The governor, in the opening speech of the session, intimated that he had received communications from Her Majesty"s government on the subject of a federal union of the North American Provinces. He also stated that it was not the intention of the home government to propose to parliament the guaranteeing of the contemplated loan. He also informed the house that he had some time previously tendered his resignation of the lieutenant-governorship of the island, that his services were to be employed in another portion of the colonial possessions, and that his successor had been appointed.
Colonel Gray submitted to the house a series of resolutions, which were adopted with certain modifications, praying that Her Majesty would be pleased to direct a commission to some discreet and impartial person, not connected with the island or its affairs, to inquire into the existing relations of landlord and tenant, and to negotiate with the proprietors for such an abatement of present liabilities, and for such terms for enabling the tenantry to convert their leaseholds into freeholds as might be fairly asked to ameliorate the condition of the tenantry. It was suggested in these resolutions that the basis of any such arrangement should be a large remission of arrears of rent now due, and the giving every tenant holding under a long lease the option of purchasing his land at a certain rate at any time he might find it convenient to do so.
The legislative council, of which the Honorable Charles Young, LL. D., was president, adopted an address praying that the Queen would be pleased to give instructions that an administration might be formed in consonance with the royal instructions when a.s.sent was given to the Civil List Bill, pa.s.sed in April, 1857. The council complained that the principle of responsible government was violated in the construction of the existing executive council, which did not contain one Roman catholic, though the population of that faith was, according to the census of 1855, thirty-two thousand; that not one member of the legislative council belonged to the executive; that persons were appointed to all the departmental offices who had no seats in the legislature, and who were, in consequence, in no way responsible to the people; and as all persons accepting office under the Crown, when members of the a.s.sembly, were compelled to appeal to their const.i.tuents for re-election, this statute was deliberately evaded, and no parliamentary responsibility existed.
In replying to the address of the legislative council, in a counter-address, the house of a.s.sembly contended that there was no violation of the principle of the act pa.s.sed in 1857; that the prejudicial influence of salaried officers having seats in the a.s.sembly was condemned by the people at the polls, as indicated by the present house, where there were nineteen for, to eleven members opposed to the principle. As evidence of public opinion on the subject, it was further stated, that when the commissioner of public lands, after accepting office in the year 1857, appealed to the people, he was rejected by a large majority; that the attorney general and registrar of deeds, at the general election in June last, were in like manner rejected; and that at the general election in March last, the treasurer and postmaster-general were also rejected,-the colonial secretary being the only departmental officer who was able to procure a const.i.tuency.
On the nineteenth of May, Lieut. Governor Daly prorogued the house in a graceful speech. He said he could not permit the last opportunity to pa.s.s without expressing the gratification which he should ever experience in the recollection of the harmony which had subsisted between the executive and the other branches of the legislature during the whole course of his administration, to which the uninterrupted tranquillity of the island during the same period might in a great measure be attributed. The performance of the important and often anxious duties attached to his station had been facilitated and alleviated by the confidence which they had ever so frankly reposed in the sincerity of his desire to promote the welfare of the community; and notwithstanding the peculiar evils with which the colony had to contend, he had the satisfaction of witnessing the triumph of its natural resources in its steady though limited improvement. In bidding the house and the people farewell, he trusted that the favor of Divine Providence, which had been so signally manifested towards the island, might ever be continued to it, and conduct its inhabitants to the condition of prosperity and improvement which was ever attainable by the united and harmonious cultivation of such capabilities as were possessed by Prince Edward Island.
Sir Dominick Daly having left the island in May, the Honorable Charles Young, president of the legislative council, was sworn in as administrator. Mr. George Dundas, member of parliament for Linlithgowshire, was appointed lieutenant-governor, and arrived in June, when he received a cordial welcome. Amongst the numerous addresses presented to the governor was one from the ministers of the Wesleyan Conference of Eastern British America, a.s.sembled in Charlottetown, who represented a ministry of upwards of a hundred, and a church-membership of about fifteen thousand.
General Williams, the hero of Kars, visited the island in July, and received a hearty welcome from all cla.s.ses. He was entertained at supper served in the Province Building. The Mayor of Charlottetown, the Honorable T. H. Haviland, occupied the chair, having on his right hand Mrs. Dundas and General Williams, and on his left, Mrs. E. Palmer and the Lieutenant-governor. The Honorable Mr. Coles acted as croupier.
On the thirtieth of December, 1859, at Saint Dunstan"s College, died the Right Reverend Bernard Donald McDonald, Roman catholic bishop of the island. He was a native of the island, having been born in the parish of Saint Andrew"s in December, 1797. He obtained the rudiments of an English education in the school of his native district,-one of the very first educational establishments then existing on the island. He entered, at the age of fifteen, his _alma mater_,-the Seminary of Quebec. Here he remained for ten years, during which time he distinguished himself by his unremitting application to study, and a virtuous life. It was then that he laid the foundation of that fund of varied and extensive learning-both sacred and profane-which rendered his conversation on every subject agreeable, interesting, and instructive.
Having completed his studies, he was ordained priest in the spring of 1824, and he soon afterwards entered on his missionary career. There being but few clergymen on the island at that time, he had to take charge of all the western parishes, including Indian River, Grand River, Miscouche, Fifteen Point, Belle Alliance, Casc.u.mpec, Tignish, etc. In all these missions he succeeded, by his zeal and untiring energy, in building churches and parochial houses. In the autumn of 1829 he was appointed pastor of Charlottetown and the neighboring missions. In 1836 he was nominated by the Pope successor to the Right Reverend Bishop MacEachern, and on the fifteenth of October of that year was consecrated Bishop of Charlottetown in Saint Patrick"s Church, Quebec.
The deceased prelate was charitable, hospitable, and pious. Having few priests in his diocese, he himself took charge of a mission; and besides attending to all his episcopal functions, he also discharged the duties of a parish priest. He took a deep interest in the promotion of education. He established in his own district schools in which the young might be instructed, not only in secular knowledge, but also in their moral and religious duties, and encouraged as much as possible their establishment throughout the whole extent of his diocese. Aided by the co-operation of the charitable and by the munificent donation of a gentleman, now living, he was enabled to establish in Charlottetown a convent of ladies of the _Congregation de Notre Dame_,-which inst.i.tution is now in a flourishing condition, affording to numerous young ladies, belonging to Charlottetown and other parts of the island, the inestimable blessing of a superior education. But the educational establishment in which the bishop appeared to take the princ.i.p.al interest was Saint Dunstan"s College. This inst.i.tution, which is an ornament to the island, the lamented bishop opened early in 1855. The care with which he watched over its progress and provided for its wants, until the time of his death, was truly paternal. Long before he departed, he had the satisfaction of seeing the inst.i.tution established on a firm basis and in a prosperous condition.
In the year 1856 the bishop contracted a cough, and declining health soon became perceptible. He, however, continued to discharge his duties as pastor of Saint Augustine"s Church, Rustico, until the autumn of 1857, when, by medical advice, he discontinued the most laborious portion of them. Finding that his disease-chronic bronchitis-was becoming more deeply seated, he went to New York in the summer of 1858, and consulted the most eminent physicians of that city, but to little or no purpose. His health continuing to decline, he set his house in order, and awaited the time of his dissolution with the utmost resignation.
About two months before his death he removed from Rustico, and took up his residence in Saint Dunstan"s College, saying that he wished to die within its walls. On the twenty-second of December he became visibly worse, and on the twenty-sixth he received the last sacraments. He continued to linger till the thirtieth, when he calmly expired, in the sixty-second year of his age.
The lieutenant-governor was instructed by the home government that, in the event of the absence of harmony between the legislative council and the a.s.sembly, he should increase the number of councillors, and thus facilitate the movements of the machine. Five additional members were accordingly added to the council. During the session, several acts were pa.s.sed relating to education, including one which provided for the establishment of the Prince of Wales College.
The governor laid before the house a despatch, which he had received from the colonial secretary, the Duke of Newcastle, relative to the subject of the proposed commission on the land question. His grace had received a letter, signed by Sir Samuel Cunard and other proprietors, in which, addressing his grace, they said: "We have been furnished with a copy of a memorial, addressed to Her Majesty, from the house of a.s.sembly of Prince Edward Island, on the questions which have arisen in connection with the original grants of land in that island, and the rights of proprietors in respect thereof. We observe that the a.s.sembly have suggested that Her Majesty should appoint one or more commissioners to inquire into the relations of landlord and tenant in the island, and to negotiate with the proprietors of the township lands, for fixing a certain rate of price at which every tenant might have the option of purchasing his land; and, also, to negotiate with the proprietors for a remission of the arrears of rent in such cases as the commissioners might deem reasonable; and proposing that the commissioners should report the result to Her Majesty. As large proprietors in this island, we beg to state that we shall acquiesce in any arrangement that may be practicable for the purpose of settling the various questions alluded to in the memorial of the house of a.s.sembly; but we do not think that the appointment of commissioners, in the manner proposed by them, would be the most desirable mode of procedure, as the labors of such commissioners would only terminate in a report, which would not be binding on any of the parties interested. We beg, therefore, to suggest that, instead of the mode proposed by the a.s.sembly, three commissioners or referees should be appointed,-one to be named by Her Majesty, one by the house of a.s.sembly, and one by the proprietors of the land,-and that these commissioners should have power to enter into all the inquiries that may be necessary, and to decide upon the different questions which may be brought before them, giving, of course, to the parties interested an opportunity of being heard. We should propose that the expense of the commission should be paid by the three parties to the reference, that is to say, in equal thirds; and we feel a.s.sured that there would be no difficulty in securing the adherence of all the landed proprietors to a settlement on this footing. The precise mode of carrying it into execution, if adopted, would require consideration, and upon that subject we trust that your grace will lend your valuable a.s.sistance.
"If the consent," said the colonial secretary, "of all the parties can be obtained to this proposal, I believe that it may offer the means of bringing these long pending disputes to a termination. But it will be necessary, before going further into the matter, to be a.s.sured that the tenants will accept as binding the decision of the commissioners, or the majority of them; and, as far as possible, that the legislature of the colony would concur in any measures which might be required to give validity to that decision. It would be very desirable, also, that any commissioner who might be named by the house of a.s.sembly, on behalf of the tenants, should go into the inquiry unfettered by any conditions such as were proposed in the a.s.sembly last year."
The proposal of the colonial secretary, as to the land commission, came formally before the house on the thirteenth of April, when Colonel Gray moved that the house deemed it expedient to concur in the suggestions offered for their consideration for the arrangement of the long pending dispute between the landlords and tenants of the island, and, therefore, agreed to the appointment of three commissioners,-one by Her Majesty, one by the house of a.s.sembly, and the third by the proprietors,-the expense to be divided equally between the imperial government, the general revenue of the colony, and the proprietors; and that the house also agreed, on the part of the tenantry, to abide by the decision of the commissioners, or the majority of them, and pledged themselves to concur in whatever measures might be required to give validity to that decision. Mr. Coles proposed an amendment, to the effect that there were no means of ascertaining the views and opinions of the tenantry upon the questions at issue, unless by an appeal to the whole people of the colony, in the usual const.i.tutional manner, and that any decision otherwise come to by the commissioners or referees appointed should not be regarded as binding on the tenantry. On a division, the motion of Colonel Gray was carried by nineteen to nine. It was then moved by Mr.
Howat, that the Honorable Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, should be the commissioner for the tenantry, which was unanimously agreed to.
During this session, that of 1860, the a.s.sembly agreed to purchase the extensive estates of the Earl of Selkirk; and the purchase of sixty-two thousand and fifty-nine acres was effected, at the very moderate rate of six thousand five hundred and eighty-six pounds sterling,-thus enabling the government to offer to industrious tenants facilities for becoming the owners of land which was then held by them on lease.
On the fourth of May, 1860, died Mr. James Peake, at Plymouth, England.
From the year 1823 until 1856, Mr. Peake was actively engaged in mercantile pursuits on the island. He was a successful merchant, and for some years held a seat in Her Majesty"s executive council. Of a kind find generous disposition, he did not live to himself, but was ever ready to extend a helping hand to industrious and reliable persons, who might need aid and encouragement. He was highly esteemed as a liberal, honorable man. His integrity and enterprise placed him in the front rank as a merchant. "None," said the _Islander_, "was more deservedly respected, and by his death the world has lost one who was an honest and upright man."
CHAPTER VIII.
Arrival of the Prince of Wales-His Reception-The British Colonial Secretary expresses satisfaction with the a.s.sembly"s proceedings in regard to the Land Commission-The Report of the Commissioners-Its cardinal points presented-Their views with regard to Escheat and other subjects-The case of the Loyalists and Indians. Remarks on the Report: its merits and its defects.
The evils incident to the Land Question fundamentally attributable to the Home Government-The Immigrants deceived-The misery consequent on such deception-The burden of correction laid on the wrong shoulders-Volunteer Companies-General Census-Death of Prince Albert-The Duke of Newcastle and the Commissioners" Report.
The Prince of Wales having, in compliance with an invitation from the Canadian parliament, resolved to visit British North America, he was invited by the authorities to pay a visit to Prince Edward Island.
Having signified his intention of doing so, suitable preparations were made for his reception. His Royal Highness having proceeded to Newfoundland, and thence to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, he, after a short stay in these colonies, arrived in Charlottetown, in the ship _Hero_, on Thursday, the tenth of August, about twelve o"clock, m. On the _Hero_ swinging to her anchors, the lieutenant governor, attended by Colonel Gray, stepped into a barge and proceeded on board the ship.
After a short interval, his excellency returned, and intimated that the royal party would disembark in half an hour. The governor received His Royal Highness as he stepped on the pier, and, in the name of the colonists, welcomed him to the island. The governor then presented the mayor to the Prince, and the recorder and city council, collectively. A guard of honor, consisting of a detachment of the 62nd regiment, and a body of volunteers, lined the way from the landing place to the royal carriage, into which, amidst the cheers of the people, the Prince stepped, inviting the governor to occupy the vacant seat. The procession was then formed, headed by an escort of volunteer cavalry, commanded by Major Davies. Immediately in advance of the first carriage walked the mayor, supported by the recorder and the city treasurer, and after the carriages, the procession was composed of the judges, the executive council, the members of both branches of the legislature, the clergy, the public officers, the city councillors, the committee of management, the members of the bar and other gentlemen, the troops, and societies and a.s.sociations. There were four triumphal arches through which the procession pa.s.sed. These were erected at the public expense. On pa.s.sing through Rochfort Square, the procession halted for a moment opposite a platform, on which were a.s.sembled upwards of a thousand children, neatly attired, and belonging to the sabbath schools. When the carriage of the Prince reached the platform, a thousand youthful voices united in singing the national anthem, when the emotion of the Prince was such that he actually shed tears.
At the door of Government House, His Royal Highness was received by Mrs.
Dundas, and conducted to the drawing-room, where the members of the executive council were presented by the governor. Rain, which had threatened all day, now began to descend; but there was a pleasant interval in the afternoon, during which the Prince rode, taking the Saint Peter"s and Malpeque roads, and returning in time for dinner, at half-past seven o"clock. There was a general illumination in the evening, the due effect of which was marred by heavy rain. But the following day was a splendid one. His Royal Highness, in the uniform of a colonel, held a levee in the forenoon, after which he inspected the volunteers, to the number of about four hundred and fifty men, in front of Government House. They were commanded by Major the Hon. T. H.
Haviland, who was complimented on the appearance of the force. Major Davies" troop of cavalry also received its share of royal commendation.
His Royal Highness drove to the Colonial Building for the purpose of receiving the addresses of the executive council and of the corporation of the city. He was received by Mr. Palmer and the Mayor, at the entrance. Two large stands had been erected for the accommodation of ladies wishing to witness the interesting ceremony. The civic and executive addresses were respectively read by the Recorder and the Honorable Edward Palmer. We may be permitted to say that these addresses, in point of good taste and expression, were far above the average of such compositions. To these addresses the Prince made suitable replies. In the afternoon His Royal Highness took another ride into the country, making a brief halt at the farm of Mr. H. Longworth, whence he obtained an extensive view of Charlottetown and the harbor.
In the evening there was a ball in the Colonial Building, which was attended by a numerous and brilliant a.s.semblage, and where His Royal Highness danced with much spirit, remaining till after three o"clock.
On Sat.u.r.day the prince departed from the island, where he had produced a most favorable impression,-leaving one hundred and fifty pounds to be disposed of in charity, according to directions communicated to the lieutenant-governor and his lady.
On the sixteenth of June, 1860, the Duke of Newcastle addressed a despatch to the lieutenant-governor, expressing his sense of the prompt.i.tude and completeness with which the house of a.s.sembly had given its support to the plan devised in the hope of terminating the differences on the question of land, by which the island had been so long agitated, and intimating that a commission would be forwarded, under the royal sign manual, containing the appointment of the Honorable Joseph Howe, Mr. John Hamilton Gray, and Mr. John William Ritchie, as commissioners,-Mr. Howe being the representative of the tenants, Mr.
Gray of the Crown, and Mr. Ritchie of the proprietors. The commissioners accordingly opened their court at the Colonial Building, on the fifth of September, 1860,-Mr. Gray presiding. There appeared at the court, as counsel for the government of the colony, on behalf of the tenantry, Mr.
Samuel Thomson, of Saint John, N. B., and Mr. Joseph Hensley; and for the proprietors, Mr. R. G. Haliburton and Mr. Charles Palmer. Mr.
Benjamin DesBrisay was appointed clerk to the commissioners. On the first day, the court was addressed by counsel representing the various interests, and on the succeeding days, a very large number of witnesses were examined, for the purpose of eliciting information for the guidance of the court in coming to a decision. After the evidence had been heard, the court was addressed by counsel.
The report of the commissioners was dated the eighteenth of July, 1861; and, as any history of the island would be incomplete without an outline of its contents, the writer will now proceed to give such outline, which, whilst it presents leading facts and arguments adduced, will not, it is hoped, be open to the charge of undue prolixity.
As we have, in the course of the narrative, given an incidental sketch of the history of the land question, we shall pa.s.s over that portion of the commissioners" report which is occupied with facts that have already been partially submitted, and to which we must again refer at a more advanced stage of the narrative, and give the substance of the remedies which the commissioners proposed for existing evils. The commissioners expressed the hope that they might be regarded as having entered upon the discharge of their duties, not only with a high appreciation of the honor conferred by their appointment, but also with a due sense of the grave responsibilities which they a.s.sumed. When they commenced their labors there was a general impression that the act of the provincial legislature, which made their award binding on all parties concerned, would receive the royal a.s.sent; and, although the decision of the colonial secretary-not to submit that act for Her Majesty"s approval-somewhat relieved them from the weight of responsibility necessarily involved in the preparation and delivery of a judgment beyond appeal, they still felt that, as their award was to affect the t.i.tles of a million of acres, and the rights and interests of eighty thousand people, a hasty decision would not be a wise one, and that the materials for a judgment ought to be exhausted before the report was made.
By traversing the island and mixing freely with its people, the commissioners had become familiar with its great interests and general aspects. By holding an open court in all the shire towns, they had given to every man on the island, however poor, an opportunity to explain his grievances, if he had any. By bringing the proprietors and tenants face to face before an independent tribunal, mutual misunderstandings and exaggerated statements had been tested and explained, and the real condition of society and the evils of the leasehold system had been carefully contemplated from points of view not often reached by those whose interests were involved in the controversy. The evidence collected, though not under oath,-the commissioners not being vested with power to administer oaths,-was most valuable in aiding them to form a correct estimate of the evils of which the people complained.
The doc.u.mentary history of the question extended over nearly a century of time, and was to be found in the journals of the Legislature, in the newspaper files of the colony, and in pamphlets more or less numerous.
The amount of time and money wasted in public controversy no man could estimate; and the extent to which a vicious system of colonization had entered into the daily life of the people, and embittered their industrial and social relations, it was painful to record.
The commissioners felt that as the case of Prince Edward Island was exceptional, so must be the treatment. The application of the local government for a commission, and the large powers given to it by the Queen"s authority, presupposed the necessity of a departure from the ordinary legal modes of settling disputes between landlords and tenants, which the experience of half a century had proved to be inadequate.
Finding that it was impossible to shut out of their inquiry, while on the island, the questions of escheat, quitrents, and fishery reserves,-the claims of the descendants of the original French inhabitants, Indians, and loyalists,-they thought it quite within the range of their obligations to express their opinions freely upon these branches of the general subject.
The question of escheat, though apparently withdrawn from the scope of their inquiry by despatches from the colonial office,-received long after the opening of the commission,-could not be put aside. The discussion of the question was forced upon them from the day the court opened until it closed. The commissioners, therefore, thought it comported with their duty to express the conclusions at which they had arrived.
In considering the best mode of quieting the disputes between the proprietors and their tenants, and of converting the leasehold into freehold tenures, the commissioners remarked that the granting of a whole colony in a single day, in huge blocks of twenty thousand acres each, was an improvident and unwise exercise of the prerogative of the Crown. There was no co-operation on the part of the proprietors in peopling the island. Each acted on his own responsibility, and while a few showed energy in the work, the great body of the grantees did nothing. The emigrants sent out by the few were disheartened by the surrounding wilderness owned by the many, who made no effort to reclaim it, or were tempted to roam about or disregard the terms of settlement by the quant.i.ty of wild land, with no visible owner to guard it from intrusion. By mutual co-operation and a common policy, the proprietors might have redeemed the grants of the imperial government from the charge of improvidence. The want of these indispensible elements of success laid the foundation of all the grievances which subsequently afflicted the colony.
The commissioners regarded the land purchase act as embodying the most simple and efficacious remedy for existing evils. Under that act the Worrell and Selkirk estates had been purchased,-covering about one hundred and forty thousand acres, by which signal advantages were secured, the proprietors being dispossessed by their own consent, the tenants being enabled to purchase their holdings and improvements, not necessarily at a price so high as to represent the rents stipulated to be paid, but at the lowest price which the expenses of management, added to the aggregate cost of the estate, would warrant; and the wild lands were at once rescued from the leasehold system, and were subjected to the wholesome control of the local government, to be hereafter disposed of in fee simple, at moderate prices, as they are in all the other North American provinces. The commissioners unanimously recommended the application to the whole island of the principles embodied in the land purchase act, under modifications which appeared to be essential to their more extended adoption.
With respect to escheat, the commissioners reported that there was no light in which the present escheat of the t.i.tles, on the ground of the conditions of the original grants having been broken, could be viewed, which would not exhibit consequences most disastrous to the island. They therefore reported that there should be no escheat of the original grants for non-performance of conditions as to settlement.
The commissioners recommended that the imperial parliament should guarantee a loan of one hundred thousand pounds, so that the money could be borrowed at a low rate of interest. With the command of such a fund, the government would be in a condition to enter the market, and to purchase, from time to time, such estates as could be obtained at reasonable prices. They did not doubt that many of the proprietors would be glad to sell, and the compet.i.tion for the funds at the disposal of the government would so adjust the prices that judicious purchases could be made without any arbitrary proceedings or compulsory interference with private rights. The commissioners felt that it might be beyond their duty to make such a suggestion, but they hoped Her Majesty"s government would regard the case of Prince Edward Island as exceptional, its grievances having sprung from the injudicious mode in which its lands were originally given away.
a.s.suming that the imperial parliament guaranteed a loan, there remained to be considered the nature of the security which would be offered.
