On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
iiotice by Mr . now Lord Stanley , in 1829 ) , they hope to attain their end . This course is the more proper in their case as the want of economy in the payment of public officers is one of the most evil results which , the Assembly desires to remedy . As evidence of the importance which the Canadians attach to this radical measure , and their determination to adhere to
Lord Stanley ' s constitutional mode , " we again resort to the writer already quoted : " I have just heard that it has been determined to allow the Commons of Lower Canada to have the whole control of the revenue . This is merely a piece of justice—of tardy justice * The Commissioners are , I learn , to report to the King from time to time . First , on Finances ;
secondly , on the Tenure of Land : thirdly , on the Executive Council . I believe it is decided that we are to have a responsible Executive Council . But the chief thing , an elective Legislative Council , we are not to have yet awhile ; so you see we have a long struggle before us . I hope the House will not be cajoled into voting one penny of supplies till we get this essential reform .
" You are well aware that our chief reliance for enforcing reforms is the < c constitutional method' of refusing to vote the supplies . Your House of Commons need not care for the Lords , if they would pursue our plan . But the truth is , your House of Commons is aristocratic ^ and does not desire collision with the Lords . Last year ( 1834 ) , as you are aware , Spring Rice defeated us by dipping his hand into the military chest : and Lord Gosford now asks us to refund it . This makes
one begin to suspect that all this fuss about , and expense of , the Commission , are merely- a clumsy expedient to get the money out of the Assembly . The officials want past arrears and future supplies ; and if they get them they will laugh at us—and so they ought . The Commissioners seem disposed to remedy small grievances , as tubs are thrown to whales . Will the assembly be thus cheated out of the public money ? 1 trust not . Not one farthing would I grant , until We get an elective council . "—Quebec , 2 nd Dec .
This is without doubt the obvious course to he pursued by the Assembly . The prime movers of the party desiring the retention ' of " things as they are" are the official personages themselves who now profit by the system , together with theii * -v w « - « . SV - ^ " ^ * - * M * ~« * -V <^~ v ^" -M w ~\ *~ m » " * ^ v " »» ^• V ^ fc' -k ? * " >• v l- ^ ^ ~ v l ^ v j ~^ mr ^ . *~ v •¦ *—* . ¦* . -w ¦¦« ^—» A ~ m - m- E -w ¦» — 4 L- » . * - ** - . -- - ¦* »• - » . -x , » » . ¦ !¦ . __ friends and adherents who to t bthe The
. hope profi y same . Legislative Council is emphatically their Chamber ; the chiei officials are members of it , and while it exists as at present constituted , it will represent their will and their interests . The voting of supplies is the only case wherein the will of the people can have force , and there is nothing improper on the part oi the Assembly in thus determining to make the control which
the constitution gives them over the public money a means of enforcing wholesome reforms . If the House of Assembly grant the supplies , it is quite clear that the object of the officials will be gained . The' Assembly might still amuse themselves by legislating on useful measures , but it would be mere lost labour .
Untitled Article
Recent Occurrences in Canada . 117
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1836, page 117, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2654/page/53/
-