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1
THE
I
NEW CANADIAN
DOMINION:
IN REOARD TO
THEIR GOVERNMENT.
BY THE REV. DR. RYERSON.
" The Middle Principlts alond ure solid, orderlj, and frQitfal."— Lord Baook.
"I wish to see patriotism exalted into » moral principle) not a branch of
arariee.'DB. GHAMNma.
" He who nses h's power for the benefit of a section, or of a 'parl'^y is false to
his dutj, to his country, and to his God. He is engraving' his name on the
adamantine pillar of his eountrys history, to be gazed npon forever as an
object of universal detestation" — Da. Watlamd.
"Party undermines principles'— destroys confidence in statesmen— corrupts
private morals— unites sordid motives with pure— produces self-d^eptiou —
distroys regard to truth— promotes abuse of the press— gives sco^e to malignant
fejelings— paralyses public councils—promotes treasonable designs "— Lobd
Bbodohak. {Cw/ttnit of the Ath chapter. Patt //., of his Political Bjiihwphy,)
B
TORONTO:
LOYELL k GIBSON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, YONQB STREUT.
wimmmm
CONTENTS.
\ '
Pbbfaob. — The School System Politically Educating the People.— Evils
of Partisanship, Lord Brougham quoted. — Blessing of Proposed
Union of Parties. — Duty of this Address Pages 3-6
Part I. — 1. Introduction. — 2. Situation, Freedom, Responsibility. — 3.
How to fulfil this Responsibility. — 4. Transition, First Duty. — 5.
Personal Hostilities and Party Strife the Cauue of Past Misfortuneo
to the Country. — 6. First Question for the Consideration of the
I*c?.if.r ; Absurdity of Reviving former Disputes. — 7. Principles and
Method adopted under the Administrations of Lord Sydenham and
Sir Ohai'les Bagot (1840-4) to Establish a New System of Govern-
ment.— 8. Historical Illustrations of the Wisdom and Patriotism of
Abolishing Past Party Disputes, in restoring Peace and Unity to a
Country Pages 7-14
Pabt li. — 1. The Second Great Question Stated. — 2. Four Arguments
stated against a Partisan System of Government. — 3. Misapprehen-
sion Corrected. — 4. Partisan System of Government contrary to
Good and Wise Men's Practice in other similar' relations of life. — 5.
Demoralizing Effects of a Partisan System of Government. — 6;
Partuian Government contrary to the avowed Principles and Objects
of Old Befonners. — 7. Partisan Government contrary to the Opinions
and Advice of Good and Experienced Men in Europe and America :
Bobert) Hall; Sir Robert Peei ; Dr. Wayland ; Fenimore Cooper;
Dr. Ohamung ; Judge Story ; M. DeTocqueville.->ExampleB of its
Bad EfiiMts in the United States and Canada. — Cause of Deoline of
Public Men in Canada. — Example of Richard Cobden.— The Late
President Harrison. — Lord Brougham. — 8. Two Questions for the Con-
sideration and Decision of the Country. — 9. Conclusion... Pages 14-32
Appendix. — 1. Lord Brougham on the Demora?'zing Influence of Party-
ism. — 2i Gisbome on the Duty of a Legislator'. — ^Lord Brougham on
the brow-beating of Public Men by the Press ..,.»,... Pages 33-35
('11
\1
I i
PKEFACE.
Ml
I HAVE determined to write the following Address without the
knowledge of any public nan, in Church or State. I am alone
responsible for what it contains.
In no respect is the education of a people more important than
in respect to the principles of their government, their rights and
duties as citi!!:ens. This decs not come within the range of ele-
mentary school teaching; but I hare sought *o introduce, as much
as possible, expositions on the principles, spirit, and philosophy of
government, in my annual reports, and other school addresses and
documeuts, during the last twenty years, and so to frame the
whole school system as to make its local administration an instru-
ment of practical education to the people, in the election of
representatives, and the corporate management of their affairs —
embracing most of the elementary principles and practice of civil
government, and doing so to a greater extent than is done in
the school system of any country in Europe, or of any state in
America. .And the strength and success of the school system in
any municipality have been in propOi^ion to the absefice of phHy
spirit, and the union of all parties for its promotion, while its
efficidii6y and progriess have be^n impaired and retarded in pro-
portion as factious individuals or parties have fomented disccrd
and created division. "What is true in school polity is true in
civil polity; and what is true in the educational branch of the
public service, is true in every branch of the public service.
But, I am aware that many good and intelligent men, of dif->
ferent views and associations, regfird party ism as a necessity,
a normal element, in the operations of free civil government. I
course or usage, without dae-
they
so.
examination. I think they are in error, at least in the Canadian
sense of the term party ; and that this error has heon at the bottom
of most of our civil discords and executive abuses. I think
that parti/ism is a cloff in the machinery of civil government,
as in that of school or municipal government ;* in vrhich
there is free discussion of measures, and of the conduct of
Trustees and Councillors ; and there have been elections and
changes of men as well as of measures. When thene discussions
and elections have turned on the merits of measures and men,
the result has been beneftcial ; but, wherever faction and party
spirit characterized the discussions and elections, the result has
been injurious, and, in some cases, disastrous. So, in a larger
sphere, with more diversified subjects and interests, in civil matters
the field of discussion and emulation is enlarged and varied ; but,
that does not affect the principles, or spirit, or ends of action, ,.
which should be as free from party faction, intolerance and exclu-
sion in civil, as in municipal or school matters. Wheft, party assump-
tions and intolerance have gone so far as to interfere with the
proper functions of government, with the constitutional rights of
citizens, or of the Crown, I have, at different times, in former
years, being trammelled by or dependent upon no party, endeavoured
to check these party excesses, and oppressions, sometimei) to the
offence of one party, and sometimes to the offence of anotlher, just
* On thia subject Lors iiK0C0HA.ic remarks as follows, even in an itoonomio
view of the question : —
" No contrivance can be more clumsy, than one which would ciecure a
a correct working of the machine [of government] by creating obstacles
that may, at any moment, suspend its movements; and no check C9n be
more costly than one which must occasion a perpeiaal loss of power, a-
loss, too, always great in proportion to the force required to be ejcerted;
that is, in proportion to the necessity of union, and the danger of disunion.
Only conceive a person's astonishment who should, for the first tirae, bo
informed that, in order to prevent an erroneous policy from becoming a
guide to a nation's councils, OTia half of her statesmen, and nearly one
half of her people, were continually and strenuously employed in working
Against the other half engaged in the publlq service."— Po/t/urdJ PM^nepky,
Chapter It., Part II. \
as one or the other might he the transgressor. I was, of course^
much assailed by the parties rebuked, as I may be now; but no
consideration of that kind should prevent the public instructor—
whether educator or preacher — from rebuking what he believes to be
wrong in itself and injurious to the progress and interests of society,
or from teaching what he believes to be true and essential to the
advancement of society, please or offend whom it may, or however
it may affect him personally.
I have rejoiced to observe, that many who have heretofore been
men of party and of party government have resolved to inaugurate
the new system of government, not upon the acute angle of party,
hut, upon the broad base of equal and impartial justice to all parties
the only moral and patriotic principle of government, according to my
convictions, and the only principle of government to make good and
great men, and make a progressive and happy country, as I have
endeavoured to show in the following address. •. . *, *t -.^^,»^..cr^.
From whatever motives, whether selfish or patriotic, any of our
public men may have come to the conclusion of establishing a govern*
ment of principle and patriotism, instead of a government of party,
is of more importance to themselves than to others. If the principle
is right and the act wise, the country will be equally benefitted,
without regard to the motives of the actor or actors.
Thankful to find that the new system of civil government was to
be established upon the game principles as those on which our school
system has been founded and developed to the satisfaction of the
country, and to the admiration of all foreign visitors ; and believing
that the present wa? the juncture of time for commencing a new and
brighter era in the history of Canada — 1 have felt that it had a claim to
the result, in epitoiae at least, of my fifty years reading and medita-
tion, and more than forty years occasional discussion, respecting these
first principles of government, for the freedom, unity, happinesi,
advancement and prosperity of a people. I hope that the question
now formally opened, will receive that attention which its importance
6
demands, until it shall have been thoroughly discussed, fully aud
generally understood, and firmly settled.
In discussing these fundamental principles of good government, it
has, of course, become a necessary duty to point out the errors and
obstacles which oppose its establishment ; and, the wider spread the
delusion of those errors, and the more serious those obstacles, the
stronger the necessity and the more imperative the duty of plainly
exposing them. On that account, judging from the past, every
species of vituperation and art will be employed to impugn my
motives and character. But I believe there is a judgment, a consci-
ence, a heart in the bosom of a people, as well as in that of an indi-
yidual, not wholly corrupted— at least, so I have in time past found
it in the people of Upper Canada — and, to that judgment, and con-
science, and heart, I appeal. If what I have written is true, and if
what I have suggested is wise, just, and patriotic, I am not concerned
as to what any deceptive or dishonest art can do to the contrary ; for,
as Robert Hall beautifully said, on a similar occasion, *' Wisdom
and truth, the offspring of the sky, are immortal ; but cunning and
deception, the meteors of the earth, after glittering for a moment,
must pass away."
