Louis-Joseph Papineau

“ Is it a vain theory which may lend to the fear that an Executive might so trespass against them, as to require their ex parte opinion on subjects which might after wards become the subject of trail and discussion before them - as to cause the Judges to complain that the opinions they had given in secret has been made public, learning at last, but too late, and teaching the people, that they ought to have given non; that they would do enough for the good of society when they should pass sound judgments, without allowing themselves to be drawn in to give bad advice on matters of administration? ”

“ Without yet passing judgement on the last dissolution, the folly or wisdom of which will be tried by the result of the general election, one cannot dissemble that this Province is the only one in which that violent remedy has been so often resorted to on such frivolous occasions. Against the intended purpose of those who have so blundered, it always has produced the happiest result in advancing the political education of the country. ”

“ Fortunately an authority equal to his has told you that your choice was very good. I oppose the judgement of the one Governor by that of the other: because the justice and urbanity with which Sir Francis Burton conducted himself towards your Representatives, prove the consideration and esteem which he had for you, and the consideration and esteem which, in return, we must have for him; while a contrary behaviour deserves your censure, whatever respect you ought to preserve for the high magistracy exercised by our Governors. ”

“ If under the persuasion that the House has failed in its duty in many other respects, they will vote against those members, who though they had done them justice on one particular occasion, should on many occasions have failed to do it to the society at large.
I recall these circumstances only to declare my unalterable creed that men are accountable for their faith and worship to their maker only, and not to the civil powers; that diversity of religious opinions which creates no resistance to the laws, ought not to be submitted to the oppression of laws enacted merely to prohibit and punish it ”

“ As a return for its sacrifices, the Province does not seek the purchase of particular privileges, all she asks is not to be worse treated than Upper Canada is, to have over the revenue raised on her, an effectual controul without which indeed, she has not a free but a despotic Constitution. For whoever aspires to the discretionary distribution of a large portion of the public revenue, aspires by a direct and necessary consequence to the discretionary power of taking the people, or else he understands not himself and argues not consequently. ”

“ The Representative system is become the desire of all civilized nations, because it promises to nations a powerful lever to extirpate abuses; because it affords a popular efficacious action which penetrates into all the parts of administration, and influences, in a salutary manner, all its agents, from the Sovereign to the lowest officer, recalling them continually to their destination, which is the peace and the welfare of nations. ”

“ I dare them to stake their reputation of men learned in the law, or of men having pretensions to some historical knowledge in the nature of English Colonial Governments, either past or present, by saying that, wit the exception of this single one, there has ever been a Colony whose administration has, with any chance of success, asked of its local Legislature the payment of a Civil List and an appropriation of the Civil List during the King's life. ”

“ Judges independent in their course from any influence save the action of the laws and their conscience; secured in the discharge of the sacred functions of their august ministry and enabled impartially to sit in judgement between the King and the subject, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the oppressor and his victim, without fear, without hope, without any other passion but the one of ministering equal justice to all, were the judges whom the House was anxious to see appointed over you. ”

“ McGill, to see in my vote any thing personal, any thing envious towards Mr. Vallières? That Gentleman of the brightest talents and most transcendent abilities will shine, in whatever theatre he may be employed in or out of the Province. Canadians, with any elevation of mind, will never be jealous of one another. The outlandish administration of Lower Canada may neglect the talents which our country produces when it does not persecute them. ”

“ With much greater reason will the man whom the House honours with its confidence, thus show his respect for it and for himself. Never at any time, never either privately or publicly have I, as Representative, spoken a word, or moved a step through the desire to please or the fear to offend, with a view to my own personal advantage. If in 1825, there were any debates on the vote for the salary of the Speaker, I was bound to be mute if in the chair, I was bound to withdraw if in a committee. ”

“ It is not a constitutional principle for the Colonies, that their public functionaries should have their salaries granted for the King's life. If it were so, the Parliament of Great Britain violates it every year, and all the Colonial Legislatures, without exception, violate it every year. Do we not yearly read of the call for the salaries of most of their civil officers, which the Ministers make to the Commons, of appropriations varying from ten to twenty thousand pounds for each of the Governments over which our Governor nominally presides? ”

“ I see myself surrounded with men learned in the law some of whom are in the employment of the Crown, and with other public functionaries, by trade or conviction, the constrained defenders of every measure of the administration, and who at least by the warmth, if not by the soundness of their arguments, you would believe sincere in the support they give it. ”

“ This maxim is such a predominant truth, that it is admitted even by despotic governments and by administrations which raise themselves above the laws; but in this case it is only an illusion, a dead letter, a cheat, productive of no real advantage. It becomes useful, but in as much as governments or their administrators have multiplied and frequent relations with the people, not in order to brave public opinion and to sport with it, but to know the wishes and wants of the people, to acquiesce in them and provide for them. ”

