It was in the character of Administrator-in-Chief that
Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond assumed the government of Lower
Canada, on the 5th of April, 1816. The army bills were called in and
honorably redeemed in cash, at the army bill office, in Quebec, and as
if to show how beneficial the war had been to the country, first one
new steamer arrived at Quebec, and then another from the already
flourishing city of Montreal. The _Malshane_, built by Mr. John Molson,
of Montreal, at that port, appeared at Quebec on the opening of the
navigation, and was speedily followed by an opposition steamer built by
an association of merchants in Montreal, and named:--The _Car of
Commerce_. The inhabitants of Canada were, at this time, under 400,000
in number. About seven-eighths were of French descent, and the other
eighth was composed of English, Irish, Scotch, Germans, Americans, and
their descendants. Of the latter, the Scotch were the most numerous,
and in their hands nearly the whole external trade of the country was
placed. The French Canadians were chiefly agriculturists, but they had
also a large share in the retail and internal trade. There was, at this
period, no manufactories of note in the province. The manufacture of
leather, hats, and paper, had been introduced, and _étoffe du pays_,
manufactured by the farmers, constituted the garb of the Canadians
generally. There were two iron works in the vicinity of Three Rivers.
There was nothing more. It is said, not without reason, that one of the
first improvements in any country should be the making of roads, and
the speedy making of roads, both in Upper and Lower Canada, was one of
the good effects of the war. Already there was a road from Point Levi
across the portage of Temiscouata, from thence to the forks of the
Madawaska, from thence to the Great Falls, from thence to Fredericton,
in New Brunswick, from thence to St. Johns, on the Bay of Fundy, and
from thence to Halifax, which was 618 miles long; there was a road from
Quebec to Montreal, 180 miles in length, from thence to the
Coteau-du-Lac, 225 miles, from thence to Cornwall, 226 miles, from
thence to Matilda, 301 miles, from thence to Augusta, 335 miles, from
thence to Kingston, 385 miles, from thence to York, 525 miles, from
thence to Fort Erie, 560 miles, from thence to Detroit, 790 miles, and
from thence to Michillimackinac, 1,107 miles; there was a road _en
route_ to Boston, _via_ St. Giles, Ireland, Shipton, St. François, and
the Forks of the Ascot, to the lines, 146 miles long; and there was a
road from Laprairie, opposite Montreal, to Isle-aux-Noix, which was 28
miles long. Canals were contemplated to overcome the difficulties of
the Lachine, Cedars, and Long Sault rapids, and indeed there was an eye
to those improvements which never fail to develop the riches of a
country. The landholders at this time were mostly French Canadians.
There were some thousands of acres, however, which had been granted to
the British population since 1796, occupied or settled upon by
Americans, that is to say, former residents of the United States. Land
was not by any means valuable, on account of the great distances from
convenient markets, and the consequent length of time which it took the
distant farmer to bring his produce to market. It was this drawback
that produced in the Canadian the pernicious habit of merely producing
enough for the consumption of his own family, and for the keep of his
own farm stock. Farm lands were seldom held upon lease. The cultivators
were the _bona fide_ proprietors of the soil, subject to a very
inconsiderable annual rent to the seigneur and to a fine of a twelfth
upon a change of proprietor by sale, a condition which, as a matter of
course, would in time become intolerable and demand that remedy which
has since been applied. In Lower Canada, the lands held by Roman
Catholics, were subject to the payment of a tythe or a twenty-sixth
part of all grain for the use of the curate, and to assessments for the
building and repair of churches. Now with regard to the character of a
people, who, not long after this period, exhibited an intolerance of
tyranny and injustice, it may fairly be said that the French Canadians
are naturally of a cheerful and lively disposition, but very
conservative in their ideas. Outwardly polite, they are not
unfrequently coarse in conversation. If the Canadian evinces respect,
it is expected that he will be treated with respect in consideration
therefor. His chief shortcoming is excessive sociability. When once
settled among friends and relatives he cannot leave them--absence from
home does in truth only make the heart grow fonder of home
associations. He is active, compactly made, but generally below rather
than above the middle size. His natural capacity is excellent, but when
the mind is unimproved and no opportunity has been afforded for the
acquisition of new ideas, little can be expected from even the most
fertile understanding. All improvements have been the result of
observation, there being nothing original in any one, nor an iota new
under the sun. It is in the application of the natural elements only in
which one individual excels another, his capacity for excellence, of
course, favoring observation. As the bee sips honey from the flower, so
does man inhale the poetry of nature, daguerreotyping it upon his
understanding, either from the mountain's top, from the summit of the
ocean wave, or from the wreck of battle; so does the astronomer learn
from the firmament itself the relative proportions and distances, the
transits, eclipses, and periodical appearances of other worlds, than
that in which he lives, moves, and has his being; and so the man of
science collects and combines the very elements themselves, either to
purposes of destruction or towards the progress, improvement, and
almost perfection of human nature. The Canadian could only reason from
his own experience, and that was so exceedingly limited, that his
backwardness in enterprise is less to be wondered at than the eagerness
with which he copies the enterprise of others. The Canadian, like the
native of old France, is a thinking animal. He is ever doubting, ever
mistrustful. In spiritual matters, he is guided by his curate, who, if
he wishes to stand well with him, must meddle with nothing else. And
who will say that such a people are incapable of improvement?
Railroads, intercourse with others, and time, will yet make the
Canadian think for himself much sooner than they will influence others,
more naturally confiding, generous, and credulous than he is, but whose
very energy and bravery only cover a multitude of sins.
Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond met the parliament of Lower
Canada on the 26th of January, 1816. He informed the two Houses that
the Regent had committed to him the administration of the government of
Lower Canada, that he had entered on the duties of his trust with a
deep sense of their importance and with a more earnest desire to
discharge them for the general advantage of a province in the capital
of which he had been born; the King was no better in health, but had no
corporeal suffering and only continued in a state of undisturbed
tranquillity; Buonaparte had been exiled and the family of Bourbon
restored to the throne of their ancestors; Waterloo had consummated the
high distinction obtained by the British forces under Wellington. He
recommended the renewal of the Militia Act, and in consequence of many
discontented adventurers, and mischievous agitators, from the continent
of Europe, having thrown themselves into the neighbouring States, he
strongly recommended the immediate revival of the Act for establishing
regulations respecting aliens, with such modifications as circumstances
might render it proper to adopt; the executive government had redeemed
its pledge by calling in and paying with cash the army bills which were
in circulation; a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the past
year would be laid before the Assembly; the Prince Regent viewed with
much pleasure the additional proof of patriotism afforded by the sum
voted towards the completion of a proposed canal from Montreal to
Lachine; His Majesty's government duly appreciating the many important
objects with which the canal was connected, were interested in its
early execution; and he awaited only further instructions upon the
subject to carry it into effect. He pressed upon the attention of both
Houses the importance of further promoting the internal improvements of
the province. He trusted that this session of parliament would be
distinguished for accordant exertion and for efficient dispatch in
conducting the public business; and for his own part, he could assure
honorable gentlemen that he would most cordially co-operate in every
measure which might tend to advance the interests and promote the
welfare of the province. His Excellency the Administrator-in-Chief made
allusion to his native city after the manner of a somewhat notorious,
if not a celebrated judge of the present time, who was accustomed to
boast in the Assembly of being the representative of his native city.
Sir Gordon, however, only meant to be conciliatory, and indeed there
was no objectionable egotism in a governor putting himself forth as a
colonist by birth, or in one sense placing himself on a level with the
governed. The pity is that so few governors had even that interest in
Canada which, to however limited a degree, must have weighed with Sir
Gordon Drummond. The House was glad that a native of Quebec had so
distinguished himself as a soldier, and indeed in all else, echoed His
Excellency's speech.
The transaction of business had hardly begun when a message was
received from the Administrator-in-chief. His Royal Highness, the
Regent, had commanded His Excellency to make known his pleasure to the
House of Assembly on the subject of certain charges preferred by the
House against the Chief Justices of the province and of Montreal, in
connection with certain charges against a former governor, Sir James
Craig. The Regent was pleased to say that the acts of a former governor
could not be a subject of enquiry, whether legal or illegal, as it
would involve the principle that a governor might divest himself of all
responsibility on points of political government; the charge referred
by the Regent to the Privy Council, was only such as related to the
Rules of Practice, established by the Judges, in their respective
Courts, and for which the Judges were themselves solely responsible;
and the Report of the Privy Council was that the Rules of Practice
complained of were made not by the Chief Justices alone, but in
conjunction with the other Judges of the respective Courts, as rules
for the regulation and practice of their respective Courts, and that
neither the Chief Justices, nor had the Courts in which they presided,
exceeded their authority in making such rules, nor had they been guilty
of any assumption of legislative power. Further, His Excellency was
commanded to express the regret with which the Regent had viewed the
late proceedings of the House of Assembly against two persons who had
so ably filled the highest judicial offices in the colony, a
circumstance calculated to disparage their character and services, in
the eyes of the inconsiderate and ignorant, and so diminish the
influence which a judge ought to possess. The other charges with regard
to the refusal of a writ of _Habeas Corpus_, by Mr. Chief Justice Monk,
of Montreal, were considered to be totally unsupported by any evidence
whatever. The message from the administrator, by order of the Regent,
had been somewhat too soon communicated to the Assembly for "accordant
exertion" in legislation. A call of the House was ordered for the 14th
of February, and the message was to be referred to a committee of the
whole on that day. That day came and the committee of the whole
referred the message to be reported upon by a select committee of nine
members, and the report of the committee was to the effect that a
humble representation and petition to the Regent must be prepared, and
that before doing so, the sense of the House, as expressed in a
committee of the whole, should be obtained. Accordingly, the House
again resolved itself into committee, on the 24th, when it was reported
that the House in impeaching the Chief Justices was influenced by a
sense of duty, by a desire to maintain the laws and constitution, and
by a regard for the public interest, and for the honor of His Majesty's
government; that the House was entitled to be heard, and to have an
opportunity of adducing evidence in support of the impeachments; that
the opposition and resistance of the Legislative Council prevented the
appointment of an agent from the Assembly, to maintain and support the
charges; and that a petition should be presented to the Regent,
appealing to the justice of His Majesty's government and praying that
an opportunity might be afforded to the Commons of Canada to be heard
and to maintain their charges. The resolutions were adopted by a very
large majority of the House, and a special committee was appointed to
prepare an address in accordance with the resolutions. But before this
could be done, Sir Gordon Drummond, in accordance with his
instructions, dissolved the House. He prorogued the parliament on the
26th, because his reasonable expectations, with regard to their
diligent application to the business which he had recommended to their
attention had been disappointed; because the Assembly had again entered
upon the discussion of a subject on which the pleasure of the Regent
had been communicated to them; and because, he, therefore, felt it to
be his duty to prorogue the present parliament, and to resort to the
sense of the people by an immediate dissolution. Only one Act received
the royal assent, that to regulate the trial of controverted elections.
