ad
served during the blockade of Quebec, in 1775-6. Field officers were to
be entitled to 1,000 acres; captains to 700 acres, lieutenants and
ensigns to 500 acres, and non-commissioned officers and privates to 400
acres each. Still another bill, of no mean importance, was carried
through the three branches of the Legislature, the second branch being
positively a House of Lords, composed, as it was, of Lord Chief
Justices and Lord Bishops,--the mind, capacity, and education of the
country. No picture of the legislature of this time can be made. There
were no reporters nor any publication of debates. Newspapers were in
their infancy. Radicalism had not got hold of its fulcrum, and the
lever of public opinion was, consequently useless. Nay, in
anticipation, as it were, of the unruliness that afterwards exhibited
itself, the Governor, now Sir Robert Milnes, recommended the culture of
hemp in the province, and the Assembly voted L1,200 for the experiment.
An Agricultural Bureau, of which the Governor was himself the
President, was established, but the cultivation of hemp was not more
agreeable to the farmer of Lower Canada then than it is now. The
experiment did not succeed. Jean Baptiste would raise wheat, which he
knew would pay, and would not raise hemp, which might or might not pay.
He was a practical, not a theoretical farmer. Like the "regular"
physicians of every period, and in every country, he practised
_secundum artem_, and eschewed dangerous theories and unprofitable
innovations.

About this period, 1802, land jobbing began. Vast grants of territory
were made to favourites and speculators, only to lie waste, unless
improved by the squatter. To obtain a princely inheritance, it was only
necessary to have a princely acquaintance with the government, and, in
some cases, the Governor's servants. Land was not put up to public
competition, but handsomely bestowed upon the needy and penniless Court
attendant. A Governor's Secretary, a Judge's nephew, or some Clerk of
Records was entitled to at least a thousand acres; the Governor's cook
to 700 arpents. There was no stint, and no income or land tax.

In 1803, Parliament "better regulated" the militia; the revenue had
increased to L31,000; the expenditure had increased to L37,000, and the
two Governors' salaries to L6,000; war re-broke out with France; the
feeling of loyalty throughout the province was enthusiastic; and offers
to raise volunteer corps were freely made.