THERE way no legislative session held in 1806, the revenue an>l appropriation bills having been passed for two years. President Ludlow opened the Legislature for the second time on the 30th January, 1807. In his address he was able to congratulate the province on the Imperial legislation which had been passed for the benefit of the colonies, in the shape of bounties given to colonial exports, the exclusion oi foreign salted provisions from the British West Indies, and the allowance of a direct trade to Gibraltar. He directed the attention of the legislature to the increasing consumption of rum, which threatened to enervate the present and rising generation, and suggested that some means might be found to check it. The immense consumption of rum was certainly a very serious evil, for it not only enervated, but it impoverished the people. The custom house returns gave but a faint idea of of the amount of rum consumed in the province, for smuggling was carried on to an enormous extent, and it was almost impossible to check it. George Leonard, who in his capacity as Superintendent of Trade and Fisheries, endeavored to put a stop to the illegal traffic, in many letters written by him in 1805, and the following years, complained that he was hampered at every turn by combinations to defeat the law, even the principal custom house officials being interested in this traffic. Leonard had seized a sloop named the Falmouth for smuggling, and if we are to believe his statement, he found all the officials against him. In a letter to Edward Winslow he states that Colin Campbell, the surveyor and searcher at St. Andrews, was one of the agents for the American claim for the sloop Falmouth, and Campbell's son was the owner of the cargo seized. Wanton, the collector, and Parker the Comptroller, were evidences for the American claimants, and Leonard declared that these officials were afraid of the illegal transactions at Campobello being disclosed, as it would lay open their emoluments of office under Dunn, their deputy collector. These were serious charges, and, if true, would seem to indicate a very low degree of honesty among some of the public officials in New Brunswick in the early years of the nineteenth century.

While the facilities for smuggling 011 the western borders of New Brunswick have always been extensive, the condition of the boundary question at that time increased the opportunities for that illegal traffic. Moose Island, 011 which Eastport is now situated, as well as Dudley and other islands in the St. Croix River, were claimed both by Great Britain and the United States so that the whole of Passamaquoddy Bay became a sort of neutral ground in which neither nation had any exclusive rights. British vessels loaded with plaster from the quarries of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, anchored in these neutral waters and transferred their cargoes to American vessels, receiving in return American goods which of course paid no duty when they reached the ports for which they were destined. The Legislature made many attempts to put a stop to this trade hut it continued to exist as long as the absurd restrictive laws which brought it into existance were in force.

An interesting matter, involving public as well as private rights, came up for discussion at the session of 1807. There had long been a dispute between the citizens of St. John and Messrs. Simonds, Hazen, and White, with regard to the right to take fish on that portion of the harbor and river which was in front of their property. These gentlemen had received a grant of a large tract of land at St. John which took in the whole of the territory now included in the city on the east side of the harbor except the portion south of the line of Union Street. Parrtown, the first town established by the Loyalists, only included the territory south of Union Street, but when the city of St. John received its charter the boundary was carried farther north so as to take in a portion of the grant to Simonds, Hazen, and White. The Charter of St. John gave the inhabitants of the east side the sole right of taking fish between high and low water mark on the east side of the bay, river, and harbor of St. John. Messrs. Simonds, Hazen, and White, had enjoyed the sole use of the fisheries at St. John prior to the coming of the Loyalists, and they still claimed the right to fish opposite their own land. This led to conflicts between their fishermen and the city fishermen and also to litigation. Governor Carleton favored the claims of Simonds, Hazen, and White, and in 1802, he granted them a license of occupation by which they were allowed to occupy the shores of their grants from high to low water mark. This led to more litigation, and the Supreme Court decided against the claims of the Portland grantees. In a subsequent action for taking possession of a weir erected on the Hats in front of Mr. Hazen's grant, the Chief Justice directed the jury that the place was an arm of the sea and common to all, and that even if the fisheries had been granted expressly to Mr. Hazen the grant would have been of 110 value. This decision made all the friends and relations of the Portland grantees extremely hostile to the Chief Justice, who received much unmerited abuse for his correct interpretation of the law. The only thing now left to them was an appeal to the Legislature for a law that would overrule the Chief Justice's decision. Accordingly during the session of 1807, a bill was introduced " to ascertain the rights of fishing. " It provided that all subjects of His Majesty owning lands bounded on any river, cove, creek, or lake, should be deemed to have the sole and exclusive right of taking fish on or in front of the shores thereof. This bill passed the House of Assembly by a vote of 12 to 9 and it also passed in the Council, apparently without a division, and was assented to by the President. The Common Council of St. John at once took action to obtain the disallowance of the Act, and sent Samuel Denny Street to England to represent the City. The act was disallowed and the rights of the citizens of St. John conserved.

