afloat or ashore-—either in war or in a civil or inilihry capacity. cse in the navy. wh_ili1 wi

ither on Sir G. 1''. remain r not for

tion, and the manly, honest, straightforward evidence the “young othoer” vs at Lord Gambler's court llIIl'tIlI.' Sir r was a Iord of the Admirality with Sir

gt. (Eokburn under Lord IIeddington's presi-

cncy.

nfslnkafiiis-‘I can: run.

Wednesday. May 17. 18“.

We thought, at firet. when we read his Excellen- cy'l answer to those who waited upon him with the Petition for thegdissolutiongof the Assembly, that the words “ my prerogative" were used by mistake, in place of the words " the Queen's prorogativs."—the latter word being strictly coalned, in common per- lanoe, to Royalty. from some hints that have been subsequently thrown out. we have reason to think that his Excellency couceivcethat under the Commis- sion to Sir John CoIborus—a copy of which is to be found in the Appendix (I".) to the House of Assembly Journals for I851. there is such a power vested in him. for the exercise of which he is answerable to the House of Commons or to the Queen only. The words of the Commission are as follow :—“And to the end " that nothing may be passed or done by our said Le- " gisletive Council or Assembly to the prejudice of " us, our heirs and successors. we will and ordain " that you. the said Sir John Colbcrae. _shall have " end enjoy a negative voice in the making end pass- " ing ell Laws. Statutes and Ordinaries as aforesaid; “ end you shall and may likewise, from time to time, " as you shall judge it necessary. adjourn. prorogue " or dissolve all General Assemblies as aforfiald." We have put the words in italics upon whidi, ‘ we suppose, the assumed prerogative is grounded; and we will carefully consider whether they will bear the construction which is attempted to be put upon them. And, in the first place, we advert to the date of this Commission end the Instructions accompanying it; this we find to be Ilth December. 1838. Now this is prior to the introduction of Responsible Govern- ment. even in Canada. and is in perfect accordance with ideas of that period. when Governors and Lieut. Governors were responsible for their Acteto the Sove- reign alone,—when it was not uncommon for the Go- vernor to difl'er from hie Council, a contingency that cannot happen—unlsss in extreme cases. to which we will presently advert—undora system of Responsible, or Self Government, where both parties (the Gover- nor and Council) know whet their respective duties are, and have no wish to overstep the line of demar- cation. A person has only to read the following arti- cle from the Royal Instructions to be convinced of this :—

" Trnllt, You are to communicate to our said Ex- ecutive Council such and so many of these odr Instruc- tions wherein their advice end consent are mentioned to be requisite. and likewise all such others. from time to lists, as you sltull /lad convenient for our srrcice to be irapurud to thaw."

Ilere we see that the Royal Instructions were to be a sealed hook, even to the Executive Council; that. in fact, the Governor was wholly independent of hie Council, end might or might not make their advice the governing motive of hie conduct. just as he pleased. And whet was the consequence.’ It gave rise to cliques. and back stairs influence; and the Executive Council were astonished to find that their advice was only asked to he rejected. Houses of Assembly per- ccived that Acts which had been carefully considered end deliberately passed, were refused the Royal sanction; end that, in fact. instead of a beneficial accordance between the Governors end the governed. a destructive antagonism was maintained. the conse- quences of which were, ruin to the Colonies, end the creation of a discontent that would have inevitably led to rebellion. It wee in order to remed these de- fects, that Responsible or Self Government wee intro- duced; that instead of the Governor being. an hereto. fore, responsible for every thing that should take place, he wee to be held harmless, provided he noted by the advice of hie Executive Council. And of whom wee this Executive Council to consist 2 Not, as was formerly the case, of the personal favorites of the Governor. end their relations end connections. but, as in the mother country. oi‘ the Representatives of the Peoplo—-or, rather. of the nominees of the Rs- presentetives of the People who have the majority in Parliament. Prornthie period, ell clique-—all cabal —all intrigue—all back-stairs influence wee to be at an end. The functions of the Governor under the old regime were transferred to this now for the that time properly designated Executive Council. The members of this body were to consult and deliberate upon what was for the good of the Colony, and they were to concoct the measures necessary to be adopted as the result of such deliberation; and when agreed upon. to be communicated to the Governor-—in case he was not present at the diecnseiori—whoee earns was to be used as a matter of coarse. Whatever his private opinion might lgo. was of no consequence; the people were from henceforth to govern themselves; end provided nothing was attempted that was sub- versive of that loyalty or dependence upon the Me- ther Country which ‘it was equally the duty of the Council end the Governor to maintain intact. he had constitutionally no right to refuse hie assent. Nor is there in this any ,thiog humiliating or derogatory to the authority of the Representative of the Crown, or subversive of that legitimate influence which a person invested with a dignity so greet ought, end will always exercise. If the Governor be a person of sound sense, clear intellect. and superior to intrigue or to the making himself the leader of a faction. instead of proudly sustaining the port oi the heed ol’ the Govern- ment; In a word, if he show that the wollhro of the colony over which he presides ls hh only eqssr, lilo

HASZAl‘lD'vS GKZETTE, MAY 17.

suggestions will he lbtesed to with attention, and a deference paid to hie wishen~ia ell cases where it can be accorded without material injury to that line of conduct which the Council have determined upon as best adapted to the circumstances and necessities of the Colonies.

