[Sidenote: Commercial depression.]
The winter of 1848 passed quietly; but the commercial depression, which was
then everywhere prevalent, weighed heavily on Canada, more especially on
the Upper Province. In one of his letters Lord Elgin caught himself, so to
speak, using the words, 'the downward progress of events.' He proceeds:--

The downward progress of events! These are ominous words. But look at
the facts. Property in most of the Canadian towns, and more especially
in the capital, has fallen fifty per cent. in value within the last
three years. Three-fourths of the commercial men are bankrupt, owing
to Free-trade; a large proportion of the exportable produce of Canada
is obliged to seek a market in the States. It pays a duty of twenty
per cent. on the frontier. How long can such a state of things be
expected to endure?

Depend upon it, our commercial embarrassments are our real difficulty.
Political discontent, properly so called, there is none. I really
believe no country in the world is more free from it. We have, indeed,
national antipathies hearty and earnest enough. We suffer, too, from
the inconvenience of having to work a system which is not yet
thoroughly in gear. Reckless and unprincipled men take advantage of
these circumstances to work into a fever every transient heat that
affects the public mind. Nevertheless, I am confident I could carry
Canada unscathed through all these evils of transition, and place the
connection on a surer foundation than ever, if I could only tell the
people of the province that as regards the conditions of material
prosperity, they would be raised to a level with their neighbours. But
if this be not achieved, if free navigation and reciprocal trade with
the Union be not secured for us, the worst, I fear, will come, and
that at no distant day.

[Sidenote: Political discontent.]

Unfortunately, powerful interests in the one case, indifference and apathy
in the other, prevented these indispensable measures, as he always
maintained them to be, from being carried for many years; and in the
meantime a most serious fever of political discontent was in effect worked
up, out of a heat which ought to have been as transient as the cause of it
was intrinsically unimportant.

[Sidenote: Rebellion Losses Bill.]

Irritated by loss of office, groaning under the ruin of their trade,
outraged moreover (for so they represented it to themselves) in their best
and most patriotic feelings by seeing 'Rebels' in the seat of power, the
Ex-ministerial party were in a mood to resent every measure of the
Government, and especially every act of the Governor-General. When
Parliament met on January 18, he took advantage of the repeal of the law
restricting the use of the French language, to deliver his speech in French
as well as in English: even this they turned to his reproach. But their
wrath rose to fury on the introduction of a Bill 'to provide for the
indemnification of parties in Lower Canada whose property was destroyed
during the Rebellion in 1837 and 1838:' a 'questionable measure,' to use
Lord Elgin's own words in first mentioning it, 'but one which the preceding
administration had rendered almost inevitable by certain proceedings
adopted by them' in Lord Metcalfe's time. As the justification of the
measure is thus rested on its previous history, a brief retrospect is
necessary before proceeding with the account of transactions which formed
an epoch in the history of  the colony, as  well as in the life of the
Governor.

[Sidenote: History of the measure.]

Within a very short time after the close of the Rebellion of 1837 and 1838,
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. Accordingly, in 1845, during Lord Metcalfe's Government, and under a
Conservative Administration, an Address was adopted unanimously by the
Assembly, praying His Excellency to cause proper measures to be taken 'in
order to insure to the inhabitants of that portion of the province,
formerly Lower Canada, indemnity for just losses by them sustained during
the Rebellion of 1837 and 1838.'

In pursuance of this address, a Commission was appointed to inquire into
the claims of persons whose property had been destroyed in the rebellion;
the Commissioners receiving instructions to distinguish the cases of those
persons who had joined, aided, or abetted in the said rebellion, from the
case of those who had not. On inquiring how they were to distinguish, they
were officially answered that in making out the classification 'it was not
His Excellency's intention that they should be guided by any other
description of evidence than that furnished by the sentences of the Courts
of Law.' It was also intimated to them that they were only intended to form
a 'general estimate' of the rebellion losses, 'the particulars of which
must form the subject of more minute inquiry hereafter under legislative
authority.'

In obedience to these instructions, the Commissioners made their
investigations, and reported that they had recognised, as worthy of further
inquiry, claims representing a sum total of 241,965_l_. 10_s_.
5_d_., but they added an expression of opinion that the losses
suffered would be found, on closer examination, not to exceed the value of
100,000_l_.

