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/79

 in future, the reasons which then seemed to present themselves in favour of a Union, no longer exist.

That your Petitioners are well aware that every exertion will be made on the part of the English inhabitants of Lower Canada to promote a Union, by which the influence of that part of the population of French extraction may be diminished, and their own increased in proportion, and thy have ample opportunity of observing these exertions extended to Upper Canada. Your Petitioners are, however, fully persuaded that no considerations but the general good of the two Provinces will influence your Honourable House in a matter of such serious importance to them respectively; and they cannot persuade themselves that your Honourable House will consider the majority of the inhabitants of these Provinces so blind to their own interests as to render their representations of no avail. It has been currently reported amongst your Petitioners that it has been decided by Parliament that the Union of these Provinces must be carried into effect, and that it has merely been postponed till a more convenient period, the principle of the measure being already sufficiently discussed. But your Petitioners are disposed to view its postponement in a more favourable light, and to consider it as affording the most convincing proof of the desire of your Honourable House to consult the wishes and inclinations, ans well as the good of the inhabitants of these Provinces. Under these impressions your Petitioners most respectfully beg leave to submit the following objections to the proposed Union of the Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada.

The great extent of the Provinces of Canada (upwards of fifteen hundred miles, being already settled) appears to your Petitioners to render two distinct Legislature necessary for the transaction of the public business; and it must be evident, from the extent and nature of the country, should a Legislative Union take place, that the attendance of Members at so very great a distance from their places of residence will be almost impracticable, and at all events attended with immense inconvenience and difficulty. That but few persons can be found whose circumstances will