The Sun. — London, England, 1837-03-07 00:00:00

IV privileges of any legislative body). If the necessity had not arisen which the Noble Lord so forcibly pointed out, unquestionably the British Parliament ought never to support such a propo sition as that which was now made. He contended that the privilege of the House of Assembly in Canada, and the pri vilege of that House, of stopping the Supplies, was a privilege which ought never to be exercised except in extreme cases. He was anxious to uphold the 'legitimate privileges of the House of Assembly ; but he would cheerfully support the Noble Lord's proposition to empower the Crown to take suf ficient out of the public chest of Canada to pay the arrears due to the public servants of the colony; and, be it remembered, that to do this it was not proposed to tax the peeple of Canada. No ; the money was in the public chest, but the House of Assembly would not appropriate it ; and where, he would ask, was the analogy between this case and that of America ? With respect to other points he would not detain the House; but with regard to the proposi tion for making the Legislative Council elective, who could suppose that in doing this they would not abrogate, to all intents and purposes, the constitution ? Who could doubt that the fact of making the Legislative Council • elective would be anything more than creating a nominal second branch only, without any real power, unable to interpose any check? Who would doubt that the effect of such a proceeding would be to throw upon the Governor-in-Chief the onus of rejecting any measure of which he did not approve. He took it for granted that if this point were conceded—if the Noble Lord were weak enough to concede this point to please a party, the next thing would be, that if the Governor did not feel himself bound to pass a measure. the odium must be thrown on the King's representative. If there were any analogy between this case and that of the United States, why not ask for an elective Governor? The Hon. and Learned Member for Bath, he believed, said, "Wo do." Following up, then, the course of the most ardent Reformers, and of the advocates of popular rights, and overlooking other considerations, those per- SOll5 asked for that which was only consistent with a Republican form of Government. Now he'differed a little from the Noble Lord on the fourth resolution which he had proposed. He did not understand why he should introduce the words "in the existing state of things ;" because, if they conveyed any meaning at all, they meant this, that the time might arrive, and circumstances might occur, in which the Government might concede the point at issue. Now, wishing for an ami cable adjustment, the Government must be firm, though they must concede every thing in reason to the Canadians ; and every thing should be conceded to the prior claims of those especially who were the original possessors of the soil, which was reasonable and just. The Commissioners had declared that since the existence of this Company, a most important effect had been produced in the colony, the Company having taken a vast capital out to that colony. The waste lands had never been before cultivated ; and thus the founda tion was laid, if the Government pursued a wise course, of a system for promoting British settlements there, which must tend materially to improve the colony, and to render it as flourishing as it would have been long ago but for the preju dices of the Canadians themselves. But then came the auda cious proposition of the denial of the right of the Imperial Parliament to legislate for the colony. The Noble Lord had insisted on this , principle very properly last year, when the House of Commons legislated for Jamaica ; and he would ask, Were any objections raised to that proceeding by the lion. and Learned Member for Bath ? Did any Hon. Members object to that measure ? If there were any who did so, their numbers Were so few that they were not noticed. The very fact of ac ceding to the demands made by the House of Assembly would lead to this, that it would go to destroy the prerogative of the Kin°. in that. colony. He had no idea of those who had th e benefit of British protection denying their allegiance to the Crown and obedience to the Acts of the:lmperial Legislature. Was Canada, he would ask, to be governed by the French- Canadian people ?—( Hear, hear, from Mr. Roebuck and other Hon. Members.) He asked was Canada to be governed with reference to the whole, or a portion of the people ? That was the real question at issue. Ile hoped that the French Cana dians would see that with reference to the adoption of these resolutions it was their duty to submit; because ho saw no reason why the difference of opinion now existing might not be amicably adjusted in that good spirit which he presumed the Noble Lord anticipated. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by stating that he should give his full support to the resolu tions moved by the Noble Lord. Mr. O'CONNELL said the lion. Gentleman had told the Homo very distinctly, that lie was a man of very liberal °pinions ; •and as he had said so the House was of course bound t o believe it.--( Hear.) But the Hon. Gentleman had really the most modest manner of showing his liberality that eve r lie (Mr. O'Connell) saw; and especially on that occasion, when he used such exceedingly harsh language towards the repr esentat i ves o f t h e Canadian people. Ile, the Governor of the North American Land Company, and a man of very libe ral opinions, had ventured to talk of the audacity of the re presentatives of the people of Canada.—( Hear.) The auda city of men in every respect his equals.--( Hear.) If lie (Mr. O'Co nne ll) were to use the word he should be disposed to ap_ ply it in a different quarter. Those of whose audacity the lion. Gentleman spoke were men selected by the people to represent their wants in the provincial Legislature ; and with a fidelity and firmness that did them honour they had llwen true to their trust, and persevered against every obstacle in maintaining the rights of their constitu ents. This was their "audacity."—( Hear, hear, hear. ) The Honourable Gentleman the Member for Worcester should recollect that he, as Chairman of the North American Land Company, was one - of the grievances of which they complained—(A laugh) —complained, no doubt, with ex ceeding bat! taste, though some people were blind enough to think them perfectly justified in so doing.—( Hear, hear, and a laugh.) Having said so much for the attack made by the Hon. Member for Worcester upon the representatives of the Cana dian people, he had next to express the deep regret he felt at the propositions that night emanating from the Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell.) He was bound to say, that he thought the resolutions proposed by the Noble Lord contained some of the 'Worst political principles he had ever heard of.—( Hear.) The resolutions appeared to him to involve two broad principles— first, the very principle which created the civil war between England and the present United States of America ; secondly, the principle which had distracted Ireland for so many years. (Hear, hear.) The analogy between the case of Canada tad that of Ireland appeared to him to be perfect.—( Hear, bear-) Under one of these resolutions the Home Govern ment was to lay hold of the money of the Canadians. At present the Canadian representatives had two function Sr--first, to raise the supplies ; second, to appropriate. Those two functions could not be separated without destroying both._ (Hear, hear.) It was but a mockery to the representatives hll the Canadian people to tell them that they should have le ave to r a i se money, if , w h en t h ey ra i se d i t , t h ey were not to b ave the power of disposing of it.—(Hear, hear.) It was this that drove the Americans to resistance. It was a prin 'ciPle that ought above all others to be avoided in that House. Hear, hear.) It was a principle in which was involved the / try spirit of resistance. It had been stated on the Ministe tikl side of the House, and the Hon. Gentleman the Governor 1 1f , the North A mer i can L an d C ompany h a d repeate d t h e opi nion, that the measure proposed by the Noble Lord was jus tified by necessity. Necessity I ever and again the tyrant's plea . Was it not the plea of necessity .that gave us a Coer cion Bill in Ireland ?—( Hear, hear.) The Canadas complained teertain grievances —was this to be the reply ?—( Hear, hear.) r iv t _as not Great Britain free at least to do them justice ? e a lar, hear.) Justice for Canada I—(Hear, hear.) Give th em a Representative Council, elected by themselves. —( Hear, ti ar.) Give them justice—place them in possession of all t ie rights and privileges which, as British subjects, they eviol 9ld reasonably demand, and then, if they persevered in ent oesition t o th e v i ews an d wishes of the home Uovern men pp t--(liear)—it would be time to think of adopt rsome such measure as that brought forward by the Noble O rd . (Hear, he ar .) F or hi s own part h e (Mr. O'Connell) sicerely hoped tht the Noble Lord would see the propriety '5 not pressing his a motion to a division. The Hon. Member for Worcester bad over and over again spoken of the Canadian ~"People," then o f t h e Canadian ' party." Was not that the r y Same thing th at was done in Ireland? Did not t h e Orangemen of Ireland (the small minority) characterise all ( +posed to them (die great majority) as a factious party ? '(Hear, hear.) So in Canada, a small oligarchical minority .took upon itself to designate all the rest of the people a " fac tifo_ is party." Y et t hi s " party " embraced so large a portion ei people as t o b e a bl e to return eighty out of the eighty hght ) Me mbers who sa t i n t h e House of Assem bl y. — ( H ear , He h a d b e f ore stated that the cases of Canada and inlreland. were id entical. The only difference was this—that the one country the small domineering party was known as the Orange party, in the other it was called the British Tiarty, The nature of both, the aim of both, were exactly the 3 3 a 1 n 4 ie•---( Hear, h ear.) Of the high situations in Canada, were filled by the British party, and only about 40 by Canadi ans. I n all the Canadian offices the proportion of ,persons born in Great Britain was exceedingly great as com pared with those born in the Canadas. In fact the British qty in in Canada was w h at the Court party was in England; vrole was sorry t o see h ow evidently, throughout t h e report, the Commissioners were disposed to lean to '!..i I,7tparty.