issued paper
money in Quebec. After the conquest seventeen millions of these
worthless government promissory notes were outstanding in the hands of
the habitants. Knowing that the paper money is to be redeemed by the
English government, English jobbers are now busy buying up the paper
among the poor French at fifteen cents on the dollar. Carleton sends
the town crier from parish to parish, warning the habitants to hold
their money and register the amounts with the magistrates till the
whole matter can be arranged between England and France.

The first newspaper is established now in Quebec, _The Quebec Gazette_,
printed in both English and French. Also the first trouble now arises
from having ceded France the two tiny islands south of Newfoundland,
St. Pierre and Miquelon. By English navigation laws, all trade must
be in English ships. Good! The smugglers slip into St. Pierre with a
cargo. By night a ship with a white sail slips out of St. Pierre with
that {280} cargo. At Gaspe the sail of that ship is red; at Saguenay
it is yellow; at Quebec it is perhaps brown. Ostensibly the ship is a
fishing smack, but it leaves other cargo than fish at the habitant
hamlets of the St. Lawrence; and the smuggling from St. Pierre that
began in Carleton's time is continued to-day in the very same way.

[Illustration: GENERAL MURRAY, FIRST GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC]

And Guy Carleton, though he is an Englishman and owes his appointment
to the complaints of the English minority against Murray, remains
absolutely impartial. Good reason for the wisdom of his policy. There
are rumblings from the New England colonies that forewarn the coming
earthquake. For years friction has been growing between the mother
country and the colonies. The story of the Revolution does not belong
to the story of Canada. For years far-sighted statesmen had predicted
that the minute New England ceased to fear New France, ceased to need
England's protection, that minute the growing friction would flame in
open war. Carleton foresaw that to pander to the English minority
would sacrifice the loyalty of the French. Thus he reported to the
home government, and the Quebec Act of 1774 came to the relief of the
French. By it Canada's boundaries were extended across the region of
the Ohio to the Mississippi. French laws were restored {281} in all
civil actions. English law was to rule in criminal cases, which meant
trial by jury. The French are relieved f