At the commencement of the American revolution, general Oglethorpe being the senior officer of sir William Howe, and now grown old in military fame without sullying his laurels, had the prior offer of the command of the forces appointed to subdue the colonies. He agreed to accept the appointment on condition the ministry would authorize him to assure the colonies, that justice should be done them. His proposal at once appeared the result of humanity and equity; he declared, that "He knew the people of America well; that they never would be subdued by arms, but that their obedience would ever be secured by doing them justice."t A man with these ideas was not a fit instrument for the designs of the British government: he was, therefore, agreeably to his own request, permitted to remain at home, where he was a quiet specta-` tor of the folly of his country, through a seven years war with the colonies.

General Oglethorpe passed the eve of his life in easy retirement, at the seat of his wife, at Grantham hall, in Essex, where he died the thirtieth of June, 1785, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He had been seventy-four years in the British army, and at his death he was said to have been the oldest officer in the king's service. His moderation, and the simplicity of his whole deportment, his prudence, virtue, delight in doing good, real regard to merit, unaffected simplicity in all his actions, great knowledge and experience, generous care and concern for his fellow creatures, his mercy and benevolence, will admit of but few parallels in the history of human life.

More can be said of general Oglethorpe, than of the subject of any other prince in Europe: he founded the province of Georgia, in

"He, noble, generous, and brave;
She all the virtues wise men crave,
With manly judgment too beside,
As e'er made hero happy bride.

"Help, youths and virgins, help to sing,
The prize which Hymen now does bring:
I too my feeble voice will raise;
To name but Oglethorpe, is praise."

† British Annual Register.

America; he lived to see it flourish, and become of consequence to the commerce of Great Britain; he saw it in a state of resistance, and at length beheld it independent of its mother country; and of great political importance in one quarter of the globe.

POLITICAL STATE OF CANADA.

The picture of the political state of Canada, given by Mr. Heriot, who resided there several years in an official capacity, and has published his "Travels in Canada," will be interesting at the present moment.

PREVIOUS to the year 1660, the influence of law was altogether unknown in Canada. The authority was entirely military: and the will of the governor, or of his lieutenant, was submitted to without ever being questioned. The sole power of bestowing pardon, of inflicting punishment, of distributing rewards, of exacting fines, was vested in him alone. He could imprison without a shadow of delinquency, and cause to be revered as acts of justice all the irregularities of his caprice.

In the year mentioned above, a tribunal, to decide definitively on all law-suits of the colonists, was established in the capital. The coutume de Paris, modified by local combinations, formed the code of these laws.

During the first four years after Canada came into possession of the British, it was divided into three military governments. At Quebec, and at Three Rivers, officers of the army became judges in causes civil as well as criminal. These important functions were, at Montreal, committed to the better order of inhabitants An equal want of legal information appears to have been the lot of all parties: and the commandant of the district, to whom an appeal from their sentences could be made, was no less defective in jurisprudence.

The coast of Labrador was, in 1764, dismembered from Canada, and added to the government of Newfoundland: and Lake Champlain, with all the territory to the southward of the fortyfifth degree of north latitude, was joined to the province of Newyork.

1

The extensive regions to the north, and west of Michilimakinac, in Lake Huron, were left without any jurisdiction. The territory from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, as far as that island, was placed under the authority of one chief.

The laws of the admiralty of England were, at the same time, established there: but these could only have a reference to the subjects of that country, into whose hands the whole of the maritime commerce necessarily flowed. To this improvement, beneficial to the interests of the colony, another of yet greater importance was added. This was the criminal code of England.

Before the introduction of this equitable mode of administering justice, a criminal, real or supposed, could be seized, thrown into confinement, and interrogated, without a knowledge of his crime or of his accuser; without being able to call to his aid, or to the alleviation of his distress, either friends, relatives or counsel.

The Canadians readily conceived, and felt, in a lively manner, the inestimable advantage of a system of jurisdiction too equitable to admit of any of the tyrannical modes of procedure which they had before been accustomed to witness or experience.

These people viewed not, however, with an equal degree of satisfaction the introduction of the civil code of England. They were prompted by habit and prejudice to give a preference to the ancient system under which their property had been protected. The magistrates, and other administrators of justice, found it, therefore, expedient to depart from the letter of the law, and to incline in their decisions, to the maxims which had before prevailed.

By an act, called the Quebec act, passed in the British legisla ture in 1775, Canada was extended to its ancient limits; and its former system of civil law, the coutume de Paris, was restored. The criminal and maritime regulations of England were retained, free exercise of the Roman catholic religion was allowed: and the profession of that faith was declared to be no impediment to the rights of the subject, or to his holding any office under the colonial government. Ecclesiastical dimes, and feodal obligations, resumed their validity.

A council formed by the sovereign might annul these arrangements, and exercise any power except that of imposing taxes.

This body consisted of the lieutenant-governor, chief justice, secretary of the province, and of twenty other members chosen indifferently from the two nations, and subject only to an oath of fidelity. Each of these received a salary of an hundred pounds sterling a year. The expenses of the civil government of the colony amounted, at that period, to twenty-five thousand pounds sterling a year, exclusive of the governor's salary. The amount of the colonial revenue exceeded not nine thousand pounds sterling.

This plan of vesting in the same individuals the executive and legislative powers was not, by any means, productive of satisfaction. The subjects who had emigrated thither from Great Britain, and who had established themselves in the colony, were displeased to behold a portion of their most valuable privileges withdrawn from their reach: and the Canadians, who had begun to relish the advantages of a free government, and who were encouraged to look forward for the introduction of the English constitution, viewed with concern a barrier interposed to the accomplishment of their expectations. The system was not contemplated with par`tiality, even on the part of the statesman by whom it was originally framed. But its temporary operation was considered as expedient, on account of the symptoms of discontent which had then appeared in several of the British provinces on the continent of North America.

The country continued to be governed in this mode until 1792. By an act of the thirty-first year of his present majesty's reign, the Quebec bill already mentioned, was repealed, and all the advantages of the British constitution extended to this part of the empire. Agrecably to this law, Quebec was divided into two separate provinces, the one called Upper, the other Lower Canada. A legislative council and an assembly were at the same time constituted to each: and these bodies were empowered, with the assent of the governor, to pass such laws as should not be repugnant to the act to which they owed their political existence. The legislative council of Upper Canada consists of not fewer than seven members; and that of Lower Canada of not fewer than fifteen, subject to be augmented according to the royal pleasure. The members must be natural born subjects, persons naturalized, or such persons as became subjects by the conquest and cession of the

country. By a residence out of their respective provinces for a period of four entire successive years, without leave from his majesty, or for the space of two continued years without leave from the governor, or by taking an oath of allegiance to any foreign power, the seats of any members of the legislative council become vacated. These offices are otherwise held during life. The right of appointing or of removing the speaker of the legislative council is vested in the governor.

His majesty reserves to himself the power of creating, whenever he may think it expedient, dignities or titles in these provinces, descendable to heirs male, who may have the privilege of being summoned, when of age, to a seat in the legislative council. But this, on account of certain incapacities, may be suspended during life, and be resumed by the next lawful heir, on the death of the party who had been so deprived of his privilege.

The governor, by the king's authority, is empowered to call a house of assembly, whose members must be chosen for the counties or circles, by persons possessed of landed property of the clear yearly value of forty shillings sterling or upwards. For the towns the representatives must be elected by voters whose property consists of a dwelling-house and lot of ground in the town, of the yearly value of five pounds sterling or upwards, or who have been resident in the town for twelve months next before the date of the writ of summons, and shall have paid one year's rent for a dwelling or lodging, at the rate of at least ten pounds sterling per annum.

The council and assembly must be convoked once in twelve months: and each legislature continues for a term of four years and no longer, subject, however, if necessary, to be dissolved previous to the expiration of that period.

The king in council may declare his disallowance of any provincial act within two years from the time of its receipt in England: and all bills reserved for his majesty's pleasure, are to have no operation or validity until the royal assent be communicated to the colonial legislature.

A court of civil jurisdiction, composed of the governor with the executive council, for the purpose of hearing and deciding on appeals from the courts of law, was, by the same act, established