17 FEBRUARY 1839, Page 9

.UPPER CANADA.

The information respecting the state of the Upper Province, not having been acquired by actual administration of the government, was not so ample and detailed as that respecting. Lower Canada ; but suffi- cient to enable the High Commissioner to point out the principal causes of the late troubles. The quarrel was entirely among the British, if not the English, population ; and it is difficult to make out the real object of the struggles, or to discover a motive sufficiently strong to . induce any large mass of the people to unite for the purpose of over- . throwing the Government. The difficulty is increased by the ignorance of the people themselves ; who, being scattered along an extensive . frontier, and having little intercommunication, made contradictory, in- correct, and false statements of the origin of the discontent and the events of the insurrection. The Report, however, supplies sufficient causes of dissatisfaction.

A few persons had gained an ascendancy in the Executive Council, . which enabled them to establish a union, called "the Family Com- pact,"—though in truth there is little family connexion among the Firths. These men engrossed the offices of Cite Government among themsslves, or distributed them among their adherents. The Church, the Bench of Justice, the Magistraoy, and the legal profession, are filled by the adherents of this party. Great discontent was the consequence ; and a majority was elected to the Assembly opposed to the party in power. This majority directed their efforts to obtain the responsibility of the Executive Council ; and it is on this question, mainly, that the struggle between the Reformers and the Official party has been carried on in Upper Canada. All that the Reformers required was, that the Governor of the Colony, like the Sovereign of the Mother Country, should intrust the administration of affairs to persons possessing the confidence of a majority of the Representatives of the People. There was much local jobbing, and profligate expenditure of the public. money in canals and public works ; whence, chiefly, has arisen a heavy debt of a million sterling. The Reforming and Official parties formerly consisted of native Ca- nadians ; but within these few years the emigrants have become nume- rous. Part side with the Officials, of whom the majority are half-pay officers ; others, generally of the humbler classes, take part with the Reffirmers. Both cloases are viewed with jealousy by the native Cana- dians ; and are subject to certain disqualifications which place them in some degree in the position of aliens. Sir Francis Head had to deal with these discordant elements; and he endeavoured, by displacing three unpopular members of the Executive Council, and selecting two members of the Reform party and one gentleman who never interfered with politics, to break the power of the Family Compact.. But Sir Francis soon disgusted his allies, by ap- pointing to office, without consulting the Council, some members of the Official party. He thus lost the support of the Assembly, and was thrown back upon the Official party for support. By the unscrupulous exertion of the influence of Government, and especially in the opportune completion of certain land titles to voters, he secured a majority in the Assembly at the election in 1836: but this majority sided with their friends in the Executive Council ; and the result of Sir Francis Head's proceeding was to consolidate the power of the Official party, of which . he aimed at looking himself independent.

Ills proceedings at the election have caused much exasperation. No economical reforms were afterwards attempted. Nothing was done to satisfy the triumphant party ; whose aim was practical improvement, not the mere consolidation of the power of the Family Compact, to which Governor Head succumbed.

However, notwithstanding the general irritation, the rebel Mackenzie received the support of only " a few unprincipled adventurers and heated enthusiasts." The Reformers aimed at securing their object only constitutional meals.

By a law passed immediately after the last war with the United States, American citizens are prohibited from holding land ; and it is to the uncertainty of the titles which many Americans possess to the lands on which they have squatted, that the disloyalty of that population in the Western district is attributed.

By a stretch of power, the session of the Parliament of 1836 was con- tinued after the death of William the Fourth. But there must be a new election in 1840 ; till which time, the Reformers would probably remain quiet, were it not that the establishment by Sir John Colborne of fifty-seven Rectories has brought the question of the Clergy 'Reserves prominently forward.

