the French dominion in Canada being protracted." At that time the French-had the command of Lake Champlain by the possession of Isle aux Noix.

In September, 1759, Quebec capitulated to the English forces; and in the following spring the whole of Canada fell into the hands of the British. In 1763 Canada was formally ceded to the British Crown by the treaty of Paris; and in the autumn of the same year a royal proclamation was issued erecting the Province of Quebec into a separate government.

The species of government thus created was what is called a royal government, consisting of the governor, assisted by a council, over which the people had no control. They were, however, promised a Representative Assembly in the following words :

"We have thought fit to publish and declare, by this our proclamation, that we have in the letters patent under our great seal of Great Britain by which the said governments are constituted, given express power and direction to our governors of our said colonies respectively, that so soon as the state and circumstances of our said colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the advice and consent of the members of our council, summon and call General Assemblies within the said governments respectively, in such manner and form as is used and directed in those colonies and provinces in America which are under our immediate Government."

The proclamation then proceeds to authorise the establishment of the civil governments; clothing the governors and council with powers of legislation, and enjoining them in the making of laws to conform " as near as may be agreeable to the laws of England." The governors were also to establish courts of justice 66 as near as agreeable" to the same laws, with right of appeal to the Privy Council.

As a means of encouraging settlement in the country, a graduated scale of military grants of land was promulgated from 5000 acres to a field officer, down to 50 acres for a private; and as nearly all offices under the crown were filled up by "his majesty's ancient subjects," his majesty's new subjects being almost wholly excluded, Canada, under the operation of these two inducements, gained a considerable accession of population.

In accordance with the proclamation General Murray issued an ordinance, establishing courts of justice, where matters in dispute were to be determined according to the laws of England. This " filled the poor Canadians with grief and amazement. They saw themselves bereft of their own laws and customs, and an unknown system of jurisprudence established in their room. They were utter strangers to the language in which their new laws were written, and they had no idea of the usages by which they were to govern themselves, in cases where the written laws gave no directions. But as they were accustomed to submit to

authority they restrained their murmurs and waited the event with patience, though not without great anxiety."*

This was, undoubtedly, the first cause of discontent among the Canadian people, and it was followed by other measures, which tended to produce that want of confidence and sympathy between the governors and the governed which has been so conspicuous in the history of Canada. In addition to other causes of discontent, all judicial proceedings were in the English language, of which the people were ignorant.

Against this state of the law the people continued to remonstrate, and at length with partial success. In 1774, the Quebec act was passed, by which the civil law of Canada was restored: but as the people had become habituated to the English criminal law, that part was retained. Under this act the province of Quebec continued to be governed, until the Constitutional Act of 1791 came into operation.

In accounting for the acquiescence of the British Parliament in the desires of the Canadians for the restoration of their ancient customary law, we must not lose sight of the state of the American colonies. They were then in a state of actual rebellion, and the policy of the British Parliament clearly was to propitiate the Canadians, and to establish a system of law and government as dissimilar to what prevailed in the other colonies as possible. It should be observed, that some discontent prevailed in consequence of the omission of a representative assembly, as promised in the proclamation of 1763, and the revolted colonies speculating on the effects of this omission, endeavoured to excite the discontent of the people of Canada.

An address was issued by the revolted colonies and extensively circulated, setting forth the right of the Canadians to a representative government the instant they became British subjects, the more especially as that right was guaranteed to them by the proclamation of 1763. But loyalty was a habit with the Canadians, and although they had so recently become British subjects they resisted all solicitations to join in the general rebellion. The Quebec act was afterwards set forth among the grievances cited as a justification of the American declaration of independence.

The effect of the American revolution was important as regards the political state of Canada. The American loyalists, composed, in a great measure, of those who held office in the old colonies, and whose conduct had, no doubt, contributed to the discontent which prevailed, poured into Canada and the remaining colonies. As a reward for their adherence to the governing party, in a struggle which they themselves had partly created, and which had been continued really for their benefit, the chief offices in Canada were conferred upon them, and it is not too much to say, that their policy in both Canadas has produced much of the discontent which recently prevailed. Many of these persons obtained

*Pamphlet entitled Justice and Policy of the Quebec Act, 1774.

seats in the legislative council of Quebec, and to this day their political power, though attacked by succeeding governors, and even by the imperial legislature, remains, to a certain extent, unbroken.

After the peace with the United States in 1783, the efforts of the inhabitants of Quebec to obtain a representative assembly were renewed, and as it became the policy of the government to conciliate the people of Canada, both British and French, their efforts were crowned with success. The Constitutional Act of 1791 was passed, which divided the province of Quebec into the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and gave to each province a local legislature, consisting of an elective assembly, and a council of members appointed by the crown for life. This Constitution, though considered a perfect pattern of the British Constitution, did not work well,-a circumstance which may be easily explained.

In England, though the House of Commons is called by Blackstone and De Lolme the democratic branch of the legislature, it is really a body of most aristocratic constitution. Formerly, indeed, it was for the most part nominated by the members of the upper house, and latterly, though elected by a larger constituency, it still represents a comparatively small section of the people, and therefore is still essentially aristocratic. It is therefore not at all surprising that there should be a very harmonious agreement between the two branches of the British legislature. With regard to Canada, however, the case was very different. The assemblies were really elected by the people; for although the franchise was enjoyed by the freeholders only, yet so universal was the practice of acquiring land, that it included nearly every male inhabitant of full age.

