The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Part 5

Nor was Sir John less prudent in other matters. He saw the mistake committed by his predecessor with regard to the impeachments and he endeavored to avoid any similar mistake. He wrote to England for instructions, taking care to inform the Minister of State for the Colonies of the true state of public opinion in the province. He represented that the appeal to the people by Sir Gordon Drummond had entirely failed; the people were irritated at the appeal to them under such circ.u.mstances; the dissolution of a parliament was not, in his opinion, at any time calculated to do much good, but was often seriously productive of evil; in a small community it was more difficult to correct public opinion than in a larger one; he would carry out whatever instructions should be given to him; but these were his views and he would await an answer. He went still further. He informed the Colonial Secretary that Chief Justice Sewell was unpopular, not with the a.s.sembly alone, but with all cla.s.ses of the people. No matter whether the feeling proceeded from the acts and calumnies of designing demagogues, it existed. It was indeed believed in the Palace of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and in the cottage of the humblest peasant, that Chief Justice Sewell had outraged their feelings of loyalty and religion. When Attorney-General, Mr. Sewell had maintained doctrines and supported measures that clashed with the religious opinions of the Canadians. A dislike, amounting to infatuation, had been confirmed by the part which he was supposed to have taken in the government after his promotion. It was this gradually increasing dislike which had led to his impeachment. Sir John believed that a hearing to both parties, on the impeachment, even had the decision been the same, would have been conducive to the peace of the province, as it would have deprived the party hostile to the Chief Justice of a pretext of complaint, by which, in a free country, the people will always be interested. The impression was that the government of England had come to a decision on an exparte hearing. Chief Justice Sewell should have been permitted to retire on a pension. That step would have had the effect of getting rid of a grievance. Agreeably to his instructions, he would support the Chief Justice even should the wrath of the Clergy be the result. He would also cultivate a good understanding with the Roman Catholic Bishop, but neither argument nor coercion could destroy public opinion. Prorogation might succeed prorogation, and dissolution, but there would be a revolution in the country sooner than a change in the feelings of its inhabitants with regard to Chief Justice Sewell. He would suggest the appointment of an agent in England, as had long been desired, and as had been effected in almost every other colony. The opposition to this measure was even ascribed to the Chief Justice. He would further suggest that Mr. Stuart should be detached by motives of self-interest, from the party with whom he acted, and which it was supposed, would dwindle into insignificance without him. If the Attorney-Generals.h.i.+p should become vacant, it might be offered to him. The most fruitful source of all the dissensions in Canada was, nevertheless, according to Sir John Sherbrooke, the want of confidence in its executive government,[28] not so much in the personal character of the Governor as in the Executive Council, who have come to be considered the Governor's advisers, and who are watched with a jealousy that hampered every governmental operation. To remove the distrust, the Speaker of the Legislative a.s.sembly should, ex officio, be a member of the Executive Council.

Sir John had stated a series of truths, since made apparent, by the disclosures of Mr. Ryland.

The new parliament was convened for the dispatch of business, on the 15th of January, 1817, when Mr. Papineau was re-elected Speaker. The Governor then formally opened the business of the session, by stating that having ascertained that the crops had failed in several parts of the province, he had taken steps to prevent the mischief that threatened the country, the particulars of which should be laid before the parliament; that he relied upon the liberality of the a.s.sembly to make the necessary provision for defraying the expenses already incurred; that he felt a.s.sured such further aid would be granted as necessity might require; that he would lay before the House a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the province: that he felt it to be his duty to call early attention to the renewal of the militia and several other Acts, which either had expired or were about to expire; and he intimated that the advantages to result from every improvement calculated to open up the commerce of the country and encourage agriculture were of themselves sufficient to recommend that matter to their attention. The a.s.sembly replied in the usual way and immediately afterwards appointed the committees. There was a grand committee of grievances, a committee on courts of justice, a committee on agriculture and commerce, and a special committee of five members to keep up a good understanding between the two Houses, hitherto antagonistic. Immediately after these committees had been named, a message was received from the Governor, intimating that the Regent of the United Kingdom and of the Empire had been pleased to a.s.sent to the bill granting a salary of 1,000 a year to the Speaker of the a.s.sembly. The House then voted 14,216 to relieve the distressed parishes, with the view of making good the advances made by the Governor, and also voted the additional sum of 15,500, with the same view, and 20,600 more, for the purchase of seed grain, for distribution among such as could not otherwise procure it, to be repaid at the convenience of the recipients. This business being settled, Mr. Cuvillier presented to the House articles of impeachment against Mr. Foucher, a Judge of the King's Bench, at Montreal, for malversation, corrupt practices, and injustice. A committee was appointed to examine into these charges, and having reported adversely to the judge, the House prepared and adopted an address to the Regent, asking for Mr. Foucher's removal from office, and that justice should otherwise be done. The House further requested the Governor-in-Chief to suspend Mr. Foucher, while the charges made against him were pending. The Governor complied with the request of the House, by desiring Mr. Foucher to abstain from taking his seat upon the Bench, until the will of the Regent should have been ascertained. The Legislative Council were most indignant. They remonstrated against the suspension of Mr. Foucher. Every public officer was by the a.s.sent given to the act of the a.s.sembly, liable to be put to the expense of going to England before he could even get a hearing, if at the mere dictation of the a.s.sembly, a public officer was to be suspended. The a.s.sembly replied that, if suspension could not take place, offenders, out of the reach of ordinary courts of justice, could not be brought to trial, and that an illegal, arbitrary, tyrannical, and oppressive power, over the people of the province, would be perpetuated. And so the suspension did take place. The judges were in very bad odour in those days. They were between two fires. If they thwarted the government, they were dismissed, and if they annoyed the people they were impeached. Another complaint was made against Mr. Chief Justice Monk. He, it was alleged by the family of the late Francois Corbeil, had exceeded his authority, by issuing a warrant for the arrest and imprisonment of Corbeil, on a charge of treasonable practices, well knowing that such changes were notoriously false, and, by so doing, had accelerated or caused the death of Corbeil, the disease of which he died having been contracted while in prison. Mr. Samuel Sherwood also complained, on his own behalf, against the Chief Justice of Montreal. It appeared that he had been prosecuted and imprisoned for libel, in having burlesqued the pamphlet published and circulated by the Chief Justices in Montreal and Quebec, to show to the public and their friends that the impeachments against them had fallen through. At the trial for the libel, Mr. Chief Justice Monk presided. He seemed to be both prosecutor and judge. The jury box was packed. The court was specially held. The indictment against Sherwood had been framed on suspicion. In the pretended libel the name of James Monk was thirty times mentioned, and yet James Monk, in the character of Chief Justice, sat upon the Bench. He took a lively interest in the prosecution. He had fiercely a.s.sailed a member of the Bar, who had smiled during the reading of the indictment, and threatened to remember the smile in his address to the jury. Such an example of a judge, sitting in his own cause, was not even afforded by Scraggs or Jefferies. Mr. Sherwood had been falsely imprisoned, arbitrarily held to excessive bail, his liberties, as a British subject, violated, and his privileges as a member of the a.s.sembly had been set at nought. The pet.i.tion was referred to a select committee, and no more heard of. Yet it had an effect. Chief Justice Monk was compelled to explain and to defend himself.

