent mind by the progress of sci - 
 ence. On the ^Ist of February, he brought in a Bill ‘‘ for prevr?ilr^ 
 ing the burial of the Dead in the Churches of this Province^ and in the 
 Church-yards and Biirying-places xjcitliin the walls of tjie Towns of 
 Quebec and Montreal^ This measure excited much clamour among 
 those adverse to every innovation, however judicious; but though not 
 passed into a law, its spirit now prevails, and burials in Churches are 
 chiefly confined to the interment of Romish Priests and Nuns, who 
 are to be considered, in some degree, as separated in life and death 
 from the rest of the community. 
 
 In consequence of Petitions from persons employed under license 
 for the conveyance of Travellers by land, a Bill vvas introduced, giv- 
 ing a more ample allowance to M nitres de Poste, by which, at some 
 seasons of the year, five pounds would have been the total fare from 
 Quebec to I\Tontreal, and vice versa ; that is to say, about seven pence 
 per mile, exclusive of subsistence; but the Legislature very properly 
 confined itself to a continuance of previous Acts on this subject; and 
 when afterwards the M nitres de Poste became restive, several enter- 
 prising individuals, f English origin, established covered carriages, 
 running w^eekly between Quebec and Montreal, furnishing such spee- 
 dy convey^ance and good entertainment to Travellers, at reasonable 
 
POLITICAL /VXXALS 
 
 () 1 . 
 
 [chap. 
 
 rates, as greatly increased the intercourse, by land, bet^veen Quebec 
 and Montreal, and the intermediate places. Hereafter, we shall have 
 occasion to notice the introduction of Steam-navigation, by Mr. Mol- 
 son, which has now reduced the expensed conveyance by water on 
 the communication between Quebec and Montreal, to the lowest 
 charges, on which a pei*son undertaking the journey by land, on foot, 
 wx)uld inevitably be subjectetl. * 
 
 The principal subject of discussion this Session, was the improve- 
 ment of the Militia Law^s ; and an Act w’as passed, which, if duly 
 executed, would have rendered tliat species of force much better pre- 
 pared for the defence of the Province, than it was found to be at the 
 commencement of the late w^ar betw^een Great Britain and the United 
 States. 
 
 This Session is remarkable for a change in the previous mode of 
 intercourse betw^een both Houses, evincing no small jealousy between 
 the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, and a stricter 
 connection between the former Branch and the Executive, than had 
 previously existed. Till this period, Messages from the House of As- 
 sembly to the Legislative Council, had been carried by two Members 
 of the former body ; and, from the latter to the former, by one Mem- 
 ber ; but this Session, Committees of Conference agreed, and it was 
 afterwards resolved by each Branch, that Messages Ifom the Legisla- 
 tive Council should be sent by an Ofiicer of the Crown, of the rank 
 of Master in Chancery, and that Messages from the Assembly, should 
 be sent to the Legislative Council by one Member of the Assembly. 
 
 Tlie House and its Committees having been repeatedly adjourned 
 for want of the ordinary quorums for the transaction of business, be- 
 ing seventeen for the House, and three for Committees, a call of the 
 House was ordered in the most peremptory form, for the 4th of March ; 
 when several Members returned to their legislative duty, and ten 
 were absent. While Great Britain eryoyed peace, the French Cana- 
 dinn Leaders, at this time, did not expect to increase the impoj'tance of 
 the NATioy Caxadiexxe, by their presence in the House of Assembly ; 
 and when, in consequence of the order of the Speaker, Mr. Joseph 
 Papincnii, Member for the County of Montreal, was brought to Que- 
 bec in ciu^»ody of the Serjeant at Arms, we find him petitioning for 
 a release from his legislative duties, which, after much discussion, was 
 granted for the present Session. 
 
 During every Session of the Legislature, the House of Assembly 
 had been agitated on the question of the existence of Slavery of Ne- 
 groes within the Province; and this Session, on the 1st of March, 
 Mr. James Cuthbert, seconded by Mr. Justice Panet, brought in a 
 
 • Raftsmen and common Labourers, as well as Emigrants, can now be conTeyed 
 from Quebec to Montreal, for two dollars each, or lit/, per mile, and someiimes, 
 from the spirit of competition in the owners of Steam-boats, at three farthings 
 miley as deck passengers: this affords such a striking contrast, that our readers will 
 doubtless excuse us for anticipating the regular progress of events. 
 
OF LOUVER CANADA- 
 
 Go 
 
 VII. 2 
 
 Bill if) remove all douhis respecthig Slavery tvithin this Province^ and 
 for other j)urposes. This measure was not persevered in, being con- 
 sidered unnecessary, from the decided manner in which the Chief 
 Justice of Montreal had declared that the Criminal Law of England, 
 established in the Province by the Quebec Act, and the Habeas Cor- 
 pus Act of Canada, might be so construed as to destroy all rights 
 of property in Slaves in Lower Canada. There was, besides, no cir- 
 cumstance of climate or species of cultivation in the Province, which 
 justihed the continuation of Slavery; and it was very proper that, as 
 in England, every human being who may touch the soil of the Colo- 
 nies of Great Britain, on the Continent of North America, should be 
 forthwith recognised as free, without prejudice to private contracts of 
 service. 
 
 We find, this Session, the first application for authority to erect a 
 Bridge over the Ivlontmorenci, and exact a Toll ; and a Bill for this 
 purpose was introduced by Mr. James Cuthbert; but little progress 
 w'as made ; and we shall hereafter find that the House became 
 cautious, and ordered several preliminary enquiries to be made, and 
 public notices to be given of the objects of such applications, before 
 taking them into consideration. 
 
 On the 9th and 11th of March, several Members obtained leave of 
 absence ; and occasional adjournments, for want of a quorum, took 
 place during the remainder of this Session. 
 
 On the 14th of March, a Bill for a Supply to His Majesty, was 
 introduced, amending the Act 35, Geo. III., and increasing the du- 
 ties on Licenses which it imposed ; but this measure was not perse- 
 vered in ; and the House merely passed another Bill to replace ad- 
 vances made by His Majesty for the building of Court-houses, 
 amounting to six thousand pounds, to be taken from the unappropri- 
 ated produce of the duties levied by the permanent Acts 35, Geo. 
 III., Caps. 8 and 9, and 41, Geo. III., Cap. 14. 
 
 On the 1st of April, Mr. Young introduced a Bill for Enregister- 
 ing certain Deeds, and Certificates of Deeds affecting Real Property, 
 granted by His Majesty in Free and Common Soccage; — but this at- 
 tempt to obtain a Register Act, completely failed; and, after repeat- 
 ed endeavours in the House of Assembly, and the actual passage of 
 a similar Bill in the Legislative Council in the year 1825, this Pro- 
 vince remains unprotected from the accumulating evils of mortgage 
 frauds, and secret transfers of property. 
 
 On the same day, an Address was voted to His Excellency, to be 
 accompanied with plans and estimates for the erection of Gaols and 
 Houses of Correction for the Cities and Districts of Quebec and 
 Montreal, praying that His Excellency would, in behalf of His Ma- 
 jesty, grant the necessary lots of ground for the scites of those 
 buildings; to which Address, a favorable answer was received from 
 His Excellency, who was pleased to say, that he would take every 
 
66 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 measure which depended upon him to advance the objects proposed. 
 
 [ On the 9th of April, the propensity of the Majority to accumulate 
 expenses, by translating English Laws into French, w’as evinced by 
 a resolve to apply the sum of two hundred pounds to the translation 
 of the Lex Parliameniayia. The Lieutenant Governor was induced 
 to acquiesce in this measure ; but, vchen the House of Assembly, at a 
 future time, voted a much larger sum for the translation into French of 
 the voluminous V)ork of HatselFs Precedents, His Honour, President 
 Dunn, deemed it expedient to check this propensity, by refusing to make 
 the advances before provision should be made for the expense, by an 
 Act of the Legislature. 
 
 The business of this Session was much interrupted by the absence 
 of Members; but the French Canadians took care to be sufficiently 
 strong in the House, to defeat all attempts at innovation on the Laws 
 and Customs ot the Province, being equally regardless of the examples 
 of improvement held forth by the course of Legislation in France, 
 England, the United States of America, and Upper Canada. 
 
 After having voted considerable sums for the yearly increasing ex- 
 penses of the Assembly, the House, on the 14th of April, was com- 
 manded to attend His Excellency in the Legislative Council Chamber, 
 where the Speaker appeared, accompanied with only seventeen Mem- 
 bers. The Royal Assent was given to six Acts, already alluded to 
 in the course of our preceding remarks ; and His Excellency closed 
 the Session with a Speech containing the usual topics of praise for 
 past conduct, and pleasing anticipations for the future. 
 
 The treaty of Amiens, on the conclusion of which. Lieutenant 
 Governor Mdnes had so recently congratulated the Parliament of 
 Lower Canada, was soon found to be only a hollow truce between 
 France and England, during w hich, Napoleon Bonaparte w^as un- 
 ceasingly occupied with schemed of unprincipled ambition, more con- 
 nected with the aggrandizement of himself and his relations, than 
 with the happiness of the thoughtless and infatuated Frenchmen, who 
 had suffered themselves to be harnessed to the triumphal car of this 
 Corsican adventurer. The rapid extension of the effects of his am- 
 bition, in Italy and Switzerland, was accompanied by such taunts and 
 insults to England, that a rupture became inevitable ; and, in the 
 month of May, His ^Majesty recommenced w ar, with a more general 
 support from the British Parliament and Nation, than had been expe- 
 rienced since the period of the conquest of Canada, in the Adminis- 
 tration of the elder Pitt. 
 
 Official intelligence of the war between Great Britain and the 
 French, and the Batavian Republics, having reached Quebec in July, 
 1803, the same was communicated by Proclamation ; and in virtue 
 of a section of the Militia Act, the Provincial Parliament, which 
 stood prorogued till the 24th of August, was summoned to meet,/or 
 the despatch of business, on the 2d of the same month. 
 
 This extraordinary Session was opened by Lieutenant Governor 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 VII.] 
 
 C7 
 
 Sh' Robert Shore Milnes, with a short Speech, announcing the com- 
 mencement of hostilities, and recotnmending the renewal of the ex- 
 pired Acts for the regulation of Aliens, and for the better preserva- 
 tion of Jlis Majesty's Government. 
 
 The promptitude with which the great Majority of the Members 
 of the House of Assembly repaired to Quebec for the public service, 
 was a topic of eulogium in the Official Gazette; and the Addresses of 
 both Houses to His Excellency, were replete with sentiments of loy- 
 alty and patriotism. 
 
 The zeal of the Majority was so great, that the accustomed salvo 
 of privilege was omitted ; and, without waiting for the introduction 
 and reading of any Bill, the Speaker was requested, immediately af- 
 ter the return of the House, to report His Excellency’s Speech, which 
 being done, a Committee of five Members was appointed to frame the 
 Address in reply.* 
 
 The utmost unanimity prevailed in passing the temporary Acts al- 
 luded to in His Excellency’s Speech; but even this short Session of 
 ten days affords some specimens of opposition to the Executive, and 
 differences between the Legislative Council and the House of As- 
 sembly. The increase of new Laws bearing upon the public duties 
 of an uneducated Population, whose plea of ignorance could not al- 
 ways be equitably rejected, induced the Government to devise more 
 suitable means than the press, for the communication of Laws to the 
 unlettered Peasantry ; and, at the suggestion of the Executive, the 
 Legislative Council passed a Bill, entitled An Act for the more am- 
 j)le 'publication of ceHnin Acts of the Provincial Parliament^ by which 
 it was enacted, that all RectorSy Curates^ or other Priests or Ministers 
 of the several Parishes or Churches of this Province^ shall publicly 
 read after Divine Service in the mornings at the Presbytere or other 
 usual placeSy where the legal assemblies of each Parish are held^ all 
 Acts and Proclamations^ or any part thereof^ when and so often as they 
 or either of them shall be thereunto required by the Governor y Lieute- 
 nant Governor y S^c. ; and, for this purpose, it was further enacted, that 
 all such persons shoidd be furnishedy by the Clerk of the Legislative 
 Councily with copies of the Laws passed at each Session of the Pro* 
 vincial Parliament. 
 
 When this Bill on the 8th August was moved to a second reading 
 in the House of Assembly, Mr. Papineau, who abhorred the measure, 
 as being calculated to facilitate the extension of the infuence of the Ex- 
 ecutive over the Romish PriestSy andy through themy over the Constitu* 
 
 ♦ Mr. Joseph Papineau, who had absented himself during the previous Sessions, 
 took the oaths and his seat on the 3d of August ; and his name appears on llie same 
 day as one of the Messengers sent to His Excellency to learn wlien he would be 
 pleased to receive the House with its Address. We may here remark, that the at- 
 tendance of Members was considered of such consequence, that ihe names of those 
 who had performed their public duties were ordered to be recorded in the Journals of 
 the House, being in all thirty-seven. 
 
68 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 ents of the Mnjorilij^ moved in amendment that the question should 
 be postponed till Ist Septembe r next ; and this means of defeating the 
 measure failed only by the casting vote of the Speaker, 'ihe (Oppo- 
 sition next endeavoured to substitute tlie oldest Captains of Militia 
 for the Priests; and this warlike movement had momentary success; 
 but, as in the celebrated case of the Hoad Act in the year 179.5, the 
 friends of the Administration rallied tlieir Forces, restored the Priests, 
 and the Bill was finally passed on the 10th of August, without amend- 
 ment. 
 
 Another measure, recommended by His Excellency, was the en- 
 couragement and discipline of such Corps of Men as should volunta- 
 rily offer their services for the defence of their Towns and Coasts, or 
 for the general defence of this Province during the present War. A 
 Bill for this purpose was introduced by M?\ Papineau, interfering with 
 that complete controul of Militia arrangements which the Law 
 had invested in the Governor ; and as the measure did not appear 
 calculated to extend the powers of the Executive, the Bill passed by 
 the Assembly, after some unsuccessful efforts to render it acce])table, 
 was not proceeded upon in the Legislative Council before the Proro- 
 gation, winch took place on the 11th of August, 1S03. 
 
 The closing Speech of His Excellency to both Houses acknowledged 
 the alacrity with which they had provided for the primary objects of 
 his recommendation ; alluded to the late successes of His Majesty’s 
 Arms in the West Indies, as being events connected with the se- 
 curity of the Province; and finally intimated to the Members the im- 
 portance of their unreinitted exertions, in such times, to disseminate 
 throughout the Colony those principles of loyalty by which they 
 appeared to have been actuated. 
 
 During the recess, tlie effects of the War, carried on with vigour, 
 was extensively felt, in the encreased demand for Grain, Flour, Pro- 
 visions, Lumber, and other articles of Canadian Produce in the Bri- 
 tish Markets; all wdiich were admitted for Home Consumption, Duty 
 free, with the exception of Grain, Flour, Furs and Peltries, which paid 
 moderate Duties, Shipbuilding, which had been gradually augment- 
 ing at Quebec, was soon destined to be commenced at Montreal ; 
 and, being a branch of Industry which can be exercised during the 
 long Canadian Winter, it w^as as much recommended by this circum- 
 stance of continual employment, as by the scope w hich it afforded to 
 the clearance of Lands, by the internal demand for Timber thus creat- 
 ed. As being connected also w ith the encouragement to clear Lands, 
 we should mention the encreasing manufacture of Pot and Pearl Ashes, 
 of which articles above a thousand tons were this year exported from 
 Quebec to the Ports of Great Britain. The Trade of the Country, 
 Inland and toreign, augmented by the demand caused by the War in 
 Europe, had obtained no direct encouragement from the Local Gov- 
 ernment and Legislature ; on the contrary, it w ill appear that the Ma- 
 jority of the House of Assembly extended their j^ernieions and Anti- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 69 
 
 VII.] 
 
 commercial system of taxing Alerchandize for every species of Public 
 Expenditure, stigynatising Cominercc as the cause of the encrease of 
 crime, and necessitating the erection of Courthouses, Gaols, Hoicses of 
 Correction, Hospitals, S)'C. Such conduct and misrepresentation, 
 blended with compliments to the simple and negative virtues of the 
 plodding Peasantry, could not fail to please the great body of Elec- 
 tors, and to insure the re-election of the same Members, giving a com- 
 plexioyi decidedly French, Feudal and Anti-commercial to the Legisla- 
 tion of Lovoer Canada, and finally deterring His Majesty s Repre- 
 sentative and the Inhabitants of British origin from agitating any 
 measures of improvement in the Lower House, except when forced to 
 do so by the wants of an encreasing Population, and the importunities 
 of the Inhabitants of Upper Canada and the adjoining States ; whose 
 Commercial relations with Lower Canada required the facilities of 
 good Roads, Bridges, Canals, the improvement of Rivers, and the 
 means of Conveyance by iMnd and by Water. 
 
 The Fifth and last Session of the Third Provincial Parliament was 
 opened on the 10th February, 1804, by the Lieutenant Governor, 
 whose Speech, as usual, began with business and ended with compli- 
 ment, breathing acknowledgments for past and expectation of future 
 instances of duty and loyalty. His Excellency ascribed to both 
 Houses uncommon anxiety to continue the Acts revived last Session, 
 for the regulation of Aliens and the better preservation of His Majes- 
 ty’s Government ; and he reminded them of the expiring Act for the 
 relief of Insane Persons and the support of Foundlings, referring to 
 the beneficial effects of that humane Law during an experience of 
 four years. Alluding to the repeated occurrence of Accidents by 
 Fire, his Excellency expressed a hope that this Session would not pass 
 by without some provision for their prevention or for restraining their 
 disastrous effects, stating farther that, in consequence of the destruc- 
 tion of the Gaol of Montreal by one of those accidents, he had been 
 obliged to give directions for such reparation of the ruins as might 
 serve as a temporary Prison, the expense of which would be laid be- 
 fore them. Addressing the House of Assembly, his Excellency next 
 promised Statements of the Provincial llevenue of the Crown, and 
 of the Civil Expenditure of the past year; after which, address- 
 ing both Houses, he attempted to excite their emulation, by referring 
 to the important advantages of unanimity and energy, exhibited in 
 the public affairs of the Parent State. Pledging himself to perform 
 his part, His Excellency ended his Speech whh the most earnest re- 
 commendation of unanimity and vigour in the despatch of the public 
 business. 
 
 The Address of the Legislative Council, though expressed in re- 
 spectful language, was not that echo to the Speech which was usually 
 given ; it was brief, and alluded, in general terms only, to the recom- 
 mendations contained in the Speech; and the spirit of this composi- 
 
70 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 lion seemed calculated to deprecate the style in ‘which His Excellency 
 mingled eulogium of the past with brilliant anticipations of the future^ 
 on every occasion of meeting the Legislature. 
 
 The Address of the House of Assembly was a perfect echo to the 
 Speech, containing promises of unanimity, zeal, and despatch, which 
 were very imperfectly performed. 
 
 Before the Speaker was permitted, however, to report the Speech, 
 the Majority took care to resume the salvo of privilege omitted in the 
 Fourth Session ; and leave was accordingly granted to Mr. Berthelot 
 to bring in a Bill to continue ‘‘an Act for establishing Regulations 
 respecting Aliens and certain Subjects of His Majesty who have resid- 
 ed in France^ coming into this Province^ or residing thereuP — which 
 became a Law without any material debate or discussion. The other 
 temporary A cts recommended to be continued by His Excellency, as 
 matter of course, and other expiring Law s were duly renewed. 
 
 The means to be devised for the prevention of Accidents by Fire, 
 and the discussions on the mode in which the expense of erecting a 
 Gaol in Montreal, together with the choice of a fit spot for its loca- 
 tion, were the subjects that chiefly produced debates, and called forth 
 the peculiarities of the ambition of the Majority. This Session is al- 
 so remarkable for the first attempt to establish the Corporation, call- 
 ed afterwards the Trinity House of Quebec, for the better regulation 
 of Pilots and Shipping, and for the improvement of the Navigation of 
 the St. Law rence ; but this measure was postponed, as being less ur- 
 gent than others, which came home to the business and bosoms of the 
 Majority. An attempt was also made this Session, by the Repre- 
 sentatives of the Borough of Three-Rivers, to have its Courts of Jus- 
 tice on a more extensive scale, with tw^o Sedentary Judges, instead 
 of one, and four Court Terms, instead of two; and very plausible ar- 
 guments for this extension were found in the encreasing Population 
 and Commerce of that Borough and District, and in the expected pro- 
 gress of the new’ Tow nships. This measure was, however, opposed 
 with success, by the Attorney-General, Mr. Sewell^ who appears to 
 have doubted the progress of the settlement of the Townships under the 
 influence o; French Law and of the late arrangements o) the Land 
 Board. Leave of absence having been granted to IVilliam Smithy 
 Esq.y Master in Chancery, a second Officer of that rank was appoint- 
 ed by the Lieutenant Governor, in the person of Charles Delery^ Esq.: 
 and this new appointment of an Officer, to whose other duties was at- 
 tached that of carrying Messages from the Legislative Council to the 
 Assembly, w as communicated to the latter Body by one of its Mem- 
 bers, the Honourable James M‘Gilf an Executive Councillor^ and no 
 objection to this new appointment was made by the Majority. 
 
 On the 9th of March, the Honourable Mr. M‘Gill presented a 
 Message from His Excellency, accompanying Statements of the Pro- 
 vincial Revenue of the Crow'n, and the Expenditure for the year end- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 71 
 
 VII.] 
 
 ed the 5th of January, 1804«, which Message was read, all the Mem- 
 bers standing uncovered, agreeably to tlie etiquette of the British 
 House of Commons on similar occasions. The amount of the Ue- 
 venue was thirty-two thousand two hundred and seventy six pounds, 
 currency, and that of the expenditure, thirty-six thousand eight hun- 
 dred and seventy-one pounds sterling, or about forty-one thousand 
 pounds currency ; and we may here remarlc^ that the excess of the ex- 
 penditure over the Revenue^ had ahvays bee?! defrayed by the British 
 Government^ without^ in a single instance, urging the House of As- 
 sembly to make good the deficit. The amount of Drawbacks of Duties 
 to which Upper Canada was this year entitled, was one thousand 
 three hundred and forty pounds sterling, showing a decided increase 
 in the consumption of dutiable articles in that Province, whose popu- 
 lation was now augmenting by emigration from Scotland, under the 
 auspices of the enterprising, though singularly unfortunate, Earl of 
 Selkirk ; whose eventful undertakings must hereafter be frequently 
 mentioned, as having been the means of enforcing the attention of 
 the British Government to the state of the Canadas. 
 
 On the 10th of March, the Lieutenant Governor communicated to 
 the Assembly, by a written Message, a statement of the expenditure 
 for a temporary Prison in Montreal, amounting to six Imndred and 
 fifteen pounds currency, accompanied by a Presentment of the Grand 
 Jury of that City and District, addressed to the Justices of His Ma- 
 jesty’s Court of King’s Bench. This latter Document is of such im- 
 portance, with respect to the financial principle which it supports, 
 that w'e deem it expedient lo make a few extracts from it, and to give 
 the names of the subscribing Jurors, the Majority of whom were un- 
 questionably the richest, best informed; and most respectable persons 
 belonging to the City and District of Montreal. The Grand Jurors, 
 having stated in their Presentment the absolute necessity of a speedy 
 provision for a permanent Gaol and House of Correction, suitable to 
 the growing w^ants of the increasing population of that large District, 
 proceed as follows: — 
 
 No question can therefore arise upon the subject, but as to the 
 mode of making Provision for the expense to be incurred ; and on 
 ‘‘ this head, they conceive there is no impropriety in the Grand Jury 
 ‘‘ expressing their sentiments. 
 
 ‘‘ They hold it as a general principle, to be economical and wise, 
 that the expense of local objects should be defrayed by local means. 
 
 An Assessment upon the District of Montreal, for a Gaol and 
 “ House of Correction, cannot possibly be burthensome to the Inhabi- 
 ‘‘ tants thereof, and is, in our opinion, the proper means to be re- 
 ‘‘ sorted to, on the occasion. 
 
 ‘‘ The uniform practice of the Mother Country, in this respect, 
 where the subject of Finance, both general and local, is thoroughly 
 understood, not only sanctions, but strongly recommends this mca- 
 
72 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS [CHAi*. 
 
 sure ; and it xvill he ^ise to he guided hy her experience of the salu- 
 “ t ary effects xvhkh have resulted from such n system'" 
 
 The Grand Jurors, after alluding to the alarming increase of crime 
 within their large and central District, and to the late destructive 
 fires which had taken place, finish their Presentment, by stating the 
 necessity of an Act, fur the purpose of strengthening the hands of 
 the Magistrates <?/ Montrecd^ for the prevention of accidents by fre. 
 
 The names of the subscribers to this in>portant Document, dated 
 Montreal, the 10th of September, 1S03, are is. Giiy^ James Dunlop^ 
 J. Bouthillicr^ J. G. Delisle, J. M. Mondelet, Ls. Chaboillez, John 
 Ogilvie, M. Kay, J. Hervieux, John Blachvcood, Junr., Joseph Frc- 
 hisher, John McKindlay, Mce. Blondeau, John Lilly, Gab. Fran^ 
 chere, R. Cruikshank, St. Geo. Dupre, John Richardson, Francois 
 Desriviercs, James Caldwell, J. P. Leprohon. 
 
 The Financial doctrine contained in this Presentment, was so con- 
 trary to the views of the Majority of the House of Assembly, that it 
 was not treated with the regard which it deserved ; and, though it 
 contained important matter on the subject of accidents by fire, it 
 was not ordered to be referred to the Committee appointed, about 
 
 this time, to bring in a Bill for the prevention of such accidents 
 
 This Presentment, however, was employed to infuence the approaching 
 Flection, as containing a Doctrine revolting to the penurious habits of 
 the Peasantry, wdio found in it an extension of the principles of the 
 Road Act, which first laid a contribution on their labour for local 
 improvement. 
 
 We return to the events of the Session, by stating that the absence 
 of Members, for Electioneering and other purposes, had, on the 10th 
 of March, so much reduced the number of those present, that the 
 quorum for the remainder of the Session was, hy the casting vote of 
 the Sj)eaker, ordered to be Twelve AIembers. 
 
 The same day, the Bill for amending the Ordinance and Act for pre- 
 venting Accidents by Fire, was committed ; and some progress having 
 been reported, leave was obtained for the Committee to sit again. 
 This very important Bill, having been much modified in its passage 
 through the House, by the Majority, xvho xvere not inclined to give 
 any encouragement to proprietors covering their buildings with Tin and 
 Iron, instead of Shingles, was amended in the Legislative Council, 
 for the purpose of such encouragement ; and, after a conference be- 
 tween the Houses on the disputed points, the measure was laid aside; 
 nor has the yearly increasing importunity of the Cities of Quebec and 
 Montreal yet succeeded in obtaining any amendment of the Ordinance 
 and Act for preventing Accidents by Fire. The endeavours of the 
 Citizens for this purpose have been the more weakly seconded by 
 the Executive; because the ambition of the Majority of the House f 
 Assembly, had now declared xvar against all permanent Acts ; and, as 
 the question whether a temporary Act could suspend a permanent 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 73 
 
 VIL] 
 
 Act beyond the period of the existence of such temporary Act, had 
 not been settled (as it may now be considered from the revival of the 
 old Militia Laws in this present year 1827) the Government, as will 
 hereafter appear, was extremely cautious in calling for the exercise^ 
 of the Powers of the House of Assembly, vohich voere generally em^ 
 ployed by the Majority to encroach npon His Majesty s Prerogatives^ 
 and cramp the operations of the Executive. 
 
 The conduct of the Majority now began to interfere with that spirit 
 of compromise which had previously existed ; and the Legislative 
 Council, in self-defence, began to scrutinise the pretentions of the 
 Assembly, with that legal acuteness which the composition of the 
 Council enabled it to bring to such questions. This present Session, 
 when the Assembly had sent up for concurrence, a Bill appointing 
 Commissioners to meet Commissioners to be appointed by Upper Ca- 
 nada, on the division of Revenue, which Bill contained the names of 
 the proposed Commissioners, the Council amended it by investing the 
 nomination and appointment of the Commissioners in the Governor, 
 considering them as a kind of diplomatic mission to be regulated agree* 
 ably to the analogies of the treaty making povoer^ inherent in the Crovon. 
 A long and interesting conference took place between both Houses 
 on this subject ; w hen the Managers for the Assembly attempted to 
 establish a distinction between Missions on questions of Revenue, and 
 Missions for General and International purposes. The influence of 
 the mercantile interest, the practice hitherto followed, and the ur- 
 gency of the measure, prevailed on the Council to withdraw its 
 amendment, not^ hoxvever^ without protesting against this concession 
 being drawn into precedent ; and the Bill received the Royal Assent 
 at tile end of the Session. 
 
 With a view' to call in question the Territorial Prerogative of the 
 Crowm in virtue of the Conquest, the Majority of the Assembly re- 
 fused to proceed in voting a Supply for the building of a Gaol in 
 Montreal, before appointing Commissioners to inquire whether no 
 private individuals had claims on the lot of ground proposed to be 
 granted by Ilis Majesty for its scite ; but the Bill passed for this pur- 
 pose, w’as rejected by the Legislative Council ; and the next Assem- 
 bly, importuned by the Citizens of Montreal to make provision for 
 so urgent an object, accepted the proposed lot of ground with that 
 sullen discontent, w'hich characterises disappointed ambition. 
 
 A late opinion of the Chief Justice, expressed in the Court of Ap- 
 peals, having called in question the legality of numerous Marriages, 
 solemnized by Ministers not belonging to the Protestant Episcopal 
 and Romish Church, the greatest alarm and anxiety took place in the 
 minds of Presbyterians and other Protestants, ca tsing some to apply 
 to the Lord Bishop of Quebec^ for a Ratification of Marriages of long 
 standing, bij a new Celebration of the Rite^ agreeably to the forms of 
 the Church of England. But this being no remedy to the civil effects 
 of illegal Marriage, an Act was passed this Session, to quiet the 
 
74 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 minds of the interested, by confirming all Marriages which had been 
 solemnized since the Conquest, by Ministers and Justices of the 
 Peace, enacting that all such Marriages, from the day of their cele- 
 bration, shall be held good and valid in law, to all civil effects, in- 
 tents and purposes. 
 
 The opinion expressed in the Court of Appeals, having placed the 
 Presbyterians in connection with the General Assembly of the Church 
 of Scotland on the footing of Dissenters w ithin the Province, a Bill 
 was introduced into the Assembly for their relief; but this measure 
 w’as not persevered in, owing to the repugnance of this alledgcd 
 branch of the established Church of Scotland to be publicly designa- 
 ted as Dissenters ; and they have never ceased to urge their claims to 
 participate in the confidence^ support and patronage of the Government^ 
 as a Church co-ordinate in civil and religious rights^ with the Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church. 
 
 The Supplies voted this Session, were three thousand three hundred 
 and ninety-one pounds seven shillings and ten pence currency, to 
 make good the deficiency in the Funds for paying the salaries of the 
 Officers of the Legislative Council and Assembly, and the contingent 
 expenses thereof, and one thousand six hundred and ninety-one 
 pounds four shillings, to replace advances by His Majesty, towards 
 the completion of the Court-houses of Quebec and Montreal ; — for 
 the translation of the Lex Parliamentaria, two hundred pounds, and, 
 to balance an account of Books purchased, seventy-five pounds. 
 
 The only new Act, affecting Commerce, passed this Session, was 
 one for the inspection of Beef and Pork, containing regulations for 
 the curing and packing of Provisions, and the conduct of Inspectors 
 appointed for the purpose. This Act contains a judicious clause res- 
 tricting all such Inspectors from dealing in provisions ; and, though 
 the exigencies of an extending commerce required its amendment, 
 some of the recent modifications have not been approved of by prac- 
 tical men. It is worthy of remark, that in the year 1824*, in the first 
 Session of the last Parliament, a Bill for the amendment of the laws 
 for curing and inspecting Provisions, was drafted by the INIontreal 
 Committee of Trade, and transmitted with accompanying minutes of 
 evidence, to certain Members of the honourable House ; but that 
 such was the neglect exhibited of the mercantile interest of ^Nlontre- 
 al, that the Bill and Papers xcere mislaid^ to the great disappointment 
 and disgust of the framers^ vcho have never returned to the task oj re- 
 pairing this loss. 
 
 Thirteen Acts, of which eight were temporary, were passed this 
 Session, which was closed on the 2d of May, 1804, with a Speech by 
 the Lieutenant Governor, who added to his accustomed portion of 
 praise, the most earnest solicitations that the Members, returning to 
 their respective residences, would exert themselves to strengthen and 
 extend the spirit of loyalty and gratitude to His Majesty, w hose Gov- 
 ernment had conferred so many benefits upon the Province, protect- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA* 
 
 15 
 
 VII.] 
 
 cd, as it was, from the evils of tlie war afflicting many Countries, by 
 the powerful arms of Great Britain. Such benefits, long familiarised 
 to the minds of the great Majority of the Population, were, however, 
 falling into contempt and oblivion ; and^ it being the lot of humanity^ 
 that the absence of real grievancec should be replaced by imaginary 
 ones, there voas not wanting a variety of such topics for the exercise of 
 eloquence and declamation on the part of the Majority of the French 
 Canadian Candidates at the approaching General Election. 
 
70 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 A. D. 1805 & 1806. 
 
 Fourth House of Assembly. — Account of the conduct and Speeches of the Candt- 
 dates at the General Flection . — The topics of declamation^ properly ana- 
 lysed^ are all referable to the natural discontents of a Roman Catholic and 
 French People j subjected to a Protestant and British King. — The Fema- 
 gogues begin to draw false analogies between the Grievances of Ireland and 
 those of Lower Canada. Their continual boasts of Loyalty to the King em* 
 ployed to cloak their hatred of Britons, and their opposition to the iMcal 
 Government. — Composition of the Fourth House of Assembly, viewed with 
 reference to the Temporising Disposition of the Fxecutivc.— First Session. 
 — Mr. Panet re-elected Speaker. — Lieutenant Governor's Speech to bjth 
 Houses, characterised by moderated expectations of benefit from the Popu- 
 lar Branch. — Addresses in Reply. — Renewal of Temporary Acts. — Mr. Rich- 
 ardson^ s Bill for the Destruction of Thistles, passed by the House of Assem- 
 bly, but rejected by the Legislative Council.— Proceedings on Controverted 
 Flections, defeated by the want of a Provincial Law on the subject— this 
 Defect afterwards supplied by the Act 43 , Geo. III., Cap. 21 . — Infiuenee of 
 the Commercial Minority in obtaining the improvement of the Rapids, and 
 the establishment of a Turnpike Road between Montreal and Lachine. — Al- 
 lusion to the Corporation of the Trinity House, as being connected with the 
 vicious. Anti-commercial and Anti-colonial Sydem of concentrating all 
 power in Quebec. — Abortive attempts of the English Seigneurs and Merchants 
 in the Assembly to obtain modifications of the Feudal Tenure of Lands.— 
 Description of the Retrait Lignagcr. — This right defended by the Majority, 
 aspreserving Heritable Property in Families. — Account of the Debate on 
 Mr. Caldwell's Bill for enabling the Seigneurs to compound fsjr their Feu- 
 dal Rights. — The arguments of the opponents of this measure combatted by 
 reference to the effects of a Free Tenure of Lands in New Hampshire.— Act 
 to encourage Credit Sales of Seed Wheat, by giving a privilege to Sellers on 
 the Crop, besides a general Mortgage.— Reflections on Legislative Relief in 
 cases of Local Scarcity.— Act to provide for the erection of District Gaols in 
 Quebec a7id Montreal — The Commercial Minority make an ineffectual op- 
 position to the system of expending ike Funds raised by Taxes on Merchan- 
 dise, for Local Establish?nents. — Mr. Fachardson's Bill for the celebration 
 of Matrimony, passed in the House of Assembly, is rejected by the Legisla- 
 tive Council — Amount of the Frovincial Revenue and Expenditure.— The 
 House of Assembly orders the translation of HatselPs Precedents.— Account 
 of some private Acts passed this Session — Sir Robert Shore Milne's Speech at 
 the end of the Session. — End of his Administration^ and conjecture on the 
 nature of his Report to the Colonial Department on the state of the Province. 
 
or LOWER CANADA. 
 
 77 
 
 VIII.] 
 
 — Adniiniatratijn of Mr. Justice Dun?tn umlir the title of Fresident. — His 
 adcanced ay;c avd tcjnpjriiijig d ispjsitioii encourage the demagogues to 
 jTUike new attempts to overawe and silence their oppo?icnts.—Scco7>d Session^ 
 — Account of the President's Speech^ which recommends no measures except 
 the renewal of the tenipjrarp Acts — Addresses of b Ah FJouses in reply — 
 About one half of the Meijibers of the House of Asscjnbty do not attend tins 
 Ssisioiif and the rest arc chiefly occupied in violerd and vindictive measures 
 against the Merchants and other opponents of their Financial System , — 
 Financial prii^ciples of the Merchants and British Settlers described. 
 Means employed to recommend them to the British part of the Population 
 a?idto His Majesty's Government — The Majority of the House of Assembly 
 uses its cj 7 istructive privileges intenipcratc^y agai7?st the Press , — Votes cer* 
 tain Toasts at a public Dinner at Montreal libellous : and orders Mr. Todd^ 
 the President of the Dinner Party, and Mr. Edwardt, the Publisher of the 
 Toasts, to be taken into custody by the Serjeant at Arms. — The obnoxious 
 Toasts stated verbatim, showing that an intolerant and ovc them ing spirit 
 alone could have reprobated their freedom.— Mr. Cary, the Editor of the 
 Quebec Mercury, ordered into custody for giving an account of the Debates 
 in the House of Assembly ,* but is released on making an apology for his 
 
 conduct. — The Majority, meeting with delays and difieulties, give up the 
 
 pm edition of Mr. Todd and Mr. Edwards. —Memorial of the Assembly to His 
 Maje ty in support of the Financial Sydem of taxing imported Merchan- 
 dise exclusively to defray Fub'ic Expenses, local as well as general.— This 
 production criticised, and its false and factious principles exposed. Its 
 misrepresetitalion of facts 7'efcrred to, as characteristic of the past and pre- 
 sent conduct of the Popular Branch ', which sacrifices the Commercial and 
 Colonial interests to those of an ignorant Peasantry.— Bill to consolidate 
 the Laws giving a regulated monopoly for the conveyance of Travellers, 
 passed in the Assembly, but rejected in the Legislative Council. Ffjorts of 
 the Commercial Minority in the House. — Act J'or the Inspection of Flour, 
 
 Bcficctio 7 is.— Amount of the Provincial Bevenue and Expctiditure — 
 
 The President ref uses to advance 7noncy on the Address of the House, for 
 the tratislation of FlatselPs Precedents.— Resent me nt of the Assembly delays 
 ed by the Prorogation.— End of this short and unproductive Session. — The 
 President, in his closing Speech, laments the absence of many of the Mem- 
 bers from the House of Assembly during the whole Session. 
 
 In our last Chapter, we alluded to the topics of declamation cm- 
 ployed by the Candidates for seats in the Fourth House ot A.sseni- 
 bly, at the General Election, which took place in July, 1804-. lliose 
 topics were partly retrospective and existing, but chiefly prospective 
 or imaginar}^ The retrospective, properly analysed, merely bcwailetl 
 the natural consequences of the conquest of the Country, w hich had 
 invested the conquering Sovereign, a Frotestant King ot a Comiuci^- 
 cial and Protestant Nation, with |)Ower over a people of the Romisn 
 Religion, and habituated to the French and Feudal Laws, and otlicr 
 Institutions, embarrassing lb Commerce and to AgriLuliiD al Ihiptovc- 
 
78 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 meui. The accommodaling Act of 1774* Imcl not removed all those 
 circumstances of the Conquest, wliich disturbed the routine and ha- 
 bits of the Peasantry, and still left causes of jealousy between the 
 new and old subjects, which were deeply felt, though not openly ex- 
 pressed, by the French Canadians and by their Representatives. 
 The King of England had taken possession of the Property of the late 
 Order of Jesuits, originally granted for the education of persons pro- 
 fessing the Romish Religion ; and would naturally employ the reve- 
 nue of tliat Property in such a manner as might insure a share of its 
 benefits to his Protestant Subjects, xvho xvere lilcewise free from the 
 ohligalion of iytJics io the Romish Priests. Under the French 
 
 dominion, all the Lands of New' France would have been granted, un- 
 der the I'eudal Tenure, to provide for the encreasing population of 
 French Canadians of the Romish Religion ; while the King of En- 
 gland, a Sovereign of a Nation chiefly Protestant, would naturally 
 employ his Prerogative wdth the view of giving an ample share of the 
 unlocatcd and ungranted Lands to Protestants. These consequences 
 were already felt by the French Canadians; and mingled in their 
 minds w ith other alledged grievances actually existing ; — they repined 
 at the number of offices of profit and honour held by Protestants, and 
 at that compromise which, under the new Constitution, had taken 
 place betvveen a majority of Protestant Ofiicers and a minority of Ro- 
 man Catholic Officers of the Civil Establishment, forming a species 
 of Oligarchy. The Constitution, indeed, had a decided tendency to 
 render the Popular Branch of the Provincial Legislature Roman Ca- 
 tholic and French; but the importance of that Branch was lessened, 
 and its ambition of exclusive dominion impeded, by the existence of 
 the Legislative Council as a co-ordinate Branch originating in, and 
 influenced by, the prerogatives and characteristics of a Protestant 
 Crown. Among the alledged existing grievances was farther men- 
 tioned the reluctance of the Executive to the establishment of new 
 Parishes, to facilitate the extension of a Roman Catholic Population, 
 whose encreasing numbers w ere said to be w asted, and reduced to 
 hewers of w ood and draw’ers of water for Commercial Adventurers. 
 The prospective evils held forth were the tendency to heavy Taxa- 
 tion, w hich a connection with the British Government was calculated 
 to iiUroduce ; and the marked disposition of Commercial men to throw 
 the expenses of Government upon the occupiers of Land, in the shape 
 of Assessments and other direct Taxes. Though as yet only attempt- 
 ed for Local purposes, it w'as boldly asserted, by some of the Candi- 
 dates, that the Lands w'ould eveiitually be taxed for general purposes, 
 including that of supporting a Protestant standing Army, as in Ire- 
 land. All these delusive topics were, how'ever, strangely and hypo- 
 critically mingled with displays of loyalty to the King; and jealousy 
 of Rnglisltmoi ivas successfully engrafted upon the hereditary devotion 
 oj the French Canadians to Monarchical poiver. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 71 ) 
 
 VIII.] 
 
