DURING the session of 1827, the attention of the legislature was directed to the large deductions that were made from the customs revenue by the Imperial Officers, who were charged with its collection, Mr. Simonds, from a committee appointed to fake this matter into consideration, submitted a report in which it was shown that while £18,278 2s. 3d-sterling had been collected during the year 1826, which was equal in the currency of the province to £20,30!) lis. M., only £11,613 13s. 8d. had been paid in to the hands of the Treasurer, leaving unaccounted for, the sum of £8,695 17s. 8/d. The report recommended that the House take immediate steps to ascertain by what authority the collectors in this province were permitted to retain so large a proportion of the whole amount of duty collected by them. This was followed up by a series of resolutions ending with an address to the Lieutenant Governor to lay the resolutions before His Majesty. Sir Howard Douglas intimated to the House of Assembly that the proper method of approaching His Majesty on this subject was by way of address and the House adopted this suggestion. Their address contains in a brief form, a statement of the grievances which the House considered the province was suffering in consequence of the existing arrangements in regard to the disposition of the moneys derived from Customs duties. They say that they cannot for a moment believe it was ever intended to take from the colonial legislature the right of appropriating the whole of the duty levied upon the people of the province. They had learned with extreme regret that the custom house officers had received instructions from the commissioners of customs to retain for their salaries a large portion of the duty collected by them. The address states that, of the twenty thousand pounds collected under acts of Parliament during the previous years by the officers of customs, hut little more than half had gone into the provincial treasury, the balance having been retained by the officers for their salaries. The enormous disproportion of this scale of remuneration as , compared with that of the provincial officers, was shown by the statement in the address that the provincial revenue of thirty thousand pounds was collected at an expense of about two thousand pounds. These Imperial duties which it cost so much to collect, could have been collected by the provincial officers of the revenue with little or no additional charge. The address closed by expressing the hope that His Majesty should grant the desired relief by making such reductions as were possible in the customs establishment, aud by causing the whole of the revenue which might hereafter be collected in the province under the Imperial acts, to be placed at the disposal of the assembly.

In this address the members of the House were able to thank the Imperial authorities for the relief which they had recently given to the coasting trade. For the first forty years of the existence of the Province, the customs authorities treated New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Gape Breton as separate countries, and charged as large fees on coasting vessels which traded between them as if they had been on foreign voyages. A vessel cleared at St. John for a port in Nova Scotia had to pay as high customs fees as if she was bound to Liverpool or the East Indies. The smallest class of coasters paid £2 2s. between St. John and Digby, an exaction which was sufficient to put great difficulties in the way of trade. These enormous fees ail went into the pockets of the collector and comptroller of Customs, who became rich while the unfortunate ship-owner was impoverished. This system was abolished by the Imperial act, passed in 1825, which reduced to reasonable proportions the fees charged on the coasting trade.

In 1828 the subject of Customs salaries was again before the Legislature and the chairman of the committee of privileges reported as a result of an inspection of the returns of the Customs of St. John and St. Andrews, that the whole of the duties collected at the port of St. John, under the acts of the Imperial Parliament, had amounted during the year to £15,231 16s. 11d., from which sum the officers of Customs had retained £4,135, 10s. 9Jd., leaving £11.096 7s. 1d. as the net amount payable into the provincial treasury. At St. Andrews during the year, £6,007,19s. 2d. had been collected in Customs duties, of which sum £2,382 was retained for salaries. These amounts, it should he borne in mind, were all in sterling money. It was found by the same report, that the salary of the collector at St. John was £1,500 sterling, or considerably more than twice as much as the salary of the present collector of the port at St. John, the revenue of which now approaches $1,000,000 a year. The controller of the port then received £700 sterling, or more than double the salary of the present surveyor of the port of St. John, who is the second officer in the service. The other salaries were in the same proportion ; two surveyors and searchers receiving £400 sterling each; the warehouse keeper £300 sterling, and the indoor officers from £270 to £150. The collector at St. Andrews received £800 sterling, the comptroller £100, and the searcher £300. These salaries were justly considered to be excessive, and would be far too much even at the present day, when the business has so greatly increased.

