A COMMITTEE on grievances, consisting of Messrs. Kinnear, Simonds, Chandler, Partelow, Taylor, Weldon and Wyer had been previously appointed for the purpose of taking into consideration and investigating all matters in connection with the Crown lands, which were the subject of complaint. After hearing the evidence of a number of witnesses and reporting to the House, this committee prepared an address to His Majesty which recited the difficulties in connection with the Crown lands of the Province. The House resolved to send a deputation to England with the petition which had been prepared by the committee on grievances, and the}' asked the Lieutenant Governor to give to the deputation such letters to the Secretary of the State for the colonies as would enable them, with as little delay as possible, to enter upon the important matters entrusted to them. Sir Archibald Campbell replied that he could not comply with the prayer in the address, and that even if he considered himself authorized to do so, the well known accessability of the Colonial Secretary would render such letters unnecessary.

The deputies appointed to proceed to England and lay the grievances of the Province at the foot of the throne, were Charles Simonds and Edward B. Chandler, both men of wealth, influence and position, and well qualified for the performance of the work with which they were entrusted. They arrived in England in June, 1833, and immediately placed themselves in communication with the Right Honorable E. G. Stanley, who was then Colonial Secretary. Their report was laid before the Legislature in February, 1834, and the result was highly satisfactory to the House of Assembly. A few days later a despatch from Mr. Stanley to Sir Archibald Campbell was laid before the House, in which he stated the terms on which he should feel that His Majesty might properly be advised to place the proceeds of the casual and territorial revenue under the control of the Assembly of New Brunswick. He would, he said, be prepared to advise His Majesty to accept a permanent appropriation by the Legislature, duly secured, to the amount of £14,000 per annum, and that the Crown should undertake to charge on any such permanent grant, the salaries of the Lieutenant-Governor, his private secretary, the Commissioner of Crown lands, Provincial Secretary, Chief Justice, three puisne judges, the Attorney General, Auditor, Receiver General, the expenses of the indoor establishment of the Crown land department, and a grant of £1,000 to the College. It would be necessary, Mr. Stanley said, that any bill passed in consequence of the proposal contained in this despatch, should contain a suspending clause in order that it might be submitted to His Majesty before it was finally assented to. It was also stated, in order to prevent misunderstanding or delay, that the House should be apprised that, unless some other fully equivalent and sufficient security could be devised, it would be expected that the act should provide that the stipulated annual commutation should be payable out of the first receipts in each year, and that in case of any default in such payment, that the whole of the revenue surrendered should revert to the crown. A committee was appointed to prepare the bill on the subject of the surrender, by His Majesty, of his casual and territorial revenues of the Province. The House of Assembly had previously passed a resolution that the sum of £14,000, required by His Majesty's government as a permanent grant for the surrender of the casual and territorial revenue of the Province, was greater than the charges contemplated to be placed thereon required, yet that the great desire of the House of Assembly to have this important subject finally settled, should induce them to accept the proposal contained in Mr. Stanley's despatch. On the day after this resolution was passed, the lieutenant-Governor communicated to the House of Assembly an extract from a despatch, received the previous day by him from the Right Honorable Mr. Stanley^ dated the 4th of January, 1834. This extract was as follows:

"In your message communicating to the Assembly the proposal contained in my despatch of the 30th September, you will take care distinctly to-explain that the payments expected from the New Brunswick Land Company, are not included in the revenue which is offered to the acceptance of the Assembly." It is to be regretted that an answer couched in such a paltry spirit should have been received from a member of the British cabinet. It showed a desire to drive the hardest possible bargain with the people of the Province and proved that what was given, was not a free gift but one which could not be withheld. If any part of the Crown land revenues belonged to the province then the whole revenue should have come to the province, for there was no distinction whatever between the money that was to be paid by the New Brunswick Land Company and the other portions of the casual and territorial revenue. Thus the matter was viewed by the House of Assembly, and a resolution was passed in committee, regretting that the additional condition contained in Mr. Stanley's last despatch would prevent the committee recommending to the House further action in the matter of preparing a civil list bill. Thus ended the attempt to settle this vexed question in the year 1834. The House of Assembly, however, still continued to agitate the matter, and to make Sir Archibald Campbell's life a burden to him. On the 7th of March they addressed him asking for accounts, in detail, of the casual and territorial revenues, and calling for a number of statements which they had not received except in such a shape that they could not be properly understood. They also addressed His Excellency, requesting him to lay before them copies of all official despatches transmitted to him by the Secretary of State for the Colonies since he assumed the administration of the government, relating to the subject of the casual and territorial revenues. The reply of His Excellency to the request for more detailed accounts was a courteous one; but while he consented to furnish the accounts requested, in detail, it was with the understanding that his compliance was not to be considered as a precedent. He declined> however, to give the names of the parties who had their timber seized or forfeited, or the names of the petitioners for Crown land. He also refused to furnish the accounts of the Receiver General and Commissioner of Crown lands, on the ground that they were accounts exclusively between these officers and the Crown.

