[liOURiNOT] CANADIAN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 1S9 



documents. As intimated l»y Mr. Gladstone' it was not necessary to 

 make a change as to the number of councillors holding- office at the 

 pleasure of the Crown. The commission and instructions to the Earl of 

 Elgin, 1848, to Sir Edmund Head in 1854, and to Lord Monck in 1861, 

 were all to the same etfect. The commission and instructions to the 

 latter held good at the time Nova Scotia entered the union of 1867, and 

 it is therefore useful to copy the paragraphs in these documents that 

 refer to the covmcil : " 



From the Commission. 



" Y. And we do by these presents grant, provide and declare, that 

 there shall be within our said province a council to be called ' The 

 Legislative Council' of our said province, and that all and every, the 

 powers and authorities heretofore vested in or exercised by the legislative 

 council of our said province, shall continue to be exercised by our said 

 council hereby re-established. 



" VI. And we do hereby declai-e our pleasure to be that the said legis- 

 lative covincil shall consist of such and so many members as have been 

 or shall hereafter be from time to time for that purpose nominated and 

 appointed by us under our sign manual and signet, or as shall be 

 provisionally a]>pointed by you until our will therein shall be know^n, all 

 which members shall hold their places in the said council during our 

 pleasure : Provided, nevertheless, and we do hereby declare our pleasure 

 to be that the total number of the members of the said legislative council 

 for the time being resident within our said province shall not at any time 

 by any such provisional appointments be raised to a greater number in 

 the whole than twenty-one. 



" VII. And we do further direct and apjjoint that eight members of 

 our said legislative council shall be a quorum for the despatch of the 

 business thereof, and that the senior member for the time being of the 

 said council shall preside at all the deliberations thereof. 



" IX. And we do hereby give and grant unto you, so far as we law- 

 fully may, full jjower and authority, upon sufficient cause to you 

 appearing, to remove from his office, or to suspend from the exercise of 

 the same, any person exercising any office or place within our said 

 province or its dependencies, under or b}* virtue of an}- commission or 

 warrant granted, or which may be granted b}' us, or in our name, or 

 under our authority." 



From the Instructions. 

 " VI. And whereas we have, by our said commission, declared our 

 pleasure to be, that there shall be within our said province a council, to 

 be called the legislative council of our said province, within certain 



1 See Mr. Gladstone's letter above, p. 152. 



2 See Ass. Jour, of N. S., 1848, App. 63 ; also lb. 1859, App. 28. 



