THE ROARING FORTIES 97 



ican people were indeed showing in every direc 

 tion a disposition to burst the territorial bonds 

 that confined them, easy as those bonds had 

 been. And the far-flung interests of the British 

 Empire need no more striking illustration than 

 the fact that in whatever direction the Amer 

 icans sought to expand their bounds, whether 

 on the Atlantic or on the Pacific, in the Gulf of 

 the tropics or under the Arctic circle, they found 

 subjects of the Queen, with vested rights, oppos 

 ing the movement. 



The risings in Canada gave a healthy shock 

 to British interest, which had been languid in 

 respect to the American branch of the empire. 

 Parliament, early in 1838, passed an act sus 

 pending the constitution of Lower Canada, and 

 in the spring the Earl of Durham was sent out 

 as governor-general, armed with dictatorial 

 powers. His stay was short, but its influence 

 was lasting; for it gave occasion for the famous 

 report that furnished the mother country with 

 her first clear ideas as to the causes, facts, and 

 tendencies of the situation in North America. 

 He showed that in every one of the North 

 American provinces there was a standing polit 

 ical antagonism between the elected popular 

 assembly and the executive officers appointed 



