or with regard to the impeachments and he
endeavored to avoid any similar mistake. He wrote to England for
instructions, taking care to inform the Minister of State for the
Colonies of the true state of public opinion in the province. He
represented that the appeal to the people by Sir Gordon Drummond had
entirely failed; the people were irritated at the appeal to them under
such circumstances; the dissolution of a parliament was not, in his
opinion, at any time calculated to do much good, but was often
seriously productive of evil; in a small community it was more
difficult to correct public opinion than in a larger one; he would
carry out whatever instructions should be given to him; but these were
his views and he would await an answer. He went still further. He
informed the Colonial Secretary that Chief Justice Sewell was
unpopular, not with the Assembly alone, but with all classes of the
people. No matter whether the feeling proceeded from the acts and
calumnies of designing demagogues, it existed. It was indeed believed
in the Palace of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and in the cottage of the
humblest peasant, that Chief Justice Sewell had outraged their feelings
of loyalty and religion. When Attorney-General, Mr. Sewell had
maintained doctrines and supported measures that clashed with the
religious opinions of the Canadians. A dislike, amounting to
infatuation, had been confirmed by the part which he was supposed to
have taken in the government after his promotion. It was this gradually
increasing dislike which had led to his impeachment. Sir John believed
that a hearing to both parties, on the impeachment, even had the
decision been the same, would have been conducive to the peace of the
province, as it would have deprived the party hostile to the Chief
Justice of a pretext of complaint, by which, in a free country, the
people will always be interested. The impression was that the
government of England had come to a decision on an _exparte_ hearing.
Chief Justice Sewell should have been permitted to retire on a pension.
That step would have had the effect of getting rid of a grievance.
Agreeably to his instructions, he would support the Chief Justice even
should the wrath of the Clergy be the result. He would also cultivate a
good understanding with the Roman Catholic Bishop, but neither argument
nor coercion could destroy public opinion. Prorogation might succeed
prorogation, and dissolution, but there would be a re