Message to Congress Requesting Authority to Return a Mace to Canada.

To the Congress:

During the War of 1812 the Mace of the Parliament of Upper Canada, or Ontario, was taken by United States Forces at the time of the battle of York, April 27, 1813. That Mace, which had been the symbol of legislative authority at York (now Toronto) since 1792, has been preserved in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

On July 4, 1934, there is to be unveiled in Toronto a memorial tablet erected by the United States Daughters of 1812 to the memory of General Pike and others of the United States Forces who were killed in action. The Mayor and Council of Toronto are providing the site for the memorial.

The suggestion has been made that it would be a gracious act for the United States to return this historic Mace to Canada at the time of the unveiling of the tablet.

The Mace is a token of representative government, established at York nearly a century and a half ago. It symbolizes the orderly rule of such government in Canada, continuing from that day to this.

Since the agreement of 1817, the two countries have by common accord maintained no hostile armaments on either side of their boundary; and every passing year cements the peace and friendship between the peoples of Canada and the United States.

I heartily recommend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the enactment of a joint resolution authorizing the return of the Mace to the Canadian Government.