This Report was rendered in April 1846; but though Lord Metcalfe's Ministry
which had issued the Commission, avowedly as preliminary to a subsequent
and more minute inquiry, remained in office for nearly two years longer,
they took no steps towards carrying out their declared intentions.

So the matter stood in March 1848, when, as has been already stated, a new
administration was formed, consisting mainly of persons whose political
sympathies were with Lower Canada. It was natural that they should take up
the work left half done by their predecessors; and early in 1849 they
introduced a Bill which was destined to become notorious under the name of
the 'Rebellion Losses Bill.' The preamble of it declared that in order to
redeem the pledge already given to parties in Lower Canada, it was
necessary and just that the particulars of such losses as were not yet
satisfied, should form the subject of more minute inquiry under legislative
authority; and that the same, so far only as they might have arisen from
the 'total or partial unjust or wanton destruction' of property, should be
paid and satisfied. A proviso was added that no person who had been
convicted, or pleaded guilty, of treason during the rebellion should be
entitled to any indemnity for losses sustained in connection with it. The
Bill itself authorised the appointment of Commissioners for the purpose of
the Act, and the appropriation of 90,000_l_. to the payment of claims
that might arise under it; following in this respect the opinion expressed
by Lord Metcalfe's preliminary Commission of enquiry.

[Sidenote: Excitement respecting it.]

Such was the measure--so clearly inevitable in its direction, so modest in
its proportions--which, falling on an inflamed state of the public mind in
Canada, and misunderstood in England, was the occasion of riot and nearly
of rebellion in the Province, and exposed the Governor-General, who
sanctioned it, to severe censure on the part of many whose opinion he most
valued at home. His own feelings on its introduction, his opinion of its
merits, and his reasons for the course which he pursued in dealing with it,
cannot be better stated than in his own words. Writing to Lord Grey on
March 1, he says:--

A good deal of excitement and bad feeling has been stirred in the
province by the introduction of a measure by the Ministry for the
payment of certain rebellion losses in Lower Canada. I trust that it
will soon subside, and that no enduring mischief will ensue from it,
but the Opposition leaders have taken advantage of the circumstances
to work upon the feelings of old Loyalists as opposed to Rebels, of
British as opposed to French, and of Upper Canadians as opposed to
Lower; and thus to provoke from various parts of the province the
expression of not very temperate or measured discontent. I am
occasionally rated in not very courteous language, and peremptorily
required to dissolve the Parliament which was elected only one year
ago, under the auspices of this same clamorous Opposition, who were
then in power. The measure itself is not indeed altogether free from
objection, and I very much regret that an addition should be made to
our debt for such an object at this time. Nevertheless, I must say I
do not see how my present Government could have taken any other course
in this matter than that which they have followed. Their predecessors
had already gone more than half-way in the same direction, though they
had stopped short, and now tell us that they never intended to go
farther. If the Ministry had failed to complete the work of alleged
justice to Lower Canada which had been commenced by the former
Administration, M. Papineau would most assuredly have availed himself
of the plea to undermine their influence in this section of the
province. The debates in Parliament on this question have been
acrimonious and lengthy, but M. Lafontaine's resolutions were finally
passed by a majority of fifty to twenty-two.

Dissensions of this class place in strong relief the passions and
tendencies which render the endurance of the political system which we
have established here, and of the connection with the mother-country,
uncertain and precarious. They elicit a manifestation of antipathy
between races and of jealousy between the recently united provinces,
which is much to be regretted. This measure of indemnity to Lower
Canada is, however, the last of the kind, and if it be once settled
satisfactorily, a formidable stumblingblock will have been removed
from my path.

A fortnight later he adds:--

The Tory party are doing what they can by menace, intimidation, and
appeals to passion to drive me to a _coup d'État_. And yet the
very measure which is at this moment the occasion of so loud an
outcry, is nothing more than a strict logical following out of their
own acts. It is difficult to conceive what the address on the subject
of rebellion losses in Lower Canada, unanimously voted by the House of
Assembly while Lord Metcalfe was governor and Mr. Draper minister, and
the proceedings of the Administration upon that address could have
been meant to lead to, if not to such a measure as the present
Government have introduced.

