IN 1799 the Legislature was prorogued on the 7th February, and it did not meet again until the 20th January, 1801, a period of almost two years. It was certainly an extreme stretch of authority on the part of the Governor, to leave the province without a meeting of the legislature for so long a period, but many strange things were done in those days under color of the royal prerogative. The revenue bill of 1799 had been made to cover two years, but the appropriation bills did not go beyond the year 1799, so that any payments made by the Governor for services performed in the year 1800 were without legislative authority. This, however, was not a matter that was likely to give the Governor much concern, for he evidently thought himself entitled to disburse money as he pleased. An examination of the accounts showed that he had actually expended five hundred pounds of the public revenue of the province on the legislative building at Fredericton, although the legislature had made no appropriation for that purpose. Yet the Governor was encouraged in his illegal practices, by the lack of spirit in the legislature to resent them, many members of the assembly who showed plenty of courage when opposing the Council, were cowed when it came to opposing the Governor. So when Mr. Robert Pagan moved a resolution in the Assembly censuring the Governor, for his conduct in this matter, only four members supported him, Messrs. William Pagan, Glenie, Smith and Younghusband. Fourteen members supported the Governor, among them Captain Agnew and Mr. Street, who had usually taken a firm stand for the rights of the people. No doubt they were influenced by local feeling, for Captain Agnew represented York and Mr. Street Sunbury, and they were naturally anxious to see Fredericton firmly fixed in its position as capital of the province, which could hardly be the case while it was without legislative buildings.

The revenue of the province for the period of almost two years since the revenue bill had been passed, reached a total of £6,579, including £700 from the estate of the late Treasurer. The duties at St. John realized £5,386, the largest amount being realized from rum, of which 141,907 gallons were imported. This was a much more moderate rate of consumption than there had been in the first years of the new province, although it would be called excessive in these days. Of brandy, 4,632 gallons had been imported, and of wine, 21,394 gallons. The latter was only used by the wealthy, or those who had been wealthy in the old colonies, and who were unable to change their former habits. To this we may attribute the prevalence of gout among the official classes in New Brunswick in its early days, and this in many cases was the only legacy they were able to leave to their descendants. The consumption of tea for two years reached 43,000 lbs., and of sugar 250,000 lbs. The use of tea was increasing as the use of strong drinks declined.

At this session was introduced for the first time the practice ot sending up to the Council, resolutions of appropriation passed in committee of supply before placing them in the appropriation bill. This enabled the Council to object to any particular item of expenditure without endangering the entire appropriation bill. Where one item was objected to, it was discussed in conference and an understanding was generally reached. This system was continued until the year 1857, although responsible government had been in operation for some years previous to that date. It certainly gave the Council a great deal of power over the expenditures, and perhaps this power was, in some cases, wisely exercised, but ift others, the result was not advantageous to the best interests of the province.

At this meeting of the legislature a motion was made in the House, which stands alone, and it is to be hoped will always stand, as a solitary instance of its kind. It was resolved that David Fanning, one of the members for Kings County, having been convicted of felony in the Supreme Court of this province, be expelled from the House. Fanning was convicted of rape and sentenced to death, but, as there seemed to be some doubt of the justice of his conviction, he was pardoned by the Governor, thus escaping the extreme penalty of the law. Fanning had been a steady supporter of the Governor in the House of Assembly, and this counted in his favor. It is to be feared that if Mr. Glenie had been convicted of a similar crime, the law would have been allowed to take its course.

An important change took place in the position of the colonies in 1801, by their transfer from the Home Department, to which they had been assigned after the abolition of the Board of Trade, to the War Department. As the Home Department included not only Great Britain and Ireland, but all the colonies and therefore must have been very much overworked, the transfer might have been advantageous to the colonies if the country had remained at peace. Unfortunately the peace which was then being negotiated, was of very short duration, and up to the year 1815, the War Department had so much to attend to in raising and equipping armies to fight Bonaparte, that it had but little time to give to the needs of the colonies. There was no necessary connexion between colonial affairs and the War office except in time of war, yet this singular arrangement-continued until 1854, when the colonial department was created with Sir George Grey, as its first Secretary of State.

