"that act was a small though essential part, has thus been "defeated.

The disposal of the political prisoners was from the "first a matter foreign to my mission. With a view to "the more easy attainment of the great objects contem"plated, that question ought to have been settled before "my arrival. But as it was essential to my plans for the "future tranquillity and improvement of the colony, that "I should commence by allaying actual irritation, I had, "in the first place, to determine the fate of those who "were under prosecution, and to provide for the present "security of the province by removing the most dangerous "disturbers of its peace. For these ends the ordinary "tribunals, as a recent trial has clearly shewn, afforded 66 me no means. Judicial proceedings would only have agitated the public mind afresh-would have put in "evidence the sympathy of a large portion of the people "with rebellion-and would have given to the disaffected generally a fresh assurance of impunity for political guilt. "An acquittal in the face of the clearest evidence, which I am justified in having anticipated as inevitable, would "have set the immediate leaders of the insurrection at liberty, absolved from crime, and exalted in the eyes of "their deluded countrymen, as the innocent victims of an "unjust imprisonment, and a vindictive charge. I looked "6 on these as mischiefs which I was bound to avert by the "utmost exercise of the powers intrusted to me. I could

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not, without trial and conviction, take any measures of "a purely penal character; but I thought myself justified "in availing myself of an acknowledgment of guilt, and "adopting measures of precaution against a small number "of the most culpable or most dangerous of the accused. To all the rest I extended a complete amnesty.

"Whether a better mode of acting could have been "devised for the emergency, is now immaterial. This is "the one that has been adopted-the discussion which it

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"at first excited had passed away-and those who were "once most inclined to condemn its leniency, had ac"quiesced in or submitted to it. The good effects which "must necessarily have resulted from any settlement of "this difficult question had already begun to shew them"selves. Of these the principal were, the general approval of my policy by the people of the United States, " and the consequent cessation of American sympathy with any attempt to disturb the Canadas. This result has "been most gratifying to me, inasmuch as it has gone far "towards a complete restoration of that goodwill between "you and a great and kindred nation, which I have taken every means in my power to cultivate, and which I earnIestly entreat you to cherish as essential to your peace " and prosperity.

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"It is also very satisfactory to me to find that the "rectitude of my conduct has hardly been disputed at "home, and that the disallowanee of the Ordinance pro"ceeds from no doubts of its substantial merits, but from "the importance which has been attached to a supposed "technical error in the assumption of a power, which, if I "had it not, I ought to have had (7).

"The particular defect in the Ordinance which has "been made the ground of its disallowance, was occa"sioned, not by my mistaking the extent of my powers,

(7) The difficulties with which Lord Durham had to contend are fully admitted: the rectitude of his designs is not disputed that he had no blood-thirsty or cruel intentions is generally felt and known; and that the informality of his Ordinance, as far as it related to the transportation to the Bermudas, was not of much importance, has been pointed out in these pages. But why, in this proclamation, is the real objection to the Ordinance left out of sight, and hidden by omission ?—that objection which made it impossible that the Parliament could sanction it or pass it over when it was laid before them, namely, the sen

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"but by my reliance on the readiness of Parliament to "to supply their insufficiency in case of need. For the purpose of relieving the prisoners from all apprehensions "of being treated as ordinary convicts, and the loyal in“habitants of the province from the dread of their imme"diate return, words were inserted in the Ordinance respecting the disposal of them in Bermuda, which were "known to be inoperative. I was perfectly aware that my powers extended to landing the prisoners on the "shores of Bermuda, but no further (8). I know that they "could not be forcibly detained in that island without the "co-operation of the Imperial Legislature. That co-opera“tion I had a right to expect, because the course I was pursuing was pointed out in numerous acts of the Imperial and Provincial Legislatures, as I shall have "occasion hereafter most fully to prove. I also did "believe that, even if I had not the precedents of these "acts of Parliament, a Government and a Legislature "anxious for the peace of this unhappy country and for "the integrity of the British Empire, would not sacrifice "to a petty technicality the vast benefits which my entire policy promised and had already in a great measure "secured. I trusted they would take care that a great

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tence against those who were out of the province? And in a question whether the Parliament and the Crown did right or wrong in disallowing an Ordinance because it was unlawful, how can it be "immaterial" to consider whether the objects of the Ordinance might not have been lawfully accomplished? Lord Durham had it in his power, without any violation of the law, to have opened the prison doors, to have transported to the Bermudas; and, as the Habeas Corpus was suspended, to have deterred the refugees from entering the province.

