Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/236

 children, who were slaves, free at the age of twenty-five. During the time Parliament met at Newark, a government newspaper, the Gazette, was started—the first newspaper in Upper Canada.

The Parliament in Lower Canada met in December, 1792, at Quebec, and was composed of fifteen members of the Legislative Council and fifty of the Legislative Assembly. Of the latter, fifteen were of British origin, the rest were French. It was soon found that there were two languages used by the members, so it was decided that a member could speak in either language; but all notices, bills, laws and other papers must be printed in both English and French, and thus the law has remained ever since. Too soon, jealousies and ill-feeling arose between the two races, and the newspapers on both sides helped to increase the mutual dislike. The Lower Canadian Parliament did not pass any law against slavery, but in 1803, Chief Justice Osgoode gave a decision to the effect that slavery was against the laws of England, and this led to the few slaves (about three hundred) in the Province being set free.

2. Founding of Upper Canada.—As already stated, there were only twenty thousand people in Upper Canada in 1791, and this small population was scattered along the St. Lawrence, around the Bay of Quinté and along the Niagara and St. Clair rivers. Settlers preferred to take up farms near the rivers and lakes, because it was very difficult to get in or out of the settlements except by water. The land was covered with forests, and every farm was a bush farm. The settler had to chop down the trees before he could plant or sow a crop of any kind. The fallen trees had to be burnt, and among the blackened: stumps, with a rude “drag,” drawn generally by oxen, he covered up the “seed.” Sometimes his crop was planted and tended with the spade and hoe. His dwelling place was a log-hut or “shanty,” often built in a small “clearing” in the heart of the forest, and covered with bark or “troughs.” There, sheltered by the trees from the rude winter, his family lived, every member able to work doing something to lighten the settler’s toil, and improve the common lot. Fortunately, the soil was fertile, and for the amount of seed sown the crop was plentiful. Mills for grinding grain of any kind were very scarce, and often the settler had to make his own flour or meal