The writs for the new elections were issued in haste. Indeed so early
as the month of March, they were completed, the greater number of the
members of the previous Assembly having been re-elected. But before
even the elections had been completed, General Drummond was notified of
the appointment of Sir John Sherbrooke, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova
Scotia, to the Governor-Generalship of British North America, and
leaving Major-General Wilson in temporary charge of the government, he
sailed for England on the 1st of May.
It is impossible to speak of Sir Gordon Drummond's civil government.
The measures which he proposed were well calculated to benefit the
country. He was thwarted, possibly in good intentions, by the commands
of the imperial government, requiring him imperatively to obtain the
submission of the colonial legislature to Downing-street dictation,
without remonstrance. A colonial legislature, tethered as it is, and
ever will be, until the Governor is elected by the people, to English
administrative incapacity might, with no lack of prudence, have been
permitted rope enough to wander round the tethering post, so that it
would only have been at considerable intervals that the effect of the
tethers would have been in any degree galling or even felt.
In 1815, the revenue of Lower Canada amounted to £150,273 currency, the
expenditure to £125,218 sterling, in which was included £16,555 for the
erection of the gaol in Quebec; £26,439 for militia services; and
£35,325, the proportion of duties to Upper Canada. Only 194 vessels of
37,382 tons, were cleared at Quebec, not taking into account ten new
vessels of only 1,462 tons altogether, hardly equal to the tonnage of a
single vessel of the present day.
Sir John Sherbrooke did not arrive at Quebec until the 21st of July. He
was then received with all the honors due to his rank and station.
Every body was as obsequious as any body could be, and great things
were, of course, expected from the new man. Nor was Sir John deficient
in ability. He had been most successful in his government of Nova
Scotia, and he had been most prudent in his negotiations with the
people of Maine. He had too an opportunity for acquiring popularity
immediately on his arrival, and he did not suffer the opportunity to
escape him. The wheat crop had failed in the lower part of the district
of Quebec. The days though warm as usual were succeeded by cold frosty
nights, which killed the wheat. There was indeed a prospect of a
famine. Representations of anticipated distress, came pouring in upon
him from first one parish and then another. A less decided man would
have called upon the provincial parliament to have acted as became the
emergency. Sir John threw open the King's stores, and on his own
responsibility, advanced a large sum of money from the public treasury,
for the purchase of such supplies as the imperial store-houses did not
afford. The season, in Lower Canada, he knew was a short one, and to
have procrastinated would have been fatal to the farmer.
Nor was Sir John less prudent in other matters. He saw the mistake
committed by his predecessor with regard to the impeachments and he
endeavored to avoid any similar mistake. He wrote to England for
instructions, taking care to inform the Minister of State for the
Colonies of the true state of public opinion in the province. He
represented that the appeal to the people by Sir Gordon Drummond had
entirely failed; the people were irritated at the appeal to them under
such circumstances; the dissolution of a parliament was not, in his
opinion, at any time calculated to do much good, but was often
seriously productive of evil; in a small community it was more
difficult to correct public opinion than in a larger one; he would
carry out whatever instructions should be given to him; but these were
his views and he would await an answer. He went still further. He
informed the Colonial Secretary that Chief Justice Sewell was
unpopular, not with the Assembly alone, but with all classes of the
people. No matter whether the feeling proceeded from the acts and
calumnies of designing demagogues, it existed. It was indeed believed
in the Palace of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and in the cottage of the
humblest peasant, that Chief Justice Sewell had outraged their feelings
of loyalty and religion. When Attorney-General, Mr. Sewell had
maintained doctrines and supported measures that clashed with the
religious opinions of the Canadians. A dislike, amounting to
infatuation, had been confirmed by the part which he was supposed to
have taken in the government after his promotion. It was this gradually
increasing dislike which had led to his impeachment. Sir John believed
that a hearing to both parties, on the impeachment, even had the
decision been the same, would have been conducive to the peace of the
province, as it would have deprived the party hostile to the Chief
Justice of a pretext of complaint, by which, in a free country, the
people will always be interested. The impression was that the
government of England had come to a decision on an _exparte_ hearing.
Chief Justice Sewell should have been permitted to retire on a pension.
That step would have had the effect of getting rid of a grievance.
Agreeably to his instructions, he would support the Chief Justice even
should the wrath of the Clergy be the result. He would also cultivate a
good understanding with the Roman Catholic Bishop, but neither argument
nor coercion could destroy public opinion. Prorogation might succeed
prorogation, and dissolution, but there would be a revolution in the
country sooner than a change in the feelings of its inhabitants with
regard to Chief Justice Sewell. He would suggest the appointment of an
agent in England, as had long been desired, and as had been effected in
almost every other colony. The opposition to this measure was even
ascribed to the Chief Justice. He would further suggest that Mr. Stuart
should be detached by motives of self-interest, from the party with
whom he acted, and which it was supposed, would dwindle into
insignificance without him. If the Attorney-Generalship should become
vacant, it might be offered to him. The most fruitful source of all the
dissensions in Canada was, nevertheless, according to Sir John
Sherbrooke, the want of confidence in its executive government,[28] not
so much in the personal character of the Governor as in the Executive
Council, who have come to be considered the Governor's advisers, and
who are watched with a jealousy that hampered every governmental
operation. To remove the distrust, the Speaker of the Legislative
Assembly should, _ex officio_, be a member of the Executive Council.
[28] True, and which an elective government will altogether
remove, to the great advantage and enduring honor of Great
Britain.
Sir John had stated a series of truths, since made apparent, by the
disclosures of Mr. Ryland.
The new parliament was convened for the dispatch of business, on the
15th of January, 1817, when Mr. Papineau was re-elected Speaker. The
Governor then formally opened the business of the session, by stating
that having ascertained that the crops had failed in several parts of
the province, he had taken steps to prevent the mischief that
threatened the country, the particulars of which should be laid before
the parliament; that he relied upon the liberality of the Assembly to
make the necessary provision for defraying the expenses already
incurred; that he felt assured such further aid would be granted as
necessity might require; that he would lay before the House a statement
of the revenue and expenditure of the province: that he felt it to be
his duty to call early attention to the renewal of the militia and
several other Acts, which either had expired or were about to expire;
and he intimated that the advantages to result from every improvement
calculated to open up the commerce of the country and encourage
agriculture were of themselves sufficient to recommend that matter to
their attention. The Assembly replied in the usual way and immediately
afterwards appointed the committees. There was a grand committee of
grievances, a committee on courts of justice, a committee on
agriculture and commerce, and a special committee of five members to
keep up a good understanding between the two Houses, hitherto
antagonistic. Immediately after these committees had been named, a
message was received from the Governor, intimating that the Regent of
the United Kingdom and of the Empire had been pleased to assent to the
bill granting a salary of £1,000 a year to the Speaker of the Assembly.
The House then voted £14,216 to relieve the distressed parishes, with
the view of making good the advances made by the Governor, and also
voted the additional sum of £15,500, with the same view, and £20,600
more, for the purchase of seed grain, for distribution among such as
could not otherwise procure it, to be repaid at the convenience of the
recipients. This business being settled, Mr. Cuvillier presented to the
House articles of impeachment against Mr. Foucher, a Judge of the
King's Bench, at Montreal, for malversation, corrupt practices, and
injustice. A committee was appointed to examine into these charges, and
having reported adversely to the judge, the House prepared and adopted
an address to the Regent, asking for Mr. Foucher's removal from office,
and that justice should otherwise be done. The House further requested
the Governor-in-Chief to suspend Mr. Foucher, while the charges made
against him were pending. The Governor complied with the request of the
House, by desiring Mr. Foucher to abstain from taking his seat upon the
Bench, until the will of the Regent should have been ascertained. The
Legislative Council were most indignant. They remonstrated against the
suspension of Mr. Foucher. Every public officer was by the assent given
to the act of the Assembly, liable to be put to the expense of going to
England before he could even get a hearing, if at the mere dictation of
the Assembly, a public officer was to be suspended. The Assembly
replied that, if suspension could not take place, offenders, out of the
reach of ordinary courts of justice, could not be brought to trial, and
that an illegal, arbitrary, tyrannical, and oppressive power, over the
people of the province, would be perpetuated. And so the suspension did
take place. The judges were in very bad odour in those days. They were
between two fires. If they thwarted the government, they were
dismissed, and if they annoyed the people they were impeached. Another
complaint was made against Mr. Chief Justice Monk. He, it was alleged
by the family of the late François Corbeil, had exceeded his authority,
by issuing a warrant for the arrest and imprisonment of Corbeil, on a
charge of treasonable practices, well knowing that such changes were
notoriously false, and, by so doing, had accelerated or caused the
death of Corbeil, the disease of which he died having been contracted
while in prison. Mr. Samuel Sherwood also complained, on his own
behalf, against the Chief Justice of Montreal. It appeared that he had
been prosecuted and imprisoned for libel, in having burlesqued the
pamphlet published and circulated by the Chief Justices in Montreal and
Quebec, to show to the public and their friends that the impeachments
against them had fallen through. At the trial for the libel, Mr. Chief
Justice Monk presided. He seemed to be both prosecutor and judge. The
jury box was packed. The court was specially held. The indictment
against Sherwood had been framed on suspicion. In the pretended libel
the name of James Monk was thirty times mentioned, and yet James Monk,
in the character of Chief Justice, sat upon the Bench. He took a lively
interest in the prosecution. He had fiercely assailed a member of the
Bar, who had smiled during the reading of the indictment, and
threatened to remember the smile in his address to the jury. Such an
example of a judge, sitting in his own cause, was not even afforded by
Scraggs or Jefferies. Mr. Sherwood had been falsely imprisoned,
arbitrarily held to excessive bail, his liberties, as a British
subject, violated, and his privileges as a member of the Assembly had
been set at nought. The petition was referred to a select committee,
and no more heard of. Yet it had an effect. Chief Justice Monk was
compelled to explain and to defend himself.
