CHAPTER VI.

1789. As long accustomed, the queen's birth day was celebrated on the 29 January, (monday.) At noon, a levée was held at government house, a royal salute fired from citadel hill, and the troops in garrison, drawn up on the parade, discharged three vollies of small arms, and at I, P. M. H. M. ships at anchor in the harbor gave a royal salute. Although this day was kept, it appears that queen Charlotte was actually born 19 May, 1744. Feb'y. 2. The academy at Windsor was publicly visited, and the pupils examined. There were in all 25 studying, 10 of whom boarded in the house. This was the germ of the present Windsor college.

At this time a statement had been published in London representing Shelburne as a failure, and that the inhabitants were rapidly deserting it. This was denied by persons there, who published, as an offset, a list of their exports in 1787 and 1788, shewing a marked increase in the last year. [See appendix.]

The assembly met on thursday, 5 March, (sixth general assembly, fourth session.) It had not been convened at all in 1788 that I can find, and the reason of this deviation does not appear. It is, I think, the only instance since the first assembly met in 1758, of a whole year passing without a session. Their first business was to choose a speaker, the chair being vacant by Mr. Blowers taking a seat in council. Mr. Uniacke was proposed by captain Howe, and major Barclay by Mr. Putnam. Uniacke was elected. Lieut. governor Parr opened the session with a speech.-George William Sherlock, elected for Liverpool, took the oaths and his seat.

Thursday, 12 March. The following message was received by the house from the lieutenant governor, delivered by the deputy secretary of the province :

'In consequence of your address to me in your last session,' 'that enquiry should be made into the conduct of the judges' of the supreme court, on several charges which had been 'brought against them for misbehavior in office, I accordingly, 'with his majesty's council, proceeded on that enquiry, and ' 'called on the judges to answer, which having been consider-' ed, together with the several allegations brought in support ' of such charges, I did, with the unanimous opinion of the 'council, agree, that the charges against the judges were not'. 'supported by the proofs which accompanied your address. 'The whole of the proceedings have been long since trans-' 'mitted to his majesty's minister, but I have not yet received' any answer thereto.'

(Signed)

JOHN PARR.

On a division of the house whether this message were satisfactory, the vote was: for the affirmative, messrs. Fillis, Dight, Jessen, Northup, Dickson, Dennison, Pyke, Howe, William Cochran, Dewolfe, Wollenhaupt, Sherlock, Morris, Hill, Bulkeley-15; negative, messrs. Day, Tonge, James, McMonagle, Leckie, Crane, Wilkins, McNeil, Belcher, Marchinton, Archibald, Schwartz, Millidge, Barclay-14. Saturday, March 14. A debate took place on this subject. The speeches on this occasion have been preserved in a newspaper. They are the earliest published debates in our assembly that I have found. Mr. Wilkins made a prefatory speech, in which he treated the lieutenant governor as having virtually relied on the advice of his Privy council and his principal law officers that a want of confidence in the judges universally prevailed; and suspicion having been once turned to men in their exalted station, nothing but the fullest acquittal could obliterate the stain. He compared the case to admitting the acquittal of a prisoner solely on his own plea of not guilty.— He then offered the following resolution: "From every information relative to the investigation of the conduct of the judges, as to their improper and irregular administration in

office, of which they had been accused in a late session in this house, it evidently and fully appears that his honor the lieutenant governor has been deceived by the evil and pernicious advice of his Privy council, and has by their means been inadvertently induced to give his sanction to a mode of trial absurd, unjust, and altogether unconstitutional, and such as tended rather to excite the indignation and increase the discontent of the public, than to allay their jealousies and satisfy their minds and such as tended, from the very nature of it, not to display the innocence of the two unfortunate judges, but indelibly to fix a stigma of guilt and reproach upon them, whatever their merits or demerits might have been; and as these gentlemen's respectable private characters, their social connexions, as well as their high and important office, gave them an indubitable claim to a more candid, public and solemn investigation of their conduct, and such as should have left, after their acquittal, not even the least suspicion of criminality, the contrary of which is now most obviously and universally the case; in consequence of which, the fountains of public justice, from a strong suspicion of being tainted, are in danger of being rendered entirely useless to the public. I therefore move that an humble and respectful address be presented to his excellency the lieutenant governor, that he will be pleased to remove from his presence those evil and pernicious councillors, until his majesty's pleasure shall be known." Major Barclay seconded this motion, and said, "That during the "interval between the debate of friday and this moment, he "had revolved the whole of the transactions of the governor "and council, on the subject of the judges, repeatedly in his "mind: and the more he considered it, the more he was con"vinced of the iniquity of the proceeding, and the propriety of "the motion now before the house." He went on to impress on the house the great importance of their public positionoffered to act as a physician to raise them from langour and lethargy, and referred to the natural equality of men, to be modified by social laws and order. He now begged the house to consider themselves as representing the aggregate of the community. They were the guardians of their rights and