There was yet another similar matter to be proceeded with. There was the revival of the impeachments to be taken in hand. The House had been clumsily baulked in their attempt to remonstrate with the Regent concerning his will and pleasure, as far as his royal will and pleasure related to the impeachments of Chief Justices Sewell and Monk, and there seemed to be a sub rosa disposition to get rid of the disagreeable affair by management. Mr. Stuart, keen-sighted as he was, both saw and felt that the tools, with which he worked, required sharpening up. They had been handled. They had been in other hands than his. They had apparently been rendered almost unfit for use. He would, however, move for a call of the House, on the 21st of February. The cards had been admirably shuffled. The Panets, Vanfelsons, Gugys, Ogdens, Vezinas, Taschereaus, Malhiots, Cherriers, were all wonderfully intermingled in an adverse vote. The motion was rejected by a vote of 23 nays to 10 yeas. Mr. Stuart tried the 20th of February. Still it would not do. The a.s.sembly had become suddenly tired of impeachments. Again, the matter was tried on the following day, when the House consented not to revive the impeachments but to reconsider the message addressed to the a.s.sembly on the 2nd of February last, by the late Administrator-in-Chief. Mr. Stuart had some business to transact in Montreal, and he left Quebec to attend to it. During his absence the impeachments were forgotten; his measures were paralysed by sub rosa negociation; Mr. Sewell was recompensed for the ill-treatment he had experienced, and the government was relieved of anxiety. The Speaker of the a.s.sembly was informed that for this parliament as well as for the last parliament he would be permitted to receive 1,000 a year, and that Mr. Sewell, who, as Chief Justice, was Speaker of the Upper House, might be recompensed for his ill-treatment, by the attachment of a salary of 1,000 to an office which it was designed he should hold for life. The a.s.sembly, accordingly, applied to His Excellency to allow their Speaker 1,000 a year, and to confer some signal mark of the Royal favor on Dame Louise Philippe Badelard, widow of Mr. Speaker Panet. His Excellency, the Governor, unhesitatingly complied with the request of the a.s.sembly, the more especially as on the request of the Council he had consented to a similar salary being paid to their Speaker, and he had further pleasure in authorising the payment of a pension of 300 a year, to Dame Louise Philippe Badelard. The whole was most cheerfully agreed to by all the parties interested, and thus was the Legislative a.s.sembly of Lower Canada betrayed and dealt with for the consideration of a few thousand pieces of silver. On the 17th of March, Sir John Sherbrooke intimated by message that he had conferred upon the two honorable Speakers the salaries of 1,000 each per annum. Two days afterwards, Mr. Sherwood moved that the message of the late Administrator-in-Chief should not be considered until the 27th of March, and that a call of the House should be made for that day. Mr. Ogden, however, bluntly moved for the discharge of the order of the day, and that the subject should not be taken into consideration at all during the session. The debate was loud and long continued. James Stuart and Andrew Stuart were brilliant; the Gugys, the McCords, and the Ogdens, were dumb. The Vezinas, the Vigers, the Panets, the Languedocs, and the Badeaux, had changed sides. Night came and still the debate continued, the midnight hour was pa.s.sed and yet the war of words was fiercely going on, and morning came only to find the impeachments, which the a.s.sembly had so long cherished, finally buried in oblivion, by 22 votes in favor of the abrupt motion of Mr. Ogden, while there were only 10 votes against it. Mr. Stuart was abandoned. There was now a greater than he to lead the a.s.sembly. Sir John Coape Sherbrooke thoroughly understood the materials with which he had to deal, and he dealt with them accordingly. The a.s.sembly had no longer independence: spirit, self-respect, power was sacrificed for that which gives wisdom to the foolish and judgment to the weak. The sum of 55,000 was appropriated for the improvement of roads, ca.n.a.ls, and bridges; 2,000 was voted for the encouragement of inoculation with vaccine virus as a preventative of small pox; the revenue for 1816 was 144,625; the expenditure 75,638, less 24,495, the proportion of duties payable to Upper Canada for 1815; the expenses of the legislature for the same period were 3,203 currency; the salaries of the judges were now 1,000 currency per annum each, and yet at the disposal of the legislature there was the sum of 140,153.[29] The session was closed on the 22nd of March, by receiving the thanks of the Governor General for the extraordinary application to business which had distinguished this session from any preceding session of the parliament of Lower Canada.

In the course of the summer (1817) three hundred and three vessels with five thousand three hundred and seventy-five new settlers had arrived at Quebec, and banks were established both in Montreal and Quebec, named after the cities in which they were set afloat. About the 15th of November it was remarked that the Montreal Bank had commenced with quite an unexpected confidence from every part of the community, so much so that the merchants were realising more convenience from it than they ever antic.i.p.ated; and that since it had commenced business, the profits were reported to have been immense.

