CANADA. 



351 



(he latter; and thus the two branches of the legis-| 

 lat urc were thrown into unhappy collision with ] 

 each other. The assembly voted a supply for six j 

 months only, in order to give time for the British 

 government to comply with their demands, but ! 

 this was rejected by the legislative council, on the 

 ground that several salaries were omitted. The 

 assembly afterwards declined to vote supplies at 

 all until their alleged grievances were redressed, 

 and resolved that they should not even meet for 

 business until the principle of an elective council 

 hi d been recognized. The members had already 

 begun to disperse, when lord Gosford, on the 4th 

 Oct. 1836, prorogued the assembly. 



The first report of the commissioners recom- 

 mended various changes, in the hope of conciliating 

 the Canadians; but by November, 1836, this hope 

 bad been entirely dissipated, and the final recom- 

 mendations of the commissioners were measures of 

 coercion and the exercise of arbitrary power, hint- 

 ing, as an alternative, at the total suspension of the 

 constitution. On the 6th March, 1837, lord John 

 Kussel proposed, in the house of commons, ten re- 

 solutions on the affairs of Lower Canada ; among 

 which were, " That in the existing state of Lower 

 Canada, it is unadvisable to make the legislative 

 council of that province an elective body, but that 

 it is expedient that measures be adopted for secur- 

 ing to that branch of the legislature a greater share 

 of public confidence :'' " That while it is expedient 

 to improve the composition of the executive council, 

 it is unadvisable to subject it to the responsibility 

 demanded by the house of assembly of that pro- 

 vince." The eighth resolution declared that the 

 arrear of 142,000 should be defrayed, first, out of 

 the king's hereditary, casual, and territorial re- 

 venue, and then out of any other part of his ma- 

 jesty's revenues in the hands of the receiver-general 

 of the province.* By a ninth resolution it was de- 

 clared, that the hereditary revenue was to be given 

 up in case the provincial legislature should see fit 

 to grant to his majesty a civil list for defraying the 

 necessary charges of the administration of justice, 

 and for the maintenance of certain of the principal 

 officers of the civil government. However slight 

 the hope was that the resolutions of parliament 

 would induce the assembly to vote the supplies, 

 and go on with the business of the colony, it was 

 doubtless right to give them an opportunity, and 

 accordingly the two houses were convened on the 

 18th August. Before this time, seditious meet- 

 ings had taken place, and votes were adopted in 

 the most violent language of hostility, such as to 

 induce the governor to call for troops from Nova 

 Scotia. The assembly repudiated the parliament- 

 ary resolutions by a great majority, f a "d on the 

 28th of August, lord Gosford prorogued it. 



Matters had now reached a crisis. Meetings of 

 the malcontent party were held in various dis- 

 tricts of the colony, and preparations were making 

 for having recourse to arms. In the county of 

 Two Mountains an active training was carried on, 

 and all loyal or neutral residents were compelled 

 to quit the territory. In the more populous por- 

 tion of the Montreal territory lying south of the 

 St Lawrence, a meeting was held, in which all 



* Ministers afterwards, on the accession of Victoria, unwill- 

 ing, as they said, to begin the government of a young queen 

 by an act of coercion, advanced the amount by way of loan 

 from the British revenue, to be ultimately reimbursed from 

 the provincial funds. 



t The minority favourable to irovernmeut never exceeded 

 19 against 58. 



principles but those of the purest democracy were 

 renounced, and M. Papineau was chosen leader. 

 On the other hand, loyal associations were formed, 

 and volunteer corps rapidly organized. Govern- 

 ment resolved immediately to arrest the most ac- 

 tive agitators. A warrant was accordingly issued 

 at Montreal against twenty-six, of whom seven, in- 

 cluding Papineau, were members of the assembly. 

 Nine were apprehended, but Papineau escaped. 

 Two prisoners were rescued near Longueuil by the 

 insurgents. On the 26th Nov. 1837, Lt.-Col. 

 Wetherall attacked a fortified position of the in- 

 surgents at the village of St Charles, which he 

 carried and fired. 300 of the malcontents are 

 said to have fallen in this affair. About the same 

 time Colonel Gore advanced upon St Denis, but 

 owing to the smallness of his force was repulsed. 

 St Denis and other strongholds of the rebels were 

 evacuated on the destruction of St Charles. On 

 the 13th Dec. Sir John Colborne, commander in 

 chief, marched from Montreal at the head of the 

 expedition to attack the chief post of the rebels at 

 the Grand Brule. On the following day an en- 

 gagement took place in the churchyard of St Eus- 

 tache, when the loyalist arms proved victorious, 

 eighty of the enemy having been killed, and 120 

 taken prisoners. On the 15th, Colonel Maitland 

 marched to St Benoit, the chief town of the Grand 

 Brule district, but on his approach, a large party 

 of the inhabitants came out bearing a white flag, 

 and begging for mercy. He entered the place 

 without resistance, but some of the houses were 

 fired by the loyalists, who could not be restrained 

 from acts of violence. On the 13th Dec. Dr Wol- 

 fred Neilson, one of the rebel leaders, having been 

 nine days concealed in the woods, was brought in 

 prisoner to Montreal. 



Lower Canada was now reduced to comparative 

 tranquillity, but Upper Canada meanwhile was in 

 insurrection. Many of the inhabitants of that pro- 

 vince were emigrants from the United States, to 

 whose institutions they were naturally partial, 

 and many British residents had adopted extreme 

 democratical opinions. This party, headed by 

 Mackenzie, Duncombe and others, in 1834, ob- 

 tained a majority in the Assembly, and, like the 

 other province, drew out a long list of grievances, 

 complaining, among other matters, of favouritism 

 in the bestowal of offices and in the support of 

 particular religious establishments, and urging, 

 like the assembly of Lower Canada, a demand for 

 an elective legislative council. Proceeding in the 

 same hostile spirit, they, in 1836, for the first 

 time, stopped the supplies, and Sir Francis Bond 

 Head, governor of the province, on the 28th May, 

 resolved to make an appeal to the people by a new 



j election. After an arduous contest, the new 

 assembly displayed a decided majority in support 



i of the constitution. The disaffected complained 

 that this result had been produced by extraor- 

 dinary grants of land and even by violence, which 

 allegations were declared, on the other hand, to be 

 utterly false. So assured, at this time, was Sir 

 Francis Head of the loyalty of the Upper Province, 

 that on being requested to state what soldiers he 

 could spare for Lower Canada, his answer was, 

 ALL. Every soldier was removed out of the dis- 

 trict, Sir Francis relying entirely on the loyal dis- 

 position of the majority of the inhabitants. In 

 this state of things, Mackenzie, with a body of 

 rebels, resolved to attack Toronto, but they were 

 met and repulsed on the 7th Dec. by Sir Francis, 



