The Report opens with a statement of the separate duties

of the High Commissioner ; for the performance of Which Lord Durham was invested " not only with the title, but with the actual functions, of Governor- General of all the North American Provinces ;" his authority not being restricted by " those limitations that had, in fact, deprived preceding Governors of Lower Canada of all control over the other Provinces, which, nevertheless, it had been the practice to render nominally subordinate to them." He exercised this authority in what he ascertained to be a necessary extension of the inquiry to all the North American Provinces ; wherein he found " a form of go- vernment so nearly the same—institutions generally so similar, and occasionally so connected—and interests, feelings, and habits so much in common—that it was obvious, at the first glance, that his conclusions would be formed without a proper use of the materials la his disposal, unless his inquiries were as extended as his power of making there

The evils he was charged to remedy are such as "no civilized corns munity can long continue to bear ;" and the necessity for making a "prompt and final " decision as to the remedy was obvious. Therefore Lord Durham, before leaving England, assured her Majesty's Ministers, that his plan for the future government of the Canadas should be in readiness by the commencement of the session of Parliament, just opened ; and though he had made provision that it should be explained by some person employed in the preparation of it, he had informed the Government that he should probably feel it his paramount duty towards the Provinces to attend in his place in the House of Lords for the purpose of explaining his own views, and supporting his own recommendations. His resignation of the office of Governor-General had not, therefore, precipitated the suggestion of the plan which, as High Commissioner, lie had formed for the future government of the Canadas ; though it had prevented his completion of some inquiries relative to practical reforms of essential but still of subordiate importance. The administrative and legislative business requiring daily attention, could only be discharged by the un- • remitting labour of Lord Durham himself and all who accompanied him from England.

The magnitude of the interests involved, and the advantages de- rivable by the Mother Country from the North American Colonies, are briefly but emphatically stated ; and the Report proceeds to " develop the evils which lie at the root of the disorders" prevalent iu them.

LOWER CANADA.

"The rei;stablishment of free and regular government in that particu- lar colony, in which it was wholly suspended," necessarily directed the High Commissioner's first inquiries to the province of which the local government was vested in his hands. The suspension of the con- stitution, by relieving him from the burden of constant discussion with legislative bodies, and by enabling him to turn his attention from alleged to real grievances, gave Lord Durham an essential advantage over his predecessors. It was also a great advantage that the ordinary business of the government of the province was combined with the functioni of inquiry ; the routine of every day's administrative business brought strongly and familiarly before him the working of the institutions on

which he was called to judge. He soon became satisfied that he must " search in the very composition of society, and in the fundamental institutions of government, for the causes of the constant and extensive disorder " he witnessed.

Personal inquiry speedily satisfied the High Commissioner, that the representations which had been circulated at home, had produced in his own as in most minds in England a very erroneous view of the. par- ties at issue in Lower Canada. What those views were, is explained.

" The quarrel which I was sent for the purpose of healing, had been a quar- rel between the Executive Governnient and the Popular branch of the Legis- lature. The latter body had, apparently, been contending for popular rights and free government. The Executive Government had been defending the prerogative of the Crown, and the institutions which, in accordance with the principles of the British Constitution, had been established as checks on the unbridled exercise of popular power. Though, during the dispute, indications had been given of the existence of dissensions yet deeper and more formidable than any which arose from simply political causes, I had still, in common with most of my countrymen, imagined that the original and constant source of the evil was to be found in the defects of the political institutions of the Pro- vinces ; that a reform of the constitution, or perhaps merely the introduction of a sounder practice into the administration the government, would remove all causes of contest and complaint. This opinion was strengthened by the well-known fact, that the political dissensions which had produced their most formidable results in this Province, had assumed a similar though milder form in the neighbouring colonies ; and that the tranquillity of each of the North American Provinces was subject to constant disturbance from collision between the Executive and the Representatives of the People. Theconstitutiuns of these Colonies, the official characters and positions of the contending parties, the avowed subjects of dispute, and the general principles asserted- on each side, were so similar, that I could not but concur in the very general opinion, that the common quarrel was the result of some common defect in the almost iden- tical institutions of these Provinces. I looked on it as a dispute analogous to those with which history and experience have made us so familiar in Europe ; a dispute between a people demanding an extension of popular privileges on the iThe-hand, and an executive on the other defending the powers which it conceived necessary for the nrintenance of order. I supposed that my in business would be that of determining how far each party might be n the right, or which was in the wrong; of devising some means of removing the de- fects which had occasioned the Allision ; mid ofrestoring such a balance of the constitutional powers as might secure the free and peaceful working of the machine of government."

In a despatch which Lord Durham addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the 9th of August last, he acknowledged that the experience derived from his residence in the province had com- pletely his view of the relative influence of the causes which

had been assigned for the disorders. He had not indeed been Lower C.r.o.la were less

brought to believe that the institutions of defective than he had originally presumed them to be ; but he had ne■ come convinced, that for the peculiar and disastrous dissensions of the province there existed a far deeper and more efficient cause—a cause which penetrated beneath its political institutions into its social state. He found two nations warring in the bosom of a single statea struggle not of principles, but of races ; and perceived that it would be idle to attempt amelioration of laws or institutions during the deadly ani- mosity that separates the inhabitants of Lower Canada into the hostile divisions of French and English.

ANIMOSITIES DET7F:EN THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.

" discontents, for which the vicious system of etwernment has given too much cause, have for a long time concealed or modified the influence of the national quarrel. It has been argued, that origin can have but little effect in dividing the country, inasmuch as individeals of each race have con- stantly been inlisted together on the side ofOovernment, or been found united in leading the Assembly to assail ts alleged abuses; that the names of sonic of the pronlineut leaders of the rebellion mark their English, while• those of some id' the most unpopular supporters of the Government denote their Trend' origin ; and that the representatives, if not of an actual majority (as has occasionally been asserted), at any rate of a large proportion of the purely English population, have been found constantly voting with the ma- jority of the Assembly against what is called the British party. Temporary and local causes have, no doubt, to a certain extent, produced such results. The national hostility has not assumed its permanent influence till of late lears, nor has it exhibited itself everywhere at once. While it displayed itself ong ago in the cities of Quebec and Montreal, where the leaders and masses of the rival races most speedily came into collision, the inhabitants of the Eastern townships, who were removed from all personal contact with the I French, and those of the district below Quebec. who experienced little inter- ference from the English, continued to a very late period to entertain vont a- : votively friendly feelings towards those of the opposite races. But this distinction which hits Unfortunately, year after year, been exhibtt* more strongly, and diffusing itself more widely. One by one OA uuctetit English leaders of the Assembly have fallen olf from the majority s; aini rat-, tached themselves to the party which supported the DrumIt CANumueut against it. Every election from the townships added to the English minority. hostility; that the Assembly resisted these changes chiefly because the English On the other hand, year after year, in spite of the various influences which desired them ; and that the eagerness with which many of the English urged a government can exercise, and of which no people in the world are more them was stimulated by finding' them opposed by the French.

susceptible than the French Canadians,—in spite of the additional motives of prudence and patriotism which deter timid or calm men from acting

with a party, obviously endangering the public tranquillity by the vio- "Nor did I find the spirit which animated. each party at all more coincident lessee of its conduct,—the number of French Canadians on whom the with the representations current in this country, than their objects appeared, Government could rely has been narrowed by the influence of those associations when tried by English, or rather European ideas of reforming legislation. Al: which have drawn theist into the ranks of their kindred. The insurrection of utterly uneducated and singularly inert population, implicitly obeying leaders 1837 completed the division. Since the resort to arms, the two races have been who ruled them by the influence of a blind confidence and narrow national distinctly and completely arrayed'against each other. No portion of the Eng- prejudices, accorded very little with the resemblance which had been discovered lists population was backward in taking arms in defence of the Government : to that high-spirited democracy which effected the American Revolution. Still with a single exception, no portion of the Canadian population was allowed to less could I discover in the English population those slavish tools of a narrow do so, even where it was asserted by some that their loyalty inclined them official clique, or a few purse-proud merchants, which their opponents had de- thereto. The exasperation thus generated has extended over the whole of each scribed them as being. I have found the main body of the English impute., race. The most just and sensible of the English, those whose politics had tion, consisting of hardy farmers and humble mechanics, composing a very always been most liberal, those who had always advocated the most moderate independent, not very mama' cable, and sometimes a rather turbulent, &- policy in the provincial disputes, seem from that moment to have taken their mocraey. Though constantly professing a somewhat extravagant loyalty part against the French as resolutely, if not as fiercely, as the rest of their and high prerogative doctrines, I found them very determined on main- countrymen, and to have joined in the determination never again to submit to touting in their ownpersons a great respect for popular rights, and sin. a French majority. A few exceptions mark the existence, rather than militate gularly ready to enforce their wishes by the strongest means of eon. against the truth of the general rule of national hostility. A few of the French, stitutional pressure on the Government. Between them and the Canadians I distinguielied by moderate. and enlarged views, still condemn the narrow na- found the strongest hostility; and that hostility was, as might be expected, tional prejudices and ruinous violence of their countrymen, while they equally most strongly developed among the humblest and rudest of the body. Between resist what they consider the violent and unjust pretensions of a minority, and them and the small knot of officials, whose influence has been represented as so endeavour to form a middle party between the two extremes. A large part of formidable, I found no sympathy whatever ; and it must be said, in justice to

f p

the Catholic clergy, a few of the principal proprietors of the seigarty, support radian people, that however little I can excuse the injurious influence of that norird families, this body of officials, who have been so much assailed as the enemies of the sonic of those who are influenced by ancient connexionS othe Government against revolutionary violence. A very few persons of English system of administration which they were called upon to carry into execution, origin (not more, perhaps, than fifty out of the whole number), still continue the members of the oldest and most powerful official families were, of tin to net with the party which they originally espoused. Those who affect to English in the country, those in whom I generally found most sympathy with form a middle party exercise no influence on the contending extremes ; and and kindly feelings towards the Fronds population. I could not therdbre be- those whim side with the nation from which their birth distinguishes them, are sieve that this annnosity was only that subsisting between an official oligarchy regarded liv their countremen with aggravated hatred, as renegades from their and a people; and again I was brought to a conviction, that the contest, which race ; ivhife they obtain but little of the real affection, confidence, or esteem of had been represented as a contest of classes, was, in fact, a contest of races." .those whom they have joined.