With regard to the request for his correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, Sir Archibald Campbell, in another message, gave a tart refusal, stating that such a request was subversive of the principles and spirit of the British Constitution, and that he would ill deserve the confidence put in him by His Majesty were he to hesitate in meeting so dangerous an encroachment, not only on the independence of the Executive, but the prerogative of the British Crown, with a most decided and unqualified refusal. This old military tyrant considered himself a proper exponent of the principles and spirit of the British Constitution. He failed to understand that the British Constitution rests upon the support of the people, while his system of government was intended to ignore the people altogether.

A few days after the receipt of this message, a resolution was passed by the House of Assembly, declaring that the language used by the Lieutenant Governor, in his reply to the address of the House, was at variance with all Parliamentary precedent and usage, and such as was not called forth by the address. Some of the Governor's friends attempted to weaken the force of this resolution by an amendment of a milder nature, but their amendment was defeated, and the resolution carried by a vote of 15 to 8. Another address on the subject of the casual and territorial revenues and civil list, was prepared and passed by the Assembly for the purpose of being forwarded to His Majesty. It recited the proceedings in regard to the matter which had taken place already, and the desire of the House of Assembly to accept the proposition contained in Mr. Stanley's first despatch, and expressed the regret of the House at the new condition imposed with regard to the New Brunswick Land Company, which made it impossible to accept the settlement as amended. The House concluded by expressing a hope that the terms proposed in the original despatch might yet be considered definite, and that the proviso with regard to the New Brunswick Land Company might be withdrawn. This was transmitted to England, but, before the year ended, Sir Archibald Campbell concluded to rid himself of the House of Assembly, which had given him so much annoyance, and accordingly it was dissolved early in November, so that when the Legislature met again in January, 1835, the House of Assembly was a new one, although largely composed of the old members. The answer to the address of the House to the King, of the previous session, was not laid before the House of Assembly until that body had been sitting about a month. It consisted of an extract from a despatch of the Earl of Aberdeen, dated Downing Street, 24th December, 1834. This despatch is so curious a document that it is well worth being quoted. The portion of it laid before the House of Assembly was as follows :

"I have had under my serious consideration your despatch No. 17, of the 24th March last, accompanied by an address to His Majesty from the House of Assembly, respecting the recent offer which has been made to them of the proceeds of the Crown revenues in New Brunswick.

"From various parts of the address I infer that the proposal conveyed to the Assembly, through my predecessors, must have been misapprehended in more than one important particular; and I have especially remarked the erroneous assumption that, in offering to surrender the proceeds of the Crown lands, it was intended also to give up their management, and to place them under the control of the Legislature.

"From the course of their proceedings, as well as the tenor of the present expression of their sentiments, the Assembly must be understood to consider it an indispensable condition that the payments of the Land Company should be comprised among the objects to be surrendered to them. This is a condition to which His Majesty's Government cannot agree. His Majesty's Government would also be unable to recognize the interpretation which was placed on their former offer, so far as regards the control over the lands belonging to the Crown in New Brunswick. Under these circumstances I can only desire you to convey to the Assembly, His Majesty's regrets that the objects of their address cannot be complied with ; and adverting to the wide difference between the views entertained by the Government and those manifested by the Assembly on this subject, it seems to me that no advantage could be anticipated from making any further proposals at present respecting the cession of the territorial revenue."

This despatch, which brought a sudden close to the negotiations with regard to the casual and territorial revenues of the Province, did not emanate from the Government with which the House of Assembly had been previously negotiating, but from a new administration which had just been formed under the premiership of Sir Robert Peel, and which lasted just one hundred and thirteen days. The creation of this administration was due to the action of King William IV., in dismissing his advisers on the death of Earl Grey. The King had grown to detest his Cabinet for their reforming spirit, but fortunately for Great Britain and for New Brunswick, the King's designs were thwarted by the failure of Sir Robert Peel, to form an administration capable of facing the House of Commons. As a consequence, Viscount Melbourne became premier, and a renewal of the negotiations with the Government in regard to the casual and territorial revenues was rendered possible. During the same session that this despatch was received, another address was prepared by the House of Assembly, to be laid before His Majesty, on the subject of the casual and territorial revenues. In this address the grievances with regard to the management of the Crown lands of New Brunswick were recited, and the willingness of the Legislature to provide for the civil establishment of the Province was stated. The address urged the benefits that would result to the people of New Brunswick by placing the net proceeds of the Crown land revenues, under the control of the Legislature. Attached to this address was a schedule of salaries, paid out of the casual and territorial revenues, amounting in all to £10,500 currency. The address was transmitted to the Governor to be forwarded to His Majesty.

