conclusion--to quote the order-in-council--"that the action of the
lieutenant-governor in dismissing his ministers has not been approved by
the people of British Columbia," and it was evident, "that the
government of the province cannot be successfully carried on in the
manner contemplated by the constitution under the administration of the
present incumbent of the office." Consequently, Mr. McInnes was removed
from office, and the Dominion government appointed in his place Sir
Henri Joly de Lotbinière, who has had large experience in public affairs,
and is noted for his amiability and discretion.]

A very important controversy involving old issues arose in 1888 in
connection with an act passed by the Mercier government of Quebec for
the settlement of the Jesuits' estates, which, so long ago as 1800, had
fallen into the hands of the British government, on the death of the
last surviving member of the order in Canada, and had been, after some
delay, applied to the promotion of public instruction in the province of
Quebec. The bishops of the Roman Catholic Church always contended that
the estates should have been vested in them "as the ordinaries of the
various dioceses in which this property was situated." After
confederation, the estates became the property of the government of
Quebec and were entirely at the disposal of the legislature. The
Jesuits in the meantime had become incorporated in the province, and
made, as well as the bishops, a claim to the estates. Eventually, to
settle the difficulty and strengthen himself with the ecclesiastics of
the province, Mr. Mercier astutely passed a bill through the
legislature, authorising the payment of $400,000 as compensation to the
Jesuits in lieu of all the lands held by them prior to the conquest and
subsequently confiscated by the crown. It was expressly set forth in the
preamble of the act--and it was this proposition which offended the
extreme Protestants--that the amount of compensation was to remain as a