100

NOUS OF ISSENBLY.

Private Secretary‘s Fees.

- Mowpay, May 12. (XPTERNOON SITTING, } (Debate continued.)

Mr. Moon®y then rose, dnd briefly, but with seeming warmth, replied te Mr. Pal- met. He said, the bitterness of spirit with which the honorable and learned member had endeavoured to defend the jate Colonial Secretary, might, with great propriety, be compared to the malignity of the Scorpion. Aware that he could ‘not diaprove ‘the charges exhibited against Mr. Haviland, he gave vent to the bitter- ness of his heart, by casting the most un- just and unwarranted aspersions upon the motives of those whose duty it te aaa to -prepare’ t charges, and ‘also, o those Tianen bless bound, by par- amount considerations ‘of public duty, in spite of private feelings, to _— their countenance and stipport to the charges set forth in the Report ; sustained as they were by the evidenve of undeniable facts, or a8 being in themselves, as they cer-' tainly’ were, nothing but a simple etate- ment of clear and indisputabie facts. But what is most provoking and surprising in the conduct pursued by how. and learned member for Charlottetown, with reference to that Report was, that he should have the effrontery to endeavour to throw up- onthe majority of the House, the’ odium of seeking to procure a verdict of guilty agaifist’ Mr. Haviland behind his back, and without allowing him to advance any thing to the House in his own defence. It, indeed, required no common share of effronter¥ to enable a gentleman thus un- blushingly to disclaim his own previous judgment, and to stigmatize others with injustice, for merely adhering to what he, and they had formerely, by recording their votes in the Journal of the House, in a cool, dispassionate manner, had de- clared to be trae; and more especially when, instead of there having been any thing since brought to light, which could either invalidate that judgment, or, in the smallest degree, militate against its jus- tice, it was now sustained by a clear and accurate detail of undeniable facts. In the, Session of 1849, the hon. and learned member (Mr. Palmer): had recorded his name in favour of a Resolution, which declaring that Mr. Haviland, had in his capacity of Colonial Secretary, taken and appropriated to his own use, Fees to which he was not legally entitled; and yet, after having assénted to thé verdict of guilty on that occasion, he was so, ip- consistent as to turn round upon those who now, on the evidence of detailed ane indisputable facts, adhered to that Reso- lution, and were consistently prepared to adopt the Report, and to tell them they

were manifesting an utter disregard of justice by pursuing such a course, and pronouncing a verdict of guilty against Mr. Haviland, without having put him upon his trial. He (Mr. Mooney), for one, could assure the hon. member, that he would scorn to act inso arbitrary a manner towards even the most degraded of men ; and ifhe thought the proceedings against Mr. Haviland were of such a na- ture, he would be amongst the first to op- pose and denounce then. He had never entertained any feeling inimical towards that gentleman; and from the commence- ment of the enquiry, he had been, and still was, desirous that it should be dis- paasionately conducted, and prosecuted to the end, in striet accordance with the principles of justice. And the truth was, it had hitherto been so conducted; and the immediate adoption of the Report would be no deviation from that course. From the time the question was first de- bated in the House, up to the present, it had beef entirely optional with Mr. Ha- viland, either to pursue such a course as would result in his being heard in his own defence by the House, or to decline to enter vror it; and it was now most unreasonable to call upon the House, to stay proeeedings,in order to, afford him an opportunity to adopt a course upon which, throughout 'a period of two years, he had tacitly refused to enter. The question was last ycar, at the termination of the last Session, left as it stood at the com- mencement of the frst; for the House,

} teemed a frustration of the intentions of

preferred against Mr. Haviland ; ad yet,

their charges, on having found ther

having been stiddenly cut off in their sins had not had time to follow up their Reso- lution, as they had intended to do, by an Address to His Excellency; and the Snarlers and the Snarler press, delighted, almost beyond measure, by what they es-

the House, with respect to the enquiry, exultingly proclaimed it as a defeat of the popular party in the Assembly, and a virtual abandonment of the charges against Mr. Haviland; and ordained and observed a long jubilee in joyful acknow- ledgment ofthe event. Since then, near- ly another year had elapsed ;\and, should the House now agree to the Reselution,, submitted by the hon, and learned mem- ber for Charlottetown, it would be a de- fering of the prosecation of the enquiry, for another twe]vemonths; and an afford- ing vf another source of triumph to the Snarlers and the Sharlet press; which/ would speedily be taken advantage of by their holding up Mr. Haviland to the public, as a martyr, and stigmatizing the majority of the House as unjast and re-' lentless persecutors, and exclaiming against them in terms of the strongest in- dignation, ‘Could any body ‘of men be more evidently unjust than those Snatch- ers; they are’ ‘unable’ to substantiate any one of the charges which have