At the Legislative session of 1836, the House of Assembly passed an address to the King on the subject of the grievances of the Province, with regard to the casual and territorial revenues, and Messrs. L. A. Wilmot and William Crane were appointed a deputation to proceed to England, for the purpose of concluding arrangements in regard to these matters. They arrived in England in June of that year, and immediately placed themselves in communication with Lord Glenelg, with whom they had many interviews. The result of their work was that an arrangement was made satisfactory both to the British government and to the delegates representing the House of Assembly, by which the casual and territorial revenues were to be transferred to the Province, in consideration of the legislature undertaking to provide for a civil list of £14,500 currency annually, for the payment of certain salaries chargeable to that fund. A draft of a civil list bill was prepared and agreed to by the Lords of the Treasury, and the understanding was that it should be passed by the legislature, and receive the assent of the Lieutenant-Governor, when it would immediately become operative.

The first clause of this bill transferred the proceeds of the territorial and casual revenues, and of all woods, mines and royalties which had been collected, and were then in hand, or that should thereafter be collected to the Provincial Treasurer; he was authorized to receive them for the use of the Province, while the act remained in force. The second claim charged the revenues with the payment of £14,500 for a civil list. The third clause enacted that all the surplus over and above the sum of £14,500 currency, should remain in the Treasury of the Province, until appropriated or disposed of by an act or acts of the General Assembly. The fourth clause gave the Lieutenant Governor, with the advice of his Executive Council, power to expend such sums as they might deem necessary for the prudent management, protection and collection of the said revenues, a detailed account of which was to be laid before the legislature within fourteen days of the commencement of each session, with all vouchers for the same. It was also enacted that all grants or sales of Crown Lands should be void unless the land had been sold at public auction, after due notice in the " Royal Gazette." By this arrangement the House of Assembly had obtained the boon for which they had so long been contending, but there was still one more obstacle to be overcome, the opposition of the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Archibald Campbell, who had entered into a plot with some of the enemies of freedom in the Province for the purpose of thwarting not only the wishes of the House of Assembly, but also the intentions of the Home Government. As soon as Sir Archibald Campbell was apprised of the intention of His Majesty's advisers in England to transfer the casual and territorial revenues to the Provincial Legislature, he commenced a correspondence with the Colonial office, pointing out what he deemed to be imperfections in the scheme which they had prepared for the management of the public lands. He pretended to have discovered that there was some error in the calculation of the Lords of the Treasury with regard to the sum to be paid in lieu of the civil list and that the amount of £14,500 currency would not be sufficient to defray all the expenditures chargeable on the civil list. Sir Archibald Campbell, soon after the opening of the session of the Legislature in December, 1836, requested the House of Assembly to add a suspending clause to any civil list bill they might pass, so that he might forward it to the Home Government for their approval. As this was entirely contrary to the understanding which had been reached between Messrs. Wilmot and Crane and the Colonial Secretary, it being understood that the civil list bill if passed in the form agreed upon would be immediately assented to by the Lieutenant Governor, the House of Assembly very naturally refused to comply with Sir Archibald Campbell's wishes. The old military tyrant, however, held firm in his resolution, and the civil list bill which had been agreed to by the Home authorities, after being passed by both houses, did not receive his assent. At the close of the session, while the matter was under discussion, at the instigation of the Lieutenant Governor, one of the Executive Council, Solicitor General Street, was sent on a secret mission to Downing Street. The object of this mission was to make such representations to the home authorities as would induce them to delay in giving their assent to the civil list bill. The truth of the matter seems to have been that Sir Archibald Campbell and his advisers in New Brunswick thought if they could only gain time, the Imperial Government of England, which had granted such favorable terms to the Province, might be defeated, and a Tory Government would come into power which would speedily undo all their predecessors had done, and refuse to grant any concessions to the Legislature of New Brunswick. There was great excitement in the Province in consequence of the action of the Lieutenant-Governor and this excitement was fairly voiced in the House of Assembly, where an address was prepared representing the condition of affairs to His Majesty, and detailing the manner in which the Lieutenant Governor had sought to thwart the intentions of the Imperial Government. This address was passed by a vote of 27 to 2, the only members of the House who ventured to stand by the man who occupied Government House being John Ambrose Street and William End.

