Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/233

 of Canada had been without a Parliament, although George III., in 1763, had promised them that as soon as possible they would be given the same rights of self-government as enjoyed by other British subjects. The French portion of the population had never known any other form of government than that of a Governor and Council, and therefore did not feel the need of a change. But the British population were discontented with the Quebec Act, and its French law of buying, selling and holding property, especially land. This discontent rapidly grew greater when British settlers began to take up land in Western Canada. These wanted the British law of “freehold,” that is, the right of every man holding land to have it as his own. According to the French system, the farmers held the land as tenants from their “seigneurs,” and had to give for its use, money and work, besides being subject to a great many petty exactions and services. They could not freely sell the land without paying the “seigneur” or getting his consent. On the other hand, they could not be turned out of their holdings by being unable or unwilling to pay their debts. Again, the British settlers wanted the protection of the Habeas Corpus Act, Trial by. Jury, and other British laws; and the need of these was felt during the harsh and tyrannical rule of Governor Haldimand, who succeeded Carleton in 1778. The complaints from Canada, became o.pressing and frequent, that William Pitt (a son of the great war minister-of that name), who was the Prime Minister of England at that time, brought in a Bill to give Canada representative institutions. The Bill also aimed. at settling the difficulties that had arisen out of the difference of the language, laws, religion and customs of the two. races in Canada. It proposed to divide Canada into two Provinces, Lower Canada and Upper Canada. The former was French Canada, while the latter was settled mainly by a British population. The boundary line between the two Provinces began at Point-au-Baudet, on Lake St. Francis, extended north to Point Fortune on the Ottawa, and then continued along that river to its head waters and Hudson’s Bay Territory. Roughly speaking, it made the Ottawa River the dividing line. Each Province was to have a Governor, an Executive Council, a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly. The Governor and the two Councils were appointed by the Crown, but the Legislative Assembly was elected for four years by the people.