concerned. Each side in a lawsuit took whatever amalgam
of French and English codes was best for its own argument.
But, generally speaking, the ingrained feeling of the
French Canadians was against any change of their own laws
that was not visibly and immediately beneficial to their
own particular interests. Moreover, the use of the unknown
English language, the worthlessness of the rapacious
English-speaking magistrates, and the detested innovation
of imprisonment for debt, all combined to make every part
of English civil law hated simply because it happened to
be English and not French. The home authorities were
anxious to find some workable compromise. In 1767 Carleton
exchanged several important dispatches with them; and in
1768 they sent out Maurice Morgan to study and report,
after consultation with the chief justice and 'other well
instructed persons.' Morgan was an indefatigable and
clear-sighted man who deserves to be gratefully remembered
by both races; for he was a good friend both to the French
Canadians before the Quebec Act and to the United Empire
Loyalists just before their great migration, when he was
Carleton's secretary at New York. In 1769 the official
correspondence entered the 'secret and confidential'
stage with a dispatch from the home government to Carleton
suggesting a House of Representatives to which, practically
speaking, the towns would send Protestant members and
the country districts Roman Catholics.

In 1770 Carleton sailed for England. He carried a good
deal of hard-won experience with him, both on this point
and on many others. He went home with a strong opinion