§ Mr. Hume moved for a copy of the official correspondence which had taken place on the removal and subsequent restoration of the Attorney and Solicitor General of Upper Canada. He thought that, in reference to that matter, the conduct of the right hon. Gentleman (the Secretary for the Colonies) had been so injudicious and ill-advised, that unless explained and justified, he must say, that it was, in every point of view, deserving of blame. There had been loud and earnest complaints of the mode in which the affairs of that colony had been administered, and he could not understand how two Secretaries of State could act in a manner so totally different from each other, when both of them were Members of the same Government. The functionaries, to whose conduct his Motion referred, appeared to have been dismissed in the just and fair vindication of the authority of the Secretary of State, and since then those Gentlemen had been restored, contrary to the wishes of the people resident in the colony, and for no reason that he could possibly discover. The complaints of the colonists were unattended to, and, in his judgment, the whole system of our colonial policy was erroneous and mischievous, and ought forthwith to be reformed.
Mr. Secretary Stanleysaid, that the hon. member for Middlesex, had made out no case to justify the demand made for the production of those papers, which, though in some degree public, were also somewhat in the nature of private communications. The hon. Member had said, that there was great discontent in the colony, in consequence of the proceeding to which he had adverted; but he had not gone into detail, and he (Mr. Stanley) trusted, the House would dispense, at that hour, with any details of the local politics of Upper Canada. He concurred with those who contended, that the Government had a right to the full and cordial support of its officers; but the Government themselves could be the only judges what did and what did not constitute a support of their measures. The two functionaries in question had not been objected to on any ground connected with the mode in which they had discharged their official duties; and as to the support of opposition which they gave to Government, they were, he thought, matters with which the House could not well interfere.
§ Motion withdrawn.