I enclose a letter which has been published in the newspapers by A. M.
Masson, one of the Bermuda exiles,[1] who was appointed to an office
by the late Government. This person will be excluded from compensation
by the Bill of the present Government, and he positively asserts that
Lord Metcalfe and some of his Ministers assured him that he would be
included by them.

I certainly regret that this agitation should have been stirred, and
that any portion of the funds of the province should be diverted now
from much more useful purposes to make good losses sustained by
individuals in the rebellion. But I have no doubt whatsoever that a
great deal of property was wantonly and cruelly destroyed at that time
in Lower Canada. Nor do I think that this Government, after what their
predecessors had done, and with Papineau in the rear, could have
helped taking up this question. Neither do I think that their measure
would have been less objectionable, but very much the reverse, if,
after the lapse of eleven years, and the proclamation of a general
amnesty, it had been so framed as to attach the stigma of Rebellion to
others than those regularly convicted before the Courts. Any kind of
extra-judicial inquisition conducted at this time of day by
Commissioners appointed by the Government, with the view of
ascertaining what part this or that claimant for indemnity may have
taken in 1837 and 1838, would have been attended by consequences much
to be regretted, and have opened the door to an infinite amount of
jobbing, false swearing, and detraction.

[Sidenote: Petitions against it.]
[Sidenote: Neutrality of the Governor.]

Petitions against the measure were got up by the Tories in all parts of the
province; but these, instead of being sent to the Assembly, or to the
Legislative Council, or to the Home Government, were almost all addressed
to Lord Elgin personally; obviously with the design of producing a
collision between him and his Parliament. They generally prayed either that
Parliament might be dissolved, or that the Bill, if it passed, might be
reserved for the royal sanction. All such addresses, and the remonstrances
brought to him by deputations of malcontents, he received with civility,
promising to bestow on them his best consideration, but studiously avoiding
the expression of any opinion on the points in controversy. By thus
maintaining a strictly constitutional position, he foiled that section of
the agitators who calculated on his being frightened or made angry, while
he left a door open for any who might have candour enough to admit that
after all he was only carrying out fairly the principle of responsible
government.

In pursuance of this policy he put off to the latest moment any decision as
to the course which he should take with respect to the Bill when it came up
to him for his sanction. As regards a dissolution, indeed, he felt from the
beginning that it would be sheer folly, attended by no small risk. Was he
to have recourse to this ultima ratio, merely because a parliament elected
a year before, under the auspices of the party now in opposition, had
passed, by a majority of nearly two to one, a measure introduced by the
present Government, in pursuance of the acts of a former one?

If I had dissolved Parliament, I might have produced a rebellion, but
most assuredly I should not have procured a change of Ministry. The
leaders of the party know that as well as I do, and were it possible
to play tricks in such grave concerns, it would have been easy to
throw them into utter confusion by merely calling upon them to form a
Government. They were aware, however, that I could not for the sake of
discomfiting them hazard so desperate a policy: so they have played
out their game of faction and violence without fear of consequences.

The other course urged upon him by the Opposition, namely, that of
reserving the Bill for the consideration of the Home Government, may appear
to have been open to no such objections, and to have been in fact the
wisest course which he could pursue, in circumstances of so much delicacy.
And this seems to have been the opinion of many in England, who were
disposed to approve of his general policy; but it may be doubted whether
they had weighed all the considerations which presented themselves to the
mind of the Governor on the spot, and which he stated to Lord Grey as
follows:--

There are objections, too, to reserving the Bill which I think I shall
consider insurmountable, whatever obloquy I may for the time entail on
myself by declining to lend myself even to this extent to the plans of
those who wish to bring about a change of administration.