There was yet another similar matter to be proceeded with. There was
the revival of the impeachments to be taken in hand. The House had been
clumsily baulked in their attempt to remonstrate with the Regent
concerning his will and pleasure, as far as his royal will and pleasure
related to the impeachments of Chief Justices Sewell and Monk, and
there seemed to be a _sub rosa_ disposition to get rid of the
disagreeable affair by management. Mr. Stuart, keen-sighted as he was,
both saw and felt that the tools, with which he worked, required
sharpening up. They had been handled. They had been in other hands than
his. They had apparently been rendered almost unfit for use. He would,
however, move for a call of the House, on the 21st of February. The
cards had been admirably shuffled. The Panets, Vanfelsons, Gugys,
Ogdens, Vezinas, Taschereaus, Malhiots, Cherriers, were all wonderfully
intermingled in an adverse vote. The motion was rejected by a vote of
23 nays to 10 yeas. Mr. Stuart tried the 20th of February. Still it
would not do. The Assembly had become suddenly tired of impeachments.
Again, the matter was tried on the following day, when the House
consented not to revive the impeachments but to reconsider the message
addressed to the Assembly on the 2nd of February last, by the late
Administrator-in-Chief. Mr. Stuart had some business to transact in
Montreal, and he left Quebec to attend to it. During his absence the
impeachments were forgotten; his measures were paralysed by _sub rosa_
negociation; Mr. Sewell was recompensed for the ill-treatment he had
experienced, and the government was relieved of anxiety. The Speaker of
the Assembly was informed that for this parliament as well as for the
last parliament he would be permitted to receive £1,000 a year, and
that Mr. Sewell, who, as Chief Justice, was Speaker of the Upper House,
might be recompensed for his ill-treatment, by the attachment of a
salary of £1,000 to an office which it was designed he should hold for
life. The Assembly, accordingly, applied to His Excellency to _allow_
their Speaker £1,000 a year, and to confer some signal mark of the
Royal favor on Dame Louise Philippe Badelard, widow of Mr. Speaker
Panet. His Excellency, the Governor, unhesitatingly complied with the
request of the Assembly, the more especially as on the request of the
Council he had consented to a similar salary being paid to their
Speaker, and he had further pleasure in authorising the payment of a
pension of £300 a year, to Dame Louise Philippe Badelard. The whole was
most cheerfully agreed to by all the parties interested, and thus was
the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada betrayed and dealt with for
the consideration of a few thousand pieces of silver. On the 17th of
March, Sir John Sherbrooke intimated by message that he had conferred
upon the two honorable Speakers the salaries of £1,000 each per annum.
Two days afterwards, Mr. Sherwood moved that the message of the late
Administrator-in-Chief should not be considered until the 27th of
March, and that a call of the House should be made for that day. Mr.
Ogden, however, bluntly moved for the discharge of the order of the
day, and that the subject should not be taken into consideration at all
during the session. The debate was loud and long continued. James
Stuart and Andrew Stuart were brilliant; the Gugys, the McCords, and
the Ogdens, were dumb. The Vezinas, the Vigers, the Panets, the
Languedocs, and the Badeaux, had changed sides. Night came and still
the debate continued, the midnight hour was passed and yet the war of
words was fiercely going on, and morning came only to find the
impeachments, which the Assembly had so long cherished, finally buried
in oblivion, by 22 votes in favor of the abrupt motion of Mr. Ogden,
while there were only 10 votes against it. Mr. Stuart was abandoned.
There was now a greater than he to lead the Assembly. Sir John Coape
Sherbrooke thoroughly understood the materials with which he had to
deal, and he dealt with them accordingly. The Assembly had no longer
independence: spirit, self-respect, power was sacrificed for that which
gives wisdom to the foolish and judgment to the weak. The sum of
£55,000 was appropriated for the improvement of roads, canals, and
bridges; £2,000 was voted for the encouragement of inoculation with
vaccine virus as a preventative of small pox; the revenue for 1816 was
£144,625; the expenditure £75,638, less £24,495, the proportion of
duties payable to Upper Canada for 1815; the expenses of the
legislature for the same period were £3,203 currency; the salaries of
the judges were now £1,000 currency per annum each, and yet at the
disposal of the legislature there was the sum of £140,153.[29] The
session was closed on the 22nd of March, by receiving the thanks of the
Governor General for the extraordinary application to business which
had distinguished this session from any preceding session of the
parliament of Lower Canada.
[29] Christie's History, page 290.
In the course of the summer (1817) three hundred and three vessels with
five thousand three hundred and seventy-five new settlers had arrived
at Quebec, and banks were established both in Montreal and Quebec,
named after the cities in which they were set afloat. About the 15th of
November it was remarked that the Montreal Bank had commenced with
quite an unexpected confidence from every part of the community, so
much so that the merchants were realising more convenience from it than
they ever anticipated; and that since it had commenced business, the
profits were reported to have been immense.
In 1816, a settlement of emigrants was begun, under the direction of
the military, in Bathurst, Drummond, Beckwith and Golbourne. The first
settlers of Canada had a free passage afforded them from the United
Kingdom, and were provided with rations and tools on their arrival in
the colony. In 1816, rations and tools were furnished to 2,000
emigrants, who came out at their own expense, and in 1817 multitudes
came out in the expectation of being favored in the same way, but were
disappointed, nothing having been given to them but 100 acres of land
each, which many of them were too poor to occupy.[30] There were not
yet seven persons to the square mile, in the Upper Province. There were
only twenty places of worship and thirty-five resident preachers:--fifteen
methodists, five baptists, four quakers, three presbyterians, three
Roman Catholics, three episcopalians, one tunker and one menonist--in
the Western, London, Gore, and Niagara districts, with a population of
26,977 souls; and there were for the same population, 20 medical
practitioners, 132 schools, 114 taverns, 130 stores, 79 grist-mills,
and 116 saw-mills. The Home district contained 7,700 people; the
Newcastle, 5,000; the Midland, 14,853; the Johnstown, 9,200; the
Eastern, 12,700; and the Ottawa, 1,500; the total population of Upper
Canada being then estimated at 83,250 souls. York, the capital of the
Upper Province, situated on a beautiful plain, in a rich soil, and
temperate climate, was, at this period, more than a mile and a half in
length. It was laid out in regular streets, lots, and squares, having
the garrison, and the site of the parliament house on its two wings,
and a market near the centre. There was a public square open to the
water. Many neat and some elegant houses had been erected. The town had
a mixed appearance of city and country. Kingston was yet the town of
most note and indeed, in every respect, the most entitled to civic
consideration of any town then in the province. Parallel with its
spacious and convenient harbour were the streets, at convenient
distances from each other, and intersected, at right angles, by cross
streets, dividing the town into squares. One square was an open public
area in front of the Court House, and gaol, and episcopal church. The
market was held in that area. But there were other public buildings in
Kingston, besides the Court House, gaol, and episcopal church. There
was a new catholic church, a barracks for the troops in garrison, an
hospital, and a residence for the commandant. The town consisted of 300
private dwelling houses, a number of warehouses and stores, about 50
shops, in which goods were sold, several public offices, a respectable
district school, a valuable library, mechanics' shops &c. The Court
House, gaol, Catholic Church, and the principal dwelling houses were
built of the bluish limestone obtained in large quantities in the
middle of the town; but were more substantial than elegant in design.
Kingston wanted a populous back country then, and still wants it
because the soil is stoney and not therefore so well adapted for
agricultural operations as the soils of other parts of the province.
The Upper, as well as the Lower province had profitted by the
circulation of army bills and by the requirements of the troops.
Government transactions had given a spirit to trade and industry, and
only for a system of government, which, as far as any government can
do, crushed enterprise and fettered trade, both provinces would have so
flourished immediately after the war that the reaction which the
withdrawal of a few troops produced would scarcely have been felt. As
matters stood the provinces were already flourishing, and schemes of
improvement were everywhere in contemplation. Steam navigation, which
had proved so useful on the St. Lawrence, and had, as it were, drawn,
the two chief cities of the Lower Province more closely together, was
about to be attempted on Lake Ontario. Already the keel of a steamboat,
to be 170 feet on deck, was in process of construction at the village
of Ernest-town, for certain gentlemen resident in Kingston. If
possible, the new boat was to transport both goods and passengers for
the whole extent between Queenston and Prescott. It was, however,
feared that the rough water of the lake would be too much for any
steamer to contend against. The Americans were also building a smaller
steamboat at Sackett's Harbour. A year later and the steamboat
_Walk-in-the-Water_, plied between Black Rock, near Buffalo and
Detroit, on Lake Erie, occasionally to Michillimackinac.
