al secretary should now be brought
into the executive government, and should hold a seat in one of the
Houses of the legislature--his tenure of office being contingent upon
the successful administration of the government; and therefore, as the
appointment in question has been made irrespective of any of these
conditions, I am bound to give it my opposition."

{REMONSTRANCE OF THE ASSEMBLY}

When the House met in the latter part of January, the Reade appointment
immediately became the subject of discussion, and by the vote of
twenty-four to six, an address was passed to Her Majesty the Queen,
condemning the appointment, not, as the members said, because they
questioned "in the remotest degree the prerogative in its undoubted
right to make such appointments," but because they thought that the
right of appointment had been improperly or unjustly exercised. In other
words, the members of the House of Assembly surrendered the principle
that appointments should be made by the governor, with the advice of
his executive, and only objected to the Reade appointment because, in
their opinion, some one else should have been chosen. It is easy to see
that in subscribing to this address the members of the House stultified
themselves; for if it was a part of the prerogative of the Crown to make
appointments without the advice of the council, surely the exercise of
the prerogative in the appointment of a particular individual could not
be fairly questioned. The result of the difficulty, however, was the
cancelling of Mr. Reade's appointment by the home government. This
decision was communicated to the House of Assembly by message on
February 3rd, 1846. The despatch from the colonial office, upon which
the lieutenant-governor acted, was written on March 31st, 1845, and must
have been received by him at Fredericton not later than the last of
April. But notwithstanding this despatch Mr. Reade held office until
July 17th, so it will be seen that Sir William Colebrooke was in no
hurry to carry out the wishes of the home government. Lord Stanley, the
writer of the despatch in question, expressed the opinion that public
employment should be bestowed on the natives or settled inhabitants of
the province, and he thought that Mr. Reade did not come under this
description. He closed his despatch with the following singular
statement:--

{READE'S APPOINTMENT CANCELLED}

"I observe with satisfaction that the House of Assembly have not only
abs