Autonomous province

“ A republic may found autonomous provinces in accordance with the constitution in areas with distinctive national characteristics or in areas with other distinguishing features, on the basis of the express will of the population of these areas. ”

“ The accession to any government of new territory brings with it new duties, which it is always important should be performed with energy and decision, so that the greatest good, to the greatest number, may be the result. A good Providence has placed the domain under consideration in our possession. Its political condition is to us unique, and almost embarrassing. If the question is asked, 'Can we hold and dispose of a part, or whole, of a sovereign State as a conquered province?' the answer must be in the affirmative. ”

“ The principle of supporting the independence of a province forming a component geographical part of an empire, must have but one result, that ofPg 268 weakening the mother state, without, as experience has shown, ameliorating the condition of the province. ”

“ I thought that it would be the tendency of a federation sanctioned and consolidated by a monarchical Government gradually to become a complete legislative union; and that thus, while conciliating the French of Lower Canada, by leaving them the government of their own Province and their own internal legislation, I might provide for the protection of British interests by the general government, and for the gradual transition of the Provinces into an united and homogeneous community. ”

“ In respect to the domestic relations between the Provinces and the Dominion, the Federal principle used in Canada is fundamentally the same as that which obtains in the United States and in every true Federation in the world, whether Monarchical or Republican, whether self-contained, like the United States, Germany, and Switzerland, or linked, as in the British Empire, to a supreme and sovereign Government centred in London. Each Province, as in every genuine Federation, is an imperium in imperio, possessing a Constitution of its own, and delegating central powers to a Federal Government. ”

“ It cannot be claimed as a right by the population on the territory of the defunct State. As they could not take the territory out of the Union, and as they, so long as they remain on it, are within the jurisdiction of the United States, the Federal Government has authority to govern them, and may govern them either as a Territory or as a conquered province. ”

“ In the most distant provinces, with no other safeguard than the respect with which he has inspired the Indians, he exercises the most unlimited authority, and administers the whole of the civil and ecclesiastical government, not only of a parish, but often of a whole province. ”

“ To the Princes much of the essence of Federation appeared to turn out to be the negation of all to which they had been accustomed. Their approach to the problem was governed by the view that their accession to Federation involved a process of levelling down so far as their internal sovereignty was concerned, as against the Provinces which were to be levelled up as autonomous units and that, therefore, the Provinces and States could not be treated alike. ”

“ The inhabitants of these provinces, each community within its own borders, went on, from year to year, in their various pursuits of peaceful industry, governed mainly, in their relations to each other, by the natural sense of justice instinctive in man, and by those thousand local institutions and usages which are always springing up in all human communities under the influence of this principle. There were governors stationed over these provinces, whose main duty it was to collect and remit to the king the tribute which the province was required to furnish him. ”

“ Under the constitution, the provinces retain all the powers not delegated to the federal government. Each province has its own constitution, which must be republican in form and in harmony with that of the nation. Each elects its governor, legislators and provincial functionaries of all classes, without the intervention of the federal government. Each has its own judicial system, and enacts laws relating to the administration of justice, the distribution and imposition of taxes, and all matters affecting the province. ”

“ I am of the same opinion respecting the Canadas. I consider that, even as two provinces, they are too vast in territory already. Whether it be a woman looking after her servants and household affairs, or a captain commanding a ship, or a governor ruling over a province, large or small as may be the scale of operation, one of the most important points in good legislation, is the eye. A governor of a vast province cannot possibly be aware of the wants of the various portions of the province. He is obliged to take the reports of others, and consequently very often legislates unadvisedly. ”

“ The Home Government resolved upon the unfortunate step of dividing the province into Upper and Lower Canada, with a governor-in-chief in Lower, and a lieutenant-governor in Upper Canada, so that the Royalists might not be quite swamped by the French element. The governors selected were often men without particular aptitude for administration, certainly destitute of the ability needed in dealing with the very peculiar state of society, trade, and interests prevailing in the provinces. ”

“ The distinctions and preferences aforesaid, have almost constantly been used and taken advantage of by the Colonial Administration of this Province, and the majority of the Legislative Councillors, Executive Councillors, Judges, and other functionaries dependent upon them, to serve to their own ends; and nothing but the spirit of union among the several classes of the People, and their conviction that their interests are the same, could have prevented collisions incompatible with the prosperity and safety of the Province. ”

“ To regulate commerce by land and sea with foreign nations, and between the Provinces.
13. To establish and regulate the general post-offices and post-roads of the Nation.
14. To finally settle the National boundaries, fix those of the Provinces, create new Provinces, and determine by a special legislation, the organization and governments, which such National territories as are beyond the limits assigned to the Province, should have.
15. To provide for the security of the frontiers; preserve peaceful relations with the Indians, and promote their conversion to Catholicism. ”

“ The Government of each of the absorbing Provinces shall, by order notified in the official Gazette, provide for the administration of the enclaves included in the Province, either by constituting them or any part of them into one or more new districts, or by making them or any part of them part of one or more existing districts, or partly by one and partly by the other of the said methods, and may make such further provision as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulties arising in connection with the absorption of the enclaves in the Province. ”

