rels of flour. All the people of the adjacent country, were by this time in arms, and attacked the retreating troops in every direction. Some fired from behind stone walls and other coverts; others pressed on their rear; and thus harassed, they made good their retreat six miles back to Lexington. Here they were found by Lord Percy, who, most opportunely for them, had arrived with a detachment of nine hundred men, and two pieces of cannon. The close firing from behind stone walls, by good marksmen, put them into no small confusion; but they kept up a brisk retreating fire on the militia and minute men. A little after sunset, the regulars reached Bunker's Hill, and the next morning marched into Boston.

The battle of Lexington, as this skirmish was called, was a signal of war. The forts, magazines, and arsenals throughout the colonies, were instantly secured for the use of the Provincials. Regular forces were raised, and money was issued for their support. An army of twenty thousand men appeared in the environs of Boston, and formed a line of encampment from Roxbury to the River Mystic. The army was soon increased by a large body of troops from Connecticut, under Colonel Putnam, an old and experienced officer; and by these collective forces, the king's troops were closely blocked up in the peninsula of Boston. This was the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle. The battle of Breed's, or, as it is commonly called, Bunker's Hill, followed on the 15th of June, 1775; and on the second of July, Washington, who had been unanimously chosen by the Continental Congress, Commander-in-chief of the colonial army, arrived at the camp at Cambridge, and entered upon the arduous and difficult duties of his high and responsible office. Of the events of the war I shall not attempt to give any account, as they are wholly unconnected with the object of this work, and are all either well known or fully recorded in numerous contemporaneous histories both English and American. Its results are soon told. On the 30th of November, 1783, provisional articles of peace, between Great Britain and the United States, were agreed to be inserted formally into a treaty, by which the independence of the latter was acknowledged in its fullest extent.

t'hus were thirteen extensive and valuable colonies severed fm Great Britain at one time. On their part, they owed their igin to dissent and disaffection, and their independence to rebel

ion. On the part of England, they were suffered to grow up to maturity in neglect. As soon as they became opulent, she resolved to tax them without their consent, and in the contest that ensued, showed that the injustice of the measure was only equaled by the imbecility with which it was attempted to be enforced.* The annals of civilized countries may be searched in vain for such a series of “Rule and Misrule," as that exhibited by Great Britain in her conduct toward her American provinces.

*

Although the contest was a very unequal one, the disparity was not so great as appears at first sight. De Pradt, in his work entitled "The Colonies," has some very judicious remarks on this subject. See chap. XIII. p. 217, Lond. Ed. "Three millions," he says, "of Americans felt themselves strong enough to resist, with their whole mass, the detachments which England could send against them. England could put a fraction of her population-a very particle-in motion. America could defend herself with all hers. She had, therefore, no need to be equal to England in population, but only in that part of that population which was disposable against her; these never amounted to more than ten or twenty thousand English that could proceed to attack her; and, on her side, it was with the whole of her population that she was enabled to repel the attack. The former were under the necessity of making a long voyage, under all the disadvantages of maritime expeditions; the American population was at hand in the country. The parent state could not displace herself, in a body, as a nation; a nation, on the contrary, can defend herself, with the advantage of the presence of all its members on the theatre of war. The issue of the contest could not be doubtful, and never will be doubtful against proportion so very dif ferent. In all this there is but one thing that astonishes us, and that is, that a people so enlightened as the English ever engaged in such a contest."

CHAPTER VI.

Reasons for confining Political Sketch solely to Canada-Proclamation for Establishing the Government at Quebec and Inviting Emigration-An express Promise given that the Laws of England should be introduced-First great Error was ordering a Code of Laws to be compiled for the French, restoring the old tenure of their Estates-Quebec Act-Character of Loyalists-Constitution Act 31 George III., c. 31, divides Canada into two Provinces-Form of Government-The above-named Acts of Parliament the Cause of all the Canadian Troubles-Mistake in allowing French to be the recording Language, and in giving Constitutional Government before People were ready to receive it-First House of Assembly-Proportion of English and French MembersGradual Change in Character of Delegates-Impeachment of Judges-Repeated Reference to Parliament-Lord Aylmer entreats the Assembly to bring forward all their Grievances at once-Commission of Inquiry-Stoppage of Supplies-Distress of Public Officers-Rebellion-Thorne's Conduct-Arrival of Lord Durham-Review-Responsible Government-Enumeration of the Defects of the System-Remedies suggested.

