The Father of British Canada | Page 8

depend on 'circumstances,' and it is well to remember here that these
'circumstances' were not held to warrant the opening of a Canadian
parliament till 1792. Now, the military government had been a great
success. There was every reason to suppose that civil government by a
governor and council would be the next best thing. And it was quite
certain that calling a 'General Assembly' at once would defeat the very
ends which such bodies are designed to serve. More than ninety-nine
per cent of the population were dead against an assembly which none
of them understood and all distrusted. On the other hand, the clamorous
minority of less than one per cent were in favour only of a parliament
from which the majority should be rigorously excluded, even, if
possible, as voters. The immense majority comprised the entire
French-Canadian community. The absurdly small minority consisted
mostly of Americanized camp-following traders, who, having come to
fish in troubled waters, naturally wanted the laws made to suit poachers.
The British garrison, the governing officials, and the very few other
English-speaking people of a more enlightened class all looked down
on the rancorous minority. The whole question resolved itself into this:

should Canada be handed over to the licensed exploitation of a few
hundred low-class camp-followers, who had done nothing to win her
for the British Empire, who were despised by those who had, and who
promised to be a dangerous thorn in the side of the new colony?
What this ridiculous minority of grab-alls really wanted was not a
parliament but a rump. Many a representative assembly has ended in a
rump, The grab-alls wished to begin with one and stop there. It might
be supposed that such pretensions would defeat themselves. But there
was a twofold difficulty in the way of getting the truth understood by
the English-speaking public on both sides of the Atlantic. In the first
place, the French Canadians were practically dumb to the outside world.
In the second, the vociferous rumpites had the ear of some English and
more American commercial people who were not anxious to
understand; while the great mass of the general public were inclined to
think, if they ever thought at all, that parliamentary government must
mean more liberty for every one concerned.
A singularly apt commentary on the pretensions of the camp-followers
is supplied by the famous, or infamous, 'Presentment of the Grand Jury
of Quebec' in October 1764. The moving spirits of this precious jury
were aspirants to membership in the strictly exclusive, rumpish little
parliament of their own seeking. The signatures of the French-Canadian
members were obtained by fraud, as was subsequently proved by a
sworn official protestation. The first presentment tells its own tale, as it
refers to the only courts in which French-Canadian lawyers were
allowed to plead. 'The great number of inferior Courts are tiresome,
litigious, and expensive to this poor Colony.' Then came a hit at the
previous military rule--'That Decrees of the military Courts may be
amended [after having been confirmed by legal ordinance] by allowing
Appeals if the matter decided exceed Ten Pounds,' which would put it
out of the reach of the 'inferior Courts' and into the clutches of 'the
King's Old Subjects.' But the gist of it all was contained in the
following: 'We represent that as the Grand Jury must be considered at
present as the only Body representative of the Colony, ... We propose
that the Publick Accounts be laid before the Grand Jury at least twice a
year.' That the grand jury was to be purged of all its French-Canadian

members is evident from the addendum slipped in behind their backs.
This addendum is a fine specimen of verbose invective against 'the
Church of Rome,' the Pope, Bulls, Briefs, absolutions, etc., the
empanelling 'en Grand and petty Jurys' of 'papist or popish Recusants
Convict,' and so on.
The 'Presentment of the Grand Jury' was presently followed by _The
Humble Petition of Your Majesty's most faithful and loyal Subjects,
British Merchants and Traders, in behalf of Themselves and their
fellow Subjects, Inhabitants of Your Majesty's Province of Quebec_.
'Their fellow Subjects' did not, of course, include any 'papist or popish
Recusants Convict.' Among the 'Grievances and Distresses' enumerated
were 'the oppressive and severely felt Military government,' the
inability to 'reap the fruit of our Industry' under such a martinet as
Murray, who, in one paragraph, is accused of 'suppressing dutyfull
Remonstrances in Silence' and, in the next, of 'treating them with a
Rage and Rudeness of Language and Demeanor as dishonourable to the
Trust he holds of Your Majesty as painfull to Those who suffer from it.'
Finally, the petitioners solemnly warn His Majesty that their 'Lives in
the Province are so very unhappy that we must be under the Necessity