It was not until the session of 1829 that a reply came from the Imperial authorities to the address of the House of Assembly of 1827. The claim of the House was twofold, that the gross amount of the revenue derived from the Parliamentary duties should be paid into the provincial treasury, and that the salaries paid to the officers of Customs were out of all proportion to the services they rendered. The reply of the British government was a lengthy document, but it can only be regarded as a piece of special pleading. It sought to make out that the act of 1825, under which the produce of the duties raised was to be paid over to the use of the colony, was subject to the provisions of the act of 1778, which provided that the net revenue only should he for the use of the colonies. But the acts were entirely different in their application, there being no money paid into the Provincial treasury under the act of 1778, the proceeds of the duties being appropriated by the Lieutenant Governor in any way he saw lit. The reply was accompanied by a detailed statement of the charge for salaries heretofore defrayed by fees levied in this Province, and that it was now proposed should be borne out of the duties collected in the Colonies, and also the salaries, compensations, and expenses proposed to be borne by the Crown, or out of the revenue of the United Kingdom, under the new arrangement which was to take effect from the 5tli of January, 1829. It appeared from this statement that prior to the year 1826, £9,133 7s. 1d. sterling was paid in fees, and £509 paid by the Crown in the shape of salaries. In 1826 the same amount as that formerly paid in fees, was paid by the Colony, and £1,086 3s. 1d., paid by the Crown for salaries and incidental charges. It was now proposed that the sum of £6,397 should be paid for salaries out of the Colonial duties, and the sum of £1,636 3s. 3d., paid by the Crown for salaries and incidental charges. In a financial point of view this was a more favorable arrangement for-the Province than the one that had previously existed, saving as it did almost £3,000 of the Customs revenues, which were to go into the Provincial exchequer. But as the House of Assembly of New Brunswick, was contending for the principle-that they alone had the right to dispose of the revenues which were collected in the Province, it was unsatisfactory. Therefore it was resolved unanimously by the House, that this settlement of the matter proposed by the British Government could not be accepted. The House said that in unanimously coming to this determination, they did so on the principle that the House of Assembly are the sole, constitutional judges of the proper compensation to be afforded public officers when their salaries are to arise from taxation within the Province, and that although the House are well satisfied of the necessity of making proper provisions for officers of the Customs, and will be all times ready to appropriate a reasonable sum for that purpose, when the revenues are left to the disposal of the Legislature, they felt bound to say that the scale proposed was far beyond what the circumstances of the country would permit, and out of all proportion to the allowances made for similar services by the General Assembly. The Council took no part in these remonstances against excessive salaries, so that the battle was fought without their assistance.

No progress was made in respect to the matter of Customs salaries during the year 1831, but it appeared laid before the Legislature that for the year 1820, the Customs duties collected in the Province, amounted to £1(1,010, sterling from which was deducted for salaries £7,073, leaving a balance of £9,543 to go into the Provincial treasury. Thus it appeared that in that year the salaries of Custom house officials amounted to about 40% of the whole sum collected by them, a scale of remuneration which would seem very absurd at the present day.

In March 1831 a series of resolutions was moved by Mr. Partlow, in reference to the King's casual revenue, and Customs salaries. They announced the desire of the legislature to provide for the whole civil list, including the Customs establishment, and asked for returns, showing the salaries which had been annually received by the several Custom house establishments in the Province, for the payment of their officers and clerks, since the Imperial acts for the abolition of fees went into operation. These resolutions were carried and ordered to be laid before the President. At a later day, during the same session, an address was adopted by the House on the subject of the Custom House establishment in this Province, which was ordered to be sent to the Lieutenant Governor, so that it might be forwarded to His Majesty. It recited the dissatisfaction that so uniformly prevailed at the circumstance of such large sums being annually withheld by the officers of Customs, without the consent of the Legislature. It is stated that the Provincial officers, such as the Provincial Treasurer, whose duties were far more arduous, received much smaller salaries than those given to the Customs officials. The principal object of the address, however, was to place before His Majesty a scale of salaries which the House deemed sufficient for the service, and to ask that this scale be adopted. The Assembly offered to make a permanent annual grant to Hiss Majesty of £4,250, sterling, fur the payment of the Customs officers, either in gross or in such other way as His Majesty might direct. This scale of salaries gave the Collector of the port of St. John £700, sterling, a year, which was a larger salary than this official now enjoys ; the Comptroller was to receive £400, sterling, a larger salary- than the surveyor of the port now has. The whole cost of the St. John Customs establishment was to be brought down to £1,930. The Miranuchi Custom House was to be maintained for £450; that of St. Andrews for £990, the Collector there receiving a salary of £400, while the other salaries were reduced in the same proportion, so that the total sum for salaries and incidentals was brought down to £4,250, sterling, equal to £4,903 16s. 10d. currency, or about $20,01)0 of the money of the present day. This proposal brought a favorable reply, which was addressed from Downing Street, on the 5th of January, 1832, by Lord Howick, who afterwards as Earl Grey, was secretary of state for the colonies.

