under which they enjoyed no representative institutions
whatever. It was not long before petitions began to pour
in from them asking that they should be granted a
representative assembly. Undoubtedly Lord Dorchester had
underestimated the desire among them for representative
institutions. In 1791, therefore, the country west of
the Ottawa river, with the exception of a triangle of
land at the junction of the Ottawa and the St Lawrence,
was erected by the Constitutional Act into a separate
province, with the name of Upper Canada; and this province
was granted a representative assembly of fifteen members.

The lieutenant-governor appointed for the new province
was Colonel John Graves Simcoe. During the war Colonel
Simcoe had been the commanding officer of the Queen's
Rangers, which had been largely composed of Loyalists,
and he was therefore not unfitted to govern the new
province. He was theoretically under the control of Lord
Dorchester at Quebec; but his relations with Dorchester
were somewhat strained, and he succeeded in making himself
virtually independent in his western jurisdiction. Though
he seemed phlegmatic, he possessed a vigorous and
enterprising disposition, and he planned great things
for Upper Canada. He explored the country in search of
the best site for a capital; and it is interesting to
know that he had such faith in the future of Upper Canada
that he actually contemplated placing the capital in what
was then the virgin wilderness about the river Thames.
He inaugurated a policy of building roads and improving
communications which showed great foresight; and he