Return of the number of Schools in Lower Canada in 1835. Some alterations have been recently made for the pose of more equally distributing the elementary Chools over the Province. The number of school stricts, in 1833, was Bonaventure, 22; Gaspé, 14; Rimouski, 35; Karaska, 34; L'Islet, 25; Bellechasse, 49; DorChester, 37; Beauce, 67; Megantic, 17; Lotbiniere, 41 Nicolet, 41; Yamaska, 27; Drummond, 10; Sherbrake, 51; Stanstead, 62; Missiskoui, 48; Shefford, Richelieu, 29; St. Hyacinthe, 31; Rouville, 47; Vercheres, 17; Chambly, 35; Laprairie, 34; L'Acadie, 30; Beauharnois, 59; Vaudreuil, 24; Ottawa, 19; To Mountains, 49; Terrebonne, 23; Lachesnaye, 21; L'Assomptior, 36; Montreal, 18; Berthier, 48; St. Maurice, 36; Champlain, 27; Portneuf, 45; Quebec, Montmorency, 19; Saguenay, 19; Orleans, 10. tai, 1,295 school districts. There are French colleges also at Quebec, Chambly, et, and St. Hyacinthe; and there are many high public and private schools. In several of the colleges there are professorships Remarks. The mode of instruction in each school is greatly at the discretion of the teacher, no particular being enjoined by the Board of Royal Institution. These schools are likewise partially supported by contributions from the parents and others, varying according to circumstances. The schools are under the superintendance of the "Board of Royal Institution for the advancement of learning," incorporated by the Provincial Act 41st George III. cap. 17.; to this board the legislature makes an annual grant. Each teacher is bound to instruct one third of the number of pupils gratuitously, and in no case to charge more than 3s. 4d. per month. The visitors may vary the rate according to the number of children in each family who attend school, and the circumstances of the parents. There are also two grammar schools, one at Quebec and another at Montreal, supported by an annual grant of 2001. each, from the Jesuit Estates Fund; with 907. and 501. respectively for house rent. These are also under the superintendance of the Royal Institutions. The system of instruction is that of the public grammar schools in England; 26 free scholars are admitted in each of them. The rate of tuition for others is 121. per annum. There are also upwards of 1,000 schools established under the Provincial Act 9th George IV. cap. 46; attended by about 45,600 scholars, of both sexes. 201. are allowed to each teacher, having at least 20 scholars. These scholars are under the direction of trustees, annually elected by the inhabitants. No particular system of tuition is followed, but the Lancastrian is pursued in a few of them. There are also several Roman Catholic colleges in the Province, and a number of private seminaries for the higher branches of education. of divinity, medicine, anatomy, philosophy, mathematics, &c., and the chairs are all ably filled. The fine arts are making no inconsiderable progress. The Museum of Natural History, of Montreal, is increasing rapidly; and the Literary and Historical Society, of Quebec, is rising into notice; hopes are entertained that, when the existence of these institutions are more generally known in England, books, tracts, and manuscripts, &c., will be sent from the mother country. There are several public libraries: one in Quebec contains upwards of 6,000 volumes of standard and valuable works, and the Montreal public library is fast overtaking its elder brother of Quebec ; and there are the mechanic's institutions, school societies, and agricultural associations, &c. Intimately connected with education is the state of crime. The following is the latest return at the Colonial Office. By comparing the returns with those of Upper Canada, or an equal amount of population in another colony, the state of crime and morals may in some degree be estimated. IX. Return of the Gaols, and of the Prisoners confined therein, in Lower Canada, in 1836. [B.B.] Quebec, Common Gaol, situate Common Gaol of the District of Sherbrooke Goal (and two large rooms for Debtors), situate in the Village of Sherbrooke, District of St. Francis. The Public Gaol of New Carlisle, situate in the Town of New Carlisle, District of Gaspé. Common Gaol of Percé, situate in the Town of Percé, District of Gaspé. No. of Prisoners. No. of Debtors. Number of Prisoners in the Gaols of Lower Canada throughout the Year. No. of Felons. No. of Prisoners tried. No. of Prisoners untried. No. of Deaths in Prison. Diet of the Prisoners in the Gaol of Quebec.-One | at least 80,000 electors, of whom nine-tenths are pound and a half of the best brown bread per day, proprietors of the soil; several counties have from with one quart of gruel, or two pounds of potatoes. 4 to 5,000 electors, all of whom are landed proprietors. The weekly cost per head for each prisoner is about The total number of proprietors of real property in 28. 24d. The sick receive whatever may be ordered 1831, was 57,891; and of persons holding property by the physician. Destitute prisoners are provided not otherwise than real, 25,208. Of families emwith such clothes as are absolutely necessary, on an ployed in agriculture, 50,824; and of families engaged approved estimate. The bedding consists of a straw in commerce, only 2,503. The number of farm serpalliasse, one sheet, two blankets, and a rug. The vants employed was 7,602, which shows what a large prisons are under the superintendence of the sheriff. proportion of the agriculturists are small farmers. Number of Officers, and how appointed.