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Un des symboles solvents apparaltra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon Ie cas: Ie symbols — »> signifie "A SUIVRE". Ie symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames ss required. The following diagrams Illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rMuction diffirents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reprodult en un seul ciicht, il est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en ban, en prenant Ie nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 \ iTAj.^f»v\ PETITION To the King'* Most ExetlUntMajetty. (find to the Mtveral other branchet of the Im- perial and Provincial Legidatures.) We, your Mnjesty's dutirul and loyal Buhjects, inhabitants orUpper Canada, are Cdiistrained by the must painful necessity, to appeal tu the justice of your Majesty, against the misrule of the Provincial ad- nilnistratiun, und humbly tu puint out to yiiur Majesty the alarming increase of our grievauces, and the necessity of their r<;dress, as they become more and mure inveterate from the patience with which we have hitherto endured them. We of- fer our warmest thanks and gratitude to your Majesty, fur appuiii> n tu be a judge over your (anadiM peo|>,e ihe llunuura- bio Juhn ^Valpole ^Villis, whose private virtuett & acknowledged learning,blended with high and uucom promising principlea, uniformly evinced in the impartial dis. charge of his judicial duiies, have already endeared him to the country, as one of i*s greatest blessings, and as affording to the people the most flattering presage of a new era in the administration of justice. Of (his blesfins we have been uncunsiitn- tiunally deprived, and mirrule has at length hecutne so liuid, and |K>wer so mdiscriin- inatf of its victims, as to sporn from the judgement seat the Hon. vir. Justice Wil- lis, who there presented what has long been wished fur, but seldom seen, the •tern and fearlena integrity and independ- ence of a British Judge. Such judicial integrity and independence are alarming- ly endangerfd when such a judge, with- out impeachment and even without a charge, can lie so ignuminiously amoved frura his high office. Although we entertain the fullest con- fidence in your Majesty's desire to pro- mote the happiness and protect the rights of British subjects, throughout your am- ple d& gloriuus duminions.yei onr hi>pe> of speedy redress arc not a litile discourag- ed, by a knowledge that while we, on our pari, open to your Mojesly the abuses and oppressions growing upon us, the very persons we accuse are pressing through other channels, affbrdin!; a mure favoura- ble access to your royal belief, those in- terested ujisreiiresentations, which are de- signed both to promote misrule and pro> .lert the authors of it; for, it cannot be forgotten that misrepresentations from such sotirces have already recently endan- gered our civil and religious liberties and cruelly vilified and tridurcd the fair char- arlers of the dissenting denominations «)f Cliristlans in this Prtivinre. And the im- pending consequences of suci} secret misrepresentations are further apprehend- ed from the tenor of the speech of the Kighi Hon. Wm. I 'uskisson, your Majes- ty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the Imperial Hotise of Com- roons, ■§ reported in some of the public prints. Notwithstanding defects in the law den fining our constitution, we are, neverth«« less warmly attached to it, aad view with just fear every attempt to amend it. with' out the intervention of our Provincial Leo gislature, which is the consitftted guardi* an of our rights and liberties, and which, considering the great distance of tho lav perial Legislature, can best understand our necessities, and apply the proper re> medies. It has long been the source of many grievances, and ol their continue ance, that the Legislative Council is form- ed not of an independent gentry, takein from the country at large, but of Execu- tive Counsellors and place-men, the great majority of whom, are under the immedi- ate,active, and undue influence of the per- son administering your Majesty's Provin- cial Government, holding their offices at his mere will and pleasure. Hence aris- es in a great measure the practical irres- pcmsibiliiy of Executive Counsellors, and other official advisers of your Majesty's representative, who have hitherto with im- punity both disregarded the laws of the land, and despised the opinions of the public. From the impunity with which the greatest abuses have hitherto existed, and the difficulty in such a stale of things of applying an efficient remedy, most of our grievauces have taken their origin and growth. First, the rejection by the Legislative Council, of the must salutary measures passed by large majurities iu the house of assembly, and much desired by the peo- ple. Secondly, the frequent want of^a cast- ing voice in the Court of King's Bench, in this Province, owing to the illegal ab- sence of the judges, especially of the Chief Justices, as well on distant jour- nies out of the Province, as on attendan- ces in the Legislativo and Executive Councils. 