 Notwithstanding the effects of such topics upon the great body 
 of the Electors who, in fact, felt no pressure of immediate evils, the 
 Fourth House of Assembly presented no very formidable opponents 
 to the temporising view’s of the Executive, which merely assumed a 
 defensive position to guard that distribution of power and profit, 
 which the individuals comprising it had long enjoyed. The Govern- 
 ment of 8ir Robert Shore Milncs had nothing of enterprise in its 
 character, and was influenced in its measures by the pressure of cir- 
 cumstances only. 
 
 The Fourth House of Assembly was composed of thirty- five Ca- 
 nadian, and fifteen English Members ; among the whole fiftv, were 
 eight Proprietors of Seigniories^ five Members of the Executive Coun^ 
 city tiDo JndgeSy eight Latvpers, including the Allorneij General, 
 Jour Notaries, ten Habitants, or Farmers, and the remainder Traders, 
 Shopkeepers, Including Executive Councillors, w’e find in this 
 House, ten Individuals extensively engaged in Foreign and Inland 
 Trade, to whom may be entirely ascribed the measures of the ])re- 
 sent Session, connected wnth the improvement of the communications 
 by Land and by Water, and the extension of the Financial Arrange- 
 ment with Upper Canada, for four years, enacted during the first Ses- 
 sion, which w’as distinguished by a great variety of interesting dis- 
 cussions. 
 
 After an unsuccessful attempt on the part of the MinoritjS on tlic 
 9th of January, to nominate a French Canadian Placeman as Speak- 
 er, Mr. J. A. Ihmet, was elected by a great majority of the Memlicrs, 
 and approved of by the Crown ; and on the 11th of January, 1805, 
 His Excellency opened the Session with a gracious Speecli, in which, 
 how’ever, we perceive a subdued tone and less of brilliant anticipa- 
 tion, than distinguished that of the first Session of the third Parlia- 
 ment. His Excellency first recommended the continuance of the 
 temporary Acts connected with the security of His Majesty’s Gov- 
 ernment, and next urged the necessity of providing for a Gaol at 
 Montreal. Addressing himself to the House of Assembly, he pro- 
 mised Statements of the Provincial Revenue of the Crown, and of 
 the Civil Expenditure during the last twelve months. The Speech 
 ended by assuring both Plouses, that His Excellency felt much inter- 
 est in the welfare and happiness of the Country, and called upon 
 them for unanimity and despatch, as the best means of evincing their 
 gratitude to His Majesty, for having conferred upon them what he 
 was pleased, as usual, to cliaractcrise as an excellent Constitution. 
 
 The Addresses of both Houses, in reply, were nearly echoes to t!io 
 Speech ; but the Legislative Council said nothing in reference to the 
 character of the Constitution ; while the House of Assembly rc])rc- 
 sented it in tiie brightest colours; and, wit!u)ut the slightest allusion 
 to the Foreign Laws and Institutions on w’hich it had been engraftc(i, 
 nor to its inellicacy in producing fruits agreeable to a ]iritii>h taste, 
 it w’as declared to be an inestimable blessing. 
 
80 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 r!( fore tlio Sj^cakcr reporfed tlic Spcecli, the accustomed salvo of 
 privilef *'0 took place, hy introducing and reading, for the first time, 
 
 An Art to continne an Act for the belter j)rese7vation of His Ma- 
 Jesfj/s Government^ 
 
 On the loth of* January, Mr. Richardson presented a Rill for the 
 dostnietion of Thistles and other Weeds noxious to Agriculture, 
 which eventually passed the House, hut was lo.st in the Legislative 
 (’ouncil, to the great disappointment of all who could appreciate the 
 tlamage done by the spreading nature of the Canada Thistle, U'hose 
 sccds^ carried h^j the %\)ind ihrovghout the Province and neighbouring 
 Sla!e.% co}itaminate every fields and give a slovenly aj)pearance to eve- 
 ry farm. 
 
 This Session, proceedings took place on controverted Elections; 
 hut, though great irregularities were proved, no Election w^as annulled, 
 the matter being the more easily laid aside, because Members of the 
 Majority, as well as of the Minority, were implicated. The ostensi- 
 ble reason given for this compromise, however, was that there was no 
 Act providing for the trial of controverted Elections, which defect 
 was afterwards supplied in the fourth Session of this Parliament, by 
 the Act 48, Geo. III. Cap. 21. 
 
 In consequence of a Petition from the Merchants of Montreal, 
 praying for the means of removing obstructions in the Rapids of the 
 St. I^awrcnce, betw’cen Laehine and Montreal, and for a Law to re- 
 gulate all Persons undertaking to act as Guides or Pilots of Scows and 
 Rafts, two Bills were passed in both Houses, and sanctioned at the 
 end of this Session ; the one for applying the sum of one thousand 
 pounds towards the improvement of the Inland Navigation of this 
 Province, and the other for the appointment of an Inspector and Mea- 
 surer of Scows and Rafts, and for regulating the Pilots and Conduc- 
 tors thereof, between Chnteauguai/ and the City of Hontreal. Those 
 Measures, and the Act for establishing a Turnpike Road between 
 Montreal and the Village of Laehine, showed considerable attention 
 to the interests and growing commerce of that City ; but the Act 
 passed this Session, establishing the Corporation of the Trinity House, 
 for the better regulation of Pilots and Shipping in the Port of Que- 
 bec, and in the Harbours of Quebec and Montreal, exhibited that 
 disposition to concentrate all power in Quebec, which has long exist- 
 ed likewise in the matter of Appeals, causing great abuses and unne- 
 cessary expenses to the City and District of Montreal, which can on- 
 ly be remedied and prevented by separate establishments. This 
 Trinity House, during more than twenty years, has effected none of 
 the contemplated improvements in the Harbour of Montreal, nor in 
 the Navigation between that City and Quebec; and so great appears 
 to be the wish of the Executive to extend the Controul of the me- 
 tropolis over all other places, that it remains till now the only Port of 
 Entry for Vessels from Sea in the Canadas ; it contains the only Court 
 of Appeals, the only Court of Admiralty ; and its Trinity House, not- 
 
OF LOU'ER CANADA. 
 
 81 
 
 VIIl.] 
 
 w ithstanding every efFort on the part of the Merchants and other Ci- 
 tizens of Montreal; is invested with the regulation of a Beach and 
 Harbour situated at the distance of one hundred and eighty miles. 
 On the whole, we may boldly assert that Quebec affords an example 
 of centralization of Military, Civil, Financial, Clerical, Commercial 
 and Marine Power worthy of the policy of the late Napoleon Bo- 
 naparte, and totally hostile to the general improvement of the Coun- 
 try, and to the convenience of Trade. 
 
 This Session is remarkable for some unsuccessful attacks upon the 
 Feudal Tenure of I.ands, by a few English Seigneurs and Merchants 
 in the Minority. The first motion v/as on the part of Mr. Cuthbert, 
 who accompanied his Bill to abolish the Eetrait Lignager, or Right 
 of Redemption by near and distant Relations of any Seller of Seig- 
 norial Lands, by remarks to the following effect. Any relation of 
 the Seller, if of the same line or stock from whence the property 
 descended, may, tvitkin a year and a day, by this Feudal Law, take 
 from the Purchaser the Property bought, on condition of returning 
 the price and necessary expenses. A person, therefore, buying a lot 
 of ground for a hundred pounds, and expending five thousand upon 
 it, in buildings, within the year, may be deprived of the whole by a 
 relation of the Seller, on condition of reimbursing the hundred pounds, 
 the buildings here contemplated, not being considered, in the eye of 
 the law, as necessary expenses. A motion having been made by Mr. 
 Cuthbert, seconded by Mr. Young, on the 4th of February, that the 
 Bill be engrossed, the supporters of the measure were astonished to 
 find a strong opposition to it, headed by an English Seigneur of old 
 standing, who stated that the Retrait LAgnager was a part of the 
 law of the land, respectable from its antiquity, and that it formed 
 part of that general system which preserved in families the property 
 which they had long possessed.* This Bill was finally laid aside ; 
 but the young innovators were not yet discouraged ; for, on the 13th 
 of February, Mr. John Caldwell brought in a BilHo enable the Seign- 
 eurs of this Province to compound for their Feudal Rights and Duesy 
 voith their Vassals and Censitaires. The ?dajority, as may be suppos- 
 ed, prevented this Bill from advancing beyond a second reading; but, 
 when the motion was "made to go into Committee, an interesting de- 
 bate took place, the substance of which we shall give in a note, with 
 the names of the Members who voted for and against the postpone- 
 
 ♦ It was only after the death of this Veteran Legislator, that the public could 
 conjecture liis reasons for having opposed all modifications of the Feudal Law, and 
 more particularly exerting himself to prevent the establishment ol OtJices for the 
 public Registration of all Deeds of Sale and Encumbrances: this Gentleman died 
 with the reputation, not;^ only of a useful public servant, but of being extremely 
 rich ; but, when his affairs were examined, it was found that his extensive landed 
 property was burthened to such an extent with privileged claims, that it required 
 the long and indefatigable exertions of his Executors, to pay the debts of his Es- 
 tate, leaving a mere trifle to the Legatees. 
 
82 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 mcnt of ibis iir,portant and salutary measure ; wliicli, after a lapse of 
 twenty years, was the subject of an Act of the Imperial Parliament, 
 the only Legislative body which seems disposed to listen to tlie 
 prayers of tlie increasing j)opulation of English origin in Lower 
 Canada, for any improvement of a code of laws so hostile to the 
 ideas of this enlightened age, to tl:e best interests of commerce, and 
 to the industry and freedom of the human race.* 
 
 ♦ When this Bill, on the I8lh of IVTarch, was n'ovccl to be committed on the 
 20>h of the same month; an amendment postponing the Committee till the Jst of 
 August next, was moved hy the IVIaJt'rify, wljo argutd to tlie follow ing effect: — 
 Tliat time was necessary to consider a question of the importance of the one before 
 the House. That it was an edifice not to he touched but with great cauiion: — 'I'hat 
 the Censitaircs were too ignorant to make a proper estimation of the rights to be 
 purchased from tlie S igvtur, and would consequently be liable to imposition : — That 
 many of them were not in cirnimstances to pay the amount of the commutation: — 
 That in case they made such conrsmutation, their lands would be in danger of falling 
 into liiC bands of the Stigncur, for non-perfoi mance of their agreement : — That the 
 Seigneur might engage them in a commutation, witliout his having previously com- 
 muted with the Seigneur Suzerain^ the King ; without which previous commutation, 
 the Seigneur would he incompetent to give a clear title to the Censitaire That the 
 present system served to keep property in families : — That the lientes were known, 
 fixed and moderate : — 'I hata change of system would enable proprietors to insist up- 
 on any rent they might think proper, from the tenant, and lands might thus be raised 
 to any value : — That when property did not go out of families, the Seigneur received 
 no Lods et Veiiles, the burthen so much complained of. INJr. Blame admitted 
 that such a commutation might he beneficial m the neighbourhood of new estab- 
 lishments, such as St. Gtrvais. Mr. Do Salaberry, in an animated speech of 
 some length, besides entering into the general arguments against the corami utati on, 
 combated some facts and dates laid down by Mr. Caldwell, respecting the first set- 
 tling of the Country, in respect to its causes and views; and the application of the 
 Feudal Tenure thereto. 
 
 The Speakers for the amendment, were Messrs. Grant, De Salaberry, Bourdages, 
 Bedard and Plante. 
 
 Against the amendment, it was urged that, though there was no wish to press the 
 business for the purpose of bringing it to a conclusion this Session, yet, hy going 
 into a Committee, though it should not be at so early a day as the one fixed on by 
 the original motion, it would open a field for information and discussion, and ena- 
 l)le the Members to ceme belter prepared to meet the question, on its renewal, the 
 next Session: — I'hat the present Feudal System of 1 enures, however proper for 
 military views, on the first settlement of the Colony, was incompatible with the pre- 
 sent slate of the Province : — That every facility should be given to the mmtation of 
 properly, as well real as personal : — That frequent mutations were sure signs of the 
 prosperity of the Country : — That, under the present Feudal Tenures, a transfer of 
 property was too much clogged : — That the Lods el VcnleSi paiticularly, w’ere high- 
 ly discouraging to enterprise ; as nolhing could be viote rct'oilbig to a person dispose 
 cd to build on a lot of gfound, in tiself of little t’o/i/c, than the reflection that a twelfth 
 part if his apense and labour, however considLrablc, is fur the SeigJicur : — lhat if 
 the proposed commutation W'ould raise the value of land, it was a strong argument 
 in favour of the measure : — That if the tenant of land, in free and common soccage, 
 pays a higher rent, he is fully compensated by having no feudal burthens: — That 
 there w’as no clanger of exorbitant exactions in a Country where there was such an 
 extent of unsettled land :...'lhat the purcliasers, under such a tenure, would hold land 
 free of all charge ami servitude w halever : ...That, should the Bill for the coinm.utation 
 pass into a law, it would be compulsory on no one:. ..That it would do no more 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 8S 
 
 viil] 
 
 TIic iiv.ulequate crop of Wheat in tlie Autumn of 1801^, arising 
 partly from an unpropitious season, and partly from the unproductive 
 system of Agriculture, obstinately adhered to by an ignorant peasan- 
 try, had reduced many Fanners, more particularly in the District of 
 (inebec, to great privolions ; and it was thought expedient to facili- 
 tate their purchases of Wheat for Seed, by a law, making the amount 
 of such purchases, a privileged debt, bearing a general mortgage, 
 preferable to all others, and extending to the Crop of Grain. This 
 measure, so interesting to the Electors of the Majority, is the more 
 worthy of being mentioned here, because it afterwards led to the dan- 
 gcrous measure of granting fort y-Jive thousand pounds to be distributed 
 in Loans^ under similar circumstances^ for the purchase of Seed Wluat 
 lor poor Farmers in the District of GiuebeCy xjohich Loans ty///, in all 
 prohabiiiti/, never be repaid to the public* 
 
 On the 6th of February, the Committee appointed on the subject 
 of District Gaols for Quebec and Montreal, reported Resolutions ; of 
 Vv^hich, t:ie fourth intimated that the sum of nine thousand pounds' 
 for those objects, should be taken from the general funds of the Pro- 
 vince, and the fifth recommended a variety of duties on imported 
 Merchandise, as the ways and means of reimbursement. The Mem- 
 bers of the City of Montreal, in compliance with the opinion express- 
 ed by the Grand Jury in the Presentment mentioned in our last Chap- 
 ter, opposed those Resolutions, in so for as they made the Province, 
 instead of the Districts respectively, bear the expense ; but the 
 
 than give a freedom of choice to the parties, of remaining under their present tenure, 
 or changing it for a free one That the Ccnsilaircs are not so ignorant of their in- 
 terest as had been asserted, and could easily inform themselves of the value of the 
 rights or dues they might be disposed to commute for, as well as of the (jualification 
 of the Seigneur to commute That the question was simply this:. ..Was it belter 
 to remain bound to one tenure, or to have the choice of two? Mr. Richardson, in 
 urging these points, was close and pointed in his arguments. He further said, tliat 
 the House ought to have less repugnance to commit the Bill this Session, from a 
 question of a like nature, having been fully discussed under the Government of 
 Lord Dorchester ; when he, Mr. R. , laid a number of Resolves on the subject, on 
 the table of the House. Mr. Young, in the course of the debate, after having strong- 
 ly urged the benefit that would arise to the Country from a facility of a transfer of 
 property, very ably replied to Mr. Dr. Salaberry, on Ids statement of dates and 
 facts respecting the colonization of this Province, compared willi the first English 
 Settlements in America. He said that this Province was a century beliind New 
 Hampshire in improvement, notwithstanding the superiority of the climate of this 
 Province over that of New Hampshire. The latter being unhealthy from the hu- 
 midity of the air. 
 
 The Members who voted for the amendment were : — Dehncixuliere^ Archambaxilt^ 
 F. Ito7/y BrodeuTy Poulin ^ Tu&cliereaut Raijniondy lloij Porldance, Mondetety Caroriy 
 Bedardy Bourdages. Be Salaberry, Granl, Berlhelot, Plantd, Viger, Legendre, 
 hrenner, Cartier, Chaboitlez, Rocheblave, Turgeon, 
 
 Tiie Speakers against the amendment were \ — Messrs* Richardson, McGill, Young, 
 and Caldwell. 
 
 'I’he Members who voted against the amendment were: — TAc Attorney Gene^'al, 
 Messrs. M^Gilly Richardson, Young, Caldwell, Frobisher, Monro, Pyke, Porleous, 
 Mure, PerrauU, Dumont and Bernier, 
 
84 POLITICAL ANNALS [cHAP. 
 
 House, having concurred with the Comn)ittee, the Act was speedily 
 passed, and became a law at the end of the Session. 
 
 1 he Presbyterian Congregations of the Province, having petition- 
 ed for a Law to remove all doubts as to the right of their Pastors to 
 solemnize Marriages, a Bill was introduced by Mr. Richardson, which 
 passed the 8th ot March, entitled An Act to make Provision J or 
 the cdebrntion of Matrimnny within this Province^ and to confirm cer^ 
 tain Marriages therein mentioned f but this Bill was rejected in the 
 Legislative Council, which body appears to have been influenced by 
 certain opinions expressed in the Court of Appeals already alluded to 
 in our last Chapter. 
 
 On the 1st of March, Statements o the Provincial Revenue of the 
 Crowm, and of the Expenditure for the year ending the 6th of Janua- 
 ry, 1805, were laid before the House. The Revenue amounted to 
 about thirty thousand pounds sterling, and the Expenditure to thirty- 
 three thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 Towards the end of the Session, the propensity of the IMajority to 
 the French tongue, was again displayed, by ordering the Translation 
 of the four Volumes of Hatselfs Precedents of Proceedings in the 
 House of Commons of Great Britain, restricting the expense of 
 Translating and Printing the same for the use of the House, to se- 
 ven hundred and fifty pounds ; and they addressed the Lieuten- 
 ant Governor on the subject of issuing his warrant for the pay- 
 ment of the contingent expenses of t.ie House, including a sum of 
 twenty-five pounds for Indexes to two hundred copies of the Lex 
 Parliamentaria, a work transla'ed into French as already mentioned; 
 recommending, also, to His Excellency, the consideration of recom- 
 pensing the services of Mr. Desbarats, French Translator for the 
 House. The answer of His Excellency w as unfavourable to the ex- 
 pense of the Indexes to the Lex Parliamentaria, and to any recom- 
 pense to Mr. Desbarats, beyond his ordinary salary, expressing his 
 opinion that the expenditures praj ed for, were not in accordance with 
 the spirit of the Act 33, Geo III. ; but extraordinary charges, which 
 the Legislature had not contemplated. 
 
 The principal Bills, in which private Individuals were interested 
 this Session, which have not been already mentioned, were as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 1. An Act for the preservation of Apple Trees, in the Parish of 
 Montreal, which enjoined, under a penalty, the application of Tar, 
 as the means of destroying a Caterpillar, called the Arpentkeuse. 
 This Act, and tlie Bill for the destruction of Thistles, are the first 
 instances of the Majority being induced to enjoin any course of im- 
 provement in agricultural pursuits. 
 
 2. An Act to authorise Thomas Porteoiis, Esquire, to build one 
 Bridge over a Branch of the River Ottawa, otherwise Desprairies, 
 from Lachenaye, to the Isle Bourdon, and another Bridge from that 
 Island, to the Island of Montreal; to establish the rate of Toll payu- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 85 
 
 vjil] 
 
 ble thereon, and for regulating the said Bridge. Tliese great under- 
 tvikings, which promised nmcii good to the enterprising projector, as 
 well as to the Country, were successfully executed ; but soon after 
 their benefits had been ascertained, the Bridges were carried away by 
 the breaking up of the Ice. 
 
 3. An Act for erecting an Hotel, Coffee-house and Assembly-room 
 in the City of Quebec. Numerous Individuals, living together on 
 friendly terms, had associated together, with the view of combining 
 accommodation to Travellers, with a convenient place of resort for 
 themselves and Families, for business and amusement ; and, having 
 obtained this Act, they built and fitted up, at a great expense, the 
 Union Hotel, which, like several other premature establishments in 
 Quebec and Montreal, caused great loss and disappointment to tlie 
 Proprietors. 
 
 This Session was closed on the 26t\\ of March, when the Royal 
 Assent was given to Sixteen Bills, chiefly temporary ; among which, 
 was one imposing a variety of Duties on Imported Goods, and ou 
 Goods to be sold at Auction. 
 
 The Presentation of this Bill of Supply, by the Speaker, was ac- 
 companied by a few observations, explanatory of the views of the 
 House, m the choice which had been made of the particular objects 
 taxed in preference to others, asserting that the new Duties, affect- 
 ing, as they would, articles of luxury only, were most congenial to 
 the situation of the Country, and to the temper of the Inhabitants. 
 
 The closing Speech of His Excellency found topics of approba- 
 tion in the great assiduity in public business, displayed by the Mem- 
 bers of both Houses, and entirely omitted any allusion to differences 
 on Financial Principles and on other matters, which unfortunately ex- 
 isted between Members in the House of Assembly, and between that 
 House and the Executive Council. If we may judge from the 
 Speeches of Sir R. S. Milnes to the Legislature, his previous Des- 
 patches, and the Report which lie made of his long Administra- 
 tion to the Colonial Department, on his return to England this year, 
 could not have given a true picture of the embarrassing effects of the 
 new Constitution, nor have forewarned Kis Majesty s Government of 
 the expediency of applying a speedy and effectual remedy to a dis- 
 order which was yearly advancing, slowly, but certainly, to attack 
 the vitals of the Administration, which, like a co;isumptive patient, 
 had hitherto flattered itself, from time to time, with a restoration of 
 strength. 
 
 Sir Robert Shore Milnes, alledging the necessity of a visit to En- 
 gland for the improvement of his health, impaired by the labours and 
 anxieties attending liis high station, obtained leave of absence in ISOo ; 
 and the Government was allowed to sink still farther into lethargy 
 and decrepitude for two years, under the Presidency of the Honoura- 
 ble Thomas Dunn, a Puisne Judge of the Court of King’s Bench, for 
 the District of Quebec. 
 
8 () 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 This Gentleman, who succeeded to the Administration as the old- 
 est Protestant Member of the Executive Council, was ill fitted for tlie 
 arduous situation of defending His Majesty’s Prerogative and the 
 principles of Britisli l^egislaticn, against the systematic encroacli- 
 n:cnts of the French Canadian Majority in the House of Assembly. 
 The wliose of his official experience liad tended to impress him with 
 despair of obtaining the smallest alterations in the Frcncli and Feu- 
 dal Laws under the present Cotistitution ; and his only object appears 
 to have been to imitate the temporising and sycophantic Policy of his 
 predecessor. Equally despised by his colleagues in ofiPice, and by the 
 l\)j)ular Leaders, his Administration afforded an opportunity to the 
 Majority of the House of Assembly, to attempt to render the con- 
 structive privileges of that Body oppressive to the liberty of His l\Ia- 
 jesty’s Subjects, particularly to the xMerchants, who vented their dis- 
 approbation of the late taxes on Commerce, through the medium of 
 the Press. 
 
 The Second Session of the Fourth Provincial Parliament was open- 
 ed, by the superannuated and temporising President, on the 2Gth Fe- 
 bruary, 1806, with a Speech from the Throne addressed to both 
 Houses, which contains the recommendation of not one Act of Legis- 
 lation or provision for the Public Service, except the renew al of those 
 tcm{)orary Acts for the preservation ^of His Majesty’s Government, 
 w hich had been considered part of the routine business of the pre- 
 vious Sessions of the Provincial Parliaments, w ithout a single expres- 
 sion on the part of liis Honour intimating his wish to distinguish his 
 Admip.ibtration, by any measure for the improvement of the Country 
 in Agriculture, Commerce, Revenue, or the Arts of Life. 
 
 The Addresses of both Houses were echoes to the Speech, accom- 
 panied with a compliment to the President ; to w horn they ascribed 
 a warm attacliment to the interest and prosperity of the Province, in 
 whicli he had so long resided. 
 
 '1 his Session is distinguished by the continued absence of one half 
 of the Members of the Assembly, and the irregular attendance of the 
 rest ; and, though it lasted only tw o months, the quorums requisite 
 for the transaction of business could not be obtained during Imlf that 
 period. 1 he only indications of life in the Legislature, may be said 
 to have arisen Irom the stimulus applied to the ambitious Majority 
 ol the House of Assembl}", by the disapprobation of their previous 
 coiuUict, ex[)ressed, through the medium of the Press, by the Mer- 
 cantile interest, particularly that of Montreal ; in which City resided 
 the influential INIerchants engaged in the Fur Trade, under the cele- 
 brated hirni of the ^Slorlh jy tst Compani/^ and other large Capitalists, 
 who gave an ephemeral existence to a monied Aristocracy in the Pro- 
 vince, now' extinct; and which the establishment of Banks and their 
 lictilious Capital have endeavoured in vain to replace, glviii<s as it 
 were, the shadow for the substance. ^ 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 87 
 
 VIII.] 
 
 'riic gradual retreat of tlic T>ocal Government, and tlio Commer- 
 cial Body, before the ambitious progress of the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority, appears, at the distant period wlien v/e write, to have produced 
 an oblivion of the struggles which took place in the year lb05 and 
 1806, both on the principles and on the details of Provincial Taxation; 
 but they are not the less worthy of the attention, both of the pub- 
 lic and of that Executive authority, which has been lately driven io 
 the xvall by the usurping agitators of the French Canadian Majority. 
 
 The Financial principles, avowed by the Merchants and other Sub- 
 jects of British origin, were congenial to tlie practice of England and 
 of her most successful Colonies. They were recoinrnended likewise 
 by siiuplicity, and by their capability of being reduced to a stable 
 system of Political Economy, distinguishing the Public Expenditure 
 into three great branches, namely the necessary Expenses of Civil 
 Government; those of Local Establishments ; and those for the Ge- 
 neral Improvements of the Country. The Merchants and others^ 
 friendly to British principles and practice^ contended., ihat^ if the svp-- 
 port of the Civil Governrneut ivere not to rest on direct Taxes^ it should 
 at least he secured by permanent Acts of indirect Taxation, as already 
 introduced by the British Act 14^ Geo. III., Cap. 83; and the Pro- 
 vincial Acts 33, 35 and 4d, Geo. III. That Local KstabliJimehi.% 
 such as Court Houses, Gaols and Houses of Correction, should he r/c- 
 Jrayed by Assessments or direct Taxes upon the Districts, Counties 
 and Cities for whose beurfUthey might respectively be required. And 
 that, for the general improvement of the Country alone, its Agriculture, 
 Commerce, and Communication by Land and Water with the adjoin- 
 ing Colonies and Foreistn States, recourse should be had to hidirtct 
 Taxes, of temporary duration. 
 
 The support of those principles and practices, through the mcenum 
 of the Press, and an appeal in their favor to the Colonial Depait- 
 ment of His Majesty’s Government on the part of the Montreal Mer- 
 chants, excited the jealousy of the Anti-British and Anti-Commeivcial 
 French Canadian Majority of the House of Assembly, whose object 
 was now to obliterate all traces of Biitish Parliamentary, and perma- 
 nent Taxation, and to reduce His Majesty s Civil Government, in- 
 cluding the Judges and OfHcei*s of the Cro^^m, to a dcpendance upt n 
 the annual Grants of a Body elected by the almost Universal Sul- 
 frage of a Population, insulated from Erighshmen, by Laws, Lari^uaj^e^ 
 prejudices and habits, peculiar to themselves. 
 
 This being notoriously the case, it should not surprise our rcadci's 
 to find the Majority of the House of Assembly this Session, exercising 
 their constructive privileges to counteract the public expression *ot 
 any sentiments hostile to those objects of their ambition. Accoid- 
 ingly, when the toasts at a public dinner in Alontieal, giv'^en in ho- 
 nor of the Members /or that City, who had supported British prin- 
 ciples of Taxation, were published in tne Monti eal Gazette, the 1 le- 
 sident of the Dinner Party, Isaac Todd,^ Esq-, and the Printer, Mr. 
 Edwards, were marked out as objects of Parliamentary persecution. 
 
88 
 
 POLITICAL AH^NALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 On tlie 7tli March, 1 806, Mr. Bedard and Mr. Bourdngex moved 
 the reading of the alledged Libel, on tlie House of Assembly and the 
 other [{ranches of Government, contained in jSumber 50M of, the Mon- 
 treal Gazette, dated first April, 1805; which having been done, the 
 same Members moved the House to resolve, that “ the said paper 
 contains a false., scandnlom and seditious Libel, highly ref ecting on 
 His Majesty's Representative in this Province, and on both Houses of 
 the Provincial ParlianTcnt, and tending to lessen the affections of His 
 Majesty's Subjects towards his Government in this Province."* Which 
 resolve, after an attempt on the part of the Minority to show that the 
 subject was unworthy of serious" consideration, was passed by a Ma- 
 jority of 17 to 7- 
 
 But those two individuals were not the only objects of persecution. 
 Mr. Thomas Cary, the intelligent Proprietor and Editor of the En- 
 glish Paper, called the Quebec Mercury, having accompanied his 
 usual Report of Proceedings of the "House with some remarks upon 
 the rigorous course intended against the Editor of the Montreal Ga- 
 zette, incurred the high displeasure of the Majorit}', who retrograding 
 half a century in search of British precedents, declared it a high 
 breach of their privileges, for any individual to presume to give to the 
 Public an account of the Proceedings of the House of Assembly. 
 
 After much debate and overruling of the Speaker on a question af- 
 fecting a standing regulation of the House, the Majority, on the 1 1th 
 of March, obtained a resolve ^Hhat Thomas Cary, Editor of the 
 Newspaper entitled “Me Quebec Mercury," f r undertaking in his Pa- 
 per of yesterday, to give an account of the Proceedings of this House, 
 be taken into custody of the Serjeant at Arms attending this House." 
 The Minority in vain attempted to delay this injudicious, precipitate 
 and intemperate measure ; first, by moving, in amendment, that Tho- 
 mas Cary has violated no rule or privilege of this House ; and next, 
 
 *♦ The following wereMhe obnoxious To2st:» : — 
 
 The Honourable IVIembers of the Legislative Council, who were frienrlW to Con- 
 stitutional Taxation, as proposed by our worthy Members, in the House of As- 
 sembly. 
 
 Our Representatives, in Provincial Parliament, who proposed a Constitutional 
 and proper mode of Taxation, for building Gaols ; and who opposed a Tax on Com- 
 inerce, for that purpose, as contrary to the sound practice of the Parent State. 
 
 May our Representatives he actuated by a patriotic spirit, for the good of the 
 Province, as dependant on the British Empire, and divested .of Local prejudices. 
 
 Prosperity to the Agriculture and Commerce of Canada; and may they aid each 
 other, as their true interest dictates, by sharing a due proportion of advantages and 
 burthens. 
 
 The City and County of Montreal and the Grand Juries of the District, who re- 
 commended T.ocal Assessments for local purposes. 
 
 May the City of Montreal be enabled to support a Newspaper, though deprived 
 of its natural and useful advantages ; apparently for the benefit of an individttaL 
 
 May the Commercial Interest of this Province have its due influence in the ad- 
 ministration of its Government. 
 
OF LdWER CANADA. 
 
 89 
 
 VIII.] 
 
 that there was no proof before the House that he was the Author, 
 Printer or Publisher of the Paper or Paragraphs in question. No- 
 thing could stop the headlong violence of the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority, whose passion was found deaf alike to common decorum and 
 to common sense. Their victim having surrendered himself to the 
 Serjeant at Arms, prevailed upon Mr. Bourdages to present his lium- 
 ble Petition to the House on the 12th of March, expressing sorrow 
 for having unintentionally given offence, and praying that he might 
 be released ; whereupon the Majority, become more cool, agreed to 
 his discharge, withouteven bringing him to the Bar of the House for the 
 purpose of being reprimanded. Resuming their persecution of Mr. 
 Todd and Mr. Edwards, the Majority, on the loth of March, carried 
 resolves against these individuals, who were voted guilty of a high 
 breach of the privileges of the House, and ordered to be taken into 
 custod}^ of the Serjeant at Arms. On the 19th of March, the Speak- 
 er submitted to the consideration of the House, a draft of a War* 
 rant to take Edivard Edxjoards, Printer at Montreal^ into the custody 
 of the Serjeant at Arms; aiid prayed the advice and instructions of 
 the House thereupon'" But Mr. Todd^ against whom the vengeance 
 of the Majority was chiefly pointed, having retired into the United 
 States, farther proceedings in this case of alledged libel, were laid 
 aside. Meantime, several well written communications, calling in 
 question the right of the House of Assembly to arrest a Subject of 
 His Majesty by its Speaker’s Warrant, appeared in the Quebec Mer- 
 cury ; and this constructive right w’as considered so worthy of regu- 
 lation, that a clause in the Union Bill of prohibited its exercise 
 before it should have been enacted, by the proposed nevo Legislature^ 
 and declared necessary for the support of its dignity. 
 
 This Session is less remarkable for any new Laws, than for in- 
 stances of the pertinacity of the French Canadian Majorit}^, in their 
 endeavours to justify their system of taxing Merchandise as their 
 only ways and means for defraying general and local Expenses. On 
 the 4th of March, Mr. Bedard^ seconded by Mr. Berthelof obtained 
 a resolve for the appointment of a Committee of Nine Members to 
 prepare an Address and Memorial to His Majesty, beseeching His 
 Majesty not to exercise his right of disallowing the late Act of the 
 Legislature, providing means for building Gaols at Quebec and Mon- 
 treal, with a Memorial containing the reasons of the House for avoid- 
 ing an Assessment on Lands for such purposes. This Measure hav- 
 ing been carried, copies of these Documents are to be found in tlie 
 Journals of the House, and are partiAdarly worthy of the attention 
 of the Student in the Constitutional History of Low^er Canada. 
 They are too long for insertion here, but v/e shall make a few remarks 
 upon their contents. 
 
 The Address, wdiich passed the House on the 18th of March, ex- 
 presses repeatedly the loyalty, attachment and heartfelt gratitude of 
 the Representatives of Lower Canada, to His Majesty’s Sacred Per- 
 
 N 
 
[)0 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap, 
 
 son, Family and Government, In its progress towards the object of 
 reconciling Ilis Majesty to tlie Anti-Hrirish and Anti-Commercial 
 system of taxing Coinmcrcc, it purposely confounds the Commerce 
 arising from the products of Provincial Agriculture, that is to say, 
 Exports, with Imports, consisting, as they principally did, of British 
 Manufactures. Be it observed here, that tlie Majority took care not 
 to tax Exports for any General or Local purpose, well knowing that 
 this principle might be felt by their Constituents, whose Grain might 
 already be considered as sufficiently Taxed by the rent to the Seign- 
 eur, and the tythc to the Priest. The Tax which they, in the pleni- 
 tude of their loyally and attachment to the King of Great Britain, 
 prayed him to approve, was not a Tax on Colonial Produce, as exists 
 in other Colonies, but a Tax on the Manufactures of the British Na- 
 tion, already taxed to a great amount, for the Military and Naval 
 defence of Canada. The Address and Memorial are, in fact, a spe- 
 cimen of that continued misrepresentation which has distinguished the 
 chicaning and special pleading Leaders of the Nation Cariadienne^ 
 in Provincial Parliament assembled, and are suitable forerunners to 
 the Non-parity Resolutions respecting the Royal Commands to vote 
 a Civil List, permanent for the King s life. The asserted difficulties 
 attending the imposition and collection of a Land Tax, under any 
 form, are, in a great degree, im«iginary, and are partly contradicted 
 by the very facts which the Memorial admits to exist in the domestic 
 economy of Lower Canada. The Habitant or Farmer contributes, in 
 almost every instance, several bushels of Wheat and other Grain to 
 the Seigneur and to the Priest : — to the latter, he gives a stated pro- 
 portion of his Crop ; what difficulty, then, w ould be found in his be- 
 ing rated for a moderate quota of his Crop, or its equivalent in mo- 
 ney, tow ards the building of a District Court-house, a District Gaol, 
 or other local establishment? This difficulty is mere pretence; and 
 the truth is, that the Habitants consider themselves sufficiently taxed 
 by the French law of the land, in being obliged to pay rents and 
 other feudal burthens to the Seigneur, and ty thes to the Priest ; and 
 if yon xi'^ere to ask any one of them to contribute two bushels of Wheats 
 or two Dollars^ for the suppo?i of Governmcrit^ he x\:oidd give you the 
 equivocal French sign of inability or tnnvillingness^ by shrugging up 
 his shoulders. The Address and Memorial do not candidly state 
 such facts; but they cannot help insinuating that the attachment of 
 the French Canadians mainly depends upon their being always ena- 
 bled to consider themselves as less taxed than their neighbours, mean- 
 ing, we suppose, the Citizens of the United States, and the Inhabi- 
 tants of Upper Canada, who are subjected to District Assessmeuis for 
 local purposes. If the Memorialists had foreseen that their taxes on 
 British Manufactures imported into Canada, would, at a future day, 
 have been reterred to in the Imperial Parliament as a justification for 
 imposing Duties on Canadian Grain, Flour, Potashes aiul Lumber, 
 imported into Great Britain, they might, nevertheless, have persisted 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 91 
 
 VJIT.] 
 
 in their because tbc Merchants woulil be the apparent sufler- 
 
 ers, as they are in the case of ]}ritish Manufactures imported into 
 C anada. We shall only farther remark, that the Address and Memo- 
 rial were rather suited to court ))()pularity among the great bod}^ of 
 the Klectors, than to convince flis Majesty’s Ministers of the cor- 
 rectness of the principles, or of the information which tliey contain- 
 ed ; and we again reejuest our enquiring readers to study these so- 
 phistical Documents, as a key to some subsequent Financial Pro- 
 ceedings of the Leaders of the Nation Canadienne. 
 
 We have filled so much space with the more characteristic pro- 
 ceedings of the Honourable Mouse, that we must be brief upon the 
 other occurrences of the Session. Several Bills were introduced, 
 which, though they did not become Laws, show the disposition of the 
 Members of the House. The Bill for consolidating previous Acts, 
 and giving the exclusive right of conveyance of Travellers by Land 
 to the Maitres de Poste, passed tlie House, but was amended in such 
 a manner in the Council, as to require a conference between both 
 Houses, the preliminaries of which spent the remainder of the 
 Session, thus happily leaving the conveyance of Travellers open to 
 the competition of the enterprising Proprietors of Stage Coaches. 
 
 This Se sslon is also remarkable for an attempt, on the part of the 
 Majority, to grant a Patent for the exclusive building of Bridges, on 
 a particular plan, in the Province, to J, B. Bedard, for twenty-five 
 years ; but this job was so much deprecated by the public voice, that 
 the Bill, after having been once read, was suffered to lie dormant 
 during the rest of the Session. 
 
 The increasing applications for privileges to build Toll Bridges, 
 having alarmed the cautious disposition of the President, he reserved 
 the Bill passed in favour of Jaccjiies La Cornhe, Esquire, for building 
 a Toll Bridge at L’Assomption, for the signification of Flis Majesty’s 
 pleasure thereon ; and it never became a law. 
 
 The Commercial Minority made strenuous exertions to obtain some 
 beneficial Regulations ; and they procured the passage of an Act 
 this Session, 46, Geo. IIL, Cap. 4, to regulate the Packing and In^ 
 spection of Flour and Indian Meal, and to provide for ascertaining 
 the quality of' Biscuit.* 
 
 A Bill for the regulation of the Fisheries in the District of Gaspc, 
 on the Gulph of the St. Lawrence, made some progress, but was not 
 passed till the following Session. 
 
 The Petition from the Borough and District of Three-Rivers, for 
 two Judges instead of one, and four Court Terms instead of two, al- 
 
 * This Act, being a temporary one, has been repeatedly amended ; and, as the 
 latest Act on this subject, 5, Geo VL, Cap. 17, will expire on the 1st of March 
 hext ; and as the circumstances of the recent prorogation of the Provincial Parlia- 
 tnent give no hope of an early Session, tlic regulation of the F’lour Trade will de- 
 pend upon the old Ordinance of the Governor and Legislative Council, 25, Geo* 
 IIL, Cap. C, 
 
9 ^ 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 ready mentioned, Wcis again presented this Session, but without ef- 
 fect; and the consequent discontent of the Electors, produced a 
 cliange in their Representatives on the first opportunity. 
 
 On the 21st of March, the President communicated, by Special 
 Message, Statements of the Provincial Revenue of the Crown, and 
 of the Expenditure for the year ending the 5th of January, 1806. 
 The former, owing to the productiveness of the Gaol Duties, amount- 
 ed to about forty-two thousand pounds sterling ; and the latter, in- 
 cluding twelve hundred pounds sterling, (the claim of Upper Canada 
 on the Provincial Duties,) amounted to thirty-five thousand four hun- 
 dred and sixty-nine pounds eighteen shillings and ten pence sterling. 
 
