ench, who had been but a few months
in the Province. The laws of Upper Canada, in Sir Peregrine's
estimation, were highly satisfactory, and needed nothing so much as to
be let alone. "I have been ten years in this government," he wrote, "and
as I have never received any representation against the laws, or the
manner in which they have been administered, I must conclude that the
people are content with both." Content with laws which prescribed
capital punishment for the killing of a cow! Content with laws which had
been conceived in an iron age, and under a state of society which was
now happily passing away! Content with the laws! When a majority of the
population, through their representatives in the Assembly, had for years
been using their utmost endeavours to procure the repeal of the Sedition
Act of 1804! When a Select Committee of the British House of Commons had
directed the attention of Government to this mediaevally-conceived
statute, and had expressly recommended its repeal! Content with the
manner in which the laws had been administered, when the trial of Robert
Gourlay was yet fresh in the public memory! When a score of almost
equally vile but less conspicuous perversions of justice were matters of
yesterday! When no obscure litigant could sue a member of the Family
Compact with any assurance of obtaining his rights! When the Reform
newspapers had for years been filled to overflowing with complaints
about the imperfect administration of justice! When a very
strongly-worded complaint of neglect in the administration of justice
had only a few weeks before been made in open court to Judge Willis when
he first took his seat in a Court of Assize! When a large proportion of
the population had ceased to have any confidence in the integrity of the
judiciary! When this want of confidence was shared by several leaders of
the Provincial bar, who certainly had exceptional opportunities for
forming a correct opinion on the subject! The time was not far distant
when one of the most eminent and successful lawyers in the country was
to abandon his profession, owing to this very want of confidence. Truly,
a wonderful manifestation of content with the laws and the manner in
which they were administered. Sir Peregrine thought and acted as other
opponents of reform have acted from time immemorial. He refused to
believe in the existence of discontent which he did not share. He
refused to believe that he himself was not an object of