Lawrence at Montreal, and connected Canada with the great railway system of the United States. With railway development must always be associated the name of Sir Francis Hincks, an able statesman of the Liberal party, who recognised the necessities of a new country. So far from the act of 1840, which united the Canadas, acting unfavourably to the French Canadian people it gave them eventually a predominance in the councils of the country. French soon again became the official language by an amendment to the union act, and the claims providing for equality of representation proved a security when the upper province increased more largely in population than the French Canadian section. The particular measure which the French Canadians had pressed for so many years on the British Government, an elective legislative council, was conceded. When a few years had passed the Canadian legislature was given full control of taxation, supply, and expenditure, in accordance with English constitutional principles. The clergy reserves difficulty was settled and the land sold for public or municipal purposes, the interest of existing rectors and incumbents being guarded. The great land question of Canada, the seigniorial tenure of Lower Canada, was disposed of by buying off the claims of the seigniors, and the people of Lower Canada were freed from exactions which had become not so much onerous as vexatious. Municipal institutions of a liberal nature were established, and the people of the two Canadian provinces exercised that control of their local affairs in the {368} counties, townships, cities, and parishes which is necessary to carry out public works indispensable to the comfort, health, and convenience of the community, and to supplement the efforts made by the legislature, from time to time, to provide for the general education of the country. With the magnificent system of public schools now possessed by Ontario must always be associated the name of Dr. Egerton Ryerson, a famous Methodist, the opponent of Mackenzie's seditious action, and for many years the superintendent of education. In Nova Scotia it was chiefly through the foresight of Sir Charles Tupper, when premier, that the foundations were laid of the present admirable system. During the same period the schools of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island were also placed on an excellent basis. In the maritime provinces no express legal provision was made for separate or denominational schools, as in Upper and Lower Canada--schools now protected by the terms of the federal union of 1867. The civil service, which necessarily plays so important a part in the administration of government, was placed on a permanent basis.