St Patrick’s Day, Montreal, 1859

Montreal Gazette, 18 March 1859, page 2

St Patrick’s Day—Our fellow citizens of Irish origin, who yesterday assembled to honor the feast of their Patron Saint, had surely no complaints to make of the weather—a bright sun and a balmy west wind favored their national day, and drew on numbers to see the gallant display made by the Sons of Old Erin. Early yesterday morning the various national and religious societies assembled in front of the new St Patrick’s Hall in McGill Street, and, headed by the Prince’s Band, and Nos 4 and 5 Rifle Companies, proceeded through several of the thoroughfares to St Patrick’s Church, where an eloquent sermon was preached by Father Dowd. After Divine service, the procession reformed, and then made a detour through Griffintown, McGill Street, to St Patrick’s Hall, where speeches were delivered by the Mayor and B Devlin, Esq, after which the assembly dispersed, the militia companies proceeding to the armoury and there breaking up. In the evening, the St Patrick’s Society, and the Irish National and Literary Society held their annual dinners, which were very well attended.

I Remember… David Guthrie, Montreal, 1911

Montreal Daily Star, 19 April 1911, page 12

 

I Remember….

David Guthrie

 

“I remember over fifty years ago when there being no curling rinks in the city, we used to clear a sheet of ice on the river and there participate in the ‘roaring game’, “ said Mr David Guthrie, who is one of the oldest curlers in the city, if not in the Dominion.  He will celebrate his 74^th birthday on August 24^th and the 50^th anniversary of his wedding on the 12^th of July. 

“Yes, in the olden days we were not so particular as to having an exclusive sheet of ice.  The river served our purpose for a time.  Not, for long, however, for within a very few years the Caledonia Curling Club and the Montreal Curling Club were inaugurated.  They started on vacant lots on either side of St Catherine street near Mountain street.  The Caledonia occupied the south side lot, which was a field of considerable dimensions, and the Montreal Curling Club were on the north side of the street.  This ground was rented, and the club houses of which we were not a little proud, were very crude buildings.  No attempts were made at elaboration, as in our present numerous clubs throughout the city.  Everything was done and carried out with as little expense as possible.  No lights were even installed in the rinks.  These were unnecessary, for in the good old olden times, we did not have to work during the winter and we could play from early morning until it was too dark to see the curling stones.

“Yes, the olden times were easy.  Prevailing conditions at that time allowed of a great deal more sport than now.  There has been a great change in the city.  At the time of which I speak the population was in the neighbourhood of only 150,000.  It did not take much to feed and keep this number alive in the winter, consequently many of the citizens spent the winter with doing hardly any or very little work.  Work was not so necessary then, and the struggle for existence was almost nil.

“I was employed in the grocery business of Alexander McGibbon on St James street, which failed.  Mr McGibbon then joined James Baird and another business was opened about where Alexander’s confectionary is now on the same street.  It only required my being down for a brief period in the morning, and then I was free for the day, as were many other citizens, and then we repaired to the curling club, or other places of sport.  At that time there were only about 30 curlers in the city.  Now I understand there are about 3,000.”

 

Tracing Montreal’s Presbyterian Churches, 1786-1900 ish

I have decided to write an article on researching your Early Montreal Presbyterian Ancestors, for some publication or another…. suggestions always appreciated.  In doing so I had to make a chart tracing the evolution of Montreal’s Presbyterian churches over the last 200 years to trace where the original churches registers would have ended up.  So I thought, as a teaser, and of course to help those curious about Montreal’s Presbyterian churches and all the break-ups, and make-ups over the last while, I am posting the image here.

Enjoy.