E. R.
Toronto, July, 1867. ' ; i a;
* '
!
ADDRESS
TO TBB
PEOPLE OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO,
LATE UPPEE CANADA,
ON THE NEW DOMINION.
9T THE R£V. DR. RYERSON.
PART I.
1. Introduction.
My Fellow Countrymen :
While I heartily unite ia your rejoicings over our new birth as a
nation, I beg to address you some words on our national duties and
interests. I do so because clergymen of various churches have done
80 in sermons, addresses and orations ; because my opinions and
advices have been requested by many persons deeply interested in
the public welfare ; because I am approaching the close of a public
life of more than forty years, during which I have carefully observed
the hindrances and aids of our social progress, and have taken part,
since 1825, in the discussion of all those constitutional questions
which involved the rights and relations of religious denominations
and citizens, and which have resulted in our present system of free
government and of equal rights among all religious persuasions ;
because my heart's desire and prayer to God is, that the new
Dominion of Canada may become prosperous and happy, by begin-
ning well, by avoiding those errors which have in time past been
fnjurious to ourseIvf>9, and rhich have impeded the progress and
marred the peace of other peoples, and by adopting those maxims of
■both feeling and conduct which the best and most experienced public
men of Europe and America have enjoined as essential to the itrength
•and happinesSf the advancement and grandeur of a nation.
2. Situation, Freedom, RespoMibility.
We occupy n country on which Divine munificence has lavished all
the needful elements of wealth and greatness. By a parental and
liberal policy, and not by the clangour and bloodshed of revolution,
we are architects of our own fortune ; it depends upon ourselves,
under Providence, whether we shall be a virtuous, intelligent, happy
and prosperous people — a welcome member and honor of the family
of nations — or whether, by domestic quarrels and divisions, and con-
sequent weakness and degeneracy, we disappoint the expectations of our
best friends and well-wishers, and become the outskirt hewers of wood
and drawers of water to a neighbourina: republic. And it devolves
on the electors of Canada, in the spirit we now cultivate, and in the
choice we now make of our first legislators, to stamp upon our
country its future character, and determine for our children their
future destinies.
3. How to fuljii this Reaponsibility,
To fulfil this great responsibility and discharge this great duty, we
must feel as parents and Canadians, and not ns partisans ; our
affection and solicitude must embrace our whole country, and not/
by the jaundiced venom of partisanship, view one half of our fellow
citizens as our enemies to be assailed and trampled down.
Will you with me look at our present situation, and listen, not to
my feeble and unauthoritative words, but to the counsels of wise aqd
good men on both sides of the Atlantic — the noblest advocates of
civil freedom and the ablest expounders of patriotic government.
4. Transition — First Duty.
We are passing from an old into a new state of political existence.
The alleged evils" of former civil relations have induced the creation of
new ones ; and the denounced evils of a former system of government
have led to the establishment of a new system. We are as emigrants to
a new country, or as minors who have attained their majority,
and have been aided and counselled by their parents to provide for them-
selves. We have been raised from a state of colonial subordination to
one of affectionate alliance with the mother country. Then the first
act of wisdom and duty is, to note and avoid the evils which marred
our peace and prospe.ty in our former state, and cultivate those
feelings and develop those principles of legislation and government
9
which have contributed most to the promotion of our own happiness
and interests as well as those of other nations.
5. Personal hostilities and party strife the causes of past miafor-
tune> to the country.
If you will call up to your recollection the events of our country's
history for the last twenty years, I am sure you will agree with me
that personal hostilities and party strife have been the most fatal
obstacles to our happiness and progress as a people — an immense
loss of time and waste of public money in party debates and struggles
— a most fruitful source of partiality and corruption in legislation
and government, by opposing men and parties to establish and sustaia,.
themselves against their adversaries— a prolific cause of moral degen-
eracy in public men, and a melancholy perversion of the very pur-
poses of government, the true office of which is to be " a minister of
God for good," and not a game of party, much less an instrument of
party favoritism and proscription. While, on the contrary, daring^
the last two years that there has been a cessation of party hostilities
and a union of able men of heretofore differing parties for the welfare
of the country, there has been ai economy, intelligence, and impar-
tiality in legislation and in the whole administration of government not
equalled for many years past, a corresponding improvement in the
social feelings and general progress of the country, as well as an eleva-
tion of oi^r reputation and character abroad in both Europe and
America. «
6. Questions for the consideration of the Iteadcr-^Absurdity of re-
viving former disputes.
Are the personal and party disputes which paralysed ai \ debased
the former system of government to be re-kindled and blown to a
flame under the new government on which we are now entering? Are
men and parties to be branded and proscribed in the new state of civil
polity for what they have said or done under the old? Are the
emigrants to a new country to carry the personal and party quarrels
. of their father-land into the land of their adoption ? Are the members
of a family who may have quarrelled and acted very reprehensibly
during their minority, to renew and perpetuate their mutual recrimi-
, nations and hostility in manhood life? And besides, if one grown-
up man of a household is to be taunted and outlawed by his brother
10
I •
I »
for indiscretions and bad things which he may have done in his youth,
is the accusing brother who iiiay have done many worse things, not to
he reminded and made r«ispousible in cum for his youthful offences
against order and decency ? If the one brother may have been too
merry among his companions and too fond of spending his father's
money, the other brother may have pursued a career of quarrelsome
and cowardly bullying and unscrupulous falsehood, if not even of moral
i forgery, and may have been publicly convicted of it. If the one bro>
'tther ?n his earlier days objected to the representation of the family
^according to population in thzir domestic councils, the other brother
''/may in his earlier days have opposed the very system of education by
|i which the \vhole family are educated. If the one brother have com>
vr mitted grave errors and offences in striving to adapt the system of
educational food to even the whims and caprices of the most excep-
tional members of the family, the other brother may have committed
'^ greater fraternal o^ences by demanding <ind making one " plank" of his
> creed the legislative abolition of the schools and conventual institutions
' of one large branch of the family, though he might now wish to include
them in his own party of the household. But many pages, instead of a
>^ few pentences, might be filled with these fair, but profitless comparisons,
vi? which illustrate the absurd folly — to call it by r.o harsher name — of
^pot reproaching kettle with being black, and demanding its exclusion
from the •sulicary furniture, while the ** corruptionist " and "traitor"
blackness of the former may equal, if not distance the latter in the
( compariscyi of ebony.
j 7. Principles and jnethod adopted under the Administration ^f Lord
Sydenham and Sir Charles Bagot (1840-4,) to establish a New
System of Government.
When- Lord Sydenham initiated the union of the Canadas in
*T^41, by establishing the system of responsible governra at in place
of the colonial system, and when Sir Charles Bagot gave it more ex-
tended practical effect in 1843, loud complaint was made by some that
men wer3 appointed to office who had always been hostile to govern-
ment, whose lives had been stained by rebellion itself In May, 1843,
1 wrcte a tract illustrating (a week before Sir Charles' death), by the
"ifects of history, the wisdom of such a policy, remarking as follows
in the prefatory note ;
" As the sabjeot of which I have briefly written belongs not to party, bat
leUtti to Canada, I deem no apology necessary for me, (who advocate the
aupremscy of no party, but the iuterests of all), in attempting to supply %
desideratum which I have not seen supplied from any other quarter/'
lu that tract, (copied with applause into nearly all the Canadian
newspapers), occur the following passages.
"Bat that which, aa it appears to me, will invest the name of Sir Charles
Bagot with the brightest hr-.lo of glory, and render his administration the great<
edt benefit to Canada, is the very poiot on which he has been most assailed—
namely, his effacing the lines of former party demarcation^ his countenance of
classes of the community and selection of individuals for civil employme:it8 upon
the ground of persou'al qualifications, without reference to former party e:;8ocia-
tt0Q3 or political predilections. It has been allsged that Sir Charles Bagot has en-
couraged and protected the disafiiscted and the disloyal— a charge which, aa
may be easily shown, involves a fallacy in argument, if not falsehood in fact.
The proof of the allegation is laid in transactions, which toolc place (to give the
longest period), between (he years 1830 and 1840. Were all tha*'. has been
stated; with every real or imagina/'y aggravation, correct, it would amount to
up proof iu the present instance.'' •
" To render the proof satisi'actory in the present case, it must be shown that
the same system of government existed in Upper and Low or Canada from 1880
to 1840, which has obtained iu United Canada since the latter period. If sec-
tions of the inhabitants of either or both Provinces have manifested disaffection
to a former system of government, the imperial parliament has participated in
that disaffection by repealing the old system of government and establishing a
new one, as different from the old, as was the British Constitution after llhe
revolution of 1688, administered according to the 'Bill of Rignts'by William
and Mary from wliat ha^d been the regime of the Tudors and Stuarts."
