THE EX

AMINER.

ee

cked,” returned Bridget,

ered by the composed de- nticipated that she would amendment, beg to be taken lved not to grant, but, with $ seatence to the letter. Of ness and evident preparation r disobedience, deprived him. tion of knowing that, on this his authority.

. She was working steadily, seeming quite unconscious of

idget, replied, looking up with an going, are you ?”

commendation ?”” PS Mellen, hastily.

said( Mrs. Mellen, paying no re- had just /said, “ 1 will give you

ut her husbar veu punc<@r | one very cheerfully.” ; ne , “ No, ma’am,” said Bridget, dropping a curtsey, “I don’t ou expect me to cat a éold dinner whenever my en-| think I shall live out just yet. [shall take a little vacation.” detain me later ?” “Very well, Bridget; you must®ed¢]l again, soon.” Myc atall. [directed Bridget to keep a portion of the} This was said with an intonation which Bridget understood. pot for you. She shall bring it up directly.” So say-| A moment afterwards and she left the room, much to the re-

ing, she moved towards the bell and rang it. lief of Mr. Mellen, who had been fuming, inwardly, during “Ur. Mellen wasnonplussed. He hardly knew what to say. | the few words which had passed between his wife and Bridget.

He now sat down, triumphantly, and leaned back, exulting in the consciousness that he had maintained his dignity, and | asserted his authority as head of the household. If Mrs. Mellen had only exhibited a little mortification, he would have felt still better satisfied.

There was no trace of anger or mortification on her face. |

He finally determined to wait until some plan should strike him, calculated to humble his wife's pride. At present, therefore, he said nothing, but ate his dinner in gloomy silence.

Meanwhile, his wife continued to chat in a lively strain with her mother, and their frequent laughter jarred very disgordantly on Mr. Mellen’s nerves.

Shortly after dinner, Mr. Mellen contrived to see Bridget P > without his wife's knowledge. we. * Bridget,” caid he, “ I find that for two days past, dinner s been served up before L came home. Hereafter you must it until [ return before doing so.” = « Bat the misthress told me ?” said Bridget. ™ « I know that,” said Mr. Mellen ; “bat you are bound to Obey me rather than her.”

“ Sir?” said the bewildered Bridget, who did not compre-

At length she broke the silence, by asking, with an air as if) nothing had happened, if there was any news from abroad ?

“No!” said Mr. Mellen, crustily.

“ What course is the emperor expected to take ?” she in- quired, farther.

“ [don’t know!” said Mr. Mellen, in a forbidding tone.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mellen, who had had no dinner, was getting hungry. However, he consoled himself with the idea that he could compensate by eating a hearty supper ; and, he hend at all. thought, with a thrill of gratification, that Mrs. Mellen, in

«T will tell you what I expect you to do,” said ner master. | the absence of Bridget, would be obliged to prepare it. He « To-morrow, for example, I shall not be at home till four| had no doubt on this score, as he knew that, neither on her o’elock. Four, remember. On no account must you serve own or her mother’s account, would she be willing to forego up dinner before that time.” that meal.

« But what shall I say to the misthress, when she tellsme?”} At length Mrs. Mellen rolled up her work and rose. asked Bridget, with her eyes wide open in astonishment. “She is going to get supper,” thought Mr. Mellen. “I

“Say? You must tell her that [ forbade your doing it.) am very glad of it, for I am quite faint. Still authority And you may tell her, also, that [ threatened to dismiss you | must be maintained, at however so great a personal sacrifice.” immediately, if you failed to comply with my directions.| By this time Mrs. Mellen had advanced to the door. Ar-| Will you remember that ? rived there, she turned, as if she had forgotten something. |

« [ll try,” answered Bridget, whose ficulties, never very! “By the way, Mr. Mellen,” she said, “my mother and | bright, were completely thrown into confusion by her antag-/ myself are going out totea. Weare invited to Mrs. Smith's.” onistic duties, and the idea she had got to disobey her mistress} “ But what am I to do?” inquired Mr. Mellen, paral yzed

by her master’s positive command. by this unexpected stroke.

} “ Och, what will I do?” she said to herself. However,| “I don’t know, really,” said his wife, carelessly, “ unless she wisely determined not to think of it at all till the time | you come up with us. I presume Mrs. Smith will be very came, much gratified to see you.

Will you come ?” “There,” thought Mr. Mellen, with a grim smile of

grants for general improvements. | tax, we are satisfied there is no intention to alter the mode

in Lower Canada; but owing to what circumstance we are not informed, and certainly the intelligence is quite new to us.

