and to defame. The object of honest and rational politicians ought to be to understand each other-to deal frankly, abhorring concealment, that mistakes may not be made about facts, terms, or intentions; to deal fairly, giving credit for a desire to elicit truth, and a wish to weigh in a just balance both sides of every question. Having put before you such evidence as I hope will lead Your Lordship's mind to the conclusion that the system by which the North American Colonies are at present governed, must be abandoned, it is not improbable that Your Lordship may inquire what it is that we are desirous to substitute for that system? The demand is a reasonable one. The party who seek this change are bound to prove that they have a safe and intelligible remedy for the evils of which they complain. If I cannot show to Your Lordship that, without endangering the authority of the mother country over her Provinces, weakening the constitutional powers of the crown, or trenching on the high privileges and wide range of duty assigned to the Imperial Parliament, a better form of government than that which I am anxious to overturn-one more nearly conforming to the practice and spirit of the Constitution, as understood at home-to the wants and peculiar situation of these Colonies, and less repugnant to the feelings and prejudices of Englishmen everywhere, can be established, then I must quit the field of argument, and cannot complain if Your Lordship adheres to your own opinions.

From what has been already written, it will be seen that I leave to the Sovereign, and to the Imperial Parliament, the uncontrolled authority over the military and naval force distributed over the Colonies; that I carefully abstain from trenching upon their right to bind the whole empire, by treaties and other diplomatic arrangements, with foreign States; or to regulate the trade of the Colonies with the mother country, and with each other. I yield to them also the same right of interference which they now exercise over Colonies, and over English incorporated towns; whenever a desperate case of factious usage of the powers confided, or some reason of state, affecting the preservation of peace and order, call for that interference. As the necessity of the case, the degree and nature of this interference, would always be fully discussed by all parties concerned, I am not afraid

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of these great powers being often abused, particularly as the temptations to use them would be much lessened if the internal administration were improved.

The Colonial Secretary's duties should be narrowed to a watchful supervision over each Colony, to see that the authority of the Crown was not impaired, and that acts of Parliament and public treaties were honestly and firmly carried out; but he should have no right to appoint more than two or three officers in each Province, and none to intermeddle in any internal affair, so long as the Colonial government was conducted without conflict with the Imperial government, and did not exceed the scope of its authority. This would give him enough to do, without heaping upon him duties so burdensome and various that they cannot be discharged with honor by any man, however able; nor with justice or safety to the millions whose interests they affect. His responsibility should be limited to the extent of his powers; and, as these would be familiar to every Englishman, exposure and punishment would not be difficult, in case of ignorance, incapacity, or neglect.

I have shown, in the illustration drawn from the city of Liverpool, that most Governors come out to Colonies so ignorant of their geography and topography, climate, productions, commerce, resources, and wants; and above all, of the parties, passions, and prejudices which divide them; and of the character, talents, and claims of the men by whom the population are influenced and led; that for the first six or twelve months they are like overgrown boys at school. It is equally clear, that while the business of government must move on, and the administration commence from the day on which the new Governor arrives, the schoolmasters, from whom all his facts are derived from whom he gathers his views of internal affairs, and his impressions, not only of different parties, but of individuals of each party,-are the irresponsible Executive Councillors, whom the present system calls around him; and who, possessed of such advantages, rarely fail, before he can by any possibility escape from their toils, to embroil him with the popular branch of the Legislature, and the mass of the people by whom it is sustained.

Now let us suppose, that when a Governor arrives in Nova Scotia, he finds himself surrounded, not by this

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irresponsible Council, who represent nothing except the whims of his predecessors and the interests of a few families (so small in point of numbers, that but for the influence which office and the distribution of patronage give them, their relative weight in the country would be ridiculously diminutive),—but by men who say to him, May it please Your Excellency, there was a general election in this Province last month, or last year, or the year before last, and an administration was formed upon the results of that election. We, who compose the Council, have ever since been steadily sustained by a majority of the commons, and have reason to believe that our conduct and policy have been satisfactory to the country at large." A Governor thus addressed, would feel that at all events he was surrounded by those who represented a majority of the population; who possessed the confidence of an immense body of the electors, and who had been selected by the people who had the deepest interest in his success, to give him advice and conduct the administration. If he had doubts on this point-if he had reason to believe that any factious combination had obtained office improperly, and wished to take the opinions of the country; or if the Executive Council sought to drive him into measures not sanctioned by the charter; or exhibited a degree of grasping selfishness which was offensive and injurious, he could at once dissolve the Assembly, and appeal to the people who here, as in England, would relieve him from doubt and difficulty; and, fighting out the battle on the hustings, rebuke the Councillors if they were wrong. This would be a most important point gained in favor of the Governor ; for now he is the slave of an irresponsible Council, which he cannot shake off; and is bound to act by the advice of men, who, not being accountable for the advice they give, and having often much to gain and nothing to lose by giving bad advice, may get him into scrapes every month, and lay the blame on him. The Governors would, in fact, have the power of freeing themselves from thraldom to the family compacts, which none of them can now escape by the exercise of any safe expedient known to our existing Constitutions. It will be seen too, that by this system, whatever sections or small parties might think or say, the Governor could never, by any possibility, become, what British Governors have

