e.

In the Council the chief justice had a seat. As a member of the
Legislature he made the law; as one of the Executive he administered
the law; and as judge he interpreted the law.

But the most potent element in the Council was for some time the
bankers. Early in the nineteenth century, when there was no bank in
the province, the government had issued notes, for the redemption of
which the revenues of the province were pledged. In 1825 some of the
more important merchants founded a bank, and issued notes payable in
gold, silver, or provincial paper. The Halifax Banking Company, as
this institution was called, was simply a private company, with no
charter from the province, and that it was allowed to issue notes is an
instance of the easy-going ways of those early days. No less than five
of its partners were members of the Council. Thus the state of affairs
for some years was that there was but one bank in the province, that
its notes were redeemable in provincial paper, and that the Council was
largely composed of its directors, who could order the province to
print as much paper as they wished!

The Halifax Banking Company was of {37} great benefit to the provincial
merchants, and, though its partners made large profits, there is no
proof that they abused their position on the Council to aid them in
business. But the general feeling in the province was one of
suspicion, and the combination of financial and legislative monopoly
was certainly dangerous. Soon some other citizens endeavoured to found
another bank and to have it regularly incorporated by provincial
charter, with the proviso that all paper money issued by it should be
redeemable in coin. The directors of the Halifax Banking Company
fought this proposal fiercely, both in business circles and in the
Council, arguing that as the balance of trade was against Nova Scotia,
there would rarely be enough 'hard money' in the province to redeem the
notes outstanding. In 1832, however, popular clamour forced the
legislature to grant its charter to the second bank, the Bank of Nova
Scotia. The Halifax Banking Company[1] also continued to do a
flourishing business, and during the struggle of Howe and his
fellow-reformers against the Council, the influence of its partners was
one of the chief causes of complaint.

{38}

Thus the Council comprised the leaders in Church and State, among them
the chief lawyers and business men. These formed the 'Society'