Document Information

Date: 1865-03-18
By: Province of Canada (Parliament)
Citation: Province of Canada, Legislative Council, Journals of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada, 8th Parl, 3rd Sess, 1865 at 246-247.
Other formats: Click here to view the original document (PDF).
Note: All endnotes come from our recent publication, Charles Dumais & Michael Scott (ed.), The Confederation Debates in the Province of Canada (CCF, 2022).

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly then addressed His Excellency [Viscount Monck] as followeth:—May it please Your Excellency: The Session of the Legislature which has now terminated will ever be memorable in the annals of this country, on account of the gravity and importance of the questions which have engaged the attention of Parliament.

The great project of a Federal Union of the British North American Provinces, the necessity of making adequate provision for our military defences, are measures of the greatest moment and of paramount consideration to the future welfare of Canada.

In ready response to Your Excellency’s invitation, the Legislative Assembly have bestowed the most careful and patient attention upon these questions, and have willingly acquiesced in the premature close of the present Session, in order that the result of their deliberations may be transmitted to the Imperial Government with the least possible delay.

In making provision for the protection of our frontier from the designs of evil-disposed persons, who would willingly embroil us with the neighboring Republic, and in giving more ample powers to the Government for preventing persons who have availed themselves of the scared right of asylum, which our Mother Country and her colonies extend to the oppressed of all nations, from making this Province a base for hostile demonstrations, rather than a place of refuge and rest,—we have given ample assurances that Canada is prepared to preserve to the uttermost the strict neutrality which Her Majesty has enjoined upon us, in the conflict now unhappily prevailing in that country.

In view of the urgency of public affairs at the present juncture, and the pressing need for immediate personal communication between the Members of Your Excellency’s Administration and the Imperial authorities, the Legislative Assembly have consented to deviate from the ordinary course of Parliamentary Supply, and to authorize the advance of the sums required for the Public Service by a vote of Credit, instead of insisting upon the observance of the Constitutional rules which guard and regulate the appropriation of public money. The confidence which has been thus bestowed in the fidelity and moderation of Your Excellency’s Government will, I am persuaded, meet with a due response, and in the expenditure of the moneys voted for the ordinary purposes of Government, as well as for the defence of the Province, the same regard will be had to the well-understood wishes of the Legislature, as if the Supplies had been granted in the usual manner.

Therefore, in the name and behalf of Her Majesty’s faithful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Canada, I beg to tender Your Excellency’s acceptance, a Bill intituled: “An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money required for defraying certain expenses of the Civil Government for the year 1865, and for certain other purposes connected with the Public Service.”

The Clerk of this House did thereupon say:—“In Her Majesty’s name, His Excellency the Governor General thanks Her loyal subjects, accepts their benevolence, and assents to this Bill.”

His Excellency the Governor General [Viscount Monck] was then pleased to deliver the following Speech:—Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly: In releasing you for the present from further attendance in Parliament, I rejoice that I am able to congratulate you upon having laid the foundation for a more intimate Union of Her Majesty’s Possessions in British North America.

I am also happy to think that the course which you have adopted has been calculated to prove the sincerity and earnestness with which you adhere to the policy of Her Majesty in relation to Foreign Countries, and your readiness to pass any measure which may be found necessary for the enforcement of that policy within the Province.

Gentleman of the Legislative Assembly: I thank you for the provision you have made for carrying on the Public Service of the Province.

The sum which has been entrusted to the Government by your vote for the permanent defence of the Province cannot fail to be regarded by our fellow-subjects in England as an earnest that Canadians are ready to accept the responsibilities whilst they claim the advantages of British connection.

Honorable Gentlemen, and Gentlemen: It has been considered advisable that a Deputation from the Government of Canada should proceed to London to confer with Her Majesty’s Ministers on questions of great importance to the Colony.

When these Gentlemen shall have returned, I shall lose no time in again availing myself of your counsels and laying before you the result of their mission.

Then, the Honorable the Speaker of this House said:—Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly: It is His Excellency the Governor General’s will and please that this Provincial be prorogued until Thursday, the Twenty-seventh day of April next, to be here holden; and this Provincial Parliament is accordingly prorogued until Thursday, the Twenty-seventh day of April next.