'i'hirdly, the undue influence which the mingled duties of Legislative and Execu- tive advice, have on the judicial function. Fourthly, the assumption of a power by the Executive to appropriate a largo portion of the revenue and other monies, raised from the sale of land and other- wise in the Province, independent of the will or sanction of the Assembly. FiAhly, the extravagant augmentation of salaries, offices, and public expences, quite disproportioned to the state and cir- cumstances of the Colony. Sixthly, the confinement of public pro- sccu inns of ofi'ences to the sole conduct of the Law Officers of the crown in the colony, embarrassing private prosecutors in this small community, where the influ- ence of politics and family connections, is so injuriously fell. Seventhly, the retaining in public offices, and the introduction into the same, of per* sons who notoriously ought to be exclu^- ded. Eighthly, the want of carrying into ef- fect that rutiimal and constitutional rnn- truul over public functionaries, especially the advisers of your Majesty's represents' tive, which our fellow subjects in England enjoy in that happy country. Ninetbly, our present imperfeet jury system. ^cnllily, (hat Sherifls, Coroners, »nd o:bcr puLlJc officers, hold tiieir offices during pleasure, and not during godd be» liaviour,()r otherwise, «s in England. fclevenlhly, that the supreme judges of the land hold their offices during pleas- ure, and are subjected to the ignominy of an arbitrary removal. Wherofore, we humbly entreat fur the inlerf'erence of your royal prc'r«{;aiiv«, to favour our exertions to corrtuit the griev- ances under which we labour. We humbly suggevt that the Legitia- tive Council should be increased in num- ber, of whom, a small proportion only, strictly limited by law, to be permitted to hold or enjny any place of emolument or profit under the government, or to bo members of the Executive Council. Secondly, That the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, be nut Legisla- tive Councillors, nor Executive Council- lors, nor Privy Councillors, in any res- pect, in the colony. Thirdly, That the judges shall not be permitted to absent themselves from the province, but on the most reasonable cause and with leave obtained as prescrib- ed in the British acts relative to Colonial Officers. Fourthly, That the judges he made in- dependent as in England, holding their offices not as at present in this province, but during good behaviour, to be enquir- able into, by impeachment alone, in tbo Provincial Parliament, before the Legis- lative droncii, when (hat body is so modi- fied as to boconie an independent brauch of the Legislature. Fifthly, That for some time, at least till the Province allbrds an adequate source of legal and consiituiional education, the judges be appointed from the bar in I-ng- land. Sixthly, That a legiE^lalive act be made in the Provincial Parliament, to facilitate tho mode in which the present consiiiu- tional responsibility of the advisers of the local government, may be carried practi- cally into effect ; not only by the removal of these advisers from oflice, when they lose the confidence of the people, but also by impeachment for the heavier oflenoes chargeable .:gainst them. Seventhly, That our present jury sys- tem be amended by a new law whereby the jurors to be impanelled may be more equally selected front the country and less at the mere nomination of the sherx iff or his officers, such new law, to ex- tend both to grand and petit jurors. Having thus under the pressure of the present crisis hastily concentrated our must pressing grievances and humbly prayed, for the ruyal aid of ycur Majes- ty's prerogative in providing appropriiiie remedies, we your Mnjesiy's dutiful and loyal subjects cannot omit again to bring under your Mnjesiy's serious notice as indicative of the iieecFsily of a chnn^re of men ai d meuKures the recent violent and unconstitutional remuval from of- fice of the Hon. John Wajpole Willis, a public wrong calling more and more luudiv fur our most tuincst tcmunstrancu to your Itf^jesly's and strongly elucidat- ing the injurious character