" If the old systems of Canadian government have been abolished by th«
supreme authorities of the Empire, the party distinctions and organizations en*
gendered under them, ought, of course, to be abandoned — which was indeed one
essential object in the establishment of the new system. No man, therefore,
Vfhom the law protects, ought i'l be judged by what may have been his views and
conduct in respect to an abrogated system of government, but by his views and
conduct in respect to the present establislied system."
8. Historical illustrations of the wisdom and patriotism of Abolishing
yaat Party Disputes, in restoring Peace and Unity to a Country.
Such were my position and views in 1843, in regard to the fathers
and friends of some who would now exclude others from public offices
and employments for views and conduct in regard to a former and
abrogated system of government. After arguing the question at some
length, I remarked aa follows, — a remark applicable to the present
times, but tc persons the very opposite in party tn those in regard to
wiiom it was made: —
^ ^nM,pI«sent Mgumcntation in the Sibstract iff, I am awMe, prohibited by the
II ir
12
% • ,■■-■■'..■♦.
blindness of passion, and thie obliquity of prejudice, and the selfishness of party ;
but oven when abstract reason and truth will not convince, the illustrations and
analogiea of history may impress."
I adduced examples from Grecian, Roman and English history, of
the noble acts and happy effects of prohibiting the mention of past
differences and of treating all parties alike, after periods of anarctiy,
and civil discord. I will. here repeat in brief three out of the several
examples then given at length. /.'trnfev •
After Attica had been desolated during a long period of anarchy
and civil war, which was terminated by Thrasybulus, he — the heathen
general and statesman — adopted a very different system towards his
adversaries in arms and war from that which is now advocated among
us by professing christians in regard to opponents in opinion under a
former regime : — :
*-' Thrasybulus (says KoUin) rising above those resentments from the superior-
ity of bis more extensive genius, and the views of a more discerning end pro-
found policy, foresaw that by acquiescing in the punishment of the guilty, eternal
fioeds of discord and enmity would remain, to weaken by domestic divisions the
strength of a republic which it was necessary to unite against the common
enemy, and occasion the loss to the state of a great number of citizens who
might render it important services with the view of making amends for past
behaviour. 8uch conduct after great troubles in a state has always seemed to
the ablest politicians the most certain and ready means to restore the public
peace and tranquillity."
Thrasybulus, instead of proscribing his former adversaries as
" corruptionists " and " traitors,*' proposed the celebrated amnesty by
which the citizens engaged upon oath to bury all past transactions in
cblivion. " This," says the historian, *' is one of the finest events in
ancient history, worthy of the Athenian lenity and benevolence, and
has served as a model to successive ages in good governments." In
comparisori with this masterly statesmanship of the Athenian patriot,
how contemptible, r arrow-minded, mean and selfish does the pretended
christian Canadian statesmanship appear which would brand and
treat as traitors and enemies one half the public men of the land for
even opinions and policy under an abrogated system of government I
The Roman general and conqueror of armies and provinces, Julius
Casar, surpassed his other conquests when he conquered his own
personal resentments and party feelings (after having grown up and
lived amid the asperities of both) and " pardoned all who had carried
armi against bim, and made no distinction with regfd to partiet,
t9
saying/'* I will lay aside the sword, and endeavour by my good offices
to gain over those who continue to hate me ? ''
And how has all history honoured the Earl of Pembroke — the
ablest statesman and general of his age — who, during the minority of
Henry III., was protector of the kingdom, and who, after having
suppressed the rebellion which had commenced during the latter part
of the reign of King John, pardoned the disaffected, restored them, *
to their possessions, and endeavoured, (as Hume says), *• by an equalg
behaviour, to bury all past animosities." ^
How universally has been eulogized the noble conduct of Henry V..|
— the most heroic monarch in English history — who found the king? jj
dom convulsed by the contests which had been commenced by hift.
father, Henry IV., between the houses of York and Lancaster, to the^j
latter of which Henry V. himself belonged. Yet, says Hume : —
" The King teemed ambitious to bury all party dislinctiom in oblivion; Virtutt^
seemed now to have ao open career, in which it might exert itself; the eshorta-r
tions and example of thb Prince gave it encouragement, and all now were
nnanimous in their attachment to Henry."
How mnch more just and Christiau was such conduct than that of
Henry VII=, who united the rival houses of Lancaster and York by
his marriage with Elizabeth, * eiress of the house of York, and whose
reign was able, r.nd; in many respects, useful; but v/ho, as Hume
says,—
"Instead of embracing the present hnppy opportunity of abolishing these fatal
distinctions, of uuiting his title with that of his consort, and of bestowing favours
indiscriminately on the friends of both families, carried to the throne all the par-
tialities which belong to the head of a faction, and even tho passions which are
carefully guarded against by every true politician in that situation. To exalt
the Lancastrian, party, and depress the adherents of the House of York, were
still the favorite objects of his pursuit ; and through the whole course of his
reign, he never forgot his early prepossessions."
I submit whether it is the duty of the people of Canada, and of
every good and honest man in Canada, to imitate the just and liberal
conduct of Henry V., or the unjust and party conduct oi Henry VII. ?
Whether we are to embrace the present happy opportunity — on, not
the marriage union rif two rival families, but the more important union
of several provinces — to abolish the fatal distinctions of the past, and
not to carry into our new civil state " the partialities which belong to
the head of a faction," and the passions which have been the curse of
Canada in past years, and which, if predominant, must desjtroy Qur
peace, and blight our prosperity in time to come ?
1
f
i
The great Napoleon I., while the first of generals on the battle-field^
had the discrimination and wisdom to adopt as the maxim of his
policy in regard to men, " Tell me not what a man waSf but what he
is now." But there are parties in Canada who reverse this maxim.
They say, — " Tell us not what a man is now, since a marriage union
and a new constitution of government ; he may be a blameless man
now, as well as a man of capacity, and may have done much to confer
upon us our present constitution, and elevated state of political exist-
ence ; but tell us what he was, in a former and abrogated state of
social and civil existence." Their doctrine is, a man once a sinner,
and a transgressor at certain times, and in certain circumstances, is
always a sinner, and is to be treated as such by God and man. Yet in
this profession, uncharitable and ungodlike as it is, they are more in- ,
consistent with themselves than were the affected moral reformers when
they brought an adulterous woman before an infallible Judge, who
decided that he that was without sin among them should cast the first
stone. The accusers were so taken aback, conscience-smitten and
ashamed, that they all sneaked off one by onct and not one of them
cast a pebble at the unfortunate woman. But we have pharisees in f
Canada who have no such conscience or sense of shame.
Thus much then on the first great question before the country —
namely as to whether we are to lay the foundations of our new Domi-
nion by recognizing and acting upon all the party disputes and divi-
sions as they existed in the old and abandoned civil polity, or whether
we are to lay those foundations by the whole people ignoring, and, as
it were, like the ancient Athenians, taking an oath not to mention
past transactions, and uniting, «i the heart of one man, tp build up a
polity and cdttntry worthy of our name and of our children's grateful [
affection, judging of every man and of every party by what each may
do and may appear to us to be, in our present new Dominion.
PART 11.
1. The Second Great Question stated.
The second great question before the country is, — whether the '
functions of government shall be exercised upon the principles of
party, or for the equal benefit of all classes in the country, and ap- '
pointments to ofSce made upon the grounds of personal character and
qualifications^ without reference to sect or party.
The decision of the present electors on this, as on the preceding
question, determines the future institutions and character of the people
of Canada. It will he ^een that on the one side of this question is
exclusion, on the other side is comprehension ; on the one side is
partyism \rith its selfishness, its tricks, its slanders, its proverbial dis*
honesty,—- on the other side is patriotism, with its largeness of heart, its
manliness, its generosity, its nationality ; on the one side the pyramid
of gOTcrnment is inverted, and placed upon the apex or point of
egotism and injustice ; on the other side, the pyramid of government
is placed upon the broad base of equal justice and good-will to all
men ; on the one side, government is converted and debased into a
party domination — sometimes worse than that of any individual tyrant*
— on the other side, it maintains the office of its divine origin, ** a
minister of God for good," without respect of persons.
2. Four arguments stated affainst a partisan system of Government,
I will now proceed to show that this party domination and party
exclusion ?ystem of government attempted to be established in our
New Dominion is — firsts contrary to what good men approve and prac«
tise in other similar relations of life ; secondly, contrary to the prin-^
ciples of public morality, and the essential elements of social progress ^
thirdly, contrary to the avowed principles of reformers in what may
be justly termed the heroic age of Canadian Reform, and a revival of
the vital principle of old Canadian toryism ; fourthly, contrary to the
opinions and advice of good and experienced men in both England and
the United States as to the true ends of government and the best in-
terests of society.
3< Misapprehension corrected.