At this time the British Government communicated wdth the Governors of all the British Colonies in North America in regard to taking measures to encourage the cultivation of hemp for the use of the navy. Governor Carleton informed the Secretary of State that hemp would grow well in New Brunswick but thought that a bounty would have to be given to induce the farmers to engage in its cultivation. This was done in the Province of Lower Canada where the legislature granted £1,200 for that purpose, but no grant for a bounty on hemp was made in New Brunswick, and the industry did not prosper. The cultivation of hemp in the province had been suggested by Brook Watson as far back as 1785 and Major Studholme had engaged in it on his farm at Studville but not with much success. In 1788, Lord Dorchester, the Governor General, in a despatch to Governor Carleton, stated that the cultivation of hemp in the colonies was an object which' the British Government had very much at heart, and asked his opinion as to what bounty would be necessary in order to promote that object. Nothing more seems to have been (lone at that time, and the unsuccessful experiments of Major Studholme, no doubt deterred others from engaging in the business. In July, 1803, Col. James Peters of Queens County, writing to Edward Winslow, said that after some trials in the cultivation of hemp there was not much doubt but that it would succeed well on the rich intervale lands, and also on many other tracts where the land was of good quality, but the want of laborers, skilled in the cultivation of it, aud the very high price of labor deterred the farmers from turning their attention to that article. The lack of skilled labor seems to have been the chief difficulty and it was one that could not be readily overcome. In 1808, George Leonard and Ward Chipman, the committee of the Council appointed to correspond with E. G. Lutwyclie, the Provincial Agent in London, wrote him that from experiments that had already been made, it had been ascertained beyond a doubt that the great proportion of the land in New Brunswick was peculiarly adapted to the growth of hemp, but the difficulty of producing it in. any considerable quantity fit for market arose from a want of sufficient knowledge of the mode of dressing it and sufficient capital for that purpose, no individual having tlie ability to engage in so expensive a speculation without public aid. The Committee suggested that if the British Government desired to avail itself of New Brunswick for a supply of hemp, some method must be devised to send out at the public expense, a number of settlers from the north ot Germany acquainted with the best manner ol raising, curing, and dressing hemp, and to furnish them with seed and proper implements for that purpose. If the experiment succeeded the example ot these settlers would stimulate others to engage in hemp cultivation. This suggestion was not acted upon then or at a later period, and hemp has never been extensively cultivated in this Province.

The session of 1802 was the last of the third Legislature of New Brunswick. It had been elected in 179o, so that its term of seven years was about expiring. At the very beginning of the session a dispute arose with the Governor with regard to the appointment of the Clerk of the House. When the House met it was announced that Isaac Hedden, the clerk, was too ill to attend, and one William Anderson appeared with a warrant from the Governor author!sing him to act as Clerk in Mr. Hedden's place. The House declined to allow this warrant to be read and by a vote of 11 to 7, passed a resolution that it should nominate a person to act as Clerk. Mr. Samuel Denny Street received the nomination and took his place as Clerk of the

House. A few (lays later Mr. Hedden died and the House passed an address to the Governor asking him to appoint Mr. Street clerk under the great seal of the i>rovince. This address was presented on Saturday, and on the following Tuesday the Governor sent a message informing the House that he had appointed Dougal Campbell to the office of Clerk. This was a direct snub to the House and it was not taken in good part by that body. It went into Committee on the message and it was resolved, but only by the casting vote of the Chairman, that Mr. Campbell should not take his seat as Clerk. A day or two later Mr. Street was appointed Clerk by a vote of 11 to 9 and acted in that capacity during the remainder of the session. But the matter was not allowed to end in this way for the Council took up the Governor's quarrel wdth the House. When the resolutions of appropriation went up to the Council, the one providing payment for the Clerk of the House was objected to because it contained the words "Appointed by the House." These words were struck out by the House but the name of Samuel Denny Street was added as Clerk of the House. This also was objected to by the Council and then the House combined the revenue bill and the appropriation bill and persisted in retaining the name of Mr. Street as Clerk. The Council demanded that the name of Mr. Street be struck out of tlie bill. The House refused by a vote of ten to seven and the bill was returned to the Council in that form by a vote of eleven to six. Tbe Council postponed its consideration for a day, and then passed a resolution which was ;n effect a protest against the action of the House in placing appropriations in a revenue bill, and requesting a conference. In the meantime the majority of the House committed an extraordinary act of folly in refusing to attend its sittings, leaving it without a quorum. They naturally supposed that under such circumstances the Speaker would refuse to proceed to business, and on the first day when there were only ten members present, he left the chair on the ground that there was not a quorum. But the Governor's friends were not to be daunted by the fear of acting illegally. Pressure was brought on the Speaker, and on the following day he consented to go on with the business, although there were only eight members present including himself. Two members, Major Dickson and Mr. Street, protested against this proceeding, but Messrs. Siddall and Leonard, Col. Coffni and Capts. Mclean and Agnew upheld the Speaker, and the business went on. The principal business done was to consent to the demand of the Council to strike out the name of Mr. Street from the revenue and appropriation bill. Mr. Street, acting as Clerk, refused to alter the bill whereupon the alteration was made by Capt. Agnew acting under the orders of the Speaker. The whole proceeding was stamped with illegality, for the number thirteen had always been held to be necessary to make a quorum, and the House had been adjourned on many occasions because that number was not present. The result of the work of this rump " House was that the bill passed without Mr. Street's name being in it, and Mr. Campbell, who had done no work whatever, received the money which Mr. Street had honestly earned.

