The Loyalists of America and Their Times Volume II Part 26

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 149: Chap. xxvi., pp. 260-262.]

CHAPTER XLIV.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

_Prince Edward Island_ was first called by the French St. John's Island, on account of the day on which the French landed on it; but in 1799 its name was changed, and it was called Prince Edward's Island in honour of the Duke of Kent, (William Edward) afterward William IV. After the close of the American Revolution in 1783, a considerable number of the exiled Loyalists went to Prince Edward's Island and became merchants and cultivators of the soil.

"In 1763 the island was incorporated with Nova Scotia; but in 1770 it was made a separate province, in fulfilment of a curious plan of civilization. It was parcelled out in sixty-seven townships, and these were distributed by lottery among the creditors of the English Government, each of whom was bound to lodge a settler on every lot of two hundred acres that fell to him. The experiment was not at first very successful, but gradually the shares pa.s.sed from the original speculators to men who knew how to use the rich soil and usually healthy climate of the island."[150]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 150: Bourne's "Our Colonies and Emigration," Chap. viii., p.

105.]

CHAPTER XLV.

LOWER CANADA.

_Lower Canada_ was first possessed by the French, and under the rule of France the government was purely despotic, though not cruel or harsh. On the conquest of Lower Canada in 1759, and its final ceding to England by the Treaty of Paris, 1763, a military government was inst.i.tuted, which continued until 1774, when the famous "Quebec Act" was pa.s.sed by the Imperial Parliament, known as the 14th George the Third, Chapter 83; or as "the Quebec Act"--it was introduced into the House of Lords on the 2nd of May, 1774--"for Making more Efficient Provision for the Province of Quebec." By the provisions of this famous Act, the boundaries of the province of Quebec were extended from Labrador to the Mississippi, embracing in one province the territory of Canada, together with all the country north-west of the Ohio to the head of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, and consolidating all authority over this boundless region in the hands of a Governor and Council of not less than seventeen or more than twenty-three members, with power to pa.s.s ordinances for the peace, welfare, and good government of the province. At the close of the war between England and France by the Peace of Paris, 1763, English emigration was invited to Lower Canada, with the promise, by Royal Proclamation, of _representative government_, as in the other colonies.

That promise, however, was not fulfilled by the Act of 1774; but the Catholics were not displeased that the promise of a Representative a.s.sembly was not kept, as a Representative a.s.sembly, to which none but Protestants could at that time be chosen, was less acceptable to them than the despotic rule of a Governor and Council nominated by the Crown.

The Quebec Act authorized the Crown to confer places of honour and business upon Catholics. The owners of estates were further gratified by the restoration of the French system of law. The English emigrants might complain of the want of jury trials in civil processes, but the French Canadians were grateful for relief from statutes which they did not comprehend. The n.o.bility of New France, who were accustomed to arms, were still further conciliated by the proposal to enrol Canadian battalions, in which they could hold commissions on equal terms with English officers. The great dependence of the Crown, however, was on the clergy. The capitulation of New France had guaranteed to them freedom of public worship, but the laws for their support were held to be no longer valid. By the Quebec Act they were confirmed in the possession of their ancient churches and their revenues; so that the Roman Catholic worship was as effectually established in Canada as the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.[151]

This Act encountered very strong opposition both in England and America.

The Mayor, Aldermen, and Council of the city of London presented a pet.i.tion to the King against the Bill, praying his Majesty not to sign it. In that long and ably drawn up pet.i.tion, occur the following words:

"We beg leave to observe that the English law, and that wonderful effort of human wisdom, the trial by jury, are not admitted by this Bill in any civil cases, and the French law of Canada is imposed on all the inhabitants of that extensive province, by which both the persons and properties of very many of your Majesty's subjects are rendered insecure and precarious. We humbly conceive that this Bill, if pa.s.sed into a law, will be contrary not only with the compact entered into with the various settlers of the Reformed religion, who were invited into the said province under the sacred promise of enjoying the benefit of the laws of your realm of England, but likewise repugnant to your Royal Proclamation of the 7th of October, 1763, for the speedy settlement of the said new government. * * That the whole legislative power of the province is vested in persons to be wholly appointed by your Majesty, and removable at your pleasure, which we apprehend to be repugnant to the leading principles of this free Const.i.tution, by which alone your Majesty now holds, or legally can hold, the Imperial Crown of these realms."

