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in the Executive Council of this Colony, and that as anecessary consequence, they are under the nece- sity of refusing the Supplies until the Government of this Island shall be remodelled, so as to enjoy the con- fidence ef the people ; and that the moneys which shall in future be taken from the people shall be expended judiciously and for their benefit, or in other words, until the people of this Colony obtain what is usually termed Responsible Government. :

Mr. Le Lacueur, in seconding the motion, observed that the course indicated by the Resolution just sub- mitted, had been duly considered, and was not recom-) mended in accordance with the mere impulsive feelings of the moment. The hon. member then gave a short historical account of the original settlement of this Colony by the British Government, in which he pointed out the importance of its retention by Groat Britain,— styling it a Gibraltar in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and alluding te the reservations, in the Original Grants, of sites for the erection of fortresses. He next alluded to the concession of a separate Government to the Colony, that the condition upon which that concession had been made, in compliance with a Petition of the Proprietors to the Crown, was that the Proprietors should pay the Civil List. But this obligation, like others contained in the Original Grants, they had found means to evade ; and since the Imperial Government had told the people of the Colony that they were full-grown and that it was time for them to be divested of their swaddling clothes ——the almost entire burthen of the Civil List, with the exception of the Tax of four shillings per hundred acres imposed on the Wilderness Lands of the Proprietors, was to be thrown upon the impoverished and struggling tenantry. That the Colony was full-grown, the People, however, were most willing to admit, and were also fully prepared to bear their own burthens, provided like the people of the neighbouring Provinces, they were allowed to regulate their own internal affairs as they should think best, to proportion their burthens to their strength and choose their own Public Officers, whose Salaries they had to pay. It had been said that Prince Edward Island was greatly behind the other British North American Colonies, not only as respects the general prosperity of the Colony, but with regard to the intelligence or rather educational attainments of the people. If that were true—and.gorry was he to feel obliged to admit that it was almost literally so—to what original cause could the present unenviable and melan- choly position of the Colony be traced, but to the

a ree inating eal nen nae one a

domination of men who, regarding themselves as the Jords of the soil, had presumed to treat others with|

supreme contempt, and visit them with every species of wrong and oppression in their power? ‘To what was it owing but to the position, privileges, honours,and emolu- ments, exclusively enjoyed, and wontonly abused, ty a certain class, who, if not petitioners for daily eleemosy- nary bounty, were no better than annual beggars; and who were besides, so far from being ashamed of their de- pendence upon public bounty, that they eagerly sought to secure licencieg in perpetuity to their families, to Jive as annual public beggars to the end of time? By the tyrannic rule of such men, the spirit of the people had been crushed; but the time was now come for their Representatives to prove that, although crushed, it was not subdued; and before long he trusted the crushers would themselves be crushed. With respect to the power hitherto exercised by the Home Government and the Lieutenant Governor of this Colony, in the making of Colonial appointments, the hon. member observed, that although, inthe wordsof the poct Burns, __

“A king may make a belted knight, A marquis, duke and a’ that ;”

he had it not in his power to make one honest man. By the introduction of Responsible Government, the House hoped, however, that, even although they could not, any more than a king, make honest men, yet, by placing honest men in the Executive and the several public Offices, they wonid, by means of their responsibility keep them so. The Executive ought to have a fellow feeling with the people; and in noway were they more likely to acquire it, than by having seats in the popular Branch of the Legisluture. The truth of this was made evident by a glance at the Legislative Council. Who were, and who had always been found in that body the foremost in asserting and supporting the riehts and privileges of the people ? They whohad previously sat | as members of the popular Branch. The House of As- sembly was the school in which those who might be expected to become rulers in the land ought to receive their political education. The honorable member con- cluded by saying, that he should think himself forever disgraced were he not to go, heart an@ hand, with those who were prepared to support the Resolution submitted by the honorable member from Prince County. It was indeed high time for the Representatives of the pecple to cease to allow the Home Governmet or rather the Co. jonial Office to amuse them with bubbles, A scheme for the social and political improvement of the Colony was held out to them; but they might depend upon it, that unless they continued firmly to maintain the position which they had in the present Session assumed the be- nefits which they believed it capable to confer Wo id never be realized to the people. ‘

Mr. Moonery.—The great Lord N

: elson, previous te a naval engagement which resulted in one Of the afeetae =

THER BRABINER.

