The Honorable Alexander Grant, as President of the Council, succeeded General Hunter in the administration of affairs. Mr. Grant reigned only one year, when he was succeeded by His Excellency Sir Francis Gore. During Mr. Grant's short rule, £50 a year each, was provided for eight years, to six Sheriffs; an Act was passed to regulate the practice of physic and surgery; £490 was appointed for the purchase of instruments to illustrate the principles of natural philosophy, to be deposited in the hands of a person employed in the education of youth; £1,600 was granted for public roads and bridges; the Acts for the appointment of Parish officers, for the collection of assessments, and for the payment of the wages of the House of Assembly were altered and amended; the Custom Duties' Act was continued; and £498 8s. 5d. was made good to the Commissioners treating with Lower Canada, and to the Clerks of Parliament.
The Governments, of both Upper and Lower Canada, were administered by residents of the country at the same period of time. While Mr. Grant, the administrator of Upper Canada, had convened the parliament of the province on the 4th of February, 1806, Mr. Dunn had convoked the parliament of Lower Canada for the 22nd of the same month in the same year. On opening the parliament of Lower Canada Mr. Dunn tellingly alluded to the important victory of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar and to the subsequent action off Ferrol, recommending the renewal of the acts deemed expedient during the previous war for the preservation of His Majesty's government and for the internal tranquillity of the province. By the address, in reply, he was assured that these acts would be renewed. Shortly after the assembly had met it occurred to them that their peculiar privileges, as an offshoot of the Commons of England, had been assailed. The proceedings of a dinner party given to the representatives of Montreal in that city had been printed and circulated in the MontrealGazetteof the 1st April, 1805. The dinner was given in Dillon's tavern, and the party were particularly merry with the abundant supply of wines. Mr. Isaac Todd, merchant, presided. After the customary toasts on all such occasions had been given, the president proposed:—"The honorable members of the Legislative Council, who were friendly to constitutional taxation as proposed by our worthy members in the House of Assembly;"—"Our representatives in parliament, who proposed a constitutional and proper mode of taxation, for building gaols, and who opposed a tax on commerce for that purpose, as contrary to the sound practice of the parent state;"—"May our representatives be actuated by a patriotic spirit, for the good of the province, as dependent on the British empire, and be divested of local prejudices;"—"Prosperity to the agriculture and commerce of Canada, and may they aid each other, as their true interest dictates, by sharing a due proportion of advantages and burthens;"—"The city and county of Montreal and the grand juries of the district, who recommended local assessments for local purposes;"—"May the city of Montreal be enabled to support a newspaper, though deprived of its natural and useful advantages, apparently, for the benefit of an individual." It is difficult to perceive where any breach of privilege was involved, but the assembly looked upon these aspirations and upon the compliments to the Montreal representatives as a false and scandalous and malicious libel, highly and unjustly reflecting upon His Majesty's representative and on both Houses of the Provincial Parliament, and tending to lessen the affections of His Majesty's subjects towards the government of the province. A committee of inquiry was appointed, and reported that the libellers were the printer of theGazette, Edward Edwards, and the president of the dinner party, Isaac Todd. Nay, the libel was reported to be a "high" breach of the privileges of the Assembly and Messrs. Todd and Edwards were ordered to be taken into custody. But the Serjeant-at-Arms, or his deputy, could not lay his hands upon these gentlemen and the matter was no more thought of until the editor of the QuebecMercuryridiculed the whole proceedings, when it was ordered that Mr. Cary should be arrested. Mr. Cary was afraid that such unpleasant investigations might give rise to other unpleasant investigations with regard to the powers of the House. He intimated that in France it was customary to tie up the tongue and lock up the press, and for so doing he was compelled either to submit to be himself locked up or apologize. On being arrested he apologized at the Bar of the House and was released. The time of the House was frittered away by empty discussions and wordy addresses upon the gaol tax, previously mentioned, which the king did not disallow as required by the mercantile community. Indeed the administrator of the government in his prorogation speech remonstrated with the Assembly for the non-completion of the necessary business. The civil expenditure of the year came to £35,469 sterling, including £2,000 to General Prescott, who was then in England, and £3,406 to Sir Robert Shore Milnes, with the addition of £2,604 currency, for salaries to the officers of the Legislature, the expenditure exceeding the revenue by £869.
General Prescott, the Governor General, absent in England, was yet in the receipt of £2,000 a year, and the year before he had £4,000; Sir Robert Milnes, the Lieutenant Governor, also absent, had received the salary above mentioned, while Mr. Dunn received £750, as a judge of the King's Bench, £100 for his services as administrator of the government, a pension of £500 sterling a year, on relinquishing the administration, and an additional allowance of £1,500 a year while he had administered the government. Beyond question their "Excellencies" and "His Honor," were amply remunerated. The Governor General and his Lieutenant were absent on business. Indeed, while the Legislative Assembly, in defence of imaginary privileges, were cutting such fantastic capers before high heaven, the confidential secretary of Lord Dorchester and of his successors so far, the Honorable Herman Witsius Ryland,—who, having been Acting Paymaster General to His Majesty's Forces captured by the Americans, went to England, when His Lordship, then General Sir Guy Carleton, evacuated New York, and returned with him to Canada, when that officer was appointed Governor-in-Chief in 1793, full of the sympathies, antipathies, prepossessions, and prejudices of the English conservative of that day,—had devised a scheme, which, had it been carried out, would have rendered their privileges not very valuable. He only designed to "anglify" the French-Canadians by compulsion. Before the separation of the province into Upper Canada and Lower Canada it was a matter of consideration whether all the Roman Catholic churches in the Province could not be converted into Reformed Anglo-Episcopal churches. The contemplated plan of doing so was to take from the "Vicaire du Saint Siége Apostolique" the power of nominating and appointing the parish priests; the appointment of subsequent bishops was to be given to the king; and the Popish Bishop then living, was to be succeeded by a Protestant Bishop, who would find an easy method of turning Cardinal Richelieu's church extension schemes to excellent account in a new mode of ordaining new "catholic" priests, who might be disposed to abandon, at least, some of the doctrines of Rome and embrace, at least, some of those of the Protestant religion. The religious principle involved in this interesting scheme would have done credit to the eighth Henry. It would have had the effect of erecting on a Popish foundation, of building up on the sainted Rock, a church militant as a more powerful safeguard to English influence and power in Canada than the citadel of Quebec has been. Together with the creation of a Provincial Baronetage, in the persons of the members of the Upper House, the honor being descendible to their eldest sons in lineal succession, and the raising of the most considerable of these eldest sons at a future period to a higher degree of honor, as the province increased in wealth, together with the recognition of Mr. DeBoucherville's old noblesse, it would have most certainly much sooner produced that state of things which Sir Francis Bond Head and the "family compact" so ably brought to a crisis. The secretary of all the governors Lower Canada had yet had, corresponded, most confidentially, with his home masters, somewhat, perhaps, to the prejudice