 The only appropriations this Session, besides the annual votes for 
 the contingent expenses of the Legislature, were one thousand pounds 
 to complete the improvement of the Lachine Rapids, and ninety-six 
 pounds as a compensation to Charles Simon Delorme^ the Contractor, 
 for damage done to his Machinery employed on that Work, by tim- 
 ber rafts. 
 
 The Majority having persisted in their design of having the four 
 Volumes of Hatsell’s Precedents translated into French, addressed 
 the President, praying that his Honour would be pleased to advance 
 to the Speaker, out of the funds established to defray the contin- 
 gent expenses of the Legislature, seven hundred and fifty pounds 
 currency, for that purpose. His Honour excused himself from grant- 
 ing the prayer of this Address, referring to the previous refusal of 
 the Lieutenant Governor to advance a sum of twenty-five pounds for 
 Indexes to the Lex Parliamentaria. 
 
 This check to the Majority, together with a complaint on the part 
 of the President, that the House had failed in a point of etiquette, 
 (having addressed his Honour to transmit their Address and Memorial 
 to His Majesty, without having previously communicated their con- 
 tents,) produced symptoms of reciprocal discontent. But the pro- 
 rogation of the Parliament soon interrupted the course of resentment. 
 
 On the 19th of April, this short and unproductive Session came to 
 2 close. The President gave the Royal Assent to Seven Acts, all 
 temporary, and chiefly to continue previous Acts: after which, his 
 Honour made a short Speech to both Houses, giving due praise to 
 the Members of the Assembly, who had attended, and ascribing the 
 unfinished state of the public business to the lamentable neglect of 
 their public duties, on the part of the absent Members. -His Ho- 
 nour closed his Speech, in imitation of his Predecessor, with express- 
 ing his conviction, that the Members highly esteemed the Constitu- 
 tion conferred upon the Province, and that they would feel it incum- 
 bent upon them to impress their fellow subjects with sentiments of 
 the most grateful attachment to His Majesty’s Person and Govern- 
 ment. 
 
IX.] 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA 
 
 93 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 A. D. 1807 & 1808. 
 
 Preliminary remarks on the prog}'ess of Canadian Commerce prod need by the 
 combined liodiliiy of the Emperor Napoleon^ and President Jefferson to 
 British Maritime rights . — The Decrees of Berlin and Milo intended to 
 destroy the intercourse of the Neutral Powers of Europe and America with 
 Great Britain. — Measures of the British Ministry to encourage the employ- 
 ment of Capital aud Shipping^ in procuring Timber and other articles from. 
 Canada. — Incapacity of the Legislature and French population of Lower 
 Canada^ to improve this opportunity of Clearing and Settling the Waste 
 Lands of the Province. — Superior qualifications of the Americans for the 
 Clearance of Lands and the formation of new Settlements^ contrasted with 
 the apathy and Local attachment of the French Canadians. — The Upper 
 Canadians and the Citixens of the United States on the St. Lawrence profit 
 most by the increasing Export Trade of Quebec.— Impotent jealousy of the 
 FrenchCanadian Majority of the House of Assembly and of their Electors, who 
 repine at the rewards of British ^foreign Industry. — Third Sessio 7 i of the 
 fourth Provincial Parliament — Account of President Dunn's Speech to both 
 Houses. — Addresses from them. — Temporising and trifling conduct arid occu- 
 pation of the friends of the Executive in the House of Assembly, — Renewal of 
 the Act for appointing Returning Officers, and extension of its provisions for 
 securing the ascendancy of French Canadian Members.— Act for making per- 
 manent the powers of the Justices in Quarter Sessions to 7'egulate Apprentices 
 and Servants.— Failure of an impolitic attempt to introduce a Poor's Rate* — 
 Fruitless endeavors of Government to promote the culture of Hemp. — Causes of 
 the failure of this costly experiment. — Act for the regulation of Maitres dc 
 Paste.— Renewed attempt to amend the law for preventing the breaking out and 
 spreading of fires.— Petition for Drawbacks of Duties paid on imported 
 Goodi, to encourage re-exportation. — Allusion to the Bonding System which 
 was long afterwards introduced into Canada, by the Imperial Parliament* 
 Failure oj the Majority in the renewed attempt to obtain pecuniary com- 
 pensation for the services of Members of the Assembly* — General character of 
 this tranquil Session. — Dislike of the Executive to temporary Acts contras- 
 ted with the partiality of the House of Assembly to that mode of Legislation* 
 — Unpopular Act in favor of J» B. Beclard . — Number of Acts passed. Close of 
 the Session.— Events in Europe and America during the recess.— Account of 
 the short Administration of the late Mr. Fox, and of the succeeding coalition 
 Ministry.— Domestic, Colonial and Foreign Policy of those Admhiistraiions. 
 —A Tory Ministry appointed, eager to recover the foreign. Alliances and to 
 carry on the war against Napoleon with vigor.— Secret Articles of the Treaty of 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 91 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Tilsit, and accession of lUissia to yapoteon'^s Contijierial System^ ir/tef.fied 
 to anvitiiUite the yoreign Covin. evcc ai.d Maritime Hightsof Great Hritain 
 and of Neutral Powers, — Covtcvtv of this Treaty discovered to the new Min^ 
 %stry,— Consequences of this diJiClosure , — Conduct of the Government of the 
 Un ited States— projessing Neutratity^ but not performing the duties of that 
 relation towards Great Britain,— Hhe encourage > the desertion of seamen from 
 British vessels of war on the Atlantic Coast.— A flagrant instance of this 
 leads to the attack of the American frigate Chesapeake by Capt. Eumphries^ 
 who cjmpells the Che.wpeake to surrender,, and takes away the deserters. 
 Proclamation of President Jefferson in consequence of this attack, and ve^ 
 grtiation with Great Britain to obtain reparation for the insult and in., 
 jury sustained.— The forbearance of the British Ministry combined with ex- 
 treme Jealousy towards the United States.— A.p point ment of James Henky 
 
 Craig to the Government of Lower Canada, and to the Military Command of 
 British North America. — Military and Civil situation of Lower Canada on 
 his arrival at Quebec in October ISOT. — Extraordinary policy of the United 
 States. — The Congre.ns^ by recommendation of President Jefferson, lays an 
 Embargo on all American ve sels, and prohibits inta cjurse by land and 
 inland navigation with British North America. — Effects of this Embargo 
 and non-intercourse on the trade of Canada.— Influx of American produce 
 and capiial.-’The Americans resorting to Lower Canada, expose the defects 
 of its laws ajid institutioiis, in glaring colors, stimulating the Executive 
 to attempt improvement. — Fourth Session of the Provincial Parliament.— 
 Account of the Speech of the Governor Cenei'al. — Addresses of both Houses . — 
 First direct deviation from the Constitution, by the House of Assembly, in 
 refusing to admit a respectable Jew, Ei^kiel Hati, elected a Member for the 
 Borough of Three Rivers. — Reflections. —Secona deviation, less reprehensible, 
 of excluding by an Act of the Legislature, His Maje^ ty^s Justices of the 
 King's Bench, from Seats in the House of Assembly. — The Bill passed for 
 this purpose, rejected by the Legislative Council — First direct attempt of 
 the House of A.^semb/y on His Majesty's Prerogative, as to granting (vr selL 
 ing the TVaste Lands of the Crown. — Irregular Proceedings of the Ma^ 
 joriiyto attain their purpose. — The Quorum reduced from 17 /o 11 Members, 
 — Urgency of Petitioners for various Enactments, chiefly connected with 
 
 Commerce. — Review of various Acts, passed this Session Reflections on the 
 
 admission of foreign coins, as a part of the circulating medium, and a 
 tender of payment in a British Colony.— Opinion on the bed mode of esta^ 
 blishing the inspection of Staple Articles of Colonial Exportation.— The 
 Commercial projects introduced this Session criticised ^ with an account of 
 their consequences, under the influence of the old French Laws, when after., 
 wards adopted.— Intercourse between Quebec and the British fVest hidia 
 Islands. — The Local legislature having refused co-operation, the Merchants, 
 by means of an Agent, obtain from the Imperial Parliament some benejicial 
 regulotiojis of Trade, in the intercourse between Quebec, Bermuda, and for* 
 cign European Ports. — The Governor General's Speech at the end of the 
 Session — The fate of the fourth Ptovincia I Parliament^ contrasted with that 
 of some succeeding Parliaments. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA, 
 
 95 
 
 IX.] 
 
 Before describing the progi*ess of the ambitious Majority of the 
 House of Assembly in the third Session of the fourth Provincial Par- 
 liament, it will be expedient to resume those remarks on the state 
 and Trade of the Province affected by the war in Europe, and the po- 
 licy of the United States, which Country was then under the Presidency 
 of the temporising and speculative Republican, Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 In our seventh Chapter, we remarked that external circumstances 
 and relations had chiefly augmented the Agriculture and Commerce 
 of Lower Canada, and that the Local Government, and more particu- 
 larly the House of Assembly, was little calculated to take advantage 
 of such circumstances, and to promote those objects, even by re- 
 moving obstructions to the march of Commerce and the progress of 
 Settlements, in this Province. Lower Canada, chiefly waste and un- 
 productive, owes its partial advancement, under every disadvantage, 
 to the efforts off mcn^ x\)hom the French Canadian Leaders^ xjoith unprin^ 
 cipled audacity^ have branded as strangers and intruders. 
 
 In the course of the year 1806, the events and policy of the war in 
 Europe had an extraordinary effect upon the Trade of* this Province ; 
 whose exportable produce was yearly augmented by the influx of the 
 Flour, Provisions and Lumber of the rapidly improving American 
 Settlements on Lake Champlain and on the River St. Lawrence, as 
 well as by the surplus produce of Upper Canada. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte^ who had lately assumed the imposing titles 
 of Emperor off France, King of Italy, S^c., signalised every step in 
 his progress towards universal Empire, by new Decrees against the 
 Trade of Great Britain, endeavouring, at last, to destroy her Com- 
 mercial Intercourse with the Continent of Europe, even through the 
 medium of the Ships of the United States, and of other neutral 
 powers, thus involving the destruction of all Maritime Commerce 
 with that of Great Britain. At this period, his increasing influence 
 over the other Potentates of Europe, began to alarm the Govern- 
 ment and Capitalists of the United Kingdom. The Ministry, dread- 
 ing the hostility of the Northern Powers of Europe, determined 
 on giving the most decisive encouragement to the employment of 
 capital, in furnishing Masts and Timber for naval purposes from the 
 Canadas, and the other Provinces of British North America, which ar- 
 ticles were enacted to be admitted duty free, while the permanent and 
 war duties on Foreign Timber, were greatly increased. The Capi- 
 talists eagerly seized this opening for the employment of money ; 
 and facilitated the erection of Saw-mills, and other establishments 
 connected with the Lumber Trade in the Canadas, Nova Scotia and 
 New Brunswick. Quebec, henceforth, became the resort of many 
 hundreds of Vessels making regularly two voyages outwards and 
 homewards, creating such a demand for Lumber, Labour and IVo- 
 visions, as completely changed the monotonous routine ol previous 
 trade, both inland and foreign. If the Provincial Legislature had 
 been so composed as to have seconded this general movement, the 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 <jr> 
 
 [chap. 
 
 facilities of clearance and settlement would liave given a new face to 
 the whole Country : — if the influence of French and Feudal Laws 
 liad been mitigated at this peculiar crisis, the sur|)lus population of 
 tlie Seigneiuics would have imitated the enterprising Settlers of New 
 Ilainpshire and New York, establishing their home in the w^oods, and 
 reaj)ing those benefits which an anti-commercial policy still chiefly 
 confines to the enterprising population of British origin, settled in 
 Upper Canada, and on the frontiers of the neighbouring States. 
 Meantime, how^ever, the indireetbenefits derived by the French Can- 
 adians from the effects of the war, and this new branch of commer- 
 cial policy, w ere as great as they w'ere unexpected. Even the pro- 
 duce of their unscientific agricultural industry and manual labour, if 
 husbanded with intelligent economy, w^ould have accumulated a last- 
 ing fund of capital and comfort ; but, as will hereafter more clearly 
 ajipear, the great majority of this vain and thoughtless people, be- 
 came wasteful, dissipated and indolent, in proportion to the tempora- 
 ry increase of compensation for their labour, caused by the exten- 
 sion of Commerce. 
 
 When an American Labourer has an opportunity of saving, out of 
 the w^ages of his labour, even less than the moderate sum of one 
 hundred dollars, he will alone, and unaided by associates, venture in- 
 to the forest and make a home there, contending against all the dif- 
 ficulties of incipient settlement. He looks ahvays forward, calcula- 
 ting and contriving his means of conquering the wilds and extending 
 the circle of cultivation. His enjoyment is chiefly in anticipating 
 the consequences of his industry; and he perseveres from youth to 
 old age, in reflecting on the past, and speculating on the future, ra- 
 ther than enjoying the present hour. These habits, which partly be- 
 long also to other branches of the great British Family, form an in- 
 teresting contrast to those of the French Canadians, w ho present the 
 characteristics of an old and corrupted society, in a new Country, 
 requiring the vigilance of Priests, and the power of Feudal Superi- 
 ors to kee{) them in order, and prevent them from becoming wild as 
 the aborigines of the Country. We forbear, however, to extend the 
 comparison and we shall only venture to assert that, this Province 
 will never be extensively settled by French Canadians, unless their 
 Leaders can be induced to consent to facilitate their combination 
 w ith Emigrants and others of British origin, possessed of that pecu- 
 liar energy and courage which can alone brave the difficulties of 
 clearing lands at a distance from the Banks of large Rivers commu- 
 nicating with Sea Ports and Commercial Towns, and remote from 
 the aids and comforts of civilised Society. Till this desirable com- 
 bination take place, w e shall invariably find the capital occasionally 
 
 ♦ On the subject of the contrast between Frenchmen and Americans, we beg 
 leave to refer our enquiring readers to the philosophic French Traveller Volney, 
 who, in his Views of America, has presented an interesting picture of the progress 
 of iS^cttlcmcuts in the Forests of tlie United States. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 97 
 
 IX.] 
 
 spread among the French Canadians, either dissipated in luxurious 
 indulgence, or left unemployed, or at best, applied to enhance the 
 value of the lands about their primeval Forts, Churches and Con- 
 vents, round which they continue to rally in war and in peace. 
 
 While the extending Commerce already mentioned, was furnishing 
 a Market for Agricultural and other Produce, the clforts of the 
 American Settlers beyond the Seigniories, and the American Citizens 
 on the Frontiers, to forward supplies of Cattle, Hogs, Provisions and 
 Lumber, were extraordinary, and completely astonished the French 
 Canadians, who could not, without the powerful influence of a com- 
 petent, intelligent and harmonious Legislature, change their heredi- 
 tary routine of labour and amusement. They were not, however, inat- 
 tentive to the scenes passing around thein ; they saw the benejits derived 
 by Foreigners^ and xuerc envious of their prosperity ^ though not emulous 
 of their industry. This spirit naturally extended from the great bo- 
 dy of the Electors to their Representatives ; the Majority of the 
 House of Assembly will soon appear, therefore, extremely jealous of 
 every Legislative Measure, calculated to facilitate the competition of 
 the produce of the Countries beyond the Seigniories, with that of 
 their own Constituents ; and this jealousy, of what they will call the 
 Agriculture of Foreigners, will be accompanied with an increased 
 hostility to the Merchants w’ho pursue this transit Trade, so interest- 
 ing to British Shipping, and to the general Commerce of the Em- 
 pire. This narrow jealousy was likewise afterwards displayed by cer- 
 tain speculative Seigneurs, who had established Mills on an extensive 
 scale,*for the manufacture of Flour, and with whose profits, the sup- 
 plies of that article from Upper Canada and the United States in- 
 terfered. 
 
 These sketches of the circumstances and prospects of the Province, 
 will prepare our readers for the appearance of energy in the Admin- 
 istration of President Dunn^ whose Executive Council could not help 
 feeling the influence of the general spirit, which British Merchants 
 and British Capital diffused throughout the Country. 
 
 The third Session of the fourth Provincial Parliament, was opened 
 by the President, on the 21st of January, ISOTj with a Speech to 
 both Houses, which began by referring to the Act of the Imperial 
 Parliament, which, in conferring on the Province, what he was pleas- 
 ed to call an invaluable Constitution, had enjoined the Annual Meet- 
 ing of the Legislature ; and His Honour also referred to the absence 
 of the Lieutenant Governor as again imposing upon him the duty of 
 calling the Members from their private occupations, ascribing to 
 them the greatest aeal for promoting to the utmost, the welfare of 
 the Country. After intimating to the House of Assembly his inten- 
 tion of laying before them Statements of the Provincial Revenue of 
 the Crov/n, and of the Expenditure, during the last twelve months, 
 His Honour, addressing both Houses, endeavoured to interest them 
 in the success of His Majesty’s Arms, as connected with the safety 
 
98 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 and tranquility of tlie Province ; but he did not recommend a single 
 Measure of Improvement or Defence, except the renewal of the 
 temporary Acts for the regulation of Aliens, and the preservation of 
 Ilis Majesty’s Government^ which was considered mere matter of 
 routine in every Session during the war. 
 
 The Addresses of both Houses, particularly that of the Legisla- 
 tive Council, enlarged on the topics of the Speech ; and the House 
 of Assembly congratulated the President on the prolongation of his 
 Administration during the absence of the Lieutenant Governor, as 
 affording him an opportunity of ensuring a tribute of gratitude for 
 his public conduct. 
 
 A Committee having been appointed on the expiring Laws, Bills 
 for their continuance vv^ere introduced, and passed with little discus- 
 sion, the Executive having abandoned their usual endeavour to^ob- 
 tain permanent enactments from a House of Assembly, xtihich veas 
 ambitious of rendering the very existence of His Majesty s Govern- 
 ment dependent upon its annual enactments. 
 
 This Session, the renewal of the Act for appointing Returning Of- 
 ficers, afforded a fit opportunity for remedying many alledged griev- 
 ances connected with the Election of Members of the House of As- 
 sembly, the qualifications of Returning Officers and Voters, and the 
 places of Election, all of which were provided for by the Act passed 
 tliis Session, after much discussion, 47, Geo. IIL, Cap. 16. 
 
 While the Majority of the House of Assembly, during this and fu- 
 ture Sessions, were intent on extending and securing their general 
 ascendancy, w e find the Members connected w ith the Executive, con* 
 fining their views to matters of local convenience or individual profit; 
 and the establishment of new Market-houses in Quebec and Montre- 
 al, appears to have chiefly monopolised their attention during this 
 Session of the Provincial Parliament. Acts were passed for those 
 purposes, without exciting much discussion ; but, in their execution, 
 they occasioned much obloquy against their Promoters, who were 
 asserted to have been actuated by motives of individual interest and 
 electioneering purposes. 
 
 This Session, a Law w^as passed consolidating the Regulations, 
 which, under a temporary Act, the Justices of Quebec and Montreal 
 had made respecting the reciprocal duties of Masters, Apprentices 
 and Servants, which, if facilitated in its execution by that competi- 
 tion for employment, which is found in old Countries, would have 
 done much for the comfort of families, and the advancement of the 
 Inhabitants of the Province in the useful arts. 
 
 This Session was distinguished by an attempt to introduce Assess- 
 ments for the support of the Infirm Poor, and, at the same time, to 
 suppress Public Beggars and punish Idle Vagabonds. This Mea- 
 sure, which looks well in theory, w ould require, however, such excel- 
 lent management, that it is probably fortunate that the Majority of 
 the House were found inimical to it ; as indeed they have ever been 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 99 
 
 ix.] 
 
 to any thing in the sliape of direct or permanent taxation. A Poor's- 
 rate, in a Country where every Individual willing to work^ may find 
 employment, would be a public encouragement to idleness. 
 
 For some years, an experiment had been patronized by the Impe- 
 rial and Provincial Government, for promoting the culture of Hemp; 
 and this year, w^e find public examples added to preeeptsand rewards. 
 Government secured to the Cultivator, a fair remunerating price in 
 the Provincial Market, and the British Society for the encourage- 
 ment of the Arts, had established Premiums, both honorary and pe- 
 cuniary, in favour of an improved culture and j)reparation of this Ar- 
 ticle. Persons duly qualified, were sent to the Province by the Co- 
 lonial Department ; and experimental Farms for this new branch of 
 industr)^, were ordered to be established in each District. The sys- 
 tem of Culture prescribed, was, however, so repugnant to the care- 
 less and slovenly habits of the peasantry, that this costly and trou- 
 blesome experiment was found inefficient to introduce a new staple 
 production, wdiich, at one time, promised to furnish, in the various 
 stages of cultivation, cleaning and preparation, for a Foreign Market, 
 extensive employment to Men, Women and Children. Under every 
 discouragement, the Government persevered in this desperate expe- 
 riment ; and the late Commissary Clarkey so zealous for all kinds of 
 improvement, continued to be authorised for several years to offer 
 Forty-three Pounds Sterling per Ton, for any quantity delivered in a 
 dean and marketable state, into His Majesty's Stores, at Montreal 
 and Quebec. 
 
 The Maitres de Poste, this Session, renew^ed their application for 
 Legislative protection, against those private Individuals who interfered 
 with them in that regulated monopoly of the conveyance of Travel- 
 lers by land, wdiich they had long enjoyed. This new Act, however, 
 47j Geo. IIL, Cap. 5, took particular care to prevent the conveyance 
 of the public Mails, or the exigencies of His Majesty’s Service from 
 suffering by this monopoly, which was fiirther restricted by authoris- 
 ing the Justices to License other persons than the Maitres de Poste, 
 who should stipulate to convey Travellers at a reduced rate, thus 
 leaving an opening for employment to Stage Coaches. 
 
 Notwithstanding the frequent Fires which had afflicted Quebec 
 and Montreal, and the spreading of which had notoriously been fa- 
 cilitated by the lately proscribed practice of covering the Roofs of 
 Houses, in those Cities, with Shingles, there w^ere found interested 
 persons to petition for permission to use Shingles, pretending that, 
 wffien washed wdth Lime, they would be found less liable to commu- 
 nicate Fire, than Boards. This Petition was not favourably received, 
 owdng to the strenuous opposition to its principles, which was known 
 to exist among the principal Proprietors, of Houses in Quebec and 
 Montreal. 
 
 The first attempt to obtain a drawback of Provincial Duties on 
 the re-exportation of an Article which had paid the Duty, was made 
 
100 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 by Irmne, MacnaugJd Sf Co., this Session, in which that respectable 
 Firm appeared to ire seconded by the whole Mercantile Interest; 
 but the Majority of the House of Assembly would not listen to 
 any Prayers for such a decided facility to Commerce, as the Pe- 
 tition contemplated; but •with respect to Duties imposed by late 
 British Acts, the Bo7idir,g System affords a partial relief to the Mer- 
 chatit •who had been systematically oppressed by the Fniancial Princi- 
 ples and Practices 0 / the Majority of the House of Assembly. 
 
 On the 24th of jpebruary, the attempt to give pecuniary compen- 
 sation to th« Members, was renewed, and on the following day, the 
 House went into Committee on the subject ; when, after a long de- 
 bate, the adherents of the Executive, and others who considered such 
 compensation as disreputable, and as calculated to lower the charac- 
 ter of the Members, obtained a pos^ionement till the 1st of July 
 next. 
 
 Much public business was transacted this Session, which was com- 
 paratively a tranquil one, distinguished for several arrangements for 
 the advancement of the Police, and the improvement of the Domes- 
 tic Economy of the Province Party Spirit had not yet extended its 
 
 ffects to destroy social intercourse and good neighbourhood. 
 
 A certain degree of protection was given to the Naval Service 
 and the Shipping Interest, by the Act of this Session, 47, Geo. III., 
 Cap. 9, to prevent the desertion of Seamen ; and this being a per- 
 manent Act, the Executive has not pressed any amendment, fearing 
 that the increasing jealousy of the French Canadian Majority would 
 replace it by a temporary Act. 
 
 J. B. Bedard obtained an Act this Session, granting him an exclu- 
 sive privilege to build Bridges on a certain construction, during four- 
 teen years, instead of twenty-five years, as he first prayed for. This 
 exclusive right was very unpopular ; and excited a very general re- 
 luctance to approve of any such modes of encouraging the Arts 
 within the Province. 
 
 Tlie Bills to facilitate the erection of a iMarket-house in Quebec, 
 and an additional Market in Montreal, employed much of the time 
 of the House, which prolonged its Session, by attending to matters 
 of local interest, including the Incorporation of numerous Citizens, 
 under the name of the Quebec Benevolent Society, till the 16th of 
 April, when the President gave the Royal Assent to Sixteen Acts, 
 chiefly temporary, reserving for His Majesty's pleasure, the Bill for 
 Incorporating the Quebec Benevolent Society. 
 
 His Honour, in his closing Speech, praised the disposition of both 
 Houses for the promotion of the public welfare, and strongly recom- 
 mended t# the Members to carry the spirit of loyalty and attachment 
 to His Majesty, displayed during the Session, into their respective 
 Counties, inculcating among all ranks of people, obedience to the 
 Laws, and respect for His Majesty’s Person and Government. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 101 
 
 IX.] 
 
 Soon after tlie Prorogation, intelligence arrived at Quebec of a 
 general change in the Administration of the Imperial Government. 
 The Ministry which was ironically called all the Talents,"" in their 
 efforts to please all parties, had attempted various innovations in Laws, 
 Politics and Finances, which excited the jealousy of many powerful 
 interests both in the United Kingdom and in the Colonies. To di- 
 minish the accumulation of the National Debt, heavy war taxes, in- 
 cluding an increase of the Income Tax to ten per cent, had been im- 
 posed ; the Navigation I.aw^ had been relaxed in favour of Foreign 
 Vessels, and the Planters in the Sugar Colonies, in addition to the 
 pressure of the new War Duties, had been debarred from the suj)p!y 
 of Negroes, by the abolition of the Slave Trade. The whole course 
 of the Opposition, headed by the late Mr. Fox, having pledged him 
 and his associates to economy, this Administration gradually withheld 
 those supplies of British Treasure, which, during the brilliant Minis- 
 try of Pitt, had encouraged Austria and Russia to oppose the ambi- 
 tion of France ; and, in a great measure, they had lost the alliance 
 and co-operation of those Powers, in the prosecution of a just and 
 necessary war against Napoleon Bonaparte. This Administration 
 might, however, have struggled through the difficulties of domestic 
 and foreign discontents, if they had not incurred the deep displea- 
 sure of their King, who was personally beloved and respected by his 
 people. An attempt to diminish the securities, devised by the wis- 
 dom of our ancestors, for the protection of our Protestant Govern- 
 ment, alienated from this Ministry, the affections and confidence of 
 the Monarch, who could not be reconciled to them by any pleas of 
 expediency, or ostensible abandonment of their formidable projects. 
 
 In the months of March and April, a Tory and Anti-gallican Ad- 
 ministration was formed, containing many Disciples of the Pitt School, 
 eager to recover the Foreign Alliances, and to carry on an intermina- 
 ble war against the boundless ambition of the Ruler of France ; 
 whose measures of commercial and warlike hostility were opposed 
 and counteracted by all those means which wealth, energy and inge- 
 nuity could devise and execute. During the late Administration, 
 however, Alexander, the Emperor of Russia, disgusted with England, 
 and ambitious of adding to his Empire the Turkish Provinces on the 
 Danube, was lured into an alliance with Bonaparte, and into a co- 
 operation with him in his continental exclusion of the Commerce of 
 England. The famous Treaty of Tilsit, in its secret articles, com- 
 prehended a general system of European hostility against England ; 
 in which it was agreed to force the minor powders to co-operate ; and 
 the fortunate disclosure of those articles, by the secret agency of an 
 individual, to the British Ministry, induced them to take strong mea- 
 sures, disarming Denmark, threatening Russia, and exhibiting the 
 strongest jealousy of the conduct of all Commercial Governments, 
 including that of the United States, *uohich continued to preserve the 
 appearance of neutrality. 
 
102 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 The general measures of Nnpoleoriy and more particularly his Ber- 
 lin and other Decrees, by which he liad declared all neutral Vessels 
 good prizes, which might have touched at any Port of England, or ta- 
 ken English property on board, forced the Britisli Government, in 
 self-defence, to restrict and regulate the intercourse between France 
 and all the neutral Powers engaged in the carrying trade. — These 
 necessary measures, interfered with the freedom of Commerce claim- 
 ed by the United States, and the dogmas of their President, Thomas 
 Jefferson, who found it convenient to proclaim the principles that 
 
 Free Ships should make Free GoodsF Seeds of hostility were thus 
 sowm, which, fostered by permanent and accidental causes, ripened 
 eventually into a war, involving the maritime rights of Great Britain, 
 and the existence of her dominion in North America. 
 
 During the year 1806, and part of 1807, the hostility of the Uni- 
 ted States to Great Britain had been displayed, by prohibiting the 
 importation of certain articles of her manufacture, and by throwing 
 a variety of impediments in the way to prevent the exercise of her 
 rights to the service of her natural born Subjects. The Government 
 of the United States, professing to be neutral, was bound to permit 
 Vessels of War, belonging to Great Britain, to frequent the Coasts 
 and Harbours of that Country; and it was also its duty to afford that 
 hospitality which the practice of civilized nations has sanctioned. It 
 was likewise an established duty of a neutral towards a belligerent 
 power, to facilitate the means used by the latter, to retake Deserters 
 from its Naval and Military Service. The conduct of the Government 
 of the United States, in this respect, was extremely defective ; and 
 desertion from the British Vessels of War, on the American Coast, 
 was not only connived at, but the Deserters were occasionally enlisted 
 among the Cretins of American Vessels of JVar. An extraordinary 
 and flagrant instance of this conduct occurred, and was made known 
 to Admiral Berkley, the British Naval Commander in Chief on the 
 Atlantic Coast, who, acting on his own responsibility, resolved to 
 give a decisive check to a practice, which encouraged and counte- 
 nanced desertion from His Majesty’s Service. Having received un- 
 doubted information, the correctness of which was afterwards proved 
 in open Court, that four natural born British Subjects, who had de- 
 serted from the Halifax, a British Sloop of War, and who had been 
 identified and claimed in the most distinct and formal manner, wxre 
 nevertheless on board of the American Frigate Chesapeake, he took 
 measures to compel their delivery. Captain Humphries, command- 
 ing the Leopard, a Ship of fifty guns, accordingly meeting the Chesa* 
 peake, commanded by Commodore James Barroii, on the 23d of June, 
 1807, vvho had proceeded to sea on the morning of that day, de- 
 manded the Deserters ; but the Commodore denied that he had them 
 on board, and refused to allow a search for them, alledging the orders 
 of his Government to the contrary. On receiving tins answer. Cap- 
 tain Humphries, who had given to the Commodore a copy of the 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 103 
 
 IX.] 
 
 Admiral’s orders^ resorted to force ; and, after firing several broad- 
 sides, and killing and wounding nineteen of the Chesapeake’s Crew, 
 obliged her to strike her colours. A party from the Leopard then 
 came on board of the Chesapeake, mustered the remaining Crew, 
 found and identified the four Deserters, and took them away. As may 
 be supposed, Captain Humphries declined taking possession of the 
 Chesapeake, which Vessel was permitted to return to Port. This ac- 
 tion, combined with previous causes of excitement, produced feelings 
 of shame and indignation in the breasts of the great body of the 
 American Citizens, who were deaf to all the reasons which might 
 have palliated the insult. The popular voice demanded immediate 
 vengeance ; but the President was neither willing nor prepared to go 
 to extremities. He, however, by Proclamation, interdicted British 
 armed Vessels from entering the waters of the United States, and 
 obtained, from His Britannic Majesty, a prompt disavowal of the act 
 of Admiral Berkley, with a Special Mission for the purpose of agree- 
 ing upon a suitable reparation for the insult and injury which had 
 been inflicted, including a provision for the support of the families of 
 those men who had been killed and disabled in the unfortunate ren- 
 counter. 
 
 We have stated these particulars, as bearing upon the affairs of 
 this Province, and producing the appointment of an enterprising Gov- 
 ernor in Chief, a short period of extraordinary prosperity in the Ca- 
 nadas, and a remarkable epoch in the ambition of the Majority of 
 the House of Assembly. 
 
 The uncertain relations between the British and American Gov- 
 ernments, and the vicinity of the British North American Provinces 
 to the United States, induced the new Ministry to send to Quebec a 
 Governor General of military reputation ; and Lieutenant General Sir 
 James Henry Craigs who had begun his career in the American Re- 
 volutionary War, and distinguished himself in every quarter of the 
 world, arrived on the 21st of October, 1807? and opened his Com- 
 mission and took the oaths of Office on the 24*111 of the same month. 
 He found the Military Affairs of the Province well administered by 
 Major General Brocks Commander of the Forces, during the Presi- 
 dency of Mr. Dunn ; but Civil and Legislative Business was much in 
 arrear. The Militia had been regularly reviewed, and the drafts, au- 
 thorised by Law, on extraordinary occasions, had taken place ; but 
 the Legislature, during two years, had done little more than debate 
 and resolve on a variety of subjects, xjoithout providing for the ex- 
 igencies of a Commercial Colony y so 'peculiarly situated with reference 
 to Upper Canada and the United States. 
 
 In the latter country, the temporising character oT President Jeffer- 
 son meditated a most extraordinary display of what his fellow-citizens 
 called ‘‘ restrictive energies'' against Great Britain and France ; w'hose 
 mutual hostilities, as already mentioned, interrupted that complete 
 freedom of American Commerce, which his ideas of national indepen- 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 lOi 
 
 [chap. 
 
 dence required. Instead of either choosing his party and declaring 
 war, or permitting the enterprising commercial citizens to arm their 
 vessels and have a chance of still enjoying much foreign trade, this 
 philosophic ruler prescribed a temporary retirement from all maritime 
 intercourse ; and accordingly, at his suggestion, and to the utter 
 amazement of the civilised world, the Congress of the United States, 
 at the commencement of the Session in December, 1S07, laid an Em- 
 bargo upon all American vessels, and soon after prohibited all inter- 
 course by land and inland navigation with the Canadas and other British 
 American Provinces. At first it was supposed by the Merchants re- 
 siding in this Province, that this dignijicd retirement^ as it was ironi- 
 cally termed, could not last many weeks ; but when these practical 
 men found that the Philosopher was obstinate in support of his new 
 theory of coercing the belligerents by restrictive energy^ they began a 
 variety of speculations on an extensive scale; in which they were se- 
 conded by an active contraband trade, carried on between the frontier 
 settlements of both countries. American produce and capital, from 
 New York and the Northern States, were poured into this Province 
 for many months; and the Exports from Quebec to Great Britain and 
 to the West Indies in the year 1808 were double the accustomed value. 
 But consequences of greater importance than the extension of Com- 
 merce arose from this activity of intercourse. The keen and discrimi- 
 nating eyes of the Americans, resorting for Commercial purposes to 
 this Province, discovered and exposed the vices of its political Con- 
 stitution, and the effects of its domestic economy. The public prints 
 voere filled ivith remarks upon the had roads, the veant of accommodation 
 for travellers and speedy transport by land and water for merchandize 
 in Canada. The inconveniences, of French Laws, Language, and a 
 tenure of lands, forming such a contrast to the situation, improvements 
 and anticipations of the United States, were ever recurring themes for 
 writiner and conversation. The new^ Governor General and his Executive 
 
 o 
 
 Council could not help feeling the influence of these discussions ; and, 
 notwithstanding previous failures, Sir James Craig’s Administration 
 renewed the attempt of Legislative and general improvement, attended 
 however, with much trouble and little success. 
 
 The fourth Session of the fourth Provincial Parliament was open- 
 ed on the 29th January ISOS, by the Governor General, with a long 
 Speech, which chiefly dwelt upon the warlike exploits and energies 
 of Great Britain and the benefits which had accrued to the Province 
 from its connection wuth that powerful Empire. The recent arrival of 
 His Excellency at Quebec, his infirm health, preventing his personal 
 examination of the Country, and its inhabitants, induced him to speak 
 in rather general terms of its situation and circumstances ; but the tone 
 of His Speech gave reason to expect that, both in his Civil and Mili- 
 tary capacities, he would act with vigor and decision. He alluded to 
 the unpleasant discussions and fruitless negotiations which had taken 
 place bctwTcn His Majesty’s Government and that of the United 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 10 . 
 
 IX.] 
 
 States, expressing a hope, however, that the beneficial intercourse be- 
 tween two nations of the same race and origin could not be long inter- 
 rupted. In the present uncertainty :;f the result of negociation, he ex- 
 pressed his satisfaction at the tokens of loyalty which had been display- 
 ed in the Province, by the Militia, and the mass of the population ; and 
 he looked forward with confidence to proofs of attachment to His Ma- 
 jesty’s Government in the day cf trial, how soon or whenever it might 
 arrive. His Excellency next recommended a revision of the Militia 
 Laws, with the view of rendering them more suitable to the present 
 circumstances and prospects of the Province. Addressing the House 
 of Assembly, His Excellency said that he would lay before that body 
 Scatements of the Provincial Revenue of the Crown and of the Ex- 
 penditure for the last twelve months. Addressing both H uses. His 
 Excellency stated his intention of hastening the erection of Gaols for 
 the Districts of Quebec and Montreal ; and he ended his Speech with 
 some remarks upon the duties of those who are called to legislate 
 for a free people. 
 
 The Addresses of both Houses were perfect echoes to the Speech, 
 blended with repeated compliments to His Excellency on his appoint- 
 ment to the Government of this Province, and to the extensive Military 
 Command of His Majesty’s Forces, in British^North America. All 
 this flattery, on the part of the Majority of the House of Assembly, 
 will appear however only a cloak to their encreasing ambition, which 
 during this Session could not help discovering itself in a variety of 
 ways, proving that ihe Constitutional Acts voould in practice be Jrail 
 barriers to their encroachments. 
 
 Passing by some matters of routine and local concern, to which w^e 
 shall afterwards return, we now hasten to review some Constitutional 
 questions, which the Flouse of Assembly took upon itself to settle with 
 a degree of egotism and presumption which astonished every unpre- 
 judiced and disinterested spectator. Our political Hypothesis, rest- 
 ing chiefly upon an ascribed ambition in the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority, of exclusive domination, will, in our opinion, receive much proof 
 and illustration from their conduct in some particulars this Session. 
 The first measure against the Constitution was a Resolve, carried by 
 a Majority of 21 to 5, that Ezekiel Hart^ Esquire^ professing the 
 Jewish Religion, cannot take a seat nor vote in this Housed This ex- 
 pulsion was equally contrary to the Constitution, and to other Acts of 
 the British Parliament, which had conferred all the rights of British 
 Subjects upon all Jews who might have resided seven years in any 
 British Colony. Mr. Hart was not only a native of Canada, but also 
 a person of unblemished character ; and the pretension of the House 
 of Assembly to exclude him was necessarily viewed by his Constitu- 
 ents and by the Executive as highly unconstitutional. This Resolve 
 of the House was also calculated to alarm all those Colonial Subjects 
 who deprecated the introduction of a religious test or qualification 
 for a seat in the Assembly ; and we can only account for the 
 
 P 
 
106 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 success of this encroachment, by supposinf^ that the importance of 
 a princij)Ie was not sulficiently appreciated by the great body ol ^ub- 
 jects of British origin, whose dearest interests were opposed to the pre- 
 tensions of the French Canadian Majority of the House of Assembly. 
 
 The next unconstitutional measure was the Bill introduced by Mr. 
 Bourdages for disabling Judges from sitting and voting in the House 
 of Assembly, wliich Bill was pased on the 4th IMarch, by a Majority 
 of J7 to 8, and sent for concurrence to the Legislative Council; 
 where it was unanimously rejected, as unconstitutional ; after a long 
 discussion of its character and consequences, in which the late Mr. 
 De Lothhinu re bore a conspicuous part. 
 
 Having shown a desire to introduce a religious test as a quali- 
 fication for a seat in the House of Assembly, the Majority next 
 proceeded to interfere with His Majesty’s Prerogative, and to dic- 
 tate to the Sovereign by what means and by what description of per- 
 sons the Waste Lands of the Crown should be settled. On Thur5< ay 
 the 24th March, it was resolved, on motion of Mr. Bedard, seconded 
 by Mr. Taschereau, “ That this Hoii^e will, on Monday next, resolve 
 “ itself into a Committee of the whole House to take into consideratit n 
 ^Hhc alterations it may he expedient to establish, touching the nature 
 
 and consequences oj' Grants in Free and Common Soccage, and the 
 ^‘precautions necessary to be adopted to prevent the Crown Lands 
 “being settled by strangers professing principles inimical to those ne- 
 “ cessary for preserving this Country to His Majesty s Empire." 
 
 To facilitate further proceedings in this proposed regulation of His 
 Majesty’s Prerogative, it was resolved on the 28rh March, by a 
 Majority of 11 to 5, “ That for the remainder of this Session, Elet 
 “ VEN Members, Mr. Speaker included, shall be a competent quorum 
 “ to proceed in the despatch of public business." 
 
 On the Jst April, the House in Committee renewed the considera- 
 tion of the subject of the Waste Lands of the Crown; but no Bill 
 founded upon the Resolves was introduced this Session. 
 
