Canada.] regret at the painful cause which has removed this distinguished nobleman from a station, the duties of which he discharged with zeal and ability, that on every occasion won for him the highest approbation of his Sovereign, and the respect and gratitude of the people over whom he presided as her representative. 66 The several addresses to the Queen, which were adopted during the last session of the Legislature, have been laid at the foot of the throne. It will be my pleasing duty to announce to you Her Majesty's gracious replies. I should, under any circumstances, have directed your early attention to the condition of the militia law. But the unsettled state of the negotiations which have been for some time past carried on between the Imperial Government and that of the United States of America renders it imperative upon me to press more immediately on your consideration the necessity of a reorganisation of this arm of the public defence. I feel the most unbounded confidence that the loyalty and patriotism of every class of Her Majesty's subjects in Canada will be conspicuous, as they have been heretofore, should occasion call for their services to aid in the protection of their country; but a welldigested and uniform system is indispensable to give a fitting direction to the most zealous efforts. At the same time I feel warranted in assuring you that while our gracious Sovereign will ever rely on the free and loyal attachment of her Canadian people for defence of this province, and the maintenance of British connection, Her Majesty will be prepared, as her predecessors have always been, to provide, with promptitude and 66 "The subject of the civil list, which was brought under your consideration by my predecessor, will doubtless engage your attention, when I trust to your wisdom to a provision as will make such enable Her Majesty to give effect to your wishes, by recommending to the Imperial Parliament the requisite changes in the Act of Reunion. "Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly, "The financial accounts of the province for the past year will be The you. immediately laid before estimates for the service of the current year will be likewise submitted for your early consideration. "The necessity of providing for the prosecution and completion of the public improvements, undertaken with the sanction of Parliament, will form a subject for your deliberation. "It affords me pleasure to be able to inform you that the revenue of the past year has not fallen short of the expectations which were entertained of its amount, and I rely on your willingness to make such provisions for the public service as a due regard to the interests of the people may require. Gentlemen, 66 Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly, and "Since your last meeting, the ancient city of Quebec has been subjected to unexampled calamity Measures, in the successive fires which laid waste its buildings. rendered indispensable by the exigency, were adopted by my pre decessor, which will be sent down for your approval. "The sympathy and benevolence of different portions of the British empire were roused into active exercise by the knowledge of the severe infliction with which it had pleased Divine Providence to permit the citizens of Quebec to be visited, and we have the strongest reasons for appreciating the noble generosity which has been exhibited, and which has proved how truly the inhabitants of Canada are felt by the people of Great Britain to be brethren and fellow-subjects of the same mighty nation. It will be for your wisdom to consider what further measures it may be proper to adopt for the restoration of what has been thus destroyed. "The last intelligence from the mother country indicates a most important change in the commercial policy of the empire. I had previously taken occasion to press upon Her Majesty's Government a due consideration of the effect that any contemplated alteration might have on the interests of Canada. But until we have a fuller exposition of the projected scheme, which a few days will probably bring to us, it would be premature to anticipate that the claims of this province to a just measure of protection had been overlooked. "In these and the various other subjects affecting the prosperity of Canada which may occupy your attention, I offer my hearty cooperation; and I earnestly trust that, under the direction of an allwise Providence, we shall be enabled to pursue a course calculated to promote the best interests, and to foster the rising growth, of this rapidly advancing colony. On the 23rd of March, Colonel Prince, in the Legislative Assem bly, moved the Address in answer to the Speech from his Excellency, when Mr. Baldwin rose and said, that the amendments proposed last Session were of such a character that he could not consistently concur in the Address, and therefore, to protect himself and friends from inconsistency, he must propose an amendment to the third resolution. He had no great difficulty in concurring in that portion of the address congratulating his Excellency on his appointment to the province. Certainly they had no great reason to be satisfied with military governors; but, when he looked upon the political education of the late Governor-General, he thought the quarter of the globe whence he obtained it not the spot the most to be admired; and a military education would inculcate principles less objectionable than the Eastern dominions, where the late GovernorGeneral learned his. Instead, therefore, of " That this House concurs with his Excellency in expressing sincere regret at the painful cause which removed his Excellency's distinguished predecessor from a station, the duties whereof he discharged with a zeal and ability that on every occasion won for him the highest approbation of his Sovereign, and the respect and gratitude of the people over whom he presided as her representative," he would move that the third resolution should stand thus :-"That this House concurs with his Excellency in expressing sincere regret at the painful cause which removed his Excellency the GovernorGeneral from that high station.' The amendment was put and lost-the ayes being 27, and the noes 43. The Address was afterwards agreed to without a division. One of the most important sub Canada.] jects that engaged the attention of ment entire. "TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT "Most gracious Sovereign, - "We assure your Majesty, that while we have seen with unmingled satisfaction the happiness and pro sperity of the people of this colony advancing in steady and successful progression under that moderate system of protection of her staple productions, grain and timber, which your Majesty and your Imperial Parliament have hitherto graciously secured to them, we feel that we should be wanting in our duty, as well to your Majesty as to our constituents, did we fail earnestly to represent to your Majesty that we view with serious apprehension and alarm, as detrimental to the best interests of this colony, the adoption of the proposed principle of commercial intercourse now under the consideration of the Imperial Parliament. "We cannot but fear that the abandonment of this protective principle, the very basis of