There 'I little fear that such a man will have to encounter any very decided opposition to hie wishes, I'or,gronnded upon a sincere desire that hie adminis- tration shall reflect credit upon himself, he will take especial care to keep within the line of constitutional duty. Forced upon hlrri as are his advisers without whose concurrence he can, as he is well aware. do nothing, and whose policy will in ell probability he the very reverse of that of their predecessors. he will take an early opportunity, end continue to avail him- self of ell such as may occur of winning their confi- dence snd making them sensible that it is through their assistance and by their advice, and theirs alone. that his Government will in future be regulated; and that he may the more efl'ectually accomplish these ell important objects, he will be sedolously careful of any correspondence or connection with their predo- oessors in oflice. While he treats them in public with that politeness and urbanity .which is their due, he will repudiate and reject. with marked scorn and contempt, any attempt in private to influence hie con- duct by otfering advice to which he must be sensible he hris no right to listen. and which the presuming to offer is it marked insult, as implying that lie is week enough. or wicked enough to be seduced from the plain path of duty prescribed to him by the conetitu- tio

Should any emergency such as the present occur, hie course of action is plain : he submits the matter to hie Council—and this not of choice, but of neces- sity—and is guided by their ndvice. Unless he might choose--as we think he ought to have done, in this instance. when the copy of the petition was presented to hini—to reply :—-" Wlint you ask me to do is be- yond iuy power. I have no right to dissolve the As- sembly, without the advice of my Executive Council; and of obtaining that I can have no hopes; nor would I think myself warranted in proposing the subject.- for this would be. in efl'ect, seeking to rid myself of those wheni the Constitution has invested with the power of governing the Island no long as they shall continue to uiaintain a majorit in Pnrliarrient;—I am but the organ of theGcvernment.they the moving springs. I conceive it also to be unconstitutional for the people to petition for the dissolution ofthc Assem- bly because it is possible that some of tlio represents tives of iv hicli it is composed have violated the pledges they made on the hustings;—this is a contingency to which they are always liable, and for which the remedy is in their own hands when tlisse parties pre- sent themselves again on the hustings. Were I to dissolve the whole body on that account. I alionld be punishing the many for the faults of the few. Never- tlteluas, if you persist in your wish to hnvee categori- cal answer, I will submit the prayer of your petition to the consideration of my constltutlonal advlnsrs, by g whose advice I altnll be governed; for so long as they ; continue sucli. no long am I to be governed by their , advice-- for the consequences of which they are responsible, and not I. Were I to not as you wish, ’ Responsible Government would be at an end. and I , should be talting upon myself to dismiss those from my Councile whom the instructions of my Sovereign have placed there as securities that the liberties of the 3 people shall be kept inviolnte.-—And with whom urn 3 I to replace them ? With persons lnken from the minority of the Assembly .’—from those who Iiuvc appeared as the leaders of this movement and the promoters of thin petition.’ Surely not. Again hey I will be governed by the advice only of those who have a right to ofl'er it.‘’- Art answer similar to thin would have been constitutional. and would have shown the impossibility ofgranting the request; for if his Excellency, by assuming to himself a privilege of acting separate and apart from his Council, give them a just ground of separating from him, with whom is he to replace them .’—or is he to continue to govern without a Council ?-i—for if he can dispense with their services on the most important occasion. he may surely do without them in the minor ones. But, in truth. in which ever way the subject is considered, it involves itself into the rrduclio ad ubsurdum. Ilut what becomes—-it may be_asked—-of the Governor's Commission and the Royal Instructions. which has always been considered as the Constitution of the Colony 2 The answer is plain : in so far as they are repugnant to the new system of Self Government, they are a dead letter; and where not so, the powers of the Governor are transferred to the~Governor and the Executive Council jointly, in the exercise of which neither can act without the concurrence of the other.

