LXXXVII. Act respecting the Eligibility of Persons to be returned
to the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, 1818 . . 303
LXXXVIII. Sherbrooke to Bathurst, March 14, 1822.
. . 306
Advises the union of the two Provinces, provided that
the popular House can be brought under effective con-
trol. The Upper Canadian House is now tractable,
but will it remain so with the constant influx of
settlers from the United States? Upper Canada is
generally irreligious or "sectary"; and there was in
that Province, during his régime, a bias towards the
American form of Government,-a bias which the
Government need never fear in Lower Canada, where
there is a rooted antipathy to it.
LXXXIX. Proposed Act of Union, 1822
An important factor in the rise of French Canadian
nationalism, as this proposed Act aimed at bringing
the Roman Catholic clergy under the control of the
Government and at abolishing the use of the French
language in parliamentary debates.
XC. Considerations on the Union of the Provinces by J. B.
Robinson, April 23, 1822
The reasons which led to the division of the Province
are not materially changed, so that their validity can
still be claimed for the continuance of the present
scheme; no reasons, however, against union if for the
benefit of the colony and of England. Generally speak-
ing, he sees no reason for believing union necessary.
If the revenue disputes between the Provinces could
be settled by union, well and good; but he sees no
reason to believe that they could. Nor would a union
help the Government in its financial disputes with the
House of Assembly in Lower Canada. Even were the
members of the Upper Canadian House united with
those of Lower Canada, they would be only a minority,
and by no assurances a unanimous minority in uni-
form support of the Executive. A union might doubt-
lessly be beneficial for ultimate good, but the question
is a pressing practical one, and a union does not at
present seem to offer any hope for betterment.
XCI. Papineau to R. J. Wilmot, December 16, 1822