CANADA.—POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.—OPPOSITION AND INSOLENT PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH PARTY.
The state of Canada during 1849 was most unhappy, and the policy of the English ministry most unjust. The discontent existed chiefly in Upper or Western Canada, and amongst the population, which was British, or of British origin. In 1837-8, when nearly all Lower or Eastern Canada was in open rebellion, only partial insurrection existed in the Western province, where people armed in behalf of the government. During the rule of Lord Metcalfe, a bill of indemnity passed the Canadian legislature, on behalf of the loyalists of Western Canada, who had suffered loss of property in consequence of their loyalty. As soon as Lord Elgin became governor-general, claims were set up for the loyalists who had incurred losses in Lower Canada. This seemed to be reasonable and just; but the portions of that province which had suffered at all had been the foci of rebellion, and the sufferers were those who had perilled life and property in opposition to the government; it was therefore a trick on the part of the Lower Canadians, who had been the rebels, to reimburse themselves at the expense of the loyal population. The proposal therefore excited in Upper Canada, in portions even of Lower Canada, and in Great Britain, warm indignation, and a formidable opposition was organised. During the Canadian session of 1848, the colonial ministry was obliged to resign in consequence of a vote of want of confidence; that ministry had belonged to the British party, but the vote constrained the governor to choose his ministers from the Lower Canadian, or French party. This ministry was of course favourable to the scheme of their own party, and encouraged those whose rebellion had caused their losses, to prosecute the demand, which practically amounted to a tax upon the loyal, for the especial advantage of the disloyal. In consequence of the opposition, by the English party, the bill actually brought in provided that no person who had been guilty of treason after the 1st of November, 1837, should be allowed to claim under the act of indemnification. This concession, which appeared to comprehend all that was necessary, and to place the measure on an equitable basis, did not satisfy the British party, who declared they had no confidence in the ministry, whose sympathies were wholly French, and who would find pretexts for indemnifying their own party by ignoring the proofs of their treason. The bill, however, passed through the Canadian parliament, after a fierce struggle from the opposition. The British party still remained quiet, in the hope, faintly entertained, that the queen’s representative would refuse the royal assent, dissolve parliament, and take the sense of the colony on the question. The governor, either on his own judgment, or by the directions of the Colonial-office, instead of taking that course, which under such circumstances would have been the most just and constitutional, gave his sanction to the measure, as well as to some other bills which were not palatable to the Western settlers. The ministry had, at the same time, exasperated the Protestant and British Canadians, by various acts which savoured of hostility to them, and of partiality to the French and Roman Catholic Canadians. After the governor-general gave the royal assent, his carriage was stoned by a mob consisting mainly of gentlemen, and the parliament house itself was broken open while the members were in debate, the building fired and destroyed, the members being permitted to retire unmolested. The governor, Lord Elgin, in his despatch to Earl Grey, described the population of Montreal as numbering fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom he gave on the whole an indifferent character, as belonging to secret societies, and “having other agencies of mischief,” with only two policemen in the service of government, and seventy in the service of the corporation. If, however, no complaints of the disloyalty or disorder of Montreal had been customary, and a few police were sufficient to maintain peace, it is presumptive proof that his lordship was influenced more in using this language by the feelings excited in his own mind, from the opposition and indignation of the most loyal and respectable citizens of the place, than by any demerits on the part of the Montreal citizens. The parliament met in the Market Hall, and by a large majority voted an address of confidence to the governorgeneral. The citizens met in the open air, in the Champs de Mars, and voted with acclamation an address to the queen, begging her to refuse her assent to the Indemnity Bill, which they indignantly designated “an insult and a robbery to every man who, in the time of trial stood forth to defend her majesty’s crown and dignity.” The memorial also prayed, in very earnest terms, for the recall of the Earl of Elgin.
