The Evening Star. THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, IS7O.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2093, 20 January 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, IS7O.

The difference between bis Honor the Superintendent and his advisers that rendered necessary the calling of the Provincial Council together was widened and perpetuated by the manner in which the Executive thought proper to nominate a Provincial Treasurer in lieu of Mr M‘Lean. Although that is a question on which the public ought to be fully informed, in order that they may fairly estimate the reasons that induced his Honor to refuse to accept Mi Gillies’s services, for the present they must be content to hear only one side, as it is plain that his Honor cannot enter into those personal explanations that Mr Gillies does not appear to have any hesitation in doing. This throwing overboard of that delicacy that is due to the peculiar relation in which he stands to his_ Honor, may arise from misapprehension, but more probably from a desire to have the first word. It is very natural foi men to ■wish to stand well with their fellow men, especially when some coveted prize is in view j and not their anxiety to secure it leads them to use the very means they ought not. _ The Hundreds Regulation Act and Railway questions may be fairly left to the revelations of Hansard ] and, notwithstanding Messrs Clark and Gillies have fought the battle over again before their constituents on those subjects, they must stand or fall by its pages. It is different with the rejection of Mr Gillies as Treasurer. _ It was one thing t.; put forth peculiar views on Constitutional law in the leading columns of the Daily 'limes there they appeared incog. : but it is another to stand before a remote constituency and to excuse a line of conduct fairlj open to reprehension, by an attempt to throw' blame upon his Honor for acting unconstitutionally. Such a course can only be condemned, in the same way as all men of right feeling would condemn an attack upon a clergyman, or any other gentleman who was precluded from defending himself through peculiarity of position. Yet in no other light can the following absurd doctrine be viewed. Mr Gillies is reported to have said I may, however, hero “state, that the arrangements con- “ nectcd with the filling of such offices u are always made by the Ministers of “ the day, either in the case of our “ Provincial Council, or any other (< Assembly, and that the proclamation “ of either*the Queen, a Governor, or a Superintendent, is simply a matter “ of form.” This unique idea of Constitutionalism first appeared in the Daily Times, and its identity therefore must be held to be unmistakcable. It is suprising that these sticklers for Constitutional usage ignore in practise the principles never departed from at Home, of leaving all explanations of a personal character connected with Executive arrangements until the meeting of Parliament, when both sides may be fairly heard. In his departure from this wholesome and courteous rule, Mr Gillies has shown how little dependence is to be placed on his reading of Constitutional law and Parliamentary etiquette. Not being in Executive secrets, we can only judge of what took place by report, and by what Mr Gillies says. Accepting his statement as true, the course adopted by the Executive was one which it was hardly possible to excuse on any other plea than unpardonable ignorance, if not to be construed into deliberate insult. Taking into consideration the peculiar relation on which the Executive stood towards His Honor, most persons of cultivated intellect would have considered themselves bound by the strictest rules of courtesy \ but instead of following them, the Constitutional power of appointing his Ministers was rudely attempted to be wrested from him, which is proved by a statement, that without consulting him the office was tilled up. There was no necessity for the haste that was displayed. It was merely necessary to say that Mr M ‘Lean’s resignation had been so long delayed that no final airangement had been possible. As to the doctrine laid down, that “ the ar- “ rangemonts connected with the filling “ of such offices are always made by “ the Ministers of the day,” and the insinuation that the Queen, Governor, or Superintendent is bound to accept such nominees, it is really so absurd as to carry its own refutation with it. Such a rule would open the door to the grossest nepotism and abuse. It would reduce the office of Superintendent to that of a puppet, and virtually prevent the chief citizen from the exercise of that controlling power in which his prerogative consists. In our view, whatever predilection his Honor may have had, consistently with the dignity of his office, he could not have accepted Mr Gillies’s appointment. A writer on Constitutional Law of no mean authority, Dr Hearn, applying its principles to the Colonies, and speaking of Governors, soys :—“ In the exorcise of

“ the discretionary powers of the “ Crown, that officer is instructed “ to guide his discretion on the same “ principles which regulate the discre- “ tion of the Crown in all other oir- “ cuinstancp.s. It is the duty of the “ Governor to administer the allairs of “ his Colony by the aid of Ministers, “ who act under the superintendence “ and with the approval of the Colo- “ nial Parliament. His compliance “ with the advice of those Ministers is “ limited to matters of discretion. And again—“ If from any cause, whe- “ thor originating in his instructions “ or not, he cease to have confidence in “ his advisers, he is entitled to seek “ other counsel.” The rule laid down by Mr Gillies relates to the formation of an Executive, but who ever for a moment doubted the discretionary power of the chief citizen to object to the name of some one as appointee to a particular office 1 It is not the first time wc have beard of such an assumption of dictatorial power by a Ministry, but w r e have no recollection of any instance in wdiich it was successful, and it will be a. day of evil omen to the Province when, through tbo weakness or incompetence of the Superintendent of the day, such an attempt succeeds.