is not clearly unconstitutional and illegal: And that, when the improper opposition arises from Discussions of a mixed nature, where they can plausibly plead their Privileges and Rights in favor of their Conduct, however improper; no future allusion to such Conduct should be made by the Governor on which the Assembly might fasten a Complaint.

The two Grounds of Complaint' against the Assembly which you specify are their Proceedings for preventing Judges sitting in the Assembly, & for endeavoring to expel a Member on the allegation of his being a Jew, altho' he had taken the regular Qualification Oath on the Gospels.

The first of these objects can never, as you admit, be considered in itself as an improper or illegitimate one to pursue, however the Motive giving rise to Discussion may be factious; nor am I by any means persuaded that the Regulation would be an unfit one in itself: And further when the Bill which they had passed, had been thrown out by the Legislative Council, the Assembly had a right, if they thought fit to appoint a Committee to examine the inconveniences which arose from Judges canvassing at Elections.

So again with regard to the Endeavours to expel Mr. Hart for being a Jew, it was obvious that a real Jew could not sit in the Assembly, as he could not take an oath upon the Gospels-it was therefore competent to the Assembly to inquire whether Mr. Hart had complied with all such Requisitions as might be legally necessary to prove his bona fide conversion to Christianity, and that he took the Oath without mental Reservation. I state these Points, not from any doubt of the Assembly acting in the spirit you represent, but to shew, that supposing the next Assembly may meet with a similar Disposition & Temper to that for which you dissolved the last: It is probable they will renew the discussion of measures against which your Censure was pronounced & will make such assertions of their Rights of free Discussion and Debate as may lead to more Embarrassments than have yet arisen.

When you advert to the expressions in which you have conveyed your Sentiments of the Proceedings of the Assembly you may naturally suppose they have created some Sensation here, & that an anxiety has been expressed as to the particulars of the Conduct which could require such severe animadversion. I shall hope however that there will not be any public Discussion on the subject, as the Topics are of such a nature as might give the efforts of a Party hostile to you or to Government some advantage.

What I would therefore recommend is, in Case, on the Meeting of the New Assembly animadversions should be made on your Speech on the close of the last, that as you will not be wanting in that firmness Your Situation & character demand, so you will avoid any Expression, which can be construed as touching in any degree, upon their supposed Privileges & the general Freedom of Inquiry & Debate.

In regard to the Measure of excluding Judges from a Seat in the Legislature there is no Repugnance felt here to the Measure, should you at any time see it right to acquiesce in it-The Principle of exclusion here extends to what are called the 12 Judges & to them only; for the Welsh Judges, the Judge of the Admiralty & Prerogative & the Master of the Rolls all sit in Parliament.

I have the honor, etc.,

CASTLEREAGH.

1 See No. LXX.

My Lord,

LXXIII

CRAIG TO LIVERPOOL'

[Trans. Doughty and McArthur.]

Quebec, 1st May, 1810.

If my short dispatch No. 2 which I transmitted by way of New York has reached Your Lordship, you will be in some degree prepared to receive the Report on the State of this Province, which I conceive it to be my particular duty, under the events that have lately taken place and the impression to which these have given rise in my mind, and in that of very many of the best informed persons here, to lay before His Majesty's Government.

In the consideration which may be given to the various objects, which I may feel myself called on to submit to your Lordship, I must request that the particular situation in which this Province stands, as being a conquered Country, may never be put out of view, and I claim that it may always be recollected that I speak of a Colony, the population of which, is usually estimated at 300,000 souls, and which, calculating upon the best data in our possession, I myself believe to exceed 250,000. Of these 250,000 souls about 20,000 or 25,000 may be English or Americans, the remainder are French. I use the term designedly My Lord, because I mean to say, that they are in Language, in religion, in manner and in attachment completely French-bound to us by no one tie, but that of a Common Government, and on the contrary viewing us with sentiments of mistrust & jealousy, with envy, and I believe I should not go too far, were I to say with hatred.

*

So compleat do I consider this alienation to be, that on the most careful review of all that I know in the Province, there are very few whom I could venture to point out as (not) being tainted with it; the line of distinction between us is completely drawn. Friendship (and) Cordiality are not to be found-even common intercourse scarcely existsthe lower class of people to strengthen a term of contempt add Angloisand the better sort with whom there formerly did exist some interchange of the common civilities of Society have of late entirely withdrawn themselves the alledged reason is that their circumstances have gradually declined in proportion as ours have increased in affluence; this may have had some effect, but the observation has been made also, that this abstraction has taken place exactly in proportion as the power of the French in England has become more firmly established.

