The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-22 00:00:00

CAPE BRETON.

The numerous and important colonies of this country !
have been, for many years, worse governed than the eolo-
nio of any other country. They have not been governed !
an say fixed ptinciple ; and such a variety of measures, I t
finer counteracting and contradictory, have been ordered '
b, the Colonial Secretary, that it is impossible for the mil- ;
drew m know what they are to depend upon, or what they !,
se neat to expect. The result, as might have been ex-
renal, has he n a prevailing spirit of restlessness and :4
djiafilirlit, destructive alike to the interests of the colonists I'
old of the nmther-country—the former are ruined, and the ;
latter ',national to an itinnease amount, to support colonies
wine') ought, like those of other countries, to have supported ;
themiskes, and been a source of site and wealth to
the patent nation. 11'e shall feel it, henceforth, to be a I
puticedar part of our public duty, to bring before the pub- ;
lie the real situation of these dependent states, and shall
esp.isc the system of arbitrary misndo and mismanagement
n the pioce!..tline's of the Colonial Office, which has so long
disgraced the Britishr.t;overnment, and the consequences of ;
which are becoiniug every day more manifest and morel,
!arming. to t
It will be recollected, that a petition was preaented
the House of Commons', last Session, complaining that
LOUD B.ct•ucasr had, lei/boat Mr consen! ,!1. the inhahil-li
:n/s, or the 1:,,,w!,•1;44.• Porliament, taken from Cape ;
Breton their separate Government ; and, by an Order of
Council of 20th t haulier, 1`•.!;), annexed- that island as a
county tp Nova Scotia, ther..by depriving the inhabitants
of Cape, Breton of those rights which they, in common'
with Grenada and the other conquered colonies, ceded after ,
the war of 176',!, had derived by his Majesty's proclamation ;
of the 7fit of October, 1763. An act more illegal and op-
pressive, i4r more in the spirit of a desootic and usurped
authority mina he pointed out within the past century,— !
fruitful as it leas been of lordly and imperative measures ;
—.alai it trust he regretted that Parliament did not take up ,
the question in the manner which its magnitude and the;
important principles involved in it most urgently required. '
Mr. Wilmot, in his answer to Mr. Hume, in the House
,'
of Commons, made assertions respecting Cape Breton,
whicb the Jletea, then belie.. ed to be true, but which have
been denied by the inhabitants of the island, at a public
meeting !atm saly called together for the purpose of con-
sidering these statements front the Colonial Office respect-
ing
them.
Some paper' were laid on the table of the House last
Session, mid it is most important to know that many of:
them turn 'oot to be as incorrect, in fact, as was the state-
ment of the Colonial Secretary himself. These discoveries
appear to ns of the utmost inqxwtance, and prove that offi-
cial men it the Colonies make statements to the Colonial
Office in Loudon, which are utt, rly false and unfounded,
which ale writien for some particular purposes, and often to'
kirceive the Government at home. This has resulted, and
Dna result from the system carried on—the secrecy with
which Colonial affairs arc managed, and which necessarily;
kad to bad government and oppression. It is notorious
:::at the inhabitants of the Colonies, who have not legisla-
tive asaembli, s, never know the contents of any despatches
er commutications from their Governors which concern
thew so vitally, unless they are laid before Parliament,
villa is oily done on some extraordinary occasion.
The case of Cape Breton is one which concerns the co-
limits in gem ral ; for if Lord Bathurst can, with impu-
nity, by the stroke of his pen, or, which is the same thing,
by an Order in Council, deprive the whole colonists of
tape Breton of their independence and rights, sanctioned
by Parliament and actually enjoyed for nearly half a cen-
tury, and that without the least n mpathy or attention from
the West Indian and other colonies, it is not to he won-
Med at if be attempts, with a little care, by circulars to
their Goveroora, to deprive them uncetemonionsly of the
rights and property they enjoy, under all the sac-red princi-
ples of law and justice, and by the sacred sanction of nu-
merous Acts W.' the Br fish Legislature.