--(llear.) Ther e was h ar dl y a wor d sa id o f t h e tish p arty i n Canada that might not be put into the aa mouth of an O rangeman in Ireland. And from that spot b .(Mr. O'C onne ll ) hurled upon some of his countrymen who ad gone out to Canada and formed the British party--(the l'_eena:nder of t h e sentence was lost amidst the cheers and u n e t• erecheers w i t h wh i ch the first part of it was re tivd. ) Yes, yes, —some of them had consulted him upon e e !übj ee e, an d h e i nvariably told them that if they joined British party - they would in fact become Orangemen in eaeva,iiada, a n d assist' in inflictin g upon t h e country t h e .same l and same gri evances as h a d so long afflicted Ireland.— i r, hear, hear, and che ers .) Why should not the Cana aoiati- n o people have a Repr esen t a ti ve C ounc il ? W hat rea -7 was stated against it? It was not a novelty; it had been. 5 , 4 . _ 0 nepted, an d f or many years successfully and happily acted , in th e U n i ted States. Was it not right that they should e Piave a R e p resentative Council ? What could be a more mise - .7 3 1 mockery than the left-handed House of Lords with which Y were at present oppressed ?—(Hear.) Why should they , cro anbject in any way to an irresponsible body, elected by the ?—( Hear.) The Canadas ought not to be considered i,,ree,trounds of British policy or British interest.—(Hear.) a ci at Britain did not want the paltry surplus that could arise %_ rein the revenues of the Canadas.—( Hear.) There was not t an in the House who would not scorn the idea of Great I,l ' aim being maintained on the surplus of a colony. In the Esolwernment of the Canadas, then, the interests of the Canadas ,la t .ea the only interests we should have in view —(Hear)—and 1 1 1 , h ere - were anything in our mixed form of Government which th a s_ s fnutsd inapplicable to the different state of society in t. _°• provwees, let the British Government generously and ~_4o4vd,dly free them from restraint, and say, " As we cannot ta,,,eres for yens' good, we will not govern you for evil."_. °f .hear.) He implored the House, in the consideration ete `''m evestion, to be careful of these two things—first, not to °it 0 PT isupport a court party in the Canadas; second, not not to maintain in these provinces a miserable minority, which when it came to the fair test of popular representation hid its diminished head, but which around the Government House howled loud and violently.—(Hear.) He besought the House not longer to suffer that party to plunder the pockets of the Canadian people. Justice required that the Canadians should have the distribution of all the money for which they taxed themselves.—(Hear.) At all events, until they were satisfied that the British Government was governing them for their good, let no attempt be made to take from them any portion of their money.—( Hear.) Mr. P. STE WART contended that there was no analogy either between the cases of Ireland and the Canadas, or the United States and the Canadas. There were no religious distinctions in the Canadas ; this was one difference between them and Ireland. They had a House of Assembly ; this was another.—( Loud eries of Hear, hear.) The difference between the United States and the Canadas was as broad and distinct. The quarrel between the American colonies and Great Britain arose out of this circumstance—that Great Britain insisted on taxing them. In the case of Canada there was no shadow of a similar complaint. [The Honour able Gentleman then proceeded to read a passage from one of the petitions received from the Canadas, in which the petitioners expressed their regret at the continued and syste matic opposition of a particular party in the House of Assembly.] The petition was signed by upwards of 12,000 persons. The petitioners had been compared to the Orange lodges of Ire land. On the contrary, they were men of all classes and of all liolitical principles. Such was their designation, and yet the House were told that it was the unanimous prayer of the people of Canada that the legislature of this country should consent to that which was refused in 1791, and introduce an upper chamber upon the slippery and unstable foundation of the elective principle. The Hon. Member for Bridgwater de precated any interference on the part of this Parliament with the internal affairs of the Canadas. Sir James Mackintosh did not entertain any such opinion. That eminent man in 1822 admitted that Parliament had the power of interference, and that circumstances might arise when it ought to inter fere. This was Sir James Mackintosh's opinion when he pro posed-to put off for six months the motion of the Hon. Member for Coventry, on the Canadian Government and Trade Bill, for incorporating the two legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada. He acknowledged the difficulties of the case ; but he submitted to the gentlemen who were near and around him that the Government was proceeding in a consti tutional manner by resolving to legislate against the wishes of the people. -His defence was, that the wishes of the majority were founded upon a principle vicious and untenable.—( Hear, hear.) It had been said by an Hon. Gentleman, that Mr. Pitt stated in 1791 that the Act was a mere experiment. It was an experiment, and part of a mixed and unsound system. On that very occasion there was laid down one franchise prin ciple for Upper Canada and another for Lower Canada. One was on the double basis of population and property ; the other other on population alone. That portion of the experiment was altered in 1829; but still a vicious principle was kept up. What he required was, and what he was sure those Hon. Gen tlemen who were prepared to deprecate these resolutions would readily agree to was, that the franchise should be so framed as to include the widest range of the population settled there, so that all should be represented directly or indirectly in the House of Assembly. He wished to be understood by the Government. fie inferred from one of the resolutions that a Federal Assem bly was to be formed of the two provinces, and that to it were to bo entrusted the entire regulation of the trade, naviga tion, and other matters connected with the trade of the St. Lawrence ' • and that the old and cumbersome system was t o b e superseded. If that was to be case, then he would say that the resolution of which he spoke was one of the most valuable of all the resolutions proposed by the Noble Lord. Ho knew that the House would have a forcible denunciation from the on. Gentleman the Member for Bath. He would, however, no doubt act on this occasion, with regard to the Canadian question, as he had done with respect to the general state policy of the Government. Before any special Act was in troduced, the Hon. Gentleman denounced the whole course of the Government and their measures ; but when the special measures came before the House, then the Government and the House had the advantage of his acute and able assistance, and of his eloquent and zealous support of every one of them. He ( Mr. P. Stewart) was not, therefore, disposed to put much stress upon the denunciation of these resolutions by the Hon. Gentleman ; because, upon second thoughts, the Hon. Gen tleman would no doubt give 'them his earnest support. He hoped his Majesty's Ministers would pursue the constitutional part, which, though difficult, was sound and safe, of extending to Canada the power and protection of the Imperial Parliament, the imminent necessity of which was now acknowledged. Sir W. MOLE S WORT 11—The Noble Lord, by the re solutions in my hands, intends to propose in the Committee that the Governor of Lower Canada should be authorised for the present to appropriate the revenues of that province with out the consent of the representatives of the Canadian people. I contend that no arguments can be adduced to justify such an act on the part of the Imperial Parliament, for it would be an act of tyranny ; consequently the question ought not to be en tertained. After the discussion of to-night, it is hardly neces sary to enter into any detailed account of the state of affairs Lower Canada. That province is simply Ireland on a small scale. The vast majority of the people on the one side, a mi serable monopolising minority on the other, arrogating to itself superiority of race, treating the people as aliens by blood, as foes by religion, calliug upon this country to aid in oppressing the people, and in resisting their representatives. The people of Lower Canada complain or certain grievances.