The councils, on the other hand, were composed of an exclusive class separated from the people, consisting of office holders, and a few wealthy merchants and landowners.

We do not state a disputed fact when we say that these two bodies, in Lower Canada, especially, never did harmonize. Nearly every measure originated by the assembly was rejected by the legislative council, and as the executive council-a sort of privy council to advise the governor,— was for a long time composed of legislative councillors and office holders, the assembly always attributed the want of good feeling, on the part of the government, to the evil counsels of this body; and even Lord Stanley, in 1828, when in opposition, applied to them the remarkable expression of an impotent screen between the government and the people. The whole of the animosity of the assembly and of their friends in this country was accordingly directed against the very Constitution, and in their petitions they prayed that the legislative council, as at present (1834) constituted, be abolished, and that the people be permitted to elect the members of the legislative council in future as the only means of securing that harmony between the two branches of the legislature, without which good government cannot exist. (Petition of 1834.)

At the elections which took place in both provinces in 1834, an elective council became the rallying cry of the democratic party

great was its success, that a careful analysis of the population represented in each province in the new parliaments-the correctness of which we have no reason to doubt,―gave the following results:

It cannot be expected that we should enter into a detailed statement of the grievances complained of by the assemblies, or the counter-statements put forward by the governing party; it is sufficient for us to state, that the "finance question" was naturally the great bone of contention between the parties.

The judicial and executive establishments in the two Canadas are certainly on a most extravagant scale.* Offices are accumulated in the same family, and often in one person, and to so great an extent has this been carried, that a few families occupy nearly all the offices in the Canadas. In Upper Canada this official clique is called the family compact. In Lower Canada we are not aware that it has any name, but it is not the less real. The salaries are upon a scale of European extravagance rather than American economy, and with the example of the United States always before them, it is not surprising that the assemblies should be perpetually striving for reductions. When called upon to vote supplies, the assembly of Lower Canada went over the Civil List" by items." This Civil List the executive would not accept, and the supplies were therefore not voted. The assembly then adopted another course; they voted the supplies by chapters or heads of expenditure, but this was refused also. Under these circumstances governor after governor taking the side of the official party, the salaries have been paid without the sanction of the assembly, to the very great discontent of the people.

This was construed as a violation of the declaratory act of 1778, which pledged the imperial parliament to make no further attempt to tax the people of the colonies having local legislatures, or to appropriate their

revenues.

Another source of discontent was the maladministration of the public lands. The waste lands of the crown in all our colonies have been a fruitful source of jobbing, and the assemblies and people have, in most of our colonies, tried to secure a control over their administration. They

*The salaries of all the governors of all the sovereign States of North America amounted, in 1837, to 54,782 dollars; whilst in Lower Canada the governor had 44,000 dollars, and in Upper Canada, 22,000,-together 66,000. The salaries of our six governors in North America amounted to 112,000.

very naturally look to the United States, where the land is sold-not given away-and where, besides partly providing for education in the newly created states, it has gone far to supersede taxation by the general government. The assembly of Canada have always made this a principal grievance, and the official party have as naturally resisted the abolition of so profitable an abuse.

In a return laid before the House of Commons there is a sample of this species of jobbing in the case of Mr. Felton, who was afterwards dismissed from some office which he held connected with the administration of the lands in Lower Canada. Mr. Felton is down for 14,141 acres, and his eight children for 1,200 acres each, making in round numbers 24,000 acres to one man alone, for no service or consideration.* The Assembly contended that the appropriation of the revenues and of the land fund, without their consent, rendered the Constitution of 1791 a complete mockery, and utterly deprived them of the only means of forcing reforms upon the executive.

Such, then, was the state of politics in Lower Canada in 1836-7. The Assembly had persisted in refusing supplies without some guarantee for a redress of grievances; the executive had systematically appropriated the revenues, as if no commons' house existed. It became evident that this state of things could not much longer exist. A Commission had been sent out to Canada, consisting of Lord Gosford, Sir George Gipps, and Sir Charles Grey, but they did not materially alter the posture of affairs. Indeed, as a somewhat inopportune disclosure of Sir Francis Head exposed something very like a want of good faith on the part of the Governor, they may be said to have rather damaged the relations between the Government and the Assembly.

In the session of 1837, ten resolutions were passed by the House of Commons, which virtually took away the functions of the Assembly, by authorising the Governor to appropriate the public funds to the payment of arrears. These resolutions created great discontent. Meetings were held all over the country, at which resolutions were passed to consume no duty-paying articles, and so to destroy or impair the revenue of the control of which the Assembly was deprived. On the other hand, political clubs were organized by the party attached to the executive, who met for the purpose of training. The popular party followed their example, and in November, 1837, the two clubs came into collision in the streets of Montreal. Warrants were now issued for the apprehension of the leading politicians on the popular side, some of whom escaped, whilst others were thrown into gaol. The people of two districts, Chambly and Grand Brulé, where some of these leaders resided, rose and resisted the warrants, and at first successfully; but at length a considerable force was first sent against the former district, and afterwards against the latter. The ill-armed peasantry were of course subdued, and subjected to all the horrors of war. At St. Eustache some *See also Lord Durham's Report, p. 78, &c.