ition came from the English inhabitants
of the French province. These opponents of the act even sent Mr. Adam
{304} Lymburner, a Quebec merchant of high standing, to express their
opinions at the bar of the English House of Commons. The advocates of
the new scheme of government, however, believed that the division of
Canada into two provinces would have the effect of creating harmony,
since the French would be left in the majority in one section, and the
British in the other. The Quebec Act, it was generally admitted, had not
promoted the prosperity or happiness of the people at large. Great
uncertainty still existed as to the laws actually in force under the act.
In not a few cases the judges were confessedly ignorant--Chief Justice
Livius, for instance--of French Canadian jurisprudence. The increase of
the English population was a strong argument for a grant of
representative institutions. Accordingly the constitutional act provided
for an assembly, elected by the people on a limited franchise, in each
province, and for a legislative council, appointed by the Crown. The
sovereign might annex hereditary letters of honour to the right of
summons to the legislative council, but no attempt was ever made to
create a Canadian aristocracy, or distinct class, under the authority of
this section of the act. The British Government reserved the right of
imposing, levying, and collecting duties of customs, and of appointing or
directing their payment, though it left the exclusive apportionment of
all moneys levied in this way to legislature. The free exercise of the
Roman Catholic religion was permanently guaranteed. A seventh part of
all uncleared Crown lands was reserved for the use of the Protestant
clergy--a {305} provision that caused much trouble in the future. The
civil law of French Canada was to regulate property and civil rights in
that province. English criminal law was to prevail in both the Canadas.
The Governor-General of Quebec and Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada
were each assisted by an executive council chosen by those functionaries,
and having a right to sit also in the legislative council. Lord
Dorchester was the first governor-general, not only of Canada, but
likewise of the other provinces by virtue of separate commissions to that
effect. The heads of the executive in all the provinces except Quebec
were called lieutenant-governors, but they became only directly
subordinate to the governor-gen