The march of events now brought an additional set of new subjects to the British Constitution as it had then been established in Canada. The granting of separation to the thirteen United States, in 1783, was followed by the immigration to Canada of those loyal souls whose hearts revolted at the action of their old colonies in taking down the Union Jack, and who refused to separate themselves from the United Empire, in whose ultimate justice they had unwavering faith. These "United Empire Loyalists" settled mainly in the parts now known as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. Of the quarter of a million souls who then formed the total population of Canada, about a hundred and forty thousand were of French language and descent, living in the counties adjacent to the St. Lawrence River; and of the forty to fifty thousand Loyalists who, it is estimated, reached the northern colonies during or immediately after the rebellion of 1775, over twenty-five thousand had, by 1786, settled along the western lakes. Government in Canada had hitherto been conducted by a Governor and a Legislative Council appointed by the Crown, there being no elected representative. A further advance in constitutional self-government was now considered desirable, and the "Constitutional Act of 1791" was passed by the parent Parliament in Great Britain. The ancient Province of Quebec was divided into two provinces, called Lower Canada and Upper Canada, very fairly representing the localities occupied, the one by the older or French-speaking subjects of His Majesty, and the other by the newcoming English-speaking Loyalists, who had followed their old flag into the forests of the northland. This Act of 1791 gave the right of Parliamentary government to the people of Canada. A Legislative Council and a House of Assembly were created for each Province, the members of the latter house being elected by the votes of people in the counties and towns of each. The Legislature of Upper Canada held its first session at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) in 1792, summoned, as said Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in his opening speech, "Under the authority of an Act of Parliament of Great Britain, passed in the last year, which has established the British Constitution in this distant country." To this he added: "The wisdom and beneficence of our Most Gracious Sovereign and the British Parliament have been eminently proved not only in imparting to us the same form of government, but in securing the benefit of the many provisions which guard this memorable Act, so that the blessings of our invulnerable constitution, we hope, will be extended to the remotest posterity."