[30] Gourlay's Canada, page 523. vol. 1.
The legislative affairs of the Upper Province have as yet hardly
warranted comment. There were so very few people in the province for
whom legislation was necessary, and there was so much sameness about
the business transacted in parliament that comment was barely needful.
At first sight it seems that all went smoothly. There could not have
been factionists where there were no French people entertaining
seditious ideas and cherishing revolutionary projects. But red-tapism
is every where the same. In Upper as in Lower Canada, there were only
two legislative branches, a Lower, or People's House, a Crown, or Upper
House. There was also a certain amount of Crown influence in the Lower
House, which made constitutional government a sham. The freedom of
speech was not even permitted to some members of the Assembly; and it
was quite impossible to hint at corruption in those times, far less to
insist upon the nomination of a corruption committee. There was a
continued interruption of harmonious intercourse between the
Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. As the Assembly of
Lower Canada had done and had been treated with regard to an offer to
defray the expenses of the civil list, so precisely had the Assembly of
Upper Canada acted, and so had they been treated, when an exactly
similar offer was made. And why? Because the legislative and executive
functions were united in the same persons. His Majesty's Executive
Council was almost wholly composed of the members of the Legislative
Council. Both Councils then consisted of the Deputy Superintendent
General of the Indian Department, the Receiver General, the Inspector
General, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the Legislative Council, and
the Honorable and Reverend Chaplain of the Legislative Council. The
Upper House was the mere instrument of some designing confidential
secretary to a weak-minded or, at least, credulous governor. Nay, it
was said that "ruffian magistrates" abounded in those days along the
banks of the St. Lawrence, from Brockville to Cornwall, inclusive, the
Lieutenant-Governor being held in leading strings, by the Honorable and
Reverend Chaplain of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada and one of
His Majesty's Executive Councillors for that province.[31] It is indeed
asserted that after the passage of the Sedition Act of 1804, the
misrule of Upper Canada came to a pitch so extraordinary, that it was
exclaimed against from the Bench, while a jury applauded. Governor Gore
appeared to have been creating at the same time, and with the same
effect, those treasonable practices which were so pleasing to Mr.
Witsius Ryland, in Lower Canada, and which had evidently been stirred
up, by the men-in-office, with the view of depriving both provinces of
the "exact image and transcript of the British constitution," with
which the Canadas had been favored in 1791. Until the invasion, in
1811, political discontent was loud and incessant, as well in Upper as
in Lower Canada; and it was the misrepresentations of the governing
party and the outcries of the governed in both provinces, that induced
the government of the United States to make war, on false pretences,
upon the government of Great Britain. There were persecutions for
opinion's sake in Upper as in Lower Canada. The newspaper was as odious
to the government in one province as in the other. In 1806, a sheriff
of the Home District, in opposition to the will of the Governor, voted
at an election. He lost the shrievalty for his stubborn independence.
Thrown upon his own resources, he established a newspaper, which he
called _The Upper Canada Guardian, or Freeman's Journal_. He spoke with
considerable freedom of the governor. He attacked the ministerial
party. He exhibited abuses with wonderful dexterity and skill. The
ex-sheriff, Joseph Wilcocks, was rapidly rising into note. It was time
to restrain him. A Captain Cowan was induced to be his persecutor. The
truth rapidly becoming dangerous to those whose business consists in
concealing the truth, cannot always be told with safety. Wilcocks
alleged that the Governor or his Executive Council had bribed several
members of the Assembly with land, to induce them to vote against the
interests of their constituents. Captain Cowan knew that the assertion
was without foundation. Wilcocks was prosecuted but was acquitted,
gained popularity in return for his persecution, and ultimately
obtained a seat in parliament. There was no more freedom for Wilcocks
in parliament than out of it. For some extra freedom of speech on the
floor of the House, he was thrust into prison. Nevertheless, he
acquired an ascendancy in the Assembly, to the great regret of the
ministerialists. He became still more the object of governmental wrath,
and when the war broke out, he was deprived of his paper. In 1812, he
fought as a volunteer against the Americans. He was present at the
battle of Queenston. He did all that within him lay, for his country
and for his king; but the government of the province hated and
persecuted him, so that starving and exasperated,[32] he deserted to
the enemy, carrying with him a corps of Canadians. Joseph Wilcocks, who
was an Irishman of good family, and who was persecuted by the
office-men of Upper Canada, to the prejudice and without the knowledge
of the British government, was driven into hostile opposition to
Britain by the most petty and contemptible tyranny of a few fellow
colonists holding office, and was killed during the siege of Fort Erie.
Had war occurred while Sir James Craig held Bedard in gaol and kept the
_Canadien_ printing press in the vaults of the Court House, at Quebec,
it is difficult to say whether a feeling very different to that
elicited by the prudent management of Sir George Prevost, might or
might not have been exhibited. The government of the province should
from the very outset have been only responsible to the people of the
province, and Great Britain have only maintained in acknowledgement of
her supremacy a military protectorate of British North America. But
Francis Gore, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, again met
the parliament of that province, on the 6th of January, 1816. The
business done consisted in an Act to alter the time of holding Courts
of Quarter Sessions in the London and Johnstown districts, an Act to
repeal part of the Act constituting the counties of Prescott and
Russell a separate district, under the name of the District of Ottawa;
an Act to make more effectual provision for the collection of the
revenue; an Act to provide for the appointment of Returning Officers;
an Act to extend the jurisdiction of the Court of Requests; an Act to
provide, for a limited time, for the appointment of a Provincial
Aid-de-Camp, to be appointed by the Governor, and to have ten shillings
a day in war, and five shillings a day in peace; an Act to provide £165
a year for the Adjutant-General of Militia; an Act to enable the
Governor to establish one or more additional ports of entry; an Act to
remunerate William Dummer Powell, Esquire, in the sum of £1,000, for
his services in ascertaining titles to land; an Act repealing part of
an Act for granting to His Majesty an additional duty on shop and
tavern licences; an Act to amend an Act to prevent damage to travellers
on the highways; an Act to grant relief to Catherine McLeod, whose son
was killed in war; an Act to relieve Charlotte Overholt whose husband
had been peculiarly killed; an Act to extend the limits of the town of
Niagara; an Act granting £799, as a provision for the contingent
expenses of both Houses of Parliament; an Act to relieve persons
holding lands in the district of Niagara, whose title deeds,
conveyances, or wills, had been destroyed when the enemy burnt the
town; an Act to continue the Act for the appointment of Returning
Officers; an Act to alter and extend the provisions of the Act granting
pensions to the widows and children of persons killed in the king's
service; an Act authorising the construction of a gaol and Court House
in the town of York; an Act to erect the District of Gore out of
certain parts of the Home and Niagara Districts; an Act granting £425
4s. 6d. to several inspectors who disbursed that amount for teamwork
and the apprehension of deserters; an Act to revive the Act affording
relief to persons entitled to claim lands in the province, as heirs or
devisees of the nominees of the Crown, in cases where no patent had
issued; an Act to grant annually, for four years, £470, as an increase
to the salaries of certain officers of the Council and Assembly; an Act
granting, £513 for the repair of certain highways; an Act appropriating
£800 for the purchase of books for the formation of a library for the
use of both Houses; an Act to continue an Act to facilitate the
circulation of Lower Canada army bills; an Act appropriating £2,500
annually for defraying the expenses of the civil administration of the
government; an Act to increase the salary of the present Speaker of the
Assembly, and to remunerate the present Speaker for past services,
granting £800 as four years' additional salary, and, in future, £200 to
be paid annually, in addition to the former annual payment of £200; an
Act regulating the trade between the United States and the province,
permitting the Governor to make regulations as to duties, but not
prohibiting the admission of wheat, flour, peas, beans, oats, barley,
and all other articles of provision and travellers' baggage; an Act to
continue for a limited time the provisional agreement entered into
between Upper and Lower Canada, relative to duties; an Act
appropriating £155 7s. 3d., to remunerate Elizabeth Wright, whose
husband was a tailor, for militia clothing; an Act appropriating £1,000
as an encouragement for the cultivation of hemp; an Act regulating the
police within the town of Kingston; an Act granting to His Majesty
duties on licences to hawkers, pedlars, and petty chapmen, and other
trading persons; £10 to be the cost of a license to a person travelling
on foot; £10 for every horse, ass, mule, or other beast of burden; £5
for every other beast; £50 for a decked vessel; £40 for every boat; and
for every non-resident of the province £50 a year; an Act providing a
salary of £500 a year for a Provincial Agent in Great Britain, to
correspond with the Governor and with the Speakers of the Legislative
Assembly and Legislative Council, who was to be removed on addresses
from the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly; an Act granting
£6,000 to His Majesty for the use of common schools; to the Home
District £600 annually; to the District of Newcastle £400; to the
Midland District £1,000; to the District of Johnstown £600; to the
Eastern District £800; to the London District £600; to the Gore
District £600; to the Niagara District £600; to the Western District
£600; and to the Ottawa District £200; an Act granting £21,000 for the
building and repairing of bridges and for the repairing of highways; an
Act granting £1,000 to defray the expenses of any commission for
ascertaining titles to lands in the Niagara District; and an Act to
repeal and amend part of an Act for laying out and repairing the public
highways.
[31] Gourlay, page 512, vol. 2.
[32] Gourlay, page 316, vol. 2.
