NO. VI.

ON THE FIRST REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF GRIEVANCES.

Quibus in controversiis cum sæpe a mendacio contra verum homines stare consuescerent, dicendi assiduitas aluit audaciam, ut necessario superiores illi propter injurias civium resistere audacibus, et opitulari suis quisque necessariis cogerentur. Itaque cum in dicendo sæpe par, nonnunquam etiam superior visus esset is, qui, omisso studio sapientiæ, nihil'sibi præter eloquentiam comparasset, fiebat, ut et multitudinis, et suo judicio, dignus, qui rempublicam gereret, videretur. Hinc nimirum non injuria, cum ad gubernacula reipublicæ, temerarii, atque audaces homines accesserant, maxima ac miserrima naufragia fiebant.

CIC. DE INY.

I AM far from judging so harshly of the political character of lawyers as the great master of Roman eloquence. In the governments of law of modern days, those men who make of the law their peculiar study, must and ought to have great influence in the public deliberations of their country. But the study of the law is proverbially of great extent, difficulty and complexity, even when that science is applied to the controversies of private individuals. Its difficulty and importance grow proportionably when we use it as a standard of public rights, and seek therein those great conservative principles of social order whereby the political fabric is kept together and maintained. The knowledge of these, and a just application of them, require more study than youth can have afforded, and an experience which age only can confer.

It is not the least of the evils arising from the novel and unprecedented mode in which the committees generally of the Assembly were nominated in the last session, that, in consequence of it, the senior members of the profession belonging

to the House were, with one solitary exception, excluded from the Committee of Grievances-a committee where their services, knowledge, and discretion were so much called forand their places supplied by young gentlemen who had at a comparatively very recent period entered into the profession; and who, whatever might be their individual merits, had not yet gone through the ordeal of a long practice. The Chairman of the Committee himself had but very shortly before come out of an Advocate's office, and had not yet had time to make himself known in the courts. Under such auspices, it required no peculiar sagacity to anticipate that the proceedings of the committee would be distinguished rather for youthful violence than for sober judgment; and when these anticipations came to be realized, one could not but feel that if the vouth of these parties might be considered as an alleviation of their errors, it constituted no apology for the honourable member who, uncalled, had volunteered to guide the choice of the House in the selection of the members of all the standing committees.

An examination of the first report is calculated to afford a salutary lesson of care and deliberation to the youthful members of the committee, and an useful warning to them against passion and precipitation, whilst it may at the same time serve to show to the House itself the great dangers incident to the neglect of their own rules, and to the delegation to one or to a few individuals of powers which those rules reserved to the House itself.

The first report of the Committee of Grievances relates exclusively, to the notice from the Provincial Secretary's Office of the 15th day of December, 1830, whereby "Persons in this Province holding commissions during pleasure under his Majesty's Provincial Government, which, at the time of the demise of his late Majesty George the Fourth, were in force, and will continue to be so under the statute in this behalf provided, till the 26th instant, are notified, that their new commissions, rendered necessary thenceforward by his late

Majesty's demise, will be delivered to them on application at this office," and to the proceedings of the public authorities in relation thereto.

Before entering into the considerations of public law applicable to the case, it will be well to put our readers into possession of the whole of the proceedings of the Assembly, and at the Castle, down to the making of the report. On the 28th day of January, 1831, Isidore Bedard, Esquire, one of the members of the Assembly, presented a petition to the House on the behalf of Edward Glackmeyer, Esquire, a Notary Public, and one of the copying Clerks of the House, complaining of his being required to sue out a new commission as a Notary Public.*

In consequence of a message from the House relating to the subject of the new commissions, his Excellency was pleased to send down to the House the following message, bearing date the 9th February, 1831 :