 We now return to the ordinary and less characteristic proceedings 
 of the IMembers, during a Session when the accumulation of public 
 business, and the urgency of Petitioners for new laws, produced no less 
 than thirty four Acts on the Statute Book of Lower Canada. Several 
 of those Bills were of great commercial utility; as 1st, The Bill intro- 
 duced 8th February, for the better regulation of the weights and rates 
 at which certain Coins shall pass current in this Province, and for 
 preventing the falsifying, impairing or counterfeiting the same- This 
 measure was (calculated to meet the consequences of some alterations 
 in the regulations respecting the Currency of the United States, which 
 Country, having gradually increased its national coinage, began to 
 reject all cut and light foreign coins, which were pourccl into Can- 
 ada by speculators.^ 
 
 * It is worthy of remark that no subject at present is more deserving of the con- 
 sideration of the Legislature than the means of replacing the defaced and impaired 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 107 
 
 IX.] 
 
 2ncl. A Bill to regulate tlie Lumber Trade was also a very necessa- 
 ry measure which had for several Sessions been petitioned for by the 
 Rlerchants of Upper Canada as well as by those of the Lower Pro- 
 voice. The Act, as finally passed, was considered objectionable, in 
 allowing Commissions to be granted to persons in tlie employ of the 
 great Lumber Merchants in Quebec. Various amendments have 
 since taken place ; but we tliink that the experience of the intelligent 
 citizens of New’ York, should long ago have suggested to our Legisla- 
 ture the expediency of establishing Inspector, nuthnri '^ed lo appoint 
 Deputie ', and made responsible for their conduct, Thi^ principle might 
 be usefully applied in regulating the Inspection of Potashes, Flour and 
 Provisions, and w’ould prevent that hurtful competition among our In- 
 spectors, which has long tended to lower the standard of qualities, and 
 depreciate the comparative value of Canadian Produce in the Markets 
 of the United Kingdom, the West Indies, <S:c. 
 
 Among the Commercial projects and enquiries of the Session which 
 were postponed, we shall mention the Bill, introduced by Mr. Rich- 
 ardson, for the establishment of a Bank in ^Montreal. The House pro- 
 ceeded no farther in this measure than to go into Committee ; and 
 notwithstanding the indefatigable efforts of its friends, renewed in the 
 the next Parliament, the Bill w’as finally postponed.'' 
 
 This Session furnishes the first instance of an enquiry into the 
 state and relations of the intercourse betw'een Quebec and the West 
 India Islands. The regulation of trade depending chiefly on the Im- 
 perial Parliament, the House did not appear disposed to interfere 
 even by Address to His Majesty ; and the Merchants, forming them- 
 selves into Committees in Quebec and in Montreal, made applica- 
 tion through a private Agent in London, and obtained from the Im- 
 perial Parliament decisive encouragement to the intercourse between 
 
 Silver Coins vvliich chrvilate among cur ignorant peasantry, by British Coins of pro. 
 per weight and standard. The longer this measure may bededayed, the greater will 
 he the loss fo the Province ; for we cannot suppose that individuals, or even the 
 Banking Institutions, slioiild he saddled with the expense of the proposed reform in 
 the Colonial circulating medium. 
 
 ♦ Ten years afterwards, when a private association, consisting almost entirtdy 
 of Merchants of British origin, had made a successful experimcui in Banking bu- 
 siness the Legislature w'as induced to grant Acts of Incorporation, with the usual 
 privileges, to one Bank in Quebec And two Banks in Montreal. Much opposition 
 was made to these measures, not merely by persons hostile to Corporations of Colo- 
 nial origin, but also by those who deprecaUd Lhe establishment of Banks before tliut 
 of Register Offices, considering, with much appearance of reason, that ilie security 
 and othe. objects of the former institutions could not be attained without the latter. 
 Events have rather approved this opposition ; and, partly from t’ne want of Kegister 
 Offices, partly from the ignorance of the great i\Jajority of thecrenchCanadians, lirnit- 
 inrr the circulation, besides other defects peculiar to tliis community, the Stockholders, 
 more particularly of the Bank of Montre/.I, bear an ample share of the general losses 
 which occur by Bankruptcies, Mortgage frauds, and other evils which yearly increase, 
 and threaten to destroy tliat confideuce between man and man, which is the basis of 
 public and commercial credit. 
 
108 ’ POLITICAL ANNALS [CHAP. 
 
 Quebec and the Island of Bermuda, by the Act 4-9, Geo. III. Cap. 
 16, besides the redress of many minor grievances, and the removal of 
 inconveniencies attending the intercourse between Quebec and foreign 
 Ports to the South of Cape Finisterre, in Europe. 
 
 Tlie Act for the Trial of Controverted Elections, was passed this 
 Session, being 48, Geo. III. Cap. 21, already alluded to, This Act 
 was afterwards repealed by the Act 5, Geo. IV. Cap. 5, which, con- 
 solidating and modifying previous enactments, gave full scope to that 
 principle of universal suffrage, which, under the present Constitution, 
 will always secure to the French Canadians an overwhelming Majority 
 in the popular branch of the Legislature of Lower Canada. 
 
 The limits which we have prescribed to ourselves prevent our de- 
 tailing the variety of Acts passed during this busy Session, which was 
 closed on the 14th April ; when the Governor General spoke, in high 
 terms, of the zeal, moderation and dispatch displayed by the Members 
 of both Houses. His Excellency, alluding to the encreasing number 
 of the foes of Great Britain, and to the uncertain relations existing with 
 the United States, strongly enjoined upon the Representatives re- 
 turning to their residences, the duty of correctly informing their Con- 
 stituents of the difficulties existing and in prospect ; fortifying their 
 minds with that courage and loyalty which should distinguish those to 
 whom was entrusted the preservation of the many blessings enjoyed 
 under the protection of His Majesty’s Government. 
 
 Thus ended the fourth Parliament, dying a natural death, a peace- 
 able fate denied to several of its successors. Besides the general prin- 
 ciple that excessive ambition leads individuals and public bodies to 
 final destruction, we shall be able tm alledge particular causes for the 
 short existence of various Houses of Assembly of Lower Canada, 
 without being able to assert that the punishment inflicted produced re- 
 formation or even repentance in the Constituents and Representatives. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 109 
 
 X.] 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 A. D. 1809. 
 
 Fifth Provincial Parliament — Preliminary remarks up:)n that rising Olignr^ 
 chy, which the vicious principles of the Constitution rendered a necessary 
 evil^ for the step port of British Ascendancy.— Composition of this Oligar^ 
 chy^ and of the Quebec Junta^ more strictly connected with the Executive, 
 —Beviewof the symptoms of the increasing hostility of the French Ca^ 
 fiadian Majority to this Junta. — The Majority establish the Ca7iadien^ 
 a French Newspaper^ to counteract the Quebec Mercury, an English News- 
 paper, devoted to British principles and improvements Conduct of the 
 
 Cariadien and of iU Patrons and Contributors.— Both the Mercury and the 
 Canadien recommended to Writers on the Administraiio?i of Sir James 
 Craig — Violence of the Canadien, when Mr. Panel lost his election as one 
 of the Members of the Assembly for Quebec. — The Governor General dismisses 
 Mr. Panel from his command in the Militia, on account of his support of 
 the Canadien Newspaper, and his general hostility to the Local Govetm^ 
 ment.—The Governor General now openly opposes the Leaders of ike French 
 Canadians, and, in this situation, necessarily becomes the head of the Bri- 
 tish party, and prepares to redress the grievances of Bis Majesty'' s Subjects 
 of British origin. — Beview of those grievances in the Townships under the 
 English Tenure, and in the Roman Catholic Parishes, under the Feudal 
 Tenure — First Session of the fifth Provincial Parliament.— Mr. Panel 
 re-elected Speaker.— Speech of the Governor General to both Houses, describ- 
 ing the uncertain relations between Great Britain and the United States . — 
 His Excellency alludes to the favorable stimulus given to the industry of the 
 Province by the American Embargo. — He recommends that some laws should 
 be devised for the permanent encouragement of the industry thus excited.— FiC 
 gives his opinion that, not withstanding the prosperous state of the Province, 
 internal Jealousies existed, requiring a harmo7iious co-operation between 
 the differeiit branches of the Legislature. — Addresses of both Houses.— Abor- 
 tive attempt oj the Majority, in the Addr'css of the House of Assembly, to dis- 
 prove th 2 existence of internal Jealousies.— Befiections on this attempt and 
 on the supposed neglect of previous Administrations to state those Jealousies 
 and their permane7}t causes to His Majesty'' s Inipo'ial Government. — Party 
 spirit interferes with the routine business of the House of Assembly ,* the Ma- 
 joi'ity of which bend their whole force to destroy the Oligarchy . — They t'cnew 
 the attack on the right of the Judges of the Court of King^s Bench to be 
 Elected Members oJ the House of Assembly.— The proceedings on this sub- 
 ject assume a Revolutionary character, by the attempt of the Majority to 
 expel the Judges at once, instead of renewing the Bill for their exclusion — 
 This attempt defeated i and the Majority revert to the Constitutional pro- 
 
110 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 ccerlin'r by BilL-Kz^kiel Hart, the Jewy re-expef/ed-Stnte of the Provin- 
 cial Rev€77uc and Expenditure, referred f jv the Jir^d time t j a Special Com- 
 mitlee of the IIou^c of Ansemb'y. — Causes of this refererice, and of the suhie- 
 qucnt attempt to obtain the controul of the whole revenue, includUtg the 
 produce of Taxef existin'^ befjre the Con ditution. — First Statement of Zm- 
 pn'ts and Exports,— DU^atUfact ion of the Gjvernor General with the cha- 
 racter and conduct of the Majority, — His Speech Proroguin'^ the Hegisla- 
 iurcy and intimating his intention to disiolve the House of Assembly,— 
 Reflections upon the inutility of repeated Dissolutions, instead of an exer- 
 cise of the right of the Imperial Parliament to ameiid the Constitutional Act, 
 
 In onr preceding Chapters, we h.ave had frequent occasion to allude 
 to the commencement or nucleus oi' an Oligarchy in the Governmciit 
 of Lower Canada, which, if firmly established, would have enabled the 
 ('oiintry to vegetate in tranquillity, but would never have been essen- 
 tially useful in Anglifying the Province, and in rendering it a British 
 Colony m fact, as it had been for half a century in name. This Oli- 
 garchy, besides the Executive, consisted of tl t Majority of the Le- 
 gislative Council, the Members of which body were appointed for 
 life by His Majest)% with the same unrestricted Prerogative as is ex- 
 ercised, in the United Kingdom, in the creation of Peers of the 
 Realm. Another part of the rising Oligarchy, consisted of the few 
 Executive Councillors, Judges, Crown Lawyers, and other Officers of 
 the Government, who had obtained seats in the House of Assembly. 
 The third and most efficient part, might be denominated the Compo- 
 site, consisting of Members of the other parts, forming a private 
 Committee or Junta, having an extensive ccrrespondence throughout 
 the Country, and exercising no small influence over the Clergy and 
 other important classes of the Community. This Junta, from the 
 nature of its composition, its location in Quebec, and its strict con- 
 nection with the Executive, had considerable sway in the Courts of 
 Justice ; and, being the only Association which would tolerate the 
 smallest innovation upon the French and Feudal Laws, its power was 
 generally supported, or at least not reprobated, by the Merchants 
 and Inhabitants of British origin. This anomalous body, which, how- 
 ever modified by circumstances, must always exist under the pre- 
 sent vicious Constitution, so long as British ascendancy or influence 
 shall not entirely depend upon Military Force, had been a constant 
 object of jealousy to the French Canadian Majority of the House 
 of Assembly. This jealousy was at first evinced by preventing 
 any person, suspected of attachment to the Junta, from becoming 
 the Speaker ot the Assembly ; next, by severely scrutinising all 
 Measures proposed by the Legislative Council, and by persons of 
 British origin, declaiming against them at public meetings for elec- 
 tioneering or other purposes; and lastly, in the year 1806, by esta- 
 blishing a French Newspaper, called the Canadien, with the combined 
 views of calumniating the Executive, the mediatorial Junta, with its 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 X.] 
 
 Adherents; and holding up the House of Assembly as the 
 only body worthy of tlie confidence of the “ Nation Canndknner 
 This Newspaper, marking a new epoch in Canadian politics, collected 
 facts and documents, old and new, for the express purpose of distort- 
 ing them, and, by false analogies, misleading the ignorant peasantry, 
 whose ears were regaled, in every corner of the Country, by appoint- 
 ed readers of the Canadien, or, as it was sometimes called, the Na- 
 tional M aiilor. Among the Documents published and commented 
 upon, in this vehicle of misrepresentation and abuse, was a letter 
 written by the late General Murray, soon after the Conquest, in con- 
 sequence of a quarrel between that imprudent Governor and the Bri- 
 ti.di Settlers, filled with the most passionate complaints against them. 
 This letter was not only adopted by the Canadien, as containing a 
 true statement of facts, but also as exhibiting a correct view of I he 
 character of the Merchants and other Settlers of Brhish origin, in 
 the year 1807 ; when, instead of a few army followers and transient 
 adventurers, the Province, and more particularly its Cities, contained 
 thousands of Britons of unsullied reputation, tvho had been the principal 
 improvers of the Government^ Agriculture and Commerce of the Colo ■ 
 riy. Distortion of facts and calumny against the local Authorities 
 were, however, blended with hypocritical professions of loyalty to 
 the King, and confidence in the Imperial Government, wdio were al- 
 ways represented as friendly to the ascendancy of the French Cana- 
 dians, and to the full developement of a Constitution, which insured 
 to the latter exclusive domination in Legislation and Finance. Mean- 
 time, the Quebec Mercury, a Newspaper begun in the year 1805, de- 
 voted to British interests, and employed in exposing the intolerable 
 grievances inflicted by French Lav/s, Feudal Burthens, and a House 
 of Assembly, which had founded its encroaching power upon the 
 prejudices of an ignorant population, w^atched and harassed the march 
 of the Canadien with a zeal and persevering spirit which render its 
 pages, and those of its rival, interesting studies to all writers on the 
 Administration of Sir James Craig. During the election of Mem- 
 bers for the fifth House of Assembly, in June, 1808, the disappoint- 
 ment of IMr. Panet, in his expectation of being re-elected a Member 
 for the City of Quebec, ascribed to Executive intrigue, produced 
 such opprobrious violence, in the pages of the (hmadien, as drew the 
 attention of the Governor to the conduct of that Paper and its ac- 
 knowledged Patrons ; Mr. Panet being one of those, and, from his 
 long occupation of the office of Speaker, considered a person of in- 
 fluence in the Assembly and among the Constituents, was deemed a 
 lit object of Executive disapprobation ; and it w’as naturally suppos- 
 ed that his disgrace w^ould be a warning to the more obscure oppo- 
 nents of the Government. He was accordingly dismissed from the 
 office of Lieutenant Colonel of Militia, accompanied by a few of his 
 known adherents ; and the Governor condescended to order this 
 Measure to be privately e.xplaincd, as being the consequence of the 
 
112 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 seditious tendency of his speeches and writings, in the Canadien 
 Newspaper. Sir James Craig, with characteristic firmness, now took 
 his stand against the Leaders of the French Canadians ; and, hav- 
 ing had time to ascertain that, under the present Constitution and 
 circumstances of Lower Canada, no Governor, in his civil capacity, 
 is able- to balance contending parties, he drew to his standard the 
 Merchants and other Inhabitants of British origin as the principal 
 means of preserving British ascendancy. From his new and com- 
 manding position, he now reviewed the state of the Country, and 
 perceived, with sorrow, the multiplied grievances of the British po- 
 pulation, particularly in the Townships under the English Tenure. 
 The Oligarchy, not only from the private interests of part of its 
 Members, but also from the less exceptionable motive of keeping up 
 ihe, appearance of internal concord and tranquillity, had uniformly 
 discouraged the open expression of discontent on the part of the In- 
 habitants of British origin in the Seigniorial Parishes, and in the 
 English Townships of Lower Canada ; and it is still a matter of 
 doubt, whether the Imperial Government had previously been inform- 
 ed of the innumerable evils inflicted by the Constitution, in connec- 
 tion with French Laws, upon apart of the population^ ijchich peculi^ 
 arly merited its protection and fostering care. The Settlers in the 
 Townships, hampered in their efforts for improvement, by the absurd 
 and hurtful location of two sevenths of the lands as Crown and Cler- 
 gy Reserves, in scattered lots, languished upon partial unconnected 
 clearances, throughout the forests, ijoithout a single voice^ in the House 
 of' Assembly^ to proclaim their rights^ represent their grievances^ or 
 suggest means of rendering them reciprocally useful^ by roads of com^ 
 muriication. At this period, indeed, their communications with Que- 
 bec, Three Rivers and Montreal, were hardly practicable ; and they 
 were, in a great measure, debarred from the benefits of Civil Gov- 
 ernment and the administration of justice: hence, the public duties 
 of the Subjects of free Governments being strictly connected with 
 the enjoyment of rights, these unfortunate Settlers were gradually 
 sinking into a state of lawless and reckless alienation from the rest 
 of the Province. The situation of the Protestants in the Seigniorial 
 Parishes and Villages, though not intolerable, was attended bv nu* 
 merous inconveniencies, calculated to discourage tlie resort of British 
 immigrants to Lower Canada. Incontrovertible facts, and the ac- 
 know lodged tendencies of human nature, give reason to believe that 
 Piotestants wcie never cordially w^elcomed by the iNIajority of the 
 Romish Clcigy ; their freedom from the obligation to pav tythes, af- 
 forded no dcsiiable example to the Roman Catholic Parishioners, 
 while their disregaid of holidays, processions, and other customary 
 obsei\ances cnci caching on time, could not fail to excite the jea- 
 lousy and envy of all who perceived the fruits of uninterrupted in- 
 dustry. Their education and prepossessions, equally hostile to feu- 
 dal buithcns and French laws, rendered them troublesome vassals to 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 113 
 
 X.] 
 
 the Seigneurs, pnrticiilarly to tliose of French origin ; whose banal 
 rights, mutation fines, and privileged claims, were frequent causes of 
 expensive and ruinous litigation. The disagreements thus excited 
 from previously existing causes, were aggravated by some recent re- 
 gulations of the Frovincial Legislature. The Protestant, for in- 
 stance, might desire to obtain a license for keeping a Tavern or House 
 of Entertainment. For tliis purpose, it was required by Law that he 
 should present a certificate of good conduct and character, signed 
 by the Rector and Wardens of that Church, which he neither rever- 
 enced nor supported ; but the notorious fact may be readily believed, 
 that such a certificate was often refused under various pretexts and 
 pleas, which the Courts of Quarter Sessions, and the Protestant 
 claimant could not speedily obviate and dismiss ; difficulties and jea- 
 lousies also arose from the circumstance of there being established 
 by law, a distinction between British and Canadian Militia. But we 
 pass from these to a more serious inconvenience, and cause of dete- 
 rioration, in the religion and morals of the small parties of Protes- 
 tants scattered through the Seigniories. Their distance from Pro- 
 testant Churches, rendered the celebration of Matrimony, the bap- 
 tism of Children, and the interment of the Dead, with due solemni- 
 ty, expensive and difficult ; it being often necessary to t^ake a journey 
 of fifty miles, going and returning, for those purposes. A compe- 
 tent and impartial Legislature would have obviated these inconveni- 
 encies, either by empowering Magistrates to celebrate matrimony and 
 establish burial places, or by the less exceptionable measure of faci- 
 litating the license and compensation of Missionaries to baptise 
 Children, solemnise Marriages, and administer periodically religi- 
 ous consolation and instruction at different stations. These priva- 
 tions continue to be notorious at the present day ; and it is needless 
 to add that the House of Assembly has done nothing to relieve this 
 interesting portion of His Majesty’s Subjects, tuAo, nevertheless, under 
 every disadvantage^ persist in furnishing occasional exar)iples of sue- 
 cessful industry to the French Canadians. 
 
 Those remarks on the Minority of the population of the Country, 
 will best serve to account for some unwelcome allusions to internal 
 jealousies, made in the Governor’s Speech to both Houses of the new 
 Provincial Parliament ; which, after an unusual delay, was summon- 
 ed to meet for the despatch of business, on the 10th of April, 1809. 
 
 The House of Assembly, which contained several new Members, 
 including Mr. D. B. Viger^ and Mr. Louis Joseph Papineau^ proceed- 
 ed, by command of the Governor, to elect a Speaker. Mr. J. A. 
 Panet having been proposed, some conversation took place as to the 
 probability of his being rejected by the same personage who had re- 
 cently dismissed him from his high rank in the Militia ; and, with the 
 alledgcd view of avoiding so painful an exercise of the Prerogative, 
 Mr. Justice Dehonne proposed Mr. D. B. Viger as Speaker, eulogis- 
 ing his knowledge of the laws, his independence, and industrious ha- 
 
Ill POLITICAL ANNALS [(MAP. 
 
 bits of Itusiness. The Majority however re-elected Mr, Panel, whom 
 the Governor, though in measured terms and in a cold manner, ap- 
 proved. The Session was then opened by His Excellency, vvitli a 
 Speech to both Houses, which enlarged upon the foreign and domes- 
 tic affairs of the Province, and his favorite theme of the warlike ex- 
 ploits of Great Britain. He stated the protracted negotiations between 
 His Majesty and the Government of the United States, and gave his 
 o[)inion, that the course of discussion and proposed measures of the 
 latter indicated no speedy adjustment. The Embargo, so injurious to 
 the citizens of that Country, had been removed ; but Congress had 
 substituted for it an act of non-intercourse against both Great Britain 
 and France, to take place on the 29th May, and continue in force 
 until the obnoxious decrees of Napoleon and the Orders in Council of 
 His Majesty should be annulled, in so far as they affected the United 
 States ; the intercourse to be restored with each power immediately 
 after the promulgation of such annulments. With this uncertain pros- 
 pect before them, His Excellency recommended the renewal of the 
 temporary Acts, for the regulation of Aliens and the preservation of 
 His Majesty’s Government. Alluding to the Spanish lievolution, the 
 Emigration of the Royal Family of Portugal to the Brazils, and the 
 share which His Majesty’s Army and Navy had in those important 
 events, His Excellency congratulated both Houses on the brilliant 
 victory of Vimeira, and the subsequent retreat of the Forces of the 
 Tyrant of France from Portugal. Addressing the House of Assem- 
 bly, he promised to lay before it Statements of the Provincial Re- 
 venue of the Crown and of the Expenditure during the last tw elve 
 months ; and he next called the attention of both Houses to the rec- 
 tification of an accidental error in an Act of the preceding Parliament, 
 for the relief of the insane and the support of foundlings ; the conse- 
 quences of w hich error he had obviated on his ow n responsibility. His 
 Excellency then adverted to the prosperity of the Province ; and re- 
 commended that the stimulus to improvement given by the Ameri- 
 can Embargo should be followed up by measures of domestic legisla- 
 tion, for the permanent encouragement of that industry, which had 
 been called forth, by external and fortuitous circumstances. After 
 this important recommendation, His Excellency proceeded as fol- 
 lows : — “ You, Gentlemen, tvho are collected from all parts of the Pro- 
 “ vin.ee must be sensible of its fourishing situation, and of the happi- 
 ness enjoyed by a peopk unrestrained by any control but that of the 
 ^^laws, which, enacted by their own Representatives, can solely be direct- 
 “ ed to their heneft and to the advancement of their prosperity. These 
 blessings will be unalterably insured by the diffusion (yfa spirit ofhar- 
 “ many and concord, the cultivation eff which is 7nore especially called 
 ^\for,from those who have the happiness of the people at hearUfrom the 
 ^‘peculiar oircumstances of the diferent jxirts ofxchich they are compo- 
 “ If any thing can intervene to blast theprospcct before us, it can 
 ^‘be only the admission of causeless jealousies, and suspicions still more 
 unfounded, and assuredly most unmerited, towards that Government 
 
X.] 
 
 OF LOVVEU CAN^VDA. 
 
 115 
 
 iind( r i{)hose protecting and fostennor care y m have attained to your 
 present state of felicity'' 
 
 Ihe Speech ended l>y explaining the cause of the unusually short 
 notice given for the meeting of the Parliament. 
 
 The Addresses oi both Houses were confined to the topics of the 
 Speech ; but a portion of the usual Majority of the House of Assem- 
 bly, named below in a note,* attempted to contradict the paragraph 
 quoted from His Excellency’s Speech, which alluded to causeless 
 jealousies, denying ihe existence of such jealousies^ and ascribing the as- 
 sertion of them to the insinuations of persons not sufficiently known to 
 H IS Lxcellency^ which persons were alledged to have neither the wel- 
 fare of the Government of this Province nor that of the people^ whose 
 happiness is entrusted to its carCy at heart. 
 
 This observation was levelled at some Members of the Oligarchy, 
 and more particularly at Judge Dehonne^ who had become an object 
 of continual hostility on the part of the Speaker and some other Lead- 
 ers of the Nation Canadienne^ on account of his interference with 
 their pretensions to exclusive domination in matters of Legislation 
 and Finance. Its insertion, however, in the Address was overruled ; a 
 part of the Majority were satisfied with the near prospect of a more 
 signal vengeance, not only upon the Judge in question, but involving 
 the perpetual proscription of all Judges as Members of the House of 
 Assembly. The Majority well knew that jealousies existed; and His 
 Excellency might have known that they must always exist, under the 
 present Constitution, to such an extent as to paralyze the energies of 
 the Government ; and it is a subject of regret that we have no decis- 
 ive proofs that those causes were candidly and forcibly stated and re- 
 commended to the consideration of the Imperial Government even pre- 
 vious to the Administration of Sir James Craig. It is in our humble 
 opinion totally inconsistent with the wisdom ascribed to the British 
 Government, to suppose that, if Sir Robert Shore Milnes had present- 
 ed a true state of the Province to the Colonial Department of His Ma- 
 jesty’s Government, and solicited thejr attention to the theory of the 
 Constitution and its practical effects, they should not have immediate- 
 ly applied themselves to devise a remedy for the yearly accumulating 
 evils affecting the Subjects of British origin, and sapping the founda- 
 tion of British Ascendancy in the Canadas. A neglect of such infor- 
 mation would be tantamount to treason to the Colonial policy and in- 
 terest of the Empire. 
 
 But it is time to return to the events of this short Parliament.— 
 The excitement of party spirit rendered some laws relating to local im- 
 provement objects of much debate in the House of Assembly ; the 
 conflicting claims of new and old market-houses occupied much of the 
 attention of the Majority ; but nothing was done to compromise them. 
 
 • Messrs, Hebert, Chasnon, Delorme, Bourdages^ Huoty Borgia^ Bcdctrdy Louis 
 Roi, Du roc/icr, Robitaille, and Trestler. 
 
IIG 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 These debates, however, proved to the satisfaction of all unprejudiced 
 persons that the Governor had good reason to assert the existence of 
 jealousies, so far as regarded local matters. 
 
 Tlie Journals of this Session contain the substance of many Peti- 
 tions for objects of internal improvement and police ; but, as any pro- 
 ceedings on them were interrupted by the agitation of more important 
 questions, w^e shall pass them by, aiid attend exclusively to the pro- 
 gress of the disorder which produced the first dissolution of a Provin- 
 cial Parliament of Low’er Canada. 
 
 The Majority of the House of Assembly showed considerable pow'- 
 ers of discrimination in choosing the part of the Oligarchy, which they 
 meant first to attack ; but being influenced by personal feeling, they 
 did not conduct their operations with the coolness which suits the 
 Legislative character. 'There was, indeed, no part more open to at- 
 tack through the analogies of the British Constitution, nor through 
 the more open and direct road of practical inconvenience, arising 
 from the increase of party spirit. So long as the Judges could be 
 elected, as at the first election, wu’th little contest, the inconveniency 
 was small ; and their knowledge of the French Law's w as rather the 
 means of facilitating legislation, and checking innovation upon them ; 
 but when, so early as the second election, the contests became w^arin, 
 the Judges w'ere, in some measure, degraded by the intrigues of 
 their partizans, who were not scrupulous in using the judicial power 
 to work upon the hopes and fears of the Electors. The Majority 
 had collected a variety of facts on this subject; and, if they had been 
 satisfied with combining them in a printed Report, it is probable that 
 the Executive and the Electors would have, in due time, admitted 
 an innovation upon the Constitution, and that a Bill for their exclu- 
 sion, at a stated period, would have received the sanction of His 
 Majesty’s Representative. This feeling seems to have extended to 
 the Judges themselves ; for, in the year 1808, Mr. Justice Panetj 
 whose services in the House had been duly appreciated during sever- 
 al Parliaments, having ascertained that his future election would be 
 contested, refused to present himself on the Hustings, giving such 
 an example as \vould eventually have been followed by others of his 
 class. The Majority, how ever, not considering that, bj/ summarily 
 attacking a Constitution so favourable^ in general^ to the poxver of the 
 French Canadians^ they xvcrc putting arms against it into the hands of 
 the Subjects of British origin^ to xvhose interests and inclinations it 
 xvas so radically hostile; did not renew' the Bill for disabling the 
 Judges, which had been rejected in the Legislative Council during 
 the last Session of the previous Parliament ; but the precipitation 
 with wdiich they acted, shew ed rather a desire to be a Constituent 
 Assembly^ than the mere concurrent Executors of the Act of the 
 British Parliament, 31, Geo. III., Cap. 31, which alone created and 
 prescribed their functions. Having made up their minds in secret 
 conclave to treat both Judge and Jew' in the same manner, they pro- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 117 
 
 x.j 
 
 posed to exclude both by single Resolves, or, if we may be permit- 
 ted to use a revolutionary expression, hy Decrees passed voilh accla- 
 mation. 
 
 On the 18th of April, almost immediately after having, in their 
 Address, eulogised the Constitution, they made the exjieriment on 
 its pliability to purposes of ambition; and Mr. BourdageSy seconded 
 by Mr. Louis Roiy moved to resolve, that the Judges of this ProvineVy 
 agreeably to the laivs and customs of Parliamenty cannot take a seaty 
 nor vote nor sit in this House. On the 22d of April, the House be- 
 ing in Committee on this violent Measure, its warmest partizans were 
 discovered ; and Mr. J. A. Panety the Speakevy gave his casting vote 
 against a postponement to the 9th of May ; and when, as a compro- 
 mise, Mr. Cidhbert moved that the Resolve should, instead of being 
 discharged, be taken into consideration on the 30th of July next, 
 there was a Majority of two in favour of the amcndinenit, and the 
 question being taken on the original motion thus amended, was car- 
 ried by a Majority of 23 to 17.* 
 
 Not discouraged, but a little cooled by this defeat, it was resolv- 
 ed on the 25th of April, to appoint a Committee of five Members, 
 namely, Messrs. BourdageSy Bedardy Borgiuy Louis Roiy Meuniery to 
 inquire if any and what inconveniencies have arisen at elections 
 where the Judges of this Province have been Candidates, with pow- 
 er to send for persons and papers, and to report thereon with all con- 
 venient speed. 
 
 The Report of this Committee, being in favour of a Bill, for disa- 
 bling tbe Judges immediately y it was accordingly introduced, and 
 jiuassing through the usual stages, was ordered to be engrossed, on 
 the 12th of May. Its farther progress was prevented by the Proro- 
 gation hereafter mentioned. 
 
 The proceedings in the case of the Jew, were more summary ; and 
 Mr. Ezekiel Hariy whose case we alluded to in our last Chapter, was 
 again repelled by a single Resolve of the House. 
 
 The Governor General having laid before the House of Assembly 
 the accounts of the Provincial Revenue of the Crown and of the 
 Expenditure, they were, for the first timCy formally referred to a 
 Committee ; the cause of this reference was well understood, by 
 those in the secret ; for they had made up their minds to propose the 
 ' payment of the necessary sums for defraying the civil expenses of 
 the Government of the Province. Having, as mmitioned in our pre- 
 vious Chapters, proscribed all Assessments and direct Taxation, and 
 being animated by the prosperous state of the Revenue, in conse- 
 
 ♦ Those who voted against this ameeded Motion, are to be considered as fa- 
 vourable to the course that every constitutional question rejected by the Legislative 
 Council, should be reintroduced and settled by It e so Ives : we give their names 
 as follows — Messrs. Hebert, Kobitaille, F. Roi, Meunier, Duclos, Delorme, 
 Papincau, Viger, M. Caron, Cliagnon, Bourdages, Bedard, Borgia, Tresller, Du- 
 rocher, Langlais, L. Roy. 
 
118 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 quence of the American Eml)argo, the Majority naturally conceived 
 tliat now was the time to offer, as a proof of loyalty, the pledge of 
 assuming the Civil Expenditure, and thus have a plausible pretext, 
 io regulate Salaries^ and limit the number of all public Officers^ ac- 
 cording to their ideas and national partialities. So long as the ne- 
 cessary expenses greatly exceeded the Revenue arising from their fa- 
 vourite system of taxes on Commerce, and the excess veas voted by 
 the British House of Commons^ they had remained silent ; but, no 
 sooner did the prosperous circumstances of the Province open a new 
 path of ambition, than it was seized with that enthusiasm, which the 
 prospect of securing an unlimited controul over the Executive, could 
 not fail to inspire. 
 
 The amount of the whole Revenue this year, was forty thousand 
 six hundred and eight pounds^fifteen shillings and six pence currency, 
 or about thirty-seven thousand pounds sterling; and the amount of 
 the Expenditure, including the expenses of collecting the Revenue, 
 and two thousand four hundred pounds, the quota of drawbacks pay- 
 able to Upper Canada, was forty-one thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 Among the Accounts ordered by His Excellency to be laid before 
 the Legislature, we find Statements of the Imports into, and Exports 
 from, the Port of Quebec, showing an extraordinary increase of Com- 
 merce. 
 
 Having already mentioned the revolutionary temper, so openly 
 displayed, and indicated the projects of ambition preparing in the 
 House of Assembly, our readers may not be surprised to learn, that 
 Bills and other communications from the Legislative Council, were 
 treated with opprobrium and contempt, and that finally, the patience 
 of His Excellency was exhausted. 
 
 On the 15th of May, the Governor General closed the Session, 
 and intimated his intention of dissolving the House of Assembly, 
 in a Speech which exhibited that mixture of military frankness 
 and disdain of compromise which suited his character, and formed 
 an extraordinary contrast to the Speeches of all his predecessors. 
 
 Ilis Excellency began by stating the apparent arrangement of all 
 differences with the United States, by Mr. Erskine ; which, like the 
 arrangement of Legislative differences in the year 1825, by Sir Fran- 
 cis Button, was doomed to be disapproved by His Majesty’s Minis- 
 ters. This unexpected arrangement with the United States, not hav- 
 ing taken place till the middle of the Session, His Excellency ex- 
 pressed his displeasure that, in the critical circumstances of the 
 Country, the House of Assembly had not attended exclusively to the 
 means of preparing the Province for defence, and with this view, cul- 
 tivated a spirit of harmony among themselves and the other branches 
 of the IwCgislature. After stating that he had failed in every expec- 
 tation, Ilis Excellency proceeded as follows: — 
 
 “ i/ any further prooj uj the misuse of your time icerc necessary^ 
 I have just presented it m being called upon, after a Session of Jive 
 
or LOWER CANADA. 
 
 119 
 
 X.] 
 
 weeks, to exercise flis Majesfij'^s Prerogative of Assei^t to onhj the same 
 ninnUer of Bills, three of ichich were the mere renewal of Annual Ads, 
 to jchich you stood pledged, and which required 7io disc2iss{on,'^ 
 
 So much of intemperate heat has hten manifested in alt your pro* 
 ceeclings, and you have shenm such a prolonged and disrespectful inai* 
 tention to matters presented for your consideration, by the other branch* 
 es of the hegislatui e, that whatever might be the moderation and for* 
 bearance exercised on their parts, a general good understanding is 
 scarcely to be looked for without a new Assemhlij,'^ 
 
 “ I shfdt not particularly advert to other proceedings irhich appear to 
 he unconstitutional infringements upon the rights of the Subject, repug* 
 oiant to the very letter of that Statute of the Imperial Parliament, under 
 7rhich you hold your seats, aiid to have been matured by proceedings 
 which amount to the dereliction of the first principles (f natural jus* 
 tice ; and I shall abstain j'rom any farther enumeration of the causes 
 by which 1 have been induced to adopt the detennination ndiich I have 
 taken ; because the part of your conduct to ichich I have already refer* 
 red is obviously, arud in a high degree, detrimental to the best inieresis of 
 the Country, such as my duty to the Crown forbids me to countenance , 
 and compels me to have recourse to a dissolution as the only constitution^ 
 a I means bu which its recurrence can be prevented^ 
 
 Thus ended the fifth House of Assembly of Lower Canada; and 
 His Excellency resolved, by a new Election, to appeal to the sense 
 of His Majesty’s French Canadian Sujects, without apparently con- 
 sidering that the Prerogative exerted, could have no more influence 
 in producing harmony, than the mechanical process of blowing the 
 bellows, in the music of the organ : he could renew the power to 
 legislate ; but he could not, in the circumstances of the Country, 
 under the present Constitution, select or influence the Legislators ; 
 and the obnoxious Assembly fell, like the fabulous Antcus, to the 
 ground, with the effect only of rising up with fresh strength to com- 
 bat the British Hercules, who, in Lower Canada, has been destined 
 to perform all his labours before making it a British Colony in facty 
 as well as in name. 
 
120 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 A. D. 1810. 
 
 Sixth 'ProMxncinl Parliament.— Consequences of a Pias.^lution of the Pause of 
 Commons of the United Kingdom, contra ded ueith those of a Lisso/uftjn of 
 the House of Assembt y of I^wer Canada.— Pevmajtent causes of this con^ 
 trust, which shoruld have long since been brought before tht Imperial Par^ 
 
 liament — Management of the old Members, to secure their re-election 
 
 The Canadien Newspaper selects for oral commcht precedents of oppjsition 
 in Great Britain to the G^veriimeuf of the House of Stuart. — The ignorant 
 Electors arc persuaded that His Ma jest y'^s Ministers will disappi'ove of the 
 conduct of Sir James Craig. — Krrof^ of the Executive, arising chief y from 
 the want of attention to the personal feelings and grievances of a few indi- 
 viduals, who arc driven to join the adhererts of the Majority of theHouse of 
 Assembly. — The Governor General during the recess visits the old and r.ew 
 Settlements. — Allusion to his supposed intention to recommend an altei ation 
 of the Constitution — Refections on a Legislative Union of Lower and Upper 
 Canada. — Tirst Session of the Sixth Provincial Parliament. — ?»/r. Panel re" 
 elected Speaker of the House of Assembly. — Speech of the Governor General to 
 both Houses. — He alludes to the disapproval by His MajeJy^s Government 
 of Mr. Ei'skine^s arrangement with the United States, and to the quarrel 
 with Mr. Jacksoji, the new Plenipotentiary. — He exhorts the Legislature 
 to prepare for the contingency of war with the United States.— He in ti^ 
 mates having received i^istructions to give the Royal Assent to a proper Bill 
 passed by both Houses, f of* the exclusion of Judges of His Iklajcsty's Court 
 ^f Bench from the House of Assembly. — Addresses of both Houses in 
 
 answer to His Excellency’' s Speech . — tVhile that of the House of Assembly 
 IS preparing, the Majority pass a Resolve censuring his Speech at the Pro^ 
 rogatio 7 i of the fifth Provincial Parliament. — Address of congratulation to 
 His Majesty. Refections. — Salutary Resolves, moved by Mr. Taschereau, 
 respecting applications for Turnpike Roads and Bridges, subject to Tolls. 
 
 i i oceedings of the Majority of the House of Assembly, to obtain the co72- 
 troul of the Civil List — Their ambitious movements masked by professions 
 Hf loyalty, but discovered by the Governor General and his Councillors.— 
 His guarded answer to their Address on this Financial Af 'air, con 
 irasted with the conduct of a future Governor, Sir John Sherbrooke.— He 
 refuses to transmit the Address of the House of Assembly to the Lords and 
 Commons of Great Britain on the subject of the Civil List, but promises 
 to transmit the Address on that subject to His Majesty — Besentment of the 
 House of Assembly, which reviews the attempt to appoint an Agent at the 
 seat oj the Imperial Government.— Ref ections upon the controul of the 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 121 
 
 XL] 
 
 llouae of A^'c.nbfj/, by the Le^ialative Council; the Constitutional rights 
 of which bjdy deJroys all analogy between the proceedings of the Legisla^ 
 tures of Upper and Lower Canada^ and those of the Legislatures of the 
 other British Colonies, — The MaJ jrity of the House of Assembly^ influenced 
 by hatred of Judge J}e Bonne,, frajne a Bill for the immediate disqualifi- 
 cation of Judges, and jmss a Resolve for his exclusion, — This leads to an 
 appHcation tojhe Governor General to issue a Writ of Election,, calling 
 upon the County of Quebec to elect a Member to replace this obnoxious in^ 
 dividual, — The Governor General resents this conduct as interfering with 
 the Constitution, and with his instructions, and resolves to dissolve the 
 House of Assembly, — Extracts from his Speech, previous to the Prorogation 
 of the Legislature. — I)issolictio7i of the sixth House of Assembly, — llejlec- 
 tijns, involving a conjecture that the Majority of the House af Assembly 
 desired a dissolutim, from ambitious and intet'Csted motives. 
 
 By dissolving the House of Assembly, and issuing Writs in His 
 Majesty’s name for a new Election, the Governor General might be 
 said to put the question to the Electors; “ Did your late Represen- 
 tatives speak your ^ense or not ? If they did, you xvill re-elect such of' 
 them as may be noilling to serve ; if not, you xvill of course choose 
 others.” When thus interrogated in Great Britain, the greater part 
 of the Electors, during more than a century,- have answered, No ; 
 and a Majority of Members friendly to the Administration, appointed 
 by His Majesty, have been uniformly returned. It has not been so 
 in Canada ; where a great IMajority of Electors of French origin, 
 professing the Romish Religion, have uniformly answered Yes, to 
 their British and Protestant King, and to his Vicegerent. At present, 
 we shall only ask our intelligent readers •whether this contrast exhi- 
 bited to II is Majesty's Ministers, at four different periods during 
 txventy years, should not have enforced their attention to the political 
 slate of Lower Canada, and produced an energetic and persevering 
 appeal to the Imperial Parliament, which body alone has properly 
 qualified to bring about the just and necessary change ? Until the 
 Constitutional and other British Acts respecting Lower Canada shall 
 have been subjected to a complete investigation by that August Tri- 
 bunal, we shall have neither force to resist a formidable invasion, nor 
 that harmony between the branches of the Legislature, which alone 
 can enable it to make laws calculated to promote the peace, welfare 
 and prosperity of a Province, which contains a population, variegated 
 by differences of origin, language, •religion, laws, manners and habits. 
 