But before entering on this discussion, I must make a remark or
two to guard against mistake or misrepresentation. I know it will be-
alleged, that I object to all parties or associations for legislative or
governmental purposes. I do nothing of the kind. Parties have been
formed and associations have been organized and sustained to abolish
the slave trade and slavery, to promote parliamentary reform, to abol-
ish the corn laws and establish free trade, and, in this country, to
obtain equal rights and privileges for all classes, and to abolish an .
irresponsible system, and secure a responsible system of government.
16
fli
If . I
tSuch associations, and many similar ones, have performed a noble work,
after which they ceased to exist. But their object was not to elevate
one part and abase another part of the community ; much less were
they an instrument and banded partisans to usurp the ordinary func-
tions of government in general affairs, to appoint partisans to office,
and to organize and maintain the whole machinery of legislation aod
government as an engine of party. With this preliminary remark I
proceed to my reasons against this party domination and exclusive
system of government attempted to be established in our new Do*
minion.
4. Partisan system of government contrary to Good and Wise Men*9
practice in other similar relations of life.
1. It is contrary to what good men approve and practise in other
similar relations of life. Officers are not appointed and affairs are not
managed upon the principles of party in Agricultural Associations,
Missionary, Bible, Tract Societies, in Church organizations, or even
educational matters. Partyism in the management of any of these
institutions would be regarded as incompatible with their principles
and objects, and destructive of their best interests. The man best
qualified for each office is selected without reference to any connexion
or party ; each office exists and its functions are exercised for the
benefit of all parties concerned, and not as rewarding partisanship.
In the public Educational Department of Upper Canada, not a partisan
office has been created or a partisan appointment made from its very
establishment more than twenty years ago. Out of the scores of ap-
pointments which have been made during that time in the Normal and
Model Schools, and in different branches of the Educational Depart-
ment, every appointment has been made upon the ground of personal
character and fitness, and on a trial of six months, without respect of
sect or party ; and during that period, not a relative or connexion of
the Chief Superintendent has been appointed to any office in the De-
partment or in the schools connected with it ; but every applicant has
been told, that if on examining the list of candidates at the time of
filling the office, he should be considered the best qualified, he would be
selected, — not otherwise, tfs the office existed solely for public purposes,
and in filling it, public interests alone must be considered. lam aware
of very few instances of hostility on the part oi even unsuccessful can-
didates and their friends ; and each successful candidate feels and res-
n
■t
md
irt-
of
of
las
of
be
m.
A, I
ire
in-
pects himself as having been selected upon the ground of merit alone, and
has, having not crept into office as a reward of active or noisy parti-
sanship, at the expense perhaps of a better qualified candidate. Now,
if the associations named are officered and managed, and if the Depart-
ment of Public instruction is and should be conducted irrespective of
party, why should all the other functions of government be officered
and administered upon the principles of party ^ What is there in the
duties of any branch of the public service which would render parti-
sanship superior or equal to merit in providing for the efficient fulfil-
ment of its functions? And would it not add immensely to the
di8;nity if not efficiency of one and all these offices, as also contribute
to elevate the character and qualifications of the aspirants, if each one
felt that his character and qualifications alone were to be the basis of
his selection, and not his running about as an electioneering agent,
OP in attending conventions to shout for a particular politician or
party ? The Crown itself is degraded, and government is shorn of
the Samson lock of its moral strength, and sinks into contempt, when
it comes to be regarded as the mere tool of party domination, and
not the scat of impartial justice; the fountain of honour, and the
patron of virtue.
5. Demoralizing ejects of a partisan tystem of Government.
2. I observe, secondly, that this party faction system of govern-
ment tends to eat out the life of religious "eliug, subverts the
principles of public morality, and undermines the essent<<^l elements
of social progress. There is scarcely a municipality in Canada in
which there are not examples of persons who hnvc declined ia
their religious feelings and devotions just in proportion as they have
entered into these party proceedings, and imbibed their spirit, and
npt a few who have made shipwreck of their religious principles and
character. And few things are so demoralizing to a whole community
as the banding of one part of it together against another part —
calling fellow-citizens, and even fellow-Christians, enemies, deceivers,
rogues, liars, corruptionists, plunderers, traitors, &c. A spirit of
uncharitableness, calumny, and slander is thus engendered ; the fre-
quent and familiar application of these terms tends to create the
feelings which such terms import ; the moral sense is blunted ; the
moral standard of speaking and acting is lowered ; the moral poison
soon insinuates itself into other relations and stations of life, and
society, throughout the circles of such actoffi and their influences.
18; ■■ .
becomes, at length, a putrid mass of deception, chicanery, over-
reaching, falsehood, and dishonesty.*
I know it has heen said that every thing is fair in politics. This
maxim of r.iorality is the offspring of the party ism to which I refer. We
have the highest authority for saying that oifending the law in one
point is to be guilty in all, and that he who is unfaithful in that
which is least is unfaithful also in much. A man that will lie and
cheat in politics cannot beheld to be a truthful and honest man in any ;
thing ; at least he will not long be so. Truthlessness and dishonesty ,"
in politics — the essence of partyism — is the certain forerunner of
truthlessness and dishonesty in all social relations. This evil is ;
greatly extended and aggravated by a violent and unscrupulous press,
which instead of being a channel of public instruction, discussing
questions with intelligence and largeness of heart, as well as giving
general news, merely discusses men, and that without the slightest
claims to truth and justice— thus instead of enlarging and elevating
the public mind, tending to belittle it, to sour, to embitter, to sophis-
ticate, to corrupt, to degrade it.
Then look^ at the effect of partyism in vitiating and paralyzing
the very elements of social progress, and especially in that portion of
young men who should act and be regarded as the future hope of our *
country. A country's social progress, is the sum of the progress of
the individuals that compose it. When the young men who aspire
to be something more than units in their country, are impressed
with the conviction that their success in life depends upon their
character, their virtues, their qualifications in regard to any post in
the public service, what an impulse and encouragement is given to
their cultivation of the virtues and knowledge which would render
them the ornaments and blessings of their social circles and faithful
*hA useful public servants; whereas if these same young men see
that paritMnship is the shortest and surest way of appointment to
office of any kind — that the active and unscrupulous partisan will
^isUmce the man of principle and merit in the race for office, what a '
premium is offered for the cultivation of party cunning and the other
requisites of partisanship, instead of the manly virtues of truth and
industry, and the right qualifications of knowledge and ability. The
contagion iipreads to other young men of the land and to other classes
of thd community, until the public taste becomes vitiated, society
* Soe ArPMoix No. 1.
\^
int B'
)ther
and
The
lasses
Icietf
diTided and often convulsed, and ^he primary elements of civil and
fecial progress paralyzed and corrupted.
What I therefore wrote and published in July 1838, to protect
reformers themselves, from the pretensions and proscriptions of party
spirit, I repeat in July 1867 : —
" Mow destitute of honour, of justice, of truth, of consistency is party spirit!
now dangerous is party Association I How ' many pious members of the '
church has it unsettled, and prejudiced, and ruined of late years? And it may
do the same again. How unprincipled and unjus\ has a sly government over
been, whenever and wherever it has existed t And how unprincipled and unjust
must it ever be I I repudiate party spirit, pnrty interoBis, party pretensions.
Par'y spirit has been the bane and curse of this country for many years. It has
neither eyes, nor cars, nor principle, nor reason. Its pntriot'sm is pestilence, and
both its loyalty and liberality are alik'* a ban<'.ful abomination." *
6. Partisan Government contra, y to the avowed Principles and
Oltjects of old Reformers.
3. But I observe, thirdly, that this partyism in government is con-
trary to the avowed principles and objects of reformers in the true
heroic nge of Canadian reform. " Equal rights and privileges among
all classes, without regard to sect or party,** was the motto of the
reformers of those days, and was repeated and placed upon their ban-
ners in almost every variety of style and form. And what was under-
stood (ind meant by that expressive motto, in the whole administration
of government, will be seen from the following facts : — ^The reformers
and reform press of Upper Canada, hailed and rejoiced in the prin*
ciples of the government of Lord Durham, Lord Sydenham, and Sir
Charles Bflgot. The Earl of Durham, in his reply to the address of
the citizens of Toronto, July, 1838, said : —
" On my part, I promise you an impartial administration of governmept.
Deteiviined not to recoiinizt the exiitence o/partiei, provincial or imperial, clasfM
or races, I shaU hope to receive from all Her Majesty's subjects those public
servictis, the efficiency of which must ever mainly depend upon their compre-
liensiveness. Extend the veU of oblivion over the patt, direct to the futttre your
ie$t entrgiei, and the consequencet cannot be doubted.'"
Tho favourite phrase and avowed doctrine of Lord Sydenham was ,
"equal and impartial justice to all classes of Her Majesty's subjects."