On the 31st of May, the governor-general prorogued the parliament, but the governor took no measures to soothe the English settlers, while his ministry, proud of their triumph, offered them many gratuitous affronts. The British party, on the other hand, conducted itself with much arrogance and violence, to which it was moved as much by the free-trade measures of the imperial parliament as by any grievance it felt in connection with the Lower Canada Indemnity Bill, or the ascendancy of the French party in the local government. An assembly had been convened from all parts of Canada, and other portions of the North American colonies, which called itself the “British League;” this body was ostensibly formed to consider the interests of the country, which it was assumed were neglected by the parliament and government. The League assembled on the 25th of July, and broke up after six days’ deliberations, on the day when parliament was prorogued. It was the intention of those who formed it to alarm the government by an impression that a movement would be made for annexation with the United States, and many were really in favour of such a measure. There were objections which, however, weighed against such a step in the minds of the British party generally. One was the antipathy felt to negro slavery under any circumstances, but more especially as tolerated in the United States. Another was the hostility generally entertained in the latter to the principle of an Established Church, whereas nearly all the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Methodists of the party were in favour of state establishments of religion, which had been one of the most fertile sources of party dispute in both the Canadas. It was generally supposed that the United States’ policy would be more in favour of the protective system than Great Britain; and that Canada could form stipulations on that basis which would render her annexation a mutual advantage. This, however, was denied strongly by many of the party, and doubted by more. Before the League closed its labours, it issued a manifesto to all the colonies of Great Britain in America, and passed the following resolution, which sufficiently sets forth the spirit of the manifesto itself:—“Resolved—That a president, six vice-presidents, secretaries, a treasurer, and an executive committee of ten, be appointed by the convention for the purpose of conducting at the seat of government the general business of the league. Every township, village, town, and city in the province will have its branch; and in each district the presidents and vice-presidents of its Branch Leagues will form an executive body for district business; and all these officers, together with those first named as the general executive, will constitute the Central League. Protection to home industry, with the view of encouraging the establishment of domestic manufactures; retrenchment in the expenditure of the government, or the better apportionment of that expenditure to the existing means of the province, and an extension of our home market, and the consolidation of British interest, by the union of the colonies—these present specific objects worthy the employment of our highest efforts for their attainment.”
This was the last act of the convention. The demonstration was on the whole loyal, contrary to the expectation of both its promoters and government. That the general public of British birth or extraction did not meditate rebellion at this juncture was evinced by the following record in a Montreal journal, of an occurrence which took place on the very day that the parliament was prorogued, and the British League adjourned its sittings:—“A public meeting of the citizens of Montreal was held on the 31st ult., at which it was all but unanimously agreed to lend the credit of the city to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars to the completion of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, which will connect Montreal with Portland (Maine), and open out the splendid intermediate county. This, with two hundred thousand dollars from other sources, it is expected will execute one-half the work, and then the guarantee of the legislature under a general act comes in; and an expectation is entertained that the other half may be borrowed in England, on the joint security of the railroad and the province.”
A very large party, however, contemplated the peaceable separation of the Canadas from the mother country; others supposed that Great Britain would consent to the union of all the North American provinces, and, after a time, recognise the independence of the new province thus formed. These agitations showed how deeply laid, and how extensively prevalent was the discontent among the most industrious, enterprising, and respectable colonists. Religious animosities amongst the colonists themselves embittered the social condition of the country. At a place called Bytown, during the autumn, there were repeated conflicts between Protestants and Roman Catholics, which left lasting acrimony and dissatisfaction among the former, from the fact that Lord Elgin’s government appeared to favour the latter party. This circumstance renewed the desire for annexation, and a petition containing twelve hundred signatures of persons of respectability, of British birth or lineage, was got up for presentation to the queen. This petition would have been far more numerously signed, but for the impression that it could not be received, being unconstitutional. At the close of the year the division of parties, especially “Annexationists” and “Anti-annexationists,” ran high, and a new element of discord was introduced by the projected removal of the seat of government from Montreal to Toronto or Kingston. This subject was discussed with heated temper, even by those who were for separating the Canadas altogether from the mother country, and who might be supposed without interest in the question.
At home a certain party in the commons and the country favoured the views of those who would separate the colony from the crown. The speeches of these gentlemen encouraged dissatisfaction in Canada, and contributed largely to the elements of disturbance there. The Irish Roman Catholic members of parliament, and the newspaper organs of that party, were singularly inconsistent; they argued for the separation of the colony, yet they denounced the disloyalty of the party in Canada which promoted it, because that party was chiefly formed of Protestants, and were adverse to the French and Catholic sections of the colonists. The influence of the Irish newspaper articles, and of the speeches of those who partook of the opinions, expressed by them, were mischievous in Canada, where even’ expression of opinion pronounced at home was watched and reproduced. Some of the disloyal papers in Ireland, while abusing the Canadian Protestants with bitterness, expressed their hope that they would settle the dispute by an appeal to arms, forcibly severing the colony from the sceptre of Victoria. These treasonable wishes were published with impunity. The year 1849 closed sadly in Canada: blood had been shed, incendiarism had been perpetrated, disloyalty had spread; and the main causes of this state of things were the infatuation of the colonists in favour of commercial protection, and the inability of the governor-general of the Canadas, and of the ministry at home, to descry the policy which was most calculated to serve the interests of the mother country and the colony together.