STATE PAPERS. SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF LOWER CANADA, ON THE OPENING OF THE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT, AUGUST 18, 1837. Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, In obedience to the royal command, signified to me through the principal secretary of state for the colonies, I have convened you at this unusual period, for the purpose of communicating to you the proceedings that, since your last session, have taken place in the imperial parliament, and the resolutions that have been adopted on the affairs of this province. This course has been prescribed to me, in order to afford the House of Assembly, before that resolution which relates to the payment of the arrears now due for the civil service of the government, shall have assumed the binding shape of a law, an opportunity of reconsidering the course which, for the last few years, they have thought it expedient to pursue with respect to the financial difficulties of the province, and in the earnest hope that by the timely intervention of the legislature the exercise of the power intended to be intrusted to the head of the local government may be rendered unnecessary - a result, for the attainment of which her ma jesty's government would willingly make every sacrifice, save that of the honour of the crown and the integrity of the empire. Since the receipt of the instructions which I have alluded to, the mournful intelligence has reached us of the demise of our late deservedly beloved monarch. The Few kings have reigned more in the affections of their subjects than William IV. warm and lively interest he always took in every matter connected with the welfare of his Canadian subjects cannot fail to increase their feelings of regret for their loss. The succession of our present gracious sovereign, Queen Victoria to the throne of the British empire has not produced any alteration in the course that had been previously prescribed for my adoption. The reports of the royal com missioners on the several subjects which came under their investigation during their stay in Lower Canada, having been laid before the two houses of parliament; a series of resolutions, ten in number, was shortly afterwards introduced by Ministers relative to the affairs of this province, copies of which I shall transmit to you, in the usual way, at the earliest opportunity. The principal objects of these resolutions are to declare 1st. That in the existing state of Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to make the legislative council elective, but that it is expedient to adopt measures for securing to that branch of the legislature a greater degree of public confidence. 2d. That while it is expedient to improve the composition of the executive chamber, it is unadvisable to subject it to the respon sibility demanded by the house of assembly. 3d. That the legal title of the British American Land Company to the land they hold under their charter, and an act of the imperial parliament ought to be maintained inviolate. 4th. That as soon as the legislature shall make provision by law for discharging lands from feudal dues and services, and for removing any doubts as to the incidents of the tenures of lands in free and common soccage, it is expedient to repeal the Canada Tenures act and the Canada Trade act, so far as the latter relates to the tenures of land in this province, saving, nevertheless, to all persons, the rights vested in them under or by virtue of these acts. 5th. That for defraying the arrears due on account of the established and customary charges of the administration of justice and of the civil government of the province, it is expedient that after applying for that purpose such balance as should on the 10th day of April last be in the hands of the receiver-general, arising from the hereditary, territorial, and casual revenue of the crown, the gover nor of the province be empowered to issue, out of any other monies in the hands of the receiver-general, such further sums as shall be necessary to effect the payment of such arrears and charges up to the 10th of April last. 6th. That it is expedient to place at the disposal of this legislature, the net proceeds of the he reditary, territorial, and casual revenue arising within the province, and in case the said legisla ture shall see fit, to grant a civil list for defraying the charges of the administration of justice, and for the maintenance and unavoidable expense of certain of the principal officers of government of the province; and Lastly, that it is expedient that the legislatures of Lower and Upper Canada respectively be authorised to make provision for the joint regulation and adjustment of questions respecting their trade and commerce, and other questions wherein they have com mon interest. Having laid before you an outline of the measures contemplated by the resolutions, which were passed after full discussion in the House of Commons, by large majorities in the House of Peers without a division, I proceed, in obedience to the royal commands, to assure you that it was with the deepest regret and reluctance that her majesty's government yielded to the necessity of invoking the interference of parliament, in order to meet the pressing difficulties which other resources had failed to remove in the administration of the affairs of the province. Gentlemen of the House of As sembly, through the several branches The accounts showing the payments that have been made since the close of the session in March, 1836, out of the revenues at the disposition of the crown, in part liquidation of the large arrears then due in respect to the civil establishments of the province, shall, as soon as possible, be submitted to you, with every explanation you may desire and I can supply. I have likewise, in obedience to the injunctions I have received, directed that an account of the balance of arrears, owing on the 10th of April last, for official salaries and other ordinary expenditure of the local government, be made out and laid out before you, with the estimate of the current half-year; and in recommending, as I do most earnestly, these mat-vernment to every representation I am further commanded to express to you the earnest desire of her Majesty's government to cooperate with you in the removal of every obstacle to the beneficial working of the existing constitution, and in the correction of every defect which time and experience have developed in the laws and institutions of the province, or in the administration of its government; and I am also to assure you of a prompt attention on the part of her Majesty's gowhich may proceed from you, tending to effect improvements of this nature, calculated to strengthen the connexion subsist ters to your early and favourable consideration, I am commanded to express to you at the same time, the anxious hope that the governor of this province may not be coming between Great Britain and