MEMORANDUM FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE
GOVERNOR-General.

His Excellency's present advisers having accepted office on His Excellency's invitation, after the late administration had, by their resignation, admitted their inability successfully to conduct the affairs of the country in a parliament summoned under their own advice, and being unanimously of opinion that the constitutional recourse of an appeal to the people affords the best if not the only solution of existing difficulties, respectfully advise His Excellency to prorogue parliament immediately with a view to a dissolution.

When His Excellency's present advisers accepted office, they did not conceal from themselves the probability that they would be unable to carry on the government with the present House of Assembly. The House, they believe, does not possess the confidence of the country; and the public dissatisfaction has been greatly increased by the numerous and glaring acts of corruption and fraud by which many seats were obtained at the last general election, and for which acts the House, though earnestly petitioned so to do, has failed to afford a remedy.

For some years past strong sectional feelings have arisen in the country, which, especially during the present session, have seriously impeded the carrying on of the administrative and legislative functions of the government. The late administration made no attempt to meet these difficulties, or to suggest a remedy for them, and thereby the evil has been greatly aggravated. His Excellency's present advisers have entered the government with the fixed determination to propose constitutional measures for the establishment of that harmony between Upper and Lower Canada which is essential to the prosperity of the Province. They respectfully submit that they have a right to claim all the support which His Excellency can constitutionally extend to them in the prosecution of this allimportant object.

The unprecedented and unparliamentary course pursued by the House of Assembly-which, immediately after having by their vote compelled the late ministry to retire, proceeded to pass a vote of want of confidence in the present administration, without notice, within a few hours of their appointment, in their absence from the House, and before their policy had been announced-affords the most convincing proof that the affairs of the country cannot be efficiently conducted under the control of the House as now constituted.

At two o'clock this day the following memorandum was received from the Governor-General :

(MEMORANDUM.)

His Excellency the Governor-General has received the advice of the Executive Council to the effect that a dissolution of parliament should take place.

His Excellency is no doubt bound to deal fairly with all political parties; but he has a duty to perform to the Queen and the people of Canada paramount to that which he owes to any one party, or to all parties whatsoever.

The question for His Excellency to decide is not, "What is advantageous or fair for a particular party?" but what, upon the whole, is the most advantageous and fair for the people of the province.

The resignation of the late government was tendered in consequence of a vote of the House which did not assert directly any want of confidence in them.

The vote on Monday was a direct vote of want of confidence on the part of both Houses. It was carried in the assembly by a majority of forty, in a house of a hundred and two, out of one hundred and thirty members, consequently by a majority of the whole house, even if every seat had been full at the time of the vote.

In addition to this a similar vote was carried in the upper House by sixteen against eight, and an address founded on the same was adopted.

It is clear that, under such circumstances, a dissolution, to be of any avail, must be immediate. His Excellency the Governor-General cannot do any act other than that of dissolving parliament by the advice of a ministry who possess the confidence of neither branch of the legislature.

It is not the duty of the Governor-General to decide whether the action of the two Houses on Monday night was or was not in accordance with the usual courtesy of parliament towards an incoming administration. The two Houses are the judges of the propriety of their own proceedings. His Excellency has to do with the conclusions at which they arrive, provided only that the forms observed are such as to give legal and constitutional force to their votes.

There are many points which require careful consideration with reference to a dissolution at the present time. Amongst these are the following:

1. It has been alleged that the present House may be assumed not to represent the people. If such were the case, there was no sufficient reason why, on being in a minority in that house, the late government should have given place to the present. His Excellency cannot constitutionally adopt this view.

2. An election took place only last winter. This fact is not conclusive against a second election now, but the costs and inconvenience of such a proceeding are so great, that they ought not to be incurred a second time without very strong grounds.

3. The business before parliament is not yet finished. It is perhaps true that very little which is absolutely essential for the country remains to be done. A portion, however, of the estimates, and two bills at least, of great importance, are still before the Legislative Assembly, irrespective of the private business.

In addition to this, the resolutions respecting the Hudson Bay Territory have not been considered, and no answer on that subject can be given to the British Government.

