in humorous
literature--first appeared in a Halifax paper. The author, Judge
Haliburton, also published as early as 1829 an excellent work in two
volumes on the history of his native province. Small libraries and book
stores could only be seen in the cities.

In these early times of the provinces, when books and magazines were
rarities, the newspaper press naturally exercised much influence on the
social and intellectual conditions of the people at large. By 1838 there
were no less than forty papers printed in the province of Upper Canada
alone, some of them written with ability, though too often in a bitter,
personal tone. In those days English papers did not circulate to any
extent in a country where postage was exorbitant. People could hardly
afford to pay postage rates on letters. The poor settler was often
unable to pay the three or four shillings or even more, imposed on
letters from their old homes across the sea; and it was not unusual to
find in country post-offices a large accumulation of dead letters,
refused or neglected on account of the expense. The management of the
post-office by imperial officers was one of the grievances of the people
of the provinces generally. It was carried on for the benefit of a few
persons, and not for the convenience or solace of the many thousands who
were anxious for news of their kin across the ocean.

CHAPTER VII.

A NEW ERA OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT (1839--1867).

SECTION I.--The union of the Canadas and the establishment of
responsible government.

Lord Durham's report on the affairs of British North America was
presented to the British government on the 31st January, 1839, and
attracted an extraordinary amount of interest in England, where the two
rebellions had at last awakened statesmen to the absolute necessity of
providing an effective remedy for difficulties which had been pressing
upon their attention for years, but had never been thoroughly understood
until the appearance of this famous state paper. A legislative union of
the two Canadas and the concession of responsible government were the
two radical changes which stood out prominently in the report among
minor suggestions in the direction of stable government. On the question
of responsible government Lord Durham expressed opinions of the deepest
political wisdom. He found it impossible "to understand how any English
statesman could have ever imagined that representative and irresponsible
government