It has been seen that the representative form of government was obtained both for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by the representation and influence of the United Empire Loyalists; it was so in Canada. Thus are we indebted to the United Empire Loyalists not only for our unity with the British empire, but for the original constitution of representative government which, with enlarged application, is the basis of that free government which now prevails throughout all the provinces of the Dominion of Canada.
GOVERNMENT OF LOWER CANADA.
In 1786, Lord Dorchester had been appointed Governor of Canada and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America.[156] But he left for England in August, 1791, on a year's leave, and in his absence the administration of the Government was entrusted to the Lieutenant-Governor, General Alured Clarke, a retired British officer. The elections took place in June, 1792, and were in some instances warmly contested. Lower Canada had been divided into twenty-one counties, eighteen of which elected two members each, and three—the counties of Gaspé, Bedford, and Orleans—returned one member each; the cities of Quebec and Montreal were each represented by four members, and Three Rivers by two. Of the fifty members elected to the first House of Assembly, fifteen were of British origin, and thirty-five were of French origin.[157]
The Legislative Council consisted of fifteen members.
On the 30th of October, the Provincial Parliament was commanded to meet at Quebec the 17th of December, 1792, for the actual despatch of business. On the meeting of the Legislative Council that day, the Hon. Chief Justice William Smith was appointed Speaker. The House of Assembly did not agree upon the election of Speaker on the first day—the French and English-speaking members advocating respectively the election of a Speaker of their own language; but at length Mr. J.A. Panet was elected by a large majority—he speaking both languages with equal fluency.[158]
The Lieutenant-Governor made a speech expressing the solicitude and consideration of the King for his Canadian subjects, in recommending to his Parliament such a change in their colonial government as circumstances might require and admit. "On a day like this," said his Excellency, "signalized by the commencement in this country of that form of government which has raised the kingdom to which it is subordinate to the highest elevation, it is impossible not to feel emotions difficult to be expressed.
"To give an opportunity for your loyal and grateful acknowledgments to his Majesty is one of my motives for calling you together, and that debt discharged, your Council will doubtless be next employed for enacting the laws necessary to confirm and augment the property of your country."
The Lieutenant-Governor concluded in the following words:
"Great Britain being happily at peace with all the world, and I hope without apprehension of its interruption, the present moment must be most fit and urgent for all those arrangements best made at a season of tranquillity, and falling within the sphere of our trust. The conviction I feel of your disposition to cultivate that harmony amongst yourselves and each branch of the Legislature, which is always essential to the public good and private satisfaction, makes it unnecessary for me to enlarge upon this subject.
"Such objects as it may become my duty to recommend to your consideration, shall be occasionally communicated to you by message."