Toronto: The grounds upon which are based her claims to be The Seat of Government of Canada; with a memorandum addressed to Sir Francis Bond Head, Bart., to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the subject
1858

CLAIMS OF THE CITY OF TORONTO
TO BE
THE PERMANENT SEAT OF GOVERNMENT
OF CANADA.

Governor’s Secretary’s Office
Toronto, C.W. March, 28th 1857

Sir,
            You are possibly aware that the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Canada have addressed Her Most Gracious Majesty to exercise Her Prerogative in the selection of a permanent Seat of Government for the whole Province.
            In the event of Her Majesty complying with the prayer of their addresses, His Excellency is anxious that Her advisors in England should be enabled to place before Her a full and fixed statement of the claim of each separate city which may be considered a candidate for the honor of becoming the future capital of Canada.
            As a matter of course the final selection must depend on a comprehensive survey of the interests, not of any one place, but of the whole Province, as part of British North America.
            The claims, however, of each city are likely to be stated by the persons most interested in supporting them, better than they would be by any other party.
            His Excellency, therefore, invites the Corporation of Toronto to cause to be prepared a paper setting forth the reasons, which may, in their opinion, favour the claim of that place to be selected by the Queen.
            With every wish to afford full time for preparing these statements, His Excellency desires that it may be in the hands of the Colonial Secretary by the first week in July in the present year.
            You will please, if you see fit to comply with His Excellency’s desire, address the packet to the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, London, and endorse it with the words “City of Toronto, Canada.”

I have the honour to be, Sir,
            Your obed’t. serv’t.
                        R.T. Pennefather

To His Worship
            The Mayor,
                        Toronto

            The foregoing communication was referred, by the late Council, to a select committee, consisting of the Mayor, John Hutchison, Esquire, Aldermen Brunel, Manning, Mowat, Philpotts, and Robinson, with Councillors Earl, Moodie, Ramsey and Sproatt. The Committee reported the following as the claims of the City of Toronto, and it was, in compliance with the instructions contained in the circular, transmitted to the Colonial Secretary, accompanied by several maps and photographic views of buildings and streets in Toronto, early in July, 1857.

Mayor’s Office, July 1st, 1857

To the Right Honorable
            The Secretary of State
                        For the Colonies

              Sir,--
            The Governor General having called upon me to furnish Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies with a statement of the grounds upon which Toronto bases her claims to becoming the permanent Seat of the Government of Canada, I have now the honour of addressing you in compliance with His Excellency’s request.
            In order to estimate the value of the arguments on which I rely for establishing the justice of the selection I am advocating, it is necessary to state the considerations which will naturally influence Her Majesty’s Government in determining upon the selection of a site for the permanent Capital of Canada. In doing so, I have endeavoured to approach the question in a broad and extended view of these interests which concern the whole Province, uninfluenced by the supposed claims of any particular locality to especial consideration, for this city repudiates the idea that it has any pretensions to the distinction of continuing to be the metropolis of this vast dependency of the British Crown, other than those based upon an enlarged and prospective view of public policy, convenience and justice to the people, considered as one great body of British subjects, without regard to national distinctions, which time is rapidly obliterating.
            Among the considerations which may be presumed to influence the determination of this important question are—
            1st. The convenience of the people to be governed, keeping in view the direction in which the settlement of the unoccupied territories is advancing, as indicated by past experience. The extent and the availability of those territories for the purpose of colonization. And also the commercial energy of the people as evinced by the commercial wealth and enterprise.
            2nd. Economy.
            3rd. The defence of the capital in the event of war with the adjoining States.
            Although the exigencies which may arise during a state of war are not to be disregarded, it appears just to give the greatest importance to the considerations first named, and in relation to them I shall confine myself strictly to facts deduced from official documents, which, without doubt, are within the archives of your office.
            When the Union of the two Provinces was consummated, the districts bordering on the waters of Lake Ontario at its western extremity were looked upon as being conterminous with the western limits of Canada. In 1843, the population of the two provinces numbered 1,190,867, and of these there were in the Home District (in which Toronto is situated) and westward of its eastern boundary, only 275,081, being 23.1 per cent of the whole province.

Toronto: The grounds upon which are based her claims to be The Seat of Government of Canada; with a memorandum addressed to Sir Francis Bond Head, Bart., to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the subject
1858
City of Toronto Archives, Series 1242, File 28