After the union of the Canadas, Lord Sydenham appointed Mr. Draper >
Attorney-General, and the late Mr* R. Baldwin, Solicitor-General-—
the first "coalition" in Upper Canada. There was no newspaper or
reformer so extreme and violent at that time as to denounce either'
Mr. Draper or Mr. Baldwin for uniting^ to carry on a new system of
^
20
t M
ji|:
government, under a new Constitutional Act of the Imperial Parlia-
ment ; but the Examiner, a reform paper, opposed Mr. Draper and
supported Mr. Baldwin, at the election, and one or two tory papers
opposed Mi. Baldwin and supported Mr. Draper; and yet both the
tory and reform papers professed equally to be favorable to Lord
Sydenham's administration. Pending these elections,, in April, 1841,
Lord Sydenham directed his Private Secretary to write a letter, the
substance of which was published in the newspapers, and the original
of which is in my possession, and of which the following is an ex-
tract: —
" The Governor-General attaches cqnal importance to the return of Mr. Draper
and, &Ir. Baldwin ; and opposition to the one as well as to the other, under what-
ever pretence it mnj be got up, is equally opposition to the Governor-General's
administrntion. Parties ami parly spirit have nearly ruined the country; the
object of the Governor-General is to abolish parties and party feelings by uniting
what is good in both parties. Therefore, the moderate of both parties, who pos-
sess superior personal qualifications to others, ought to be supported : and tho
violent extremes of both porties ought to be rejected as enemies both of t|io
government ond country. Adopting this course will be supporting the govern-
ment, pursuing the opposite course will be opposing tho government. Every
man has a right to support or oppose the government ; but. every man ought to-
know when he is doing the one or other."
Lord Sydenham's two years' administration of the Canadian govern-
ment proved the greatest boon to Upper Canada, and the principles
and policy of it were highly approved by reformers and the reform
press generally, as was shewn by a pamphlet published by the editor
of the A^raminer, containing the notices of the press of British North
America, on the death of Lord Sydenham,. and the character of his
Canadian Administration. The all but universal feeling of Upper
Canada was expressed by the writer of a notice of his Lordship's
death in the following words :— -< « >
" His LorisMp found the country divided, he left it united ; he found it pros-
trate and paralytic, he left it erect and vigcirous ; he found it mantled with
despair, he left ii; blooming with hope. His Lordship has solved the diiSenlt
problem that a p^ ople may be colonists and yet be free ; and, in the solution of
that problem, he has gained a triumph, less imposing, bat not less sublime, and
scarcely less important than tho battle of Waterloo; he has saved millions to
England, and secured tho affections of Canada."
I have in a former part of this address, shown what were the just
aqd liberal principles of Sir Charles Bagot's administration in 1842
and 1843, and how they were approved by reformers, and sanotioued
SI-
21
just
1842
ioned
by tho best examples of history in nncient and modern times. I will
only here ndd Sir Charles Bagot'a exposition of the principles and
«pirit of his own government, in reply (eulogized by the reform pres*
throughout Canada) to an address of the Johnstown District Council,
Sir Charles says : —
" i observe with pleasure your declaration that you wholly repudiate all
■Bflfisb. all factious, all national, all religious distinctions, animosities, and
exclusion ; 'and that you desire to see all her Majesty's subjects in this couiitrj
enjoy the most perfect toleration and equality, and the distribution of iht
patronage of the executive government confined to no particular tection or party,
religious or ■political! Tou may be assured that it is in accordance with these
principles that I am determined to administer the government of this Province;
and that in doing so I but execute the commands I have received from the
Queen. I therefore call on you to co-operate with me in my task, and that
with that view to lay luide the by-gone dissmsiTns and party distinctions to which
you advert, and which have been the bane of this fine Province. ' I call upon
you to turn your attention to tho practical measures necessary for tho improve-
ment of the country, and to prove your loyalty and earn the gratitude of yotir
fellow subjects, by making this Province what it was intended by nature to be,
the most valuable dopenlency of the British Crown — a source of wealth iu
peace and a means of strength in war."
Such were the avowed principles and aims of reformers in their
admitted golden age of purity and patriotism. The present vicious
and vitiating doctrine of partyism in the administration in govern-
ment had no place among them then, and was then only advocated
by the alleged tories of that day. Every one must rejoice that any
of these have become the advocates of true progress — of a govern-
ment of equal justice to all without respect to sect or party ; while it
must be amazing that there should be found one man in Canada
professing to be a reformer advocating the corrupt and corrupting
doctrine denounced by all old reformers as selfish toiyism — the appoint-
ments to office and the administration of government according to
party, instead of according to principle and merit — the very es-
sence of tyranny and corruption in government in all ages. Yet it
is attempted to palm upon the country this hermaphrodite spawn of
cast-off colonial despotism and selfishness, as the doctrine of reform,
and to brand every man with expulsion from the reform household
who will not own this monstrous bastard as the true child and repre-
.setitative of the family! This is a gross apostacy from the doctrine
bf old reformers, and has no more affinity mih it than has darkatM
>'irrth light.
Fi^^
22
.1 '
\ i.
11
*7i The Boeirine of Partisan Government contrary to the Opinions
and Adcice of Good and Experienced Men in Europe and
America— Examples of its' Bad Effects in the United States
and Canada.
4. Fourthft/, this partyism doctrine is contrary to the opinions and
advice of good and experienced men both in England and the United
States, as to the proper duty of public men, the true ends of govern-
ment, and the best interests of society. I will cite but few authorities
where I could fill a volume. The late Rev. Robert Hall, the bright-
est ornament of the Baptist church in England, and the eloquent
advocate of reform, speaks as follows in his Tract on Reform of Par-
liament : —
" Freedom is supposed by some to derive great security from the existence of
a rrgular opposition, an expedient which is iu my opinion both the offxpritig and
the cherither of faction. That a minister should be opposed when his mcoBures
are destructive to bis country, can admit of no doubt ; that a tytltmntic oppo'
tition should be maintained against any man merely as a minister, without re-
. gard to the principles he may propose, which is intended by a regular oppo-
' silion, appears to me a most corrupt and unprincipled maxim.''— '• If a measure
be good, h is of no importance to the nation from whom it proceeds ;. yet will
It be esteemed by the opposition a point of honour not to let it pass without
throwing every obstruction in its way. In an assembly convened to deliberate
on the affairs of a nation, how disgusting to hear the members perpetually talk
of their connexions, and their resolution to act with a particular set of men ;
when, if they have happened by chance to vote according to their 'convictions
rather than their party, half their speeches are made up of apologies for a con-
duct so new and unexpected t When they see men united who agree in no-
thing but their hostility to the minister, the people fall at first into a sort of
amazement and irresolution ; till, perceiving political debate is a mere scraniblo
for profit and power, they endeavour to become as corrupt as their representa-
tives. It is not in the roar of faction, which deafens the ear and sickens the
heart, the still small voice of Liberty is heard. She turns from the disgusting
scene, and regards these struggles as the pangs and convulsions in which she
Is doomed to expire."
In the last speech the lata Sir Robert Peel made in the. House
of Commons, June 28, 1850, while opposing the foreign policy
of the Government, in the affairs of Greece, he remarked as
follows : —
"Sir, I will not forget, and I need not remind the House, that I have given,
or attempted to give, to Her Majesty's Government, my support-I will say ray
i cordial sapport'^rfuri'/ijr the last four years: (Cheera)^ In utter oblivion of the
., cucumstances under which they succeeded to power (a laugh), I have felt it mj*
Sf3
ouEe
)licy
as
ray
the
duty to give thctn not an ostentatious, but, bccnnso it \rns not ostcntntioas, a-
not less effective support. (Loud Cheers). I Iinvo not Iho honour or ndvnnU
age of possessing their personal friendship ; I have ncvor been in political con-
nexion with them. I have held no coinmunication with them during the last
four years which may not bo had by any member of this House, who may bo
the most independent and the most unconnected with their policy. I hnvo
given them my support because I cordially approved of tho policy which they
carried into domestic affairs."
How nobly does the conduct of Sir Robert Peel illustrnie the truly
christian maxims expressed by Robert Hall, in the passage above
quoted! And with what moral and withering power do they both
condemn what we are painfully witnessing in this country, of a minis-
try being opposed by blackening the characters of its individual mem*
bers, without specifying a single act of its policy that is objectionable,
or any one of its opinions thrt are unsound, witnout its even having
the opportunity of doing either ! In all that 1 have read and ob-
served, I do not recollect a more unprincipled proceeding — strik-
ingly illustrating the selfish, factious, vicious character of the party-
ism attempted to be inflicted on the country, ea its future system of
government.