Now, if Maclean has such gloomy apprehensions regarding the working of municipal institutions in this country, it is very ‘surprising that he should have ventured to peril his fair fame | by recommending their adoption here ; for if it were possible to carry them into practice on the strength of his recommenda- tion, all the odium of failure would be his,

The old man is anxious to create an alarm by intimating to ‘his ignorant readers, that one of the first results of the establishment of municipal institutions would be the increase

of taxation.

‘« Rach municipal district will have to tax itself for roads, for education, for paupers, and generally for all improvements within the District ; and the assessment will be very heavy on the actual settlers, because it is the intention of Governor Daly and his obedient Snatchers to rescue the wilderness land from taxation, by purchasing it, on public account, from the “proprietors.”

He says :—

Now all this is downright nonsense. Maclean is not in the

> a ‘his hat, for, were he to venture to note the speeches and “4 ceedings openly, his future action as Reporter would be m, effectually prevented. But what greater argument far a

e

‘truth of his reports can be imagined than that which jg to he ‘found in the fact, that the members of the precious Allicange meet in secret? If their twaddling speeches expressed anythi | but their own selfish views — if they advocated changes jn the constitution and government of the country, on £tounds of public benefit —if they could adduce any other reasons oe their new-born affectation of patriotism than the differenes between those halcyon days, when, revelling in power and place, they suffered not any man out of the pale of their own little clique “to come between_the wind and their nobility,’’ and their present powerless and contemptible posi. tion— would not their meetings be open to the public, ang men of all shades of opinion have opportunities of openly dis. cussing their various views? What greater proof could po adduced in support of our Reporter’s accuracy? With -. remarks, we commend the reports to our readers, satisfeq that

secrets of the Government—hAe is not to be consulted on the | preparation of the Municipal or any other Bill—he knows | nothing of the intentions of the Executive regarding any of their measures ; and he has therefore no right to croak about taxation, or to predicate that one single farthing will be added to the burthens of the people by the adoption of the measure in contemplation. There will not, we think, be the slightest difficulty experienced in carrying the Bill into operation, without hampering it with the principle of assessment. Why may not the House of Assembly vote, as it usually does, out of the general revenue, each municipal! district’s due propor- tion of road and pauper money ; and likewise give the necessary And as for the educational

under which it is levied and collected. It will continue to be a general assessment, without reference to any particular parish or municipality.

But if the assessment principle were to form part of the Municipal Bill, it would of course affect land more than any other kind of property, and who would it fall heaviest upon but the proprietors? This will be made, we have no doubt, the chief ground of opposition to the Bill, on the part of Dunean Maclean and his Tory paymasters — the proprietors and land speculators,— although they will profess to be in-! But | it is the intention of the Government, says Maclean, ‘ to rescue the wilderness land from taxation,”’ by purchasing it from the proprietors. Well, if the proprietors will not sell to the Go- vernment at the prices offered,as Maclean and his party are anxious they should not—or if the Government should be unable to raise the necessory funds for purchasing the estates, through the stupid opposition of an amalgation of Tories and

ischeators for factious ends — why then we can see no reason

fluenced by other motives in giving their opposition to it.

for hesitating to levy a good rattling assessment on wilderness lands for municipal purposes. And when the proprietors will become wise in their generation, and sell their estates to the

“ No!” said Mr. Mellen, sharply.

satisfaction, “I think that will set matters right. Madam! That evening he took tea at an eating-house. He was wili find that I am not so easily thwarted. No; Marmaduke | beginning to realize that Mrs. Mellen had a will as well as | Mellen is not one to be frightened by a woman’s vapouring, | himself, and even more difficult to cope with, on account of or inclined to submit tamely to petticoat government. A | bee admirable coolness. Without entering into an account| would give something,” he thought, chuckling inwardly, “ to | of the means by which it was brought about, Jet me only add, | se how she will take it when Bridget refuses to obey her, | that, within a week, Bridget was re-established in her ol

by my direction, She will begin to find out who she has to | place. Mr. Mellen has learned a useful lesson—namely, deal with, then! She doesn’t know Marmaduke Mellen yet !” | never enter into a contest until you have counted the cost.

The next day, Mrs. Mellen, at the usual time, directed -_—— —— Bridget to serve up dinner. [voR THE EXAMINER.]

