building the said Court House and Gaol shall be decided by a majority of the said freeholders and landholders then present; and that the said decision shall bind the whole of the inhabitants of the said county to contribute their quota to the said buildings.

That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the majority of freeholders and landholders present at such meeting shall decide equally as regards the place where such Court House and Gaol as aforesaid shall be erected.

That it is the opinion of this Committee, that one half of the expenses incurred in building the said Court Houses and Gaols be paid by the province; provided the said half do not exceed six hundred pounds currency, and that the other half be paid by the inhabitants of the said counties. That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the half of the aforesaid expenses to be paid by the freeholders and landholders, be apportioned to each of them in proportion to the superficial extent of ground which each possesses-the proprietors of emplacements only paying as proprietors of one half or a third of a piece of land of sixty to ninety arpents in superficies.

That it is the opinion of this Committee, that when a courthouse and a gaol shall have been erected in a county, the Magistrates residing in such County shall have the power to hold Sessions of the Peace therein, at least four times a year. That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the said Magis

trates in Session shall have criminal jurisdiction in all matters commonly cognizable in Courts of Quarter Sessions. Resolved-That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the said Magistrates in Session shall also have a limited civil jurisdiction therein.

That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it would be expedient to appoint a Clerk of the Peace to keep the register of the said Court, and a gaoler to take charge of such persons as may be committed to his custody.

That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the inhabitants of the counties, and not the Province, ought to support the costs of repairing and keeping in repair such said courthouses and gaols.

One of the most striking features in these resolutions, is that it delegates to the town meeting the power of determining whether there shall be a court-house and gaol, or not, also where it shall be placed. The last of these powers is essen

tially legislative, and this with some other parts of the measure has a democratic hue, which does not well become this country. The transition produced by the adoption of the measures predicated upon these resolutions would be too abrupt, violent and general.

I avail myself of the permission given to me by a friend to insert here some observations of his, in which I concur, except as to the whole of the expense of erecting the court-houses and gaols being, in the first instance, defrayed out of the public chest.

Of the necessity of organising county courts in this Province, there seems to be but one opinion. But when we come to the details of this measure, we do not find the same unanimity to prevail. The two main opinions relate to the residence or non-residence within the body of the county of the individual or individuals to be charged with the judicial functions therein. To my mind, I own, that the objections to the Judge being a resident Judge, seem to be insuperable-combining, as he necessarily would, in the majority of cases, the powers of a judge of fact as well as of law, and thus performing the functions of judge and jury, he ought to have as little connection with the society as possible. Living in the society itself, it would be almost impossible for him to avoid being mixed up with the little dissensions for which small societies are proverbial.

So, too, if it were required, that the Judge should reside within the county, it could hardly be expected that men of competent qualifications at the bar could be found who would be willing to make the sacrifice for any remuneration which the public could afford for this service. Whilst, on the other hand, if the attendance of the county judge were only occasional, during the assigned terms, and in the vacations of the Superior Court of King's Bench, it would not interfere with the Barrister's practice in any of the three principal Courts of the Province; and the remuneration afforded by the public for this temporary service being not more than equal to that to be

Y

given for a personal residence, the government and the public might command the best talents of the whole bar.

It is considered that the county courts might take cognizance of personal actions to an amount not exceeding £25 or £30, with the right of appeal to the Court of King's Bench, in each district, in all cases above £10. It might be expedient also that the county Judge should preside for two or three years in the Court of Quarter Sessions, to be established within the county, to exercise the general powers of criminal jurisdiction, vested in the general Courts of Quarter Sessions now in existence.

It is worthy of consideration also, whether it might not be expedient to vest in the Court of Quarter Sessions all these powers of local administration, as to roads, &c., which are given to Courts of a similar jurisdiction in the adjoining Colonies. The Court of Quarter Sessions, one of the important branches of the institutions of this Province, would thus be most beneficially assimilated to the Constitution of Lower Canada.

However much one must feel convinced with His Excellency, of the necessity of the measure proposed, it cannot be denied that there would be some risk in suddenly making so important a change in the institutions of this country, as to establish a court in each county, with the power of the Quarter Sessions. It would not be easy to find in every part of the Province, a sufficient number of persons fit to discharge the new duties, thus to be assigned to them. And if these were ill performed, the whole system might fall into unmerited discredit, from which it would not be easy afterwards to raise it. Such a disappointment might be productive of great and irreparable inconvenience and injustice. To meet this last difficulty, it is suggested that the erection of two or three county courts in the first instance, in places where they have been desired for a long time-such as Kamouraska, the river Chambly, Hull, Missiskoui Bay, and wherever there is a considerable number of wealthy inhabitants, would be the safest

course that could be pursued. As to any other county juris. dictions, they might be erected from time to time, in a ratio proportioned to the public wants of the different sections of the Province.

The expense of the erection of the court-house and the gaol should, in the first instance, be borne by the Province at large, but should ultimately fall upon the county in this manner; the expense should be reimbursed by the county, by a tax upon every process issuing out of the county court. This is not without precedent.-To the system of county courts must be added, as a very important appendage, the trial of criminal offences, not cognizable before the Court of Quarter Sessions, as at present constituted. The country parts of the Province would thus be relieved from the burdens to which they are subjected by their attendance upon the criminal courts in the cities, and from the anomaly whereby they are excluded from the functions of jurors in criminal caseswhich functions are now discharged by the inhabitants of the cities and the country parts immediately contiguous.

180

NO. XVIII.

FINANCES.

Ir what has already been observed be generally true, that it is hardly possible for any one to form a right judgment upon the public questions now in controversy in this Province, without a more minute knowledge of the old colonial controversies than generally obtains, it is eminently so as to the subject at the head of this paper. The ancestors as well of the inhabitants of this Province as of the adjoining states, were not reared as we have been in the lap of ease; they were disturbed by continual wars, and wars too of a peculiarly ferocious character. The husbandman felled the forest trees, while his rifle leaned against some neighbouring stump. They grew up amongst continual alarms, and the blood and treasure expended by the respective colonies, were, considering the smallness of their means, enormous. Each resorted to the aid of savage allies, and an hostility embittered by the religious prejudices which then obtained on both sides, was further aggravated by the occasional horrors of savage warfare. Their respective parent States, England and France, were also prodigal of blood and treasure in these contests. No inconsiderable portion of the national debt which now oppresses Great Britain, is referrible to this cause; and the derangement of the finances of France, which was one of the main causes of the great catastrophe we have in our time witnessed, was in a great degree derived from the same Mr. Chalmers, I think, estimates the expenses incurred by Great Britain in these wars, at one hundred millions

source.