ent portion of such of the inhabitants as dared to
call in question the righteousness of existing ordinances. There was a
further intolerable grievance which was closely bound up with, and
which, so to speak, grew out of or sustained all the rest: which
comprehended within itself all the evils affecting the body politic, and
which left traces of its existence that have survived down to the
present time. This was the Family Compact--a phrase which is in
everybody's mouth, but the significance whereof, I venture to think, is
in general but imperfectly understood. The subject deserves a chapter to
itself.

FOOTNOTES:

[24] Being somewhat doubtful as to the truth of this oft-repeated story,
I have taken the trouble to consult the records in the Crown Lands
Office, where I find that Mr. Russell on several occasions made grants
of land to himself. Among other such grants I may mention lot number
twenty-two, in the third concession of the township of York, which was
made on the 16th of July, 1797. See Liber A., folio 382, Provincial
Registry Office. He also granted various tracts of land to his sister,
Miss Elizabeth Russell, the first of which bears date the 15th of
December, 1796. See Liber B., folio 334. So that the President appears
to have begun to "do good unto himself" and his family before he had
been three months in office as Administrator of the Government. Further
investigation would doubtless prove that he kept up the practice until
the arrival of Governor Hunter.

[25] See his speech at the close of the first session of the First
Parliament of Upper Canada, on the 15th of October, 1792.

[26] The property qualification for a voter was, in counties, the
possession of lands or tenements of the yearly value of forty shillings
sterling or upwards, over and above all rents and charges; and in towns
or townships, the possession of a dwelling house and lot of the yearly
value of five pounds sterling or upwards, or the having been a resident
for twelve months, and the having paid a year's rent at the rate of ten
pounds sterling or upwards. See the twentieth section of the
Constitutional Act.

[27] The latter part of this clause has no application to Brock, who was
made of manlier stuff. Brock, however, was not Lieutenant-Governor, but
merely Provisional Administrator of the Province.

[28] _Report on the Affairs of British North America_, English folio
edition, p. 29.

[29] _The Constitutional History of Canada_,