Sales catalogue 451: Maggs Bros

Date:
1924
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/13/29
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue 451: Maggs Bros. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/448 page 7
    491 WITH NEARLY 1,000 SIGNATURES. AMERICA (QUEBEC, 1844), THE ORIGINAL ADDRESS SIGNED BY NEARLY 1,coo PROMINENT INHABITANTS OF QUEBEC, PRESENTED TO SIR THEOPHILUS MET- CALFE (AFTERWARDS LORD METCALFE), GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. Contained on 8 vellum sheets, large oblong folio. Dated from Quebec, March, 1844. £18 This most interesting document of Canadian historical importance contains nearly a thousand signatures, comprising practically all the ‘prominent people of Quebec, the ancient Capital of British North America; a great number of these signatories must have controlled the fortunes of that Town since nearly the commencement of the igth Century, and their fathers would have been among the pioneers of Canadian exploration and settlement, . many of them also would have remembered the capture of Quebec by General Wolfe in 1759, and the abortive siege by General Montgomery in 1775. + * * In January; 1843, Metcalfe accepted: the. government: of. Canada. Owing to the burning question of responsible government and the inflamed state of Party spirit in the Colony, Metcalfe’s position was one of extreme difficulty. His attempts to conciliate all parties displeased the Executive Council, who were determined to reduce the Governor-General to a mere passive instrument in their hands, and were supported in their endeavours by the majority of the representative assembly. In consequence of Metcalfe’s refusal to admit their right to be consulted about official appointments, all the members of the Council, with one exception, resigned in November, 1843. For some time he was without a full council, but after the general election in November, 1844, which resulted in a slight majority for the Government, he was able to fill up all the vacant places with men of moderate views.
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