[Sidenote: Lord Dorchester on the Quebec Act.] Writing on the 13th of June, 1787, to Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, who was then Secretary of State,[193] Lord Dorchester pointed out that the Quebec Act had been introduced at a time when nothing could be thought of in Canada but self-defence. It came into force at the outbreak of the war, and the first Council held under its provisions was overshadowed by American invasion.[194] The Act, therefore, owing to circumstances, had never really been given a fair trial; yet it may be questioned whether the very great difficulty of adjusting conflicting interests in Canada, of bringing the old and the new into harmony, and of devising a system of government, which would ensure comparative contentment at the time and give facilities for future development, was really increased by the fact that wars and threats and rumours of wars clouded the first half century of the history of Canada as a British possession. The evil of distracting attention from internal problems, of interrupting and foreshortening political and social reforms was counterbalanced by the wholesome influence of common danger. As the removal of that influence had led to the severance of the old North American colonies from Great Britain, so the actual or possible hostility of the United States made the task of holding Canada together easier than it would otherwise have been, and, by preventing constitutional questions from absorbing the whole energies of the government and the public, tended to produce slow and gradual changes in lieu of reforms so complete as possibly to amount to revolution. [Sidenote: Petition for a free constitution.] [Sidenote: Counter petition from French Canadian seigniors.] [Sidenote: Petition from disbanded Loyalist soldiers for a separate province.]