Governor (mechanism)

“ A new governor-general had been appointed for the province, an event as every one knows that always throws the local officials into great perturbation: it is invariably followed by dismissals, reprimands, punishments, and the various official treats with which higher officers regale their subordinates. ”

“ It was considered necessary that a governor should make himself as powerful a factor as possible in the administration of public affairs—that he should be practically the prime minister, responsible, not directly to the colonial legislature, but to the imperial government, whose servant he was and to whom he should constantly refer for advice and assistance whenever in his opinion the occasion arose. ”

“ Whenever therefore a Governor for the time being, adjourns, prorogues or dissolves the general assembly, having the full power and authority delegated to him of judging from time to time of the Necessity of it, we ought to presume that he exercises that power with freedom: That he determines according to the light of his own understanding, and not anothers: That he clearly sees that it will answer those purposes which he himself judges to be best ”

“ The acting governor reforms everything but his appetite. He taps the exchequer and every meal must be a banquet at the peril of the cook’s tenure of office. His reign is brief but glorious, and business is dispatched in a hurry with the view of the early return of the slippered and skirted governor. ”

“ Our governor is obliged to return, after a given period, to a private station. It is so in most of the states. This President will be elected time after time: he will be continued in office for life. If we wish to change him, the great powers in Europe will not allow us. ”

“ He must know what is being accomplished in the different works, and when the persons who draw salaries journey to and from different points. He must be watchful of the provisions and supplies, and in truth, the governor must be an overseer of all the offices. It is especially difficult to prevent things from happening behind one's back. ”

“ Administration signifies delegation of work, that is, a charge given and accepted, the free exchange of services founded on free agreement.
A governor is a privileged person, because he has the right to command others, and to avail himself of the force of others, to make his own ideas and desires triumph. ”

“ More effectually to secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council an efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the province and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the inferior officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the capital an exact report of their visitation. ”

“ They like to be governed, provided that the governor has his "head screwed on right" and that he is prompt to hear and ready to see and recognise all that is vital to the interests of the commonwealth. ”

“ I can assure your Lordship that there has been much criticism concerning what past governors have permitted, and I do not know how in the end they are to fare with God; for a governor, from the very character of his office, is under obligation to prevent, within his jurisdiction, evils which can be remedied. God will know how to call to account those who have permitted these abuses, and will free your Lordship from these difficulties before they have entangled you. ”

“ Government cannot do everything, but it can do something, and there is a difference between governors against whom there is nothing to object and men of special and marked capacity. There is a difference between governors whose hands are tied by local councils and whose feet are tied by instructions from home, and a governor with a free hand and a wise head left to take his own measures on the spot. ”

“ An isochronal governor is one in which the two opposing forces are equal throughout the whole range of governor action, or, in other words, equal, let the vertical height of the plane in which the balls revolve or swing be what it may. ”

“ The governor of a State (in some of the States) is chosen, not directly by the people, but by those who are chosen by the people, for the purpose of performing, among other duties, that of electing a governor. Is the government of the State, on that account, not a popular government? This government, Sir, is the independent offspring of the popular will. It is not the creature of State legislatures ”

“ Mark me, Monsieur le Gouverneur: if I find that he is ill used, Chavigni shall hear of the whole business. I will risk any thing sooner than see a man suffer from his kindness for me.”
“You paid him well, of course,” said the Governor, drawing up his lip, “and he must take his chance. However, do not alarm yourself for him: he shall be taken care of—only, with your good leave, Seigneur Comte, you and he do not meet again within the walls of the Bastille.—But in the name of Heaven! ”

“ The governor, who is also commander-in-chief of the militia, holds office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States, or until appointment of a successor. He has the usual right of pardoning territorial offenses, and of reprieving offenders against the federal government. He approves all laws passed by the Legislative Assembly before they can take effect; he commissions all officers appointed under the laws, and takes care that the laws are faithfully executed. ”

“ I guess I’m a governor myself, and I know what a governor looks like and acts like—you can’t fool me. I put this impostor where he’ll have a chance to study astronomy to-night.”
“Then he isn’t on that case of Chateau Bizet with Appleweight?”
“No; I locked him up in a corn-crib until I get time to study his credentials. Come along now!” ”

“ A governor-general holds the superior administrative and executive authority, and is assisted by a council of five members, partly of a legislative and partly of an advisory character, but with no share in the executive work of the government. ”

“ It means not merely a broad basis for the general government in the people, that the people are the reason and remote source of governing power, but that they are themselves the governors. Every man who enters a New England town-house and casts his vote knows that that expression of his will is a force which reaches, or may reach, the Legislature of his State, the governor in his chair, the National Congress, and the President in the White House at Washington. ”

“ When there is a king or other governor, there is a compact between him and the people. It is then a covenant. But in this case, in regard to the government which it is proposed we should adopt, there are no governors or rulers, we being the people who possess all power. It strikes me that, when a society of free people agree on a plan of government, there are no governors in existence; but those who administer the government are their servants. ”

“ If the governor-general is a man of parliamentary experience and constitutional knowledge, possessing tact and judgment, and imbued with the true spirit of his high vocation—and these high functionaries have been notably so since the commencement of confederation—he can sensibly influence, in the way Lord Elgin points out, the course of administration and benefit the country at critical periods of its history. ”