4. The time of year and state of affairs would make a general election at this moment peculiarly inconvenient and burthensome, inasmuch as the harvest is now going on in a large portion of the country, and the pressure of the late money crisis has not passed away.

5. The following considerations are strongly pressed by His Excellency's present advisers as reasons why he should authorize an appeal to the people, and thereby retain their services in the council.

(1.) The corruption and bribery alleged to have been practised at the last election, and the taint which on that account is said to attach to the present Legislative Assembly.

(2.) The existence of a bitter sectional feeling between Upper and Lower Canada, and the ultimate danger to the union as at present constituted, which is likely to arise from such feeling.

If the first of these points be assumed as true, it must be asked what assurance can His Excellency have that a new election, under precisely the same laws, held within six or eight months of the last, will differ in its character from that which then took place?

If the facts are as they are stated to be, they might be urged as a reason why a general election should be avoided as long as possible; at any rate until the laws are made more stringent, and the precautions against such evils shall have been increased by the wisdom of parliament. Until this is done, the speedy recurrence of the opportunity of practising such abuses would be likely to aggravate their character, and confirm the habit of resorting to them.

The second consideration, as to the feeling between Upper and Lower Canada, and the ultimate danger of such feelings to the union, is one of a very grave kind. It would furnish to His Excellency the strongest possible

motive for a dissolution of parliament, and for the retention of the present government at all hazards, if the two points were only conclusively established, that is to say, if it could be shown that the measures likely to be adopted by Mr. Brown and his colleagues were a specific, and that the only specific, for these evils, and that the members of the present council were the only men to allay the jealousies so unhappily existing. It may be that both these propositions are true, but, unless they are established to His Excellency's complete satisfaction, the mere existence of the mischief is not in itself decisive as to the propriety of resorting to a general election at the present moment. The certainty, or at any rate the great probability, of the cure by the course proposed, and by that alone, would require to be also proved. Without this, a great present evil would be voluntarily incurred for the chance of a remote good.

6. It would seem to be the duty of His Excellency to exhaust every possible alternative before subjecting the province for the second time in the same year to the cost, the inconvenience, and the demoralization of such a proceeding.

The Governor-General is by no means satisfied that every alternative has been thus exhausted, or that it would be impossible for him to secure a ministry who would close the business of this session, and carry on the administration of the government during the recess with the confidence of a majority of the Legislative Assembly.

After full and mature deliberation on the arguments submitted to him by word of mouth, and in writing, and with every respect for the opinion of the council, His Excellency declines to dissolve parliament at the present time.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, TORONTO, C. W.,

Aug. 4., 1858.

(Signed,)

EDMUND HEAD.

Immediately on the receipt of this document, Mr. Brown proceeded to the Government House, and placed in the hands of His Excellency the resignations of himself and colleagues in the following terms:

Mr. Brown has the honour to inform His Excellency the GovernorGeneral that, in consequence of His Excellency's memorandum of this afternoon, declining the advice of the council to prorogue parliament with a view to a dissolution, he has now, on behalf of himself and colleagues, to tender their resignations.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CHAMBER, TORONTO,

4th August, 1858.

The course taken by the Governor-General, in accepting the resig nation of his ministers and sending for the leader of the opposition to form a new administration, beyond all question did commit him to give Mr. Brown his full confidence. It was open to His Excellency to assume that the vote against the late government was not strictly a party vote, as he afterwards did assume; and that their resignation did not call for his sending for the opposite party leader. He might at once have sent for some other member of the ministerial party, as he afterwards did; or he might have declined to accept the resignation of ministers, on the ground that they still possessed the confidence of the House on general grounds. He chose the other course, and thereby gave Mr. Brown to understand, as plainly as if he had said it

