Niagara districts: £800 was voted for the purchase of books for the legislative library: £2,500 was granted towards defraying the civil government, from "our humble and very limited revenue," to manifest "our gratitude for the powerful means sent for our defence during the late war:" £1,000 was voted for the encouragement of the cultivation of hemp. A provisional act regulated the trade with the United States, the duties to be determined by the lieutenant-governor, "but not to prohibit the admission of wheat, flour, peas, beans, oats, barley, corn, and all provisions, or travellers' baggage." Common schools were established, "as conducive to the happiness of the inhabitants and general prosperity of the province," and £6,000 was provided for their establishment. The sum of £21,000 was voted to repair the highways and bridges, and provision was made for keeping them in repair. The act granting pensions to the widows and children of soldiers killed on service, and to men disabled by duty, was amended. A special act, a memento of the war, was passed, to afford "relief to persons holding or possessing lands in the district of Niagara in consequence of the deeds, wills, etc., having been destroyed when the enemy burned the town." Commissioners to be appointed by the governor to inquire into and settle their claims. The session terminated on the 1st of April, 1816. Previous to its close, a joint address was voted for the purchase of a service of plate, value £3,000, for presentation to lieutenantgovernor Gore. In recording the fact, it is difficult to assign the special causes which suggested this mark of legislative favour. Gore was personally popular, but I cannot myself see any service performed by him to warrant this consideration. In the session of 1815, £1,000 had been voted for a monument to sir Isaac Brock.* The vote to Gore could have owed its origin only to one of those political combinations by which a few active men attain their purpose, and for which posterity in vain seeks * I refer the reader to Vol. VIII., p. 237, for the account of the proceedings which led to the construction of the Brock column at Queenston Heights. 1816] INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE PROVINCES. 203 an explanation. The vote excites the greater surprise, when it is remembered that no similar honour was paid to sir Gordon Drummond, whose masterly defence of western Canada must ever remain as one of the brightest records of the British army. A more important address was passed before the close of the session.* It represented the obstacles experienced in the attempt to regulate the commercial intercourse between Upper and Lower Canada; also, in ascertaining the amount of duties payable to Upper Canada and determining the mode of payment. By the system followed, the legislature of Lower Canada, without communication with that of the upper province, had power to increase, diminish, or even entirely to destroy the revenue, on which the province depended for support of the government. The address of the legislature prayed that a bill be laid before the imperial parliament for the regulation of the commercial intercourse between the provinces and the establishment of duties receivable, the drawbacks to be paid in accordance with the general commercial policy of the United kingdom and the just interests of the province. Details of the revenue withheld and fruitless applications for redress were specified at length, and the governor was prayed to make such representations of the grievance that he held expedient. He was further requested to take measures to obtain more immediate redress by the appointment of commissioners, or by communicating directly with Lower Canada. It was claimed that the amount remaining due to Upper Canada on goods of which a return had been made was £5,178 5s. 41⁄2d. not returned was £7,187 12s. £12,365 17s. 41⁄2d. The amount due on duties The total was estimated at During the session, chief-justice Scott resigned the speakership of the house of assembly. Gore recommended the appointment of judge Powell, with an allowance of £400 for the session, to pay the expenses of the table. In the interim, before the meeting of the legislature in [Can. Arch., Q. 320, p. 96. 24th March, 1816.] 1817, great dissatisfaction had arisen, caused by the orders from the colonial office to prohibit all settlement from the United States. This proceeding was one of those fatuous acts of interference, so frequent in these years, on the part of the home government officials. It may be compared with the instructions of lord Bathurst to leave a belt of twenty miles of wilderness between Canada and the United States, west of lake Champlain. * If there was one point on which interference would be sensibly felt, it was when settlement was stopped by arbitrary and ill-advised regulations. Land at this date constituted almost the only wealth of Upper Canada, and the only means of disposing of it was to the newly arrived settlers. To the individual, any measure which prevented its sale was a grievance, while the stoppage of immigration into the province was to delay all progress and its attendant prosperity. Such a policy kept Upper Canada stationary, fettering all effort at advancement, and exercising the depressing influence which proceeds from