—A gaoler, The number of persons subsisting on alms, in a total a superintendant of works, and a matron appointed population of upwards of half a million, was only by the sheriff, and two turnkeys appointed by the 1,282; and which, I suppose, included a large progoaler. The employment of the prisoners consists in portion of 408 deaf and dumb, 334 blind, and 924 picking oakum, teazing hair, sawing and splitting fire- insane persons. wood, &c. The females sew, wash, knit, spin, card, weave, &c. The hours of labour are from seven to twelve and from one to six. Prisoners not for hard labour are allowed the use of the airing-yard until four, P.M., in summer. The amount of earnings are credited to Government, and go towards the maintenance of the establishment. The building is in a very dilapidated state, and has been reported to be very insecure by each successive grand jury which has visited it during the last 10 years. [B. B. for 1836.] X. The constitution of the Lower Province, until the late insurrection suspended it, may be thus summarily stated. The authority of the sovereign of Canada, limited by the laws of Great Britain and by the capitulations of the Province. The supreme legislative | authority in His Majesty and the two houses of the Imperial Parliament; this authority again limited by the capitulations and its own acts; the most remarkable of which, the Act 18 George III. cap. 12, confrmed by 31st George III. cap. 13. declares that no taxes shall be imposed on the colonies but for the regulation of trade, and that the proceeds of such taxes shall be applied to and for the use of the Province, in such manner as shall be directed by any law or laws which may be made by His Majesty, his heirs or successors, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the Province. The Provincial Legislature consists of His Majesty, acting by the Governor of the Province for His Maesty, of a Legislative Council of 34 members, the Cief Justice and Protestant Bishop, appointed by His Majesty for life; of a House of Assembly, of 88 members, elected for four years by His Majesty's subjects resident within the Province, and possessed, for their own use and benefit, in the counties, of real property to the yearly value of 408. sterling; in the towns of the yearly value of 57. sterling, or paying rent to the amount of 101. sterling. No religious disabilities exist as to electors, but clergymen or Jews are not eligible as representatives. The Assembly is empowered to make laws for the peace, welfare and good of the government" of the Province, such laws not being repugnant to the Act of 31 George III. c. 31, elections by open voting. Members of the House of Assembly allowed, by grant of the Legislature, an indemnity of 10s. currency per diem, and 48. per kague from their places of residence to the town or capital where the sittings of the Legislature are held, which is Quebec. Session of the Parliament of Lower Canada generally lasts three months, seldom more Man four, and is held during the winter. Salary of Speaker of the House of Assembly 9001. voted annually by the Provincial Legislature. The constituency of Lower Canada is very widely ufused-among the half million of people there are The Governor, in his Majesty's name, assembles, prorogues, and dissolves the two houses, which must be called together once in every twelve calendar months. All questions arising in either of the two houses, are decided by the majority of the members present by open voting. The Governor gives, withholds, or reserves for the further signification of His Majesty's pleasure, the royal sanction to bills proposed by the two other branches. Laws assented to by the Governor, may be disallowed by His Majesty within two years. His Majesty cannot assent to any act or acts affecting the enjoyment of the dues of the clergy of the Church of Rome, or affecting the establishment of the Church of England within the Province, or the provisions made for the same, or the enjoyment or exercise of any religious form or mode of worship, or creating penalties, burthens, disabili ties, or disqualifications on that account, or granting, or imposing any new dues in favour of any ministers of any former form of worship, or affecting the prerogative, touching the granting of the waste lands of the Crown; without such acts having been 30 days before both houses of the British Parliament, and neither of the houses having addressed His Majesty not to sanction the same. When Canada was in possession of the French, the government was nearly pure despotism. Shortly after the cession of the province of Lower Canada to the British Crown, the King of England, in a proclamation dated the 7th of October, 1763, declared, that "all the inhabitants of the province, and all others resorting to it, might confide in his royal protection for enjoying the benefit of the laws of England." In 1774, the first Act of Parliament was passed, fixing the boundaries of Canada, making provision for the better government of this part of the British dominions, and vesting the authority in a governor, aided by a council of not less than 17 persons, and not exceeding 23 in number, who had power to frame ordinances, but not to levy taxes, except for making of public roads and erecting a few local structures. By this Act the English criminal law was preserved; but it was enacted, "that in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights resort should be had to