HC Deb 05 July 1859 vol 154 cc656-68
MR. GREGORY

said, he rose to move for "a Select Committee to inquire into the arrangements under which Mr. G. H. Ryland was induced to resign the patent office of Clerk of the Council in Canada; whether that step was taken under a distinct guarantee from the Imperial Lord High Commissioner, Lord Sydenham; and, if so, whether that guarantee had ever been fully and fairly carried out by the Imperial Government." He regretted, for the sake of Mr. Ryland, that it had fallen to his (Mr. Gregory's) lot to bring the present Motion before the House, as it would have been more satisfactorily dealt with by the hon. Gentleman who last Session called the attention of the House to the subject, but who, he regretted to say, was not a Member of the present Parliament. There were many present who recollected the industry and perseverance with which that hon. Gentleman had exerted himself in that matter. He referred to Captain Vivian. The way in which the Motion came into his hands was, that his gallant Friend had requested him to look into the papers connected with the case, and begged of him, if he thought it one of extreme hardship, he would act for him and bring it before the House. At that time be knew nothing of Mr. Ryland, but, as requested by his hon. and gallant Friend, he looked over every one of the papers, and could not but come to the conclusion that the case was one of extreme injustice; and although he was averse to bringing individual cases before the House, yet when a denial of justice, such as met him here, was persevered in for so long a time, and when it was impossible to have recourse to any other tribunal than Parliament, he felt bound to conquer his reluctance, and considered he was justified in asking for a Committee, to inquire into, give a verdict on, and effect a settlement of, this distressing case. He would enter as briefly as possible into the circumstances of the case, but as they extended over a period of eigh- teen years he hoped the House would bear with him while he enumerated them. In the year 1841 Lord Sydenham, the then Lord High Commissioner of Canada, being intent on effecting administrative reform and the union of Upper and Lower Canada, communicated to Mr. Ryland, who then held the office of Clerk of the Council, his desire that he should surrender his office. It was a patent one worth £1,030 per annum, with a retiring allowance of £515 per annum, by the provisions of the 4th and 5th of William IV. Mr. Ryland, in the handsomest manner, replied that he wished to be no impediment in the way of Lord Sydenham's reforms. He stipulated, however, in surrendering his place, either that he should he provided with an office equal in amount to the emoluments of his own, or that he should receive compensation. Lord Sydenham offered him in return the registrarship of the district of Quebec, but intimated to him that he was willing to guarantee to him such an income only as would make up the amount of his retiring allowance £515; but he added, at the end of his letter, that should the emoluments from his employment exceed that amount he would of course be entitled to the excess. Lord Sydenham made that stipulation, as the new office was one which, if it continued in the condition in which it was given to Mr. Ryland, would have proved a remunerative one. The emoluments were derived from fees, and had the office been continued to Mr. Ryland in the position in which he received it, it was calculated that it would have yielded him £20,000. One thing was perfectly clear, that if Mr. Ryland had stood upon his right, he might at that moment have called on Lord Sydenham to dismiss him from his office, and thereby he would have been entitled to retire on £515 per annum for the rest of his life. But upon the proposition being made to him he accepted the office of Registrar of Quebec on the understanding that if it did not prove equal to the office of Clerk of the Council, it should not be considered as compensation in full, and should not bar his claim on the Government. It turned out, however, that the new office was not such as would form a full compensation for the office he had surrendered, and he wrote to that effect to Lord Sydenham. No reply was given to that letter, but it was evident from the beginning that it was Lord Sydenham's intention, in return for Mr. Ryland's obliging disposition to serve the Government, to place him in an office that would compen- sate him fully. Accordingly a letter was received by him from the secretary of Lord Sydenham, stating that until he had entered into his new office he should receive the full salary of the one which he had relinquished. Whilst these things were going forward Lord Sydenham died, and was succeeded by Sir Richard Jackson, and afterwards by Sir Charles Bagot. Mr. Ryland made the same claim upon his two successors as he had made on Lord Sydenham; and again no objection was made to his protest. He had hardly entered upon his new office when he found that the condition of it was entirely changed, and that the clause upon which he had relied to produce the emolument calculated was repealed by the Legislative Assembly, taking away fees which had previously been payable; and in 1843, by an act of the Colonial Legislature, the registrarship was reduced from that of a, district to the registrarship of the county of Quebec. From 1841 to 1850 he continued to make his claim, and to protest against the injustice; and the Colonial Government acknowledged he had claims, but threw the responsibility on the Imperial Government, and the Imperial Government upon being appealed to also admitted the injustice, but threw back the responsibility on the Colonial Government. In the meantime Mr. Ryland found his income