ll'e
---
have received a copy of the proceedings at a public
meetintz, held at Svilney for the Island of Cape Breton,
l 60111i1011, as cod
on tl .! :hl of November, IS'23, with LI, re ~
to unanimously at that meeting. We have only room for
the resolutions, which, al:bough long, contain matter,
very important to every
man who howls his rights and pro•
, They are of u
petty at the will of the Colonial Secretary.
nattire to press themselves most seriously on the public at-
tendon in this country. If the course of proceeding
Iwhich they relate is to be avowed as legitimate, and au-
ilvorisvAl as constitutional, consetpunca affecting us all
oust be Elie certain result.
At a Public fleeting, held at Sydney, for the Island of Cape
mcon, on the ;et of Novembu r, ledli, George William flown,
Esq. a as called to the Chair, when the following resolutions were
treed to :—.
1. That this Island, from the year 1711, when it was ceded to
Great Britain, has ever been a separate, independent, and distinct
I °Way from Nova Scotia. ahlanigh united, by the King's prods.
nation in that year, to the Governor-Generalship of that province,
and tlwsys since has been included within the limits and hounds
of the juris4lietion of the Governin in Chid. as impetus by the se.
steal oammissions from the Corea to that officer, wherein it has
Ist been telly described as another Colony ; and is so distinguished
41 itlllflilllCtl by n:any statutes of Brat Briton, since that time,
' an in soother light be considered as part of Nova Scotia, than
aitiof Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago, are parts of
Ja. at united to that Government in the same manner, by
ime pa clamation.
That this Colony, having been a conquered country,
his Lute Majesty, by his letters patent, under the Great
of ltrsmt Britain, having granted to it a legislature, con.
g of a Governar, Council. rasa Assembly, with Courts of
the laws of England, and all other rights, liberties, and
4 joyed by British sultjerta in the l'olouits, allogetherex-
-et and tioconnected with ally other Province in North America,
alma Itttlly, after a lapse tti. nearly forty years, be deprived of
iglus. and he subjected as an attpintlage to another Pmvinee,
itilts Previous coustnt of its tehabitants, and sn Act of the
i Parliament.
hat i fter the actual pmacesion of nearly half a century, and
inset titan rued frequent pledges given by the British Govern-
' is a erity to the ivied:hums of this Cohnty, to it dote them
sealers therein, it cannot, without an unnecessary ant
h of honour, justice, and humanity, attempt, without
.I ea Is: or colourable excuse, to strip them of their freedom
ttlty. arlll regarlll,,, Af their feelings aed complaints, trans-
It pleasure, like sieves. to a foreign master.
it the laws of Nova Scotia, both in principle and practice,
iithe, dissimilar, end in many eases repugnant to the laws ,
ant, hithetto enjoyed by the iiihabitants of this Island.
'at all lamb,' property in the lawn of Sydney, and fee!
oiler round, has, by this attempted union, been reduced *o a
Mit al rattle; aed it is the iteution of this meeting, that no
• suh•tct ought, or can lawfully, be deprived or lila property. 1
!nisi ill or real, but on a full, tuir, and adequate ronipensa-
equi valent. i
hat t le province of Nova Scotia, Navin„contracted a large
rants Wed debt, when it is now uraitle to discharge, it is •
emst and oppressive that this Island should be obliged to i
' it Ivavv weig!,t of tasation for its payment; when, by the
Mtn a its C 'vital, its to ineipal market hal been destroyed,
ie duly decrease of eteenteree. and depreciated value of
aural produce, e-shibit the alarming approach of inevitable
That this meeting do appmee and entOrm the whet* of the
at petition presented to the British Howse of Commons, by
inhabitant. of Sydney, as being the sentiments and general,
ter or lie Colony.
That the intimnation cornmunicated to his Majesty's Ge- invent h Enelentl, that a ur ion with Nova r.ttia hal proved
rtitial h. this Islatal, and was desire.] by its biliabitanta ; that'
e's duty on coals hall bee rethir.ed ; that the taxation ' awl be Nttva Scotia had not petted burthensunic and tipples-
: and -that many great advantages ha.! been received by elf's i
sl from the I •ni• m, i, totally unbounded initruth, and it is the 1
• tsf this 'leering that those malevolent fabrications were;
• et leeret entissarii.s. plactel in this iedonv, to mislead and
!et's: Itr:tish Governments and facilitated the nefarious and
a:sti views of the enennts of the blend.
ri-c the copy of a letter laid before the. British House of
',lt t, deed the 2:41i November, Idlti, front Mejor-tleneral
nt, he then Lieutenant-Gov.lmo': of this Island, who states,
',Nwt-itimce of the decision of the Supreme Court, on an il-
'I on spirt:, imposed by the tiovernor and Council, without 1,
elite had struck at the root of the prosperity of the Island,
19' tile except ion of silt or "oven ruin-dealers, had met with the
Ect f the whole pu,pulation, wood that the people most wil-
l/ld fhet. tax, and that a petition was in progress by the in.l
•t'''"t mite C•tiony at laree to maxettre its again being audio-
ltit asstr•exts grossly scnadidons, and deliberately false,
271 3pron this Colony ; for it was well kitown then. and
"l‘e hem to :ti. ma,pm,., I uovernmcr.t in England, that the
Ltt '''' `LrreptitittisslC obtained, mitt that the revenue
t, ,s ~,astanily and a astefully inisap;slied, and was ever
. , rid uneottstitioional it y the colony, and that home-
%.,!r• • vis :0 i;eacral Ainshe's arrival in Cape Breton (of,
j,lte 'a hire ::). a deciasa, ion to that efEect had be,Nl ad- !
. 'I e -i!IIIIit:IIR to his predecessor, calling, at the same
.•tt ii,,•,,.,‘,. .
•.em , . - -nity ef the aasentlily ; and he was also weld
ti
ar. I •tioird„ in 11l had announced that all taxes! pot.
~,,„..7.4,,,,1.-. we,- arni. And this Meeting explicitly'
':' '''doret that do• colony rt ver intended. nor ever tool:
t: Lea, le or present at petition to Maior-General
this . "lII' ;hat tax ; and that it is equally a deliberate un.
•, '',', aere ten other taxes existing in the island at that
' 'llan-14nm' Ainslie) actually caused to be levied
'''' L'nr, and admits thee were 'Mega! • that is to say.
1,1 a• :mail seiti•s; et' six te,v s' peisen.al kW:Aron ne-

