Studies in American History 
225 
quested it, and the British ministry was trying, as far as 
possible, to satisfy these classes. The former policy of try- 
ing to make Quebec English was definitely reversed in the 
Quebec Act, and it was determined to keep Quebec French, 
even to the extent of discouraging the immigration of English 
settlers. The restoration of French civil law was in large 
measure an act of justice, but this provision together with 
feudal land tenures and the guarantees given to the Roman 
Catholic clergy would tend to make Canada, and the Illinois 
Country, objectionable as a field for settlement by English 
colonists. This was what the French clergy and nobility 
wanted, and this was attempted by the Quebec Act.^® In 
actual practice these objectionable features had little effect 
upon the movement of population into the region covered 
by the Quebec Act. Americans went to Canada and the West 
as readily as they violated the injunctions of the Proclama- 
tion of 1763 about settling west of the divide or as they later 
went into Texas and took oath to be good Mexicans and good 
Catholics. 
As to the consequences of the change of policy announced 
in the Quebec Act, little need be said here. Whether it really 
was, or was not, part of the coercive policy of the British 
government, the colonists regarded it as such, and it thus 
became one of the causes of revolution. By keeping the 
French clergy and nobility satisfied and loyal the measure 
probably had some influence in keeping Canada from follow- 
ing the English colonies into rebellion. It is certain that 
Arnold and Montgomery did not receive the assistance which 
they probably expected when they invaded Canada in 1775. 
Even if this be true, however. Great Britain paid a price for 
that loyalty on the part of the French clergy and nobility. 
The Quebec Act became a sort of charter of liberties to the 
French Canadians and had a lasting influence in Canadian 
history. Measured by its consequences, immediate and re- 
mote, the Quebec Act was one of the most important measures 
ever passed by the British Parliament regarding British 
North America. 
This reversal of policy towards Canada in 1774 forms an 
interesting step in the process by which responsible govern- 
ment was finally worked out in Canada. Between 1763 and 
Ibid., I, 541, 542, and notes. 
Ibid., I, 552, 553, and notes. 
