Volume II Part 26 (2/2)
”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:
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