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ever, persisted in; and the representative assembly passed sixteen resolutions. The first five and the sixteenth are worthy of quoting, and are as follows:

"1. That this House has derived the greatest satisfaction from the gracious expression of his Majesty's beneficent views towards this province, and from the earnest desire of his Excellency, the administrator of the government, to promote the peace, welfare, and good government of the province, as evinced in his Excellency's message of Friday last.

"2. That this House has nevertheless observed, with great concern, that it may be inferred from the expression of that part of the said message which relates to the appropriation of the revenue, that the pretension put forth at the commencement of the late administration, to the disposal of a large portion of the revenue of this province, may be persisted in.

"3. That under no circumstances, and upon no con. siderations whatsoever, ought this House to abandon, or in any way compromise its inherent and constitutional right, as a branch of the provincial parliament representing his Majesty's subjects in this colony, to superintend and control the receipt and expenditure of the whole public revenue arising within this province.

" 4. That any legislative enactment in this matter, by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in which his Majesty's subjects in this province are not and cannot be represented, unless it were for the repeal of such British statutes, or any part of British statutes, as may be held by his Majesty's government to militate against the constitutional rights of the subject in this colony, could in no way tend to a settlement of the affairs of the province.

" 5. That no interference of the British legislature with the established constitution and laws of this province, (excepting on such points as form the relation between the country and the Canadas, and can only be disposed of by the paramount authority of the British Parliament,) can in any way tend to the final adjustment of any difficulties or misunderstandings which may exist in this province, but rather to aggravate and perpetuate them.

" 16. That amongst these questions not particularly mentioned on the present occasion, this House holds as most desirable to be adjusted, and most essential to the future peace, welfare, and good government of the province, viz.

"The independence of the judges, and their removal from the political business of the province.

"The responsibility and accountability of the public officers.

"A greater independence of support from the public revenue, and more intimate connection with the interest of the colony, in the composition of the legislative council.

"The application of the late property of the Jesuits to the purpose of general education.

"The removal of all obstructions to the settlement of the country, particularly by the crown and clergy reserves remaining unoccupied in the neighbourhood of roads and settlements, and exempt from the common burdens."

The good sense and vigorous mind of Sir James Kempt disregarded, for the time, formal obstacles which had for some years deprived the province of the indispensable advantage of legislative appropriation. He therefore assented to a supply bill, formed

upon the constitutional principles contended for by the House of Assembly, "that all the revenue accruing in the province shall be under the control and appropriation of the provincial legislature." The following extract from his Excellency's despatch to Sir George Murray on the subject, will best illustrate the wisdom of his decision : - " I could entertain no hope," says Sir James Kempt, " after the resolutions adopted by the House of Assembly, (previously transmitted to Sir George Murray,) that it would be disposed to pass any act in which the king's right to appropriate the revenue raised by the 14th Geo. III. c. 88., would be specifically acknowledged; and, although the present bill is substantially the same as the supply bill passed in 1825, to which objections were stated by Earl Bathurst, in a despatch addressed to Sir Francis Burton, dated the 4th June, 1825, yet, as you admit in the despatch of the 29th September, 1828, which I had the honour of receiving from you, that, ' as long as the House of Assembly is called upon to provide for, and to regulate any portion of the public expenditure, it virtually acquires a control over the whole;' and as a scheme for the permanent settlement of the financial concerns of the province is in contemplation, I assented to the present arrangement, viewing it as a temporary measure to meet the difficulties of the present year, until such a scheme is matured, and a permanent settlement effected of the question in controversy by his Majesty's government at home.

"I was further induced to give my assent to the present measure by the consideration, that without a supply of some kind by the provincial legislature, the public service could not be carried on under the instructions which I have had the honour of receiving from you, the funds which the law has placed at his Majesty's disposal being insufficient to defray the expenses of the civil government; under all circumstances, therefore, I entertain a hope, that the arrangement which I have sanctioned will be approved of by his Majesty's government."

It would have been impossible for Sir James Kempt, with all the power of his well-known great abilities, to have established harmony in the province, had he not taken upon himself to assent to the finance bill passed by the provincial parliament. His administration throughout was conciliatory and constitutional; and, if he had remained sufficiently long in the province to examine and reform the condition of its magistracy, and to ascertain the actual moral and physical condition of Canada, he would certainly have effected a completely satisfactory understanding and lasting harmony between the legislature and his Majesty's government.

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GENERAL ELECTION UNDER THE REPRESENTATION ACт. - LORD AYLMER GOVERNOR. - TROOPS FIRE AT THE ELECTORS IN MONTREAL, AND KILL THREE MEN.

An act of the provincial parliament was passed in 1828, which received his Majesty's sanction in August 1829, to increase the representation of Lower Canada from fifty to eighty-four members." In 1830, a general election took place, agreeably to this act'; and on the return of Sir James Kempt to England, Lord Aylmer, the present governor, was appointed his successor.

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Soon after the meeting of the first provincial parliament, under Lord Aylmer, the civil list, the branch of revenue still held by the executive power, the charges against the Attorney-General, and, in fact, the interference of his Majesty's government in the local affairs of the province, renewed discontents. The Governor, although he did not abandon the distribution of that portion of the revenue which the legislative assembly claimed the disposal of, yet suspended the Attorney-General, who has been dismissed from office since his return to this country. No measure, indeed, could have been more unwise than for Lord Goderich to have sent that gentleman back to Canada as Attorney-General. Such an act, on the part of his Majesty's government, would have greatly alienated the loyalty of the

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