In the first place the Bill for the relief of a corresponding class of
persons in Upper Canada, which was couched in terms very nearly
similar, was not reserved, and it is difficult to discover a
sufficient reason, in so far as the representative of the Crown is
concerned, for dealing with the one measure differently from the
other. And in the second place, by reserving the Bill I should only
throw upon Her Majesty's Government, or (as it would appear to the
popular eye here) on Her Majesty herself, a responsibility which
rests, and ought, I think, to rest, on my own shoulders. If I pass the
Bill, whatever mischief ensues may probably be repaired, if the worst
comes to the worst, by the sacrifice of me. Whereas, if the case be
referred to England, it is not impossible that Her Majesty may only
have before her the alternative of provoking a rebellion in Lower
Canada, by refusing her assent to a measure chiefly  affecting the
interest of the _habitans_, and thus throwing the whole
population into Papineau's hands, or of wounding the susceptibilities
of some of the best subjects she has in the province. For among the
objectors to this Bill are undoubtedly to be found not a few who
belong to this class; men who are worked upon by others more selfish
and designing, to whom the principles of constitutional Government are
unfathomable mysteries, and who still regard the representative of
royalty, and in a more remote sense the Crown and Government of
England, if not as the objects of a very romantic loyalty (for that, I
fear, is fast waning), at least as the butts of a most intense and
unrelenting: indignation, if political affairs be not administered in
entire accordance with their sense of what is right.

In solving these knotty problems, and choosing his course of action, the
necessities of the situation required that he should be guided by his own
unaided judgment, and act entirely on his own responsibility. For although,
throughout all his difficulties, in the midst of the reproaches with which
he was assailed both in the colony and in England, he had the great
satisfaction of knowing that his conduct was entirely approved by Lord
Grey, to whom he opened all his mind in private letters, the official
communications which passed between them were necessarily very reserved.
The following extract illustrates well this peculiarity in the position of
a British Colonial Governor, who has two popular Assemblies and two public
presses to consider:--

Perhaps you may have been annoyed by my not writing officially to you
ere this so as to give you communications to send to Parliament. All
that I can say on that point is, that I have got through this
disagreeable affair as well as I have done only by maintaining my
constitutional position, listening civilly to all representations
addressed to me against the measure, and adhering to a strict reserve
as to the course which I might deem it proper eventually to pursue. By
following this course I have avoided any act or expression which might
have added fuel to the flame; and although I have been plentifully
abused, because it has been the policy of the Opposition to drag me
into the strife, no one can say that I have said or done anything to
justify the abuse. And the natural effect of such patient endurance is
now beginning to show itself in the moderated tone of the organs of
the Opposition press. You will perceive, however, that I could not
possibly have maintained this position here, if despatches from me
indicating the Ministerial policy had been submitted to the House of
Commons. They would have found their way out here at once. Every
statement and opinion would have formed the subject of discussion, and
I should have found myself in the midst of the _mêlée_ a
partisan.

To counteract the violent and reckless efforts of the Opposition, Lord
Elgin trusted partly to the obvious reasonableness of the proposal under
discussion, but more to the growth of a patriotic spirit which should lead
the minority to prefer the rule of a majority within the province to the
coercion of a power from without. Something also he hoped from the effect
of the many excellent measures brought in about the same time by his new
Ministry, 'the first really efficient and working Government that Canada
had had since the Union.' Nor were these hopes altogether disappointed.
Writing on April 12 he observed, that a marked change had taken place
within the last few weeks in the tone both of the press[2] and of the
leaders of the party, some of whom had given him to understand, through
different channels, that they regretted things had gone so far. 'But,' he
adds, 'whether the gales from England will stir the tempest again or not
remains to be seen.'

[Sidenote: Opinions in England.]

And, in effect, the next post from England came laden with speeches and
newspaper articles, denouncing, in no measured terms, the 'suicidal folly
of rewarding rebels for rebellion.' A London journal of influence, speaking
of the British population as affected by the measure in question, said:--
'They are tolerably able to take care of themselves, and we very much
misconstrue the tone adopted by the English press and the English public in
the province, if they do not find some means of resisting the heavy blow
and great discouragement which is aimed at them.' Such passages were read
with avidity in the colony, and construed to mean that sympathy would be
extended from influential quarters at home to those who sought to annul the
obnoxious decision of the local Legislature, whatever might be the means to
which they resorted for the attainment of that end. It may be doubted,
however, whether any extraneous disturbance of this kind had much to do
with the volcanic outburst of local passions which ensued, and which is now
to be related.