Lord Howick was a member of the Whig ministry which had brought in the English reform bill, which may be well termed the second charter of English liberty. The old system which had flourished for so many years and which deprived so large a number of the people of their proper share in the government of the country had come to an end. This was fortunate for the people of New Brunswick for it greatly facilitated the work of settlement with the Imperial authorities.

Lord Howick, in his despatch, stated that the Lord Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury were willing at once to accede to the proposal of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick to make a permanent grant to His Majesty of £4,250, sterling, per annum to the Custom House establishment in New Brunswick. Their Lordships were also of the opinion that the present scale of salaries ought to be reduced, but they were not yet possessed of all the information which they required to enable them to determine on the amount of reduction, either of the number or salaries of the officers, which could be effected without impairing the efficiency of the department. They promised, however, that at an early period, they would revise the Customs establishments in all the ports of the North American Colonies, with a view to fix them on a reasonable and moderate scale. This was a very satisfactory despatch, and although the arrangement was not carried out immediately, yet it became operative in the latter part of the year 1835. An act was passed in March of that year, by the Legislature of New Brunswick which declared that "it is one of the most inherent and unquestionable rights of the General Assembly of this Province, to dispose of the whole amount of all duties, taxes and supplies collected within the same." The act then went on to declare that His Majesty's faithful anil loyal subjects of the Assembly of New Brunswick have freely and voluntarily resolved to give a grant to the King's most excellent Majesty, his heirs and successors, towards providing for the Custom House establishment in this Province; that the principal officers of the Customs of this Province are authorized to retain the annual sum of £4,250-sterling, out of the monies arising from the duties which they may collect under the acts of the Imperial Parliament, the surplus to he paid over to the Provincial Treasurer quarterly. Thus was vindicated the principle for which our House of Assembly had so steadily contended, and the right of that body to dispose of the entire revenues collected in the Province in whatever manner they saw lit, was freely admitted by the special confirmation and ratification of the act by order of the King in Council on the 30th of September, 1835.

It is a singular fact that while the House of Assembly contended so strongly for its right to appropriate all the monies collected by the Imperial Custom House officers in this Province, it seems to have ignored or forgotten the still more important question of the right of taxation which was involved in this matter. The contest between the Mother Country and the thirteen colonies was the result of an attempt on the part of the British Government to impose Customs duties on the Colonists, and the contention of the Colonists, which they successfully maintained as the result of a long and bloody war, was that there should be no taxation without representation. This principle was so far admitted by the British Government, that in 1778, an act was passed declaring that from and after its passing " the King and Parliament of Great Britain will not impose any duty or tax assessment whatever, payable in any of His Majesty's colonies, excepting only such duties as it may be expedient to impose for the regulation of commerce." In spite of this very plain provision it has already been seen that the Imperial Customs establishment of New Brunswick, and the other North American colonies of Great Britain, continued to collect duties, which, whether they were necessary for the regulation of commerce, or merely for the purpose of raising a revenue, were entirely in opposition to the principle that there should be no taxation without representation.

The indifference of the House of Assembly of New Brunswick in regard to this particular phase of the question, must be ascribed to defects in the political education of the people, who had been so much accustomed to regard the royal prerogative as sacred, and the Imperial Parliament as supreme, that they failed to recognize the fact that the rights of the people of New Brunswick were being seriously interfered with by the Imperial legislation which provided for the maintenance of Customs establishment.

There were indeed many grave abuses and difficulties in connection with the collection of two sets of duties by two sets of officers on the same goods imported into this Province. In general such a condition of things was only made tolerable, by the liberal manner in which the tariff of duties was interpreted by the officials, yet there were sometimes collisions between the Provincial and Imperial officers. An instance of this was presented to the notice of the British Government in 1833, by Messrs. Chandler and Simonds, when they went to England as a deputation on the subject of the grievances of the Province. They stated that, although the revenue laws of the Province and the Imperial acts specified the manner in which the proceeds of seizures made by the officers of Customs and Provincial officers should be disposed of, collisions had taken place between these officials, and instances had occurred of seizures by the officers of His Majesty's Customs of articles which had been previously seized by the Provincial revenue officers, and condemned and sold by them. The delegates pointed out that unless a remedy was applied to proceedings of this nature, the Provincial revenue laws for the prevention of smuggling, would, so far as they applied to articles which were liable to Parliamentary duties, become entirely nugatory. This matter was brought to the notice of the proper officers by the British Government, and from that time complaints on the subject became less frequent.

