ir, and voting the salaries of the officials, from the
governor {25} downwards, for only one year. Since this would have made
every government officer completely dependent upon the pleasure of the
House of Assembly, the Legislative Council promptly threw out the
budget. Thus commenced a struggle which was destined to last for many
years. The Assembly refused to see that its action was really an
encroachment upon the sphere of the Executive; and the Executive
refused to place itself at the mercy of the Assembly. The result was
deadlock. During session after session the supplies were not voted.
The Executive, with its control of the royal revenue, was able by one
means or another to carry on the government; but the relations between
the 'Bureaucrats' and the _Patriotes_ became rapidly more bitter.

Papineau's attitude toward the government during this period was in
harmony with that of his compatriots. It was indeed one of his
characteristics, as the historian Christie has pointed out, that he
seemed always 'to move with the masses rather than to lead them.' In
1812 he fought side by side with the British. As late as 1820 he
publicly expressed his great admiration for the constitution of 1791
and the blessings of British rule. But in the struggles over the
budget he took up ground {26} strongly opposed to the government; and,
when the question became acute, he threw restraint to the winds, and
played the part of a dangerous agitator.

What seems to have first roused Papineau to anger was a proposal to
unite Upper and Lower Canada in 1822. Financial difficulties had
arisen between the two provinces; and advantage was taken of this fact
to introduce a Union Bill into the House of Commons at Westminster,
couched in terms very unfavourable to the French Canadians. There is
little doubt that the real objects of the bill was the extinction of
the Lower-Canadian Assembly and the subordination of the French to the
English element in the colony. At any rate, the French Canadians saw
in the bill a menace to their national existence. Two agents were
promptly appointed to go over to London to oppose it. One of them was
Papineau; the other was John Neilson, the capable Scottish editor of
the Quebec _Gazette_. The two men made a very favourable impression;
they enlisted on their side the leaders of the Whig party in the
Commons; and they succeeded in having the bill well and duly shelved.
Their mission resulted not only