—( Hear, hear, hear.) The representatives of the people have adop ted the constitutional means of refusing to grant supplies till those grievances be redressed. The Noble Lord proposed that the British Legislature should evince a sovereign power, and that it should interfere with the control of the House of Assembly over the public purse. Has he any right to make such a proposal ? I deny that he has. I deny that the British Legislature is sovereign in Canada with re gard to money affairs. The question is one of sovereignty. According to the Constitution of Lower Canada the sovereign power is divided between the House of Assembly, the other es tates of Lower Canada, and the estates of the British Legis lature. In what manlier the sovereign power is apportioned between the various estates it is not necessary accurately to determine, except that the rights, privileges, and powers of the House of Assembly with regard to Canada are analogous to those of the House of Commons with regard to England. They are founded upon the same principle that the represen tatives ought alone to determine the mode in which the monies levied from the community are to be appropriated. In virtue of the 18th and 31st of Geo. 111., and the Ist arid 2d of Wm. IV., the House of Assembly is supreme in all money affairs. With that supremacy the Noble Lord proposes to interfere, and consequently he intends virtually to alter the Constitution of Lower Canada. The plea of the Noble Lord must be that the conduct of the House of Assembly is bad. I deny that either he or this House is, constitutionally speaking, a judge of that fact. The House of Assembly is not responsible to us ; it is respon sible to its constituents, and those constituents only, for its con duct. The Crown has constitutionally a right to negative the measures passed by the Canadian Legislature. But the Mi nisters of the Crown have no right to cite the House of As sembly before this tribunal, or to deprive the Representatives of the Canadian people of any portion of their control over the public purse. Perhaps the British Legislature has the power, though not the right ; but it is a power founded only upon force, and consequently tyrannical. Gifts of power to a people are not easily taken back. Constitutional rights once conceded to a nation are rarely to be reassumed except by the sword, and then only when the people have become degraded and debased. If the Noble Lord attempt to carry out his reso lutions, the question is one which can only be settled by force. The British Legislature has granted to the House of Assembly of Lower Canada sovereignty in money affairs— that sovereignty the Noble' Lord now wishes to reassume. The control of the purse every one knows constitutes the essence of freedom. The Canadians are still free. Will they permit themselves to be changed into slaves by these resolutions ? In a similar cause the people of this country worked out a great and glorious revolution. They justly punished a Monarch who had dared to tax them without their consent. For a similar reason our fellow-citizens of' the United States bade us defi ance, and shook off our yoke. No man can doubt how the Canadians would act if they belonged to the English race— if they belonged to that race which produced Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. Tho Saxon will permit no one to in terfere with his purse ; he will fight for it first ; that is the peculiarity of the race. It is proper that the people of Eng land should know, clearly and distinctly should understand, that the Noble Lord proposes to do that to the Canadians which would make every man of English blood a rebel, to pre vent which our ancestors fought—to prevent which we would fight, if necessary. Ido not believe that the English people will stand such conduct from the Noble Lord, nor will they give him the means of enforcing his resolutions. The feelings with regard to Ireland of Hon. Gentlemen will, .1 doubt not, cause them to coalesce with Ministers and their minions— they would willingly have made conquest of Canada for a precedent to their proposed re-conquest of Ireland—they will unite, undoubtedly, with those pseudo-Liberals in this vile crusade against the liberties of freemen. Worthy allies, the foes of freedom and its falsest friends, they will carry these resolutions. Then I expect—for I reason upon the supposition that the Canadians will act like Englishmen —I then expect the Canadians will attempt to cast off our yoke. The people of England will say they act rightly, and will, I trust, prevent their representatives from giving the Noble Lord the means of attempting to put the Canadians down. If he make the attempt he will fail. Look at Texas. The fate of the Mexicans should be a warning to this coun try. For these reasons I contend the House ought not to entertain the question—first, because we are not constitu tionally entitled to judge the conduct of the House of Assem bly, for it is not responsible to us, but to its constituents; secondly, because we are not constitutionally entitled to inter fere with the control of the House of Assembly over the public purse; and lastly, such an attempt must lead, under the most favourable circumstances, to a separation of the two countries —under unfavourable circumstances, to a dreadful civil war. Colonel Thompson and Mr. Roebuck then rose together ; there were loud cries for Mr. Roebuck, but the Hon. Gentle man gave way to Colonel THOMPSON, who could not avoid recommending his Majesty's Government to adopt on this occasion the advice of the Scriptures, and to " agree with their adversaries quickly," because after all be had heard, he had not found one reason advanced on either side to show why the people of Eng land should support the Government in a struggle with the Canadas. On the "contrary, he had been struck with some strong reasons why their wishes should be exactly opposite to the wishes of the Government. " If we could but lose Canada, what should we gain in a commercial way ?—( Hear.) Would not every man in England who lives in a house gain a substan tial sum which he might add to the amount of his enjoyments ? Is not Canada kept as a breeding pen or a warren to which to. send that part of the population which is not allowed to live at home ? Do not our young couples marry with a certainty that they are to breed for exportation ?—(Laughter,) Will the people of England think it worth their while to straggle for the maintenance of that system ?—( Hear.) We are told also that we are to struggle for the present Legislative Council lest there should be an elective one. Why, what do we want ourselves but an elective Legislative Council ?_( Hear, hear.) Is not that one of the objects which the hearts of a vast majority of the people of England are visibly at this mo ment fixed upon ?—( Loud cries of " Hear !" and " No !") Is this to be our recruiting cockade against Canada—' Don't let Canada have an elective Legislative Council, for if you do there will be an elective Council here ?' This is what is pro posed to us. I certainly think that the rt as ins for an elective Legislative Council for Canada are stronger than they are for one in this country—( Hear, hear)—strong as they may be with us. There is a sort of reverence among the people for a House of Lords, and justly so to a certain extent. Voltaire once said to an old lady—( Laughter)—that he had said in five minutes more good of the Creator of the world than she had ever thought of him in all her life. Now, let me see if I may not say the same with respect to the House of Lords. The House of Lords contains the descendants of men who once possessed substantial power, co-equal with that of the empire, and even superior to it. It still maintains much of that rever ence which the people of former days entertained for it ; but does anything of that kind exist in Canada? Is there any thing there but a mock House of Lords? The principle acted upon seemed to be, that wherever the people attempted to govern themselves these efforts were made to check them. Such was the nature of the struggle going on in Canada, and how long it would continue he could not say ; but history told them that generally the people eventually succeeded. He thought the question in the present case was, whether they would drive the people of Canada to say that the only issue to which they could bring the contest was the separ a ti on of the two countries.—( Hear. ) Mr. ROEBUCK—A few nights since, in the very place I _ _ now stand, I found myself advocating, in conjunciiOn with his Majesty's Ministers, justice to Ireland. I did so, and I would fain have hoped that they did so, not in obedience to any pressing exigency, not for the sake of present expe diency, but in accordance with great, lasting, and universal principles of legislation—( Hear, hear)—with those prin ciples which teach us that if we desire the people to be well governed we must allow them to govern themselves. This hope, however, has been raised only to be disappointed ; a week has not passed before my illusion has been destroyed, and I am compelled to see that we in vain desire such con duct from men in office amongst us, for they have neither the capacity nor the courage to be consistent.—( Cheers. ) We have now before us a case in all its leading, all its important, particulars parallel to that of Ireland. -We have the same difficulties to overcome, the same prejudices to face, and yet I now find new and very different principles invoked, a very different ' conduct pursued. " England," said the Noble Lord a few nights since, "has justice because she is inhabited by Englishmen, Scotland because inhabited by Scotchmen." Let me finish his sentence —" Canada has justice,denied her, because inhabited by Canadians."