72 OVER ON THE ISLAND

very unpopular. He was arbitrary, insolent and despotic. He made no effort to make himself acquainted with the colony and was later charged with having only once, during his ten-year term of office, gone eighteen miles from town. During these ten years he convened the Legislature only four times, and each time summarily prorogued or dismissed it.

His relatives were not much better. In 1819, his son, Henry Smith, acting provost-marshal and naval officer, was called to the Bar of the House, charged with breaking the windows of the Assembly Room in the Court House. The only explanation he volun- teered was, “I ups with my fist and slashed it through the window. ”

Finally, a petition to His Majesty, King George IV, was made out, embodying the resolutions formulated at the Charlottetown meeting, and asking for the Lieutenant-Governor’s recall. Smith heard about it and popped eleven of the twelve members of the committee in prison. The twelfth man, John Stewart, escaped two hours before a bailiff came to his house. Down toward the east end of the Island he found a ship ready to sail for England. Stewart left the Island “under peculiar circumstances.” He was carried on board the boat in an empty puncheon. Thus he evaded his pursuers, and reached England in due course. The petition was successful. Smith was recalled.

A most energetic and prominent Lieutenant-Cover~ nor followed the tyrannical Governor Smith. This was Colonel John Ready, who was in office from 1824 until 1831. During his term of office the first Agricultural Society was formed, the first exhibition was held, the Emancipation Act was passed, Government House