ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION. EDITED WITH NOTES AND APPENDIXES. BY WILLIAM HOUSTON, M. A., LIBRARIAN TO THE ONTARIO LEGISLATURE. TORONTO: CARSWELL & CO., LAW PUBLISHERS. 1891. Checked May 1913 Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, by WILLIAM HOUSTON, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture. PRINTED BY THOS. MOQRE & Co., LAW PRINTERS 22 & 24 ADELAIDE ST. EAST TORONTO. PREFACE. AHIS volume is the result of an attempt to bring together in THIS a single collection the documents which contain the constitution of the Dominion of Canada and illustrate its historical development. A much larger number of documents might legiti'mately have been included under this description, but the line had to be drawn somewhere, and I have chosen to draw it between those that are of international and imperial origin on the one hand, and those that have resulted from the exercise of colonial autonomy on the other. Any apparent violations of this principle of classification have been dictated by considerations of convenience which are too obvious to call for specific mention. Many documents that are either not imperial or not constitutional have been added in the form of appendixes to the text. It is hoped that they will prove to be not the least useful part of the collection. Where the material to choose from is abundant and the space is limited there will always be differences of opinion as to what should properly be included. While I have received much valuable advice on this point from eminent statesmen and publicists, I feel bound to say, in justice alike to them and myself, that the plan of the work is essentially my own. My belief that the true line of development of the Canadian constitution takes us back, not to the French regime in Canada, but to the colonial governments of what is now the United States is sufficient to account for the absence of all French documents, except the articles of capitulation of Quebec and Montreal. If space had permitted I would gladly have inserted as appendixes some of the con |