[Sidenote: The Bill is passed,]

The Bill was passed in the Assembly by forty-seven votes to eighteen. On
analysing the votes, it was found that out of thirty-one members from Upper
Canada who voted on the occasion, seventeen supported and fourteen opposed
it; and that of ten members for Lower Canada, of British descent, six
supported and four opposed it.

These facts (wrote Lord Elgin) seemed altogether irreconcilable with
the allegation that the question was one on which the two races were
arrayed against each other throughout the province generally. I
considered, therefore, that by reserving the Bill, I should only cast
on Her Majesty and Her Majesty's advisers a responsibility which
ought, in the first instance at least, to rest on my own shoulders,
and that I should awaken in the minds of the people at large, even of
those who were indifferent or hostile to the Bill, doubts as to the
sincerity with which it was intended that constitutional Government
should be carried on in Canada; doubts which it is my firm conviction,
if they were to obtain generally, would be fatal to the connection.

[Sidenote: and receives the Royal Assent.]

Accordingly, when, on April 25, 1849, circumstances made it necessary for
him to proceed to Parliament in order to give the Royal Assent to a Customs
Bill which had that day passed the Legislative Council, he considered that,
as this necessity had arisen, it would not be expedient to keep the public
mind in suspense by omitting to dispose, at the same time, of the other
Acts which still awaited his decision, among which was the 'Act to provide
for the indemnification of parties in Lower Canada whose property was
destroyed during the Rebellion in 1837 and 1838.' What followed is thus
described in an official despatch written within a few days after the
event:--

[Sidenote: Riots.]

When I left the House of Parliament I was received with mingled cheers
and hootings by a crowd by no means numerous which surrounded the
entrance to the building. A small knot of individuals, consisting, it
has since been ascertained, of persons of a respectable class in
society, pelted the carriage with missiles which they must have
brought with them for the purpose. Within an hour after this
occurrence a notice, of which I enclose a copy, issued from one of the
newspaper offices, calling a meeting in the open air. At the meeting
inflammatory speeches were made. On a sudden, whether under the effect
of momentary excitement, or in pursuance of a plan arranged
beforehand, the mob proceeded to the House of Parliament, where the
members were still sitting, and breaking the windows, set fire to the
building and burned it to the ground. By this wanton act public
property of considerable value, including two excellent libraries, has
been utterly destroyed. Having achieved their object the crowd
dispersed, apparently satisfied with what they had done. The members
were permitted to retire unmolested, and no resistance was offered to
the military who appeared on the ground after a brief interval, to
restore order, and aid in extinguishing the flames. During the two
following days a good deal of excitement prevailed in the streets, and
some further acts of incendiarism were perpetrated. Since then the
military force has been increased, and the leaders of the disaffected
party have shown a disposition to restrain their followers, and to
direct their energies towards the more constitutional object of
petitioning the Queen for my recall, and the disallowance of the
obnoxious Bill. The proceedings of the House of Assembly will also
tend to awe the turbulent. I trust, therefore, that the peace of the
city will not be again disturbed.

The Ministry are blamed for not having made adequate provision against
these disasters. That they by no means expected that the hostility to
the Rebellion Losses Bill would have displayed itself in the outrages
which have been perpetrated during the last few days is certain.[3]
Perhaps sufficient attention was not paid by them to the menaces of
the Opposition press. It must be admitted, however, that their
position was one of considerable difficulty. The civil force of
Montreal--a city containing about 50,000 inhabitants of different
races, with secret societies and other agencies of mischief in
constant activity--consists of two policemen under the authority of
the Government, and seventy appointed by the Corporation. To oppose,
therefore, effectual resistance to any considerable mob, recourse must
be had in all cases either to the military or to a force of civilians
enrolled for the occasion. Grave objections, however, presented
themselves in the present instance to the adoption of either of these
courses until the disposition to tumult on the part of the populace
unhappily manifested itself in overt acts. More especially was it of
importance to avoid any measure which might have had a tendency to
produce a collision between parties on a question on which their
feelings were so strongly excited. The result of the course pursued
is, that there has been no bloodshed, and, except in the case of some
of the Ministers themselves, no destruction of private property.