Parliament was again assembled on the 4th of February, 1817, by
Governor Gore, during the session of which an Act was passed providing
for the representation of the commons of the counties of Wentworth and
Halton in parliament; also an Act to establish a police in the towns of
York, Sandwich, and Amherstburgh; an Act granting to His Majesty £2,578
for the administration of justice; £900 for the Lieutenant-Governor's
Office; £737 for the Office of the Receiver General; £2,300 for the
Surveyor General's Department; £650 for the Executive Council Office;
£36 for the Crown Office; £90 for the Attorney General's Office; £400
for the Secretary's Office; £200 for the Registrar of the Province;
£620 for the Inspector General's Office; £620 for pensions to wounded
officers; £400 for four clergymen; £50 for one minister of the Gospel;
£200 for repairs to Government House; and £500 for casual and
incidental expenses; an Act to establish a market in the town of
Niagara; an Act to repeal, amend and extend the Act granting pensions
to persons disabled in the service, and to the widows and children of
persons killed in war; an Act granting £1,576 0s. 8d. for the clerks
and for the contingencies of the last session of parliament; an Act in
part repealing and in part altering and amending an Act providing for
the appointment of parish and town officers; an Act to continue the Act
making provision for certain sheriffs; and an Act to enable the
commissioner of gaol delivery and Oyer and Terminer to proceed,
although the Court of King's Bench be sitting in the Home District, for
which they are commissioned.
This parliament was prorogued suddenly and unexpectedly, on the 7th of
April, 1817. The sudden prorogation was resorted to because the
Assembly had, on the 3rd of April, resolved itself into a committee of
the whole to take into consideration the state of the province. The
propriety or expediency of preventing immigration from the United
States, was to be discussed; the management of the Post Office
establishment was to be examined into; the manner of the disposal of
the Crown and Clergy Reserves was to be looked at; and the granting
lands to the volunteer flank companies, and the incorporated militia
who served during the late war, was to be investigated. It was resolved
to present an address to the Lieutenant-Governor, requesting him to
inform the Assembly, whether any orders had been received from England,
making an allotment of lands to the volunteer and incorporated militia,
who served during the war. The Assembly further resolved that an Act
had been passed in the reign of George the Second, for naturalizing
such foreign protestants as were then or should thereafter be settled
in any of His Majesty's colonies in North America; that an Act had been
passed in the thirtieth year of the reign of George the Third, for
encouraging new settlers in His Majesty's North American colonies; and
that these Acts were expressly enacted for facilitating and encouraging
the settlement of His Majesty's American dominions.
The good resolutions of the Assembly were, however, frustrated by His
Excellency the Governor, who, having assented to several bills, and
reserved for His Majesty's pleasure, a bill for a Bank and another to
enable creditors to sue joint debtors separately, summoned the Commons
to the Bar of the Legislative Council, and thus addressed the
Parliament:--The session of the legislature has been protracted by an
unusual interruption of business at its commencement and your longer
absence from your respective avocations must be too great a sacrifice
for the objects which may remain to occupy your attention. I come to
close the session and so permit you to return home. In accepting the
supply for defraying the deficiency of the funds which have hitherto
served to meet the charges of the administration of justice, and
support of the civil government of this province, I have great
satisfaction in acknowledging the readiness manifested to meet this
exigence.
In this session of parliament, Mr. James Durand, a member of the
Assembly, for Wentworth, was accused of having issued an address to his
free and independent electors, which was a libel upon the
Lieutenant-Governor, and a gross, false, and malicious libel on the
members of the late House of Assembly. Mr. Durand admitted the
publication of the address, but denied that he had spoken
disrespectfully of the Governor, and asserted, on his honor, that he
never had any intention of doing so. If any gentleman, however,
believed that he had abused him, whether intentionally or
unintentionally, he was prepared to give him that satisfaction which
was due from one gentleman to another. Mr. Nichol was surprised that
any gentleman should have made an appeal to the laws of honor. The
people of Wentworth had sent Mr. Durand to parliament to be their
legislator, not their gladiator. Mr. Jones adduced authority from
Blackstone to prove the right of the House to enquire into the
libel--to prevent bloodshed. Mr. Durand contended that the House had no
authority to try him, and even if it had, the jury should be impartial,
whereas several members of the House felt themselves to be implicated
in the charge against him. Mr. Nichol considered that honour demanded
that all the members should remain to decide the question. Mr. Durand
protested against his accuser, and spoke flatteringly of the Governor,
whom he had not calumniated. Mr. Speaker rose to say that no
explanation to the House would do away with the malice of the
publication. The paper was before the world, which would draw its own
inferences. He thought there was no doubt about its being a libel on
the Lieutenant-Governor and the Honorable the Legislative Council, but
he was not prepared to say how far the House could take cognizance of a
libel against any former House of Parliament. A false, scandalous and
malicious libel was accordingly reported. Mr. Nichol moved for Mr.
Durand's committal to gaol. Mr. McNabb moved in amendment, that Mr.
Durand be required to appear at the Bar of the House and apologize, the
apology to be published in the _Upper Canada Gazette_, _St. Catherines
Spectator_, and the _Montreal Herald_, which amendment was lost by a
majority of three against it. The original motion was carried by the
same majority, when Mr. Nichol moved for the commitment of James
Durand, Esquire, to the common gaol of the district, during the
session, which was carried in the affirmative, by a majority of four!
His Excellency, Francis Gore, soon after this returned to England, and
was prosecuted in London, by the Surveyor-General of Upper Canada, whom
he had deprived of office maliciously and without cause. The Court in
London gave Mr. Wyatt, as plaintiff, damages to the amount of
£300.[33]. Governor Gore was succeeded in the administration of Upper
Canada, by the Honorable Samuel Smith, on the 11th of June, 1817. The
Little Pedlington proceedings of the Upper Canada parliament, during
this reign, are hardly worthy of remark. The same spirit still
continued to actuate both Council and Assembly, and the Governor lorded
it over both. The voice of the people was remarkable for nothing but
its weakness.
[33] It is not a little curious that the judge in summing up the
evidence in this case speaks of Upper Canada being an island.
Sir John Sherbrooke met the parliament of Lower Canada again on the 7th
of January, 1818. He informed the Houses that he had distributed the
seed wheat and other grain, for which a large sum had been voted during
the previous session, so immediately that the relief had been attended
with the happiest consequences. He had been commanded by the Regent to
call upon the provincial legislature to vote the sums necessary for the
ordinary expenditure of the province. He would lay before the Assembly
an estimate of the sums required. He would also submit the accounts of
the revenue and expenditure for the past year. And he anticipated a
continuance of that loyalty and zeal which had prompted the Assembly to
offer to meet the expenses of the government. The Assembly were proud
that their offer had been accepted. The public was satisfied that the
settlement of the civil list, and the control of the public
expenditure, should rest with the Assembly, and the reply to the speech
from the throne was a simple affirmative. Sir John Sherbrooke had
informed Lord Bathurst that the permanent expenditure actually exceeded
the revenue by nearly the sum of £19,000 a year; and that there was a
debt due to the provincial chest from the imperial treasury of
£120,000. The salaries of the clergy and pensioners never had been laid
before the Assembly, but had been thrown into a separate list, and
although paid in the first instance out of the civil chest had,
nevertheless, invariably been provided for out of the extraordinaries
of the army. He further informed the secretary for the colonies that,
in his opinion, it was desirable that the civil list should be wholly
provided for by the province. Lord Bathurst did not fail to take into
consideration the accumulation, during four years, of the annual excess
of the actual expenditure, beyond the appropriated revenue of each
year. He quite concurred in the opinion expressed by Sir John
Sherbrooke, that the annual settlement of the accounts of the province
and the government at home would have been at once the most expedient
course and most likely to prevent any interruption of a mutual good
understanding. Short accounts make long friends. As related to the
past, it was a question whether the legislature might not fairly be
considered as having sanctioned the appropriation, the extra
appropriation of the funds, by not objecting to it, when submitted to
their notice, or whether any further measures were required for
legalizing the appropriation itself, or for repaying the debt, which,
under other circumstances, might be considered due to the province.
With respect to some part of the expenditure, the silence of the
legislature must be interpreted into an approbation of it, for they
could not but think themselves bound to make good the deficiency of the
funds appropriated by themselves to specific objects, such as the
charge for the Trinity House, and the payment of the officers of the
legislature, which had uniformly exceeded the funds raised under the
Imperial Acts. He saw no objection to considering the silent admission
of the accounts, submitted to them, as an implied approbation of the
accounts themselves, and of the manner in which they had been
discharged. But with respect to the future, he considered it advisable
that the legislature should be annually called upon to vote all the
sums required for the annual expenditure of the province. The House was
to be prepared for the probable contingency of voting that part of the
civil list which provided for the stipends of the Roman Catholic
Clergy, and omitting the other part which had reference to the
Protestant establishment. The Governor in such case was to use every
means in his power to prevent a partial provision from passing the
Upper House, and if it did pass there, he was to withhold his assent.
He called the Governor's attention to the necessity of vigilantly
watching and guarding against any assumption, on the part of the
Legislative Assembly, of a power to dispose of money, without the
concurrence of the other branch of the legislature. This great
concession, with which every body was so pleased, was due to the
sagacity of Sir John Sherbrooke. He saw how easily it was to be turned
to favorable account. He saw that the Assembly would be extraordinarily
well pleased; and he further saw that the full power of the public
chest was all that the Assembly required to be fully in the power of
the government. In a word, they only needed the money power to corrupt
and to be corrupted.