Montreals presb congregations chartx

Tea Drinking, Montreal, 1858

Montreal Gazette, 27 February 1858, page 2

 

TEA DRINKING

 

If the question be narrowed down to that of “Tea or no Tea” we advocate the weed.  The world will be healthier and happier by the moderate use of any of the China teas in their purity, than without them.  The immoderate use of cold water is prejudicial to health, whether as a drink orlavemeat, and so is the immoderate use of bread and butter.  It is the argument of a fanatic to say that because the excessive use of any thing is injurious, it should therefore be  discarded altogether.  Chemistry decides that the essential elements of tea and coffee are identical, and are nutritious.  Tea is a stimulant, and so is every other nutritive article. That which imparts no stimulus is not fit for food.  An ordinary meal stimulates the pulse to greater activity five or ten per cent.  Tea, being served warm at meal time, promotes digestion by its warmth, as any warm drink will do.  Any cold drink even water, taken at meal time arrests the progress of digestion until it is served to the heat of about a hundred degrees, and if that arrest to be too long protracted, convulsions follow, and sometimes death as has happened many times to children, by eating a couple of hard boiled eggs hastily, or upon an empty stomach, or, indeed, eating much of any indigestible articles.  Thus it is that, so far as the use of tea banished the use of cold water at our meals it is a safeguard.  Late and hearty suppers destroy multitudes either outright in a night, or in the insidious progress of months and years.  It is almost the universal custom to take tea for supper.  It is a stimulant. It aids the stomach in digesting more than it would have done, just in proportion to its stimulating qualities.  And as all eat too much at supper time , the general drink of the day, is beneficial in the direction just named.  True wisdom lies in the moderate use of all the good things of this life.  It is stated that at a tea party of sixty women in England, it was ascertained that they were the mothers of eight hundred and sixty nine children.  The presumption is, that those women were tea-drinkers habitually, and it is equally inferable that they did not drink it very ‘weak’, yet they were healthy enough to be old, and healthy enough to be the mothers of large families.  An isolated fact proves nothing, but this is suggestive.  It is then safer and healthier to take a cup of warm tea for supper than a glass of cold water.  With our habit of warm tea, than to take no drink at all.  By the extravagant use of tea, many persons pass their nights in restlessness and dreams without being aware of the cause of it.  We advise such to experiment on themselves, and omit the altogether at supper, for a few times, and notice the result.  If you sleep better , it is clear that you have been using too much tea, either in quantity or in strength.  In order to be definite, we consider the following to be the moderate use of tea: A single cup at each meal as to quantity, as to strength measure it thus: put a teaspoonful in a hot teapot, pour on a quart of boiling water; two thirds of a tea-cup of this, adding a third of cream or boiling milk, or hot water with sugar, or not.  This is strong enough.  We believe that such use of China teas, by excluding cold drinks at our meals and by their nutritious and pleasantly stimulating character, may be practised for a life time to very great advantage, without any drawback whatever; coffee, also.  We believe that the world and all that is created upon it is for man, and that the rational use of its good things will promote the health and happiness of all mankind.—Hall’s Journal of Health.

 

A Case of Body Snatching, Montreal, 1862

Montreal Gazette, 26 February 1862, page 2

 

THE RECENT CASE OF BODY SNATCHING-

We translate the following from Le Pays.  We stated last week that some bodies had been stolen from the vault of the Parish of St Constant, in which several medical students had introduced themselves by making an opening four feet square in a wall four feet thick, with a crowbar. A search-warrant was issued on Tuesday, on the deposition of the carter who conveyed the students on the occasion; but not withstanding the conscientious efforts of the police to recover the bodies, they could not be found.  The body of a man was found on the dissecting table of the McGill College Medical School, and one of the persons who had laid the information, and whose father died at the age of 85 years, thought he recognized it, but the absence of teeth in the mouth of the deceased, threw a doubt on the statement, and it was decided not to remove it.  As to the other body, that of a woman of about 40 years of age, who some time before her death, had had one of her legs amputated, the other person thought to be recognized on the table, the only limb his mother had at her death, and he claimed, “I thought it was my dear mother’s leg.” The relatives left the college and were very disconsolate, despairing mood, and [illegible] to their lawyer, Mr Mederic Lanctot, and said, “There is no hope, do what you can, in the matter.”  Two days afterwards, [illegible] Friday, at ten in the evening, the night of a snow storm, a hearse left Commissioners Street, and proceeded at a quiet pace to St Constant, where it deposited tow bodies at the church door, containing the untouched bodies of the old man and the poor woman.  A letter from Mr Lanctot to the cure, informed him of the successful result of his efforts. The relatives and friends of the deceased, and a number of the faithful were informed in the morning of the arrival of the bodies, and [illegible] which was immediately sung., and the coffins were replaced in the vault, which had been repaired.  The family of the deceased, and the people of St Constant, and society in general, should feel under obligation to Mr Lanctot (who has informed us of part of the facts) for having conducted the affairs with as much energy and ability, that the Board of Directors of McGill College has resolved to allow no more stolen bodies to enter their college.  We highly approve of the conduct of the University in having taken this resolution.  It is worthy, besides of Dr Horatio Nelson, who proved, we are informed [illegible] straight forward and generous on the painful occasion.  “We understand that the University has refused to receive subjects taken from the vicinity for some time past, and that those required in the dissecting room by the students are brought from hospitals in the United   States.