The passions, however, which appeared to have calmed down, burst out with
fresh fury the very day on which these sentences were penned. The House of
Assembly had voted, by a majority of thirty-six to sixteen, an address to
the Governor-General, expressive of abhorrence at the outrages which had
taken place, of loyalty to the Queen, and approval of his just and
impartial administration of the Government, with his late as well as with
his present advisers. It was arranged that Lord Elgin should receive this
Address at the Government House instead of at Monklands. Accordingly, on
April 30, he drove into the city, escorted by a troop of volunteer
dragoons, and accompanied by several of his suite. On his way through the
streets he was greeted with showers of stones, and with difficulty
preserved his face from being injured.[4] On his return he endeavoured to
avoid all occasion of conflict by going back by a different route; but the
mob, discovering his purpose, rushed in pursuit, and again assailed his
carriage with various missiles, and it was only by rapid driving that he
escaped unhurt.[5]

None but those who were in constant intercourse with him can know what Lord
Elgin went through during the period of excitement which followed these
gross outrages. The people of Montreal seemed to have lost their reason.
The houses of some of the Ministers and of their supporters were attacked
by mobs at night, and it was not safe for them to appear in the streets. A
hostile visit was threatened to the house in which the Governor-General
resided at a short distance from the city; all necessary preparation was
made to defend it, and his family were kept for some time in a state of
anxiety and suspense.[6]

For some weeks he himself did not go into the town of Montreal, but kept
entirely within the bounds of his country seat at Monklands, determined
that no act of his should offer occasion or excuse to the mob for fresh
outrage.[7] He knew, of course, that the whole of French Lower Canada was
ready at any moment to rise, as one man, in support of the Government; but
his great object was to keep them quiet, and 'to prevent collision between
the races.'

[Sidenote: Firmness of the Governor.]
[Sidenote: Refuses either to use force,]

'Throughout the whole of this most trying time,' writes Major Campbell,[8]
'Lord Elgin remained perfectly calm and cool; never for a moment losing his
self-possession, nor failing to exercise that clear foresight and sound
judgment for which he was so remarkable. It came to the knowledge of his
Ministers that, if he went into the city again, his life would be in great
danger; and they advised that a commission should issue to appoint a
Deputy-Governor for the purpose of proroguing Parliament. He was urged by
irresponsible advisers to make use of the military forces at his command,
to protect his person in an official visit to the city; but he declined to
do so, and thus avoided what these infatuated rioters seemed determined to
bring on--the shedding of blood. "I am prepared," he said, "to bear any
amount of obloquy that may be cast upon me, but, if I can possibly prevent
it, no stain of blood shall rest upon my name."'

As might have been expected, the Montreal press attributed this wise and
magnanimous self-restraint to fear for his own safety. But he was not to be
moved from his resolve by the paltry imputation; nor did he even care that
his friends should resent or refute it on his behalf.

So little was he affected by it that on finding, some years afterwards,
that Lord Grey proposed to introduce some expression of indignation on the
subject in his work on the colonies, he dissuaded him from doing so. 'I do
not believe,' he said, 'that these imputations were hazarded in any
respectable quarter, or that they are entitled to the dignity of a place in
your narrative.'

[Sidenote: or to yield to violence.]

But if neither the entreaties of 'irresponsible advisers,' nor the taunts
of foes, could move him to the use of force, he was equally firm in his
determination to concede nothing to the clamour and violence of the mob.
Writing officially to Lord Grey on the 30th of April, when the fury of the
populace was at its height, he said:--

It is my firm conviction that if this dictation be submitted to, the
government of this province by constitutional means will be
impossible, and that the struggle between overbearing minorities,
backed by force, and majorities resting on legality and established
forms, which has so long proved the bane of Canada, driving capital
from the province, and producing a state of chronic discontent, will
be perpetuated.

[Sidenote: Tenders resignation.]

At the same time, he thought it his duty to suggest, that 'if he should be
unable to recover that position of dignified neutrality between contending
parties which it had been his unremitting study to maintain,' it might be a
question whether it would not be for the interests of Her Majesty's service
that he should be removed, to make way for some one 'who should have the
advantage of being personally unobnoxious to any section of Her Majesty's
subjects within the province.'

[Sidenote: Approval of Home Government.]

