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to vote that a judge could not sit nor vote in their House. It was impossible for him to consider what had been done in any other light than as a direct violation of an Act of the Imperial Parliament. He considered that the House of Assembly had unconstitutionally disfranchised a large portion of His Majesty's subjects, and rendered ineligible, by an authority they did not possess, another, and not inconsiderable class of the community. By every tie of duty, he was bound to oppose such an assumption. In consequence of the expulsion of the member for Quebec, a vacancy in the representation of that county had been declared. It would be necessary to issue a writ for a new election, and that writ was to be signed by him. He would not render himself a partaker in the violation of an Act of the Imperial Parliament, and to avoid becoming so he had no other recourse but that which he was pursuing. He felt much satisfaction when the Parliament met, in having taken such steps as he thought most likely to facilitate a measure that seemed to be wished for, and that, in itself, met his concurrence; but as, in his opinion, the only ineligibility of a judge to sit in Parliament arose from the circumstance of his having to ask the electors for their votes, he could not conceive that there could be any well founded objection to his possession of a seat in the Assembly, when he was elected. He believed that the talents and superior knowledge of the judges, to say nothing of other considerations, made them highly useful. He lamented that a measure, which he considered would have been beneficial to the country, should not have taken effect. But he trusted that the people, in the disappointment of their expectations, would do him justice, and acquit him of being the cause that so little business had been done. [13] Sir James' letter to Lord Liverpool, accompanied by the explanatory Mr. Ryland. Such is human nature, that, on leaving the Council Room, Sir James Craig was loudly cheered. His manliness, combined with stupidity, and his real honesty of purpose, had its temporary effect upon those who admire pluck as much in a Governor as in a game cock. Not only was His Excellency cheered on leaving the Parliament buildings, addresses poured in upon him from all quarters. Quebec, Montreal, Terrebonne, Three Rivers, Sorel, Warwick, and Orleans, complimented Sir James. A more cunning man would have flattered himself that he had act
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