KING George III. died on the morning of the 29th January, 1820, after a nominal reign of sixty years, during the last ten years of which he had been insane, and the functions of the monarchy were carried on by his oldest son, George, Prince of Wales, under the title of Prince Regent The legislature had been prorogued on the 29tli March, and the news of the death of the King did not reach Fredericton until the 4th April, so that it was too late for that body to send an address of condolence to the new King on the loss of his affectionate parent. Rut this business was not neglected, in 1821, when the legislature again met, and at that time a joint address of both houses was sent to George IV. belauding his predecessor as the best of Kings, universally beloved by his people, who regarded themselves as his dutiful children. The new King was told seriously and not in sarcasm, that his wisdom and firmness, while acting as the representative of his royal father, had inspired conviction in every breast that he was worthy to be tlie successor of such a sovereign. There was more truth in this fulsome address than its framers intended, for it was eminently fitting that a stupid and obstinate tyrant of narrow intellect, should be succeeded by an easy going voluptuary with all the despotic instincts and prejudices of his father, but without sufficient force of character to oppose his will to the reforming spirit of the age.

Under the law as it then stood, the demise of the Crown necessitated the dissolution of the legislature although this, the seventh General Assembly of the province, had only sat one session. The House of Assembly was therefore dissolved on the 10th May, and the election took place in June. There were contests in nearly every constituency, and the excitement at the polls was considerable, as was always the case when there was open voting, but none of the leading men of the House was defeated. Some fresh blood was also introduced, among the new men being Ward Chipman, Jr., who afterwards became Chief Justice of the Province, and who followed closely in the footsteps of his father. But the spirit of the Assembly was the same as that of its predecessor, and while its members may not have had a very firm grip of correct constitutional principles, they had no notion of subordinating their own views to those of the Governor and his Council. As they had a majority of the people with them then steady persistence was certain to win iii the end, however strong the opposition to them may have appeared. For it must be remembered that the contest which was going on for reform in New Brunswick, was only one of the many that was vexing the fossils of the Colonial Office. The Canadian Provinces and Nova Scotia were also demanding reforms and the pressure of all being exercised in the same direction, in the course of time the barriers yielded and the old order of things was swept away.

The year 1820 was distinguished hy a great revival of interest in agriculture and colonization. As the province had originally been settled mainly by disbanded soldiers, and by men, most of whom had no practical knowledge of agriculture, a very bad system of farming hail been followed. Anyone with sufficient strength and skill with the axe could clear a field in the forest, burn off the trees, and sow it with grain, and the virgin soil always yielded a bountiful harvest. But when the stumps rotted out and the land became fit for the plough, a different system of agriculture was necessary, and this improved system the soldier fanner did not understand. He could not be induced to believe in the good effects of a proper rotation of crops, or the keeping of improved stock. Discouraged by the failure of his land to yield as abundantly as in former years, he was induced to turn his attention to other occupations, and to regard his farm as merely a secondary consideration. The lumber trade offered tempting opportunities for making a little ready money, and the farm was neglected for the forest which sometimes brought those who sought its prosperity', and sometimes ruin. The backward, condition of agriculture in the Province attracted the attention of all thoughtful men and the arrival of large numbers of emigrants from Great Britain, many of them extremely destitute, appealed to the philanthropic feeling of those who were prosperous. Emigrant Aid and Agricultuiral Societies were formed all over the province with the double object of improving agriculture and assisting the poor emigrants to settle on their forest farms. The New Brunswick Central Society for promoting the Rural Economy of the province was organized in March, at Fredericton. Governor Smvth became its president, and among its office bearers were two of the judges of the Supreme Court and two other members of the Council, besides members of the House of Assembly. Emigrant Societies for the purpose of relieving the distress of the new arrivals in the Province hail already been formed and were doing good work. The Cardigan settlement in York County, was a type of the new communities that were founded about this time by these Societies with the aid of the government. The report of the Society that took this settlement under its care, shows that between August, 1810, and February, 1820, the sum of £200 had been collected by the Society, and most of it expended. As a result of this outlay twenty-seven families numbering nearly one hundred and fifty souls had been placed or. lands, where prior to that time not a tree had been felled. Thirty lots had been surveyed, on most of which preparations for building and putting in a spring crop had been made, fifteen houses were nearly completed, and nine families were then residing in the settlement. For six months upwards of one hundred persons had been supplied with food; they had also been supplied with tools and materials and men had been hired to instruct and assist them in building their houses. Something had also been accomplished in the way of making a road, and seed, was being collected for the settlers, so that they might be able to put in a crop in the spring. With such a record of good works, the Emigrant Society had a right to appeal tor aid to the Legislature, and to charitable individuals, and they did not appeal in vain. A sufficient amount of money, both public and private, was furnished, to enable the Society to continue its good work, and to place the Cardigan settlement on a satisfactory footing. Yet in spite of the liberal assistance afforded them by the people of the Province the Cardigan settlers suffered great hardships and even at a distance of more than eighty years, it is impossible to read without emotion, how in December 1820, one of them, a young girl, perished, while on the way to the Cardigan settlement from "excessive fatigue, want of nourishment and the inclemency of the weather," for so a coroner's jury found.

