The state of politics in Lower Canada is approaching to
a crisis. According to intelligence to the loth October, the attempts of the Colonial Office and the Earl of GOSFORD to induce the House of Assembly to vote the supplies, and to abandon the demand for the reform of their House of Lords, have totally failed. On the 27th of September,'Lord GOSFORD communicated to the Assembly a copy of Lord GLENELG'S answer to the address adopted in the former session, which contained a summary of Canadian griev- ances, and a commentary on the instructions to the Commissioners, published in part by Sir FRANCIS HEAD. Lord GLENELG'S de- spatch is, of course, conciliatory in its tone. It assumes that if the Assembly had been in possession of the whole of the instruc- tions, much of the address would have appeared unnecessary. Any intention of limiting the inquiries of the Commissioners is disavowed. They were not restricted from recommending such alterations in the constitution of the Legislative Council as would render it more fit for the purposes for which it was originally established, and more conformable with the principle of the Act of 1791. By way of giving a definite meaning to this phraseology, Lord GLENELG says- " The principle of the Constitution of 1791 is, that there shall be two dis- tinct and independent houses of Legislature. Adhering to this general prin- ciple, it remaius for your Lordship and your colleagues, acting on the instruc- tions addressed to you as Commissioners, to inquire how the most effectual means can be taken for securing such a Legislative Council as shall at once enjoy a due share of public confidence, and a full exercise of an enlightened and independent judgment on all matters submitted for its consideration."
The Assembly insisted on the necessity of " a responsible and popular Government;" and Lord GLENELG declares, that, taking these expressions in their obvious sense, they do not go beyond the principles by which the King is pleased to command that the Government of Canada shall be administered. He adds an expla- nation, however, which shows clearly enough that in the " re- sponsible Government," the responsibility of the Upper Chamber is not meant to be included-
" It is his Majesty's desire and injunction, that full and early explanations should be afforded to the Representatives of the People of all important mea- sures adopted by the Government ; that the Assembly should enjoy the most ample opportunity of explaining both to the King himself and to his 'Majesty's Representative in the province, their opinions and their wishes respecting every such measure ; that the imputed misconduct of any public officer—with the ex- ception, of course, of his Majesty's representative, the Governor, who must be responsible directly to the King and the Imperial Parliament—should be closely and impartially investigated, that means should be devised for bringing to trial and punishment, within the province itself, every such officer to whose charge any malversation in office may be laid ; and that effectual security should be taken for the zealous cooperation of all subordinate officers in every measure advised by the Legislature and sanctioned by the King for the general welfare of his Majesty's subjects."
Lord GLENELG gives as a reason for not introducing in the British Parliament a bill for the repeal of the Tenures Act, the King's reluctance to interfere with the internal affairs of Canada ; and with respect to the Act incorporating the British North Ame- rican Land Company, he affirms that it cannot be repealed without endangering " the foundation of all proprietary titles and all socialties," and that " no consideration, however urgent, of temporary or apparent expediency—not even the desire to conci- liate the good-will of the Assembly of Lower Canada "—will in- duce him to consent to a measure having such consequences.
In conclusion, Lord GLENELG directs Lord Gomm') again to ask for the supplies.
The House of Assembly went into Committee on the state of the Province, on the 30th of September; and voted an address to Lord GOSFORD in reply to Lord GLENELG'S despatch. They declare their inability to discover any misconception or misunder- standing on their part sufficient to change the determination they expressed in their former address. They still believe it their duty to persist in all their demands, and especially in that for an alteration in the constitution of the Legislative Council. As long as the King's Government perseveres in maintaining that body in the possession of its power to thwart the House of Assembly, they affirm, that it is mere waste of time and labour to introduce and perfect good measures. This general remark has an especial reference to the Tenures Act, which the Legislative Council will not repeal, but which might be repealed by the British Parlia- ment without any offensive interference with the Canadian Le- gislature, seeing that it did not participate in the passing of that Act; on the coatrary, the people of Canada and the House of Assembly had never ceased to protest against it. The repeal of
the Land Company's Act they also insist upon ; and repudiate the idea'that the question is merely one affecting a bargain with indivi- duals, or that it can be justifiable to withdraw the disposal and settlement of immense tracts of land from the control of the Legislature of the country where it is situated. In the following passage the Commissioners are aimed at. The Assembly, elected by the people, was insulted by the appointment of three gentle- men, unacquainted with the country, to supersede, as it were, their authority, and step between the King and his " faithful Commons."
