DCHP-1 Online

Family Compact

• 1 Hist. the name applied to the governing class in Upper Canada prior to 1837, and in particular to the executive and legislative councils of that province.

  See also: Château Clique  Compact (def. 1)  

  • The term is attributed to Wm Lyon Mackenzie, the most vocal opponent of this group, which was predominantly made up of Loyalist families who had grown into positions of great influence. See 1833 quote.

  • 1828  I shall be happy to consult with yourself and Mr. Rolph on the measures to be adopted to relieve this province from the evils which a family compact have brought upon it.
  • 1833  (1885)  This family compact surround the Lieutenant-Governor, and mould him, like wax, to their will; they fill every office with their relatives, dependants, and partisans; by them justices of the peace and officers of the militia are made and unmade.
  • 1839  The family compact of Upper Canada is composed of those members of its society who, either by their abilities and character, have been honoured by the confidence of the executive government, or who by their industry and intelligence have amassed wealth.
  • 1917  After some time he came back to Canada, and was the means of breaking up the Family Compact, and giving us responsible government.
  • 1965  . . . he wrested the leadership of the old Family Compact from the Anglican Tories of muddy York and made it into the Conservative party.

• 2 Obs. a group, dominated by officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, that controlled the Crown Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia in the 1850's under the governship of Sir James Douglas.

  See also: Family-Company-Compact  

  • 1859  The Legislative Council in Vancouver Island is the closest of Family Compacts.

• 3 any group which in its political influence and reactionary objectives resembles the Family Compact of Upper Canada.

  • 1860  "Family Compacts" and "designing Proprietary Agents," have by some means lost the dreaded and selfish properties with which these ingenious appellations were ingeniously invested.
  • 1881  Both in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the same system prevailed, the "family compact" party ruled throughout the years succeeding the war, with undisputed authority, yet the progress of freer constitutional views was silent, though not less secure.
  • 1904  In no other section of the country did the feeling against the hated bureaucrats--the family compact of Lower Canada--run so high as along the Richelieu.
  • 1963  The principal trouble with the Canadian Establishment as a latter-day Family Compact is that no one has ever really defined it.
  • 1966  Ontario Liberal Leader Andrew Thompson said Saturday the New Democratic Party in Ontario has all the aspects of a family compact.