xed and unchangeable.

It has been already stated that the governor of the province made such
appointments to office as he pleased, usually without the advice of his
council. He was supposed to have the power to do this as the
representative of the sovereign and in the exercise of what was termed
"the royal prerogative." In this way persons were frequently appointed
to offices who were not residents of the province, and in all other
cases appointments were given to the members of certain favoured
families. In 1834, a vacancy was created on the supreme court bench by
the death of Chief-Justice Saunders. Ward Chipman was appointed
chief-justice in place of Mr. Saunders, and the vacant puisne judgeship
was given to James Carter, who afterwards became chief-justice of the
province. Carter was a young Englishman then living in London, and was
certainly no better qualified to fill the position of judge than many
natives of the province, so that it was regarded as a gross insult to
the members of the New Brunswick bar, to give such an appointment to a
stranger. Yet so slow was public opinion to make itself felt in regard
to the evil of the appointing power being given to the governor without
qualification, that ten years later the House of Assembly presented an
address to Sir Charles Metcalfe, governor-general of Canada, expressing
the high sense entertained by them, as representatives of the people of
New Brunswick, of the "constitutional stand" taken by him in maintaining
the prerogative of the Crown in the then recent memorable "conflict."[5]
The city of St. John also, to show its loyalty, presented a similar
address; and one signed by one thousand persons was sent from the county
of York.

{SIR CHARLES METCALFE}

Yet nothing can be more clear than that the stand taken by Sir Charles
Metcalfe in 1844 was wholly wrong, for it consisted in refusing to
consult with his council in regard to appointments, and in making
appointments contrary to their advice. What would the people of Canada
say to-day to a governor-general who insisted on appointing men to
office against the advice of his cabinet? Yet it was for doing this that
the New Brunswick House of Assembly, the city and county of St. John and
the county of York actually grovelled in the dust before this despotic
governor, thus approving of all his acts. Such abasement and
subserviency to an unconstitutional governor was certain to bring its
own punishment, and it came mu