" The presence in the province of certain pretended authorities, whose powers and attributes are not to be found either in the Constitution or in any law, has so often been alleged by your Excellency and by the Executive Authorities in the Metropolitan State, as being of a nature to retard till a future period the restoration of order and the introduction of those improvements demanded by the people, that we cannot refrain from here making a few general observations, which must have attracted the attention of every public man. We believe,. that this house is the legitimate and authorized-organ of all classes of inhabit- ants in the country, and that its representations are the constitutional expres- sions of their wishes and their wants. We believe that the impartial use we have made of the powers vested in us, for the protection and the happiness of all our fellow subjects, ought to have secured to us due confidence, when solemnly exercised those high privileges. It must, however, have,been then"? suit of an unjust distrust of this house and the people of this province, that his Majesty's Government has rejected our prayers to defer to the opinions of a few individuals, strangers to the country, the fate of which was thereby com- mitted to men whose vague and subordinate mission could not be acknowledged by any independent authority recognized by the constitution, the spirit of which his Illajesty is particularly desirous to maintain. Thus it is, that a power act- ing without law and against law, could not form any other connexion but with those who entertained the same erroneous views, and who, long since the avowed enemies of this House and of the people, profit by the system of disho- nest policy which has been up to this moment the bane of the country, and which has nevertheless been maintained by many acts and declarations of the Crown and of Parliament. We believe, therefore, that the restoration of or- der and of the mutual respect which those whose duty it is to maintain it owe to each other, is one of the measures the most conducive to promote the esta- blishment of a government as responsible and as popular as that which his Ma- jesty, in enumerating in the said despatch his dispositions on several important points, declares he is entirely, disposed to admit. We must equally declare, that any departure from those intentions, based upon inquiries emanating from a vitiated source, could not be sanctioned by any portion of the people both. ciently strong to lend its aid to a good government."
The validity of the Commission is here impugned. The source from which the Commissioners derive their authority, that is from the King, the Assembly declare to be " vitiated ;" the Commis- sioners themselves are accused of acting against law, and of combining against the House of Assembly and the people, with the enemies of both. Nothing 'so offensive as this to the British Government had previously emanated from the Canadian Parlia- ment.
The Assembly take credit for having done all in their power to obtain justice for the people, by strong representations of their grievances; but it is added-
" We cannot but feel deep regret and profound grief, when we consider that these declarations, as well as those which preceded them on several occasions, have as yet availed nothing ; that the vices of our political institutions remain unaltered ; that the Provincial Legislature continues to be paralyzed in its functions, by the support oiven to the Legislative Council; that no essential reform has been introduced as yet into the administration, or for the removal of abuses ; that the executive and judicial authorities have preserved and manifested the same character of a faction combined against the liberties of the country and its public property ;—when we perceive that prejudicial inquiries in opposi- tion to the above-mentioned declaration have not as yet been abandoned ;— when, in fine, the Executive Government of the province, doubtless in obe- dience to the special order of the authority which has appointed it, has had re- course, Once the last session, to the practice of disposing of the public trea- sury of the province without the consent of this house."
Under these circumstances, the Assembly positively refused the supplies; and Lord GOSFORD dissolved the Parliament.
It must now be evident that the Canadians can only be brought by force to submit to a continuance of Colonial vassalage; and the question is, whether it is just, or, with the events of the Ameri- can Revolution in our recollection, prudent, to have recourse to coercive measures. It may be, certainly, that at the expense of much blood and treasure we could establish a military despotism in Canada ; but can any sane person believe that Canada would be worth keeping on such terms ? Are the British Parlia- ment and People prepared to go war, and pay the costs of it, for the sake of compelling the Canadians to bow down before the Legislative Council ? Are the British merchants and manufac- turers willing to sacrifice a large and increasing trade, for the pleasure of playing the tyrant three thousand miles off?
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