Listen on this subject to the words of the late Rev. Dr. "Wayland,
the late distinguished PresiLc>nt of Brown University, the brightest
ornament of the American Baptist Church, whose work on Moral
Science is used as a Text Book in our own Toronto University College,
as well as in various colleges of the United States. Dr. Wayland
says: —
'• And not only is an executivo officer bound to exert no other power than
that committed to him ; but ho is bound to exert that power for no other pur-
poses than those for which it is committed to him. A power may be conferred
for the public good ; but this by no means authorises men to use it for the p,rali'
fication of individual love or hatred ; much less for the sake of building up one
parti/ and crushing another. Political corruption is no less wicked because it i^
so common. Dishonesty is no better policy in the affairs of state, than in other
affairs ^ though men may persuade themselves and others to the contrary. Ho
is not the organ of a section, or of a district, much less o{ a party, but of society
at large. Jnd he who uses his power for the benefit of a section, or of a party, is
' Jal»3 to his duly, to his country, and to his God. He is engraving his name on the
adamautine pillar of his country's history , to be gazed upon for ever as an object of
univertial detestation,"
The late Mr. Fenimore Cooper — whose fame as a scholar and
-writer is European as well as Americaur— thus speaks in bis " Ameri-
Hi!
n
can Democrat," on the effects as well as cause of this abomiiiaWe
ajstem of party ism in government : — ,
" Any one who has livt long enough tr note changes of tho sort, must baro
perceived how fast men of probity and virtue are losing their infiu?nce in the
country, to be superseded by those who scarcely deem an affectation of higher
qualities ni^cessary to their success. This fearful change mui^t in a great
measure be ascribed to the corruption of the public press, which, as a whole,
. owes its existence to interested political adventurerj. The press tyrannises over
public men, and even oar private life ; under the pretence uf protecting public
thorals, it is corrupting them to the core, and under tl^e semblance of maintain-
ihg libertyj it is gradually establishing a despotism, as ruthlens, as grasping,
and one that is quite as vulgar cs that of any christian state known. -With
loud professiAns of fre3dom of oninion, there is no tolerance; with u parade of
patriotism, no sacrifice of interests ; and with fulsome panegyrics on propriety,
no decency."
The late celebrated Dr. Channing, of Boston, speaks thus on the
Subject under consideration: —
" I am sorry to say it, but the truth should be spoken, that at the present
Jnomcnt, political action in this country, does little to lift up any who are con-
cerned in it. It stands in opposition to high morality. Politi'^s, indeed, re-
garded as the study and pursuit of the true, enduring good of tlw community,
as the application of great and unchangeable principles to public affairs, ' a
noble sphere of thought and action ; but politics, in its common sense, or con*
sidered as the invention of temporary shifts, as the playing of a subtle game, as
the tactics of party for gaining power, and the spoils of office, is a paltry and
debasing concern.— The intellect in becoming a pander to vice, a tool of the
passionj, an advocate of lies, becomes not only degraded, but diseased. It loses
the capacity of distinguishing truth from wrong ; it becomes as worthless as an
eye which cannot distiaguish between colours and forms.'' (Works, Vol. III).
In another place Dr. Channing speaks of the despotism of the party
pr2ss and party spirit as having extinguished in many individuals
fresdom of thought and independence of character. He says := —
" The individual in whos > heart the thought of freedom has dawned, dares
not breathe it into his neighbours ear lest that neighbour should prove a spy,
lie has around him crowds of sycophants, men sold to selfishness and meanness,
and sinks into despair. • • * The faith of man in the capacity of men for
Bolf-government is shakeu, • • • The shouts of mobs will be the knell of
freedom."
Judge Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United
States, says : —
" Tht best talentB and the beat virluet are driven from office by intrigue tmd cor.
ruptiotty cr by tlu vUtUnee of the prete or of party."
In harmony with this statement of the great Judge Story, the
'^^
famous French writer M. de Tocqueville, inhif Domocrncy in America,
observes : — ,
"It is a well authenticated fact that, at the present day, the most talented
men in the United States are very rarely placed at the head of affairs, and it
must be acknowledged that such has been the result in proportion as democracy
hsij outstripped its fhrmer limits. The race of American statessien has erid.^atly
dwindled most remarkably in the course of the last fifty years.*'
These remarks of M. de Tocqueville apply to some extent to Canada
where there has been a manifeet decline in the standing and ability of
our public men. There are exceptions, but what instances have we
now of the representatives or equals of the Robinsons, the AVillsons,
the Macaulays, the Bid wells, the Jones's, the Lafontain?«», the Hager-
mans, the Baldwins, the Drapers, and many other political men
of forty and twenty years ago ? To what is this decline in public
men, in an otherwise advancing country, to be ascribed but to the un-
scrupulous partisanship of the press and politics, which blacken char,
acter instead of discussing principles, which fight for office instead of
for the public good, and that by a barbarou.s system of moral assassin-
ation, instead of public men respecting and protecting each olliers'
standing, and rivaling each others^ deeds of greatness and usefulness.
In England, the character of public men is regarded as the most
precious property of the nation ; and if the personal character of any*
member '^f Parliament, or other public man, is assailed by the public
press or otherwise, you will see opponents as well as friends rallying
round the assailed and sustaining and shielding him by their testi-
mony, as a matter of common or national concern. When Sir Robert
Peel, in the last great debate of his life, objected to Lord Palmerston's
Grecian policy, he referred to Lord Palmerston's character and
abilities, — not to deprec'ate and calumniate his great rival, but, to
exclaim amid the applause of the House of Commons, " We are proud
of the man ! And England is proud of the man ! " But in Canada, the
language of a partisan press and politician is " down with man ;
execrate and execute the man as a corruptionist and traitor ! "
This directly opposite mode of discussion and action in regard to
public men in England and in the United States and Canada, is suffi-
cient to explain the political and social phenomenon, that in England
the succession of great men is maintained unbroken and even multi-
plied, while in Canada ma jy able and most virtuous men, as in the
United States, are deterred or driven from public life — are succeeded
by inferior meoi and often by partieans and sharpers, who deceive and
i
I I
26
corrupt the people by their calumnies and pretensions, and then plun-
der them for their own selfish and party purposes.
^rhe discussion of the great principles on which society is founded
and by which it is advanced, enlarges and elevates the public mind ;
while the calumny and slander of character enfeebles and corrupts it.
In former times in Canada, the vital principles^ of government, of civil
rights and free thought, and social progress were discussed with a
breadth and power not equaller' now-a-days, but maintaining, with few
exceptions, proper respect and sacred regard for individual character ;
and the country improved in public even as in public liberty ; but the
reverse is, to a large extent, the case of late years. If the rc^I great-
nes<) of a country consists in the morals and intellect of its people, the
most valuable public treasure of a country is the character of its public
men ; and every policy and act which depreciates and d( grades that
character, is an act of treason against the common wealth. The
libeller of the character of private individuals is justly reprobated by
all honest men ; but the libeller of the character of public men is a
much more gross offender against the interests of society, as, just in
proportion to his success, he robs society of what ii worth far more
than gold or silr r.
We see from the testimonies above quoted how this execrable systebt
ot partyism, ,with its proscriptions and calumnies, has deterred or
driven from political life the best and ablest men in the United States^
and has caused a melancholy decline in the character of their public
men, even in comparison of old j:'onial times —has dwarfe(' and in
many instances extinguished individual freedom of thought, and indi-
vidual independence in public affairs, has convulsed and corrupted
society, and caused unprecedented civil war and bloodshed ; and yet,
instead of being warned by such an example, while laying the founda-
tions of government and social progress in our new Dominfon, we are
urged to imitate what is the greatest public scourge and hindrance to
statesmanship and the advancement of society among our American
neighbours.
UnJer the upas influence of this partyism, young men who present
themselves as candidates for political life— even young men who, by
the liberality of their country, have received the advantages of the
highest university and professional education — come forth, in some
instances, not in the rllgnity of their own individual character aiid
independence, to exert uctrammelled their cultivated powers, in return,
27
for their country's best interests, but make their debut into political
life bound hand and foot in the bonds of political partisanship, to
wield the sword for party, and plead from its brief for the fee of its
reward, as they would for a consideration plead in court for one party
against another. This is not to look at their country as a whole, and
to seek its elevation and advancement ; this is not just to their own
manhood and great advantages ; this is not just to the independent
development of the noblest qualities of statesmanship and patriotism.
Very different is tliis from the entrance into political life of a man in
England, who, from humble circumstances and slender attainments,
became one of the ablest men of his age, conferred untold benefits
upon his nation and the world, and died amidst universal regrets.
The North British Eeciew for March, in an article hea .d "The
Political Writings of Richard Cobden," remarks : —
''Mr. Cobden entered Parliament, not to tupport a party, to play for office, ov
educate himself for professional statesmanship, still less to gratif/ personal
Tanity, or to acquire social importance, but as the representative of distinct prin-
ciphr, and the champion of a great cause [free trade]. Mr. Cobden belonged to
that school of political thinkers who believe in the perfect harmony of moral and
economical laws, and that, in proportion as these are recognised, understood, and
obeyed by nations, will be their advance in all that constitutes civilization."
