SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 cannot be put in this class are yet notwithstanding on account of their distress'd situation rendered objects deserving of such an indulgence. 7th They pray that some Plan may be adopted to expedite the Business of running the division lines in the respective Townships, to prevent the increase of an evil already experienced on account of that not being done. 8th they pray that a Post Road may be established from Montreal to Cataraqui with Post Officers for Letters & at New Johnstown, New Oswegatchie, and Cataraqui. 9th They Pray that a passage may be opened from the head of the Bay of Quinty through Lake Huron for the Benefit of the Indian Trade, a Channel which at the same time that it is universally acknowledged to be Superior to the Old holds out a prospect of the most flattering advantages, not only to the Commerce of this Province in general, but to this settlement in particular. It is also humbly requested that the shipping may be allowed to Rendezvous at Cataraqui and the Inhabitants have the free use of the Lakes for whatever craft they may chuse to build. 10th They pray that three places may be pitched upon between Point au Boudet and Cataraqui for the purpose of receiving Grain from the Settlers when they have any to Spare, in consequence of your Lordship's generous proposal communicated to them thro' the Inspector of Loyalists. 11th They pray your Lordship will be so kind as to use your influence with the Commissioners appointed to examine the Claims of the Loyalists, to induce them to make a Journey to New Johnstown, New Oswegatchie, and Cataraqui to investigate the Claims of the Loyalists on this Communication, as the poverty of the Settlers in General and the expence of an attendance at Quebec or Montreal in the prosecution of their Claims, will discourage them from the attempt, or oblige them totally to relinquish them. 12th They also pray that your Lordship will be so good as to confirm to them the use of the Locks or Canalls' as hitherto granted by his Honor Lieu' Governor Hope, and that you will likewise please to put them on an equal footing with the 84th Regt in Regard to the proportion of Lands granted to that Corps ;-this is a flattering object to your petitioners whose finances are mostly exhausted in the expensive and Arduous task of forming a Settlement in a New Country, and which on that account as well as the justice of their pretensions they hope will induce your Lordship to take this Matter into consideration. Upon the whole your Petitioners have the fullest confidence that your Lordship will be so good as to pay every attention to the several Articles contained in this Petition that accord with Reason and Justice, and those which may appear otherwise they conceive your Lordship will kindly impute to a mistaken opinion, or want of proper information. And Your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever Pray 1 Referring to the improvements made by the Government at various points on the River St. Lawrence, for facilitating the navigation of the river by batteaux. Tho Sherwood Peter Frul d° N° 8 6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 MEMORIAL OF MERCHANTS TRADING TO QUEBEC.1 To the Right Honorable Lord Sydney one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State &c &c The Memorial of the Merchants Trading to the Province of Quebec. Humbly Sheweth That your Memorialists had the Honor in May 1785 of presenting to your Lordship Petitions from the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, praying for a reform of the Civil Constitution of that Colony.2 Your Memorialists were sensible that those Petitions deserved the most serious consideration, and therefore in Compliance with the wishes of his Majesty's Ministers recommended to their Constituents, to defer bringing them forward in Parliament, untill the necessary information could be received on the Allegations contain'd therein. That your Memorialists by Letters and other Papers received from their Constituents last Fall have been urged in the strongest Terms to bring forward their Petitions Presuming that Government is now possessed of sufficient proof, that their Complaints against the present Constitution, of the Province, and the mode of administering justice in the Courts of Law are well founded. That your Memorialists from the defects in the present System of Laws, and the great uncertainty in the decisions of the Courts, have sustained immense Losses, and If a Remedy is not speedily applied, are under the most alarming apprehensions of suffering further from the same Causes, they beg leave therefore to submit as their opinion that the only Effectual means of removing the Evils Complained of, restoring unanimity and promoting the prosperity, of that Province will be to grant them an Elective House of Assembly, the English Commercial Laws, and to reform the Courts of Justice as Prayed for in their Petitions. Your Memorialists convinced from the Premises that a longer delay in bringing forward the Petitions committed to their Care will prove equally injurious to the Province, and the Interests of the Mother Country, pray they may be informed what Measures are intended by his Majesty's Ministers for the relief of that distressed Colony. New York Coffee House 4th February 1788 Rob Hunter Phyn, Ellice & Inglis. Amos Hayton. Brickwood Pattle & Co. Dyer Allan & Co. M & T. Gregory & C Miller Hart & Co 1 Canadian Archives, Q. 56-3, p. 745. 