Sir, as the Imperial Parliament have, by an act passed in the 31st year of his late Majesty, appropriated a seventh part of the waste lands of the crown, in the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, for the support of a protestant clergy, (commonly called clergy reserves), and, as the Presbyterian clergy, notwithstanding that they are expressly declared by statute to be of the true protestant religion ... have hitherto been excluded from any participation in these reserves, and have had no other provision made for their support, the Presbyterians, composing the two congregations in the city of Montreal have felt it their duty to represent their situation, by an humble petition to the Imperial Parliament, and to claim for themselves ... a participation in the revenues and advantages arising from the said Reserves ...

by Alexander Mathieson