OBJECTS OF THE FRENCH CANADIANS NOT REALLY DEMOCRATIC; hostility to each other ; but it is necessary, in order to understand this • tion, to have little to do with its real cause ; and the inquirer, who has that are brought in contact, and in what proportion they meet. imagined that the public demonstrations or professions of the parties have put him in possession of their real motives and designs, is surprised to find, upon CHARACTERISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE FRENCH nearer observation, how much he has been deceived by the false colours under

duce Mt . the antiquated laws of the proviuce. , .... .... Mira^ in the cottage by the family of the habitant; and an insignificant proportion

" Yet even on the question. --.1-.

matters tt• ,1:_ •

..epute between the two parties, it is difficult to believe that the employed in the fur-trade, and the occupations of hunting, which they and hostility of the races was the effect, and not the cause, of the pertinacity with their descendants have carried beyond the Rocky Mountains, and still, in

-ellich the desired reforms were pressed or resisted. great measure, monopolize ill the whole valley of time Mississippi. The MOSS of

e The English complained of the Assembly's refusal to establish Registry the community exhibited in the New World the characteristics of the peasantry Officee, and to commute the feudal tenures ; and vet it was among the ablest of Europe. Society was dense ; and even the wants and the poverty which the and meet influential leaders of the English that I found some of the opponents pressure of population occasions in the Old World, became not to be wholly of both the proposed reforms. The leaders of the French were anxious to din- unknown. They clung to ancient prejudices, ancient customs, and ancient claim any hostility to these reforms themselves. Many of them represented laws, not front any strong sense of their beneficial effects, but with the unrea- the reluctance which the Assembly had exhibited to entertain these questions, soiling tenacity op' an uneducated and unprogressive people. Nor were they as a result of the extraordinary influence which Mr. Papineau exercised over wanting in the virtues of a simple and industrious life, or m those which com- that body : his oppeelt:,„. :ea; aes.....ted for by some peculiar predices of moo consent attributes to the nation from which they spring. The tempts-

education and professional practice, in which he wa; effel to find little con- tions which, in other states of society, lead to offences against property, and currenee among his countrYmen f it was stated that even his influence Would the passions which prompt to violence, were little known among them. They not have prevented these questions from being very favourably entertained by awe mild and kindly, frugal, industrious, and honest ; very soemble, cheerful, the A,eembly, had it ever met again ; and I received assurances of a Mesa?. and hospitable, and distinguished for a courtesy and real politeness which disposition towards them, which -I must say were very much at variance wit I pervade every class of society. The conquest has changed them but little. the icluctance which the leading men of the party showed to any cooperation The higher classes, and the inhabitants of the towns, have adopted some Eng- whim me in the attempts whiclia subsequently made to carry these very objects lash customs and feelings ; but the continued negligence of the British Go- into effect. At the same time, while the leading men of the French party thus vernmeut left the mass of the people without any of the institutions which rendered themselves liable to the imputation of a timid or narrow-minded oppo- would have elevated them in freedom and civilization. It has left them with- shim' to these improvements, the mass of the French population, who are out the education and without the institutions of local self-government, that innnediate sufferers by the abuses of the seignorial system, exhibited in every would have assimilated their character and habits, in the easiest and best way, pus ,ible shape their hostility to the state of things which their leaders had to those of the empire of which they became a part. They remain an old and so oh,tinately maintained. There is every reason to believe that a great stationary society, in a new and progressive world. In all essentials they are number of the peasants who fought at St. Denis and St. Charles imagined that still French, but French in every respect dissimilar to those of France in the the principal result of success would be the overthrow of tithes and feudal present day. They resemble rather the French of the provinces under the old burdemi ; and in the declaration of independence which Dr. Robert Nelson regime. issued, tom, of the objects of the insurrection were stated to be the abolition of "1 cannot pass over this subject without calling particular attention to a feudal tenures and the establishment of Registry Offices. When I observe peculiarity in the social condition of this people, of which the important bear- these inconsistencies of conduct among the opponents and supporters of these mug on the troubles of Lower Canada has never, in my opinion, been properly reforms,—when I consider that their attainment was prevented -by means of the estimated. The circumstances of a new and unsettled country, the operation censitairem, the very persons most interested in them success, and that they of the Fronds laws of inheritance, and the absence of any means of accumula- were not more eagerly demanded by the wealthier of the English, than by the time by commerce or manufactures, have produced a remarkable omelet) of artisans and labourers of that race whose individual interests would hardly have properties and conditions. A few seignorial families possess large, though net -derived much direct benefit from their success,-1 cannot but thick that many, often very valuable properties; the class entirely dependent on wages is very both of the supporters and of the opponents, cared less for the measures them- small ; the bulk of the population is composed of the hard-working yeomanry *elves, than for the lieu& which the agitation of theirs gave to their national of the country districts, commonly called Aubitons, and their connexions eu-

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH POPULATION.

The utter dissimilarity of the races accounts for theit invincible THOSE OF THE ENGLISH NOT CONSERYATIVE. part of the question, to bear in mind, not only that one race is French

4: The :rounds of quarrel which are commonly alleged, appear, on investiga- and the other English, but what kind of French and English they are

CANADIANS. • of the population derived their subsistence from the scarcely discernible corn-

..... oaten had been most recently the prominent amerce of the province. Whatever energy existed among the population was education and professional practice, in which he wa; effel to find little con- tions which, in other states of society, lead to offences against property, and currenee among his countrYmen f it was stated that even his influence Would the passions which prompt to violence, were little known among them. They not have prevented these questions from being very favourably entertained by awe mild and kindly, frugal, industrious, and honest ; very soemble, cheerful, the A,eembly, had it ever met again ; and I received assurances of a Mesa?. and hospitable, and distinguished for a courtesy and real politeness which disposition towards them, which -I must say were very much at variance wit I pervade every class of society. The conquest has changed them but little. the icluctance which the leading men of the party showed to any cooperation The higher classes, and the inhabitants of the towns, have adopted some Eng- whim me in the attempts whiclia subsequently made to carry these very objects lash customs and feelings ; but the continued negligence of the British Go- into effect. At the same time, while the leading men of the French party thus vernmeut left the mass of the people without any of the institutions which rendered themselves liable to the imputation of a timid or narrow-minded oppo- would have elevated them in freedom and civilization. It has left them with- shim' to these improvements, the mass of the French population, who are out the education and without the institutions of local self-government, that innnediate sufferers by the abuses of the seignorial system, exhibited in every would have assimilated their character and habits, in the easiest and best way, pus ,ible shape their hostility to the state of things which their leaders had to those of the empire of which they became a part. They remain an old and so oh,tinately maintained. There is every reason to believe that a great stationary society, in a new and progressive world. In all essentials they are number of the peasants who fought at St. Denis and St. Charles imagined that still French, but French in every respect dissimilar to those of France in the the principal result of success would be the overthrow of tithes and feudal present day. They resemble rather the French of the provinces under the old burdemi ; and in the declaration of independence which Dr. Robert Nelson regime. issued, tom, of the objects of the insurrection were stated to be the abolition of "1 cannot pass over this subject without calling particular attention to a feudal tenures and the establishment of Registry Offices. When I observe peculiarity in the social condition of this people, of which the important bear- these inconsistencies of conduct among the opponents and supporters of these mug on the troubles of Lower Canada has never, in my opinion, been properly reforms,—when I consider that their attainment was prevented -by means of the estimated. The circumstances of a new and unsettled country, the operation censitairem, the very persons most interested in them success, and that they of the Fronds laws of inheritance, and the absence of any means of accumula- were not more eagerly demanded by the wealthier of the English, than by the time by commerce or manufactures, have produced a remarkable omelet) of artisans and labourers of that race whose individual interests would hardly have properties and conditions. A few seignorial families possess large, though net -derived much direct benefit from their success,-1 cannot but thick that many, often very valuable properties; the class entirely dependent on wages is very both of the supporters and of the opponents, cared less for the measures them- small ; the bulk of the population is composed of the hard-working yeomanry *elves, than for the lieu& which the agitation of theirs gave to their national of the country districts, commonly called Aubitons, and their connexions eu- gaged in other occupations. It is impossible to exaggerate the want of educa- tion among the halatana ; no means of instruction have ever been provided for them, and they are almost universally destitute of the qualifications even of reading and writing. It came to my knowledge, that out of a great number of boys and gills assembled at the school-house door of St. Thomas, all but three admitted, on inquiry, that they could not read. Yet the children of this large rish attend school regularly, and actually make use of books. They hold the Catechism-book in their hand, as if they were reading, while they only repeat its contents, which they know by rote. The common assertion, however, that all classes of the Canadians arc equally ignorant, is psrfeetly erroneous; for I know of no people among whom a larger provision exists for the higher kinds of elementary education, or among whom such education is really extended to a larger proportion of the population. The piety and benevolence of the early possessors of the country founded, in the seminaries that exist in different parts of the province, institutions, of which the funds and activity have long been directed to the promotion of education. Seminaries and colleges have been, by these bodies, established in the cities and in other central points. The education given in these establishments ,greatly resembles the kind given in the English public schools, though it is rather more varied. It is entirely in the hands of the Catholic clergy. The number of pupils in these establish- ments is estimated altogether at about a thousand; and they turn out every oar, as far as I could ascertain, between two and three hundred young men - thus educated. Almost all of these are members of the family of some h«Gi- tant, whom the possession of greater quickness than his brothers has induced

the father or the curate of the parish to select and send to the seminary.

These young men, possessing a degree of information immeasurably superior to that of their families, are naturally averse to what they regard as descending to

the humble occupations of their parents. A few become priests; but as the military naval professions arc closed against the colonist, the greater part can only find a position suited to their notions of their own qualifies: ions in the losses' professions of advocate, notary, and surgeon. As from this cause

tbe,2 professions are greatly overstocked, we find every village in Lower Canada filled with notaries and surgeons, with little practice to occupy their at- tention, and living among their own families, or at any rate among exactly the same class. Thus the persons of most education in every village belong to the sameliumilies, and the same original station in life, as the illiterate kabitans whom I have described. They are connected with them by alp the associations of early vonth, and the ties of blood. The most perfect equality always marks thew intercourse; and the superior in education is separated by no blurrier of manners, or pride, or distinct interests, from the singularly- ignorant peasantry by a hich lie is surrounded. Ile combines, therefore, the intEuences of superior k.howleilge and social equality, and wields a power over the mass, which I do not believe that the eihmated class of any other portion of the world possess. To this singular state of things I attribute the extraordinary influence of the Canadian demagogues. Tice most uninstructed population anywhere trusted with political power, is thus placed in the hands of a small Is sly of instructed ptrseus, hi whom it reposes the confidence which nothing but such domestic cuanexion and such community of interest could generate. Over the class of persons by whom the peas:nap- are thus led, the Government has not ac- quired, or even laboured to acquire, influence ; its niemhV.rs have been thriven ihto opposition by the system of exclusion long prevalent iii the can: \-; and it is by their agency that the leaders of the Assembly have been enahled hitherto to move as one mass, in whatever direction they thought proper, the simple and ductile population of the country. The entire neglect of ethica- than by the Government has thus, more than other cause, contributed to render this people ungovernable, and to invest the agitator with the power which he wields against the laws and the public tranquillity,

THE ENGLISH : OFFICIALS AAA SETTLERS.

"Among this people the progress of emigration has of late years introduced in English population, exhibiting the characteristics with which Ave are tioni- liar, as those of the most enterprising of every class of our countrymen. The circumstances of the early colonial administration excluded the native Cana- dian from power, and vested all offices of trust and emolument in the hands of strangers of English origin. The highest posts in the law were confided to the same class of persons. The functionaries of the civil government, together with the officers of the army, composed a kind of privileged class, occupying the first place in the community, and excluding the higher class of the natives front society, as well as from the government of their own country. It was not till within a very few years, as was testified by persons who hail seen much of the country, that this society of civil and military functionaries ceased to exhibit towards the higher order of Canadians an exclusiveness of demeanour, which was more revolting to a sensitive and polite people titan the monopoly of power and profit ; nor was this national favouritism discontinued until after repeated complaints and an angry contest, which had excited passions that concession could not allay. The raves had become enemies ere a tardy justice was ex- torted; and even then the Government discovered a mode of distributing its patronage among the Canadians, which was quite as offensive to that people as their previous exclusion.