In 1816, a settlement of emigrants was begun, under the direction of the military, in Bathurst, Drummond, Beckwith and Golbourne. The first settlers of Canada had a free pa.s.sage afforded them from the United Kingdom, and were provided with rations and tools on their arrival in the colony. In 1816, rations and tools were furnished to 2,000 emigrants, who came out at their own expense, and in 1817 mult.i.tudes came out in the expectation of being favored in the same way, but were disappointed, nothing having been given to them but 100 acres of land each, which many of them were too poor to occupy.[30] There were not yet seven persons to the square mile, in the Upper Province. There were only twenty places of wors.h.i.+p and thirty-five resident preachers:-fifteen methodists, five baptists, four quakers, three presbyterians, three Roman Catholics, three episcopalians, one tunker and one menonist-in the Western, London, Gore, and Niagara districts, with a population of 26,977 souls; and there were for the same population, 20 medical pract.i.tioners, 132 schools, 114 taverns, 130 stores, 79 grist-mills, and 116 saw-mills. The Home district contained 7,700 people; the Newcastle, 5,000; the Midland, 14,853; the Johnstown, 9,200; the Eastern, 12,700; and the Ottawa, 1,500; the total population of Upper Canada being then estimated at 83,250 souls. York, the capital of the Upper Province, situated on a beautiful plain, in a rich soil, and temperate climate, was, at this period, more than a mile and a half in length. It was laid out in regular streets, lots, and squares, having the garrison, and the site of the parliament house on its two wings, and a market near the centre. There was a public square open to the water. Many neat and some elegant houses had been erected. The town had a mixed appearance of city and country. Kingston was yet the town of most note and indeed, in every respect, the most ent.i.tled to civic consideration of any town then in the province. Parallel with its s.p.a.cious and convenient harbour were the streets, at convenient distances from each other, and intersected, at right angles, by cross streets, dividing the town into squares. One square was an open public area in front of the Court House, and gaol, and episcopal church. The market was held in that area. But there were other public buildings in Kingston, besides the Court House, gaol, and episcopal church. There was a new catholic church, a barracks for the troops in garrison, an hospital, and a residence for the commandant. The town consisted of 300 private dwelling houses, a number of warehouses and stores, about 50 shops, in which goods were sold, several public offices, a respectable district school, a valuable library, mechanics' shops &c. The Court House, gaol, Catholic Church, and the princ.i.p.al dwelling houses were built of the bluish limestone obtained in large quant.i.ties in the middle of the town; but were more substantial than elegant in design. Kingston wanted a populous back country then, and still wants it because the soil is stoney and not therefore so well adapted for agricultural operations as the soils of other parts of the province. The Upper, as well as the Lower province had profitted by the circulation of army bills and by the requirements of the troops. Government transactions had given a spirit to trade and industry, and only for a system of government, which, as far as any government can do, crushed enterprise and fettered trade, both provinces would have so flourished immediately after the war that the reaction which the withdrawal of a few troops produced would scarcely have been felt. As matters stood the provinces were already flouris.h.i.+ng, and schemes of improvement were everywhere in contemplation. Steam navigation, which had proved so useful on the St. Lawrence, and had, as it were, drawn, the two chief cities of the Lower Province more closely together, was about to be attempted on Lake Ontario. Already the keel of a steamboat, to be 170 feet on deck, was in process of construction at the village of Ernest-town, for certain gentlemen resident in Kingston. If possible, the new boat was to transport both goods and pa.s.sengers for the whole extent between Queenston and Prescott. It was, however, feared that the rough water of the lake would be too much for any steamer to contend against. The Americans were also building a smaller steamboat at Sackett's Harbour. A year later and the steamboat Walk-in-the-Water, plied between Black Rock, near Buffalo and Detroit, on Lake Erie, occasionally to Michillimackinac.