from his office exceedingly small, and in some years actually below the expenses of his office. The matter was brought before the House of Assembly, and in 1846 the Colonial Government appointed a Committee to inquire into his claims, and that Committee reported in favour of them. The Assembly, however, denied this responsibility in the matter, and refused to compensate him, but they passed a unanimous resolution in favour of his claims and the hardship which he had sustained. Lord Grey, at that time Colonial Secretary, sent back a despatch combatting the reasoning of the Assembly. In that way Mr. Ryland was driven from pillar to post till 1850. In that year his case was taken up very warmly by Lord Lyndhurst, but being prevented by indisposition from carrying out his intention of bringing it under the consideration of the House of Lords, the task was undertaken by the Duke of Argyll. Upon that occasion the Earl of Derby, Lord Brougham, and Lord Glenelg spoke in favour of Mr. Ryland's claims. On the 10th May, 1850, the House of Lords adopted a series of three Resolutions, notwithstanding the opposition of the Government, in which they say that the case was one of great hardship and injustice; that it appeared by the papers on the table of the House that the hardship and injustice of the case had been acknowledged, both directly and indirectly, by the successive Governors-General of Canada, as well as by the Colonial Legislature and the Imperial Government; and that it was the opinion of their Lordships that these claims ought not to be avoided or overlooked, and that the agreement made, of which Mr. Ryland had performed his part, should be performed; or, if that was impossible, that compensation should be awarded. But as Earl Grey still continued Colonial Secretary, nothing came of these Resolutions. In 1852, with the change of Government came the right hon. Member for Droitwich (Sir John Pakington) to the Colonial Office, and a correspondonce ensued, between him and the Duke of Argyll. The letters of the Duke were worthy of perusal—they were models of perspicuity and close reasoning. The right hon. Gentleman, after thinking there were insuperable difficulties in the way of Mr. Ryland, at last conceded the claims of the Duke of Argyll in favour of that gentleman, but was of opinion that these claims were properly due in respect of the Colonial Government. That Government, however, in consequence of what was known as the Pension Fund, amounting to £5,000, having been surrendered to them unconditionally and without reservation, contended that they had nothing further to do with Mr. Ryland's, or any similar case. Nothing came of it till 1854, when the noble Lord the Member for London succeeded to the Colonial Office, and he determined to act in this case with promptitude. He at once wrote a despatch to Sir Edmund Head, in which he conceded the whole of the position which it was desirable to establish in favour of Mr. Ryland. The noble Lord wrote that, considering the peculiar circumstances under which Lord Sydenham was sent as Governor General to Canada, and the large powers with which he was invested by the Government, it was but proper to admit that the promise which had been made by him was covered by his authority, emanating from the Imperial Government; and the noble Lord added, that he believed the position of Mr. Ryland to be hard and unfortunate. Mr. Ryland's case, he added, did not merely depend on the specific written promise given by Lord Sydenham. It was distin- guished by the circumstance that that promise was given in order to induce Mr. Ryland to take a step which on the faith of that promise he did take, and which otherwise he would not have taken. He was induced to resign an office of which he was in actual possession at the time. That the loss to which he had since been exposed has arisen, not merely from disappointed expectations, but from the sacrifice voluntarily made of advantages which he had actually enjoyed, and of which he might have retained possession. Lord John Russell therefore recommended that an inquiry should be instituted at once. Immediately after that Chief Justice Carter was appointed for that purpose, and he reported that there was due to Mr. Ryland, up to the date of his report, a sum of £9,000. There was thus proof of the greatest hardship and injustice having been endured for fourteen years by this gentleman owing to a request and promise made to him by the Lord High Commissioner. From this date the case assumed a different aspect. The sum of £9,000 was at last paid him. But Mr. Ryland said on that point, "You have made one restitution, but you have not given me my right, because but for the step I was induced to take I should at this moment have been in the enjoyment of my retiring allowance of £515 per annum, for it cannot be supposed that I should have undertaken the responsiblity of a far more onerous office unless I had had reason to believe that I should have been remunerated accordingly." Mr. Ryland took the same view as Chief Justice Carter himself did, as to his not being an umpire but a Commissioner acting on certain instructions. He demurred, however, to the basis upon which the report of Chief Justice Carter was founded. Mr. Ryland contended that he ought to have based his calculations upon the full value of the office which he had surrendered. It was perfectly clear, from the fact of Lord Sydenham having continued to Mr. Ryland the full salary from the time of relinquishing the first office to his taking the second, that it was his intention to guarantee the whole amount. It was also perfectly clear that no one would have surrendered an office of £515 a year, without anything to do, to take upon himself a responsible and laborious