Unlocking the Devereux Connection/ Fascination in the Family Tree

There is this amazing mansion in Salt Lake City called “Devereaux House.” According to various websites which discuss this historic building, it was built ( or heavily modified)  in 1867 by William Jennings.  (My great-great grandfather’s brother)

“William Jennings purchased the property in 1867 and developed the present Devereux House, incorporating Staines’ original cottage in the expanded structure. Jennings was also an English convert to the Mormon Church. Arriving in Salt Lake City in 1852, he entered the mercantile business. Taking advantage of the business opportunities of a rapidly-growing regional center, Jennings branched out into freighting and banking, becoming Utah’s first millionaire. In 1864 he founded the Eagle Emporium, which was later sold to the Mormon Church and became the forerunner of the present-day ZCMI department store. In 1882 Jennings was elected Mayor of Salt Lake City, serving one term. A hospitable and gracious host, Jennings entertained the famous and influential of the day. Devereaux House was the scene of lavish dinners and accommodated such prominent guests as Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, and General William T. Sherman.” [http://history.utah.gov/apps/markers/detailed_results.php?markerid=2671]

“He named the half-block after his birthplace, Devereaux estate at Yardley, near Birmingham, England.” [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705337698/Devereaux-House-Salt-Lake-Citys-stately-estate.html?pg=all]

Well, there is no Devereaux estate near Yardley, so what to make of this?  And what to make of the generations of Thorntons (William’s mother’s family) who named their sons Samuel Devereux?

I have gone over the family trees as far back as I could go, and consulted some work some of my distant Mormon cousins have posted on the Family Search Website to try and confirm any relations to a Devereux, and nada.

Here are my ruminations, and it sounds a bit far fetched, but with no evidence to actually link them to a Devereux family it is the best I can come up with.

First of all there are Devereux in Yardley in the period that my family actually lived there.  There is also the Devereux family, which owned Castle Bromwich Hall [http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-c/castle-bromwich/] until 1657.  A Devereux family also became the Earls of Essex.  Pretty posh name – and with local connections.  Now are the Devereux in Yardley in the late 17^th and 18^th century connected to the Devereux of more exalted birth?  No idea.

Castle Bromwich Hall

It is entirely possible that one of the Thorntons married a Yardley Devereux, or were good friends and named one of their children after them, or because they were godparents.  Records cannot be found to confirm this however.  The first Samuel Devereux was born in 1755.

Immigration is often used as an opportunity to reinvent oneself, and I think that William Jennings, who had enjoyed much success in his adopted Salt Lake City used the Devereux to shine his image.  He even changed the spelling to Devereaux make it more exotic sounding.

My Family and Religion

 

Religion has played an interesting role in my family’s life, particularly that of my father’s family.  Mixed marriages were, up until recently, uncommon.  Most people found their life partners amongst their own denomination, and often congregation.  This is where most had their social networks, meeting with their community every Sunday, and participating in their church’s events, clubs and schools.

