92 THE ROARING FORTIES 



democracy against aristocratic privilege. On 

 the other hand, the conservative element of the 

 Whigs stood out stiffly for the protection of the 

 English-speaking minority in Canada, and this 

 position was taken also by a special commis 

 sion sent out to examine the situation. Some 

 concessions offered by this commission had 

 merely the effect, however, of evoking a fresh 

 manifestation of recalcitrance by the majority 

 in the assembly at Quebec, and the British 

 cabinet was forced to appeal to Parliament for 

 decisive action. Accordingly, a series of reso 

 lutions was passed in May, 1837, authorizing 

 the governor-general to pay the arrears due 

 for the public service without waiting for the 

 vote of the assembly, declaring it inexpedient 

 to make the legislative council elective, and 

 denying other important demands of the French 

 party. 



The result of this action was insurrection. 

 In November, after a period of violent agita 

 tion led by the Frenchman Papineau and a 

 few British sympathizers, armed uprisings took 

 place in several French communities. There 

 was little organization and no discernible co 

 operation in the various movements, and they 

 were all quickly suppressed, with trifling blood- 