 The dissolution of the House of Assembly had a momentary effect 
 in discouraging the Members, who well knew the hereditary respect 
 which their Constituents possessed for Monarchical Power and for 
 His Majesty’s Vicegerents. But they also knew that the vanity and 
 insulating prejudices of their Constituents might be enlisted in their 
 service, and that the medium of ridicule was an easy road to calm 
 their fears of British resentment. The unlimited powers conferred 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 122 
 
 [chap. 
 
 upon the Electors, were dispkyed in the pages of Lhe Canadien 
 newspaper, industriously and gratuitously circulated and read through- 
 out the Parishes ; whose ignorant inhabitants were treated with far- 
 cical misrepresentations of the Governor's Speech, and speedily led 
 to despise his Person and Government. At the same time, tlie His- 
 tory and Parliamentary proceedings of Great Britain, from the period 
 of the decline and fall of the Stuarts, were ransacked for instances 
 of resistance to the Executive power; and a reader of the Canadien^ 
 unacquainted with the gullibility of the hearers, would feel occasion- 
 al surprise, to find in its pages, destined for the ears of a Romish 
 Community, the remonstrances of a Protestant Nation against the 
 measures of Popish and Priest-ridden Rulers. But, in the hands 
 and mouths of the juggling Demagogues, these Documents took a 
 peculiar form, and excited resistance to the Government. It was in- 
 geniously stated that there had only been a change of [)laces. In 
 Great Britain, the great majority of the population being Protestants, 
 had used certain means and arguments to resist and banish Popish 
 Rulers; and consequently the great majority of the population of 
 Lower Canada, being Papists, should make a selection from them, in 
 order to resist Protestant Rulers. While this course, however, was 
 liardily proposed by the Demagogues, they craftily veiled from tlieir 
 dupes the important consideration, that the French Canadians, though 
 impolitically concentrated by the conquering poveer into a separate people^ 
 \{)cre neverthelessy in latv and in Jacty a xveak dependency of a poxcer^ 
 fid Empire^ whose Government was essentially Protestant. 
 
 This oral sophistry of the demagogues was farther assiduously em- 
 ployed, in persuading the ignorant Electors, not only that Ilis Ma- 
 jesty's Ministers would disapprove of the Dissolution, but that the 
 Governor himself had been misled by his advisers; and, on this topic, 
 they quoted and eulogised the opiniims of numerous individuals who, 
 having been personally injured by the Oligarchy and its adherents, 
 took the present opportunity of revenge. And here we have the un- 
 grateful task of stating our humble opinion, that the military habits of 
 the Governor General exposed him occasionally to a want of discri- 
 mination between military and civil subordination. lo tlie former, strict 
 and implicit obedience, without remonstrance, is absolutely necessary; 
 in the latter, under free Governments, Duties and Rights, have more 
 defined relations, and are co-existent. Carrying the military idea of 
 uncompromising command into every branch of the Civil Service, in 
 a Government which had for ten years been administered by such 
 men as Sir Robert Shore Milnes and President Dunuy could not fail 
 to disgust some of the high minded civilians in the service of Gov- 
 ernment, leading to their dismissal and consequent temptation to join 
 the ranks of the opposition. This, in fact, took place in an impor- 
 tant instance ; and we shall accordingly, for several years, have the 
 mortification to present to our readers, a British and uncompromising 
 Leader of the Majority of the House of Assembly, who appears to 
 
OP LOWER CANADA. 
 
 1S3 
 
 XL] 
 
 have viewed that body and its Constituents in tlie light of clients, 
 whose rights and pretentions he was bound to enforce to the utmost 
 limits. We have only to suppose tlie Constitutional Acts, 14 and 31, 
 Geo. IIT., Cap. 3, to be placed in the hands of Counsel, for his opin- 
 ion on the pou'crs which they impoliticully confer upon the French 
 Canadians, in order to infer that his opinion would be favoura!)Je to 
 their exclusive domination in the House of Assembly of this Pro- 
 vince. — 'riiis opinion nn'ght be accompanied with an explanation of 
 the dependency of Lower Canada upon the Dritish Government, and 
 the expediency of a discreet use of the powers conferred ; but this 
 is a gratuitous, not a necessary exercise of the duty of Counsel, who, 
 in common courlesy to his Client, gives him credit for common sense 
 and discretion, and ascribes to him a knowledge of his power and 
 means of enforcing his rights, and promoting his suit to the desired 
 issue. If this Counsel, however, should assume the additional res- 
 {)onsibiIity of conducting the suit, we should then find him engaged 
 to make a display of all his powers, deliberative and active, for the 
 success of the cause. The real case is so recent, and the fact so no- 
 torious, that the advocate was abandoned b}^ the leading clients in 
 the most dishonourable manner, that we need not at present pursue 
 our hypothetical representation, which is also a needless anticipation 
 of the course of our history. 
 
 The persons chosen to replace the officers dismissed by Sir James 
 Henry Craig, were inferior in natural genius, in acquired talents, and 
 in habits of business, and recommended by nothing but a blind and 
 passive obedience to every mandate which might be issued in the 
 name of the King, by the Governor and the Quebec Junta. 
 
 Having explained the errors of the Executive, and described the 
 intrigues of the demagogues, we may suppose our readers prepared to 
 learn that the old Members of the Majority, or others of similar 
 principles, were re-elected. 
 
 But, before reviewing the occurrences of this short Session and 
 Parliament, it may be permitted to allude to a brilliant progress 
 through the old and new Settlements, which His Excellency’s sense 
 of duty, and his improved health, induced him to make in the sum- 
 mer of 1809. In the middle of June, he left Quebec, attended by a 
 numerous suite ; and, travelling in a style of magnificence, suited to 
 his high station and large fortune, he excited the admiration of the 
 people, who wmuld have viewed him, as the Representative of their 
 Monarch, with unmixed satisfaction, if the demagogues had not art- 
 fully prepossessed their minds with the idea that the expenses would 
 be levied in direct taxes, and that this joyeuse entree would one day 
 extract from their pockets a large sum of money. Besides hospi- 
 table entertainment from men of rank and fortune, the Govern- 
 or General received Addresses from the Magistrates and other inha- 
 bitants of the Towns and Villages through which he passed. The 
 
124 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 (_CTlAr. 
 
 Boroughs of Three Rivers and Willinm Henry, the City of Montre^ 
 alj the Town of Dorchester^ (.r St. Johns, and the Village of Terre- 
 bonne, particularly distinguished themselves, as containing a consi- 
 derable proportion of 15ritish population and well affected French 
 Canadians, who viewed the pretensions of the House of Assembly, 
 as calculated, sooner or later, to involve in some signal punishment, 
 the innocent with the guilty, depriving them of those inestimable be- 
 nefits, which their adoption into the great British Family would have 
 otherwise insured to themselves and ro their descendants. 
 
 During this tour, His Excellency visited the Eastern Townships, 
 at the only season of the year when it was then practicable to do so 
 w ith convenience. He verified the reports, w hich he had received at 
 Quebec of the distressing privations w hich the inhabitants suffered ; 
 he benevolently listened to their complaints, and so strongly impress- 
 ed them wutli an idea of his being the means of their future relief, 
 that they prepared Petitions for Legislative assistance in opening 
 roads, and otherwise improving a Country, hitherto utterly neglect- 
 ed by the Government which had invited Settlers, and by the 
 House of Assembly, whose duty it w^as to co-operate for their wel- 
 fare. His Excellency not having visited the United States since the 
 revolutionary war, was unduly impressed with the progress of im- 
 provement made in Low er Canada, during the intervening period ; 
 and it is matter of regret that he had not been enabled to view the 
 frontier of that Country, then rapidly settling and improving, as well 
 as Upper Canada, which Province, under British Lairs and the En- 
 glish Tenure of Lands, w’as already advancing in every thing w^orthy 
 of a British Colony, extending its cultivation, and furnishing the prin- 
 cipal part of the Exports of Flour and Lumber from Quebec. ♦ 
 
 The Governor General returned to Quebec in the month of Au- 
 gust ; when he learned that the unauthorised arrangement made by 
 His Majesty’s Plenipotentiary, Mr. D, M. Erskine, with the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States was disapproved, and that the relations 
 between the British Provinces of North America, and that Country, 
 were returned to the same suspense and uncertainty which existed 
 in the early part of the year, when he opened the Provincial Par- 
 liament. 
 
 This state of affairs appears to have disturbed some of His Excel- 
 lency’s plans for improving the Country and its Constitution, it being 
 considered that a confirmed peace with the United States, would 
 alone justify such undertakings, and recommend them to His IMa- 
 jesty’s Government. 
 
 ^ We shall here remark, that many persons in Great Tlritain, at this period, gave un- 
 due importance to the productive powers of Lower Canada, by supposing that a great pro- 
 portion of the Lxports from Quebec was the fruits of the industry of that Province; 
 the truth is, that the surplus produce of French CaTwdiau industrp^ ?ia$ never 
 loaded one tenth of the tonnage employed: the Cities and Garrisons in peace 
 and 17 ? war^ are chic fly supplied with Flour and JCrovisions from Upper Cana-* 
 da and the United States. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 125 
 
 xr.] 
 
 It a matter of doubt, however, whether the improvements con- 
 templated, would have answered the expectations of the projectors ; 
 they were confined to the Constitution of Lower Canada, and did 
 not contemplate the re-union of the Upper Province, which, in our 
 humble opinion, doth as a correction of a pj'evions political error ^ and 
 as the only means of giving strength and consistency to British ascen- 
 dancy in the Canadas^ is a measure of transcendant importance. Any 
 alteration in favour of British ascendancy in Lower Canada, consi- 
 dered as separate from the Upper Province, would necessarily con- 
 sist in an abridgment of the political powers of the Electors, and of 
 the popular branch of the Legislature. Resistance to the views of 
 the Executive, and of His Majesty’s Government for the good of the 
 Empire, might thus be weakened ; and the hurtful prejudices of the 
 French Canadians might be confined with their French Laws to the 
 Seigniorial Grants of the King of France. But, as we are convinced 
 that these prejudices and laws must be destroyed before the 
 end of this century by foreign conquest or British legislation, we 
 cannot help thinking that the only chance of retaining the Country 
 and ynaking it useful as a British Dependency^ xvill he found in a 
 Legislative Urdon tvith Upper Canada, Supposing a union so strong- 
 13 '’ recommended by Geographical position, without a single altera- 
 tion of the Constitution, though past experience has suggested mn^ 
 ny^ we should thus insure, under the freest forms of Government, a 
 representation equally composed of Members of French and English 
 origin ; and can any man suppose that such a Legislature wou,ld not 
 agree to a compromise from feelings of mutual interest? But, sup- 
 posing a difference to exist between parties of equal strength, would 
 not the Governor General and his Executive Council have a fair op- 
 portunity, directed, if need be, by His Majesty’s Ministers, to aett the 
 part of Mediators ? And, wdiat reason have we to suppose, or to in- 
 fer from analogous emergencies, that such a powerful mediation would 
 not preserve the public peace? But, in a Union Bill, modified ac- 
 cording to the spirit of the Petitions transmitted in its favour in the 
 year 1823, and, making due allowance for the exceptions taken by its 
 opponents, we cannot doubt but an alterative and mild remedy could 
 be found to the yearly accumulating evils, which the present dissen- 
 sions between the inhabitants of French and those of English origin 
 in this Province, and between both Provinces produce. British le- 
 gislation in the interval, since 1823, has cut the gordian knot of one 
 difficulty in the Lower Province, by the Bill to facilitate a change of 
 the Feudal Tenure, regulating by English Law the descent of all 
 Lands in the Townships, granted under the Tenure of Free and Com- 
 mon Soccage, and authorising the conversion of the Feudal Seignio- 
 ries into a similar Tenure. To persons like ourselves, not in the se- 
 cret^ it may be permitted to conjecture, that these important changes 
 are only preliminaries to the union of the Provinces. 
 
12G 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [CTIAP 
 
 ITnving tliiis rndcax’onrctl to console our readers for the failure of 
 one of the allcdged designs of a truly independent and enterprising 
 Governor, we proceed to the first and oidy Session of the sixth Pro- 
 vincial Farliaiuent ot‘ Lower Canada# 
 
 It was opeiiecl on the 29tli of Junuary, 1810, with the usual pre- 
 liminaries of administering the oaths, and ordering the choice of a 
 S|)eaker of the House of Assemldy. Wearied w ith useless opposi- 
 tion, the Minority did not propose a rival Candidate to Mr. J. A. 
 Panels who was unanimously re-elcctcd as Speaker of the House of 
 Assembly, and ap])roved by the Governor General. 
 
 On the return from tlie Legislative Council, the salvo of privilege 
 w as exercised, in a manner characteristic of the feelings of the House, 
 by ordering that Mr. Taschei cau have leave to bring in a PAH for 
 disabling Judges from being elected^ or from sitiing and voting in the 
 House ()f Assemllij. 
 
 After w’hicli, the Speaker reported the Governor General’s Speech 
 to both Houses, in which His Excellency still persevered in attract- 
 ing their attention to the warlike exploits and foreign relations of 
 Great Britain, describing her as standing almost alone against the 
 rest of tlie w^orld, which then seemed to be the destined prey of }sa~ 
 poleon Bonaparte. His Excellency next alluded to the disapproval 
 by His Majesty’s Ministers, of the arrangement made by Mr.Erskine, 
 with the Government of the United States, and the still less expect- 
 ed event of a quarrel on the part of that Government with his succes- 
 sor, Air. Jackson^ indicating a more bold and hostile spirit in President 
 Aindisoris Administration, than existed in that of his predecessor. 
 With such prospects of probable warfare, His Excellency stated his 
 reliance upon the loyal co-operation of the Militia with His ]Majes- 
 ty’s regular forces, to resist any attack w'hich might be made upon the 
 Province, and that the Legislature w ould not hesitate to renew those 
 temporary Acts by which the Executive was enabled to guard the 
 Province against Aliens and disaffected persons. Addressing the 
 House of Assembly, His Excellency said that he would lay before it 
 tlie Annual Statement of the Provincial lievenue of the Crown 
 and of the Expenditure. Addressing both Houses, he alluded to 
 an Act of the Imperial Parliament, which had affected the anci- 
 ent boundaries of the Province, by annexing to the Government 
 of Newfoundland, a part of the Coast of Labrador.* His Excelleu- 
 
 ♦ Tills annexation was afterwards repealed at the instance of the Legislature of 
 Lower Canada ; and we think that this was judicious ; but if, at the same lime, 
 the Imperial Parliament, in its Sovereign Wisdom, had annexed the Canadian Dis- 
 trict of Gaspe to the contiguous Province of New Brunswick, it would have done 
 good service to tlie Kinpiie. Labrador, divided from Newfoundland by the dan- 
 gerous strait of Belleisle, could receive but little attention from that Government ; 
 w bile Gaspe, a slightly connected excrescence from Canada, might be removed 
 without inconvenience, and, engrafted on New Brunswick, would produce the usual 
 advantages which attend every arrangement wliich follows nature in the settlement 
 of boundaries. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 XL] 
 
 117 
 
 cy next described the increasing practice of forging American Bank 
 Notes within the Province, and recommended a law for its punishment, 
 as being oqivally necessary to preserve the morals of His Majes* 
 ty’s Subjects, and to evince a desire in this Government to prevent 
 injury to the neighbouring States. His Excellency ended His Speech 
 by announcing his having consulted His Majesty’s Ministers on the 
 subject of distjualifying the Judges, and he stated that he was author- 
 ised to give the Iloyal xlsscnt to any proper Bill for rendering His 
 Majesty s Judges of the Court of Kings Bench^ in future^ ineligible, 
 to scats in the House of Assembly^ in xxjJnch the i'wo Houses should 
 concur^ 
 
 At the same time that a Committee was appointed to prepare an 
 Address in answer to His Excellency’s Speech, another was appoint- 
 ed to prepare an Address to His Majesty, wdth the view of joining in 
 the congratulations of all parts of the Empire upon the rare histori- 
 cal instance of His Majesty’s eventful reign having extended to lialf 
 a century. Both Addresses were voted in terms wdiich would have 
 induced a person, unacquainted with the prejudices of the Majority, 
 to suppose that they were ready to sacrifice their lives and fortunes 
 in the service of the Empire at large; but it soon appeared that am- 
 bition and the gratification of resentment against an individual, would 
 characterise tlieir measures. 
 
 The Speaker and his adherents had not so far lost sight of all ideas 
 of decorum as to join in any public declaration against the Governor s 
 reprimand of the conduct of the ffth House (f Assembly, during the 
 Prorogation ; but, on the ^Ist of February, after an attempt on the 
 part of the now enfeebled Minority, to concentrate the energies of 
 the House into an undivided attention to the paramount object of 
 evincing harmony between the Executive and Legislative powers, for 
 the defence of the Province, the following resolve was passed by a 
 Majority of to 11.^ 
 
 Ittsolved lli'd everij attempt of the E.reenlive Government^ and of 
 ‘‘ the other branches oj the Legidat are against tins House, wh ether in 
 “ diclaiing or censuring its proceedings, or in approving the conduct of 
 “ some of its Members, and disapproving the conduct of the others, is 
 “ a violation of die Statute bij which this House is consL/Luted ; a breach 
 “ of (he privileges of ihis House, againist winch v: cannot fo'bear 06- 
 “ jeeting, and a, dangerous attack upon the rights and liberties of His 
 
 Majestifs S7ibjecis in this province P 
 
 llie same day the attention of the House was drawn from matters 
 of privilege, by Mr. Taschereait^ the Grand Voyer or Superiuteiulant 
 
 * We give the names of the Majority and the Minority, on the question, as fol- 
 lows Messrs. Debartzch, L.J. Papiaean, Lee; Beauchamp, Hebert, Huot, 
 
 Caron, Langlois, F. Itoi, Fortin, St. Juiieii, L. Uoi, B. Fanct, Duroclier, 
 
 Blackwood, Bedard, Drapeau, Borgia, IVIeunier, Uobitaille, and Bernier. Nays, 
 Messrs. U. Culhbert, Duchesnay, McCord, Bell, Mure, Dcucchau, Jones, Gray, 
 Jones of Bedford, Bowen, and Gugy. 
 
12S 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 nf Hoads aiul Bridges ; and two Resolves were passed for the pur- 
 pose of enforcing due publicity, as to all future projects for obtaining 
 encouragement from the Legislature to individuals, for the making of 
 Turnpike Roads and the erection of Toll Bridges. Notices of eve- 
 ry private Bill, proposed to be introduced in all future Sessions on 
 such subjects, were ordered to be inserted in the Quebec Gazette and 
 in one of the Newspapers of tlie District in which every such road or 
 bridge might be intended to be made. These useful Resolves were 
 some years afterwards modified to meet the encreasing stratagems of 
 projectors, who are now obliged to describe, in public advertisements 
 the nature and extent of the improvements and legislative encourage- 
 ment for which they petition. 
 
 On the 5th February, Mr. Blackrvnod seconded by Mr. Caron, ob- 
 tained leave to bring in a Bill to continue the temporary Act for the 
 better preservation of His Majesty’s Government, which was finally 
 passed with an amendment, showing the extreme jealousy of the Ma- 
 jority, and that they supposed that their ambitious projects might 
 be disturbed by the powers which this Act conferred upon the 
 Executive. 
 
 When the subject of voting the necessary sums for defraying all the 
 expenses of the Civil Government of the Province w’as agitated 7th 
 PVbruary, the anxiety of the Majority to avoid a developement of their 
 ulterior views was evinced by refusing to appoint a Select Committee 
 to enquire into the present state of the Revenue and Expenditure, and 
 the nature of the Acts now in force, on those subjects. The House 
 immediately w ent into Committee, and on the 10th February, after 
 declaring the ability of the Province, the House by a great Majority, 
 including IMessrs. Bedard, Papineaii, Blanchet, Viger and Debarizch, 
 resolved asfollow’s: 2'hat this House xvill vote in this Session the ne- 
 cessary sums for d^raying the Civil Expences the Government of 
 this Province. 
 
 The commercial ]MInority, who had no idea that this pledge would 
 be construed otherwise than as a simple undertaking to cover the de- 
 ficiency of the permanent Revenue, without interfering with the 
 appropriation of the latter, were astonished at the eagerness and 
 precipitation of the Majority, and merely deprecated fi*esh taxes on 
 Commerce ; but the Governor and his Executive Council appear to 
 have penetrated the views of the Assembly, and to have foreseen that 
 the conditions attached to the proposed vote, might, if submitted to, 
 bring the appropriation of the w hole Revenue of the Province under 
 the controLil of the French Canadians, who might thus mahe every 
 off eer, including the Governor and the Judges, their humble servants, 
 instead of being the servants of a gcrierons Mona?'ch. 
 
 Startled at this prospect, which came home to their business and 
 bosoms, it was agreed to give such an answ er to the Address of the 
 House, accompanying Addresses to the three branches of the Impe- 
 rial Pailianiciit as should, as far as possible, prevent future cavils. If 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 129 
 
 XL] 
 
 Sir John Sherbrooke had been as attentive to prudent Councillors in 
 this respect, when the Mouse was called upon to redeem the pledge 
 of its predecessor, as Sir James Henry Craig was, when it was first 
 ottered, much trouble would have been prevented ; and the new Trojan 
 Horse would forever have been denied admittance. — The answer of 
 Ilis Excellency therefore was extremely guarded ; and he particularly 
 insisted upon the Constitutional right of the Legislative Council to a 
 previous investigation and concurrence in the expediency of the Re- 
 solves and Addresses of the House of Assembly upon a subject, in 
 which, nut merely as a co-ordinate branch of the Legislature^ but as 
 composed of individuals having a large stake in the count ry^ it tvas in- 
 tereslcd. Refusing to transmit the Addresses of the House to the 
 Lords and Commons, both of which he deemed unprecedented, he 
 promised to transmit the Address to His Majesty, in order that, by 
 their own act, His Majesty might be formally apprised of the ability 
 and of the voluntary pledge, which the people of this Province had 
 thus given, to pay the entire Civil Expenditure of the Province, when 
 required so to do. 
 
 It is evident that this ansvyer not only guarded the rights of His Ma- 
 jesty and of the Imperial Parliament, but also those of the Legislative 
 Council, and more particularly excluded all hope of admitting the 
 controul of the Assembly over the present and future territorial Re- 
 venue of the Crown ; and we can therefore easily account for the 
 symptoms of mortified ambition exhibited by the Majority, on receiv- 
 ing this reply, which they immediately subjected to the investigation 
 of a Committee, composed of Messrs. Bourdages, Bedard, Taschereau, 
 Borgia, Blanchet and L, J* Papineau. 
 
 In every proceeding of the Plouse of Assembly, the French Cana- 
 dian Majority showed a desire to destroy the rights of the Legisla- 
 tive Council as a co-ordinate and important branch of the Provincial 
 Legislature. The Constitutional rights of this body inteifeied with 
 every step in the ambitious career of the former, and destroyed all 
 analogy with the proceedings of the old Colonies as to the appoint- 
 ment of Agents, and, strictly speaking, even of Commissioners, on 
 Financial intercourse with Great Britain or the sistei liovinces of 
 British America. Whenever, therefore, the (juestion of appointing! 
 Colonial Agent, as discussed this Session, has come before the House 
 of Assembly, the Majority has always resisted any interference on the 
 ])ait of the Legislative Council, without, however, receiving any support 
 from persons acquainted with the Constitution of Upper and Louver 
 Canada, and willing, as becomes loyal subjects, to submit to it as an 
 
 Act of the Imperial Parliament. , , . o • . w 
 
 The Maiority of the House of Assembly this Session attempted to 
 appoint and support a Colonial Agent at the seat of His Majesty s 
 Government, in the same manner as was practised by the o d Colo- 
 nies ■ and a Bill for this purpose was introduced, but, like other am- 
 bitious ynojects, was prevented from progress by the approaching 
 Prorogation and Dissolution. 
 
 u 
 
ISO 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 The Bill for immediately disabling the Judges having been speedily 
 passed, was returned by the Legislative Council, with an amendment, 
 which, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Royal As- 
 sent proposed to be given by ITis Majesty’s Representative, postpone 
 CiU to the end of the present Parliament^ the incapacity of Judges of 
 His Majesty s Court of King's Bench to sit and vote in the House of 
 Assembly. The Majority, anxious to obtain the passage of the Act, 
 but still more eager to be lelieved from the presence of Judge De- 
 bonne, now returned to a vote of expulsion, and by a Majority of 19 
 to 10, they declared his seat vacant : they also rejected that part of the 
 amendment of the Council, which would have admitted of this individual 
 being re-elected or replaced by another Judge, and thus brought 
 themselves into direct collision, not only with the Legislative Council 
 and with the Governor’s instructions, but also with the Constitutional 
 rights of the elective body, to whom an immediate appeal bj" Writ cf 
 Election to fill the seat thus declared vacant, would have taken place. 
 
 These proceedings, leading to a resort, through the Speaker of the 
 House, to His Excellency to issue a Writ in His Majesty’s name for 
 the Election of a Member for the (.’ounty of Quebec, in the place and 
 stead of the expelled Judge, placed the Governor General in an un- 
 precedented dilemma, from w hich he deemed it necessary to extricate 
 himself, by a new Dissolution of the Provincial Parliament. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 26th February, His Excellency, having com- 
 manded the attendance of the House in the Legislative Council 
 Chamber, and having there given the Royal Assent to the Bills for re- 
 new ing two temporary Acts, intimated his intentions in a Speech to 
 both Houses, from w hich we give the following extracts : 
 
 H'hattver inight be rnij personal wishes, or however strong mifht be 
 my desire, that the public business should suffer no inter) vpiion, I fear 
 that^ on this occasion ^ nothing is left to my diserttion ; it has been ren^ 
 dered impossible for me to act o'herwise than in the way in which 1 am 
 proposing^ 
 
 “ The House of Assembly has taken upon itself, without the participrt’- 
 tion of the other branches of the Legislature, to pass a vote that a Judge 
 of Ihs Majesty's Court of King s Bench cannot sit vor vote in that 
 House. However I might set aside the personal feelin£;s ir hie h would 
 not be unnatural in me, as to the mode in which (his truJisaction has bt tn 
 conducted toicards myself, there is another and iufiniitly higher consider- 
 ation arises out of it, which I must not oi'erlook. 
 
 “ It 2s impossible for me to co?isider what has been done in any other 
 light than as a direct violation of an Act of the Imperial Parliament — 
 of that Parliament which confet red on you the Constitution, to which you 
 profess to owe your present prosperity ; nor can I do otherwise than 
 consider the House of Assembly as having unconstitutionally disfran- 
 chised a huge povlioti of His l\Iaj€siy s Subjects, and reiidered ineli- 
 gible, by an authority which they do not possess, another not inconsider- 
 able class of the community^ 
 
 “ Suck an assuviplion I should, at atnj rale, fed viyself bound, by 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 131 
 
 XL] 
 
 even/ tie of diily^ to oppose : hut^in conserptence of the expulsion of the 
 Member for the dcunti/ of Quebec ^ a vacancy in the representation for 
 that Couritij has been declared ; and ‘it icouid be necessary that a new 
 Writ should issue for the election of another member. That writ loould 
 he to be signed by me : Gentlemen — 1 cannot-- dare not render myself 
 a partaker in a violation of an Act of the Imperial Parliament; and 
 I know no other ivay by which I can avoid becoming so, hut that 
 which I am pursuimT.*^ 
 
 Ills Excellency ended his Speech as he had begun it, by stating 
 his sincere regret at this new resort to His Majesty’s Prerogative, re- 
 lying upon the good sense of the Electors for his acquittance from all 
 blame, in the course which had been rendered necessary, by circum- 
 stances beyond his controuh 
 
 Thus ended the sixth Parliament, after a Session of four weeks. 
 Instead of feeling great alarm from this new Dissolution, the Mem- 
 bers of the Assembly concerned in the obnoxious measures, knowing 
 the gullibility of the great Majority of the Electors, confidently ex- 
 pected to be returned triumphantly, and to be enabled to continue 
 their plans of exclusive domination for themselves and for the Na^ 
 tion Canadienner One might even be permitted to conjecture that 
 they courted this new exercise of the Prerogative, in order to have an 
 opportunity of appealing, as patriotic and persecuted men, to the 
 Electors, and to conciliate them in favor of the frequently proposed 
 measure of granting pecuniary compensation for legislative services, 
 which the penurious spirit of the Habitants, not less than the opposi- 
 tion of the Executive, had hitherto impeded. 
 
132 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 A. D. 1811 . 
 
 IMvhnth Provincial Parliament. — Vanity of the expectations entertained by 
 some persons that the Dissolution of the sixth Parliament would cause Mem- 
 bers favorable to the Government to be returned. — This disappointment as- 
 cribed to the characteristic prepossessions and peculiarities of the Fdectors. 
 — Retrospective allusion to the formation of the character and political 
 opinions of the Klectors. — The new Constitution has the effect of distracting 
 their minds^ by introducing collisions between the ruling authorities. — The 
 vanity and the religious prejudices of Romish Electors^ incline them always 
 to support the elected^ against the author Hies created by the Prerogative of a 
 Protestant King.— Confidence at first displayed by the old Members^ as to the 
 event of being re-elected . — They arc however alarmed at the preparations 
 of the Government and of the subjects of British descent to influence the 
 Electors. — The Canadien newspaper becomes more and more violent against 
 the Executive. — Rumour of its being partly supported by the Plenipoten- 
 tiary of 'Napoleon Buonaparte . — The Governor General suppresses the 
 Canadien^ seizing the Printing Press and all the papers found in the 
 Printing OJflce, — He imprisons three Members of the sixth Parliament^ 
 as suspected of seditious practices. — Conjectures on the subject of those 
 measures^ which were not followed up by any public trials . — They arc sup- 
 posed to have been merely intended to excite the attention of the Electors at 
 this crisis of taking the sense of the people. — Reluctance of the Sub- 
 jects of British origin to acquiesce in the intention^ ascribed to the 
 Governor, of suspending the Constitution, — Jealousy existing in the Dis- 
 trict of Montreal against the Quebec Junta. — The Addresses of British 
 Candidates rej erred to, as proofs of their inexperience and delusion . — A 
 variety of Candidates at the general election. — The old Members prevail . — 
 Immediate consequences of the disappointment oj the British Candidates . — 
 A feeble effort made in favor of a suspension of the Constitution. — Causes 
 of the failure of this halj measure, and allusion to the preferable course 
 of uniting Upper to Lower Canada, and at the same time improving the 
 Constitutional Act, 31, Geo. III. Ch/^. 31. — Review of arguments in favor 
 of this course, and reference to the postponed Union Rill of the year IS^^^ 
 as containing the true remedy for the grievances of the Subjects of British 
 descent in Lower Canada. — First Session of the seventh Provincial Parlia- 
 ment, Feeble Minority in the House of Assembly, in favor of the Execu- 
 tive.— Mr. Panel re-elected Speaker — The Governor GeneraPs Speech.— He 
 suppresses all his favorite topics, and confines himself to local affairs, and 
 to the state of the negotiations between Great Britain and the United States. 
 --Address of the House of Assembly, containing a remarkable admission that 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 133 
 
 XII.] 
 
 jealousici exists between the Frcfich Canadians and the Subjects o f British 
 descent , — The case of Pierre Bedard^ a Xlciuber oj' the sixth Parliament^ re- 
 elected for the seventh^ while he was imprisoned under the accamtion of 
 seditious practices — Temporising conduct of the Majji'itj/, with conjec- 
 tures on its unascertained causes, — hidusiry of the Hotese of Assembly , — 
 lie dew of various proceedings, — Petition of the Debtors co? fined in the 
 Gaol of Montreal, — Expediency of a Bankrupt Law, — Bill J'rom the Le* 
 gislative Council^ making it feloiiy to counierj'eit foreign coins and foreign 
 promissory notes — The ct i me reduced to a misdemeanor by the Asscjiibly ; 
 and an Act passed accordingly. — lie flections on the execution of this Act . — 
 Bill for the continuation oJ the Gaol Duties Act promoted by the urgency of 
 the inhabitants of Three liiuers to have a 7iew Gaol, at the general expense, 
 — Bill Jor applying the bequest of John Conrad Marstellcr to the Establish- 
 ment of a House of Didustry for the poor, at Montreal.— Fate oJ' this esta- 
 blishment,— Abortive attempt by the Majority, to restore the proscribed mode 
 oJ' covering the roofs of houses with shingles in ^lontt eal, — Account of ihf> 
 Provincial Revenue, and the effects o f its ^rrosperous state, on the disposi- 
 tion of the House of Assembly to lavish the produce of taxes on Merchan- 
 dise for Ijjcal iJur poses — Bill to give an exclusive right to John Motson to 
 Steamboat Navigation on the St. Lawrc/ice, passed in the House of Assembly, 
 but rejected in the Legidative Council. — llejlections upon this and future 
 failures, to obtain encouragc?nent from the Government of T/rwer Canada to 
 great undertakings, — Number oj' Acts jyassed during th is busy Session . — 
 Account of Sir James Henry Craig^s farewell Speech, and extracts from 
 the same. 
 
 After the Dissolution of the sixth House of Assembly, uniler cir- 
 cumstances, which, to disinterested spectators, seemed to justify this 
 exercise of the Prerogative, it was expected that a reaction would take 
 place ; and that the great body of the Constituents would, from pru- 
 dential motives, if not J'rom higher principles, have disap[)roved of the 
 revolutionary conduct of their Representatives. This expectation, 
 however, was contradicted by the event, which is to be explained by 
 the peculiar habits of thought and character, which distinguisJi the 
 French Canadians. These habits and character, originally formed by 
 the despotic government, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, of Louis 
 the XIVth of France, induced the French Canadian population chiefly 
 to regard the immediate agents of authority, who came in daily or fre- 
 quent contact with them, by oral command or communication. Thus, 
 long after the Conquest, the lowest .agent of authority had only to pre- 
 sent himself, in the name of the King, to be instantly obeyed. It was 
 not a King, a Governor, a General, a Judge, or a Bishop, with whona 
 they had personal communication : these awful authorities they sur- 
 veyed at a distance, with due reverence ; but their immediate obedi- 
 ence was considered as due to a Seigneur, a Justice of Peace, an Offi- 
 cer of Militia, a Bailiff, and a Cure, or Priest. When the British 
 Parliament, therefore, established a House of Assembly, the Mem- 
 
13 b 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 l)rrs of that newly constituted authority, though cliosen by them- 
 sc!vt‘S, were admitted to a great share of the habitual submission, 
 whicli tlieir Coni-itituents were accustciined to pay to every agent of 
 tuithority, who came into immediate contact with them. By the ne\v 
 Constitution, the Habitants, in fact, supposed that they were com- 
 7n(tn(led by the Governor, at. every election, to choose rulers over 
 themselves ; and, having once cliosen them, they readily admitted 
 them to great authority and influence over their opiiuons and con- 
 duct. Believing this to be the disposition of the ignorant peasantry 
 of Lower Canada, w'c can have no difficulty in supposing that what, in a 
 free and intelligent community, is properly called Public Opinion, is 
 in this Province merely the effect of the opinions of the immediate agents oj' 
 authorily, including the Members of the Assembly^ operating upon the na- 
 tural desires^ of a people attached to the laics^ languagCy halitSy manners 
 and prejudices of their French ancestors. The immediate agents of autho- 
 rity, therefore, who interfere the least with those characteristics, will 
 be the most favored hy them. We flatter ourselves that these expla- 
 nations have enabled our readers to recognise the influence which 
 predominated at the new^ election, in April, 1810. The Sovereign 
 was a Protestant King of a Protestant nation; the Governor was a 
 Protestant, as was the iMajority of his Executive Council ; the Ma- 
 jority of the Legislative Council w^as also Protestant, and partly com- 
 posed of persons in office, who received salaries. On the other hand, 
 the Members of the dissolved Assembly were persons w ho professed 
 the Romish Religion, who held no lucrative office under the Govern- 
 ment, and who had been chosen as friendly to their civil and religious 
 rights, and opposed to every measure which could disturb the rou- 
 tine of their hereditary labours and enjoyments. Indolent, particu- 
 larly in mind, they could not analyse the conduct of their Represen- 
 tatives, and discriminate the parts which belonged to inordinate and 
 selfish ambition, from those which might be ascribed to zeal for their 
 service.* 
 
 The old Members w’ere so confident of the effects of those cha- 
 racteristics of their Constituents, that they derided every doubt of re- 
 election.f Perceiving, how^ever, the exertions of the Executive and 
 of the Subjects of British origin against them, they resumed the arms 
 
 • With respect to acknowledgment and feelings of service, there is little dilTer. 
 ence between the conduct of a Sovereign and that of aConstitutional body of the peo- 
 ple : When the tyrannical conduct of the Earl of Lauderdale in Scotland was prov- 
 ed before Charles the Secoyid and his Council, that Monarch, while he reprobated 
 it, could not help expressing his feeling that the Noble Earl had been actuated with 
 views to promote the interest of his Prince. 
 
 f One of the old members, being accosted by an acquaintance inMontreal, who, in 
 
 alone of regret, remarked that the Assembly had been dissolved or replied 
 
 that it ^ true, but the fragments are good. We see that this anecdote will look bet- 
 ter in French, as follows — ‘‘ Tin ami, renconlrani sur le march4 Monsr. Z)— r, 
 “/wi dit, en haussant les ^paules^ah. Monsieur, notre Parlemcnt est encore cassF 
 yui,reponditprement Mr. D r, le Parlemcnt est casse, mais les moreeaux 
 
 en sont bans. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 ]d5 
 
 XII.] 
 
 cf ridicule and niisrepresentavion, which had done them such good 
 service at th.e previous election. For this purpose, the newspaper Le 
 Caiiadien, was adopted to furnish the text for general connnetit, and 
 was circulated at such expense, as gave occasion to suppose that fo- 
 reign contributions for its support might have been furnished. Believ- 
 ing, as we do, that 'I'he C(i:iadi.en was merely supported by the 
 French Canadian Majority of the House of Assembly and their ad- 
 herents, w'ith the view of promoting the exclusive domination of the 
 popular branch of the Legislature, we cannot however, as historians, 
 help mentioning, that the anti -British sentiments which that paper 
 contained, gave currency to an idle report, that it was partly support- 
 ed by the French Plenipotentiary at Washington, the Metropolis of 
 the United States. The Canadien thus connected, in the minds of 
 the credulous, with the intrigues and ambition of Napoleon Buonaparte., 
 became an object of additional alarm and detestation to many per- 
 sons well affected to Government. Urged by them, and farther sti- 
 mulated by the seditious writings which it contained, the Governor 
 General, whose native courage and military habits might have made 
 him despise paper bullets, was induced to take summary measures 
 against the French Canadian Press. On the 17th March, uniler the 
 authority of the Executive, the printing ofiicc of the Canadien was 
 forcibly entered, and all the papers, with the press and ja-inting ap- 
 paratus found therein, were seized and conveyed to the Court House 
 of Quebec. As might be expected, the Printer also, after examina- 
 tion before the Council, was committed to prison; but, on what 
 grounds the ulterior measures of the Executive were taken, is a ques- 
 tion of mystery which future writers will have to investigate. Though 
 the mass of the population, unable to read or write, unprovided with 
 arms and the habit of using them, could not be supposed to sympathise 
 with the fate of the national press, or be able to revenge its destruction, 
 the Executive followed up this measure offeree with others, indicating 
 a fear of insurrection. The different guards were reinforced ; and mili- 
 tary patroles paraded through the city and suburbs of Quebec. The 
 mail, containing letters for Montreal, was detained; and various other 
 precautions in the powerof Government were taken, as if to prevent the 
 objects of prosecution from escape. P/Teantime, the well disposed part 
 of the community trembled at this crisis, believing that an extensive 
 conspiracy for their destruction, had been maue known to the Govern- 
 ment ; but it turned out a false alarm ; and, after due enquiry through- 
 out the country, and a strict examination of the papers found in the 
 office of the Canadian press, six individuals only were taken into cus- 
 tody ; and none were driven into concealment or exile by conscious- 
 ness of guilt. The truth is, that the tendency of the Constitutional 
 Act was a permanent cause of disturbing the peace on the eve of an 
 election, by open and universal suffiage ; and, i educed as w^e aie to 
 mere conjecture, we miglit suppose that the Governor General, at this 
 moment, intended to suspend theConstitution,on the jointresponsibility 
 of himself and the Executive Council, if we had not the recent proof of 
 
