gate the effects that might result from a long duration
of the revenue laws. They would, if it were possible, inspire the
commercial classes with confidence. Legislation was then proceeded
with. The civil list was first considered. The estimate divided the
list into classes. There was the Governor-in-Chief and his staff; the
Legislature and its officers; the Executive Council and its officers;
the Judges, Sheriffs, Clerks of Courts, and Tipstaffs; the Secretary
and Registrar of the Province; the Receiver General and his clerk; the
Surveyor General and clerks; the Surveyor of Woods; the Auditor of Land
Patents; the Inspector General and clerks; and the contingencies of the
whole. The estimate amounted to L44,877. The Assembly proceeded to the
discussion of the items _con amore_. Item after item was read over
and commented upon, much after the present fashion. John Neilson was
then a member of the Assembly. Mr. Neilson was then as much an
economist as Mr. Mackenzie is or pretends to be now. He was wisely
jealous of the government. Mr. Neilson, the editor of the _Quebec
Gazette_, was in the highest degree intelligent. He was honest and,
consequently independent. He could say more in a sentence than Charles
Richard Ogden could combat in a speech. He was a tall, spare man, with
rugged, but yet prepossessing features. He had always two black eyes,
overshadowed by a low protruding forehead. From the occiput to the
_os frontis_, his head was quite level and extraordinarily long.
It was possibly due to Mr. Neilson's intelligence that, after some
reductions had been made, the required supply was voted, not in a bill,
providing for the payment of stipulated sums to certain individuals,
but in a bill in which allowances were made for six different
departments and a supply voted for the whole. The sum voted,
notwithstanding certain reductions was more than the estimate. L46,000
sterling was appropriated towards defraying the expenses of the civil
government. L3,083, the charge upon the pension list, and L1,543, the
annual cost of the militia staff were added to the civil list. The
supply was voted _en bloc_, or almost so, with the view of
reconciling the Legislative Council to an annual appropriation, and
because that House had objected to the previous supply bill in which
certain sums were appropriated for the payment of certain
functionaries. Nevertheless, the bill was rejected by the Legislative
Council. The bill had not made a pe