Since the above was in print, we find that Hie Excellency acte under the Royal instructions given to Sir Charles Metcalfc, dated 24th February. I8-I8. They us not. as for no we can learn. very dissimi- lar; but we quot; from the latter the following :—

" And we do hereby ive and grant unto you, the said Sir Charles Motcal 9, further power and autho- rity, by and with Mr udoics and consent of said Executive Council, from time to time. as need shall require. to summon and call General Assemblies of the Proeholdsrs and others within the said Island under your Government. in such manner and form as has been already appointed and used, or according to such further powers. instructions and authorities as shall st any time hereeller be granted and appointed you under our signet and sign manual." Now it needs no great knowledge of law to at once perceive, that if the Liout. Governor cannot issue write for the calling of General Assemblies without the advice and consent of the Executive Council, so neither cenihe dissolve them; for it is a rule. not only of common kw, but of corntnou sense, thetit requires the seine authority to ualocee as it does to bind; but in order to make the matter more certain, the words " as aforesaid" at the end of the paragraph above quoted are introduced. as qualifying the words " as you shall judge it necessary." and evidently can

. going too far, to say, that in a few years, it will be

have no other reference thin to IR preceding words. in port‘ rnumiu, vix.. the summoning or callingof the General Assembly. The more the matter is con- sidered. the more certain is it that the advice and consent of the Executive Council are necemsry on all acts of State.

WI: give in thi day's issue, Lt. IIauray's letter on the fitness of the bed of the Ocean, for laying a'I‘ele- graphic Wire from Nevrlhundlsnd or the Coast of Labrador to Ireland. Tlw practicability of laying down a wire of I000 inilhs and upwards in length. has been assured by the New York, Newfoundland and London Electric Telegraph Company, and they are prepared they say. to carry this ntupeuduoue project into execution. .

Should they succeod,—-and we fervently prey they mny—it will tend materially to the advancement of the Inland. Indepeuderitly of the local advantages that will accrue to the inhabitants in a commercial view, by being placed. within a few minutes. com- munication with Europe, Newfoundland, the United States and the surrounding Colonies. the Island will be placed in the highway of intelligence, and Public attention will be drawn to it. from this circumstance alone. All, in fact that is wanting to attract an emigration to its shores. of men with moderate copi- tals, and families neither afraid or ashamed to work, is a knowledge of the natural fertility of its soil, and the capability of rendering it as productive or more so than any other of the North American Colo- nies. To those in the Mother Country, who may be induced or compelled to emigrate. we can hardly conceive a greater inducement to prefer Prince Edward Island, than the fact of being able to communicate every species of intelligence from both shores of the Atlantic. that may be acceptable to those on either, and receive an assurance it may be within eight and forty hours or less. from the extremities of each kingdom. Should the war now just begun in Europe,

unfortunately continue, the advantages that will M.

accrue to all who are within the line of communi- cation, will be immense. The Company have hitherto laboured under difliculties. which are now, we hear, happily surmounted; and. we trust, that a project so inagnilicent, no excelling in magnitude and importance, any thing that the world's history contains, will be brought toa favorable issue, and alI'ord the undertaken a commensurate remuneration.

We would remind our readers, especially those who favor the march of Temperance principles, that the Tea Party in furtherance of the good cause, comes ofl' on Friday evening next. Whatever difl'er- once of opinion may exist as regards the panning of a compulsory Act, the Maine Liquor Law for instance, all are agreed as to the propriety ofemploying moral l auaeion, as a means towards this desirable and. Much good has been. and more, we trust, will conti- nue to be efl'scted. by sending learned lecturers through the Country; for though they may make little or no progress uniting the old’, they are of the utmost importance to the rising generation. It is to the lost. indeed, that we must .loolr, and if we can instil into their minds, a wholesome and rational dread of the evils of drunkenness, and the miseries it is sure to entail on its victims; the day is not far distant. when a confirmed drnnkard will not be to be seen in this Island. It is already a mark ofdisgrace to be addicted to this degrading vice, and it is not

considered as infamous. and those convicted , shunned accordingly. We anticipate a full house, and props- rations have, we understand, been made in a style worthy of the occasion.

To nix: Eoiron or HAez.ann’s Geznrrx.

Sir,-—A singular state of things is said to oxist at the resent time: We are said to have a. llesponsib c Government Constitution and n Governor, who is said to support that form of Government and yet is it rcullyo “ rent fact ” Sir. that this Governor is in daily ‘ommunicn- tion with a set of irresponsible men, who are intriguing to u tthe present Government? If this be not true, what means the continual the almost hourly interviews which the Governor

lit ,—a thctlon

com their selfish ends. _ , Charlottetown and speak up immediately» Md your voice will be board.

have

at St. Paula‘ Church, Charlottetown, by the Lord Bishop of Nova Sootia, on the afternoon. Md

o'clock, and at half past 4.

a day of Public Past and Humiliation, on account of

claration of War against the Emperor or all the Rus-

siuce from Cape Torrnentine. whither he has been, for the purpose of testing the submarine wire, which h reports, we are happy to say, as being in perfect working order.

