and defence. The staff of the oppressor hath now, however, been broken, we stand upon more equal ground, and it is our own fault if we follow not up our advantages. If the battle, of reason, we mean, and argument, has now to be fought, we, at least, will not steal away from the field; our habits and feelings would suggest another course, and prompt us, like Tasso's shepherd, to seek seclusion from the war, in the humbler task of our own improvement, or of mere domestic duties. But there are times when every citizen is a soldier, in the spiritual as in civil warfare; and a crisis like this is one. The course which we shall pursue shall be consistent and persevering. We seek not the wealth of our Anglican neighbours, nor their establishment, nor their political power, nor their usurped influence. All these things we esteem as dross. But we covet their brotherhood in the faith, and their participation in our security of belief and their being bound to us in cords of love, through religious unity. For these things, we will contend, unceasingly, and to the utmost of our power; and GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT!

ART. IV.-1. Report on the Civil Government of Canada, 1828.

2. Petition of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada for a Redress of Grievances. March, 1834.

3. Petition (the Second) from the Assembly of Lower Canada, December, 1834. With explanatory Remarks (by H. S. Chapman). March, 1835.

4. Existing Difficulties of the Government of the Canadas. By J. A. Roebuck, M.P. 1836.

5. The last Session of the Provincial Parliament of Lower Canada. By E. B. O'Callaghan, M.P. April, 1836.

6.

7.

Petition (the third) from the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. 1836.

Seventh Report of the Committee on Grievances (Upper Canada.) Toronto. 1835.

Canadiana; or, Sketches of Upper Canada: and the Political Crisis. By W. B. Wells, Esq., Member of the Parliament of U. C. 1837.

9. Reports of the Commissioners to Lower Canada. 1837. 10.

The "Times" Newspaper of the 7th and 9th of March, and April 15th. "Debates on Canada."

HE Canadian question has more than ordinary claims on the attention of the liberal Irish reader: first, from the great similarity of the evils which pervade the government of

both countries; next, from the vast number of the people of Ireland who not merely seek, but who actually find a home in that colony; and lastly, from the fact, that the dispute involves one of the most interesting and important questions in the science, of government which has ever agitated the public mind-we mean the constitution,- and perhaps even the existence of a second legislative chamber.

The Canadas, like Ireland, have long been handed over to the domination of a cruel and vindictive oligarchy-" a miserable minority"—which would be contemptible without its English bayonets. In Ireland, the ruling few have found sympathy with the imperial government by means of a similarity of religious belief. In Lower Canada, the same end has been attained, with much more advantage to the local oligarchy, by means of a similarity of language. In Ireland, the governed masses differ from their oppressors in religious belief (in language they can scarcely be said to differ any longer), in Canada, the religious difference exists also; but the local oligarchy were not slow to perceive that similarity of religion was a bond of union between two sections of the population, namely, the French Canadians and the Irish, hence that source of difference was rendered wholly inapplicable to their object, and similarity of language was erected into a source of sympathy with the government, with the hope of entrapping the Irish and Americans to the side of the oligarchy. But the scheme failed. Although religion in the one country, and language in the other, may be, as in fact they are, the bond of sympathetic union between the dominant few and the imperial government; we shall hereafter see that a desire for self-government is the only bond which unites the people of all origins in the Canadian provinces.

Impressed then with a sense of the great importance of coming to a right decision on this subject, it is our intention, in the following pages, to examine the character of the civil government of those provinces, to exhibit the present state of popular opinion there, and to ascertain if the remedies demanded by the Canadians be adequate to the removal of the evils complained of, and to the permanent establishment of good government; and lastly, to exhibit the character of the measure lately introduced into the House of Commons by Lord John Russell.

The present Constitutions of Upper and Lower Canada owe their existence to the 31st Geo. III. c. 31, commonly called the "Canadian Constitutional Act."

Previous to passing the act in question, the whole of Canada was comprised in one province, called the "Province of Quebec;" and was governed by a governor and council appointed by the

crown, according to the provisions of the 14th Geo. III. c. 83, called the "Quebec Act."

The changes effected by the 31st Geo. III. c. 31, were, first, the division of the province of Quebec into two provinces, of Upper and Lower Canada; the first being inland, and the last towards the sea: and, second, the establishment of two constitutions, alleged to be perfect copies or imitations of that which has so often been alleged to be inimitable,—namely, the British Constitution.

According to the Canadian Constitutions thus established, the legislative power is vested in, first, a governor, whose assent is necessary to the making a law; and who, contrary to the practice of the mother country, not unfrequently withholds his assent. Second: a Legislative Council or Second Chamber, chosen by the crown for life. Third: a House of Assembly, which represents the people much more completely than the British House of Commons, as the franchise is sufficiently low to include nearly every male inhabitant of mature age.

The administrative power is vested in the governor, as head of the executive, aided by an executive council, having duties somewhat similar to those of our privy-council; the chief duty being to advise with the governor in all matters where two or more heads are conceived to be better than one.

