The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-11 00:00:00

COPY OF DESPATCH FROM TIIE EARL OF GOSFOTiD TO LORD

GLEN ELG.

Castle of St. Lewin, Quk:bee, Sept. 9, 1837.
" My Lord—As I have not heard fur the last three or four
weeks that any public meetings have taken place similar to
those alluded to in the first part of my despatch of thQ 11th of
July last, No. 60, 1 begin to conclude that this mode of agita-
tion has been abandoned for the present. I understand that
since its commencement in the early part of Mto lint, upon
the ministerial resolutions becoming knasvn in this country,
there have Leen held in different parts of the province about
twent3-three meetings, styled, by those who convened them,
" Anti-coercion meetings." Of these by far the greater num-
ber took place in the district of Montreal, five only being held
in the district of Quebec, two in that of Three Rivers, and one
in the district of St. Francis.

" The principal objects of the resolutions passed at these
meetings were to condemn the Ministerial measures and the
policy of the Home and Local Administration ; to recom-
mend smuggling, and the adoption of other measures for
cutting off the sources of and diminishing the revenue : to

cite t.o disaffection and resistance towards the imperial and
ani' lei/
ov authorities ; to suggest the formation of central
• I
cod
r?er manent committees for political purposes in each'
unty, and of general convention for the whole province;'
'
d finally, to create a feeling which would lead to the
se
severance of the connexion between the colony and the parenv
ate, by representing that justice was no longer to be ex-,
petted from the latter, but only tyranny and oppression,
and by disseminating doctrines and employing language and;
banners of a seditious, inflammatory, and disloyal character.
Although there has been, I am happy to say, no recurrence/
of the outrages reported in the latter part of my dispatch
of the 11th of July last, and although agitation by mean
of public meetings appears to have ceased, yet the efforts'
of those who are seeking, as it would seem, to disturb the
existing order of things continue unabated, and show them-
selves in seditious and inflammatory publications and in
the resolutions and acts of the committees that have been
organised in one or two counties in the district of Montreal,
where the proceedings are of a private and exclusive character,
though some of them are occasionally made public through
the organs of the party, the Minerve and Vindicator news-
papers. The principal of these Committees, styled the
Central and Permanent Committee of the county of Mon-
treal, holds its sittings weekly in the city of Montreal, and
the objects of it, as set forth in the I3th resolution passed at
the meeting of St. Laurent (county of Montreal) on the 15th
of May, are " to watch over the political interests of the
country—to correspond with the other counties in this and the
sister province, to adopt such measures as may from time to
time appear necessary to protect the rights of the people, and
advance the cause of good government in these colonies; and
to carry into execution, as far as lies in the power of the Corn.
mittee, the various recommendations, suggestions, and deter-
minations agreed to at the meeting."
There have been no steps ;et taken, as far as I aan Itarn,
for establishing a general convention beyond the recommen-
dation contained in the resolutions adopted at the different
meetings for organising one, and the naming, in such resolu-
tions, delegates to attend when the time and place of assem-
bling shall be fixed.
Before closing this communication, should mention that
there have been six meetings held,including those in the cities
of Quebec and Montreal, of which I have already apprized
your Lorthhip, where resolutions were passed of an opposite
character to those I have above noticed.

No. XXXIX.

EXTRACTS OF A DISPATCH FROM THE EARL OF GOSFORD TO
LORD GLENELO, DATED CASTLIII ST. LEWIS, CILEBF.C, OCTOBER
12, 1837.

