consists of fifty members, and I will venture to say, that taking away seven or eight of them, whom I could name, the business of the House could not go on at all, such is the incapacity of the rest. Would not a council, including these seven or eight- nembers, answer every purpose of a House of Assembly? Nay, be more consonant to the feelings and prejudices of the majority of the Canadians, and to the state of the province both in a civil and military point of view.

I may be told that it is now too late, the Canadians having tasted the sweets of power. It is an observation as true as it is common, that it is never too late to do well. It is to be hoped, and presumed, that the House of Assembly will not in any materia! point thwart the intentions of the execu tive, or act contrary to the interest of Great Britain. If they did, I should think it by no means too late for the governor to dissolve them never to meet again, except to be instantly dissolved, which it is in his power to do. It would be doing many of them no great injury to transplant them to their corn fields, or country shops, instead

of allowing them to sit in a House of Assembly where they are mere cyphers, or, at best, tools to a few designing men.

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The Canadians themselves seem to have felt their incapacity to act as legislators, for they opposed as much as they could the introduction of the present form of government. It was brought about by the English residents in Quebec and Montreal; but from some mismanagement at home they were completely outwitted. If Upand Lower Canada had had but one house of assembly, the English party would have always kept the majority. But Canada was divided into two provinces; and as the French Canadians in Lower Capada greatly outnumber the English, they have completely the ascendency in the House of Assembly;-a thing never dreamed of by those who promoted the introduction of the present form of government. The Canadians find that the government of the country is virtually placed in their hands; the English cannot carry a single point if they choose to oppose them; and is it to be expected that a constitution founded

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on the purest principles of civil and religious liberty, can be supported, explained, and acted upon, by men, who are as ignorant of such principles, as they are deficient in general knowledge?

The division of Canada into two provinces, with separate and independent governments, was certainly approved of by Mr. Pitt, though it did not originate with him:-the present lord Grenville I have understood was instrumental in bringing it about. It appears contrary to principles which Mr. Pitt afterwards applied to another part of the empire. He maintained, and all mankind must allow that union gives strength and vigour; by the union. of Scotland and Ireland with England, the strength of the whole is generally allowed to be increased. The same principle will apply to the Canadas. They should not have separate legislatures, because it will in time engender separate interests, real or supposed; and produce a jarring in their co-operation for the general good of the colony, and in promoting the interests of the mother country.

It does not appear attended with much difficulty, even now, to unite the two houses of assembly, as the Irish was to the English Parliament. Let the governor of Upper Canada be in civil, as he now is in military matters, subordinate. The officers of the crown, and the judges, (as in Scotland and Ireland), might continue to act, each for their own district, under such new regulations as might seem expedient. The laws and language of Upper and Lower Canada being different, need be no objection. The same thing exists between the highlands of Scotland and England, though the same legislature serves both. An union of the two governments seems the only line of policy which can ensure to Englishmen that weight in the country which is highly expedient, not only for their own safety and convenience, but for the good of the province, and the interests of Great Britain. If Canada is to have a representative government (which I by no means think necessary), the whole province should have but one legislature, and one head.

The British government have in more

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cases than one, acted unwisely, in my humble opinion, in these matters.-There can be little doubt that the kind of government to be given to a conquered country ought to be fitted for the people to be governed, regard being had to their previous habits, and the general state of society.

The English conquered Corsica, for instance, and took it into their heads to give the Corsicans a British constitution. Of all the islanders in the Mediterranean the Corsicans are the most savage, and were the least accustomed to think for themselves in matters of government. What was the consequence? Lord Minto, the first viceroy, could tell you. Their savage manners could not be moulded so as to make them fit for deliberating in council. Like the Canadian members of parliament, many of them could neither read nor write. Such men cannot appreciate the value of a free constitution. The English are so fond of their consitution, that they think it is only necessary to shew it to all the world, and it must be accepted with joy.