and were now honourably paid off. In the United States matters were very different. Their paper-money, of the same nature, had greatly depreciated in value, a circumstance which caused much confusion and loss. The Legislature of the province again met on the 26th of January. In his opening speech the Governor, after alluding to his 1816. own birth in Montreal, the indisposition of George III., the battle of Waterloo, and the necessity of renewing the Militia Act about to expire, recommended the House to revive the Alien Act. The good feeling manifested by the address in reply, was of brief duration. On the 2d of February the Assembly were completely astounded by a message from the Governor, stating that the impeachment preferred against Chief-Justices Sewell and Monk had been dismissed by the Prince Regent. But the Assembly were not to be so easily foiled. On the 24th they decided, by resolution, to petition the Crown for permission to be allowed to substantiate their charges against them. But the Home Government, anticipating a course of this kind, had instructed the Governor to dissolve the Assembly, if it persisted in its hostility to the judges. He accordingly prorogued the House on the 26th, and writs were at once issued for a new election. The old members were returned with a few exceptions. Meanwhile, Sir John Sherbrooke had been appointed Governor-in-Chief of Canada. General Drummond departed for England on the 1st of May; and on the 21st of the following July the new Governor arrived at Quebec. THE GOVERNMENT OF SIR JOHN COAPE SHERBROOKE. General Sherbrooke was an English officer of reputation, and had seen considerable military service. In India he had distinguished himself at the taking of Seringapatam, and had subsequently served with credit under Wellington in the Peninsula. He had already exhibited capacity in civil affairs, had conducted the public business of Nova Scotia with much tact and dexterity, and his Canadian reign now opened with an augury of success. Early frosts had destroyed the preceding wheat crop, and famine threatened several parishes: but the Governor took prompt and efficient measures to avert the evil, and from thenceforth became a favourite with the people. The Home Government was still resolute in its determination to support the Chief-Justices, although by this time aware that the recent election had proved adverse to their wishes. But Lord Bathurst, the Colonial Secretary, did not by any means find Sher brooke as pliant a tool as his predecessor. While he avowed himself prepared to execute the strongest measures the ministers of the Crown might deem proper, he plainly stated the hopelessness of any attempt of this nature, owing to the great unpopularity of Sewell with the majority of all classes, asked for specific instructions in case the new Assembly should again take up the matter of the judges, and broadly hinted the sounder policy of permitting the impeachment to have been fairly tried, instead of covertly quashing it in the Privy Council. These representations convinced the Colonial Office that it could no longer support the judges openly against the current of popular opinion, and the Governor was instructed to pursue a temporising course, and conciliate the Roman Catholic clergy. But he speedily convinced Lord Bathurst of the hopelessness of this course, by informing him that the latter were fully as hostile to Sewell as the other classes. To the Chief-Justice's influence in the Legislative Council, was ascribed the frequent opposition it gave to the measures of the Assembly. He was also regarded as an enemy to projects of public improvement, and his arbitrary conduct in refusing a writ of Habeas Corpus in the case Bedard had made a most unfavourable impression against him in the public mind. The Governor advised the Colonial Office to compromise the dispute, by permitting the Assembly to appoint an agent in England; or by detaching Mr Stuart, the principal enemy of the judges in the House, from the opposition party, by giving him office. He also recommended that the Speaker of the Assembly should be ex officio a member of the Executive Council. 1817. On the 15th of January the new House of Assembly commenced their session, and chose for their Speaker Louis Joseph Papineau, destined to figure so prominently in Canadian affairs. Descended from a respectable French family, his father had long occupied a seat in the Assembly, and also filled the office of notary-public at Montreal from the 19th July 1780, the date of his commission, for a number of years. The "elder Papineau" was sincerely attached to the Government of Great Britain; and in his address to the electors of Montreal in 1810, strongly professed his fidelity to King George, and his desire to perpetuate the "strict union" of these provinces with the mother-country, and which had already produced so much happiness to his countrymen. The Assembly courteously responded to the Governor's speech, and, in pursuance of its recommendation, at once took measures to release him from the responsibility he had incurred in making advances to the extent of £14,216 for the relief of the distressed districts. A sum of £15,500 was appropriated in addition for the same purpose, and £20,000 were also voted for distribution in small loans to industrious farmers, to enable thera to purchase seed for the ensuing spring sowing. As the session progressed, Mr Stuart was completely foiled, by Government intrigue, in his endeavour to revive the impeachment of the judges. The Assembly decided to postpone the consideration of the question by a vote of twenty-two to ten. They also agreed to the proposition of the Governor, to pay the Speakers of both Houses the very large salary of £1000 per annum each during that Parliament. Chief-Justice Sewell was the Speaker of the Legislative Council; and his friends thus dexterously managed to reward him for the trouble his impeachment had caused him. Mr Stuart was so disgusted by the course of the Assembly that he retired to Montreal, and did not again appear in public life till appointed Attorney-General towards the close of Lord Dalhousie's administration. In opening the ensuing session of the Legislature, the 1818. Governor stated that the measures taken to avert the threatened famine had been attended with the happiest consequences. He also informed the Assembly that its former offer to defray the expenses of the civil list had been accepted by the Home Government.