of his honor the administrator. As general Simcoe loathed the nasal twang, attenuated appearance, and the vulgar republicanism of a downeast American, so Mr. Witsius Ryland abominated Romanism. Speaking of the Roman Catholic clergy of Canada, he says:—"I call them Popish to distinguish them from the clergy of the Established Church and to express my contempt and detestation of a religion, which sinks and debases the human mind, and which is a curse to every country where it prevails." Nay, he laid it down, as a principle, to undermine the authority and influence of the Roman Catholic Priests. It was or should be the highest object of a governor to crush every papist scoundrel. Following the line of conduct which had so widely established the authority of the Popes of Rome, it was the duty of governors to avail themselves of every possible advantage, and never to give up an inch but with the certainty of gaining an ell. He lamented that the seminary and perhaps some other estates had not been taken possession of by the crown, incorporated, and trustees appointed, out of which incorporated estates a handsome salary might have been paid to the King's Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of the Romish Church! but the proceeds of which should principally have been applied to the purposes of public education. And he was deeply mortified that "a company of French rascals" had momentarily deprived the country of any hope of such a destiny of these estates. The private and confidential remarks of the secretary were not altogether without effect. His Grace of Portland, then His Majesty's Secretary for the Colonies, peremptorily ordered Governor Milnes to resume and exercise that part of the king's instructions requiring that no person whatever was to have holy orders conferred upon him, or to have cure of souls, without license, first had and obtained from the Governor, and Lord Hobart, the Duke's successor in the Colonial Department, intimated to Sir Robert Milnes that it was highly proper that he should signify to the Catholic Bishop the impropriety of his assuming any new titles or exercising any additional powers to those which he had as the Vicar of the Holy Apostolic See. The French Priests were also to be reminded that their residence in Canada was merely on sufferance, and that it was necessary for them to behave circumspectly, else even that indulgence would be withdrawn. Greatly alarmed at these proceedings the Bishop of Rome respectfully remonstrated. He humbly reminded His Most Excellent Majesty, the King, that nineteen-twentieths of the population were of the Roman Catholic religion; that the humble remonstrant was himself the fourteenth bishop who had managed the church since Canada had happily passed into the hands of the Crown of Great Britain; that the extension of the province was prodigious, requiring more than ever that the superintending bishop should retain all the rights and dignities which His Majesty had found it convenient to suffer the bishops to have at the conquest; and that in the Courts of Justice there should be no room to doubt their powers. It was indeed no wonder that the superintendent of the Church of Rome was alarmed at the aspect of affairs. The Attorney-General Sewell reported with regard to the nomination of Laurent Bertrand to be curé of Saint Léon-le-Grand, by the titular Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, in the case of one Lavergne, who having refused to furnish thepain béni, was prosecuted in the Court of King's Bench, that it was a usurpation in the bishop to erect parishes and appoint curés. He went farther and said that there was no such person as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec. The title, rights, and powers of that office had been destroyed by the conquest. Nay, there could not, legally, be any such character, as, if he existed, the King's supremacy would be interfered with, contrary to the Statutes of Henry the Eighth and of Elizabeth. Not only was there a quiet but arbitrary denial of the right of the Roman Catholic Bishop to manage the affairs of his diocese, the possibility of negotiating the Reverend Coadjutor Plessis out of his influence was entertained. Mr. Attorney-General ultimately waited upon that ecclesiastic to explain his own private sentiments to him. The bishop was studiously guarded and significantly polite. The Attorney-General thought that a good understanding ought to exist between the government and the ministers of religion. Mr. Plessis was quite of that opinion. Mr. Attorney-General thought the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion having been permitted the government ought to avow its officers, but not at the expense of the Established Church. Mr. Coadjutor Plessis said that position might be correct. Mr. Attorney-General thought that the government could not allow to Mr. Plessis that which it denied to the Church of England. Mr. Plessis saw that the government thought that the bishop should act under the King's commission, and could see no objection to it. The Attorney-General was strongly of opinion that the right of appointing to curés, which no bishop of the Church of England had, must be abandoned. Mr. Plessis thought that even Buonaparte and the Pope had effected a compromise on that matter. Mr. Attorney-General had no faith in Buonaparte and was but an indifferent Catholic, but the Crown only could select from a Bishop's own Priesthood, and a Bishop, once acknowledged, would be the head of a department. That said Mr. Plessis would be a departure from the Romish doctrine of church discipline. To some extent it would, but your clergy would be officers of the Crown, and you would obtain the means of living in splendour, said the Attorney-General. Splendour, said Mr. Plessis, is not suitable to the condition of a bishop; ecclesiastical rank and a sufficient maintenance is all he needs. The Attorney-General meant that a bishop should have the income of a gentleman. Mr. Plessis meant the same thing, but it was a delicate matter to pension a bishop, for relinquishing his right of nominating to the cures, as the public would not hesitate to say he had sold his church. Never mind, said the Attorney-General, if the matter is viewed aright, you have none to relinquish. I do not know, replied Mr. Plessis. Whatever is to be done must now be done, intimated the Attorney-General. You speak truly, was the modest reply, something must be done, and though we may differ in detail, I hope we shall not in the outline.
Not very long after this conversation Bishop Denaud died. Now was the time for Mr. Witsius Ryland to act or never. He did act most energetically. He ear-wigged Mr. President Dunn, concerning his proper line of conduct on the occasion. He attempted to dissuade Mr. Dunn from a formal acknowledgement of Mr. Plessis, as Superintendent of the Romish Church, till His Majesty's pleasure should be declared. He thought an order should be immediately issued from home, prohibiting the assumption, by a Roman Catholic prelate, of the title of Bishop of Quebec. It occurred to him that a French emigrant bishop, if one could be found, would be more easily managed than Mr. Plessis. But Mr. Plessis was too much for Mr. Ryland, and found favor in the President's sight. Mr. Dunn would not listen to the representations of his secretary, and the wrath of his secretary was kindled. He wrote to Sir Robert Milnes on the subject, and to "My dear Lord," the Right Reverend Jacob Mountain, D.D. Not only was Mr. Dunn determined upon formally recognizing the new Roman Catholic Bishop but he was determined to suffer the Reverend Mr. Panet to take the oath as Coadjutor, without either waiting for His Majesty's pleasure, or for any other sanction whatever. It was most distressing, but "where was the layman, free from vanity, who, at seventy-three years of age, would let slip an opportunity of making a bishop?" It was dreadful. His contempt and indignation rose to a height that nearly choked him. As an apology for the recognition of Mr. Panet, it was all very well to say that his brother was a mighty good sort of a man. A mighty good sort of a man! How devoted were such mighty good sort of men, those very loyal subjects, to His Majesty! From the Speaker himself, down to the "fellow" who held a lucrative office in the Court of King's Bench, and who had sent his son to join the banditties of Mr. Buonaparte, who was not, to suit his purpose, brimfull of loyalty! Things were wretchedly managed, but the wisest thing to be done under present circumstances was nothing.
The Home Government anxious to build up in some manner a Protestant Church establishment had appointed the Right Reverend Jacob Mountain, Doctor in Divinity, to the Diocese of Quebec. At the expense of the Imperial Government, a Cathedral was built in Quebec, which was consecrated in 1804, on the ruins of the Recollet Church of the Jesuits. To this day it is possibly the most symmetrical in appearance of any church of the Church of England in Canada. Exteriorly, it is 135 feet in length and 73 in breadth, while the height of the spire above the ground is 152 feet, the height from the floor to the centre arch, within, being 41 feet. The communion plate, together with the altar cloth, hangings of the desk and pulpit of crimson velvet and cloth of gold, and the books for divine service, was a private present from George the Third. There was then also a Rector of Quebec, having a salary, from the British Government, of £200 a year, such a sum as, Bishop Mountain reported to His Excellency the Governor, no gentleman could possibly live upon! a Rector of Montreal with the same salary, and £80 additional per annum made up by subscription from the parish; a Rector of Three Rivers with a like salary of £200 from home; a Rector of William Henry receiving £100 from home and £50 from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; an evening lecturer at Quebec, receiving £100 from the Imperial Treasury; the incumbent of Missisquoi Bay, obtaining £100 from government, £50 from the Propagation Society, and £30 from the inhabitants; and two vacancies in the "new settlements," requiring £150 to be paid to each. The building of a stone church in Montreal was commenced, but the structure which promised to be "one of the handsomest specimens of modern architecture in the province," was not finished, for want of funds, ten years afterwards. In Upper Canada, so late as 1795, no church had been built. Even in Newark, it is quaintly added by the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, in the same halls where the Legislative and Executive Councils held their sittings, jugglers would have been permitted to display their tricks, if any should have ever strayed to a country so remote. His Grace, quite correct with regard to Newark, was at fault in speaking of the whole province. At Stamford there was a Presbyterian Church, built in 1791, and another church built for the use of all persuasions, a kind of free and common soccage church, in 1795, which was destroyed in the subsequent war. It was in this year that one of the most remarkable men, and one of the most able and indefatigable of the colonial clergy, was strolling about Marischal College, in Aberdeen, studying philosophy. He was a very plain-looking Scotch lad and very cannie. Altogether wanting in that oratorical brilliancy so necessary for an efficient preacher of the great truths of Christianity, Mr. John Strachan had diligently acquired a dry knowledge of the humanities, to fit himself for a teacher of youth. He was, in a limited sense, a classical scholar. Greek and Latin, Hebrew and the Mathematics, were at his fingers' ends. Not long after leaving college, he obtained the place of a preceptor to the children of a farmer in Angus-shire. The situation of schoolmaster of Dunino, a parish situated foury miles south of St. Andrews, in Fifeshire, and six miles north of Anstruther, the school taught by Tennant, the orientalist, professor of Hebrew and other oriental languages in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, and the author of the Poem of Anster Fair, became vacant, when Mr. John Strachan made application for the fat berth, the salary being nearly £30 a year, and obtained it. Mr. Strachan taught quietly at Dunino, attending St. Andrews College, in the winter, until he received the offer of £50 a year, as tutor to the family of a gentleman living in Upper Canada. He accepted it, left Dunino, and went to the wilderness. Mr. Strachan taught as a private tutor for some time and subsequently established a school for himself, when he married a widow possessed of cash and respectably connected. The Church of Scotland, in Canada, was then at a very low ebb. Even in Quebec, although there had been a regularly ordained clergyman of the church officiating since 1759, there was only, from 1767 to 1807, an apartment assigned to the Scotch Church for the purpose of divine worship, by the King's representative, in the Jesuits' College. Nay, in 1807, the Scotch Church was entirely sent adrift by Colonel Brock, to be afterwards permitted to meet in a room in the Court House. Until 1810 there was no Scotch Church in Quebec. What inducement was there for a progressive Scotchman to remain in connection with such a church? Mr. Strachan clearly perceived that the road to worldly preferment ran through the Church of England, and, having a wife, and the expectation of a family, he recognised the expediency of obtaining orders as a descendant of the apostles. It was not long before he obtained permission to officiate as a minister of the Church of England, and he abandoned the birch for the surplice. Mr. Strachan justified every expectation that may have been formed of him. He became a most zealous churchman, and a very short time elapsed until the Scotch schoolmaster was the Hon. and Revd. Dr. Strachan, Rector of York, now Bishop of Toronto, and he may go to the grave satisfied that he has done more to build up the Church of England in Canada, by his zeal, devotion, diplomatic talent, and business energy, than all the other bishops and priests of that church put together.
Some idea will now have been formed of the state of the Church of England "establishment," in Canada, about a time, when it was intended to amalgamate with it the fabrics of Rome. Bishop Mountain had a seat it in the Legislative Councils of both provinces. He only was the embodiment of Church and State.
Mr. Secretary Ryland, anxiously active against the Church of Rome, was very favorably disposed towards the Church of England. His creed with regard to the "Protestant Church Establishment," in the provinces, was for it to have as much splendour and as little power as possible. His chief desire was to make episcopalianism fashionable. He would have given to the Bishopric of Quebec a Dean, a Chapter, and all the other ecclesiastical dignitaries necessary for show, and he would have endowed the See with sufficient lands to support the establishment in the most liberal manner. But not a grain of civil power beyond their churches and churchyards was he inclined to give to the clergy. He even thought that in regard to the particular case at Montreal, and in any other case where a church should be, or was about to be built by private contribution, the bishop would exhibit infinite discretion, if he did not do more than wish to advise and to consecrate. The same rights, privileges, prerogatives and authority as bishops enjoy under the common Law of England could not safely be given to colonial bishops, nor could it be possible to obtain them. A more worldly view of church extension could not well be conceived, but the suggestion was not by any means an imprudent one. Bishops, being but men, are too apt to abuse power, and it is surely well that too much of it should not be granted to experiment upon.
While all this was quietly going on,sub rosa, in Lower Canada, the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, were quietly taking hold of the public mind in Upper Canada. Although the meeting houses were only few and far between, and churches and chapels were extremely rare, the most illiterate of the sects were itinerating, hither and thither, with wonderful success.
About this time there was also a disposition to diffuse education. His Majesty, the King, gave directions to establish a competent number of free schools in the different parishes, to be under the control of the Executive, but the project was strenuously opposed by the Roman Catholic clergy, and only grammar schools in Montreal and Quebec were provided for, which have languished and died. It was feared by Bishop Mountain that the want of colleges and good public schools would render it necessary for parents to send their children to the United States, to imbibe, with their letters and philosophy, republican principles. It was at his suggestion also that the idea of free schools was entertained. The Canadians were deplorably ignorant, and their children, it was designed, should be free from that reproach. It is only now, however, that they are emerging from the most debasing state of mental darkness, into something like enlightenment. Example has done that which force would have failed to accomplish.
As illustrative of the saying "there is nothing new under the sun," it is worthy of remark here that upon the arrival of the intelligence in Canada, respecting the breaking out of the war with France, in 1798, some of the leading members of the House of Assembly, which was then sitting, proposed to levy the sum of £20,000 sterling, by a tax on goods, wares, and merchandize, to be applied, as a voluntary gift to His Majesty, from the province, to enable the King the more effectually to prosecute the war. This was proposed by Mr. Attorney-General, Mr. Young, and Mr. Grant, and as far as the House was concerned, the measure was found practicable. But General Prescott, the Governor, having been informed of the matter, did not think it expedient to encourage a scheme which Lord Elgin would have jumped at.
In 1805, the whole revenue of the province was only £37,000, yet, it appears that Sir Robert Milnes, the Governor, did not think that he could sufficiently entertain to gain a due consideration from the principal persons in the province, on £4,000 a year. He sent a whining letter to Lord Hobart on the subject, begging for an increase of salary. £5,000 was not a sufficient sum to keep up the hospitality of Government House. It would hardly support the summer residence at Spencer Wood. He had said nothing about so delicate a matter, while the war lasted, though he had expended £1,000 a year out of his own private income. And he would rather resign than sacrifice the comforts and waste the means of his family.
Canada, now, continued steadily to advance, both politically and commercially. Neither her political advancement nor the extent of her commerce was great, but both were yearly becoming greater. During the summer of 1806, one hundred and ninety-one vessels, 33,474 tons of shipping, entered at Quebec. Coasters were in full and active employment, and shipbuilding was to some considerable extent carried on. The military of the garrison were still antiquated. The army made no perceptible progress, soldiers still plastered their hair, or if they had none, their heads, with a thick white mortar, which they laid on with a brush, afterwards raked, like a garden bed, with an iron comb; and then fastening on their heads a piece of wood, as large as the palm of the hand, and shaped like the bottom of an artichoke, they made acadogan, which they filled with the same white mortar, and raked in the same manner, as the rest of the head dress.[11]The army wore cocked hats, knee breeches and gaiters. Thehabitants, or peasantry, had retrograded, and Volney found that, in general, they had no clear and precise ideas: that they received sensations without reflecting on them; and that they could not make any calculation that was ever so little complicated. If asked how far the distance from this place to that was; a French-Canadian peasant would reply:—"it is one or two pipes of tobacco off," or "you cannot reach it between sunrise and sunset." But the better classes, in close contact with the upper classes among the English, were rapidly improving, and began to entertain the idea that they had political rights. They even started a newspaper called "Le Canadien" and began most vigorously to abuse "les Anglais" and the government. The "Canadien" published entirely in French, first appeared in November 1806. Had it been less anti-British, possibly, it would have been less disagreeable; but the idea had strongly taken possession of its supporters that French-Canadians were looked upon, by the government and its satellites, as mere serfs, and they agitated accordingly. Not only that. They began to exhibit some sparks of independence. Their watchword became:—"Nos institutions, notre langue, et nos lois." They branded the British immigrants and the British population as "étrangers et intrus." Mr. Crapaud's temper was fairly up. There was cause. The worm will bite when trodden upon. Unless there had been substantial grievances, theCanadiencould not by any possibility have become so popular as to have given not only umbrage, but uneasiness to the government. Yet it did cause such uneasiness and was peremptorily checked. It was impossible then for a native-born Canadian, whether of English or French extraction, to look a home-appointed government official in the face. "Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis."
