There was a Legislative Council appointed by the Crown for life, and a Legislative Assembly to be periodically elected by the people the electoral franchise was almost universal suffrage, as the qualification was placed very low— in counties land worth 40 shillings sterling per annum, and in towns the possession of a dwelling house and lot worth £5 per annum, or being resident for 12 months and having paid rent to the amount of £10 sterling.

There was also an Executive Council referred to in an indefinite way in sec. 38 of the Act; the members were appointed by the Crown, and not necessarily members of either House-they held office at will of the Crown. They corresponded more nearly to the cabinet of the President of the United States than to anything now extant in the British world; and were not unlike the Privy Council as it then existed in England.

Of course, the Executive Council formed no part of the Parliament, but there can be no doubt of the accuracy of the following passage to be found in an address to the King by the Legislative Council, April 19th, 1836

"For many years the Legislative Council of Upper Canada consisted of but four or five members, connected with the Executive Government by the most confidential relations, and forming in reality a body scarcely distinct from the Executive Council of the Colony."

A number of legislative councillors, four in all, had been appointed by the Home Government before Simcoe arrived in Canada.

William Osgoode was the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and was afterwards, in 1794, appointed Chief Justice of Lower Canada; he was an English barrister of good standing. Osgoode Hall is called after him.

Peter Russell was also appointed in England. He became administrator of the Government in 1795, on Simcoe's resignation; and some scandal was attached to his name, arising from his practice of making grants of Crown lands to himself and his sister, while he was administrator.

Alexander Grant was the only councillor appointed among the first lot who was at the time in Canada. He was commonly known as Commodore Grant. He also became administrator-this was in 1805, on the death of Lieutenant-Governor Hunter.

William Robertson had also been appointed; he had been a resident of Detroit, then and until 1796 part of Canada, but had gone to England in 1790, and never afterwards came to Canada. He resigned shortly afterwards, being in June, 1793, replaced by Eneas Shaw.

There were consequently only three councillors with Simcoe; and as the Act, 31 Geo. III., ch. 31, sec. 3, required at least seven councillors, these were not a majority of the council. Accordingly Simcoe had James (Jacques) Baby appointed he was in Detroit, and was of a well-known French-Canadian family.

Osgoode and Russell arrived in Canada in June, 1792, and Osgoode, Russell, Grant and Baby were sworn in as members of the Executive Council at Kingston, in July, 1792 -writs of summons calling them to the Legislative Council, were on the 16th of that month issued to these four, and also to Richard Duncan, William Robertson, Robert Hamilton, Richard Cartwright, Jr. and John Munro (of Matilda). Hamilton took part in the prosecution of Gourlay in 1819, and was said to have acquired 100,000 acres of Crown lands from the lots granted to sons and daughters of U. E. Loyalists. Cartwright was the ancestor of those of that name familiar in Canadian legal, military and political annals. He was the grandfather of Sir Richard Cartwright, and was even before his appointment to the Legislative Council, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas (the Court of Common Pleas, we shall meet again). J. S. Cartwright, the present Master in Chambers, and J. R. Cartwright, the Deputy Attorney-General, are also grandsons.

Osgoode was the Speaker of the Legislative Council, being appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor under sec. 12 of the Act; and Messrs. Baby, Hamilton, Cartwright, Munro, Grant and Russell all attended during the session.

A provision in sec. 6 for hereditary rank entitling to a seat in the Legislative Council, never was in fact brought into force.

On Monday, July, 16th, 1792, Simcoe issued a Royal proclamation, dividing Upper Canada into 19 counties: and directing the holding of elections for 16 representatives in the House of Assembly. We are sometimes apt to say that Ontario in divided into counties, and the counties into townships; but historically, in many cases, the townships came first, and the counties were formed by a grouping of townships.

The counties formed by Simcoe's proclamation were: 1, Glengarry; 2, Stormont; 3, Dundas; 4, Grenville; 5, Leeds; 6, Frontenac: 7, Ontario; 8, Addington; 9, Lenox; 10, Prince Edward; 11, Hastings; 12, Northumberland; 13, Durham; 14. York; 15, Lincoln; 16, Norfolk; 17, Suffolk; 18, Essex; and 19, Kent. All these names are still used except Suffolk; but "Ontario" is now applied to a different part of the province: what is now Ontario being in those early times almost wholly destitute of inhabitants-" Ontario County" was then the islands west of the Gananoque river.

Glengarry had two members. For the first riding Hugh Macdonell was returned; for the second, his brother John, who became the Speaker of the first House. As he was a Roman Catholic, he occupied a dignity which he could not at that time occupy in any other part of the British Dominions, except Lower Canada. These two brothers were U. E. Loyalists, and were the maternal uncles of Lt.-Col. John Macdonell, who was Brock's aide-de-camp, and was killed with his chief at the Battle of Queenston Heights in the war of 1812. He was also Attorney-General of Upper Canada; a mural plate to his memory is to be found in the east wing of Osgoode Hall.

Stormont was represented by Lieutenant Jeremiah French, a U. E. Loyalist from Vermont.

Dundas sent Alexander Campbell, of whom little is known, or at least recorded.

Grenville sent another U. E. Loyalist, Ephraim Jones, the father of Jonas Jones, afterwards a Judge of the (King's) Queen's Bench; and he had also two sons-in-law, who achieved the same distinction, Levius P. Sherwood and Henry John Boulton.