—( Hear.) The same neces sity does not press upon the Government, in the case of Canada, as now bears them down with regard to Ireland. They render justice upon compulsion ; and, not dreading any pressure from without to force them to be just to a distant colony, they follow their usual habit, the natural bent of their inclinations, and refuse justice to Canada. I appeal, however, from the decision of the Government to the people of Eng land. I appeal to the people of Ireland—to the Hon. Member for Kilkenny and his friends in this House I also appeal. \Ve have fought their battle, the battle of Ireland, manfully, and without flinching. That fight still rages ! If we are to hope for success, we must prove, by our steady love and pursuit of justice, that we deserve it. If we desire justice for Ireland, we must show ourselves ready to grant it to a suffering colony. We must prove ourselves above the paltry prejudices of national hostility. If we seek justice for Irishmen, who are our subjects, we must not deny it to Canadians, who are our subjects also. The cause of Canada and Ireland are the same—it is the cause of self-government and religious liberty—it is the cause of the suffering many who resist the overbearing insolence of a " miserable ni:mopo lizing minority." I call then upon all those who have fought the good fight for our suffering fellow-citizens across the II ish Channel, to extend the range of their benevolence, and prove that if our dominion reaches beyond the broad Atlantic, so also does our justice, and that our desire for good Govern ment is co-extensive with our empire.— ( Hear, hear.) Canada and Ireland have both been conquered by England ; the ma jority of the people in both countries are of the Roman Catho lic persuasion ; and in both countries a small minority, who call themselves English, have hitherto domineered over and insulted ate people at large, whom they always stigmatize as foreigneis and aliens. By the power of England this mono polizing minority has been supported in botli countries. I o ill now, with the permission of the House, lay the case of Canada before them. The House must bear in mind that the present discussion relates solely to Lower Canada. The case of the Upper province is a separate matter that must hereafter occupy our attention. In 1791 the then province of Quebec seas divided into two separate colonies, the one called Upper the other Lower Canada. Lower Canada was then, as now, chiefly innabited by persons descended from French proprie tors, and was governed, as respected civil law, according to the customs of Paris. By 31 Geo. 111., c. 31. a Constitu tion was granted to Lower Canada in form something simi lar to our own, in substance widely different. The Govern ment was tripartite-1. There was a governor, representing not the King, but in reality, being the mere lieutenant of. the colonial minister. Not, indeed, responsible to the peo ple, but wholly subject to the ministry at home: in nothing did he resemble the King in England. He was merely the Lieutenant of the Colonial Minister.—( Hear.) I did not mean Lord Glenelg ; but I mean certain parties who inhabit a certain office in Downing-street ; and I doubt not there is a certain person sitting in that gallery who is the real Colonial Minister.—( Hear and Laughter.) 2. There was a Legislative Council, called the Upper House ; but in no thing else resembling the House of Lords, having no wealth, no estates, and chosen for life, chiefly from among the official ranks. They thus constitute a faction, having no natural ties or influence in the country ; and, thirdly and lastly, there was created a House of Assembly, which really represents the whole population. Such was the Constitution. I will now proceed to detail the consequences of creating it. Some years after the Constitution I have just described was granted to the Canadians, they became fully sensible of the value of the gift, and determined to use it to the purposes for which it was intended. This determination quickly brought out the latent errors that had been committed in the construction of their Government. The sinister interests of the Legislative Council were at once brought to light, as well as the mis chievous power which the Constitution gave of successfully promoting them. The House of Assembly desired to relieve the mother country from all unnecessary burdens, and sought to take charge of their own peculiar concerns. To this end, in 1810, they demanded permission to provide for their own civil expenditure. The House of Commons may not know that within , the life time of most of its members, there were committed acts by the English rulers of Canada very similar to those which this House had . % bear in the reign of Charles the First. For the demand of the House of Assembly, three of its members were sent to gaol by Sir James Craig, and were eventually contemptuously turned out of prison, without trial or explanation. It may be demanded of me why this outrage was committed. The answer to the question is the key to all the future discontents and disputes, and explains the pre sent condition Of the province. The official people of Canada dreaded responsibility to the House of Assembly. They, there fore, at the outset, thus violently opposed the demands which they clearly saw necessarily brought with them this disagree able condition. The great expenditure of England, and the pressing difficulties of our position during the great struggl e with Napoleon, at length compelled the Colonial Government to accept the offer of the Canadian representatives ;- but the official tribe did not lose their fear of responsibility, and therefore determined to lessen the evil they could not wholly avoid. Three several plans to this end were devised, and these three plans are at this moment in full force, and are about to be carried partially into effect by the Noble Lord. —( Loud cheers.) The one was first to demand that the moneys to pay the expenses of the government should be voted in one sum, in what was once termed en bloc, leaving the dis triLution of the several salaries and items in the Executive Government. To this demand the House of Assembly would not accede, and now was shown the real cha racter of the Legislative Council. That body determined to receive no Appropriation Bill unless the money were voted en blue. A disgraceful fight was maintained on this point by the official party, aided by the Colonial Minister, and using the Legislative Council as their weapon of attack and defence. The justice of the Assembly's demands, however, eventually prevailed, and the civil expenses were allowed to be voted by items.—( Hear.) The next scheme after this failure was somewhat more artfully concocted. It was de termined to demand a permanent Civil List—One for the life of the Sovereign. This was also:resisted : and the House of Assembly was vein successful. It was then proposed to have a Civil List for a term of years. To this again the House of Assembly has repeatedly refused to accede, and their deter mination on this head is now as firm as ever . rho third scheme to wh:eim I have alluded had the same end in view, viz., to escape from the 'disagreeable responsibility to the House of Assembly which threatened the official party. The scheme consisted in separating the revenues of the provinces into two distinct classes, and withdrawing one class wholly from the control of the Assembly. The House of Assembly saw through this scheme also, and again wisely determined to bring, every portion of the revenue derived from the people of the province under their own control. The struggle of the two parties was, cn these two points, carried on between the representatives of the people, strong to defend the public interests, and to make the public servants responsible ; and by the official tribe endea vouring to fight off this painful scrutiny, and to maintain their long-enjoyed and pleasant freedom from any check or control. Let this House bear in mind that they are now called upon to decide which of these two parties have justice en their side.— (Loud cheers.) In carrying out their determination to make public officers responsible, the House of , Assembly demanded to see the accounts of the Receiver-General of the province. Honourable Members will hardly believe that these accounts were for a long series of years steadily refused. At length, however, the House was determined t o b r i ng t h e question to issue, and they refused supplies. This proceeding forced the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, to draw, spite of himself, upon the Receiver-General, who was then found to be a de faulter to the amount of 100,0001. I now entreat the House to remark upon the peculiar points of thiS case. Here was a public servant refusing to show his accounts. Who supported him in his contumacy? The Executive or Legislative Coun cils, the official party—brother officials—with the Governor at their head. And in what did they support him ? In hiding his bankruptcy—in robbing the public. Let me inform the House that this debt was amounting to 150,0001.: principal and interest are still unpaid.