President Ludlow was not destined to again meet the House of Assembly for he died on the 12th February, 1808, just about the time when the Legislature would have met in the ordinary course. He was succeeded by Edward Winslow who, a few months before had been made a judge of the Supreme Court in succession to Judge Allen. Few men have had their lives so completely exposed to the world as Edward Winslow'* has been by the publication of the Winslow papers, which consist largely of private letters in which Winslow addresses his friends and opens his heart to them. Winslow was a man of considerable ability and of fine character, who had been educated under a bad political system. His feelings were warm and he loved and hated with ecpial intensity. Under more favorable conditions he might have been a great reformer and an advocate of the rights of the people, for it is hard to believe that a man so intelligent, could have really admired the system of government which he helped to uphold. He should have sought a wider field than New Brunswick, for here his talents were wholly wasted and he was condemned to a life of poverty. He saw men who were in every respect his inferiors promoted to positions which made them wealthy, while he had to struggle on lor years with but little more than his half-pay to support his numerous family. When he was appointed a judge his life was drawing to a close, for he was in his sixty-second year and he did not long enjoy his new position.

President Winslow assumed the administration of the government of the province on the 20th February, 1808, and he held that position for about three months. During that brief period he was able to do some service to the province by cancelling some arrangements with respect to the militia which had been made by his predecessor, Colonel Ludlow had become apprehensive that a war with the United States was imminent and called out one thousand of the militia of the province, which were formed into two battalions under the command of Colonel Saunders and lieutenant Colonel Wetmore. One detachment was stationed at Fredericton, another at St. John and a third at St. Andrews under Colonel Mackay. Winslow concluded that, there was no danger of an invasion and that the interests of the province must suffer most seriously if a thousand able bodied men, one fourth of the working strength of New Brunswick, were kept from their farms and workshops. He accordingly disbanded them on the 24th April by an order in which their loyalty and zeal are warmly commended, and the efficiency they had acquired as soldiers while in barracks, duly recognized.

Major General Hunter succeeded to the position of President of the province in May, 1808. General Hunter was in command of the troops in Nova Scotia and the arrangements which made him President had been made prior to the death of Colonel Ludlow. As there was a probability of a war with the United States, it was thought by the home authorities that a military man should be at the head of affairs in each of the British North American provinces. This is why Lieutenant Governor Wentwortli of Nova Scotia was replaced by Sir George Prevost in 1808. The arrangement was perhaps a good one in time of war, but it had nothing to commend it when the country was at peace. The military men who were in command in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia knew nothing of the needs of the country or the feelings of the people and were as a rule utterly unfit to administer public affairs as civil governors. The people generally felt it to be a grievance that the civil presidents, residents of the province and identified with its interests, were replaced by military men and even Judge Winslow, with all his respect for home authority felt called upon to protest against it. As the position of president went to the senior military officers, on one occasion, in the absence of General Hunter, the administration of public affairs devolved upon the Lieutenant Golonel of the New Brunswick Fencible Regiment and there were no less than nine changes in the presidency of the province between the retirement of Mr. Winslow and the death of Governor Carleton. It was clearly impossible that public affairs should be well administered under such conditions.

The session of 1808 did not begin until the 8th of July, and it closed on the 30th of the same month. President Hunter, in his opening speech, had no recommendations to offer to the Legislature, except to tell them that His Majesty had given directions that the most active measures should be taken for strengthening the British possessions in North America. He also informed them that His Majesty relied on them to make every exertion consistent with their internal resources, with a view to the general defence. The answer of the Legislature to this appeal, was the passing of another militia act more stringent in its provisions, which required every male, from the age of sixteen, to sixty, to he enrolled in the militia, and to turn out for the purpose of being drilled four times in the year. A return made in 1808, shows that the enrolled militia of the province then numbered 4,500 men, of whom, about 1,300, were between the ages of forty and sixty. This left the number between sixteen and forty, who might be classed as tit for service in a campaign about 3,200. This was rather a slender defence against any serious invasion, but fortunately the province was never invaded, or ever threatened, during the whole war. This was the last session of the fourth legislature, for there was no session in 1809, and before 1810 the term of the House had expired. This House, although it contained a few men who were endowed with public spirit had proved itself more subservient to the wishes of the family compact than any of its predecessors. Its record is not a pleasing one, and one can only say of it that it did less harm than it might have done.