office of merely equal value for the rest of his days. He would put the case of a private individual coming into the possession of property which was subject to a rent charge, and his going to the owner of the rent charge and asking him to surrender it, and offering, in return, to give him a laborious office of the same amount for the rest of his life. Was it probable that such an offer would be accepted? And this was precisely the case of Mr. Ryland. In support of the case of Mr. Ryland, he was prepared to bring before them the evidence of a gentleman who was a witness to the whole of these transactions. He referred to Mr. Murdoch, the colonial secretary to Lord Sydenham, The judgment of that gentleman was perfectly impartial, and had no leaning whatever in favour of Mr. Ryland. That gentleman was prepared to testify that Mr. Ryland's view of the case was perfectly correct, and that the basis upon which Chief Justice Carter made his report, for award it could not be called, was unjust. On the 17th September 1844, he wrote as follows to Mr. Ryland:— I have always thought and felt that yours was a case of peculiar hardship, and I have never failed when I have had an opportunity to say so, and to bear testimony to the correctness of your interpretation of the agreement between yourself and Lord Sydenham. He would ask the House whether it ought not to hear the evidence of this impartial gentleman? Mr. Ryland had two claims to be inquired into in the Committee for which he now moved. The first question was as to the proper view to be taken of the original agreement made by Lord Sydenham; and the second question was whether Mr. Ryland was not entitled to interest upon the sum of money adjudicated by Chief Justice Carter from the day when that adjudication was made. Now, if that adjudication had been but just made, it would clearly have included all claims up to that time. There was another reason why this inquiry should be entered upon. Hard language had been used. Mr. Ryland had been called pertinacious, and he had been accused of making inordinate demands. He had been regarded as a kind of burr upon the Colonial Office. But Mr. Ryland was an honest man, and consequently a proud man. He was an injured man, and consequently he had spoken out the opinions that he entertained of the injury which he had received, honestly, frankly, freely. No doubt some of his expressions had not been so polite and agreeable as might be considered proper by the Colonial Office clerks and the petty dignitaries of Downing Street. If his hon. Friend the Under Secretary for the Colonies expected to put Mr. Ryland off with compliments and condolements the people of Canada would be much disappointed; what they wanted was not compliments and condolements, but an inquiry into his case. He would briefly refer to some of the objections that would probably be raised. It would he urged, no doubt, that the report of Chief Justice Carter had completely settled the matter, and therefore that nothing further could be done. Perhaps it might be said that Mr. Ryland had accepted the registrarship at Quebec as a speculation, and as that speculation had turned out unfortunate, Mr. Ryland was to be pitied, but nothing could be done for him. Perhaps also it might be said that it was purely a colonial question, and that the Imperial Government had nothing to do with it. First of all he demurred to the assumption that the report or award of Chief Justice Carter settled the question. It was no recognition on the part of Mr. Ryland of his claims having been satisfied that he had accepted the £9,000, for Mr. Ryland had been ruined by the injustice to which he had been subjected, and he had taken the £9,000 in order to obtain the means of subsistence. He must also say, that nothing could less deserve to he described as a speculation than this transaction, on the simple ground that no man in his senses would have surrendered a pension of £515 in exchange for an onerous office of the same amount. He also objected to the award on the ground that the contents of the letters which had passed between himself and Lord Sydenham showed what was the real nature of the agreement entered into, and because Mr. Murdoch, who could give the best evidence, had not been called to do so. As to this being a Colonial and not an Imperial question, he could only say, on Mr. Ryland's behalf, that if a Committee were granted to him, whatever might be the verdict of that Committee, he would be content with it. If they should report that it was a Colonial matter, then Mr. Ryland could go hack to the colony, and do his best to obtain redress. Considering all the circumstances of the case he would submit that it was only an act of justice to Mr. Ryland that this Committee should be granted, in order that full inquiry should be made as to his rights. He believed that the Committee would take the same view of the case as himself—the same view that the Duke of Argyll had taken of the matter. The tra- dition of the Colonial office might be a tradition of stubborn injustice; but, although Mr. Ryland had no friends in the country beyond those who sympathized with him in consequence of the treatment he had experienced; and although he had not the assistance of the press to put forward his case, he trusted that his reliance in the House of Commons, and the assurance that they would not allow an injury to be inflicted without affording the means of obtaining redress, would not prove misplaced. He hoped that by assenting to this Motion the House would remove the impression which existed in Canada that the British Government in this instance persisted in an act of injustice solely because they felt they were the strong contending against the weak.

MR. JACKSON

seconded the Motion.

