situated was an exception. The Gaspe writ was not returnable
until the 1st of June. Nothing was gained to the administration by the
resort to dissolution. The new parliament was even more hostile to the
government than the old one. The people approved of the course pursued
by the late Assembly in the matter of the civil list and indeed
approved of their proceedings generally. Sir Peregrine returned to
Quebec on the 17th of March, after he had prorogued the parliament of
Upper Canada, and having assumed the management of the public business,
he convened the parliament on the 11th of April, the very day on which
the writs were returnable, Gaspe only excepted. He opened the House
with a speech remarkable for nothing but its brevity. Mr. Papineau was
re-elected Speaker and the choice approved of. But this was no sooner
done than the Assembly found themselves incompetent for the transaction
of business. The House must, by law, consist of fifty members, and only
forty-nine had been returned. The Gaspe writ was not returnable until
the 1st of June. There was no House. Business could not legally be
carried on. A message came down from the Governor recommending the
renewal of certain Acts of the legislature. The House paid no attention
to the message. The House at last resolved that it could do no
business. The twelve months within which a session was necessary would
expire on the 24th of April, and there could be no return of the Gaspe
writ until the 1st of June. The Governor was informed of his "fix," but
was by no means pleased. He did not believe in such nonsense as the
unavoidable non-return of a single member being a matter of such
importance as the Assembly alleged. He begged that they would go on
with the public business. The House would not budge. A message came
from the Legislative Council, and the messenger knocked, but the door
of the Assembly remained closed. The government had dissolved the
parliament stupidly and the parliament meant stupidly to dissolve the
government. It was the 24th of April when the news of the death of King
George the Third reached Quebec, by way of New York, when the
Administrator was offered an excuse for another dissolution, by which
the accident threatened by the previous dissolution could be escaped.
Parliament was dissolved, during the firing of minute guns and the
tolling of bells; and a new king was proclaimed by the sheriff, after a
salute of 100 guns had been fired, on the Place d'Arm