sentation of the 'British'
merchants. The franchise was the same in both provinces:
in the country parts a forty-shilling freehold or its
equivalent, and in the towns either a five-pound annual
ownership value or twice that for a tenant. The Crown
gave up all taxation except commercial duties, which were
to be applied solely for the benefit of the provinces.
Lands outside the seigneuries were to be in free and
common socage, while seigneurial tenure itself could be
converted into freehold on petition. One-seventh of the
Crown lands was reserved for the endowment of the Church
of England. The Crown kept all rights of veto and
appointment. The legislatures were small in membership.
The Upper Houses could be made hereditary; though the
actual tenure was never more than for life during good
behaviour. Carleton favoured the hereditary principle
whenever it could be applied with advantage. But he knew
the ups and downs of colonial fortunes too well to believe
that Canada was ready for any such experiment.

No one dreamt of having what is now known as responsible
government, that is, an executive sitting in the legislature
and responsible to the legislature for its acts. Nor was
the greatest of all parliamentary powers--the power of
the purse--given outright. This, however, was owing to
simple force of circumstances and not to any desire of
abridging the liberties of the people. The fact is that
at this time eighty per cent of the total civil expenditure
had to be paid by the home government. It is frequently
ignored that the mother country paid most of Canada's
bills till long after the War of 1812, that she paid
nearly all the naval and military accounts for longer
still, and that she has borne far more than her own share
of the common defence down to the present day.

The new constitution came into force on the 26th of
December 1791; and, for the first time, Upper and Lower
Canada had the right to elect their own representatives.
Assemblies, of course, were nothing new in British North
America. Nova Scotia had an assembly in 1758, the year
that Louisbourg was taken. Prince Edward Island had one
in 1773, the year before the Quebec Act was passed. New
Brunswick had one in 1786, the year Carleton began his
second term. But assemblies still had all the charm of
novelty in 'Canada proper.' Perhaps it would be more
appropriate to say that Upper Canada experienced more
charm than novelty while Lower Canada experienced mor