THE BRITISH ARMY AND AID TO THE CIVIL POWER IN BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 1832-1871

For over 120 years, from the founding of Halifax in 1749 until the withdrawal of the last Regulars from Quebec City in 1871, British troops, at some point or other, were stationed in all the provinces that now constitute Eastern and Atlantic Canada. For over half of this period the civil military relationship in British North America was defined largely by the primary role assigned to the garrison, namely to defend the provinces from attack. The provinces derived many benefits from the British military presence, apart from the most important one of providing the protective shield behind which they could develop in peace and prosperity. The vast purchasing requirements of the army and its public expenditure contributed substantially to the local economy, as did the wages of the soldiers. The garrison also enriched the social and cultural life of the community. The military assisted local authorities in quelling fires and dealing with occasional threats to public peace. With few exceptions, most notably in Saint John, New Brunswick, in the first years of the Loyalist settlement and later in Montreal during the first major disturbances that occurred there in 1832, the relationship between the civilian population and the military was amicable. No legislature ever pressed for the removal of the garrison at any time during the colonial period, nor did the colonists ever question the legality of its position, unilke the former thirteen colonies for whom a standing army was seen as a threat to liberty and an instrument of imperial government coercion. Only when the soldiers intervened to separate warring factions or to put down a major riot was that relationship strained. Aid to the civil power, especially when it involved riot suppression and crowd control, as never popular with the soldiers. Nor were they particularly adept at handling dangerous confrontations, in spite of a lengthy British experience in dealing with such situations. And yet, during the three decades of sporadic violence that shook British North America after 1832, the civil authorities effectively transferred to the military the major responsibility for upholding public order.