“The letter of certain citizens of Burlington, and the proclamation of his Excellency, Silas H. Jennison, were then read by the Secretary, JJ Beardsley, Esquire After the reading of the letter and the proclamation the meeting was addressed by several gentlemen, in an eloquent and impressive manner, and their remarks severally called forth great applause.
“The committee, on resolutions by Henry Adams, Esquire, chairman, then presented the following report and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted.”
After having in the report stated that threats have been made, they then attack the legality of the Governor’s proclamation and conduct, as follows:—
“The committee have no evidence to show that the execution of the threats above-mentioned, or that any invasion of the rights of American citizens, would knowingly be permitted by the existing government in Canada, or approved of by a majority of the citizens in the Canadian townships; but when they bear in mind that civil law is suspended in Canada, and in its place are substituted the summary proceedings of military courts and the capricious wills of petty military officers; when they consider the excited and embittered feelings which prevail along the frontier, and which some have studied to inflame, and also the character of a portion of the population which borders upon our territory, they deem it not improbable that acts of violence might be attempted, and even that a gang of marauders might be gathered together, and led to make some petty invasion into our territory, disturbing the public peace, and committing acts of outrage. If this be deemed improbable, still a state of suspense and doubt is not to be endured. Every family on the frontier should live in a state of undisturbed repose. The ability not only to resist aggression, but to redress injuries with summary justice, furnishes a certain, if not the only guarantee of perfect quiet.
“With these views, at recent meetings of the people, a committee was appointed to wait upon the Governor and request the use of a part of the arms in the State arsenal. This request has been denied; and the reason assigned by his Excellency is, that he has doubts whether by law he can loan out the arms of the State to be used by the people of the State for their own defence. Without commenting on the technicalities which so much embarrass his Excellency, or inquiring into the wisdom of that construction of the law which infers, that because the State arms are to be kept fit for use, therefore they are not to be used, the committee would beg leave respectfully to suggest to the people that, inasmuch as they are to receive no aid from the State, it is their duty at once to arm themselves, and to rely upon themselves.
“While the governor has thus declined furnishing any aid for the security of the frontier, he has issued a proclamation enjoining upon the citizens of this State the observance of a strict neutrality between the hostile parties in Canada. The propriety of our Governor’s issuing a proclamation on an occasion like the present, merely advisory, may well be questioned. It neither creates any new obligations, nor adds force to those already resting on our citizens. When it is considered that our relations with foreign powers are solely confided to the general government, and that if the people of this State should boldly break the obligations of neutrality, the governor of the State has no power to restrain at to punish. It must be admitted, that a proclamation of neutrality issuing from our State executive seems to be over-stepping the proprieties of the office, and should be exercised, if at all, only in case of a general and glaring violation of the laws of nations; and even then it may reasonably be questioned whether the ordinary process of law would not be sufficient, and whether gratuitous advice to the people on the one hand, and gratuitous interference with the exclusive functions of the general government on the other, would become pertinent by being stamped with the official Seal of State. We are not aware of any express authority in our constitution or laws for the exercise of this novel mode of addressing the people; and it can only be justified on the ground, that the chief magistrate has something of fact or doctrine of importance to communicate, of which the people are supposed to be ignorant. In neither point of view is there any thing striking in this otherwise extraordinary document.
“No facts are set forth before unknown to the public, except that a representation has been made to his Excellency that ‘hostile forces had been organised within this State,’ of which organisation our citizens are profoundly ignorant.
“To the doctrine of this proclamation,—that the declaration of martial law, by Lord Gosford, changes the relations between the United States and Canada, we cannot assent. Our relations with Great Britain and her colonies rest upon treaties, and the general law of nations, which, it is believed, her Majesty’s Governor in Chief of Lower Canada can neither enlarge nor restrict.
“To assume that our citizens are ignorant of their rights and obligations as members of a neutral independent power, is to take for granted that they have forgotten the repeated infractions of those rights which have so often agitated our country since the adoption of Federal Constitution, which led to the late war with Great Britain, and which have given rise to claims of indemnity that are still due from various powers of Europe. Every page of the history of our country portrays violations of her neutral rights by the despotic and haughty powers of Europe, among whom England has ever been foremost. Your committee do not deem it necessary to enlarge upon this subject.”
After the report came the resolutions, a portion of which I subjoin:—