The legislative affairs of the Upper Province have as yet hardly warranted comment. There were so very few people in the province for whom legislation was necessary, and there was so much sameness about the business transacted in parliament that comment was barely needful. At first sight it seems that all went smoothly. There could not have been factionists where there were no French people entertaining seditious ideas and cheris.h.i.+ng revolutionary projects. But red-tapism is every where the same. In Upper as in Lower Canada, there were only two legislative branches, a Lower, or People's House, a Crown, or Upper House. There was also a certain amount of Crown influence in the Lower House, which made const.i.tutional government a sham. The freedom of speech was not even permitted to some members of the a.s.sembly; and it was quite impossible to hint at corruption in those times, far less to insist upon the nomination of a corruption committee. There was a continued interruption of harmonious intercourse between the Legislative Council and the Legislative a.s.sembly. As the a.s.sembly of Lower Canada had done and had been treated with regard to an offer to defray the expenses of the civil list, so precisely had the a.s.sembly of Upper Canada acted, and so had they been treated, when an exactly similar offer was made. And why? Because the legislative and executive functions were united in the same persons. His Majesty's Executive Council was almost wholly composed of the members of the Legislative Council. Both Councils then consisted of the Deputy Superintendent General of the Indian Department, the Receiver General, the Inspector General, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the Legislative Council, and the Honorable and Reverend Chaplain of the Legislative Council. The Upper House was the mere instrument of some designing confidential secretary to a weak-minded or, at least, credulous governor. Nay, it was said that "ruffian magistrates" abounded in those days along the banks of the St. Lawrence, from Brockville to Cornwall, inclusive, the Lieutenant-Governor being held in leading strings, by the Honorable and Reverend Chaplain of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada and one of His Majesty's Executive Councillors for that province.[31] It is indeed a.s.serted that after the pa.s.sage of the Sedition Act of 1804, the misrule of Upper Canada came to a pitch so extraordinary, that it was exclaimed against from the Bench, while a jury applauded. Governor Gore appeared to have been creating at the same time, and with the same effect, those treasonable practices which were so pleasing to Mr. Witsius Ryland, in Lower Canada, and which had evidently been stirred up, by the men-in-office, with the view of depriving both provinces of the "exact image and transcript of the British const.i.tution," with which the Canadas had been favored in 1791. Until the invasion, in 1811, political discontent was loud and incessant, as well in Upper as in Lower Canada; and it was the misrepresentations of the governing party and the outcries of the governed in both provinces, that induced the government of the United States to make war, on false pretences, upon the government of Great Britain. There were persecutions for opinion's sake in Upper as in Lower Canada. The newspaper was as odious to the government in one province as in the other. In 1806, a sheriff of the Home District, in opposition to the will of the Governor, voted at an election. He lost the shrievalty for his stubborn independence. Thrown upon his own resources, he established a newspaper, which he called The Upper Canada Guardian, or Freeman's Journal. He spoke with considerable freedom of the governor. He attacked the ministerial party. He exhibited abuses with wonderful dexterity and skill. The ex-sheriff, Joseph Wilc.o.c.ks, was rapidly rising into note. It was time to restrain him. A Captain Cowan was induced to be his persecutor. The truth rapidly becoming dangerous to those whose business consists in concealing the truth, cannot always be told with safety. Wilc.o.c.ks alleged that the Governor or his Executive Council had bribed several members of the a.s.sembly with land, to induce them to vote against the interests of their const.i.tuents. Captain Cowan knew that the a.s.sertion was without foundation. Wilc.o.c.ks was prosecuted but was acquitted, gained popularity in return for his persecution, and ultimately obtained a seat in parliament. There was no more freedom for Wilc.o.c.ks in parliament than out of it. For some extra freedom of speech on the floor of the House, he was thrust into prison. Nevertheless, he acquired an ascendancy in the a.s.sembly, to the great regret of the ministerialists. He became still more the object of governmental wrath, and when the war broke out, he was deprived of his paper. In 1812, he fought as a volunteer against the Americans. He was present at the battle of Queenston. He did all that within him lay, for his country and for his king; but the government of the province hated and persecuted him, so that starving and exasperated,[32] he deserted to the enemy, carrying with him a corps of Canadians. Joseph Wilc.o.c.ks, who was an Irishman of good family, and who was persecuted by the office-men of Upper Canada, to the prejudice and without the knowledge of the British government, was driven into hostile opposition to Britain by the most petty and contemptible tyranny of a few fellow colonists holding office, and was killed during the siege of Fort Erie. Had war occurred while Sir James Craig held Bedard in gaol and kept the Canadien printing press in the vaults of the Court House, at Quebec, it is difficult to say whether a feeling very different to that elicited by the prudent management of Sir George Prevost, might or might not have been exhibited. The government of the province should from the very outset have been only responsible to the people of the province, and Great Britain have only maintained in acknowledgement of her supremacy a military protectorate of British North America. But Francis Gore, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, again met the parliament of that province, on the 6th of January, 1816. The business done consisted in an Act to alter the time of holding Courts of Quarter Sessions in the London and Johnstown districts, an Act to repeal part of the Act const.i.tuting the counties of Prescott and Russell a separate district, under the name of the District of Ottawa; an Act to make more effectual provision for the collection of the revenue; an Act to provide for the appointment of Returning Officers; an Act to extend the jurisdiction of the Court of Requests; an Act to provide, for a limited time, for the appointment of a Provincial Aid-de-Camp, to be appointed by the Governor, and to have ten s.h.i.+llings a day in war, and five s.h.i.+llings a day in peace; an Act to provide 165 a year for the Adjutant-General of Militia; an Act to enable the Governor to establish one or more additional ports of entry; an Act to remunerate William Dummer Powell, Esquire, in the sum of 1,000, for his services in ascertaining t.i.tles to land; an Act repealing part of an Act for granting to His Majesty an additional duty on shop and tavern licences; an Act to amend an Act to prevent damage to travellers on the highways; an Act to grant relief to Catherine McLeod, whose son was killed in war; an Act to relieve Charlotte Overholt whose husband had been peculiarly killed; an Act to extend the limits of the town of Niagara; an Act granting 799, as a provision for the contingent expenses of both Houses of Parliament; an Act to relieve persons holding lands in the district of Niagara, whose t.i.tle deeds, conveyances, or wills, had been destroyed when the enemy burnt the town; an Act to continue the Act for the appointment of Returning Officers; an Act to alter and extend the provisions of the Act granting pensions to the widows and children of persons killed in the king's service; an Act authorising the construction of a gaol and Court House in the town of York; an Act to erect the District of Gore out of certain parts of the Home and Niagara Districts; an Act granting 425 4s. 6d. to several inspectors who disbursed that amount for teamwork and the apprehension of deserters; an Act to revive the Act affording relief to persons ent.i.tled to claim lands in the province, as heirs or devisees of the nominees of the Crown, in cases where no patent had issued; an Act to grant annually, for four years, 470, as an increase to the salaries of certain officers of the Council and a.s.sembly; an Act granting, 513 for the repair of certain highways; an Act appropriating 800 for the purchase of books for the formation of a library for the use of both Houses; an Act to continue an Act to facilitate the circulation of Lower Canada army bills; an Act appropriating 2,500 annually for defraying the expenses of the civil administration of the government; an Act to increase the salary of the present Speaker of the a.s.sembly, and to remunerate the present Speaker for past services, granting 800 as four years' additional salary, and, in future, 200 to be paid annually, in addition to the former annual payment of 200; an Act regulating the trade between the United States and the province, permitting the Governor to make regulations as to duties, but not prohibiting the admission of wheat, flour, peas, beans, oats, barley, and all other articles of provision and travellers' baggage; an Act to continue for a limited time the provisional agreement entered into between Upper and Lower Canada, relative to duties; an Act appropriating 155 7s. 3d., to remunerate Elizabeth Wright, whose husband was a tailor, for militia clothing; an Act appropriating 1,000 as an encouragement for the cultivation of hemp; an Act regulating the police within the town of Kingston; an Act granting to His Majesty duties on licences to hawkers, pedlars, and petty chapmen, and other trading persons; 10 to be the cost of a license to a person travelling on foot; 10 for every horse, a.s.s, mule, or other beast of burden; 5 for every other beast; 50 for a decked vessel; 40 for every boat; and for every non-resident of the province 50 a year; an Act providing a salary of 500 a year for a Provincial Agent in Great Britain, to correspond with the Governor and with the Speakers of the Legislative a.s.sembly and Legislative Council, who was to be removed on addresses from the Legislative Council and Legislative a.s.sembly; an Act granting 6,000 to His Majesty for the use of common schools; to the Home District 600 annually; to the District of Newcastle 400; to the Midland District 1,000; to the District of Johnstown 600; to the Eastern District 800; to the London District 600; to the Gore District 600; to the Niagara District 600; to the Western District 600; and to the Ottawa District 200; an Act granting 21,000 for the building and repairing of bridges and for the repairing of highways; an Act granting 1,000 to defray the expenses of any commission for ascertaining t.i.tles to lands in the Niagara District; and an Act to repeal and amend part of an Act for laying out and repairing the public highways.

Parliament was again a.s.sembled on the 4th of February, 1817, by Governor Gore, during the session of which an Act was pa.s.sed providing for the representation of the commons of the counties of Wentworth and Halton in parliament; also an Act to establish a police in the towns of York, Sandwich, and Amherstburgh; an Act granting to His Majesty 2,578 for the administration of justice; 900 for the Lieutenant-Governor's Office; 737 for the Office of the Receiver General; 2,300 for the Surveyor General's Department; 650 for the Executive Council Office; 36 for the Crown Office; 90 for the Attorney General's Office; 400 for the Secretary's Office; 200 for the Registrar of the Province; 620 for the Inspector General's Office; 620 for pensions to wounded officers; 400 for four clergymen; 50 for one minister of the Gospel; 200 for repairs to Government House; and 500 for casual and incidental expenses; an Act to establish a market in the town of Niagara; an Act to repeal, amend and extend the Act granting pensions to persons disabled in the service, and to the widows and children of persons killed in war; an Act granting 1,576 0s. 8d. for the clerks and for the contingencies of the last session of parliament; an Act in part repealing and in part altering and amending an Act providing for the appointment of parish and town officers; an Act to continue the Act making provision for certain sheriffs; and an Act to enable the commissioner of gaol delivery and Oyer and Terminer to proceed, although the Court of King's Bench be sitting in the Home District, for which they are commissioned.

