258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN' INSTITUTE. 



powers — from what prevails now, with one Parliament — if we may 

 call it such — legislative on all subjects competent to a Colony — 

 for the peace, ordei', and good government of Canada. A slight 

 change was made in the constitution of the Upper Chamber in 1856, 

 and shortly afterwards the united Canadas cast about them for part- 

 ners in the formation of a new Dominion. The Union of 1867 was 

 the result, the last of the experiments in governments. 



Before discussing this latest form of government it is well to 

 recollect that the English Government in eveiy instance since the 

 cession, aimed at granting such a form of government as the majority 

 desired. The changes since have been changes of necessity. The 

 Quebec Act was intended to provide for a colony almost entirely 

 composed of one race and one religion, settled in one part of Canada, 

 between Montreal and Quebec. The constitutional Act of 1791 had 

 to deal with an important piece of territory west of Montreal, and for 

 the most part of another race and another religion. Mr. Pitt's 

 Government accordingly divided the original territory, leaving each 

 section to manage its own affairs. One portion retained the French 

 laws under the Quebec Act, the others introduced the laws of 

 Enf^land. Had there been any fair grant of representative institu- 

 tions, this might have subsisted to this day. Indeed it is claimed 

 that now there is somewhat of a return to this ancient form of govern- 

 ment. In 1841, when the discontent was too obvious to be overlooked, 

 it was discovered that a change was necessary. The remedy was not 

 so much in a union of the two Provinces as in the right to responsible 

 trovernment. Still a union was not so unlikely, when it was discovered 

 that the two races were all but evenly balanced. A united Canada 

 after the experience of two rebellions was fancied more stable and 

 likely to he respected, than a divided Canada. 



It is to be borne in mind, however, that the variations in the forms 

 of o'overnment have been due largely to the fact that while the 

 French population increased with the normal rapidity of a people 

 receiving no additions from abroad, the English speaking inhabitants 

 increased from 500 at the cession to 100,000 at the Act of 1791, 

 and half a million at the Act of Union, fifty years later. These cir- 

 cumstances are .sometimes overlooked by those who complain of every 

 state of afl'airs before a change is made in the constitution, and com- 

 plain equally after each hus been made. 