the colonial commercial system, is not only calculated materially to retard the agricultural improvement of the country, and check its hitherto rising prosperity, but seriously to impair our ability to purchase the manufactured goods of Great Britain; a result alike prejudicial to this colony and the parent state. "We feel truly grateful to your Majesty for enabling us, by guaranteeing the payment of 1,500,000%., to undertake many valuable publie improvements which are now approaching to completion, and which, under the existing laws, would ulBut timately prove productive. should the duties on foreign and colonial produce entering the United Kingdom be assimilated, as at present proposed by your Majesty's Imperial Government, it is much to be apprehended that the agriculturists of this province will be deprived of a fair and remunerative price for their surplus produce; and that, consequently, the increase of our staple products, which was rea sonably anticipated, would be checked to such an extent as materially to lessen the prospect of our canals and other public works proving as productive as we had reason to expect. "We respectfully represent to your Majesty that, situated as Canada is, and with a climate so severe as to leave barely one-half of the year open for intercourse by the St. Lawrence with the mother country, the cost of transporting her products to market is much greater than is paid by the inhabitants of the United States; and that without a measure of protection, or some equivalent advantage, we cannot successfully compete with that country. "It therefore becomes our duty, as faithful subjects of your Majesty, to point out what we sincerely believe must be the result of measures which have for their object the repeal of the laws affording protection to the Canadian export trade. First, it will discourage those at present engaged in agricultural pursuits from extending their operations; secondly, it will prevent the influx of respectable emigrants from the mother country, who have for many years past settled in large numbers on the waste lands of the province, and who, by their industry and capital, have materially contributed to that rapid advancement of the country which we have before noticed; and, lastly, it is much to be feared that, should the inhabitants of Canada, from the withdrawal of all protection to their staple products, find that they cannot successfully compete with their neighbours of the United States in the only market open to them, they will naturally and of necessity begin to doubt whether remaining a por tion of the British empire will be of that paramount advantage which they have hitherto found it to be. These, we humbly submit, are considerations of grave importance both to your Majesty and the people of this province; and we trust we need not assure your Majesty that any changes which would tend in the remotest degree to weaken the ties that have for so many years, and under trying circumstances, bound the people of Canada to that land which they are proud to call their mother country, would be viewed as the greatest misfortune which could befall them. "We would further remind your Majesty that, while in compliance with the recommendation of the Imperial Government we have passed a law repealing all duty on American produce coming through our country for exportation, no similar advantage is accorded by the American Government to the people of this province, but that duties, amounting in most cases to prohibition, are rigorously maintained by that Government on every article of ours entering within their ports. The disadvantage we must labour under in this respect is so apparent, that we respectfully request your Majesty will be pleased to cause the necessary steps to be taken for opening a negotiation with the Government of the United States for the admission of our products into their ports on the same terms that theirs are admitted into those of Great Britain and this colony. "We also humbly request that your Majesty will favourably consider the justice of admitting the products of this province generally into the Imperial ports free of duty, as the expense of transportation is in itself all the protection which our fellow-subjects in the United King dom can reasonably expect as respects the imports from a colony situated at such a distance from the mother country, and with ports closed to commerce for so large a portion of the year. And we the more confidently appeal to your Majesty's justice upon this point, as the relief we seek in this particular is in strict accordance with the very principles upon which the charges that we deprecate are based, as well as to the assurance received through your Majesty's Secretary of State, that it is the desire of your Majesty's Government that the trade of Canada should, in all respects, approach as nearly to perfect freedom as the wishes of the inhabitants and the exigencies of the public revenue may permit. "While the subject that we have thus brought under the notice of your Majesty embraces other points requiring the gravest deliberation, and calling for the most favourable consideration on the part of the Imperial authorities, your Majesty's faithful Commons have felt it to be their duty to your Majesty, to the Imperial Parliament, and the mother country, and to their own constituents, to lose no time in at once approaching your Majesty with the declaration of their views upon that part of it embraced in their present Address, and to which, renewing their assurance of devoted attachment to your Majesty's person and Government, they earnestly entreat your Majesty's most gracious and favourable consideration. "Attested, W. B. LINDSAY, "Clerk of Assembly. "Legislative Assembly, Tuesday, May 12th, 1846." Even if these gloomy forebodings are not realized, it is impossible not to admit that Canada had just reason for alarm and complaint. The measure of the British Government was a bold departure from the principles of all former legislation as regards our colonies, and however much the experiment, so loudly clamoured for by the free-traders in the mother country, might benefit the manufactures there, it was difficult to see how it could operate otherwise than as a heavy blow and great discouragement to the interests of Canada. We may be permitted to express our doubts as to the wisdom of thus alienating the good-will of our colonial dependencies, for, whatever may be the commercial result of free-trade measures, the political effect undoubtedly has been to weaken the bonds which attached Canada to England. On the 9th of June, Lord Cathcart closed the Session, and prorogued the Provincial Parliament to the 18th of July. He delivered the following Speech : "Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly, "At this advanced period of the season I could scarcely have entertained any reasonable expectation, that the present Session of Parliament could be sufficiently prolonged to enable you to dispose of the various measures submitted to your deliberation with the attentive consideration due to the highly important interests which many of them involved. Your indefatigable attention to the laborious duties which have been imposed upon you has, however, enabled you to consider and |
