74 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



caution would be taken to avoid irritating tlie Americans along tlie Cana- 

 dian frontier. By that time he had bt'gun to suspect that attempts 

 would be made by French agents tx) weaken British inducnce auiong the 

 Indians, and he consequently added several officers to the Indian depart- 

 ment, and gave directions that intercourse should be maintained with 

 the distant nations without any reference to the probability of hostiilities. 



The general elections for the Legislative Assembly took place in 

 May, 1808, during which Le Canadien assailed the government with 

 great bitterness and displayed marked animosity towards the Englii>h- 

 i-'peaking residents as a body. 



" The avowed object of this paper,*' Craig informed Lord Liver- 

 pool, " has been to vilify and degrade the officers of the Government 

 under the title of gens en place, and to bring into contempt His Majesty's 

 Government itself under the affectation of the supposed existence of a 

 ministr}^ the conduct of which was as much open to their animadversion 

 as that of His Majesty's ministers at home.^ 



"Any topic that is calculated to mislead and influence the people 

 has at times occupied the pages of this paper. Nothing has been omitted. 

 The various circumstances that brought about the abdication of James 

 IT, have been pointed out with allusions as applicable to the Government 

 here, inferring a similarity in the occurrences of the present day, and 

 S.S if to impress them with that confidence that might be necessary in 

 asserting tlieir rights when the occasion should call for it, several num- 

 bers were employed in narrating the actions of the wars of 1747 and 

 1756, in which Canadian prowess was held up in a very conspicuous 

 point of view, and their advantages and victories dwelt upon in an em- 

 phatic manner. It need scarcely be added that the history was derived 

 from a very partial and exaggerated source. "- 



The revolutionary leaven was still at work and it can scarcely be 

 doubted that some at least of the younger and more reckless agitators 

 looked forward to an insurrection in which tliey might play a leading 

 piart. Somie of them had been educated in the United States, where it 

 was not unreasonably suspected that they had become imbiued with re- 

 publican prejudices. These references to the triumplis of French-Cana- 

 dians over British troops in past wars were particularly galling to the 

 British residents when hostilities with France were in progress and the 

 Quebec Mercury retaliated with equal violence. Party feeling ran high 



' The editor of the Quebec Mrrniry was denounced in JjC Canadien as 

 "a Yankee" and an "anti-Canadien." March 16, 1807. Disparaging refer- 

 ences to the " Yankees" of the townships may be found in the issue of 17th 

 December, 1808. 



* Canadian Archives, Oaig to Liverpool, 21 May, 1810, Q., 109, p. 134. 