“ The House told the Council to make "choice for their Agent of whom they pleased: that it might enjoy for itself the same privilege which the House claims for the country, to send their memoirs to their Agent. Those who fear nothing from the publication of the truth, wish it to be fully known. We feel confident of the justice of the English Government, go and show yourselves in the best light you can before it, but grant us the same power." That measure which can only draw closer the ties between the mother-country and the colony can not be much longer delayed and daily becomes more urgent. ”

“ The administrations of the two Provinces will be more early than the people in asking for new taxes. At no distant day when they shall be, or shall imagine that they are in want, instead of opposing our remonstrances against that act, as they would inevitably do at present, they will seek reconciliation with the Representative bodies, seek for peace as they now seek for war, for dissentions by which they profit; and the united wishes of the people and of the constituted authorities of the two Provinces, will be made known to Parliament with the certainly of success. ”

“ In our government those frequent relations with the mass of the people take place periodically my means of elections, daily by that of petitions, annually through the mediation of the Representatives who are integral part of the Government, and, at the same time, for the people, an organ and a voice. They ought to be believed when they speak in the name of the people: excepting extraordinary and singular cases when it should be evident that they failed in rendering the true sentiments of their constituents. ”

“ The more abuses a governor would commit in favour of his creatures chosen by him, the more would they be interested in having his administration prolonged, however odious it had become to the people for whom it is so difficult to obtain justice when the remedy is so far distant. ”

“ A Bill better to regulate the office of the Sheriff must appear to every one the more necessary, after the recent and ruinous bankruptcy which we have witnessed. Such are much more scandalous when they happen with public accountants, who have monies only in deposit, than they could be with individuals who borrow stick on speculation and who many not have the talent to use it to advantage. In these instances the creditor may lay the blame on himself for having improperly placed his confidence; he suffers under an act of his free will. ”

“ It is only three years since you freely made choice of Representatives, who, according to the course of the law, ought to have served you during four years, but who have been sent back under the pretext of their not being the true interpreters of your sentiments. You will weigh ill grounded imputations and indisputable facts: you will consider the probability there is, that the Governor and his Council know your interests better, cherish them more dearly, than your own Representatives do. ”

“ On the arrival of the Earl of Dalhousie, his council had come to a new, violent and unprecedented determination. He has made common cause with them, their faults have become his, and the late dissolution of Parliament and your meeting here to day, are the lightest of the evils which ever since have not ceased to harrass the country. ”

“ On such occasions Representatives who feel blameless, are, on their part, bound in honor to step forward and offer their services, however inclined to withdraw from public life, if later times allow it. After all, it is plain that our administration is much more formidable to the people's rights, that it has much less regard for them, is much more diffident of them and of their Representatives than any other, since it has so frequently resorted to that measure quite unusual or of very rare recurrence in our sister colonies ”

“ Nothing is more certain in our public and constitutional law than the maxim, that governments are constituted only with a view to the commonweal, not principally for the advantage of the public functionaries. ”

“ Might it not be said with more accuracy that it is painful to see that, upon the refusal of the House to vote for supplies in the form required, His Excellency should have considered himself obliged to exercise the Royal Prerogative, and to prorogue the Parliament, without giving it time to discuss the measures recommended by His Excellency, or which interested the whole Province though not recommended by His Excellency, and the delay or loss of which His Excellency has with so much sensibility lamented? ”

“ They invoke that part which related to the splendour and to the privileges of Royalty and Aristocracy, though our sovereign and his nobles are little inclined to settle amongst us; but know nothing of the enactments upholding the privileges of the nation, although there is a people settled on these lands, a people which sees a great deal less of real distance grounded on reason, between the administrators and themselves, than there exists in England between the administrators of the government and the people. ”

“ When the same persons unite the legislative, executive and judiciary powers in themselves, the abuses which they shall have committed in one of those capacities, they are endowed with sufficient means to uphold in the other; and from abuses to abuses the laws would soon be powerless, unless there be an unceasing and fearless watch over them on the part of your Representatives.
I will soon prove that, in fact, they alone have shown themselves attentive to your desires and your requests; always supporting them and always witnessing their rejection elsewhere. ”

“ The nearer the other authorities come to the views and desires of the representative body in our constitutional Government, so much the more exactly do they move in conformity with the laws of their nature, so much the more accurately do they correspond to the end and approach the scope of their institution. On the other hand, in proportion as they are inattentive or opposed to the wishes of a representative body true to their constituents, the more do they swerve from the purpose of their institution. ”

“ For to all public offices no other but men of good character ought to be chosen, which offers much greater security than the property real or imaginary which they might possess, and, nevertheless, law and wisdom require that all public accountants should give security proportionate to their responsibility. The true reason is, that in the deplorable situation of the country, no prudent head of a family ought to become security for the Receiver General; since the deposit entrusted to his hands has been daily violated ”