 

The Leitchs however were a bit of a rebel bunch.  In researching them I at first assumed that they were Presbyterians, like many of their Scottish brethren (those raised in theLowlands).  Perhaps it was foolish, but there you go.  Big mistake.  It appears that James Leitch (1789-1842?) was a Baptist.  He was married as a Presbyterian to Jean Frew, but then disappears from the records, as do his children.  I at first thought that the children were not baptised because of the expense of this was an impediment, but it could be that the family had since converted to the Baptist faith, and believed in adult baptism, so the children wouldn’t be baptised until much later. There was aBaptistChurchin Saltcoats, where they lived, in the period when the couple were having children.  His son William on the census inOntarioand on his death certificate was listed as a Baptist also.

 

So what about this?  Baptist churches were rare inUpper   Canadain the mid nineteenth century.  Baptists relied on circuit preachers who made their way in the wilds to various communities on a seasonal basis.  This meant that they were often without the services of a minister, and had to rely on other faiths to fill the gap.  Another consideration was the legal aspects of the church, and the legal recognition of the church in matters of marriage.  The Presbyterian, Anglican and Catholic churches had the authority of the state to keep registers, registering baptisms, marriages and burials up until the mid nineteenth century.

 

Of the marriage records that I can find for James’ children, they married in the Presbyterian Church, and with the exception of William, were listed as Presbyterians in the census.  William, his only son, was married to a Presbyterian, and their children were all Presbyterian as well.  Interestingly, my great grandfather William Christopher was only baptised when he married, at a Presbyterian church inMontreal(1893).  Even more interestingly, this was a marriage to a Roman Catholic.  His sister Jane also married a Roman Catholic, Aeneas Macdonald.

 

Jane converted to Catholicism.  William did not, and neither did his wife, Mary Jane convert to Presbyterianism.  They both kept their own faith during their marriage, and because of it were buried in different cemeteries.  Their children were raised Catholic, and the two who married, married Catholics.  And then there was my dad, who was William’s grandson.  He married an Anglican, mom, and their children were raised in her faith.

 

You can see a remarkable fluidity in the practice of faith, and the willingness to marry outside their faith.  So the Leitchs in my line were, from 1800 to the present, as follows: Presbyterian, Baptist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and Anglican.

Tea Drinking, Montreal, 1858

Montreal Gazette, 27 February 1858, page 2

 

TEA DRINKING

 

If the question be narrowed down to that of “Tea or no Tea” we advocate the weed.  The world will be healthier and happier by the moderate use of any of theChinateas in their purity, than without them.  The immoderate use of cold water is prejudicial to health, whether as a drink orlavemeat, and so is the immoderate use of bread and butter.  It is the argument of a fanatic to say that because the excessive use of any thing is injurious, it should therefore be  discarded altogether.  Chemistry decides that the essential elements of tea and coffee are identical, and are nutritious.  Tea is a stimulant, and so is every other nutritive article. That which imparts no stimulus is not fit for food.  An ordinary meal stimulates the pulse to greater activity five or ten per cent.  Tea, being served warm at meal time, promotes digestion by its warmth, as any warm drink will do.  Any cold drink even water, taken at meal time arrests the progress of digestion until it is served to the heat of about a hundred degrees, and if that arrest to be too long protracted, convulsions follow, and sometimes death as has happened many times to children, by eating a couple of hard boiled eggs hastily, or upon an empty stomach, or, indeed, eating much of any indigestible articles.  Thus it is that, so far as the use of tea banished the use of cold water at our meals it is a safeguard.  Late and hearty suppers destroy multitudes either outright in a night, or in the insidious progress of months and years.  It is almost the universal custom to take tea for supper.  It is a stimulant. It aids the stomach in digesting more than it would have done, just in proportion to its stimulating qualities.  And as all eat too much at supper time , the general drink of the day, is beneficial in the direction just named.  True wisdom lies in the moderate use of all the good things of this life.  It is stated that at a tea party of sixty women inEngland, it was ascertained that they were the mothers of eight hundred and sixty nine children.  The presumption is, that those women were tea-drinkers habitually, and it is equally inferable that they did not drink it very ‘weak’, yet they were healthy enough to be old, and healthy enough to be the mothers of large families.  An isolated fact proves nothing, but this is suggestive.  It is then safer and healthier to take a cup of warm tea for supper than a glass of cold water.  With our habit of warm tea, than to take no drink at all.  By the extravagant use of tea, many persons pass their nights in restlessness and dreams without being aware of the cause of it.  We advise such to experiment on themselves, and omit the altogether at supper, for a few times, and notice the result.  If you sleep better , it is clear that you have been using too much tea, either in quantity or in strength.  In order to be definite, we consider the following to be the moderate use of tea: A single cup at each meal as to quantity, as to strength measure it thus: put a teaspoonful in a hot teapot, pour on a quart of boiling water; two thirds of a tea-cup of this, adding a third of cream or boiling milk, or hot water with sugar, or not.  This is strong enough.  We believe that such use of China teas, by excluding cold drinks at our meals and by their nutritious and pleasantly stimulating character, may be practised for a life time to very great advantage, without any drawback whatever; coffee, also.  We believe that the world and all that is created upon it is for man, and that the rational use of its good things will promote the health and happiness of all mankind.—Hall’s Journal of Health.

