The Royal Commission of Investigation having sent in a preliminary
report, charging the Ministry of Lower Canada with corruption, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, M. Angers, has dismissed it from power. He has sent for the Con- servatives, who have formed a Ministry, and will of course dis- solve. M. Mercier, Premier of the Province, declares this course unconstitutional, and in a letter in which he heaps insult on the Lieutenant-Governor, declaring that his only object is to secure fat contracts for his friends, he calls on the Liberal Party to defend the autonomy of the Province. The Liberals have responded, but it is doubtful if they will secure a majority, the more reasonable voters perceiving that, although M. Angers has been ill-advised in his method of action, to vote against him is to vote that corruption is a venial offence. We should add that it is probable the money taken by the Ministry was employed for what they consider "political" objects,—that is, paying their own election expenses, and, as the Commissioners report, " subsidising " some Members who. vote for them.
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