« T can't, ma’am,” said the perplexed handmaiden. 7 PPLEMBNT

« Can't?” repeated Mrs. Mellen, in some surprise. “ What A SUPPLEMENT do you mean, ridget a TO CERTAIN LINES THAT a IN THE EXAMINER OF THE

“ [t's my directions of master,” she replied. Sth Ewer.

« Then he has forbidden you to follow my directions ?"

« Yes, ma’am. He told me he should not be home until : four, and he would send mo away if [ took up dinner before

that time.”

“ Indeed!” eaid Mrs. Mellen, coolly : “ he is interfering beyond his province. However, you are to obey me, not him. You must take up the dinner now.”

; * He will send me away if I do,” said Bridget.

“ And I will send you away if you don’t,” said her mis- tress.

« Och, what will I do?” exclaimed Bridget, in ludicrous dismay. “ It’s turned away I’ve got to be, anyhow, whether I do it or not.”

“ Better obey me, Bridget. If he should turn you away,

ou shall be back again in Jess than a week, and, meanwhile, i will pay you wages; but if I turn you away, it will be for ood ”

anand

The partial muse has done a wrong,

By leaving those unnamed in song,

Who to the Alliance, staunch and truc, Their counsel give and coppers too. Three names are missing from the band, All potent to the cause in hand.

First in the list a scholar sage,

Rejoicing in the name, L—P—e ;

He, redolent of *baccie smoke,

Concocts his rhyme and eracks his joke , Tries, but in vain, to balance power

By blowing bubbles by the hour.

Nor must the Tory Tailor be

Cut out from this good company, Who seeks new measures to contrive To keep conspiracy alive ;

And longs to clip, with cruel shears,

It did not take long for Bridget to see on which side her The hateful Snatchers of their cars.

bread was buttered. Relieved from her embarrassment, she bastled about, and, at the hour appointed, dinner was on the \ table. At four o’clock, when Mr. Mellen returned, nothing ; was to be seen of the dinner table. This he hailed as a good ; omen. Looking triumphantly at his wife—

‘You may ovder up dinner now, Mrs. Mellen.”

“ Dinner !” exclaimed his wife, with an air of surprise. « Is it possible that you have not eaten dinner, at four o’clock ?” “ Have you eaten dinner ?” inquired Mr. Mellen, in an ap- ng voice. ertainly,” said his wife, coolly continuing the work upon she was engaged. “ The table was cleared two hours

Last in the list a canny Scot,

Oldest and dullest of the lot ;

Called to the bench and taught to rule ; No lawyer he, a sorry tool—

Unfit for use, but still he’ll do

To swell the ranks of B—y—n’s crew.

Ah, James, forsake thy novel trade, No gain by politics is made :

The pay is bad; the honor none ; A cat’:paw thou, when all is done.

= 8 °

iyi aud Che Examiner,

ee up the dinwier !” asked) 0 uS 100K. . ,

fn may.” suid Mrs. Mellen. « What CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I1.,, DECEMBER 22, 1856.

ve ?” Mr. Mellen, in a voice of thunder,

MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS.

Government — should the Government be in a position to buy | — it will be very easy to abolish the tax by an amendment to|

the Municipal Bill. However, all these considerations will be thoroughly discussed when the Bill shall come under the! notice of the Assembly. Meanwhile we feel satisfied that no unbiassed and intelligent person will be led astray by | the twaddle and falsehoods of the Islander — prepared, no’ doubt, at the instanee, or in obedience to the commands) of the editor’s Tory.paymasters, who have an instinctive |

horror of any and every reform, calculated to secure the |

independence and enlarge the liberties of the people ; — |

while another, and not the least influential section of the Tory | party — the Land speculators — regarding the measure with | extreme suspicion, as one that is likely to affect their pockets | in a very sensible degree — will readily encourage their organ | and advocate, the Is/ander, to stop at no misrepresentation and | shrink from no falsehoods that can be used as weapons of | destruction against the Bill; and thus enable Maclean — who | }

{ }

claims the honour of having conceived the measure — to copy

the example of the savage and remorseless Chinese mother who | ‘ : ‘

destroys her female offspring as soon as it comes into the world.

-_+—< o Tne editor of the last Js/ander came out with a yery compen- | dious denunciation of the speeches of the Unholies, as they have, |

from time to time, appeared in this paper. Without conde- |

and elegance, denounces them as ‘all lies.”’ Now, we know nothing more probable than that the statements of an Al/ieance should be ali /ies, and only notice the article in question, for the purpose of paying the old hireling a compliment on his uncon- scious acknowledgment of the correctness of our opinions as to the conduct and motives of the Unholies.

