her. It was enough for the English speaking
population that the government was English, to secure their sympathies
to the government, and it was enough for the French speaking part of
the population to know that the Assembly was chiefly Franco-Canadian to
secure their sympathies to the Assembly. Lord Dalhousie and the
red-tape-nobility looked upon both only as _canaille_. His
lordship was the emperor; the judges, the bishops, and the secretaries,
were the marshals and princes of an empire of serfs--of crown serfs and
of serfs of the soil. But, however that may have been, two events of
some importance had occurred. The Lieutenant-Governor of the province,
Sir Francis Burton, had arrived at the scene of his labors, and Sir
John Caldwell, the Receiver General, had become insolvent towards the
province, in the sum of L100,000. The difficulties of Lord Dalhousie's
reign were on the increase. The union and intended extinction of Lower
Canadian nationality was not a matter to be so easily effected as at
first anticipated. His lordship again assembled parliament on the 10th
of January, 1823. The Clerk of the Assembly informed the noble Earl, at
the head of the government, that the Speaker, Mr. Papineau, had gone to
England. The Governor ordered the Assembly to elect another Speaker in
his stead. They did so, and their choice fell upon Mr. Vallieres de St.
Real. The choice was approved of. Lord Dalhousie thereupon opened the
session. He told the Houses that an Act had been passed regulating the
trade of Lower Canada with the United States of America, and the
intercourse between Upper and Lower Canada, an adjustment of the
differences subsisting between the two provinces being provided for. He
further intimated that the imperial government contemplated the union
of the two provinces, but had withdrawn the measure until the next
session of the imperial legislature, with the view of ascertaining the
sentiments of the Canadian people on the matter. He hoped that the
subject would receive attention, and the deliberations of the
parliament be distinguished for moderation. He had been somewhat
embarrassed by the stoppage of the supplies, but had done as much as he
could to avert inconvenience, by paying up the usual expenses for the
half year then current, though he had not felt himself justified in
doing so beyond that period, and there consequently remained a very
considerable arrear due to the public servants. A full statement of the