the rule and decision of the laws of Canada," excepting, however, in this concession to French law: "lands which had been or should be granted in free and common soccage." The Roman Catholic religion, with all its immunities and rights, was secured to the Canadians. After 17 years' interval, this Act was followed by Mr. Pitt's, or rather Lord Grenville's Act, styled the Constitution of 1791, under the provisions of which Canada was divided into upper and lower provinces. This Act gave to Lower Canada a Constitution, consisting of a Governor and Executive Council of 11 Y members, appointed by the Crown (similar to the Privy Council in England); a Legislative Council, appointed by mandamus from the King, forming the second estate, and then consisting of 15 members (but since increased to 34, including the Protestant Bishop of Quebec and the Chief Justice, who is Speaker); and a Representative Assembly, or third estate, composed of 50 members, and consisting of four citizens from each of the cities of Quebec and Montreal; three burgesses (being two for the town of Three Rivers, and one for William Henry, so called in honour of the visit of his late Majesty), and the remaining number divided over the province as knights of the shire, representing 22 counties, into which Lower Canada was divided. Population was partly made the basis for regulating the division: thus a small and thickly-populated territory on the banks of the St. Lawrence was found sufficient to form a county; and in the more distant parts large areas were included in one county, in order to combine the requisite amount of population necessary to a representative election. The unequal manner in which this division of counties, with regard to population, and not to ares, was felt after a few years, and a new county division proposed and adopted by the Provincial Act ix., Geo. IV.; but in order to understand the change which took place in the extension of the representation, it will be requisite to show the division as it stood according to the Act of 1791. This I can best do by the following return of the census of Lower Canada in 1827 and 1831, with the number of Members returned to the Assembly. NEW SUB-DIVISIONS AND NAMES.-* Gaspé and Bonaventure. (1) Kamouraska and Rimouski. (2) Islet. (3) Bellechasse. (4) Beauce and Dorchester. (5) Yamaska, Drummond, Nicolet, Lotbiniere, Sherbrooke, and Megantic. (6) Richelieu, St. Hyacinthe, Shefford, and Stanstead. (7) Rouville and Missisqui. ( Verchers. (9) Chambly. (10) Acadie, Beauharnois and La-Prairie. (11) Two Mountains, Vaudreuil, and Ottowa. (12) Terrebone. (13) L'Assomption and La Chenay. (14) Berthier. (15) St. Maurice and Champlain. (16) Portneuf. (17) Montmorenci and Saguenay. The laws in force in Lower Canada are: 1st. The acts of the British Parliament which extend to the Colonies: 2nd. Capitulations and treaties: 3rd. The laws and customs of Canada, founded principally on the jurisprudence of the Parliament of Paris, as it stood in 1663, the edicts of the French kings, and their colonial authorities, and the Roman civil law: 4th. The criminal law of England as it stood in 1774, and as explained by subsequent statutes: 5th. The ordinances of the Governor and Council, established by the act of that year: and 6th. The acts of the Provincial Legislature since 1792. These laws are executed in His Majesty's name, and, in virtue of his commission and instructions, by the Governor, or person administering the government, by the means of a number of inferior officers, all of whom are appointed during pleasure. The Governor also possesses all other powers and prerogatives, generally, which, His Majesty may legally enjoy, and delegates to him. The Governor of Lower Canada is Governor General of all the British Colonies in North America, and Commander-in-Chief of all the forces in those Provinces. The judiciary consists of a High Court of Appeal, a Court of King's Bench, presided over by a Chief Justice of the Province, and three Puisné | fact,-a very small proportion of these cases are tried Justices for the district of Quebec; another Court of by jury. Law proceedings are in French and English, King's Bench for Montreal, with a Chief Justice and and it is not unusual to have half the jury English three Puisné Justices; there are also three Provincial and the other half French. There are about 200 lawCourts, with a Judge for Three Rivers, and terms of yers on the rolls of the Courts of King's Bench, who the Court of King's Bench, including the Provincial are solicitors and proctors as well as barristers. The Jodge for trials of causes above 10%., one for Gaspé notaries, who are the conveyancers in the country, now form a distinct class, and are upwards of 300 in and one for the district of St. Francis. number. In the Quebec district there are 45 advocates, or barristers, 43 advocates, or solicitors, and 128 notaries. In Montreal district, 26 avocats, 60 advocates, and 164 notaries; and Three Rivers, St. Francis, and Gaspé, 72; making a total of 538 lawyers. There is also a court of Vice Admiralty, Quarter Sessions, and other minor tribunals for civil matters. With respect to the highest legal tribunal in the Province, the Court of Appeal, it consists of the Governor Ex-oficio President), the Lieutenant-Governor, Chief Justice of the Province, the Chief Justice of Montreal, and the Members of the Executive Council, five of whom, including the President, are a competent quorim to hear and determine appeals from judgments pronounced in the courts of King's Bench in civil atters. Should the suit in dispute exceed 500l. in vala, an appeal lies before the King and Privy Councal; if below that sum, the Canadian High Court of Appeal decision is final. The Canadian Court of King's Bench combines a urisdiction similar to the King's Bench and Common Fes at Westminster; it has distinct civil and criminal terms, and an appellate as well as an original jurisdiction; appeals lying, in certain cases, from the decisions of the provincial judges, or inferior courts, er each of which a Puisné Judge presides; whose jurisdiction, in the district of Three Rivers, is limited to 10. sterling (with the exception before explained); ia St. Francis, to 201.