—( Hear, bear ) So far as re gards one of these immaculate gentlemen, time official people of Lower Canada. This struggle respecting the Receiver.. General continuing, and the House refusing to furnish any THE SUN, LONDON, TUENDAY, AIARCII 7, 1837 supplies but in items and annually, and also demanding to see the accounts, Lord Dalhousie was left without any money legally at his disposal ; he, nevertheless, put his hand into the public coffers, and, without legal warrant, used it. This outrage, as it was then deemed—though later times have effaced, by repetition, the notion of its being an outrage— raised the anger of the Assembly to such a point that they determined to petition the Imperial Parliament, stating their grievances, and requiring at their hands a remedy. In 1828, in consequence of this petition, a Committee sat to inquire into the situation of Lower Canada, and that Committee— though of an unreformed Parliament, justified entirely the House of Assembly, severely rebuked the Governor, and pro posed to do what the Noble Lord now proposes—to reform the Legislative Council.—( Hear.) At that time had the reform proposed been honestly carried out, this change in the cha racter of the Legislative Council would have satisfied the people of Canada. Now no such palliation will be sufficient. They have learned by subsequent experience that reforms are not to be expected from Downing-street, and they in their next petition demanded a complete change in the constitution of the second Charter. The reason of this demand was the non.performasce on the part of the Government of its promise to reform the colonial administration. All former abuses were suffered to exist and to increase, and new ones have been added. The House again petitioned, and no redress was granted. They thereupon again stopped the supplies, and have resolved not to grant money till their grievances are redressed.—(Cheers.) I will now shortly state what their grievances are, and what is the plan which they propose as a remedy, and contrast it with that now submitted to us by the Noble Lord. The grievances I am about to enumerate are elaborately set forth in 92 resolutions of the House of Assembly. I admit they are too numerous ; their grievances might have been summed up in two words...." bad government."—( A laugh, and "Hear, hear.") To those resolutions the House still adheres, so that I cannot he said to act on this matter without authority. 1. The first class of grievances relates to finance. The House of. Assembly complains thltt a revenue is raised from the people without their consent—that the extent of the pro vincial revenue is withdrawn from the House—and that ac counts have hitherto been denied.—( Hear.) 2. The second class of grievances relate to the administration of justice. The Judges are wholly irresponsible, and the present disgrace ful situation of the judicial bench proves the necessity of an immediate and searching reform.—( Hear, hear, hear.) They complain, moreover, that all judicial reforms—reforms by which justice may be made cheap and easily accessible— have been refused by the Legislative Council.—( Hear, hear.) 3. The House complains that the revenues which ought to have been devoted to public instruction have been diverted ,from that end. The Jesuits' estates belong to the public, but have been usurped by the official- party and applied to their own uses. The House complains bitterly of this enormous grievance ; moreover, they further complain that 1,600 primary schools have been closed by the Legislative Council, acting from party and personal pique.—( Hear, hear.) 4. They further complain that the British Parliament interfere with internal concerns; and, 5. They assert that the general administration of the govern ment is mischievous, creating jealousies, distrusts, and alarm, doing many things which it ought not to do, and leaving un done those things which it ought to do.---( Hear, hear.) They complain, in fact, that they are deprived of the govern ment of their own affairs, and they !say that they are made the prey of a faction, who cajole the people of England, and rob the people of Canada.—( Hear, hear.) Such being the evil, the House of Assembly thought it necessary to suggest a re medy. Knowing well the seat of the disease, their remedy is applied to the really peccant part, and would, if adopted, completely eradicate the evil. The evil is the irresponsibility of the public servants; the means by which this irresponsi bility has been maintained is the Legislative Council.— ( Hear.) This council is responsible to no one, and therefore recklessly pursues its own interest, and treats with contempt the interests of the province:--( Hear, bear.) The House of Assembly, therefore, proposes to rendef this body elective, thus making it responsible to the people, and depriving it of that reckless and mischievous character which now distin guishes it.—( Loud cheers) They propose further to this House to repeal the Canadas Tenures Act, and the Act creat ing a Land Company, because such Acts interfere with their internal government.—(Hear, hear.) And, lastly, they re quire that all the revenues of the province should be subjected to the control of the Provincial Legislature.—( Hear, hear.) I will immediately proceed to the discussion of certain objec tions which have been urged to this plan ; but before I do so, I would beg of the House to compare the enormous extent of the difficulties of the case before us, and then to estimate the worth of those inadequate remedies proposed by the Noble Lord. YQI.I are told that a people complain of the responsi bility of its public servants. You hear that supplies have been refused, by a Tote almost unanimous of the House of Assem bly. You see that demands are made to remedy a defective Constitution, and the Noble Lord brings before your notice a pitiful evasion of the whole matter in dispute—a sort of cut purse remedy—" Rob me the Exchequer, Hal," being his motto and rule upon the occasion.—( Loud laughter, and Hear, bear.) He proposes merely to pay certain arrears of salary, to destroy thus the moral force of the Assembly, and to leave time whole evil without the least remedy or check.—(Hear, hear.) The coming year, must bring hack every difficulty_ again arrears will exi s t ; aga i n su ppli es w ill b e refused ; again the Legislative Council will be complained of; and again the official tribe will send their hirelings across time Atlantic, and rouse the sympathies of their brother officials in Downing street.--( Laughter.) Compare, I say, this paltry expedient, this shuffling and disgraceful evasion of the difficulty, with the bold, honest, and comprehensive plan of the Assembly.— ( Cheers.) You may call yourselves Statesmen, and fancy yourselves superior to the people whom you are about to in sult ; but the day is not far off when your puny efforts, your pretences at legislation, will receive the scorn they so richly merit, and contempt will be duly reflected from the measures to their authors.—( Long and continued cheering.) Look, too, Sir, at , the machinery which has been employed to pro duce this mighty project of legislative wisdom. Not content with the statements of the people's representatives, you sent out au expensive Commission to make inquiries, and now pro pose to do what you could as easily have done two years since. Have all your enquiries had this effect alone ? Have your three special Commissioners done nothing more than this ? Has all their wisdom, and that of the Ministry to boot, been able to suggest no wiser plan than this pitiful pettifogging. chicane ? In good truth, Sir, spite of my indignation, I can not help pitying the degraded position both of the Government and their Commission in this wretched proceeding.--( Hear.) The very appointment of the Commission was in itself an in sult to the people with their representatives at their head. You had given the people a Constitution, and the representa tives have the marked confidence of their constituents. This body, often sent back to the people, and as often re-elected, set forth their measures and their demands, and you in answer sent out a body of Commissioners to make inquiries as to the truth of the Assembly's complaints. That is, you set aside the statements of the natural leaders of the people—of per sons born among them, well knowing their feelings, wants, wishes—acquainted with their manners and their. laws--and you sent out these gentlemen from this country to supersede the House of Assembly in their function:of representation of the grievances of the people to the Throne and to Parliament.— . ( Hear.) Let it be remembered that the subject matter of in quiry was here twofold--lst. A great practical difficulty arising in the government of a colony under very novel and intricate circumstances; 2d. A body of very complicated laws which are said to require reform. This body of laws is compoSed of the old Roman, or, as it is called, the civil law, of the customs of Paris as existing in the 17th century, certain portions of the English common law, of the English statute law, of ordonnances, and provincial statutes.—( Hear.) Now, who do we send there in these difficult and intricate affairs ? Men bred to the study of government as a practical science—of jurisprudence, of positive law ? No, no. The First Commissioner is a sort of country squire—a Peer, in deed, but in his habits and education a mere country gentle man, whose knowledge of the Pandects is probably confined to the fact that they were compiled by Justinian—(Laughter)— neither can he be supposed to know much of Canadian law. Sir George Gipps is a soldier; and Sir Charles Grey, though an East Indian judge, cannot be expected to know more than his colleagues.