of 1663 for the election of certain municipal officers called syndics, to note any infraction of public rights in the large communities; but, after a few futile attempts to elect such functionaries, the government threw every obstacle in the way of anything like a municipal system, and the people finally were left without any control whatever over their most trivial local affairs.1 The very social fabric itself rested on feudal principles modified to suit the condition of things in a new country. The habitant held his lands on a tenure which, however favourable to settlement, was based on the acknowledgment of his dependence on the seigneur. But at the same time, the lord of the manor, and the settler on his estate, were on an equal footing to all intents and purposes as respects any real influence in the administration of the public affairs of the colony. The very name of Parliament had to the French colonist none of that significance it had to the Englishman, whether living in the parent state or in its dependencies. The word in French was applied only to a body whose ordinary functions were of a judicial character, and whose very decrees bore the impress continually of royal dictation. In Canada, as in France, absolutism and centralization were the princi

1 Doutre et Lareau, Histoire du Droit Canadien, 138. The regulations of 1647 show that such officers existed in Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, but they had ceased to be appointed by 1661. The first elections held in 1663 were allowed to miscarry, and from that time forward, says Garneau, "There was no further question of free municipal government in Canada, so long as French dominion endured, although a nominal syndicate existed for a short time after that now under review." Garneau I., 189-90.

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ples on which the government was conducted. The king administered public affairs through the governor and intendant, who reported to him as frequently as it was possible in those times of slow communication between the parent state and the colony. The country prospered or languished, according as the king was able or disposed to take any interest in its affairs; but even under the most favourable circumstances, it was impossible that Canada could make any decided political or material progress with a system of government which centralized all real authority several thousand miles distant.2

1 "The whole system of administration centred in the king, who, to borrow the formula of his edicts,' in the fullness of our power and our certain knowledge,' was supposed to direct the whole machine, from its highest functions to its pettiest intervention, in private affairs." Parkman, Old Régime, pp. 285–6.

2 For accounts of system of government in Canada till the Conquest, see Garneau I., book iii., chap. iii. Parkman's Old Régime in Canada, chap. xvi. Reports of Attorney-General Thurlow (1773), and Solicitor-General Wedderburne (1772), cited by Christie, I., chap. ii.

CHAPTER II.

GOVERNMENT FROM 1760 TO 1774.

Canada became a possession of Great Britain by the terms of capitulation signed on the 8th of September, 1760.1 By these terms Great Britain bound herself to allow the French-Canadians the free exercise of their religion2; and certain specified fraternities, and all communities of religieuses were guaranteed the possession of their goods, constitutions and privileges, but a similar favour was denied to the Jesuits, Franciscans or Recollets and Sulpicians, until the King should be consulted on the subject. The same reservation was made with respect to the parochial clergy's tithes. These terms were all included in the Treaty of Paris, signed on the 10th of February, 1763, by which France ceded to Great Britain, Canada, and all the Laurentian isles, except

70.

1 Atty.-Gen. Thurlow; Christie's Hist., I., p. 48. Garneau, II.,

2 The words "as far as the laws of Great Britain permit," appear in art. IV. of the Treaty of Paris. Doutre et Lareau, I., 329. They are also found in the Instructions given in 1763 to Governor Murray. Ib. 560.

St. Pierre and Miquelon, insignificant islands off the southern coast of Newfoundland, which were required for the prosecution of the French fisheries. In this treaty, Great Britain bound herself to allow the Canadians the free exercise of their religion, but no reference was made in the document to the laws that were to prevail throughout the conquered country.1

For three years after the conquest, the government of Canada was entrusted to military chiefs, stationed at Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, the headquarters of the three departments into which General Amherst divided the country. Military councils were established to administer law, though, as a rule, the people did not resort to such tribunals, but settled their difficulties among themselves. In 1763, the King, George III., issued a proclamation establishing four new governments, of which Quebec was one.3 Labrador, from St John's River to Hudson's Bay, Anticosti, and the Magdalen Islands, were placed under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland, and the islands of St. John (or Prince Edward Island, as it was afterwards called), and Cape Breton (Ile Royale), with the smaller islands adjacent thereto, were added to the government of Nova Scotia.

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1 Atty.-Gen. Thurlow; Christie, I., p. 48. Miles, History of Canada under French Régime, app. xvi. See also note 2, p. 7.

2 These three divisions corresponded to the old ones under the French régime. General Murray was stationed at Quebec; General Gage at Montreal; Colonel Burton at Three Rivers. Garneau, II., 82.

8 The others were East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. The boundaries of the several governments are set forth in the proclamation.

Express power was given to the governors, in the let ters-patent by which these governments were constituted, to summon general assemblies, with the advice and consent of His Majesty's Council, "in such manner and form as was usual in those colonies and provinces which were under the King's immediate government." Authority was also given to the governors, with the consent of the councils, and the representatives of the people, to make laws, statutes and ordinances for the peace, welfare and good government of the colonies in question. The governors were also empowered to establish, with the consent of the councils, courts of judicature and public justice, for the hearing of civil and criminal causes, according to law and equity, and, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws of England, with the right of appeal in all civil cases to the Privy Council. General Murray,' who was appointed governor of Quebec on the 21st November, 1763, was commanded to execute his office according to his commission and accompanying instructions, or such other instructions as he should receive under His Majesty's signet and sign manual, or by His

1 Proclamation of 7th October, 1763. Atty.-Gen. Thurlow's Report; Christie, I., pp. 49-50. In the debates on the Quebec, Bill, the vagueness of this proclamation was sharply criticised, and no one appears to have been willing to assume the responsibility of having framed it for the King. Atty.-Gen. Thurlow acknowledged that "it certainly gave no order whatever with respect to the constitution of Canada; it certainly was not a finished composition, etc." Cavendish's Debates, p. 29.

2 Sir Jeffery Amherst was in reality the first, and Gen. Murray the second, governor-general of Canada. Garneau, II., 87; supra p. 8.