Permit me to express on behalf of the members of this generation of the family to which the former Attorney-General Macdonell belonged, my warm appreciation of the honour which was done to that gentleman's memory, by the invitation which in terms so generous and complimentary and so appreciative of his services, was extended to me as the representative of his family, to be present on this most interesting occasion as the special guest of your Committee. We are assembled here to-day to commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of the death of Sir Isaac Brock, to give evidence that we Canadians hold in grateful remembrance the inestimable services which he rendered to our country, and to record it as our firm and solemn conviction that it is to that illustrious man of glorious memory we owe the preservation of this country, our connection with the Motherland and those British institutions which it is our happiness now to enjoy. It was indeed a privilege for any man to have served under Sir Isaac Brock, to have been in any way associated with him, and more especially to have been placed in a position whereby he was enabled to second his indomitable efforts. It was the good fortune of Attorney-General Macdonell to have been associated with him in a threefold capacity. First he was connected with him by the most intimate ties of private friendship, for there existed between them the most perfect confidence and a mutual regard, amounting, as is frequently the case with men of generous impulse, to personal 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 his capacity of President of the Council of the Province, and although but a young man he 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 House proved recalcitrant, and refused to comply with Brock's request to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act. It was the Attorney-General who solved the difficulty by giving 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 was his duty to do so. This opinion was concurred in by his colleagues in the Government, and, accordingly, the Government as such tendered it as their unanimous advice to the Administrator, who immediately acted upon it, and thereby saved the country.