--( Hear.) They have also been extolled be cease of opposite political sentiments ; and the report on your table evinces the greatly beneficial result of quarrelling Com missioners. Sir George Gipps has a leaning towards libe rality ; Sir Charles Grey is a high Tory ; and as for poor Lord Gosford, he seems to have led a disagreeable life, be tween the snarling Whig and Tory, and - was evidently distressed to choose between the two, knowing nothing of the subject mat ter of dispute. Such is your piebald Commission, which super seded the representatives of the people in the duty of discover ing and explaining the grievances and wants of the com munity.—( Cheers.) And what has the Commission done ? It has done just what I predicted it would do—spent money, and gained no information. Look at the report—l hope Hon. Members have read it. The Noble Lord, indeed, thought fit, in his official capacity, to give it official praise ; but, unburdened by any conventional authority, I am bound to say,- that a more unworthy document was never laid upon your table.—( Hear.) It sins in every possible way against the rules according to which such a document ought to be framed—confused, contradictory, illogical, insincere ; con taining few facts worthy of record, and no reasoning worthy of the name ; it is beneath contempt ; it is a disgrace to its authors, and to the Government to which it is addressed., It tells no t rut h wort h knowing—it records many falsehoods long since refuted—it has cost a large suns of money, and will probably cost us also the colony itself.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) I now, Sir, return from this digression to the consideration of the two plans of reform before us ; and I first solicit the attention of the House to that proposed by the Assembly. The objects of the Assembly are twofold -Ist, they desire to make all the public functionaries respon sible to the people whom they serve ; and, second, they desire them. To the these to have subj ec t t o t h e contro l o f t h e re p resen t a ti ves o f th e whol e ends f s thet I r rs e t i: egnrue great t nlo derived ans from s 010 d o a s n t d r tio o paid ctio by f the irresponsibility of the Legislative Council, by which, in fact, hitherto every malversation has been defended, every re cusant officer protected, every abuse of whatsoever description supported.—( Loud cheers.) In accordance. with the successful practice of their intelligent and powerful neighbours of the United States of America, the Canadian House of Assembly have endeavoured to render this second Chamber elective. My own opinion on the matter has been very freely ex pressed to them ; and I have sought to convince them that this was not, in my belief, the wisest plan— my scheme contemplated the abolition of time Council. How ever, to this, as far as I can ascertain it,. I believe the feeling of the people to be averse. They believe that a second Chamber is requisite to wise legislation, and this opinion they share in common with the large majority of those who have spoken and written on the subject. This elective Council it is proposed to elect by a different mode from that by which the Assembly is chosen; and the Councillors aro to be , eligible at a latter period of life than the members of the Assembly. Their number also is to be smaller. In short, the model is, the Senate of the various Legislatures of the United States. In the Report on your table the Commissioners, though opposed to this Elec tive Council, are obliged to confess " that in such a country (as Canada) the people will be little in - alined to respect any legislative body which does not emanate from themselves; and that this effect must be enhanced in Lower Canada by the example of the powerful States which flourish so imme diately in her neighbourhood."—( Hear, hear.) Acknowledg ing, then, that in principle the plan of the Assembly is correct, what objection do they urge to its establishment ? Merely what they are pleased to state present circumstances.. If it had been asked earlier—if it had been asked later-a--we would have granted it; but seeing it was asked just at the time that. it was asked, we are bound to refuse your demands. To refuse what? The means of good government—(Cheers)-- means which they themeelves allow to be necessary—a 're medy for an abuse whi c h th ey themselves admit to be a crying one.—( Loud cheers.) If we were to grant this de'. 'nand, say the Commissioners, we should give a victory to one party—we should wound English feelings and injure English interests. They thus echo the cry of the official tribe of Canada. They have adopted the fallacy, and to the best of their endeavours propagate the falsehood which these. pecula ting and refractory servants have been concocting for the last four-and -twenty years.--( Hear, hear.) One part of this statement I allow. You will, if you grant this elective Coun cil, give a victory to one party ; so you will if you pay these arrears, by your yiolent interposition. In p the first case , th e party to whom you will g i ve t h e v i ctory will be the people at large, demanding securities for good goVernment ; in the second case you will give the victory to dishonest public ser vants, who have been plundering - the people and fighting off responSibility by. every effort in their power. Choose which course you will preserve.—(Loud cries of " Hear," and cheers.) But I deny wholly the remaining portions of the Commissioners' assertions. I assert boldly that this is not a quarrel of races; but a quarrel of principle. —( Loud cheers.) The dishonest party choose to call shemselves English, but I deny that their interests are English interests, or that race or language marks out the,contending• parties. I take two separate passages of the Commissioners' report to show this. The first passage will show that some French people join the official herd, because they, like them, have sinister in terests. The second passage will show that a large body of the English have joined the popular party, because their inte rests being that of the people at large, are identical. " We do not know where any persons," says the report, " are to be found of British descent who enjoy any influence in society, and at the same time wish for an elective Council''—[This, while they wrote it, the Commissioners must have known to be a falsehood]—" whilst of the higher class of French Canadians there are several who have no desire for it." Here, then, are several of the higher class of French Canadians siding with the official party (as appears by the general report), when we have it distinctly allowed that all the large body of persons de scended from citizens of the United States, and living in Canada, persons speaking English, are hostile to the official' party. How then, I ask, could any man in his senses say that the quarrel was a quarrel of races ? But the Com Mi ssioners have had the hardihood to assert that no persons of English descent of any influence in society have joined the popular party. What do the Commissioners say to the names of the provincial M. P.'s ? The House must pardon me if dwell on this topic. The official party, when they found their case becoming desperate, artfully invented this protest of English interests to influence the English people. They knew that prejudice against every thing French, and particularly French Republicanism, was strong, in this coun try ; they, therefore, have laboured industriously to make out that the popular party in Canada are French and Republican ; that they desire to persecute the English minority ; and that the Legislative Council has been the sole means of security for the Enelish--The sole barrier against a persecuting majority of French Catholic Republicans. It is my duty to destroy this fallacy ; and; with the permission of the House, I will proceed to the task.=-(llear, hear.) The population of Lower Canada is something beyond 500,000, and of these I will allow for the present 100,000 to be persons speaking Eng lish. But this 100,000 must be classified also. There are three distinct classes of persons speaking English ; first, there is the large majority of the whole who are agriculturists —now these people live chiefly in the townships by themselves, and very .little intermingle with the French Canadians, and of these townships one-half, in point of numbers, have sent Mem bers to the House of As sem bl y , w h o are stanch friends of the popular party. I press this fact upon the consideration of the House. I challenge any one to deny it- e ( Cheers)—and I ask how any one who is solicitous of his character as a person loving the truth can, with this fact staring him in the face, dare to assert that the question is one of race and not of principle ? I refer members who are doubtful upon this matter to the mi nute of Sir George Gipps, at the end of the general Report. The next section of the English-speaking minority are the merchants of Montreal and Quebec ; and these merchants having, as I shall soon show, a sinister interest, they for, the most part side with the third section—viz., the official people and their families, Now I desire anxiously to know in what way the Legislative Council protects English interests; for I assume, first, that it is in the interest of Ergland as a nation that the Colony be well governed—(Cheers)—and, next, that the interests of the majority of the persons speaking English are precisely the same as those of the French Canadians. Now if these assumptions be correct, and I challenge any one to dis prove them, how does it happen that for their protection an ir responsible and hitherto mischievous body, is needful ? These legislative councillors