=>

instead of either voluntarily abandoning meélyes uaable to sustain them; or allowing Mr. Haviland publicly to disprove them, ag we are convinced he is fully able to do, the charges (viriudlly abandoned az} they are), are still allowed toremain un- suspended over [is head before the pub- lic.’ Now, it behoved the House to-af- ford no opportunity to the enemiés of the people and of reférm, to cast ahy such imputations upon thei; and all that they had to do, to that end, was to act consist- ently, in following. up the ‘Resolution of 1849, by the adpption of the, Report—a Report fully sustaihéd by the-indisputa- ble facts which. were most clearly set forth in it—and then Mr. Haviland would immediately have an‘opportunity afforded him, by the: Government, to justify bim- self,if be could. He (Mr. Mooney), be+ lieved, that neither the Gevernment nor any member ofthe majerity of the House, felt a desire to act either rigorously or in the spirit of faction, towards. that-ventle- man; he believed he would have fair! }play allowed him; and for one he (Mr. Mooney) wished, that if he eutered upon his defence he might make a good job'of it. ; Mr. Loneworrn said in. reference to the Resolution submitted’ by ‘his hon. and tearned friend (Mr. Palmer), in the Ses- sion of 1849, in connexion with the Reso- lution to which it was submitted as an amendment, wonld show how unfairly the hon, member. for Queen’s County, . who, had just brought his ireful and frothy har- angue to a Close, had represented his (Mr. Palmer’s) opinion, as therein expressed, with reference to the subject matter of }the Report; and in justification of his hon. and learned friend, and of those who then voted with him, in support of his Resolution, and who, also, at present, co- incided in opinion,with him, touehing the extremely arbitrary and ‘unjust course which it was proposed to pursue with re- ference to the Report of the Committee of Enquiry, he would beg Jeave to. read that Resolution, and the division thereon as entered in the Journal of the Session. The hon. member then read as follows:

“Mr. Montgomery: reported, that the Commitiee bad come to a_ Resoliftion; which Resolution was again read at the Clerk’s Table, and. is,as follows:

Resolved, 28.the opinion of this Com- mittee, That the overctiarge of Five Shil- lyngs,Sterling, for Marriage Bonds, in the’ account of Fees submitted to this House by the Colonial Seeretary, as‘ Private Sec-etary’s Fees, is a charge not author- ized by thé Law of the Island's ‘and’’that the charge of Five Shillings for ‘Tavern, Pediar, and Ferry Licences, and retained by him, ought to have been paid into the Treasury of this Island,

The Hon. Sol. General moved in amend- meut tothe said Resolution, that all be left out,and the following be substituted :

_Whereasby the Fee Act of this Island, under the, head ‘Private Secretary’s

Peer,’ there’ is the following item, viz: |

THE BXABINER. RT Cr ger rr rere AES EOE AR OTT RL ne

All Licences under the Private Sea); Se, MBKEMIEIe THO OTT

And under the Head «His Excellency the Lieut. Governor or'Cotntiander in Chiet’s Fees,’ there is the falldwing item viz: Peg

For a Licence’ of Marriage and all other Licences; ‘5s. Stg.

And .whereas the Marriage A’et of this |

Island requires a Bond to be given to the Lieut. Governor before granting a Mar- riage Licence, for which Bond; thé baid Marriage Act prescribes and allows the Deputy Prothonotaries, in Prince ‘and King’s Counties; the Fee of Five Shil- lings and. Sixpence; and, whereas, since che First of January, 1849, the Salary: al- ‘owed by the Imperial. Government, fora Private Secretary to the Lieut. Governor has been withdrawn, and since then the Office of Private Secretary has been filled by the Colonia] Secretary of this Island; and the Fees, at present received by that | Officer include the aforesaid sum of Five Shillings and. Sixpence, as preseribed for the said De 'Prothonotaries: Resol- ved, therefore, That the said Fee of Five Shillings and Sixpence for the said Bond, does not appear by the express. words of:

the Act, to be payable to the, said Colo}.

nial Secretary, for Marriage . when issuing from his Office, end should, not.in future be charged. ' The House divided.on the Resolution : 4 eae Sol. General, Hon. Mr.! ornton;..Messrs. -D.-M'Leany-Keancis Longworth, H, M‘Donald, Haviland, A. oy Montgomery and J. H. Conroy

Nays—Messrs, Coles, Douse; Whelan, ’ D, McDonald, Le Lacheur, Mooney, Macintosh Fraser and Jardine—® |

And the numbers: béing equal, Mr:

Speaker gave his casting vote in the ne-

gative.

So it passed inthe negative.”

Thus, resumed the hon. member, it ap- peared that his honorable and ‘learned friend, se far from having proposed and supported a Résolution, the purport of which was in unison with that of the Re- port of the Committee of Enquiry, as the hon. member for Queen’s County (Mr. Mconey), had said he had done, had by his Resolution, declared in effect, that he thought Mr. Haviland fairly and legally entitled to al] the Fees which he had, up to the’ Resolution’s being submitted, been in the receipt of, with the exception of the Fee of Five and. Sixpence for the Marriage Bond, which he thought, it did not appear, by the express words of the Act, ought to be paid to the Colonial Se- cretary. Ae :

Mr. Mooney. Well, that, was all I said about it.

