s action in these two cases was regarded with
disapprobation in England, and the colonial minister expressed the hope
that no further executions would occur--advice followed in the case of
other actors of the revolt of 1837. Sir George Arthur's place in
colonial annals is not one of high distinction. Like his predecessors,
he became the resolute opponent of responsible government, which he
declared in a despatch to be "Mackenzie's scheme for getting rid of what
Mr. Hume called 'the baneful domination' of the mother country"; "and
never" he added, "was any scheme better devised to bring about such an
end speedily".

SECTION 3.--Social and economic conditions of the Provinces in 1838.

We have now reached a turning-point in the political development of the
provinces of British North America, and may well pause for a moment to
review the social and economic condition of their people. Since the
beginning of the century there had been a large immigration into the
provinces, except during the war of 1812. In the nine years preceding
1837, 263,089 British and Irish immigrants arrived at Quebec, and in one
year alone there were over 50,000. By 1838 the population of the five
provinces of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island had reached about 1,400,000 souls. In Upper Canada,
with the exception of a very few people of German or Dutch descent, and
some French Canadians opposite Detroit and on the Ottawa River, there
was an entirely British population of at least 400,000 souls. The
population of Lower Canada was estimated at 600,000, of whom hardly
one-quarter were of British origin, living chiefly in Montreal, the
Townships, and Quebec. Nova Scotia had nearly 200,000 inhabitants, of
whom probably 16,000 were French Acadians, resident in Cape Breton and
in Western Nova Scotia. In New Brunswick there were at least 150,000
people, of whom some 15,000 were descendants of the original inhabitants
of Acadie. The Island of Prince Edward had 30,000 people, of whom the
French Acadians made up nearly one-sixth. The total trade of the country
amounted, in round figures, to about L5,000,000 sterling in imports,
and somewhat less in exports The imports were chiefly manufactures from
Great Britain, and the exports were lumber, wheat and fish. Those were
days when colonial trade was stimulated by differential duties in favour
of colonial products, and the building of vessels was encouraged by the
ol