conflict” arose between the government and the governed classes, especially in Lower Canada.  The people who in the days of the French regime were without influence and power, had gained under their new system, defective as it was in essential respects, an insight into the operation of representative government, as understood in England.  They found they were governed, not by men responsible to the legislature and the people, but by governors and officials who controlled both the executive and legislative councils.  If there had always been wise and patient governors at the head of affairs, or if the imperial authorities could always have been made aware of the importance of the grievances laid before them, or had understood their exact character, the differences between the government and the majority of the people’s representatives might have been arranged satisfactorily.  But, unhappily, military governors like Sir James Craig only aggravated the dangers of the situation, and gave demagogues new opportunities for exciting the people.  The imperial authorities, as a rule, were sincerely desirous of meeting the wishes of the people in a reasonable and fair spirit, but unfortunately for the country, they were too often ill-advised and ill-informed in those days of slow communication, and the fire of public discontent was allowed to smoulder until it burst forth in a dangerous form.

In all the provinces, but especially in Lower Canada, the people saw their representatives practically ignored by the governing body, their money expended without the authority of the legislature, and the country governed by irresponsible officials.  A system which gave little or no weight to public opinion as represented in the House of Assembly, was necessarily imperfect and unstable, and the natural result was a deadlock between the legislative council, controlled by the official and governing class, and the house elected by the people.  The governors necessarily took the side of the men whom they had themselves appointed, and with whom they were acting.  In the maritime provinces in the course of time, the governors made an attempt now and then to conciliate the popular element by bringing in men who had influence in the assembly, but this was a matter entirely within their own discretion.  The system of government as a whole was worked in direct contravention of the principle of responsibility to the majority in the popular house.  Political agitators had abundant opportunities for exciting popular passion.  In Lower Canada, Papineau, an eloquent but impulsive man, having rather the qualities of an agitator than those of a statesman, led the majority of his compatriots.

For years he contended for a legislative council elected by the people:  and it is curious to note that none of the men who were at the head of the popular party in Lower Canada ever recognized the fact, as did their contemporaries in Upper Canada, that the difficulty would be best solved, not by electing an upper house, but by obtaining an executive which would only hold office while supported by a majority of the representatives in the people’s house.  In Upper Canada the radical section of the Liberal party was led by Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie, who fought vigorously against what was generally known as the “Family Compact,” which occupied all the public offices and controlled the government.