tion in an entirely different light and was strongly
of opinion that "it was most desirable to see the French and English
inhabitants coalesce into one body, and the different distinctions of
people extinguished for ever."

The Constitutional act of 1791 established in each province a
legislative council and assembly, with powers to make laws. The
legislative council was to be appointed by the king for life, in Upper
Canada it was to consist of not less than seven, and in Lower Canada of
not less than fifteen members. The sovereign might, if he thought
proper, annex hereditary titles of honour to the right of being summoned
to the legislative council in either province--a provision which was
never brought into operation. The whole number of members in the
assembly of Upper Canada was not to be less than sixteen; in Lower
Canada not less than fifty--to be chosen by a majority of votes in
either case. The British parliament reserved to itself the right of
levying and collecting customs-duties, for the regulation of navigation
and commerce to be carried on between the two provinces, or between
either of them and any other part of the British dominions or any
foreign country. Parliament also reserved the power of directing the
payment of these duties, but at the same time left the exclusive
apportionment of all moneys levied in this way to the legislature, which
could apply them to such public uses as it might deem expedient. The
free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion was guaranteed permanently.
The king was to have the right to set apart, for the use of the
Protestant clergy in the colony, a seventh part of all uncleared crown
lands. The governor might also be empowered to erect parsonages and
endow them, and to present incumbents or ministers of the Church of
England. The English criminal law was to obtain in both provinces.

In the absence of Lord Dorchester in England, the duty devolved on
Major-General Alured Clarke, as lieutenant-governor, to bring the Lower
Canadian constitution into force by a proclamation on the 18th February,
1791. On the 7th May, in the following year, the new province of Lower
Canada was divided into fifty electoral districts, composed of
twenty-one counties, the towns of Montreal and Quebec, and the boroughs
of Three Rivers and William Henry (now Sorel). The elections to the
assembly took place in June, and a legislative council of fifteen
influential Canadians was appointed. The new leg