have no such influence in the country, either personally or as abody—they aro not the great landowners of the country—they are powerful only because they have a veto upon all legislation. How, - then, came their peculiar, their sinister interests, so identified with those of the laborious English settler ? But it may be objected that the interests of the French and great body of English canad!ans may be the same, but the French desire ...to persecute. - They have hitherto been the persecuted. Their desire of vengeance will induce them to run counter to their interests, and ill-treat their fellow-citizens speaking English. Therefore we must give the minority power in the government equal to that of the majority. My answer to this is, that the Ca nadians have hitherto given no evidence of their desire to persecute ; they., have in all things proved themselves kind neighbours, hospitable hosts, firm friends to those kind English who have gone to their country; in none of their legislative proceedings have they shown any, the least par tiality to French Canadians ; they have never attempted to draw any line of distinction between the English and Canadians. I also desire to know how, in what manner, the Legislative Council have hitherto opposed the desire to persecute Has it been by shielding peculating officials ? preventing the i ncrease o f education—( Cheers)—fighting a disgraceful fight in favour of every abuse, and resisting reform at every- step ? If such conduct be a defence of English.interests, then' indeed may the Legislative Council lay claim to the character of their supporters.--( Cheers.) The House, daubtless, must be struck with the identity of the language used respecting the minority in Canada and in Ire land. In Ireland, nevetheless, we have determined to grant power to the majority—we have done nothing to shield the minority—why should we do so in Canada?—(Loud cheers.) Some nights since, when I attempted to give my reasons for believing that the majority would not persecute the minority, the House and his Msjesty's Ministers were pleased to re ceive with approbation my arguments, and to adopt my con clusions.—( Laughter.) The same spirit which dictated the pretext in the case of Ireland set it up in that of Canada, and we in consequenCe shall treat the pretence in both cases with the scorn it richly deeerves.—(Qheers.) To show the House the identity of the two cases, I must once more quote from the report. Not content with retaining the Legislative Council, the Commi ss i o n ers en t er t a i n t h e i nqu i ry of how the House of-Assembly. may also be made subject to the mino rity, and one of the Commissioners, Sir Charles Grey, tells us how he would have acted in the Irish Municipal Bill, and wishes us to treat the Canadians its he would have treated the people of Ireland.—[ Here the Hon. Gentleman read the passage in the general report, containing Sir C. Grey's scheme of voting.] I must now dismiss this topic, and turn to another, the interests of the merchants of Montreal and Quebec, about which I shall content myself with this re mark.' To maintain these merchants, and enable them to aid in keeping a large colony in turmoil, we consent to lose a million and a half a year by our restrictions on timber. Whether we derive corresponding benefit, let the House de termine. The last objection I shall notice at Kesent to the plan of the Assembly, relates to their conduct on the tenures of land. In a passage I have quoted, th e C omm i ss i oners in sinuate that the House of Assembly is in love with antiquated feudal customs, and determined to retain a mischievous sys tem of law. It so happens that the great body of the public desire a change, but they desire that the change should be made by their own 'representatives, and not by those so ig norant of the whole matter as the Imperial Parliament.— (Cheers.) I am come to the plan of the Noble Lord; and - I desire to know, respecting this whole project, the following things;—That I. The plan, if adopted, will be a signal and gross breach of faith on the part of this House.— ( Cheers.), 2. That it is wholly inadequate according to the Noble Lord's own showing; and 3. That it is unjust and impolitic.—( Hear, hear, hear, and Cheers.) When the dis astrous consequences of the attempt to tax 0 , 110 of our Ame rican colonies in 1770 were dearly proved by the lose of those flourishing possessions, and the independence of the United Stites of America, the Legislature of this country passed a law by which it solemnly gave up, as a great concession to a great principle, all power of taxing the colonies. . That power was after this solemn concession to rest with the cola 'lists ; and in 1793 we established a Constitution in the Ca- 1 nadas, by which we gave a means of checking the public ser vants of the province which we ourselves possess —a paver rude, indeed, and not well fitted for the end in view —s e mean that of stopping the supplies. The clumsiness and iniefficieney of these means resulted, however, from the nature of the Constitution. In America, where the people do really go vern, the powe r o f reme d y i ng all grievance • is directly and _im mediately occasi o n e d. N o roundabout orsurse is adopted. public servants a c t unwort hil y, t h ey :ire at once dism i sse d ; If - if changes are desirel in faulty instj.tutions, they are imme diately made. But in our enlonies' (in the colonies all are Tories)--(Cheers)—as in Englaseil, the people govern only by a sort of side-wi n d ; th e y car t , if they please, make bad government so uncomfortable to thr governors, that to main tain grievances will prove more disti isteful than even reforming them. This effect is produced by f lie circuitous mode of stop ping the supplies. This method 'is in strict accordance with the powers you yourselves confeeseed on the, representatives of Canada; and you now, because you fancy yourselves strong, determine not to remedy the grievance, but to punish the representatives for believing your. Constitution a reality, and yourselves not to • be impostors. You told them you had given them a Constitutional power a which you cons id ere d one beyond all price ; you told th , t in they were the House of Commons of Canada, and you no w punish them for putting faith in your assertions.—(Che ers.) What is now the value of /our protestatiQns ? Your i filithyfill in a bl-wouct anion • the people ; and, follewing your mischievous example, di" people will obey only sa long as they fear you.— (Cheers. Need I say any thing to prove the utter inadepacy of thi! plan ? What is the evil—what the proposed rex. ely accord ing to your own statement ? You d.zelare that great misery exists among the public see:rants; we do not deny it. Well misery is created, what do you propose to d) ? D ) you po • pose to prevent the recurrence of the mischief ? Not at all; you pay the arrears. Who will pay the servants next year' --(Hear, hear.) Do you believe that the House of Assemb'y will do so ? Are you not well assured that next year wiq bring but the same difficulty ? The grievances complained of exist, the House of Assembly exists, their feel.; g; and their power are the game as formerly. What then will hap pen next year? You know as well as Ido that the supplies will again be stopped—(Cheers)—that the same doleful out cries will again be raised by the public servants, and then, I suppose, we shall have another Special Commission --another delay of three years—another evasion of the difficulty—another breach of faith —and that so long as Canada is ours, discon tent, distrust will continue, exasperation will increase—their powers of resistance will increase also, one effort will be made; and you and your shuffling policy, your degraded Gevernment, your unworthy, peculating, and mischievous officials will be dismissed with ignominy and hatred.—(Cheers.) Decd I say anything more to prove, this proceeding unjust? I hear eter nal talk of the evil consequences of stopping the supplies to those official people.. I hear nothing in reproof of the Le gislative Council, who shut up last year all the public pri mary schools in the country, and left 60,00 p children but initruction.—(Hear, hear, hear.) All your regards ale turned the wrong way—all your inquiries have a wrong end in view. You sought to make out a case of hardship to the servants of the people, but you turned a deaf ear to all complaints of evil to the, people themseves. 'The House of Assembly seeks to make the servants responsible—the ser vants seek to avoid responsibility; you thrust yourselves into the dispute, and instead of doing what your duty dictates, you take the part with the profligate servant, and ill-treat the already injured master. Such, Sir, is the course his Majesty's Ministers now seek to pursue.—(Loud cheers.) But I would ask his Majesty's Ministers if they have well weighed the policy of this measure, and do they know its inevitable results ? Lest they should have been negligent on this head, and in order to prevent the possibility of their saying at any future time " We did not anticipate such results, and no one pointed them out," I wilt, for their information and for that of the House, state what my knowledge of the country leads me to expect as the result of this measure. The first. immediate consequence will be, intense anger in the minds of the great majority of the popu lation, who will see in this proceeding insult and injury.