It Appears That The Present Relations In Which Canada
Stands To England Are Greatly To Her Advantage, And There Is Happily No
Desire On Her Part To Sever Them.
The Governor-General is appointed by the Crown, generally for a term of
five years, but is paid by the province; he acts as viceroy, and his
assent to the measures of the Legislature is required, in order to render
them valid.
His executive council, composed of the ministers of the day,
is analogous to our English Cabinet. The governor, like our own Sovereign,
must bow to the will of a majority in the Legislature, and dismiss his
ministers when they lose the confidence of that body. The "second estate"
is the Legislative Council. The governor, with the advice of his ministry,
appoints the members of this body. They are chosen for life, and their
number is unrestricted. At present there are about forty members.
The functions of this council are very similar to those of our House of
Peers, and consist, to a great extent, in registering the decrees of the
Lower House. 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.
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