13G 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap 
 
 his different sentiments in his Sj)eech to both Houses, 26th February ; 
 in which he said, speaking of the Constitution — ‘‘ / cannot^ dare not^ 
 render myself a partaker in the violation of an Act of the Imperial 
 f arllamenty Whatever might have been the intentions of the Exe- 
 cutive, it is certain that even the Subjects of British origin had not yet 
 sufficiently tasted the bitter fruits of the Constitution to approve of 
 its suspension. To many of them it was still pleasant to the eye and 
 sxvcct in the month ; vohile its bitterness in the belly had been felt only 
 by a few old residents, and persons capable of investigating the first 
 principles of Government, and their application to the character and 
 circumstances of the governed. The existence of these feelings in fa- 
 vour of the Constitution, with al! its admitted faults, was more par- 
 ticularlv ascertained in the City and District of Montreal, containing 
 many new Settlers, who also had not sufficient confidence in the Que- 
 bec Junta, alluded to in our previous Chapters, to strengthen its au- 
 thority. Strange as it may now appear to our reflecting readers, it is 
 a fact that many well intentioned individuals of British origin persisted 
 in expecting benefits from a Constitution connected u ith French and 
 FY’udal Laws, and partly administered by a House of Assembly, elected 
 by the universal suffrage of the French Canadians ; xehose political 
 opinions had been entirely formed by the intrigues and speeches of 
 the candidates for tjieir votes. They even entertained sanguine ex- 
 pectations of the result of the new elections : they seemed to think 
 that the forins of the British Constitution, transplanted into Canada, 
 would operate as the substance does in the United Kingdom ; and 
 that the electors, who neither by education or property, are qualified 
 to judge or control the measures of the elected, would nevertheless 
 come forward and disapprove of their j)roceedings. It is painful, 
 though necessary, to allude to those delusions ; but we must refer 
 our intelligent readers to the Addresses of the various Candidates of 
 British origin, to convince them of the vanity of their expectations 
 from the sense and prudence of the elective body. The general 
 election of 1810, brought forward Candidates of every class and pro- 
 fession, except Judges: The doctors and surgeons, who perceived the 
 body politic diseased, oftered their services ; the lawyers, always ex- 
 pecting to profit by diftcrence of opinion ; the merchants, fearing 
 new taxes on imported goods ; the auctioneers, anxious to abolish the 
 auction duty ; the seigneurs, wishing to conciliate their feudal rights 
 with the pretensions ot their vassals ; — all came forward on this occa- 
 sion. But, seizing the vantage ground of previous confidence, the 
 great majority ot the old members carried the day ; and the Governor 
 General was destined to meet, in the I^egislative Council Chamber, 
 and even to admit to his social board the same men, whom he had 
 justly stigmatised as unworthy of the countenance or choice of loyal 
 subjects of His Majesty. JMeantime the infiuence of external com- 
 mcrce on the progress ot the (X)imtry demanded acts of legislation, 
 which two successive dissolutions had impeded* The Majority of 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 1S7 
 
 XII.] 
 
 the House of Assembly, aware that temporary Acts would best se- 
 cure their power, had rendered the regulation of Trade and Police, 
 and even a part of the pecuniary support of the local administration 
 of Justice temporary; and they could, at any time, alarm the Mer- 
 chants and Citizens of the Towns with the view of expiring Civil 
 Laws, and the fear of their being replaced by Martial Law, or re- 
 vived Ordinances of the old Government. A number, however, of 
 the eminent Merchants of Quebec and Montreal, aware of the im- 
 mense power of the Imperial Government, could not conceive the 
 possibility of its long permitting a faction, under colour of an Act of 
 the British Parliament, to disturb the Colony, and paralyse every ef- 
 fort towards improvement. These practical men, who had not only 
 long resided in Lower Canada, but were also acquainted with the 
 circumstances and situation of Great Britain and the United States, 
 could not be deluded by the pretensions of what is familiarly called 
 a paper Conslitution. They were convinced that the new Constitu- 
 tional Act, 31, Geo. III. Cap. 31, by the introduction of the forms of 
 a free Government prematurely into Lower Canada, had, in fact, 
 placed a Colony of immense extent, capable of augmenting the com~ 
 merce, and settling the surplus population of Great Britain, into the 
 potoer of an Anti-British and Anti-commercial faction, elected by the 
 almost universal suffrage of a gullible population of French origin, 
 Vohose restricted notions extended to none of the improvements necessary 
 to render the Country useful to Great Britain, or to the Sister Pro- 
 vinces of British North America. When the result of the General 
 Election of the year 1810, had discouraged the British admirers of 
 the Constitution, it was generally believed that they would have sup- 
 ported a Petition to the Imperial Government, to the following ef- 
 fect : that His Majesty’s Ministers would be pleased to take the 
 
 state of Lower Canada, under the present Constitution, into their 
 consideration, and investigate the numerous grievances of the Sub- 
 jects of British origin, and, supposing them duly impressed with the 
 sinister proceedings of the Majority of the House of Assembly, 
 praying them to recommend to the Imperial Parliament, the suspen- 
 sion of” the new Constitution, and the revival of the entire Act of the 
 l^th, Geo. HI., Cap. 83, with some modifications of the old Legis- 
 lative Council, suited to the commercial and financial exigencies of 
 the Province. This IMeasure, however, was only recommended on 
 the principle of state necessity, and in order to restore the temporary 
 tranquillity of the Province, and to give the necessary leisure for ma- 
 turing a new Constitutional Act, conferring a free Government, care- 
 fully adapted to a Commercial Colony, and conciliating the rights of 
 the Subjects of British origin, with those of French origin, mstead 
 of establishing the French Canadians, xvith all their prejudices, as the 
 masters of the Country. This proposal appears to have been that 
 choice of evils, which men of property generally make, m preference 
 to hazarding the experiment of a general and extensive measure, 
 
13S 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [_CTIAP. 
 
 calculated to expose the origin, and effectually redress the grievan- 
 ces of a Country ; and, being what is called a half tyieusure^ ii could 
 not excite the energy and spirit wliich the i)rospect of an effectual 
 remedy is calculated to produce. The complaints against the old 
 Constitution of 17 /4*, were still present to the minds of many influ- 
 ential individuals both in Great Britain and in Canada ; and the idea 
 of retrograding in the forms of free Government, was extremely re- 
 volting to the minds of many Subjects of British origin. The pro- 
 posal, therefore, though probably made to His Majesty’s Ministers, 
 was not acted upon ; and no effort was made for the relief of the 
 Subjects of British origin, till the introduction of the Bill for the Le- 
 gislative Union of Lower and Upper Canada, in the year 1822, which, 
 with all its acknowledged faults, would nevertheless have had the de- 
 sired effect of teaching the plainest understanding the true liiic of 
 political duty. At present, it is impossible for any man, wishing to 
 exercise political rights, and at the same time to pursue in tranquilli- 
 ty his private interests, to act with independence and consistency. 
 If we instance a Briton, desirous of legislative encouragement for 
 any improvement, he must first conciliate the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority of the House of Assembly, and thus indispose the other 
 branches of the Government. If he, on the other hand, begin with 
 engaging the patronage of the Governor and Legislative Council, his 
 project, approved by them, will be sure to fail in the House of As- 
 sembly. In this manner, we shall see the most indefatigable projec- 
 tors, esteeming highly the encouragement of the Legislature of Low- 
 er Canada, driven from pillar to post^ and obliged, at last, to rely on 
 their own resources. At this day, therefore, no individual has to 
 thank the Legislature of Lower Canada, for direct enccuragement to 
 great undertakings ; and every improvement in the inland Naviga- 
 tion of the Province and of its Harbours, has been rather impeded, 
 than advanced by the tenacious pretensions of the different branches 
 of the Legislature, except in the instance of the Lachine Canal. 
 
 But we return from this digression, to review the proceedings of 
 the first Session of the seventh Provincial Parliament of Lower Ca- 
 nada. The Executive had ver}" few adherents in the House of As- 
 sembly; but we mention their names below, in a note, for the pur- 
 pose of showing that, LMider the present Constitution, every Govern- 
 or pursuing British interests, will find his legislative adherents in the 
 popular branch, decrease in numbers, respectability and talent.* 
 
 ^ The Members who generally supported Government, were first: — (Officers or 
 Placemen,) — Mr- Bowen, Attorney General, Mr. Sewell, Solicitor General, Mr. Cof- 
 Jin, Mr. Caldwell, son of the Ueceiver General. Second: — (Merchants,) — John 
 Mure, James Irvine. G. M. St. Dizier, A. JST. McLeod, Matthew Bell. — Ihe Gov- 
 ernment of Great Britain has generally a Majority in the House of Commons in 
 the proportion of two to one, and in the Colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick 
 and Upper Canada, three to two;— in Low'er Canada, it has, on the average, since 
 the new Constitution, been in the Minority, whenever British law or ascendancy 
 was in question. This was never the case, even in Ireland, when she had a Houstf 
 of Commons. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 1S9 
 
 XIT.] 
 
 After tlio usual preliminaries of administering the oaths and ap- 
 proving a Speaker, which, in the year 1827, have been called by the 
 Assembly mere matters of courtesy and fonriy the customary salvo of 
 privilege took place, by introducing and reading, for the first time, 
 the continuation of the Act for the regulation of Trade between this 
 Province and the United States, by land and inland Navigation. 
 After which, Mr. J. A. Panet, tcho might be called the Speaker for 
 life^ reported the Speech of the Governor General, on the 12th of 
 December, 1810, confined chiefly to local topics, and to the relations 
 existing between His Majesty’s Government and the United States, 
 vhich vitally interested the Province. His Excellency, feeling that 
 there existed no sympathy between the Majority of the House of 
 Assembly and himself, on his favorite topic of the warlike exploits 
 and glory of Great Britain, then contending almost alone against 
 Napoleon Biionajiarte and his Allies, for her independent existence, 
 passed over European affairs, with a slight remark on a want of offi- 
 cial accounts to ground any information to be given to them. With 
 respect to the negotiations between Great Britain and the United 
 States, His Excellency represented them to be in a very unsatisfacto- 
 ry state ; and that new claims, connected with pretensions of neutral 
 rights, had been brought forward, calculated to embarrass and delay 
 an amicable adjustment. As to local afhiirs, His Excellency earn- 
 estly recommended the continuation of the temporary Acts for the 
 preservation of His Majesty’s Government, and for the regulation of 
 Aliens, together with the Act for the regulation of Irade between 
 this Province and the United States. Confining his particular re- 
 commendations to those Measures to which their Predecessors had 
 pledged themselves, His Excellency, taught by experience that the 
 projects of the Executive would be vievved with jealousy, had now 
 reverted to the reserved demeanor, which suited the defensive posi- 
 tion, into which the result of the recent Election had forced his Ad- 
 ministration. Addressing the House of Assembly, His Excellency 
 said that he would direct to be laid before it, Statements of the Pro- 
 vincial Revenue of the Crown, and of the Expenaituie for the last 
 twelve months. He ended his Speech by promising to both Houses 
 to concur with them, most readily and cheerfully, in every Measure 
 which they might propose, in mutual harmony, as conducive to the 
 prosperity and happiness of the Colony. ‘‘ 7 he rule of my conduct^ 
 said His Exceilency, ‘‘ is to discharge my duty to His Majesty, by a 
 constant attention to the interests of his Government, and to the 
 -Mreofhis Subjects vchich he has committed to my charge ; and 
 these objects I feel to be best promoted by a strict adherence to the laws 
 and to the principles of the Constitution, and by maintaining in their 
 just balance, the rights and privileges of every branch of the Legis^ 
 latiire ” 
 
 TWs guarded, firm and temperate Speech, in which every personal 
 feeling was subdued, disappointed the expectations of the Majority 
 
140 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 of the House of Assembly, who found it difficult to quarrel at the 
 commencement. The Committee appointed to prepare an Address, 
 were at issue on some points, as appeared when the Report w^as sub- 
 mitted for the concurrence of the House, after an unusual delay of 
 seven days. Mr. Mure and the Solicitor Ge?ieral, having strenuously 
 opposed, in the select Committee, a paragraph of the Address which 
 stated the manner of the execution of the law for the preservation 
 of Ills Majesty’s Government, as not having been calculated to ren- 
 der its unaltered renewal, a Measure that would insure confidence 
 between His Majesty’s Government and his Canadian Subjects, an 
 attempt to expunge it in the Committee of the whole House, was 
 made by the feeble Minority which now supported the Executive ; 
 but, with other offensive insinuations, it was passed by the Majority. 
 It is, however, worthy of remark, that the same men who had, in 
 previous Parliaments, reprobated an allusion by His Excellency to 
 the difficulty of preserving the necessary harmony, in a Province 
 whose population was composed of parts differing in opinions, cus- 
 toms and prejudices, notv adopted his very tvords on the subject^ and 
 admitted the existence of this disparity between Lower Canada and the 
 other Colonies of His Majesty. Of the six individuals taken into 
 custody for alledged treasonable practices, three were Members of 
 the preceding House of Assembly ; and one of them, Mr. Pierre 
 Bedard, who had, under every condition, except an aquittal by a Ju- 
 ry, refused to leave prison, was re-elected. The Governor, who de- 
 clined bringing him to trial, took the sense of the House as to his 
 eligibility, and the Majority passed resolves disapproving of his im- 
 prisonment, and declaring him duly qualified to take his seat and 
 vote therein. These resolves were ordered to be communicated to 
 His Excellency, with an Address expressing the desire of the House 
 for the liberation of Mr. Pierre Bedard ; and Messengers w'cre ap- 
 pointed for that purpose, who declined acting, on account of a defect 
 in the formality of their appointment, and the want of directions for 
 their conduct on such a delicate mission.* 
 
 It is difficult to account for the comparative quiet which prevailed 
 during this Session ; and, though it has been ascribed to^various 
 causes, some more efficient w ill doubtless be discovered in the w rit- 
 ings of the adherents of the different branches of the Legislature. 
 It has on this subject been asserted, that the imprisonment of the 
 most violent of the Members of the late House of Assembly, and 
 the destruction of the press, which spread seditious w ritings, had 
 quelled the turbulent spirit, which the firmness and military attitude 
 of the Governor and an efficient defensive Staff prevented from ris- 
 ing again during his Administration. It has also been asserted that 
 
 • The Messengers who had been named for this purpose, were Tl/fiirs. Bour^ 
 dagfi, Debartzch, Bruneau, Lee, Bellet, Papineau, junior, ajid Viger ; but the 
 House, at the moment of their appointment, having adjourned for want of a quo- 
 rum, the preparation of an Address was neglected. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 141 
 
 XII.] 
 
 tlie urgency for new laws on the part of influential men in the Pro- 
 vince, effected a truce between the branches of the Legislature ; and, 
 combined with the hopes that the declining health of the Governor 
 would induce him speedily to leave the Province, this circumstance 
 may have induced the Majority to temporise. The House of Assem- 
 bly and its adherents, however, would admit no farther reason for 
 tranquillity, than that they were making a magnanimous use of their 
 victory over Judges, Jews, and arbitrary Dissolutions, and that they 
 perfectly despised tlie Minority which supported the Executive. 
 
 Leaving to future writers to collect the various reasons which com- 
 bined to form a sufficient cause, the House certainly showed consi- 
 derable industry in public business, and matured a variety of Mea- 
 sures in such a manner as induced the other branches of the Legis- 
 lature to concur in them, and, by the Royal Assent, make them Laws 
 of the land. The subjects which the Assembly postponed, were ta- 
 ken up by the Legislative Council, in which branch originated the 
 continuation of the Acts for the preservation of His Majesty Gov- 
 ernment, and for the regulation of Aliens ; and various instances of 
 compromise, after explanation, took place. 
 
 In the Commerce of the Province, subsequent to the gleam of 
 prosperity caused by the American Embargo, a re-action had taken 
 place; and many persons were at this time confined in piison for 
 debts. A well written Petition from them, was presented ^ to the 
 House of Assembly on the 29th of December, the details of which 
 forcibly impress the mind with the expediency of a Bankrupt Law in 
 this Commercial Country; but, at the same time, we are led to per- 
 ceive the necessity of the previous Measure of Register Offices, to 
 check the propensity of Bankrupts to make secret transfers or invest- 
 ments of property justly belonging to their Creditors. Some of the 
 Subscribers to the Petition, which more particularly prayed for a 
 larger contribution of subsistence money, than five shillings per week, 
 bv the Creditors, were well known to have conveyed tntur property, 
 in a manner which the French Laws of the Province could not trace 
 and make known to the Courts of Justice. The House of Assemoly, 
 hlinking Ihe question of the dejects which it knew could only be lepair- 
 cd by Admitting more English Commercial Law, occupied itself mere- 
 ly wfth the prayer of the Petition for an addit.ona allowance ; but 
 even this part of the subject was not prosecuted when the Commit- 
 tee, to winch it was referred, ascertained the character and origin of 
 
 tI: l!ncrha.i‘^Ve<l a Bill .0 punisl. as a Fe- 
 lonv the forsing and counterfeiting of Foreign Bills of Exchange, 
 mid Prliiory Notes, and Orders for the payment of Money the . 
 House of Assembly reduced the crime to a misdemeanor ; and an 
 Act to diis effect, was finally sanctioned. This law as may indeed 
 Act e , y Province, is not executed with due en- 
 
 a/ nu.jary fun^ fir defray, .g 
 
 the expenses attending the bringing of (fenders to justice. 
 

 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap 
 
 During tin’s Session, the claims of the Contractors for bniicling the 
 Gaol of Quebec, were taken into consideration ; but their alleclged 
 losses were not compensated : the expenditure for Gaols and Court- 
 houses, had already been double what was intended : and the result 
 should have rendered the House of Assembly favourable to District 
 Assessments for such purposes, xihich mode of taxation vcordd have 
 inroiTcd more care and vconomif in the application of the produce. 
 
 The system of taxation of Commerce having, however, been adopt- 
 ed, lavish cx[)eiuliturcs for public offices, were now contemplated ; 
 and the establishments were calculated to cost fifty thousand pounds. 
 A continuation of the Gaol Duties’ Act, 45, Geo. Ill, Cap. 13, was 
 therefore decided upon, notwithstanding the strenuous oppo‘^ition of 
 some Merchants and Auctioneers. The want of a District Gaol for 
 Three RiverSf facilitated the passage of this Bill; but the appropria- 
 tion of funds for this purpose, w’as reserved for His Majesty’s plea- 
 sure ; and the contemplated public offices have to this day been ne- 
 glected. 
 
 In consequence of the bequest of property by a German of the 
 name of John Conrad Marsteller, an Act was passed this Session for 
 the establishment of a House of Industry : but this well intended 
 Institution, after several abortive attempts, has ended in leaving some 
 fixed property for sale on account of the public. 
 
 Some Members of the Majority, possessed of vacant ground near 
 IMontreal, renewed their efforts in favour of the proscribed mode of 
 covering the roofs of Houses wuth Shingles; but the well founded 
 alarms of the Proprietors of Houses on account of the danger of the 
 spreading of Fires by means of inflamed Shingles, prevented the 
 passage of the Bill into a Law% which, on motion of JMr, Viger, se- 
 conded by Mr, Papinean^ Junior^ passed the Assembl}% but w’as re- 
 jected by the Legislative Council. On the 15th of February, the 
 Accounts of the Revenue were presented, and added to the compla- 
 cency of the Assembly, by the flourishing state of the Provincial 
 Finances which they exhibited. The amount of the Revenue was 
 about sixty-three thousand pounds sterling, and of the Expenditure, 
 including the expenses of the Legislature, and the drav/backs to Up- 
 per Canada, forty-three thousand pounds sterling. This Statement 
 will account for the appropriations, after some difficulty, of the addi- 
 tional sums required to cover the great excesses of the estimated ex- 
 penses of finishing the Gaol of Montreal, and the repairs of the resi- 
 dence of the Governor in Quebec ; both of which doubled the ori- 
 ginal estimates, and produced subjects of enquiry to Committees of 
 the House ; and led to some salutary restrictions in future grants, 
 without, however, altering the favourite principle of taxing Commerce, 
 for all public purposes. 
 
 An attenipt w^as, this Session, renewed by the Maitres de PosiCj to 
 recover their old monopoly of the conveyance of Travellers by Land ; 
 but there was a sufficient sense of justice and commercial utility in 
 
OF LOWni CANADA. 
 
 US 
 
 xil] 
 
 the House, to prevent this retrograde movement ; and the Proprietors 
 oi Stages were maintained in the facility of obtaining licenses. 
 
 In consequence of a Petition from Mr. John Molson, an opulent 
 brewer, who, having capital to spare, had made an experiment with 
 It, in imitating t!ie beneficial application of the power of Steam m 
 propelling vessels, lately introduced into the State of New York, un- 
 der the encouragement of an exclusive Patent, a Bill was, on the 
 1 1th of February, introduced by Mr. Viger, to grant to Jolm Mol- 
 son the exclusive right and privilege of navigating one or more Steam- 
 boats between Quebec and Montreal, on the River St. Lawrence. 
 'I'his Bill, after undergoing some amendments, was passed on the 25th 
 of February, by a Majority of 15 to 4. This Measure, however, 
 was not concurred in by the Legislative Council ; and, when next 
 Session the Petitioner had succeeded in conciliating that body, the 
 House of Assembly was unfavourable ; and, like almost every pro- 
 jector of beneficial enterprises in this Province, he was left to depend 
 upon his own resources; these were ample, not only in capital, but 
 in that persevering spirit which distinguishes most Englishmen who 
 liave had success in their original pursuits, and turn their attention 
 to higher objects of industry calculated to gratify their national am- 
 bition for improvement. This gentleman’s success was soon after in- 
 sured by the exigencies of the war ; when his Boats were chiefly em- 
 ployed in conveying Troops, Stores and Provisions, for Government ; 
 and he is a prominent exception to the common prepossessions of 
 mankind, which, as matter of course, consign to ruin and disappoint- 
 ment the first projectors of great undertakings.. 
 
 The limits which we have prescribed to ourselves, and the desire 
 which we feel to give some extracts from Sir James Henry Craigs 
 farewell Speech, to both Houses, prevents our giving some fartlier 
 details of the proceedings of this busy Session ; in which tlie Parlia- 
 ment seemed to feel that the eyes of the intelligent part of the peo- 
 ple w^ere scrutinising the conduct of the difierent branches. 
 
 On the 21st of March, His Excellency having commanded the at- 
 tendance of the Speaker and Members of tlie House of Assembly 
 in the Legislative Council Chamber, gave the Royal Assent to Fil- 
 teen Acts, reserving for His Majesty’s pleasure the Bill for erecting 
 a District Gaol in the Borough of Three Rtvers. 
 
 His Excellency then closed the Session with a long Speech, which 
 began by giving due praise for the assiduity in public business which 
 both Houses had displayed. He next alluded to the alarming ill- 
 ness of His Majesty, which was destined to cause the establishment 
 of a Regency in a period of vital interest to the Nation. Alluding 
 to the Government of the United States, His Excellency characteris- 
 ed their new Act of non importation, directed against Great Britain, 
 as a branch of partial and irritating policy ; the operation of which, 
 even their own Lawyers and Mercantile Citizens could not under- 
 stand. After having expressed his thanks for the provision made to 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 J d-l< 
 
 [chap. 
 
 cover tlie deficiency in the funds originally voted for repairing the 
 Castle of St. Louis, the Governor’s residence, he congratulated them 
 upon the constitutional manner in which the Act for disqualifying the 
 Judges, had been passed. 
 
 His Excellency’s Speech, assuming the style of advice, in the 
 most earnest manner, called their attention to those circumstances of 
 an augmenting Population and Commerce, which would demand an 
 increase and energetic execution of the Laws. In this part of his 
 Speech, we find a recommendation to the Legislature, in favour of 
 the Inhabitants of the Towmships, between whose Lands and the City 
 of Quebec^ he had caused a spacious Road to be opened. He charac- 
 terised them as cultivating their lands in a manner well calculated to 
 serve as an example to other parts of the Country ; and he express- 
 ed his hope that emulation, not jealousy, would be felt towards them. 
 The following paragraph, closing his Speech, we give verbatim, ex- 
 pressing, at the same time, our regret that the opinions and advice 
 which it contains, have been little attended to by the Leaders of the 
 Nation Canadienne. 
 
 And noWj Gentlemen^ I have only further to recommend^ that as, 
 in an early part of the Sessioii, you yourselves took occasion to observe 
 on the difficulty of the task, you will proportionally exert your best en~ 
 deavours to do away with all distrust and animosity from among your* 
 selves : whde these are suffered to remain, all exertion for the public 
 good must be palsied. No bar can exist to a cordial union : — religi- 
 ous differences present none — intolerance is not the disposition of the 
 present times — and, living under one Government, enjoying equally its 
 protection and fostering care, in the mutual intercourse of kindness and 
 benevolence, all others will be found ideal. I am earnest in this advice, 
 gentlemen. It is probably the last legacy of a sincere well-wisher, who, 
 if he lives to reach the presence of his Sovereign, would indeed present 
 himself with the proud certainty of obtaining his approbation, if he 
 could conclude his report of his administration with saying : — I found. 
 Sire, the portion of your Subjects that you committed to my charge, di* 
 vided among themselves, viewiitg each other with mistrust and jealousu, 
 and animated, as they supposed, by separate interests. 1 left them. 
 Sire, cordially united in the bonds of reciprocal esteem and confidence, 
 and rivalling each other only in affectionate attachment to your Ma- 
 jesty s Government, and in generous exertions for the public good.'* 
 
CHAR XIII. 
 
 REGAPITUI.ATION, 
 
 intl:rspkrski3 with general remarks. 
 
 A. D. 1759—1811. 
 
 We think that the present Chapter may he made useful to our 
 readers, by taking a retrospect of our previous career, and recapitu- 
 lating the material points of the political progress of the Majority of 
 the Provincial House of Assembly. The recess of Parliament, in the 
 year 181 1, seems particularly convenient for this temporary pause : the 
 firm and uncompromising conduct of Sir James Henry Craigs support- 
 ed by an accomplished Military Staff, headed by the brave General 
 Brocks gives assurance of internal tranquillity. The question of peace 
 or war with the United States was still doubtful, more particularly as 
 His Majesty’s Government seemed resolved that it should not be the 
 first aggressor, but that the high responsibility of declaring war should 
 be left to the American Government, whose unprepared situation for 
 active hostilities, both as to moral and physical force, is notorious. 
 
 Our first Chapter states the design of the work, being an historical 
 enquiry into the combined causes which have produced the pre- 
 sent extraordinary crisis of political affairs in Lower Canada. The 
 French Canadian Leaders in the Provincial House of Assembly, 
 professing to act constitutionally, have brought themselves and 
 their adherents into direct collision, on matters of Finance, with 
 His Majesty's Executive, acting under instructions advisedly and 
 repeatedly given by His Majesty’s Imperial Government. We 
 then give our opinion that the pretensions of the House of As- 
 sembly extend to a virtual monopoly of the powders of the Civil Gov- 
 ernment, by such a complete control in Legislation and Finance as 
 would render His Majesty’s Representative, and the Legislative 
 Council, though co-ordinate branches of the Legislature, subservient 
 to the interests, prejudices and passions of the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority. These pretensions are considered the more dangerous, be- 
 cause they emanate from Members of the popular branch, who pro- 
 fess the Romish Religion, and whose superior education and talent 
 enable them to form the political opinions of the uneducated Elec- 
 tors, who are distinguished from the rest of His Majesty’s Subjects, 
 by an indiscriminating attachment to the laws^ language, manners and 
 habits of their French ancestors. We next state our belief that these 
 pretensions have, in a great degree, arisen from the encouragement 
 afforded to the exclusive ambition of the French Canadian Leaders, 
 
 U 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 
 [f IIAP, 
 
 by the Constitutionlil Acts, M, Goo. III. Cap. 83, and 31, Goo. III. 
 Cap. 31, and we propose to examine their theorotical defects and 
 their practical consequences, with reference to the intcre.^t.^ of the 
 British Eojpire at large, and to the justice due by Ilis Ma- 
 jesty’s Imperial Government to the claims of the inhabitants of 
 British descent. We assert that the pretensions of the House 
 of Assembly cannot be founded upon any of thesti|)ulations in the Ar- 
 ticles of Capitulation or in the Treaty of Cession ; and we support 
 this assertion by tlie result of a review of those Documents. The si- 
 tuation in vvhicli tlie French Canadians were left by the Capitulation, 
 and by rhe Treaty of Paris, offered no obstacle to the true policy ef 
 assimilating them to that accession of British population intended" by 
 His Majesty, on which point v;e refer to the Proclamation, daud the 
 7th October, 1763. 
 
 After reviewing the Capitulation, and the Treaty of Cession, which 
 chiefly secure to the French Canadians, life, property and religious 
 toleration, we remark that the whole of tlieir pretensions now become 
 so formidable to tlie Subjects of British descent, and to rhe Imperial 
 Government, arise from the injudicious liberality of the British J^ir- 
 liament, which, by the Acts 14, Geo. III. Cap. 83, and 31, Geo. HI. 
 Cap. 31, indulged every wish of the conquered; and by the esta- 
 blishment of the old French Law^s and Romish Religion, with the 
 ascendancy in the popular branch, secured by universal suffrage 
 in the Election of Members, have given a monopoly of power to il;e 
 ITench Canadians, and left the Subjects of British descent w’ithout any 
 beneficial influence in the Legislature. 
 
 We therefore reviewed the Act 14, Geo. III. Cap. 83, which re- 
 established French Laws in the Province of Quebec, fcncliiio to con- 
 centrate the Ftench Canadians as a separate people^ with a Clergif sup- 
 ported hy Tythes, remarking in passing that the natural disgust at 
 these Establishments drove British Emigrants and Loyal Americans 
 to the Upper Districts, and led to the next measure, prolific of evil, 
 namely, that of dividing the Province of Quebec in the year 1791, 
 and granting, without the least regard to dijjerence circunistancesy a 
 House of Assembly wu'th the sam^ exteiisive {)nvi!eges to each division. 
 
 We next reviewxd the Constitutional Act, 31, Geo. HI. Cap. 31 ; 
 and, with particular reference to Lower Canada, we found it calculated 
 to place the Fiench Canadians in rivalsinp w ith the other Subjects of* 
 His Majesty, and to facilitate the attemptsoftheirLeaders in the House 
 of Assembly to monopolise the powxrs of the Civil Government, and 
 make His Majesty a mere military protectory lavishing the blood and 
 treasure of the Inritish Nation in defence of a separate p^eoplcy repre- 
 senting old France, rather than assuming the characterLtics oj a Colo- 
 ny of Great Britain. 
 
 Pursuing (he subject, we alluded to the legitimate and approved 
 process of amalgamating the conquered with the coiuiuerinct nation : 
 a proper distinction was also alledgcd between a conquest that is 
 
OT- I.(AVEIl CAXADA. 
 
 147 
 
 Xill.] 
 
 fount! (uiiy sfMtle!!, (for instance tlie Islands of Cucrnsry and Jcrs/'y, 
 ami llif E,-.ipire of Clthm) and one like Lower Canada, Khich docs not 
 al present conlam one hundredth part of the population xehich it ’will 
 be able to support, irhen properly settled and cultivated. 
 
 Considering the enactments of the Constitutional Act, with more 
 immediate reference to the Act I f, (ieo. III., Cap. 83, which had 
 concentrated the potver of the French Canadians, by the establish- 
 ment of the French Laws and the Romish Religion, the effect of the 
 almost universal suffrage in electing Members of the Provincial As- 
 sembly conferred by the Act 31, Geo. III., Cap. 31, on this part 
 of the i)opulation, must tend to perpetuate their inclination to be a 
 separate people, and to direct them in choosing Representatives 
 pledged to maintain this flattering distinction. The theoretical infer- 
 ences from those enactments, were next supported by a brief recital 
 of the progress of the Constitution, till the period of the financial 
 disputes between tbe House of Assemuly and His Majesty’s Govern- 
 ment : when it was found that the Provincial Administration was 
 supported, in rights and measuies absolutely necessary for its benefi- 
 cial existence, by only three Members, out of the fiity which com- 
 pose the popular branch of the Legislature. This progress, agreea- 
 bly to our hypothesis already mentioned, we suppose to have en- 
 couraged the Leaders of the House of Assembly to dictate such 
 terms and financial conditions to His Majesty’s Govermnent, as if 
 submitted to, would make the whole Province and the British Nation 
 contribute to the wealth and permanent power of those leaders and 
 their adherents. VVe then state our opinion that they have a nearer 
 prospect than ever of this covisummalion ; and that a review of the 
 most remarkable steps evincing the ambition and objects of the 
 House of yVssembly, will prove that they have neither been negli- 
 gent nor scrupulous, in pursuing the object of obtaining a complete 
 controul over the purse and person of every Subject of British ori- 
 gin in the Province. . 
 
 Our second Chapter commences the promised review of the most 
 remarkable steps evincing ambition in tae Leaders of the late Plouses 
 of .Assembly; and we assert at the outset, that in the first anc. least 
 exceptionable, and least formidable House of Assembly, the natural 
 operation of the Constitution, and the dawmngs of that ambition 
 which, while we write, has reached its noontide altitude, are discerni- 
 ble to every intelligent reader of the proceedings. ^ , 
 
 The fatal omission in the Constitution to enact that the minu.es of 
 proceedings should be recorded in the English angua^e on j , ^ 
 
 mo- that of the Sovereign, is staled to have produced many obstacles 
 to°the Anglification of the Country ; and we contrast this omission 
 with the provident conduct of the Congress of the I.uitcd States, 
 which body, wliile admitting the Territory of Louisiana, inhabited by 
 French.nem as one of the States of their Confederation, enacted. Mat 
 all Minutes of Proceedings, in the Courts and Legislature of iheir 
 
148 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [cir.ML 
 
 Sister State, shoul<l he exclusively recorded in the language of the Cen- 
 stitution of the United States; that is to say, in the English lan- 
 guage ; which enactment has naturally made the study of the En- 
 glish tongue a primary object with the French Louisianians ; and, 
 though in numbers, at the time of their admission, they^ were about 
 half the amount of the French Canadians in 1791, the former now 
 generally speak, or understand English, and have changed their 
 French Laws for a new Code, while the Legislature and people of 
 Canada remain averse from the most salutary changes approved by 
 France herself, and necessary for the beneficial and lastingly friendly 
 intercourse between this Province, and the English speaking popula- 
 tion and States, by which she is partly surrounded. 
 
 In the first Session of the first Parliament, the ambition of the 
 Majority is chiefly discernible in refusing, on futile pretences, to 
 choose for their Speaker, a Member fully acquainted with both lan- 
 guages, showing, at the very commencement of their career, that 
 the very head and front presented to His Majesty s Representative, 
 should be always French, and that their wish was for ever to make 
 Lower Canada, to the kacFbone, French. The claim set up to the 
 Jesuits’ Estates, is next brought forward ; and this early motion 
 in the House of Assembly, shows that the constant object of 
 that body, has been to diminish the legitimate rights of the con- 
 quering power, and to prevent a participation by the old sub- 
 jects in the benefits of the Conquest. France always conquered for 
 the benejit of the French Nation ; but cur French House of Assembly 
 have used, from the beginning, the pacers conferred by Great Britain, 
 io make the Conquest of Canada beneficial to the conquered only, end 
 a continual subject of annoyance to the conquerors. 
 
 We then allude to the effect of the remains of the old French po- 
 liteness, which frequently gained its ambitious end, by manceuvring, 
 rather than by a direct opposition to His Majesty’s Government. So 
 long as the English Minority amounted to about a fourth part of the 
 Assembly, it frequently happened that the absence of some French 
 Canadian Members, for business or for electioneering purposes, re- 
 duced their numbers to an equality with the usual ]Minorityq and the 
 House to the low^est quorum. Whenever, in such circumstances, the 
 French found that the English w^ere likely to carry a question, one or 
 more French Canadians would withdraw ; and immediately the Speak- 
 er, always obsequious to the Faction who elected him, would adjourn 
 the House for want of a quorum.* The question was thus delayed 
 until the personal convenience of the absent Members would admit 
 of giving a decided negative. This manoeuvre, however, was destin- 
 
 • It is curious to remark, however, that this manoeuvre, which IVIr. Speaker 
 Panel afterwards so often encouraged, was, in the first instance, employed against 
 himself, as will appear by an account of the first debate on the jiersoiial privileges 
 cf the Members of the House of Assembly, contained in iLt second Chapter be- 
 fore mentioned. 
 
OF I.OWKll CANADA. 
 
 XIII.] 
 
 119 
 
 eil to become obsolete in the Parliamentary tactics of I.ower ('ana- 
 da, after the end ot Sir Robert Shore A/Z/z/c.?’ Administralion ; w hen 
 tlie Minority, comprising some Canadian Placemen and Members of 
 British origin, had diminished to about ten members, or one fifth of 
 the House of Assembly. We also allude to the delusion as to the 
 almost magical effects ascribed to the forms of the British Constitu- 
 tion^ in turning Frenchmen into Englishmen, the rallying erv of the 
 Minority being, “ let us all put our shoulders to the ivheel, and let the 
 
 English Constitution have a fair trial among Frenchmen^ Mean- 
 time, the new Judicature Bill, affording the prospect of lucrative si- 
 tuations to Judges, Crown Lav/yers, and Prothonotaries, conciliated 
 many individuals to things as they xvere. The Executive had then 
 something to give ; the resources of Lord Dorchester’s Adminis- 
 tration, had not been dried up by a declared bankruptcy of the Re- 
 ceiver Genera!, nor by the lavish votes of the House of Assembl}'- 
 for internal communications, which have reduced the present Admin- 
 istration to a morsel of bread. 
 
 Our third Chapter describes the pertinacity with which tlie French 
 Canadian Majority resisted every modification of the Feudal Tenure 
 of Lands, which Tenure they considered as best calculated to dis- 
 courage Settlers of British origin, or, as they afterwards had the 
 hardihood to call them, intruders, from settling in the French Seignio- 
 ries. Fear, which is the original source of French politeness, still pix*. 
 served decorum in the House of Assembly towards the Legislative 
 Council, and His Alajesty’s Representative. This characteristic of 
 the first House of Assembly, was the means of encouraging the Ex- 
 ecutive to recommend several useful Measures. The Acts passed 
 were chiefly permanent ; and the Messages of the Governor were re- 
 ceived with tlianks, and promptly taken into consideration. A sup- 
 ply of five thousand pounds was unanimous!}'' voted ; and, at this 
 period of comparatively good feeling, if any shrewd observer of the 
 tendency of the Constitution, the nature of the Canadian Leaders, 
 and the gullibility of their Adherents, had predicted that they would 
 eventually come into direct collision with the Imperial Government 
 on pecuniary affairs, and set the local Government^ at defiance, his 
 prophecy would have been treated with scorn, and his person spurned 
 from all decent society. 
 
 Next comes an account of important Measures and Projects con- 
 nected with Provincial Finances and Improvements. Midi respect 
 to the former, the Consolidating Act, patronised by Lord Dorchester, 
 is not approved, for reasons hereafter to be mentioned ; while the 
 Road Act is referred to as giving rise to an avowed and lasting op- 
 position, on the part of the Majority of the House of Assembly and 
 their Constituents, to every improvement calculated to disturb their 
 peculiar habits. This Law ^vas passed under circumstances which 
 prove that the House of Assembly hes seldom been the instrument of 
 good, except by chance, or by a fatality beyond the momentary coniroul 
 
150 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 (_riIAP. 
 
 of the ordinary Majority of the Mnnhers;, Road Act, so inter- 
 
 estiii^ to the trade and inland conmiunication of the Cr iintry, laying 
 a moderate contribution of labour or money upon the French Canadi- 
 ans and otlier Subjects, for tlie improvement of their property, was ne- 
 vertlieless opposed by some Members of the Mouse ot Assembly, as 
 leading to direct taxation. This, however, being the last Session of 
 the lirst Parliament, the principal part of the French Majority, v.ere 
 absent on private affairs, or for electioneering purposes; and this im- 
 portant Bill, patronised by Lord Dorchester^ was thus, by chance, 
 (rarried through, and became the Law of the Land 
 
 Next follows an account of the failure of an attempt on the j/art 
 of the Legislative Council and tlie Minority of the House of As- 
 sembly, to obtain a Bankrupt Law^, under ike desigaaiion of an 
 Act for more effectually securing^ and J or eq^ially distributing among 
 Creditors^ the Estate and Effects of persons failing in traded' Jn 
 opposing this very seasonable and salutary Bill, the Majority were 
 eager, as usual, to extend French Law^s, rather than to adopt or im- 
 itate what was English, and therefore recommended the introduction 
 of tlie Code Marchand of France, which, from the restricted nature 
 of Canadian Trade, had not been made the Law of the Land, by en- 
 registration in the Books of the Supreme Council of Quebec, before 
 the Conquest. The tacit compromise which prevailed till the Majo- 
 rity became stronger was, that the English should make no attempt 
 to introduce English Law ; and that the PVench Canadians should be 
 satisfied with the Custom of Paris, and the Ordinances enregistered 
 as aforesaid, thus leaving the Country and its extending Commerce, 
 to suffer for want of regulations which the Colonial connection with 
 Great Britain, render peculiarly expedient to be framed on the prin- 
 ciples of the Commercial Law of England, the introduction of which 
 was specifically prayed for by the French Canadians and Subjects of 
 British origin, who jointly petitioned for a House of Assembly in tlie 
 year 1784. The Speaker, and even the most loyal French Canadians 
 wdio obtained places, never would support Government in the smallest 
 innovation upon the French Laws, tehich, xviih the Feudal Tenure of 
 Lands, xvere cherished as the means of deterring Emigrants from seek- 
 ing an Asylum in a Province, thus rendered French in fact, though 
 British in name. With this Session ended the first Provincial Parlia- 
 ment of Lovver Canada, and the Administration of Lord Dorches- 
 ter, who, as having been instrumental in recommending the Act 14, 
 Geo. III., Cap. 83, is to be considered as inimical to British Coloni- 
 zation, and possessing those narrow views, which contemplated Low- 
 er Canada as a sort of military post, chiefly important on account of 
 the strong fortifications of Quebec. 
 