* This intelligence gave the greatest satisfaction to the members, by whom the settlement of the provincial At this period the public income of Lower Canada arose from three sources: Ist, The Crown duties, levied under the British statute of the 14 Geo. III., or the imperial act of 3 Geo. IV. 2d, Provincial duties, payable in virtue of local laws, proceeding immediately from the Provincial Legislature, or rendered permanent without their consent by the last-mentioned imperial act. 3d, The Queen's casual and territorial revenue, which arises from her Majesty's landed property; namely, the Jesuits' estates, the Queen's posts, the forges of St Maurice, the Queen's wharf, droit de quents, lods and vents, land fund, and timber fund. With respect to Crown duties levied under 14 Geo. III., until they were surren dered in 1831, they were, with the territorial revenue, controlled and dispensed by her Majesty's responsible servants; while those levied under the imperial act of Geo. IV., and all provincial acts, have always been under the disposal of the Legislature. As the Crown duties levied under 14 Geo. III. had generally, if not always, been inadequate to the support of the civil government and the adminis tration of justice, Sir John Sherbrooke was instructed, in pursuance of the general system of retrenchment adopted throughout the empire, to call upon the Legis. lature to appropriate, out of the provincial duties, a sum equal to the annual deficiency.-Bubbles of Canada, pp. 75, 76. civil list, and the control of the public expenditure, had long been desired. The duties levied by the Imperial Government, on imports into Canada, had been found wholly inadequate to defray the necessary civil expenditure, and prior to 1812 the deficiency had usually to be made up from the military chest. Subsequent to that period, the unappropriated revenues of the province had been taken for this purpose, and as their expenditure was unauthorised by the Assembly, the Imperial Government was in its debt for the sum of £120,000 sterling. This condition of things was fully explained to the Colonial Office by the Governor,* and as it was desirable to release the mother-country from this burden, consent was now given that the Assembly of Lower Canada should provide, in the same way as Nova Scotia, for the civil expenditure by an annual vote of supplies.+ In conceding this privilege, however, Lord Bathurst pressed it especially on the Governor's attention, that the concurrence of the Legislative Council should be necessary to the validity of all money bills; and that in all grants for the payment of clergymen's salaries, the Protestant Church should be first considered.‡ The estimates for the civil list, sent down at a late period of the session, amounted to £76,646 currency, while the revenue derived from the imperial duties, sale of Crown lands, and other sources, was only £33,383, leaving a balance to be provided for by the Assembly for the current year of £43,263. This sum was voted after a long debate; but it was resolved that next session a fuller estimate should be given in under detailed heads, and not in total, and provided for by bill, in order to place it on a more constitutional footing.§ Governor Sherbrooke's colonial experience made him dislike remaining in Canada, where he saw that the shuffling policy of the imperial ministers must sooner or later cause difficulties. His failing health, also, had tended to make him request his recall. He left Canada on the 12th of August, after having received the most gratifying addresses from all parties. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. The rank of the Duke of Richmond, as well as the fact that he had already administered the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland with much satisfaction to its people, caused his arrival in Canada, on * Sherbrooke's letter to Bathurst, 18th March 1817. + Bathurst to Sherbrooke, 31st August 1817. + Bathurst's letter to Sherbrooke, 8th September 1817. the 29th of July, to be hailed with gratification by the public. He was accompanied by his son-in-law, Major-General Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. But the duke's popularity was destined to be of very brief duration. The fact that the annual estimate embraced a provision of £8000 sterling, to be granted in perpetuity as a pension 1819. fund, and was besides £15,000 larger than that of the preceding year, brought him speedily into unpleasant collision with the Assembly. In a committee of the whole they fixed the salaries of all public functionaries, from the Governor downwards, with the exception of those for what were deemed useless offices, which were struck off altogether. A bill was next introduced specifying the items of public expenditure, and making provision for them in detail. This bill was duly passed, but rejected by the Upper House, on the ground that the Assembly by specifying salaries in detail, trenched on the prerogative of the Crown. In other words, the monstrous and unconstitutional principle was sought to be established, that the executive had a right to appoint what officers it pleased, at such salaries as it pleased, and that it was the duty of the Assembly to pay the estimates without inquiry. If this procedure of the Legislative Council were tamely acquiesced in, it was plain that the executive would be freed from all constitutional control, and that public economy need not be looked for. Beyond voting £3000 to enable the Government to survey lands to be granted to the militia who had served actively during the war, little business of importance was transacted during the remainder of the session. The House was prorogued by the Governor on the 24th of April in terms of censure, in consequence of their not having made provision for the civil list, nor reformed the judicature act. which it was considered allowed too much latitude to judges, and thus gave rise to great public dissatisfaction. In addition to Sewell and Monk, two other judges, Bedard and Foucher, had recently been impeached for malpractices. But, owing chiefly to the difficulty of a prosecution, nothing further was effected in either case. Shortly after the session had terminated, the duke drew upon the ReceiverGeneral, on his own responsibility, for the sum necessary to defray the civil list. The decrease in the value of agricultural produce, and the almost complete destruction of the Irish linen trade, owing to the jealous enactments of the British Parliament and the general introduction of spinning and weaving machinery into England, reduced the now |