Messrs. Crane and Wilmot were again appointed a deputation to proceed to England with this address of the House of Assembly, and took their departure two days after it was passed, amidst great popular demonstrations by the citizens of Fredericton. The Legislature was prorogued on March 1st, on which day the House of Assembly again requested the Lieutenant Governor to pass the Civil List bill, pointing out that under the arrangement made with the Colonial Office it was his duty to do so, but their request fell upon deaf ears. In the speech proroguing the Legislature, Sir Archibald Campbell stated that he had withheld his assent from this bill because a suspending clause had not been appended to it. These were the last words that Sir Archibald Campbell was destined to speak before a New Brunswick Legislature. Finding that all his hopes of impeding the progress of the Province in the direction of liberty were in vain, he tendered his resignation to save himself from being removed, as he would have been, for his direct disobedience to the commands of his superiors in England. Sir John Harvey, a real soldier, and a man of a very different spirit, was appointed to succeed him as Lieutenant Governor. The Civil List bill was again passed by the Legislature and received the Royal assent, becoming law on July 17th, 1837, and from that time to the present, the Province of New Brunswick has controlled the revenues which it derives from its Crown lands and similar sources, and whether wisely expended or not, the people of this Province have at least the satisfaction of knowing that the money is appropriated by their own representatives, and by a government which is responsible to them for its actions.

The manner in which the money granted by the Province as a consideration for the surrender of the casual and territorial revenue was to be appropriated, was specified in the despatch of Lord Glenelg and was as follows :

Salary of the Lieutenant-Governor £3,500
Chief Justice..................................950
Three Puisne Judges.....................1,950
Attorney-General............................550
Solicitor-General.............................200
Private Secretary........................ ...200
Commissioner of Crown Lands...      1,750
Establishment of Crown Lands...        909
Provincial Secretary......................1,430
Auditor..........................................300
Receiver-General.............................300
Scotch Minister................................50
Emigrant Agent at St. John............   100
Annuity to late Surveyor-General       150
College.......................................1,000
Indians.........................................  54
Total, in sterling money ..........   £13,393

It will be observed from the above figures that the salaries were arranged on a sufficiently liberal scale, the Surveyor-General alone receiving as large a sum as the three principal heads of departments in the present government of New Brunswick are-now paid. The Lieutenant-Governor received about double the present salary of that official, and the Secretary of the Province was paid almost three times as much as the present incumbent of that office. Those were the days when officers enjoyed enormous incomes and performed but little service-for them. In addition to these salaries all the officials, including the Judges, received fees of office which amounted to large sums.

The desire to complete the story of the casual and territorial revenue has carried me to the close of Sir Archibald Campbell's administration. It is now time to resume the regular course of events and go back to the time of his arrival in this Province.

Sir Archibald Campbell arrived at Fredericton on the 7th of February, 1831. He was a distinguished soldier who had served in India and likewise in the Peninsular War, and whose ideas were altogether military. His manners were gruff and distant, and being arbitrary by nature as well as by education, he speedily became unpopular with the people. No Governor of New Brunswick has ever been less in sympathy with its inhabitants, and whatever his merits as a soldier may have been, he was certainly a most unfit man to be placed in the position of Governor of a young and growing colony, whose people were endeavoring to improve their condition and extend their liberties. At the same time it ought to be stated by way of palliation of his conduct, that the books of the Council disclose the fact, that every unpopular measure which he took during the term of his administration, was advised by his Council, who themselves were inhabitants of the province and ought to have been interested in its welfare. Under these circumstances his despotic conduct becomes more excusable, although he ought to have had discretion enough to understand, that most of the advice he received from his Council was not disinterested and was, therefore, valueless. The Hon. Thomas Baillie, whose conduct as commissioner of Crown lands was being generally complained of, was a member of the Council, and certainly was a very unfit adviser with regard to matters in which he was himself interested. The same disqualification attached itself to other members of the Council although in a less degree. But the custom of sending military men to rule over a colony like New Brunswick, which had been pursued steadily from the beginning, was a very objectionable one and produced unfortunate results. It was not to be expected that men who had spent all their life in a barracks and under conditions where absolute J obedience was required, could be made to sympathize with the aspirations of the people of New Brunswick.