—but in Gaspé, by reason of a distance from the superior tribunals, it is extended to 1001 The duties of the Vice Admiralty Court devolve, by mission, on a Judge Surrogate, who is also a Judge of the court of King's Bench; this union is by considered objectionable, as the Court of King's Bench possesses a controlling power over the Admiralty Court; and, owing to the increasing comerce of Quebec, it is necessary that the Vice Admiaty Judge should be unconnected with any other Of the laws it may be said that the criminal is English, with some provincial statutes not repugnant thereto; the admiralty is wholly English; the commercial laws of evidence are English. Quebec and Montreal are corporate cities, having each a mayor and common council. Intimately connected with the laws of the country are the tenures by which land is held; all lands granted since the conquest are in free and common soccage; in the French districts, lands are held according to the old Norman law. French Landed Tenures.-It may be necessary to advert to the peculiar state of the landed tenures in Lower Canada. When the country was first settled by the French, the feudal tenure was in full vigour on the continent of Europe, and naturally transplanted by the colonizers to the New World. The King of France, as feudal lord, granted to nobles and respectable famlies, or to officers of the army, large tracts of land, termed seigniories, the proprietors of which are termed seigniors; these possessions are held immediately from the King, en fief, or en roture, on condition of the proprietor rendering fealty and homage, on accession to the seignorial property; and in the event of a transfer, by sale, or gift, or otherwise, (except in hereditary succession), the seigniory was subject to the payment of a quint, or fifth part of the whole purchase money; and which, if paid by the purchaser immediately, entitled him to the rabat or a The Court of Escheats was created by the 10th sec. reduction of two-thirds of the quint. This custom George II. ch. 59-Imperial Parliament; it consists still prevails; the Kings of Great Britain having succf Commissioners appointed by the Governor to in-ceeded to the claims of the King of France. qaire, on information being filed by the AttorneyGeneral, into the liability of lands to be escheated by reason of the non-performance of the conditions on Which they were granted. The decision is by a verdict of a jury composed of 12 men, summoned in the wal way, and the lands forfeited become revested in the Crown. vice. Estimating the number of acres of land under cultivation in Lower Canada at 4,000,000, and the seig. norial grants of good and bad land, at 10,000,000 acres, it will be perceived that a large portion of territory is embraced under the seigniories. On this account it will be necessary to give some explanation of the different terms used in relation to this property. The other courts, being similarly constituted to Quints are a fifth part of the purchase-money of an those of the same name in England, require no expanation. The police of the country is administered estate held en fief, which must be paid by the purby unpaid justices of the peace, of whom there are chaser to the feudal lord, that is, the King. If the 1:9 in the Quebec district; 215 in the Montreal ditto; feudal lord believes the fief to be sold under value, he 44 in Three Rivers, 23 in Gaspé, and 19 in St. Francis, can take the estate to himself, by paying the purexclusive of the members of the executive and legis- chaser the price he gave for it, together with all realative councils, the judges, &c., who are ex-officio sonable expenses. Reliefe is the rent or revenue of Herywhere justices of the peace. Trial by jury is one year for mutation fine, when an estate is inheiversal in all criminal cases; but in civil matters, rited only by collateral descent. Lods et ventes are the appeal to trial by jury is confined by statute to fines of alienation of one twelfth part of the purchaseCertain cases, viz., the demand must exceed 101. ster- money, paid to the seigneur by the purchaser, on the ng, the parties, merchants, or traders, and the sub-transfer of property in the same manner as quints are matter grounded on debts, promises, contracts, and agreements, of a mercantile nature only; or else the cause of the action must arise from personal wrongs, to be compensated in damages; in all other cases the Bench are judges both upon the law and the paid to the king on the mutation of fief; and are held en roture, which is an estate to which heirs succeed equally. Franc alue noble is a fief, or freehold estate, held subject to no seignorial rights or duties, and acknowledging no lord but the king. The succes |