office.

In 1854 the Roman Catholic inhabitants of Quebec and Montreal were
deeply excited by the lectures of a former monk, Father Gavazzi, who
had become a Protestant and professed to expose the errors of the
faith to which he once belonged. Much rioting took place in both
cities, and blood was shed in Montreal, where the troops, which had
been called out, suddenly fired on the mob. Mr. Wilson, the mayor, who
was a Roman Catholic, was accused of having given the order to fire,
but he always denied the charge, and Hincks, in his "Reminiscences,"
expresses his conviction that he was not responsible. He was persuaded
that "the firing was quite accidental, one man having discharged his
piece from misapprehension, and others having followed his example
until the officers threw themselves in front, and struck up the
firelocks." Be this as it may, the Clear Grits in the West promptly
made use of this incident to attack the government on the ground that
it had failed to make a full investigation into the circumstances of
the riot. As a matter of fact, according to Hincks, the government did
take immediate steps to call the attention of the military commandant
to the matter, and the result was a court of inquiry which ended in
the removal of the regiment--then only a few days in Canada--to
Bermuda for having shown "a want of discipline." Brown inveighed very
bitterly against Hincks and his colleagues, as subject to Roman
Catholic domination in French Canada, and found this unfortunate
affair extremely useful in his systematic efforts to destroy the
government, to which at no time had he been at all favourable.

Several changes took place during 1853 in the _personnel_ of the
ministry, which met parliament on June 13th, with the following
members holding portfolios:

Hon. Messrs. Hincks, premier and inspector-general; John
Ross, formerly solicitor-general west in place of Richards,
elevated to the bench, attorney-general for Upper Canada;
James Morris, president of the legislative council, in place
of Mr. Caron, now a judge; John Rolph, president of the
executive council; Malcolm Cameron, postmaster-general; A.N.
Morin, commissioner of crown lands; L.P. Drummond,
attorney-general for Lower Canada; Mr. Chauveau, formerly
solicitor east, provincial secretary; J. Chabot,
commissioner of public works in place of John Young,
resigned on account of differences on commercial q