want of enterprise and the absence of commercial activity. What caused this feeling to be more generally entertained was the marked progress visible in the United States, the reverse of the stationary condition that it was then the fate of Upper Canada to experience. These instructions, dated the 10th of January, 1815, had remained but little enforced until Gore's return. Murray, during the few weeks that he had held the government, had issued a proclamation, calling upon magistrates to carry into effect the statute for securing the province against seditious attempts to disturb its tranquillity. Gore, a month after his arrival, took active steps to carry out this policy. A circular, dated the 14th of October, 1815, was sent to the commissioners in the several districts, empowered to administer the oath of allegiance to all entering the province from the United States. Hitherto, on taking the oath, they could legally hold property, and within certain limits enjoy the privileges of British subjects. The circular set forth that Ante, p. 41. 1817] THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 205 it was expedient that the number and characters of aliens entering the province should be known. The names and calling of those residing within the district were to be reported, with the names of those hereafter arriving. It was forbidden to administer the oath of allegiance to any person not holding office, or to the son of a U. E. loyalist, without special authority, in each case, from the governor. In connection with the above instructions, it must be remembered that magistrates had the power to order out of the province any one who had not taken the oath of allegiance. This policy, so detrimental to settlement, and the consequent sale of land, was particularly distasteful to the speculators. Among those so affected was Mr. William Dickson, of Niagara, as Gore himself pointed out, a legislative councillor and a commissioner to administer the oaths. Dickson disobeyed the instructions, and claimed the right that every person could legally settle and establish himself in the province. In this state of public feeling, the legislature met on the 4th of February, 1817. The question came before the house, the prime mover being colonel Nichol. Gore attributed his conduct to personal disappointment, and to resentment because his losses during the war, and they had been great, had not been considered. Nichol was simply the mouthpiece of those holding land, who saw in this exclusion of settlers from the United States the depreciation of their property, owing to the enforced absence of all demand for it, and that this arbitrary measure would assure a continuation of the depression felt throughout the province. A committee of the whole met on the 3rd of April, when the several subjects were discussed in a tone highly displeasing to the governor and executive; as to the propriety and expediency of preventing emigration from the United States; the inefficiency of the post-office service; the influence on the province by the retention of the crown and the clergy reserves; and the failure to grant lands to the volunteers and militia who had taken part in the war. The house was abruptly prorogued on the 7th of April. Gore has himself left on record his reasons for taking this extreme measure, his letter having been written on the day of the prorogation.* The first two resolutions were carried, that the act for naturalising foreign protestants, 13 George II., had been passed; and, that the act for encouraging settlers in America, 30 George III., had been also passed. The third resolution, that these acts were still in force, was lost by the vote of the chairman. The committee rose, reported progress and asking to sit again on Monday, the 7th February. On this day, at eleven o'clock, before the minutes were read, without previous notice, Gore, to the surprise of the province, having assented to several bills, the bank bill being reserved, prorogued the house. His speech consisted of a few sentences, and what was wanting in length was supplied by cynicism. After telling the members that the proceedings had been protracted by an unusual interruption of business, he continued: "Your longer absence from your respective vocations, must be too great a sacrifice for the objects which may remain to occupy your attention." Gore wrote to Bathurst in no such spirit; he described the resolutions as a censure on the government for restraining settlement from the United States, and he recommended the immediate repeal of the two acts named, if they granted the power claimed. The report of the committee had been carried by 13 to 7. An address had also been voted to the lieutenantgovernor, requesting him to inform the house if steps had been taken by his majesty's government at home, to allot lands to the volunteers and militia who had served during the war. The remaining resolutions to be submitted were not such as would have been agreeable to the executive with the policy they were striving to enforce. They represented, that in the late war the operations had been affected by the want of population, the country injured by the calls for militia service and transport, and they dwelt on the enormous expense [Can. Arch., Q. 322, p. 129. 7th April, 1817. Gore to Bathurst.] |