"In compliance with the request of the House of Assembly expressed in their address of yesterday, the Governor in Chief transmits herewith a certified copy of his Majesty's proclamation, bearing date at St. James's, the 27th day of June last; and being desirous of making the House of Assembly acquainted with the whole of the circumstances connected with the recent renewal of commissions held under his Majesty's Government in this Province during pleasure, he informs the House, that about the middle of the month of December last, it was suggested to him, (not officially, or by any one connected with this Colony) that it behoved him to consider whether a renewal of such commissions might not become necessary by the non-arrival of renewed commissions from England, previous to the expiration of six months, dating from the demise of his late Majesty. In consequence of this suggestion, the Governor in Chief directed the Executive Council to assemble; when it was resolved, (his Excellency being present) to refer the question to the judges and law of

The Committee has omitted to publish this petition in the appendix to their report, and also to state what the prayer of it was in the body of the report; so that I am only enabled to give a general description of it— which, upon the motion of Mr. Bedard, was referred to the Committee of Grievances, of which he then was, or soon after became the chairman,

ficers of the crown for their opinion. With the exception of two of the judges, who stated that they did not consider them. selves justified in pronouncing any opinion on the subject, the judges and law officers of the crown were unanimous as to the necessity of issuing the new commissions; and the Governor in Chief, acting in accordance with their opinions, directed the issue of the new commissions accordingly. The view of this subject taken by the judges and law officers of the crown of this Province, appears to be fully borne out by the tenor of the following extract from a letter addressed to the Governor in Chief, by Mr. Hay, Under Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, dated the 8th December, 1830, and received on the 7th ultimo :-"I am directed by Lord Goderich to transmit to your Lordship herewith renewed commissions for the judicial establishment of your government, which his Majesty's accession to the throne has rendered necessary. The renewed commissions for the civil establishment, which may be required, will be forwarded to you as soon as they shall be prepared."-In regard to the copies of any opinions in possession of the Government of this Province, on the subject of the renewal of commissions held under his Majesty's Government in this Province during pleasure, the Governor in Chief has to observe, that the only documents answering to the above description in his possession, are the opinions of the judges and law officers of the crown above alluded to; and to the production of such documents he entertains strong objections, unless required for some object of great public interest. The House of Assembly can alone form a judgment of the magnitude and importance of the object which they have in view, and whether the production of the documents in question is necessary to the attainment of that object; and the Governor in Chief having put the House of Assembly in possession of his sentiments, in regard to the production of these documents, has only to add, that if the House of Assembly shall think proper to apply for them, they shall be produced."

The concluding paragraph of this message cannot escape notice; his Excellency is therein pleased to say that the House of Assembly alone can form a judgment of the magnitude and importance of the subject which they had in view. Now, with all possible, deference to his Excellency, I apprehend that the House of Assembly has no exclusive power to form judgments upon public objects. I apprehend that no

other objects could be presumed than those which appeared upon the public proceedings of the House; and that, with respect to these, the House neither had or ever claimed any exclusive power of judging; and that circumstances might arise, and in point of fact did arise, wherein his Excellency, in the exercise of the high trust confided in him, was called upon to judge, and to judge for himself, and upon his own. responsibility. I advert to this now, not for the sake of making a captious objection, but as being the first indication of an erroneous view of his own constitutional duties and powers on the part of his Excellency, which I shall hereafter be required to enlarge upon. His Excellency, in the last paragraph but one of this message, informs the House that he entertains strong objections to the production of the opinions of the judges and law officers of the crown, unless required for some object of great public interest; and concludes the whole message by saying, that having put the House of Assembly in possession of his sentiments in regard to the production of those documents, he has only to add, that if the House of Assembly should think proper to apply for them they should be produced. The second day after the receipt of this message, (the 11th February, 1831) the following resolution was come to by the House :

"Resolved,-That an humble address be presented to his Excellency the Governor in Chief, praying that his Excellency will be pleased to cause to be laid defore this House copies of any opinions in the possession of his Majesty's Government in this Province, relating to the renewal of commissions held from his Majesty's Government in the said Province during pleasure, which his Excellency may dcem proper to be communicated, and also of all other proceedings which may have taken place in respect of the renewal of commissions."

In the propriety of this resolution all must concur. The opinions of public officers given officially upon public affairs are public property; and, however much in the ordinary