ll to amend the
militia laws, which the Legislative Council refused to concur in; then
a bill was passed to disqualify the judges for sitting or voting in the
Legislative Council, which the Council also refused to concur in, on
the plea that the bill was an interference with the Prerogative of the
Crown, and with their privileges; next a bill was passed in the
Assembly and negatived by the Council, to grant His Majesty a duty on
the income arising from civil offices, and on pensions, to be applied
for the defence of the province, in the war with the United States;
again the Assembly adopted a bill for the appointment of a provincial
agent in Great Britain, which the Council also set aside. Surprising as
so obvious an antagonism between the Legislative Council and
Legislative Assembly may seem, it is easily accounted for. The Council
were, many of them, placemen, and indeed the immaculate and
confidential secretary to Sir James Craig, Mr. Witsius Ryland, also
Clerk of the Executive Council, had himself a seat in the Upper House,
although Mr. Robert Peel, differing in opinion with Sir James Craig,
did not think that the situation which Mr. Ryland held was quite
compatible with a seat in the Legislative Council. Mr. Ryland has
favored the present generation, through the instrumentality of a near
relative, with a brief review of the political state of the province of
Lower Canada, from which some interesting facts can be gathered. He
states that the Assembly knew that their bill for disqualifying the
Chief Justice and Justices of the Court of King's Bench from being
summoned to the Legislative Council, would be thrown out in the Upper
House, but that the introduction of such a bill in the Assembly served
the purpose which the party who introduced it had in view: it impressed
the mass of the people with a disrespectful idea of the judges,
preparatory to a grand attack upon the whole judicature of the
province. In the bill for appointing an agent to Great Britain, Mr.
Bedard, the person who had been under confinement on a _charge_ of
treasonable practices, had been named as such agent, and a salary of
L2,000 per annum assigned him. Mr. Ryland knew that the Council would
throw out the bill. But, says that gentleman, the Council were
thwarted, as Sir George Prevost acceded to a request of the Assembly
for the appointment of two such agents, whom he accredited to His Royal
Highness, the Prince Regent, and the Legislative Council