Iminal roads ; on working cattle ; new and unlawful fees of office,
and in the nature of lines in numerous cases ; and that he did ar-
bitrarily and wilfully, after that knee was written, cause,
two new taxes by the sante authority to be imposed and le.'
vied; which facts are fully possessed by his 3lajesty's Colonial
3linister, having been enumerated and submitted in complaints to
the British noose of unions, and transmitted in the Council
minutes and orders to the Colonial office : and this meeting
solemnly declare, that no intention ever existed of an application
to Lieutenant-Governor Ainslie, for the redress of public pier-
&nets of any kind whatever, from a previous knowledge that none
would be obtained ; and this meeting unequivocally express the ex-
ecration and horror with which they review the disgraceful violence,
tyranny, and oppression, and, above all, the shameless and Un-
moral depravity that marked, on all occasions, his conduct while
resident in Cape Cretan ; and thin meeting cannot withhold the ex-
presting their astonishment that his Majesty's Government, know-
ing the untruths ahave rated, should affect to give credence to
such document*, or impose them on the British Parliament as esta-
blished facts.

10. That the absurd, illegal, and ignorant attempt on the part of
the Legislature of Nova Scotia, to extend the laws of thatprovinee
to Cape }Becton, in 17titi (then a wilderness), under pretenee that, as
the colony of Cape Breton and St. John, now Prince Edward's
Island, were included in and annexed to that Government, by the
Proclamation of the 7th October. 1740, they from thenceforth
became a part of that province, betrays that want of knowledge
and wisdom that halt unceasingly characterised that province; par-
ticular') in the extraonlinary joint Address of the Assembly and
Council, presented to the Govemoi of that province in 1017,
wherein the same Minima's idea, among others is suggested, that
this 'colony should be re-annexed, with Prince other, is
Island, to
that (lovernment, when, in fact, neither of them, since um, were
ever aqui:mid therefront, except Prince Edward's Island, while it
possessed a Governor-in-thief from 17Itt until 1701, when it was
re-annexed to the Nova Scotia Government, but then and still is a
different province; and if this preposterous and untenable concep-
tion could be maintained, that colonies can be united by the DIM
mandaleof the Crown, it would create a system most dangerous
and arbitrary, and at once repeal the various statutes by which our
independence is recognised and annihilated ; and declare illegal not
only the present colony of New Brunswick, but Prince Edward's
Island, and sanction an authority ih the Island of Grenada, to ex-
tend its Acts to the colonies of Dominica, St. Vincent, and
Tobago, as having been included and made part of that Govern.
ment by the same Proclamation : and it is the opinion of this
meeting, that although his Majesty may, and frequently does, in.
elude ie:veral colonies under one Government, and the same at
pleasure alter, it does rut affect their respective independence of
tech other..or authorise the Crown to annul, without an Act oil
Parliament, their local constitution and laws.

11. That the bounty greeted ia its last session by the legislature
of Nova Scotia, on fish, is injudicious, and founded on partial
motives, and has in contemplation the ruin and removal of several
large and extensive British establishments in this colony, as by
deeming British merchants foreigners, and denying that bounty to
them as non-residents, although possessing large landed properties
within the prmirrce, it rot merely destroys those sources of wealth
and trade lii:herto derived to the island, but will reduce to beggary
many thousands of the inhabitants employed by them, and extend
the injury to the commerce of Great Britain, and its manufactures
now consumsd in the fisheries, contrary to the express commands
of the Crown in the 211 ankle of the royal instructions.
12. That the letters frotn the Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia.
laid before the House of Commons, stating that the inhabitants of
this island were generally happy, contented, and thriving, under
die province of Nova Scotia, and that the laws of that province are
not inapplicable to the island, and that the sum of ItiON. had been
I granted for roads by the Legislature of Nova Scotia (a boon only
irpiircciated by the proplo, and that the regulation of putting frohi
two to five individuals in sine grant had given general satisfaction,
are statements, this meeting conceives, could only have arisen from
the grossest misrepmemation, and the want of due investigation
during the few days residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of
Nova Scotia at Sydney ; nor can this meeting imagine how
he could imbibe impressions so erroneous and unfounded,
us the first public meeting of the Colony at Sydney expressly pointed
out in the strong.st terms the illegality, dissatisfaction, misery, and
mischief that had resulted from the attempted union. It is true
this meeting cannot deny that the paltry grant of 1.0001. pounds foe
roads, returned front the large revenue drawn from this island to
support that province, has been by this Colony duly appreciated as
evincing a partial injustice, and an insulting mockery of our de.
graded state; as the sentiments of this meeting have been already
announced on the laws of Nova Scotia, it is unnecessary further
to observe, than that the observations of the Lieutenant-Governor
on that fact, and the regulation of five grantees in one patent, are
recorded profs thin ('ape ItrytiM has not even been deemed here.
mbar a part of that province, and that landed property has fallen
even below the value of the fees on a single grant.
IN. That should his 31njesty's Colonial Minister still continue,
tinder a full knowledge of tha state of this Colony, to advise a
resistance to the constitutional and legal claims of she inhabitants.
it can only be considered as a pertinacious and wanton act of,
par.isl tyranny, as the pmvince of New Brunswick, once really
a part of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, under exactly
similar circumstances with Cape Breton, are allowed to retain their
independence and laws.

4: That a committee. consisting of John Leaver, George W.
Boron, Edmund M. 1)0IJ, Richard Gibbons, and Philip Elle.
Esquires, be appointed to prepare a petition to the British House
of to:moons, to be sent for signatures to the different parts of
the

15. That the grateful thanks of this meeting be given to Joseph
Hume, Est:., for the zealous, able, and patriotic manner with
which he supported the petition of the inhabitants of the town of
Sydney to the Clouse of Commons, and for his unwearied exertions
on all occasions to protect the Colonies front oppression.
lii. That the thanks of this meeting also be given to the other
members of the !louse of Commons, who so honourably and ably
exerted themselves to secure the rights cad liberties of this island
frnn invasion.

17. That the thanks of this meeting he given to Richard Ribbons,
Esq. for his ptitsonal efliwts in England, as the agent from Sydney,
in promoting the success of the petition of its inhabitants, and for
his constant zeal to advance the welfare and prosperity of the island
oil all occasions.

iH. That the thanks of this meeting be given to George William
Bu rn~ Esq. tur his itiiilartial conduct in the chair.

G. W. 11011'N, Chairman.
N.B.—The 23d ankle of the King's instructions mentioned in
the 11th revolution, is the number in those given to Sir James
Craig ; it luny not correspond to that number in those to
Lord Dalhousie.

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