In the House of Commons the Bill was strongly opposed by Messrs. Fox, Burke, Townsend and others, chiefly on the ground of its unconst.i.tutionality, and every effort was made to amend it, but without success. The Bill was finally pa.s.sed by a vote of 56 to 20.

In the House of Lords, the Bill was vehemently opposed by the Earl of Chatham, who protested against it "as a most cruel, oppressive, and odious measure, tearing up justice and every good principle by the roots," and "destructive of that liberty which ought to be the groundwork of every const.i.tution." The Bill, however, pa.s.sed the Lords by a vote of 26 to 7, and received the royal a.s.sent on the prorogation of Parliament, the 22nd of June, the King stating in regard to it that "it was founded on the clearest principles of justice and humanity, and would, he doubted not, have the best effect in quieting the minds and promoting the happiness of his Canadian subjects."

The feeling against the Act was intense both in England and the colonies, regarding it as a type of Imperial legislation for the colonies. "The strongest excitement prevailed in England for some months after the pa.s.sing of the Act; and the papers were filled with little else than letters and remarks upon it." The British Loyalist settlers in Canada were indignant, and meetings were held in Quebec and Montreal, at which strong resolutions were pa.s.sed, and pet.i.tions unanimously signed to the King, Lords and Commons, praying for the repeal of the Act, and forwarded to England.

"On the 17th of May, 1775, Lord Camden moved in the House of Lords for the repeal of the Act, but the motion was defeated by a vote of 88 to 28." A similar motion by Sir George Saville, in the Commons, was likewise defeated by a vote of 174 to 86.[152] The feeling of the Loyalists throughout Canada was very strong against this Act; and its operations gave no satisfaction to any party.[153]

From the prevalent dissatisfaction among all parties in Canada with the Quebec Act of 1774, the Imperial Government having, in 1788, sanctioned ordinances to restore the _Habeas Corpus_ Act, and the _trial by jury_ in civil cases, and obtained full and minute information as to the internal state of Canada, a Bill was prepared and introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Pitt, pursuant to a message from the King, on the 4th of March, 1791, establishing a representative government for Canada, after the model as far as possible of the British Const.i.tution.

This Act is sometimes called the "Grenville Act," having been chiefly prepared by Grenville, and conducted by him through the House of Lords; it is sometimes called the "Pitt Act," having been introduced and carried through the House of Commons by Pitt; but it is generally known in Canada as the Const.i.tutional Act, 31 George III., Chapter 31--the Act which gave to Canada its first const.i.tutional government, and under the provisions of which Canada was governed for fifty years, until the union of the two Canadas in 1841.

Mr. Pitt in introducing his Bill stated "that the division of the province into Upper and Lower Canada, he hoped would put an end to the compet.i.tion between the old French inhabitants and the new settlers from Britain and the British colonies. This division he trusted would be made in such a manner as to give each a majority in their own particular part; although it could not be expected to draw a complete line of separation. Any inconvenience, however, to be apprehended from ancient Canadians being included in the one or British settlers in the other, would be averted by a local Legislature to be established in each.

"In imitation of the Const.i.tution of the mother country, he would propose a Legislative Council and House of a.s.sembly for each; the a.s.sembly to be const.i.tuted in the usual manner, and the members of the Council to be for life; reserving to his Majesty to annex to certain honours an hereditary right of sitting in Council (a power never exercised). All laws and ordinances of the province to remain in force till altered by the new Legislature. The _Habeas Corpus_ Act was already law by an ordinance of the province, and was to be continued as a fundamental principle of the Const.i.tution.

"It was further meant to make a provision for a Protestant clergy in both divisions, by an allotment of lands in proportion to those already granted.

"The tenures were to be settled in Lower Canada by the local Legislature. In Upper Canada, the settlers being chiefly British, the tenures were to be soccage tenures.

"To prevent any such dispute as that which separated the thirteen colonies from the mother country, it was provided that the British Parliament should impose no taxes but such as might be necessary for the regulation of trade and commerce; and to guard against the abuse of this power, such taxes were to be levied and disposed of by the Legislature of each division."

