Forsyth's own house. Captain Phillpots, the engineer officer who had the district in charge, was accordingly ordered to see that this space was kept open; and as Forsyth refused several times to remove the fence, he directed it to be pulled down.

This conduct was loudly protested against by the Reform press, eager to seize upon anything to the prejudice of a Governor they disliked. If Forsyth, it was urged, had taken improper possession of the ground, he should be ejected by due course of law, and not by military violence. This would most undoubtedly have been the wisest course, as Forsyth was subsequently beaten in two suits, brought to recover damages from Phillpots and another person for trespass. His pretensions to the ground in dispute were likewise set aside by an action against him for intrusion, which resulted in favour of the Crown, and chiefly on the evidence of a Mr Jones, who had made the original survey. The course pursued by the Governor on this occasion was censured by the Home Government.*

The Legislature assembled on the 15th of January; and the Governor made his speech to an unusually thin House. In 1828. the Assembly some difficulty was experienced in collecting

a quorum for the despatch of business, and which was not accomplished till the 18th. It was the last session of the eighth Parliament of the province, and members appeared to be very indifferent whether they attended or not. To judge from the newspapers of the day, many of them were too busy in canvassing for the next general election to pay much attention to legislative matters.

As the session progressed, the ill feeling towards the Governor evidently increased. His appointment of a clerk to the Assembly was regarded by that body as an interference with their privileges. Forsyth had petitioned the House for redress, and the committee selected to investigate his case thought proper to summon the Adjutant-General, Coffin, and Colonel Givens, superintendent of Indian affairs, to give evidence. The Governor directed them not to obey the mandate, on the ground that the application for their attendance should have been made in the first place to him as their superior military officer. A warrant was accordingly issued by the Assembly for their apprehension for contempt. Coffin denied admission to the Sergeant-at-arms, but the latter finally broke open the door with an axe, made him a prisoner, as well as Givens, and both, persisting in their refusal to give evidence, were committed to the common jail, where they remained till the House was prorogued. The committee reported in favour of Forsyth's petition, recom* Sir G. Murray's Despatch to Sir John Colborne, 20th of Oct. 1828.

mended that he should be remunerated for the loss of his crops caused by the destruction of his fences, and denounced the conduct of the Governor as altogether too arbitrary.

A good deal of bitter discussion took place with regard to the Clergy Reserves, and a more decided opposition was shown to the admission of the Church of England's claims to their sole possession. A Naturalisation Bill was at length passed of a more liberal and satisfactory character, especially as regarded Canadian-born children of American aliens, which was reserved, nevertheless, for the consideration of the Home Government, and subsequently, on the 8th of May, assented to by the King in Council. A cause of prolonged agitation was thus finally removed. The annual Supply Bill having been voted, the Legislature was prorogued on the 25th of March. Party spirit was now becoming more and more intense. A libel suit was commenced by the Governor, at the spring term, against Mr Collins, editor of a Toronto paper termed the Canadian Freeman, which was not prosecuted, however, owing to the former quitting the province on his appointment to the government of Nova Scotia. Mackenzie was also indicted for a like offence, growing out of the Forsyth petition, but his trial, as well as that of Collins, was put off to the fall term, the Attorney-General not being willing or prepared to prosecute, and finally abandoned altogether.

Collins was a man of a warm and imprudent temper, and shortly after attacked Attorney-General Robinson, on grounds connected with this pending libel suit. The latter prosecuted him for defamation at the fall term, and obtained a verdict in his favour. Collins was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, a fine of £50, and to find security for future good behaviour.

The feeling of animosity against the executive was increased by the course pursued with regard to Mr Willis, an English lawyer of eminence, recently appointed one of the judges of the Upper Canadian Court of King's Bench by the Home Government. Like Thorp, he was unwilling to identify himself with the Family Compact, and a strong feeling was soon excited against him among its members. It was consequently determined to sacrifice him on the first opportunity. His refusal to sit in term at Toronto in June, the court not being legally constituted without the Chief - Justice, (Campbell,) then absent in England, being present, offering the desired occasion, he was suspended from his office by the Governor. Mr Hagerman was temporarily appointed to the vacant post, an arrangement, however, which did not meet the approval of the Home Authorities, and Mr Macauley received the vacant judgeship.

