me, he
asserted, no bishop could be there under papal authority, as such
is expressly forbidden in the act of supremacy. North concluded by
asserting, that there was no intention of substituting French lawyers
and judges for the English who now administered the laws in that
country. Townshend rejoined; complaining bitterly of carrying the
system of French law into those parts of the country where it had not
previously existed, and where there were some thousands of British
subjects. Having, at the end of the war, promised the Canadians English
law, he conceived that injustice would be done them by giving them that
of France. Mr. Townshend was followed by Mr. Dunning, who called the
measure one of the most extensive, as well as the most pernicious, ever
offered to parliament. He particularly inveighed against the concessions
made to the Roman Catholics, though he admitted that the free exercise
of their religion was promised to the Canadians by the treaty of
peace. This bill, however, he contended, gave them more than this: it
established the Roman Catholic faith, whereas Protestantism was merely
tolerated, and its clergy left for a maintenance to the discretion
of the crown. He observed:--"Different gentlemen may entertain
different opinions: my opinion of toleration is, that nothing can be
more impolitic than to give establishment to that religion which is
not the religion of our own country. Among the circumstances that unite
countries, or divide countries, a difference in religion has ever been
thought to be the principal and leading one. The Catholic religion
unites France, but divides England. Without going further into the
subject, it suffices me to say, that the religion of England seems to be
preferable to the religion of France, if your object is to make this
an English colony. When one sees that the Roman Catholic religion
is established by law, and that the same law does not establish the
Protestant religion, the people are, of course, at liberty to choose
which they like. Are we, then, to establish the Roman Catholic religion,
and tolerate the Protestant religion?" Mr. Dunning next insisted,
that the civil law, as well as the criminal law of England, should be
preserved, and that the institution of juries, however unpalatable
it might prove to the Canadians, ought not to be dispensed with. He
concluded by showing the unfitness of this political state to the habits
and character of English settlers, and that t