lO ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the government and the governed classes, especially in Lower Canada. 

 The people, who in the days of the French regime were without in- 

 fluence and power, had learned under their new system, defective as it 

 was in essential respects, to get an insight into the operation of repre- 

 sentative government, as understood in England. 



They found they were governed, not by men responsible to the 

 legislature and the people, but by governors and officials who controlled 

 both the executive and the legislative councils. If there had always 

 been wise and patient governors at the head of affairs, or if the Imperial 

 authorities could always have been made aware of the importance of the 

 grievances laid before them, or had understood their exact character, the 

 difference between the government and the majority of the people's 

 representatives might have been arranged satisfactorily. But unhappily 

 military governors like Sir James Craig only aggravated the dangers of 

 the situation, and gave demagogues new oj^portunities for exciting the 

 j)eople. The Imperial authorities, as a rule, were sincerely desirous of 

 meeting the wishes of the people in a reasonable and fair spirit, but, 

 unfortunately for the country, they were too often ill-advised and ill- 

 informed in those days of slow communication, and public discontent 

 was allowed to seethe until it burst forth in a dangerous form. 



In all the provinces, but esj)ecially in Lower Canada, the people saw 

 their rej)resentatives practicall}^ ignored by the governing body, their 

 money expended without the authority of the legislature, and the 

 country governed by irresiDonsible officials. A system which gave little 

 or no weight to j^ublic ojMnion, as represented in the House elected by 

 the people, was necessarily imperfect and unstable ; and the natural 

 result was a deadlock between the Legislative Council, controlled bj'' the 

 official and governing class, and the House elected by the people. The 

 governors necessarily took the side of the men whom they had them- 

 selves appointed, and with whom they were acting. In the maritime 

 provinces, in the course of time, the governors made an attempt to con- 

 ciliate the popular element by bringing in men who had influence in the 

 Assembly, but this was a matter entirely within their own discretion. 

 This system of government was generally worked in direct contraven- 

 tion to the principle of responsibility to the majority in the popular 

 House. Political agitators had abundant opportunities for exciting 

 popular passion. In Lower Canada, Papineau — an eloquent but im- 

 pulsive man, having rather the qualities of an agitator than those of a 

 statesman — led the majority of his compatriots. For years he contended 

 for a legislative council elected by the people, for it is curious to note 

 that none of the men who were at the head of the popular party in 

 Lower Canada ever recognized the fact, as did their contemporaries in 

 Upper Canada, that the difficulty would be best solved, not by electing 

 an Uj)per House, but bj'^ obtaining an executive which would only hold 



