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NO. XII.

FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE GOVERNOR OF A BRITISH PROVINCE.

In provincia vero ipsa, si quem es nactus, qui in tuam familiaritatem penitus intrarit, qui nobis ante fuerit ignotus; huic quantum credendum sit vide; non quin possint multi esse Provinciales viri boni: sed hoc sperare licet; judicare periculosum est. Multis enim simulationum involucris tegitur, et quasi velis quibusdam obtenditur uniuscujusque natura, frons, oculi, vultus persæpe mentiuntur; oratio vero sæpissime. Quamobrem, qui potes reperire ex eo genere hominum, qui pecuniæ cupiditate adducti careant his rebus omnibus, a quibus nos divulsi esse non possumus? te autem, alienum hominem ament ex animo, ac non sui commodi causa simulent? mihi quidem permagnum videtur; præsertim si iidem homines privatum non fere quemquam, PRÆTOREŚ SEMPER OMNES AMANT. CIC. AD QUINT. FRAT.*

THE internal government of the British colonies resembles, in some respects, that of metropolitan states. The form of government in theory differs essentially from what it is in practice; the Governor of a British colony may be either looked at as a constituent branch of the Legislature, or as the first administrative officer. When I come to the examination of the Legislative Council, as at present composed, and of the new policy which they have thought proper to pursue for the last three years, it will be requisite to enter somewhat fully into the consideration of the powers and functions of the Governor as a constituent branch of the Provincial Legislature.

In the present paper I shall consider him solely as the administrative head of the Provincial Government.

This letter of Cicero is considered an admirable illustration of the subject in hand, by a great statesman; and large extracts from it have been translated, and placed in the Appendix, No. 5, page

It is hardly possible to obtain a correct view of any of the main branches of colonial administration, without having under one's eye the political history of the old British colonies, which, a close examination will convince us, is intimately connected with the existing order of public things in the present British colonies. I must beg, therefore, to be permitted, before entering into the details of the subject at the head of this paper, to cast a glance over some leading political events in the old colonies.

The conquest of this country by the British arms changed all the previous political relations of North America; and it is not too much to say that the victory of Wolfe was the first act in the great drama which ended in the recognition of American independence. France no longer skirted the North American colonies with a warlike population, and the powerful Indian tribes of this continent over which she possessed unlimited controul; and there thus ceasing to be any points of collision between these powers, she became the ally of America. Great Britain was substituted in the place of France. true was this, that with the Canadas the French influence over the Indian Tribes was transferred to Great Britain

So

The political agitations of the British Colonies were no longer kept within bounds by the fear of a powerful external enemy; and the result was the declaration of independence in 1774. The Canadas, it was expected by the American leaders, would eagerly embrace the opportunity of shaking off the yoke so recently imposed on them by Great Britain, and join the standard of revolt. The result of the invasion of Montgomery evinced their error.

The men who acted in this civil war were divided into several classes, the characters and feelings of which it is material justly to appreciate; as one of these classes was destined materially to influence the fates of the remaining British colonies, and in a peculiar degree those of Lower Canada.

Though a diversity of opinion was existing in respect of the men who rallied round the standard of what was then deno

minated rebellion, and is now called revolution, we are compelled to admit that many of them must have been actuated by motives of patriotism, some by those of ambition; but all manifested, in resisting with their slender means one of the most powerful nations on earth, a degree of courage to which it is impossible to refuse the tribute of our admiration.

The opposite ranks were filled principally by men who, from their occupations, habits of life and of thinking, were averse to civil strife and broils, and could not reconcile their consciences to resist the authority of their sovereign: a more loyal, honest and respectable class of men no country ever boasted of.

The remaining part of the loyalists consisted of the placemen of the different colonies. They, their descendants and their friends, have been found since the year 1774, and are now found in all the principal offices of his Majesty's colonies. In the struggle which followed, these men were not found in the field; their loyalty vented itself in extravagant professions, in addresses and in representations to the colonial administration and the British government. The war depriving them of their places, they assailed the British government with petitions for new ones. In this race one class far outstripped their companions. This was the placemen of New England. As a luxuriant soil pushes forth the most poisonous weeds and the most abundant harvest, as food for man, so did this portion of the British Colonies furnish from her own bosom some of the best of her friends of the country, and some of the most inveterate and designing of her enemies. the very focus of the revolution, and marked with a deep and indelible tinge of the hypocrisy, the astuteness, the design of their puritan ancestors of the days of Cromwell, no supplication was too mean for them to resort to, no means too crooked if leading to the attainment of their ends, and each successive refusal was followed by a new and better contrived series of intrigues, and by more humiliating and abject supplication.

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Exertion so meritorious could not but be successful; and these men were scattered over all the British colonies, and monopolized all the offices and emoluments of power.

It will be seen, in the further progress of these papers, that an independent course of conduct is required on the part of the Executive Council, and on the part of the principal public functionaries, whose duty it is to check and controul the Governor in the discharge of his public duties, which these men would not be very likely to do, and have not done.

I proceed :-By the Colonial Constitution, as it stands upon paper, the Executive Council is not only a council of advice, but a council of controul. The Governor cannot grant one acre of ground without their consent. In all matters of public policy within the colony, it is his bounden duty to take their advice; he is not, it is true, absolutely bound to follow it when given-but when he does so, he is relieved from all responsibility; and, on the other hand, when he acts without or against their advice, he acts suo periculo:-Besides the Governor, who is a moveable officer, there are several fixed officers of the colonial government-by whose means, in conjunction with the Executive Council, it seems to have been expected, that that steadiness and uniformity of action, without which no government can long stand, would be obtained. These are-The Lieutenant Governor of the Province, who is understood at the same time to be chairman of the Executive Council; the Chief Justice of the Province, performing functions somewhat analogous, if I may be allowed to compare small things to great, with the duties and functions of the Lord Chancellor of England. There is, further-the Secretary of the Province, who was destined to occupy a position in the colonial government, somewhat analogous to that of the Secretary of State in England. To these are to be added—the Law Officers of the Crown, by whose advice, in all law matters, the Governor is absolutely bound; the Surveyor General, a highly important officer; the judiciary, and its officers. All these are permanent powers residing within the Colony,

and which, the framers of the general instructions thought, would be abundantly sufficient to prevent the Executive Government from degenerating into a government of will, or a pure autocracy, which it now is. It will not be uninteresting to look into the causes which have led to this event. All the offices under the Government being during pleasure, and the British Government, naturally looking to their Governors here, for the selection of fit persons to fill the Councils, they very naturally chose, that the officers of Government who environed them, and of whose flexibility of will and of purpose they were duly sensible, should compose them. The Executive Council has accordingly been progressively falling into public discredit. For a long time the Governors consulted them as they were bound to do, but of late years this decent ceremony is often omitted; thus, for instance, there is reason to believe that, from the time of the accession of the Earl of Dalhousie, the Governors have not condescended to submit to the Council any of their speeches at the opening or the close of the Sessions of the Provincial Parliament, nor are they consulted upon the general course of public policy within the Colony.

The Council cannot afford to resent this neglect, because they are all of them placemen, and the Governor is taught to consider himself as the sole spring of all executive power within the Colony. Another circumstance also, which prevents a proper control of the Governor in other public mat. ters, is his sole and exclusive patronage of all offices of honour and emolument. Many of the high public functionaries must and do have families and others dependent upon them. The love of office is one of the maladies of this continent, and the men in office are naturally desirous of getting as many of their own family into office as they can. In this position of things, to expect that each public functionary should discharge his duty without an eye to the pleasure or the displeasure of the Governor, for the time being, is to expect more public virtue than we have yet been able to find in these hy

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