On the 21st January, 1807, Mr. President Dunn again met the Legislature of Lower Canada. That invaluable constitution enjoining on the ruler to meet his parliament once a year, rendered it imperative upon him to summon the Council and Assembly for the despatch of business. He recommended to the assembled wisdom before him the propriety of continuing several temporary acts then in force; congratulated them on the brilliant success of His Majesty's arms; alluded with pride to the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope; and touched upon the repeated victories obtained by Sir John Stuart in Calabria. The Assembly replied in terms most flattering to the President personally, promising to do as he required. On proceeding to business, the first subject which engaged the attention of the House was the propriety of defraying the expenses of members of the House residing at a distance from Quebec. The House was disposed to defray such expenses, but nevertheless, the further consideration of the matter was postponed by a majority of two. The expediency of having a Provincial Agent or Ambassador, resident in London, to look after the interests of the province at the metropolis of the empire was discussed, and it was resolved in the affirmative. The Alien Act was passed, and that for the better preservation of His Majesty's government continued for another year, together with several other acts, and on the 16th of April, the parliament was prorogued.
Serious apprehensions of a war between England and the United States now began to be entertained. American commercial interests were grievously affected by the war in Europe, and a kind of spurious activity, in the hostile preparations which would surely follow a declaration of war against England, on which country in peace the merchants of New York, Boston, and the other seaports of the United States principally depend, seemed to be the only incentive for such a war. But while the filibusters of "the greatest nation in creation," were looking for any cause of war, a good cause, in American eyes, arose. The American ships of war were mostly manned by British seamen. Men were greatly in demand for British war vessels, and it was conceived that the right to impress a British sailor anywhere on land or water belonged to His Majesty's naval officers. It having reached the ears of Admiral Berkeley, the Naval Commander in Chief, on the Halifax Station, that the American frigate "Chesapeake," was partly manned by British seamen, the Admiral, unthinkingly ordered Captain Humphreys, of the "Leopard," to recover them. The men on board of the "Chesapeake" were indeed known to be deserters from H.M.S. "Melampus." William Ware, Daniel Martin, John Strachan and John Little, British seamen, within a month after their desertion, had offered themselves as able seamen at Norfolk, in Virginia. Their services were accepted, and the "Chesapeake," on board of which they were sent, prepared for sea. Being made aware of the enlistment of these men, the British Consul at Norfolk, formally demanded their surrender by the Captain of the "Chesapeake." Their surrender was refused. Application for them was then made to the American Secretary of the navy. But he did not consider it expedient to give them up. Three of the men were natives of America, two had protection, and the other had merely lost his protection. The "Chesapeake" sailed on the 22nd of June, and on the same day was intercepted by the British frigate "Leopard," of 50 guns, off Cape Henry. Captain Humphreys, of the "Leopard," stepping on board of the "Chesapeake," demanded the muster of the crew of the American frigate. Captain Barron, in command of the American frigate, refused compliance. The British Commander returned and both vessels got ready for action, the American frigate only, it is said, anticipating hostilities. Then the Leopard fired upon the Chesapeake and, in thirty minutes, so disabled her that she struck, when Captain Humphreys boarded her and took, from among her crew, Ware, Martin, and Strachan, together with one John Wilson, a deserter from a British merchant ship. The United States now burned with indignation. Their outraged nationality could never brook such an insult. Every British armed vessel was ordered to leave the waters of the United States by the President. A special meeting of Congress was held. And the American Minister at the Court of St. James was ordered to demand satisfaction. He did do so. Mr. Canning, the British Minister, at once offered reparation, but he objected to any reference to the general question of impressments from neutral vessels being mixed up with an affair so unfortunate. Mr. Munroe was not authorized to treat these subjects separately, and further negotiation between the two ministers was suspended. Great Britain then sent a special minister to the United States, empowered to treat concerning the special injury complained of. Before he arrived most ample preparations were being made in the United States for war. Millions of dollars were appropriated towards the construction of 188 gun-boats, and the raising of horse, foot, and artillery. It was not until 1811 that this huge mistake was settled, when the British Minister communicated to the American Secretary of State that the attack on the Chesapeake was unauthorized by His Majesty's government; that Admiral Berkeley was recalled; that the men, taken from the Chesapeake, should be restored; and that suitable provision for the families of the six American seamen killed in the fight should be made. But, settled as this gross and deplorable mistake was to the perfect satisfaction of the President, the trading community of the United States were every day becoming more dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Europe and the consequent state of affairs at home. The situation of affairs, on this side of the Atlantic, was indeed gloomy and critical. France and England were fiercely at war, and were arraying against each other the most violent commercial edicts to the destruction of the commerce of neutral nations. There was the British blockade from the Elbe to Brest; Napoleon's Berlin decree; the British Order in Council prohibiting the coasting trade; the celebrated Milan decree; and the no less celebrated British Orders in Council, of November the 11th, 1807, together with the American Government's edicts respecting non-intercourse with Great Britain and France to set on edge the teeth of a people now little scrupulous as to what they did, provided money could be made, or power be obtained. Strife had introduced a disposition to intrigue; political cunning had become fashionable; and political duplicity had lost much of its deformity in the United States. The finger of derision was no longer pointed at meannesses; the love of honor, and manliness of conduct, was blunted; cunning began to take the place of wisdom; professions took the place of deeds, and duplicity stalked forth with the boldness of integrity. The American people wanted a quarrel that the whole boundless continent might be theirs. They had badgered France out of Louisiana, and they would badger England out of Canada and the West Indies. In New York and Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, it was customary to talk of walking into Canada and squat a conquest, as was afterwards carried into effect with regard to Texas. Mr. Dunn, the President of the Canadian government, looked upon the state of feeling in the adjoining republic with suspicion. He conceived it expedient to feel the public pulse in Canada. Like a skilful physician he approached the patient cautiously and good humouredly, to prevent flurry or agitation, and in putting his hand on the pulse of public opinion, he found it to be healthily strong and regular. He prescribed only a draft of one-fifth part of the whole militia of the province. The draft was taken immediately. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, or rather the yet only Superintendent of the Romish Church in Quebec, Mr. Plessis, now rapidly rising into favor with the Colonial Court, promptly issued amandementto the faithful, concerning the war, and a "Te Deum" was sung in all of the churches under his control in Lower Canada. The Canadians turned out with great alacrity. His Honor the President and Commander-in-Chief expressed his satisfaction in general orders. Burn's artillery company volunteered. In ballotting, young bachelors procured the prize tickets of the married men. Some that were not drawn purchased tickets from some that were drawn, and there were not a few married people who refused to sell out, if all that is stated in a Quebec paper of that period can be credited. No doubt the glories of war were uppermost in men's minds. It is possible to make war popular and the braggart tone of the Americans had doubtless contributed considerably to its popularity with the Canadians.
Colonel Brock was then Commandant at Quebec. He was a man of much decision of character and of strong natural sense. With the President he made the most vigorous exertions to discipline the militia and to put the fortifications of Quebec into a good state of defence. Night and day men labored at the fortifications. Every addition that "science, judgment and prudence could suggest," was made.
The income this year was £36,417, and the civil expenditure £36,213.
