Henry Samuel Chapman

“ That we sympathize with, and approve the steady, peaceable, yet patriotic conduct of our brother reformers of Lower Canada, and believe it necessary at this crisis to adopt a rigid economy, and to abstain as much as possible from all articles which are subject to duties and taxes for the support of a government not responsible to the people. We regret that past experience has not yet sufficiently taught the lesson, that opposition to reformation generally ends in revolution. ”

“ There is one course pursued by Sir Francis Head, which is not pretended to be denied, a course which is certainly not within the fair province of a Governor, who ought to desire that a general election should be a fair expression of the opinion of the country, but which an aristocratic government will assuredly look upon as a venial offence, or, perhaps, even as a justifiable coup d'etat. ”

“ Who are too proud to dig (almost the only road to wealth and independence in a new country) but who, to beg, are not ashamed. It is fearful to contemplate the extent of demoralization in Upper Canada arising from this single use. One single office may stand as a bait for a score of hungry expectants.
The next source of corruption lies in the credit and instalment system of disposing of waste lands. ”

“ The due influence and purity of all our institutions have been utterly destroyed. Our governors are the mere instruments for effecting domination from Downing-street; legislative councillors have been intimidated into executive compliance, as in the case of the late Chief Justice Powell, Mr. Baby, and others; the executive council has been stript of every shadow of responsibility and of every shade of duty; the freedom and purity of elections have lately received, under Sir Francis Head, a final and irretrievable blow ”

“ That the present circumstances of our sister province of Lower Canada cannot fail to attract the attention, and awaken the sympathies, of all civilized men throughout the world, but, in a more especial manner, such of this province, who, being under the same government, must partake largely of the same evils which are threatened upon them, if the home government persist in the prosecution of the measures lately resolved noon by the British Parliament, which course, we fully believe, will only tend to the further distractions of that province, and the final dismemberment of the empire. ”

“ The right was conceded to the present United States at the close of a successful revolution, to form a constitution for themselves; and the loyalists, with their descendents and others now peopling this portion of America, are entitled to the same liberty without the shedding of blood — more they do not ask; less they ought not to have. ”

“ I am sure you will be of opinion that a great deal, if not the whole, of the agitation which is carried on in Lower Canada is intended to have the immediate effect of intimidating the two Houses of Parliament in England, by making them believe that republicanism is indigenous to the soil of America, and that nothing else will grow there. ”

“ I consider that this evidence will be of immense importance, as it at once shows the conduct of Lower Canada to be factious; whereas, could it, under colour of a few radical meetings here, be asserted that the two provinces were on the brink of revolution, it would, as you know, be argued as an excuse for granting the demands of M. Papineau. 1 consider it of immense importance, practically, to show to the Canadas that loyalty produces tranquillity, and that disloyalty not only brings troops into the province, but also involves it in civil war. ”

“ The English parliament has interfered with our internal affairs and regulations, by the passing of grievous and tyrannical enactments, for taxing us heavily without our consent, for prohibiting us to purchase many articles of the first importance at the cheapest European or American markets, and compelling us to buy such goods and merchandise at an exorbitant price in markets of which England has a monopoly. ”

“ That the reformers of Upper Canada are called upon, by every tie of feeling, interest, and duty, to make common cause with their fellow-citizens of Lower Canada, whose successful coercion would doubtless be in time visited upon us, and the redress of whose grievances would be the best guarantee for the redress of our own. ”

“ In this country, no one doubts the undue influence of the aristocracy. It might, in like manner be asked, how a majority in favour of reform has been obtained by the people of England? The answer is similar. Enthusiasm has at times prevailed to an extent sufficient to induce men to brave all the evils incidental to an independent vote.
At the Upper Canadian election we are speaking of. Sir Francis Head, the governor, was accused of having made votes by issuing a vast number of land patents about the time of the election. ”

“ Popular opinion is certainly liable to perpetual changes, but not to sudden reversal; change of opinion is slow and progressive. Within a limited range of time it is difficult to appreciate it; by distant results only are we enabled to trace its progress. ”

“ To render this co-operation the more effectual, we earnestly recommend to our fellow-citizens that they exert themselves to organize political associations; that public meetings be held throughout the province; and that a convention of delegates be elected and assembled at Toronto, to take into consideration the political condition of Upper Canada, with authority to its members to appoint commissioners to meet others to be named on behalf of Lower Canada and any of the other colonies, armed with suitable powers, as a Congress, to seek an effectual remedy for the grievances of the colonies. ”

“ Still, the language held at the township meetings of Upper Canada, might have induced the most sanguine of the popular party to believe that the province had arrived at that point of maturity, when the authority of the mother country should be thrown off". Now, this is precisely one of those opinions, the correctness of which cannot be tested beforehand. It is one which entirely precludes the idea of a canvass. To put it to the test, there must be some men willing to assume its correctness. ”

“ It has been part of the policy of the ruling party to create a provincial debt, to be laid out in improvements. Unfortunately, previous loans with this view had led only to interminable jobbing, so that the late Assembly had set itself against this system. It was now, however, revived. Loans were voted and directed to be raised, so that at this time, the debt of Upper Canada is very considerable; more, indeed, than the province can well afford to pay interest on, until some of the works on which it has been and is to be laid out shall begin to yield profit. ”