 T. he fourth Chapter brings us to the second Parliament, and to the 
 Administration of General Prescott, who was sincerely disposed to 
 introduce British principles and improvements, and who conducted 
 the Government with safety through a crisis produced by internal dis- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 151 
 
 Xlll.] 
 
 content, influenced by tlie revolutionary doctrines of the French Re- 
 puhlic. The Majority of the House of Assembly, partly composed 
 of democratic enthusiasts, partly of Members pledged to tlieir Con- 
 stituents, to obtain the repeal of the Road Act, gave much trouble to 
 the Executive; but certain riotous proceedings, including attempts to 
 starve the Citizens of Montreal, by withholding supplies of provi- 
 sions, combined with the intrigues of Revolutionists to strengthen the 
 hands of Government, produci;ig the celebrated Acts of the first 
 Session for the regulation of Aliens, and the better preservation of 
 His Majesty’s Government. Meantime, the neighbourhood of the 
 rapidly settling British Colony of Upper Canada, and the Commer- 
 cial Treaty of Great Britain with the United States, stimulated the 
 House of Assembly to pass several regulations, which enabled the 
 Colony to make some advances, in spite of the impediments of French 
 Laws, and a Feudal Tenure of Lands, inimical to human industry 
 aiid enterprise, particularly in the Cities and Towns. 
 
 Next comes an epoch when accidental causes begin to favour the 
 French Canadian Majority of the House of Assembly ; and w^e des- 
 cribe the destructive conduct of the Land Board, a part of the Exe- 
 cutive Government, entrusted wuth tlie superintendance of the settle- 
 ment of the Waste Lands of the Crown, under the English Tenure 
 of Free and Common Soccage. The ruinous effects of the location 
 of Crown and Clergy Reserves, in scattered LAs^ and the benevolent 
 efforts of General Prescott to redress the grievances of the Loyalists 
 and other Inhabitants of the Townships, agreeably to the instruc- 
 tions of His Majesty’s Government, are described in this Chapter, 
 as well as his failure in his laudable intentions, owing chiefly to the 
 influence of the interested Members of the Land Board, over Mr. 
 Osgoode^ the Chief Justice of the Province. The fatal abuses in the 
 Land Granting Department, not only deprived the Province of the 
 accession of thousands of Emigrants from the United States, skilled 
 in Agriculture and in all the Arts connected with clearing and im- 
 proving the Waste Lands of the Crown, but also laid the foundation 
 of much discontent against the Provincial (iovernment, on the part 
 of the Subjects of British origin, and gave an accession of moral 
 force to the French Canadian Majority of the House of Assembly ; 
 which body, however, did not interfere to obtain justice for the Set- 
 tlers, hut rather secretly rejoiced in their ruin. 
 
 This Session of Parliament wdiich began 2()th February, and ended 
 17th May, 1798, is an epoch in the constitutional history of the coun- 
 try. The Executive now assumed merely a defensive position against the 
 cncrease of French Canadian influence, and formed a close connection 
 with the Legislative Council as the only branch friendly to the Prero- 
 gatives of the Crown, and to the principles of British Colonisation. 
 1’hc English and Commercial Minority of the House of Assem- 
 bly meantime abandoned almost every pretension to introduce innova- 
 tions on French Laws, coalescing w ith the French Canadian placemen 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 1 r/2 
 
 who hnpprnc (i to he Mcrobcrs ofthat House, and wlio were as much at- 
 tached to Frcucli Law though iu)t so prejudiced against improven^cnt as 
 tlie Majoni;^ . Tlius commenced a kind ol'Oligarcijy in tlic Government 
 of Low^er Canada, which must always exist under the jwesent vicious 
 Constitution ’till the House of Assembly shall be permitted to be the 
 sole fountain of legislative authority, and obtain a complete con- 
 trol over the Executive, in financial affairs, and in the execution 
 oI‘ the laws.* 
 
 The Majority of the House of Assembly now began to avoid all 
 permanent Acts : they perceived that their pretensions to make the 
 Colony and its resources beneficial to themselves and to the Trench 
 (Canadians only, must be contrary to the intentions of the British 
 Government ; and they, therefore, could only hope for a prolongation 
 ol’ their cxisteime by making the march of the administration liable to 
 interruption, whenever their own convenience or views of ulterior 
 ambition should permit measures of such avowed hostility to Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Chapter fifth reviews the proceedings of the third Sesssion of the 
 second Provincial Parliament, which was remarkable by the despatch 
 of public business, ov/ing partly to the suspension of all attempts to 
 
 ♦ V/e seize every opportunity of recalling the attention of our readers to Ibis as- 
 sertion, and to impress upon their minds that no alteration of constitutional ar- 
 rangements which shall not insure to this Province, separately, or united with Up- 
 per Canada, “a House of Assembly representing the feelings and interests of the 
 “ British as well as of the French Canadian population, can prevent the existence 
 of an Oligarchy, or monopoly of power in a few persons, to be employed for the 
 ‘‘ aggrandisement of themselves and their dependents.’* That every Briton would 
 preler an (Oligarchy, influenced by British principles, to the complete control of a 
 House of Assembly elected by an overwhelming Alajority of French Canadian 
 votes cannot be doubtful ; but it has been proved by experience, that sucli an Oli- 
 garchy is rendered powerless by the House of Assembly, as now composed, in every 
 attempt fo encourage British Emigration, or beneficial Settlement of the Waste 
 Lands of the Crown ; or, in short, in making this a British Province in fact, as it 
 his been for half arentury in name. Under the present Constitution, the Subjects of 
 British origin, for the twenty years last past, have never had six Representatives in 
 the House of Assembly, truly exhibiting their sentiments ; and even this small pro- 
 portion has been continually misled into compromises, and occupied more with 
 the means of preventing an absolute dissolution of Civil Government, than with the 
 interest of their Constituents. This is a state of affairs which our fellow subjects in 
 Great Britain, and even in the other British Colonies on this Continent, do not un- 
 derstand ; but which their national sympathies should prompt them to inquire into, 
 yt HHiisk KmigrarHcumiJi^ to Lower Canada, fiaturat/v t It inks tJiat the popu. 
 /nr brancfi s/tou/d be Ins protector and patron ; but when he finds that this 
 
 in the popular braiich • but the Kinigrant^ deluded bp the name of a Lritish Pro^ 
 irnce.fihds himself tn a foreign country^ and that he might as well have emi- 
 grated to the hepubhes of South America, or to the Brazils^ or much better t 
 djnled States than to lAjwer Canada, as respects political rights, and the bt 
 of laws similar tn principle to those of his native land. 
 
 the 
 benefit 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 153 
 
 Xlll.J 
 
 introduce tlie spirit of English Commercial Law, and partly to the en- 
 creasing urgency of the country for various local establishments and 
 regulations suited to the progress of the Colony. This Session was 
 opened 28th March, and ended 3d June, 1799. The vigilant ambi- 
 tion of the Majority was evinced by the adoption of the analagous 
 practice of the British House of Commons, ])ostponing the reading 
 of His Excellency’s Speech ’till their privilege of originating laws 
 should have been asserted, by giving leave to introduce and read a 
 Bill. This Chapter contains some remarks upon the only assessments or 
 direct taxes for local purposes which the House of Assembly has ever 
 passed ; though petitioned and urged repeatedly to adopt the system 
 approved by the practice of Great Britain, the neighbouring Colonies 
 and States. The Act in question imposing an assessment on rent, and 
 enacting a composition for public labor, for the purpose of making and 
 repairing streets and roads in the cities and vicinities of Quebec and 
 Montreal, if extended to the country Parishes and Settlements under 
 necessary modifications, wmuld be a 'great means of effecting improve- 
 ments in an ccconomical manner, it being notorious that the produce of 
 assessments is applied under the vigilant inspection (>/ the payers of it, 
 and cannot be employed to the exclusive benefit of a J'exv individuals, 
 xvithout subjecting them to speedy reprobation and punishment. 
 
 In alluding to the discussions in the House of Assembly upon the 
 regulation of weights and measures, we show the pertinacity with 
 which the Majority retained the Minot; which is eight per cent, 
 larger than the Winchester Bushel and five per cent, larger than the 
 Bushel comprehended in the Imperial Quarter of Eight Bushels esta- 
 blished in the United Kingdom in the year 1825, 
 
 The Act for levying a tax upon Writs issuing in due course of 
 law in His Majesty’s Courts, for the purpose of defraying the expen- 
 ses of erecting Court Houses in Quebec and IMontrcaJ, is mentioned 
 in this Chapter as having a considerable influence in making the Law- 
 yers in the Assembly second the members, closely connected with 
 the country electors, in their views of taxing imported merchandise, 
 including British manufactures, for all purposes. In this manner, 
 the commerce of Lower Canada is made the common bearer of dll those 
 burthens, lohich in other countries are equally divided among agricultu- 
 rists, merchants, professional men and local associations. 
 
 The Consolidated Act, of this Session, is next described ; and, as 
 it is connected with those financial disputes which have lately been 
 the means of developing the ambition of the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority we shall here repeat what is said of its o’oject and consequen- 
 ces.' The object of this Act, 39, Geo. III. Cap. 9, was to obtain the 
 repeal of the British Act 14, Geo. III. Cap. 88, and 28 Geo. 111. Cap. 
 39 and offering a permanent Act with permanent appropriations for 
 the purposes contemplated in these Acts, amounting to twelve thou- 
 sand pounds sterling, thus, obliterating all traces o the power of the 
 Imperial Parliament formerly exerted m taxing the Colonies for the 
 
164 
 
 POi^ITltAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 purpose of revenue. The consequence of a compliance, on the part 
 of the ImperiaJ Parliament, with the object of this Culmual Act, 
 would have been to make the support of His Majesty’s Civil Govern- 
 ment, hoik in IJppf'y (iVid Lotecr depend upon tlie v/ill of the 
 
 Legislature of tin's Province. Such an experiment h.as hitherto ap- 
 peared unnecessary and dangerous, tof/A rc.pect to a Colony iuhnbiicd 
 vliiefiijhy persons of Ficuch origin ; and His Majesty’s Ministers have, 
 in our humble opinion, wisely declined moving ilie British Parliament 
 to comply with the c onditions of the Act in question. 
 
 The demands of ihc conquered, mentioned in our review of the 
 Capitulation ofMoiitreal, were the favorite text book of the House of 
 Assembly ; and this body endeavoured to exercise, by means of Ct>!o- 
 nial Laws, the pov/cr of establishing new Parishes, vdiicli exclusively 
 belongs to the Sovereign or liis Delegates. This jiovcer uc/5' particu- 
 larly embraced in the postponed Union Bitl oJY6^^1; Luty as one oj the 
 I4^iest Prci'ogatives of the Croven^ it appears expedient that its reou- 
 lation and the general state (if the B.oman Catholic Clergy in Loicer Ca- 
 nada shoidd be the subject oJ a separate Ait ojtlic Imperial Tartiamcnl. 
 
 Then follows an allusion to the Governor's Speech, showing that 
 his unfortunate differences with Chief Justice Osgoede on the Land 
 Granting abuses, had forced him to conciliate the popular branch of 
 the Legislature, and give them an expectation that by skilfully avail- 
 ing themselves of the differences between the other branches of the 
 Government, the French Canadian Majority might eventually turn the 
 whole resources of the Province to the benefit of tliemselves and their 
 Constituents. Indeed, no legislative body lias profited more by acci- 
 dental causes in peace and in war, tijan the PTench Canadian House 
 of Assembly of Lower Canada, notivithsiancling the humiliatihg 
 check to unprincipled amhiliony xchich it lately received from the Impe- 
 rial Parliament by the Canada Trade Act, and the Act still more re- 
 cent xjohich regulates Free and Common Soccage Lands in the Toicn- 
 ships by English I axes. 
 
 This Chapter touches upon the absurdity of expecting that in 
 Lower Canada, any appeals to the sense of "the people, by Dissolu- 
 tions of the Assembly, should have the smallest effect in producing a 
 House differently composed as to views and principles, or more 
 vorable to the Local Government and to the interests of the British 
 Empire at large, umler the present Constitution. As an illustration 
 of tliis peculiarity in tlie political stale of this Province, we mention 
 the general appeal, made by Air. Pitt’s Administration to Plis Majes- 
 ty s Subjects throughout the world, calling for voluntary contribu- 
 tions, for the support ot the just and necessary war ; in which, for the 
 preservation of the tUones, the altars, and the independence of Eu- 
 ropean States, His Alajesty, and his Allies were engaged. Those 
 
 c onti ibutions pioduccd millions ot money in the E ijitcd Ivingdom^ and 
 tlic occasion was seized by Britons, in every quarter of the olobe, 
 to manifest their zeal for the national cause, and for the support of' the 
 
OF LOWER CAiVADA. 
 
 155 
 
 xiil] 
 
 Imperial Government. Tlie result of tliis appeal, however, to the in- 
 habitants of Lower Canada, was very different from what some san- 
 guine calculators expected. The French Canadians and injlnential 
 It i^resentatives^ from the causes already mentioned, hud in no manner 
 si/mpathised xvith the British Sation, nor identified themselves tvilh its 
 fortune and glory. On the contrary the disposition of the ‘‘Natio>j 
 Caxadienxe,” and the ambition of its Leaders fosteredby theprepos- 
 tcrous and absurd policy of the conquering povoer, were to remain a 
 separate people, dLtinguished from EnglisJnnen, by laws, language, 
 manners, habits and pursuits, of their own. Under such circumstances, 
 the result may be readily conjectured by our intelligent readers ; 
 instead of obtaining fifty thousand pounds, from a province con- 
 taining that number of householders, boasting of their loyalty, the 
 contributions were chiefly conflned to the French Canadian Volun- 
 teers, a military corps in British pay, and to persons of British origin 
 in the Cities and Boroughs, producing not one tenth of that sum. 
 
 A contemporaneous event is however mentioned to show that from 
 the same French Canadians, at that period of comparative good feeU 
 ing, a little management could always obtain compliments and pro- 
 fessions, costing little and pledging less of money or service. The in- 
 tention of Govermor Prescott to leave the Province on a visit to 
 London produced Addresses, in which they joined with the other 
 Subjects, in the warmest expressions of gratitude and attachment to 
 Flis Excellency, and to His Majesty’s person and Government. 
 
 Tile succeeding Administration of Lieutenant Governor Milnes, 
 is severely characterised as being of a weak, temporising, selfish and 
 short sighted description. Abandoning t!ie objects of beneficial 
 Colonisation, this Administration was chiefly occupied in dividing 
 among its greedy adherents, the wrecks of the new settlements in 
 the Townships, conveying large tracts of fertile land to persons, de- 
 void alike of the talent and the capital requisite to form beneficial 
 Settlements, and extend British Colonisation. We request the par- 
 ticular attention of our readers to the systematic flatteiy with which 
 Sir Robert Shore Milnes plied the House of Assenibly, for the tem- 
 porising purposes of his Administration, showing his readiness to sell 
 the Binhright of Britons for a mess of pottage. Intelligent readers 
 of the proceedings of the House of Assembly, during his long Ad- 
 ministration, must be confounded with the eulogiums on the past, and 
 brilliant anticipations, of the future, which prevail in his Speeches.* 
 RioJit or wroncr, the two Houses must be gorged with flattery, till at 
 
 * Some of those friends of Sir Robert Shore Milnes, whom his general ameni- 
 ty of manners conciliated, pretend that be imitated the style and spirit of His Ma- 
 jesty’s Speeches to the Lords and Commons; but they cannot deny that, in such 
 imiution, he should have been restrained by the disparity ot circumstances. His 
 Majesty, in the homogeneous nature and disposition of the Inhabitants, with the 
 power of balancing the great interests of the United Kingdom, linds aniple means 
 of preventing that constant and radical contradiction of the Measures of the Mm- 
 
15G 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 length, the Legislative Council, completely surfeited, exhibit a loath- 
 ing of the annual banquet, while the appetite of the Assembly con- 
 tinues keen till the last, misleading some more recent Governors in 
 planning their ways and means of influencing the latter body. 
 
 The events of the Session beginning on the 5th of March, and 
 prolonged with little benefit till the 29th of May. 1800, are chiefly 
 renjarkable as showing that the House of Assembly disregarded the 
 interests of Commerce, how^ever much recommended by that of the 
 Colony, and the Empire at large, and was eager to restore every ad- 
 vantage, for the exclusive benefit of their Cons*:itaents, which had 
 accrued legitimately to Ills Majesty from the Conquest, and vchuh 
 he x\jas dUposed to apply to the benefit of his old and nezv Subjects in^ 
 discriminatcly^ particularly by promoting Education in the English 
 tongue. 
 
 An attejnpt, on the part of the Commercial Interest, to obtain some 
 direct encouragement, by bounty, for the culture of Hemp, failed this 
 Session ; but, when it was afterwards supported by a strong recom- 
 mendation from that Government, ivhich covered all deficits in the 
 Provincial Revenue by a portion of the produce of British taxation^ 
 it succeeded: and an experiment in the culture of Hemp w^as made, 
 which failed, partly from the slovenly and monotonous habits of the 
 peasantry, and partly from the circumstance that the French Canadi- 
 an Clergy have no right of tythc^ even from Roman Catholic Parish^ 
 ioners, on any Grain^ except xidiat is fit for the food of Man. 
 
 This Chapter also contains an account of the renew al of the claim 
 of the French Canadians upon the Estates of the Order of Jesuits, 
 already mentioned. Jean Joseph Casot, the last of the Canadian 
 Jesuits, died the 10th of March, 1800; and the House, hearing that 
 the Executive, in expectation of that event, extinguishing the 
 pretensions of any individual^ had finally taken possession for the 
 Crown, addressed the Governor, praying for certain Documents to 
 facilitate an investigation of the claims of the Province on the Es- 
 tates, which that body alledged to have been given to the Jesuits, by 
 the King of France, for the specific purpose of affording the means 
 of instruction to the people. His Excellency, however, having stat- 
 ed that the Address of the first House of Assembly had been con- 
 sidered by His Majesty in Council, and that an order, nevertheless, 
 had been received from the Colonial Department, to take possession 
 for the Crowm ; the House of Assembly, vfiuenced by the deference 
 to Royal Authority xidiich still restrained that body, w as satisfied w ith 
 consigning the appropriation of the Jesuits Estates to the mass of 
 grievances, which His Majesty’s Nation Canadienne is now pre- 
 paring to expose by a Special Delegation of Representatives at the 
 foot of the Throne. 
 
 istry, appointed by him, which are totally wanting in Lower Canada ; where the 
 boast of bein^ born a Briton, is no rccomuieudaiion to the popular branch of the 
 Legislature, but the contrary. 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 xiil] 
 
 157 
 
 This Chapter, completing the liistory of the last Session of the 
 second House of Assembly, alludes to an abortive attempt on the 
 part of the Minority, to introduce into the Constitution, the British 
 principle of a qualification of property in alt Candidates for a seat 
 in the House of Assembly ; that body, however, as will soon appear 
 by the refusal to admit a Jew of reputable character, was more in- 
 clined to establish a Religious Test^ than a pecuniary qualification. 
 
 Our sixth Chapter opens with stating the result of the General 
 Election for the third House of Assembly, which was warmly con- 
 tested, and returned eighteen Members, including five French Cana- 
 dian Placemen, friendly to the Executive, though, of this number, all 
 were not favourable to the smallest modification of French Laws, or 
 of the Feudal Tenure of Lands. At this period, the British interest 
 was sufficiently strong in the Cities and Boroughs of Quebec, Mon- 
 treal, Three Rivers and William-Henry, to return a Majority of the 
 nine Members, allotted to those places.* This House of Assembly 
 indeed, was as well composed to forward British Interests and sup- 
 port the local Government, as the circumstances of the Country, with 
 its vicious Constitution, giving universal suffrage to the French Ca- 
 nadians, would permit. It will also be observed, that party spirit and 
 competition between the Legislative Council and the Assembly, could 
 be soothed into compromise, and that the success of Measures did 
 not always depend upon the Department in which they originated. 
 Meantime, the British Ministry appear to have entirely lost sight of 
 the consequences of the injudicious Constitutional Acts, adverting 
 always to the Anglification of the Colony, as a mere matter of rou- 
 tine, and having apparently no idea of the obstacles to their wishes 
 of spreading the English Language, which the Acts and 31, Geo. 
 III., had made. If they, however, received a correct report of 
 the proceedings of this Session, they must have been undeceived ; 
 for the House of Assembly, in nearly re-echoing that clause of the 
 opening Speech, in which His Excellency intimated the intentions of 
 His Majesty to establish a competent number of Free Schools, for 
 the instruction of the rising generation, in the first ludimcnts of use- 
 ful learning, and in the English Tongue^ took great caie to show tliat 
 Instruction in the native language of the Sovereign, was uncongenial 
 to the feelings of the Majority, as being, in truth, incompatible with 
 their ambitious views ol heeping their Constituents a separate acid con"“ 
 centrated body, obedient to the political doctrines icdiich they could con- 
 vey in the French language, either openly or in a covert manner, 
 through the medium of Notaries and Priests. 
 
 iD 
 
 * The British Settlers, persisting always in the support of the local Govern- 
 ment, were at length completely worsted in 1827 ; and from all those places, only 
 two Members were returned, who were uncompromising Supporters ol the Bxecu- 
 tive • the late Election, in fact, exhibited rather a triumphant progress of the Ru- 
 lers of the Country, than the solicitation of votes and interest which, in other 
 Countries, humbles, for a time, the Candidates before the Electors. 
 
ir/s 
 
 rOMTTCAL ANNALS 
 
 [rilAP. 
 
 Scs-r/ion, vviiich bc*;^nn on tlie 8lb of January and enocd on 
 tlie Sth of April, 1801, is reni irkablo as affording a curious instance 
 of the uncompromising tena jity of the Constituents of tiie Assembly, 
 who then, as in the year 1 >27, persisted in re-clecting the old Mem- 
 bers, however obnoxious to (iovernrnerit : liulecd^ for the lv:eyity years 
 last past, they have sent inlo the H noicrable House, ten Members out 
 of the fifty, rvho xvoii/d never he admitted into any respectable compa- 
 nip Charles Baptiste Done had been expelled from the last House 
 of Assembly, in consequence of a previous conviction of conspiracy, 
 with otlicrs, to defraud Etienne Drouin of divers sums of Money ; ne- 
 vertheless, this obnoxious character was triumpbar^ly re-elected as a 
 Member of the House of Assembly, for this third Parliament, from 
 which he was again speedily expelled. The enlightened Electors of 
 the County of Effingham, resolved to overact the part of those who 
 reelected John Wilkes, of infamous memory, elected, for the third 
 time, the same Charles Baptiste Bouc, w hose annual annoyance could 
 only be prevented by an Act of the Legislature, necessary in Lower 
 Canada, and unprecedented elsewhere, for disquniijph.g and res- 
 training Charles Baptiitc Bouc from bein^ elected, and sitting and 
 voting as a Member of ike House of AsseyntJy.'* 
 
 This Session is remarkable, by the number of Acts passed, and 
 the variety of subjects brought into discussion. The Crown Law^- 
 yers and two Judges of the Chmrt of King s Bench, being ^Members 
 of the House, important explanations and amendments of the Laws, 
 were suggested by their experience; while deference to them facili- 
 Kited the concurrence of the Legislative Council in these amend- 
 ments. Be it always, how ever, remarked, that nothing of the princi- 
 ples or practice of English Law' w'as introduced: French Laws were 
 explained and eulogised, in French ; and, Ilis Alajesty’s coin ex- 
 cepteil, the House of Assembly was always disposed to quarrel with 
 every thing not presented in a French style. 
 
 Then follow some explanatory characteristics of the Executive, 
 show ing that the local Government limited its endeavours to obstruct 
 the developemcnt of a vicious Constitution, instead of taking decisive 
 measures for its rfiormation, by appealing to His Majesty's Mu isfers, 
 and exhibiting, in true coloui'S, its destructive fi'ects upoyi British 
 Colonization and Commerce, and upon the intci'csts of the Empire at 
 large. The Annual Session of the Provincial Parliament, was opened 
 on the 1 ith of January, and ended on the 5th of April, 1S02 ; and 
 is remarkable, by the deference shown to the Commands of His Ma- 
 jesty, with respect to the encouragement of the Culture of Hemp, 
 for w hich an Act was passed this Session, producing a costly experi- 
 ment, which nothing but the ignorance of the British Government, 
 as to the political and moral state of the Colony, could have recom- 
 mended. Besides the principal causes of failure already alluded to, 
 and tvhich xvere neither unfiavcurable soil nor climate, we may mention, 
 that among an uneducated and unenterprising peasantry, it requires 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 150 
 
 XIII.] 
 
 GNtraordinnry cncouracreipent to induce tbc cultivation of any article, 
 vvitliorR a more immediate view tiian Foreign Coimiierce. The Agri- 
 cuUural Societies afterwards established in Lower Canada, better un- 
 derstood the prtferalile objects of encouragemeiit. d'he improve - 
 mer.t (d’ the bleed of Cattle and Kogs, and the increased cu]- 
 o\’ li/thca/jle Grain, have been their principal objects; and 
 considering ihe inliux of British Emigrants, under every disadvan- 
 tage, we may cven^ sup])ose that the culture of Hemp, and its pre- 
 paration for a Foreign Market, may be reintroduced in Lower Cana- 
 da, and more particulaily into the Townshij)s where the interest of 
 t le Clergy to prevent the cultivation of any article not subject to 
 tythe, does not exist : the experiment seems desperate in Seigniorial 
 Lands : but the impediments to success there, form only additional 
 motives to give it a fair trial cLcwhere. 
 
 This Session, in tlie despatch and extent of Public Business, shows 
 the importance of the interests which occasionally united in inlluenc- 
 ing the march of the Administration, and likewise the facilities givc-ii 
 by the Executive Councillors, Members of the House, who were en- 
 abled to stale wiiether Measures originated by the Assembly, would 
 in no wise interfere with Ills .Majesty’s Prerogatives. // ivi// herenf- 
 ier appear, that ivhen the jealousies and intrigues of the Majority had 
 prejudiced the Electors against rating for F.xecuiive Councillors, and 
 prevented almost any person connected voiVa ihe Executive, from hnvimg 
 a seat. Measures were passed hy ihe Assembly repeatedly, in such a 
 shape, as necessitated their rejection in the Legislative Council. 
 
 Another attempt was made by tlie i\Iajority, this Session, to es- 
 tablish a pecuniary allowance lor the Legislative services of the 
 Speaker and Members of the Assembly; and the Constitution not 
 halving restrained individuals devoid of property, from being elected, 
 this Measure was of vital importance to many poor Members, and 
 was with the utmost difficulty defeated, by the influence of the Ex- 
 ecutive, and of those who considered it calculated still farther to de- 
 press the character and qualifications of future Candidates. 
 
 The seventh Chapter begins by stating the effects of the jealou- 
 sies between the House of A^ssembly, and the other branches of the 
 Government, in preventing every species of improvement vvliich 
 could not be compassed by individuals and private associations, and 
 alludes to the effects of Foreign Commerce, and the enterprise of 
 Mercantile Men, in promoting the industry of the Countiy, under all 
 the disadvantages which arise from an incompetent Legislature, 
 equally ignorant of ihe principles of poVdlcal economy, and of the re- 
 sources (f ihe Canadas. 
 
 Amon^ the British and Commercial Members of the Assembly, 
 there were some indefatigable individuals, who took every opportuni- 
 ty of the absence of a Majority of French Canadian Members, to 
 liave the freedom of discussing their projects of improvement, and 
 appealino- to the enlightened part of the public on their merits. This 
 
IGO 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Session wns opened on the 8th of February, and ended on the 14 th 
 of April. On the 1st of April, when the absence of many French 
 Canadian Members, and the w'eli ascertained disposition of the Le- 
 gislative Council gave hopes of success, Mr. Young introduced a 
 Pill for enregistering Deeds affecting Real Property, granted by IIis 
 Majesty under the English Tenure of tree and Common Soccage : 
 this Measure would have produced good titles, and facilitated the 
 sale of the Township Lands by those who had obtained e.^tensive 
 grants ; but such w as the hostility of the French Canadians to Bri- 
 tish Colonization, that the present and all future attempts to obtain 
 Register Ofnees, have been defeated in such a manner, as to stigma- 
 tise the House of Assembly as the patron of Mortgage Frauds^ and to 
 throxjo a general odium over the Constituents of that body. The Legis- 
 lative Council, unwilling to participate in this odium, was, at different 
 times, induced to manifest its desire to facilitate the publicity of all 
 encumbrances on property ; and, in order to deprive the Assembly 
 of any pretext of interference with the French Laws which regulate 
 the Feudal Tenure of the Seigniories, that body in the year 1825, sent 
 down for concurrence, a Bill entirely coffned to the Registration (f 
 Sales and Encumbrances of Township Lands^ and studiously avoiding 
 whatever could in anywise disturb the routine of the French Canadians 
 and their Feudal Lords ; but this Measure met with the customary 
 reception which the House of Assembly has always given to e\^ry 
 encouragement to Colonisation on British Principles, and to everyxe- 
 gulation which would afford a fair experiment of the effects of Bri- 
 tish Laws, in the most distant corner of Low^er Canada. Indeed^ no- 
 thing short of the interference of the Imperial Parliament, will be 
 necessary to enact Laws for the benefit of the Townships, xvhich are ex- 
 clusively settled by Subjects of British origin, eager to obtain the ad- 
 vantages of British Legislation. 
 
 This Chapter contains several characteristic features of the truly 
 Feudal and French picture of the Assembly, and deserves the par- 
 ticular attention of all those who doubt the difficulty, or rather the 
 impossibility, of rendering Louder Canada, under the present Con- 
 stitution, a British Colony in fact, as it has been in name, for more 
 than hall a century. The business of this Session was much inter- 
 rupted by the absence of Members; but the French Canadians took 
 care to be sufficiently strong in the House, to defeat all attempts at 
 innovation upon the old Laws and Customs of the Province, being 
 equally regardless of the numerous examples of improvement held 
 forth by the course of Legislation in France, England, the United 
 States of America and Upper Canada, and proving that Mr. Pitt’s 
 expectation that emulation, instead of jealous}', would characterise 
 the French Canadians, wdien insulated by his impolitic division of the 
 Province of Quebec, has entirely failed ; and its failure has in no 
 small degree derogated from the correctness of his other Measures 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 161 
 
 XCV.J 
 
 respecting Foreign Nations; — on this subject, however, vve must re- 
 fer our readers to the account given in Dodsley’s Annual Register, of 
 the debate in Parliament upon the Constitutional Act, 31, Geo. III., 
 Cap. 31. 
 
 \\ e next give an account of the extraordinary Session, called by the 
 Lieutenant Governor, in virtue of express authority given to him by a 
 clause of the new Militia Act. Official intelligence of the renewal of 
 the war between Great Britain and the French and the Batavian Re- 
 publics arrived at Quebec in July : in consequence of which the Le- 
 gislature of Lower Canada was summoned to meet on the 21st 
 August, 1803. The promptitude wdth which the great Majority of 
 the Members took their seats, and renew^ed the temporary Acts for 
 the better preservation of His Majesty’s Government and the regu- 
 lation of Aliens, were subjects of eiilogium in the Speech of His Ex- 
 -cellency. But even this short Session of ten days affords some sam- 
 ~ pies of opposition to the Executive, and differences between the Le- 
 gislative Council and House of Assembly, worthy of being referred 
 to by our readers. 
 
 The Act, originating in the former body, entitled an Act for the 
 more ample publication of certain Acts of the Provincial Parliament f 
 w^as carried through the Assembly with much difficulty ; because the 
 authority given to the Executive to order the reading of laws and 
 proclamations by the parish Priests was supposed to expose them to 
 be influenced by the Government. Mr. Joseph Papineau strongly 
 opposed the measure ; and an attempt was made to substitute the 
 Captains of Militia in the room of the Priests, which however failed, 
 from the notorious circumstance that many of those officers w^ere 
 unable to read correctly, and very much required the assistance of 
 the Priests, in order to understand their military as voell as their other 
 duties. 
 
 During the recess, the effects of the war, vigorously carried on by 
 Great Britain, almost single-handed, against Napoleon BuonapartCy 
 the Ruler of France, produced an extraordinary demand for Canadian 
 Produce in the British markets ; and the progress of the old, and the 
 introduction of new branches of industry, particularly ship-building 
 and the manufacture of lumber and potashes, are mentioned. 
 
 The fifth and last Session of the third Parliament was opened 10th 
 February, and ended 2d May, 1804?. It was a busy Session, in which 
 the financial system of taxing imported goods caused much debate 
 between the Majority and feeble Minority in the House of Assembly. 
 When the proposed ways and means of defraying the expense of 
 erecting Gaols and finishing Coujt Houses were debated, the Major- 
 ity, whose influential members were lawyers, notaries and habitantSy 
 were assailed by a strong opposition out of doors on the part of the 
 Mercantile interest ; and this Chapter contains an extract from a Pre- 
 sentment of the Grand Jury of the District of Montreal, in favor 
 of the British principle of defraying the expense of local establish- 
 
162 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 merits by loc^il assessments ; to which we request the particular atten- 
 tion of our readers. It is needless to repeat that this opposition was 
 fruitless, and merely tended to show, that, under the present Constitu- 
 tion^ the merchants will always have to complain that their interests 
 and those of commerce are constantly sacrificed to the immediate in- 
 terests of those who completely lead the peasantry, by flattering 
 their prejudices. But, to understand the scope of the general mea- 
 sures of finance proposed by the Majority, it is particularly necessary 
 to recollect that under the present Constitution, men of large property 
 have no direct influence in the Legislature, or at elections, and are en- 
 tirely at the mercy of the foHy shilling vassal of a feudal Seigneur, ixho 
 sits in the House of Assembly, xvell tutored by the laveyers and notaries to 
 harass the commercial and other capitalists, and to malce all their under- 
 takings tributary to feudal burthens, and taxation for local and general 
 purposes. Capital in Lovoer Canada is thus deprived of its legitimate 
 influence, and driven to seek security under governments more wisely 
 eonstituled. 
 
 Besides differences wdth the Legislative Council, the Majority of 
 the House of Assembly distinguished this Session, by calling in 
 question the Prerogative of the Crown respecting His Majesty’s rights 
 to certain lots of ground in the City of Montreal, intended to be 
 granted as the scite of a new District Gaol. This, being only the 
 forerunner of other attempts to interfere with His Majesty’s ter- 
 ritorial rights, is worthy of the attention of our readers, and will pre- 
 pare their minds for the consideration of the various grievances al- 
 leged by the candidates for votes at the approaching general election, 
 which are briefly noticed in our succeeding Chapter. Meantime, the 
 quorum of the Assembly having been reduced to twelve members by 
 the casting vote of the Speaker, the Parliament was at length proro- 
 gued, with Sir Robert Shore Milnes’ usual tribute of applause. 
 
XIV.] 
 
 OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 163 
 
 CHAR XIV. 
 
 RECAPITULATION 
 
 CONCLUDED. 
 
 Our retrospect and recapitulation have embraced mwe topics than 
 we at first intended ; but wc shall endeavour to be as brief and rapid 
 as our anxiety to fix the attention of our readers upon some salient 
 points of the ambitious progress of the Majority of the House of As- 
 sembly, may permit. 
 
 Our eighth Chapter opens with an analysis of the grievances declaim- 
 ed upon at the general election; by which it appears that nothing less 
 than the regulation of all the affairs of the Constituents on the old French 
 and feudal system would have been satisfactory. The predominancy 
 in population was boldly stated, as if the country had been free and 
 independent, to entitle the French Canadians to a predominancy in all 
 the civil offices of honor and profit, leaving to the conquering power 
 the empty name of a mere military protector. Meantime, the imagi- 
 nation of the orators ran wild as to the happiness which would arise 
 to the “ Nation Canadienne,” if, as in the House of Assembly, a 
 Majority of French Canadian Roman Catholics existed in the Exe- 
 cutive and Legislative Councils, extending the national influence 
 through every civil and religious department. The Oligarchy, formed 
 by the temporary coalition of a minority of French Canadian Roman 
 Catholic Placemen with Protestant intruders, was the particular ob- 
 ject of obloquy ; and at this time all the civil officers of the Govern- 
 ment were indiscriminately stigmatised as being engaged in a conspiracy 
 to monopolise all the benefits of office for themselves and their children. 
 The principal topics of declamation were, however, of a prospective 
 nature : few, indeed, and frivolous, w'ere the grievances which could be 
 alleged as actually existing ; but many were stated to be in prospect. 
 Because Lower Canada was a Dependency of Great Britain, it was al- 
 leged that continual attempts would be made to introduce heavy taxa- 
 tion ; and the Presentment of the Grand Jury of Montreal, in favor 
 of an Assessment tor building a District Gaol, was given as a pre- 
 sumptive proof that direct taxes would be the order of the day, if ex- 
 traordinary efforts were not made to return all those of the old mem- 
 bers who pledged themselves to oppose such burthens. 
 
 The fourth House of Assembly contained an unusual number of 
 small proprietors holding their lands under Seigneurs, subject 
 to annual rents, mutation fines, and other feudal burthens, who con- 
 ceived themselves already sufficiently taxed by the immemorial custom 
 of the country. Their habits of thought were almost hereditary from 
 
164 ^ 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 father to son ; and, while they were alarmed by the spectre of direct 
 taxation, they could not conceive how the produce of direct taxes 
 could be applied to enhance the value of their lands, nor connect 
 their interest wuth the general improvement of the country. In their 
 restricted view, the operations of the Merchant tvere for his sole interest ; 
 vohile those of the Lavoyer^ Notary and Priest were chiejly henejicial to 
 their employers. The new members were entirely under the controul 
 of the Lawyers and Notaries, and increased the strength of the 31a- 
 jority against all Assessments and direct taxes, and in favor of taxes 
 on Merchandise. 
 
 Sir Robert Shore Milnes^ and the 3Iajority of the Executive Coun- 
 cillors, having no other object than to obtain the means of carrying 
 on the Government, took no decided part in the financial question as 
 to the objects of taxation ; and the commercial interest was in the 
 minority in the Legislative Council as well as in the House of As- 
 sembly. 
 
 The repeated defeats of all attempts to modify the Feudal Tenure 
 could not however deter some young members of the Assembly from 
 agitating the question, and detailing the numerous impediments to the 
 progress of the Colony in industry, both agricultural and commercial, 
 which that tenure entailed. The eighth Chapter accordingly gives 
 an interesting discussion upon the Bill introduced by Mr. John Cald- 
 wdly “ to enable the Seigneurs of this Province to compound^ for their 
 feudal rights and dues^ with their vassals and censitairesf* The House 
 of Assembly would not even go into Committee upon this Bill, which 
 was considered as calculated to encourage Protestants to intrude 
 themselves into the parishes and towns, diminishing not only the tythe 
 to the Priests, but also the number of votes at elections in favor of 
 French Canadian predominancy. 
 
 The influence of foreign commerce, and the indefatigable persever- 
 ance of interested individuals, produced several Acts connected w ith 
 the local Improvement of the country this Session; and it is a painful 
 subject of reflection, that all the attempts of well intentioned indivi- 
 duals to coalesce the inhabitants of British origin with French Cana- 
 dians, in Libraries, Banks, Insurance Companies, Hotels, Assembly 
 Rooms, and even Concerts of 3Iusic, have ended in discord and com- 
 plete division. This incompatibility of temper is entirely ow ing to the 
 ambition of predominancy engendered by a Constitution, w Inch in its 
 progress exasperated those feelings of hostility, w hich during thirty 
 years after the Conquest were gradually softened down, permitting the 
 closest ties wdiich bind families together to take place frequently ; 
 and French Canadians and Britons, were described by travellers as 
 amalgamating into one people, in the year 1784. 
 
 The same Chapter states the conclusion of Sir Robert Short 
 Millies Administration, and gives grounds of suspicion, that his Re- 
 port to His Majesty’s Ministers would have avoided any distinct views 
 of the defects of the Constitution, and of the permanent causes which 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 XIV.] 
 
 165 
 
 would prevent the Colony from being Anglified, and rendered useful, 
 instead of being embarrassing, to the Imperial Government. 
 
 After Sir Robert Shore M tines had obtained leave of absence 
 on account of his declining health, the Honorable Thomas Dunn, 
 a Puisne Judge of His Majesty^s Court of King’s Bench for the 
 District of Quebec, succeeded to the temporary Administra- 
 tion of the Government, under the title of President, and in 
 virtue of his being the oldest Protestant member of the Executive 
 Council. 
 
 The administration of this old gentleman was still less fit, than that 
 of his predecessor, to hold the balance between the French and Eng- 
 lish parties, or to shield the minority of English inhabitants from the 
 elFccts of the systematic encroachments of the House of Assembly 
 upon His Majesty’s Prerogative, and the detestation evinced by that 
 body against Ikitish principles of law and finance. 
 
 The second Session of the fourth Provincial Parliament began 20th 
 February, and ended I9th April, 180^; and it acquired distinction 
 from the opportunity which the French Canadian Majority seized, 
 during this weak administration, to render the constructive privileges 
 of the House of Assembly oppressive to that liberty of speech and 
 writing wdiich, though not a French, is at least an English birthright. 
 The malevolent passions gave animation to this Session ; and they 
 were chiefly excited by the well founded complaints of the then pow- 
 erful body of merchants, against the system of taxing merchandise for 
 all purposes, adopted by the House of Assembly, from reasons alrea- 
 dy mentioned, connected with the prejudices, and immediate 
 interests of the majority of the members, and of their French 
 Canadian constituents. 
 