of tho pol- icy pursued by the present Provincial administration. Such was the apprehension of the practical bad consequences of the King's F>ench, being without a casting voice, that previous to Easter Term tast, a aif- morial was addressed to His £xcellency, pointing out in some respects, the failure of justice in such a stale of things, and requesting His Excellency to suspend his leave of absence to the Cbi.f Jiistice, whose departure from the Province, was at that tiuie publicly spoken of, even until al\er the approaching term. His Excel- lency, however, did not thmk proper so to do, and the evil consequences aniieipaicd havejtecn rtalisM. During the terms of IVIicho'elmas and Hilary, last past, with a full bench, there was' not fewer than ten cases wherein differences in upiiiinn arose amongst the Judges, on impurtunt points, and in Easter Term, duriug which the Chief Justice was ^hseot, the two Puisne Judges were divided in opini<>n, in six several cases. ^ such ^ slate of things, substantifl justice cannot be said to be adminiMeredM^ Th|^.JPK>vinciana\v wisely enaoli that your' STujeaiy's < l,tief Justice, of this PHp/tmco logeilcr with two puisne fut|||ceB,^aU fxesidc in tho Court of King^s Behch. And as a di- versity of opinion- has, in many important ' |K>ints, unhqppily prevaiird among the judges of that Court, which is the only one of superior jurisdiction, and from which, in the vast majority of cases, theru can be no appeal, the importance of main- taining that Court, as organised by law,^'- becomes the more urgent, and the viola- tion of that law prodtictive of the grcai> . er evils. Under these cJrcutnstnnces, w* ferl • that the Hon. Mr. Justice Willis deserves the approbation and confidence of air goml men, fur withdrawing from the Court House, under a conscientious con- viction in his own breast, that ho could not administer justice according to law, while the court was not constituted a» that law required. Sensible as we are, that the appoint- ment of judges, esteemed by the people, for their learning and beloved by them, fur their virtues, is in every colony so^ . blessed, the most conclusive evidence of the health of the great body politic, so do we feel that this deliberate, violent, and unconstitutional removal of Mr. Jus- tice VV illis, depriving us of tho benefit of his himuurable and consciencious ser- vices, is a grievance of such mn>:nitude ns requires your Majesty's paternal inter- ference ; and this evil we feel the more serious, because it furnishes the present provincial administration, with an oppor- tunity of placing upon the judgement sent i man labouring under those prejiidircs of family connections and paiiy feeling from which Mr. Justice W illis was neces- sarily and hsppily free, persons wiilial very inferior to that Gentleman, in education, in talents, and in legal knowledge. W hile strongly feeling this injury, jonr M-ijcsty^ «« dat- cial the ng'a lico, Blf- ncy, luro and >c-iid «4 will, we beseech, hear our complaint or the conduct of the hop. Mr. Justice Sber- wood, who, in the absence of the Chief Justice, andof Mr. Justice Willis, proceeded alone to exercise all the pow« era of your Majesty's Court of Kin<;'s Bench, and yet abstained from offering any justifcation for such assumption, fur the 8atisfa f|ue8ted to give to the Bar, his legal reasons for such a course. He had at that time vacated his office, by absentinii himself trum the Province, Without the leavi) prescribed by law. We should omit a matter of the first imporinnce to the happy conduct of our civil atFiurs, did we fiirbear tu niei.lion to your Majesty, with all the delicacy becom> ing Us, wh»;n referring to thei^xercine (if your royal prerd'gittiver.Ihe t9tal ina|i- titude of military men, fur civif^ule in this Province. The almost constant absence of your Majesty's representative from the seat of Wovemment, where almost daily is re- quired bis "^Assiduous sitperintendaiice over public affairs, and public functional ries— Ria totaNlinacquaintun«e with the iahabitanls of the ctyiotry, with the ex- ception of thwew^ose official occupations ^lace dt^M about his parson, whereby be &in bo but •ill informed of the true state of the toiij^rj, 9hof the condition or wants and K'ishes eiits people the charge of disloyalty against those who question the policy of^he present ad- ministration — a system of eapoinage Sfirpsding from the seal -of government, over the face of the country— a threat- ened degeneracy in the slate of society, endangering by the* insidious operations of those morbid causes, that public feel- ing, truly Britiiih, and yet happilf alive in this colony.— the undue inlluenc