The fourth legislature was dissolved in 1809, and the elections were held in October. They were well contested and the new House was of very different complexion from its predecessor. This was shown by the very first vote that was taken, affecting the administration, which was tor an address to the President asking for a copy of that part of the Royal instructions which regulated the calling of General Assemblies, prior to the year 1791. This was carried by a vote of ten to eight. A still more decisive proof of the strength of the opposition was furnished a few days later, on a motion to unseat General Coffin and his colleague, George Pitfield who had been returned to represent Kings. The petitioner was Joseph Belding, who had been a candidate at the election, and who told a story of dishonest conduct on the part of the Sheriff, Walter Bates, which was quite equal to the achievement in a similar line of William Sanford Oliver in 1785. Under the election law as it then stood, the sheriff Was required to keep the poll open until all the electors liad an opportunity of voting, and then to remove it to some other part of the country, to give the electors there a chance to vote. Under this system an election generally lasted a fortnight, but Sheriff Bates closed the poll on the second day, when only thirty-four persons had voted and declared Coffin and Pitfield to be duly elected. About five hundred of the electors of Kings county, were thus disfranchised, yet eight members of the House, including Captain Agnew and Mr. Alien of York, declared by their votes that the conduct of the Sheriff was right. Coffin and Pitfield were unseated, and the voice of the General was heard no more in the House of Assembly. At the by-election Belding and George Leonard, jr., were returned, and General Coffin was consoled by being appointed a member of the Council.

Samuel Denny Street, who had been a strong reformer and who was most cordially hated by all the friends of the Governor, was elected for the County of Sunbury. But it was a period of change, the old leaders of the Tory party were dying off, and a few years later Mr. Street had become such a favorite with Lieut. Governor Smyth, that he was appointed to the Council. As all Mr. Street's sons who were in public life became opponents of all reform, Ave may fairly infer that as he grew older he became less zealous in his liberal principles and more favorable to the family compact. Mr. Chipman. prior to the election of 1801, had become a member of the Council and a Judge of the Supreme Court, and the Attorney General Jonathan Bliss had been made Chief Justice, Chief Justice Ludlow having died in the autumn of 1808. These changes brought new men to the front and produced new combinations, so that the officials and the old families no longer presented the same solid front to the opponents of prerogative that they hail shown when Governor Carleton was in the Province. All these conditions were favorable to political emancipation, and the growth of a strong mercantile interest in St. John and other centres of trade made it certain that the old institutions which stood in the way of the prosperity of the Province could not always stand. A significant proof of the more Liberal tendency of the time was supplied by the passage of an act at this session which enabled Roman Catholics to vote. Under the Act of 1791, the first measure which provided for the election of representatives, all electors were required to take the oaths prescribed by the 13th George 1. which were of such a nature that persons of that faith could not take them and were thereby prevented from voting. A simple oath of allegiance was substituted ior the former oaths and the difficulty was cured. This act was reserved for the Royal approbation, and was confirmed in June, 1811.

A return which was laid before the Legislature from the Naval office in St. John shows the nature of the commerce of the country and its growth between 1804 and 1800. In spite of the war, which had been going on between France and Great Britain during the whole of this period, the trade of St. John continued to grow. The shipping that cleared from the port rose from 126 vessels of 17,204 tons in 1804, to 310 vessels of 55,158 tons in 1809, and there was a corresponding increase in the principal exports. St. John, in addition to its: own trade arising from the products of the province, had become the depot for a considerable commerce originating in other countries, for among its-exports in 1809 were 15,638 barrels of flour and large quantities of bread and naval stores. In lumber, St. John exported in 1809 of pine, 48,214 tons; birch, 1,289 tons; masts, 2,278; spars 10,232; pine boards, 5,572,000 feet; lath wood, 1,780 cords; shingles, 1,499,000. The exports of fish were: Salmon, 1,647 barrels, 2,870 boxes and 5,032 smoked salmon. Of herrings, 23,862 barrels and 7,878 half barrels were exported; of dry fish, 4,167 quintals, 1,465 hogsheads and 207 boxes. There were also 951 barrels of shad and 290 of mackerel among the exports. These figures may look small compared with those of the present day, but they represent a considerable trade for about 30,000 people. The Country had reached a stage of progress when the merchants hail accumulated sufficient capital to do business to advantage and when there was nothing to check the natural development of the varied industries of the province.

At this time the revenue of the province, although still small, was steadily increasing under a scale of duties which at this day would be regarded as extremely low. During the four years from 1803 to 1800 inclusive the revenue averaged a little more than £2,000 a year. During the next three years, from 1807 to 1800 inclusive, it rose to an average of £4,500 a year. In 1810 and 1811 the average revenue was upwards of £5,000 a year. In 1812, the year of the beginning of the war with the United States, the revenue went up to £0,003. In 1813 it was £13,809 and the aggregate revenue for the two years 1814 and 1815 was £41,436. It was a growing time in New Brunswick in those years of conflict.