It is understood that the Rectors, excepting that they are precluded from levying tithes, are in precisely the same condition in every other respect as clergymen of the Church of England. This is regarded by

all other teachers of religion as degrading them to a position of legal inferiority to the clergy of the Church. of England, and has been re-

sented most warmly. The question absorbs public attention ; and on this practical point issue must sooner or later be joined, in all the con- stitutional questions existing in the province. The settlement of this question, whicli cannot be settled on the principle of establishing a pre- dominant sect, is necessary to the pacification of Upper Canada. The members of the Anglican Church are a minority, and likely to con- tinue so ; and the other Protestant sects will not permit them to engross the revenue provided for the support of the Protestant religion. Lord Durham recommends, as the only means of pacification, a repeal of all the acts of the Imperial. Legislature relative to the Clergy Reserves, and that the disposal of the thuds should be left to the Local Legislature. The High Commissioner also advises, that Orangeism should be dis- couraged, not sanctioned, as it was by Sir Francis Head ; • who refused to take any steps to prevent the formation of Orange Lodges, even though called upon by the House of Assembly, in consequence of Orange outrages at elections. Other causes of complaint are the union of judicial and political functions in the Chief Justice; the appointment of Sheriffs from among the dominant party ; the composition of the Magistracy ; the want of roads, post-offices, mills, churches, schools,—by far the most valuable portion of the land originally devoted to the support of schools through- out the country having been diverted to the endowment of the Univer- sity, from which residents in Toronto alone derive benefit. Discontent and restlessness, the results of general depression, are observable in the bulk of time population. The restrictions on trade, by which the im- portation of articles from the United States is prohibited, has led to ex- tensive smuggling, especially of tea, and to a general*ish that the pro-

vince should be allowed to make use of Ne York as a port of entry. At

present, all importers must receive their articles by the St. Lawrence ; the navigation of which river opens several weeks later than the time at which goods might be procured in all parts of the province bordering on Lake Ontario. Hence, great inconvenience, and loss of time and capital. The financial relations with Lower Canada impede the spirit of im- provement, which has been manifested in the Upper Province by the attempts to form immense canals, by which sea-going vessels might navi- gate the whole of the St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Huron. But the Lower Province refuses to execute its share of the noble undertaking. The means of completing the works, which have cost so much, cannot be raised without the consent of Lower Canada to increase the customs- duties ; which, of course, cannot now be obtained. Under these dis- couraging circumstances, " it cannot he a matter of surprise that many of the most enterprising colonists of ['Imes Canada look to that border- ing, country, in which no great industrial enterprise ever feels neglect or experiences a cheek, and that men the most attached to the existing form of government, would find some compensation in a change, whereby experience might bid them hope that every existing obstacle might be speedily removed, and each man's fortune share in the pro- gressive prosperity of a flourishing state."

THE EASTERN PROVINCES AND NEWFOUNDLAND.

The information which Lord Durham is enabled to communicate respecting the other North American Colonies is comparatively limited. In all of them, as in the Canadas, representative government is coupled with an irresponsible Executive; there are frequent collisions between the different branches of the Government ; want of Municipal institutions, and perpetual interference of the Imperial Administration in matters which ought to be left wholly to the Provincial Governments. In New Brunswick there has been an approach to sound constitutional prac- tice : the entire revenues have been placed under the control of the Assembly ; the old Official party has been deprived of administrative power, which is now lodged in the hands of those whom a majority of the Assembly support ; and the result is, that the Government of New Brunswick, till lately one of the most difficult in the North American Colonies, is now the most harmonious and easy.

In Nova Scotia, an approximation has been made to the same judi- cious course, and with good effect ; but there it is matter of complaint, that " the Church of England should have been suffered to retain a majority in both Councils, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the House and the precise and explicit directions of the Colonial Secretary." -Such was the complaint of one of the most respectable inhabitants of the colony to the High Commissioner.

Prince Edward's Island, small in extent and with a scanty population of 40,000, yet possesses a genial climate and a soil peculiarly adapted for the production of grain. It is well situated for the supply of adjacent colonies ; but, instead of being the granary of the British provinces, it barely supports its own population. This state of things is the result of "a fatal error, which stifled its prosperity in the very cradle of its existence, by giving up the whole island to a handful of distant pro- prietors." The strong recommendations of Lord Durham have at length led to the adoption of a measure to remove the abuse, which has so long retarded the prosperity of the colony. The precise nature of the measure is not stated.

Of Newfoundland the Report says little,—except that there is and long has been the ordinary Colonial collision between the Representa- tive body on one side and the Executive on the other ; that the Repre- sentatives have no influence on the composition or the proceedings of time Executive Government ; and that the dispute is now carried on, as in Canada, by impeachments of various public officers on one hand and prorogations on the other.