The judiciary consists of a chief justice and three judges at Quebec, a similar establishment at Montreal; with one judge for the district of Three Rivers, another for St. Francis, and a third for Gaspé. These hold courts of original jurisdiction, from the judgments of which there is an appeal to a higher court, formed of the governor and executive council, with an associated judge, who has not heard the case in the courts below. The judges are all appointed--not during good behaviour—but during the pleasure of the crown; which, in practice, means the pleasure of the local oligarchy, of which they form a part.

From the judgment of this court of appeal, there is a further appeal to the king in council.*

In order to understand the real nature and operation of the Canadian Constitution, as above briefly described, it is necessary to take a near view of the materials of which the two branches of the legislature are composed. We shall begin with the councils.

If the reader will take the trouble to turn to the debate which

In Upper Canada a court of appeal has never been organised, so that appeals from the decisions of the courts of original jurisdiction, are direct to the king in council.

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took place in the House of Commons on the Canadian Constitutional Act-a debate memorable for the quarrel between Burke and Fox-he will find, that the object of the minister, in erecting the legislative councils, was to form an aristocracy in each of the Canadas, so as to make the imitation of the British model as perfect as possible. Mr. Pitt even contemplated the subsequent introduction of hereditary titles, but this folly (though authorised by the 31st Geo. III. c. 31, sec. 6) has never been attempted. But the formation of an aristocracy in Canada was not so easy a matter. At the time of the passing of the act, there did not exist any materials out of which an aristocracy could be formed; besides which, the social state of the people did not favour the accomplishment of so splendid a design, as the friends of the act appear to have contemplated.

Previous to the conquest, it is possible that materials for the manufacture of a colonial aristocracy might have been found. The seigneurs were for the most part members of the noblesse of France, to whom the people looked up with respect; and the Château de St. Louis, at Quebec, was filled with scions of the same class, attracted thither by the numerous good things which the mimic court had to bestow. The bar was also on the same aristocratic footing as that of France; and the ecclesiastics were not then as they are now, men drawn from and sympathizing with the masses, but were for the most part importations from the aristocratic Gallican Church.

The mass of the people too, at that time, had not tasted of the sweets of self-government, even of the imperfect and inadequate kind since introduced among them. They had not been called upon to exercise the duties of jurors as they have since been. The business of election was to them wholly unknown. Hence, being ignorant of these things, they had no objection to the existence of a class holding power not derived from themselves.

The first fruit of the conquest was the extinction of this natural aristocracy as some delight to call it; the next was the rendering the people indisposed towards an aristocracy of any kind.

Such of the ancient noblesse as had the means, returned soon after the conquest to old France; while such as remained, being no longer preferred to offices of trust and profit about the local government, were compelled to live as best they could upon their country estates. Among the honest, hardy, and cheerful farmers of Lower Canada, we still find names having the aristocratic mark of de,-the possessors of which have now nothing to distinguish them from their neighbours; and are, moreover, quite unconscious of their original dignity.

The persons whom the conquest found in power, persons intimately connected with the aristocracy of France, were, as may be imagined, speedily displaced, in order to make room for such of the king's ancient subjects" as deemed themselves to have a claim upon the first fruits of conquest. There was accordingly a very general dismissal of the incumbents of office, and a substitution of persons drawn from the ranks of the conquerors, to fill the various offices in the country.

"Few of these persons," says a contemporary writer,* "were of a respectable class in the provinces whence they had emigrated; and their deportment in their new dignity did not much serve to alleviate the grief and chagrin of the discarded French noblesse, who felt themselves not less disgraced by their own dismission, than by the elevation of such men into their seats. There were few or none of these ancient subjects' who had landed property in Canada. They had been either suttlers to the troops or Indian traders; and although those who were appointed magistrates now added Esquire to their names, they did not think fit to lay aside their former occupations. Indeed, such as were removed to a considerable distance from Quebec, found a way of rendering their magisterial powers useful in their trade; for, as the law was in their own hands, they took the liberty of moulding it to any form that suited their purpose. The Canadians had, in the course of their dealings, contracted debts with these and other traders, expecting to pay in peltry, or the produce of their farms, when the season came round; but, to their utter astonishment, they found themselves cited before the magistrates for the most trifling sums. Condemned to make instant payment, at times when they had no means in their power, and on failure thereof, their persons were arrested, dragged from their farms and families, and committed to a common prison, there to remain until their creditors received satisfaction for their demands. If the debt exceeded forty shillings, their case was still worse; for then they were arrested by the writ of the Court of Quebec, and from the remotest part of the province, transmitted, under custody of a deputy marshall, like felons, to the capital. As by the French laws, no process went against the person of the debtor until his chattels were found insufficient, and of these he was allowed time to make the most, at the proper season, by the merciful decree of his seigneur, it is difficult to conceive the misery and distress in which the poor Canadians found themselves involved by the operation of these new and unknown laws; and when to the afflicting circum

"Justice and Policy of the Quebec Act approved." London, 1774.