96 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
It will now be seen that the people of the province were arranged 
in four groups, and when it became necessary to establish courts and land 
boards in 1788-89, the limits of the districts were easily determined as 
follows :— 
Lunenburg, from Lancaster Township to the Gananoque River. 
Mecklenburg, from the Gananoque to the Trent. 
Nassau, from the Trent to the eastern:end of Long Point. 
Hesse, from Long Point to the Detroit. 
Perhaps it may be well to state also the vacant or but sparsely 
settled frontier sections. They were as follows: A somewhat narrow 
section between Gananoque and Kingston; the Lake Ontario region from 
Trenton to Hamilton; the central portion of the Lake Erie section. 
As the population extended and grew, both by the large natural 
increase peculiar to those early days, and also by the coming in of 
those who are sometimes called the later loyalists, as well as by the 
coming of some who had fought on the side of the Revolutionists, it 
was natural that there should arise a desire that this western part of 
Quebec be separated from the older portion of the province, where 
French laws and methods prevailed. Without stopping to discuss 
the agitation that soon sprang up over this question, we came down 
to the passing of the Constitutional Act of 1791, providing for the 
division of Quebec. On the 18th of November of that year, Lieut.- 
Governor Alured Clarke issued his proclamation, fixing the boundary 
line between Upper and Lower Canada to take effect on the 26th 
December, 1791. Lieut.-Col. John Graves Simcoe arrived early in 
the new year to take his office as Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada. 
The Constitutional Act provided that the Parliament should consist 
of two bodies, a Legislative Council to consist of not fewer than seven 
members appointed by the Crown, and a Legislative Assembly to consist 
of not less than sixteen members elected by the people. The following, 
therefore, would be a statement of the governing bodies of the 
country :— 
The Governor-General of Canada (Lord Dorchester). 
The Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada (Lt.-Col. Simcoe). 
The Executive Council (the executive, corresponding to a cabinet 
of ministers in these days, all appointed by the Crown). 
The Legislative Council (corresponding to our Senate). 
The Legislative Assembly (the elected representatives of the people). 
Lord Dorchester had sent home a list of persons suitable for the 
Executive Council from which a selection had been made. We are told 
that Simcoe was delayed some months at Quebec awaiting a quorum of 
his new advisers, with whose assistance he wished to decide upon the 
basis of representation in the new Legislature. While at Quebec (Feb. 