“ But, in practice and in fact, a wise Governor, though he is an appointive officer of the central government, does not often put himself in opposition to public opinion, unless it be a case of the greatest importance ”

“ They shall annually choose a President, who shall preside in council in the absence of the governor, and who, in case of his office becoming vacant by death or otherwise, shall have authority to exercise all his functions, till a new appointment be made, as he shall also in any interval during which the governor shall declare himself unable to attend to the duties of his office. ”

“ From the date of our charter to the time of the Stamp Act, and indeed since that time, (notwithstanding the misrepresentations of our charter constitution, as too popular and republican,) the council of this province have been generally on the side of the governor and the prerogative. For the truth of this, I appeal to our whole history and experience. The art and power of governors, and especially the negative, have been a stronger motive on the one hand, than the annual election of the two houses on the other. ”

“ It is to be hoped that, in these days, when we all take an interest in our Empire, everybody knows that the Executive Council is the outward, visible, and recognised form of that impalpable, unrecognised, all-powerful institution, the Cabinet, consisting in fact, though not in theory, of the same persons, save that the Governor is present when the meeting is of the Council, and absent when it is of the Cabinet—a difference of less moment than it sounds, seeing that, except in extreme cases, the Governor has little to do but listen to what is going to be done. ”

“ We have seen the times, when the majority of a council by their words and actions have seemed to think themselves obliged to comply with every thing proposed by the chair, and to have no rule of conduct but a governor's will and pleasure. ”

“ Whether a Governor of this State avails himself of the ascendant he must necessarily have, in this delicate and important part of the administration, to prefer to offices men who are best qualified for them, or whether he prostitutes that advantage to the advancement of persons whose chief merit is their implicit devotion to his will, and to the support of a despicable and dangerous system of personal influence, are questions which, unfortunately for the community, can only be the subjects of speculation and conjecture. ”

“ The three great departments having distinct functions to perform, must have distinct rules adapted to them. Each must act under its own rules, those of no one having any obligation on either of the others. When the opinion first begun that a governor could not act when his council could not or would not advise, I am uninformed. Probably not till after the war; for, had it prevailed then, no militia could have been opposed to Cornwallis, nor necessaries furnished to the opposing army of Lafayette. ”

“ While our independent governor is found to crouch to his superiors, and to look down upon and sneer at those below him, he is from time to time receiving instructions how to govern this people, to govern! ”

“ The whole military power of the state is at the disposal of the governor. He is commander of the militia and head of the armed force. When the authority, which is by general consent awarded to the laws, is disregarded, the governor puts himself at the head of the armed force of the state, to quell resistance and to restore order. ”

“ The Civil Governor of each province is responsible for the fulfilment of all the obligations imposed by the law, but has no voice in the internal management, teaching, &c., of the schools and colleges. ”

“ Clear-cut, definite and prompt action is possible, with proper checks and balances, because units are not mixed. The governor can introduce a balance without throwing the administrative machine out of gear to avoid stripping its cogs. ”

“ Such was the government found by Mr. Papineau in 1818. A Governor sent out from England to be the instrument of a body of officials, appointed by the crown for life, and responsible to nobody, affiliated with a Legislative Council or Upper Hose of Parliament, appointed in the same manner, composed in part of the same officials who ruled the Province, regarding the popular branch as of little more consequence than a mob meeting on the market-place to pass resolutions. ”

“ It is related that one of the Governors expressed doubt of his fearlessness in the meeting of the enemy, and suggested "that more policy was required," when he threw his arm around him saying, "we won't let them hurt you, Governor." ”

“ Although this innovation in the system of impressing the crowds created somewhat of a sensation at first, the Governor soon managed to impress the people with his own personality, and he is now extraordinarily popular among all classes, except the semi-official, who cannot carry on their usual extortions with impunity. ”

“ The Governor-General at Buitenzorg [11] is just, and desires that every one should do his duty; but powerful as he is, and commanding all authority in the cities, and the elders of the villages, and disposing of the army on land, and of the ships at sea, he likewise can no more than the King see where injustice has been done, for the injustice is far from him. ”

“ In the event of death, resignation or other vacancy by a Governor before the expiration of his mandate, the Government passes as well provisionally to the highest ranked General, or the senior General of equal rank who shall convoke, to the same ends as above, the members of the Central Assembly, the active-duty Generals and Chief Commanders of Departments. ”

“ As the administration of government requires firmer and more numerous supports in proportion to its extent, the burdens imposed on us would be excessive, and we should have the melancholy prospect of their increasing on our posterity. The scale of officers, from the rapacious and needy commissioner, to the haughty governor, and from the governor with his hungry train, to perhaps a licentious and prodigal viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children. The fleets and armies which will be employed to silence your murmurs and complaints must be supported by the fruits of your industry. ”

“ The mind of the Governor is set against allowing any of the ancient customs of the land; he is endeavouring quietly and skilfully—for he is not a blustering bully as some others are—to reduce the power of the chiefs and to make them pay tribute to the Queen. ”

“ By his firm and determined course the Governor incurred the displeasure of many prominent men for a time—but when reason resumed her station and prosperity alleviated the burdens that had been so strongly felt, their better judgment gained the ascendency, the sour feelings of party spirit lost their rancor—admiration and esteem for his sterling virtues and useful talents—the long and arduous services he had rendered his State and country—disarmed his enemies of their resentment and produced uniform love and respect. ”