s, royal seigniorial dues, timber and land, all
of which were also exclusively under the control of the government. The
assembly had been given jurisdiction only over the amount of duties
payable into the treasury under the authority of laws passed by the
legislature itself. In case the royal revenues were not sufficient to
meet the annual expenditure of the government, the deficiency was met
until the war of 1812-15 by drawing on the military exchequer. As the
expenses of the provincial administration increased the royal revenues
became inadequate, while the provincial revenues gradually showed a
considerable surplus over the expenditure voted by the legislature. In
1813 the cost of the war made it impossible for the government to use
the military funds, and it resorted to the provincial moneys for the
expenses of justice and civil government. In this way, by 1817, the
government had incurred a debt of a hundred and twenty thousand pounds
to the province without the direct authority of the legislature. The
assembly of Lower Canada was not disposed to raise troublesome issues
during the war, or in any way to embarrass the action of Sir George
Prevost, who, whatever may have been his incompetency as a military
chief, succeeded by his conciliatory and persuasive methods in winning
the good opinions of the French Canadian majority and making himself an
exceptionally popular civil governor. After closing the accounts of the
war, the government felt it expedient to stop such irregular
proceedings, to obtain from the legislature a general appropriation act,
covering the amount of expenditures in the past, and to prevent the
necessity of such a questionable application of provincial funds in the
future. This may be considered the beginning of the financial
controversies that were so constant, as years passed by, between the
governors and the assemblies, and never ended until the rebellion broke
out. The assembly, desirous of obtaining power in the management of
public affairs, learned that it could best embarrass the government and
force them to consider and adjust public grievances, as set forth by the
majority in the house, by means of the appropriation bills required for
the public service. The assembly not only determined to exercise sole
control over its own funds but eventually demanded the disposal of the
duties imposed and regulated by imperial statutes. The conflict was
remarkable for the hot and uncompromising temper c