Reports of the Commissioners appointed under the authority of the Act of the provincial Parliament la Vic., chap. 58.

by the inhabitants of Lower Canada, during the Rebellion of 1837 and 1838, so " far only as they may have arisen from the total or partial, unjust, unnecessary, or " wanton destruction of the buildings, property and.effects of the said inhabitants, " and from the seizure, taking and carrying away of their properly and effects, " claims which had been already rccognzied by the deliberative Acts of preceding " Parliaments and Governments."It concludes by informing the Commissioners that " Mis Excellency commands me to say that in this spirit was the measure " under which you are called upon to act, introduced and passed through Parlia- " ment, and that in the same spirit, he doubts not, you will discharge the important " and delicate duty imposed upon you by the Commission issued under it."The Commissioners comprehend the true intent and meaning of ihe Act " which Your Lord- ships fiat gave force to, in the sense as conveyed in the instructions above, and in the despatch to Earl Grey; in effect that persons who, by their examination, or the testimony of others, shall be proved as guilty as those in the two excluded classes, shall be no more entitled to the indemnification than they are.They have in every case made this their rule of action.That it was so interpreted by Her Majesty and Her Majesty's Ministers, they have the assurance of Earl Grey in the Despatch of 13th June, 1850, in reply to Your Lordship's Despatch cited above.His Lordship observes, " We certainly should not " have decided on adopting this course, had we regarded the Act as one, under which, u persons guilty of the heineous crime of Rebellion could be relieved from losses " brought on them by their own offences.If the Act had appeared to us to be either " intended to provide compensation for losses of this description, or even to have been " drawn up so loosely as to afford facilities for such an abuse, we should have felt " it our duty to advise Her Majesty to avail Herself of Her power to disallow it, be- " cause a measure tending to palliate the crime of Rebellion, could not be sanctioned " without injury to the safety and honor of the Crown.One further question remains." Will the execution of the Act be in conformity with the terms in which it is drawn ?claims remained to be examined, and the whole to be adjudged ; that the statute would expire on the first September following.They took the liberty further to add, that no human industry could accomplish the task within the time prescribed by the statute.In their Report on the 28th May last, in answer to Your Excellency's commands, that they should proceed to the adjudication of the claims, they represented at length the obstacles in the way of adjudicating them.They also represented under what interpretation they were administering the Act, adding that they labored under great difficulty and embarrassment from the loss of the powers necessary to give effect to it.Two sessions of the Provincial Parliament have been held since they commenced their duties.They made two Reports during those two sessions : -They stated that the Commissioners were divided not only on ihe interpretation of the Act itself, but also on the mode of conducting the investigations under it.During these two ses- sions, with the exception that their Report of the 6th July, 1850, was printed and published under the authority of the Legislative Assembly, no notice was taken of the division in Ihe Commission on the construction of the Act-its approaching ex- piration -or of the disputed mode of investigating the claims.With respect to the ambiguity of the Act, the Commissioners looked to its origin, and that which it proposed to remedy, to guide them to its true interpretation.It was passed in compliance with an Address of the Legislative Assembly to Lord Metcalfe, of the 28th February, 1845, praying " that His Excellency would be pleased u to cause proper measures to be adopted, in order to insure to the inhabitants of Lower " Canada, indemnity for just losses by them sustained during the Rebellion of 1887, and " 1838," the 10th section of which enacts, " That it shall be the duty of the Commis-" sioners, faithfully and without partiality, to inquire into and ascertain the amount of " losses mentioned in the preamble to this Act, as those for which compensation ought " to be made."The preamble states that, " Whereas on the 28th February, 1845, an " humble address was unanimously adopted by the Legislative Assembly of this Pro- " vince, and by them presented to the Right Honorable Charles Theophilus Baron Metcalf, " then Governor General of the same, praying that His Excellency would be pleased " to cause proper measures to be adopted in order to ensure to the inhabitants of that " part of this Province formerly Lower Canada, indemnity for just losses by them sus-" tained during the Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 ; and whereas on the 24th day of " November, 1845, a Commission of