TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF RICHMOND, &c. &c. &c. Cornwall, September 2d, 1818. Mr. Gourlay passing through Cornwall, has heard that his Excellency, the Governor in Chief, is to be here to-day: Mr. G. embraces the opportunity of offering his sincere congratulations, on the arrival in Upper Canada, of a personage who has before him the finest field in the world, of improving human happiness, and extending in reality the bounds of the British empire. Mr. G. takes the liberty of presenting the Duke of Richmond with four pamphlets, connected with the present political state of the province, which his Grace may, on his journey, perhaps, have time to peruse. NOTE. Four days after the above was published, I was shut up a close prisoner, and not allowed to communicate with the press. My friends, even magistrates, and counsel, were for some time denied access to me, and, till the 20th August, when called up for trial, I was not allowed to step across the threshold of my cell. I was tried, and honourably acquitted, at Kingston, on the 15th August, five days after the date of the above letter to Sir Peregrine Maitland. I was tried, and honourably acquitted, at Brockville, on the 30th August; and two days afterwards wrote the above to the Duke of Richmond, on my way to New York, where I was to determine, by letters waiting me there from England, whether I could remain longer in America. My letters encouraged me to remain, and I addressed the following, SIR, ; You would receive from me, on your way through Kingston, a note, intimating, that, laying, as I then did, under a criminal charge, I could not with propriety present myself before your Excellency. From that charge I was acquitted, as well as from another of the L same kind, at the Johnstown Assizes. न My detention in Canada, in consequence of these prosecutions, had deranged all my plans, and I had to hurry off to this place to receive 1 letters which had long lain for me; to have the latest intelligence from my friends at home; and to quiet their anxieties, by communicating the issue of the unpleasant occurrences, which had broken the chain of correspondence, and delayed my return to England. Having set at rest these private concerns, I return forthwith to Canada, to support the public measures which I have there advised; and I hope that your Excellency will, in many things, see good reason to countenance a full and fair inquiry on the subject: should this be the case, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to renew the Statistical inquiries which I began nearly a year ago; and with liberal patronage from your Excellency, such a work might, I trust, be made generally useful. In completing it I should require no information which ought to be concealed; and all that has come, or may come, to me from the people of the province, should be open to your perusal. No one ever started a project with better intentions, or had to change his plan with greater chagrin. As to the political controversy which has taken place, I have no wish here to influence your Excellency in my favour. It is difficult to · contend with abominations without being defiled. Recent publications in the newspapers must have met your eye; and they are the most loathsome. That your Excellency may have opportunity to trace matters from the beginning, I shall take the liberty of ordering a collection of extracts from the Niagara Spectator, to be forwarded to your Excellency. V Should the general impressions made upon your mind, generate suspicions that I am unworthy of confidence, the mere acknowledg ment of the receipt of this letter, by one addressed to me, at Queenston, will be sufficient. If otherwise, and you should incline to have a conference on the subject, I shall willingly proceed to York, and wait upon your Excellency. I am, with due respect, Your Excellency's obedient Servant, I arrived at Kingston, from the United States, on the 17th October, and on the 20th, the Upper Canada Gazette of the 15th reached that place, containing the Lieutenant-Governor's speech at the opening of Parliament, on the 12th of October, with the replies, from which extracts have been given above, page ccccvii. Here then is the summing up: after two honourable acquittals, and after addressing myself to the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, in the fullest confidence of at least being civilly treated, my conduct called forth "indignation" in the opening speech: I was designated "a factious individual" by the Assembly; and finally, without the slightest proof of guilt, imprisoned and bawished!!! L. INDEX. A. ABOLITION of Slavery, provincial statute for gradually effect- Acts of the British Parliament, relative to the naturalization Address, draught of a proposed, to the Prince Regent, sub- Advantages which the Scotch labourer possesses over the English, Adolphus Town, i. 131. Township report of, 485. Affidavits as to Mr. Gourlay being a British subject, Gen. Int. Agriculture and commerce inseparably connected, i. 224. Agricultural distress, the present, more severely felt in England Allegiance, distinction between natural and local, ii. 528. This Ameliasburgh, township of, i. 131. America, circumstances favourable to the increase of population American prisoners massacred by the Indians, i. 49. Americans who adhered to the royal cause in the revolution- |