Leeds and Frontenac were allotted one member; John White, an English barrister, who had been appointed by the Home Government, Attorney-General of Upper Canada, and had come out in June, 1792, was by Simcoe's influence elected member. He was killed in a duel eight years after.

Addington and Ontario sent Joshua Booth, a U. E. Loyalist, who died in the war of 1812.

Lenox, Hastings and Northumberland had one representative and Lieut Hazelton Shaver, also a U. E. Loyalist, was elected. ("Lenox" was the spelling at that time; now the word is spelled with two n's).

Prince Edward and Adolphustown had one member (for the township of Adolphustown was detached from Lenox for electoral purposes). Philip Dorland was elected, but not taking the oath required by sec. 29 of the Act, 31 Geo. III., ch. 31 (as he was a Quaker) a new writ was issued, and Major Peter Vanalstine was elected in his place they were both U. E. Loyalists.

Durham, York and first Lincoln sent Nathaniel Pettit, of Grimsby, a member of the Land Board of Nassau District.

The second riding of Lincoln sent Col. Benjamin Pawling, who had been in Butler's Rangers during the Revolutionary war.

The third riding of Lincoln sent Isaac Swayzie, who had been a noted scout on the British side. His enemies called him a "spy."-a mere difference in terminology. He later took a prominent part in the prosecution of Gourlay; and it is said narrowly escaped prosecution for the murder of William Morgan, who had threatened to disclose the secrets of Freemasonry, and who mysteriously disappeared. The mystery has never been cleared up; but it was made evident that Swayzie had nothing to do with Morgan's abduction and death, notwithstanding his boast that he had.* He undoubtedly was a Freemason, however.

The fourth riding of Lincoln and Norfolk together had one representative. Parshall Terry was elected; he was one of Swayzie's bondsmen (v. the note*) and afterwards was drowned in the Don in 1808, having removed to York when Simcoe made the change.

*This is told of him in Dent's "Upper Canada Rebellion," and should be taken cum grano: That he had enemies was to be expected, and indeed is fairly certain; there is on record a petition by him, of April, 1790, to the Land Board of Nassau District, 'setting forth that from his character having been traduced he had been prevented from enjoying the privileges of other loyal citizens." The Board found that he had produced sufficient proof that his character had been misrepresented; and held that he was entitled to the quantity of land his services entitled him to as a volunteer in the British army at New York.

He was not a member of the second Parliament. When that was in existence, the following misfortune befel him or some other of the same name. unknown to fame, as appears by the Term Books at Osgoode Hall: On Monday, April 20th. 1795, an information for sedition was filed by the Attorney-General, John White, against Isaac Swayzé, and a capais was granted to bring him before the Court to answer it. The Court of King's Bench, on that application, was composed of William Dummer Powell, Puisné Justice, and Peter Russell, sitting on Special Commission. On Wednesday, April 22nd, Mr. Swayze appeared and pleaded "not guilty," giving two sureties, Parshal Terry and Essai Daiton, in £50 each, himself in £100, to appear on Friday next to answer to the information against him. Friday, April 24th, a venire was directed to issue

Suffolk and Essex sent Francis Baby, a prominent Canadian of French descent, and like the Macdonells a Roman Catholic.

Kent sent William Macomb and David William Smith,† the former of North of Ireland descent, and the latter, son of the commandant at Detroit.

This first session was held it is said by some-but there seems to be a doubt-in Freemasons' Hall at Newark. The first name of what is now Niagara-on-the-Lake was Niagara, then it was successively called Lennox, Nassau and Newark. As Newark it was the capital of Upper Canada until after the selection of Toronto was made the name being changed by Simcoe from Toronto to York in honour of the Duke of York, the King's brother. Newark had been selected by reason of the proximity of forts held by the British; Simcoe expected that the British would continue to occupy the forts on the left side of the Niagara River. A guard from the 5th regiment was kept on duty during the whole session-the Lieutenant-Governor had attended in state accompanied by a guard of honour and opened the Parliament by a speech from the Throne in traditional British form-and Upper Canada was fairly launched on her free career.

It was no doubt due to the presence of such lawyers as Chief Justice Osgoode and Attorney-General White in the two Houses, that the legislation is couched in such accurate and efficient language.

WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDell.

returnable Friday next to try the issue, and Mr. Swayzé gave new sureties, John Wilson and Samuel Pew. May 1st, a jury was sworn, whose names are given, and these, on May 2nd, "by their foreman, Andrew Templeton, find the defendant guilty." He then found sureties, William Reid and John Hainer, to appear for judgment the first day of Trinity Term, July 20th. On that day he entered into a recognizance himself in £200 P.M. (i.e., provincial money), and George Forsyth and Joseph Edwards in £100 each, to appear Friday, July 24th. There the Court sentenced him to pay a fine of £10 P.M. and stand committed until it should be paid, and also to enter into a recognizance with two sureties for his good behaviour for two years. He afterwards was elected for the third, fourth, sixth and seventh Parliaments, dying in 1828.

The name is spelled "Swayzie," and "Swayzy" in different places.

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Swayze," Swayze," "Suayze"

David William Smith, Deputy Judge Advocate, of Newark, received a license dated at Navy Hall, July 7th, 1795, under the hand and seal-at-arms of Governor Simcoe, countersigned by W. Mayne, Acting Secretary, authorizing him to be and appear as an advocate or attorney in all and every of His Majesty's Courts. He afterwards removed to England, became a Baronet in 1821, and died in England, 1837, at the age of 73.