Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/238



3. Political Discontent.—The early settlers cared little for politics, aside from the aid the Government could give in the way of building roads, bridges, and opening up the country for settlement. Nevertheless the defects of the Constitutional Act were soon so apparent and hurtful, that the people of both Upper and Lower Canada began to complain. In both provinces, the Executive Council and the Legislative Council did not consider they were responsible to the people, and used their power to further the interests of themselves and their friends. Judges and other salaried officials were often members of these councils, and the union of law-making and law-interpreting did not work well. The Governors, as a rule, took the advice of their Executive Councils and paid no attention to the remonstrances of the Legislative Assembly. There was no way of getting rid of these men who abused their trust by putting their needy friends into government offices and by granting wild lands to speculators, who hoped by holding the lands until the neighbouring settlers made improvements, to be able to sell at a good profit. They were also accused of spending corruptly the money intended for the U. E. Loyalists and other settlers, and for the Indian tribes. In our day, the people’s representatives would refuse to vote any money for the public expenditure, until their wrongs were righted; but, at that time, such a course was impossible, for nearly all the revenue was under the control of the Governor and his Executive Council. In Lower Canada, besides these abuses, they had to contend against race jealousies and religious animosities. The British in that province usually were on the side of the Governor and the Councils while the French supported the Legislative Assembly, the majority of which was French. The Assembly demanded that judges should not sit in Parliament, and after a struggle the Governor and the Legislative Council yielded. Another demand was that the revenue of the Province should be expended by the Assembly. This, however, was not granted for many years. But the quarrels between the Assemblies and the Governors were, in 1812, dropped to meet a pressing common danger.

4. Cause of the War of 1812.—To explain this danger we must refer to what had been going on in Europe for nearly twenty years. In 1793 England was drawn into a war with France, and, except