284 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [ Vot. lets 
As a fitting introduction to the narrative of hot conflict and fiery strife, 
which is to follow, the first letter gives a most vivid description of the 
burning of the Chateau de St. Louis, at Quebec, on January 23rd, 1834. 
This castle had been used as the residence of the Governors of Canada 
for upwards of 150 years. It was never rebuilt. 
In 1835, when the troubles in Lower Canada were coming to a head, 
Sir Robert Peel determined to appoint a Commission of inquiry, but his 
term of office was too short to allow him to carry out his intentions. 
These, however, his successor, Lord Melbourne, fulfilled. The Lord 
High Commissioner appointed was the Earl of Gosford, while Sir 
Charles Grey and Sir George Gibbs were made assistant commis- 
sioners. Shortly afterwards Lord Aylmer, who was administering the 
Government in Lower Canada, was recalled, and the Earl of Gosford 
took his place as Governor-General. Lord Gosford arrived in the 
frigate Pique at Quebec, on August 23rd, 1835, and in a letter written 
a month later, on September 26th, the Commissioners are humorously 
described by Col. Coffin, who also indicates the political unrest then pre- 
vailing in Canada, and complains of ignorance at home respecting the 
Colonies. 
“Parliament meets next month for the deliberate legal annihilation of British 
interests. . . . As you may imagine the proceedings of our new rulers are the 
subject of much anxious speculation. As yet they are secret and mysterious. The 
people themselves look as if burthened with some mighty secret, or as if environed 
~ with the web of some frightful conspiracy. Everything they attempt is @ ¢atons. They» 
walk like so niany cats upon thin ice, slipping at every step and fearful lest the next 
may plunge them beneath the surface. This is the natural consequence of the terrorism 
which has been exercised by Roebuck and his mendacious accomplices in England, 
who have impressed the British public with the belief that the Canadians, goaded by 
the tyranny of the English population, were in a state of actual revolt. An officer of 
the Pique assured me that previous to their sailing it was a matter of general surprise 
that the commissioners had not been backed by an extra regiment or two. Nothing in 
fact can be compared with the gross and shameful ignorance that generally prevails 
respecting these Colonies. The meeting of the Assembly will alone satisfy the existing 
curiosity which amounts to a wish to know ‘the worst at once,’ and then we shall find 
that all this disturbance has been created and all these undignified personages have 
been sent from their dull homes across the wide Atlantic, for the simple purpose of 
proving the fallibility of some infallible panacea for Canadian grievances. On the 
principles they profess they cannot do good and must do harm. 
“Lord Gosford is a most unaristocratic looking lord. I have seen many a farmer 
with more of the air of a gentleman. He is of quarto size and dimensions, with a very 
tropical complexion, being much of the hue of a nutmeg. They say that he is good- 
natured and accessible, that he delights to walk about with his hands in his breeches 
pockets, or to relax from such absorbing occupation by a sly game at pitch farthing 
with the little boys under the chateau wall. Sir George Gibbs—did you ever hear such 
a name—is an engineer officer suddenly metamorphosed into a diplomatist. His trade 