pelled to exercise the power with which the imperial parliament has declared its intention of investing him, in order to discharge the arrears due in respect to public services, for the payment of which the faith of the crown has been repeatedly pledged. The chief object therefore for which you are now called together, is to afford you an opportunity, by granting the requisite supplies, of rendering unnecessary, on the part of the imperial parliament, any further action on the 8th of the series of resolutions to which I have alluded; and it will, I can assure you, be to me matter of unmixed satisfaction, should you resolve to concede to the united voice of the British people, as expressed Lower Canada, by the promotion of the welfare and the interests of all classes of her Majesty's subjects in the province. At the time the summons was issued for assembling you on this day, I had every reason to believe that it would have been in my power to announce to you, as effected, those alterations which you may gather from the resolutions of which I have spoken it is intended to effect in the composition of the executive and legislative councils; but the interruption occasioned by the demise of his late Majesty to the progress of public business in the imperial parliament, and the prospect of its early dissolution, have prevented the ministers of the crown from at once perfecting the measures they have in contemplation. These measures, therefore, are not forsaken, but only unavoidably suspended for a season; and I trust I shall at no very distant period be enabled to appeal to the changes introduced into the two councils, as well as to the other salutary arrangements, as a proof of the sincerity with which her Majesty's government are disposed to carry into effect the intentions they have expressed on these points. Since the end of the last session several local acts have expired, and I would suggest for your consideration the expediency of renewing such of them as may have proved useful. I would, moreover, especially invite your attention to the acts relating to the district of St. Francis, the duration of which is limited to the end of the session of the provincial parliament next after the 1st of May last. The severe distress which, in consequence of the partial or total failure of the crops, was experienced during the last winter in several parts of the province, induced me, upon the urgent representations I received on the subject, and in order to avoid the approaches of famine, to grant out of the public funds that succour which the means of the suffering inhabitants were inadequate to afford. Nor did I hesitate in the pressing emergency of the case to assume this responsibility, en couraged by the liberality you have displayed on similar occa sions. In granting, however, such assistance, security was in each case taken for the repayment of the money so advanced, in the event of your declining to sanction the transaction. These advances amount in the whole, to about 5,600l., for which, as well as ir the sums I have issued for the preservation of the public works on the Chambly canal, and for the maintenance of the quarantine establishment, I trust you will see no objection to grant an indem nity. Such of the documents and vouchers connected with these several disbursements as are not already before you shall be sub mitted to you with as little deler as possible. In conclusion, Gentlemen, I shall repeat my determination adhere to those principles which laid down for my guidance when I first addressed you. They u calculated, I conscientiously be lieve, to promote the real interests of the country, and to secure to all classes of her Majesty's Cana dian subjects, those rights, pri leges, and liberties which the spirit of the constitution was in tended to impart, and which every friend to that constitution bound to support and maintain. Castle of St. Lewis, Quebec, Aug. 18, 1887. KINGDOM OF HANOVER.--LETTERS PATENT concerning the DEATH of HIS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM IV., and the ASCENSION of His MAJESTY KING ERNEST AUGUSTUS. "Ernest Augustus, by the grace of God, king of Hanover, royal prince of Great Britain and Ireland, duke of Cumberland, duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, &c. "It has pleased the Almighty to call out of the world on the 20th of this month our late revered brother the most mighty and most puissant prince William IV., king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c., also king of Hanover, duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, &c., and thereby to plunge us, our royal house and all faithful subjects, in the most profound affliction. "Now as, by virtue of the right of primogeniture, prevailing in our royal house, the succession to the government of our kingdom of Hanover has fallen to us, and we have already entered upon it with all our hereditary rights, we are pleased hereby to make the same known, and have full confidence in all our loyal, spiritual, and temporal servants, vassals, and subjects, that they will pay to us their bounden duty, fidelity, and obedience, and always be devoted to us with sincere attachment. "On the other hand, we assure all of our royal benevolence and favour, and of our sovereign protection, and shall make it the constant object of our earnest wishes and efforts paternally to promote in every possible manner, the happiness and prosperity of the subjects confided to us by Divine Providence. This being the object of our endeavours, we have been convinced that in many points the constitution does not correspond with our wishes, which are solely directed to the promotion of the good of our faithful subjects. Being resolved shortly to make known to our faithful people our views on this most important subject, we do not hesitate to declare that we cannot find in the constitution, which neither in form nor substance is binding on us, a sufficient guarantee for the permanent prosperity of our faithful subjects. Your welfare it will be our most earnest endeavour to promote according to the duties imposed on us by Divine Providence. Meantime, it is far from our intention to take our royal resolution on this important matter without a careful examination of all the circumstances. It is, on the contrary, our royal will to devote the most careful consider. ation to the question, whether and how far a modification of the constitution must take place, or whether the constitution should be brought back to what it was before the promulgation of the present constitution; after which we shall convoke the general assembly of the States, and impart to them our royal resolution. Our faithful subjects formerly enjoyed happiness and satisfaction under the ancient hereditary constitution of the kingdom; a bond of attachment and loyalty and confidence in their sovereign descending from generation to generation, promoted the happiness of the sovereign, and the welfare of the |