The system of agitation, and the attempts to create dis-
affection, and to ripen it into revolution, of which I have spoken
in previous dispatches, are, I regret to say, still unremittingly,
and with more boldness than ever, carried on by M. Papincau
and the party that act with him, comprising the greater number
of the members of the Assembly returned for the district of
Montreal. In several of the counties of that district they have
succeeded, if rumour and their newspaper organs are to be cre-
dited, beyond what T hod anticipated, although I have reason to
telieve that in the parts which may be said to be most disaffected,
the majority of the rural population is as yet but little inclined to
join in the views aad schemes of the agitators, who, however, by
misrepresentation, and by the instrumentality of fear and in-
tim'cletion, have so far worked upon their minds as to produce a
degree of inertness in opposing the progress of the movement,
and in aiding the administration of justice and the course of
social order, that cannot fail to afford grounds for serious con-
sideiation. The mode of proceeding adopted for keeping up
and increasing this feeling is by parading nightly, in the town
of Montreal, large and organized bands of men, who, however,
have as yet proceeded to no acts of violence or breaches of the
peace; by inflammatory speeches at meetings; by seditious
publications and resolutions of the Central Committees ; by
placing (in the most disturbed of the rural parishes) those who
are loyal and hold opposite political opinions under a species
of excommunication, and keeping them in dread of nocturnal
injuries to their property; by burning in effigy those in
higher stations, sal by subjecting thorn to a kind of annoy-
ance called a charivari, which is the assembling of a crowd
before their doors, fer the purpose of alarming them and
their families at night with uncouth noises, hisses, threats,
and other manifestations of popular displeasure. Sir John
Colborne, the lion. Mr. Debartzch, and others, have been
exposed to this kind of outrage, which, in a recent instance,
at St. Denis, in the County of Richelieu, was unhappily at-
Vnded with loss of life and property ; a lady, Madame St.
Jacques having, as it is reported, fired, or given directions to
Er • upon the mob, when, not content with the proceedings
usual on such occasion=, they had actually broken into her
house; two persons were thereby wounded, of whom ono has
since died. The house was immediately dernolisheJ, but not
before the inmates had escaped. Madame St. Jacques was,
however, shortly afterwards apprehended and committed by a
Magistrate to the Montreal gaol, where I believe she yet
remains.

Some of the immediate, fruits of the system now in opera-
tion, which, if not put down, must lead to the worst conse-
quences are to be seen in the apathy and inaction of such of
the magistracy and persons ef property who had not joined
the revolutionary party; in the extreme difficulty of obtaining
accurate and available information of what is passing ; and,
judging from recent events, in the little probability, even if
evidence of sufficient weight could be procured to arraign the
offenders of a jury, t.k.un from the district of Montreal, finding
bills, and convicting on them.
Trio electors of the five coursties bordering on the Richelieu
river, viz., Richelieu, Ch,,mbly, St. ilyacinthe, Rouville, and
Verche-es, having been called upon by the Montreal Central
Committee, intend, I understand, to have a meeting on the
23d instant, at which, no doubt, Mr. Papineau and his prin-
cip.d supporters will be present. What are the precise ob-
jects of this meeting I have not been able to asceilain ; pro-
bably to produce an effect hare and at home, to recommend
resistance to the authorities, a general convention, the orga-
nization of the people, and in fact to prepare them as much
as possible for receiving and forwarding the views of the
Iparty, who, it is now evident, aim at nothing short of a revo-
ution, and would, I bel:cve, commence it immediately if they
thou;ghtilthernselves sufficiently supported by the mass of the
pJrulatioa. Many rumours are in c'rculation : one, that it is
intended at this meeting to issue a declaration of independ-
ence ; and another, that the plan is to wait till the navigation
closes and the winter sets in, and then to commence active
operations, when the military can receive no assistance or
supplies from without. Ido not myself credit these reports,
nor yet apprehend any serious disturbance, although there arc,
I admit, some persons of experience and information who
think otLrwis,!.

