s'
estates were intended to be made over into educational
endowments under government control. But Amherst's claim
that they had been granted to him in 1760 was not settled
for forty years; and by that time all chance of carrying
out the committee's intentions was seen to be hopeless.

Commerce was another burning question and one of much
more immediate concern. In 1791 the united populations
of all the provinces amounted to only a quarter of a
million, of whom at least one-half were French Canadians.
Quebec and Montreal had barely ten thousand citizens
apiece. But the commercial classes, mostly English-speaking,
had greatly increased in numbers, ability, and social
standing. The camp-following gangs of twenty years before
had now either disappeared or sunk down to their appropriate
level. So petitions from the 'British merchants' required
and received much more consideration than formerly. The
Loyalists had not yet had time to start in business. All
their energies were needed in hewing out their future
homes. But two parts of the American Republic, Vermont
and Kentucky, were very anxious to do business with the
British at any reasonable price. Some of their citizens
were even ready for a change of allegiance if the terms
were only good enough. Vermont wanted a 'free trade'
outlet to the St Lawrence by way of the Richelieu. The
rapids between St Johns and Chambly lay in British
territory. But Vermont was ready to join in building a
canal and would even become British to make sure. The
old Green Mountain Boys had changed their tune. Ethan
Allen himself had buried the hatchet and, like his brother,
become Carleton's friendly correspondent. He frankly
explained that what Vermonters really wanted was 'property
not liberty' and added that they would stand no coercion
from the American government. About the same time Kentucky
was bent on getting an equally 'free trade' outlet to
the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi. The fact
that France Spain, the British Empire, and the United
States might all be involved in war over it did not
trouble the conspirators in the least. The central
authority of the new Republic was still weak. The individual
states were still ready to fly asunder. Federal taxation
was greatly feared. Anything that savoured of federal
interference with state rights was passionately resented.
The general spirit of the westerners was that of the
exploiting pioneer in a virgin wilderness--a law unto