290 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. II. 



first session of parliament, he commented at some length on the compo- 

 sition and proceedings of the two houses. He had been told on his way 

 up the St. Lawrence that there was a strong prejudice against the 

 election of half-pay officers, and that the popular feeling ran in favor of 

 men of less pretensions who ate at the same table with their servants 

 when they had any. Yet a fair proportion of the former class, such as 

 McDonell, Pawling, and Elliott had actually been chosen and as a 

 whole he described the House of Assembly as being composed of the 

 " most active characters in their several counties." " Many of the 

 members " he added, " were not averse to parliamentary wages," and a 

 bill was passed through the lower house imposing a duty of six pence 

 on the gallon of rum and spirits passing through the province which it 

 was anticipated would yield a revenue of i^ 1,500 per annum. This bill 

 was warmly opposed in the Legislative Council where the large merchants 

 were predominant, on the ground that nearly the whole of these goods 

 belonged to Montreal houses, and it was summarily rejected. The smallest 

 tax on real estate was hotly resisted on the pretext that it would 

 discourage immigration, but probably the real reason for the opposition 

 lay in the fact that a majority of members of both houses were already 

 large proprietors. 



A bill to validate the irregular marriages which had been contracted 

 throughout the province prior to its organization was also introduced 

 into the Legislative Council by the Hon. Richard Cartwright, who soon 

 gained the Governor's ill-will by a more or less pronounced opposition 

 to several government measures, and it was only withdrawn on a definite 

 pledge that the Attorney-General would frame a satisfactory Act and 

 send it to England for the approval of the law-officers of the Crown. 

 The House of Assembly exhibited a much stronger feeling in favor 

 of adopting the "elective principle" in municipal affairs than Simcoe 

 considered advisable, and he exerted his influence successfully to secure 

 the postponement of a measure which was introduced providing for the 

 election of all township officers by a popular vote. In order to counteract 

 the spirit of democracy and " to promote an aristocracy most necessary 

 in this country " he hastily appointed lieutenants for the most populous 

 counties and invested them with the same recommendatory powers with 

 reference to the selection of magistrates and officers of militia which were 

 exercised by similar officials in England, but this attempt at transplanting 

 aristocratic institutions did not meet with the approval of the British 

 Cabinet, as it was thought that it would have a tendency to diminish the 

 authority of the Lieutenant-Governor, and Simcoe accordingly promised 

 to make no further appointments of that kind, and when these offices 

 became vacant they were not again filled. 



