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Mr. Mucintosh. 1 am 6f opinion that this question! can afford, out oftheimown pockets, erent expenses) should not have originated with us, It Is ome upon | censequent upon the occupying of Sigg me e eo which we ouglit not to take action, until called upon to I shali, therefore, support the motion, t ae - ost do so, either by petitions from the people, or by a repre- cellency should have the Whole.scope of the isiand to sentation from the Legislative Council themselves. ‘That, choose from. , the people do not require it, is manifest from their never] Dr. Conroy. When I call to mind the complaints,

gy either petitiones A a any of their representatives, indivi-| against the legislative body at the other end of the build- dually, to move for it in the House. And, that the con-| ing, on occasions of their opposing the views of the As- templated pay is undesired by the Council, we may very | sembly ; [ am surprised at the opposition offered ta the fairly conclude, from the fact that they. have never, in| measure contemplated by the resolution now before the

any Way, intimnated.theit desire for it. { shall, therefore, | committee. ‘The frequent opposition of the Legislative ‘vote against the resolution ; and continue to oppose the Council to measures, approved of and recommended by Sutroduction or progress of any such measure, until I) this House, arises, in all probability, from the members shall be instructed to purstie a contrary course by my) of that body not residing in the country, and their con- constituents. ay sequent ignorance of its local requirements. It is noto- Mr. Le Lacheur, 1 will be very brief in my remarks. | rious that, when they have interfered with our appropria- {t does not require the eye of Argus to discover the real | tions—which at times they have unwarrantably done— motives for the introduction of this resolution at the! the country has loudly complained, I admire what has resent time. fn my opinion, unsettled as is the present| fallen from the hon. member, Mr. Whelan. He has vtate of the political atmosphere, the Council ougiit to/spoken fairly and manfully; and not like some who he left in statu quo, The proposed measure might be|seem afraid to do so,and who only .snarl instead of productive of good, if introduced at a proper time, and speaking out, though, at other times, they are sufficiently then followed up in a proper manner; but [ very much! quent, so far as it.respects words, however little sense doubt the sincerity of the parties advocating its expe-|they may convey. The making of laws should. be en- diency at the present moment. [ think I can perceive; 'trusted only to men who can perceive the necessity that an admission ofthe principle is all that they require| which exists for their enactment. [ contend, Sir, that of us just now. But, let us grant so much, and who can| gentlemen, not many years resident in this country, and gay where the application of it will stop? A little and) who have passed that time in Charlottetown, or its im- a little will be obtained, tillthe whole barrier be thrown} mediate neighbourhood, are not likely to be well ac- down, and provision be made for the payment of the | quainted with the wants of distant parts of the Island; whole Council, be they chosen from whatever part of| neither canthey be competent judges of the motives by the Island they may. [tis a proposition to introduce a| which we may be influenced in the making of genera! system that does not obtain elsewhere: it is suddenly Jaws, If the House refuse to pay the Country members Yrought on, and I do not feel at liberty to support So their expenses—the payment of whiclris all that is con- important 4 measure without the express approbation of templated—we cannot’ expect tlieir services. Mr. my constituents. If{ knew that they approved of it, 1 Whelan’ has said, that if it be right that some of the might waive my own individual objections ; but, aS) members should be psid,-all should be. paid, and that, as things are, 1 shall give it my decided opposition. “lin this House, no distinction—oa that score, should be Mr. Clark. 1 do not approve of voting money out of nade between those who reside imor near to the Town, ihe people’s pockets, without asking their consent. Nand those who reside in the country. With this view this respect,'f cordially agree with what has fallen from of the question I cannot agree ; because those in affluent the hon. member for King’s County (Mr. Le Lacheur);!circumstances may be willing to serve the country and, besides, [ am very far from being convinced that, if) solely for the sake of the honor it confers, and as.a means the principle be brought to bear, it will have the effect of filing up their leisure in a pleasant, way; to which of bringing together a selection of members preferable to| end, they may, sometimes, be seen coming down to the those who now constitute the Legislative Council. 1) House to enquire what we are doing, or to talk about our care not where members of the Council reside, so long homespun dresses; after which they can go to prayers, a$ they have the interests of the Colony at heart. Tam! read the journal of the previous day, and then adjourn not convinced of the policy of the measure; and shall,!ti1{ the following. A- properly constituted Legislative} therefore, oppose it. {Council ought to consist of men possessing sterling Mr. Whelan. 1 am not prepared to support the motion,' stake in the country, and not of such as, like birds of because, on many accounts, I think it unnecessary and passage, are here to-day and gone yesterday, as Paddy uncalled for. 1 would oppose it for two reasons, if for! says; but who are bound up with the best interests of