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of late been everywhere, embroiled with the great body of the inhabitants over whom he was sent to preside. The Governor's responsibility would also be narrowed to the care of the Queen's prerogative, the conservation of treaties, the military defence, and the execution of the Imperial acts; the local administration being left in the hands of those who understood it, and who were responsible. His position would then be analogous to that of the Sovereign-he could do no wrong in any matter of which the Colonial Legislature had the right to judge; but would be accountable to the crown, if he betrayed the Imperial interests committed to his care.

Executive Councillors now are either heads of departments, or members of the two branches who are generally favorable to the policy of these, and disposed to leave their emoluments intact. One or two persons, of more independent character, and slightly differing from the others upon a few points, are sometimes admitted; but a vast preponderance in favor of the views of the official compact, is always, as a matter of course, maintained. The heads of departments are always very well paid for their trouble in governing the country, by the enormous official salaries they receive; their colleagues either are looking to office, or have means of providing for their relatives and friends; while, if it should so happen, that such a thing as a Colonial Executive Councillor can be found, for any length of time, in office, who has not served himself or his friends, the title, and the consciousness of possessing for life the right to approach and advise every Governor, and give a vote upon every important act of administration, without a possibility of being displaced, or called to account for anything said or done, is no mean reward for the small amount of labor and time bestowed. Formerly, these people, in addition to other benefits, obtained for themselves and their friends immense tracts of crown land. This resource is now cut off, by the substitution, of sales for free grants; but, looking at the Executive Council, or Cabinet, as it exists in any of the North American Provinces at present, we find a small knot of individuals, responsible neither to the Queen, the Secretary of State, the Governor, nor the people; who owe their seats to neither, but to their relatives and friends, through whose influence and intrigues they have been appointed; and who, while they

possess among them some of the best salaries, and nearly all the patronage of the country, have a common interest in promoting extravagance, resisting economy, and keeping up the system exactly as it stands. It will be perceived, that such a body as this may continue to govern a Colony for centuries; like the Old Man of the Mountain, who got upon Sinbad's back, ordinary exertions cannot shake it off. To understand more clearly how unEnglish, how anti-constitutional, how dangerous this body is, it is only necessary to contrast it with what it ought to resemble, but never does. In England, the government of the country is invariably carried on by some great political party, pledged to certain principles of foreign or domestic policy, which the people for the time approve; but the cabinet in a Colony is an official party, who have the power for ever to keep themselves and their friends in office, and to keep all others out, even though nineteen out of every twenty of the population are against them. What would the people of England

if some twenty families, being in possession of the Treasury, Horse Guards, Admiralty, Colonial office, had the power to exclude Whigs, Tories, and Radicals; to laugh at hostile votes in the Commons, and set the country at defiance; to defend each other against the crown and the people; to cover ignorance, incapacity, corruption, and bad faith? Would they bear such a state of things for a week? And yet Your Lordship seems to think that we should bear it, for an indefinite period, with patience.

Now, for this body, I propose to substitute one sustained by at least a majority of the Electors; whose general principles are known and approved; whom the Governor may dismiss, whenever they exceed their powers; and who may be discharged by the people whenever they abuse them. Who, instead of laying the blame, when attacked, upon the Governor, or the Secretary of State, shall be bound, as in England, to stand up and defend, against all comers, every appointment made and every act done under their administration. One of the first results of this change would be, to infuse into every department of administration a sense of accountability, which now is nowhere found-to give a vigorous action to every vein and artery now exhibiting torpidity and languor-and to place around the Governor, and at