Mr. Leneworra. It was not all that the bon. member had said 2bout it by any means, He had said, that bis hon. and learned friend had, in 1849, agreed to,

and voted for a Resolution, which bound

him now, (if he did not repudiate his for-

“Mer judgment) to agree to the Report of

the Committee of Enquiry; but his Reso-

lution of 1849, when considered. with re- |

ference to that, as an aniendment to which’ it had been submitted, fell very far short of the comprehensive sweep of ‘the Re- port; for whilst in the Resolution awhich it. was intended to supersede, it was set forth, that other Fees, besides that in Marriage Bonds, had been taken by Mr. Haviland without the authority of Law,

his amendment went no further than to |

say, that @ Fee to the Col, Secretary, for the taking of a Marriage Bond, in his Of- fice,did not appear.to be expressly sanc- tioned by Law. The hon. member from Flinty Glen (Mr. Mooney) had also vainly laboured, by much circumlocution, to shew that the course, which the majority seemed determined te pursue with te- spect to the Report, -was-not~ at variance with the precepts of justice; for every man,capable of distinguishing between an arbitrary exercise of power, by a domi- nant faction, and the even and. temperate course of impartial justice, either did or would perceive, that haa the Committee by whom the Report had been prepared, and they who favoured. it, any. inten- tion of dealing fairly, by Mr. Havilandsthe Report would have been brought under the notice of the House as soon as com- pleted; and it would at once been moved and agreed to, that Mr. Haviland be fur-

ern

RESET. A NN RR

that the House would be prepared to give due consideration to any statement which he might think proper to send in, in! an-+ wer to it. Every thing, indeed, connect- ed with the manner in which the charges against the late CoJonial Secretary had deen got up and brougtit forward, from the assumption of facts, where they did not exist, down to the searching of, and the production of old Marriage Licences from the’ musty archives of Parsons, tended, very Clearly to shew that the accusers of Mr. Haviland, having the power, by their

“possessing the command of the majority -

in the Assembly, were determined t6 pro- cure from that Rony a verdict of guilty against him; and having obtained that y & ulterior designs should afterwards | ven to them, they would not relax their. oatility, until it had been carried to the

- ‘

utmost exten bleagainst hia. B ze rai , Wasa ath

of the docume

:

age Licence, pt “ Gec e Thresher *,

Deputy Registrar,” which the old gentle- man had, no doubt, so signed in, a hurry, 4rbia his having so often, in the deily dis- eharge of his duty, to append his name as Deputy, Registrar, to documents ; and 4 object of its’ production was ip 2, ‘that it was the duty, of Mr, Havi and to ant such Licence in the capacity, for ischarging the duties-of which, he re-

ive. if es to shew any such era was & ane which theught requir > urging, nn thet herice of tapartie! aiiades ‘bev. with reféence to that Licence, he would ost take leave to say, one might have

mcourse of argumenta

the charges of official irregularities pre-,

| ferred against Mr. Haviland, would have

been very careful in their examination of the Licences, produced by parties seeking to be united in the bonds of ma- trimony, lest owing to the impropriety of the signature attached to any one of them, the ceremony performed, by the virtne of. its: sanction, mightafterwards be declared invalid.

Mr. Havitann said he did not’ rise with any intention of going into the par- ticulars of the charges set forth in the Re- port; but. merely to protest against the inode in which it appeared to be the in- tention of the majority in the house to dispose of those charges; which was, to adopt the Report, as if every part of it were fully sustained and proved bythe most unquestionable and ‘irrefragible evidence, without allowing the party im- plicated thereby, an opportuuity to ad- vance even one word in his own defence. Sucha mode of proceeding would be most’ arbitrary and vnjust; and would amount to nothing less thana glaring outrage upon the liberty of a British Subject; an outrage (all the circumstances «of the case considered), of a nature 80 groas and uncalled for, as, he believed, wonld not be attempted, much Jess tolerated, in any other portion of the British dominions, ‘tn which the British Constitution and’ British Laws were duly established. To SO great an extent, indéed, in the British practice of criminal jurisprudence, was veneration carried for the legal precept, “that every man was to be accounted innocent until he should be proved guilty” that if during the sitting of a British Court of law, a murderer, taken in the

fact, should be burried to the bat, even

whilst still covered and reeking with’ the hlood of his victim, however great might be the abhorrence of the Court for the crime with which he stood charged, he would, although with all the appalling evidence of his guilt upon him, receive as fair and impartial a trial, as would be awarded to a man, respectino whom the general presumption of the Conrt might be, that he was as innocent aa the child unborn. And, in case of impeaciimente in the British Parliament, the mode of proceeding was also strictly governed by the principles of fair and impartiai jus- tice ; and no man was pronounced guilty,

until after he had been furnished with a copy ofthe impeachment, and been al- lowed time to reply to the accusation preferred against him. Even in the case of Warren, Hastings, great as were the

hished with a copy of it, and be. notified |

rancour and hostility displayed towarde reat aud leading

him, by (the great

rdict, if free course to. prosecute their _

ceived a stated Salary, in, lienof Fees, — That it neither d a alte om ae any