sides, I am concerned in having to announce to you, that the commissioners have separated without com. ing to any decision upon the important question intrusted to their management; and having, moreover, differed in regard to the appointment conjointly, of a third commissioner, or arbitrator, it becomes necessary, according to the provisions of the above mentioned act, (section) to refer the matter to his majesty's government, for the purpose of obtaining the appointment of an arbitrator under the royal sign manual. The subject of the currency has been brought under your notice upon more than one occasion during the last few years; but no practical measure having resulted from the consideration of it, I think it necessary to advert to it again; not so much with a view to the adoption of any general and comprehensive system, as to suggest the expediency of providing for the wants of the public, by the creation of a metallic currency of inferior value, to replace the silver coins, and copper, now in circulation, the intrinsic value of which, (especially of the latter,) is notoriously much below its current value. Of the temporary acts of the legislature which are about to expire, I desire to call your particular attention to the following, namely :-1st-An act relating to the fisheries in the county of Gaspe, repealed in part by the 1st of William the IV., chapter 22-which expires on the first of May, 1833. 2dly. An act to establish registry offices in the counties of Drummond, Sherbrook, Stanstead, Shef ford, and Missiskoui, amended, and extended by 1st of William IV. chap. 3-second section further extended by 2d Willian IV. chap. 7duration till the 1st of May, 1833. And 3dly.-An act to establish boards of health within this province, and to enforce an effectual system of quarantine, which expires on the 1st of May, 1833. I think it necessary here to refer to that part of my speech to you at the opening of the last session, which relates to the townships. The increasing importance of that interesting portion of the province-the habits of its population-and their wishes connected with the advancement of their own peculiar interests, are subjects which well deserve the attention of the legislature. By the enactment of laws calculated to meet the diversified wants of a mixed population, like that of Lower Canada, the general prosperity of the country will be advanced, and the peace and countenance of all classes of his majesty's subjects in the province, established upon a solid and lasting basis. The foregoing remark embraces a truth so obvious, that it may perhaps be thought superfluous to introduce it on the present occasion; but my mind is so deeply impressed with a sense of the importance (I might perhaps add the necessity) of effecting a strict and cordial union of interests and public feeling throughout the province, that I cannot abstain from seizing upon every opportunity which presents itself for promoting the success of an object of such paramount interest; an object, which, (as it appears to me,) it is no less the duty, than it is manifestly the true interest of every inhabitant of Lower Canada, to assist in promoting to the utmost of his ability, and in preference to every other consideration. Gentlemen of the House of Assembly: The supply bill voted during the last session, which, in consequence of particular circumstances, with which you are already acquainted, and in conformity with the instructions received by me from his majesty's government, was reserved for the signification of his majesty's pleasure, has subsequently received the royal sanction. Upon this subject it will be my duty to make an early communication to you by a special message. The appropriation of last session, for giving effect to the provisions of the act to establish boards of health within this province, and to enforce an effectual system of quarantine, although liberal in its amount, has nevertheless proved inadequate to it. But the excess has not been so considerable as there was reason to ap prehend from the prevalence of Asiatic cholera morbus in most parts of the province, which rendered necessary the creation of boards of health with their corresponding establishments, in addition to the expensive establishment at Gross Isle. I trust that the excess above alluded to will be provided for, with the same liberality which prompted the original grant. I avail myself of this opportunity to suggest the expediency of making provisions for the possible necessity for incurring further expense on the same account during the current year. The accounts of the general expenditure of the province during the past year, are in a forward state of preparation, and will, I trust, be in readiness to be laid before you at the period prescribed by legislative regulations. Should any delay take place in rendering these accounts, it is to be ascribed to the great labour necessary in preparing the voluminous and detailed statements re. quired from the executive branch of the legislature of all its disburse. ments of public money. An estimate of the expenses of the civil government for the ensuing year, framed according to the instructions of his majesty's govern ment, will, in like manner, be laid before you. Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, Gentlemen of the House of Assembly: The apprehension evinced by the legislature during the last session, by the passing the act to establish boards of health within this province, and to enforce an effectual system of quarantine, have been but too fatally realized; and the frightful disease, the introduction of which it was the principal object of that act to prevent, has visited the colony with a degree of violence, of which there are few examples on record, in other parts of the world. Happily that disease is now con. sidered to have ceased to prevail epidemically in the province; but in the event of its re-appearance, it may be presumed that the experience acquired during its late visitation will, (if those establishments are to be maintained,) enable the seve ral boards of health to improve on the regulations adopted by them. I should be guilty of injustice to. wards individuals composing, and connected with those establishments, especially the gentlemen of the medical profession, were I to pass over in silence the meritorious services performed by them, in the discharge of an arduous, important, and (in many instances) an invidious duty. The nature of that duty being altogether new in this country, the performance of it was attended with many difficulties in the com. mencement-these have been gradually overcome through the united ef. forts of zeal and experience; and I trust that the services to which I now allude, will be duly appreciated by the public, for whose benefit they were undertaken. The gratuitous assistance render Address to the King by the Legislative Council, on the state of the province. Quebec, Tuesday, April 2, 1833. MAJESTY. ed to the poorer classes of society TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT by the medical faculty throughout the province, is also entitled to warm commendation. Before I take leave of this subjuct, and close the present address, I must not omit to offer the tribute of praise due in a quarter, which I approach with sentiments of the most profound respect :-You will, I am sure, have anticipated me when I add, that I here allude to the meritorious exertions of the clergy in general, during that awful visitation with which it has pleased Divine Providence to afflict this land. In that season of terror and dismay, when even to approach the dwellings of those who were suffering under the influence of the prevailing disease required with many persons an effort of the mind; the ministers of religion went courageously forth, and entered the abodes of disease and death, were there to be found, day after day and night after night, bending over some devoted victim of the fatal malady; and, whilst inhal. ing the tainted breath that issued from his distempered frame, pouring words of comfort and consolation in his ear, and preparing his soul for its passage into another state of existence. Such exalted instances of self devotion are far, very far, beyond the reach of any praise that I have the power to bestow; and I will therefore only add, that by their conduct during the late pevalence of disease in the province, the clergy in general, have acquired new claims upon the love, the gratitude, the veneration, and the confidence of the people committed to their spirit. ual care. Most Gracious Sovereign We, your majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, in provincial parliament assembled, having had under our serious consideration, the dangerous and unconstitutional proceedings, adopted by the assembly, are impelled by a sense of duty to your majesty, and your majesty's Canadian people, humbly to approach your majesty's throne, with a representation of the alarming posture of the affairs of this province, and our earnest supplication for immediate and effectual relief. From the enviable state of peace and prosperity, to which we had attained under the constitution, bestowed upon us by your majesty's royal father, and the imperial par liament, we are approaching to a state of anarchy and confusionunceasing attempts are made to destroy the confidence which has hitherto subsisted between the subjects of your majesty of different origin and language-the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the wants of the people, are neglect. ed for the advancement of the cabals of party-your majesty's representative is falsely charged with partiality and injustice in the exercise of the powers confided to him— your majesty's officers, both civil and military, are deliberately libelled, as a combined faction, actuated by interest alone, to struggle for the support of a corrupt government, adverse to the rights and wishes of the people and thus unmerited abuse has, for years past, been as frequent within the walls of the assembly as without-nor can it be doubted that this system has been adopted and urged with a wicked intention to degrade the local authorities in the eyes of the people, and thereby ultimately to render them powerless and inefficient for the support of your majesty's government in this province. Every thing indicates a continu. ance, if not an increase, of the evils which we have briefly enumerated -for while your majesty's officers, and particularly the judges of your majesty's courts of law, are accused and defamed, a competent tribunal within the colony, to which they might appeal for trial and vindication, is refused-whereby a timid, instead of a fearless and independent exercise of their functions, is to be apprehended; and with a view to the completion of its designs, the assembly has ventured on the daring step of addressing your majesty to render the legislative council elective. The crisis at which we have arrived is pregnant with consequences of the deepest interest to the happiness and welfare of your majesty's subjects in this province, and at such a moment it would be criminal in the legislative council to withhold from your majesty