During the thirty-live years that the province had possessed a separate government, a considerable change had taken place :n the position of the Council towards the Governor. Governor Carleton while in the province enjoyed an authority which none of his immediate successors was able to command. The Council was quite subservient to him and a great many things were done without even the pretence of consulting them. The members of that body felt that they owed their positions to his favor and they were not inclined to oppose his wishes. When he went to England in 1803, the Presidency of the Province fell to one of themselves and the Council acquired an importance which it had not previously attained. The President constantly asked and was guided by its advice. When the change in the regulations took place which placed the Presidency in the hands of the Commander of the Forces, the influence oi the Council was increased rather than diminished, for these military men know nothing whatever about the Province or its needs, and had necessarily to resort to the Council for advice. This was especially the case with General Smyth, who did nothing while President without consulting wdth the Council and, when he became Lieutenant Governor continued the same practice. This fact is important in considering his career as Governor for it makes the Council sharers in his arbitrary methods, and to some extent relieves him from the odium which attaches to his administration.

The Legislature met on the 18tli January. 1821, and Mr. Botsford was again elected Speaker. The Governor's speech referred to the bountiful harvest, the general prosperity of the Province and the largeness of the revenue. Some changes were recommended in the Militia law and the attention of the members of the Assembly was called to his speech at the close of the last session, as the most delicate mode of communicating his sentiments in regard to what he termed "a very material point of appropriation." This, of course, was the amount to be paid to members which the Council had declared to be "a lavish and improvident grant". This matter was disposed of without much friction, and, instead of the sum of twenty shillings a day being given to members, a bill which passed both houses and became law, provided that they should receive forty pounds for the session. This was a little less than twenty shillings a day, for the sessions generally lasted more than forty days but that difference was not very considerable and the principle was the same. The only members of the Council who voted against this bill were Judge Bliss and Attorney General Wetmore.

The legislation of the session was not important, most of the acts passed being of a local character. Perhaps the only one worthy of particular mention is the act establishing as public roads all roads for which public money had been or should hereafter be granted. This was a very necessary piece of legislation, for grants of money hail been made to many roads of which no record had been kept and which were liable to be shut up and claimed as private property. A bill to authorize all ministers of the gospel licensed to preach to solemnize marriage was passed in the Assembly, but rejected in the Council without even being considered. A committee of the Assembly was appointed to ascertain what sums of money that had been granted remained unpaid, and they found it to amount to no less a sum than £23,732, which exceeded the balance remaining in the public chest by £121, so that there were no disposable funds in the treasury. Nevertheless the House went on making appropriations as usual, trusting to the incoming revenue to meet the bills. One of the causes of the want of cash in the treasury, was the custom of giving bonds for the payment of duties instead of requiring them to be paid in cash as at present. The treasury contained large quantities of these bonds representing considerable sums, but payments were generally in arrear and they were frequently difficult to collect, even with the assistance of the Attorney Genera!.

