o 25,000 English and American, yet there
never had exceeded fourteen or fifteen English members in the House of
Assembly, while then there were only ten, and it was desired to get rid
of the judges! The interests of certainly not an unimportant colony,
was in the hands of six petty shopkeepers, a blacksmith, a miller, and
fifteen ignorant peasants, a doctor or apothecary, twelve Canadian
"avocats" and notaries, and four people respectable so far as that they
did not keep shops, together with the ten Englishmen, who composed the
Legislative Assembly. Some of the _habitants_ could neither read nor
write. Two members of a preceding Parliament had actually signed the
roll by marks, and there were five more whose signatures were scarcely
legible, and were such as to show that to be the extent of their
writing. Debate was out of the question. A Canadian Parliament did not
understand it. The _habitant_ M.P., openly avowed that the matter,
whatever it was, had been explained to him. The "moutons" were crammed
at meetings held nightly for the purpose. There was one singular
instance, of a _habitant_, who, in every instance, voted against the
prevailing party. But that was the solitary exception to a general
rule. The Canadians voted _en masse_, as directed--not by the
government. The government was entirely without influence. The Assembly
was the most independent in the world, for the government could not
obtain even that influence which might arise from personal intercourse.
He could not be expected to associate with blacksmiths, millers, and
shopkeepers. Even the _avocats_ and notaries he could nowhere meet,
except during the actual sitting of Parliament, when he had a day in
the week expressly appropriated to receiving a large portion of them at
dinner. The leaders in the House were mostly a set of unprincipled
_avocats_ and notaries, totally uninformed as to the principles of the
British constitution, or parliamentary proceedings, which they,
nevertheless, professed to take for their model. Without property to
lose, these men had gradually advanced in audacity, in proportion as
they had considered the power of France as more firmly established by
the successes of Buonaparte in Europe. They were obviously paving the
way for a change of dominion. Without one act by which to point out
either injury or oppression, the people of the Province had been taught
to look upon His Majesty's government with distrust, and they publicly
dec