thus exercised the most beneficial
influence upon their rustic neighbours. In the absence of schools, of
churches, of most of the refining influences of civilized society, this
class of the early settlers of Upper Canada were foremost in usefulness.
Their superior education, their well-bred manners, their more refined
habits, raised them in the estimation of the rural population, who soon
tacitly admitted a superiority which would never have been conceded [had
it been] more directly asserted." Most, though not all, of these
gentlemen were Tories, and, with hardly an exception, preserved their
loyalty through all chances and changes. During the War of 1812-15, and
again during the agitation arising out of the Rebellion, they proved
true to their Tory instincts, and rallied to the side of the Government
with ready fervour. Their social proclivities were equally removed from
the rude boorishness of the ordinary settler as from the pretence and
ceremonial of the clique of self-constituted aristocrats. They generally
preserved a modicum of state in the regulation of their household
affairs, though they kept aloof from the Compact and its practices, and
devoted themselves to various branches of industry--among others, to the
education of youth; to the practice of the learned professions; to the
opening and cultivating of new avenues of commerce; and to reducing the
pathless forests to arable and smiling fields.

One other fact it is essential to bear in mind, in estimating the
effects of the Compact's _regime_. In seizing upon all the official and
other spoils within their reach, and in trampling upon the liberties of
the people, the magnates of Upper Canada were merely treading in the
footsteps of the Tite Barnacles of Great Britain. The period was one of
transition, all over the civilized world. Popular rights were but
imperfectly understood, and the idea that good government is best served
by the extension of justice and equal rights to all classes was only
beginning to dawn upon the minds of public men, even in old and
long-established communities. That Canada was not in advance of the
times is not to be wondered at; but the ordeal through which she was
compelled to pass on the way to full and assured liberty forms an epoch
highly necessary to be understood and frequently remembered by all who
appreciate the blessings which are the birthright of every Canadian of
the present day. A knowledge of the principles and practice