In this case the House seems to have taken a false position throughout, for, while acknowledging the right of the Governor to appoint the Clerk, they refused to abide by his decision and proceeded to make an appointment of their own. Nevertheless the conduct of the Council was not to be defended, for they interfered unnecessarily in a quarrel which the Governor was quite competent to maintain without their help. And it was certainly a most ungracious thing for the Governor to refuse the request of the House to appoint Mr. Street, who had certainly as good claims to recognition as any officer who served the King during the war. This question of the right of appointment came up in 1870 in connexion with the Office of Clerk of the legislative Council. The Government of that day undertook to dismiss Geo. Botsford, who was Clerk of the Council, and appointed George J. Bliss in his place. The Council resisted and denied the right of the Government to make the appointment, and at one time this difference between the Government and the Council, threatened to prevent any bills being passed or any public business being done. The matter was referred to the law officers of the Crown in England and their opinion was that the right of appointment as well as of dismissal, was in the Lieutenant Governor and that the stand taken by the Council was unwarranted. The Council of 1870, was not the same as the Council of 1802, either in constitution or in personnel, but in spirit the two bodies were identical. In the one case the Council is found unnecessarily interfering in a dispute between the House and the Governor, and in the other denying the right of the Government to appoint to an office which had always been held in that way.

As a result of the contest between the Assembly and the Governor, there was a war of pamphlets, in which S. D. Street, Ward Chipman and Edward Winslow took an active part. Mr. Street, under the signature of Creon, undertook to defend the conduct of those who supported him, and condemned the action of the seven members who claimed to be a House of Assembly and altered the Appropriation bid. Mr. Winslow, under the signature, "Job Creon" answered this by abusing Street, and all his friends, in language that is sometimes too grossly indecent to be repeated. Street was described as "a little short degged thing that looks like a creeping cock," and the venerable Major Dickson, an officer who had served his King with honor for half a century, was treated in the same fashion. Ward Chipman's pamphlet argued out the matter from a legal point of view, and sought to prove that seven members had a right to call themselves a quorum of the House and transact business. Its manner of treating the case, strongly resembles the partizan political writings of the present day, so that the reader can easily imagine how- much honesty was imported into the discussion. Chipman attributed the worst possible motives to the majority of the House, although it was composed of men, who, in patriotism and public spirit, were certainly his superiors.

Among the acts passed at this session was one for the encouragement ot parish schools. It appropriated the sum of £420 to be distributed among the parishes of the province, £10 to each parish for the purpose of assisting in the maintenance of a school. This was practically the same measure that had been rejected by the Council in 1793, when it appeared as an item in the appropriation bill. It was the first act passed in New Brunswick for the establishing of common schools, and, although very crude and imperfect, it marked a change in the feelings of the people towards education. The province had then been settled by English speaking people some forty years. Nineteen years had passed since the corning of the Loyalists, yet until 1802 no provision whatever was made for schools except the Academy at Fredericton which was only within reach of the favored few. The state of education was very low, and a new generation was growing up in ignorance for lack of teachers. This made it certain that the sons of the Loyalists would be inferior to their fathers in knowledge, if not in ability and force of character.

At this session a step of some importance was taken for the promotion of settlement in the Province. It was very evident that New Brunswick was not growing in population as rapidly as it ought to have done and that other countries, with no greater advantages, were outstripping it. The tide of immigration was not setting towards our shores but on the contrary many persons who had settled in New Brunswick in 1783 and 1784 were leaving it and going to Upper Canada. Many causes contributed to tins exodus, among which the unpopularity of the Governor and dislike of the manner m which provincial affairs were administered, must take a prominent place. It was felt that the common people had 110 chance while the province continued to be governed by a few favored families, who looked upon people outside their circle as if they had been dirt beneath their feet. Moreover the regulations imposed by the British Government restricting the granting of land to settlers and locking up large areas of forest-land on the ground that they were needed for reserves for the supplying of masts for the Royal Navy, stood in the way of settlement. These restrictions had been the subject of an address by the House of Assembly to the Governor at the previous session; the latter being requested to make application to His Majesty's ministers to have them removed. But in 1802, no answer had been received to this request, for the Governor had forwarded the memorial of the House to the Secretary of State, without any recommendation that it should be complied with. Several years were to elapse before the difficulties complained of were even in part removed and a much longer period passed before matters were placed on a satisfactory footing. In the mean time at the session of 1802, a grant of £300 was passed for the encouragement of immigration, and eleven commissioners were appointed to mature a plan for bringing laborers, servants and settlers to the Province. The sum thus appropriated was very small but it was probably as much as the Province could afford at that time.

It was hoped that as the Treaty of Amiens had put an end to the war, many disbanded soldiers would be disposed to emigrate, and there was a strong desire felt to obtain Germans who had been in the British service. But these hopes and expectations were all disappointed by the renewal of the war, which brought on another ten years of conflict with the might of Bonaparte.