The House of Assembly presented an address to the Governor, expressing the anxiety of the people of the Province with regard to the timber license bonds, and asking if he had received any further instructions with regard to them. His reply was that he had received none, but in answer to another address, asking him to take steps to have the timber bonds cancelled, he informed the House of Assembly that, in consequence of the embarrassed state of the timber trade, he would recommend to the favorable consideration of His Majesty's ministers the cancellation of the bonds already taken. In 1820 the Imperial Parliament had placed a duty of ten shillings a load on timber from British North America, which was less than one fifth the amount of duty on foreign timber, but this impost aroused great discontent, and a joint address of the Council and Assembly was forwarded to Parliament praying, for its removal.

A return of the Trade of the Province which was called for by the House, showed that it had grown to large dimensions. The number of ships that had entered its ports during the year 1820, was 1,150, exclusive of coasters, with a tonnage of 220,688, an average of rather less than 200 tons for each vessel. The clearances were 1,183 tons of timber; 20,970,000 feet of boards and plank; 8,000 masts and spars; 49,063 quintals of dry fish; 30,627 tons of gypsum; 8,243 barrels of herrings, and many other articles. An immense trade was done in rum, of which 949,260 gallons were imported, and 475,837 exported during the year. It is to be hoped that the people of the Province did not consume the whole of the balance of 473,423 gallons that remained in it, which would amount to about seven gallons a head for each man, woman, and child in the province. There are no means of distinguishing the exports at the several ports, for under the existing custom house arrangements, the whole Province was one port, but at this time the exports of timber at Miramichi were almost if not quite equal to those of St. John. The imports at Miramichi were much smaller than at St. John because the latter was doing a large trade with Nova Scotia and was the port of entry for the goods used by the whole of that portion of Nova Scotia which borders 011 the Bay of Fundy. This has continued to be the position of St. John to a considerable extent ever since. The merchants of St. John have always had the most intimate relations with the Bay of Fundy ports of Nova Scotia trade. As early as 1784 two packets began to ply regularly between Digby and St. John and received a small annual subsidy for this work. In 1821 the legislature granted £150 for this purpose, and a similar sum was given by Nova Scotia. But the business done by the regular packets was small compared to that of the numerous small coasters which came to St. John, from all the Bay ports bringing in produce and carrying back with them flour, molasses and goods of all kinds in exchange. By means of the system of drawbacks, St. John was able to import goods for these traders to as great advantage as if it had been a port of Nova Scotia. The only impediment to the growth of this business was one that was common to all the ports alike, the excessive lees charged on coasting vessels by the Custom House authorities.

Among the old world institutions that had been imported into America was the practice of duelling. In remote ages when the laws were too weak or their administration too uncertain to protect the subject, duelling may have had some merit, but in a country under the domain of law it was a wicked absurdity. Yet duelling prevailed in New Brunswick, among those persons who called themselves gentlemen, up to a period within the memory of men still living. The annals of the Province record many duels, but few of them, fortunately, were attended with fatal results. It was thought that wounded honor might be as effectually vindicated by two gentlemen going out together, and firing at each other at twelve paces without effect, as if one of them was killed. Indeed it is difficult to believe that, in the majority of cases, the motive for fighting a duel was anything more than a false sense of honor m complying with a custom which had become barbarous, and was not recognized by law, A man who shot another in a duel had no legal exemption from the penalties of an ordinary- murder, so that he had every motive not to kill his antagonist. Yet where two men went out to fight a duel, and after an exchange of shots returned unscathed, they were in danger of being exposed to ridicule.