 

 

92 Resolutions, Last part!!!!

And here is the last part of the 92 Resolutions, just in time for the Journee des Patriotes.

“92 Resolutions”

 

Here is the final installment of the 92 Resolutions.  Again, because it is seriously long, I am parceling the resolutions out five at a time, and for interest’s sake, am providing biographical information on those mentioned by name in the document.  Enjoy.

 

Taken from :

“The 92 Resolutions” taken from Statutes, Treaties and Documents of the Canadian Constitution, 1713-1929 (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1930).

(notes my own)

 

 

86. Resolved, that this House hopes and believes, that the independent members of both Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom will be disposed, both from inclination and from a sense of duty, to support the accusations brought by this House, to watch over the preservation of its rights and privileges which have been so frequently and violently attacked, more especially by the present administration; and so to act, that the people of this province may not be forced by oppression to regret their dependence of the British Empire, and to seek elsewhere a remedy for afflictions.

87. Resolved, that this House learned, with gratitude, that Daniel O’Connell, Esq. [1775-1847, Irish politician, leader of the Catholic Emancipation movement, and first Catholic MP in 1830; see- http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/daniel.htm ]had given notice in the House of Commons in July last, that during the present session of the Imperial Parliament, he would call its attention to the necessity of reforming the Legislative and Executive Councils in the two Canadas; and that the interest thus shown for our own fate by him whom the gratitude and blessings of his countrymen have, with the applause of the whole civilized world, proclaimed Great and Liberator, and of whom our fellow countrymen entertain corresponding sentiments, keeps alive in us the hope that through the goodness of our cause and the services of such a friend, the British Parliament will not permit a minister, deceived by the interested representations of the provincial administration and its creatures and tools, to exert (as there is reason from his despatches to apprehend that he may attempt to do) the highest degree of oppression, in favour of a system which in better times he characterized as faulty, and against subjects of His Majesty’s who are apparently only known to him by the great patience with which they have waited in vain for promised reforms.

88. Resolved, that this House has the same confidence in Joseph Hume, Esq., [1777-1855, Radical British politician, see- http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=30&item=biography ]  and feels the same gratitude for the anxiety which he has repeatedly shown for the good government of these colonies, and the amelieoration of their laws and constitutions, and calls upon the said Daniel O’Connell and Joseph Hume, Esqrs., whose constant devotedness was, even under a tory ministry, and before the reform of parliament, partially successful in the emancipation of Ireland, from the same bondage and the same political inferiority with which the communications received from the Colonial Secretary during the present session menace the people of Canada, to use their efforts that the laws and constitution of this Province may be amended in the manner demanded by the people thereof; that the abuses and grievances of which the latter have to complain may be fully and entirely redressed; and that the laws and constitution may be hereafter administered in a manner consonant with justice, with the honour of the Crown and of the people of this province, and of this House by which they are represented.