"It was not long after the conquest that another and a larger class of English settlers began to enter the province. English capital was attracted to Canada by the vast quantity and valuable nature of tic exportable produce of the country, tool the great facilities for commerce presented by the natural means of internal intercourse. The ancient trade of the country was conducted on a much larger and more profitable scale; and new branches of industry were ex- plored. The active and regular habits of the English capitalist drove out of all the inore profitable kinds of industry their inert and careless competitors of the French race; but in respect of the greater part (almost the whole) of the commerce and manufactures of the country, the English cannot be said to bare encroached on the French ; for, in fact, they created employments and profits which had not previously existed. A few of the ancient race smarted under the loss occasioned by the success of English competition ; but all felt yet more acutely the gradual increase of a class of strangers in whose hands the wealth of the country appeared to centre, and whose expenditure and in- fluence eclipsed those of the class which had previously occupied the first po- sition in the country. Nor was the intrusion of the English limited to coin- mereisl enterprises. By degrees, large portions of land were occupied by them ; nor did they confine themselves to the unsettled and distant (mithy of the townships. The wealthy capitalist invested his money in the purchase of seignorial properties ; and it is estimated that at the present moment full half of the more valuable seignories are actually owned by English proprietors. The seigniorial tenure is one so little adapted to our notions of proprietary rights, that the new seigneur, without any consciousness or intention of in- justiee, in many instances exercised his rights in a manner which would appear perfectly fair in this country, but which the Canadian settler reasonably re- garded as oppressive. The English purchaser found au equally unexpected and Just cause of complaint in that uncertainty of the laws, which rendered his possession of property precarious, and in those incidents of' the tenure which rendered its alienation or improvement difficult. But an irritation greater than that occasioned by the transfer of the large properties was caused by the competi- tion of the :English with the French fanner. The English farmer carried with him the experience and habits of the most improved agriculture in the world. Ile settled himself to the townships bordering on the seignories, and brought a fresh soil and improved cultivation to compete with the worn-out and slovenly thrill of the habitant. Ile often took the very farm which the Canadian settler lila abandoned, and by superior management made that a source of profit which had only impoverished his predecessor. The ascendancy which an unjust fa- vouritism had contributed to give to the English race in the government and the legal profession, their own superior clingy, skill, and capital, secured t-3 thefn in every branch of industry. They have developed the resources of the country, they have constructed or improved its means of communication, they have created its internal and firreign commerce. The entire wholesale', and a large portion of the retail trade of the province, with the most profitable and flourishing farms, are now in the hands of this numerical minority of the popas lotion.

ANIMOSITIES OF THE WORKING CLASSF:S NOT TILE RESULT OF A COLLISION OF INTERESTS.

"In Lower Canada, the mere working class which depends on wages, though proportionally large in comparison with that to lie found in any other portion of the American continent, is, according to our ideas, very small. Competition

between persons of different origin in this class has not exhihited itself' till very recently, and is, even now, almost confined to the cities. The huge mass of the labouring population are French, in the employ of English capitalists.

The more skilled class of artisans are generally English; but in the general run of the inure laborious employments, the French Canadians fully hold their ground against English rivalry. The emigration which took place a few years

ago brought in a class entered into more direct competition with the French in Wale kinds of employment in the towns; but the individuals

affected by this competition were not very many. I do not believe that the animosity which exists between the working classes of the two origins is the necessary result of a collision of interests, or of a jealousy of the superior

success of English labour. But national prejudices naturally exercise the greatest influence over the most uneducated ; the di&rence of language is less; easily overcome, the differences of manners and customs less easily smirk: • elated. The labourers, nitwit the emigration introdueed, contained a onlobee of very ignorant, t urbulent, and demoralize d persons, whose conduct and 'nail- ners alike revolted the well-uragred and coin:eons natives of the None class. The working men naturally ranged themselves on the side of the educated and wealthy of their own countrymen. When once engaged in the conflict, than passions were less restrained by• education and prudence; and the national hostility now rages most fiercely between those whose interests in reality bring them the least iii

POINTS OF OPPOSITION BETWEEN THE R ACES.

"The two races, thus distinct, have been brought into the same ciamsomity under eircamst.nwes which rendered-their contaet inevitably praluetive of col- lision. The ilitierence of latt;.:ung-e from the first kept them asunder. It is not anywhere a virtue of the English race to Liok with complaceocy eel any man- ners, customs, or laws which appear strange to them ; acensto:aed to form a. high estimate of their own s ttp.;riarity, they take no pins to entice .4 from Otilerti their contempt and int,t1,rattee of their 'usages. '.1.1ty found the French Ca- nadians filled with an equal amount of national pride; a sensitive, but inactive pride. which disposes that people not to resent in mlt, but rather to keep aloof from those who would kevp them under. Th e. but feel the superiority of English enterprise ; they could not shut their vy to their Sae- resit ill every mitb•rtaking in unmldhi titey came into t. tintaet, anti to the co.iStaltt Superiority Which they ivere acquiring. They itt,ke4 upon edi,:ir rivals with

alarm, with jealousy, mid filially with hatred. The Engr them with

a scorn, whielt soait also assel,,m•d lite same form of lt.rm red. The reolell com- plained of the arrorallt%t and injustice Of the ; 1110 1Ingil-4t accused the French of the vice, of a NVA..;,1.: are etIlltp14.1Vtl peopl, and charged theni with meanness and perfidy. The entire mistrust which the two laces have thus learned to conceive of each other's intention,, imittees them to pat the ..roust construction on the most innocent conduet ; to judge every weep, every act, and every intent' unfairly ; to attrihute tie' mu,-t odious s, desig... and reject every overture of kiniliwss or fairness, ;Is covering s:ccct desigu:i of tree:it:her), and malignity.

‘. Religion thrilled no 11.m :I of intercourse and union. It is, indeed, an nil -

'nimble fetltilre or Can ',I'll!i that is entirily deviiid of religious dis- sensions. Sectarian blt.1,1';111,e' 11.11' IllonAy nor avoWed, but ct bal,ily seems to influence mien's findings. But though the prodenco and liberality of both parties loos prevented this fruitful source of ailimo-ily from embittering thick quarrels, the difference iif religion has in fact tended to keep them asunder. Their priests have liven 1it4inet ; they have not met (Well in church. "No common edneatien has served to remove and soften the differelieeS origin and Lingnage. The tt -•teitltions of y midi, the sports of childhood, and the studies by which the cha,.acter of manhood is llto 1, are di:4iuct and totally diGrent. Iii 'Montreal told gytobee there an• English seintOIS and French schools ; the clii1.1 re

n .n are nom-can:it to fight nation against:

nation, and the (warred, that arise among boys in the streets usually- e'x'hibit a division into English on one side and Frenelk on the other. 66 As the]' are ta tighl ;Tart, on are their stioliesilifferent. The literature with which each is the most conversant is that of the peculiar language of :each; and all the ideas whirl men derive fro,it baii,s, Cum., to saris ot theta front perfectly dnicrent soirees. The ilitrerenee of language in this respect produces effects quite apart Trent those which it hos on the mere ititert. ourst of the two races. 'noise who WIT reflected on the powerful ildluence of langmige on thought, will pensive in how different a :.t.taller real& Who speak in dithrent languages are apt to think ; and those :elm are fatolliar with the literature of France, knew that the same opinion will be expres4.d ht an English and French writer of the lire sent day, not merely in different wank but in a style so ferent as to mark ut ierly different habits of thought. This difference is very striking in Lower Canada ; it exists not merely in the hooks of most iniluvote and repute, which are ■it' course tho,e sit' the great writers of France and Eng- land, and by which the minds of the respective races are formed, but it is oh- ,orvable in the Writing,: which now is:a w from the colonial 1irv-s. The artieles in the newspapers of each race are written iu a Style as w itk,y • of France and England at present ; and the ar uan.nts which cenviuce the one, are calculated to appear utterly unintelligible to the other, ."rhe difference of language produces mistoucept ioa yet more fa a! t•N en than those which it occasions with respect tet 0111111011; 11;i111.11;;1. 8111.1110SItiCS, by repee'scMlmug all the events of the day. in utterly different lights. The political misrepresentation of facts is one of the incidents ora fi, e press fit every free eontlt7 ; bat in nation- in which all speak the same thus, receive it uniroprrsentrtinn front 0;■L' side. have generally some means of learning the troth front the other. Lt lane et. Ca no la. h. mover. Ni here the French and English papers retwe,ent adverse opini.as, and where no large portion of that this did not commence until the national animosities had arrived almost at the highest pitch, and that the competition has been carried on in such a manner as to widen the prefixisting differences. The establishnient of the Banque do People by French capitalists, is an event which may be regarded as a satisfactory indication of an awakening commercial energy among the French; and it is therefore very much to be regretted that the success of the new enter- prise was uniformly promoted by direct and illiberal appeals to the national feelings of the race.. Some of the French have lately established steam-boats to compete with the monopoly which a combination of English capitalists lied for some time enjoyed on the St. Lawrence ; and small and somewhat uncom- fortable as they were, they were regarded with favour on account of their superiority in the essential qualities of certainty and celerity. But this was not considered sufficient to insure their success; an nppeal was constantly made to the national feelings of the French for an exclusive preference of the " French " line ; and I have known a French newspaper announce with satis- faction the fact, that on the previous day the French steamers to Quebec and La Prairie had arrived at Montreal with a great many passengers, and the Eng- lish with very few. The English, on the other hand, appealed to exactly the same kind. of feelings ; and used to apply to the French steam-boats the epi- thets of " Radical," " Rebel," and " Disloyal." The introduction of this kind of national preference into this department of business produced a par- ticularly mischievous effect, inasmuch as it separated the two races on some of the few occasions on which they had previously been thrown into each other's society. They rarely meet at the inns in the cities; the principal hotels are almost exclusively tilled with English and with foreign travellers ; and the French are, for the most part, received at each other's houses, or in boarding- houses, in which they meet with few English. " Nor do their amusements bring them more in contact. Social intercourse never existed between the two races in any but the higher classes, and it is now almost destroyed. I heard of but one house in Quebec in which both races met on pretty equal and mnicable terms; and this was mentioned as a singular instance of good sense on the part of the gentleman to whom it be- longs. At the commencement of Lord, Aylmer's administration, an enter- tainment was given to his Lordship by Mr. Papineau, the Speaker of the House of Assembly. It was generally understood to be intended as a mark of .contidence and .good-will towards the Governor, and of a conciliatory disposi-

• tion. It was given on a very large scale ; a very great number of persons were present ; and of that number I was informed, by a gentleman who was pre- sent, that lie and one other were the only English, except the Governor and his suite. Indeed, the difference of manners in the two races renders a general social intercourse almost impossible. "A singular instance of national incompatibility was brought before my notice, in an attempt which I made to promote an undertaking in which the French were said to take a great deal of interest. I accepted the office of President of the Agricultural Association of the District of Quebec, and attended the show previous to the distribution of the prizes. I then found that the French farmers would not Compete even on this neutral ground with the English; distinct prizes were given, in almost every department, to the two races ; and the national ploughing-matches were carried on in separate and even distant fields.

"While such is their social intercourse, it is not to be expected that the ani- mosities of the two races can frequently be softened by the formation of do- mestic connexions. During the first period of the possession of the colony by the English, intermarriages of the two races were by no means uncommon. But they arc now very rare ; and where such unions occur they are generally formed with members of the French families which I have described as poli- tically, and almost nationally, separated from the bulk of their own race. " I could mention various About features in the state of society, which show the all-pervading mud marked division of the races ; but nothing (though it will sound paradoxical) really proves their entire separation so much as the rarity, nay almost total absence, of personal encounters between the two races. Dis- putes of this kind are almost confined to the ruder order of people, and seldom proceed to acts of violence. As respect; the other classes, social iutercourse between the two races is so limited, that the more prominent or excitable anta- gonists never meet in the same room. It came to my knowledge that a gen- tleman who was for sonic years a most active and determined leader amongst the English population, bad never once been under a private roof with French Canadians of his own rank in life, until he met some at table on the invitation of persons attached to my mission, who were in the habit of associating indif- I:rently with French and'English. There arc, therefore, no political personal controversies. The ordinary occasions of collision never occur ; and own must quarrel so publicly, or so deliberately, that prudence restrains them from com i - mencing, ndividually, what would probably end in a general and bloody con- flict of numbers. Their mutual fears restrain personal disputes and riots, even among the lower orders ; the French know and dread the superior idly-sled strength of the English in the cities ; and the English in those places refrain from exhibiting their power, from fear of the revenge that might be taken on their countrymen,. who are scattered over the rural parishes.