This parliament was prorogued suddenly and unexpectedly, on the 7th of April, 1817. The sudden prorogation was resorted to because the a.s.sembly had, on the 3rd of April, resolved itself into a committee of the whole to take into consideration the state of the province. The propriety or expediency of preventing immigration from the United States, was to be discussed; the management of the Post Office establishment was to be examined into; the manner of the disposal of the Crown and Clergy Reserves was to be looked at; and the granting lands to the volunteer flank companies, and the incorporated militia who served during the late war, was to be investigated. It was resolved to present an address to the Lieutenant-Governor, requesting him to inform the a.s.sembly, whether any orders had been received from England, making an allotment of lands to the volunteer and incorporated militia, who served during the war. The a.s.sembly further resolved that an Act had been pa.s.sed in the reign of George the Second, for naturalizing such foreign protestants as were then or should thereafter be settled in any of His Majesty's colonies in North America; that an Act had been pa.s.sed in the thirtieth year of the reign of George the Third, for encouraging new settlers in His Majesty's North American colonies; and that these Acts were expressly enacted for facilitating and encouraging the settlement of His Majesty's American dominions.

The good resolutions of the a.s.sembly were, however, frustrated by His Excellency the Governor, who, having a.s.sented to several bills, and reserved for His Majesty's pleasure, a bill for a Bank and another to enable creditors to sue joint debtors separately, summoned the Commons to the Bar of the Legislative Council, and thus addressed the Parliament:-The session of the legislature has been protracted by an unusual interruption of business at its commencement and your longer absence from your respective avocations must be too great a sacrifice for the objects which may remain to occupy your attention. I come to close the session and so permit you to return home. In accepting the supply for defraying the deficiency of the funds which have hitherto served to meet the charges of the administration of justice, and support of the civil government of this province, I have great satisfaction in acknowledging the readiness manifested to meet this exigence.

In this session of parliament, Mr. James Durand, a member of the a.s.sembly, for Wentworth, was accused of having issued an address to his free and independent electors, which was a libel upon the Lieutenant-Governor, and a gross, false, and malicious libel on the members of the late House of a.s.sembly. Mr. Durand admitted the publication of the address, but denied that he had spoken disrespectfully of the Governor, and a.s.serted, on his honor, that he never had any intention of doing so. If any gentleman, however, believed that he had abused him, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he was prepared to give him that satisfaction which was due from one gentleman to another. Mr. Nichol was surprised that any gentleman should have made an appeal to the laws of honor. The people of Wentworth had sent Mr. Durand to parliament to be their legislator, not their gladiator. Mr. Jones adduced authority from Blackstone to prove the right of the House to enquire into the libel-to prevent bloodshed. Mr. Durand contended that the House had no authority to try him, and even if it had, the jury should be impartial, whereas several members of the House felt themselves to be implicated in the charge against him. Mr. Nichol considered that honour demanded that all the members should remain to decide the question. Mr. Durand protested against his accuser, and spoke flatteringly of the Governor, whom he had not calumniated. Mr. Speaker rose to say that no explanation to the House would do away with the malice of the publication. The paper was before the world, which would draw its own inferences. He thought there was no doubt about its being a libel on the Lieutenant-Governor and the Honorable the Legislative Council, but he was not prepared to say how far the House could take cognizance of a libel against any former House of Parliament. A false, scandalous and malicious libel was accordingly reported. Mr. Nichol moved for Mr. Durand's committal to gaol. Mr. McNabb moved in amendment, that Mr. Durand be required to appear at the Bar of the House and apologize, the apology to be published in the Upper Canada Gazette, St. Catherines Spectator, and the Montreal Herald, which amendment was lost by a majority of three against it. The original motion was carried by the same majority, when Mr. Nichol moved for the commitment of James Durand, Esquire, to the common gaol of the district, during the session, which was carried in the affirmative, by a majority of four!

His Excellency, Francis Gore, soon after this returned to England, and was prosecuted in London, by the Surveyor-General of Upper Canada, whom he had deprived of office maliciously and without cause. The Court in London gave Mr. Wyatt, as plaintiff, damages to the amount of 300.[33] . Governor Gore was succeeded in the administration of Upper Canada, by the Honorable Samuel Smith, on the 11th of June, 1817. The Little Pedlington proceedings of the Upper Canada parliament, during this reign, are hardly worthy of remark. The same spirit still continued to actuate both Council and a.s.sembly, and the Governor lorded it over both. The voice of the people was remarkable for nothing but its weakness.

Sir John Sherbrooke met the parliament of Lower Canada again on the 7th of January, 1818. He informed the Houses that he had distributed the seed wheat and other grain, for which a large sum had been voted during the previous session, so immediately that the relief had been attended with the happiest consequences. He had been commanded by the Regent to call upon the provincial legislature to vote the sums necessary for the ordinary expenditure of the province. He would lay before the a.s.sembly an estimate of the sums required. He would also submit the accounts of the revenue and expenditure for the past year. And he antic.i.p.ated a continuance of that loyalty and zeal which had prompted the a.s.sembly to offer to meet the expenses of the government. The a.s.sembly were proud that their offer had been accepted. The public was satisfied that the settlement of the civil list, and the control of the public expenditure, should rest with the a.s.sembly, and the reply to the speech from the throne was a simple affirmative. Sir John Sherbrooke had informed Lord Bathurst that the permanent expenditure actually exceeded the revenue by nearly the sum of 19,000 a year; and that there was a debt due to the provincial chest from the imperial treasury of 120,000. The salaries of the clergy and pensioners never had been laid before the a.s.sembly, but had been thrown into a separate list, and although paid in the first instance out of the civil chest had, nevertheless, invariably been provided for out of the extraordinaries of the army. He further informed the secretary for the colonies that, in his opinion, it was desirable that the civil list should be wholly provided for by the province. Lord Bathurst did not fail to take into consideration the acc.u.mulation, during four years, of the annual excess of the actual expenditure, beyond the appropriated revenue of each year. He quite concurred in the opinion expressed by Sir John Sherbrooke, that the annual settlement of the accounts of the province and the government at home would have been at once the most expedient course and most likely to prevent any interruption of a mutual good understanding. Short accounts make long friends. As related to the past, it was a question whether the legislature might not fairly be considered as having sanctioned the appropriation, the extra appropriation of the funds, by not objecting to it, when submitted to their notice, or whether any further measures were required for legalizing the appropriation itself, or for repaying the debt, which, under other circ.u.mstances, might be considered due to the province. With respect to some part of the expenditure, the silence of the legislature must be interpreted into an approbation of it, for they could not but think themselves bound to make good the deficiency of the funds appropriated by themselves to specific objects, such as the charge for the Trinity House, and the payment of the officers of the legislature, which had uniformly exceeded the funds raised under the Imperial Acts. He saw no objection to considering the silent admission of the accounts, submitted to them, as an implied approbation of the accounts themselves, and of the manner in which they had been discharged. But with respect to the future, he considered it advisable that the legislature should be annually called upon to vote all the sums required for the annual expenditure of the province. The House was to be prepared for the probable contingency of voting that part of the civil list which provided for the stipends of the Roman Catholic Clergy, and omitting the other part which had reference to the Protestant establishment. The Governor in such case was to use every means in his power to prevent a partial provision from pa.s.sing the Upper House, and if it did pa.s.s there, he was to withhold his a.s.sent. He called the Governor's attention to the necessity of vigilantly watching and guarding against any a.s.sumption, on the part of the Legislative a.s.sembly, of a power to dispose of money, without the concurrence of the other branch of the legislature. This great concession, with which every body was so pleased, was due to the sagacity of Sir John Sherbrooke. He saw how easily it was to be turned to favorable account. He saw that the a.s.sembly would be extraordinarily well pleased; and he further saw that the full power of the public chest was all that the a.s.sembly required to be fully in the power of the government. In a word, they only needed the money power to corrupt and to be corrupted.

