Within a very short time
after the close of that rebellion, the attention of both sections of the
colony was directed to compensating those who had suffered by it. First
came the case of the primary sufferers, if so they may be called; that is,
the Loyalists, whose property had been destroyed by rebels. Measures were
at once taken to indemnify all such persons--in Upper Canada, by an Act
passed in the last session of its separate Parliament; in Lower Canada,
by an ordinance of the Special Council, under which it was at that time
administered. But it was felt that this was not enough; that where property
had been wantonly and unnecessarily destroyed, even though it were by
persons acting in support of authority, some compensation ought to be
given; and the Upper Canada Act above mentioned was amended next year, in
the first session of the United Parliament, so as to extend to all losses
occasioned by violence on the part of persons acting or assuming to act on
Her Majesty's behalf. Nothing was done at this time about Lower Canada; but
it was obviously inevitable that the treatment applied to the one Province
should be extended to the other.
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