An address to the Governor was next adopted, requesting His Excellency
to state whether or not the Prince Regent had forwarded to him
instructions concerning the impeachment of the Honorable Louis Charles
Foucher, one of the Judges of the King's Bench. Sir John Sherbrooke had
had a conversation with Mr. Ryland on the subject. The Clerk of the
Executive Council, and member of the Legislative Council, had even put
his opinion in writing, respecting the mode in which it might be most
advisable to carry into execution the instructions contained in the
despatch of Lord Bathurst, dated on the 5th of July, 1817. He was
strongly of opinion that the advice given to Sir John to convey a
judicial power to the Legislative Council, by commission, was founded
in error. The House of Assembly had acquired, by dint of perseverance,
and a gradual exercise of privilege, during a period of six and twenty
years, some of the most important privileges that attached to the House
of Commons, one of which was the power of preferring impeachments
against such public officers of the Crown in the colony as they might
deem deserving of punishment or removal from office; and, as a
counterbalancing influence, in the case of Mr. Justice Foucher, and in
all similar cases of impeachment by the Assembly, the adjudication of
the charges preferred against the party accused was to be left to the
Legislative Council, it being added to the instruction, as a reason for
the concession, that the party accused could sustain but little injury
from a temporary suspension, while, if ultimately pronounced guilty,
the advantage of an immediate suspension was unquestionable. Mr. Ryland
conceived that no other power or privilege was, however, intended to be
conveyed by the despatch to the Legislative Council than that of
sitting, as grand jurors of the province, upon accusations brought by
the Assembly against the public servants of the Crown, and that if the
charges brought by the Lower House were considered by the Council as
valid, His Majesty would then exercise the Royal Prerogative, either by
suspending from office or dismissing from his service the party
accused. He was strongly of opinion that a communication of the
substance of that despatch by a _solemn_ message to both Houses of
the Provincial Parliament, would be the utmost that either House could
reasonably require to enable them to proceed to a final adjudication,
as far as the Crown intended they should proceed, upon accusations
preferred against individuals by the Assembly. He was astonished at the
line of argument adopted before His Excellency for the purpose of
forcing an analogy between the Court of the Lord High Steward of
England and that which it was proposed to establish in Canada. The High
Court of Parliament took cognizance only of crimes committed by Peers
of the realm, upon indictments previously found in the inferior Courts.
He contended that Sir John Sherbrooke was not empowered to constitute
any tribunal but for the trial of offences recognised as such by
statute or common Law. If Mr. Justice Foucher was accused of any such
offence, the ordinary tribunals of the country could take cognizance of
it and inflict punishment. Mr. Ryland was deeply impressed with the
idea that the longer or shorter continuance of the province as an
appendage to the British empire would be dependent on the events of the
present or coming session of parliament. Mr. Ryland did not relish the
idea of the Legislative Council being deprived of its _constitutional
character_ by the supposition even that it might be compelled to
adopt a course of proceeding contrary to its own judgment. He thought
that the Legislative Council ought to be made parties to any accusation
adduced against a public officer by arrangement. There was no precedent
for a commission, and indeed, Mr. Ryland was in every way opposed to
the plan of leaving to the Legislative Council the adjudication of
charges preferred against public officers by the Assembly. Sir John
Sherbrooke could not understand the reasoning of Mr. Ryland. He agreed
with the Clerk of the Executive Council that a great change was to be
brought about in the system of the provincial government, especially
with respect to its finance; but, when it was considered that the
mother country was "at present" struggling with pecuniary
embarrassments, it was not surprising that ministers should call upon
the colonies to contribute to their own support. It was very obvious
that, ever since the present constitution had been given to Lower
Canada, the House of Assembly had been gradually obtaining an increase
of power, whilst the Legislative Council remained in _statu quo_.
The proper balance had consequently been lost and he knew of no better
mode of giving new weight and importance to the Upper House than the
measure devised by the Prince Regent that as often as the House of
Assembly should impeach, the Legislative Council should adjudicate upon
the case, and the Council having declared that they had not the power
to do so, some more formal instrument than a letter from the Secretary
of State to the Governor, to invest the Council with the necessary
authority to act, would be required. To the address of the Assembly an
answer was given in a message to both Houses. The message intimated
that the adjudication of impeachments by the Assembly was to rest with
the Legislative Council; that the Regent trusted that the Council would
discharge the important duties which thus devolved upon them in such a
manner as to give satisfaction to all classes of people in the
province; and that the Governor, not having had instructions, as to the
manner in which the adjudications were to be conducted, would apply to
the Regent for instructions and communicate them as soon as obtained.
The House of Assembly did nothing, as the wisest course to be pursued,
and the Council, now almost raised to a level with the House of Lords,
in its own estimation, expressed its thanks in a series of resolutions
offered by Mr. Ryland, for the confidence which His Royal Highness had
reposed in it. Mr. Ryland and some other members of the Council were
most anxious to adjudicate upon Mr. Foucher's impeachment at once; but,
says the Clerk of the Council, in a letter written subsequently to
Colonel Ready, the resolutions offered by me, which would have been
adopted by a majority of the legislature, were stifled or repressed by
artful and solemn asseverations made in the House for the purpose of
inducing a belief that the state of the Governor's health was such that
a further agitation of the business might endanger his life! And so
ended the Foucher impeachment matter for a time. An Act was passed for
the incorporation of a company to construct a navigable canal, on the
Richelieu, from Chambly to St. Johns, a work subsequently undertaken
and completed by the province, on a very inadequate scale, inasmuch as
the canal was only sufficiently large for batteaux, instead of being of
a size which would have permitted steamboat communication between
Quebec, _via_ Sorel, and the towns on Lake Champlain. The
estimates for the civil list amounting to £73,646, were voted after a
debate of a week; a night watch and night lights were provided for in
Montreal and Quebec; an Act was passed for the encouragement of
agriculture, and commissioners appointed to improve the communication,
by water, between Upper and Lower Canada; an attempt was made to
indemnify the members of the Assembly; and the public accounts being
submitted, the revenue for 1817 appeared to have been £108,925
currency, and the expenditure £116,920 sterling, including £19,426
owing to Upper Canada for duties in 1816. The expenses of the
legislature amounted to £16,173, including £3,945 for books purchased
for the library of the Assembly.
Sir John Sherbrooke, was so very ill that he found himself unable to go
down to the Council Chamber to prorogue the parliament. He was,
therefore, waited upon by the members of both Houses, at the Castle of
St. Lewis, and there the prorogation took place _sans cérémonie_.
Business had been rather brisk this year, but out of parliament, and
away from St. Peter street, there was no stir of any kind. The
newspapers contented themselves with retailing news from the continent
of Europe, six months old, and the inhabitants of town and country
unconcernedly watched the rising and the setting of the sun, or
endeavored, as an antidote to the _tedium vitæ_, to count the
number of the stars at night. Three hundred and thirty-four vessels of
76,559 tons burthen, including one vessel built at Quebec, cleared at
the port, and a duty of 2-1/2 per centum was levied on goods, wares,
and merchandise, amounting to £672,876. There was one matter, which,
however, created a little talk about town. Mrs. Montgomery, widow of
the late General Montgomery, who fell on the night of the 31st of
December, 1775, while leading on a storming party of Americans at the
_Près-de-Ville_, Quebec, applied to Sir John Sherbrooke for the
remains of her husband, which had been buried somewhere in the
neighborhood of a powder magazine. The request was complied with. On
the 16th of June, the exhumation of the body, in the presence of Major
Freer, who was on the staff of the Governor, of Major Livingston, a
near relative to Mrs. Montgomery, and of some other spectators, took
place under the direction of Mr. James Thomson, of the Royal Engineer
Department, one of the followers of General Wolfe, who forty-two years
previously to the application for the body had buried the General with
his two Aides-de-Camp, Cheeseman and McPherson, beside him, where the
military prison, near St. Lewis Gate, now stands.
Sir John Sherbrooke was, at his own request, recalled. His health had
been indifferent for some time. He was relieved of his government soon
after he had requested to be so by His Grace the Duke of Richmond. Sir
John sailed for England on the 12th of August, with his character
either in a military or civil point of view untarnished. Richmond,
Lennox and Aubigny, the new Governor-in-Chief, had been Lord Lieutenant
General of Ireland. His hereditary rank, his previous position, as well
as his present station obtained for him a consideration greater than
any mere military knight could reasonably look for. He was accompanied
by Major-General Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B., his son-in-law
appointed to the Lieutenant-Governorship of Upper Canada. His Grace was
looked upon indeed as a semi-deity. But the Duke was exceedingly poor,
and perhaps owed his own appointment as well as that of his son-in-law,
as much to the influence of the Duke of Wellington, who was his friend,
as to his own. He summoned the legislature of Canada together on the
12th of January, 1819, but merely intimated that the Queen had died,
and adjourned the public business, out of respect to Her Majesty's
memory, until the 22nd of the month. The opening speech on that day was
a wretched affair. The Duke did not recommend anything beyond a
provision for the expenses of the civil government, which the illness
of Sir John Sherbrooke had prevented him from completing; and the reply
to his Grace was as tame as His Grace's speech. It was very like two
individuals in meeting, saluting each other with the words--"good
morning, Sir,"--"a good morning to you, Sir,"--"_shalom elachem_,"
as the Jew has it, to be returned with "_alaichem shalom_," "peace
be unto you,"--"with you be peace." His Grace was not slow in
submitting the estimates of the expenses of the civil government for
the year 1819. Instead of £73,646 currency, as before, the estimate was
now £81,432. The House could not understand the sudden increase. Was it
necessary to pay £15,000 extra for a Duke? That was gracious goodness
to an appreciable extent! The estimate was referred to a select
committee, who were to make as ostensible as possible the necessity for
the increased demand, and if that could not be done, to say why not.
