nsurgents and the King's troops, in which the insurgents had been
victorious; that Sir John Colborne had been compelled to retreat to
Montreal; that they had themselves seen the troops come back (which was
true), and that Montreal was barricaded (which was also true) to prevent
the insurgents from marching in. I never said one word; I listened to
the exultations--to the declarations of some that they should go and
join the patriots, etcetera. One man amused me by saying--"I've a great
mind to go, but what I want is a good general to take the command; I
want a Julius Caesar, or a Bonaparte, or a Washington--then I'll go."
I stopped for some hours at St Alban's. I was recommended to go to an
inn, the landlord of which was said not to be of the democratic party,
for the other two inns were the resort of the Sympathisers,--and in
these, consequently, scenes of great excitement took place. The
landlord put into my hand a newspaper, published that day, containing a
series of resolutions, founded upon such falsehoods that I thought it
might be advantageous to refute them. I asked the landlord whether I
could see the editor of the paper; he replied that the party lived next
door; and I requested that he would send for him, telling him that I
could give him information relative to the affair of St Eustache.
I had been shewn into a large sitting-room on the ground-floor, which I
presumed was a private room, when the editor of the newspaper, attracted
by the message I had sent him, came in. I then pointed to the
resolutions passed at the meeting, and asked him whether he would allow
me to answer them in his paper. His reply was, "Certainly; that his
paper was open to all."
"Well, then, call in an hour, and I will by that time prove to you that
they can only be excused or accounted for by the parties who framed them
being totally ignorant of the whole affair."
He went away, but did not return at the time requested. It was not
until late in the evening that he came; and, avoiding the question of
the resolutions, begged that I would give him the information relative
to St Eustache. As I presumed that, like most other editors in the
United States, he dared not put in anything which would displease his
subscribers, I said no more on that subject, but commenced dictating to
him, while he wrote the particulars attending the St Eustache affair.
I was standing by the stove, giving the editor this information, when
the door
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