HISTORY. 363 meetings were held and conducted with great pro¬ priety, decorum, and unfeigned feelings of loyalty. Resolutions, embodying charges against the Gover¬ nor, were unanimously agreed to, and a committee appointed by each of the county meetings, to pre¬ pare a petition to his Majesty for the removal of the Governor and Chief Justice . These petitions were grounded on the charges contained in the resolutions of the county meeting, and were signed by almost every landholder and householder in the colony. John Stewart , Esq., one of the committee of Queen's redress of grievances, I considered it my bounden duty, under exist¬ ing circumstances, to afford the inhabitants the constitutional pri¬ vilege of doing so, and gave public notice of the same. On this, his excellency the Governor immediately held a council, the majo¬ rity of the members of which, being appointed by himself, concurred with him in forbidding me to sanction the county meetings, of which I received official notice. I felt, however, clearly convinced that I could not, in conformity to the oath I had taken on entering upon the duties of my office, but allow his Majesty 's subjects the privi¬ lege of petition. As a dernier resort, the Governor then attempted to supersede me the day before the meeting of the of Judicature, directing my deputy, who had given no sureties, to take upon him the duty of " acting sheriff," and whose first act was to erase from the grand jury list, which I had only an hour before returned into the Crown Office, the names of John Stewart , Esq. and another gentleman, then in court, as jurors, in obedience to my summons. As this interfered with trial by jury, on the Attorney- General rising, and, in his forcibly impressive manner, expressing his positive disapprobation of what had been done, and the alarm¬ ing state of justice under such circumstances, the Chief Justice was lost in his usual absence of energy, the court was thrown into con¬ fusion, and no legal business of any importance ventured upon in the colony, until the Governor and Chief Justice were dismissed from their offices.