Note 143 — Chapter XLII

Bourne's Our Colonies and Emigration, pp. 100, 101.

"The proclamation inviting emigrants to Nova Scotia guaranteed them the same form of government and rights as the other colonies; but owing to alleged difficulties in the way of electing an Assembly, no Assembly was chosen, and laws were made and the affairs of the colony were administered by the Governor and Council, until Chief Justice Belcher raised the question in 1755, in a letter to the Lords of Trade, as to the constitutionality of several laws passed by the Governor and Council without the endorsement of a representative Assembly. The question was referred to the Attorney and Solicitor-General of England, who decided that the Governor and Council alone had not the right to make laws, and that any laws so made were unconstitutional. The Lords of Trade advised the Governor (Lawrence) to convene an Assembly without delay, but he objected to it as needless and impracticable; when the Lord of Trade replied sharply, that he knew their desires on the subject; and as he did not seem disposed to gratify them, they were obliged to order him to do so; adding, that they knew that many had left the province and gone to other colonies on account of the discontent at the delay of calling an Assembly."

In obedience to these instructions, Governor Lawrence brought the subject before his Council the 20th of May, 1758, and a resolution (prepared by Chief Justice Belcher the year before) was passed, to the effect "That a House of Representatives of the inhabitants of this province be a civil Legislature thereof, in conjunction with the Governor for the time being, and the Council; that the first House shall be known as the General Assembly, and shall consist of sixteen members, to be elected by the province at large—four by the township of Halifax, and two by the township of Lunenburg; and that as soon as any other township which might be erected had fifty electors (freeholders), it should be entitled to elect two representatives to the Assembly, as well as having the right of voting for representatives for the Province at large. Eleven members besides the Speaker were to form a quorum." (Tuttle's History of the Dominion of Canada, Chap, li., pp. 238, 239.)