TROUBLOUS TIMM   265

George Brown was asked to form a government. But after holding office for only two days lie was forced to resign, and the former ministers again took the reins of government. They ought now to have gone back to the country for re-election, but there happened to be a rule that a minister who resigned one, office and accepted another within a month might retain his seat, so they all took different offices from those which they had held before. A little later they changed

again to get back to their former

positions. The rule was clearly

not intended for a case like this,

and it was afterwards altered to

prevent another " double shuffle,"

as it was called.

Defects in the The Reformers corn-

Government. p l a i n e d that the

union of the two Canadas caused

waste of the public money. When

a grant was made for some public   GENERAL INGLIS.

work in one province, an equal amount, whether needed or not, was generally voted to the other. In fact, the government was in a very bad state altogether. It was at last suggcsted that Upper and Lower Canada should each have a government to make laws on local matters, while the parliament of united Canada should still control all affairs in which both were interested.

It will be remembered that at first it was the French Canadians who had objected to the union; but the tables were turned, and it was now the people of Upper Canada who were eager for a change.

A Larger   Several years before this some people, both

Plan. in ?Nova Scotia and Canada, had begun to think of a larger plan. This was the confederation, or union, of all the British American colonies under one