was to be expected--the Family Compact. This faction was not yet extinct,
though its days were numbered. It still controlled the Legislative Council,
which body had already recorded a vote hostile to the Union. The
situation was one calling for the exercise of great tact, and the new
Governor-General proved himself equal to the occasion. He made no changes
in the composition either of the Special Council of the Lower Province--a
body formed under Imperial sanction by Sir John Colborne--or in that of
the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. After a short stay at Quebec he
proceeded to Montreal, and convoked the Special Council on the 11th of
November. He laid before this body the views of the Imperial Ministry
relating to the union of the Provinces, and the concession of Responsible
Government. By the time the Council had been in session two days the
majority of the members were fully in accord with the Governor's views, and
a series of resolutions were passed as a basis of Union. This disposed
of the question, so far as the Lower Province was concerned, and after
discharging the Council from further attendance, Mr. Thomson proceeded to
Toronto to gain the assent of the Upper Canadian Legislature. With the
Assembly no difficulty was anticipated, but to gain the assent of the Tory
majority in the Legislative Council would evidently be no easy matter,
for the success of the Governor's policy involved the triumph of Reform
principles, and the inevitable downfall of the Family Compact. The
Governor's tact, however, placed them in an anomalous position. For several
years past the Tory party had been boasting of their success in putting
down the Rebellion, and had raised a loud and senseless howl of loyalty.
They were never weary of proclaiming their devotion to the Imperial
will, irrespective of selfish considerations. This cry, which had been
perpetually resounding throughout the Province during the last three years,
supplied the Governor with the means of bending to his pleasure those
who had raised it. He delivered a message to the Legislature in which he
defined the Imperial policy, and appealed in the strongest terms to those