hio to the head of Lake Superior and the
Mississippi, and consolidating all authority over this boundless region
in the hands of a Governor and Council of not less than seventeen or
more than twenty-three members, with power to pass ordinances for the
peace, welfare, and good government of the province. At the close of the
war between England and France by the Peace of Paris, 1763, English
emigration was invited to Lower Canada, with the promise, by Royal
Proclamation, of _representative government_, as in the other colonies.
That promise, however, was not fulfilled by the Act of 1774; but the
Catholics were not displeased that the promise of a Representative
Assembly was not kept, as a Representative Assembly, to which none but
Protestants could at that time be chosen, was less acceptable to them
than the despotic rule of a Governor and Council nominated by the Crown.
The Quebec Act authorized the Crown to confer places of honour and
business upon Catholics. The owners of estates were further gratified by
the restoration of the French system of law. The English emigrants might
complain of the want of jury trials in civil processes, but the French
Canadians were grateful for relief from statutes which they did not
comprehend. The nobility of New France, who were accustomed to arms,
were still further conciliated by the proposal to enrol Canadian
battalions, in which they could hold commissions on equal terms with
English officers. The great dependence of the Crown, however, was on the
clergy. The capitulation of New France had guaranteed to them freedom of
public worship, but the laws for their support were held to be no longer
valid. By the Quebec Act they were confirmed in the possession of their
ancient churches and their revenues; so that the Roman Catholic worship
was as effectually established in Canada as the Presbyterian Church in
Scotland.[151]

This Act encountered very strong opposition both in England and America.
The Mayor, Aldermen, and Council of the city of London presented a
petition to the King against the Bill, praying his Majesty not to sign
it. In that long and ably drawn up petition, occur the following words:

"We beg leave to observe that the English law, and that wonderful effort
of human wisdom, the trial by jury, are not admitted by this Bill in any
civil cases, and the French law of Canada is imposed on all the
inhabitants of that extensive province, by which both the persons and
properties