In Upper Canada, Francis Gore, Esquire, it has been previously intimated, was Lieutenant-Governor. He first met Parliament on the 2nd of February, 1807. Twelve Acts were passed, the most remarkable of which were the Act to establish Public Schools in every district of the Province, £800 having been appropriated for that purpose, with the view of giving to each of the eight districts of the Province, a schoolmaster having a salary of £100 a year; the Act imposing licenses on Hawkers, Pedlars, and Petty Chapmen,—to the amount of three pounds for every pedlar, with twenty shillings additional for a hawker with a horse; eight pounds for every chapman sailing with a decked vessel and selling goods on board;—five pounds for the same description of traders sailing in an open boat; and eight pounds on transient merchants; and the Act for the Preservation of Salmon, which permitted that fish to be taken with a spear or hook, but prohibited the use of a net in the Newcastle and Home Districts.
When next the Parliament met, on the 20th January, 1808, the same fears that were felt in Lower Canada, being felt in Upper Canada, an Act was passed to raise and train the Militia; £1,600 was granted towards the construction of roads and bridges; £200 of yearly salary was granted to an Adjutant-General of Militia; £75 additional was given to the Clerks of the Assembly; £62 10s. per ton was to be the price of hemp purchased under an Act of Parliament for the encouragement of its growth in the Province; an Act for the more equal representation of the Commons was passed; and Collectors of Rates were to enter into bonds of £200 security.
On the 2nd February, 1809, the Parliament of Upper Canada was again convened. An Act was adopted for quartering and billeting the Militia and His Majesty's troops on certain occasions. Householders were to furnish them with house-room, fire, and utensils for cooking. Officers, in case of an invasion, having a warrant from a Justice of the Peace, could impress horses, carriages, and oxen, on regulated hire. Upper Canada was evidently preparing for an expected struggle, as well as Lower Canada. £1,045 was this session granted for the Clerks of Parliament and contingencies, including the erection of a Light House on Gibraltar Point; Menonists and Tunkers were permitted to affirm in Courts of Justice; £250 was appropriated for a bridge across the Grand River; and £1,600 was granted for bridges and highways. In the next session of the Fifth Parliament, which Governor Gore assembled at York, on the 1st of February, 1810, £2,000 were granted for the roads and bridges; the Common Gaols were declared to be Houses of Correction for some purposes; a duty of £40 a year was set upon a Billiard Table set up for hire or gain; £606 were applied to printing Journals, Clerks of Parliament, and building Light Houses. The Act establishing a Superior Court of Criminal and Civil jurisdiction, and regulating a Court of Appeals, was repealed; and £250 additional was granted for the erection of a bridge across the Grand River.
To return to Lower Canada, Lieutenant-General Sir James Henry Craig arrived at Quebec in the capacity of Governor General, on the 18th October, 1807, in the frigate Horatio, and relieved Mr. President Dunn of the government, on the 24th of October. Mr. Secretary Ryland was very busy at the time. He was flattering himself, he told the Bishop of Quebec, that the Secretary of State would have received from him a series of despatches which would "give that functionary a general and useful knowledge of the state of things in Lower Canada." There were some who had exerted themselves to defame and injure the President, with a view to their own private interests. He particularly alluded to that contemptible animal, Chief Justice Alcock; to his worthy friend and coadjutor, of whose treacherous, plausible, and selfish character, he had never entertained a doubt; and to that smoothfaced swindler, whom the Lieutenant-Governor had taken so affectionately by the hand, as the man, who, of all others, came nearest in point of knowledge, virtue, and ability, to the great Tom of Boston. He would add to these worthies a pudding-headed commanding officer (General Brock!) who, if the President had given in to all his idle "Camelian" projects, would have introduced utter confusion into the whole system, civil and military. He anxiously expected Sir James Craig, whose established fame assured him that a better choice could not have been made. And he thought it probable that if his dear, dear Lordship, should not have had an opportunity of honoring him with a recommendation to His Excellency of established fame, his services would be dispensed with, and then he could join his family in England. But should he remain as Secretary to General Craig, he had it in contemplation to lay before him a copy of his letter to Lord S., concerning ecclesiastical affairs, though it would not be prudent to do so until he had ascertained how far the General's sentiments accorded with his own. In a postscript to his letter to the dear Lord Bishop, Mr. Ryland goes into raptures. He had just received a message from Mr. Dunn, telling him that the Governor General had arrived. He dressed himself immediately and got on board the frigate with Mr. Dunn's answer to the General's despatch, before the ship cast anchor, and before any of the other functionaries knew even that the Governor General was at hand. He found the General ill in bed, but was so politely received, that the General begged that he would do him the favor to continue his secretary. He never was so pleased with any person at first sight. Although he saw him to every disadvantage, the General appeared to be a most amiable, a most intelligent, and a most decided character. He, (the General,) landed about one o'clock, but was so unwell that he begged to be left alone, and Mr. Ryland only saw him for an instant. But that curious beast, the Chief Justice, after intruding himself with unparalleled assurance, upon the General, before he landed, forced himself again upon him, at the Chateau, when every body but the President had withdrawn, and most impudently sat out the latter. He did so for the purpose of recommending as secretaries, his father-in-law, and a young man namedBrazenson, or some such name, whom he had brought out with him from England, but his scheme entirely failed, and his folly would fall upon his own pate! Mr. Ryland had transacted business with the Governor every day since he had landed, and had even drawn up a codicil to his will, the poor, decided Governor, who had adopted Mr. Ryland, was so ill. Nay, Mr. Ryland, for the love of this one honorable and just man, could have almost forgotten that he was surrounded by scoundrels, and would bury in oblivion the mean jealousies of a contemptible self-sufficiency, and the false professions of smiling deceit. But should it please Almighty God to remove the incomparable man, and should there be a chance that the civil government of the province should be again disunited from the military command, he did hope that the dear, dear Lord, would favor him with his utmost interest towards enabling him to make the exchange which Mrs. Ryland would tell his dear Lordship, the Bishop, her husband had in contemplation.
Sir James Craig was an officer of good family. He was one of the Craigs of Dalnair and Costarton, in Scotland, but was born in Gibraltar, where his father had the appointment of Civil and Military Judge. He had seen much service in the camp and in the field. In 1770 he was appointed Aid-de-Camp to General Sir Robert Boyd, then Governor of Gibraltar, and obtained a Company in the 47th Regiment of the line. Having gone to America, with his regiment, in 1774, he was present at the battle of Bunker's Hill, where he was severely wounded. In 1776, he accompanied his regiment to Canada, commanding his company at the action at Trois Rivières, and he afterwards commanded the advanced guard in the expulsion of Arnold and his "rebels." He was wounded at Hubertown, in 1777, and was present at Ticonderoga in the same year. He was wounded again at Freeman's Farm, and was at Saratoga with Burgoyne, and after that disastrous affair was selected to carry home the despatches. On his arrival in England, he was promoted to a majority in the 82nd Regiment, which he accompanied to Nova Scotia, in 1778, to Penobscot, in 1779, and to North Carolina, in 1781, where he was engaged in a continued scene of active service. He was promoted to the rank of Major General, in 1794, and the following year was sent on the expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, where, in the reduction and conquest of that most important settlement, with the co-operation of Admiral Sir G. K. Elphinstone and Major General Clarke, he attained to the highest pitch of military reputation. Nor were his merits less conspicuous, it is said, in the admirable plans of civil regulation, introduced by him in that hostile quarter, when invested with the chief authority, civil and military, till succeeded in that position by the Earl of Macartney, who was deputed by the King to invest General Craig with the Red Ribbon, as a mark of his sovereign's sense of his distinguished services. Sir James served, subsequently, in India and in the Mediterranean, where he contracted a dropsy, the result of an affection of the liver. This was the officer, of an agreeable but impressive presence, stout, and rather below the middle stature, manly and dignified in deportment, positive in his opinions, and decisive in his measures, though social, polite, and affable, who was sent out to govern Canada because a rupture with the United States was considered probable. Sir James on arrival at Quebec did not, however, consider hostilities imminent. Nor did he immediately organize the militia. But he lauded the Canadians for the heroic spirit which they had manifested. One of his first acts was to release from prison a number of persons convicted of insubordination, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment in the gaol of Montreal. The militia of the parish of L'Assomption, in the district of Montreal, had formed a painful exception in the spirit which they exhibited on being called upon to enrol for service, to that which had been exhibited everywhere else. But the rioting had been immediately suppressed, and the rioters punished by the ordinary Courts at Montreal. In gaol the rioters manifested contrition, promised good behaviour for the future, and Sir James, overlooking the faults of the few in consideration of the general merit, set the prisoners free. On the 29th of January, 1808, he convened the Legislature. He regretted, in his opening speech, that there was little probability of a speedy cessation of hostilities, in Europe. He congratulated the "honorable gentlemen," and "gentlemen," on the capture of Copenhagen and the Danish fleet, defending the morality of the offensive measures against Denmark. He lamented the discussions that had taken place between His Majesty's government and that of America. He hoped that the differences would be so accommodated as to avert the calamities of war between two nations of the same blood. He intended that no means should be neglected to prepare for the worst. Though the militia had been selected, he did not think it necessary to call them together, no immediate circumstance seeming to require it. He had appointed commissioners for the erection of new gaols in Quebec and Montreal. And he expected perfect harmony and co-operation between the legislative bodies and himself, as the representative of the sovereign. All that Sir James wished to be done the Assembly promised to do.