day.” Just so did the people of Prince Edward expect their'Representativés this day to do their duty, by firmly demanding for them (the people) the immediate conces- sion of Responsible Government ; and should they do so, their exertions would be crowned with a victory over misrule, as signal and decisive as was that of Lord Nelson over the enemies of his country. He for one would never betray the trust which had been put in him. Would he, the Representative pf 1054 inhabitants, de- ceive them? No, he would sooner cease to live. He knew his intentions to be good, and he trused the peo- ple would never be warranted in questioning the integ- rity of his purpose. He was prepared to go to any con- stitutional length, however extreme, to secure to his constituents and the people at large the same measure of justice which had been awarded by the Imperial) Government to the other British North American Pro- vincea, He would throw in his mite to contribute to the repairs of the rottea fabric which was tottering to decay, He was sent and came to the Assembly to endeavour to improve the condition of the people; and, to the best of his judgment and ability to that end he would act, He came to the House to say that gentlemen holding public appointments, ought, like himself, be responsible to the people. He entertained no enmity to, he had conceived no prejudice against, the gentlemen at present in office; he thought they were as well qualified to dis- charge the duties connected with their appointments, as perhaps any men in the Colony: his objection was that they had not received their appointments in consequence of the general confidence reposed in them by the people, and that they held them entirely independent of either the approbation or disapprobation of the people, to whom they, therefore, neither owed nor acknowledged

any other way than by the appoiniment, or with the ap- probation of the people, might, not inaptly, be compared to the thief or the robber who, finding every lawful en- trance barred against him, could only obtain admission by climbing over the wall. The honorable member concluded by observing that he entertained a higher regard for his principles than he did for £30, aye or for thirty times £30, or any other conceivable sum; and that he would never be found ready to barter away the yi of the people for any persona! advantages or con- siderations. [To be continued.]

-- we —

GuRAsSPOUDENOR.

FOR THE EXAMINER. Ma. Eprror,—It has been asserted, I think, by Cha-

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any responsibility. ‘Fhey who entered into offices inj

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flesh of his victim, or the heart’s blood of the Insolyepr. Let him wait a reasonable time, his profits are large, his profits enable him. {t is true the evil day will inevite- bly come, but when time is given, the Debtor becomes progressively prepared, I am aware that where such a dearth of money exists, that procrastination or paying a debt by instalments would be but a partial relief, Let us see then what could be done by a determined and decisive system. ‘Fhere is a proverb almost known to Fall men, where there is not anyhing to be found the King, or if you like, the Queen must lose her rights. Laws, I should suppose, were originally made for the ood of all, or at least so intended, and when a suit hag come to a crisis and the Debtor has to pay the uttermost farthing, an Execution is levied on his property; even be it so, we will not even say that he isan ill-used man, but I do say, that the merchant or trader knowing, as he must, the atate of the country, when he gave the credit, he became liable to some inconvenience in defau)t of icash payments as every other man, and from hence an Act should be. so framed as to compel him to take the

roducts of the country, and not only to, receive such kind of payments, say merchantable articles, not at his own valuation, not at the value promis¢uously put on them ata public auction, but at a fair appraisement made by men appointed for that purpose, whose busi- ness it should be to make oneeny as to the state of the. markets of the neighbouring Provinces. The articles

not see, for instance, why a barrel of good Oatmea! hould not bear a legal stamp as well as a flimsy piece of paper that represents nothing that I know of but pre~

meditated poverty. J. E. CRAFER. Serpentine River, March 14, 1€50.

FOR THE EXAMINER,

SAYINGS AND DOINGS. CHAPTER IJ.

Listen unto the language of my pen, yea, hearken. unto me, O Donald, Chief Ruler in the Island of the Gulf, and Governor over sixty and five thousand.

have taken unholy Council against them and derided their roice. Yea, you sit in the fastnesses of brief power, and deal arbitrarily with them; you mock at their supplications and violate their birth rights, yea, al! this have you done, though your master would not. Attend and give ear, for I say unto you, O Donald, verily, verily, better had you remained a simple Baronet in the Highiands than be Chief Ruler in the Island of

teaubriand who wrote on legislation, that, when a man has given his vote his power is gone, and that he is no longer free. I do not, however, subscribe to this doc- trine, having the opinion that every constituent body possesses inherent power, not only to prop its representa- tives, but prescribe measures to be carried out that in their wisdom they may deem beneficial to their own district in particular, and the country at large. Some discre- tionary power no doubt may be necessary where impli- cit confidence is felt.

