Home Government Takes Up the Union Bill

Such, in so far as it is now necessary to specify them, were the principal provisions of the Union Bill transmitted to England by Mr. Thomson.

Continuing Upper and Lower Canada United,
our selection from The Last Fourty Years by John Charles Dent published in 1881. The selection is presented in four easy 5 minute installments. 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

Those resolutions were known to embody the Imperial will, and the members of the Family Compact were nothing if not loyal. For years past, and more especially since the suppression of the recent rebellion (of 1837), their loyalty had become positively, albeit honestly, effusive. They had proclaimed it through the public prints, at the corners of the streets, and -— literally -— from the housetops. Some of them had talked a great deal of hysterical nonsense, and had propounded theories better suited to the early years of the Restoration than to the times in which they lived. How then could they venture to oppose the Imperial mandate, as proclaimed to them by the Governor-General in person? His Excellency was an adept in the science of finesse, and used all his arts to win them over. He appealed in the strongest terms to their lifelong fealty. He materially strengthened his position by the publication in the Upper Canada Gazette of a dispatch from the Colonial Minister.

You will understand, and will cause it to be generally known,” said the dispatch, “that hereafter the tenure of colonial offices, held during Her Majesty’s pleasure, will not be regarded as equivalent to a tenure during good behavior; but that not only such officers will be called upon to retire from the public service as often as any sufficient motives of public policy may suggest the expediency of that measure, but a change in the person of the Governor will be considered as a sufficient reason for any alterations which his successor may deem it expedient to make in the list of public functionaries -— subject, of course, to the future confirmation of the sovereign. These remarks do not ex tend to judicial officers, nor are they meant to apply to places which are altogether ministerial, and which do not devolve upon the holders of them duties in the right discharge of which the character and policy of the British Government are directly involved. They are intended to apply rather to the heads of departments than to persons serving as clerks or in similar capacities under them; neither do they extend to officers in the service of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The functionaries who will be chiefly, though not exclusively, affected by them are the Colonial Secretary; the Treasurer, or Receiver- General; the Surveyor-General; the Attorney- and Solicitor- General; the Sheriff, or Provost- Marshal; and other officers who, under different designations from these, are entrusted with the same or similar duties. To this list must also be added the members of the Council, especially in those colonies in which the Legislative and Executive Councils are distinct bodies.”

The meaning of this was obvious enough. It meant that for the future the persons indicated would have to merit and enjoy a share of public confidence or else resign their places. It also meant that the Home Government had set its mind on passing a union bill, and that no caprice or obstruction on their part would be allowed to stand in the way of such a consummation. It was evident that they might as well bow to the inevitable with a good grace, as, in the event of their refusal, means would be found to get rid of them and supply their places with more manageable material. They yielded.

Resolutions expressive of assent to the union were passed, on condition that there should be an equal representation of each Province in the united Legislature; that a sufficient permanent civil list should be voted to secure the independence of the judges; and that the public debt of Upper Canada should be a charge upon the joint revenue of the United Province. In the Assembly certain conditions were pressed upon the consideration of His Excellency which the latter saw fit to oppose, as being un just to the French-Canadian population in the Lower Province. The Governor’s views finally prevailed. On the last day of the year he was able to announce to a correspondent that he had satisfactorily accomplished the objects of his mission, and that nothing further remained but for Parliament to pass the Union Bill, a draught of which, he added, would soon be forwarded from Canada.

The draught of the Union Bill, founded upon the resolutions of the Legislature of Upper Canada and the Special Council of the Lower Province, was chiefly prepared by the Honorable James Stuart, Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench for Lower Canada, who for his great services to Lord Durham and Mr. Thomson was subsequently elevated to the rank of a baronet of the United Kingdom. The successive clauses of the bill were separately and carefully discussed between the Governor and the Chief Justice before transmission to England. It provided for the union of the two Provinces under the name of the Province of Canada. It further provided that there should be one Legislative Council and one Assembly, with an equal representation from each of the former Provinces; the Legislative Council to consist of not fewer than twenty life members, ap pointed by the Crown, and the Assembly to consist of eighty- four members (forty- two from each of the former Provinces), elected by the people.

The property qualification for candidates for seats in the Assembly was fixed at five hundred pounds sterling in lands or tenements. The Governor was authorized to fix the time and place of holding Parliaments, and to prorogue or dissolve the latter at his pleasure. The Speaker of the Legislative Council was to be appointed by the Governor, and the Speaker of the Assembly to be elected by its members. A permanent civil list of seventy-five thousand pounds annually was provided for, instead of all territorial and other revenues then at the Crown’s disposal; and the judges were made independent of the votes of the Assembly. All writs, proclamations, reports, journals, and public documents were to be in the English language only; and it was provided that the public debt of the two Provinces should be assumed by the united Province.

Such, in so far as it is now necessary to specify them, were the principal provisions of the Union Bill transmitted to England by Mr. Thomson. The Imperial Parliament was then in session, and the Colonial Secretary, Lord John Russell, lost no time in presenting the measure. It underwent some slight modifications in the course of its passage through the Commons. Certain clauses relating to local municipal institutions were struck out, and left to be dealt with by the Provincial Legislatures, but the bill, as a whole, commended itself to the wisdom of the House of Commons, and was passed with but little opposition. Some of the Irish members, led by O’Connell, raised their voices against it, on the ground that it sanctioned a disproportionate representation of the French and British races; that the former had not assented to the measure, and that in consequence of the suspension of the Lower Canadian Constitution, they had no means of expressing their assent. It was further argued that it was unjust to saddle Lower Canada with a share of liability in respect of the debt of the Upper Province. Opposition from this quarter, however, was regarded by the Ministry very much as a matter of course, and was of no special significance.

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