EXPERIMENTS IN GOVERNING CANADA. 257 



Province of Quebec included not only the present Province of that 

 name, but also the present Province of Ontario and part of four, five 

 or six States of the American Union. The Quebec Act did not grant 

 a legislative assembly to the people, but an advising council only. 

 This body passed ordinances under which the people were governed 

 for sixteen years, until the next change took place. The extended 

 territory of Quebec did not last so long, for within a little over a 

 year the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves independent, and by 

 the Treaty of 1782, the territory south and east of Lake Erie and 

 Michigan was severed from Quebec. In the census taken by Sir 

 Guy Cai'leton in 1784, the population was put down at 113,032 — 

 subsequently considerable accesions had been made to the numbers of 

 English settlers, so that when a new change of government was 

 granted in 1791, the numbers stood not quite three Frenchmen to one 

 Englishman. 



Under this change of what is called the constitutional Act, the two 

 classes of Colonists were still opposed to each other and the result was 

 that the English settlei's were very nearly as much disappointed as 

 they were in 1774. They wanted a repeal of the Act — a new consti- 

 tution for the whole territory. The Quebec Act was not repealed — 

 the Province was divided leaving to the inhabitants of each division 

 the power over their own laws. The Upper Province at once 

 adopted the English laws. In matters of civil proceedings — the 

 boundary at least for part of the way was established between Eastern 

 and Western Canada, and the divided Canadas set out in their 

 separate destinies. For fifty years they existed in this way — the 

 largest period in our history under possibly the most unsuitable form 

 of government. There were two houses for legislative purposes, and 

 an executive Council with a Governor of large independent powers. 

 The Constitutional Act was a misnomer, and after the first one-third 

 of its existence the Provinces were dissatisfied and finally became 

 rebellious. 



The agreement of the people with the ruling powers was not an 

 effective instrument until the Provinces were again united in 1841. 

 The powers of the Governors were to be exercised through responsible 

 ministers, and a form of government prevailed for a quarter of a cen- 

 tury not very materially different — except as to division of legislative 