One would suppose there should at all times, if brought into action, at least be sufficient intelligence amongst the people to know their own positive wants, and to guard against evils of a common kind, which may and have been productive of almost intolerable grievance.

I allude to certain Acts, which, instead of having any wholesome tendency, have been an actual scourge, and a fruitful and manifest source of injustice, a continual, annoyance and absolute oppression to the poor and ho- nest man. Of all the Acts that ever passed through the hands of the Legislature of Prince Edward Island, I know of none so glaringly despotic or arbitrary in its principle and its effects, or that ever entailed more

not havé been tolerated in the colonies of Spain, in the zenith and power of the Inquisition. How this obnoxious syste may run parallel with the neighbouring Provin- ces | know not, and here I betray my own ignorance ; but I do say, if their Smali Debt Laws bear an affinity to ours, nothing but a pestilence cap hover over a people who could tamely submit to such an absolute nuisance. That such an Act could have sprang from the repre- sentatives of a people calling themselves free, is past finding out. ‘That the Small Debt Act with its baneful machinery should have been so long borne with, is very

the Gulf—the scorner of the voice of the sixty and five thousand.

Yea, I say unto you, Donald, you have done grievous things against this people, but for your misdeeds the hour comes quickly wherein your white. plume shall be razed and your fine lace tarnished, and your sword shal! not hang upon your, thigh.

Yea, then your unseemly frowardness shal] be smitten, and your undue power visited with a deadly blight, and the vestiges thereof shall be scattered; and your honors shall fede as a seared thing, and the oppressed shal! rejoice.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, thy doom is written, the stout hearts of this people are touched at the lion core, and the voice of their displeasure is heard in al! the land, nay, their complainings have passed over the mighty waters, and are heard on the other side, from abroad retribution cometh at noon, and the people shal! be avenged.

citer O Chief among the people, for the day of thy humiliation ; make ready for the hot displeasure of the oppressed triumphant, the heavy tread of their armies is heard, their spears are gleaming, the great rings of

misery than the Small Debt Act—an Act that would/their mail rattle on the harness, their banners are beau-

tiful on the breeze, and in their terrible march against the oppresaor their trumpets shout victory.

Now, I say unto thee, O Donald, the land which bred thee may know thee soon again; you will return to the bleak mountains and revisit the wild glens of your home ; your feet shall be on the heather, and your habi- tation amid the ruins of D——ge. Yea, O Donald, the

hour is not afar. EBENEZER.

FOR THE EXAMINER.

singular ; but that the people are no longer disposed to remain quiet, and submit to such aggravated ills, if 1) mistake not, the new House will speedily learn; and a! House avowedly of the principies that have been sent| to carry out free institutions, it will be expected that they will be devoted to this matter, and that they will in their mature and collected wisdom not spare the pruning knife, but proceed to lop off some of those rank and Jux- uriant branches or roots that have for!ly vegetated from corruption, and so long sapped the spirit of justice. It may be said that he who treats on a disease should pre- scribe the cure—this would require uo deep research to! discover—they are ready at hand; the English system or courts of conscience are replete with wisdom, mercy and equity, embracing all that is wanting, protecting the Creditor in his just rights, dealing out justice with a lenient hand, obtaining the debt by moderate instal- ments agreeable to circumstances, and restraining the

victories ever gained by the British navy, gave the sional « England expects that every man wil! do his duty this

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grasping and avaricious, and rescuing the Debtor from! the insatiable Shylock whe would demand the pound of!

RHYMES,

FOR THOSE WIIO CAN BEST UNDERSTAND THEM,

Come sing a song of sixpence, A budget full of news—

And every word of it as true, As that grimalkin mews ;

All who a moment have to spare Come listen while I tell

The naked truth—a thing so rare I’m sure you'll like it well,

The Queen is home in England, Prince Aibert at her side,

And Adelaide, the dowager, Has fallen sick, and died,-~

Around the Royal table swarms There are of bonny weans—

Green little ‘olive plants,” the germs Of future kings and queens

thus valued should bear a legal stamp, apd would thus__ become like a legal tender, easily transferable, and I do.

Verily I say unto you, in face of all the people, you.

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