During the autumn of this year there was more trouble in the Madawaska district, which arose out of the passing of an act by the Legislature of Maine, incorporating Madawaska into Penobscot County. This bold act of usurpation was done without the authority of the Government of the United States, and indeed in defiance of it. A number of American citizens assembled in Madawaska for the purpose of electing town officers and a representative to the Legislature of Maine. They induced a few of the more ignorant French to cooperate with them, notwithstanding the presence of a couple of magistrates. Four of the persons, who were leaders in this movement, were arrested and brought to Fredericton for trial. They were found guilty and sentenced to a short term of imprisonment, there being no disposition on the part of the authorities to push matters to an extremity, while negotiations were going on between the two governments with reference to the boundary question.

The Legislature was called together on the 19th of January, 1832. The speech of the Lieutenant Governor referred to the disturbances in the Madawaska district, and the fact that the conduct of the persons concerned in it had been disavowed by the Government of the United States. The principal recommendations contained in the speech were with regard to the adoption of some measure to promote settlement, and the improvement of the militia. With respect to this force, there was a general disinclination throughout the province to spend as many days in drilling the militia as the governor and home authorities thought necessary, and Lord Goderich in his # despatches to Sir Archibald Campbell complained of the neglect of the militia. As a matter of fact the militia musters were of little value in training that force, and most people thought them unnecessary because they interfered very much with business and with work on the farm.

Among the measures of the session was an act to incorporate the St. John Water Company, which was the beginning of an improved system of supplying that city with good water. Before that time, wells were the only resource and as a result much impure water was drunk, to the detriment of, the health of the inhabitants. The trouble was aggravated by the fact that St. John was much exposed to contagion from vessels arriving with immigrants who were diseased. Malignant fevers, such as typhus, a result of bad food and bad sanitary arrangements, were very prevalent, and great difficulty was experienced in meeting the demands that were made upon the local authorities for medical assistance. More stringent quarantine laws were passed and also an act imposing a tax on emigrants which had to be paid by the owners of the vessel which brought them out. This, it was thought, would have the effect of checking the importation of undesirable persons who were liable to become a public charge. A singular thing happened in connection with the legislation of this session. After the legislature had been prorogued, it was discovered that the revenue bill which had been passed imposed duties upon certain articles which had not before been subject to duty and which it was evidently not the intention of a majority of the members to tax. The mercantile classes all over the province remonstrated so strongly against the revenue act that the legislature which had been prorogued on the 9th of March, was called together again on the 3rd of May for the purpose of amending it. This was done and the House after, sitting a few days was again prorogued.

At this time an important change was made in the constitution of the Province, which had a powerful effect in breaking up the old family compact. This was the separation of the executive from the legislative council which had hitherto been one body. The council, as originally established in the Province, consisted of twelve members who sat as a legislative council, while the legislature was in session, and who, at all times in the year, met as executive councillors and advisers of the Governor. The home authorities had determined to put an end to this evil system. In this instance they seem to have acted without any remonstrances having come from the Province with regard to it, so that when a despatch of December, 1832, announcing the change was made public, it caused some surprise, and produced a good deal of indignation among the members of the old council. The new executive council consisted of five members, the Hon. Thomas Baillie, Frederick P. Robinson, William F. Odell, George Frederick Street, and John Simcoe Saunders. Three of these, Baillie, Robinson, and Odell had been members of the old council and the first two continued to be members of the new legislative council, Mr. Odell being dropped from the list. All the judges were excluded from the new legislative council with the exception of Chief Justice Saunders, but in their places, Joseph Cunard, William H. Robinson, John Simcoe Saunders, and James Allenshaw were appointed. The change was a great improvement r particularly the exclusion of the judges from the council. The Chief Justice, who alone of the judges remained in the legislative council was President of that body and on his death, the new Chief Justice,,

Ward Chipman, was called to the Council and became its president. He was the last judge who sat in a legislative capacity in this Province, and he ceased to sit in 1842. This change was very disagreeable to many of the older members of the Council who looked upon it as one which lowered their rank and which would probably interfere with their chances of succeeding to the administration of the government in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor. They at once began a correspondence with the Home authorities on the subject, which extended over two or three years. At first the latter settled the question of precedence by giving the higher rank to executive councillors, but, after some more correspondence this was changed by the date of their appointment. The Colonial office insisted on giving the succession to the administration to members of the executive council. Finally this was changed before Sir Archibald Campbell's removal from the Province, by reverting to the arrangement which existed during the war with the United States which made the senior military officer administrator in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor. This arrangement continued until the confederation of the Provinces in 1867.