In 1821, a duel took place which has obtained a sad prominence in consequence of the social position of the principals and its fatal termination. Both men who took part in it were members of the bar and therefore acquainted with the laws of the country; one of thern, George L. Wetmore, was a son of the Attorney General and Clerk of the House of Assembly; the other George F. Street, was a son of Samuel Denny Street, a member of the Council. Their quarrel arose out of the issuing of a writ and high words took place which led to a challenge. They met on Maryland Hill in the morning of the 2nd October, and after exchanging two shots, Wetmore fell mortally wounded. Street and his second, Lieut. Davies, and J. F. Winslow, Wetmore's second, fled to Robbinston, Me., and there remained for several months. Street and Davies finally gave themselves up and in February, were tTied for murder before Chief Justice Saunders and acquitted. The charge of the Chief Justice to the jury has been preserved, and, if it is-to be taken as a specimen of the legal knowledge of the Judges of that day, our bench in the year 1821 could not have stood very high. It had the effect of preventing a verdict of guilty being found, so that it failed its object. Such a tragedy followed by such consequences, ought to have had a great effect in preventing duels, but challenges were given and accepted for twenty years after that time, although not many of those so called affairs of honor caused any shedding of blood.

The legislature met on the 10th February, 1822, and did not prorogue until the 23rd March. The Governors speech contained very little that was important except congratulations on the growth and genera! prosperity of the Province. He suggested further legislation tor the relief of confined debtors, there being no provision for the support of debtors who were confined for sums exceeding £200. The legislature acted on the Governor's suggestion, and amended the law in that as well as in some other respects. Thirty-five hills were passed during the session, but only two or three that were of much general interest. One act provided for the maintenance of an armed cutter for the protection of the revenue, and another gave bounties to those inhabitants of the Province who were engaged in the cod and scale fisheries.

A new highway act was passed which defined and described those highways that were to be regarded as great roads of communication. They were nine in number and comprised the following roads: From Fredericton to Westmorland by way of the Head of Belleisle; from St. John to the Head of Belleisle, which gave that city a means of communication with Fredericton; from Fredericton to St. Andrews; from Fredericton to the Canada line; from Fredericton to the River Restigouche from St. John to St. Andrews; from St. John to Westmorland; from the Bend of the Petitcodiac to Shediac; and from Dorchester to Chatham. The road from St. John to Westmorland joined the road from Fredericton to Westmorland at Norton. None of these roads were in good condition for carriages.

The road from Fredericton to St. John was extremely circuitous being about 90 miles in length and it involved the crossing of the St. John, the Jemseg, the Washademoak and the Kennebeccasisby means of ferries. It was impossible tliat this could ever be a satisfactory means of communication between the capital and the chief commercial city of the province, and many efforts had been made to find a better road. Finally it was decided that a practicable route could be found on the west side of the River and the Nerepis road, which until the era of railways was the shortest and best route, between St. John and Fredericton, was laid out This work began as early as 1820, and a number of settlers were placed on it the following year Money was granted and the work of road-making carried on by General Coffin, who must be regarded as the originator of this important road. The Nerepis Road was only 65 miles in length so that it was about 25 miles shorter than the road by the Head of Belleisle and when completed it had the further advantage of having no ferries except at the City of St. John. The great advantages of this road were recognized by the Governor and by a few other persons, but as it ran mainly through a wilderness its claims were not considered so good as those of the road on the east side of the river which ran through a settled country, and the work of completing it proceeded but slowly until Sir Howard Douglas became governor.

The attention of the House of Assembly was largely directed to the phases of the timber question, the reserves, the bonds given for the payment of a shilling a ton on all the timber cut under license, and other matters connected with this great staple of the country. With regard to the reserves, a despatch was received from Lord Bathurst declining to open them to settlers. The Governor refused to comply with the request of the House for a return of the total amount of the bonds taken for the timber tax, and when he was asked by the House to transmit its address against the timber bonds to His Majesty's ministers, he said he would do so but would accompany it with observations of his own. In other words he would make such representations on the subject to the Home government as would prevent the wishes of the House being complied with. His excuse for taking this course was that the address had not been concurred in by the Council and was therefore irregular.