In those days not only was the Chief Justice a member of the Upper House, but the Judges of the King's Bench were not ineligible for election to the Lower House, and some, or all of them, contrived to get seats there. It does not appear that the Chief Justice was in the Upper House a mere government tool, for Sir Robert Milnes most bitterly complained to the Duke of Portland, of the opposition to certain measures, which he had met with, from Chief Justice Osgoode, who, even in public, treated him contemptuously. But it is yet probable that some of the judges in the Assembly, were less the representatives of the people who had elected them, than the mouth-pieces of the government, to whom they were indebted for their appointments to the Bench, and on whose good pleasure, their continuance on the judgment seat, depended. Be that as it may, the Assembly were jealous of their presence in the House, and accordingly, this session of Parliament, a motion was introduced into the Assembly, declaring it to be expedient that the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, the Provincial Judges of the Districts of Three Rivers and Gaspé, and all Commissioned Judges of any Courts that might afterwards be established, should be incapable of being elected, or of sitting, or of voting in the House of Assembly. The motion was adopted, and a bill framed upon the resolution, passed the Assembly. Unfortunately, heedless of the pressure of public opinion, the Legislative Council threw out the bill! The Assembly were greatly incensed, and the idea of expelling the judges was entertained; but for a while relinquished.
Mr. Ezekiel Hart appeared at the Bar of the House to take his seat for Three Rivers, Mr. Lee, the previous representative of that town, had died in the course of the previous session, and Mr. Hart had been elected to succeed him. Mr. Hart was a merchant of good standing. Of the most spotless private character, he stood in high esteem with his neighbours and fellow townsmen. But Mr. Hart was not faultless. He was, by birth, education, and religion, a Jew. When he prayed, he placed the ten commandments next his heart. In him, those devoted members of the Society of Jesus, found neither a sympathizer nor a persecutor. A Christian Legislative Assembly, like that of Canada, of which Sir James Craig afterwards privately expressed an opinion so ludicrously high, could not be contaminated with the presence of a Jew. By a vote of twenty-one to five, it was resolved:—"That Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jewish religion, cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote in this House." Ezekiel departed. The word "baruch," was on his tongue, the signification of which, like that of the French word "sacré," may signify, according to the humour of the utterer, either an anathema or a blessing. The Assembly being, however, ignorant of the Hebrew tongue, Mr. Hart was not sent to gaol for breach of privilege, nor was he even required to apologize. These were the chief topics of debate, and much time was occupied with them. A sum was voted to repair the Castle of St. Louis then tottering to decay. The Militia and the Alien Acts were continued for another year. A bill for the trial of controverted elections was passed, and in all thirty-five bills were carried through, all of which His Excellency, the Governor, sanctioned, except that relative to gaols in Gaspé, which, though afterwards sanctioned, was reserved for the pleasure of the King to be expressed on it. On the 14th of April the Parliament was prorogued. The speech was somewhat lengthy, and on the whole, it was a good one. Sir James was induced to put a period to the session that he might be enabled to issue writs for a new House. The critical situation of affairs made him anxious for legislative assistance, under circumstances, that would not be liable to interruption from the expiration of the period, for which one of the branches was chosen. He was glad that so much attention had been paid to business. He was very much pleased to find that a sum of money had been granted for the repair of the Chateau. Events of great magnitude had taken place in Europe. Napoleon had succeeded in exciting Russia, Austria, and Prussia, to hostilities, against England, and the Ministers of those Courts had demanded their passports to retire from the Court of St. James. Napoleon had done more than that. The disturber of mankind had subverted the government of Portugal, but that magnanimous Prince, Don Pedro, had emigrated with his Court to the Brazils, rather than submit to the degrading chains of such a master. His Majesty, the King of Great Britain, had offered the Americans reparation, immediately and spontaneously, for the unauthorised attack upon theChesapeake, but the American government taking advantage of the state of affairs in Europe, were endeavoring to complicate the difficulty, to the injury of that power which alone stood between it and an inevitable doom to the worst of tyranny. And in conclusion, he begged the representatives of the people to instruct their constituents, by the influence of their education and knowledge; to point out to them a sense of their duties in due subordination to the laws; to advise them to be faithfully attached to the Crown; to let them into the knowledge of their true situation; to conceal not the difficulties by which the empire was surrounded, but, at the same time, to point out the miseries Britain was combatting to avoid; and to assure them that while Britons were united among themselves, there was no dread of the result of the present struggle between liberty and despotism.
The war had had its effect upon the trade of the country. The revenue had fallen off nearly £1,000, being only £35,943, while the civil expenditure had increased to £47,231.
In May the general election took place. The contests were not marked by much bitterness. As before, in the larger towns, the two origins were equally represented. Even in the counties, several gentlemen of English extraction, were returned to the Assembly. Mr. James Stuart, the Solicitor General, now no friend to the Governor nor to hissub rosaadviser, Mr. Ryland, was returned for the East Ward of Montreal. Mr. Stuart, a lawyer of excellent acquirements, of great independence of spirit, and of extraordinary mental capacity, instead of being raised to the Attorney-Generalship, on the elevation of Mr. Sewell to the Chief Justiceship, in the room of Mr. Chief Justice Alcock, who had died in August, had been superseded by Mr. Edward Bowen, a barrister of very limited acquirements, and, being then only a young man, professionally, very inexperienced. Nay, he was soon afterwards dismissed from the Solicitor-Generalship, by the Governor, to whom he had, in some mysterious way, given offence. The Honorable Mr. Panet, Speaker of the Assembly for the four previous parliaments, was nominated for the Upper Town of Quebec, and went to the hustings. He presided at an election meeting, at which there was something like plain-speaking, a particular kind of speaking most distasteful to the Acting Paymaster General of Burgoyne's army, an army with which even Sir James Craig had himself served. All the official class of the city, "including the resident military officers, anddependentsupon the Commissariat, Ordnance, and other departments in the garrison," entitled to vote, voted in favor of another French gentleman, more acceptable to the government. TheQuebec Mercurywas strongly opposed to the Speaker, who, by his plainspeaking, had become offensive to Mr. Ryland, theconfidantof Sir James Craig. Mr. Panet lost his election for Quebec, but was returned to the Assembly for Huntingdon. The Governor and his Secretary were very much displeased, and theMercurywas inspired to speak against the bilious spleen of the triumphant Panet, who was connected with that vile print, theCanadien. During the election for Quebec, a handbill had appeared, calling the government feeble. Those who issued that handbill, theMercuryexultingly remarked, would have felt that they were not quite under the government of King Log. TheCanadienwas, in abuse, the freest of any paper in the province. It was licentious. It no more consulted that which it was expedient for a free press to do, than did the House of Assembly consider that which was suitable to it, a few years past, on the article of privilege. Mr. Ex-Speaker Panet was connected with theCanadien. He was also a Colonel of Militia. It occurred to Mr. Ryland that the position of a militia officer was incompatible with the proprietorship of a newspaper. Accordingly, a few days after the return of Mr. Panet for Huntingdon, Mr. "H. W. R." the Private Secretary of the Governor General, was directed to inform Messrs. J. H. Panet, Lieutenant-Colonel, P. Bedard, Captain, J. T. Taschereau, Captain and Aid-Major, J. L. Borgia, Lieutenant, and F. Blanchet, Surgeon, proprietors of theCanadien, that the Governor-in-Chief considered it necessary for His Majesty's service to dismiss them from their situations as Colonel, Captain, Aid-Major, Lieutenant, and Surgeon, of the Militia. With regard to the Honorable Mr. Panet, in particular, His Excellency could place no confidence in the services of a person whom he had good reason for considering as one of the proprietors of a seditious and libellous publication, disseminated through the province, with great industry, to vilify His Majesty's government, to create a spirit of dissatisfaction and discontent among his subjects, and to breed disunion and animosity between two races. Had it been the purpose of theCanadienand of its proprietors to breed discord between the two races of settled inhabitants, the censure of Sir James Craig would have been deserved. But that was not its purpose. It aimed only at equality of privileges, and complained of the sway of officials having no abiding interest in the country. It was a war between the imported official class and the native-born or naturalized classes which theCanadienwaged. Doubtless, it went, occasionally, too far. Doubtless, it forgot to make such distinctions between the officials and the traders or agriculturists of British origin. Doubtless, it did remember that the French Canadians had been captives at the conquest, and their souls revolted at the idea of being lorded over still, though no longer captives, but British subjects, anxious for the honour of their King, and ready to defend him from his enemies.