1 the House in favour of such a, whieh have.frequenitly been loudly nttered in this tlouse;}

no other. First, because the members of the Legisla- tive Council are content to perform the duties of their office without pay; as is evident from a consideration of the fact, that they have never made any complaint or representation to this House, intimating a desire for it:! and, secondly, because the resolution contemplates an unfair application of the principle it embodies, having for its object the provision of legislative payment for

reside at 20 miles, or upwards, from Charlottetown, whilst such of them whose homes may be 15, 16, or 19 iniles distant from the seat of legislation, are to be re-! garded as without the pale of the measure. I think the! hon. mover might, with sufficient consistency on his part, have brought the whole of the Legislative Council within the scope of his resolution; for, in my opinion, it would be quite as unfair to pay a part of them and not the whole, as it would be to draw a line of distinction between such members of this House as reside in the Country, and such of them as reside in Town, assigning pay to the former «nd withholding it from the latter. But it has been said, by the advocates of the resolution, that those Legislative Councillors who live in the vici- nity of Charlottetown, are gentlemen possessing consi- derable private fortunes; and, that, therefore, they would uot condescend to receive any remuneration, at our hands, for their legislative services. This, Sir, I con-

tend, is most absurd reasoning: it is a mere begging of;

the question. The time of gentlemen of independent means, may, in their own estimation, be quite as valu- able, as those in more limited circumstances may hold theirs to be. Besides, I think, the contemplated measure, if passed here, is one which would be unfavourably re- ceived by the Home Government; and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why it is now introduced, unless { may be allowed to suppose that the supporters of it hope, by carrying it, ultimately to strengthen their party by securing a concurrence in their views in another branch of the legislature. I know of none amongst the

n of leg! F ‘as, independent of pay,there are other considerations suf- such members of the Legislative Council only as may (ficient to induce them toset considerable value upon their

‘to the control of the people, but can retain their seats,

the Colony, its soil and agriculture. It has been stated that the Hon. Mr. Warburton and others declined be- coming members on account of the expense. ‘I'he state- ment, I believe, is fact; and, trite as the saying is, that facts are subborn things, it ought to influence our votes upon this question. I think that such Legislative Coun- cillors as reside in cr near ‘Town, ought not to be paid ;

seats; one of which is, that they are not like us, subject

whether the popular voice be with them or against them. I shall give the resolution my firm support, believing, as I do, that the amount ofthe provision required is no- thing in comparison with the advantages which would result from the change it would be the means of effecting.

(To be continued.) ;

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1848.

at pp Re agg om a a tn pn na — ee —

{from our Supplement of Tuesday: ]

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES.

On Friday evening (18th inst), Mr. Palmer,—from the Committee appointed to search for precedents, confirma- tory of the declaration of the House vacating Mr. War- burton’s seat inthe Assembly,on account of his provisional appointment toa seat in the Executive Council—present- ed their Report, which was received, and, afterwards ireferred toa Committee of Privileges, consisting of the whole House.—-This Repart is of very considerable length, and, comprises a number of citations, of cases— supvosed, by the reporting committee, to be similar to that of Mr. Warburton—selected from records of parlia- mentary decisions,&c,, and fram such authorities as treat of the rights and privileges of the House of Commons, The cases adduced as precedents in the Report, we, neverthe-

Legislative Councillors, who have threatened to resign their seats because they receive no pay, and there never have been, before the Assembly, any statements from the other House themselves, suggesting such a provision, or petitions ftom the country, praying for such a mea- sure’; F shall, therefore. give the resolution my decided op sition. :

{r. V. Conroy knew several individuals who had

[ess, maintain do not, even in a single feature, resemble ‘that in question, They, indeed, shew that the House of |Commons haye long claimed and exercised a right to be the sole judges of their owa elections and returns, as jwell as of every thing affecting their own peculiar and ‘constitutional privileges. ‘They do not, however, de- monstrate their infallibility—they do not prove that they can do no wrong.” And, had our “ constitutional law-

declined seats in the Legis!ative Council! on account of yers” pursued their investigation a little further, we the expense. -The hon. Mr. Warburton, for one, had.|opine, they would have fonnd it fully adinitted, that the he believed, done so; and, ifhe could not afford to ac-| House of Commons not only may, by possibility, abuse cept a seat, lie knew not who could. have also, (pur-/their privileges, but that, in many instances, they have sued the hott. member,) heard that Mr. McGowan and/ exercised them most unconstitutionally, for the subver- Mr. Green" both xeused themselves'‘on the same ac-'sion ofthe rights and liberties of the people; and what,

