Clergy Reserves, An Act to authorize the Sale of Part of the Clergy Reserves in the Province of Upper and Lower Canada - 2d July 1827
Place Published: London
Publisher: British Government printed by George Eyre and Andrew Strahan
Date Published: 1827
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: No binding
A SCARCE AND IMPORTANT ACT IN THE EVALUATION OF THE CLERGY RESERVES
Anno Septimo & Quarto George IV. Regis Cap. LXXII
An Act to authorize the Sale of Part of the Clergy Reserves in the Province of Upper and Lower Canada - 2d July 1827
11-1/4 by 7-1/2 inches - 3pp. from [p.617] to p.619
Clergy Reserves were tracts of land in Upper Canada and Lower Canada reserved for the support of "Protestant clergy" by the Constitutional Act of 1791. In 1826, the Canada Company was formed to sell off the remaining crown and clergy reserves in Upper Canada. Until 1827, no reserve lands were sold. They were leased for terms of twenty-one years, with rents on a sliding scale.
Nevertheless, before his (Bishop John Strachan) return to Canada in the summer of 1827 the imperial parliament passed an act authorizing the sale of one-quarter of the reserves, with sales not to exceed 100,000 acres in any one year. The act coincided with the adoption of a general sales policy for all crown lands and the appointment of a commissioner of crown lands (Peter Robinson*, John’s older brother). The new system had both advantages and disadvantages as far as Strachan was concerned. In effect, the reserves were now administered by the government instead of the Clergy Corporation. But that administration was friendly to the church, and it was clearly understood that the proceeds from sales were to go to the support of a Protestant clergy, which the government of Upper Canada interpreted to mean the Church of England. Moreover, with a vigorous sales policy, the reserves should soon cease to be obstacles to settlement and they should produce revenues needed to encourage the growth of the church.
William Lyon Mackenzie once expressed the opinion that the Clergy Reserves, were the most important single cause of the Rebellion of 1837.
Item #8008
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