The Bill was opposed in the House of Commons by Mr. Fox and others, upon the grounds that it created two provinces and two Legislatures, and made the members of the Legislative Councils nominees of the Crown for life, instead of leaving their election to the people; but the Bill was supported by Edmund Burke, who, with Fox, had voted side by side against the Quebec Act of 1774, but who opposed each other on the Canada Bill of 1791.[154]

Mr. Pitt, in reply to the objection of Mr. Fox and others, stated among other things, "That the population of _Upper Canada_ amounted to only 10,000 inhabitants, and that of _Lower Canada_ to not more than 100,000."[155]

With such preparation and explanations the Bill pa.s.sed both Houses of Parliament and received the royal a.s.sent, conferring on Canada a new Const.i.tution.

This Act separated the province of Quebec into two provinces, _Upper_ and _Lower Canada_, the division line between which was the River Ottawa.

For each province a Legislature was established consisting of a _Governor_, a _Legislative Council_ and _House of a.s.sembly_--in imitation of the Const.i.tution of England; for the Governor was to represent the Sovereign, the Legislative Council the House of Lords, and the a.s.sembly the House of Commons.

The members of the Legislative Council were to be discreet persons, appointed by Royal authority for life; the members of the a.s.semblies were to be chosen by the people, once in four years, unless oftener called upon, by dissolution, to elect new members.

The Act was to come in force not later than the 31st of December, 1791; and the date of meeting of the new Legislature was not to be later than the 31st December, 1792.

Thus in fulfilment of a promise made in a Royal Proclamation in 1763, Canada obtained a _representative_ form of government in 1791.

It has been seen that _the representative_ form of government was obtained both for _Nova Scotia_ and _New Brunswick_ by the representation and influence of the _United Empire Loyalists_; it was so in Canada. Thus are we indebted to the _United Empire Loyalists_ not only for our unity with the British empire, but for the original const.i.tution of representative government which, with enlarged application, is the basis of that free government which now prevails throughout all the provinces of the Dominion of Canada.

GOVERNMENT OF LOWER CANADA.

In 1786, Lord Dorchester had been appointed Governor of Canada and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America.[156] But he left for England in August, 1791, on a year's leave, and in his absence the administration of the Government was entrusted to the Lieutenant-Governor, General Alured Clarke, a retired British officer.

The elections took place in June, 1792, and were in some instances warmly contested. Lower Canada had been divided into twenty-one counties, eighteen of which elected two members each, and three--the counties of Gaspe, Bedford, and Orleans--returned one member each; the cities of Quebec and Montreal were each represented by four members, and Three Rivers by two. Of the fifty members elected to the first House of a.s.sembly, fifteen were of British origin, and thirty-five were of French origin.[157]

The Legislative Council consisted of fifteen members.

On the 30th of October, the Provincial Parliament was commanded to meet at Quebec the 17th of December, 1792, for the actual despatch of business. On the meeting of the Legislative Council that day, the Hon.

Chief Justice William Smith was appointed Speaker. The House of a.s.sembly did not agree upon the election of Speaker on the first day--the French and English-speaking members advocating respectively the election of a Speaker of their own language; but at length Mr. J.A. Panet was elected by a large majority--he speaking both languages with equal fluency.[158]

The Lieutenant-Governor made a speech expressing the solicitude and consideration of the King for his Canadian subjects, in recommending to his Parliament such a change in their colonial government as circ.u.mstances might require and admit. "On a day like this," said his Excellency, "signalized by the commencement in this country of that form of government which has raised the kingdom to which it is subordinate to the highest elevation, it is impossible not to feel emotions difficult to be expressed.

"To give an opportunity for your loyal and grateful acknowledgments to his Majesty is one of my motives for calling you together, and that debt discharged, your Council will doubtless be next employed for enacting the laws necessary to confirm and augment the property of your country."

The Lieutenant-Governor concluded in the following words:

"Great Britain being happily at peace with all the world, and I hope without apprehension of its interruption, the present moment must be most fit and urgent for all those arrangements best made at a season of tranquillity, and falling within the sphere of our trust. The conviction I feel of your disposition to cultivate that harmony amongst yourselves and each branch of the Legislature, which is always essential to the public good and private satisfaction, makes it unnecessary for me to enlarge upon this subject.

"Such objects as it may become my duty to recommend to your consideration, shall be occasionally communicated to you by message."

The address of the a.s.sembly in answer to his Excellency's speech breathed a spirit of grateful affection and loyalty. After expressing their warmest grat.i.tude to the King and Parliament of Great Britain, "in granting to his Majesty's subjects in this province a new and liberal Const.i.tution for their colonial government," the a.s.sembly proceeds: