ngs of old Loyalists as opposed to Rebels, of
British as opposed to French, and of Upper Canadians as opposed to
Lower; and thus to provoke from various parts of the province the
expression of not very temperate or measured discontent. I am
occasionally rated in not very courteous language, and peremptorily
required to dissolve the Parliament which was elected only one year
ago, under the auspices of this same clamorous Opposition, who were
then in power. The measure itself is not indeed altogether free from
objection, and I very much regret that an addition should be made to
our debt for such an object at this time. Nevertheless, I must say I
do not see how my present Government could have taken any other course
in this matter than that which they have followed. Their predecessors
had already gone more than half-way in the same direction, though they
had stopped short, and now tell us that they never intended to go
farther. If the Ministry had failed to complete the work of alleged
justice to Lower Canada which had been commenced by the former
Administration, M. Papineau would most assuredly have availed himself
of the plea to undermine their influence in this section of the
province. The debates in Parliament on this question have been
acrimonious and lengthy, but M. Lafontaine's resolutions were finally
passed by a majority of fifty to twenty-two.

Dissensions of this class place in strong relief the passions and
tendencies which render the endurance of the political system which we
have established here, and of the connection with the mother-country,
uncertain and precarious. They elicit a manifestation of antipathy
between races and of jealousy between the recently united provinces,
which is much to be regretted. This measure of indemnity to Lower
Canada is, however, the last of the kind, and if it be once settled
satisfactorily, a formidable stumblingblock will have been removed
from my path.

A fortnight later he adds:--

The Tory party are doing what they can by menace, intimidation, and
appeals to passion to drive me to a _coup d'Etat_. And yet the
very measure which is at this moment the occasion of so loud an
outcry, is nothing more than a strict logical following out of their
own acts. It is difficult to conceive what the address on the subject
of rebellion losses in L