steps so far as this item was concerned, and virtually enacting that Bill which it had a short time before rejected.

It is true that it is said that that body passed at the same time certain resolutions, which, that the whole subject may appear before the public, are here given :—

Re solved, That the grant of any aid can only by law be applied to the discharge of the salaries, and the contingent expenses of his Majesty's Government, for which such aid has been asked by his Majesty.

Resolved, That the grant of any aid to his Majesty, by bill or otherwise, exceeding in amount the sum demanded as such aid by His Majesty, is unparliamentary, unconstitu tional and unlawful, and consequently that such grant for the difference between the aid demanded and the sum granted as such aid, is null and void.

Resolved, That the application, by any person or persons, of any sum of public money whatever, to any purpose whatever other than the payment of the ordinary contingent expenses of one or other of the Houses of the Provincial Parliament, without the consent of the Legislative Council distinctly expressed in writing by bill or otherwise, would be a contempt of the privileges of this House, subversive of the Constitution of this Province, and a manifest violation of the Imperial Statute of the 31st Geo. III. c. 31. Resolved, That the application, by any person or persons whomsoever, of any sum of public money whatsoever, to any

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that for the purposes of this Act, a sum not exceeding the amount of the said allowances for the whole number of the members returned to serve in the Assembly, shall be annually advanced to the Clerk of the Assembly, by warrant, under the hand of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the Government, out of any unappropriated monies in the hands of his Majesty's Receiver General for this Province, at any time after the opening of each Session of the Provincial Parliament, and the amount of the said allowance to which each member shall be entitled, shall be paid to him by such Clerk, upon an order to that effect made by the Assembly, (on a statement by him submitted of the amount of allowance due to each member, under the provision of this Act,) before the close of each and every Session of the Provincial Parliament.

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the due application of the monies advanced pursuant to the directions of this Act, shall be accounted for to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, through the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury for the time being, in such manner and form as his Majesty, his heirs and successors shall be pleased to direct.

purpose whatever other than the payment of the ordinary contingent expenses of one or other of the Houses of the Provincial Parliament, in consequence of or under the pretence of any vote, resolution, resolve, or address of the Assenibly, or of any pretended authority derived from any such vote, resolution, resolve, or address to which the consent of the Legislative Council has not been distinctly expressed in writing, by bill or otherwise, would be a contempt of the privileges of this House, subversive of the Constitution of this Province, and an open violation of the Imperial Statutes of 31st Geo. III. c. 31, and the 6th Geo. III. c. 12.

Resolved,―That a copy of these Resolutions be laid before His Excellency the Governor in Chief, and that he be humbly and most respectfully solicited to take such steps as in his wisdom he may deem sufficient to prevent the officers of His Majesty's Government from acting in any way contrary to these Resolutions, or any or either of them, or to the spirit thereof.

I will not permit myself any observations on these resolutions, but will barely say, that either the Law or the Resolutions ought not to have passed a body laying any claim to consistency of public conduct.

Some delay took place in the payment of the members notwithstanding the passing of the Law. This ought not to have happened, for the Governor has no right to suspend or delay the execution of a law; and those who recommended that delay, or perchance refused to pay the members, had done better to have openly resisted its passing in the Legislative Council, than to have prevented or retarded its execution in the antichambers of the Castle of St. Lewis. In both these instances the course pursued by the Legislative Council seems to be as little susceptible of defence as the proceedings on the part of the Assembly which gave occasion to them.

What I have next to add, relates peculiarly and exclusively to the Legislative Council. For several years past Bills have been annually sent up from the Assembly to the Legislative Council, disqualifying Judges to hold seats therein, and the same was done in the last Session. These bills proceed upon the plain principle, that as the Judges hold their seats under

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22

ENCROACHMENTS BY THE ASSEMBLY & THE GOvernor.

the existing law, the right to sit, nay, the duty even to sit, cannot be taken away from them but by a repeal of the old law, or by a law disqualifying them from sitting. The Governor constitutionally possesses no power over the Legislative Council itself, except that of conveking and adjourning it, and none whatever over its individual members, nor over its economy and internal discipline, yet an order was sent by his Excellency to one of the honourable Judges, a member of the Legislative Council, directing him not to attend that body in his place; and as if that were not sufficient, an honourable member of the Lower House was authorized to inform that House of the order which had been so given, and notwithstanding this manifest infraction of the privileges of the Legislative Council, they were silent to a man.

How such a power should have been used at all, or being used should be quietly submitted to, is a problem, for the solution of which I shall offer some conjectures when I come to inquire into the existing Constitution of the Legislative Council, and into the nature of the functions legitimately belonging to a Colonial Governor.

Having thus pointed out some of the instances in which it appears to me that the rights of the Legislative Council were compromitted by proceedings in the Assembly, I shall next proceed to point out some instances, in which, as I conceive, it has exceeded its legitimate powers in matters not immediately touching the Legislative Council, which will complete this branch of the subject.

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NO. IV.

INTERNAL ORGANIZATION AND ECONOMY OF THE ASSEMBLY.

On n'cerit pas dans ce pays. C'est un malheur.- Brochure intitulé Considerations, &c.; p 1. ligne 1. Montreal, 1816.

NEXT and hardly inferior in importance to the subject treated of in the last number, are to be held all proceedings in deliberative bodies, which in any way touch their internal organization and economy. The independence necessary for the discharge of the high functions confided to them by the law, excludes all direct foreign control in relation to these matters; but we are not thence to infer that the power of such bodies in relation to them is arbitrary, and carries along with it no responsibility. No human power is above the control of right, and the higher the power exercised is, in a corresponding degree is the responsibility.-This responsibility in a case like the present, not subject to any direct control, is to be enforced by the silent but irresistible power of an enlightened public opinion. Deliberative bodies hold their power from the people, and to the people members are accountable for the just exercise of it. It is from the untrammelled discussion of a free press that public opinion must derive its lights, and must be ultimately formed; and one of the great advantages of a representative government is, that it invites to and facilitates such discussions, and brings to bear

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upon all matters of public interest, the united sense of the whole country, which cannot be long led astray by passion or misled by prejudice. It serves also to keep continually present before the minds of the men, to whom either legislative or administrative powers are by law confided, the great truth that all legal power is held only in trust, and is to be exercised in full and open view of those from whom it is derived, for whose benefit it was conferred, subject to the law from which alone it derives its efficacy. In enquiring then into that part of the proceedings of the Assembly during the last Session, which relate to their internal organization and economy, I am at once exercising a right and discharging a duty, and bringing the subject under the consideration of its lawful tribunal.

No deliberative body can carry on its proceedings with order and regularity, without certain established rules and orders; nor when these are once established, ought they to be set aside without great care and reflection, and then directly, not incidentally. The Assembly has such a body of rules and orders, established soon after its creation, and drawn with singular precision and judgment.

The formation of Committees, to whom so large a portion of the power of the House stands delegated, is provided for by the following rule:

COMMITTEes.

Sect. 2.-Resolved, that the mode of appointing a Special Committee, shall be first, to determine the number it shall consist of, then each member naming one which shall be written down by the Clerk. Those who have most voices, shall be taken successively until that the number is completed, and if any difficulty should arise by two or more having an equal number of voices, the sense of the House shall be taken as to the preference; but it shall be always understood, that no member who declares himself, or divides against the body or substance of the bill, motion or matter, to be committed upon any of the readings thereof, can be nominated to be of a Committee upon such a bill, motion or matter."-Standing Rules and Regulations of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada,