FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146  
147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   >>   >|  
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
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146  
147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
country
 

opinion

 

Assembly

 

French

 

public

 
English
 
Canada
 

Canadien

 
Governor
 

constituents


Canadians

 

Excellency

 
business
 

government

 
Parliament
 

circumstances

 
Liverpool
 
despatch
 

Ryland

 

existing


change

 

affairs

 

London

 

considerable

 

langue

 

institutions

 

gradually

 

undergone

 

founded

 

turned


Province

 
applicable
 

common

 

language

 

religion

 
manners
 

remainder

 
officials
 

Americans

 
population

mistrust
 

province

 
jealousy
 
conquered
 

hatred

 

attachment

 
looked
 

estimated

 
colony
 

speaks