(8) This is a mistake. See 6 Geo. IV. c. 69, s. 4, whereby provision had been already made for persons transported from colonies being dealt with in the same way as persons transported from England.

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" and beneficent purpose should not be frustrated by any "error, if error there was, which they could rectify, or the "want of any power which they could supply; finally, "that if they found the Ordinance inoperative they would "give it effect—if illegal, that they should make it law (9). "This small aid has not been extended to me, even "for this great object; and the usefulness of my delegated power expires with the loss of that support from "the supreme authority which could alone sustain it. "The measure now annulled was but part of a large sys"tem of measures, which I promised when I proclaimed "the amnesty. When I sought to obliterate the traces "of recent discord, I pledged myself to remove its causes to prevent the revival of a contest between hostile races to raise the defective institutions of "Lower Canada to the level of British civilisation and "freedom-to remove all impediments to the course of "British enterprise in this province, and promote coloni"sation and improvement in the others—and to consoli"date these general benefits on the strong and permanent "basis of a free, responsible, and comprehensive govern"ment.

"Such large promises could not have been ventured "without a perfect reliance on the unhesitating aid of the "supreme authorities. Of what avail are the purposes "and promises of a delegated power, whose acts are not

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respected by the authority from which it proceeds? "With what confidence can I invite co-operation, or impose forbearance, whilst I touch ancient laws and "habits, as well as deep-rooted abuses, with the weak"ened hands that have ineffectually essayed but a little more than the ordinary vigour of the police of troubled times (10)?

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(9) See notes (4) and (7), and Preamble, No. V. p. 159. (10) It must be determined what is the ordinary vigour of

"How am I to provide against the immediate effects "of the disallowance of the Ordinance? (11) That Ordi66 nance was intimately connected with other measures "which remain in unrestricted operation. It was coupled

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with her Majesty's proclamation of amnesty; and as I "judged it becoming that the extraordinary (12) Legisla"tures of Lower Canada should take upon itself all mea

police in troubled times, before it can be admitted that it is only essaying “a little more," to engage that men shall be adjudged to be guilty of treason, and shall suffer death as traitors, without giving them the option or opportunity of a hearing.

(11) He who passes an ordinance which he knows to be beyond his lawful authority, ought to be provided, beforehand, with an answer to such a question as this. Lord Durham shews, in this passage, that he feels now the difficulties which he has created by exceeding his lawful powers, and he dreads the consequences which might follow, when he is no longer present in the province. This, even in the eyes of those who do not agree with Lord Durham in his views of the legal consequences of the disallowance of his Ordinance, may excuse the annunciation to the French Canadian refugees that they may now return into the province with impunity; but if Lord Durham felt it to be incumbent on him to call such persons back into the province, ought he himself to have left it? and was it quite fair to the administrator of the Government, on whom he was devolving the fearful, and, according to himself, the impossible task, of carrying on his own duties, to throw an impediment in the way of his suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, if he should deem such a measure necessary?

(12) If, by "extraordinary legislature," it is meant that the Governor in Council had any powers of legislation beyond what the ordinary Legislature of the Province had always possessed, a due consideration, and, indeed, a very slight and cursory perusal of the Act of the 1st Victoria, chap. 9, will shew, that it is expressly provided, first, that the Governor in Council shall not have more; secondly, that he shall not have so much.— See Preamble, No. IV., pp. 104, 105.