inducing a belief that the state of the Governor's health was such that
a further agitation of the business might endanger his life! And so
ended the Foucher impeachment matter for a time. An Act was passed for
the incorporation of a company to construct a navigable canal, on the
Richelieu, from Chambly to St. Johns, a work subsequently undertaken
and completed by the province, on a very inadequate scale, inasmuch as
the canal was only sufficiently large for batteaux, instead of being of
a size which would have permitted steamboat communication between
Quebec, _via_ Sorel, and the towns on Lake Champlain. The
estimates for the civil list amounting to L73,646, were voted after a
debate of a week; a night watch and night lights were provided for in
Montreal and Quebec; an Act was passed for the encouragement of
agriculture, and commissioners appointed to improve the communication,
by water, between Upper and Lower Canada; an attempt was made to
indemnify the members of the Assembly; and the public accounts being
submitted, the revenue for 1817 appeared to have been L108,925
currency, and the expenditure L116,920 sterling, including L19,426
owing to Upper Canada for duties in 1816. The expenses of the
legislature amounted to L16,173, including L3,945 for books purchased
for the library of the Assembly.

Sir John Sherbrooke, was so very ill that he found himself unable to go
down to the Council Chamber to prorogue the parliament. He was,
therefore, waited upon by the members of both Houses, at the Castle of
St. Lewis, and there the prorogation took place _sans ceremonie_.

Business had been rather brisk this year, but out of parliament, and
away from St. Peter street, there was no stir of any kind. The
newspapers contented themselves with retailing news from the continent
of Europe, six months old, and the inhabitants of town and country
unconcernedly watched the rising and the setting of the sun, or
endeavored, as an antidote to the _tedium vitae_, to count the
number of the stars at night. Three hundred and thirty-four vessels of
76,559 tons burthen, including one vessel built at Quebec, cleared at
the port, and a duty of 2-1/2 per centum was levied on goods, wares,
and merchandise, amounting to L672,876. There was one matter, which,
however, created a little talk about town. Mrs. Montgomery, widow of
the late General Montgomery, who fell on the night of the 31st of
December, 1775, while leading on a storming party of Am