— ( Cheers.) This anger will.produce a determination as soon as possible to get rid of a dominion which entails on them results so mischievous and - degrading. Every year will hereafter strengthen this feeling, and lasting enmity and discord will thus be created between the mother country and the colony ; dis cord that will cease only when the colony shall become, like the United States, a great, powerful, and independent com munity. The immediate effects of this anger will not be seen in open and vinlent revolt, but in a silent but effective warfare against your trade. Non-intercourse will become the religion of the people. —(Hear.) They will refuse your manufactures, and they will smuggle from the States. The long line of fron tier will render all your attempte to prevent this smuggling unavailing! The people will refuse your West India produce, and they will view with hatred your shoals of unprotected emi grants. They will withdraw themselves from your commu nion, they will teach their children to hate you, and they will look with longing eyes to the happy States adjoining their frontier. Impatiently will they wait for the moment in which they shall obtain their freedom and become part of that happy, and, for our interests, already too powerful Republic. A war will be waged through an unrestricted Press upon your Go . vernment and your people. In America you will be held up as the oppressors of mankind, and millions will daily pray for your signal and immediate defeat. To restrain this Press will be im 'possible—printing-presses will be established along the line, and inflammatory papers will be imported into your colony, , spite of an army of custom-house officers and lawyers. The fatal moment will at length arrive. The standard of indepen dence Will be raised ; thousands of Americans will recross the frontier, and the history of Texas will tell the talc of Canadian revolt. The instant you have passed the resolutions of the Noble Lord, a wide and impassable gulf will be opened be_ tween you and your colony, the time for reconciliation will be gone for ever, and the - bitter lesson taught us by the ir.'ighty empire we have already lost will be repeated. We W a y then indeed repent our folly, but repentance will be vaie.—nur loss will be irreparable—shame, defeat, and ignominy will be our portion, and we shall leave for ever the shores of America. amidst the hootings, and revilings, and exultae.ons of the many millions of her people whom we have successively injured and insulted. (The Hon. and Learned Gentleman sat down amidst loud c' oers.) Sir G. GREY said the Hon. and Learned Member entirely omitted to state the fact, although it was a most material One, that they were now discussing this question under entirely al tered circumstances from those which existed when the ques tion came formerly before this House. In the several addresses lately presented to that House from the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, in the speeches made that evening by the several advocates of the cl a i ms o f t h e H ouse o f Assemb/y, no complaint appeared to be urged against the Executive C-',overn wient, the ground of complaint being, not that the instructions of the . Home Government to the Executive Government of • Lower Canada watt not directed to the redress of every grievance which it was-in the power of the Executive Govern ment to redress—not that the local Government had not acted in the spirit of the instructions, or that the Executive Govern ment had abstained from doing everything in its power ; but that the Imperial Parliament had not altered the Act of 1791, and that the home Government were not prepared to ask the House to concede every demand made by the House of As sembly as the price at which it would purchase their good. will, and justify them in their refusal to advance supplies ne cessary, not for a few official-persons, as the Hon. and Learned Member wished to make out, but for the occasional adminis tration of justice—of that justice which was now in danger of being polluted to its source in the tenor with which the Judges of the land regarded not only the suitors before them, but even the criminals whom they had to try.—(Cries of Hear, hear.") He ,would appeal to all the papers on the table—to all 'the instructions sent out to the local Go,. vernments, and to every act which they had done in pursu ance of those instructions—and he would ask if there were any thing which a free and independent .people had the slightest right to complain of? Every grievance which had arisen out of former mis - government—mis-government as strongly condemned and reprobated by the Commissioners and the home Government—had been redressed to the ut most power of the Government; and now the House of Assembly took their stand on another ground, and declared that if the Constitution were not altered, if various Acts were not done, which Government, consistently with its duty, could not ask the House to do, but which must be done by - Parliament, if done at all, that they would abstain from the; exercise of those functions reposed in them by the Act c,P.: 1791. What were the demands they made ? Their objec t .had been treated as if it were simply to make an alteration :in the Legislative Council recommended by Mr. Fox. Whe n the subject was last before the House he stated that he con sidered the principle of the Act - of 1791 to be, that there should be an independent Legislative Council, and that it was most desirable to devise means whereby it might be rendered so, and it was with this view, in a great measure, that the Government had sent out Commissioners to Canada to inquire by what means the Legislative Council might be rendered more an object of public confidence. The object was not to render the Legisla-tive Council a mere cipher cr a mere echo., of the sentiments of the House of Assembly, as was desired bT the Honourable and Learned Member. The Honourablea and Learned Member complained that Government had not._ placed sufficient confidence in the statement of 'facts made by the House of Assembly last year, and declared that they being the constitutional representatives of the people of thee province, he claimed for them that the complaints of the. people of the province should proceed only through their mea dim, and that the Parliament here should place implicit con fidence in their statements, and pay no attention . to any otl A e r parties, though th ese part i es m i g h t come before the Imperial Parliament with petitions signed by Eighty thousand persons, who declared that they did 'jot coin cide in the sentiments of the majority. The C‘overnment had been always fully desirous of sifting to the, bottom the statements made on one side and the other as to the state of public feeling in the p rov i nce , an d a ll that was brought before the House, especially as to the Legislative Council. The state of feeling Was strongly advorted to by the Com missioners, and was besides fully evidenced in the proceedings of the House of Assembly, -proceedings which ought to be conducted with judicial gravity, but which' evinced a most virulent party spirit, directed against official persons. The propositions of the House of Assembly were for the most part altogether inconsistent with the relations existing between the mother country and her colonies; and it was the indis pensable duty of Government to oppose propositions the direct - - and, immediate tendency of which was, the dismemberment of the empire and the severing from this country one of tke greatest possessions of the Crown. The only chat-ge which had been brought against the Executive Government wag: its appropriation of funds not subjr,t to the House of Assembly, and this was a course which the Executive Go vernment was warranted in taking on all just and Constitu- • . tional grounds. An analogy had been attempted to be eats 'blisbed between tl - ais question. and the question on which the: House had bees so lately occupied, the granting the fames Municipal Corporations to Ireland; and he was ready to admit that considerable ingenuity had been, exhibited in tl ee endeavottr thus to enlist for the House of Assembly of Cana( La the feeli:ogs of the representatives for Ireland, and those wl so had struggled with them in the assertion of the great winci)kie lately asserted by the Commons of England ;, but there was rot the slightest analogy between the two cases. The ob ject which had been striven for in reference to Ireland was, not to make it an independent portion of the empire, but to invest it with those local powers of 'municipal government which had been with such success granted to England and. Scotland. 'lt was no change it' the Constitution which had been struggled for on „behalf of Ireland; it was a change in the Constitution which was demanded by the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, It was to be particulatly re marked, too, that this outcry was raised only by the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. The people of Upper Ca nada altogether disclaimed any participation in the drmands made by tower Canada. And what was the case in refe rence to New Brunswick ? In the past year New Bruns wick :sent two Members of her Legislature to this (x,untry to ask concession on all those points on which the -people of Lower Canada stated themselves to be aggrieved. In conse quence of the communications that took place an arrang,2- meet was proposed precisely similar in principle, and in me at of its details, to the proposition made to the Mouse of A•s sembly of Lower Canada. H e h a d on l y •wititin these fow days received. a copy of certain resolutions passed una ni )&llQUSly,byy, the Assembly of Nev Bruttewicks with 41 ! . levi. Of