New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-07-20
CANADA.
TIE MACHINERY OF LEGISLATION.

TNwelve months and more have elapsed since
occpn;ed a corner in THE TRIBUNE, AMI my
pre,ent object is to try to set Jon right about
eur LesislAtive Council or Provinci, Senate.
You saw. "Canada Is undergoing changes that
..,eiu PLACE IL, n0b-cise in due time alongside d
.sihe NORTH american Union. Primogentgre gone,
"Ci,rgy Reserves sscHtarized, Feadat TeHHres
abolished, The Legislative Council eieeisd for a
-'shcyt term, &C."
How little you know about ii away down there
in New.York!
Oar Senate or Legislative Council is chosen
in this way; Any Governor selects any Lxecu-
tive Council he thinks he can manage, Placisg
at their dis oosal all the patronage of the country
and with seats in the Legislature ais Counch
can usually control sn Assembly, chosen through
the most open and thorough sy'teD OF intim'da-
tior. bribery and corruption the world ever
knew. Ii majority turn FESTIVE, they dissolve
and elect again. Once get elected, however,
and you may perhaps continue 10 keep your
seat four years while mock trial is going on
70 find out whether yourself or somebody else is
the real member. la KamOurafka 10 1881, two
candidates started 20 win the afe ,tiOns Of
~. JSl NhLuOIFb dUu 1lvtCoAhub' III
French Canadian who was not returned contested
the seat, and tse trial lasted through 1882, 1875
and 1854, when Il sudden dissolution, 10 sdlt
Lord Elgin's latest speculations. ieit the ques-
tion precisely where it was IN 1851 wish heavy
bills due, both hr Che parties and the Govern
ment. TIE elections followed, snd K4mourirka
tool new course. lnstigated by large sums
expended to influence the voting, parishes with
eco to Acc Peep e, would return 1900 to 1900
votes each upon oath, the same persons sometimes
voting ten times over; dogs and babies would be
held up and their votes also recorded In Sague-
nav County, opposite, 1900 Of q population,
turned out foil $4,000 yOtes
The komsn Catholic Hierarchy united with the
established English Hierarchy in remonstrance
against secDlarization and the last heard Of the
StcularizatiOn of the Clergy Reserves, OF which
you speak was of the handing of the sterling
bonds Of the Province, payable in London to the
agents Of one Of the State priesthOOds for million
of dollars on account; :" and my next sdylces will
probably be of another haul FOR the established
Scots Kirk of half a million or more. Also, for
your puritan secularizng system! Where is 1t
Tie Elective Senate you talk about is myth
ours is body of ten, fifty or hundred, as the
Colonial Minister and his agent here (sOme poor
peer or barOnet to whom $4,000 year and the
ct ceteras are an object may choose. At present
the Senate counts AZ, OF whom the average annual
attendance in session may be II or -, including
the Receiver General and the Speaker, who each
get $4,000 year or more. The majority of the
members reside in Quebec, Montreal, Kingston and
Toronto; but the people have no more TO do in
their election than in that of the Pope or the En-
peror of Russia, although for some forty years
they have been petitOning and voting in favor of
an elective Senate. Knowing this the Macnab
Hincks Government, when they usurped office and
felt weak and unsteady, pretended last September
a strong desire to introduce the elective principle
into the Council, England having conceded the
question to the people of Canada. They introduced
bill withdrew it, put off discussion and intro
duced worse-dodged discussing it, framed ex
cuses, and not till week or two before the session
of many months had come to a close, did they
complete their last bill, and allow members TO
vote upon the question, Shall the Legislative
Council be elected by the people, the old J9gies
continuing to keep their places till they die OF
Even thus the vote was yeas II, nays 9, and
among these nays were the two members for To-
rontO Mr. Bown of The Globe and Judge Robin
sons brother
The Governor had the power TO add to the
Legislative Council he had blank mandamuses
he added three old Tories, and the bill speed
ily kicked out there, three to one. They never
take the Yeas and Nays, and merely serve as
shabby screen 10 spare the Governor the disgrace
of crushing good measures. A Mr.. Walker, how
ever one of their members, frankly admitted that
gentlemen in Office had urged him to vote down the
bill they had just sent up. Is this never done at
Washington
In the last and again in the present Canada Par
lament, member of the Assembly, well known
in New-YOrk, introduced and carried through it a
bill upon the principle of your furniture exemp-
ton law, providing that beyond a given limit the
sheriff or baiiiff should not 90 il was cheerfully
voted for, three TO one in Assembly but the mo
ment the Legislative Council ascertaned that Lord
Elgn dsliked it they kicked out the first bill, and
they probably kicked out the second to please Sir
+. Head, the French councillors especially oppOs-
ing it.
Lower Canada is a poor cold country Upper
Canada a rich one Lower Canada has few ex-
ports Upper Canada exports wheat flour and
lumber in year, including -four to Lower Canada
to the extent of eleven or twelve millions of dol
lars Upper Canada contributes the greater part
of the common revenue; Lower Canada expends
that greater part. Upper Canada has an educated
population, while in Lower Canada, with worse
climate and fewer inhabitants, the priesthood OF
Rome controlled by their hierarchy, seigniOrs aud
schemers, Keep back education, so that not one in
ten can read and write yet when, on the 18th of
May last, W. l.. Mackenzie moved in Assembly
that the representation ought to be based upon
population, 56 members voted NAY; and OF the ~
yeas not one was Lower Canadian representa-
tive The French of Lower Canada were, in
1851, 600, 52S all other populations, 22O,733.
They never take the yeas and nays in the Iegs-
lative Council. No indeI PENDENT man wants 10 be
there. From 1871 TO 1853 they pretended they
were an epitome of the English House Oi Lords
and took 10 psy direct, making all right however
out Of the public plumber elsewhere; but in that
year they boldly demanded daily wages and mile.
age aud heavy vote of spending money Besides
$500 and mileage to their Speaker third-rate
Belleyille attorney they took 500 400 for Wages