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which the Colonial Office and the governor once more offered as claims upon their confidence , and that these , and even still
more trifling circumstances , when joined with the graver matters which we Lave recorded , should subsequently have strewed
Lord Gosford ' s path with obstacles , will scarcely surprise those who have considered to how great an extent public opinion is influenced by the concurrence of a number of apparently trifling circumstances — such even as the following when joined with other items in a governor ' s unpopularity , in a state of
society literally torn asunder by a long series of political and social jealousies . " Since I wrote to you , we have had a specimen of our new governor ' s spirit of conciliation . ' He has invited Papineau and Viger , the popular leaders to meet—whom do you think ? Why , the bureaucratic Attorney-general , Ogden , Andrew Stuart , the chairman of the * Constitutionalists ' ( so called ) , and the renegade Dr . Couillard ! ! !
This is precisely the sort of ' conciliation ' that would invite the dog to meet the cat , and you will not be surprised to learn that it led to the result which might have been expected . A discussion arose between Viger and Andrew Stuart , on the comparative merits of the French and English writers on the civil law . Papineau and Viger contended that , though England could boast of many eminent legal writers , yet , on the Roman law , she had none to compare with Pothier ,
Dona at , and others , while Stuart contended , that England had many far superior to Pothier ; and , would you believe it , gave Blackstone as an instance ! Sir Charles Grey agreed with Papineau and Viger , and appealed to that stupid pompous gentleman Ogden , who , of course , gave it in favour of the English writers . At length the dispute grew so warm , that Lord Gosford was obliged to put a stop to it , by that approved method ' a glass of wine , ' and so ended the first
chapter of the commissioners * essay on coloniul conciliation . *'—Mon treat , Oct . 12 .
Such are the principal occurrences which tended to create distrust in the minds of the people of Canada , towards the royal commissioners , previous to the opening of the Session of theprovincial legislature on the 27 th of October , 1835 . The distrust ot the people of Canada towards the new
governor and the commissioners , must not , however , be wholly attributed to the circumstances we have described . The conduct of the Colonial Office , and of the government , would alone have rendered the people suspicious of the sincerity of the conciliatory professions with which they were amused . In all the petitions of the House of Assembly , complaints had been
made of the improper legislation of the imperial parliament on matters relating solely to their " internal affairs . " The act conferring upon the Canadas local legislatures , of course gave up internal legislation to the colonists themselves , and the subsequent interference of the imperial parliament , they contended was unconstitutional and unjust . The acts they complained of were three , —commonly called the Canada Trade Act , —the
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112 Recent Occurrences in Canqda .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1836, page 112, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2654/page/48/
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