An address to the Governor was next adopted, requesting His Excellency to state whether or not the Prince Regent had forwarded to him instructions concerning the impeachment of the Honorable Louis Charles Foucher, one of the Judges of the King's Bench. Sir John Sherbrooke had had a conversation with Mr. Ryland on the subject. The Clerk of the Executive Council, and member of the Legislative Council, had even put his opinion in writing, respecting the mode in which it might be most advisable to carry into execution the instructions contained in the despatch of Lord Bathurst, dated on the 5th of July, 1817. He was strongly of opinion that the advice given to Sir John to convey a judicial power to the Legislative Council, by commission, was founded in error. The House of a.s.sembly had acquired, by dint of perseverance, and a gradual exercise of privilege, during a period of six and twenty years, some of the most important privileges that attached to the House of Commons, one of which was the power of preferring impeachments against such public officers of the Crown in the colony as they might deem deserving of punishment or removal from office; and, as a counterbalancing influence, in the case of Mr. Justice Foucher, and in all similar cases of impeachment by the a.s.sembly, the adjudication of the charges preferred against the party accused was to be left to the Legislative Council, it being added to the instruction, as a reason for the concession, that the party accused could sustain but little injury from a temporary suspension, while, if ultimately p.r.o.nounced guilty, the advantage of an immediate suspension was unquestionable. Mr. Ryland conceived that no other power or privilege was, however, intended to be conveyed by the despatch to the Legislative Council than that of sitting, as grand jurors of the province, upon accusations brought by the a.s.sembly against the public servants of the Crown, and that if the charges brought by the Lower House were considered by the Council as valid, His Majesty would then exercise the Royal Prerogative, either by suspending from office or dismissing from his service the party accused. He was strongly of opinion that a communication of the substance of that despatch by a solemn message to both Houses of the Provincial Parliament, would be the utmost that either House could reasonably require to enable them to proceed to a final adjudication, as far as the Crown intended they should proceed, upon accusations preferred against individuals by the a.s.sembly. He was astonished at the line of argument adopted before His Excellency for the purpose of forcing an a.n.a.logy between the Court of the Lord High Steward of England and that which it was proposed to establish in Canada. The High Court of Parliament took cognizance only of crimes committed by Peers of the realm, upon indictments previously found in the inferior Courts. He contended that Sir John Sherbrooke was not empowered to const.i.tute any tribunal but for the trial of offences recognised as such by statute or common Law. If Mr. Justice Foucher was accused of any such offence, the ordinary tribunals of the country could take cognizance of it and inflict punishment. Mr. Ryland was deeply impressed with the idea that the longer or shorter continuance of the province as an appendage to the British empire would be dependent on the events of the present or coming session of parliament. Mr. Ryland did not relish the idea of the Legislative Council being deprived of its const.i.tutional character by the supposition even that it might be compelled to adopt a course of proceeding contrary to its own judgment. He thought that the Legislative Council ought to be made parties to any accusation adduced against a public officer by arrangement. There was no precedent for a commission, and indeed, Mr. Ryland was in every way opposed to the plan of leaving to the Legislative Council the adjudication of charges preferred against public officers by the a.s.sembly. Sir John Sherbrooke could not understand the reasoning of Mr. Ryland. He agreed with the Clerk of the Executive Council that a great change was to be brought about in the system of the provincial government, especially with respect to its finance; but, when it was considered that the mother country was "at present" struggling with pecuniary embarra.s.sments, it was not surprising that ministers should call upon the colonies to contribute to their own support. It was very obvious that, ever since the present const.i.tution had been given to Lower Canada, the House of a.s.sembly had been gradually obtaining an increase of power, whilst the Legislative Council remained in statu quo. The proper balance had consequently been lost and he knew of no better mode of giving new weight and importance to the Upper House than the measure devised by the Prince Regent that as often as the House of a.s.sembly should impeach, the Legislative Council should adjudicate upon the case, and the Council having declared that they had not the power to do so, some more formal instrument than a letter from the Secretary of State to the Governor, to invest the Council with the necessary authority to act, would be required. To the address of the a.s.sembly an answer was given in a message to both Houses. The message intimated that the adjudication of impeachments by the a.s.sembly was to rest with the Legislative Council; that the Regent trusted that the Council would discharge the important duties which thus devolved upon them in such a manner as to give satisfaction to all cla.s.ses of people in the province; and that the Governor, not having had instructions, as to the manner in which the adjudications were to be conducted, would apply to the Regent for instructions and communicate them as soon as obtained. The House of a.s.sembly did nothing, as the wisest course to be pursued, and the Council, now almost raised to a level with the House of Lords, in its own estimation, expressed its thanks in a series of resolutions offered by Mr. Ryland, for the confidence which His Royal Highness had reposed in it. Mr. Ryland and some other members of the Council were most anxious to adjudicate upon Mr. Foucher's impeachment at once; but, says the Clerk of the Council, in a letter written subsequently to Colonel Ready, the resolutions offered by me, which would have been adopted by a majority of the legislature, were stifled or repressed by artful and solemn a.s.severations made in the House for the purpose of inducing a belief that the state of the Governor's health was such that a further agitation of the business might endanger his life! And so ended the Foucher impeachment matter for a time. An Act was pa.s.sed for the incorporation of a company to construct a navigable ca.n.a.l, on the Richelieu, from Chambly to St. Johns, a work subsequently undertaken and completed by the province, on a very inadequate scale, inasmuch as the ca.n.a.l was only sufficiently large for batteaux, instead of being of a size which would have permitted steamboat communication between Quebec, via Sorel, and the towns on Lake Champlain. The estimates for the civil list amounting to 73,646, were voted after a debate of a week; a night watch and night lights were provided for in Montreal and Quebec; an Act was pa.s.sed for the encouragement of agriculture, and commissioners appointed to improve the communication, by water, between Upper and Lower Canada; an attempt was made to indemnify the members of the a.s.sembly; and the public accounts being submitted, the revenue for 1817 appeared to have been 108,925 currency, and the expenditure 116,920 sterling, including 19,426 owing to Upper Canada for duties in 1816. The expenses of the legislature amounted to 16,173, including 3,945 for books purchased for the library of the a.s.sembly.