The reply to this letter assured him, in emphatic terms, of the cordial
approval and support of the Home Government. 'I appreciate,' wrote Lord
Grey, 'the motives which have induced your Lordship to offer the suggestion
with which your despatch concludes, but I should most earnestly deprecate
the change it contemplates in the government of Canada. Your Lordship's
relinquishment of that office, which, under any circumstances, would be a
most serious loss to Her Majesty's service, and to the province, could not
fail, in the present state of affairs, to be most injurious to the public
welfare, from the encouragement which it would give to those who have been
concerned in the violent and illegal opposition which has been offered to
your Government. I also feel no doubt that when the present excitement
shall have subsided, you will succeed in regaining that position of
"dignified neutrality" becoming your office, which, as you justly observe,
it has hitherto been your study to maintain, and from which, even those who
are at present most opposed to you, will, on reflection, perceive that you
have been driven, by no fault on your part, but by their own unreasoning
violence.

Relying, therefore, upon your devotion to the interests of Canada, I feel
assured that you will not be induced by the unfortunate occurrences which
have taken place, to retire from the high office which the Queen has been
pleased to entrust to you, and which, from the value she puts upon your
past services, it is Her Majesty's anxious wish that you should retain.'

[Sidenote: Support in the colony.]

While awaiting, in his retreat at Monklands, the _contrecoup_ from the
mother-country of the storm which had burst over the colony, Lord Elgin
found a great source of consolation in the numerous sympathetic addresses
which poured in from every part of the province: fortifying him in the
conviction that the heart of the colony was with him, and that the bitter
opposition at Montreal was chiefly due to local causes; especially 'to
commercial distress, acting on religious bigotry and national hatred.' One
of these addresses, coming from the county of Glengarry, an ancient
settlement of Scottish loyalists, appears to have touched the Scotsman's
heart within the statesman's. In reply to it he said:--

Men of Glengarry--My heart warms within me when I listen to your manly
and patriotic address.

I recognise in it evidence of that vigorous understanding which
enables men of the stock to which you belong to prize, as they ought
to be prized, the blessings of well-ordered freedom, and of that keen
sense of principle which prompts them to recoil from no sacrifice
which duty enjoins.

The men of Glengarry need not recapitulate their services. He must be
ignorant indeed of the history of Canada who does not know how much
they have done and suffered for their Sovereign and their country.

You inhabit here a goodly land. A land full of promise, where your
children have room enough to increase and to multiply, and to become,
with God's blessing, greater and more prosperous than yourselves. But
I am confident that no spell less potent than the gentle and benignant
control of those liberal institutions which it is Britain's pride and
privilege to bestow on her children, will insure the peaceful
development of its unrivalled resources, or knit together into one
happy and united family the various races of which this community is
composed.

On this conviction I have acted, in labouring to secure for you,
during the whole course of my administration the full benefit of
constitutional government. It is truly gratifying to me to learn that
you appreciate my exertions. Depend upon it, they will not be relaxed.
I claim to have something of your own spirit: devotion to a cause
which I believe to be a just one--courage to confront, if need be,
danger and even obloquy in its pursuit--and an undying faith that God
protects the right.

[Sidenote: Debates in the British Parliament.]

In the meantime the unhappy Bill, which had caused such an explosion in the
colony, was running the gantlet of the British Parliament. On June 14 it
was vehemently attacked in the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone, as being
a measure for the rewarding of Rebels.[9] He, indeed, contented himself
with 'calling the attention of the House to certain parts' of the Bill in
question; but Mr. Herries, following out the same views to their legitimate
conclusion, moved an Address to Her Majesty to disallow the Act of the
Colonial Legislature. The debate was sustained with great Vigour for two
nights; in the course of which the Act was defended not only by Lord John
Russell as leader of the Government, but also, with even more force, by his
great opponent Sir Robert Peel. Speaking with all the weight of an
impartial observer, he showed that it was not the intention of the measure,
and would not be its effect, to give compensation to anyone who could be
proved to have been a rebel; that it was only an inevitable sequel to other
measures which had been passed without opposition; and, further, that its
rejection at this stage would be resisted by all parties in the colony
alike, as an arbitrary interference with their right of self-government. On
a division the amendment of Mr. Herries was thrown out by a majority of
141. And though, a few nights later, a resolution somewhat in the same
sense, moved by Lord Brougham in the Upper House, was only negatived, with
the aid of proxies, by three votes, the large majority in the House of
Commons, and the firm attitude of the Government on the subject, did much
to quiet the excitement in the colony.