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"liberties. As such, in this province, they could only have "their peers, not their superiors. He begged they would par"ticularly attend to the magnitude of their office; they were "there placed as a check upon the other two branches of the 'legislature, and ought religiously to watch that the liberties " of the people should be inviolably preserved, and obstinately "defended. He was convinced of the necessity of these "remarks. He saw many members in the house wanting "confidence of their own powers, and he wished to take them "by the hand, and place them in the seat they ought, and had an undoubted right to fill--in that seat (bowing to the house) "he would now view them-and declared, that they had an "undoubted right to scan, not only the conduct of his excel"lency's Privy council, but even the governor's also. True it I was, that the king could do no wrong, but it did not follow "from thence that his representative was equally perfect. By "this remark he by no means intended to find fault with the "conduct of his excellency. What he had done was dictated "by his Privy council, and they alone were and ought to be "answerable for that advice." He conceived the council in general, and one of them in particular, highly culpable. Some he thought were men of honor, but weak. He censured the late speaker, attorney general Blowers, severely for having tacitly sanctioned the proceedings of the house in the last session, and now taking distinct part on the contrary side. He said: "We find him openly and avowedly, in his letter to the gover"nor, calling himself an advocate for these gentlemen, whose cause, when under the inspection of the house, he had seem"ed to give up as indefensible. He had repeatedly declared, "not only to professional men, but even to Mr. McGill, the "incompetency of the judges,—and, although he denied to "Mr. McGill his having pledged himself to Mr. Sterns, to "come forward before the house as their accuser, still he would, "on the arrival of the governor-general, apply to him for their "removal. From such conduct and expressions, was it possi"ble the attorney general, previous to a regular trial, could "declare the judges innocent? and ought he not, after being called up to the council, particularly to have detailed the

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"whole of our proceedings on this solemn occasion. He (the "attorney general) was in duty bound to declare the sentiment "of the house-to have pointed out that the complaint against "the judges originated in it—that many of the members, the "solicitor general, major Milledge, and myself, gave informa"tion on the occasion-that the complaints of messrs. Sterns "and Taylor were taken down in writing, because they were "not members of the house, and for the satisfaction of the "house in case they wished their information to be repeated. "The information given by the members was unnecessary to "be taken down in writing, for the house could always recur to "them for personal information. That by the information of "messrs. Sterns and Taylor, the house only intended to shew "his excellency that they had made an enquiry beyond the "limits of their own walls, and not to hand them up with the "address as a proof of the criminality of the judges. That the "house expected, whenever the trial took place, that public "notice would have been given, in order that some of the "members might come forward as evidence. That as no part "of the information had been taken on oath, it could not pos'sibly serve to condemn the judges,—and if they were to be tried, it ought to be according to law and custom, by living " evidences, duly sworn, and regularly examined by both parHad the attorney general given such information and " advice to the council, it was more than probable a very differ"ent mode would have been pursued. From the conversation "that passed between the attorney general and Mr. McGill, it "evidently appeared that the former had, in some measure,

pledged himself to Mr. Sterns; but that as he had not been "consulted on the present occasion, he would not come for"ward. His pride appeared affected, and from that source his "subsequent actions probably derived their origin. He then "adverted to the extract of the council, and called on the par"ticular attention of the house to the manner in which it was "worded. The language, he declared, marked their temper"it was criminating men who had been summoned to give "information, which corresponded with the information of "some of the members now present. How could the council