n of the Legislature, which met accordingly on Monday, the 19th of
June. As Mr. McLean had accepted a seat on the bench since the close of
the preceding session, it was necessary that a new Speaker should be
elected, and A. N. MacNab was chosen as his successor.[268] The session
lasted only three weeks, and terminated on Tuesday, the 11th of July. It
was purely a session of emergency, and the legislation was confined to
relieving the banks from certain penalties which the crisis had
threatened to impose upon them.

FOOTNOTES:

[262] See despatch of 30th December, 1836, in _Narrative_, chap. vii.

[263] Mr. Charles Lindsey, in his pamphlet on "_The Clergy Reserves:
their History and Present Position_;" appendix, p. i. He adds: "The
clear, pointed, classical diction of the speaker; the learning and
historical research he displayed; the beauty and appositeness of his
illustrations; the breadth and depth and immovable basis of his
arguments; the clearness, the syllogistic accuracy and force of his
logic, and the impressive eloquence of his delivery produced an effect
upon those who heard the speech never to be forgotten. Its publication
in the newspapers of the day aroused the people. It convinced them (for,
strange as it may seem now, there were many who needed to be convinced)
of the unscriptural, immoral and unjust character of a State religion;
while it confirmed them in their determination to rest not until they
had exterminated the curse from Canadian soil.... This noble effort of
an able, learned, bold and patriotic defender of the cause of the people
against their corrupt, unscrupulous and then powerful enemies, ought to
be printed in letters of gold, and preserved for the instruction and
warning of all future generations of Canadian freemen." This was written
in 1851, when the Clergy Reserves question yet remained unsettled, and
while it still continued to agitate the public mind almost to the
exclusion of other matters. Now that the subject has ceased to be a
practical one, the encomiums so lavishly bestowed upon Dr. Rolph's
famous speech will perhaps seem a little over-strained; but it was most
unquestionably a great oratorical and intellectual effort, such as had
never before been heard within the walls of the Provincial Legislature.
Even at this distance of time, when all interest in the subject has died
out, the speech cannot be read without arousing a feeling of admiration
for the orator.

[264] _Ante_, p