The news from England (wrote Lord Elgin) has produced a marked, and,
so far as it goes, a satisfactory change in the tone of the Press; in
proof of which I send you the leading articles of the Tory papers of
Saturday. ... The party, it would appear, is now split into three; but
on one point all are agreed. We must have done, they say, with this
habit of abusing the French; we must live with them on terms of amity
and affection. Such is the first fruit of the policy which was to bring
about, we were assured, a war of races.

This satisfactory result was also due in part to the wise measures adopted
by the Ministry, under direction of the Governor-General, for giving effect
to the provisions of the much-disputed Bill.

We are taking steps (he wrote on June 17) to carry out the Rebellion
Losses Bill. Having adopted the measure of the late Conservative
Government, we are proceeding to reappoint their own Commissioners;
and, not content with that, we are furnishing them with instructions
which place upon the Act the most restricted and loyalist construction
of which the terms are susceptible. Truly, if ever rebellion stood
upon a rickety pretence, it is the Canadian Tory Rebellion of 1849.

[Sidenote: Fresh riots.]

Unhappily the flames, which at this time had nearly died out, were re-
kindled two months later on occasion of the arrest of certain persons
concerned in the former riots; and though this fresh outbreak lasted but a
few days, it was attended in one case with fatal consequences.[10] Writing
on August 20, Lord Elgin says:--

We are again in some excitement here. M. Lafontaine's house was
attacked by a mob (for the second time) two nights ago. Some persons
within fired, and one of the assailants was killed. The violent
Clubbists are trying to excite the passions of the multitude, alleging
that this is Anglo-Saxon blood shed by a Frenchman.

The immediate cause of this excitement is the arrest of certain
persons who were implicated in the destruction of the Parliament
buildings in April last. I was desirous, for the sake of peace, that
these parties should not be arrested until indictments had been laid
before the grand jury, and true bills found against them.
Unfortunately, in consequence of the cholera, the requisite number of
jurors to form a court was not forthcoming for the August term. The
Government thought that they could not, without impropriety, put off
taking any steps against these persons till November. They were,
therefore, arrested last week; all except one, who was committed for
arson, were at once bailed by the magistrates; and he too was bailed
the day after his committal by one of the judges of the Supreme Court.

All this is simple enough, and augurs no very vindictive spirit in the
authorities. Nevertheless it affords the occasion for a fresh
exhibition of the recklessness of the Montreal mob, and the
demoralisation of other classes in the community.

Again on the 27th he writes:--

We have had a fortnight of crisis consequent on the arrests which I
reported to you last week; which may perhaps be the prelude (though I
do not like to be too sanguine) to better times. A most violent
excitement was got up by the Press against M. Lafontaine more
especially, as the instigator of the arrests and the cause of the
death of the young man who was shot in the attack on his house. A vast
number of men, wearing red scarfs and ribands, attended the funeral of
the youth. The shops were shut on the line of the procession; fires
occurred during several successive nights in different parts of the
town, under circumstances warranting the suspicion of incendiarism.

Upon this the stipendiary magistrates, charged by the Government with the
preservation of the peace of the city, represented officially to the
Governor that nothing could save it but the proclamation of Martial Law.
But he told his Council that he 'would neither consent to Martial Law, nor
to any measures of increased vigour whatsoever, until a further appeal had
been made to the Mayor and Corporation of the city.'

[Sidenote: Quiet restored.]

This appeal was successful. A proclamation, issued by the Mayor, was
responded to by the respectable citizens of all parties; and a large number
of special constables turned out to patrol the streets and keep the peace.
Meanwhile the coroner's jury, after a very rigorous investigation, agreed
unanimously to a verdict acquitting M. Lafontaine of all blame, and finding
fault with the civic authorities for their remissness. This verdict was
important, for two of the jury were Orangemen, who had marched in the
procession at the funeral of the young man who was shot. The public
acknowledged its importance, and two of the most violent Tory newspapers