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in so many words, that whatever he, Mr. Brown, found it necessary to do he should have his support. No consultation was invited as to the terms on which Mr. Brown would accept the trust imposed upon him. He was simply asked, in His Excellency's letter of Thursday, to signify such acceptance to him (the Governor-General) in writing, in "order that he may be at once in a position to confer with you as one "of his responsible advisers;" and further, "His Excellency's first object will be to consult you as to the names of your future colleagues, and as to the assignment of the offices." In reply, Mr. Brown asked for time to consult his friends. On Saturday, two days after the Governor-General wrote the first letter to Mr. Brown, that gentleman waited on His Excellency with his written acceptance of the offer made him. He had in the meantime seen his friends, and made such arrangements as enabled him to accept the trust. The members of his government were Hon. James Morris, Hon. A. A. Dorion, Hon. O. Mowat, Hon. M. H. Foley, Hon. J. S. Macdonald, Hon. L. T. Drummond, Hon. M. Thibadeau, Hon. L. H. Holton, Hon. M. Laberge, Hon. Dr. Connor and Hon. George Brown.

Then His Excellency informed Mr. Brown that he gave no pledge to dissolve parliament. Hostile writers have assumed that Mr. Brown at his interview attempted to make a bargain with Sir Edmund Head as to granting a dissolution. That this was not the case is perfectly clear, not only from Mr. Brown's narrative but from the Governor's own memorandum, sent to Mr. Brown on Saturday night. Others state that when Mr. Brown was called in the Governor "warned him "that a dissolution would not be granted him."* This is doubly wrong. Mr. Brown was not "warned" until two days after he was called in-until, in fact, he had made his arrangements--and then he was simply told that His Excellency would give no pledge to dissolve. No one asked him to give a pledge of any sort, but every one naturally thought that he would, as a constitutional ruler, give his ministers all his confidence and assistance after inviting them to come to his assistEither the Governor had back stairs advisers, whom he had consulted and whose advice he followed, between the time when he invited Mr. Brown to undertake the formation of a government on Thursday and the interview of Saturday, or he had determined from the first that if Mr. Brown should undertake the task imposed upon him he (the Governor) would prevent him fulfilling the duty, and therefore, two days after his first communication he made the gratuitous statement to Mr. Brown, hoping that it would prevent that gentleman going any further in forming his government. On either ground

ance.

* "Scot" in British North America, page 569.

the action of the Governor was disgraceful, and manifestly the proceeding of a shameless partisan.

The memorandum sent to Mr. Brown on Sunday evening was seemingly written under the impression that it was desirable to supplement the conversation relative to a dissolution by other conditions, in case Mr. Brown should advise a prorogation. In the memorandum he then proceeds to build up an effectual barrier against prorogation, as follows: "The Governor-General has no objection to prorogue the parliament," but "if parliament is prorogued, His Excellency would think it very desirable that the Bill for the "Registration of Voters, and that containing the prohibition of fraudu"lent assignments and gifts by traders, should be proceeded with "and become law. Besides this, any item of supply absolutely necessary should be provided for by a vote of credit, and the money for repairs of the canals, which cannot be postponed, should be voted." His Excellency afterwards incautiously admitted that "very little "which is absolutely essential for the country remains to be done in "the House." His Excellency can hardly "prorogue until these necessary steps are taken."

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Sir Edmund Head knew perfectly well that his ministers could not be in their places in parliament for three weeks; that a majority existed hostile to them in the lower House, which would make it impossible for them, not having a seat in the House, to conduct legislation and vote supplies. Yet these conditions were imposed as the price of prorogation. Every step betrays the head and heart of the conspirator.

On Monday morning Mr. Brown informed the Governor that he had, before receiving his memorandum, "fulfilled the duty entrusted "to him," and would at the appointed hour submit the names of his colleagues. He also informed His Excellency that until they were sworn in as his councillors they would not be in a position to discuss the important matters referred to in his memorandum. It would have been difficult to have given a more correct and dignified rebuke.

At noon on Monday the members of the cabinet were sworn in, and the same evening votes of want of confidence were passed in both Houses. The government at once advised a prorogation, with a view to a dissolution. This was refused after a demand for reasons from the ministers. The reasons given embrace, as will be seen, statements relating to various matters of public policy which called for immediate action, especially some relating to sectional disturbances between Upper and Lower Canada; but the strong reasons urged were, that they accepted office "on His Excellency's invitation after the late "administration had admitted their inability to conduct the affairs "of the country;" that they had a right to claim all the " support