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Untitled Article
away from Canada a fundamental liberty , an extension of which you say you are bound to add to Ireland ? The sort of liberty is in both cases the same . It relates to
the right of the people to control public money , Ireland and Canada have both this right quoad the national revenue : to the Irish people you say it is right to add the power of controlling their municipal revenue ; whilst to the Canadian people you say it is no longer right that they should control even their national revenue ? The right of the Canadians to
this power is a chartered right , as well as a just right . The right of the Irish to municipal self-government is not a chartered right—it is simply a just right . On the face of it , then , the Canadians C have a stronger claim to that which you purpose to anadians have a stronger claim to that which you purpose to
take away , than the Irish to that which you intend to give . Your only ground for depriving the Canadians of this chartered right is , that they have exercised it ! I confess I cannot reconcile this to any one idea of popular liberty . I confess that I do not see why the difference between colonies and
sister countries should make any difference in the application of broad principles of government ; still less do I apprehend how it can be justly made to affect the faith of compacts , so that a chartered right held inviolable in the one case should be justifiably violated in the other ! If you cannot satisfactorily demonstrate the difference which
reconciles this apparent solecism in justice as well as in logic , are you not , my Lord , laying down a precedent which may be fatally employed hereafter against the cause of liberty in this country ? If the exercise of the power of withholding supplies for the purpose of overcoming the grievances of irresponsible government be a sufficient cause for destroying that
power in Canada , why may it not in England ? I think , my Lord , the spirit of a certain assembly in this country , at this hour , sufficiently proves that the day may arrive when the House of Commons will adopt exactly the same conduct as Canada , and from exactly the same cause . If so , shall you then be prepared to advocate the abolition of the present right of the Commons to vote supplies ? Is this a power which you
will feel justified in wresting from the constitutional liberties of the people , and placing in the hands of an executive , responsible onl y to the Crown ? I * confess I tremble when I contemplate the position in which your conduct towards Canada may involve you towards England . You can base your proposed course towards this Colony , my Lord , alone on the flat of a minister and the principle of $ ic volo sicjubeo ; and you will do so at the cost to the government of the affection of England and the allegiance of Canada .
Untitled Article
2 J 54 Hints to the Home Secretary .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 1, 1837, page 264, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1831/page/9/
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