d that, whatever
form of government might be necessary for the maintenance of order, and
for putting all men on an equality in the eye of the law, the people
themselves were the source of all power, and they acted accordingly.

Mr. Peel, (afterwards Sir Robert Peel,) Under Secretary of State,
condemned the conduct of Sir James Craig, as Governor of Canada. Mr.
Ryland, himself, informed Sir James, by letter, from London, whither he
had been sent with despatches, that when he observed to Mr. Peel that
Sir James Craig had all the English inhabitants with him, and,
consequently, all the commercial interest of the country, Mr. Peel
remarked that the Canadians were much more _numerous_, and he
repeated the same remark more than once, in a way that indicated a fear
of doing anything that might clash with the prejudices of the _more
numerous_ part of the community. And when Mr. Ryland ventured to
suggest that the decided approbation of the Governor's conduct could
not fail to have a _desirable_ effect on the minds of the
Canadians, and that the best way of expressing such approbation, was by
suspending the constitution, as Sir James Craig had recommended, Mr.
Peel thought that a reunion of the provinces would be better than a
suspension of the constitution of Lower Canada. Lord Liverpool thought
that it was not very necessary to imprison the editors of the
_Canadien_. He quietly asked if they could not have been brought
over to the government? Mr. Ryland said that it was not possible, that
Mr. Bedard's motive for opposing the government, was possibly to obtain
office, but he had acted in such a way as to make that impossible. At
dinner with the Earl of Liverpool, at Coombe Wood, Mr. Ryland seems to
have had a combing from Mr. Peel. He writes to Sir James Craig that, in
a conversation with Mr. Peel, before dinner, concerning the state of
things in Canada, he was mortified to find that he had but an imperfect
idea of the subject. He expressed himself as though he had thought that
Sir James Craig had dissolved the House of Assembly on account of their
having passed a bill for excluding the judges. He endeavored to give
Mr. Peel a clear and correct conception of these matters, but God knew
with what success! He recollected Governor Craig's advice, and kept his
temper, but it was really very provoking to see men of fine endowments
and excellent natural understanding, too inattentive to make themselves
masters of a very important sub