Upper Canada, meantime, had become the theatre of important events. For a considerable time, especially since the residence there of M. Gourlay, a party had existed supporting extreme political opinions. These, it is true, were not embittered by any feelings arising from difference of race; but many of the inhabitants had emigrated from the United States, to whose institutions they were naturally partial. They gained over a number of the British residents, influenced by the usual motives, and who complained especially of the favouritism shown in the granting of land. These grounds of discontent were carefully investigated by the committee of 1828, and instructions issued by Lord Goderich, which here, as in the lower province, gave general satisfaction. The discontented party, however, proceeded from one step to another, till Mackenzie, Duncombe, and other leaders, scarcely made any secret of their desire to separate from Britain and join the American Union. In 1834, this party, for the first time, obtained a majority in the Assembly; and though they had hitherto confined themselves to complaints on particular subjects, they now commenced a general opposition to the royal government; and at length, as in the other province, came into violent collision with the Legislative Council. They transmitted to the King a long and elaborate list of grievances, complaining that the officers in the colony were too numerous, too highly paid, and the holders removable at the pleasure of the crown; that support had been unduly given to particular religious establishments; and that Lord Goderich’s recommendations had been by no means fully acted upon. They also urged, with the same vehemence as in the sister colony, the demand for an elective legislative council. [Illustration: _Toronto._]