the frank and candid avowal of its sentiments. The efforts of the assembly have been obviously directed for several years past to the attainment of power and influence, at the expense of the crown, and in direct violation of the constitutional rights and privileges of the legislative council. In illustration of this, we respectfully advert to the persevering en deavours of that house to obtain the entire control and disposal of all the provincial revenue and in come; refusing, at the same time, to make any adequate permanent provision for the expenses of the civil government, and to provide for the judiciary, to the conditions and instructions annexed to the votes of certain sums contained in the bill of supply, sent up during the present session, which strike at the existence of your majesty's prerogative to appoint to all offices of honour or profit in the colony,—to the claim advanced by the assembly to preserve the extensive and important part of your majesty's dominions (in which there is room for millions of inhabitants,) as a colony to be settled only by Canadians of French origin and descent, contrary to the just and manifest rights of your majesty's native born subjects-and, lastly, in the attempt to induce your majesty to adopt measures which would destroy the equilibrium of the constitution, by substituting an elective council for the intermediate branch established by law. In reference to the protension last noticed, we humbly entreat your majesty's attention to the undeniable fact, that in proportion as your majesty has graciously been pleased to increase the constitutional weight and efficiency of the legislative council, by the addition of members, unconnected with the local administration, and largely taken from the assembly itself, the efforts of that house for its entire abolition, have become more and more violent and daring. That the constitution of government established in this province, under the act passed in the 31st year of the reign of his majesty, King George the Third, chapter 31, has been efficacious in promoting the welfare and happiness of the inhabitants thereof, and in confirming their attachment to the British throne, are facts powerfully attested by the peaceable submission of the people to the laws, and the readiness with which they have on all occasions defended the province against foreign aggression, as well as by the petitions laid at the foot of the throne, in the years 1814 and 1828, and the addresses, at those periods, of the assembly itself, in which they entreated his late majesty and the imperial parlia ment" to maintain the inhabitants of Canada in the full enjoyment of the constitution as established by law, without any change whatever." It was in the year 1831, after the general election for the assembly now in session, and when some grounds of complaint against the local administration were in course of being redressed by the interposition of the imperial government, that a desire for a change in the constitution was first openly avowed in that body, and it is a matter of astonishment,that a violent and reckless party in that house, should be able to induce a majority of its members into an attempt to destroy a form of government, under which your majesty's Canadian people have enjoyed a state of peace, security and contentment, scarcely exceeded by any part of the world, and against which no considerable portion of the people have yet formally complained. While, therefore, the legislative council desire not to conceal from your majesty the actual state of the province, they are far from believing that the great body of the people yet participate in the views and wishes of the majority of the assem. bly, but in a community in which learning has made so little progress, even the well-disposed, the happy, and contented, are too liable to be misled by the factious and designing. The constitution enables your majesty to uphold an independent branch of the legislature by a judicious selection of the members chosen to compose it, and we venture, with all humility, to state to your majesty, that a branch so chosen is essential to sustain your royal prerogative, to maintain the connexion which happily subsists between this colony and the mother country, and to give security to a numerous class of your majesty's subjects of British origin, now numbering about one hundred and fifty thousand souls, scattered over the province, whose interests cannot be adequately represented in the assembly, seveneights of the members whereof are of French origin, and speak the French language. It is under the circumstances above described that the assembly have proposed to your majesty to abolish this house, and to substitute in its place a council to be elected by proprietors of estates of ten pounds annual value; a measure well conceived to further the desired object of obtaining a legislative body, in all respects the counterpart of the assembly, inasmuch as that would virtually embrace the whole constituency of the country. Its Having maturely considered, we trust without improper bias, the nature of the alterations in the constitution, proposed by the assembly, we entreat your majesty duly to weigh the opinion which we now humbly submit, as to the fatal consequences which may be expected to result from such a change. more immediate effects would be to render all offices in the colony elective-to unsettle the minds of your majesty's subjects of British origin respecting the security of life and property, which they now enjoyto prevent their further increase through emigration, and to sever |