During this session despatches from Lord Bathurst were laid before the Legislature, disallowing the acts of 1818 for reimbursing the members of the Council and for the payment of members of the Assembly. As the former act only had been reserved, the latter being assented to, it is difficult to understand on what ground it came to be disallowed. This act had expired, and another of the same character had been passed and assented to, so that the position of the question of the payment of members had become somewhat complicated. The Assembly solved the question by placing the grants to the Speaker and members in the general appropriation bill. This produced a message from the Governor, asking, that in future, grants that were entirely different in their character be not included in one bill. The House in reply unanimously resolved that " it is the sole and inherent right of the House of Assembly, not only to raise the public money, but to direct and limit the ends and services to which it is to be applied. That in the exercise of this right, the House cannot be warranted in departing from the usage and mode of proceeding hitherto pursued by the former Houses of Assembly of this province." This called forth a counter resolution of the Council declaring that the system of joining together in the same bill, items that have not been recommended by the Governor with those that have, was dangerous to the privileges of the Council and the prerogative ot the Crown, and resolving that the Council would not thereafter pass any bill which contained items different in their nature and not recommended. This resolution was opposed by Judge Bliss and Mr. Street, but four members of the Council voted for it. The Governor assented to the appropriation bill, but in his speech, when proposing the legislature, he said that although he gave his assent to the bill, it had not his unqualified approbation. He concluded his speech by saying that he would not have felt justified in assenting to the bill without a determination to avail himself of the control which he claimed to possess of suspending the issue of warrants for such services as he could not approve. Here the Governor claimed to suspend the operation of the laws which had been passed by both branches of the Legislature and to which lie had himself given his assent. He apparently forgot that it was for conduct precisely similar to his own that one English King had lost his head and another his throne.

While the Legislature was in session an election took place to fill a vacancy in the representation of the county of York, caused by the death of Stair Agnew, who had been a member for that county for about thirty years. Four candidates offered for the vacant seat, but after the poll had been kept open four days, three of them retired in consequence of the refusal of the sheriff, E. W. Miller, to hold the poll anywhere but hi the town of Fredericton. As the northern end of the County was one hundred and fifty miles from Fredericton, it was rather hard on the voters to compel them to make a journey that would occupy a fortnight, going and returning, to deposit their votes. The election law contemplated the removal of the poll from place to place, and this action of the sheriff was in direct violation of its spirit, yet he does not .appear to have been punished, or even censured, for his offence against the rights of the people of York.

The most important occurrence of the year, so far as the commercial interests of the Province were concerned, was the breaking down of the barriers which had put a stop to the legitimate trade between the British North American Colonies and the United States. Laws to effect that object were passed by Parliament and by Congress, and in September, President Munroe issued a proclamation opening United States ports to British vessels from the colonies. At the same time important changes were made in the Customs establishment of the Province, by the separation of St. Andrews from St. John, of which it had been up to that time merely an out-bay. St. Andrews now became a separate port, and both St. John and St. Andrews were free ports.

Under the new Imperial act a new scale of duties was established, but it was provided that the net sums produced by these duties should be paid to the Receiver General of the Province, to be dealt with in the same manner by the legislature as the revenue collected under provincial acts. The first payment under this provision into the Provincial Treasury, was made by the Collector of Customs at St. John in November, 1822. It was the beginning of a new era in the relations of the Colonies to the Mother Country. Yet this Imperial statute, although It gave the revenue collected at the Custom house to the Province, was clearly a violation of the principle that there should be no taxation without representation.

I hiring the summer the Province was visited by Sir James Kemp, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Governor Smyth met him at St. Andrews where both governors were duly addressed by the public bodies and entertained. From thence they proceeded to Fredericton, and Governor Smyth accompanied Sir James Kemp on his return to St. John. At the latter place they visited the new steam saw mill of Messrs. Otty and Crookshanlt, the first of that kind erected ir. the Province, and which was then started for the first time.

This year the College, which up to that time had been merely a high school, commenced its career as a college by the admission of four students who had previously passed a matriculation examination before the President of the College and the Rector of the Parish, who were the examiners designated by the statutes. This was the real beginning of an institution, which, if it had been inaugurated under more liberal conditions, would never have had a rival in the Province, and would have attained by this time a three-fold greater degree of prosperity than it enjoys at present.