2 Referring to the petitions of Nov. 24th, 1784, presented in 1785. See p. 502. George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all Our loving Subjects, Greeting: Whereas Our Province of Quebec stands at present divided only into two Districts, and by virtue of two certain Acts or Ordinances, the one passed by Our Governor and the Legislative Council, in the twenty-seventh year of Our Reign, and the other in the present year, provision is made for forming and organizing one or more new Districts: Now therefore Know Ye, That Our Governor of Our said Province, by the advice and consent of Our Council of Our said Province, and in pursuance of the Acts and Ordinances aforesaid, hath formed, and doth hereby form the several new Districts herein after described and named, to wit, the District of Lunenburg, bounded on the East by the Eastern limit of a tract lately called or known by the name of Lancaster, protracted Northerly and Southerly as far as Our said Province extends, and bounded Westerly by a North and South line intersecting the mouth of the river Gananoque, now called the Thames, above the rifts of the Saint Lawrencè, and extending Southerly and Northerly to the limits of Our said Province, therein comprehending the several towns or tracts called or known by the names of Lancaster, Charlottenburg, Cornwall, Osnabruck, Williamsburg, Matilda, Edwardsburg, Augusta and Elizabeth-Town; And also one other District to be called the District of Mecklenburg, extending within the North and South bounds of Our said Province, from the Western limits of the said District of Luneburg, as far Westerly as to a North and South line intersecting the mouth of a river now called the Trent, discharging itself from the West into the head of the Bay of Quinty, and therein comprehending the several towns or tracts called or known by the names of Pittsburg, Kingstown, Ernest-Town, Fredericksburg, Adolphus-Town, Marysburg, Sophiasburg, Ameliasburg, Sydney, Thurlow, Richmond and Camden; and also one other District to be called the district of Nassau, extending within the North and South bounds of Our said Province, from the Western limit of the last mentioned District, so far Westerly as to a North and South line, intersecting the extreme projection of Long-point into the Lake Erie, on the Northerly side of the said Lake Erie; and also one other District to be called the District of Hesse, which is to comprehend all the residue of Our said Province, in the Western or inland parts thereof, of the entire breadth thereof, from the Southerly to the Northerly boundaries of the same; and also one other District to be called the District of Gaspé, and to comprehend all that part of Our said Province on the Southerly side of the river Saint Lawrence, to the Eastward of a North and South line intersecting the North-easterly side of Cape Cat, which is on the Southerly side of the said river, of which all Our loving Subjects are to take due notice and govern themselves accordingly. In Testimony whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent, and the Great Seal of Our said Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness Our Trusty and Well-beloved Guy Lord Dorchester, Captain-general and Governor in chief of our said Province, at Our Castle of Saint Lewis, in Our City of Quebec, the twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and of Our Reign the Twenty-eight. 1 Canadian Archives Q. 39 p. 122. As stated in the introduction, this Patent was issued in accordance with the Ordinance of April 30th, 1787. See p. 583. 2 This name was not permanently adopted, that of "Gananoque" being retained. But, at the instance of Lt. Governor Simcoe, the River "Tranche" in western Ontario was afterwards named "Thames." 6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 Lord Dorchester. My Lord. SYDNEY TO DORCHESTER.' Whitehall 3 Sep 1788. Your Lordship will have seen, by the proceedings which took place in Parliament in the course of the last Session, the Arguments which were made use of on the Introduction of the Petition brought by Mr. Lymburner from Quebec, for a Change of the present Constitution of the Province, and the reasons which occurred to His Majesty's Ministers for avoiding any decision upon that very important Subject.2 1 Canadian Archives, Q. 36 2, p. 469. 