" This feeling of mutual forbearance extends so fin- as to produce an apparent calm with respect to public matters, which is calculated to perplex a stranger who has heard much of the animosities of the province. No trace of them appears in public meetings; and these take place in every direction, in the most excited periods, mid go off without disturbance, and almost without dis- sent. The 'bet is, that hoth parties have conic to a tacit uuderstanding not in any way to interfere nirlt each other on these occasions ; each party know- ing that it would always be in the power of the other to prevent its meetings. The British party consequently have their meetings ; the French theirs ; and neither disturb the other. The complimentary addresses which I received on various occasions, marked the Caine entire separation, even in a matter in which it might be supposed that party feeling would not lie felt, or would front mere prudence and propriety be concealed. I had from the same places French and English addresses ; and I never found the two races uniting, except in a few cases, where 1 met 17ith the names of two or three isolated members of one origin, who happened to dwell in a commutate almost entirely composed of the other. The two parties combine for no pui,lie object ; they cutlet harmonize even in associations of charity. The only public occasion on which they ever meet, ie in the jury-box ; and they meet there only to the utter obstruction of justice."

That deadly political strife should result from such a state of social feeling, was unavoidable. The different objects of the two races brought them into constant collision.

COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE.

"The hostility which tints pervades society, was some time growing before it became of prininnent importance in the politics of the province. It was inevi- table that such social fwlings must end in a deadly political strife. The French regarded with jealouey the influence in politics of a dailyy, increasing body of the strangers whom they so much disliked mid dreaded ; the wealthy English were offended at finding that their property gave them no influence over their French &politic:1as, who were acting under the guidance of leaders of their own race ; and the farmers and traders of the same race were not long before they began to bear with impatience their utter political nullity in the midst of the majority of a population whose ignorance they contemned, and whose political views and conduct seemed utterly at variance with their own notions of the principles and practice of self-government. The superior political and practical

nee of the English cannot be for a moment disputed. The great mass Of the

!Median population, who cannot read or write, and have found in few of the institutions of their country even the elements of political' education, were ob. vionsly inferior to the English settlers, of whom a large proportion had re. ceived a considerable amount of education, and had been trained in their nea country to take a part in public business of one kind or another. With respect to the more educated classes, the superiority is not so general or app. rent : indeed, from all the information that I could collect, I incline to think that the greater amount of refinement, of speculative thought, and of the knowledge that books can give, is, with some brilliant exceptions, to lie found among the French. But I have no hesitation in stating, even more decidedly, that the circumstances in which the English have been placed in Lower Canada; acting on their original political education, have endowed the leaders of that population with much of that practical sagacity, tact, and energy in polities, in which I must say that the bad institutions of the colony have, in my 00. nion, rendered the lenders of the French deplorably deficient. That a nee which felt itself thus superior in political activity and intelligence should sat. mit with patience to the rule of a majority which it could not respect, was impossible. At what time and from what particular cause the hostility be. tween such a majority and such a minority, Which was sure sooner or later to break out, actually became of paramount importance, it is difficult to say. The hostility between the Assembly and the British Government had lone given a tendency to attacks on the part of the popular leaders on the nation to which that Government belonged. It is said that the appeals to the national pride and animosities of the French became more direct and gene- ral on the occasion of the abortive attempt to reunite Upper and Lower Canada in 1822, which the leaders of the Assembly viewed or represented as a blow aimed at the institutions of their province. The anger of the English was excited by the denunciations of themselves, which, subsequently to this period, they were in the habit of hearing. .They had possibly sonic httle sympathy with the members of the Provincial Government of their own race ; and their feelings were, probably, yet more strongly excited in favour of the connexion of the colony. with Great Britain, which the pro- ceedings of the Assembly appeared to endanger. But the abuses existing under the Provincial Government gave such inducements to remain iu opposi- tion to it, that the representatives of each race continued fur a long Bute to act together against it. And as the bulk of the English population in the townships and on the Ottawa were brought into very little personal contact with the French, I am inclined to thick that it might have been sonic time longer ere the disputes of origin would have assumed an importance paramount to all others, had not the Assembly come into collision with the whole English population by its policy with respect to internal improvements, and to the old and defective laws, which operated as a bar to the alienation of laud and to the formation of associations for commercial purposes.

"The English population—an immigrant and enterprising population—looked on the American provinces as a vast field for settlement and speculation; and, in the common spirit of the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of that continent, regarded it as the chief business of the Government to promote, by all possible use of its legislative and administrative powers, the increase of population and the accumulation of property. They tumid the laws of real property exceed- ingly adverse to the easy alienation of ladil, which is, in a new country, abso- lutely essential to its settlement and improvement; they found the greatest deficiency in the internal communications of the country ; and the utter want of local self-government rendered it necessary for them to apply to the Assembly for every road or bridge or other public work that was needed. They wished to form themselves into companies for the establishment of banks and the construction of railroads and canals, and to obtain the powers necessary for the completion of such works with funds of their own ; and, as the first requisite for the improvement of the country, they desired that a large propor- tion of the revenue should be applied to the completion of that great series of public works by which it was proposed to render the Saint Lawrence and the Ottawa navigable throughout their whole extent.

" Without going so far as to accuse the Assembly of a deliberate design to check the settlement and improvement of Lower Canada, it cannot be denied that they looked with considerable jealousy and dislike on 'the increase and prosperity of what they regarded as a foreign and hostile race; they looked on the Province as the patrimony of their own race ; they viewed it not as country to be settled, but as one already settled; and, instead of legislating in the American spirit, and first providing for the future population of the Pro- vince, their primary care was, in the spirit of legislation which prevails in the old world, to guard the interests and feelings of the present race of inhabitants, to whom they considered the new corners as subordinate ; they refused to in- crease the burdens of the country by imposing taxes to meet the expenditure required for improvement ; and they also refused to direct to that object any of the funds previously devoted to other purposes. The improvement of the harbour of Montreal was suspended, from a political antipathy to a leading English merchant, who had been the most active of the Commissioners, and by whom it had been conducted with the most admirable success. It is but just to say, that some of the works which the Assembly authorized and encouraged were undertaken on a scale of due moderation, mid satisfactorily perfected and brought into operation. Others, especially the great communications which I have mentioned above, the Assembly showed a greet reluctance to promote or even to permit. It is true that there was considerable foundation for their ob- jections to the plan on which the Legislature of Upper Canada had commenced some of these works, and to the mode in which it had carried them on ; but the English complained, that instead of profiting by the experience which they might have derived from this source, the Assembly seemed only to make its ob- jections a pretext for doing nothing. The applications for banks, railroads, and canals, were laid on one side until sonic general measures could be adopted with regard to such undertakings; but the general measures thus promised were never passed, and the particular enterprises in question were prevented. The adoption of a registry was refused, on the alleged ground of its inconsistency with the French institutions of the province ; and no measure to attain this desirable end, in a less obnoxious mode, was prepared by the leaders of the As- sembly. The feudal tenure was supported, as a mild and just provision for the settlement of a new country ; a kind of assurance, given by it Committee of the Assembly, that some steps should be taken to remove the most injurious incidents of the seignorial tenure, produced no practical results ; and the en- terprises of the English were still thwarted by time obnoxious laws of the country. In all these decisions of the Assembly, in its discussions, and in the apparent motives of its conduct, the English population perceived traces of a desire to repress the influx and the success of their race. A measure for im- posing a tax on emigrants, though recommended by the Home Government, and warranted by the policy of those neighbouring, states wide]; give the greatest encouragement to immigration, was argued of such grounds in the Assembly, that It was not unjustly regarded as indicative of an intention to. exclude any further accession to the English population ; and the industry of the English was thus retarded by this conduct of the Assembly. Sunie dis- tricts, particularly that of the Eastern Townships, where the French race has no footing, were seriously injured by the refusal of necessary improvements; and the English inhabitants generally regarded the policy of the Assembly as a plan for preventing any further emigration to the province, of stopping the growth of English wealth, and of rendering precarious the English property already invested or acquired in Lower Canada.

"The Assembly of which they thus complained, and of which they entertained

"opprehensiotts so serious, was at the same time in collision with the Executive Government. The party in power, and which, by means of the Legislative Coma, kept the Assembly in check, gladly availed itself of the discontents of this powerful and energetic minority, offered it its protection, and undertook the furtherance of its views; and thus was cemented the *Angular alliance between the English population and the Colonial officials, who combined from perfectly different motives, and with perfectly different objects, against a common enemy. The English desired reform and liberal measures from the Assembly ; which refused them, while it was urging other reforms and demanding other liberal measures from the Executive Government. The Assembly complained of the oppressive use of the power of the Executive ; the English com- plained that they, a minority, suffered under the, ,oppressive use to which power was turned by the French majority. Thus a bold and intelligent Democracy was impelled, by its impatience for liberal measures, joined to its national antipathies, to make common cause with a Government which was at issue with the majority on the question of popular rights. The actual conflict commenced by a collision between the Executive and the French majority ; and, as the English population rallied round the Government, supported its pretensions, and designated themselves by the appellation of .loyal,' the causes of the quarrel were naturally supposed to be much more simple than they really were ; and the extent of the division which existed among the inhabitants of Lower Canada, the number and nature of the com- batants arrayed on each side, and the irremediable nature of the dispute, were concealed from the public view.

THE APPEAL TO ARMS BY THE FRENCH.

" The treasonable attempt of the French party to carry its political objects into effect by an appeal to arms, brought these hostile races into general and armed collision. 1 will not dwell on the melancholy scenes exhibited in the progress of the contest, or the fierce plosions which held an unchecked sway during the insurrection, or immediately after its suppression. It is not difficult to conceive how greatly the evils, which I have described as previmisly existine, have been aggravated by the war ; how terror and revenge nourished, in eaCh portion of the population, a bitter and irreconcileable hatred to each other and to the institutions of the country. The French population, who had for some time exercised a great and increasing power through the medium of the House of Assembly, found their hopes unexpectedly prostrated in the dust. The

physical force which they had vaunted was called into action, and proved to be utterly inefficient. The hope of recovering their previous ascendancy under a constitution similar to that suspended. almost ceased to exist. Removed from all actual share in the government of their country, they brood in silence over the memory of their fallen countrymen, of their burnt villages, of their rained property, of their extinguished ascendancy, and of their bumbled nationality. To the Government and the English they ascribe these wrong, and nourish against both an indiscriminating and. eternal animosity. Nor have the English inhabitants forgotten in their triumph the terror with which they suddenly saw themselves surrounded by an insurgent ma- jority, and the incidents which alone appeared to save them from the unchecked domination of their antagonists. They find themselves still a minority in the midst of a hostile and organized people : apprehensions of secret conspiracies and sanguinary designs haunt them unceasingly, and their only hope of safety, is supposed to rest on systematically terrifying and disabling the French, and in preventing a majority of that race from ever again being predominant in any portion of the Legislature of the province. I describe in strong terms the feelings which appear to me to ani- mate each portion of the population ; and the picture which I draw represents a state of things so little familiar to the personal experience of the people of this country, that many will probably regard it as the work of mere imagina- tion ; but I feel confident that the accuracy and moderation of my description will be acknowledged by all who have seen the state of society in Lower Canada during the last year. Nor do I exaggerate the inevitable constancy any more than the intensity of this animosity. Never again will the present generation of French Canadians yield a loyal submission to a British Govern- ment; never again will the English population tolerate the authority of a House of Assembly in which the French shall possess or even approximate to a majority. " Nor is it simply the working of representative government which is placed out of question by the present disposition of the two races ; every institution which requires for its efficiency, a confidence in the mass of the people, or co- operation between its classes, is practically in abeyance in Lower Canada. The Militia, on which the main defence of the province against external ene- mies and the discharge of many of the functions of internal police have hitherto depended, is completely disorganized. A muster of that force would, in some districts, be the occasion for quarrels between the races, mid in the greater part of the country the attempting to arm or employ it would be merely arming the enemies of the Government. The course of justice is entirely ob- structed by the same cause : a just decision in any political case is not to be relied upon ; even the judicial bench is, in the opinion of both races, divided into two hostile sections of French and English, from neither of whom is jus- tice expected by the mass of the hostile party. The partiality of grand and petty juries is a matter of certainty ; each race relies on the vote of its coun- trymen to save it harmless from the law ; and the mode of challenging allows of such an exclusion of the hostile party that the French offender may make sure of, and the English hope for a favourable jury, and a consequent acquittal. This state of things, and the consequent impunity of political offences, is dis- tinctly admitted by both sides." [Two examples of the obstruction of justice at this way are cited as illustrations.]