“ That the head of the provincial executive {120} government of the province, being within the limits of his government the representative of the Sovereign, is not constitutionally responsible to any other than the authority of the Empire. ”

“ The Provinces, which are really little more than municipalities, have no longer any relation except in remotest constitutional theory with the Mother Country, their Administrators are appointed by the Union, and, unlike the Provinces of Canada and the States of Australia, they have not even an internal system of responsible government. ”

“ That the people of this province have, moreover, the right to expect from such provincial administration the exercise of their best endeavours, that the imperial authority, within its constitutional limits, shall be exercised in the manner most consistent with their well-understood wishes and interests. ”

“ The Parliament of Canada may from time to time establish new Provinces in any territories forming for the time being part of the Dominion of Canada, but not included in any Province thereof, and may, at the time of such establishment, make provision for the constitution and administration of any such Province, and for the passing of laws for the peace, order and good government of such Province, and for its representation in the said Parliament. ”

“ If a province, having definite constitutional rights, revolts, and attempts to overthrow the power of the central government, it would be a strange doctrine, to claim, that, after being subdued, it had risked and lost nothing by the undertaking. No authority can be found to sustain such a proposition. ”

“ According to the Constitution and state laws, the local legislature of the autonomous region enjoys both legislative power entitled to provincial-level administrative divisions and the power to enact regulations on the exercise of autonomy and separate regulations based on local special political, economic and cultural conditions. ”

“ The formula adopted in an Act of Congress organizing a Territory, is "An Act to provide a provisional government, etc., etc., etc." In course of time, no doubt, all the Territories will be admitted as States, as the territorial form of government is not provided for as a permanency by the Constitution, and is moreover anomalous in the American system. The people residing in the Territories are to a considerable extent disfranchised politically, and are not, in fact, full-fledged American citizens. ”

“ The pretended interest of possessing more or less territory vanishes also, when the territory is justly considered as not belonging to nations, but to the individual proprietors of the soil; and when the question, whether such a canton or such a village ought to belong to such a province, or such a state, is not decided by the pretended interest of that province or that state, but by the interest which the inhabitants of the canton or village have in assembling themselves to transact their affairs in places the most convenient of access ”

“ Parliament may alter the boundaries of any province, divide a province into two or more provinces, or form a new province out of provinces within the Union, on the petition of the provincial council of every province whose boundaries are affected thereby. ”

“ I shall abbreviate much that Xamas gave in great detail. From him I learned that every male is entitled to participate in all public affairs, including the right of franchise. All are eligible to office. The Commonwealth is composed of twenty-four provinces, each province being composed of twelve municipal divisions. ”

“ The passing of the said Act hath been one of the most effectual methods of making known to the inhabitants of this Province the justice and magnanimity of the British character, and hath for ever secured to your Majesty's Government the inviolable confidence, affection, and fidelity, of all classes of your Majesty's subjects in this colony.
The said Act, modelled on the Constitution of the Mother Country by some of the greatest and wisest statesmen establishes powers sufficient to remedy abuses, redress injuries, allay discontents, and provide for the general welfare of the Province. ”

“ Thus the United Provinces became a confederacy of seven independent principalities, called in the aggregate the States General. Several years elapsed before their constitution was finally settled. Then, the supreme sovereignty of the whole was considered to be vested in the people of every province represented by the States. These consisted of deputies appointed to them from the different provinces. Each province might send to the assembly more than one deputy; but, whatever was the number of deputies sent by them, they had one vote only in the proceedings of the assembly. ”

“ This word province signifies a charge or care of business, which he whose it is committeth to another man to be administered for and under him; and therefore when in one Commonwealth there be diverse countries that have their laws distinct one from another, or are far distant in place, the administration of the government being committed to diverse persons, those countries where the sovereign is not resident, but governs by commission, are called provinces. But of the government of a province, by an assembly residing in the province itself, there be few examples. ”

“ I know, conscript fathers, that by many of you the question which is this day agitated is considered as already determined; and that the man who shall deliver his sentiments on the subject of making Africa a province, as a new proposal, will speak to little purpose. But, in the first place, I cannot see how it can be considered as determined, that Africa shall be the province of the consul, that brave and active officer, when neither the senate have voted nor the people ordered that it should be constituted a province this year. ”

“ Undoubtedly regional self-government is in entire accord with the spirit of democracy and is a great need of our nation. But a true regional self-government can be realized only when our national independence is won, for without national freedom, local freedom is impossible.... Many social, economic and political problems facing the individual provinces can be solved only by the nation as a whole. ”

“ That to withdraw the public records from Upper Canada, or to remove her executive Government, would be attended with the most injurious consequences to the Province in general, and more particularly to the western part of it, inasmuch as emigrants and settlers would be discourage from proceeding to that part of the Province, and the inhabitants must, should such a change take place, sustain great injury and inconvenience from the very great distance they must necessarily travel to transact their public business. ”