[CHAPTER XVIII.]
THE JACK AND PARLIAMENTARY UNION IN CANADA.
In addition to its harmony with the story of the union and the growth of the Constitution in the Motherland, the Union Jack has also an interesting connection with the extension of the powers and advantages of the British Constitution in Canada, and particularly with the establishment of responsible parliamentary government among its people.
In 1759, the seeds of the new nationality had been sown upon the Plains of Abraham, where the blood of Wolfe and Montcalm had mingled to enrich the soil, and the power of European France in Canada became merged in the power of England.
The French forefathers of the new subjects of King George II. had come largely from those very portions of old France, whose people had crossed over to England with William the Conqueror, and given the British their King.
As says one of our French Canadian historians:
"The immigration of the French, extending from 1634 to 1720, was almost entirely from among the Normans of Dieppe and Rouen, so that the settled portion of Canada was to all intents and purposes a reproduction of a Norman province. The subsequent settlers were mainly selected in Rochelle, Poictou, Paris and Normandy, to the exclusion of persons from the south and east, and coming out single, they married the daughters of the settled Normans. This accounts for the marked absence of any but the Norman accent and form of speech throughout the French-speaking communities of Canada at the present day."[118]