Sir John Sherbrooke, was so very ill that he found himself unable to go down to the Council Chamber to prorogue the parliament. He was, therefore, waited upon by the members of both Houses, at the Castle of St. Lewis, and there the prorogation took place sans ceremonie.

Business had been rather brisk this year, but out of parliament, and away from St. Peter street, there was no stir of any kind. The newspapers contented themselves with retailing news from the continent of Europe, six months old, and the inhabitants of town and country unconcernedly watched the rising and the setting of the sun, or endeavored, as an antidote to the tedium vitae, to count the number of the stars at night. Three hundred and thirty-four vessels of 76,559 tons burthen, including one vessel built at Quebec, cleared at the port, and a duty of 2 per centum was levied on goods, wares, and merchandise, amounting to 672,876. There was one matter, which, however, created a little talk about town. Mrs. Montgomery, widow of the late General Montgomery, who fell on the night of the 31st of December, 1775, while leading on a storming party of Americans at the Pres-de-Ville, Quebec, applied to Sir John Sherbrooke for the remains of her husband, which had been buried somewhere in the neighborhood of a powder magazine. The request was complied with. On the 16th of June, the exhumation of the body, in the presence of Major Freer, who was on the staff of the Governor, of Major Livingston, a near relative to Mrs. Montgomery, and of some other spectators, took place under the direction of Mr. James Thomson, of the Royal Engineer Department, one of the followers of General Wolfe, who forty-two years previously to the application for the body had buried the General with his two Aides-de-Camp, Cheeseman and McPherson, beside him, where the military prison, near St. Lewis Gate, now stands.

Sir John Sherbrooke was, at his own request, recalled. His health had been indifferent for some time. He was relieved of his government soon after he had requested to be so by His Grace the Duke of Richmond. Sir John sailed for England on the 12th of August, with his character either in a military or civil point of view untarnished. Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, the new Governor-in-Chief, had been Lord Lieutenant General of Ireland. His hereditary rank, his previous position, as well as his present station obtained for him a consideration greater than any mere military knight could reasonably look for. He was accompanied by Major-General Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B., his son-in-law appointed to the Lieutenant-Governors.h.i.+p of Upper Canada. His Grace was looked upon indeed as a semi-deity. But the Duke was exceedingly poor, and perhaps owed his own appointment as well as that of his son-in-law, as much to the influence of the Duke of Wellington, who was his friend, as to his own. He summoned the legislature of Canada together on the 12th of January, 1819, but merely intimated that the Queen had died, and adjourned the public business, out of respect to Her Majesty's memory, until the 22nd of the month. The opening speech on that day was a wretched affair. The Duke did not recommend anything beyond a provision for the expenses of the civil government, which the illness of Sir John Sherbrooke had prevented him from completing; and the reply to his Grace was as tame as His Grace's speech. It was very like two individuals in meeting, saluting each other with the words-"good morning, Sir,"-"a good morning to you, Sir,"-"shalom elachem," as the Jew has it, to be returned with "alaichem shalom," "peace be unto you,"-"with you be peace." His Grace was not slow in submitting the estimates of the expenses of the civil government for the year 1819. Instead of 73,646 currency, as before, the estimate was now 81,432. The House could not understand the sudden increase. Was it necessary to pay 15,000 extra for a Duke? That was gracious goodness to an appreciable extent! The estimate was referred to a select committee, who were to make as ostensible as possible the necessity for the increased demand, and if that could not be done, to say why not. The committee reported that the interests of the country would best be served by making an unqualified reduction of those sinecures and pensions, which, in all countries had been considered the reward of iniquities, and the encouragement of vice, and which had been and still were subjects of complaint in England, and would, in Canada, lead to corruption, and that too while the estimates contained the item of 8,000 sterling a year, to be placed at the disposal of His Majesty's representative, for rewarding provincial services, and for providing for old and reduced servants of the government and others. Mr. Ryland had already been in correspondence with the Duke's Secretary, Colonel Ready, and hence the provision in the civil list for decayed servants of the government. When this manuvre failed, an attempt was made to obtain a permanent provision for the civil government of the province, during the reign of the sovereign, and that failing, another was made to vote the civil list money en bloc; but the a.s.sembly would only listen to one proposition, however democratic it might be, and that was to vote the civil list annually, item by item, so that the House might increase or diminish particular salaries at will. The a.s.sembly then went through the civil list, affixing to each office a salary, and pa.s.sing over without any appropriation such offices as were either positive sinecures or little else. A bill was introduced and carried through the third reading, granting to offices particularly specified, particular salaries. It was sent to the Legislative Council for concurrence, and was there at once rejected. The Council looked upon the mode adopted by the bill of granting a supply to His Majesty as unprecedented and unconst.i.tutional, as an a.s.sumption of the prerogative of the Crown, as calculated to prescribe to the Crown the number and description of its servants, and as certain to make the Crown officers dependent on an elective body, whereby they might be made instrumental in overthrowing the Crown itself. Thus was the civil list bill lost. A company was incorporated to construct a ca.n.a.l between Montreal and Lachine. 3,000 was appropriated towards the apportionment of lands to the militia who had served during the war; and Pierre Bedard, Esquire, Judge for the District of Three Rivers, was impeached by Mr. C. R. Ogden. Mr. Ogden accused Bedard of prost.i.tuting his judicial authority to the gratification of personal malice; of tyranny; of imposing fines upon his enemies on pretence of punis.h.i.+ng contempts of Courts; of uttering expressions derogatory to the other judges of the Court in which he sat; of having accused the barristers of Three Rivers frequently of high breaches of moral and professional rect.i.tude; of having wickedly imprisoned in the common gaol of Three Rivers, Charles Richard Ogden, Esquire, then and still being His Majesty's Counsel for the said district, for an alleged libel and contempt against the provincial Court, in which Mr. Bedard was the judge; for having illegally fined Pierre Vezina, Esquire, an advocate practicing in Court, ten s.h.i.+llings, for pretended contemptuous conduct; and for having grossly and unjustifiably attacked the character of Joseph de Tonnancour, a barrister. The articles of impeachment were referred to a committee which reported in favor of the judge, and the House did not, therefore, impeach him.

