n of business had hardly begun when a message was
received from the Administrator-in-chief. His Royal Highness, the
Regent, had commanded His Excellency to make known his pleasure to the
House of Assembly on the subject of certain charges preferred by the
House against the Chief Justices of the province and of Montreal, in
connection with certain charges against a former governor, Sir James
Craig. The Regent was pleased to say that the acts of a former governor
could not be a subject of enquiry, whether legal or illegal, as it
would involve the principle that a governor might divest himself of all
responsibility on points of political government; the charge referred
by the Regent to the Privy Council, was only such as related to the
Rules of Practice, established by the Judges, in their respective
Courts, and for which the Judges were themselves solely responsible;
and the Report of the Privy Council was that the Rules of Practice
complained of were made not by the Chief Justices alone, but in
conjunction with the other Judges of the respective Courts, as rules
for the regulation and practice of their respective Courts, and that
neither the Chief Justices, nor had the Courts in which they presided,
exceeded their authority in making such rules, nor had they been guilty
of any assumption of legislative power. Further, His Excellency was
commanded to express the regret with which the Regent had viewed the
late proceedings of the House of Assembly against two persons who had
so ably filled the highest judicial offices in the colony, a
circumstance calculated to disparage their character and services, in
the eyes of the inconsiderate and ignorant, and so diminish the
influence which a judge ought to possess. The other charges with regard
to the refusal of a writ of _Habeas Corpus_, by Mr. Chief Justice Monk,
of Montreal, were considered to be totally unsupported by any evidence
whatever. The message from the administrator, by order of the Regent,
had been somewhat too soon communicated to the Assembly for "accordant
exertion" in legislation. A call of the House was ordered for the 14th
of February, and the message was to be referred to a committee of the
whole on that day. That day came and the committee of the whole
referred the message to be reported upon by a select committee of nine
members, and the report of the committee was to the effect that a
humble representation and petition to the Regent must be prepared, and
tha