Although it was not improbable that doubts might have arisen as to the ability of the colony to repay so large an amount, a glance at its financial position would show that the required relief might be given without the risk of any loss to the mother country. The commissioners showed that the revenue of the island had increased from seventeen thousand pounds in 1839, to forty-one thousand in 1859,-more than doubling itself in twenty years. It seemed apparent, therefore, that without disturbing the tariff or reducing the ordinary appropriations, in five years the natural increase of population, trade, and consumption would give six thousand pounds a year, or a sum sufficient to pay the interest on a hundred thousand pounds, at six per cent. As it was not improbable that five years would be required to purchase the estates, and expend the loan to advantage, it might happen that the revenue would increase as fast as the interest was required, without any increase in the tariff, or diminution of the appropriations. But it might be reasonably a.s.sumed, when a new spirit was breathed into the island, and its population turned to the business of life, with new hopes and entire confidence in the future, that trade would be more active, and the condition of the people improve. The very operation of the loan act might therefore supply all the revenue required to meet the difference; but if it should not, an addition of two and a half per cent, upon the imports of the island, or a reduction of the road vote for two or three years, would yield the balance that might be required.
In making their calculations, no reference was made to the fund which would be at once available from the payment of their instalments by the tenants who purchased. Two thousand five hundred pounds had been paid by the tenants on the Selkirk estate in the first year after it was purchased. Guided by the experience thus gained of the disposition and of the resources of the tenantry, it was deemed by the commissioners fair to conclude that if such a sum could be promptly realized from sales of land, admitted to be among the poorest in the island, the local government might fairly count upon the command of such an increase, from the re-sale of the estates they might purchase, as would enable them to keep faith with the public creditor, without any risk of embarra.s.sment.
In considering the remedies to be applied, three conclusions forced themselves on the commissioners: that the original grants were improvident and ought never to have been sanctioned; that all the grants were liable to forfeiture for breach of the conditions with respect to settlement, and might have been justly escheated; and that all the grants might have been practically annulled by the enforcement of quitrents, and the lands seized and sold by the Crown, at various times, without the slightest impeachment of its honor. But whilst this opinion was firmly held, still, the Sovereign having repeatedly confirmed the original grants, it was impossible to treat the grantees in any other manner than as the lawful possessors of the soil.
a.s.suming, then, the sufficiency of the original grants, and the binding authority of the leases, the commissioners were clearly of opinion that the leasehold tenure should be converted into freehold. It was, they said, equally the interest of the imperial and local governments that this should be done, that agrarian questions should be swept from the field of controversy, that Her Majesty"s ministers might be no longer a.s.sailed by remonstrance and complaint, and that the public men in the island might turn their attention to the development of its resources.
a.s.suming, therefore, that a compulsory compromise was inevitable, the question arose: upon what terms should the proprietors be compelled to sell, and the tenants be at liberty to purchase?
In answer to this important question, the commissioners awarded that tenants who tendered twenty years" purchase to their landlords, in cash, should be ent.i.tled to a discount of ten percent., and a deed conveying the fee-simple of their farms. Where the tenant preferred to pay by instalments, he should have that privilege; but the landlord would not be bound to accept a less sum than ten pounds at any time; nor should the tenant have a longer time than ten years to liquidate the debt. The tenants whose lands were not worth twenty years" purchase, and who therefore declined to pay that amount, might tender to their landlords what they considered the value of their farms. If the landlord declined to accept the amount offered, the value should be adjusted by arbitration. If the sum tendered was increased by the award, the tenant was to pay the expenses; if it was not, they should be paid by the landlord. It was provided that the rent should be reduced in proportion to the instalments paid; but no credit should be given for any such instalments until the three years arrears allowed by the commissioners"
award were paid, nor while any rent accruing after the adjustment of the value of the farm remained due. Proprietors who held not more than fifteen thousand acres, or such as desired to hold particular lands to that extent, were not to be compelled to part with such lands under the award. Leases under a term of less than forty years were not affected by the award.