Motion made and Question proposed— That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the arrangements under which Mr. G. H. Ryland was induced to resign the patent office of Clerk of the Council in Canada; whether that step was taken under a distinct guarantee from the Imperial Lord High Commissioner, Lord Sydenham; and, if so, whether that guarantee has ever been fully and fairly carried out by the Imperial Government.

MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE

said, he thought the House would agree that his hon. Friend had done full justice to the very respectable gentleman whom he had taken as his client, and whose case he had brought under their consideration. The hon. Member was quite right in anticipating that he was likely to oppose the renewal of this, which was an old colonial question well known in the Colonial Office, well known in the House of Lords, and well known also to the Members of that House. But it stood, he must beg the House to observe, on an entirely different footing now from any which it had before occupied; and he must say that his hon. Friend had shown great gallantry in coming forward to take up the case of Mr. Ryland at the eleventh hour. The fact was, that the case was now in a totally different position from that in which it was at the time when the papers relating to it had been published, or when the Resolutions had been carried by a very narrow majority in the House of Lords by the Duke of Argyll. A reference had since then been made to an impartial authority, and an award delivered, which was carried out jointly by the Home and Colonial Administration. But, notwithstanding that, that award had been, he was going to say, assented to, but at all events accepted, by Mr. Ryland, he had succeeded in persuading his hon. Friend to take up the case and press for further compensation. As regarded the original transaction, he must say, that he viewed it in a different light from that in which it was regarded by his hon. Friend, and from that in which it had been placed before the House. Mr. Ryland was appointed by Lord Durham to the office of clerk of the Executive Council of Lower Canada; and, on the union of the Provinces being effected by Lord Sydenham, the office which he had originally held was absolutely abolished and done away with by an Act of the Imperial Parliament. One Executive Council was appointed for the entire of Canada, and in the interests of Canada Lord Sydenham determined that the now office of clerk to the United Council should be placed on a very different footing. Mr. Ryland, he had every reason to believe, was a gentleman of the highest character, possessing many friends by whom he was highly valued, and upon whose character it was impossible, however the House might decide the question before them, that the slightest slur could be thrown. It was certain, however, that he was a very strong politician of that day, and the change in the constitution of the Canadian Legislature having been made in favour of responsible government, and of the party to which Mr. Ryland was strongly opposed, it was deemed advisable for the interests of Canada solely, that that gentleman should not be reappointed to the office of clerk of the Council. Lord Sydenham accordingly entered into negotiations with Mr. Ryland, who consented very willingly and gladly to accept another office in lieu of it—that of the registrar of the district of Quebec. His hon. Friend had said that no one in his senses would exchange the office which he held for a worse one; but he forgot that one office was to be abolished, and that the other was expected by Mr. Ryland to prove far more lucrative. He did not say that Lord Sydenham shared those expectations; but surely nobody could maintain that the Governor General was bound to guarantee Mr. Ryland against any changes which the Provincial Legislature might see fit to make in the office to which he was so appointed, to an extent beyond the terms of the original guarantee. If Mr. Ryland had retained the office of clerk to the United Council of Canada, he must have been content with whatever salary was affixed by the Legislature. The terms of the original guarantee given by Lord Sydenham, were to the effect, that the difference between the salary attaching to any office to which Mr. Ryland might be appointed and the retiring allowance of £515 currency, to which he would be entitled, were his employment in the public service to be wholly discontinued, should be made good to him. Chief Justice Carter, in his award, declared that the construction of this guarantee was perfectly clear and that its operation extended solely to any deficit which might exist beneath £515 in the emoluments of any public office to which he was thereafter to be appointed. It was true, as stated by his hon. Friend, that Mr. Ryland had accepted this guarantee under a distinct protest, that his acceptance of this office must not be taken to bar any future claim he might have; but there were two sides to every bargain, and that protest could not be considered as in any way binding on Lord Sydenham, whose silence with respect to the letter containing that protest, if it needed any explanation, was to be explained by the fact that he was at the time suffering from the unfortunate accident which shortly afterwards caused his death; the letter reached him the very day after the accident had occurred, and during the week or ten days that elapsed before his decease took place no public business, except that of the most pressing and urgent character, was put before him. Thus Chief Justice Carter said, and everybody admitted, that the question at issue must turn on the guarantee. That guarantee however must stand on its own grounds; no authority, provincial or Imperial, could be bound by anything but its strict interpretation. Mr. Ryland's income proved to be much less than he had expected, and he therefore urged his claim—he would not say unjustly or improperly, but certainly with perseverance—both on the Home and Colonial Governments. He applied to successive Governors-General, and to successive Secretaries of State; and, first, the