d who, in happier circumstances, might have greatly
facilitated his affairs. Thus Franklin stood alone; and the nephews of
Arthur absorbed the influence, which subordinate officers rarely
acquire, without rendering their chief contemptible.

Many efforts had been made to obtain admission to the public during the
sittings of the legislature. The members had been long released from the
oath of secresy, and their votes, and even the substance of their
speeches, were occasionally known. Franklin determined to throw open
the doors of the council chamber (1837), and expressed a conviction
that the freedom of public discussion, founded on accurate knowlege,
would confirm the measures, or correct the wanderings of the
legislature. At the first sittings of the council, the novelty of the
privilege secured an attendance at the debates; but the desultory and
heavy discussions soon tired the patience, and members pointed with
exultation or regret to those deserted benches, where patriots had vowed
to watch the course of legislation.

The principle of open debate is, however, invaluable: reporters were
there, and the public could read in an instant what it required hours to
gather. Nor is the exercise of a privilege necessary to establish its
worth: the title to be present belonged to the whole people, and Britons
esteem and acknowledge a real treasure in a right. An open threshold,
although rarely darkened by guests, is the pledge that all is honest
within.

SECTION II.

To compose ecclesiastical claims has ever been among the most difficult
functions of the civil government. Franklin found the relations of the
churches unsettled, and among his earliest measures was one to define
the objects, and fix the amount of clerical pay.

The chaplains appointed for the Australian colonies by the crown, had
been always ministers of the church of England: the greater part of the
population, mostly prisoners of the crown or their descendants, were
members of the Anglican church. Thus expediency corroborated the
exclusive claims of the clergy to the spiritual oversight of the
colonies. It was, however, impossible to obtain qualified clergymen of
the English church, in sufficient numbers to supply the penal
establishments. Thus the government employed ministers of other
denominations, chiefly the wesleyan, as religious instructors; sometimes
with the express sanction of the chaplains. In the country, catechists
were appointed with