 The merchants, and others, friendly to British principles, contended 
 that local establishments, such as court-houses, gols and houses of cor- 
 rection, should be defrayed by assessments or direct taxes upon the dis- 
 tricts, counties and cities for ixhose benefit they might be respectively re- 
 quired. The toasts* at a public dinner, given in honor of the mem- 
 bers, who had supported those British principles of taxation, having 
 been published in the Montreal Gazette, were voted a libel on the 
 Flouse of Assembly and on the other branches of His Majesty’s Gov- 
 ernment; and Isaac Todd, Esquire, the President of the dinner 
 partv, and Mr. Edwards, the Printer of the Montreal Gazette, were 
 ordered to be taken into custody of the Seijeant at Arms. 
 
 But those tw^o individuals were not the only objects of persecution. 
 
 ♦ The toasts alluded to are given verbatim in the eighth Chapter ; and it must 
 be a memorial of the madness of party spirit, that tliey should have been made the 
 grounds of prosecution by a House of Assembly, pretending to be the most zealous 
 and disinterested friends of political and personal rights: it is abundantly evident 
 that the French Canadians and their Lenders confound the idea of liberty and right 
 with mere power, which, like the other good things of this life, they wish to mono- 
 polise, if that were possible, for themselves and their descendants, to the exclusion 
 of all others. 
 
1G6 
 
 POhlTICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Carij^ the intelligent proprietor and editor of the Que- 
 bec Mercury, having accompanied his usual report of rhe proceedings 
 of tlie House vvitli some remarks, reprobating the rigorous course in- 
 tended against llie Editor of tlie Montreal Gazette, incurred the high 
 displeasure of the Majority, who, retrograding half a century in search 
 of British precedents, declared it a liigh breacli of tlieir privileges, for 
 any individual to presume to give to the public an account of the pro- 
 ceedings of the House of Assembl 3 ^ Mr. Cary was ordered into the 
 custody of tlie Serjeant at Arms ; but having, by humble petition, ex- 
 ])ressed his sorrow for having given unintentional offence, the House, 
 thinking probably that they were advancing too fast to the reign of 
 terror, ordered his discharge. 
 
 Nothing is more pitiable than such attempts to obtain respect for 
 persons and principles wliich do not deserve it; and those violent and 
 injudicious proceedings of the popular branch against the Press, had a 
 very different effect from what it vainly expected- 
 
 Several well written communications, calling in question the right 
 of the House of Assembly to arrest a Subject of His Majesty by its 
 Speaker’s warrant, appeared in the Quebec Mercury; and this con- 
 structive right was considered so worthy of regulation, that a clause in 
 Nihe Union Bill of 1822, prohibited its exercise before it should have 
 been enacted by the proposed new Legislature, and declared neces- 
 sary for the support of its dignity. 
 
 On the 4th March, Mr. Bedard^ seconded by Mr. Baihelot^ ob- 
 tained a Resolve for the appointment of a Committee of nine Mem- 
 bers, to prepare an Address and Memorial to His ^Majesty, beseech- 
 ing His Majesty not to exercise his right of disallowing the late Act 
 of the Legislature, providing means for building Gaols for the Dis- 
 tricts of Quebec and Montreal. 
 
 ^ This Address and Memorial, as finally voted 18th March, is re- 
 viewed in the same Chapter: its misrepresentations of facts, alledging 
 what was false, and suppressing what was true, in the state of the 
 country, and in the science of political economy, were mixed up with 
 the usual portion of sentiments of loyalty and attachment to His Ma- 
 jesty’s person and government, and with such occasional touches of 
 flattery to the Constituent body, that it may be considered a fair 
 sample of that coquetting behaviour which distinguished the Majori- 
 ty, who were too ambitious to serve either His Majesty or the Na- 
 tion Canadienne, thinking only of serving the interest of them- 
 selves and of their immediate adherents. 
 
 The commercial minority was partially conciliated this Session by 
 some regulations of trade, and by a vote of one thousand pounds for 
 the improvement oHhe Lachinc ^Rapids; but, towards the end of the 
 Session, the Majority lost their temporaiy good humour, by the refu- 
 sal of the President to make an advance of seven hundred and fifty 
 pounds, to defray the expense of translating into French, and print- 
 ing for the use of the Members of the Assembly, Hattsell’s Prece- 
 
OF LOWEU CANADA. 
 
 XIII.] 
 
 107 
 
 dents of Proceedings in tlie House of Commons. Sucli an application 
 of money for the mere purpose o? prnvidinfj; in French what the Mem- 
 bers shoiddhnve endeavoured to stud^in the English tongue, was thought 
 to be deserving of the previous consideration oj" the other branches of 
 the Legislature. 
 
 The President does not appear this Session to have been treated with 
 the respect due to his station by the Assembly ; and, though in hnmhle 
 imitation of his predecessor, he paid some compliments to both 
 flouses in his closing Speech, it is probable that he was far from be- 
 ing satisfied ; and though he suppressed all expression of personal 
 feeling on the subject of a want of etiquette in the intercourse of the 
 Members with him, he could not avoid lamenting the non-attendance 
 of half the constitutional number, and the freejuent adjournments for 
 want of a quorum. All the Acts passed this Session were temporaiy, 
 according to the systematic policy which endeavours to make tl'.e 
 House of Assembly the regulator and controller of the march of the 
 Administration, and to enable that body to connect its power with the 
 continually recurring legislative wants of a progressive Colony. 
 
 Our ninth Chapter begins with stating the progress of Commerce 
 and Industry in Lower Canada, which is ascribed to the demand for 
 the productions of the Canadas, and of the neighbouring States, in 
 the British Markets, in consequence of the war in Eurojje, and the 
 Decrees of the French Emperor, which interrupted the intercourse 
 of England, with the Continent of Europe, and more particularly 
 with the Northern Powers ; making the great channel of the Saint 
 Lawrence important, in facilitating supplies of Naval Stores. 
 
 After stating the extraordinary encouragement given by the Par- 
 liament of Great Britain, to the employment of Capital in the Colo- 
 nial Lumber Trade, and show'ing the advantages which Upper Cana- 
 da, and those American States which border on the River St. Law» 
 rence, derived from it, allusion is made to those peculiar characteris- 
 tics of the French Canadians, and of their incompetent House of 
 Assembly, which prevented them from having the principal share ol 
 the benefits derived from the resort of hundieds of Vessels to Que- 
 bec, making two voyages annually, and carrying to British Ports, 
 Lumber, Pot and Pearl Ashes, Wheat, Flour, and Provisions. The 
 indirect benefits to the native population, were indeed great; but we 
 venture to assert that, until the Leaders of the French Canadians can 
 be induced to second the policy of British Colonisation, by facilitating 
 the combinction of their Constituents xdth the Upper Canadians, and 
 ioith Emigrants from Great Britain and from the United States, they 
 will have little share in clearing the Waste Lands, and establishing 
 new Settlements in this Province. Till this desirable combination 
 take place, we shall continue to sec them and their Representatives 
 envious of the prosperity, though not emulous of the industry, of 
 their neighbours. 
 
Pm.ITTCAL ANNALS 
 
 ifiS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Tlie tliird Sof^.sion of tlie fourth Provincial Parliament, was opened 
 by President Dunn, on tlic "21st of Jannar^s and closed on the 16th 
 of April, 1807. It was not remarkable for many important Mea- 
 sures brought to maturity ; but a variety of projects are mentioned, 
 indicating that the Commercial and other interests were urgent for 
 Legislative guidance and encouragement. The House of Assembly 
 was, however, chiefly anxious to extend and secure the powers la- 
 vished upon it by the Constitution; and the Act 47, Geo. III., Cap. 
 16, containing regulations for the conduct of Returning Officers, 
 contributed to discourage Candidates of British origin, from op- 
 posing those of French origin, at future Elections. 
 
 On the 24th of Februar 3 % the attempt to obtain a pecuniary al- 
 lowance for the Speaker and Members of the Assembly, was renew- 
 ed ; but it so completely failed, that since that period, an allowance 
 for Legislative services has been considered disreputable, except in 
 the case of the Speaker, who, as a servant of the Honourable House, 
 has been deemed a fit object of hire; and since the year 1817, by a 
 compromise with the Legislative Council, stipulating an equal allow^- 
 ance, to the Speaker of that body, those Officers have each received 
 a salary of one thousand pounds, for the service of three months, the 
 usual duration of a Session of the Legislature. 
 
 Though no Acts of importance were passed this Session, several 
 connected wdth local convenience and police, occupied much of the 
 time of the House ; and the President, in his closing Speech, had a 
 fair opportunity of imitating his predecessor in praising the Assem- 
 bly, which would, however, have been more gratified with his assent- 
 ing to pecuniary reward. 
 
 Next follow^s an account of some important events in Europe and 
 in America, which had a pow’erful influence on Canadian affairs. — 
 The British Ministry, familiarly called “ all the Talentsf which pro- 
 mised so much, and performed so little, w as finally wrecked on the 
 rock of Catholic Emancipation ; and, in the months of March and 
 April, 1807, a Tory and Anti-gallican Administration w^as establish- 
 ed, which, possessing the unbounded confidence of His Alajesty, ral- 
 lied around it the great body of the British Nation, and eventually 
 obtained what Mr. Pitt desired in vain — the deliverance of Europe 
 from the yoke of France, and the splendour of ^lilitary, in addition 
 to Maritime Potver and reputation, for their Country. 
 
 We also show the progress of the hostile disposition of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States tovvards Great Britain, accelerated by 
 the unauthorised, though excusable zeal of Admiral Berkely ; whose 
 orders to take, by force of arms, if necessarj", certain Deserters from 
 His Majesty’s Navy, forming part of the Crew of the American Fri- 
 gate Chesapeake, w’ere strictly executed by Captain Humphries. 
 
 Those events are particularly detailed in the same Chapter, as in- 
 fluencing Canadian affairs, causing the appointment of Sir James 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 169 
 
 NIV.] 
 
 Henry Craig, as Governor General, and leading to the unprecedent- 
 ed mode of hostility adopted by the American Government, under 
 President Jefferson, which, by the prolonged Embargo on American 
 Vessels, produced a contraband Trade from the Frontiers of the Uni- 
 ted States, through Louver Canada, pouring Wealth, Capital and 
 Commercial Enterprise, into that Province, for two shipping seasons, 
 and affording a stimulus to improvement, which a competent and im- 
 partial House of Assembly,^ would have made a lasting benefit to the 
 Country and to their Constituents, as well as to the Subjects of Bri- 
 tish origin. 
 
 The fourth Session of the fourth Provincial Parliament, was open- 
 ed by Sir James Henry Craig, Governor General, on the 29th of 
 January, and ended on the 4th of April 1808 ; and, as the inefficient 
 Administration of President Dunn, had left much business in arrear, 
 the urgency for despatch w^as proportionably increased. Owing to 
 the American Embargo, and the influx of Commerce, the, establish- 
 ment of a Bank was a favourite project, as the means of obviating 
 the inconvenience of a continual drain of specie in payment of Amer- 
 ican Produce: the regulation of the increasing Lumber Trade, was 
 also an important object ; but, as the primary design of our essay is 
 the developement of the ambition of the Leaders of the House of 
 Assembly, we chiefly recapitulate what has a bearing on that subject. 
 
 Our political hypothesis, resting chiefly upon the effects of an in- 
 judicious Constitution, which has tempted the French Canadian Ma- 
 jority to aspire to exclusive domination, will receive much support 
 and illustration from the conduct of the House of Assembly, this 
 Session. At an early period, a resolve was carried by a Majority of 
 21 to 5, ‘‘ that Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jevoish Religion, 
 cannot vote nor take a seat in this House** This expulsion was equal- 
 ly contrary to the Constitution, and to an Act of the British Parlia- 
 ment, which, in the Reign of Geo. II., had conferred all the rights 
 of British Subjects upon all Jews, who might have resided seven 
 years in any Colony belonging to Great Britain. 
 
 The next unconstitutional Measure, was the Bill introduced by 
 Mr. Bourdages, for disabling Judges from sitting and voting in the 
 House of Assembly ; which Bill was passed on the 4th of March, by 
 a Majority of 17 to 8; and, as an inducement to the Legislative 
 Council to concur in the Measure, its wily partizans alleged that 
 the Judges would be more useful to the Country and to His Majesty’s 
 Service, by being called to sit and vote in the Upper House ; f rom 
 xJiich, succeeding Assemblies have, during many Sessions, endeavoured 
 to expel them likevoise. The Legislative Council, however, perceiving 
 nothing in the Constitution to warrant this Bill, rejected it, leaving 
 to the judgment of the Electors, to choose Representatives possess- 
 ing their confidence, from all classes not proscribed by the Letter of 
 the Constitution, vohich could only be altered by the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, or by the joint concurrence of the three branches of the Provin- 
 cial Legislature. 
 
 X 
 
170 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Having shown a desire to introduce a Religious Test, as a qualifi- 
 cation for a seat in the House of Assembly, and also to prevent the 
 choice of their Constituents from falling upon the most respectable 
 class of His Majesty’s Servants, the Majority next proceeded to in- 
 terfere with the Prerogative of the Sovereign, and to obstruct the 
 progress of the English Tenure of Lands ; which Free Tenure was 
 well known to be the principal remaining attraction to Settlers of Bri- 
 tish origin, upon the Waste Lands of the Crown, that is to say, four 
 fifths of Lower Canada, vohich theif preferred to see inhabited by wild 
 beastsy rather than by Settlers of British origin. 
 
 On Thursday the 24th of March, on Motion of Mr. Bedardy it was 
 Resolved, “ That this House willy on Monday nexty take into consi- 
 ‘‘ deration the alterations which it may he expedient to establishy touch^ 
 ing the nature and consequences oj Grants in Free and Common 
 Soccagey and the precautions necessary to he adopted to prevent the 
 Crown Lands from being settled by Stranger Sy professing principles 
 “ inimical to those necessary J or preserving this Country to His Ma- 
 Jestys Empire.^' 
 
 This new project, though cloaked in the mantle of devotion to 
 His Majesty’s Empire, was seen through by the Governor General ; 
 and the Majority of this Assembly, more prudent than their succes- 
 sors, restricted their warfare to less noble game than the high Prero- 
 gative of the Crown, which secures to His Majesty, in his Colonies 
 and Conquests, the choice of Purchasers and Settlers of the Waste 
 Lands. The French Canadians must indeed make out a very strong 
 case, and prove that they have been disturbed in the enjoyment of their 
 actual possessionsy before they have the shadow of an equitable right 
 to complain against the policy pursued by His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment, in replacing the ravenous beasts of the Canadian forests, by 
 human beings of any nation, not even excepting the dispersed chil- 
 dren of Israel. 
 
 In the same Chapter, we criticise a variety of Law's and Projects, 
 showing that the urgent circumstances of a Commercial Colony, w ill 
 induce interested Persons to petition for regulations, which, from the 
 want of a congenial spirit in the Fundamental Laws, must be ineffi- 
 cient, and a mere lure to the hazard and destruction of the property 
 of the Subjects. This remark particularly refer to the Incorporation 
 of Banking Establishments in Lower Canaday before obtaining the nc- 
 cessary protection of property y and the publicity of its mutations and 
 encumbrancesy by Register Offices. 
 
 From the want of the spirit of British Legislation in the Funda- 
 mental Laws of Low^er Canada, every attempt to introduce British 
 Commercial Institutions and great undertakings, has been attended 
 with much danger and inadequate success ; and political jealousies 
 continually interfere to embarrass and weaken associations among 
 persons belonging to the learned professions ; Committees of Tradcy 
 Steam-Boat Companiesy Banksy Insurance Officesy and ITieatresy ex- 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 XTV.] 
 
 171 
 
 tending even their disorganising effects to Societies for promoting 
 Religion and Education, and for charitable purposes. 
 
 We next remark upon the important Act for the Trial of Contro- 
 verted Elections. This Act, 4'8, Geo. III., Cap. ‘21, has been recent- 
 ly repealed by the Act 5, Geo. IV., Cap. 5, which, extending and 
 iiK)ditying the previous enactments, gives complete scope to that prin- 
 ciple of universal suffrage, which, under the present Constitution, 
 will secure to the French Canadians, an overwhelming Majority in 
 the House of .Assembly. 
 
 in closing this busy Session, the Governor General, aware of the 
 approaching General Election, did not express that disapprobation of 
 part of the Proceedings of the Assembly, which he must have deep- 
 ly felt ; and he principally called the attention of both Houses, to 
 the uncertain relations existing between Great Britain and the Uni- 
 ted States, and their duty to fortif 3 ' the minds of the people with 
 bourage and loyalty, for the purpose of defending their Country, and 
 securing the blessings conferred upon them by His Majesty’s Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Our tenth Chapter commences with describing the Oligarchical 
 Association, called the Quebec Junta, which the Government had 
 gradually permitted to be formed, as a kind of defence against the 
 increasing ambition of the House of Assembly. This Junta, closely 
 connected with the Executive, comprised several French Canadian 
 Placemen, and still continues to be a specimen of those anomalous 
 associations, which a defective political Constitution inevitably intro- 
 duces into any Country ; and, in Lower Canada, though many of 
 the Members have been merely actuated by private views, it has ne- 
 ver entirely forfeited the confidence of the British Settlers, who have 
 ' been justly impressed with the opinion, that its influence, on the 
 march of the Administration, was more favourable to them, than the 
 Measures originating in the House of Assembly. 
 
 This Oligarchy, consisting of the Executive, the Majority of the 
 Legislative Council, Judges, Crown Lawyers and Placemen, still af- 
 forded some protection to British principles and improvement ; and it 
 was therefore the constant object of the jealousy of the Majority of 
 the Hoirse of Assembly, which jealousy was considerably increased 
 by the countenance which had been given to a Newspaper called the 
 Quebec Mercury, ■wholly printed in the English Language, and oc- 
 cupied with extracts and discussions calculated to show the want of 
 British Laws and improvements. To counteract the influence of this 
 English Press, the French Canadian Leaders, during the Administra- 
 tion of President Dunn, established a Newspaper called the Casa- 
 DIES, printed wholly in French, and entirely devoted to the am- 
 bitious views of the Majority of the House of Assembly, which could 
 chiefiu be promoted by keeping the whole Province attached to the Laws, 
 Lanmiaoe and Manners which existed at the Conquest, concentrating 
 their Constituents as a separate people, predominating eventually m 
 
POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 172 
 
 [chap. 
 
 every department of the Government, over the Subjects of British 
 origin, who, except in Quebec and iNlontreal, and in the Tow nships, 
 might be said to be scattered in weak unconnected parties through- 
 out the Seigniorial Grants of the King of France, and the Roman 
 Catholic Parishes. 
 
 Among the characteristics of the Canadien Newspaper, should be 
 particularly mentioned the mixture of abuse of the local Govern- 
 ment, and of the British Settlers, with exaggerated expressions of 
 loyalty to the King, and devotion to the Imperial Government, who 
 were ahvays represented as friendly to the ascendancy of the French 
 Canadians, and to the full developement of a Constitution, which fa- 
 cilitated to the latter, an exclusive domination in Legislation and 
 Finance, while it impeded the Anglification of the ('olony, and the 
 resort of all Settlers of British origin. 
 
 During the Generttl Election of Members for the fifth House of 
 Assembly, in June 1808, the disappointment of Mr. J. A. Fanet^ in 
 his expectation of being re-elected for the City of Quebec, ascribed 
 to Executive intrigue^ produced such opprobrious violence in the 
 pages of the Canadien^ as drew the attention of the Governor ; and 
 Mr. Panel being one of its Patrons, he was dismissed from his Lieu- 
 tenant Colonelcy of the Militia, and received a private intimation 
 from the Provincial Secretary, Mr. Bylandy that this disgrace was 
 owing to the seditious tendency of his Speeches and Writings insert- 
 ed in the Canadien New^spaper. 
 
 The same Chapter next describes the firmness, and consis- 
 tency, with which Sir James Craig defended the position which his 
 own principles and the conduct of the Majority at the Election, had 
 determined him to take in favour of the Subjects of British birth and 
 origin. From this new and commanding position, he reviewed the 
 state of the Country, uninjluencedy for a timCy by the temporising 
 views of the Quebec Junta, and perceived with sorrow, the multipli- 
 ed grievances of the British population, and resolved to exert him- 
 self for their redress. These grievances are detailed, and can be 
 readily ascribed, by our intelligent readers, to the virtual exclusion 
 of that population from influence in the House of Assembly, and to 
 the inimical effects of French Laws upon British Colonisation, Com- 
 merce, and general improvement. 
 
 The Provincial Parliament was summoned to meet, for the des- 
 patch of business, on the 10th of April, 1809; and Mr. Panel hav- 
 ing been chosen Speaker, and contrary to expectation, approved by 
 His Excellency, the Session w^as opened with a long Speech, in which 
 the w'arlike exploits of Great Britain, and her unsatisfactory negocia- 
 tions with the United States, were reviewed, and Measures of do- 
 mestic Legislation were recommended for the permanent encourage- 
 ment of that industry, which the temporary stimulus of the Ameri- 
 can Embargo, and the influence of external Commerce, had called 
 forth. An interesting extract from His Excellency’s Speech, given 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 XIV. 3 
 
 1 
 
 >-'0 
 
 
 in tlie same Chapter, excited much discussion in the House of As- 
 sembly ; but, except that he described the internal jealousies, against 
 which he cautioned the Members, as being without cause or founda- 
 tion, we conceive that His Excellency’s remarks were seasonable and 
 just. The Majority wcW knew that jealousies of the most prejudici- 
 al nature, must always exist under the present Constitution, paralys- 
 ing the efforts of the Executive for every purpose of public improve- 
 ment, and impeding every Measure recommended to the House of 
 Assembly, by the other branches, for the promotion of British Colo- 
 nisation and Commerce. 
 
 This short Session, being the first and last of the fifth Provincial 
 Parliament, is distinguished by that intemperate heat in the proceed- 
 ings of the Majority of the House of Assembly, which is reprobated 
 in the Governor’s closing Speech. All objects of internal improve- 
 ment, for which the Petitions of enterprising Individuals covered the 
 Speaker’s Tabic, were postponed till the favourite questions of ex- 
 pelling a Jew and disabling Judges, could be disposed of. 
 
 The BiJl passed by the preceding Assembly, for disabling the 
 Judges, having been rejected by the Legislative Council, the Ma- 
 jority of the present, containing several Members of a more revoln- 
 tionary character^ now attempted to violate the Constitutional Act of 
 the Imperial Parliament, by excluding that respectable class of His 
 Majesty's Servants, by a simple Resolve; which, if permitted, woukl, 
 in fact, have nullified the power of the other branches in all ques- 
 tions connected with the composition of the popular branch ; but, 
 with respect to the Judges, this alarming course was suspended for 
 the moment, to be afterw’ards renewed unsuccessfully, homver, in the 
 sixth Parliament. The re-expulsion of Ezekiel Harf^ Esquire, the 
 Jew, who had been re-elected for the Borough of Tlrree Rivers, took 
 place by a simple Resolve ; and the public sympathy and that res- 
 pect for principles of Religious Toleration, which befits British Sub- 
 jects, have never been displayed by again returning a Jew to serve as 
 a Member of the House of Assembly. 
 
 The accounts of the Revenue and Expenditure having shown the 
 prosperous state of the Finances, the Majority of the House of As- 
 sembly were encouraged to contemplate the assumption of the Civil 
 List, as will hereafter appear. We describe the motives of this en- 
 terprise, originating in the ambition of the popular branch to obtain 
 a complete controul over the expenditure of the produce of the taxes, 
 levied upon imported goods, including British manufactures; this 
 subject, being connected with those differences on Finances, which 
 eventually brought the House of Assembly into direct collision 
 with His Majesty’s Government, and produced that display of the 
 power of the French Canadian Leaders over their ignorant and preju- 
 diced countrymen, which now alarms all the other Subjects, is particu- 
 larly recommended to the attention of our intelligent and unprejudi- 
 ced readers. 
 
POLITICAL ANKALS 
 
 [CilAP. 
 
 I7‘i‘ 
 
 From the revolnl ionary temper now openly displayed, it is needless 
 to state tliat Bills ar.d other communications sent down from the Le- 
 gislative Council, were neglected by the House of Assembly, and 
 tliat the proceedings of this body soon exhausted the patience of the 
 Governor. 
 
 Accordingly, on the L5th May, His Excellency closed this short 
 Session ; and intimated his intention of dissolving the House of As- 
 sembly, and, in tiis Majesty’s name, appealing to the seme of the 
 people. His Speechi, on this important occasion, exhibited that mix- 
 ture of military frankness, with disdain of compromise, which suited 
 his character, and formed an extraordinary contrast toall thespeeches of 
 his predecessors in the Administration of Lower Canada^ under the 
 British Crown. 
 
 Our eleventh Chapter contrasts the uniform result of an appeal, by 
 His Majesty, to the sense of his people in the United Kingdom, with the 
 result of appeals, made in his behalf by the Governors of Lower Ca- 
 nada, to the sense rf the French Canadians. In the former case, the 
 reasons for dissolving the Parliament are approved by the election of 
 a majority of members of the House of Commons favourable to ihe 
 Ministry, and to the course of measures approved by His Majesty : 
 in the latter, the people have uniformly re-elected a majority of mem- 
 hers opposed to the Provincial Administration. To the permanent 
 causes of this contrast w^e briefly allude, expressing our astonishment 
 that, witnessing, during tw^enty years a radical opposition in the po- 
 pular branch to the Local Administration, His Majesty’s Ministers 
 have not persevered in appealing to the wisdom of the Imperial Par- 
 liament, to devise or approve a remedy for a disorder w hich already 
 exhibits Lower Canada in a state approaching to anarchy. That 
 anarchy, in the complete sense of the ierm^ does not yet exist, is owing 
 partly to the powerful influence of the Imperial Government, partly to 
 the military force under the command of the Governor, but chiefly to 
 the want of energy and organisation in the adherents of the opposi- 
 tion, who, in time of peaccy are called upon to contribute no money, 
 or labour, or service in a direct or burthensome manner, by the Local 
 Government. The opposition, therefore, at present, mere paraly^ses 
 the Government, in every ^ort to advance the improvement of the 
 country and promote British Colonisation ; but the spirit of contempt 
 for authority is nevertheless fostered by the opposition ; and the ris- 
 ing generation of French Canadians, receiving a French education y may 
 in a few years exhibit that degree of boldness which their fathers have 
 not attained, and reduce into practice the political principles too long 
 tolerated in their Leaders. The Imperial Government will then find, 
 that, by neglecting the policy approved by the experience of other 
 nations, of assimilating the popular branch in Lower Canada to that 
 which produces attachment to the religion, language and glory of the 
 King in the United Kingdom, they have merely preserved military 
 possession of this Province, without that support of public opinion 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 175 
 
 xn.] 
 
 which distinguishes a free from a despotic Government, and a dutiful 
 co-operation in the execution of laws, from mere submission to supe- 
 rior force. 
 
 The Majority of the members of the dissolved House of Assembly 
 made great exertions to be re-elected : and they succeeded chiefly by 
 addressing the vanity and prejudices of their ignorant constituents, 
 who were called upon to vindicate the rights which the Constitutional 
 Act was asserted to have conferred upon them, of choosing represen- 
 tatives obnoxious to the Government, Every consideration of prudence, 
 or appreiiension of consequences, was treated with contempt in the 
 Canadien newspaper, which was circulated and read gratuitously 
 througliout tlie Roman Catholic Parishes. Sir Jaynes Henry Craigs 
 person, and the supporters of his Government, were continual objects 
 of obloquy and ridicule; and reports of the disapprobation of his con- 
 duct, and of his speedy recal and disgrace, by His Majesty, were fa- 
 bricated as a means of enlisting the respect of the French Canadians 
 for thelMonarch, in the service of those who had determined systema- 
 tically to oppose his Colonial Representative, whenever he would not 
 submit to become the tool of their ambition. Those misrepresentations 
 and intrigues are described at large in the eleventhChapter, and prepare 
 the mind of the reader for the result. The old members opposed to 
 Government in the fifth Parliament were re-elected for the sixth ; and 
 Sir James Henry Craig's well intended experiment to produce har- 
 mony had a contrary effect. 
 
 During the recess. His Excellency made a progress through the 
 new and old Settlements of the Province; and, while his personal obser- 
 vations confirmed the preceding reports of the grievances of the British 
 Settlers, particularly in the Townships, he experienced much satisfac-- 
 tion from the progress which, under every disadvantage of French Lavvs, 
 Feudal Tenures, and an ill constructed House of Assembly, the Pro- 
 vince had made since he first visited it, during the American Revolu- 
 tionary war. 
 
 The Governor General, on his return to Quebec, learnt that the 
 unauthorised arrangement, by Mr. Erskine, of the differences with 
 the United States, had been disapproved by His Majesty’s Ministers ; 
 and this event, diminishing the hope of a long continuance of peace 
 with that Country, is said to have disturbed his project of re- 
 pairing the defects of the Constitution of Lower Canada. On this 
 subject w’^e beg leave to refer our readers to the same Chapter ; w’hile 
 we hasten to recapitulate the proceedings of the first and only Session 
 of the sixth Provincial Parliament. It was opened on the 29th of 
 January, and closed on the 26th of February, 1810. Mr. Panel 
 was re-elected Speaker ; and the Governor made a Speech to both 
 Houses, calculated to impress upon their minds, the duty of giving 
 undivided attention to the means of preparing the Province to resist 
 the probable hostility of the Government of the United States, who, 
 by their dismissal of Mr. Jackson^ His Majesty’s new Plenipotentiary, 
 
176 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 had manifested no desire to preserve friendly relations. His Excel- 
 lency ended his Speech, by announcing his having consulted His 
 Majesty’s Ministers on the subject of disqualifying the Judges, and 
 stating that he was authorised to give the Royal Assent to a Bill for 
 that purpose, in which both Houses of the Provincial Legislature 
 should have concurred. 
 
 Before replying to His Excellency’s Speech, the Speaker of the 
 Assembly, and the Majority, determined on recording, in the Journ- 
 als of the House, a protest against the reprimand which the Govern- 
 or had given them in his S[)eech at the Prorogation of the fifth Par- 
 liament. On the 3d of February, a resolve was accordingly passed, 
 characterising, as a breach of the privileges of the House of Assem- 
 bly, any attempt on the part of the other branches to dictate or cen- 
 sure its proceedings. Having thus, at the same time, cautioned His 
 Excellency, and all others, including virtually the Editors of News- 
 papers, to beware of censuring their proceedings, the Majority re- 
 turned to the newly discovered road of ambition, namely, that of ob- 
 taining a complete controul over the expenditure and application of 
 the Provincial Revenue, including the Territorial Revenue which had 
 accrued to His Majesty as the Suzerain or Superior of the Feudal 
 Seigneurs, and the produce of Duties levied by Acts of the British 
 Parliament, before the existence of the House of Assembly^ as well as 
 the produce of Duties levied by Acts of the Provincial Legislature. 
 With this controul, the wily demagogues perceived that they might 
 eventually dictate to the Executive, the Salaries, and even the Ap- 
 pointments of every Officer in the Civil Department, and turn to the 
 advantage of themselves and their adherents, the whole expenditure 
 of the Revenue of the Colony. 
 
 With such views, as evidenced by the conduct of future Majori- 
 ties, comprising several Members of the present, the House of As- 
 sembly intimated, by an Address to His Excellency, as w'ell as by 
 Addresses to His Majesty, the Lords and Commons, which latter^ 
 the Governor was requested to transmit, its determination to assume 
 the payment of all the necessary expenses of the Civil Government. 
 These Addresses, ho\vever, as our intelligent readers may suppose, 
 were couched in general terms, and did not insinuate that, in return 
 for this assumption, the British Government w^as expected to transfer 
 to the House of Assembly, the appropriation of Revenues rapidly in- 
 creasing, which had been established before the existence of that bo- 
 dy, nor that a change was contemplated, which \vould infallibly tempt 
 the Creature of the British Parliament to dictate to its. Creator. Sir 
 James Henry Craigs and his Counsellors, perceived the object of this 
 offer, though it w^as accompanied and cloked w ith all those expres- 
 sions of Duty, with which the machinations of an ambitious inferior, 
 are always presented to his superiors. 
 
 The answer of His Excellency, therefore, w^as extremely guarded; 
 and he particularly insisted on the propriety and Constitutional right 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 177 
 
 XIV.] 
 
 oCtlie Legislalive Council to a concurrence in the Addresses of the 
 Assembly, not only as being a co-ordinate branch of the Legislature, 
 but as being composed of Individuals having a large stake in the 
 Country, This answer was not satisfactory to the Assembly; and, 
 with the view of censuring it by Resolve, it was referred to a Commit- 
 tee, principally composed of those Members who had planned the 
 new system of dictating not only to the Governor and the Legisla- 
 tive Council, but to the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 The Bill introduced for immediately disabling the Judges, having 
 been speedily passed, was returned by the Council, with an amend- 
 ment, postponing their incapacity till the end of the present Parlia- 
 ment. The Majority of the House of Assembly were anxious to 
 obtain the passage of this Act, but still more eager to relieve them- 
 selves from the presence of Judge Debonne; and they therefore re- 
 turned to a vote of expulsion ; and by a Majority of 19 to 10, they 
 declared his seat vacant ; they also rejected that part of the amend- 
 ment of the Legislative Council, which would have admitted of this 
 Individual being re-elected or replaced by another Judge ; and thus 
 brought themselves into collision, not only with the Legislative Coun- 
 cil and with the Governor’s instructions, but also with the Constitu- 
 tional rights of the Elective Body. 
 
 These proceedings, leading to an application through the Speaker 
 of the House of Assembly, to His Excellency, to issue a Writ, in 
 His Majesty’s name, for the Election of a Member for the County of 
 Quebec, in the place and stead of the expelled Judge, placed the 
 Governor General in an unprecedented dilemma, from which he deem- 
 ed it necessary to extricate himself by a new Dissolution of the Pro- 
 vincial Parliament, 
 
 We refer our readers to the extracts from His Excellency’s Speech, 
 contained in the eleventh Chapter, which will shew the correct view 
 which he took of the proceedings of a House of Assembly, which 
 rather desired to provoke, than to deprecate the exercise of His 
 Majesty’s Prerogative, , This ambitious, but shortsighted body 
 knew, like the fabulous Anteus, that in falling to the ground, it 
 would acquire fresh strength ; but it did not know that the British 
 Hercules, according to our estimation of his genius, must eventu- 
 ally find means of destroying every particle of its offensive hos- 
 tility to British Colonisation, rendering it totally inefficient in its 
 efforts to give permanency to French Laws, Language and Charac- 
 teristics in any concentrated Association on the Continent of North 
 America, which every political and philanthropic motive should induce 
 to be completely English. 
 
 Our twelfth Chapter gives a view of the temporary causes which 
 rendered the Governor’s new appeal to the sense of the people to- 
 tally inefficient, for any purpose of obtaining a House of Assembly 
 more favourable to the views of the Executive, or to the interest ot 
 British Laws, Language and Col^isation. 
 
178 
 
 POLITICAL ANNALS 
 
 [chap. 
 
 The persons in authority, who had stigmatised the old Memhers as s 
 unworthy of being re-elected, were chi«jfly IVotcstants of British birth ' 
 or descent, and naturally supposed to be partial to the Religion, Laws, 
 Language and Manners of the great majorily of the United Kingdom 
 e/' Great Britain and Ireland, The event confirmed the previous in- 
 ference wliich many disinterested rcasoners had drawn, that the re- 
 probation of Candidates for seats in the House of Assembly, by Gover- 
 nors and Councillors appointed by a Protestant and British King, would 
 be rather a strong recommendation to the favor of a people, whose religi- 
 ous and Anti-British prejudices had been so preposterously fostered by 
 theLcgIslative Actsofthe British Parliament. The great Majority of the 
 Members of the sixth House of Assembly were persons who professed^ 
 at least the Romish Religion, and the most persevering disposition to 
 oppose whatever could tend to innovate upon the old French Laws, 
 or to disturb the hereditary routine of rural labour and amusement, 
 which distinguished their Constituents. . 
 
 The old Members were so confident of the effects of the prcdTlec* 
 tions of the constituent body, that they at first derided every cf^uibt 
 of success; but, perceiving the unprecedented energy with which the 
 Executive, its immediate adherents, and the Subjects of British origin 
 prepared to oppose them, they resumed the arms of ridicule and mis- 
 representation, which had done them such good service at the previ- 
 ous election. For this purpose, the newspaper Lc Canadien^ was adop- 
 ted to furnish suitable texts for the oral comments of the Candidates 
 and their agents ; and it was circulated at such an extraordinary ex- 
 pense, as gave currency to an idle report, that it was partly supported 
 by the Plenipotentiary of Napoleon Buonaparte, near the Govern- 
 ment of the United States. 
 
 The Canadieuy thus connected in the minds of the credulous, with 
 the intrigues and ambition of the Tyant of Europe, became the ob- 
 ject of additional detestation and alarm to many persons well affected 
 to the Government. Urged by them, and probably still farther stim- 
 ulated by the writings which it contained, the Governor General, by 
 the advice of the Executive Council, ordered the seizure of the 
 Canadien Press, which, with all the papers found in the Printing Of- 
 fice, was conveyed, under a military escort, to Quebec. This act was 
 followed up by such a display of military precautions, as induced 
 the well disposed part ol the community to believe, that an extensive 
 conspiracy against the Government had been discovered. They were 
 however, speedily undeceived, and led to suppose, that views of pre- 
 serving the minds of the people from the contamination of the sedi- 
 tious sentiments, which flowed like a deluge from the Canadien Press, 
 were the principal motives of its seizure ; and, that the display uf mi- 
 litary preparation was made as a check upon the more violent agita- 
 tors, who chiefly resided in the neighbourhood of the cities and towns. 
 After an examination of the Papers found in the Printing Office of 
 the Canadien, six persons only, three of them Members of the late 
 
OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 179 
 
 \lV.] 
 
 \ 
 
 ■ arlianjent, were taken into custody, by Warrants signed by the Ex* 
 'cutive Councillors, in virtue of the power invested by the Act for the 
 Defter preservation of Mis Majesty’s Government. 
 
 The same Chapter describes the lingering affection of many, of the 
 Subjects of British origin, to the Constitution with all its defects, 
 and notices the only indications of a wish to appeal to the Imperial 
 Government, for its suspension, with the view of its future modifica- 
 tion, which have come to the knowledge of the Writer. This appeal 
 icas not made in such a form as tvould have encouraged the Minislrij to 
 take the high responsibility of ordering the temporary suspension of the 
 Constitution, or moving the Parliament on the subject, at a period token 
 there was no certainty of an accommodation of differences with the Uni~ 
 ted Stales. 
 
 The seventh Provincial Parliament met on the 12th of December, 
 1810, and was prorogued on the 2 1st of March, 1811 ; and the first 
 Session was distinguished by greater industry and moderation on the 
 jMi't'of the House of Assembly, than could have been expected. 
 The variety of reasons alledged at the time to account for this 
 change, is mentioned, but not deemed sufficient, more particularly 
 that which ascribed to the Majority, a settled determination to make 
 a moderate use of their triumph over the influence of the Executive 
 at the recent General Election. 
 
 Mr. Panel was re-elected Speaker, and approved by His Excel- 
 lency ; wdio opened the Session with a Speech confined to the rela- 
 tions between Great Britain and the United States, and to local af- 
 fiiirs. His Excellency recommended the continuation of the Acts 
 for the better preservation of His Majesty’s Government, and the re- 
 gulation of Aliens ; and he ended His Speech, by promising to con- 
 cur in any Measures for the public welfare, which both Houses might 
 jointly propose. 
 
 'I'lie Address of the Legislative Council, was an echo to the 
 Speech ; but the Majority of the House of Assembly, introduced 
 into the Address of that body, a marked disapprobation of the 
 use made by the Executive, of the powers conferred by the Act 
 for the better preservation of His Majesty’s Government ; and this 
 paragraph was remarked upon in the Governor s reply. 
 
 This same Chapter contains a long detail of questions connected 
 with local affairs and proceedings on various Petitions, which the 
 short Sessions and existences of the fifth and sixth Parlramertts had 
 
 kept in arrear. . i , • , , - 
 
 On the 20th of March, thrs busy Sessron was closed wrth the tn- 
 
 terestin- atrd impressive farewell Sjreech of Sir James Henry Craig, 
 which is the mor-c worthy of being refer r ed to ; because we ntay con- 
 iecture from it, that the Report of his Admrmstr-atron to the IVince 
 lio--ent his present Majesty, would irot have concealed the jealousres 
 existin'’ between different por-tions of the Provrnce, and anrong its 
 mixed population, nor neglected to recommend some remedy for the 
 
MAP- XI VJ 
 
 yearly accumulating evils arising from a defective Constitution. At m 
 future day, whfn^he interest of the state may permit the publicatior^ 
 of the correspondence and reports of the Governors of Canada, we 
 doubt not but Sir James Henry Craig will appear to great advantage, 
 as the constant and uncompromising advocate of every measure which 
 * could conciliate the honour of His Majesty, and tlie interests of the 
 Empire at large, with the union and welfare of the mixed population 
 of Lower Canada. His knoxjon independence of mind and fortune — 
 the extensive knovoledge of mankind vchiHi he had acquired in military 
 and civil stations in every quarter of tnx voorld ; — his advanced age^ 
 leaving him no strong passion to g^^iify hut the love of honest fame — 
 all these circumstances combined^ induce us to believe that his Report (f 
 his Administration as Governor of Louer Canada^ must have conveyed 
 important truths^ in plain language^ to the Imperial Government ; and 
 that it formed^ in many important pointSy as complete a contrast to those 
 of his predecessors^ as his Speeches to both Houses of the ParlL mevl of \ 
 Lovoer Canada, do to those of Lord Dorchester and Sir Robert \ 
 Shore JVIilnes. ^ 
 
 180 POLITICAL ANNALS OF LOWER AD A. [c 
 
 END OF THE FIRST PART. 
 
 Montreal : — Printed in the Herald Office, 
 

 
 
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