national jealousy has been at work, and even yet that national
jealousy is not at an end. While the two provinces were divided
there were, of course, two capitals, and two seats of government.
These were at Quebec for Lower Canada, and at Toronto for Upper
Canada, both which towns are centrically situated as regards the
respective provinces. When the union was effected, it was deemed
expedient that there should be but one capital; and the small town
of Kingstown was selected, which is situated on the lower end of
Lake Ontario, in the upper province. But Kingstown was found to be
inconvenient, lacking space and accommodation for those who had to
follow the government, and the Governor removed it and himself to
Montreal. Montreal is in the lower province, but is very central
to both the provinces; and it is moreover the chief town in Canada.
This would have done very well but for an unforeseen misfortune.

It will be remembered by most readers that in 1837 took place the
Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion, of which those who were then old
enough to be politicians heard so much in England. I am not going
back to recount the history of the period, otherwise than to say
that the English Canadians at that time, in withstanding and
combating the rebels, did considerable injury to the property of
certain French Canadians, and that, when the rebellion had blown
over and those in fault had been pardoned, a question arose whether
or no the government should make good the losses of those French
Canadians who had been injured. The English Canadians protested
that it would be monstrous that they should be taxed to repair
damages suffered by rebels, and made necessary in the suppression
of rebellion. The French Canadians declared that the rebellion had
been only a just assertion of their rights; that if there had been
crime on the part of those who took up arms, that crime had been
condoned, and that the damages had not fallen exclusively or even
chiefly on those who had done so. I will give no opinion on the
merits of the question, but simply say that blood ran very hot when
it was discussed. At last the Houses of the Provincial Parliament,
then assembled at Montreal, decreed that the losses should be made
good by the public treasury; and the English mob in Montreal, when
this decree became known, was roused to great wrath by a decision
which seemed to be condemnatory of English loyalty. It pelted Lord
Elgin, the Governor-General, with rotten eggs, and burned down the
Parliament house. Hence there arose, not unnaturally, a strong
feeling of anger on the part of the local government against
Montreal; and moreover there was no longer a house in which the
Parliament could be held in that town. For these conjoint reasons
it was decided to move the seat of government again, and it was
resolved that the Governor and the Parliament should sit
alternately at Toronto in Upper Canada, and at Quebec in Lower
Canada, remaining four years at each place. They went at first to
Toronto for two years only, having agreed that they should be there
on this occasion only for the remainder of the term of the then
Parliament. After that they were at Quebec for four years; then at
Toronto for four; and now again are at Quebec. But this
arrangement has been found very inconvenient. In the first place
there is a great national expenditure incurred in moving old
records and in keeping double records, in moving the library, and,
as I have been informed, even the pictures. The government clerks
also are called on to move as the government moves; and though an
allowance is made to them from the national purse to cover their
loss, the arrangement has nevertheless been felt by them to be a
grievance, as may be well understood. The accommodation also for
the ministers of the government and for members of the two Houses
has been insufficient. Hotels, lodgings, and furnished houses
could not be provided to the extent required, seeing that they
would be left nearly empty for every alternate space of four years.
Indeed, it needs but little argument to prove that the plan adopted
must have been a thoroughly uncomfortable plan, and the wonder is
that it should have been adopted. Lower Canada had undertaken to
make all her leading citizens wretched, providing Upper Canada
would treat hers with equal severity. This has now gone on for
some twelve years, and as the system was found to be an unendurable
nuisance, it has been at last admitted that some steps must be
taken toward selecting one capital for the country.

I should here, in justice to the Canadians, state a remark made to
me on this matter by one of the present leading politicians of the
colony. I cannot think that the migratory scheme was good but he
defended it, asserting that it had done very much to amalgamate the
people of the two provinces; that it had brought Lower Canadians
into Upper Canada, and Upper Canadians into Lower Canada, teaching
English to those who spoke only French before, and making each
pleasantly acquainted with the other. I have no doubt that
something--perhaps much--has been done in this way; but valuable as
the result may have been, I cannot think it worth the cost of the
means employed. The best answer to the above argument consists in
the undoubted fact that a migratory government would never have
been established for such a reason. It was so established because
Montreal, the central town, had given offense, and because the
jealousy of the provinces against each other would not admit of the
government being placed entirely at Quebec, or entirely at Toronto.

But it was necessary that some step should be taken; and as it was
found to be unlikely that any resolution should be reached by the
joint provinces themselves, it was loyally and wisely determined to
refer the matter to the Queen. That Her Majesty has
constitutionally the power to call the Parliament of Canada at any
town of Canada which she may select, admits, I conceive, of no
doubt. It is, I imagine, within her prerogative to call the
Parliament of England where she may please within that realm,
though her lieges would be somewhat startled if it were called
otherwhere than in London. It was therefore well done to ask Her
Majesty to act as arbiter in the matter. But there are not wanting


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