Maclean has not, as our Reporter informs us, attended a single meeting of the Alliance, in Charlottetown. How then can he so boldly assert that the speeches are not faithfully given? The trath of the matter is, that his paymasters, stung to madness by the exposures we have given of their objects and the motives which inspire their conduct, and conscious that we have means of ascertaining what takes place in their secret conclaves, and unable to direct his attention to any specific misstatement, have directed their hireling seribe to

fling! Did Bridget serve up dinner ?”

. th +1 nee

| Lue editor of the Islander, with his usual egotism and regard rou shoul) not— | for truth, claims the merit of first advocating the introduction of Municipal Institutions into this Island. If he did, there would be nothing original in his advocacy, since the principle has been in operation elsewhere for a great many years. But Maclean did not give rise to this question, for the principle involved in a Municipal Bill was submitted to the consideration of the Legislature by a member of the existing Government— Col. Swabey — years before Maclean commenced to edit the Islander, or before, perhaps, he came to the Colony. However, we will not quarrel as to whom shall be accorded the merit of gers at his hand-| directing the attention of the public to the great advantages ' yesterday that I that must arise from the establishment of county munici- palitics. It is very clear that it was reserved for the party in power to put these institutions in operation. Whatever they have undertaken to do, they have done well; while Maclean, and the party whose hired tool he is, never seriously advocated any measure of reform, and certainly never accomplished one. From the spirit in which the old twaddler penned his last ob- pro- | servations in reference to the subject under consideration, there kesS |is every reason to believe that so soon as the Municipal Bill before the Assembly, he will assail it with the utmost

d ber.

he added, ‘* you don't sup- hear you very distinctly, But what was your ques-

dinner ?”’

suppose I did it ?”

he bell violently.

up until that:

explosion of

*

7

*

give a general denial of the truth of our reports, in words culled from that vocabulary of blackguardism in which he is so practised a proficient.

We can assure our readers that we require no more satis- factory evidence of the truth and fairness of the reports we | have published, than the fact that Maclean has been directed to impugn their veracity. He may justify his rash falsehood, by the same argument which reconciled Falstaff’s mind to a different kind of misconduct :

“Why, Hal, ’tis my vocation, Hal; *tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation.’’

So Maclean’s vocation being that of general slanderer to the | Tories, he feels that his living depends on his obeying the dic- tates of his hard task-masters —

‘Folk maun do something for their bread, And sae maun — Duncan.”

In this spirit does he scatter his firebrands, careless whether

youring to injure a foe. We do not mean to say that the very words of the respective speakers in the Alliance have been, in all cases, given. This,

they do not set fire to the house of a friend while he is endea- |

Maclean’s character is so well known, that his assertion of anything as being fact, is proof sufficient to stamp itag g jig.

In conclusion, we are 80 well pleased with the fidelity of our reports, that we have no doubt that the Reporter could have introduced them to our readers by prefixing the following yerses from Burns :—

‘Some books are lies frae end to end, And some great lies were never penn’d; E’en winisters, they have been kenn’d,

In holy rapture, A rousing whid, at times to vend, And nail ’t wi’ Scripture.

‘« But this that I am gaun to tell, Which lately on ae night befell, Is just as true ’s the De’il ’s in Hell, Or Dublin City, " That e’er he nearer comes oursel’ *s a muckle pity.”

poe >

THE UNHOLIES.

— —

Ovr able and indefatigable Reporter has furnished us with another of those faithful versions of some of the sayings of the Unholies, with which our readers have been so much entertajned for several weeks past. speeches only :—