Did all young men and others among us enter Parliament in the
spirit of Mr. Cobden, how would their office, their character, their
services be ennobled, and how would the countrv rise and advance
under their influence?* And how would our public men, as in Eng-
land, not only administer the affairs of the nation upon definite and
patriotic principles, but would by their sound knowledge and well-
considered speeches and writings, become the educators of the people
in the very science of government itself, especially in the application
of its principles to the varying state and diversified Avants of society.
But Jiovv lamentable is it, that instead of imitating such an example
and adopting such a course of moral grandeur and public usefulness^
• It affords mo pleasure to remark, and I do ao without any referenco to the
political opinions or rclntions of the gentlemen concerned, that some ofour rising
Ganadinns have entered, and others are f eeking an entrance into Parliamentary life
as did Mr. Cobden, upon the ground of their own avowed principle?, personal char-
ao^«r and merit, aa freemen, and to exercise their talents as such, and not as tho
artlcleu confederates, or proteges, or joints in the tail of partisanship. Free and
ia l^pendeut men in tho Legislature, aa in the country, aro the best counterpoibO
to faction, and the nia'nspring of a nation's progress and greatoess. Faction
dreads Indey^ndeBt men ; patriotism requires them.
f i
1^ M
28
any young man, and especially any one of education and abilities, should
make his first appearance before the public as the automaton of parti-
zanship, and make his first speech by repeating borrowed scurrility
against the elder public men of the land, who, whatever their merits
or demerits, are entitled to the respect of having been entrusted and
chosen again and.again by the great majority of the people, mediately
and immediately, as the chief managers of their affairs, who have been
recently chosen with the consent and even union of all parties to fulfil
the highest trust of a people and perform the highest act of states,
manship — to frame a constitution for the future government of their
country : and who have executed that great and difficult task to the
satisfaction of all parties, as well as to the marked approval of their
Sovereign. Criticisms on the acts and policy of public men are always
legitimate ; but the abuse of the characters of the peoples' chosen
servants, from whatever quarter such abuse may come, is in fact a
very gross insult to the Sovereign who has honored such servants, and
to the people who have chosen them, and who have continued them
in their employment for so many years.
I maintain, therefore, that this system of partyism is debauch-
ing and debasing to the young men of our land, who are entering
political life, as also to other young men who are candidates for
public employment ; perverts the ends of government ; dwarfs the
race of public men, as it debases their character, and destroys
the essential elements of greatness in their career; belittles and
corrupts the public mind, and weakens the bonds of society ; is
the source of ihe greatest possible evils and abuses in the neigh-
bouring States, and must be equally injurious in this country. I
submit, then, whether it is not the duty of every friend to the
success and prosperity of the new Dominion of Canada to discoun-
tenance, by every lawful means, such partyism, from whatever quarter
it may proceed, or by whatever parties it may be practised.
The lat? President Harrison, of the United States, uttered senti-
ments in the conclusion of his inaugural address, which, if be had
lived to carry into effect, or if they had been carried into effect
by his successors and fellow-citizens, would have saved them hun-
dreds of millions of money, hundreds of thousands of human lives,
and untold miseries. His words should be pondered by every
29
Canadian in coniraenc'.^g the new Dominion. President Harrison
said i—
" If parties, in a Republic, nro necessary to secure n degree of vigilance
sufficient to keep the public fuuctionaries within the bounds of law and duty,
at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that, they become destructive of
public virtue, the parents of a spirit antngon'stic to that of liberty, eventually
its inevitable conqueror. It was a beautiful remark of a distinguished English
writer, that, 'in the Roman senate, Octaviiis had a party, and Anthony had a
party, but the commonwealth had none.' Always the friend of my countrymen,
never their flatterer, it becomes my duly to say to them, from this high place,
to which their partiality has esalted me, that there exists in the land a spirit
hostile to their best interests, hostile to liberty itself— it is a spirit contracted in
its views, and selfish in its objects. It looks to the aggrandizement of a
feWj even to the destraction of the interests of the whole. The entire remedy
is with the people. Something, however, may bo effected by the means which
they have placed in my bands. It is the union we want, not of party, for the
sake of that party, but a union of the wliole for the sake of the whole country
As far as it depends upon me, it shall bo accomplished. The true spirit of
liberty, though devoted, persevering, bold, and uncompromising in principle,
that secured, is mild and tolerant, and scrupulous as to the means it employs ;
whilst the spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive,
and intolerant, and totally reckless as to the character of the allies which it
brings to the aid of its cause. The reign of an intolerant spirit of party
amongst a free people, seldom fails to result in a dangerous accession of execu-
tive power."
I therefore conclude the argument of this Address in the potent
words of Lord Brougham, the Nestor statesman of Europe : —
"Party undermines principles, destroys confidence in statesmen, corrupts
private morals, unites sordid motives with pure, produces self-deception, des-
troys regard to truth, promotes abuse of the press, gives scope to malignant
feelings, paralyses publio councils, promotes treasonable proceedings.".
8. Two Questions for ike consideration and decision of the Country,
I conclude by putting to the candid reader of any sect or party,
two> questions.
The first is this : If the reader had been authorised and enabled to
devise and construct a machine of public utility, and if public satis-
faction were expressed with the machine which the reader had thus
devised and constructed ; and if it were to be subjected to public
trial in order to test its merits and efficiency ; and if at this juncture,
another party should step forward and say that the author of the
machine was unworthy to put it into operation, and should be branded
and treated as an oiitlaw for alleged malpractices before he had been
80
empldyecl to construct the machine, though such alleged malpractices
were known to the accusing party and not objected to by him when
the order was given for the construction of the machine. Would the
reader feel that he was honourably and fairly treated in such a case ?
"Would he feel that such treatment of him was just between man and
man ? Now certain men have been authorised to devise and construct
the political machine of a constitution for the future government
of Canada, and of each of its Provinces. Their machine is approved ;
and tliey propose to test the constitutional machine which they have
thus devised and got constructed. But at this juncture, an outcry is
raised against them as having been conspirators, corruptionists, and
traitors in former years. Though all these alleged malpractices were
known to their accuser as well before as since their construction of the
constitutional machine ; yet he not only did not object to them on that
account, but actually united with them to construct the machine,
though he abandoned the work before its completion ; but he now
renews these old charges which he himself had ignored and abandoned,
and declares that on the ground ot these revived charges, the authors
of the constitutional machine should not be suffered to test their
machine by putting it into operp.tion, but should be forthwith adjudged
as traitors. Now, can what the reader would regard as inconsistent,
most unjust, and cruel to himself, be otherwise when applied to
others ? Can what is so unjust and outrageous, when applied to an
individual, be otherwise when applied to a number of individuals ?
And can what would be universally denounced, if done by an indivi-
dual, be justified when done by a country P And would not Canada
be disgraced and denounced by the civilized world, were it to do what
' all men would condemn and denounce in an individual ? And can an
honest man in Canada, of any sect or party, be justified in doings
what would be unjust and base for the country to do ? Is not the
duty and honour of the country obligatory on each individual citizen
of the country? If the framers of the constitutional machine
should not work the machine satisfactorily, then it may be very
proper to dismiss them and employ other engineers in their places.
I put this question not in respect to party, but as a moral question of
honour, justice, and humanity, between man and man, and between
the country and any set of men of any party. And I put this ques-
tion on the grounds of justice and morality, irrespective of the ques-
tion-of party ism, and its effects upon society, add the interests of the
nation, as discussed above.
81
My second queition relates to the inauguration of government in
iJhe Province of Ontario under the new Constitution. I submit to the
•candid reader of any party, that if the new constitution of government
for Ontario has been constructed by the union of parties, whether
that same union of parties ouglit not to put it into operation ? Was
ever such an outrageous proposition before heard of or conceived, of
all parties unHing to form the constitution of an Agricultural or any
other society whatever, and then one party rising up and saying that
no other party should have anything to do in inaugurating such a
constitution ? Is this doing to others as one would be done by ? Is
this the way to promote the great ends of the Constitution ? Is this
the way that men of common honesty, common sense, and common
prudence, would act in any of the common affairs of life? Would not
the propounder of a proceeding so unjust, so selfish, so enfeebling,
and so injurious to the common weal, be scouted as the worst enemy
of the society ? Would not all candid and intelligent men say, if dif-
ferences arise under the operations of the constitution, let them bo
expressed and let men then act accordingly as their judgments may
dictate ; but let not the work be begun by quarrelling and division.
And have we rot the best guarantee attainable in the country, that
our new Provincial Constitution will be put into operation upon the
principles of justice, economy and patriotism, by the selection, not of
the prejudiced tiead of a faction or party, but of a plain,
sensible, impartial man, whose private life is above suspicion ; and
whom envy itself has never dared to accuse with having used poli-
tical power for personal advantage ; who has evinced more freedom
from party bias and subserviency than any other leading public
man in Upper Canada ; who, if, as has been alleged has no strong
party following, is the more dependent on the wisdom of his policy
and excellence of his measures for success ; who selects his assistant
colleagues from heretofore differing parties, thus giving assurance that
no injustice will be done to the friends of those old parties ; and who
de;clares to the public, not on the pretence of oratory, noisy partizan-
ship, or upon the ties of party pledges and domination, but upon the
honour of a stainless public life, to employ his experience and ener-
gies, with the best assistance he can combine, to establish, under the
new constitution, a system of just, economical government, with im-
partial and comprehensive policy and measures for the benefit of the
itrhole country, without respect to sect or party. '' Happy will thfi
II!
