First Election to the New Canadian Assembly

Today’s installment concludes Upper and Lower Canada United,
our selection from The Last Fourty Years by John Charles Dent published in 1881.

If you have journeyed through the installments of this series so far, just one more to go and you will have completed a selection from the great works of four thousand words. Congratulations! For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Upper and Lower Canada United.

Time: 1841
Place: Montreal

The appointment of the Executive Council was a matter which could no longer be delayed, and which required some deliberation on the part of the Governor-General. On February 13th -— three days after the Union proclamation took effect -— His Excellency, having made his selection, called to his Council eight gentlemen who already occupied the highest offices of state. They consisted of Messrs. Sullivan, Dunn, Daly, Harrison, Ogden, Draper, Baldwin, and Day. A month later -— on March 17th -— Mr. H. H. Killaly was added to the list. The principle of executive responsibility having been conceded, it was necessary that the members of the Council holding seats in the Assembly should be reelected. This was duly accomplished at the general elections for members to serve in the first House of Assembly. These elections began on March 8, 1841, and were concluded early in the following month.

In the Lower Province they were marked by a violence and acrimony unprecedented at any election which had ever taken place in the colony. The British party and the national party had never been arrayed against each other with such bitterness. The latter smarted under a sense of defeat, while the former did not in all cases attempt to disguise their consciousness of triumph. There was a desire for revenge on the one side, and an ill-concealed complacency or contempt on the other. These sentiments, for some weeks before the elections, found frequent expression through the Provincial press, and a large proportion of the lower orders of electors was roused to a condition bordering on ferocity. In some constituencies another “reign of terror” prevailed during the progress of the election, and the ruffianism seems to have been pretty equally apportioned between the representatives of the different nationalities.

Mr. Lafontaine, whose name has already been mentioned, offered himself to the electors of Terrebonne. He was op posed by Doctor Michael McCulloch, of the British party, who was successful in securing his election. The violence displayed on both sides was disgraceful to the causes which they respectively represented, but there seems to be no reasonable doubt that had the franchise been perfectly free and untrammeled, Mr. Lafontaine’s election would have been assured. He himself afterward admitted, however, that a large number of his supporters had set out from their homes armed with cudgels, and that those who had not been so provided at starting had made a detour into a wood on the road in order to supply their deficiencies. Upon nearing the polling-place they found Doctor McCulloch’s supporters (many of whom were canal laborers and navvies who were not entitled to exercise the franchise at all) armed and ready for them; and as the latter had contrived to secure an advantageous position for a hand-to-hand fight, the French-Canadians adopted the better part of valor and withdrew from the field without recording their votes.

At the election for the county of Montreal the opposing forces came into actual collision, and one man, a member of the British party, was slain on the spot. With regard to the possession of the poll itself, Rob Roy’s “good old rule” was the order of the day -— those took who had the power, and those kept who could. The French-Canadians kept possession the first day, and it was in the struggle of a British elector to record his vote that he met his doom as above narrated. Next day the British mustered in such force that their opponents abandoned the struggle, and the French candidate retired. The Lower Canadian elections, therefore, did not in all cases represent the voice of the people. The French-Canadians were vehement in their denunciations of the Governor- General, who was allied, in their minds, with the British party, and was responsible for all the excesses of the latter. To say that he was not so responsible would, it is to be hoped, be a work of supererogation, but it must be owned that his determination to carry out the object of his mission to Canada was great, and that he was not over-scrupulous as to the means employed to secure that end. His conduct with regard to the electoral limits of Quebec and Montreal lent some color to the not unreasonable supposition that his sympathies were entirely with the British party, and that he did not intend to allow any impediment to stand in the way of the accomplishment of his wishes.

By the Union Bill, as originally draughted by him and Chief Justice Stuart, only one member was assigned to each of those cities. When the measure was laid before the Commons, Sir Robert Peel suggested that a’ larger representation was due to the commercial interest, and a clause was accordingly inserted assigning two members to each of the two principal cities of Lower Canada. The act, as finally passed, authorized the Governor to define the boundaries of the various cities and towns mentioned in the act. Lord Sydenham’s attention was drawn to the fact that if the electoral limits of Montreal and Quebec were made to coincide with their municipal limits, the increased representation contemplated by the Union Act would not take effect, as the numerical superiority of electors in the suburbs would enable them to return both members. The number of French-Canadian representatives -— and by consequence the number of opponents of the Union -— would thus be increased. Lord Sydenham’s first object was to make the Union a success, and to have a majority of members returned to Parliament who should be favorable to the Government policy. He accordingly exercised the power granted him by the act, and by a proclamation issued from Government House, Montreal, on March 4, 1841, defined the boundaries of Quebec and Montreal in such a manner as to exclude the suburbs, which for electoral purposes were amalgamated with the counties in which they were situated. He by this means practically disfranchised a large number of the inhabitants, and secured the return of members pledged to support his favorite project -— an achievement for which the French-Canadians have never forgiven him.

It is believed that at least ten of the members who sat in the first Parliament were returned either by violence or by corruption. The violence, though chiefly manifested in Lower Canada, was by no means wholly confined to that Province. There were “gentle and joyous” passages of arms in all parts of the country. One life was lost in Toronto, and another in the county of Dur ham. Intelligence of broken heads and arms was received from various quarters. It was even feared lest the published accounts of the innumerable election riots would disseminate such an impression of the lawless state of affairs as to check immigration to Canada. Happily, the fear proved not to be well grounded.

During the second week in April the returns were tolerably well known, and the Governor made up his accounts. Twenty-four out of the eighty-four members were pledged supporters of his policy. Only twenty French members -— French in spirit as well as in nationality -— appeared on the list. Of the remainder, twenty were classed as moderate and five as ultra Reformers. Only seven members of the Compact had found seats. All things considered, the two opposing parties of Conservatives and Re formers were divided almost equally.

This ends our series of passages on Upper and Lower Canada United by John Charles Dent from his book The Last Fourty Years published in 1881. This blog features short and lengthy pieces on all aspects of our shared past. Here are selections from the great historians who may be forgotten (and whose work have fallen into public domain) as well as links to the most up-to-date developments in the field of history and of course, original material from yours truly, Jack Le Moine. – A little bit of everything historical is here.

More information on Upper and Lower Canada United here and here and below.

We want to take this site to the next level but we need money to do that. Please contribute directly by signing up at https://www.patreon.com/history