Page:Letter from L. J. Papineau and J. Neilson, Esqs., Addressed to His Majesty's Under Secretary of State on the Subject of the Proposed Union of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada.djvu/76

 do not believe that two bodies so heterogeneous and discordant in all their parts, as the Legislature of Upper and Lower Canada, must necessarily be, can unite, cement, and become one, so as to render equal advantages to both Provinces, which each has a right to expect from its own separate Legislature; and if any ascendency should be given to the representation of this Province over Lower Canada, Petitioners do not feel entitled to it from their population; and it would be offering injustice to their brethren of the Lower Province, with whom thy have neither any desire to quarrel nor to break in upon their rights and peace; and should the advantage be on the part of Lower Canada, this Province must be at their mercy, and cannot expect from them that attention to its own interests, which Petitioners' wants and circumstances may require.

That the only ground of difference heretofore existing between the Provinces being on account of our quota of the revenue, which having been put in a amicable train of adjustment by the prompt and timely interference of the British Parliament and His Majesty's Government, at once does away with every semblance of reasonable argument that might be offered by those anxious for a re-union. The extent of territory, likewise, would be so great, that, were it inhabited by the same people throughout, it must necessarily present such varied local interests, that some parts of so extensive a colony would be more liable to suffer neglect, from ignorance, or from clashing interests, than a less extent of country would be.

To sum up all, your Petitioners are of opinion, that the different origin of the population of the two Provinces, the difference of their language, habits, manners, customs, and religion, together with their varied interest, will necessarily produce efforts for ascendency, create jealousies, strifes, animosities, and contentious, which may break out in consequence, of an alarming nature, and all without answering one desirable object which Petitioners can foresee, or that may balance against the least of the evils that to Petitioners appear so obvious. Petitioners, therefore, most earnestly beseech your Honourable House to