89. Resolved, that this House invites the members of the minority of the Legislative Council who partake the opinions of the people, the present members of the House of Assembly, until the next general election, and afterwards all the members then elected, and such other persons as they may associate with the members then elected, and such other persons as they may associate with them, to form one committee or two committees of correspondence, to sit at Quebec and Montreal in the first instance, and afterwards at such place as they shall think proper; the said committees to communicate with each other, and with the several local committees which may be formed in different parts of the province, and to enter into correspondence with the Hon. Denis Benjamin Viger, [1774-1861, politician, see- http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/deputes/viger-denis-benjamin-5709/biographie.html ] the agent of this province in England, with the said Daniel O’Connell and Joseph Hume, Esqrs., and with such other members of the House of Lords or of the House of Commons, and such other persons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as they may deem expedient, for the purpose of supporting the claims of the people of this province and of this House; of furnishing such information, documents, and opinions as they may think adapted to make known the state, wishes and wants of the province; the said committees also to correspond with such person as they shall think proper in the other British colonies do not sink under the violent attempt to perpetuate the abuses and evils which result as well from the vices of its constitution as from the combined malversation of the administrative, legislative and judicial departments, out of which have sprung insult and oppression for the people, and by a necessary consequence, hatred and contempt on their part for the provincial government.

90. Resolved, That the Honourable Denis Benjamin Viger be requested to remain at the seat of His Majesty’s Government, at least during the present session of the Imperial Parliament, to continue to watch over the interests of the province with the same zeal and the same devotedness as heretofore, without suffering himself to be discouraged by mere formal objections on the part of those who are unwilling to listen to the complaints of the country.

91. Resolved, that the fair and reasonable expenses of the said two committees of correspondence, incurred by them in the performance of the duties entrusted to them by this House, are a debt which it contracts towards them; and that the representatives of the people are bound in honour to use all constitutional means to reimburse such expenses to the said Committee, or to such persons as may advance money to them for the purpose above-mentioned.

92. Resolved, that the message from His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief, received on the 13^th of January last, and relating to the writ of election for the county of Montreal, with the extract from a dispatch which accompanied it, the message from the same, received the same day, and relating to the Supply Bill, and the message from the same, received on the 14^th January last, with the extract from a dispatch which accompanied it, be expunged from the journals of this House.

92 Resolutions, Part 16

Part 16

“92 Resolutions”

 

Here is the sixteenth installment of the 92 Resolutions.  Again, because it is seriously long, I am parceling the resolutions out five at a time, and for interest’s sake, am providing biographical information on those mentioned by name in the document.  Enjoy.

 

Taken from :

“The 92 Resolutions” taken from Statutes, Treaties and Documents of the Canadian Constitution, 1713-1929 (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1930).

(notes my own)

 

 

81.  Resolved, That as the grand inquest of the province, it is the duty of this House to inquire concerning all grievances, and all circumstances which may endanger the general welfare of the inhabitants of the province, or be of a nature to excite alarm in them with regard to their lives, their liberty and their property, to the end that such representations may be made to our Most Gracious Sovereign, or such legislative measures introduced, as may lead to the redress of such grievances, or tend to allay such alarm; and that far from having a right to impede the exercise of these rights and privileges, the Governor-in-Chief is deputed by his Sovereign, is invested with great powers, and receives a large salary, as much for defending the rights of the subject and facilitating the exercise of the privileges of this House and of all constituted bodies, as for maintaining the prerogatives of the Crown.

82. Resolved, that since the commencement of the present session, a great number of petitions relating to the infinite variety of objects connected with the public welfare, have been presented to this House, and many messages and important communications received by it, both from His Majesty’s Government in England and from His Majesty’s Provincial Government; that many bills have been introduced in this House, and many important inquiries ordered by it, in several of which the Governor-in-Chief is personally and deeply implicated; that the said petition from our constituents, the people of all parts of this province; the said communications from His Majesty’s Government in England and from the Provincial Government; the said bills already introduced or in preparation; the said inquiries commenced and intended to be diligently prosecuted, may and must necessitate the presence of numerous witnesses, the production of numerous papers, the employment of numerous clerks, messengers and assistants, and much printing, and lead to inevitable and daily disbursements, forming the contingent expenses of this House.