Among the objects which I deem it necessary to bring to your Lordship's view, it is impossible for me to overlook the Clergy', and the Religious establishments of the Country, the Act of the 14th of His present Majesty by which the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion is granted to the Canadians, expressly adds the condition that it shall be subject to the King's Supremacy as established by the Act of the first of Elizabeth-but neither has this, or one Article of His Majesty's Instructions to the Governors ever been attended to, the Appointment of the Bishop seems to have been conducted loosely, and with very little ceremony, the Council Books offer no other Document on the occasion, than that the person has taken the Oath pointed out by the Act of the 14th Geo. III in lieu of the Oath required by the Statute of the first year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, but without mentioning on what account 1 Robert Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, succeeded Castlereagh as Secretary for War and the Colonies in December, 1809. Cf. Milnes' despatch. 1 Nov. 1800. (No. LXV.) See Quebec Act, 1774, § V. (No. XXV.)

he takes it; of late he has been designated on that occasion as Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, formerly he was only called Superintendant of the Romish Church.

Altho' it does not appear upon the Records of the Council Board or by any other Document, His Majesty does however nominate the Coadjutor, but this nomination appears to have been verbal. I observe in the Return of the offices of emolument of this Colony lately made to your Lordship's Office, the Bishop says it is cum futura successione, how that can be, when it does not appear to be under any written document of any sort, I do not know, unless it be in the Pope's subsequent confirmation, which always takes place, it is however of such weight, that the succession of the coadjutor to the Bishopric seems to be considered as a matter of course, at least there is no appearance of there ever having been any interference on the part of His Majesty's Government.

This Bishop tho' unknown to our Constitution and confirmed, if not appointed by a Foreign Power, has been suffered to exercise every Jurisdiction incident to the episcopal functions, he nominates to all the benefices of the Province, and removes at his pleasure from one living, to another, and it is not an unfrequent circumstance, for an offence, or a supposed offence, to be punished by a degradation from a good Cure to one of lesser emolument. His Patronage is at least equal to that of the Government, & it is so perfectly at his pleasure, that Government has no other notice of it, than that he usually once a year delivers to the Governor a list of such changes as have taken place during the preceding twelve months; so complete does the Bishop consider his independance, & so cautions is he not to perform any act which might be construed into an acknowledgement of His Majesty's Rights that if a Proclamation is issued for a Fast, or thanksgiving or any other object which involves it in an Act of the Church, He will not obey it as an emanation from the King, but He issues a mandate of his own to the same purpose, indeed, but without the least allusion to His Majesty's authority, or the Proclamation which the Government has issued, In truth the Catholic Bishop tho' unacknowledged as such, exercises now a much greater degree of authority than he did in the time of the French Government, because he has arrogated to himself every power which was then possessed by the Crown; The Arms of England are nowhere put up in the Churches.

With the Curés themselves, no direct communication from the Government exists in any shape, a numerous and powerfull body, dispersed in every corner of the Country, and certainly possessing a very considerable weight, and influence with the people, scarcely know, and are hardly known to the Government, no one Act of Government since it has been under my direction, has ever been addressed to a Curé, nor has any one instance of communication from a Curé ever reached me, perhaps an exception to the first part of this observation might be brought in my having in the desire of circulating the Speech I made to the Parliament when I dissolved it, directed a Copy to be sent to each of the Curés, the circumstance however will furnish no exception to the second part, for there did not occur a single instance of a Curé even acknowledging the receipt of it.

Their attachment to France is equally undoubted, and it is now even supposed to be not a little directed to the Person of Bonaparte, who since the concordat, is considered among them as the Restorer of the Roman Catholic Religion.

Of the Legislative Council it is not necessary to say much, it is certainly composed of every thing that is respectable in the Province, and I believe the Members to be on all occasions animated by the best intentions towards His Majesty's Service, & the public good; It is an Object of great jealousy to the Lower House, who seem anxious to seize every opportunity of showing the little respect in which they hold it, It is thought that an increase of numbers would add to their weight, at present they seldom exceed five or six in the House.

Q

To a People circumstanced as I have described these to be, ignorant and credulous in the extreme, having no one common tie of affection, or union, viewing us with Jealousy, mistrust, and hatred, having separate & distinct Interests, It has been thought proper to give a share in the Government of the Country, by a House of Representatives, in which they must ever have the Majority; It is very far from my intention to question the liberal views on which the measure was originally founded, but it is my business to point out the consequences that have ensued from it. Your Lordship is aware that tho' the Constitutional Act has estab lished a qualification for the Electors, there is none required in the Representation, I mean with respect to Property. The Numbers of English in the House has never exceeded 14 or 15, in the two last Parliaments there have been 12, in the present there are ten, some of these have of late come from a pretty low step in the scale of society, but in general they are composed of two, or three Avocats, about the same number of Gentlemen possessing Landed property, and the remainder of Merchants of Character & estimation; Upon the first establishment of the House, the few Canadian Gentlemen that existed in the Country stepped forward, and some were elected, but they soon found that nothing was to be gained by it, on the contrary, that their absence from home and their attendance at Quebec, during three months of the year, was given at an expence that very few of them could afford, and they gradually withdrew: now that some of them have attempted to resume the stations they abandoned, they have found it impossible; but at all times, their numbers were inconsiderable: the House has ever been as it is now, in great proportion as to the Canadian part, filled up with Avocats, and Notaries, shop-keepers, and with the Common Habitants, as they are called, that is, the most ignorant of Labouring farmers, some of these, can neither read nor write. In the last parliament there were two who actually signed the Roll by marks, and their were five more, whose signatures were scarcely legible, and were such as to shew that to be the extent of their ability in writing.

