128 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



By this time there was a great change in the official view as to the proper form 

 of government for Canada. 



In moving for leave to introduce this Bill in the House of Commons, Pitt, with 

 almost his first word, said that it was proposed to give the Colonists "all the advan- 

 tages of the British constitution." In the extraordinary debate on the Bill lasting 

 five days. Fox said that the Bill held out to Canadians something like the shadow 

 of the British constitution, but denied them the substance. Burke could not keep 

 away from his bHe noire, the French Revolution, and had to be called to order more 

 than once, but he urged that not the bare imitation of the British constitution should 

 be given but the thing itself. He said that "it was usual in every Colony to form 

 the government as nearly upon the model of the Mother Country as was consistent 

 with the difference of local circumstance." With Fox he urged that the "constitution, 

 deservedly the glory and happiness of those who lived under it, and the model and 

 envy of the world should be extended .... as far as the local conditions of the 

 Colony . . . should admit." 



Seventeen years before, the Attorney-General Thurlow had thought it absurd 

 to give Canada a Constitution at all like that of Britain — now every one believed 

 that the Colony should have a Constitution as like that of the Mother Country as 

 possible. Fox thought the new Constitution not democratic enough, but all thought 

 it like that of Britain — as, indeed, it was on paper. 



In the House of Lords Lord Granville said "Our Constitution . . . the envy 

 of every surrounding nation — they are now about to communicate the blessings 

 of the English Constitution to the subjects of Canada because they (i.e., the Lords) 

 were fully convinced that it was the best in the world" — and there was no dissent. 



CHAPTER IV 

 Power of the Pre-Assembly Councils 



As we have now reached the time when a constitution similar to 

 that of Great Britain was intended to be granted to the Colony it may 

 be of interest to examine what the legislative power was before this 

 time. 



In Governor Murray's Instructions December 3, 1763 (1) it was 

 directed that "no Law or Ordinance respecting private Property be 

 passed without a Clause suspending its execution until "the Royal 

 pleasure should be known nor 'without a Saving of the Right of Us, 

 Our Heirs and Successors and of all Bodies politic and corporate 

 and of all other Persons except such as are mentioned in the said Law 

 or Ordinance and those claiming by from and under them; and before 

 such Law or Ordinance is Passed, Proof must be made before You in 

 Council and entered in the Council Books that public Notification was 

 made of the Party's Intention to apply for such Act in the several 

 Parish Churches Where the Lands in Question lie for three Sundays 

 at least, &c., &c." 



This followed substantially the practice in the Mother Country 

 in Private Bills legislation and the provisions were much the same 

 as in the Royal Instructions to Governors in the English American 