We can at present make room for two

‘* Gentlemen — Nothing requires more delicate and skilful management than the state of our affairs, as T have had oceasion before to notify. If our prospect of taking possession of the reins of Government is to have any success, we must not forget that scheme and secrecy are the best securities against the difficulties of amalgamating and bringing together persons com- posed of very opposite sentiments—in fact, agreeing only in one thing, and that is in the object to be obtained. Must I tell you again that Proprietors and Escheators, in their seyeral ramifications, temperate men and grog~lrinkers, Tories and Liberals, disappointed Snatchers and aspiring Snarlers, must all be brought to see themselves in the same mirror; and that mirror must have its exterior polished by careful and experi- enced workmen; one set of adherents must do the work of the other, and vice versa. I am led into these general remarks by the necessity which, it appears to me. there exists of sending a faithful emissary through the country, who, being well eon- versant with our views and faithful to our objects, will so hold up this mirror to different classes, that they may each and all see themselves reflected on thesame plished surface. (A voiee— ‘* No reflections, if you please.’’) Nay, [make none. I would exhibit each and all in their own natural beauty, such as cir- cumstances have made them, or we can make them ourselves. Now, gentlemen, I and my more immediate friends take some credit for our foresight, and can provide you with just the in- strument fitting for the purpose, and that at small expengg. Your own funds must be reserved for a rainy day. You know already that we cannot afford to rent a place of meeting, and are gratefully obliged to those who suffer us to hold our orgies in these somewhat hyperborean regions; our zeal, however, will no doubt keep us warm. It was the other night, after supper, when our ideas were somewhat clarified by a moderate, L assure you, & very moderate supply of generous puneh, that it occurred to me, that the very Jast time I attended the Com- mittee of the Maine Liquor Law Society, it was nobly resolved to shew fidelity to the cold-water system, by again sending round the country one of the reformed—a worthy apostle of abstinence — to try, against all hope, to resuscitate the defunct agitation. No hopes, indeed, were entertained; but there would remain the noble consciousnes of having died as we have lived, astride of a bucket of cold water. But to be serious, why should we of this Alliance use this cold water affair for our own political ends? A good bargain can be made. The person to whom I allude will do the work cheap; and if he should hit on a school willing to engage his valuable services, and procure an engagement, some deduction might be made. In the meantime, we are sure the remaining expence might be divided between this Society and our friends of the total absti-

scending to give particular instances of alleged misrepresen-| nence movement; and why not? are not the leading objects we tation on the part of Our Own Reporter, he, with equal brevity | have in view ver,

much the same? and who so suited to romote them as the instrument to whom I have made allusion ? You all know him; you all highly regard him. Is he not the very man? Who so skilled as he to work out one object under 'the guise of another? I fancy I see him in the Highland ‘cottage, swallowing tea with the old woman, in quantities | threatening dropsy, whilst preaching politics to the old clans- ‘man, who is winking and sipping whiskey in the corner. She will go to bed bye-and bye ; but they can sit up and discuss the affairs of the nation. He is the very man for Sandy, and his services are not to be appreciated. I hope then, indeed I do ‘not doubt, to carry off your consent to this most wise | resolution.”’

Another distinguished member addressed the audience as | follows :— | Sir—The scheme promulgatad by the hon. gentlemen who has just sat down has, indeed, no novelty in it. We have been | acting for a long time on it, not indeed with any great success ; but still perseverance in all cases does much, and without it our | adversaries would never have achieved Responsible Government |or brought things into the state they now are ; they never | would haye been able to rob us of all the advantages which, ,alas! now exist only in historical recollections, treasured | our anxious minds, or preserved on seraps of paper im our, 4188, empty pockets. But it appears to me that great care might be taken in this matter, a notwithstanding the known skill and versatile talents of the gentleman to whom allusion has | been made, that something new had better be begun. It is |said of Dick Turpin, the famous and successful highway man, that he could assume any disguise and penetrate any character ; yet, at last, his horse became so familiar to those who travelled the king’s highway, that it was not difficult to detect him, even in*petticoats. It, therefore, is worthy of consideration whether some other stalking horse than teetotalism, which has become rather stale, had not better be invented. We know that if our worthy emissary once gets his foot over the threshold, few can withstand his insinuating address and eloquence ; and in my mind, some better passport might be discovered than total abstinence. I think it bas served its turn ; and there are few now who are not aware, that whilst the few really sober who there are have desired its being made law, they generally have made use of it as a political outery, to wrest power from those who have used it, gentlemen, so cruelly against your personal interests. I haye thought it my duty to throw out these re- marks for consideration. Total abstinence and eschea? having both failed, in my mind, it is time we should think of some other expedient.”’

+~<—» oes

We had a mail from Pictou, via Georgetown, on Friday last, containing late papers from all the Colonies, Newfound-

from the very nature of our Reporter’s position at the meetings land included, and the United States. There is, however, 20

He says municipal institutions are likely to fail ‘of the Unholies, is impossible, as he could only take hurried | news of any importance to be found in them. The navigation (strange reason)—they are said to have failed and occasional notes as covertly as possible, on the crown of | being now thoroughly closed, both at this port and at Pictou,

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