AND 8

ESW SBRIzy.

DESPATCH ON THE QUESTIONS OF THE CIVIL LIST AND RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. Tax following is the Despatch referred to in our Paper of Wednesday Jast, a3 being neither a denial nor con-

cession of the system of Responsible Government. ‘No. 93.) Downine Street, 27th Decemher, 1849. Sir;

Her Majesty’s Government have now had for some months under their serious consideration the subjects of your recent Despaiches, No, 21, of 4th May iast, en- closing a Bill to provide for the payment of the Civil Kstablishment of the current year, and an Address from the House of Asseinbly to the Queen, proposing certain coaditions on which that Body expresses its willlugness to make peramiment provision for the same object—No. 23, of iG May, and No. 50, of 18th September, en- closing Memorials from several geatlemea whose official salaries are ailected by the Bill.

2. Pending tne furtner discussion of the great ques-

THIS IS TRUE LIBERTY WHEN FREE-BORN MEN

CHARLOTTETOWN, MARCH 9, 1850.

| Her Majesty’s Government to surrender the Crown | Revenues, unless the Chief Justice’s present salary be secured to him by permanent law, so long as he shall continue in office, or unless some arrangemest salis- factory to hunself should be made respecting a retiring pension.

10. With respect to the other gentlemen whnse emo- luments have been hitherto partly derived from the Par- llamentary vote, namely, the Attorney General, the Co- lonial Secretary and Registrar of Deeds, the Surveyor General, and the Prothonotary and Clerk of the Crown, I feel some difficulty in giving you positive directions as to the extent to which you are to consider their clanns on the Crown Revenues, (that is the claims of the existing holders of those offices) as forming a necessary part of the compact. each individual to a continuance of the present emolu- ments of his office, will be much affected by the greater or less length of the period for which he may have held it; and by the circumstance of his having sacrificed any other advantages, profession or occupation, for the pur- pose of vecepting it, or otherwise.

tions involved ia that Address, | nave advised Her Ma- jesty to conlirm this Act, and an Order in Council lor, that purpose will accordingly be transmitted to you on tue first opportunity.

3. With respect to the Crown Revenues, Wer Majes- ty's Government is prepared to surrender the Revenues | derives from the Spirit Vuties, and sale of Crown Lands, and the Quit Rents when they revert to the Crown, to the contruul of ie Legislature, on the reservation, by permanent law, of a Civil List, to ensure the due per- formance of certain pudiic services,

4. As the salary of the Lieutenant Governor is at present discharged out of the Parliamentary vote, and | Rave no reason tu suppose that Parliament is likely to withdraw that provision, Her Majesty's Government do not consider it necessary to place it as a part of tie per-

. ~ 4 also to 5e derived from other sources’ thin the Purlia-

respective cases than | possess; | can scarcely give you positive directions respecting them. leave the adjustment of details respecting them, in the Civil List Compact, lO your own discretion.

12. | tust, however, except from these directions the salary of the Provost Marshal—that office being a sinecure, the maintenance of the salary canuot be pro- perly made a teria of the intended co upact, in opposition to tha wisaes of the Assembly.

13. Waen these questions are settled, Her Majesty’s Government will be prepired to surrender the Crown Revenue io the Colomal Legislature. Nor does it seem necessary that an arrangemeut ta:de for this purpose,

manent clhurges to be burne upon the Civil List, if the Legislature is willlug in other respects to provide ade- quately for the necessary services, and to preserve the iatecests of present holdegs of office Lo the extent which { shall presently point out.

5. There is, however, a sum of £130 which has hitherto been paid by the linpernal Governinent towards the Lieutenant Governors contingent expenses, and | which is now discontinued from the estimate. Although | 1 regret that the Legislature should, in their recent Act, have evinced no disposition to supply the loss of this sun, yet f do not consider that its retention ought to be made a condition of the compact between the Crown and the Assembly.