It was not, however, until the year 1848 that the whole complicated system, of collecting double duties by two acts of officers, was swept away. The history of the legislation which brought this about and which resulted in England becoming a free trade country, does not properly belong to the narrative which I have in hand. The fall of the Imperial Customs system in the colonies was due, not so much to any attacks that were made upon it from without, as to its own inherent weakness and inefficiency. The year 1846 was a memorable epoch in the commercial history of the United Kingdom, and from that time the old order of things began to pass away. The Imperial Customs establishments in the colonies, were abolished by legislation, which was passed in 1840, and the officers who had been charged with the duty of collecting the Parliamentary revenue were either pensioned or removed to other positions. The collector of the port of St. John, Mr. H. Bowyer Smith, was at this time placed on a retiring allowance, and the only Imperial officers of that establishment retained here, were the Comptroller of Customs ami Navigation Laws and a few other officials, whose duty it was to regulate the shipi>ing interests, which were still regarded as an Imperial concern. A few years later even this system was abolished, and the interests of the shipping were entrusted to Provincial officers, who from that time to the present, have (lone their duty in a manner not less efficient than their predecessors.

During the session of 1827, Sir Howard Douglas was able to announce to the Legislature the pleasing intelligence, that the bonds for timber licenses which had been taken for some years previous, had all been cancelled. The total of these bonds amounted to many thousands of pounds, and their cancellation at this time, brought a very sensible relief to those who were engaged 'n the timber trade, who were suffering from the losses which had fallen upon them in consequence of the financial panic in England. The thanks of the House were voted to the Lieut.-Governor for his exertions to bring about this desirable result. The legislation of the session included an act to amend the marriage act, and one to amend the great roads act. The latter defined the route of the Nerepis road, and established it as one of the great roads of communication in the province. The former act took away from the magistrates the right to celebrate marriages, unless they had been specially authorized and commissioned by the Lieutenant-Governor, and then only in parishes where there was no clergyman of the Church of England residing. A large number of Justices of the Peace were commissioned under this act, for there were then only about twenty clergymen of the Church of England residing in the Province, and more than half of the parishes were without a resident clergyman.

The distress which existed in England largely increased the number of emigrants who came to New Brunswick and a return laid before the Legislature shows that in 1826, 3,145 persons arrived at St. John from Great Britain. Many of these people were in a destitute condition, and some of them were the victims of disease, so that the resources of the county of St. John were severely taxed to provide for them. Many of these emigrants became settlers, and under new conditions, attained a degree of prosperity which they never would have known had they remained in Great Britain. Their descendants still reside in this province, and are exempt from the trials and privations which their fathers endured in making homes for themselves in the wilderness.

A very unpleasant piece of news arrived in the Province in the Spring of 1827, in tlie announcement that quit rents were to be collected on all the grants which had been issued previously subject to this charge. Some years before the matter of quit rents had come up, but nothing was then done to enforce them, but now it would seem, that the British Government thought the time had come when they should he collected. Most of the old grants were subject to quit rents, the amount exacted being at the rate of 2s. for each 100 acres. This was net a large sum, being only at the rate of one cent a year for each acre, but the payment of rent was objectionable to the people of the Province, and in many cases, even this small sum would have been a burthen. When the people obtained their grants they regarded the provisions for the payment of quit rents as merely a nominal acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the Crown, and never dreamed that an attempt should be made to collect them. The revival of this impost produced a great deal of discontent, and formed the subject of numerous addresses to His Majesty. The abolition of quit rents was one of the matters intrusted to Messrs. Chandler and Simonds, who were sent as a delegation to England on the subject of grievances, in 1833. Finally the question was settled in 1835 by the passing of a bill in which the sum of .£1,200 currency, annually, was granted to His Majesty in commutation and full discharge of quit rents due, or to become due within the province of New Brunswick. This annual appropriation was to be applied by His Majesty towards making and improving the roads and bridges within the Province. This solution of the difficulty was very much like taking money out of one pocket and putting it into the other, for the Province itself got the benefit of the quit rents, and not the King or the British Government.

