The "Third Estate" Is Denominated The House Of Assembly, And
Consists Of 130 Members, 65 For Each Province.
[Footnote:
The members of
the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly receive six dollars
(24s. sterling) a day for their attendance. The members of the Executive
Council are paid at the rate of 1260l. per annum.] The qualification for
the franchise has been placed tolerably high, and no doubt wisely, as, in
the absence of a better guarantee for the right use of it, a property
qualification, however trifling in amount, has a tendency to elevate the
tone of electioneering, and to enhance the value which is attached to a
vote. The qualification for electors is a 50l. freehold, or an annual
rent of 7l. 10s. Contrary to the practice in the States, where large
numbers of the more respectable portion of the community abstain from
voting, in Canada the votes are nearly all recorded at every election, and
the fact that the franchise is within the reach of every sober man gives
an added stimulus to industry.
The attempt to establish British constitutional government on the soil of
the New World is an interesting experiment, and has yet to be tested.
There are various disturbing elements in Canada, of which we have little
experience in England; the principal one being the difficulty of
legislating between what, in spite of the union, are two distinct,
nations, of different races and religions. The impossibility of
reconciling the rival, and frequently adverse claims, of the Upper and
Lower Provinces, has become a very embarrassing question. The strong
social restraints, and the generally high tone of public feeling in
England, which exercise a powerful control over the minister of the day,
do not at present exist in Canada; neither has the public mind that nice
perception of moral truth which might be desired. The population of Upper
Canada, more especially, has been gathered from many parts of the earth,
and is composed of men, generally speaking, without education, whose sole
aim is the acquisition of wealth, and who are not cemented by any common
ties of nationality. Under these circumstances, and bearing in mind the
immense political machinery which the Papacy can set to work in Canada,
the transfer of British institutions to the colony must at present remain
a matter of problematical success. It is admitted that the failure of
representative institutions arises from the unworthiness of
constituencies; and if the efforts which are made by means of education to
elevate the character of the next generation of electors should prove
fruitless, it is probable that, with the independence of the colony,
American institutions, with their objectionable features, would follow. At
present the great difficulties to be surmounted lie in the undue power
possessed by the French Roman Catholic population, and the Romanist
influences brought to bear successfully on the Government.
There is in Canada no direct taxation for national purposes, except a mere
trifle for the support of the provincial lunatic asylums, and for some
other public buildings. The provincial revenue is derived from customs
duties, public works, crown lands, excise, and bank impost. The customs
duties last year came to 1,100,000l., the revenue from public works to
123,000l., from lands about the same sum, from excise about 40,000l.,
and from the tax on the current notes of the banks 30,000l. Every
county, township, town, or incorporated village, elects its own council;
and all local objects are provided for by direct taxation through these
bodies. In these municipalities the levying of the local taxes is vested,
and they administer the monies collected for roads, bridges, schools, and
improvements, and the local administration of public justice.
According to the census taken in 1851, the population of Upper Canada was
952,000 souls, being an increase since 1842 of 465,945. That of Lower
Canada amounted to 890,000, making a total of 1,842,000; but if to this we
add the number of persons who have immigrated within the last four years,
we have a population of 2,012,134.
Of the population of Lower Canada, 669,000 are of French origin. These
people speak the French language, and profess the Romish faith. The land
is divided into seigneuries; there are feudal customs and antiquated
privileges, and the laws are based upon the model of those of old France.
The progress of Lower Canada is very tardy. The French have never made
good colonists, and the Romish religion acts as a drag upon social and
national progress. The habitans of the Lower Province, though moral and
amiable, are not ambitious, and hold their ancient customs with a tenacity
which opposes itself to their advancement. The various changes in the
tariff made by the Imperial Government affected Lower Canada very
seriously. On comparing the rate of increase in the population of the two
provinces in the same period of twelve years, we find that for Upper
Canada it was 130 per cent., for Lower Canada only 34 per cent. The
disparity between the population and the wealth of the two provinces is
annually on the increase.
The progress of Upper Canada is something perfectly astonishing, and bids
fair to rival, if not exceed, that of her gigantic neighbour. Her
communication between the Lake district and the Atlantic is practically
more economical, taking the whole of the year, and, as British emigration
has tended chiefly to the Upper Province, the population is of a more
homogeneous character than that of the States. The climate also is more
favourable than that of Lower Canada. These circumstances, combined with
the inherent energy of the Anglo-Saxon races which have principally
colonised it, account in great measure for the vast increase in the
material prosperity of the Upper Province as compared with the Lower.
In 1830 the population of Upper Canada was 210,437 souls; in 1842,
486,055; and in 1851 it had reached 952,004. Its population is now
supposed to exceed that of Lower Canada by 300,000 souls.
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