6. Prospectively therefore, and after vacancies in the efices now held by officers litherto paid partly or wholly from Imperial funds, 1 do not consider it necessary that any items should be placed on the Civil List beyond those which are necessary for the administration of jus- tice; of which the principal, and perhaps the only one, t# the salary of the Chief Justice of the Island.

7. The amount of this proposed permanent Civil List, Her Majesty’s Government are prepared toleave wholly to the discretion of the Legislature. ‘T'hey consider the. question of the salary to be attached to any particular etlice under your Government, paid from Colonial funds, a3 one which belongs exclusively to that Body in the stage now reached by the community of Prince Edward Island.

8. My own opinion indeed, founded on observation ef the progress of such rising communities, is, that in many instances a very extensive reduction of salaries wa false economy. its tendency is to cause offices of

| should be abanduned because the establishment of what

is terined * Responsible Government” dves not take place at the same time.

14. | propose for the present to advise Her Majesty to decline complying with the prayer of the Address of the Assembly of tad 17th March last, that the system in question may be brougut into immediate operation in Prince Hdward island. { fetain the opinion, the grounds of which were fully expressed in my Desputeh of Ist January last—nameiy, that the Colony has not yet reached that stage ip its progress which renders it pos- sible that such a scheme of Government can be advan- tageous'y established,

15, But even were this otherwise, it would evidently be premature for Her Majesty to pledge herself to sanction the various chinges which its establishment would invelve, until the Legislature should have con- sidered the case of those officers whose position would be atfected by ut, and the provision which oughtgp be made for existing interests. It appears to me essential that the necessary arrangements for this purpose should be effected beforehand, and should not be left, after the pledge has been given and cannot be recalled, to charze, and to the opinions which may prevail in a Body so fluctuating as a popular Legislature. For with all con- fidence in the intentions of the present Assembly, it is impossible to anticipate, on such subjects, the views which may influence a new one.

16. On this point indeed the language of the Address is not perfectly clear to me. It states (in the terms of the Address of 1847) that owing to the limited resources of the Colony, and its inability to bear the expense of Pensigns, the prayer of the House is, “ That such a

importance to be tilled by men incapable of performing their duties, and work il! executed is ultimately found to be the most costly. But this is an opinion only, sub- ject to modification according to the exigencies of times and circumstances, and one which I can have no wish to impose, contrary to their judgment, on the Legislature.

9. But Her Majesty’s Government feel it their duty not to assent to any terms which sha!l inyolve substan- tial injury to existing holders of office. The case of the Chief Justice appears to them to be one in which they are bound to recognize a strong subsisting claim ea the Crown Revenues; a claim which it is impossible in justice to disregard. That Gentleman has been for more than twenty years in the public service: he states that he has recently surrendered £100 a year for the furtherance of a measure for the better administration ef justice in the Island. And independently of these peculiar claims to consideration, he has for many years been maintained in the receipt of the present salary from Parliamentary sources, and has therefore had every reagon, short of an actual pledye of the public faith, to

“ system of Departmental Governinent as would involve “the resignation ef the offices of Treasurer, Colonial! “ Secretary, Attorney General and Surveyor General, “on their being left in a minority in the Executive “Council, should not be extended to us, but that it * should at all times be the duty of such public officers, “if forming part of the Provincial Administration, to “ give a constitutional support to the measures of Go- “ vernment.” :

17. But the officers in question cannot be compelled to take part, as Councillors, in measures of which they and the party to which they may have hitherto attached themselves, disapprove. Such compulsion, besides its injustice, would be the certain way of impeding and neutralizing the measures themselves. I conclude therefore that it is meant that they should retain their offices, but cease to be members of the Executive Council. This, on the other hand, would deprive that Body of much of its efficiency, ite utility to the Governor, and its title to public respect.

18. I cannot, therefore, think that the scheme, as now

*rpect its continuance. It is therefore impossible for

~~ saneengmeme rts: ane ma atte nm A TET

propounded, ia ripe for adoption. In the meantime it

ES CANE UR SEB VEE LE es IZ

It is obvious, that the claims of

Lf. A large part of their official emoluments appears | inentary vote, and, without a fuller knowledve of their |

1 must therefore |

he Examiner.

