Canada Company; that the Legislative Council continued to reject the bills passed by the Assembly; that the administration of justice was in the hands of a party forming among themselves a Family Compact; that, owing to these circumstances, property and liberty were held by a very precarious tenure; that the administration of the government was in the hands of men, in whom neither the people nor their representatives had any confidence; that, as a consequence of this state of things, there was little immigration,* and many residents were thinking of quitting the Province; that the idea of successive Colonial Secretaries had been to govern the Province by orders sent from Downing Street, to be executed by agents selected there; that there was no means of exacting strict accountability for the public moneys; that the Reformers of both Provinces directed their exertions mainly to the accomplishment of four objects: an elective Legislative Council, an Executive Council responsible to public opinion, the control of the whole Provincial revenues, and a cessation of interference on the part of the Colonial office "not one of which," he said, "I believe will be conceded till it is too late." The prediction proved correct; but all these changes have been effected since the insurrection of 1837. He ten

* In 1835, the immigration to Upper Canada had fallen off two-thirds as compared with the average of former years.

Though all these objects have now been carried into effect, Sir Francis Bond Head regarded their advocacy as proof of treasonable designs. In a dispatch to Lord Glenelg, dated June 22, 1836, after quoting the above passage, he says: "As the Republicans in the Canadas generally mask their designs by professions of attachment to the mother country, I think it important to record this admission on the part of Mackenzie of the traitorous object which the Reformers in this Province have in view."

dered his thanks to Mr. Hume for his exertions on behalf of Canada in these words:

"On behalf of thousands whom you have benefited, on behalf of the country so far as it has had confidence in me, I do most sincerely thank you for the kind and considerate interest you have taken in the welfare of a distant people. To your generous exertions it is owing that tens of thousands of our citizens are not at this day branded as rebels and aliens; and to you alone it is owing that our petitions have sometimes been treated with ordinary courtesy at the Colonial office.

"We have wearied you with our complaints, and occupied many of those valuable hours which you would have otherwise given to the people of England. But the time may come when Canada, relieved from her shackles, will be in a situation to prove that her children are not ungrateful to those who are now, in time of need, their disinterested benefactors."

A shadowy idea of independence appears already to have been floating in men's minds; and it found expression in such terms as are employed in his letter about Canada being relieved of her shackles.

CHAPTER XX.

Si: Francis Bed Head arrives in Upper Canada-His Speech on opening the Legislatu. e-Mackenzie tries to remove the Restrictions on the Trade of the Province The House snub the Lieutenant Governor in their Reply to the Adaress-Why were Members of the Government supported in a Departure from Lord Goderich's Dispatch?-Sir F. B. Head affects a Readiness to redress all Grievances-He appoints three new Executive Councillors from the Liberal Party-Resignation of the new Council because they were not consulted on the Affairs of the Province-They are sustained by the House, and the Lieutenant Governor sharply censured-Responsible Government and Separation from England-The Lieutenant Governor and the "Industrious Classes"-Four new Executive Councillors-The House of Assembly address the Lieutenant Governor to dismiss them-He refuses -Question of Popular Colonial Councils--Sir F. B. Head boasts of having provoked a Disturbance at a Public Meeting-Stoppage of Supplies and Reservation of Money Bills--Dissolution of the House-Unconstitutional and violent Means resorted to by the Lieutenant Governor for carrying the Elections-He instructs the Colonial Office how to act-Opposes the Surrender of the Crown Revenues and denounces the Project of a Responsible Administration-"Let them come if they dare"-Practical Joke on the Lieutenant Governor-His strange Doings and his Contumacy-Mackenzie, Bidwell, and Perry lose their Elections-Excitement at Mackenzie's Election-The Influences arrayed against him—He weeps over his Defcat-Is attacked with a dangerous Illness-His Protest not allowed to go to an Election Committee-Proof of the Lieutenant Governor's Unconstitutional Interference in the Elections-He was required to put in his Defence.

On the 14th January, 1836, Sir Francis Bond Head, who had just arrived in the Province as Lieutenant Governor, opened the session of the Upper Canada

Sir Francis Bond Head afterwards admitted, with admirable candor, that he "was really grossly ignorant of every thing that in any way related to the

Legislature. The Royal speech, in referring to the dissensions that had taken place in Lower Canada, and to the labors of the Imperial commissioners appointed to inquire into the grievances complained of, assured the House that, whatever recommendations. might be made, as the result of this inquiry, the constitution of the Provinces would be firmly maintained. As the constitution of the Legislative Council was one of the subjects of inquiry, this information could not be very consolatory to the Reformers.

During the session, Mr. Mackenzie carried an Address to the King on the subject of the restraints imposed upon the Province by the commercial legislation of the mother country. British goods could not pass through the United States, on their way to Canada, without being subjected to the American duty; and the Address prayed that the Sovereign would negotiate with the Washington Government, for the free passage of such goods. The facility of transport thus asked for was fully secured by the United States Bonding Act passed ten years after. For the purpose of upholding the monopoly of the East India Com

government of our colonies." He was somehow connected with paupers and poor laws in England when he was appointed; and was totally unfitted by experience and temperament to be Lieutenant Governor of an important dependency of the British Crown. How Lord Glenelg could have stumbled upon so much incapacity is as great a mystery to the Canadians, at this day. as it was to Sir Francis when, at his lodgings at Romney, in the County of Kent, his servant, with a tallow candle in one hand, and a letter brought by a King's officer in the other, enabled him to make the discovery that he had been offered the Lieutenant Governorship of Upper Canada. He was in a sound sleep when the servant arrived; and if other men have found themselves famous when they woke of a morning, Sir Francis Bond Head found himself suddenly roused up to be informed that he was on the way to enforced greatness.

pany, not an ounce of tea could be imported into Canada by way of the United States. The abolition of this monopoly was demanded. Canadian lumber and wheat were heavily taxed-25 cents a bushel on the latter-on their admission into the United States: the same articles coming thence into the Province were free of duty. Mr. Mackenzie anticipated by eighteen years the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854. The Address prayed "that His Majesty would cause such represen

tations to be made to the Government of the United States as might have a tendency to place this interesting branch of Canadian commerce on a footing of reciprocity between the two countries." Nor did he stop here. He thought it right that this principle of reciprocity should be extended to all articles admitted by Canada free of duty from the United States.

In those days, the Address in answer to the Royal Speech was no mere echo of the statements and recommendations contained in that document. The occasion was frequently seized upon as a favorable one for an exposition of public grievances. On a number of points, the Address, on this occasion, differed from the Speech to which it was an answer. It went so far as directly to rebuke the Lieutenant Governor for the reference he had made to Lower Canada. "We deeply regret," said the Address, "that your Excellency has been advised to animadvert upon the affairs of the sister Province, which has been engaged in a long and arduous struggle for an indispensable amelioration in their institutions and the manner of their administration. We respectfully, but firmly, express our respect for their patriotic exertions; and we do