The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3192, 14 May 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1873.

Had a shell fallen on the floor of the Provincial Council Hall instead of the reading of the Superintendent’s Message, on Monday, it could not have created greater consternation amongst honorable members. Yetwe do not see what else they could expect. Daring past sessions there have been two parties who were supposed to bo opposed to each other on the land policy ; that cause of difference is removed. It so occurred that his Honor, as candidate for the Superintendency, was opposed during the election for that high office by Mr Reid, and that the latter, having been returned as representative of an electoral district, as was natural on account of his superior

talent, obtained the confidence of the party who proved to be in the majority when the Council met for business. Tbe result was inevitable:

he became the'head of the Provincial Executive, and, according to his own statement, never had any personal difference with his Honor. We suppose he ought to be believed in the matter, or lie is unworthy the confidence reposed in him by his own party. The Land Bill was settled, and wc know of no question of surpassing importance that should now divide the Council into two parties. But whal both the Superintendent and Mr Reid deny, the majority of the Council in session affirm. Those who ought to know say there is no personal quarrel ; the clodocracy in the Council say there has been, and set themselves to show by their language and their votes that they have undertaken, not only to decide that the quarrel does subsist, but the merits of it, and which side is in the wrong. They have assumed, in fact, that they are interested parties, and have determined that if there was not a quarrel, theie ought to have been one, and if Mr Rkid will not quarrel, they will quarrel on his account. They, therefore, take the opportunity of shoving him to the front—on his own acknowledgment, against his will—just as it is said the brave defenders of a city placed the women and children in front to shield them from the enemy’s fire ; and behind that rampart they insulted the Superintendent by word and vote. The real point at issue was lost sight of. They assume that all the fighting is to be on their side, and the Superintendent has no other privilege than to be still and be shot at; that the Council alone is the Constitutional Government, forgetting that without the Superintendent they are powerless ; for the Provincial Constitution is not complete without “ the Superintendent and Provincial Council.” The constitutional aspect of the case, notwithstanding the letter of Mr Barton and the wire-drawing of MiStout, is clearly in favor of the Superintendent j and as it is plain the majority of the Council has resolved not to support him, what other course was left to him than to say in effect, “ Gentlemen, it is plain that the confidence which ought to subsist between us does not exist. So long as your opposition was confined to measures, I felt myself bound to accede to your wishes, but you have now made me the subject of personal attack. In what I have done, I was actuated by a desire to maintain the dignity of this Council and the efficiency of the Executive. There is only one course left: since you will not w-ork with me, the public interests must not suffer. I have a trust reposed in me by the Province, which lam bound to protect. To me is entrusted the duty of maintaining that Constitution under which we were all elected. That Constitution expressly provides against the Superintendent being made the puppet of the Council, which I must be if I am not allowed to assert the dignity of the office without its permission, And since you by your vote and speeches seek to assume a position which renders harmonious action impossible, I am bound in duty to place the matter with those whose trustee I am, and to ask them either to confirm the Constitution, or, by electing others in our places, to pronounce it a dead letter.” This is in effect the language of the Message:—

The Superintendent desires to express his regret that a majority of the Council has seen fit to censure the action which, in the exercise of a public duty and having regard to the public interest, he felt constrained to take in connection with the late Executive changes—action which the Superintendent has yet to loirn was unconstitutional, and which he should feel bound to adopt again under similar circumstances. The fact that the leader of the late Executive by accepting office in the Colonial Ministry assumed a position both incompatible with that of head of the Provincial Executive and with hi* responsibilities to the Provincial Council, amply warranted the Superintendent’s action in tlee matter —action which was due alike to the dignity of the Provincial Council itself and to the Superintendent’s own position.

Had Mr Reid been Superintendent had lie fulfilled his duty, he must have taken precisely the same course under similar circumstances; but we much doubt whether “ the unforgiving” temper, as Mr Bathgate happily described it, which that gentleman has displayed, would have permitted him to express his respect for the Council by requesting one whom he had dismissed to resume oft} oo, through respect to the feeling of the Provincial (Opunpil. As for the chip-trap of choosing his Executive from the Opposition, who could have shown himself more completely in accord with Mr Reid than Mr Bastings ? Did Ire not work with him and Messrs Thomson, Hutcheson, Barton, J. C. Brown and Green in their policy 1 Yet, no sooner is he transferred to the Treasury benches than he is classed with “ the Opposition.” It is plain the opposition of these worthies is to men not to measures, and that an angel, associated with the Superintendent, would look black in their eyes. We do not expect that the proposal to dissolve the Council will meet with the concurrence of most of its members. Many of them must alter their conduct, or they will never sit in that House again; and although for the sake of public business it will be well if the mistake the Council has made can be rectified, we do not sec, compatibly with the dignity of his office, and with honor to the Province and his own self-respect, how the Superintendent can do otherwise than maintain the position he has taken. The remedy lies with the House, not with him.