State rights, and the free exercise of the faith which but two years before they had so bitterly denounced the British Government for guaranteeing, if they would but join in the revolt against Great Britain. In the war which followed between the British and the American colonists, Canada was made the base of operations against the colonies, which generally terminated in disasters, such as that of Burgoyne, though, in pitched battles, the British were almost invariably victorious. The habitans took little or no part in the contest, but on the Declaration of Independence, a number of Royalists emigrated from the States and settled in the country, in very much the same way as the Southern Americans are now taking refuge in Canada from the persecution of their Northern neighbours. The wish to give, in their new country, these devoted men some equivalent for that which they had lost, suggested a course which has been condemned by subsequent events. The Home Government resolved upon the unfortunate step of dividing the province into Upper and Lower Canada, with a governor-in-chief in Lower, and a lieutenant-governor in Upper Canada, so that the Royalists might not be quite swamped by the French element. The governors selected were often men without particular aptitude for administration, certainly destitute of the ability needed in dealing with the very peculiar state of society, trade, and interests prevailing in the provinces. Although the legislative council and assembly of Upper Canada had equal privileges with that of Lower Canada, the condition of the people was very different, principally owing to the paucity of population. Governor Simcoe, to whom the care of Upper Canada was first confided, ruled over a wilderness, in which a few clearings around the trading stations on the lakes and rivers, and some huts gathered about the military posts, were the sole vestiges of the white man and civilisation. As the English colonists gained the upper hand in the constant strife which raged during the latter period of the French occupation, the habitans of the remoter settlements had gradually withdrawn towards Lower Canada, and had concentrated in the neighbourhood of the towns on the St. Lawrence, where they could find safety in case of danger, and transport should their friends be unable to protect them. It was not surprising that the whole French population flocked into the lower province; for under a foreign rule they gained confidence and ease by the contemplation of their numbers and the concentration of their masses. Although many American Royalists came into the lake country so abandoned, they were not equal in number to the population that fled. It required no small amount of courage and perseverance in Governor Simcoe to conduct the affairs of his little government, from the site which his sagacity pointed out to him as the most favourable for the development of his province. The Red Man’s wigwam still clung to the border of the British