EMI-WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.

—HAVING 'TO ADVISE THE PUBLIC—MAY SPEAK FREE.”—Minton’s Eoniripep

WOs. 2.-W9. 12.

regen. - »

appeared to me, that Prince Edward Island, although Without that which is now usually understood by the term Responsible Government, has practically enjoyed of late years all the advantages which that system 18 intended to secure. fF wonid repeat what I stated te the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, at the outset of the arrangement for the change of Government in that Colony :—* It cannot be too distinetly acknow- “ ledged that it is neither possible nor desirable te , carry on the Government of any of the British Pro- ‘vinces in North America in opposition to the opinion ‘of the inhabitants.” The people of Prinee Edward ‘sland are entitled to this weknowledgment, ag much / as those of the other Provinces. The question is one of means only, nut of the end. The Island is now go- verned by a Legislature, of which one Branch is freely elected by the great body of the People, and the Exe- cutive powers are placed in the hands of the Lieutenant ' Governor, who knows that he should conduet his Go- _verninent in accordance with the principles above laid / down, that is, in such manner as to meet, as far as pos- sible, the.wishes of the community.

19. The Lieutenant Governor ts assisted alse in the performance of his duties by ventleinen selected from those of the inhabitants of the Colony who were con- sidered to be the most expible of performing with advantage to the public the duties of their several | Offices; nor is there any objection to confer-ing these offices as they fall vacant, on Members 6f the Assem- bly, though it seems desirable, in the present state of society, that those to wnom a share in the Executive | Government is thus entrusted, should cease to hold i seats in the Legislature,

20. This system of Administration, honestly and faithfully carried into effect, must give to the Colony all the practical advantages of self-government, as completely as if it were reqgitired that the prineipal offices of the Executive Government should be held by Members of the Legislature possessing the confidence of the majority of the Assembly. Indeed | must observe, in passing, that the inion of Executive duties with the character ofa Member of the Leyislatare is not enly not required, but is generally prohidited by the Consti- ‘tutions of the States of the American Union, in which | the principle of self government is supposed to be car- tied to the utmost, and if the people of the Island require security for the future, they could not find a stronger one than in the total absence of interest, as well as of any other motive, on the part of the Imperial Government, to render the administration of their affairs otherwise than acceptable to themselves. The connee- tion between the Colony and ihe Parent State, is one which it is among the highest objects of Her Majesty’s Government to maintain, but so fir only as it is con- ducive to the mutual! interest and matnal satisfaction of both.. In the present state of political society,and with the free Institutions which now prevail inthe Mother Country and Colony alike, mutual! goodwill can consti- tute the only real tie between them.

I am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, GREY,

Lieutenant Governor Sin Donatv Campsect, Bart.

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.

Wepnespay, March 6, 1850.

Distrisution or Cories or tus Journars.—On the motion of Mr. Coles, it was agreed nem. con, that, in addition to the distribution of copies of the Journals authorized by former Houses, there should be one sent to each of the Public Offices, and also one to each of the Deputy Clerks of the Crown for King’s and Prince Counties, as well as to the Clerk of the Crown and Pro- thonotary in Charlottetown. Mr. Havinanp signified his approbation of the motion, especially as it concerned the Law Courts; observing that the Journals might fre- quently be referred to therein as affording material legal evidence. :

Newsparers FoR THE Ilousr.—A_ consideration, suggested by Mr. Monteomery, as to whether or not each of the members ought to be allowed, at, the publie ‘expense, during each Session of the House, weekly copies of the several Newspapers published in Charlotte- town, was replied to by Mr. Lord and Mr. Coles; the former of whom observed that if honorable members were desirous of perusing all our public journals, they ought (as he would do if actuated by a simglar curiosity) to put their hands into their own pockets, and pay for the papers; the latter gentleman remarking that one

essential anc prominent feature of the new order of Le-