present Earl of Derby, then his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and lastly, Earl Grey, had decided each in stronger terms than the other, that the responsibility of carrying out Lord Sydenham's guarantee rested solely and entirely on the Colonial executive. Lord Metcalf had expressed an opinion in which he entirely concurred, that the arrange- ment was one in which the interests of this country were in no way involved; but that it had been entered into solely for political purposes connected with the establishment of a new system of Government in the colony, which ought therefore to be responsible for the claim. It would certainly have been more generous on the part of the Canadian Parliament if they had acknowledged the claim for compensation, but they had always steadily refused to do so. The ease remained in this position down to 1855, when the noble Lord the Member for London, who was then Secretary of State for the Colonies, did certainly stretch a point, and make on the part of the Imperial Government a very handsome proposal. That proposal was that the whole case should be referred to an impartial arbitrator or commissioner, who should make his award, and that whatever amount he might consider was fairly due to Mr. Ryland, should be liquidated in equal proportions by the Imperial and Colonial Governments. The question then, was as to who should be the commissioner. It was thought unadvisable that he should be a Canadian; it was deemed inexpedient that he should be an Englishman; and therefore it was thought best that he should be some distinguished person with colonial feelings and acquainted with colonial views and interests. And accordingly the noble Lord secured the services of a very eminent person—Chief Justice Carter, of New Brunswick—who in course of time, reported that he had made his award to the effect that a sum of £9,000 currency should be paid to Mr. Ryland. Mr. Ryland, though he had not given a written promise to abide by the award, appeared before the arbitrators and furnished all the information he thought necessary. The Canadian Government, which had made no promise, at first refused to recognize its responsibility, and declined to pay its moiety of the £9,000, although the Homo Government at once paid its portion—namely £4,500. The award, however, had now been carried fully into effect. His right hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. Labouchere) used his influence with the Canadian Government in order to induce them to bear their part. He did not succeed; but his successor was more fortunate and induced them to carry out the arrangement. Mr. Ryland had now received the 4,500 from the Canadian Government, and therefore the case stood upon a wholly different footing from what it did before the reference was made by the authorities of the Colonial Office. It was under such circumstances and in such a state of things that his hon. Friend had the courage to ask the House of Commons to reopen the whole question. Upon what ground? Could it be on account of the principle upon which Chief Justice Carter's award was founded. The Chief Justice was instructed to confine himself solely to the terms of Lord Sydenham's guarantee, and determine what amount of compensation was due thereupon. His hon. Friend was, however, of opinion that the inquiry ought to range over a much wider field. In that opinion he could not concur, and he should like to know what information his hon. Friend could hope to obtain beyond that already given in the papers before them. He spoke, indeed, of examining Mr. Murdoch, but he was authorized by that gentleman to say that he interpreted the guarantee as indeed any reasonable ordinary man would interpret it, and had no idea of any other construction being put on it than that which had been applied to it. He must say that the Imperial Government in their treatment of Mr. Ryland had gone even beyond the demands of strict justice, and had acted towards him with a generosity which they were not strictly bound to exercise. The award decreed that half the compensation should be paid by the Imperial and half by the Canadian Government. That amount Mr. Ryland had received. The question therefore now practically was, could it be the duty of the Colonial Office to advise the House of Commons to reopen the whole question by the appointment of a Committee. Such a step would imply a doubt, which his noble Friend the Secretary of State did not feel, as to the expediency of the course which had been pursued In his opinion they had no right to impose upon the tax-payers of this country any further contribution towards Mr. Ryland, and he thought it would be unfair towards Canada, as well as towards this country, to consent to such a course. What would the Canadian Government and Parliament say if they heard that the House of Commons had consented, at the wish of the Colonial Office, to reopen the whole question, the Canadian Government having already paid £4,500 as a final settlement? Did Mr. Ryland wish for a Committee for any other purpose than with a view to obtain further compensation—namely, for the purpose of restoring his own character, or to get rid of imputations under which he might think he lay? If that were his opinion, then he must say he thought any such course was entirely needless. No tribunal was needed for any such purpose, for not the slightest stain or imputation rested upon the honour of Mr. Ryland. The only hard word that could be used of him was that he had pressed his claim upon the Colonial Office with pertinacity—that he had been a thorn in the side of the Colonial Office—but this could be scarcely said to be a very heavy accusation—such a charge as could only be cleared by the appointment of a Committee. He thought the gentleman might rest perfectly satisfied with the able statement made by his hon. Friend. After a careful study of the whole case, he felt satisfied that no useful or good purposes would result from the appointment of a Committee, and he therefore hoped his hon. Friend would not press his Motion.

Question put—

The House divided:—Ayes 20; Noes 235: Majority 215.