^}
country ;be if these objects arc attained ; and if not attained throu<»-h
the incompetence or unfaithfulness of the administration, the country
will have the remedy of trying other men. But this much is certain,
that such objects can never be attained by the partiality, the exclu-
sive and the selfish spirit of partyism ; for, as Dr. Wayland has said,
" He who uses his power for the benefit of a section or of a parth,
is false to his duty, to his country, and to his God."
9. Conclusion.
It is with a view to the best interests of our whole country, that I
have thus addressed my fellow countrymen, contributing the results
of my best thoughts and experience to your beginning vjrell, that
you may do well and be well under our new Dominion, though I can-
not expect long to enjoy it. My nearly half a century of public life
is approaching its close. I am soon to account for both my Mords and
my needs. I huve little to hope or fear from man. But I wish before
I go hence to see my fellow citizens of all sects and parties unite in
commencing a new system of government for our country and pos-
terity, *-that all things may be so ordered and settled by their
endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and hap-
piness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among
us for all generations.**
' ' E. RYERSON.
Toi^oNTO, July, 1867.
APPENDIX.
No. 1.
Lord Brougham on the demoralizing influence of Partyitm,
No apology is required for the length of the following quotation
on this subject, from the Political Philosophy of the venerable Loujy
Bboi7gham> published by the Society for tbe Diffusion of Christian
Knowledge : —
" Men bind themselres together, and obtain the support of their followers,
that they may be enabled to engross the whole power in administering public
affairs. The possession of power, with its attends uts, patronage, honours,
places, &c., all the benefits that uncontrolled dominion can bestow upon those
who are slothed with it — this is the object of the party combination, and to this
every other consideration, among the rest all regard to poblic duty, all concern
for the interests of the community, is sacrificed without hesitation, without
. scruple, without renyorse. There is, generally, a pretext of principle put for-
ward to hide the nakedness of the party association ; but no one is ever
deceired by it, and the less, that the same principles are successively taken up
and abandoned by all factions successively, as it suits their position and gerves
the purpose of the day. Principles are no longer held sacred in the estimation
of mankind ; they become secondary and subordinate considerations ; they are
no more the guides of men's conduct, but the false fabricated pretexts under
which the real motive and object is cloaked ; they are the mere counters with
which the profligate game of faction is played. A low tone of political morality
becomes the prevailing sentiment. Stern principle is scorned ; rigid virtue is a
laughing-stock ; and men in the humblest stations see those who should be
their patterns, set them an example of the most scandalous profligacy. Add to
this the disgusting hypocrisy which men practise in their loud assertions of
opinions which they care nothing about ; their earnest expression of feelings
no deeper than their mouths ; their inflated avowal of devotion to principles
wholly foreign to their nature and habits. All this makes up a picture which
the people must be debauched by beholding so continuously unveiled before
their eyes. Akin to this, is the fatal tendency to corrupt public and even
private morals of the party union, as removing both the great incentive to
virtue, and the most powerful barrier against vice. Pablic praise and public
blame are no longer distributed according to men's deserts. Whatever a man
connected with party doei^ well, fae is quite sure to be undervalued, perhaps
discountenanced, possibly assailed, by one-half the community ; and let him act
C
$4
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u
•rer so ill, he is sura of defence, at least, if not of commendation bj others.
The tribunal of public opinion becomes corrupt ; it no longer deserves the name
of a tribunal. Whoever is cited to its bar, knows that half the judges are for
him, and half against him, and no sentence, nor ii^njthing that m&j fairly be
called a sentence, can be pronounced. Well might Mr. Hume remark, a hundred
years ago, that ' it is no wonder if faction be so 'productive of vices of all
kinds ; for, besides that it inflames all passions, it tends much to remove those
great restraints, honour and shame, when men find that no iniquity can lose
them the applause of their own party, and no innoeence screens them against the
calumnies of tb^ opposite.' — {Hist., chap. Izix.) Even with those who form pert/
combinations with purer viev^'s, and for the promotion of worthy and patriotic
objects, it inevitably works a corruption of the deepest root, and most exten-
sive contagion. This is the necessary consequence of the union, and this
explains the conduct of men, who, upon other matters, are not deficient in
moral principle, but who cast all such ties away where party objects are con-
cerned. The process of self-deception is plain. The partisan covers over the
iniquity of his conduct with the guise of principle and p itriotrim, pursues his
personal gratification as if he were performing only a public duty, and not only
affiscts to be guided by the purest motives, but often blinds himself into a belief
that he has no other incentive to a course of conduct the most sordid or the
molt malignant. His experience of party movements must be exceedingly
limited, who cannot, at once, poxnt to numberless instances of me&, in all the
other transactions of life, tolerably honest and pure, who have gratified the
most selfish propensities of our natnra, or given vent to its most spiteful
feelings, while they covered over the naturally hideous aspect of their intrigues
or their rancour with the party varnish for the good cause, and a vehement
hostility to its enemies. It is in two ways that injury is done to men's morals
by the party tie. A regard for the truth is abandoned, and kindly, charitable,
and even ordinarily candid feelings are blunted, nay, extirpated. The basis of
of all morals is a sacred and even delicate regard for truth, a sentiment of high
disdain at the base thought of being humbled to a falsehood, a feeling of dis-
gust at all intentional violation of that paramount duty. But how many men
ara there wh^ will scruple little to exaggerate or extenuate facts, nay, suppress
the truth they know, and even forge what they are well aware is false coin, so
as they make concealment available to the defence of their party, or give
fiction currency to that party's gain. It is no light thing in any community
that one part of it are trained by party trick and deception, while the others
are drawn into unreflecting dupery. Next to the encouragement of falsehood,
the gratification of malignant feelings is the worst point of the party compact.
This guides most partisans, more or less, and converts society into a multitude
of beings actuated towards each other rather with the spirit of fiends than of
me>i. They never would feci such unworthy Si'ntiments, assuredly they never
would give them vent, but for the party spirit tVit moves their souls, and makes
them pretend, nay, often makes them really tb ink, that they are only farthering
an important principle when they are Tor.dting forth the venom of 'envy,
hatred, malice, and all uBcharitableaess' against their adversaries."
M
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35
No. 2.
'^ Duty of a Legislator.
(From CfUborne'i Dutie* of Men.)
" While tho Legislator is earnestly engaged in augmenting tlie treasures of
his mind, let him remember that their proper application depends solely on the
disposition of the heart. It is there that he is to fix that resolute and stubborn
sense of duty, which may fortify him against the attacks of selfishness and am-
bition, the partial solicitations of friendship, and the overwhelming influence of
false shame ; and may even supply, to a certain degree, the place of a superior
understanding, by relieving his judgment from thebias of those culpable motives
and prepossessions which frequently prove the sources of erroneous conclusions.
In order to preserve this principle at once pure in itself and efficacious in go-
, rerning his conduct, let him resolve from tiie first moment of his outset in public
life, to thun the snares of party. Let him learn to detect the hackneyed sophism,
by which he will learn the sacrifice of every upright motive palliated and re-
- commended ; that a concurrence of many is necessary to the success of every
plan ; that no man can expect the aid of others without being ready to make
reciprocal concessions and compliances. Let him tell those who urge it, that to
co-operate it not to bt a partisan ; that co-operation asks no concessions but such
as are consistent with morality and religion ; thart party requires her votary to
riolate, either expressly or impliedly, the dictates of both ; to affirm what he
believes to be false ; to deny what he knows to be true ; to praise what he deems
reprehensible ; to countenance what he judges unwise. Let him implicitly mak«
known to those with whom he CO operates in political undertakings, that he is
an independent friend, who will support them in every measure which he shall
think equitable in itself, and conducive to the national welfare ; not an articled
confederate, pledged to concur in proceedings which his judgment or his con-
science disapproves."
Lord Brougham, in his Political Philosophy, thus speaks of the
press brow-beating public men, and of their conduct in respect to it.
" When the virulence of personal attack deters a representative from pursuing
the course which bis honest and deliberate judgment dictates ; when dread of
incurring pointed censure deters him from doing what his duty, according to
his own conception of it, requires ; when to gain the applause of such as
regulate the press, or to disarm their hostility, he shapes his conduct according
to their wishes j then he shamefully betrays his trust. Those who thus
beleaguer him, and he who sufiFers himself to be swayed by bis fears or by his
love of praise, equally commit an offence of a grave kind in the eyes of all
rational men."
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