ne ae emcee te

scfibes, they would also haye made the discovery, that the Royal Prerogative can. be promptly brought into action. for the -correction of an abuse of parliamentary privilege—and “that, not.anly as respects the House of Commons, bet as respects every Colonial House of Ag- sembly in the empire.-~T'rne it is, as was asserted b the Speaker, the House of Commons, as likewise any Colonial House of Assembly, have it in their power, by a majority of their votes, to expel a member either for any fault or no fault atall. Yes, as the Speaker ob. served, théy may, if they choose, expel a member for no other reason than because the majority of the House.are of opinion that he has * an ugly face,”.or—as strictly pur- suing his own elucidation of the subject—because they entertain a decided dislike to his political features or character. This, the Speaker's last supposition of ab- surd and unjustifiable causes of expulsion from the popular branch ofa British Legislature, comes very near, we cannot but observe, to a confession— which might-be made by the Speiker of a certain House of Assembly, ina Colony not a thousand miles distant from the cele brated Island of Lillipat—of certain aets of political guilt perpetrated by himself and his fen aids ; and forci- bly reminds us of the veritable saying, that “ truth always sits upon the lips, and is ever ready to fly off before we are aware.” Jt may be dangerous to say s0; but we cannot, for the life of us, help thinking that a knowledge of the political features of the hon. gentlemen, Messrs. Coles and Warburton, may have had more to do with their expulsion from the Assembly, than any considera- tion of, or regard for, the liberties and privileges of the people. This, however, we are not only bold to assert, but well-prepared to maintain: The unrr-arian majority of the Assembly, whilst pretending to be solely governed by a tender regard for the Constitution, and an anxious concern for the rights of the people, bave partially dis- franchised, by their mest questionable decisions, two constituencies of the Colony. In endeavouring to free himself and his pack from the odium cast upon them by this ‘accusation, the Speaker, according to his usual mode of finesse, endeavours to put the public upon the wrong scent. He admits the fact of the present partial disfranchisement of two Electoral Districts, but denies that he and his majority—“Cesar and his Sennte”—have, in‘any way contributed tothe wrong. According to his version ofthe origin and existence of the wrong, ex- Governor’ Huntley was the eccouckeur who brought it to the light; and His Excellency Sir Donald Campbell, unhappily for himself, and still-‘more unhappily for the Assembly, has, by his tender treatment of the evil, pro- longed its existence, having, unfortunately, but perhaps naturally, taken up and acted upon the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown, supported by a majority of his constitutional advisers. Warily as Mr. Pope has pronounced this condemnation of Sir Donald, dull in-. deed must be-the perception of that man, who cannot see that the Parliamentary Oligarchythe scions and. tools of the old Family Compact—are preparing, in the event of a strict preservation of independence anda con- scientions regard for constitutional Jandmarks,on the part of His Excellency, to denounce him before the country, and throw down to him the gauntlet of defiance, as they did to his immediate predecessor.---As we have already hinted, we are aware of the danger we should incur, by attributing any thing like improper motives to the ram- pant and ruling party in the Assembly ; and, therefore, in entering upon, and prosecuting our enquities touching the political wrong or grievance which now affects, not only two constittiencies, bat, in fact, all the constituen- cies in the Colony—we shall set before our eyes, and constantly keep in view, the punishment which may be inflicted upon any rash and venturesome wight who, by means of toocensorious a pen, may be guilty of a breach

‘lof parliamentary privileges. é.

A few words more, and for the present we will drop this subject. We candidly adnnt that’ the House of Commons, and even its Lilliputian resemblance, the Assembly of Prince Edward Island, may, by, an indis- creet exercise of their privileges, arrive at, andact upon conclusions to the abasement and subversion of all the powers of reason, law, and justice, Their resolutions and their acts may exhibit more of malice than integri- ty: and, a8 was shewn by the Speaker himself, he and two other members of the Assembly might, during a le- gislative vacation, vacate the seats of every member op- posed to them—provided they could find a Governor. admitting with them that his functions are. merely mwn-. isterial and not judicial, and ever ready to obey their mandatory notices. But to.imagine that such a Gover- por todld be found, would amount to the belief, that the selection of men to be appointed Governors of British Colonies, is 6ccasionally made from aniongst the most afflicted inmates of Lunatic Asylums; whereas, we are certain that—although' very serious mistakes have oc- curred with respect to the character and abilities of men to whom has been entrusted the administration of Government in some ofthe British Colonies—the Impe- rial Government, at the present time, are especially careful to entrust the promotion of the well-being and prosperity of the Colonies, to none but men of prudence, understanding and wisdo. : and such a one, we trust, has, for a time, been ap),sinted to rule over us in the person of Sir Donald Campbell. Seemingly admitting, with us, the power and privileges of the House of Com- mons and Houses of Assembly, to the most extravagant extent ever claimed or exercised by them; His Excel- lency--as his acts make it evident--is decided] of opinion,

count; and, in fact, L know none in the Country who! we think, would Nave surprised these precedent-secking

as we are ourselves, that, thdugh the Assembly may, af