subject included in the draft of the Bill which was sent to Lord Dorchester. The latter, however, rightly understood that what Pitt and his colleagues had in their minds was to give to each of the two provinces, into which Canada was to be divided, an Upper House which might develop into a House of Lords; and his answer was that, while many advantages might result from a hereditary Legislative Council distinguished by some mark of honour, if the condition of the country was such as to support the dignity, ‘the fluctuating state of property in these provinces would expose all hereditary honours to fall into disregard.’ He recommended, therefore, that for the time being the members of the Council should merely be appointed during life, good behaviour, and residence in the province. [Sidenote: Permissive clauses embodied in the Bill.] When the Bill was introduced into Parliament, the provisions dealing with this subject were chiefly attacked by Fox, who expressed himself in favour of an elected council, though with a higher property qualification than would be required in the case of the Lower House or Assembly. The clauses were carried in a permissive form, empowering the King, whenever he thought fit to confer upon a British subject by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of either of the provinces a hereditary title of honour, to attach to the title at his discretion a hereditary right to be summoned to the Legislative Council, such right to be forfeited by the holder for various causes including continual absence from the province, but to be revived in favour of the heirs. Nothing came of this attempt to create a hereditary second chamber in the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada: no such aristocracy was brought into being as when the French King and his ministers built up the French Canadian community on a basis analogous to the old feudal system of France; but, nevertheless, Pitt’s proposals cannot be condemned as fantastic or unreal. They were honestly designed to meet a defect which had already been felt in the British colonies, and which must always be felt in new countries, the lack of a conservative element in the Legislature and in the people, the absence of dignity and continuity with the past, and the want of some balance against raw and undiluted democracy which has not, as in older lands, been trained to recognize that the body politic consists of more than numbers. [Sidenote: The Executive Council.]