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5

NO. II.

OPENING OF THE LEGISLATURE.

Obsta principiis.

THE severe indisposition of his Excellency the Governorin-Chief, on the day fixed for the opening of the Legislature, not permitting him to meet the Council and Assembly at the usual place, the first subject of deliberation with his Excellency related to the course to be pursued in consequence of

this untoward circumstance.

There seemed to be but two courses which his Excellency could have pursued: he might, either by the usual instrument under the Great Seal, have prorogued the Parliament to some subsequent day, when it might reasonably be expected that his health would be re-established; or he might by message have desired the two branches of the Legislature to adjourn either to a specific day, or from day to day. This last course was that which he decided upon. It will be recollected that this being the first Session of the present Parliament, the Speaker of the Assembly could not be regularly elected until the House had been summoned to his Excellency's presence, and had received his commands to name their Speaker; and that previous to the nomination of a Speaker, the Clerk of the Assembly is the organ of that body and presides over it. It will also be recollected that, according to established usage, the Civil Secretary conveys the messages of the Governor, for the time being, to the other two branches of the Legisla ture, delivering them personally in the several Houses to their respective Chairmen or Speakers.

On the first day, then, of the meeting of the House, Lieutenant-Colonel Glegg, Civil Secretary of his Excellency, delivered personally in the body of the House, to the Clerk of the Assembly, then occupying the chair, the following mes

sage:

AYLMER.

CASTLE OF ST. LEWIS, Quebec, January 24, 1831.j

"Mr. Clerk of the Assembly,

"You will inform the Assembly that, by reason of severe indisposition, I am not able to meet them this day, in Provincial Parliament, and for prevention of all inconvenience, it is my desire that they will adjourn themselves until to-morrow."

As this proceeding gave occasion at the moment to much angry discussion, and was afterwards made the subject of proceedings, to which I shall presently advert, we may pause to inquire whether it afforded any legitimate grounds of complaint on the part of the Assembly, and I apprehend that it did not. The only alternative, as has been already stated, was between a prorogation and a direction of adjournment to the House itself. Now, the first is the exercise of a higher authority than the last; it is absolute and imperative upon the two branches of the Legislature, and operates a suspension of the power of the Legislature by the sole act of one of its branches. Besides this, it could not regularly have been made from day to day, and it might, therefore, have happened, that a longer interval than was necessary for the re-establishment of his Excellency's health should be taken, to the great inconvenience of the members individually, and to the delay of the public business; or, notwithstanding all proper foresight, too short a delay might have been taken, and then a new prorogation would become necessary, and so on toties quoties. On the other hand, the course here pursued was exempt from these inconveniencies, adjourning from day to day, the delay in the public business would be mathematically commensurate with the necessity which had given occasion to it; and the

remedy, instead of coming from the sole act of the Governor, came to be the joint act of him and of each of the other branches of the Legislature. Nor does there appear to have been any thing exceptionable in the form in which this measure was carried into effect. To have transmitted the message by letter would have been contrary to usage, and would have been less respectful than the delivery of it in person by his Excellency's Secretary; the message, it is plain, could not go to any other than the Clerk of the Assembly; for the House had not yet received its regular organization, and the Clerk of the Assembly was in legal and actual occupation of the Chair. Nor could the message be delivered at the bar of the House, as was subsequently pretended, or elsewhere than at the chair, where in point of fact it was delivered. Thus far, then, all seems to have been right.

The proceeding which his Excellency was advised ultimately to take is of a more questionable character. The next day a second message was sent by his Excellency to the following effect :

AYLMER.

CASTLE OF ST. LEWIS,
Quebec, January 25, 1831. f

"Mr. Clerk of the Assembly,

"You will inform the Assembly that, still labouring under a severe indisposition, which confines me to my room, and being extremely desirous that the opening of the Provincial Parliament should not be longer retarded, from this cause, it is my desire that the Assembly, when they shall this day adjourn, do adjourn themselves until to-morrow, at the hour of two in the afternoon, when I shall proceed to open the session."

On the following day the Session was opened, not at the usual place, but in his Excellency's bed-room, he lying in his bed, and it was from this and not from the throne, that the speech was delivered.-Most willingly acknowledging the best intentions on the part of his Excellency, in waiving the established forms, I hesitate about the wisdom of such a proceeding, and very much doubt its legality.

h

If this course had been adopted in consequence of the idle clamour of the previous day, this afforded no adequate motive for it. He has read but little in the book of human nature and government, who thinks that tranquility is to be bought by submitting to, or in the smallest degree countenancing, unjust pretensions and idle complaints-or who has not yet learned that forms are things. Accordingly, one of the first acts of the Assembly, after it was organized, was to refer these several messages to the Committee of Privileges, implying thus a censure of the proceedings taken by his Excellency. This censure was embodied by the Committee in certain resolutions subsequently adopted by the House. They are to the following effect:

RESOLUTIONS CONTAINED IN THE FIRST REPORT OF THE

STANDING COMMITTEE OF PRIVILEGES.

Resolved-That the first Session of this fourteenth Provincial Parliament, by proclamation to meet for the despatch of business on the 24th of January last, was not opened on the said day, in the customary form, by reason of the severe illness of the Governor. Resolved-That the effort made by his Excellency to meet. the two Houses of Parliament at the Castle of St. Lewis, on the 26th of January, after finding it impossible to open the Session on the appointed day, and in the customary form, is a proof of his desire to communicate with this House, and of his wish not to retard the dispatch of parliamentary business.

Resolved-That at the time when this House had not become organized by the choice of a Speaker, no message ought to have been received within the bar; and that this irregular proceeding which took place ought not to be drawn into precedent, or be repeated in future.

Resolved-That the written messages of the 24th and 25th of January, signed by his Excellency, being addressed to the Clerk of the House, in the words following: "Mr. Clerk of the Assembly" are irregular and contrary to parliamentary usages, and ought also not to be drawn into precedent, or cited as such hereafter.

Whether these resolutions form any part of the proceedings which afterwards called forth the expression of his Excellency's

admiration, I am not prepared to say. In most other breasts they would assuredly not have this effect.

I have already stated my belief that the opening of the Legislature, elsewhere than in the usual place, was irregular ; and it is not merely because this and the other measures just adverted to, hold the first place, in time, that I have first directed my attention to them, but because, also, whatever touches the constitution, occupies the first place in importance. And I shall accordingly proceed to consider such other measures of the late Session of the Provincial Parliament, as are immediately connected with its constitutional powers, and the laws which regulate them.

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