It is I.roperthat I should represent to you the inadequacy
of the powers at the disposal of the local covernment for
meeting the difficulties that surround it. The law fails to
afford itsisupport ; the civil authorities EK:corric therefore im-
portint: the Habess Corpus Act cannot be suspended. The
clergy, though well disposed and loyal, are reluctant to come
forward ; any farther eppeal to the present Parliament would
not oot:, be inexpedient and useless, but positively injurious;
and a dissolution off: r; no prospect of a more reasonable
(louse of Assembly, nor any hope that the na w house, which
would be composed of a majority of the old members, would
recede in any particular from the demands so,psrtinaciously
insisted on by the pres;:nt body. Indeed, a dissolution, if de-
cided on at all, should not at any rate be resorted to before
the whole of the measures and arrangements you now have in
contemplation respecting this province shall have passed into
law and be perfected.
In such circumstances, and seeing that the Im::,erial Parlia-
ment has solemnly and unequivocally stated that it will not
accede to the Assembly's demands, I am forced, however re-
luctantly, to come to the conclusion that the only practical
course:now open fur conducting the affairs of this province with
any benefit to the inhabitants generally, is at once formally to
suspend the present Constitution, which both parties unite in
confessing cannot now be worked, and which has in fact for
the last twelve months been virtually suspended; to increase
the military force, and to strengthen the hands of the execu-
tive, now almost impotent for any good,; useful purpose. I do
not really see any other plan left for defending the French Ca-
nadian:from the ruinous consequences that must soon overtake
him should Papineau and his party succeed in their revolu-
tionary schemes; schemes that, without adverting to consi-
derations connected with the adjoining provinces, should be
resisted, in justice to that portion of the population who have
settled here, relying upon British faith and protection, who are
firm in their allegiance, and avowedly hostile to any disrup-
tion of the connection subsisting between the colony and
parent state.
In conclusion, I would remind your Lordship that the
description I have given of passing events is drawn from ma-
terials furnished almost exclusively from the district of Mon-
treal ; the four other districts remaining as yet passive,
though I believe the agitators have einissa.ries busy amongst
them. In the city of Quebec a Central Committee has been
established, of which Mr. Morin, I perceive, is a member,
and which is intended probably to be similar in object and
operation to its prototype at Montreal, but its purposes and
regulations are not yet made known.

XLIV.
[ln this despatch Lord Gosford's resignation is accepted.

XLV.

COPY OF A DESPATCH FROM LORD GLENELO TO LIEUTENANT-
GENERAL SIR JOHN COLBORNE, K. C. B.,IDATED DOWNING-
STREET, NOVEMBER 27, 1637.
Sir—This despatch will be placed in your hands by the
Earl of Gosford, and will apprise you that he is about to retire
from the government of Lower Canada. By the terms of
his Lordship's commission, the provisional administration of
that Government will devolve on you, until her Majesty shall
have appointed some other person to fill that office.
I trust that it is unnecessary to state that Lord Gosford re-
tires without the slightest diminution on either side of the con-
fidence which has invariably subsisted between himself and the
Ministers of the Crown ; on the contrary, the circumstances
which. have led to this measure greatly enhance his previous
elaiclaims on their respect and gratitude. With a generous su-
periority to every selfish consideration, Lord Gosford has
frankly referred to her Majesty's Government the question,
whether it might not be conducive to the public interests that
the Government should be placed in the hands of an officer
less implicated in the events of the last few years than him-
self, and has desired them to be guided in their decision by an
exclusive regard to the public welfare.
I am deeply conscious that the duties which will devolve
on you during your te.riporary administration will be of grave
responsibility ; but you will not on that account shrink
from encountering them with calmness and courage. lam
happy to learn from the communications which have reached
me from the General commanding in chief, that your mili-
tary arrangements have been conducted with that foresight and
decision-on which Lord Hill had every reason to calculate,
and which I trust will have powerfully contributed to arrest
the attempts to which the more reckless of the leaders in agi-
tation might otherwise have resorted. To maintain or restore

tranquillity. and to assert the dominion of the law, is the im-
mediate object to be attained. Without proposing to fetter
the discretion which must necessarily be vested in you, I shall,
in a few days, address to you such instructions as appear to
be required by the existing state of Lower Canada. In the
mean time I will only assure you, that your measures will
receive the most favourable construction, and that you will be
seconded by the most full and cordial support which it is in the
power of her Majesty's gouernment to afford you.