Page:Brock centenary 2nd ed. 1913.djvu/96

 BROCK CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

the case with men of generous Impulse, to per- sonal affection. Then as Attorney-General of the Province and chief law adviser of the Crown, he was the trusted legal adviser of General Brock In bis capacity of President of the Council of the Pro- vince, and although but s young man be was equal to the exigencies of that critical period.

Upon the declaration of war, the House of Assembly was hastily convened In extra session on the 27th July, when General Brock, In the Speech from the Throne, made use of those ever- memorable words: "We are engaged In an awful and eventful contest By unanimity and despatch in our councils and by vigour In our operations we will teach the enemy this lesson : that a country defended by free men. enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their King and Constitution, can never be conquered." But the Souse proved recal- citrant, and refused to comply with Brock's request to suspend the Habea Corpus Act it was the Attorney-General who solved the difficulty by giv- ing it as his legal opinion that Major-General Brock, as Administrator of the Province, under the authority of his Commission from the King, had the power to dissolve the House and proclaim martial law, and that under the circumstances it his duty to do so. This opinion was con- curred in by his colleagues in the Government, and. accordingly, the Government as such tendered it heir unanimous advice to the Administrator, who Immediately acted upon it. and thereby saved the country.

As a consequence of this drastic measure, the three leaders of the Opposition in the Legislature —Joseph Willcocks, Benjamin Mallory and Abra- ham—Markle who had been chiefly Instrumental up to this time In thwarting all Brock's efforts, Immediately fled to the United States, with which they had long been in traitorous Intercourse, and where all their sympathies lay. Willcocks being