Ar the conclusion of the War of Independence, there remained in possession of Great Britain but two provinces, Canada and Nova Scotia. The latter has subsequently been divided into two governments—one retaining its ancient name, and the other called New Brunswick. These two last I shall pass over altogether. In point of territory they are severally very extensive; but their population is still small, although it possesses the great advantage of being homogeneous, well affected, and easily governed. A sketch of their political history would therefore be devoid of general interest in Europe. My remarks will be exclusively applied to Canada; so much so, that although there is a striking similarity in the constitution of all, I shall not even notice those particulars in which they differ or agree, or allude to them in any way whatever. That which may be made to work satisfactorily in a small colony, like Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, is as obviously inapplicable to a vast country like Canada, peopled by two irreconcilable races, as that of Great Britain, with its House of Peers, system of entail, and intrinsic connection of Church and *The first part of this chapter has been abridged from more extended works of the author on colonial matters and from provincial histories.

State, would be to an American province. It does not follow therefore, that, where defects are pointed out in the structure of the Canadian Government, that they exist elsewhere under the same institutions; for the character of the people, and their intelligence may be so different, that what is too democratic in one, may be too aristocratical or restrictive in the other. There, they may be so glaring as to require a remedy. Here, they may not be apparent, or if perceptible, not inconvenient. While at the same time, if their pressure is felt, modification only may be necessary, and not an organic change.

For this reason, I wish to guard myself from making sweeping assertions; which, for the causes I have assigned, can not be in all cases accurate, inasmuch as they could not always stand the test of universal application. I shall not therefore enter into any comparisons or digressions whatever, but limit my observations to the "Empire Colony" of Canada, the political changes of which I shall endeavor very briefly to sketch.

By the Treaty of Peace, in the year 1763, Canada was ceded in full sovereignty and right to his Britannic Majesty; and the French inhabitants, who chose to remain in the country, were secured in the enjoyment of their property and possessions, and the free exercise of their religion. In the month of October following, his Majesty published a proclamation for erecting the Government of Quebec, and exhorted his subjects, as well of Great Britain and Ireland, as also of his Colonies in America, to avail themselves of the benefits and advantages that would accrue from this great and valuable acquisition to their commerce, manufactures, and navigation. As an encouragement to them to do so, he informed them that in the commission he had forwarded to the Civil Governor, he had given him express power and directions to summon, so soon as circumstances would admit, a General Assembly, in such manner as was used in those colonies in America, which were under his Majesty's immediate government; and until a Legisla ture could be organized, all persons resorting there might confide in the royal protection, for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of his realm of England; that for that purpose, he had given power under the Great Seal to the governor, to erect and constitute Courts of Judicature, for the hearing and determining of all causes, as well criminal as civil, as near as might be, agreeably to the laws of England; and with liberty to all persons to

appeal, under the usual limitations and restrictions, to his Majesty in his Privy Council.

It appears, therefore, both from the proclamation and commission, that the Ministry were evidently of opinion that, by the refusal of General Amherst, to grant to the Canadians the continuance of their ancient laws and usages, and by the reference made in the fourth article of the definitive treaty of peace, to those of Great Britain, as the measure of indulgence intended to be shown them with respect to the exercise of their religion, sufficient notice had been given them that they would be governed for the future according to the laws of England. It is evident also, that the inhabitants, after being thus apprised of his Majesty's intention, had testified their consent by continuing to reside in the country, and by taking the oath of allegiance, when they might have withdrawn themselves, with all their effects, within eighteen months, allowed by the treaty of peace for that object. In consequence of the introduction of the laws of England into the province, the governor, in an ordinance, dated the 17th day of September, 1764, directed the Chief Justice and other judges of the province to determine all criminal and civil causes, agreeably to them, with this just and prudent proviso, that the French laws and customs should be allowed and admitted in all causes in said court, between the natives of the province, in which the cause of action arose before the first day of October, 1764.

In consequence of these instruments of government, the laws of England were generally adopted. At this time the population of Canada amounted to 65,000 souls, and was chiefly confined to the banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributary streams. As the people had now become British subjects, it was deemed expedient to introduce, as soon as possible, emigrants of English extraction, as well for the purpose of creating a defensive power within the province, as to induce the French to acquire the language and adopt the habits of their conquerors. The officers and soldiers of the army, that had served in America during the inter-colonial wars, were rewarded with grants of land in the country; and liberal offers were made to the people in the other colonies, and to emigrants from Europe, to remove thither. The facilities of internal transport, the fertility of the soil, and salubrity of the climate, operated so powerfully, that, in a short time, the influx of strangers was so great as to induce the hope that it would speedily