race.  Carleton, as we have seen, had faced its problem for the first four years.  Haldimand had carried on the government under its provisions for the following six.  Hamilton and Hope, successive lieutenant-governors, had bridged the two years between Haldimand’s retirement and Carleton’s second appointment.  Now Carleton was to pick up the threads and make what he could of the tangled skein for the next five years.  Haldimand had not been popular with either of the two chief parties into which the leading French Canadians were divided.  The seigneurs had nothing like the same regard for a Swiss soldier of fortune that they had for aristocratic British commanders like Murray and Carleton.  The clergy also preferred these Anglicans to such a strong Swiss Protestant.  The habitants and agitators, who were far less favourable to the new regime, had passionately resented Haldimand’s firmness at times of crisis.  But, despite all this French-Canadian animus, he was not such an absolute martinet as some writers would have us think.  The war with France and with the American Revolutionists required strong government in Canada; while the influx of Loyalists had introduced an entirely new set of most perplexing circumstances.  On the whole, Haldimand had done very well in spite of many personal and public drawbacks; and it was through no special fault of his, nor yet of Hope’s, that the threads which Carleton picked up formed such a perversely tangled skein.

The troubles that now dogged the great conciliator’s every step were of all kinds—­racial, religious, social, political, military, diplomatic, legal.  The confusion resulting from the intermixture of French and English civil laws had become a great deal more confounded since he had left Canada eight years before.  The old proportions of races and religions to each other had changed most disturbingly.  The Loyalists were of quite a different social class from the English-speaking immigrants of earlier days.  They wanted a parliament, public schools, and many other things new to the country; and they were the sort of people who had a right to have them.  The problem of defence was always a vexed one with the inadequate military forces at hand and the insuperable difficulties concerning the militia.  The British still held the Western forts pending the settlement of the frontier and the execution of the treaty of peace in full.  This naturally annoyed the American government and gave Carleton endless trouble.  But more serious still was the ceaseless western march of the American backwoodsmen, who were everywhere in conflict with the Indians.  The Indians, in their turn, were confused between the British and Americans under the new conditions.  They and their ever-receding rights and territories had not been mentioned in the treaty.  But, seeing that they would be better off under British than under American rule, they were inclined to take sides accordingly.  There were now no openly hostile sides to take.