83. Resolved, that from the year 1792 to the present, advances had constantly been made to meet these expenses, on addresses similar to that presented this year by this House to the Governor-in-Chief, according to the practice adopted by the House of Commons; that an address of this kind is the most solemn vote of credit which this House can pass, and that almost the whole amount of a sum exceeding £277,000 has been advanced on such votes by the predecessors of his Excellency the Governor in Chief, and by himself (as he acknowledges by his message of the 18^th of January, 1834) without any risk having ever been in incurred by any other governor on account of any such advance, although several of them have had differences, attended by violence and injustice on their part, with the House of Assembly, and without their apprehending that the then next Parliament would not be disposed to make good the engagements of the House of Assembly for the time being; and that this refusal of the Governor-in-Chief, in the present instance, essentially impedes the dispatch of the business for which the Parliament was called together, is derogatory to the rights and honour of this House, and forms another grievance for which the present administration of this province is responsible.

84.  Resolved, that besides the grievances and abuses before mentioned, there exist in this province a great number of others (a part of which existed before the commencement of the present administration, which has maintained them, and is the author of a portion of them) with regard to which this House reserves to itself the right of complaining and demanding reparation, and the number of which is too great allow of their being enumerated here; that this House points out, as among that number.

1stly.  The vicious composition and the irresponsibility of the Executive Council, the members of which are at the same time judges of the Court of Appeals, and the secrecy with which not only the functions, but even the names of the members of that body are kept from the knowledge of this House, when inquiries have been instituted by it on the subject.

2dly. The exorbitant fees illegally exacted in certain of the public offices, and in others connected with the judicial department, under regulations made by the Executive Council, by the judges, and by other functionaries usurping the powers of the legislature.

3dly. The practice of illegally calling upon the judges, to give their opinions secretly on questions which may afterwards publicly and contradictorily argued before them; and the opinions themselves so given by the said judges, as political partisans, in opposition to the laws, but in favour of the administration for the time being.

4thly. The cummulation of public places and offices in the same persons, and the efforts made by a number of families connected with the administration, to perpetuate this state of things for their own advantage, and for the sake of domineering for ever, with interested views and in the spirit of the party, over the people and their representatives.

5thly. The intermeddling of members of the Legislative Councils in the election of the representatives of the people, for the purpose of influencing and controlling them by force, and the selection frequently made of returning officers for the purpose of securing the same partial and corrupt ends; the interference of the present Governor-in-chief himself in the said elections; his approval of the intermeddling of the said legislative councilors in the said elections; the partiality with which he intervened in the judicial proceedings connected with the said elections, for the purpose of influencing the said proceedings, in a manner favourable to the military power and contrary to the independence of the judicial power; and the applause which, as commander of the forces, he bestowed upon the sanguinary execution of the citizens by the soldiery.

6thly. The interference of the armed military force at such elections, through which three peacable citizens, whose exertions were necessary to the support of their families, and who were strangers to the agitation of the election, were shot dead in the streets [Montreal West Ward Elections, 1834]; the applause bestowed by the Governor in chief and Commander of the Forces on the authors of this sanguianary military execution (who had not been acquitted by a petty jury) for the firmness and discipline displayed by them on that occasion.

7thly. The various faulty and partial systems which have been followed ever since the passing of the Constitutional Act [1792], with regard to the management of the waste lands in this province, and have rendered it impossible for the great majority of the people of the country to settle on the said lands; the fraudulent and illegal manner in which, contrary to His Majesty’s instructions, Governors, Legislative and Executive Councillors, Judges and subordinate officers have appropriated to themselves large tracts of the said lands; the monopoly of an extensive portion of the said lands in the hands of speculators residing in England, with which the province is now threatened; and the alarm generally felt therein with regard to the alleged participation of His Majesty’s Government in this scheme, without its having deigned to re-assure his faithful subjects on this head, or to reply to the humble address to His Majesty adopted by this House during the last session.