8

Ieth, Unicorn, Grilliths, Pictoue gonie ; . llitli, Steamer

fill.‘

trig Tom ‘ and FLOWER SEEDS.

is holding with Sirahey, Coles, Young, (to. Six hours in any one day, can scarcely elapse without seeing one or other of these Gentr i “ In siege ” to him, after having “ laid wait ' y for liim for an hour or two on the ultra. Is , His Excellency to receive advice rom men whom the country have condemned as unt:runt- l worthy and who have become almost rabid to regain Ollicel What has become of our boasted 1 largo inqjoritly in the House of Assembl , is their litice influenootobecastasidel What are t 0 Executive Council about, or have we, one, that they will submit to such a violation‘ of our constitution. The Governor is asked to v dissolve the new House of Asseinlily with its, majority in support ofthr Grim.-runmtt of nearly two to one ; and who are the persons who IllI\'0 ’ the efl'rontery to mnko this I'0q|lSSI’r—SWtII)¢!y,l Coles. Wholan, Young, & 'o., the men wlio' have got II the Petition, with hundreds of unnthori neuron to it, to carry, if ssiblo, l their selfish and degrading purposes 0 rocur- N ing Selried Ollices for themselves. In t e Go-3 vernor to listen to these schemes and to treat the advice of his constitutional advisers with scorn? Can such things so, up every,‘ respectable and intelligent man in Charlotte-; town, and raise your voices loud against such a | dangerous and audacious violation of the rules 4 of Government I Should the Governor attempt to dissolve the 3 House lot there be a. public meeting of the: people of Charlottetown called iiumodiotely l and address not the Colonial Minister, but the ‘ Soverign hersclfniid pray for the imm iatel roots] of n Governor. who would act such a] treacherous and unconstitutional part. I Charlottetown the “ City of stagnation,” as l Mr. Young in his " eloquent" s b, has cell- 3 t (I now arouse itsel in defence o

t, shoul fisoonstltutloo. lot it boldly expose In hess

faction who are endeavouring to_deg_rede it, Illd tram le down that influence, which is due '0 Ill weal , in MD. who would not care to see it _ - , could they onl attain

ed villa etch the course 0 events,

Olflllll

Yours. to. tho. Iovnu,or Fain Paar. Wed not antici tetbet we shall he obl' to ursetosuc extreme ineaaares.—En. As- an.

rrrruiu-rroir.—A confirmation will be held

of Sunday, the 4th of June.

The Rev. John Knox will preach in Brudene“ Chapel, on Sabbath next the 21st of May, at 11

His Excellency the Liout. Governor has been pleas- ed to appoint Friday the 26th inst. to be observed as

Her Majuty having been compelled to resort to a De- sins.

Mu. l'Ian'i'i.r J. Gisnonrrx returned a few days

'I‘i-in Errousu Maxi. which arrived on Sands ‘ht, contained no particular News. e may loo r more exciting accounts by the next, due the latter and of next week.

Port of Charlottetown. annrvxn.

IS. Schr. Amcgent, Nicholson, liza, Budro, Boston: gen. car o. coal. Packet In- gram, Pictou; mails. (to. Amelia. Dclora, Anti-

Crapaud.

Wilmington, Boston. Empire, 'I'ignisli; pork and flour, dtc.

sarr.I:n. . 4, Solir. Betsey, Ilarston. Hnlifsx; produce Mayllower, Girroir, Crapaud. Wellington,

e an. I'iuette. 17th, Packet Ingram, Pictou; mails. doc. ENGLISH GARDEN SEEDS, Growth of 1853.

UST RECEIVED, at Apothecories Hall ez Peep- ' from Liverpool, a lot of Fresh Garden

T. DESBRISAY 8!. Co. March I6th. I854.

Pew in St. Paul's Church. FOR. SALE, a commondious PEW, on South Side of St. Paul's Church. A ply to JA IES PEAKE.

Charlottetown, Mny I6. Charlottetown Horticultural 80 IETY

HERE will be a GENERAL MEETING of the members of this Society, held at the Temperance Hall. on WIDNIIDAY next, the 2-tth innt.. at 4 o'clock. m., when the Public are requested to attend. ' he nccounts of the Society for the past year, will be submitted. The Secretary (Mr. Law-

son) will deliver an Address, admittance free.

By order J. I‘AWSON, Sec‘y.

Mny lg. I854.

Steam Packet Notice.

HE Subscriber is Agent for the Saint John and Westmorelnnd Steam Navigation Company’s Iloate at the Bend. An parties wishing to have oods forwarded to or liom arts in the GulfSr. nwronce and Prince Edward slnnd, will be attend- ed to by sending their instructions. It is intended to put a sailing Packet during the ensuing summer on the route between Shodiao and Mirarnichi, of which