t through division but through union. He persuaded them to a change
of status which was a reversal to the old status prior to the
Constitutional Act, and also a prelude to that larger union of the
British colonies in North America which was destined to embrace half
the continent.

Having succeeded almost beyond belief in the first part of his mission,
Thomson turned his attention to the next vexed question. This was the
question of the Clergy Reserves. On this subject much ink had been
spilt and much hard feeling engendered; and it still provokes not a
little ill-directed sarcasm. The whole matter is in danger of being
misunderstood, and eighteenth-century lawmakers are blamed for not
possessing ideas a hundred years ahead of their times.

{43}

By the terms of the Constitutional Act of 1791 one-seventh of the
public lands thereafter to be granted were devoted to 'the Support and
Maintenance of a Protestant Clergy.' The provision was due, it seems,
to the king himself, pious, homely 'Farmer George'; and to men of his
mind no provision could have seemed more natural or right.
'Establishment' had been the rule from time immemorial. The Church of
England was 'established,' that is, provided by law with an income in
England, in Wales, and in Ireland. The 'Kirk' was similarly
'established' in Scotland. In British America itself the Church of
Rome was 'established' very firmly in Lower Canada. What could be more
natural for a Protestant monarch than to make provision for a
'Protestant Clergy' in a British colony settled by British immigrants,
and purchased with such outpouring of British blood and British
treasure? And what more ready and easy way could be found of providing
for that 'clergy' than by endowing it with waste lands which taxed no
one and which would increase in value as the country became settled?
In its essence this endowment was a recognition of the value of the
Christian religion in preserving {44} the state. But trouble arose
almost at once in the interpretation of the terms 'Protestant' and
'clergy.' Was not the Church of Scotland 'Protestant' as well as the
Church of England? Were not the various species of 'Dissenters' also
the most vigorous of 'Protestants'? On the other side it was asked,
Was not the term 'clergy' applied exclusively to the ministers of the
Church of England? It could not apply to any religious teachers
outside the pale; those outside the pale never dreamed of applying