m the opposition. The British
party still remained quiet, in the hope, faintly entertained, that
the queen's representative would refuse the royal assent, dissolve
parliament, and take the sense of the colony on the question. The
governor, either on his own judgment, or by the directions of the
Colonial-office, instead of taking that course, which under such
circumstances would have been the most just and constitutional, gave his
sanction to the measure, as well as to some other bills which were not
palatable to the Western settlers. The ministry had, at the same time,
exasperated the Protestant and British Canadians, by various acts which
savoured of hostility to them, and of partiality to the French and Roman
Catholic Canadians. After the governor-general gave the royal assent,
his carriage was stoned by a mob consisting mainly of gentlemen, and
the parliament house itself was broken open while the members were in
debate, the building fired and destroyed, the members being permitted
to retire unmolested. The governor, Lord Elgin, in his despatch to Earl
Grey, described the population of Montreal as numbering fifty thousand
inhabitants, of whom he gave on the whole an indifferent character, as
belonging to secret societies, and "having other agencies of mischief,"
with only two policemen in the service of government, and seventy in the
service of the corporation. If, however, no complaints of the disloyalty
or disorder of Montreal had been customary, and a few police were
sufficient to maintain peace, it is presumptive proof that his lordship
was influenced more in using this language by the feelings excited in
his own mind, from the opposition and indignation of the most loyal and
respectable citizens of the place, than by any demerits on the part of
the Montreal citizens. The parliament met in the Market Hall, and by a
large majority voted an address of confidence to the governorgeneral.
The citizens met in the open air, in the Champs de Mars, and voted with
acclamation an address to the queen, begging her to refuse her assent to
the Indemnity Bill, which they indignantly designated "an insult and a
robbery to every man who, in the time of trial stood forth to defend her
majesty's crown and dignity." The memorial also prayed, in very earnest
terms, for the recall of the Earl of Elgin.

On the 31st of May, the governor-general prorogued the parliament, but
the governor took no measures to soothe the English settlers, w