The committee reported that the interests of the country would best be
served by making an unqualified reduction of those sinecures and
pensions, which, in all countries had been considered the reward of
iniquities, and the encouragement of vice, and which had been and still
were subjects of complaint in England, and would, in Canada, lead to
corruption, and that too while the estimates contained the item of
£8,000 sterling a year, to be placed at the disposal of His Majesty's
representative, for rewarding provincial services, and for providing
for old and reduced servants of the government and others. Mr. Ryland
had already been in correspondence with the Duke's Secretary, Colonel
Ready, and hence the provision in the civil list for decayed servants
of the government. When this manoeuvre failed, an attempt was made to
obtain a permanent provision for the civil government of the province,
during the reign of the sovereign, and that failing, another was made
to vote the civil list money _en bloc_; but the Assembly would
only listen to one proposition, however democratic it might be, and
that was to vote the civil list annually, item by item, so that the
House might increase or diminish particular salaries at will. The
Assembly then went through the civil list, affixing to each office a
salary, and passing over without any appropriation such offices as were
either positive sinecures or little else. A bill was introduced and
carried through the third reading, granting to offices particularly
specified, particular salaries. It was sent to the Legislative Council
for concurrence, and was there at once rejected. The Council looked
upon the mode adopted by the bill of granting a supply to His Majesty
as unprecedented and unconstitutional, as an assumption of the
prerogative of the Crown, as calculated to prescribe to the Crown the
number and description of its servants, and as certain to make the
Crown officers dependent on an elective body, whereby they might be
made instrumental in overthrowing the Crown itself. Thus was the civil
list bill lost. A company was incorporated to construct a canal between
Montreal and Lachine. £3,000 was appropriated towards the apportionment
of lands to the militia who had served during the war; and Pierre
Bedard, Esquire, Judge for the District of Three Rivers, was impeached
by Mr. C. R. Ogden. Mr. Ogden accused Bedard of prostituting his
judicial authority to the gratification of personal malice; of tyranny;
of imposing fines upon his enemies on pretence of punishing contempts
of Courts; of uttering expressions derogatory to the other judges of
the Court in which he sat; of having accused the barristers of Three
Rivers frequently of high breaches of moral and professional rectitude;
of having wickedly imprisoned in the common gaol of Three Rivers,
Charles Richard Ogden, Esquire, then and still being His Majesty's
Counsel for the said district, for an alleged libel and contempt
against the provincial Court, in which Mr. Bedard was the judge; for
having illegally fined Pierre Vezina, Esquire, an advocate practicing
in Court, ten shillings, for pretended contemptuous conduct; and for
having grossly and unjustifiably attacked the character of Joseph de
Tonnancour, a barrister. The articles of impeachment were referred to a
committee which reported in favor of the judge, and the House did not,
therefore, impeach him.
While this was going on a message was received from His Grace the
Governor-in-Chief, acquainting the members of the Legislative Council
that the commands of the Prince Regent had been received respecting the
proceedings of the Assembly against Mr. Foucher. The Regent directed
that the Assembly, previous to any ulterior proceeding, should lay
before the Governor-in-Chief such documentary evidence as they might
consider adequate to support the charges which they had brought against
Mr. Justice Foucher, and that copies of such charges, of such
documentary evidence, and of the examination already taken and annexed
to the charges should be then transmitted by His Grace the
Governor-in-Chief to Mr. Justice Foucher for his answer and defence,
which answer and defence would be submitted to the Assembly for their
reply, when the whole of the documents would be submitted to the Regent
for such further course as the case might require. The Legislative
Council were quite shocked at this message. They had been told that
they might adjudicate upon cases of impeachment, and now it was
commanded that they should gather evidence and send it to the Regent
for adjudication. The Council dutifully remonstrated, feeling it due to
itself to state to His Grace that at the time of receiving the late
Governor's message it was prevented from taking more upon itself than
to return its humble thanks for the "decision" of His Royal Highness
the Prince Regent, on the subject of its address of the 3rd of March,
1817, by representations made in the Council, that the state of His
Excellency's health was such that a further agitation of the business
at the moment might endanger his life. But the House confidently relied
on the communication, contained in the message, that the "arrangement"
therein announced with respect to the adjudication of impeachments by
the Council was _final_. If representations had subsequently been
made tending to withdraw from the Council the favor and confidence of
the Crown, all doubt would be removed by the communication which they
solicited from His Excellency as to the Royal intervention, and the
House would finally be able, with His Grace's powerful support, to
secure the full and free exercise of a privilege, without which the
balance of an admirable constitution would be destroyed, and the second
estate of the provincial legislature be reduced to insignificance and
contempt. The answer to this address was most emphatic. Mr. Justice
Foucher was ordered to resume his functions as a Judge of the Court of
King's Bench, at Montreal; and the Duke turning from the Council, drew
the attention of the Assembly to the necessity which existed for a
reform in the judicature. The Assembly had indeed already expressed an
opinion to the effect that it was necessary for the independence of the
judges that they should not be withdrawn from their judicial duties by
holding any other offices in the civil administration of the
government. The House of Assembly paid very little heed, however, to
the recommendation of the Duke. There was, indeed, no ministry in the
confidence of the majority to originate any business in the Lower
House, and for one of a minority, the creature of the government in the
Assembly, and without the shadow of influence in it, to take the matter
up, would have been worse than useless. The Lower House was, indeed,
like a ship without a helm. It was uncontrollable. All that a governor
could do was to look upon the most popular man in the Assembly, as if
he were a minister of State, and govern in such a manner as to suit his
views. The expediency of erecting the Eastern Townships into a judicial
district had been represented to the Assembly at its previous session.
It was considered a denial of justice to require people situated as the
Eastern Township farmers were, in a new and rather far off country,
when the want of good roads is considered, to sue and be sued in the
Courts of Montreal, Three Rivers, or Quebec. But they stirred not. They
merely appointed a committee to draw up a statement of the receipts of
the provincial revenue of the Crown, and of the disbursements by the
Receiver General from the date of the constitution to 1819; and also a
statement of all the appropriations made by the legislature, and of the
amount paid upon each of them by the Receiver General, the balance to
be stated and the monies to be counted. There was evidently a suspicion
in the minds of some of the members of the Assembly that the National
Bank had been paying interest out of the new deposits and that the
managers were living in the same style of novelty. However that may
have been, the business of legislation was now concluded, and His Grace
the Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, Governor-in-Chief of Canada,
and Captain General of British North America, came down to the
Legislative Chambers in State. He took his seat upon the throne
quickly. He seemed to speak to his attendants testily. He sent for the
Commons impatiently. And he looked sternly. Colonel Ready, as soon as
the Commons had appeared, handed His Excellency, who was not
particularly gracious, a paper to read. "Gentlemen of the Legislative
Council," were the first words uttered, and all eyes were upon the
Duke. "_You_ have not disappointed my hopes. I thank you for your
zeal and alacrity. Gentlemen of the Assembly:--It is with deep concern
that I cannot thank you in connection with the result of your labors
and of the principles upon which they rest. You proceeded to vote a
part of the sum required for the expenses of 1819, but the bill of
appropriation which you prepared was founded upon such principles that
it had been most constitutionally rejected by the Upper House, and so
the government has been left without the supplies necessary for the
support of the civil administration for the ensuing year,
notwithstanding the voluntary offer given to the King in 1810." His
Grace had recommended by special message the consideration of the
Judicature Act so that it might be amended, and the Assembly had not
even proceeded with it so far as to enable the Governor-in-Chief to
transmit the result of the parliamentary proceedings to the King's
ministers, with the view of obtaining the opinions and assistance of
the law officers of the Crown in England. He did trust, therefore, that
at an early day in the next session the matter would be proceeded with.
He had assented to the militia bill with reluctance. It was not
necessary that the officers should be natives of the province. There
were many half-pay officers of the army who were much better fitted for
holding commissions in the militia than wealthy _habitants_ were;
and there were clerks, and other enterprising young men about cities
and towns, who, on any emergency, were equally as well adapted for
officers of militia as any _seigneur_ whatever. The population of
the province afforded excellent materials for a defensive army, but a
general and proper selection of officers was necessary to make it
formidable to an active and enterprising enemy. The selection of
officers must only belong to the executive power. This speech did not
raise the Duke of Richmond in the estimation of the Commons of Canada.
Some were inclined to laugh at His Excellency, while not a few were
offended. His Grace had been evidently tampered with. He was not looked
upon as a free agent. While perfectly willing to defray the expenses of
the civil administration, the Commons felt no disposition to build up a
pension list or to be in any way burthened with life annuities to
officers of the imperial army, for whom the imperial government was
bound to provide. All the officers required in the civil government of
the country, the Commons were prepared amply to remunerate, but they
were not at all prepared to award salaries for the perpetuation of
sinecure offices, the holders of which had never set a foot in the
country. The Commons, in a word, desired to have some control over the
government itself, as, in a free country all power should proceed from
the people. This was denied to them. They were required to do whatever
the government desired, and refusing obedience, they were castigated,
castigated by the representative of the sovereign of a free country, of
which Canada formed a part. In spite of this rugged mode of governing,
the country was nevertheless, making progress. Business was brisk. The
population was rapidly increasing. A steamer had been placed on the
Ottawa. The Rideau Canal to connect the Ottawa with Lake Ontario, at
Kingston, had been commenced, at the expense of the imperial
government, as a military work. Quebec contained 2,008 houses, and a
population of 15,257 souls, of whom 11,991 were Roman Catholics, and
3,266 were Protestants. Four new vessels had been built at Quebec in
the course of the past year, and 409 vessels of 94,657 tons of shipping
had been cleared at the port of Quebec, while merchandise to the amount
of £772,373 had been imported. The gross revenue amounted to £58,332
sterling for Lower Canada, and £18,673 sterling for Upper Canada. The
expenditure amounted to £127,379 sterling, including £9,720 for the
purchase of seed wheat in 1817; £45,270 in payment of army bills:
£14,988, the fifth of the whole duties collected for 1817 and due to
Upper Canada, by agreement. The cost of mere legislation was this year
£13,420 currency. In 1819, from the opening of the navigation to the
12th of October, 612 vessels had arrived, and 12,434 immigrants had
come to enrich the country by their labor and benefit trade by their
necessities.
