178 THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



ket was swept away by free trade. The result 

 in Canada was the prompt collapse of the in 

 dustries that had been built up by the act of 

 1843. The short season of exaggerated pros 

 perity was succeeded by a period of depression 

 and distress. Angry protests arose from the 

 capitalists and mercantile classes that they had 

 been ill treated by the home government. The 

 working class mobbed the governor, as we have 

 seen. In the destruction of their business the 

 Canadian Tories, who included the leading mer 

 chants of Montreal, found an aggravation of the 

 disregard for their feelings and interests that 

 was manifested in the &quot;compensation for rebel 

 lion.&quot; Expressions of discontent began to take 

 on extreme form in the press and in the legis 

 lature. The cure for the existing and threat 

 ened evils that was most often proposed was 

 annexation to the United States. 



During the year 1849 an agitation for annexa 

 tion assumed proportions that attracted serious 

 attention. A manifesto issued at Montreal in 

 October, and signed by a large number of the 

 most substantial citizens, set forth the misfor 

 tunes and distress of Canada in temperate but 

 convincing terms, and argued that of all the 

 remedies suggested the only one that promised 



