APeriod ofTransition 129

majority of Island residents rather than a clique of rich citizens. Indeed, the clique in power represented mainly the proprietors and their agents.

The Liberal Party, comprised of reformists, gained power in 1850. They achieved almost immediately their coveted aim of responsible government. In other words, an executive council (cabinet) was made up of elected representatives chosen from the Legislature. Prior to that, the powerful executive council was comprised of members ap- pointed by the Lieutenant-Governor and was, therefore, not respon- sible to the electorate.

Within a few years, the new Liberal government reformed the public educational system to make it more accessible and brought in a program enabling the government to purchase the lands of the proprietors and sell them to the tenants.

It is not surprising that the first Acadian candidates to run for public office were members of the Reform Party. Stanislas F Perry (Poirier), a native of Tignish, was elected in 1854 under the Liberal banner. He did not seek election in his own riding but in the one that included the parishes of Egmont Bay, Mont Carmel and Mis- couche. However, he was elected in his home riding of First Prince in 1870.

Fidéle Gaudet, also from Tignish, was the second Acadian to win a seat in the Legislative Assembly. It would appear that Fidéle Gaudet was successful in the general elections of 1858 thanks to a political manoeuvre conceived by his Liberal colleagues which enabled him to secure the Acadian vote*?. However, his stay in the Legislature was very short. Since no party held a majority, the Assembly was dissolved after sitting for two days and elections called®*’. On this occasion, the Liberals in Tignish abandoned their Acadian candidate in favour of influential Irishmen‘.

In 1867, Joseph-Octave Arsenault, a merchant and former teacher from Abram’s Village, was elected in the riding of Third Prince. (We might point out that both Perry and Gaudet had also been teachers before becoming involved in politics). Arsenault was elected as a Liberal and sat in the House until 1895 although he joined the Con- servatives in 1870.

Only the Acadian communities in Prince County were able to elect Acadians to the Legislative Assembly. In constituencies elsewhere