Such were the principal provisions of the Quebec Act, under which Canada was governed for seventeen years. There can be no doubt that its enactment was largely due to Carleton's representations, and it is not to be wondered at if, when he returned to Canada in the autumn of 1774, he was received with rapturous enthusiasm by the French Canadians, who made up nearly the entire population of the colony. The Legislative Council, composed of one-third Catholics and two-thirds Protestants, was inaugurated. The "Continental Congress," which was then in session at Philadelphia, made vain overtures to the Canadians to join them in throwing off the British yoke. The French Canadians believed that they had more to lose than gain by a change. They had not even yet much love for British institutions, but they thought they saw a disposition on the part of the Imperial authorities to accord to them some measure of justice, and were not disposed to rebel. They were moreover greatly attached to the Governor who had fought so gallantly on their behalf. "The man," says M. Bibaud, "to whom the administration of the Government had been entrusted had known how to make the Canadians love him, and this contributed not a little to retain, at least within the bounds of neutrality, those among them who might have been able, or who believed themselves able, to ameliorate their lot by making common cause with the insurgent colonies." A time soon arrived when the fealty of the French Canadians was to be subjected to a stern and an effectual test. On the 19th of April, 1775, the revolt of the American colonies assumed a positive shape, and the skirmish at Lexington took place. The colonists then proceeded to strike what they believed would prove a deadly blow to Great Britain on this continent. American forces under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold passed over to Canada, believing that they would find the country an easy prey. Crown Point, which was invested with a very small garrison, was compelled to yield to the invaders. A similar result followed the attack of the Americans on Fort Ticonderoga, and the capture of the only British sloop of war on Lake Champlain gave them entire supremacy in those waters. Then General Carleton manned himself "to whip the dwarfish war from out his territories." He at once determined to recover the forts which had been lost, and proceeded to raise a militia. But when he appealed to the French Canadians to flock to the side of their seigniors in accordance with the old feudal customs for which they professed so much veneration, and which he himself had been instrumental in restoring to them, he found that he could not count upon their aid. The seigniors, indeed, were most of them chivalrous and willing enough, but the peasantry refused to lift hand in a quarrel which was not of their seeking. Much eloquence has been wasted in attempting to prove that the French Canadian habitans refused on principle to rally at this juncture.