While this was going on a message was received from His Grace the Governor-in-Chief, acquainting the members of the Legislative Council that the commands of the Prince Regent had been received respecting the proceedings of the a.s.sembly against Mr. Foucher. The Regent directed that the a.s.sembly, previous to any ulterior proceeding, should lay before the Governor-in-Chief such doc.u.mentary evidence as they might consider adequate to support the charges which they had brought against Mr. Justice Foucher, and that copies of such charges, of such doc.u.mentary evidence, and of the examination already taken and annexed to the charges should be then transmitted by His Grace the Governor-in-Chief to Mr. Justice Foucher for his answer and defence, which answer and defence would be submitted to the a.s.sembly for their reply, when the whole of the doc.u.ments would be submitted to the Regent for such further course as the case might require. The Legislative Council were quite shocked at this message. They had been told that they might adjudicate upon cases of impeachment, and now it was commanded that they should gather evidence and send it to the Regent for adjudication. The Council dutifully remonstrated, feeling it due to itself to state to His Grace that at the time of receiving the late Governor's message it was prevented from taking more upon itself than to return its humble thanks for the "decision" of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, on the subject of its address of the 3rd of March, 1817, by representations made in the Council, that the state of His Excellency's health was such that a further agitation of the business at the moment might endanger his life. But the House confidently relied on the communication, contained in the message, that the "arrangement" therein announced with respect to the adjudication of impeachments by the Council was final. If representations had subsequently been made tending to withdraw from the Council the favor and confidence of the Crown, all doubt would be removed by the communication which they solicited from His Excellency as to the Royal intervention, and the House would finally be able, with His Grace's powerful support, to secure the full and free exercise of a privilege, without which the balance of an admirable const.i.tution would be destroyed, and the second estate of the provincial legislature be reduced to insignificance and contempt. The answer to this address was most emphatic. Mr. Justice Foucher was ordered to resume his functions as a Judge of the Court of King's Bench, at Montreal; and the Duke turning from the Council, drew the attention of the a.s.sembly to the necessity which existed for a reform in the judicature. The a.s.sembly had indeed already expressed an opinion to the effect that it was necessary for the independence of the judges that they should not be withdrawn from their judicial duties by holding any other offices in the civil administration of the government. The House of a.s.sembly paid very little heed, however, to the recommendation of the Duke. There was, indeed, no ministry in the confidence of the majority to originate any business in the Lower House, and for one of a minority, the creature of the government in the a.s.sembly, and without the shadow of influence in it, to take the matter up, would have been worse than useless. The Lower House was, indeed, like a s.h.i.+p without a helm. It was uncontrollable. All that a governor could do was to look upon the most popular man in the a.s.sembly, as if he were a minister of State, and govern in such a manner as to suit his views. The expediency of erecting the Eastern Towns.h.i.+ps into a judicial district had been represented to the a.s.sembly at its previous session. It was considered a denial of justice to require people situated as the Eastern Towns.h.i.+p farmers were, in a new and rather far off country, when the want of good roads is considered, to sue and be sued in the Courts of Montreal, Three Rivers, or Quebec. But they stirred not. They merely appointed a committee to draw up a statement of the receipts of the provincial revenue of the Crown, and of the disburs.e.m.e.nts by the Receiver General from the date of the const.i.tution to 1819; and also a statement of all the appropriations made by the legislature, and of the amount paid upon each of them by the Receiver General, the balance to be stated and the monies to be counted. There was evidently a suspicion in the minds of some of the members of the a.s.sembly that the National Bank had been paying interest out of the new deposits and that the managers were living in the same style of novelty. However that may have been, the business of legislation was now concluded, and His Grace the Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, Governor-in-Chief of Canada, and Captain General of British North America, came down to the Legislative Chambers in State. He took his seat upon the throne quickly. He seemed to speak to his attendants testily. He sent for the Commons impatiently. And he looked sternly. Colonel Ready, as soon as the Commons had appeared, handed His Excellency, who was not particularly gracious, a paper to read. "Gentlemen of the Legislative Council," were the first words uttered, and all eyes were upon the Duke. "You have not disappointed my hopes. I thank you for your zeal and alacrity. Gentlemen of the a.s.sembly:-It is with deep concern that I cannot thank you in connection with the result of your labors and of the principles upon which they rest. You proceeded to vote a part of the sum required for the expenses of 1819, but the bill of appropriation which you prepared was founded upon such principles that it had been most const.i.tutionally rejected by the Upper House, and so the government has been left without the supplies necessary for the support of the civil administration for the ensuing year, notwithstanding the voluntary offer given to the King in 1810." His Grace had recommended by special message the consideration of the Judicature Act so that it might be amended, and the a.s.sembly had not even proceeded with it so far as to enable the Governor-in-Chief to transmit the result of the parliamentary proceedings to the King's ministers, with the view of obtaining the opinions and a.s.sistance of the law officers of the Crown in England. He did trust, therefore, that at an early day in the next session the matter would be proceeded with. He had a.s.sented to the militia bill with reluctance. It was not necessary that the officers should be natives of the province. There were many half-pay officers of the army who were much better fitted for holding commissions in the militia than wealthy habitants were; and there were clerks, and other enterprising young men about cities and towns, who, on any emergency, were equally as well adapted for officers of militia as any seigneur whatever. The population of the province afforded excellent materials for a defensive army, but a general and proper selection of officers was necessary to make it formidable to an active and enterprising enemy. The selection of officers must only belong to the executive power. This speech did not raise the Duke of Richmond in the estimation of the Commons of Canada. Some were inclined to laugh at His Excellency, while not a few were offended. His Grace had been evidently tampered with. He was not looked upon as a free agent. While perfectly willing to defray the expenses of the civil administration, the Commons felt no disposition to build up a pension list or to be in any way burthened with life annuities to officers of the imperial army, for whom the imperial government was bound to provide. All the officers required in the civil government of the country,