PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PETC.O. 885-
יייייייי
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
*
2
The laws which may thus be passed are "laws for the peace, order, and good government of the said island," &o, and “not being repugnant to" (amongst other things) the Letters Patent in question.
It is sufficient to say that a law requiring a qualification on the part of electors, beyond the qualifications expressly prescribed by the Letters Patent themselves, would be "repugnant" to the Patent, for it would disfranchise many persons who now enjoy the electoral franchise, and would so far repeal and annul the Letters Patent.
His Grace the Duke of Newcastle,
&c.
&o.
&o.
MAPLE
We have, &c.
(Signed)
RICHARD BETHELL, WM. ATHERTON.
*
4778.
No. 16.
(CANADA.)
QUEEN'S ADVOCATE to FOREIGN OFFICE.
MY LORD,
Doctors' Commons, May 5, 1860. I AM honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Hammond's letter of the 27th April ultimo, stating that he was directed to transmit to me a letter from the Colonial Office, enclosing a "note verbale," which has been presented to the Canadian Government by the French Consul at Quebec, upon the subject of the position and privileges of French Consuls in Canada; and to request that I would report to your Lordship my opinion as to what answer, if any, should be returned to this communication.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, I have taken this subject into con- sideration and have the honour to
Report
That the nature of the answer to be returned to this communication involves a grave question of Imperial policy for the consideration of Her Majesty's Govern-
ment.
I assume that the "note verbale of the French Consul has been prepared and presented by the previous instructions, or with the subsequent approval of the French Government. This should, of course, be ascertained; and if the French Government should not have authorised or should not now sanction and adopt the note, the withdrawal of this note should be urged, and in the event of this not being conceded, Her Majesty's Government will, in my opinion, be justified in at once withdrawing the **Exequatur" of M. le Baron Gauldrée Boilleau.
If, however, (as is probable) the note was originally authorised, or is now adopted by the French Government, the discussion of the questions spontaneously and deliberately raised by this document should be carried on directly between Her Majesty's Government and that of France, and not indirectly through the medium of the Colonial Government on the one hand and the Consul on the other.
There is one separate and preliminary point which deserves serious attention, namely, the suggestion thrown out by the Consul in the following words at page 6 of the note, "Le Canada étant en possession de s'administrer lui-même c'est à lui de
prendre l'initiative en cette matière."
This seems to me to amount (in effect) to a very irregular and objectionable attempt to open a separate negotiation with the local Government of Canada, with a view to settle the matter with that Government, and thus to obtain the desired con- cession without reference to the Government of Her Majesty; the impropriety of this course, in an international point of view, is very obvious. Discussions as to the nature and extent of the legal rights and privileges of Consuls, including the recognition of their diplomatic character, their personal exemption from all civil jurisdiction and process, and so forth, which they do not "de facto" possess by the existing municipal laws or usages, may indeed arise accidentally and unavoidably with the local authorities of a particular Colony in the first instance; and such discussions may then “ex necessitate" be conducted up to a certain point by the consul on the one hand and the authorities of the Colony on the other; but this is not the case here; the Consul has volunteered, without anything having called for it, to open a formal correspondence with the Colonial Government upon the abstract question of bis legal “ status” and of the privileges which he claims by international law; he (in effect) demands privileges and exemptions not hitherto enjoyed by himself or by any French Consul in the Queen's dominions; such a claim should, in my opinion, have been preferred (if at all) by the French Government to that of Her Majesty.
The Colonies are integral portions of the Queen's dominions are especially for all international purposes; she is as fully and completely the sovereign of Canada as she is of the Channel Islands, and the degree of legislative or municipal independence which the sovereign may tolerate in or concede to any particular portion of her dominions cannot place such portion in any separate or special position as regards either its relations with foreign Governments or the determination of general questions of international law, which are for Imperial and not for Colonial consideration and
0
16276.-794. 25.-9/86.