The new Parliament met on the 9th of April, 1809. The Assembly were directed to choose a Speaker. Out of doors and indoors, in the Governor's Castle, at the official desk, in the merchant's counting room, in the baker's shop, in the Council, and in the Assembly itself, the choice of a Speaker by the Assembly, was a matter of interest. It was whispered that Mr. Panet had incurred the Governor's displeasure, and that all the toadies would vote against him. It was blandly hinted that Mr. Panet having been dismissed from the Militia, the House, having, regard to its own dignity, could not call him to the Chair. It was said in conversation that Mr. Panet was an excellent and most impartial Speaker, and it was a pity that he had suffered himself to have been connected with the seditious and libellousCanadien. Only for Mr. Panet's unfortunate position, no more suitable person, for the highly honorable office of Speaker, could have been thought of. But he must not be Speaker under present circumstances. The Assembly thought otherwise and, acting independently and fearlessly, elected Mr. Panet as their Speaker. His Excellency the Governor did not much relish the choice. He did not, however, refuse to confirm Mr. Panet as Speaker of the Assembly. It was thought that he would be refused confirmation. But when he appeared at the Bar, with the House at his heels, and supported by the Mace, the Honorable the Speaker of the Legislative Council was only commanded to tell Mr. Panet, that having filled the Chair of Speaker, during four successive Parliaments, it was not on the score of insufficiency that he would admit an excuse on Mr. Panet's part, nor form objections on his own part. He had no reason to doubt the discretion and moderation of the present House of Assembly, and as he was, at all times, desirous of meeting their wishes, so he would be particularly unwilling not to do so, on an occasion, in which they were themselves principally interested. He, therefore, allowed and confirmed Mr. Panet to be Speaker. His Excellency, though somewhat ironical in his mode of confirmation, acted liberally and prudently. In His Excellency's speech from the throne, allusion was made to the unfavourable posture of affairs with America; to the revolution in Spain and to the generous assistance afforded that country by Great Britain; again to the emigration of the Royal Family of Portugal to Brazil; to Wellington's victory at Vimeira, by which Portugal had been rescued from the French; he cautioned the members of the Legislature against jealousies among themselves, or of the government, which could have no other object in view than the general welfare; and alluded to the non-intercourse and embargo policy of the United States, which, so far, had operated favourably for the Canadian trade, particularly in the article of lumber, which, owing to the exclusion of British shipping from the Baltic, had become a staple export. The House was not pleased at the hints about jealousies, nor very much pleased with His Excellency's remarks in confirming their Speaker. The reply was not quite an echo of the speech. It was more. It was a quiet remonstrance against governmental insinuation. On proceeding to business, the propriety of expelling the judges was again discussed. A motion to expel them was even made, but it was negatived. Some even who were averse to the judges having seats in the Assembly were not prepared to go the length of expelling them from the House. All that was wanted was that, in future, judges should be ineligible for seats in the Assembly. To this end, a committee was appointed to inquire into the inconvenience resulting from the elections of judges to the Assembly, with orders to report to the House. The committee inquired and reported, and of course, reported unfavourably to the judges. A bill to disqualify the judges was re-introduced and read a first time. Mr. Hart again appeared at the Bar to take his seat for Three Rivers. He had been re-elected. He was still a Jew, and showed no disposition to recant his error. Nor would the House recant their error. The resolution which had been adopted against Mr. Hart's taking his seat in the previous Parliament was repeated in this. The House of Assembly went still farther. A bill to disqualify all Jews from being eligible to seats in the Assembly, was introduced and read twice. Five weeks had elapsed and the public business had not begun. The Governor was very much annoyed. The refractory spirit of the House, as regarded the judges, was most distasteful to him. Suddenly, on the 15th of May, he went down to the Legislative Council, assented to five bills, and summoned the attendance of the Commons. "When I met you, said the now irate Sir James, at the commencement of the present session, I had no reason to doubt your moderation or your prudence, and I therefore willingly relied upon both. I expected from you a manly sacrifice of all personal animosities. I hoped for a zealous dispatch of your public duty. I looked for earnest endeavours to promote the general harmony. I looked for due and indispensable attention to the other branches of the Legislature. It was your constitutional duty. It was due to the critical juncture of the times. I have been disappointed in every hope on which I relied. You have wasted in frivolous debates, or by frivolous contests on matters of form, that time and those talents to which the public have an exclusive title. You have abused your functions. In five weeks, you have only passed five bills. You have been so intemperate in debate that moderation and forbearance is scarcely to be looked for without a new Assembly. Gentlemen, Parliament is dissolved. A new Parliament will be convened as soon as convenience will permit. My object in thus acting,is to preserve the true principles of the free and happy constitution of the Province." He turned with peculiar satisfaction from lecturing to the Assembly, to offer his acknowledgements to the gentlemen of the Legislative Council, for their unanimity, zeal, and unremitting attention to the public business, manifested in their proceedings. They were not to blame for the waste of time and for the little that had been done for the public good. The Assembly were surprised. It never entered the head of a single member that Sir James Craig, who, on first meeting a Canadian Parliament, had been so courteous, would have been so abruptly censorious. A prorogation was anticipated, when the Usher of the Black Rod commanded, by order of His Excellency, their presence at the Bar of the Upper House, but the possibility of a dissolution of Parliament never occurred to any one. The constitution, boasted so much of, was certainly a happy one. The representatives of the people were suddenly sent back to their constituents as unfitted for their business. And for some time, the country, tickled with the bluntness of the Governor, applauded the act. Had Sir James desired to be absolute, the country, before it had had time to consider, would have assisted His Excellency in acoup d'état. It was not until theCanadienhad taken the matter up energetically that any of the discarded legislative materials could obtain a hearing from their constituents. After theCanadienhad criticised the speech from the throne, and had commented on the Bill of Rights, in allusion to the Governor's measures, with respect to the Assembly, and as applicable to the existing circumstances of the Province—"Nos institutions,notre langue, et nos lois,"—public opinion gradually turned round in favor of the Assembly.
