But whether or not Dorchester foresaw this outcome, his contention that adequate supplies would be forthcoming within two yearsâ time implies something else: that he was banking, in the short run, on the trans-shipment of American products via the St Lawrence.
Had Dorchester overrated the resources of British North America â or did his testimony involve an ulterior calculation? Top Answer.
Then in December 1767 he advised Shelburne âthat none of the Principal Officers of Government and Justice, neither Governor, Judge, Secretary, Provost Martial, or Clerk of the Council should receive Fee, Reward or Present from the People.â Apart from the question of whether fees could be legally altered by executive action, their abolition would have required much higher salaries, which the British government was simply unable to pay. Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, soldier-statesman who, as governor of Quebec before and during the American Revolutionary War, succeeded in reconciling the British and French and in repulsing the invasion attempts of Continental forces. And his overall strategy could have been to ensure Canadian passivity, at least, in the event of either an attempt by France to retake Quebec or a revolution south of the border.Following his return to Quebec on 18 Sept. 1774, Carleton ran into difficulties with both the Council of Quebec, in which the merchants had gained strength, and the British government, which sought to clarify, or possibly amend, its policy on anglicization.
He said, sometimes they would have to take two jets. He could have been intent on enforcing order in the west, or cultivating the Indians, or checking American settlement. SHARE THIS Guy Carleton .
But there he went too far: on 10 Feb. 1794, in what he assumed was a private address to a deputation from the western tribes, he denounced the incursions of Americans into their territory, adding that âI shall not be surprised if we are at War with them in the Course of the present Year, and if we are a Line must then be drawn by the Kings Warriors.â Leaked to the American press, which blew them up in disregard of everything that Dorchester had stood for concerning the Indians, these reflections were considered sufficiently inflammatory by the government of the United States to warrant a protest to London, and Henry Dundas, who had succeeded Grenville as Home secretary in 1791, advised a little more restraint. At the same time, to prevent these assemblies from evolving into the too powerful legislatures that had fomented the revolt of the Thirteen Colonies, they would be subject to the sort of checks and balances that applied at Westminster: upper houses, with the power to refuse hills, would be imposed; the governors, provided with secure sources of income and ample powers of patronage, would also have a power of disallowance; and the British government would have a third veto. It seems to have been Carletonâs preoccupation with security during his first administration, between 1766 and 1778, that made him pander to the Canadians, and particularly to the seigneurs and clergy. And the loyalists, while apparently not so concerned about an assembly as the merchants, were anxious to secure their lands under free and common socage.GODEFROY DE TONNANCOUR, LOUIS-JOSEPHThe British government tried to resolve the predicament with the Constitutional Act of 1791 (31 Geo. His protection and sponsoring of the loyalists, his grasp of Canadaâs economic potential, and his vision of a united British North America ail testify to his statesmanship.