In the Lower Province two Banks had already been established; there was
now one in operation at Kingston, in Upper Canada. It is not a little
curious, however, that when efforts were first made to establish the
Kingston Bank the current of public opinion set so strongly against the
measure, that although supported by men of intelligence and
respectability, it was abandoned without the presentation of petitions
to the legislature. A bill, as may have already been perceived, was,
nevertheless, passed, for the incorporation of the bank, but reserved
for His Majesty's pleasure by Governor Gore. The roads, in Upper
Canada, were at this period so indifferent that there were but few
common carriages, while the inns were so indifferent that in the summer
season travelling was for the most part accomplished by water. Indeed
the facilities afforded by water for travelling in some very
considerable degree impeded the improvement of the roads, between towns
situated very far apart.
Sir Peregrine Maitland having assumed the government of Upper Canada,
met the parliament of that province, for the first time, on the 12th of
October, 1818. His "maiden" speech from the throne was noticeable for
the remark that parliament would feel a just indignation at the
attempts which had been made to excite discontent and to organize
sedition, accompanied by the hint and suggestion that should it appear
to parliament that a convention of delegates could not exist without
danger to the constitution, in framing a law of prevention,
parliamentary wisdom would be careful that it should not unwarily
trespass on that sacred right of the subject to seek a redress of his
grievances by petition. Mr. Robert Gourlay, of Craigrothie, Fifeshire,
in Scotland, had emigrated to Upper Canada, with the view of settling
himself and family and indeed of making a settlement in some suitable
spot. Mr. Guthrie had peculiar ideas with regard to emigration, free
trade, and liberty of speech. He was a democrat, but not, by any means,
a republican. He was not politically connected with either Cobbett or
Hunt, although he seems to have known both of these gentlemen. He was
not in the habit of attending such meetings as those that were held at
Spa-fields and were then termed "radical" meetings, although he had
been at a meeting in Spa-fields. He had been both in Ireland and in the
United States, but he was neither an Irish rebel nor an American
revolutionist. He had only a bee in his bonnet, which has since buzzed
in the bonnets of a very great number of men, whose loyalty or
patriotism has not been even doubted, and, who, consequently, have
never been marked "dangerous" by a colonial Justice of the Peace. Mr.
Guthrie conceived that Canada was capable of absorbing about 50,000 of
the poor of England, Ireland, and Scotland, annually; that a land tax
was preferable to taxes on trade and manufactures, especially in a new
country; that there should be three description of roads--provincial,
district, and township; that it would be advantageous to connect the
lakes of the St. Lawrence together, and permit the free navigation of
the Canadian inland waters from Lake Superior to the sea; that free
trade should exist; and that there should be no hindrance to the
expression of public opinion, however offensive to the authorities such
public opinion might be. Mr. Guthrie arrived in Canada in the summer of
1817, and after looking around him, determined upon establishing
himself as a land agent. He had, in truth, conceived schemes for a
grand system of emigration, and set about obtaining statistics with the
view of setting forth the capabilities of the country to the people of
England. He addressed the landowners of Upper Canada for information.
He sent circulars to the people, but unfortunately made allusion to the
able resolutions brought forward at the close of the last session of
the provincial parliament. He brought the matter before the parliament
itself, but that body having been suddenly prorogued, by Governor Gore,
the idea of a convention suggested itself to Mr. Gourlay. The Executive
of Upper Canada took alarm. The desire, for a knowledge of the
condition, circumstances, and requirements of the townships and
districts, was in connection with some radical schemes for upsetting
British authority in the Canadas. Mr. Guthrie was misrepresented and,
with the view of creating a general panic, he was arrested.
Nevertheless, deputies were chosen and a convention was held at York.
In this convention the political restraints to which the colonists were
liable were fully discussed. There was undoubted mismanagement on the
part of the executive government, and Gourlay advised a petition to the
Prince Regent, soliciting the appointment of a commission from England
to make enquiries. Such a proposal could not fail to give offence.
Gourlay was arrested and carried before the most virulent of his
political enemies. He was tried and twice acquitted, but the _London
Courier_, of the 8th of July, 1818, arrived, in which he was alluded
to as "one of the worthies, who had _escaped_ after the
disgraceful proceedings of Spa-fields." That was enough. Mr. Gourlay
was brought before a magistrate, Mr. Dickson, M.P. "Do you know Mr.
Cobbett?" asked the magistrate. "Yes," answered the culprit. "Do you
know Mr. Hunt?" "Yes." "Were you at Spa-fields?" "Yes." "Were you ever
in Ireland?" "Yes." "Were you lately in the Lower Province?" "Yes."
"Were you lately in the United States?" "Yes." "Was it you that wrote
the article in the _Spectator_, headed "Gagged, gagged by jingo?""
"It was." "Then," said Mr. Dickson to his fellow magistrates, "it is my
opinion that Mr. Gourlay is a man of desperate fortune, and would stick
at nothing to raise insurrection in the province." He was committed to
gaol charged with treasonable practices! There was then, indeed, no
real liberty in the province, and Mr. Gourlay had made use of words
which only could be used safely in England. The magistracy were
completely in the hands of the Executive Council, and a considerable
number of both Houses were inclined to do whatever they were ordered.
Indeed there were few politicians in the country, politics not having
yet become a trade. The Commons replied to Sir Peregrine Maitland just
as he wished. They were convinced that a convention of delegates could
not exist without danger to the constitution. Nay, they even went
further, and on the 19th of October, presented an address expressing
just indignation at the systematic attempts that had been made to
excite discontent and organize sedition in the province, and they
deeply regretted that the designs of one man should have succeeded in
drawing into the support of his vile machinations so many honest men,
and loyal subjects of His Majesty. A bill was passed indeed to prevent
the organization of persons, who might degrade the character of the
province, and after assenting to several bills Sir Peregrine Maitland
closed the session by thanking parliament for the seasonable aid of "An
Act for preventing certain meetings within the province." He conceived
that if the people were aggrieved they could send a petition to the
foot of the throne. The Surveyor General's Department was to be
abolished. He was proud of the sentiments expressed by the House of
Assembly and would send them to His Majesty's government. Had the
public mind been tranquil, he would have brought before the Houses a
few objects of general importance, one of which was a remedy for the
unequal pressure of the road laws. Mr. Gourlay was retained in gaol,
then ordered to leave the province, and, on refusing to go, was tried
for disobeying an Act of parliament. He was forcibly ejected from the
province, and it was not until 1847 that the province of Canada offered
him redress in the shape of a pension of some fifty pounds a year, Mr.
Gourlay being then resident in Scotland. Governor Maitland again met
the parliament of Upper Canada on the 7th of June, 1819. He informed
the parliament that the Queen had closed a long life, illustrious for
the exemplary discharge of every public and private duty; that the
Regent had authorised the governors of both Canadas to bestow lands on
certain of the provincial army and militia, "which served" during the
late war; that recent purchases from the natives had been so far
effected, as would enable him to set apart tracts in the several
districts, to accommodate such of their respective inhabitants as were
within the limits of the royal instruction; but that he (Governor
Maitland) did not consider himself justified in extending that mark of
approbation to any of the individuals, who composed the late convention
of delegates, the proceedings of which were properly the subject of
very severe parliamentary animadversion. The royal assent had been
given to the bill for the establishment of a provincial bank, but, from
some delay, it did not arrive in time for promulgation, within the
period limited by law; the form of an enactment would, therefore, be
necessary to render it available. He was deeply impressed with the
necessity of an amendment to the road law; neglected grants of an early
day were becoming a serious evil. The exemption of any land belonging
to individuals, from the operation of the assessment law, was found to
be detrimental: a new bill so modified as to protect the land from sale
by distress until due notice could be given to the proprietors would
receive His Majesty's assent. The public accounts would be laid before
the House of Assembly with the estimates for the ensuing year. The
growth of the province in population and wealth, justified a reasonable
expectation that the measures adopted to encourage it would receive the
fullest support: and the expediency of affording the new settlers,
situated remotely from the great lakes and rivers, an easy approach to
market was apparent, and with other matters would, he hoped, be
attended to. The speech in reply was satisfactory, but there was an
under current of public opinion, not quite so satisfactory. It was
considered that Governor Maitland had exceeded his authority in
withholding in part that which the Regent had instructed him not to
withhold at all. Conventions were not illegal. The right to meet and
discuss public measures had never been called in question. The
convention was composed of men who were altogether loyal. To upset the
government of the province or to get rid of imperial authority was
never contemplated. All that the members of convention desired was the
repeal of several grievances, and they meant only to petition the
Regent for their removal. The executive influence in the legislature
was overwhelming and mischievous. The governor had not only the
disposal of every civil office, and of every civil and military
commission, but of land to a boundless extent. That influence had been
repeatedly misapplied. The lamentable effects of such a misapplication
of influence had been too frequently witnessed. Public duty was
neglected. The whole face of the country was pining with disease.
Nature was everywhere struggling with misrule. And civilization itself
was on the decline. In Upper Canada the image and transcript of the
British constitution was now only reflected by Major-General Sir
Peregrine Maitland, and five executive councillors. Legislation was
embraced in a governor's speech from the throne.
About the time of the prorogation of the session, His Grace, the Duke
of Richmond, came to Upper Canada, on a tour of inspection. His Grace
and his son-in-law went to Niagara together. Important internal
improvements were contemplated, and the two governors were desirous of
ascertaining how they might be effected. The Duke, after a short stay
in Upper Canada, bade farewell to his relative, and, with Colonel
Ready, his secretary, was on his way to Quebec, when, somewhere between
Kingston and Montreal, he became seriously ill. It is not very certain
what ailed him. He was said to have been bitten by a fox. However, he
died, in a few hours, of excruciating suffering. He supported, for the
brief period, a disease, supposed to be hydrophobia, with undaunted
constancy, and yielded up his spirit on the 28th of August, 1819. His
remains were brought to Quebec, and there interred with great pomp and
ceremony, beneath the altar of the Church of England Cathedral, but as
yet no monument has been erected to his memory.