1891-92. ] CORRESPONDENCE OF LIEUT.-COL. CUFFIN. 29> 
and crew were forced to leave the vessel, which was pillaged and burnt. 
Mr. Coffin writes: 
“What an atrocious outrage! 1 was inconceivably shocked to hear that Mrs. Samp- 
son and party had been exposed to the violence of these ruffians. I fear their loss in 
property must have been great, independent of the terror and cruel exposure to which 
they were subjected. The excitement throughout the loyal portion of the people here 
was intense, and is still so; it is easy, therefore, to imagine what it must be with you. 
I trust, however, most earnestly, that no serious attempt at retaliation will be made now - 
in cold blood.” 
Lord Durham landed in Quebec, amid great pomp, on the very day 
of the Sir Robert Peel outrage. Mr. Coffin thus describes the new 
Governor: 
‘*He barks loud and by the teeth he shows I think that (reversing the old proverb) 
‘his bite is waur than his bark.’ This man Lord lurham is a smasher—he will make 
or break whatever he takes in hand—and one trait in the fellow I like, for good or for 
evil he wants no man to share the responsibility with him. This is a hasty opinion of 
a man who has been hardly ten days in the country, but it agrees with my preconcep- 
tions and is confirmed by the decision of character he has already displayed. His 
court, establishment, staff, etc., is of a very splendid description, and I really think, 
from his personal appearance and, where appropriate, from his courteous demeanor, that 
this display arises as much from policy as from natural taste for the magnificent. As 
policy it is undoubtedly good all the world over, but most especially in Lower Canada. 
The relicts of the patriot party, and this place is still plentifully bespatted with them, 
are evidently awestruck, nor is this feeling confined to them alone.” 
An incident that well illustrates the character of this aristocratic Whig 
Lord is recorded in a letter bearing the date of June 23rd, 1838, and 
written from Montreal. 
““We are expecting daily to receive some definitive instructions respecting the future 
fate of the prisoners. What that may be John George Earl of D. only knows. I have, 
however, great misgivings. The Governor-General is to be here himself in the begin- 
ning of July. The fact is that the good people of Montreal are not more intractable 
than their neighbours. Through the Press they assailed his Lordship upon his arrival, 
whereupon the Vice-regal Earl countermanded the preparations which were then 
making for his reception here, and openly declared that he had intended spending 
£20,000 in Montreal, by which sum Quebec would be the richer. Whereupon the 
good City of Montreal fell upon her marrow-bones and cried ‘feccavz’ in no time. A 
meeting was held incontinently, resolutions passed, and his Excellency declared to be 
the we Plus ultra of a nobleman, a Governor, an ambassador, sapiens ne etiam et 
: However that may be, his Lordship is to be here on his way to Upper Canada, 
and although he has expressed a determination to live on board of the steamboat that 
conveys him up, still it is hoped that he may condescend to cast the light of his golden 
countenance on the intelligent, independent, and disinterested population of the City of 
Montreal. I like this same John George for the dare-devil, don’t-care-a-fig sort of 
way in which he carries on the war. He hired the John Bull as his private travelling 
carriage,—one of her boilers, however, got out of order, so that he is compelled to put 
up with a steam frigate. To make amends he has bespoke the River Saint Lawrence 
