Council on its refusal to pass their measures,
or to originate one of its own. The members of the Assembly felt that
the influence of the Governor and the members of the Council would be so
potent in England, that by it the wishes of the people of Upper Canada,
as repeatedly expressed by that House, would be frustrated.[89] In 1836,
the bill of the previous year was passed by the Assembly by a majority
of 35 to 5. The Legislative Council amended it so as to leave the matter
as before with the British Parliament. This amendment was defeated by
the House of Assembly by a vote of 27 to 1, and so the matter ended. In
1837-38 the rebellion took place, leaving the clergy reserve question in
abeyance for some time.

On the 15th January, 1836, Sir John Colborne, by order in council,
established fifty-seven rectories in Upper Canada, and endowed them out
of the clergy reserve lands. This was done at the last moment, and while
the successor of Sir John Colborne (Sir F. B. Head) was on his way from
New York to Toronto. So great was the haste in which this act was done,
that only 44 out of the 57 patents were signed by the retiring Governor;
so that only that number of rectories were actually endowed. There is no
doubt but that the Constitutional Act of 1791 authorized not only the
setting apart of the clergy reserves, but also the erection of
"parsonages and rectories according to the establishment of the Church
of England," to be endowed out of the lands so allotted. (Sec. 38). But,
in Lord Glenelg's opinion, the subject was never submitted for the
signification of the King's pleasure thereon. Certain ambiguous words,
in Lord Ripon's reply to a private communication from Sir John Colborne,
was the authority relied upon for the hasty and unpopular act of the
retiring Governor. The legality of the act was frequently questioned,
but it was finally affirmed by the Court of Chancery in Upper Canada in
1856. The judgment in the case of the Attorney-General _vs._ Grasett was
that--

Under the statute 31, Geo. III., ch. 31, and the Royal Commission,
Sir John Colborne, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, had
authority to create and endow rectories without further
instructions.

FOOTNOTES:

[82] These tithes continued to be collected for the support of a
Protestant Clergy until February, 1823, when a declaratory Act, passed
by the Legislature of Upper Canada in 1821, was sanctioned by the King
to the effect t