clause, which
appertained to the increased number of councillors, as only making an
addition to despotism; but the clause was carried by a large majority.
On the second clause being moved, Lord Stanley objected to it as
enlarging the extraordinary powers already granted to the governor and
council; but, after much discussion, it was carried by a majority of one
hundred and seventy-six against one hundred and fifty-six. On the 4th
clause being proposed, Sir Robert Peel moved an amendment to prevent any
alteration in the law of tenures, which was agreed to; and the remaining
clauses were then passed, and the report of the committee ordered to be
received on the following Monday.

This bill was brought forward in the house of lords on the 20th of July,
by the Marquis of Normanby, who, in introducing it, confined himself
to its immediate subjects, and to an explanation of its intentions. The
bill, as amended by the commons, was carried. Thus ended all attempts to
legislate for the Canadas in the session of 1839: the great expectations
formed at the commencement of the session on this important subject were
doomed to be disappointed in the results. Conversations of a personal
nature took place, but neither party approached the question as became
the legislators of a great and mighty empire. Government, it is
true, intimated that they had framed a plan for the union of the two
provinces, but it was scarcely intimated before it was abandoned.
Finally came forth the fragment of a measure which had not the
confidence of either party, but which was nevertheless passed into a
law.

THE SECOND JAMAICA BILL, ETC.

On the 30th of May Mr. Labouchere brought forward a second measure
relative to the affairs of Jamaica. In the newly-proposed bill ministers
had resolved to call together once more the colonial assembly, in order
to allow them what had been termed a _locus penitentio_. This assembly
represented the necessity of ameliorating the existing laws regarding
vagrancy, the relation between master and servant, the state of the
militia, and the electoral qualification. At the same time no fewer than
seventeen annual acts of importance had been suffered by the assembly
to expire, although in many cases the peace of the colony depended upon
them. The first clause of the bill related to those matters which did
not fall under the head of expired enactments, as vagrancy, contracts,
and squatting. With reference to these question