east the bulk of the disputed land is
something of a mystery. Apparently they adopted a policy of all or
none. Only in 1836, just before the outbreak of the rebellions, when
political feeling was at fever pitch, did Sir John Colborne, at the
bidding of Bishop Strachan, sign patents for forty-four parishes to be
erected in Upper Canada. The total amount of land devoted to this
purpose was seventeen thousand acres. 'This,' declared Lord Durham,
'is regarded by all other teachers of religion in the country as having
at once degraded them to a position of legal inferiority to the clergy
of the Church of England; and it has been most warmly resented. In the
opinion of many persons, {47} this was the chief predisposing cause of
the recent insurrection, and it is an abiding and unabated cause of
discontent.'

Thomson's way of dealing with this cause of discontent did not dispose
of it for ever, but it at least provided a lenitive. With the business
man's respect for property and vested interests, he was opposed to the
diversion of the grant from its original purpose to the support of
education. He used his powers of persuasion upon 'the leading
individuals among the principal religious communities.' After 'many
interviews' he secured the support of the religious communities to a
measure which he had prepared. By the terms of this bill the remainder
of the reserved land was to be sold and the proceeds were to form a
fund, the income from which should be distributed annually among the
Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and other specified
religious bodies, 'in proportion to their respective numbers.' This
measure was not really acceptable to the Reformers, who wanted to see
the land used in the cause of education; it was distasteful to the Kirk
men; it was gall and wormwood to extreme Anglicans like Bishop
Strachan. None the less, the personal {48} influence of the
diplomatic, strong-willed little man carried it through; and although
the Act itself was disallowed, on excellent grounds, by the Imperial
government, as exceeding the powers of the provincial legislature, yet
the Imperial parliament passed an Act exactly to the same effect.
Thomson had applied a plaster to the sore.

His general view of the political conditions is shown in a private
letter to his chief, Lord John Russell. The picture he draws is
lively, unflattering, but instructive. 'I am satisfied that the mass
of the people are sound--modera