The Colonial Office subsequently sustained Mr Willis in the course he had pursued, but admitted at the same time the Governor had not acted beyond his authority. He was not sent back to Canada, however, and a situation was provided for him in another colony.

This occurrence had a considerable influence on the elections, which again resulted in the return of a Reform majority, among whom was William Lyon Mackenzie, returned for the county of York. Sir Peregrine Maitland had now become decidedly unpopular with the Reform party, who gladly hailed his departure for the government of Nova Scotia, to which he had been appointed, and welcomed the accession of Sir John Colborne as a boon. The latter assumed direction of the administration in November, and as he was said to have received instructions to govern agreeably to a liberal policy, much was expected from him.

CHAPTER XVIII.

UPPER CANADA FROM 1829 TO 1835.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR JOHN COLBORNE.

HE new Parliament was convened on the 9th of January, and Marshall Spring Bidwell chosen Speaker of the Assembly, by a majority of three over Wilson, the Speaker of the 1829. former House. The speech of Sir John Colborne on the occasion was guarded in the extreme, and presents few features of importance. The division on the address showed that the House was almost entirely a Reform one. Its language was a direct censure on the executive, apart from the Governor. "We, his Majesty's faithful Commons," it urged, "confiding in the candour of your Excellency, and in your readiness to recognise us as constitutional advisers of the Crown, do humbly pray your Excellency against the injurious policy hitherto pursued by the Provincial Administration; and although we at present see your Excellency unhappily surrounded by the same advisers as have so deeply wounded the feelings and injured the best interests of the country, yet in the interval of any necessary change, we entertain an anxious belief, that under the auspices of your Excellency the administration of justice will rise above suspicion; the wishes and interests of the people be properly respected; and the revenues of the colony be hereafter devoted to objects of public improvement, after making provision for the public service on a basis of economy suited to the exigencies of the country." "It is less difficult," said the Governor in reply, "to discover the traces of political dissensions and local jealousies in this colony, than to efface them. I anticipate that the principles of the Constitution being kept steadily in view, and the good sense of the people, will neutralise the efforts of any interested faction.”

The Governor's answer like the Delphian Oracle could be interpreted either way. The Reformers fancied it favoured themselves:

they were soon undeceived. He refused the petition of the Assembly to extend the royal clemency to Collins, who was still incarcerated. "I regret exceedingly," said he, "that the House of Assembly should have made an application to me, which the obligation I am under to support the laws, and my duty to society, forbid me, I think, to comply with." The House retorted by a resolution to the effect, "that they had not merited the imputation conveyed in his Excellency's message, and that their request was not inconsistent with the due support of the laws, and their duty to society."

Its beginning seemed to augur a stormy reign for Sir John. Mackenzie was already busy making motions for all sorts of information, as if he had even then conceived the plan of his "Grievance Report." The Family Compact chuckled over the refusal to release Collins, who had a young and helpless family to provide for; but a general feeling of indignation spread through the country, and in the town of Hamilton the Governor was hung in effigy. The exercise of clemency on this occasion would have done much to satisfy the people, and made Sir John Colborne popular; but the stern old veteran preferred what he deemed to be the path of duty to the acclamations of the crowd.

In Upper as well as in Lower Canada, Government still retained the casual and territorial revenues; and these, in addition to a permanent grant of £2500 made several years previously, had now increased sufficiently to make the executive completely independent of the Assembly, as regarded an annual vote for the civil list. Strong resolutions were passed against this condition of things in the House, and a firm determination evinced to acquire control of all the provincial revenues.*

An address was voted to the Crown, setting forth the impure administration of justice in the province, and praying that judges should be made independent of the executive, and Mr Willis restored. With very trifling difference the reformers of Upper Canada and the anti-executive party of the lower province now sought the attainment of the same objects, but for very different ulterior ends. One desired social progress and greater constitutional liberty in the movement; the other embarked in it with a view to acquire power in order to make their province more exclusively a French colony.

During this session of Parliament, which terminated on the 20th of

* The public revenue of Upper Canada at this period amounted to £112,166, 13s. 4d. Of this amount £75,000 had been contracted for the building of the Welland Canal.