2 On May 16th, 1788, Mr. Powys moved in the House of Commons, that Mr. Adam Lynburner, Agent of that section of the population in Canada, French and English, desirous of having a House of Assembly, &c., be heard at the Bar of the House in support of the petition from Quebec of 24th Nov., 1784. Mr. Lymburner being admitted read a paper pointing out the defects of the system of laws then administered in the Province and the need for a remedy. This paper is given in Q. 62A-1, pp. 1–101. After he had withdrawn, a debate followed which is quite fully reported in Hansard, Vol. 27, pp. 511-533. The substance of the debate, however, is given in the following summary from the London Chronicle. He "Mr. Powys entered into a detail of circumstances and the allegations contained in the petitions. stated it as the general wish of the Canadians, that some determinate code of laws should be established in that Province, and that they might not henceforward be subjected to the sole ordinance of a legislative Council, appointed by the Crown, and removable at the pleasure of the Crown. They wished to have a House of Assembly instituted in the province, and the English laws in general extended to them. He ob served, that they had not the privilege of Habeas Corpus; at least it was not a part of their constitution, though it might be occasionally allowed them. They were deprived of the trial by Jury, except in a few instances. As to the Council, above alluded to, it ought not to exist; for, in the opinion of the best informed and most elegant historian of the present age (Mr. Gibbon), where the legislative power is ap pointed by the executive department, it is a sure criterion of a despotic government. The petitioners wished to be put on the same footing with the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which have a House of Assembly, and partake of the blessings of English laws. He thought their request was just and reasonable, and merited the attention of the House. He concluded with moving, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the petitions from Quebec merit the serious and immediate attention of the House. Sir Matthew White Ridley seconded the motion. The laws, he said, were in Canada vague and undefined; and wherever this is the case, very great abuses are the consequence. He hoped, that if the House should not find time in the remainder of this session to come to any ultimate decision on the subject, they would at least adopt a resolution that might give the Canadians good reason to hope for a determination in their favour in the succeeding session. The Chancellor of the Exchequer agreed with the Hon. Mover, that the petitions deserved the serious attention of the House; but nothing could be done immediately in the business. Parliament, he said, was not ripe for the discussion of an affair of such magnitude as the framing of a constitution for a large, flourishing and growing province. A sufficient body of information had not been transmitted from that colony, to enable the House to determine upon the merits, of the subject contained in the petitions. As to the appointment of a House of Assembly, though he was inclined to recommend that mode of legisla. tion, he had strong doubt whether it would be proper at this time, when the province was in a state of heat and fermentation. A popular Assembly would not tend to allay that heat. The privilege of Habeas Corpus was ordered by the Legislative Council of Quebec, to be granted to the inhabitants; so that they had no reason to complain in that particular. He was not pleased with the motion in its present form. Mr. For ridiculed the idea that Parliament was not ripe for the formation of a constitution for Quebec. Could it be supposed that, after that province had been in our possession for the space of 25 years, sufficient information had not been procured to authorise a complete determination upon what laws were most expedient for the government of it? He charged His Majesty's Ministers with great neglect, and even with being unfit for the offices they held as they had not taken the proper steps to accelerate this business. The Chancellor of the Exchequer vindicated himself from the charge of neglect; and Mr. Fox rejoined. Mr. Marsham thought the House ought to pass a bill immediately for extending the Habeas Corpus Act to Quebec; that it might no longer be considered as a mere favour or indulgence to the inhabitants, but as a matter of right. He also proposed, that after the Chairman should have left the chair, the House should pledge itself to enter fully into this business early in the next session. Mr. Sheridan regarded the Ministry as culpable, for having so long neglected the proper adjustment of the laws for the province of Canada. Mr. Alderman Watson remarked, that great inconveniences arose in Canada from the bad administration of bad laws, and hoped that the British laws, in general would be extended to that province. Mr. Martin was convinced of the propriety of coming to a speedy determination on this head. Sir James Johnstone was friendly to the prayer of the petitions; but wished that the discussion might be postponed till next session. Mr. Burke agreed to the motion. Mr. C. L. Smith, Sir W. Dolben, Sir Herbert Mackworth, and Sir Watkin Lewes, also spoke on the occasion. The Chancellor of the Exchequer having moved, that the Chairman leave the Chair, instead of putting the question on Mr. Powys's motion, a division took place; when the numbers were, for the Minister's motion 104, against it 39, majority 65. Mr. Powys then moved, that this House will, early in the subsequent session, take into consideration the petitions from Quebec." The London Chronicle, May 15-17, 1788. Vol. 63 p. 479. