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Lord Durham’s Report • Lord Durham was sent to the Canadas in 1838 to investigate the causes of the rebellionsand to find solutions to the political problems plaguing Upper and Lower Canada.In February 1839, in a report made to the British parliament, Lord Durham infuriated the Frenchwhen he referred to them as inferior to the English and "as a people with no history and no literature". In the report he explained that he expected to find a conflict between a government and a people, but instead found two nations at war within the same state. It was a war based on race, not on principles. In his opinion, Canada was a land of two hostile groups: the French and the English.
Durham’s Recommendations • to unite Upper and Lower Canada to make the French a minority • to assimilate or anglicize the French majority in Lower Canada • to grant responsible government
Act Of Union 1841 • After the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 in Upper and Lower Canada, the British government sent Lord Durham to study the political situation in the British North American colonies. In his report, Lord Durham recommended, in particular, that the two Canadian provinces be united to form a single province. United Canada was thus born, and consisted of Canada East (formerly Lower Canada and the precursor of modern-day Quebec) and Canada West (formerly Upper Canada and the precursor of modern-day Ontario).
Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine • As the Union began, French Canadians well realized its purpose was to submerge them. But a rising liberal leader, Louis LAFONTAINE, saw the advantage of an alliance with Canada West Reformers to seek responsible government. French Canadians would then share in ruling the United Province, maintaining themselves as a people, while co-operating with Anglo-Canadian allies.
Robert Baldwin • He embodied the cherished virtues of adherence to honour, duty and principle. Each time he gained office he left it by resignation rather than compromise his principles. Solicitor general in Governor General Lord SYDENHAM's ministry and an executive councillor in 1841, Baldwin resigned that June when the governor refused to implement responsible government.
Sir Francis Hincks • Went from banking, to insurance, and journalism and then joined in with the politics of moderate Reformers in the Province of Canada. Hincks did much to cement the friendship between Robert Baldwin and Louis LaFontaine. In their government of 1842-43, and their more important second ministry of 1848-51, Hincks was inspector-general.
Lord Elgin • Lord Elgin Brings New Hope Lord Elgin replaced Metcalfe after a change in British government brought a more reform-minded government to power. Earl Grey, the new secretary of state for war and the colonies, made it clear that Britain had no interest in exercising any more influence in the colonies than was necessary to prevent one colony from injuring another or the empire as a whole.
Gladstone and Free Trade • Under Gladstone Britain abolished tariffs, cut defense spending, lowered taxes, kept budgets balanced, reformed the civil service into a merit-based promotion system, and made elementary education available to and mandatory for everyone.
Economic Depression • Trade was at a low ebb, the newly completed St Lawrence canals half used. Tory English merchants of Montréal blamed the problem on the loss of imperial tariff protection, although world depression spreading since 1847 was a deeper cause.
Lord Elgin to Lord Grey • On Monday last when I went into Montreal to receive the address of the Assembly I was brutally assaulted. Almost all the leaders in these commotions are bankrupts - desperate men who are looking to annexation as a last resource - Sir A. McNab, Cayley and others of the political clique are also ruined men. I think that in a few days U. C. will speak out with great unanimity in favor of order and of my policy. Already addresses from that quarter are beginning to pour in. Of course all French Lower Canada is with us but the great object is to keep them quiet and to prevent collision between the races. The only advice I can venture to give you is to take time and wait for further intelligence before you decide upon the course you will follow. Montreal is rotten to the core and if all Canada be like it the sooner we have done with it the better. I hope however for better things. The orangemen are powerful only in the towns, where their organization enables them to act at once. Petitions are being signed praying for my recall, I wish to God they had nothing more mischievous in hand. ***
The Rebellion Losses Bill • The Tories demanded that Lord Elgin reject the bill, but he signed it because it had the backing of the majority of elected members. It was the first acknowledgement of the principle of responsible government. This was on April 25, 1849. The Tories were so enraged that they threw stones and rotten eggs at Lord Elgin's carriage. That evening, a Tory mob invaded the Parliament Building in Montreal and set it on fire. The riot lasted about a week and involved thousands of people.
The Annexation Manifesto • The burning of the parliament building was accompanied by another act of despair on the part of the English party in Montreal. This was the "Annexation Manifesto", which called for union with the United States. A few French Canadians, including Papineau, signed the Manifesto, but the French community, which rallied to the Governor, Lord Elgin, decisively rejected annexation. French Canada did not care to become a "Louisiana of the North".
From the Manifesto • Of all the remedies that have been suggested for the acknowledged and insufferable ills with which our country is afflicted, there remains but one to be considered. It propounds a sweeping and important change in our political and social condition involving considerations which demand our most serious examination.THIS REMEDY CONSISTS IN A FRIENDLY AND PEACEFUL SEPARATION FROM BRITISH CONNECTION AND A UNION UPON EQUITABLE TERMS WITH THE GREAT NORTH AMERICAN CONFEDERACY OF SOVEREIGN STATES.