I know not whether the excessive ignorance of these people, be not more prejudicial than even any malevolence could be with which they could be supposed to be actuated, In the latter case one might at least expect, that there would sometimes be division among them, but at present they are compleatly in the hands of the party which leads the House, Debate is out of question, they do not understand it, they openly avow that the matter has been explained to them the night before, by such & such persons, and they invariably vote accordingly; It is in this manner at their nightly meetings which are held for the purpose, that every question is previously decided, and it is impossible that these people can ever be set right, for those who judge right, never meet them out of the House, they do not associate with them; There was lately in the House a Habitant, who uniformly voted on every occasion against the prevailing party, but with this single exception, I do not believe that during the three Sessions that have been held, since I came here, there has been an instance of one of the Members of that Class voting otherwise than with the general Mass, that is, as directed: I mention this in order to point out, the Compleat subjection in which these people are held, for if they made use of their own Judgment, it is impossible, but that during so long a period, some question must have arisen, on which there must have been a difference of opinion.

In such a House of Assembly as I have described, Your Lordship will easily perceive that it is impossible that Government can possess any influence, they are certainly the most independant Assembly that exists, in any known Government in the world, for a Governor cannot obtain among them even that sort of influence that might arise from personal intercourse, I can have none with Blacksmiths, Millers, & Shopkeepers, even the Avocats & Notaries, who compose so considerable a portion of the House, are generally speaking, such as I can nowhere meet, except during the actual sitting of Parliament, when I have a day of the week expressly appropriated to the receiving a large portion of them at dinner.

Of the Party who had the House, I have already had occasion to speak in a former dispatch, and have been induced to enter into the Characters of a few of them; They consist mostly of a set of unprincipled Avocats, and Notaries, totally uninformed as to the Principles of the British Constitution or parliamentary proceedings, which they profess to take for their Model, with no property of any sort, having everything to gain, and nothing to lose by any change they can bring about, only any state of Confusion into which they may throw the Province:-That these people have gradually advanced in audacity, in proportion as they have considered the power of France as more firmly established by the Successes of Bonaparte in Europe is obvious to every one, and that they are using every endeavour to pave the way for a change of Dominion, and a Return under that Government, is the general opinion of all ranks with whom it is possible to converse on the Subject; Even the very few of the better sort of Canadians themselves who have sufficient information to be aware of the misery that would ensue on such an event, while the present Government exists in that Country, and who notwithstanding their natural affection towards what they still consider as their Mother Country, would shrink from a Return under its rule at the moment, nevertheless confess the obvious tendency of the proceedings that are going on here; Unfortunately the great Mass of the people are completely infected, they look forward to the event, they whisper it among themselves, an I am assured that they have even a song among them, which points out Napoleon as the person who is to expel the English: with them the expectation is checked by no sort of apprehension, They are completely ignorant of the nature of the French System, they have not an idea that a change of Rulers would produce any alteration in their situation, and tho' if you argue with them they are ready to admit that they are happy, and in a State of prosperity as they are, they do not conceive that they would not have been equally so had they remained Subjects of France.

It is scarcely possible to conceive the influence that the Ruling Party in the House has acquired among the people, or the lengths to which those have been carried by that influence, without the possibility of pointing out one act, by which they have been either injured, or oppressed, they have been taught however to look to His Majsty's Government with the utmost Jealousy, and distrust, they avow it, and they publickly declare, that no officer of the Crown is to be trusted, or to be Elected into the House, These, together with all English in general, and their own Seigneurs, are entirely proscribed; It is only in the Cities, and Boroughs, that they have any chance, there are only two instances, where long possession of every extensive property has enabled the holders to retain their seats, tho' it has been in both Cases with the utmost difficulty. It is now to La Chambre, which is the usual expression, for they never even mention the Council, that the people look up (on) as the Governors of the Country, and yet such is the extraordinary effect of old impressions, that "de par ie Roi," at this moment would I believe be followed by immediate compliance, without once reflecting whether the order were warranted by Act of Parliament or contrary to it.

The great vehicle of communication between the leaders & the people has been a paper called the Canadian', which has been published & industriously circulated in the Country for these three or four years past; the avowed object of this paper has been to vilify and degrate the officers of Government under the title of Gens en place, and to bring into contempt His Majesty's Government itself, under the affectation of the supposed existence of a Ministere; The conduct of which was as much open to their animadversions as is that of His Majesty's Ministers at Home.

Every topick that is calculated to mislead & inflame the people has at times occupied the pages of this paper, nothing has been omitted. The

Le Canadien (see No. LXXIX) was founded as a weekly newspaper in November, 1806, its purpose being to defend the French element in the Province against the attacks of the English-speaking commercial community which appeared in The Mercury. Craig seized the press and arrested the proprietors of Le Canadien in March, 1810.