GENERAL DECLINE OF PROSPERITY IN THE PROVINCE.

" In such a state of feelings the course of civil government is hopelessly suspended. No confidence can be felt in the stability of any existing institu- tion, or the security of person and property. It cannot occasion surprise that this state of things should have destroyed the tranquillity and happiness of families ; that it should have depreeiatm the value of property, and that it should have arrested the improvement and settlement of the country. The alarming decline of the value of landed property was attested to me by some of the principal proprietors of the province. The continual and progressive decrease of the revenue, thought in some degree attributable to other causes, indicates a diminution of the wealth of the country. The staple export trade of the province, the timber trade, has nut suffered ; butt instead of exporting grain, the province is now obliged to import tbr its own consumption. The influx of emigrants, once so considerable, has very greatly din l i ll ished. la 1832, the number of emigrants who landed at the port of Quebec amounted to 52,000; in 1837 it had &Hen to a few more than 22,008; and in 1838 it did not amount to 5,000. Insecurity begins to be so strongly felt by the loyal in- habitants of the seignories, that many of them are compelled, by fear or neces- sity, to quit their occupations, and seek refuge in the cities. If the present state of things continues, the most enterprising and wealthy capitalists of the province will thus in a short time be driven from the seats of their present in- dustry."

HOPELESSNESS OF PUTTING AN END TO ANIMOSITIES AT PRESENT.

" Nor does there appear to be the slightest chance of putting an end to this animosity during the present generation. Passions inflamed during so long a period cannot speedily he calmed. The state of education, which I have previously described as placing the peasantry entirely at the mercy of agitators, the total absence of any class of persons, or any organization of authority that could counteract this mischievous influence, and the serious decline in the dis- trict of Montreal of the influence of the clergy, concur in rendering it abso- lutely impossible for the Government to produce any better state of feeling among the French population. It is even impossible to impress on a people so circumstanced the salutary dread. of the power of Great Britain, which the presence of a large military force in the province might he expected to produce. I have been informed, by witnesses so numerous and so trustworthy that I can-

not doubt the correctness of their statements, that the peasantry were gene-

rally ignorant of the large amount of force which was sent into their country last year. The newspapers that circulate among them had informed them that Great Britain had no troops to send out ; that in order to produce an impres-

sion on the minds of the country people, the same regiments were marched backwards and forwards in different directions, and represented as additional arrivals from home. This explanation was promulgated among the people by the agitators of each village; and I have no doubt that the mass of the habitant; really believed that the Government was endeavouring to impose on them by

this species of fraud. It is a population with whom authority has no means of

contact or explanation. It is difficult even to ascertain what amount of influ- ence the ancient leaders of the French party continue to possess. The ram*

of Mr. Papineau is still cherished by the people ; and the idea is current that,

at the appointed time, he will return, at the head of an immense army, and re- establish La Nation Canadienue.' But there is great reason to doubt whe- ther his name he not used as a mere watchword ; whether the people are not in

fact running entirely counter to his counsels and policy ; and whether they are not really under the guidance of separate petty agitators, who have no plan but that of a senseless and ?cakes determination to show in every way their hos-

tility to the British Government and English race. Their ultimate de- signs and hopes are equally unintelligible. Some vague expectation of abso- lute independence still seems to delude them. The national vanity, which

is a remarkable ingredient in their character, induces many to flatter them- selves with the idea of a Canadian Republic ; the sounder information of others has led them to perceive that a separation from Great Britain must be followed by a junction with the great Confederation on their Southern fron- tier. But they seem apparently reckless of the consequences, provided they

can wreak their vengeance on the English. There is no people against winch early associations, and every conceivable difference of manners and opinions, have implanted in the Canadian mind a more ancient and rooted national antipathy than that which they feel against the people of the United States. Their more discerning leaders feel that their chalices of preserving their nationality would be greatly diminished by an incorporation with the United States; and recent symptoms of anti-Catholic feeling in New England, well known to the Canadian population, have generated a very general belief' that their religion—which even they do not accuse the British party of assailing— would find little favour or respect from their neighbours. Yet none even of these considerations weigh against their present all-absorbing hatred of the English ; and I am persuaded that they would purchase vengeance and a mo- mentary triumph, by the aid of any enemies, or submission to any yoke. This provisional but complete cessation of their ancient antipathy to the Americans is now athuitted even by those who most strongly denied it during the last spring, and who then asserted that an American war would as completely unite the whole population against the common enemy as it did in 1813. * " Circumstances having thrown the English into the ranks of the Government, and the folly of their opponents having placed them, on the other band, in a state of permanent collision with it, the former possess the advantage of having the force of Government and the authority of the laws on their side in the pre- sent stage of the contest. Their exertions during the recent troubles have contributed to maintain the supremacy of the law, and the continuance of the connexion with Great Britain ; but it would, in my opinion, be dangerous to rely on the continuance of such a state of feeling as now prevails among them, in the event of a different policy being adopted by the Imperial Government. Indeed, the prevalent sentiment among them is one of any thing but satisfac- tion with the course which has been long pursued, with reference to Lower Canada, by the British Legislature and Executive. The calmer view which distant spectators are enabled to take of the conduct of the two parties, and the disposition which is evinced to make a fair adjustment of the contending claims, appear iniquitous and injurious in the eyes of men who think that they alone have any claim to the flavour of that Government by which they alone have stood fast. They complain loudly and bitterly of the whole course pur- sued by the Imperial Government with respect to the qi.arrel of the two raees, as having being tbunded on an utter ignorance or disregard of the real question at issue, as having fostered the mischievous pretensions of French nationality, and as having by the vacillation and inconsistency which marked it, discou- raged loyalty and fomented rebellion. Every measure of clemency or even justice towards their opponents they regard with jealousy, as indicating a die- position towards that conciliatory policy which is the subject of their angry recollection ; for they feel that, being a minority, any return to the due course of coustit∎itioutl government would again subject them to a French Majority; and to this I am persuaded they would never peaceably submit. They du not hesitate to say that they will not tolerate much longer the being made the sport of parties at home : and that if the Mother Country forgets what is due to the loyal and enterprising men of her own roes', they must protect them- selves. In the significant language of one of their own ablest advocates, they assert that Lower Canada must be English, at the expense, if necessary, of not being British.' " The coulee of the late trouble:, and the assistance which the French insur- gents derived 11oni some citizens of the 'United States, haw caused a most in- tense exasperation among the Canadian Loyalists against the American Govern- ment and people. Their pa pure have teemed with the most unmeasured denunciations of the good faith of the authorities. of the character and morality of the people, and of the political institutions of the United States. Yet, under this surface of hostility, it is easy to detect a strong under-current of an exactly contrary feeling. As the gel lend epinion of the American people became more apparent during the course of the last year, the Eng-Islt of Lower Canada were surprised to find hour strong, in spite of the first burst of sympathy, with a people supposed to be struggling for independence. was the real sympathy of their Republican neighbours with the great objects of the minority. Without abandoning their attachment to their mother country. they have lie:mn to men in astute of uncertainty are apt to ila, to calculate the probable eemequene,s of a separation, if it should unfortunat, ty ()emir, and b.! tidlouve l liy an incor- poration with the United States. In spit,. or the ;hock which it woahl occa- sion their feelings, they undoubtedly think that they ,liould find conic compen- sation in the promotion of their into c,,ts : they believe that the influx of

Amerietm emigration would speedily place the English race in a majority: they

talk frequently and luridly of what has occurred in Emtkiana. where, by means which they utterly misrepr, amt. the end nevertheless of securing on English predominance over a Fr, MI population ha' undoubtedly been attained; they assert very confidently that the Anne jeans wauld make a very speedy and de- cisive settlement of the pretensions of the French ; and they believe. that after the first shock of an entirely new 110111V:11 state had been got over, they and their posterity would ,Laic in that wowing progress and that great material prosperity which every day's experience shows then) is the but of the people of the United Stades. 1 do ma believe that such a feeling has yet sapped their strong allegiame to the British empire ; but their allegiance is timmded on their deep-raoted attachment to English as distinguished from French institutions.

And if they find that that authority which they have meintained against its recent assailants, is to be exerted in such a manner as to subject them agaiu to Nrliat they call a French donduion, 1 feel perfectly confident that they would nttempt to avert the result, by courting, ou any terms, a union with an Anglo- Saxon people."

MISTAKEN POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

"There are two modes by which a government may deal with a conquered territory. The first course open to it is that of respecting the rights and na- tionality of the actual occupants ; .of recognizing the esisting laws, and pre- serving established institutions ; of giving no encouragement to the influx of the conquering people, and, without attempting any change in the elements of the community, merely incorporating the province under the general authority of the central government. The second is that of treating the conquered ter- ritory as one open to the conqueror:, of encouraging their influx, of regardin,g the conquered race as entirely soleirlinate, mid of endeavouring as speedily and as rapidly as possible to assimilate the character and institutions of its new subjects to those of the great body of its empire. In the case of an old and long-settled country, in which the land is appropriated, in which little room is left for colonization, and in which the race of the artual occupants must con- tinue to constitute the bulk of the future population of the province, policy te..; well as humanity render the wellbeing of the conquered people the first care of a just government, and recommend the adoption of the first-mentioned system: but in a new and unsettled &smithy, a provident legislator would regard os his first object the interests not only of the few individuals who happen nt the moment to inhabit a portion of the soil, but those of that comparatively vast population by which he may reasonably expect that it will be tilled; he would &no his plans with n view of attracting and nourishing that future population, and he would therefore estnblish those institutions which vvould be most acceptable to the race by which be hoped to colonize the country. The course which I have deseribsd as it suited to an old and settled country would have been impossible in the American continent, usless the conquering state meant to renounce the immediate use of the unsettled hinds of the pro- vince; and in this C11.4' curb a course would have been additionally unadvisable, unless the British Givcm:o('nt were prepared to abandon to the scanty popula- ti in of French whom it Mond in Lower Canada, nut merely the possession of line vast extent of rich SOH 1,114'11 that province contains, but also the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and all the litcilities for trade Ivhich the entrance of that great river commands.