The legislative session of 1823, which began on the 5th February, was a notable one in many respects. New conditions were arising in connexion with the affairs of the Province, which had to he met by appropriate legislation, and public opinion was becoming an important factor in influencing the work of the legislature. The Imperial Act which gave the proceeds of the Customs duties to the province and made St. John and St. Andrews free ports, threatened to work injury to business in another way by hampering the export trade. The Imperial Act imposed a duty of five shillings on every barrel of flour imported, and also on a number of other articles which the merchants of St. John had been in the habit of importing and exporting. An act of the legislature was passed at this session, giving the exporter a bounty almost equal to the duty on flour, rice and other articles subject to parliamentary duties. This act expired in 1827 and was now renewed, the Imperial act which came into operation in 1826, under which bonded warehouses were established, rendering it unnecessary.

The old law of imprisonment ior debt, as it existed in England, with all its harshness, was in force in this province, but efforts had been made from time to time to mitigate it. An honest debtor who had no property was not placed in a very favorable position for paying his debts when he was immured in gaol like a criminal, and his health was liable to be greatly impaired by his confinement. At the session of 1822 an act was passed requiring the sessions of each county to provide gaol yards, which prisoners for debt might walk, on giving bonds that they would not escape, and in 1823 these gaol limits were extended to a distance of eight rods from the gaol in every direction. This change in the law enabled a prisoner for debt to live outside the gaol altogether, and, by successive enactments, the gaol limits were farther extended, until they embraced an area of three miles from the gaol in every direction.

The desire of the people of the province for additional educational faculties was expressed by the passing of three acts for that object. One of these was an amendment to the Grammar School Act, another was an act for the establishment of parish schools while the third related to the college. This act authorized the Governor and Trustees of the College to surrender their charter, on condition that His Majesty would be pleased to grant another charter in its place. It also provided for a provincial grant of £000 annually in addition to the £250 already granted, and the further sum of £1,500, to be applied to the erection of a suitable college building.

The number of immigrants that had arrived in the Province had been very large, and as many of them were in a very indigent condition, the local authorities had much difficulty in providing for them. The extent of this immigration may be judged from the fact that in the course of four days in July, 1822, there arrived in St. John 187 of the 333 unfortunate people. The local authorities thought that the Province should reimburse them for the money they had expended in relieving the wants of the immigrants, and among the appropriations of 1823, were grants for upwards of one thousand pounds to the overseers of the poor of St. John, Portland, Fredericton, St. Andrews and other places on this account. The Council objected to these appropriations but the Assembly insisted on them and they were passed, although not without a protest.

Governor Smyth sent down a message to the Assembly, accompanied by a despatch from Earl Bathurst on the subject of the proper mode of preparing the appropriation bills. That great man told the Governor, in language that might be variously interpreted that:—"In the event of the House of Assembly renewing in the ensuing session the objectionable system of uniting in one bill, matters which have been recommended with those which are objectionable, and which have no relation to each other, 1 am to desire that you will take care to have it well understood that you have received His Majesty's instructions not to allow for the future so informal and unconstitutional a proceeding." The Committee on privileges took this message into consideration, and also the resolution of the Council on the same subject, and prepared a long report justifying the action of the House and declaring that they could see no good -cause for it departing from the usages and modes of proceeding hitherto pursued by the former House of Assembly of this Province. This report was adopted by the House and it is quite possible that Governor Smyth might have sought to vindicate his position by refusing to assent to the appropriation hill. But on the 17th March, he was seized with an illness which immediately prostrated him, and which soon became so serious that it was seen his life was in grave danger. The petty quarrel with the Assembly over an item in the appropriation bill was nothing to a man whose days were numbered and who was fast approaching the awful goal which all must reach. The Governor was dying, and realizing that fact, the business of the session was rushed through with all possible despatch. It was a race with death and on the morning of the 27th March, both Houses met at 7 o'clock. A commission under the great seal signed by the Lieutenant Governor was read authorizing Chief Justice Saunders and Judges Ward Chipman and Bliss to give the Governor's assent to the bills and prorogue the House of Assembly. This was done immediately and at 9 o'clock the announcement came that Governor Smyth was dead.

SUPREME COURT OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

Hon. Jeremiah Barry Hon. H. A. McKeown
Hon. E. McLeod Hon, F. E. Barker, C.J.
Hon. P. A. Landry Hon. A. S. White