On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    Of course when Lord Gosford ' s speech was delivered to the Canadian Assembly and Council , it was inferred that his Instructions were embodied therein . It is true that the speech was extremely vague and indefinite on all those points which the Canadians held to be of vital importance , but as Lord Gosford had spoken of his " liberal instructions ; " had called

    himself the friend of Mr . O'Connell , who had declared his opinions to be in favour of the changes desired by the people of Canada , and as he had stated , that at the opening of the Legislature he should " speak all he knew—without reserve " it is not at all surprising that the Canadians believed him to be possessed of discretionary powers to redress such of their grievances as admitted of it , and to report on such as might require the authority of an imperial statute to redress .

    " It was , in short , believed that the Instructions 9 aid little more in substance than this— " go and inquire into the state of the province ; leam what is the decided wish of the people at large ; tell them that we have every desire to yield to their requests , and that we have sent you out , an unbiassed person , to learn accurately what those requests are . Tell the people , also , that we have as yet formed no opinions on

    this difficult subject , but that our minds are open to receive evidence , and listen with patience and candour to the exposition of their grievances . In the meantime , while you are making your inquiries , treat the Canadians with courtesy and kindness , and set an example in your own conduct , of honesty and justice . "—Pamphlet , p . 36 .

    Early in the month of March Mr . Roebuck asked Sir Charles Grey for a copy of the Instructions . " I did so , " says Mr . Roebuck , " expecting that the Government would willingly fulfil their promise of last year . " But no , Sir George Grey

    entreated Mr . Roebuck not to persist in his demand , and gave as a reason that the publication of the Instructions might interfere with the good understanding which he was happy to say prevailed in Canada between the Assembly and the Executive ¦—a good understanding , be it remembered , produced by trickery and fraud , and which , therefore , could not be permanent .

    Not many days after , the Morning Papers contained the greater part of the Instructions in question . They had been communicated to the Assembly of Upper Canada by the new Governor , Sir Francis Head , along with his own Instructions . Of the publication of these

    Instructions" The immediate consequence was the annihilation of all confidence hitherto felt by the House of Assembly in the intentions and character of the Governor . Measures were instantly adopted by the house to mark their sense of the disingenuous conduct pursued by the Ministry and bis excellency the Governor General ; and again , to lay before the people of England , as the ultimate tribunal of appeal , a statement

    Untitled Article

    266 State of the Canadas

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 266, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/2/