"J0 the first regulations adopted by the British Government for the settle- ment or the Canadas, in the Proclamation of 1763, and the Commission of the Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Quebec, in the offers by which officers and soldiers of the British Army, and settlers from the ntio. Northern Ameri- can Provinces, were tempted to accept grants of land iu the Cumulus, we per- ceive very clear indications of an intention of adopting the second and the wiser of the two systems. Fidbrtunattly, however, the conquest of Canada was almost immediately followed by the commencement of those discontents which ended in the independence of the United Provinces. From that period the colonial poliey or this country appears to have undergone a complete change. To present tie further dismemberment of the empire became the primary ob- Wet with our statesmen ; and an especial anxiety was exbibileil to adopt every sxpedient which appeared calculated to prevent the remaining North American Colonies from &Moving the example of succe,iful revolt, Unfiutunately, the qistinct national character of the French inhabitants of Camila, and their ancient lehtility to the people of New England, presented the easiest and most °brim': line of demarcation. To isolate tie inhabitants of the British from those of the revolted Colonies, became the Indicy of the Government ; and the nationality of the French Canadians was thesefore cultivnted, as a means of perpetual and entire separation from their neighbours. [A remarkable proof of this is produced, in the form of a despatch by Earl Bathurst, dated 1st July 1S16.] It seems also to have been considered Oa: policy of the British Govern- ment to govern its Colonies by means of' div;,ion, and to break them down as much as possible into petty isolnted communitiee, incapable of combination, ami pessessing no suffitient strength for individual resistance to the empire. Indications of such designs are to be found in many of the acts of the British Government with respect to its North merivan Colonies. In 1775, instruc- tions were sent from England, directing toot all grunts of land within the pro- visce of Quebec, then comprising 1.•pper tied Lower Canada, were to be made in fief and seigniory ; and evem the grants to the refugee Loyalists, sod officers and privates of the C donial corps, promised in 1786, were or- dered to bc made on the same tenure. In no instance was it more sin- elarly exhibited than in the condition annexed to the grants of land CI Ed‘vard2s which it was stipulated that the island was I. be settled by yfamgui Protestants ; ' as if they were to be foreign in order to separate them from the people of New England, and Protestants in attler to keep them 'mart from the Coombe', nod Acadian Catholics. It was part of the came policy to separate the Freneli of Canada from the British emi- ;:vants, and tn conciliate the former by the retention of their language, laws, religious institutions. For this purpose, Canada was aftewards divided into I ivo provinces; the settled portion being allotted to the French, and the un- settled being destined to &Tem,. the seat of British colonization. Thus, in- Ssul of availing itself of tile means a Lich the extent and nature of the pro- vince afforded tiw the gradual introllietion of such an English population into its various parts as might Lase easily placed the French in a minority, the Governmeut deliberately eon's it cite! the French into a majority, and recog- Mud snd strengthened their distinct national character. liftd the sounder policy of' makin:s the province Es:list] in ell its institutions been adopted from the first, and steadily persevered in, the Freneli would probably have been ..pcedily outnumbered, and the beneficial operation of the free institutions of England would never have been impeded by the animosities of origin. Not only, however, did the Government ad qit the unwise course of divid- iag Canada, and forming in out of its divisions an FrC111211commilnity, speaking ilie Frctiell honsitage, and rcninl,a. French institutions, but it did not even s ry this con-istently into effect ;tar at 'he same time provision was made for neouraging the emigration of English into the very province which was said to

br assigmal to the Ereitell. Even the French institutions were not extended

r 1 he whole of Lower Canada. cis it law of France, as a whole, and

be legal provi for the Catholic clergy, were limited to the portion of the sountry then settled by the French, and comprised in the seignories; though 1110VS1011 was made for the formation of new seignories, almost the

v bolc of Vic then unsettled portion of 1,1'0VilICV was formed into townships, the law of England was partially established, and the Protestant re-

ligion alone endowe Thus, two populations of hostile origin and different characters wire brought into juxtaposition under a conmain government, but under dairent institutions; each was taught to cherish its own language, laws, and habits ; and each, at the some time, if it moved beyond its original was brought lee different stions, and asssciated with a different

ople. The umuterprising charactee of the French population, aml, above all, ;•. attashinent to its church, (flo the enlargement of which, in proportion to the increase or diffusion of the Catholic mittlation, very inadequate provision made,) have produced the effect oconfining it within its ancient

limits. But th,i English were attracted into the seignories, and espe- cially into tbe cities, by the &citifies of commerce afforded by the great rivers. To have ellimtutilly given th! policy of retaining French institu- tions and it French populatiou in Lower Canada a fide chance of sue-

ens, no other institutions should have been allowed, and no other race should have received any encouragement to settle therein. The province should have been set apart to be wholly French, if it was not to be rendered completely English. The attempt to encourage English emigration into a community, of which the French character was still to be preserved, was an error which planted the seeds of a contest of races in the very constitution of the colony; this was an error, I mean, even on the assumption that it was possible to ex. dude the English race from French Canada. But it is quite impossible to exclude the English race from any part of the North American continent. it will be acknowledged by bvery one who has observed the progress of Anglo. Saxon colonization in America, that sooner or later the English race was sure to predominate even numerically in Lower Canada, as they predominate already, by their superior knowledge, energy, enterprise, and wealth. The error, there- fore, to winch the present contest must be attributed, is the vain endeavour to preserve a French Canadian nationality in the midst of' Anglo-American colo- nies and states.

" That contest has arisen by degrees. The scanty number of the English who settled in Lower Canada during the earlier period of our possession, put out of the question any ideas of rivalry between the races. Indeed, until the popular principles of English institutions were brought effectually into opera- tion, the paramount authority of the Government left little room for dispute among any but the few who contended for its favours. It was not until the English had established a vast trade, and accumulated considerable wealth— until a great part of the landed property of the province was vested in their hands—until a large English population was found in the cities, had scattered itself over large pcirtions of the country, and had formed considerable commu- nities in the townships—and not until the development of representative go. vernment had placed substantial power in the hands of the people, that that people divided itself into races arrayed against each other in intense and enduring animosity. "The errors of the Government did not cease with that, to which I have attributed the origin of this animosity. The defects of the colonial constitn- tion necessarily brought the Executive Government into collision with the people; and the disputes of the Government and the people called into action the animosities of race ; nor has the policy of the Government obviated the evils inherent in the constitution of the colony and the composition of society. It has done nothing to repair its original error, by making the pro. since English. Occupied in a continued conflict with the Assembly, succes• sive Governors and their Councils have overlooked, in great measure, the real importance of the feud of origin ; and the Imperial Government, far removed, from opportunities of personal observation of the peculiar state of society, has shaped its policy so as to aggravate the disorder. In sonic instances it has actually conceded the mischievous pretensions of nationality, in order to evade ;minder claims ; as, in attempting to divide the Legislative Council and the patronage of Government equally between the two races, in order to avoid the demands for an Elective Council and a responsible Executive, sometimes it has, for a while, pursued the opposite course. A policy founded on imper- fect information, and conducted by continually changing hands, has exhibited to the colony a system of vacillation which was in &a no system at all. The alternate concessions to the contending races,have only irritated both, impaired the authority of Government, and, by keeping alive the hopes of a French Cana- dian nationality, counteracted the influences which ntight ere this have brought the quarrel to its natural and necessary termination."

PRACTICAL WORKING OF THE ASSEMBLY. PRACTICAL WORKING OF THE ASSEMBLY.

" It was not until some years after the commencement of the present cen- tury that the population of Lower Canada began to understand the representa- tive system which had been extended to them, and that the Assembly evinced any inclination to make use of its powers. Immediately, however, upon its so doing, it found how limited those powers were, and entered upon a struggle to obtain the authority which analogy pointed out as inherent in a representa- tive assembly. Its freedom of speech immediately brought it into collision with the Governor; and the practical working of the Assembly com- menced by its principal leaders being thrown into prison. In course of time, however, the Government was induced, by its necessities, to accept the Assem- bly's offer to raise an additional revenue by fresh taxes ; and the Assembly thus acquired a certain control over the levying and appropriation of a portion of' the public revenue. From that time, until the final abandonment in 1832 of every portion of the reserved revenue, excepting the casual and territorial funds, an unceasing contest was carried on, in which the Assembly, making use of every plover which it gained for the purpose of gaining more, acquired, step by step, an entire control over the whole revenue of the county. " I pass thus briefly over the events which have heretofore been considered the principal &attires of flue Canadian controversy, because, as the contest has ended in the concession of the financial demands of the Assembly, and the admission by the Government of the impropriety of attempting to withhold any portion of the politic revenues from its control, that contest can now be regarded as of no importance, except as accounting for the exasperation and suspicion which survived it. Nor am I inclined to think that the disputes which subsequently occurred are to be attributed entirely to the operation of mere angry &clings. A substantial cause of contest yet remained. The Assembly, after it had obtained entire control over the public revenues, still found itself deprived of all voice in the choice or even designation of the persons in whose administration of affairs it could feel confidence. All the administrative power of Government remained entirely free front its influence; and though Mr. Papineau appears by his own conduct to have deprived himself of that influence. in the Government which he might lure acquired, I must attribute the refusal of a civil list to the determination of the Assembly not to give up its only means of subjecting the functionaries of Government to any responsibility. " The powers for which the Assembly contended appear in both instances to be such as it was perfectly justified in demanding. It is difficult to conceive what could have been their theory of government who imagined that in any colony of England a body invested with the name and character of a represen- tative assembly, could be deprived of any of those powers which, in the opinion of Englishmen, are inherent in a popular legislature. It was ri vain delusion to imagine that by mere (imitations ut the Constitutional Act, or nu exclusive system of government, a body, strong in the consciousness of wielding the public opinion of the majority, could regard certain portions of the provincial revenues its sacred from its control, could confine itself to the mere business of making laws, lila 100k On as a passive or indifferent spectator while those laws were carried into effect or evaded, and the whole business of the country was conducted by men in whose intentions or capacity it had not the slightest con- fidence. Yet such wits the limitation placed on the authority of the Assembly of Lower Canada; it might refuse or pass laws, vote or withhold supplies, but it could exercise no influence on the nomination of a single servant of the Crown. The Executive Council, the law-officers, and whatever heads of de- partments are known to the administrative system of the province, were placed in power, without any regard to the wishes of the people or their representa- tives; nor indeed are there wanting instances in which a mere hostility to the majority of the Assembly elevated the most incompetent persons to posts of

honour and trust. However decidedly the Assembly might condemn the

policy of the Government, the persons who had advised that policy retained their offices and their power of giving bad advice. If a law was passed after

repeated conflicts, it had to be carried into effect by those who had most stre- nuously opposed it. The wisdom of adopting the true principle of representa- rive government, and facilitating the management of public affairs, by intrust- s it to the persons who have the confidence of the representative body, has paver been recognized in the government of the North ' h American Colonies.

All the officers of government were independent of the Assembly ; and that body which had nothing to say to their appointment, was left to get on as it best might, with a set of public functionaries whose paramount feeling may not ulithirly be said to have been one of hostility to itself. body of holders of office thus constituted, without reference to the people 0• their representatives, must, in fact, from the very nature of colonial govern- ment, acquire the entire direction of the affairs of the province. A Governor, „china in a colony in which he almost invariably has had no previous arquaint- ance with the state of parties, or the character of individuals, is compelled to throw himself almost entirely upon those whom he finds placed in the position aids official advisers. His first acts must necessarily be performed, and his first appointments made, at their suggestion. Anil as these first acts and ap- pointments give a character to his policy, lie is generally brought thereby into immediate collision with the other parties in the country, and thrown into more complete dependence upon the official party and its friends. Thus, a Governor of Lower Canada has almost always been brought into collision witlt the As- canbly, which his advisers regard as their enemy. In the course of the contest hi which lie was tints involved, the provocations which he received from the Assembly, and the light in which their conduct was represented by those who alone had any access to him, naturally imbued him with many otv their anti- pathies ; his position compelled him to seek the support of some party against the Assembly; • and his feelings and his necessities thus combined to induce him to bestow his patronage and to shape his measures to promote the interests of the party on which he was obliged to lean. Thus, every successive year con- solidated and enlarged the strength of the ruling party. Fortified by family connexion, and the common interest felt by all who held and all who desired subordinate offices, that party was thus erected into a solid and permanent power, controlled by no responsibility, subject to no serious change, exercising over the whole government of the province an authority utterly independent of the people and its representatives, and possessing the only means of influencing either the Government at home or the colonial representative of the Crown. "This entire separation of the legislative and executive powers of a state, is the natural error of governments desirous of being free from the check of re- presentative institutions. Since the Revolution of 1688, the stability of the English constitution has been secured by that wise principle of our Govern- ment which has vested the direction of the national 'whey and the distribution of patronage in the leaders of the Parliamentary majority. However partial Monarch might be to particular Ministers, or however he might have per- sonally committed himself to their policy, he has invariably been constrained to ahandon both as soon as the opinion of the People has been irrevoeably pro- nounced against them through the medium of the House of Commons. fhe practice of earryinag on a representative government on a different principle, gems to he the rock on which Continental iinitatimis of the British Constitu- tion have invariably split ; and the French Revolution of 1830 was the ne- cessary result of au attempt to uphold a Ministry with which no Parliament could he got to act in concert. It is difficult to understand how any English statesmen could have imagined that representative and irresponsible govern- ment could he successfully combined. There seems, indeed, to he an idea that the character of representative insti t t jails ought to he thus modified in colonies ; that it is an incident of colonial dependence that the otticers of aoyernment should be nominated by the crown, without any reference to the wishes of i

the community whose interests are intrusted to their keeping. It has never been very clearly explained what are the imperial interests which require this complete nullihcation of representative government. But, if there lie such a necessity, it is quite clear that a representative go- vernment in a colony must he a mockery, and a source of confusion. For those who support this system have never vet been able to devise, or to exhibit in the practical working of colonial government, any means thr making so complete an abrogation of political influence palatable to the representative body. It is not difficult to apply the case to our own country. Let it be imagined. that at a general election the Opposition were to return 509 out of 658 Members of the House of Commons, and that the whole policy of the Ministry should be condemned, and every bill introduced be it rejected by this immense majority ; let it lw supposed that the Crown should coilsider it a point of honour and duty to retain a Ministry so condemned and so thwarted; that repeated dissolutions should in no way increase, but should even diminish, the Ministerial minority ; and that the only result which could he obtained by such a deed, am not of the force of the Opposition, were not the slightest change in the poky of the M'nistry, not the removal of a single Minister, but simply the election of a Speaker of the politics of the majority ; and, I think, it will not be difficult to imagine the flue of such a system of government. Yet such was the system, such literally was the course of events in Lower Canada; and such in character, though not quite in degree, was the spectacle exhibited in Upper Canada, and, at one time or another, in every one of the North American Colonies. To suppose that such a system would work well there, implies a belief that the French. Canadians have en- joyed representative institutions for half a century without acquiring any of the characteristics of a free people ; that Englishmen renounce every political opinion and feeling when they cutter a colony, or that the spirit of A ogle- Saxon freedom is utterly changed and weakened among those who are trans- planted across the Atlantic.

"It appears, therefore, that the opposition of the Assembly to the Govern- ment was the unavoidable result of a system which stinted the popular branch of the Legislature of the necessary privileges of a representative body, and produced thereby a long series of attempts on the part of that body to acquire control over the administration of the Province. 1 say all this without re- faence to the ultimate aim of the Assembly, -al.ich I have beffire described as being the maintenance of a Canadian nationality against the progressive in- trusion of the English race. Having no responsible ministers to deal with, it entered upon that system of long inquiries by memis of its committees, which brought tits whole action of the Executive immediately under its pur- view, and transgressed our notions of the proper limits of Parliamentary in- terference. llam,. 00 influence in tlit2 choice of any public fmictionary, na power to procure the removal of such as were obnoxious to it merely on poli- tical grounds, and seeing almost every office of the colony tilled by persons in whom it had no confidence, it emceed 011 that vicious 1.0111'30 of assailing its prominent opponents individually, and disqualifying them ffir the public ser- vice, by making them the subjects of inquiries and consequent impeachments, IPA always conncted with even the appearance of a due regard to justice ; and when nothing else could attain its end of altering the policy or the com- position of the Colonial Goverinnent, it had recourse to that Wilma ratio of representative power to which the more prudent ffirbearance of the Crown has never driven the House of Commons in England, and endeavoured to disable the whole machine of government by a general refusal of the supplies."

The course pursued by the Assembly necessarily brought on a colli- sion with the Legislative Council, as well as the Executive. They tacked important hills together, leaving the Legislative Council no option except that of rejecting such as had been proved to be beneficial, or passing those which they deemed mischievous. The Assembly passed important measures in a temporary form, using the wants of the community and the nects ;ides of the Government for the purpose

of extorting concession to their demands. On more than one occasion they separated, leaving the Legislative Council no alternative but to take Or reject the bills, the opportunity for amendment being lost by the Assembly's dispersion.

Jobbing in Grants was part of a plan by which the leaders of the majority in the Assembly secured influence in their respective electoral districts. The surplus revenue of the province amounted to 40,000/.; nearly the whole of which was disbursed in this way.

JOBBING IN GRANTS.

" The Provincial Assemblies being, as I have previously stated, in a state of permanent collision with time Government, have never been in the habit of in trusting, the Executive with any control over these funds ; and they have been wholly dispensed by Commissioners named by the Legislature. The As,sablies do not appear to have been at all insensible to the possibility of t urning this patronage to their own account. An electioneeringhamlbill, which was circu- lated by the friends of Government at the last dissolution in Upper Canada, exhibited in a very strong light the expense of the Commissioners of the As- sembly, contrasted with those of the officers of the Executive Government ; but the Province of Nova Scotia has carried this abuse to an extent which appears almost inconceivable. According to a report presented to inn by Major Head, an Assistant Commissioner of inquiry whom I sent to that colony, a suns of 10,0004 was, during the last session, appropriated to loyal improvements; this sum was divided into 830 portions, and as many Commissioners were appointed to expend it, giving, on an average, a Commissioner for rather more than every 12/., with a salary of 3s. a day, and a tither remuneration of two-and-a-half per cent. on the money expended, to be deducted out of each share. " Not only did the leathers of the Lower Canadian A s,,enibly avail them- selves of the patronage thus afforded by the large surplus an eiew of the pro- vince, hut they turned this system to much greater account. hy using it to ob- tain influence over the constituencies. In a furious political strugeis like that which subsisted in Lower Canada, it was enthral that a Ionia, gi,aling, with hardly any responsibility, this direct power of promoting the immaliste inte- rests of each constituency, should slimy some thvour to that which concurred in its political views, ami should exhibit its displeasure towards that which ob- stinately resisted the majority. 13nt the majority of the Age:ohly of Lower Canada is accused by its opponents of haying. in the most see:emetic and per- severing manner, employed this means of corrupting the eljetoral bodies. fhe adlwrents of 11r. Papineau are said to have been lavish in their promis..s of the benefits whieh they could obtain from the Assembly the the county n boa: sof- friar., they solicited. Br such representations the return of members of Oppo- sition potties is asserted in many instances to have been tell d ; and obstinate counties are alleged to have been sometimes starved into suleei,elon, by an entire withdrawal of grants, until they returned members fl-win:1de to the majority. Some of the English members, who voted with Mr. Papi»eau, excused thetnselves to their countrymen, by alleging that they were compelled to do so in order to get a road or a bridge, which their conetiffients desired. Whether it be trite or false that the abuse was ever conned to such a pit cia it is obviously one which might have been easily and safely perpetrated by a person possessing Ale. Perineint's inffuence in the Assembly. " But the most bold and extensive attempt for erecting a syetem of patronage wholly independent of the Government, was that width wes far some time car- ried into effect by the ;gents for education made by tie A SM1111■V, it 1 r elated by the Act which the Legislative Council has been molest bitterly reps muck .1 with refusing to renew. It has been stated, as a proof of the deliberate intention of the Legislative Council to crush every attempt to civilize and elevate the great mess of the people, that it thus stopped at :nice the working of about 1.11110 el

and deprived of education no less t han 441,000 scholars, olio were am Reify profiting by the means of instruction th us placed within their read But which induced, or rather compelled, the Legislative Council to stop this system, are dearly stated in the Report of that body ; which contains the most mei swerable justification of the course which it pursued. By that it appears, that the whole superintendence and patronage of these schools bed, hy the expired law, been vested in the hands of the county mendsgs ; and that they had been allowed to manage the funds, without aYen the

semblance of sufficient nceountability. The members of the A ssenibly-

imil thus a patronage, in this single deertment, of about :nano per annum, an amount equal to half of the whole ordinary civil expenditure of the province. They were not slow in profiting by the OCCHAOil thus placed in their hands ; and as there existed in the province no sufficient supply of com- petent schoolmasters and mistresses, they neverthelees immedistel■ tiiled up the appointments with persons who were utterly and obviously iinsimpen an A. great proportion of the teachers could neither read nor write. Th.. gee tlediart

whom 1 directed to inquire into the state of educatdou it the 0'10 ,hawed me a petition from certain schoolmasters which had come into his bands; and the majority of the signatures were those of marksmen. These ignorant teachers could convey no useful instruction to their pupils; the utmest amount which they taught them was to say the Catechism by rote'. Even within seven miles of Montreal, there was a schoolmistress thus muntelified. These appoint- ments were, as might have been expected, jobbed by the members :ii aug their political partisans; nor were the funds very honestly managed. to many- cases the members were suspected, or licensed, of lois:Tidying them to their own use ; and in the case of Beauharnois, where the seigneur, Mr. Elias., Las. in the same spirit of jUlliei011S liberality be which his w hole mensgement of that exten- sive property has been marked, cootributed most Inrgely to .. sids the education of his tenants, the sebool fowls were proved to hate its, n mi-appropriated by the county member. The n hole sy:, tent wits a gross political ;dove: and how- ever laudable we must hold the esertions of those Will, ready lib' iii .1 to re- lieve their country from the reproach of being the heist fural,le n ith this ue:ms of education of any on the North Ai iwrican molt eel. the more ec verely

must we condemn those who sacrificed this noble end, ample means to serve the purposes of party.