During the year 1827 difficulties again arose in regard to the Madawaska territory, which was claimed both by Great Britain and the United States. During all these boundary disputes the object of the Americans was to carry their eastern boundary north of the St. John River, so as to cutoff connection between New Brunswick and Lower Canada. The erection of the district of Maine into a separate state in 1820, gave a new impulse to American aggressions in that quarter. For some years before, American citizens had been coming into the Madawaska district and frightening the simple minded Acadians who lived there, into acquiescence in their claims. They took possession of lands and built houses under the pretence that this was United States territory, and that they had the authority of the Federal government behind them. The Governor of Maine, Mr. Lincoln, appears to have given countenance to these intruders and voiced the view that his people were right in claiming the Madawaska territory as a part of the United States. The New Brunswick authorities contended with justice, that as they had always exercised jurisdiction over that territory and held possession of it, their possession could not be changed until it had been done by a higher authority. Evidently while the two national governments were endeavoring to bring about a decision with regard to the disputed boundary question, it was highly improper for the Governor of Maine to complicate the situation, by giving his countenance to acts of aggression by the citizens of the United States. In the spring of 1827, a constable of the county of York, who was executing a writ of replevin, against a settler on the Aroostook, was set upon by a mob of twenty or thirty men and the property he had seized taken from him. In July of the same year John Baker, who lived at Baker's Brook, a tributary of the St. John River, hoisted the American flag on the 4th of July, and proclaimed the place to be American territory. Afterwards he and two of his companions carried a paper through the settlement, which they induced some of the more ignorant people to sign, declaring that the Madawaska territory was under the jurisdiction of the United States, and that they would not obey the laws of New Brunswick. Baker also attempted to stop the courier, who was carrying the mails between Fredericton and Quebec, declaring that he had no right to pass through American territory, but the courier, being a stout fellow, informed Baker that he would have to be a better man than he was, before he would prevent him doing his duty. Baker desisted from this attempt and it was not repeated.

The news of these outrages naturally produced much indignation at the seat of government, especially as it was well understood, that Baker was acting under the direction of the governor of Maine. Evidently it was necessary that Baker should be suppressed, and the only way to do this effectually seemed to be to arrest him. This business was intrusted to Sheriff Miller, whose illegal conduct, in connection with an election in York, has already been referred to. The Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney General, both thought that the arrest should be made as quietly as possible, while Miller desired to give his proceedings a military aspect, and proposed to take a body of armed men with him. This he claimed was done on the advice of the Council, but if such advice was given, it must have been communicated to the Sheriff privately, for there is no record of it in the books of the Council. The Attorney General learned that Miiler had started up river with a barge full of armed men, and after consulting with the Governor, sent a special messenger after him on horseback, to stop him. The message was delivered, but Miller stated that he was acting on the advice of the Council, and showed a disposition to resist the authority of the Governor and the Attorney General. A second messenger had to be sent with a still more peremptory summons, and the sheriff returned and dismissed his armed posse. When he started again he took only two men with him, which the Attorney General thought quite sufficient, and he went en horseback. Before he reached his destination the sheriff had gathered a party of fourteen men, most of whom belonged to the Madawaska settlement. Baker was arrested in his bed, at daylight on the morning of the 24tli of September, and two days later he was lodged safely in Fredericton jail, where he remained until February, when he was released on bail. He was tried in May for conspiracy before a York County jury, was found guilty, and was sentenced to two month's imprisonment and to pay a fine of £25. Baker had produced a good impression while in jail, by his conduct, and his sentence was made light in consequence of his having been incarcerated for nearly six months before his trial. His case attracted the attention of the Federal authorities and naturally enough it excited much interest in Maine. An agent, was sent by the American Government to inquire into the circumstances connected with Baker's arrest, and to obtain copies of the papers connected with his trial and conviction. The people of Maine showed much more zeal for the maintenance of the American claim than the government of the United States, indeed the latter was seriously embarassed by the truculent spirit displayed by the state authorities. Sir Howard Douglas acted with great discretion at this exciting period, and it was largely owing to his good sense that an armed conflict was prevented. It was agreed by the two national governments that the boundary question should be submitted to the ai bit ration of the King of the Netherlands. This was done in April, 1830, and on the following January he rendered his decision, which was a compromise, splitting the difference between the two claims. The boundary as delineated by him, was the same as the present international boundary up to the St. Francis River, but he gave the Americans a larger strip of territory north of the St. John, than they now possess. The government of the United States refused to accept this boundary, and the conflict went on over this disputed question for another thirteen years. In the end the Americans got a much less favourable boundary than that awarded them by the King of the Netherlands.

In the meantime the Province was making substantial progress in many directions. Greater attention was being paid to the cultivation of the soil. Agricultural and immigrant aid societies were doing good work, not only in settling immigrants on the land, but in assisting them and encouraging those who had previously become settlers. Improved stock was being imported, and cattle shows, at which prizes were given for the best specimens of farm stock, were introduced. Commerce was beginning to recover from the effects of the panic, and the merchants of St. John obtained a better means of communicating with their customers in Nova Scotia, by the placing a steam packet on the route between St. John and Annapolis. The roads of the country were also being improved, owing to the well directed efforts of the Lieutenant-Governor, who had early recognized the fact that much money was being wasted on this service in consequence of the lack of concentrated effort.