five persons was by His Excellency, the said " Governor General, duly appointed to inquire into such losses arising; from and growing " out of the said Rebellion; and whereas it appears by the Report of the saidCommis- " sioners, dated the 18th day of April, 1846, that the want of power to proceed to" a " strict and regular investigation of the losses in question, left the Commissioners no " other resource than to trust to the allegations of the claimants, as to the amounts and " nature of their losses ; and whereas in order to redeem the pledge given to the suf- " ferers of such losses, or their bona fide creditors, assigns or ayants droit, as well to " the said Address of the said Legislative Assembly, and the appointment of the said " Commission, as by the letter addressed by the Honorable the Secretary of the Pro- " vince, by order of the Right Honorable Charles Murray, Earl Cathcart, the then 61 administrator of the Government of the same, to the said Commissioners on the 27th " day of February, 1846, it is necessary and just that the particulars of such losses, " not yet paid and satisfied, should form the subject of a more minute inquiry under " Legislative authority, and that the same, so far as they may have arisen from the total " or partial, unjust, unnecessary, or wanton destruction of the dwellings, buildings, " property, and effects of the said inhabitants, and from the seizure, taking or carrying " away of their property and effects, should be paid and satisfied, provided that none " of the persons who have been convicted of high treason, alleged to have been com- " knitted in that part of this Province formerly the Province of Lower Canada, since " the 1st day of November, 1837, or who, having been charged with high treason, or " other offences of a treasonable nature, and having been committed to the custody of " the Sheriff in the Gaol of Montreal, submitted themselves to the will and pleasure " of Her Majesty, and were thereupon transported to Her Majesty's Island of Bermuda, " shall be entitled to any indemnity for losses' sustained during or after the said Rebel- " lion or in consequence thereof ;" after a careful consideration of this preamble, and reference to the authorities and documents referred to, the Commissioners came to the conviction that the losses mentioned in it were those sustained in the support of the Government, in the maintenance of order, or those inflicted by the adherents of either side on innocent parties, but not an indemnification for that retributive punishment, injury for injury-the common penalty of unsuccessful Rebellion.Rebellions are neither supported nor suppressed without violence and loss ; they who commence or join them know the risks they incur, on the one side for- feiture, on the other, indemnity-a liability and distinction it would be morally and politically unwise as well as unsafe for any Government to remove.Did the Commissioners entertain any doubt of the correctness of this interpretation, a reference to Your Excellency's Instructions to them of the 25th June, 1849, for their guidance on entering on their duties, would satisfy them that Your Excellency in Council agreed with them.In these instructions they were informed that " His Excellency, being of opi- " nion that it may be satisfactory to you, in the discharge of your arduous duties, to " be informed of the views in wdiich the Act originated, and according to which it w ought, in the opinion of His Excellency to be carried into effect, has commanded " me to say that the Bill having been originally framed upon the precedent of that " for the payment of similar losses in Upper Canada, and the proceedings taken by " former Provincial Administrations, under the Government of Lord Metcalfe and " Lord Cathcart, was regarded as little liable to misapprehension or misconstruc- " lion ; and in acceding to the introduction ol the Proviso contained in the Preamble, " the Government acted not from an impression of the necessity of such an amendu merit for the purpose for which it was professed to be desired, but from an anxiety " to meet the wishes of others, and if possible, of thus avoiding all occasion of cavil." Finding such, however, not to be the effect of their acquiescence in that proposition, it " became necessary to proceed with the measure as it now stands on the Statute " Book."The Proviso here referred to is in the following words, " That none of " the persons who have been convicted of high treason, alleged to have been com- " mitted in that part of the Province, formerly the Province of Lower Canada, since " the 1st day of November, 1337, or who having been charged with high treason, " or other offences of a treasonable nature, and having been committed to the cus- " tody of the.Sheriff of Montreal, submitted themselves to the pleasure of Her Ma-" jesty, and were thereupon transported to Her Majesty's Islands of Bermuda, shall " be entitled to any indemnity for losses sustained, during or after the said Rebel- " lion, or in conseq

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