" 1 know not whether to ascribe the system which was lote.ted the relief of the distress periodically occurring in certain disu Fleas to the seine policy of extending the influence of the Asssnffily by local grant, or menly to the anti- quated prejudices which seem to have pervaded many parts of the A —.inlay's legislation,. which dictated laws against huckstersand the mei!. teelieee of foundling hospitals. No general system for the relief o1'destititioa. 111/ poor- law of any kind was established, and the wants of the minim hardly d. :needed. it. But when 1 arrived at Quebec, i received a number Iit petitions from pa- rishes situated on the lower part of the St. Lawrence, prayieg for nffief. in con-

sequence of the thilure of the barest. 1 timmi, on inquiry, that bad been granted to these districts for several successive a ears. The canse of the cala- mity was obvious : it was the unsuitableness of wheat crops melee the wretched

system of Can small firming to the severe climate of that portion of the province. By the side of the distressed parishes were large districts in which a better system of farming, and above :ill, the employment of the land for pas- ture and green crops. had diffused the most general cont fort miaow the agrieul- tural pt palation, and completely obviated the occurrence of thilure or distress. There were, in the vicinity of the distressed parishes. large trams of rich and unsettled land, available for the permanent amelioration of the emelitimi of this suffering people ; and there were valuable and extensive fisheries in the neigh- bourhood, which might have supported it in cooltiirt ; yet 110 IWTSei ming at- tenq t hail been male to provide permanent relief hy citrons:4ring the popula-

tion which was thus thrown on the Legislature for support, either to adapt a

better system of agriculture, or to settle on other portions of the country, or to avail itself of the fisheries. The Assembly met the evil by relieVing the dis- tress in such a way as to stave oft its immediate results, and insure its recur- rence. It gave food for the season of scarcity, and seed to sow a crop even of wheat as late as the 20th of June, which was of course to fail in its turn; for it had thus relieved the same kind of distress, in precisely the same places, for several successive years ; and its policy seemed to be to pension a portion of the people to sow wheat where it would not ripen."

In the mere contest for power, opportunities for useful legislation were lost. Manifold and deeply-rooted abuses were suffered to pervade every department of the Government. The working of the system, which makes the Governor, not really the repmsentative of the Sove- reign, but a person employed by the Secretary of State, prevents the vigorous administration of the Royal prerogative ; while even the de- tails of the government are committed to the Colonial Department. The practice of reserving bills for the Royal assent, renders the whole course of legislation uncertain. The most important business is trans- acted in a private correspondence between the Governor and the Colo- nial Office, so that the people are ignorant of the proceedings of their Government.

There is no responsibility of the Executive Council, the real advisers of the Government.

Almost all the details of the Colonial administration pass through the Civil Secretary's office ; for there is nothing like methodized arrangement of duties. There is no regular administration in the rural districts—not even a Mayor, Sheriff, or Constable.

There are no Municipal institutions, among a people who want the energy and self-governing habits which enable the Anglo-Saxon popu- lation to combine whenever a necessity arises.

The parishes are purely ecclesiastical divisions, which may be altered by the Bishops : there are no hundreds, or corresponding sub- divisions of counties : the counties seem to have been constituted merely for the purpose of electing members to the Assembly. The only institution of the nature of local management, in which the people have any voice, is the fitbrique, by which provision is made for the repairs of Catholic churches. The townships are inhabited entirely by settlers of British and American origin, who complain of the laws which prevent them from establishing local self-government similar to that which the American citizens in the state of Vermont enjoy. It is in Montreal and Quebec that the want of municipal institutions is most glaring. A temporary Provincial Act, passed some years ago, incorporated these cities ; but in 1836 its renewal was refitted; and since that time, they have been without municipal institutions, and in a most disgraceful state : they are not lighted at all.

The Law of the province is a mass of incoherent, conflicting enact- ments, part French, part English. The Criminal Law is the criminal law of England, as introduced in 1774, with modifications since made by the Provincial Legislature ; but it is now disputed whether the Provincial Legislature had power to make any alterations in that law ; and it is not clear what is the extent of the phrase "criminal law." The Civil Law is the ancient civil law, modified in some, but unfottu- nately very few, respects. The French law of evidence prevails in civil cases, not commercial ; in commercial cases the English law is adopted, but no two lawyers agree in their definition of " commercial." There are four superior districts for Judicial purposes—Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and St. Francis—with unlimited, supreme, and original jurisdiction ; and one, Gasp% with limited jurisdiction. There was much difficulty in obtaining any information about the ad- ministration of justice in Gaspe. After a long inquiry, it was dis- covered that there was a Coroner in the district, only by an estimate for his salary being found. In Quebec there is a Chief Justice with three Puisne Judges ; and the same in Montreal. Three Rivers and St. Francis have each one Judge. An attempt to introduce Circuits has failed ; and almost all cases are brought before the Court at the chief places of the districts. Complaints are made of excessive fees to officers of the Courts ; but the chief grievance is the necessity of bringing cases where the amount litigated is more than 101., to the district towns, from the distant extre- mities of the large districts. " Commissioners of small causes," ap- pointed by a clerk in the Civil Secretary's Office on application from a certain number of parishioners, have jurisdiction over debts not ex- ceeding 25 dollars, or 6/. 58. currency. These men are generally in- competent ; and the manner of their appointment creates dissatisfac- tion. Lord Durham was urged to abolish all these tribunals, on the ground that, being composed entirely of disaffected French Canadians, they harassed loyal subjects by entertaining actions against them. There is no appeal from their decision ; and they had given damages against loyal persons for acts done in discharge of their duty, and judg- ment in default against persons absent as Volunteers in the Queen's ser- vice; enforcing their judgments by levying distresses on their property. The Appellate Jurisdiction is vested in the Executive Council ; a body consisting, for the most part, of persons having no legal qualifica- tions whatever. The evil working of this part of the judicial ma- chinery is thus described- ?

"The Executive Council sits as a Court of Appeal, four times in the year, and for the space of ten day, during each se Sion. On these oreasiom,, the two Chief Justices of Quebec and Montreal were, ca. ocio, Presidents; and each in turn presided v, hen appeals from the other's district were heard. The laymen who were present to make up the neces,ary quorum of tive, as a nutter of

course left the whole matter to the pre•iding Chief' Justice, except in some instances in which party feeling or pecuniary interests arc asserted to have induced the unprofessional members to attend iu unusual numbers, to disregard the authority of the Chief Justice, and to pervert the law. in the general

run of cases, therefore, the deft-ion Was left to the President alone; and each Chief Justice became, in consequence, the real Judge of Appeal front the whole

court of the other district. It is a matter of perti:ct and undisputed notoriety,

that this system has produced the r, salts which ought to have been foreseen as inevitable; and that, fi)r some time before 1 arrived in the province, the two Chief Justices had constantly differed in opinion upon sonic most hn- 'portant points, and had been in de habit of generally reversing earl, other's judgments. Not only, therefore, was the law uncertain and different in the two districts, hut, owing to the ultimate power of the Court of Appeal, that Odell was the real law of each district, was that which was held not to he law by the Judges of that district."

There is not tine slightest provision for Criminal Justice except at the principal towns of the five districts ; to which all offenders must be brought. There are gaols in the chief towns of the five districts, and three county gaols. " There are Sheriffs in the districts, and not each county," appointed and removable by the Crown. These offices are very lucrative ; and have been disposed of from personal or political favouritism. Severe loss has been sustained by the defalcations or Sheriffs, from whom insufficient security has been taken.

There is now no Jury Law whatever ; " Mr. Viger's Jury Act" which removed some old abuses in the selection of Juries, and esta- blished a tolerably fair method of choosing them, having expired in 1836. The composition of Juries is entirely in the hands of the officers of Government ; who can privately instruct the Sheriff. When Lord Durham arrived in' the province, he was assured by one party that the Juries would never convict the persons then waiting for trial on a charge of participation in the rebellion ; and by another, that the pfi. soners would be tried by packed Juries, and the most clearly innocent would be convicted. In the minds of the people there is not the slightest confidence in the administration of criminal justice. The French complain of English, the English of French Juries ; and both quote instances to support charges of glaring partiality in verdicts. Trial by Jury, therefore, in Lower Canada, commands no respect, and provides impunity for every political offence.

Among the Magistrates, the " Unpaid Justices " of Lower Canada, are to be found " the most disreputable persons of both races ;" while the more respectable Canadians have been left out of the commission of the peace without any adequate cause. The " greatest want of confi- dence in the practical working of the institution exists." The general belief is, that the appointments have been made with a party and na- tional bias.

The Police of Montreal and Quebec is lamentably defective ; though, from the vicious and lawless character of a great part of its population, no city wore requires a vigilant Police than Quebec. Throughout the rest of the province there is no Police at all the Militia, which used to discharge the functions of a Police, being now disorganized. In the course of last autumn, a man who had notoriously committed a murder at St. Catherine's, forty-six miles front Quebec, was at large a fortnight. after the act, and there were no means of executing a warrant against him. At last, two Policemen sent from Quebec, as Special Constables, arrested him. When Theller and Dodge escaped from the Citadel, there were no means of stopping them, except• by sending Policemen from Quebec to the very frontier of the United States. The means of' Education are defective ; but little information in addi- tion to the important details incidentally given in a previous part of the Report is communicated in this resume. The Commissioner of Edna- tion framed a series of questions calculated to elicit minute and ample information ; but he had obtained very few replies to his inquiries, at the time when his labours, with those Of the High Commissioner, were brought to a close. A competent person has, however, been engaged to receive and digest the further returns that may be expected. The clergy of all sects evince a great reluctance to the interference of Go- vernment in the education of the people ; but the laity are more liberal; and a strong popular Government might soon establish a general system of public education. All that the British Government has done in con- nexion with this subject, has been to apply the Jesuits' estates, part of the property destined to the purposes of education, to a species of fund for secret service. The Government has for many years maintained a struggle with the Assembly to continue this misappropriation. Intbrmation respecting Hospitals, Prisons, and Charitable Institutions, has been collected by Sir John Doratt, and is published separately in an Appendix to the Report. Lord Durham had not time to institute that searching inquiry into the subject which he felt to be desirable ; but he calls especial attention to the want of a public establishment for the insane, the bad state of the prisons, the defects of the quarantine station at Grosse Isle, tine low and ignorant state of the medical pro- fessions in the rural districts, and the necessity of changing the system of providing for the invalid poor, and foundlings, who are now sup- ported by payments of public monies to convents. From strictly Religious differences Lower Canada is fortunately free. The character of the Catholic clergy of the province is very highly rated. Lord Durham knows "no parochial clergy in the world, whose practice of all the Christian virtues, and zealous discharge of their clerical duties, is more universally admitted or has been productive of more beneficial consequences." But the necessity of extending Catholic institutions with the growth of the population is apparent. The question of Clergy Reserves—land set apart for the maintenance of " Protestant clergy "- is keenly discussed among the various sects of Protestants who pre- fer claims to a share iu the funds. It is not agreed as to who are ex- clusively the Protestant Clergy. The apprehension of measures tend- ing to establish a predominant sect, has produced irritation, which has nearly deprived the Government of the support of some portion of the British population.

The Revenue is derived chiefly from duties on imports from Great Britain tend other countries. The amount has fallen oft' during the last four years, from 150,0001. to 100,0001. ; principally in consequence of the diminished consumption of spirituous liquors and the growth of native manuflictures. The permanent expenditure of the Government being only 60,0001. a year—though a vigorous and efficient Government would find the whole revenue hardly adequate to its necessities—there remains a surplus of 40,0001. to be applied to the jobbing purposes already noticed. Two-fifths of the revenue from imports, is paid to Upper Canada ; and much dissension and disatisfaction arise from this source. The revenue of Upper Canada being unequal to its expendi- ture, an increase of the customs-duties is required ; but this cannot be effected without increasing the taxation of Lower Canada, which pos- sesses a surplus revenue already.

The Post-office establishment is common to all the North American Provinces, and is under the control of the General Office in London. It yields a surplus revenue of 10,0001. per annum; which is remitted to England. This practice causes much dissatisfeiction ; and its discon- tinuance is strongly recommended. The officials possess indirectly the privilege of franking : the English Post-office does not allow them that immunity, but the postage of all franked letters is paid out of the Provincial Treasury. There is very little direct taxation in Lower Canada; but Lord Durham considers that the privilege has been dearly purchased by the privation of many institutions which every civilized community ought to possess.