1829-3 The Case of the Canadas. G3 



the provinces took place, divided the counties which were to send mem- 

 bers to the House of Assembly by the number of inhabitants which 

 they contained. This expedient not only made many of the counties 

 much too small in point of extent — the places on the banks of the Saint 

 Lawrence being much more thickly peopled than the more remote parts — 

 but many of the townships that have been since formed being wholly 

 omitted, the Committee recommend an immediate alteration ; and ad- 

 mitting the right of sending representatives to the House of Assembly, 

 to belong, as it unquestionably does, to the whole body of the country, 

 they suggest, that a representative system should be founded on the 

 compound basis of territory and population, similar to that which pre- 

 vails in Upper Canada, and which ought to prevail in the lower pro- 

 vince. 



With the exception of one recommendation, that the unimproved tracts 

 which have been granted to individuals holding official employments 

 under government, should be subject to a small annual tax, these are 

 the whole of the suggestions made by the Committee, respecting all that 

 the first branch of their inquiry comprises as to the townships of Lower 

 Canada. 



The task of considering the petition from the Seigneuries became a 

 more serious one, because the complaints which it contains are of a much 

 graver character, and require much more serious investigation. The Com- 

 mittee report distinctly and uneqiu vocally, that the financial affairs of the 

 colony have fallen into such a state of confusion and difficulty, arising 

 from the disputes between the government and the House of Assembly 

 as to the right of appropriating the pubUc revenue, as calls for an early 

 and decisive remedy. There is nothing vague in this ; and the grounds 

 upon which this very important recommendation is made, are as clearly 

 laid down as the recommendation is precise. They say they have exa- 

 mined ]\Ir. Neilson, Mr. Viger, and Mr. CuvilUer, the members of the 

 Assembly of Lower Canada, deputed to support the petition, and to exert 

 themselves in obtaining the redress they pray for ; they have inquired into 

 the different sources of revenue, and have inspected the pubHc documents 

 relating to them. Without disputing the opinion given by the law officers 

 of the crown, and acted upon by the local government, that the crown has 

 the right of appropriating the revenues, they say they think that in future 

 the receipt and expenditure of the whole public revenue ought to be 

 placed under the controul and superintendence of the House of Assem- 

 bly. They think — wisely as it should seem from the experience of 

 other states — that the salaries of the judges, the governors, the mem- 

 bers of the Common Council, should be supplied by a permanent, 

 instead of by an annual vote. 



They close this pai't of their report by calling the attention of the 

 House to what they, with great justice, characterise as an important cir- 

 cumstance, " that, in the progress of the disputes between the gover- 

 nor and the Assembly, the local government has thought it necessary, 

 through a long series of years, to have recourse to a measure, (which 

 nothing but tlie most extreme necessity could justify,) of annually ap- 

 propriating, by its own authority, large sums of the money of the province, 

 amounting to no less a sum than 140,000/., without the consent of the 

 representatives of the people, under whose controul the appropriation of 

 these sums is placed by the constitution." And they add, " they cannot 

 but express their deep regret, that such a state of things should have 



