1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 11 



The soil of Lower Canada, well-adopted to the cultivation of 

 wheat, flax, hemp, etc., supported an extensive exportation of those 

 products. Coal-tar and masts were also in great demand at that 

 time. Ships were built on the St. Lawrence and sold to England. 

 In those golden days — "les bonnes annees" as they were called — 

 everything in the way of business was brisk in Canada. The 

 British navy escorted our ships to England, and Nelson, who kept 

 the way clear on the ocean was immensely popular in this country. 



The only cloud in this bright sky was the conflict that was 

 going on between the regime of Downing Street and the natural 

 tendency of the colony towards self-government. It was Canada's 

 ambition and purpose to escape from the bonds of a Crown Colony, 

 and the sentiment of the country on this question was strongly 

 reflected and expressed in the debates in the House of Assembly 

 at Quebec. The political situation in Lower Canada had indeed 

 become critical. The antagonism between certain public func- 

 tionaries and the representatives of the people had reached an 

 acute stage. Sir James Craig, who became Governor in 1807, 

 inflamed public feeling by certain unnecessary acts of rigour. 

 On the very eve of war the country was exasperated against its 

 own government. Very fortunately Sir James left the country 

 in 1811. Before doing so he had sent a secret agent to the United 

 States to obtain information as to their resources and condition 

 of preparation; but when the bill of costs came to be submitted, 

 the Imperial government refused to pay it, whereupon Henry, 

 the agent, sold the information to the United States, which did 

 not improve the condition of feeling on either side. 



The preparations for war on this side were certainly very 

 slight, all the regular troops in the country amounting only to a 

 few hundreds ; while the scanty population of Upper Canada could 

 scarcely be expected to afford much help. On Lower Canada, 

 with its united organization, the chief dependence had to be placed; 

 from its situation that Province would also be the chief base of 

 military operations. 



Considering the state of political feeling in Lower Canada it 

 was a question what part the French population would take in 

 case of war. Would they support the British flag? The calcula- 

 tions of the Americans was that at most they would remain neutral ; 

 yet, when the declaration of war reached Quebec, the Legislative 

 Assembly voted subsidies in excess of what was asked of them, 

 and that promptly and unanimously. The Americans proceeded. 



