Excerpt from Cobbett's Political Register, Vol. 84: From April 5, to June 28, 1834, Inclusive

On January 17, the House went into committee on a bill to continue a number of Acts which were about to expire. Of these, the emigrant-tax Act became the subject of debate. In a former notice we mentioned that the renewal of this act was discou Jaged in one of the dispatches, and that the governor-in-chief was di rected, if such a bill passed, to reserve it for the opinion of the Home Go vernment. Mr. Papineau warmly ad vocated the renewal of the act, and extpressed his sentiments respecting the dictation of the message in the follow ing words If the act of imposing a tax upon emigrants be omitted, it ought not to be on the grounds of a submission to the order of an arbitrary governor. A law which had so much contributed to the relief of the needy, and was both just and expedient, would be looked for; and it was a most odious attack on the part of the execu tive against the independence of the House, to dare, as it had done, to inter diet the introduction of this or that measure, or dictate what the House should do or not do. The committees of trade, the intrigues of persons who think they are the aristocracy of the country, represent this act under a false light, poison the feelings of the mino rity, and throw England into the most ridiculous and humiliating contradic tions. Compare the dispatches of Lord Goderich with those of the present Minister, in their Spirit of haughtiness and imperiousness, and it will hardly he believed, that at two periods so little removed, contradictions so ridiculous could be committed. The. Speaker commented on the lying pamphlets which are circulated in Great Britain, for the purpose of inducing emigration, and concluded by urging the House not to be influenced in their decisions by an arbitrary message. It was ordered that the bill should be brought in separately. The bill was brought in subsequently, and passed the House and the Legislative Council.

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