8thly. The increase of the expenses of the Government without the authority of the Legislature, and the disproportion of the salaries paid to the public functionaries for the services performed by them, to the rent of real property, and to the ordinary income commanded by the exertions of persons possessing talent, industry and economy equal to, or greater than those of the said functionaries.

9thly. The want of all recourse in the courts of law on the part of those who have just and legal claims on the Government.

10thly. The too frequent reservation of bills for the signification of His Majesty’s pleasure, and the neglect of the Colonial Office to consider such bills, a great number of which have never been sent back to the province, and some of which have even been returned so late that doubts may be entertained as to the validity of the sanction given to them; a circumstance which has introduced irregularity and uncertaintly into the legislation of the province, and is felt by this House as an impediment to the re-introduction of the bills reserved during the then prededing session.

11thly.  The neglect on the part of the Colonial Office to give any answer to certain addresses transmitted by this House on important subjects; the practice followed by the administration of communicating in an incomplete manner, and by extracts, and frequently without giving their dates, the despatches received from time to time on subjects which have engaged the attention of this House; and the too frequent references to the opinion of His Majesty’s Ministers in England, on the part of the provincial administration, upon points which it is in their power and within their power to decide.

12thly.  The unjust retention of the college at Quebec, which forms part of the estates of the late Order of Jesuits, and which from a college has been transformed into a barrack for soldiers; the renewal of the lease of a considerable portion of the same estates, by the Provincial executive, in favour of a member of the Legislative Council, since those estates were returned to the Legislature, and in opposition to the prayer of this House, and to the known wishes of a great number of His Majesty’s subjects to obtain lands there, and to settle them; and the refusal of the said executive to communicate the said lease, and other information on the subject, to this House.

13thly. The obstacles unjustly opposed by the executive, friendly to abuses and to ignorance, to the establishment of colleges endowed by virtuous and disinterested men, for the purpose of meeting the growing desires of the people for the careful education of their children.

14thly. The refusal of justice with regard to the accusations brought by this House, in the name of the people, against judges, for flagrant acts of malversation, and for ignorance and violation of the law.

15thly. The refusals on the part of the governors, and more especially of the present Governor-in-Chief, to communicate to this House, the information asked for by it, from time to time, and which it had a right to obtain, on a great number of subjects connected with the public business of the province.

16thly. The refusal of His Majesty’s Government to reimburse the province the amount for which the late Receiver-General was a defaulter, and its neglect to enforce the recourse which the province was entitled to against the property and person of the late Receiver-General.

85. Resolved, that the facts mentioned in the foregoing resolutions, demonstrate that the laws and constitutions of the province have not, at any period, been administered in a manner more contrary to the interests of His Majesty’s Government, and to the rights of the people of this province, than under the present administration, and render it necessary that his Excellency Matthew Lord Aylmer, of Balrath, the present Governor-in-Chief of this province, be formally accused by this House, of having, while acting as Governor, in contradiction to the wishes of the Imperial Parliament, and to the instructions he may have received, and against the honour and dignity of the Crown, and the rights and privileges of this House and the people whom it represents, so recomposed the Legislative Council as to the augment the dissensions which rend this colony; of having seriously impeded the labours of this House, acting as the grand inquest of the country; of having disposed of the public revenue of the province, against the consent of the Reprensentatives of the people, and in violation of the law and constitution; of having maintained existing abuses, and created new ones; of having refused to sign a writ for the election of a representative to fill a vacancy which had happened in this House, and to complete the number of representatives established by law for this province; and that this House expects from the honour, patriotism and justice of the reformed Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the Commons of the said Parliament will bring impeachments, and will support such impeachments before the House of Lords against the said Matthew Lord Aylmer, for his illegal, unjust and unconstitutional administration of the government of this province; and against such of the wicked and perverse advisers who have misled him, as this House may hereafter accuse, if there be no means of obtaining justice against them in the province, or at the hands of His Majesty’s Executive Government in England.