“ The affairs of this country have been ever, against the spirit of the Constitutional Act, subjected in the most injurious manner to the interferences and interdictions of a succession of colonial ministers in England who have never visited the country, and can never possibly become acquainted with the state of parties, or the conduct of public functionaries, except through official channels in the province, which are ill calculated to convey information necessary to disclose official delinquencies, and correct public abuses. ”

“ The system of baneful domination has been uniformly furthered by a Lieutenant-Governor sent amongst us as an uninformed, unsympathising stranger, who, like Sir Francis, has not a single feeling in common with the people, and whose hopes and responsibilities begin and end in Downing-street. ”

“ In order to promote the freedom, peace, and quiet of elections, and to secure in the most ample manner possible the independence of the poorer classes of the electors, it is declared that all elections by the people, which shall take place after the first session of the legislature of this state, shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen. ”

“ The industrious settler, ever eager to possess an independent freehold, has no sooner saved money enough to pay his first instalment, than he purchases a lot. He seldom stops to consider his prospect of paying his further instalments, so that in a large number of cases, second and third instalments remain in arrear, in which case, the independence of the debtor is destroyed. Any actual exercise of the power thus conferred on the ruling party is seldom, perhaps never, necessary. ”

“ It has been stated in parliament and elsewhere, on the authority of a committee of the present House of Assembly of Upper Canada, that Dr. Duncombe came to England merely as a private individual, that he was the delegate of no one, and that therefore he was not to be considered as representing the views of any considerable number of reformers. We have before us, however, the means of correcting this error, in the shape of a series of documents duly authenticated, showing that he was deputed by the executive committee of a society in Toronto, called the "Constitutional Reform Society;" ”

“ Public loans have been authorized by improvident legislation to nearly eight millions of dollars, the surest way to make the people both poor and dependent; the parliament, subservient to Sir Francis Head's blighting administration, has, by an unconstitutional act, sanctioned by him, prolonged their duration after the demise of the Grown, thereby evading their present responsibility to the people, depriving them of the exercise of their elective franchise on the present occasion, and extending the period of their unjust, unconstitutional and ruinous legislation with Sir Francis Head ”

“ This impresses the colonists with an idea that the government is always against them, always leagued with their oppressors. It is inconceivable the quantity of discontent this treatment has alone occasioned. On this ground, if on no other, it is unwise on the part of the colonial minister, who of all things in the world ought to preserve a character for impartiality and justice. But it is also impolitic for other reasons. A Secretary for the Colonies ought to be desirous of obtaining evidence at all hands; he should be ready to hear every man's tale ”

“ A painful experience has proved how impracticable it is for such a succession of strangers beneficially to direct and control the affairs of the people four thousand miles off; and being an impracticable system, felt to be intolerable by those for whose good it was professedly intended, it ought to be abolished, and the domestic institutions of the province so improved and administered by the local authorities as to render the people happy and contented. ”

“ Making due allowance for the deception created by the operation of the sinister influence of that party at the elections, there is still a large number of persons attached to the existing order of things. The extensive prevalence of Orange societies is alone a proof of this. A large number of persons have emigrated from the north of Ireland within a few years, and by them the establishment of Orange societies has been encouraged. The government found them useful, and encouraged them, even after they had been discountenanced in Great Britain and Ireland. ”

“ The governor shall be elected by the people at the times and places of choosing members of the legislature. The person having the highest number of votes shall be elected; but in case two or more persons shall have an equal, and the highest number of votes, the two houses of Legislature shall, by joint votes (not by ballot) choose one of the said persons for governor. ”

“ To these several causes may, we think, be attributed the defeat of the liberal party in Upper Canada, and we are borne out in this view by the fact that a similar change has before occurred; indeed, parliaments in Upper Canada seem to be alternately liberal and anti-liberal; this being the turn of the latter.
The result of the elections of course excited in no small degree the discontent of the defeated liberal party, and of the great mass of the population, whose opinions and wishes they represented. ”

“ As in this country, that portion of the population opposed to what they deem abuses call themselves "reformers;" the question to be solved by a body of men, contemplating an attempt to establish independence evidently was, what proportion of the whole body of reformers they could calculate upon carrying with them. ”

“ He has rendered the administration of justice liable to suspicion and distrust, by obstructing laws for establishing a fair trial by jury, by refusing to exclude the chief criminal judge from interfering in political business, and by selecting as the judiciary violent and notorious partisans of his arbitrary power. ”

“ Moreover, there had been, perhaps, forty or fifty candidates of similar opinions at the recent election who, although not successful, had, at all events, polled many votes. Under such circumstances, although not a delegate, his evidence might have been heard by Lord Glenelg, had it merely been for the purpose of gaining information as to the peculiar opinions of Dr. Duncombe and his colleagues; and of that large minority of electors who, although they had failed to seat their men, ought, nevertheless, to be counted, in estimating the state of opinion in the colony. ”

“ A law has been passed enabling magistrates, appointed during pleasure, at the representation of a grand jury selected by a sheriff holding office during pleasure, to tax the people at pleasure, without their previous knowledge or consent, upon all their rateable property, to build and support workhouses for the refuge of the paupers invited by Sir Francis from the parishes in Great Britain ”