It was in the character of Administrator-in-Chief that Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond assumed the government of Lower Canada, on the 5th of April, 1816. The army bills were called in and honorably redeemed in cash, at the army bill office, in Quebec, and as if to show how beneficial the war had been to the country, first one new steamer arrived at Quebec, and then another from the already flourishing city of Montreal. The _Malshane_, built by Mr. John Molson, of Montreal, at that port, appeared at Quebec on the opening of the navigation, and was speedily followed by an opposition steamer built by an association of merchants in Montreal, and named:--The _Car of Commerce_. The inhabitants of Canada were, at this time, under 400,000 in number. About seven-eighths were of French descent, and the other eighth was composed of English, Irish, Scotch, Germans, Americans, and their descendants. Of the latter, the Scotch were the most numerous, and in their hands nearly the whole external trade of the country was placed. The French Canadians were chiefly agriculturists, but they had also a large share in the retail and internal trade. There was, at this period, no manufactories of note in the province. The manufacture of leather, hats, and paper, had been introduced, and _etoffe du pays_, manufactured by the farmers, constituted the garb of the Canadians generally. There were two iron works in the vicinity of Three Rivers. There was nothing more. It is said, not without reason, that one of the first improvements in any country should be the making of roads, and the speedy making of roads, both in Upper and Lower Canada, was one of the good effects of the war. Already there was a road from Point Levi across the portage of Temiscouata, from thence to the forks of the Madawaska, from thence to the Great Falls, from thence to Fredericton, in New Brunswick, from thence to St. Johns, on the Bay of Fundy, and from thence to Halifax, which was 618 miles long; there was a road from Quebec to Montreal, 180 miles in length, from thence to the Coteau-du-Lac, 225 miles, from thence to Cornwall, 226 miles, from thence to Matilda, 301 miles, from thence to Augusta, 335 miles, from thence to Kingston, 385 miles, from thence to York, 525 miles, from thence to Fort Erie, 560 miles, from thence to Detroit, 790 miles, and from thence to Michillimackinac, 1,107 miles; there was a road _en route_ to Boston, _via_ St. Giles, Ireland, Shipton, St. Francois, and the Forks of the Ascot, to the lines, 146 miles long; and there was a road from Laprairie, opposite Montreal, to Isle-aux-Noix, which was 28 miles long. Canals were contemplated to overcome the difficulties of the Lachine, Cedars, and Long Sault rapids, and indeed there was an eye to those improvements which never fail to develop the riches of a country. The landholders at this time were mostly French Canadians. There were some thousands of acres, however, which had been granted to