Wilmot, when he entered the legislature, was to bring the
province into line with the principles of responsible government as
understood in the mother country. Yet, looking at the state of New
Brunswick then, it is easy to see that the task he had undertaken was
one of enormous difficulty. Most of the evils of which the people had
been complaining still existed. The casual and territorial revenue was
still under the control of the home authorities, the custom-house
establishment still remained unreformed, the Family Compact still
controlled all the great public offices, and none but members of the
Church of England were thought worthy to serve their country in a public
capacity.

Two years earlier the executive and legislative councils had been
separated; but the change had made little or no improvement in the
system of government. The executive council consisted of five members,
all of whom held public offices from which they could not be removed by
any act of the legislature. The first on the list was Baillie, the
surveyor-general, whose record has already been referred to; next came
F. P. Robinson, the auditor of the king's casual revenue; another was
William F. Odell, whose father had been provincial secretary for
twenty-eight years, and who himself filled the same office for
thirty-two years. George F. Street, the solicitor-general, was another
member of the executive, and the last on the list was John Simcoe
Saunders, who was advocate-general and held three or four
commissionerships besides. All these men were so solidly entrenched in
their positions that it seemed impossible they should ever be disturbed.
They formed a solid phalanx opposed to all reform, and they were
supported by the governor, Sir Archibald Campbell, most of whose life
had been spent in India and who, however well fitted to govern Hindoos,
was hardly the man to give laws to white men who claimed to be free.

{BECOMES A LEADER}

As soon as Wilmot entered the House of Assembly, he began to take a
leading part in its debates. The very day he took his seat he was
appointed on the committee to prepare an address in reply to the speech
from the throne. On the following day he gave notice of a resolution
with regard to the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, a subject
that was then coming to the front. A day or two later he brought in a
bill to continue the Act to provide for the expenses of judges on
circuits. Indeed, no man was more active