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 It will, however, be absolutely necessary that it should be resumed very shortly after the next meeting, and it will, of course, be a matter of great importance to His Majesty's Servants, that they should be previously prepared to enter into a full discussion of the business, and to propose such arrangements as may be found to be expedient for removing every just and reasonable cause of complaint that may exist among His Majesty's Subjects, of any description whatsoever, who are Inhabitants of that Province. The variety of applications which have from time to time been transmitted from thence upon this business, of so opposite a tendency to each other, render it extremely difficult to fix upon any Arrangements calculated to satisfy all the Parties interested in, or connected with it; His Majesty's Servants however, are desirous to give the matter a full consideration and that they may be the better enabled to form a competent judgment of the steps adviseable to be taken, they are solicitous of obtaining from Your Lordship a full and impartial account of the different Classes of Persons who desire a Change of Government, as well as of those who are adverse to the Measure, specifying, as nearly as it can be ascertained, the Proportion of Numbers and Property on each side in the several Districts; and, That your Lordship at the same time should state in what manner, either the interests, or influence of the latter, might be affected by any alteration, and what is the Nature and grounds of their apprehensions from the Introduction of a greater Portion of English Law, or of a System of Government more conformable to that established in other British Colonies. In particular, They wish to be informed from what Causes the objection of the old Canadian Subjects to an House of Assembly chiefly arises: Whether, from its being foreign to the Habits and Notions of Government in which they have been educated, or, from an apprehension that it would be so formed as to give an additional Weight to the New Subjects, and lead to the introduction of Parts of the English Law which are obnoxious to them; or, from an idea that being invested with a Power of Taxation, it would eventually subject their Property to Burthens from which they are at present exempted; In like manner, whether the Objections which appear to exist to a farther Introduction of Trial by Jury, arise either from Prejudices against the Nature and Mode of such a decision, or from the difficulty of finding Jurors properly qualified, and the inconvenience to Individuals of the necessary Attendance; or from the Notion of this species of Trial being necessarily coupled with Modes of Proof and Rules of Law, different from those to which they are accustomed. Though several of these points have already been noticed by Your Lordship in some of your Letters to me, and in the Papers which accompanied them, yet His Majesty's Servants do not think that they are sufficiently explicit to enable them to form a decided opinion. The anxiety of His Majesty's Servants to be perfectly informed with regard to all these matters as soon as possible, has induced them to send out an Extraordinary Packet Boat, and they are in hopes of receiving from Your Lordship upon her return, a full communication of the Sentiments entertained upon these several heads of enquiry, and which communication they wish to be made in a manner that may be proper to be laid before Parliament, at the next meeting. 3 I find, upon an examination of the Plans transmitted by Your Lordship's predecessor, that the most considerable part of the disbanded Troops and Loyalists who have become Settlers in the Province since the late War, have been placed upon Lands in that part of it which lie to the Westward of the Ceders, and beyond those Lands (ex 4 1 The most typical of these petitions have been reproduced in this volume. 2 Though the British element were commonly referred to as the "old," or "antient subject," and the French Canadians as the "new subjects," yet in this instance Lord Sydney, by the introduction of the word "Canadian," evidently refers to the French Canadians. 3 General Frederick Haldimand. Referring to the Cedars and Coteau rapids on the St. Lawrence below lake St. Francis. |