ncil,
for their unanimity, zeal, and unremitting attention to the public
business, manifested in their proceedings. They were not to blame for
the waste of time and for the little that had been done for the public
good. The Assembly were surprised. It never entered the head of a
single member that Sir James Craig, who, on first meeting a Canadian
Parliament, had been so courteous, would have been so abruptly
censorious. A prorogation was anticipated, when the Usher of the Black
Rod commanded, by order of His Excellency, their presence at the Bar of
the Upper House, but the possibility of a dissolution of Parliament
never occurred to any one. The constitution, boasted so much of, was
certainly a happy one. The representatives of the people were suddenly
sent back to their constituents as unfitted for their business. And for
some time, the country, tickled with the bluntness of the Governor,
applauded the act. Had Sir James desired to be absolute, the country,
before it had had time to consider, would have assisted His Excellency
in a _coup d'etat_. It was not until the _Canadien_ had taken the
matter up energetically that any of the discarded legislative materials
could obtain a hearing from their constituents. After the _Canadien_
had criticised the speech from the throne, and had commented on the
Bill of Rights, in allusion to the Governor's measures, with respect to
the Assembly, and as applicable to the existing circumstances of the
Province--"_Nos institutions_, _notre langue_, _et nos lois_,"--public
opinion gradually turned round in favor of the Assembly.

Sir James Craig's opinion of the Canadians had undergone a very
considerable change for the worse. In a despatch to Lord Liverpool,
some short time afterwards, on the state of affairs in Canada, which
Mr. Ryland was sent to London with, Sir James speaks of Canada as
_being a conquered country_, a fact _never to be put out of view_. He
spoke of a colony usually estimated to contain a population of 300,000
souls. Of these, 20,000, or 25,000 only, might have been English or
Americans, and the remainder were French. They were in language,
religion, in manners, and in attachment, French. They were bound to the
English (officials) by no tie, but that of a common government. They
looked upon the government of the province with mistrust, jealousy,
envy, and hatred. He was certain his opinion of them was well founded.
There were very few French Canadians in the country w