Sir James Craig's opinion of the Canadians had undergone a very considerable change for the worse. In a despatch to Lord Liverpool, some short time afterwards, on the state of affairs in Canada, which Mr. Ryland was sent to London with, Sir James speaks of Canada asbeing a conquered country, a factnever to be put out of view. He spoke of a colony usually estimated to contain a population of 300,000 souls. Of these, 20,000, or 25,000 only, might have been English or Americans, and the remainder were French. They were in language, religion, in manners, and in attachment, French. They were bound to the English (officials) by no tie, but that of a common government. They looked upon the government of the province with mistrust, jealousy, envy, and hatred. He was certain his opinion of them was well founded. There were very few French Canadians in the country who were not tainted with the sentiments he had imputed to them generally. Common intercourse hardly existed between the French and English. The lower class, to strengthen a word of contempt, added the wordAnglaisto it. The upper classes, who formerly associated with the English upper classes, had entirely withdrawn themselves. The Canadians, generally, were ignorant, credulous, and superstitious. He did not perceive that they had any great vice except one. Drunkenness was the prevailing vice. When drunk they were brutal and quarrelsome. Like other people, suddenly freed from a state of extreme subjection, they were apt to be insolent to their superiors. They were totally unwarlike and averse to arms or military habits, though vain to an excess, and possessing a high opinion of their prowess. They had been so flattered and cajoled about their conduct, in the year 1775, that they really believed they stood as heroes, in history, whereas no people, with the exception of a very few individuals, behaved worse than they did on that occasion. Now came the teachings of Mr. Secretary Ryland, which that gentleman did not think it prudent to bore Sir James with until he had ascertained how far the incomparable man's sentiments accorded with his own. The Superintendent of the Church of Rome in Canada, had been designated Roman Catholic Bishop, by other Governors, which was both dangerous and wrong, in view of the Queen's supremacy. The Bishop did as he pleased, in the appointment of curés. His patronage was at least equal to that of the government. The Bishop was cautious not to perform any act that might be construed into an acknowledgement of His Majesty's rights. He would not obey a Proclamation of the King for a fast or thanksgiving, but issued a "mandat," of his own, to the same effect, but without the least allusion to His Majesty's authority. The arms of Great Britain were nowhere put up in the churches. With the curés no direct communication with the government existed. The church selected its ecclesiastics, the Governor knew not why, from the lower orders. The Bishop was the son of a blacksmith. The Coadjutor was brother to a demagogue, the Speaker of the Assembly, an "avocat." The curés saw in Buonaparte the restorer of the Catholic religion. The Legislative Council, an object of jealousy to the Lower House, was composed of everything that was respectable in the Province. There were about 300,000 French inhabitants to 25,000 English and American, yet there never had exceeded fourteen or fifteen English members in the House of Assembly, while then there were only ten, and it was desired to get rid of the judges! The interests of certainly not an unimportant colony, was in the hands of six petty shopkeepers, a blacksmith, a miller, and fifteen ignorant peasants, a doctor or apothecary, twelve Canadian "avocats" and notaries, and four people respectable so far as that they did not keep shops, together with the ten Englishmen, who composed the Legislative Assembly. Some of thehabitantscould neither read nor write. Two members of a preceding Parliament had actually signed the roll by marks, and there were five more whose signatures were scarcely legible, and were such as to show that to be the extent of their writing. Debate was out of the question. A Canadian Parliament did not understand it. ThehabitantM.P., openly avowed that the matter, whatever it was, had been explained to him. The "moutons" were crammed at meetings held nightly for the purpose. There was one singular instance, of ahabitant, who, in every instance, voted against the prevailing party. But that was the solitary exception to a general rule. The Canadians voteden masse, as directed—not by the government. The government was entirely without influence. The Assembly was the most independent in the world, for the government could not obtain even that influence which might arise from personal intercourse. He could not be expected to associate with blacksmiths, millers, and shopkeepers. Even theavocatsand notaries he could nowhere meet, except during the actual sitting of Parliament, when he had a day in the week expressly appropriated to receiving a large portion of them at dinner. The leaders in the House were mostly a set of unprincipledavocatsand notaries, totally uninformed as to the principles of the British constitution, or parliamentary proceedings, which they, nevertheless, professed to take for their model. Without property to lose, these men had gradually advanced in audacity, in proportion as they had considered the power of France as more firmly established by the successes of Buonaparte in Europe. They were obviously paving the way for a change of dominion. Without one act by which to point out either injury or oppression, the people of the Province had been taught to look upon His Majesty's government with distrust, and they publicly declared, while avowing such distrust, that no officer of the Crown was to be elected into the House. The English in general and their own seigneurs were entirely proscribed. Except in the boroughs or cities these classes had no chance of election. A paper called theCanadien, had been published, and industriously circulated in the country, for three or four years, to degrade and vilify the officers of government, under the title ofgens en place; and to bring the government itself into contempt, by alluding to the Governor as aministère, open to their animadversions. Nothing calculated to mislead the people had been omitted in this vile print. The various circumstances that brought about the abdication of James the Second, had been pointed out, with allusions, as applicable to the government here. "La nation Canadienne," was their constant theme. Religious prejudices, jealousy, and extreme ignorance, forbade the expectation of any improvement in the Assembly. Questions before the Houses were always viewed as affecting or otherwise some temporal right of their clergy, or having some remote tendency to promote the establishment of the Protestant interest. How the Act for the establishment of Public Schools had passed had always been matter of surprise to him. There was much jealousy at the progress of the Eastern Townships, which were settled by American loyalists. The country was beginning to look up to the members of the Assembly as the governors of the country. Formerly the cry was—"La Chambreto the devil!" He thought that the only remedy for the state of things which he had described was to deprive the province of its constitution, as the provincialists termed their charter. The people were unfitted for liberty. And here are the Governor's reasons for saying that a people were incapable of free institutions. "That spirit of independence, that total insubordination among them, that freedom of conversation, by which they communicate their ideas of government, as they imbibe them from their leaders, all which have increased wonderfully within these five or six years, owe their origin entirely to the House of Assembly and to the intrigues incident to elections. They were never thought of before." One really wonders that even a general officer could have ventured upon sending to England such trash, a country which had produced a Charles Fox, who took at the passing of the Separation Act so opposite a view of human nature. Doubtless, thehabitantsare precisely, even at this day, as Sir James represented them to be. But it was superlative impudence in a man of plebeian extraction to say that he could not associate with members of Parliament, who followed the occupation of shopkeeping for a living. It surely was enough for Buonaparte to have stigmatized England as a nation of shopkeepers. Sir James might have left it alone, after having experienced the independent energies of a nation of wooden clock and wooden nutmeg makers. The "gens en place" had badly advised him, and he was too blind to see it. Sir James was an Indian Governor with a vengeance.
The fortifications of the City of Quebec had been much improved during the summer of 1808, and the foundations of the four martello towers, which now stand outside of the fortifications, on the land side, at the distance of nearly a mile, were laid.
After the dissolution of the Parliament, about the middle of June, the Governor set out on a tour through the Province. He was attended by a numerous suite, travelled in great state, and was well received wherever he halted. At Three Rivers, Montreal, St. Johns, and William Henry, addresses were presented to him. He was applauded and even thanked for having stretched the royal prerogative so far as to dissolve the House without any sufficient reason. What was gained by the fulsome adulation is not particularly apparent, unless it be that theCanadienhad an opportunity afforded it for not very flattering criticisms. The opportunity was not by any means lost. TheCanadiengrinned at thegens en place, and even ventured to laugh at the royal prerogative himself. But thegens en placewere not to be laughed out of countenance by a vile print, which only could appeal to French passions and Romish prejudices. They only waited until His Excellency returned to Quebec, to renew their congratulations. The citizens of Quebec, on Sir James' return to the Chateau, waited upon him with an address. They approved of his judicious and firm administration. Sir James, perfectly elated, expressed, in a particular manner, his satisfaction. It was most gratifying to have received such an address from those whose "situations" afforded them the more immediate opportunity of judging of the motives by which he might be actuated on particular occasions.