te in independence and freedom
from the baneful domination of the mother-country." Probably even
Mackenzie and his friends might have been conciliated and satisfied at
the last moment had the imperial government been served by an able and
discreet lieutenant-governor. But never did the imperial authorities
make a greater mistake than {351} when they sent out Sir Francis Bond
Head, who had no political experience whatever.

From the beginning to the end of his administration he did nothing but
blunder. He alienated even the confidence of the moderate element of the
Reformers, and literally threw himself into the arms of the "family
compact," and assisted them at the elections of the spring of 1836, which
rejected all the leading men of the extreme wing of the Reform party.
Mackenzie was deeply mortified at the result, and determined from that
moment to rebel against the government which, in his opinion, had no
intention of remedying public grievances. At the same time Papineau,
with whom he was in communication, had made up his mind to establish a
republic, _une nation Canadienne_, on the banks of the St. Lawrence.

The disloyal intentions of Papineau and his followers were made very
clear by the various meetings which were held in the Montreal and
Richelieu districts, by the riots which followed public assemblages in
the city of Montreal, by the names of "Sons of Liberty" and "Patriots"
they adopted in all their proceedings, by the planting of "trees," and
raising of "caps" of liberty. Happily for the best interests of Canada
the number of French Canadians ready to revolt were relatively
insignificant, and the British population were almost exclusively on the
side of the government. Bishop Lartigue and the clergy of the Roman
Catholic Church now asserted themselves very determinedly against the
dangerous and seditious utterances of {352} the leaders of the
"Patriots." Fortunately a resolute, able soldier, Sir John Colborne, was
called from Upper Canada to command the troops in the critical situation
of affairs, and crushed the rebellion in its very inception. A body of
insurgents, led by Dr. Wolfred Nelson, showed some courage at St. Denis,
but Papineau took the earliest opportunity to find refuge across the
frontier. Thomas Storrow Brown, an American by birth, also made a stand
at St. Charles, but both he and Nelson were easily beaten by the
regulars. A most unfortunate episode was the murder of Lieutenant W