nt of the
revolution on account of the extension of the limits of the province so
as to include the country long known as the old Northwest in American
history, and the consequent confinement of the Thirteen Colonies
between the Atlantic coast and the Alleghany Mountains, beyond which
the hardy and bold frontiersmen of Virginia and Pennsylvania were
already passing into the great valley of the Ohio. Parliament,
however, appears to have been influenced by a desire to adjust the
government of the province so as to conciliate the majority of the
Canadian people at this critical time.

The advice of Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, who
succeeded General Murray as {278} Governor-General, had much to do with
the liberality of the Quebec Act towards the French Canadians. After a
careful study of the country he came to the conclusion that the French
civil law ought to be retained, although he was met by the earnest
advice to the contrary of two able lawyers, Chief-Justice Hay and
Attorney-General Maseres, who believed a code adopted from English and
French principles was preferable. Maseres, who was of Huguenot descent
and much prejudiced against Roman Catholics, was also an advocate of a
legislative assembly to be exclusively Protestant--in other words, of
giving all power practically into the hands of a small British
minority. When the subject of a new Canadian Constitution came to be
discussed in England, Carleton crossed the Atlantic in 1769 and
remained absent from Canada for four years. He returned to carry out
the Quebec Act, which was the foundation of the large political and
religious liberties which French Canada has ever since enjoyed.

The new constitution came into force in October, 1774. It provided
that Roman Catholics should be no longer obliged to take the test oath,
but only the oath of allegiance. The government of the province was
entrusted to a governor and a legislative council, appointed by the
Crown, inasmuch as it was "inexpedient to call an assembly." This
council had the power, with the consent of the Governor, to make
ordinances for the good government of the province. In all matters of
controversy, relative to property and civil rights, recourse should be
had to the French civil procedure, whilst the law of {279} England
should obtain in criminal cases. Roman Catholics were permitted to
observe their religion with perfect freedom, and their clergy were to
enjoy their "accust