steamer Varennes, laden with supplies for Gore's harassed force, was fired at from St Ours, and compelled to put back; and the communication with Montreal rendered extremely difficult and irregular. But the insurgents had achieved their last success in this ill-advised and wretchedly organised rebellion. Wetherall, pursuant to his instructions, moved down the Richelieu from Chambly, with some three hundred infantry, a small body of cavalry, and two guns, to assail the intrenched position of the enemy at St Charles. At St Hiliare he learned of the repulse of Gore before St Denis, and halted to await the arrival of some other troops, whom he now directed to join him, and fresh instructions from Montreal. But receiving no new orders from head-quarters, and the additional troops having arrived, he pushed forward to attack the insurgents. Desirous to avoid the shedding of blood, he sent them word that if they dispersed peaceably they should not be injured. Their general, Brown, sent a message in return to the effect, that if Wetherall's troops laid down their arms they should be permitted to pass unmolested.* Brown's conduct immediately afterwards did not correspond with this piece of braggadocio. He fled ere the action had almost begun, leaving his followers, who might number one thousand,† to take care of themselves.

A few rounds from Wetherall's guns breached the poorly constructed intrenchment, when his troops swept rapidly through, and scattered the wretchedly-armed insurgents with the bayonet. Fiftysix of their dead were counted on the ground, and several others died miserably in the burned houses. Their wounded and prisoners were few in comparison. The troops gave little quarter, and bitterly revenged the murdered Weir: their loss was three killed and eighteen wounded.

On the following day Wetherall dispersed a body of armed habitants at Point Olivier, and captured two small guns. On the 2d of December Gore paid another visit to St Denis with a stronger force than before. He found it abandoned, Nelson had fled, and his buildings, as well as the others from which the troops had been fired at, were given to the flames, and sacked by the enraged soldiers and volunteers. The abandoned gun was now recovered, as well as the body of the unfortunate Weir, which had been thrown into the river, and kept down by large stones.

* Narrative of Thomas Storrow Brown.

+ Brown appears to say in his statement that the number was much smaller. But as he endeavours to conceal his own cowardice, it is difficult to believe him The number seems to have been as above.

On the 5th of December the Governor issued a proclamation, declaring martial law in force in the district of Montreal. Large rewards had been already offered for the capture of Papineau, and divers others charged with the crime of high treason. £500 were now offered for the apprehension of the murderers of Weir, and £300 for the capture of the persons who had barbarously killed Joseph Chartrand, a volunteer private of the parish of St John.

The prompt measures taken by Sir John Colborne crushed out rebellion in the counties along the Richelieu, and before it could receive aid from the United States. Meanwhile, a body of sympathisers from Swanton in Vermont, composed principally of refugee Canadians, had taken post at St Armands, under the command of Bouchette and Gagnon. Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, of the 24th, was directed to dislodge these with six hundred troops; but the loyal volunteers of the frontier townships had already defeated and dispersed them, and captured a few prisoners, among whom was Bouchette, before he could march from St John's. The disaffected counties were now swept in every direction by the military and volunteers, and the jail of Montreal soon crowded with insurgent prisoners. Among these was Wolfred Nelson, who, after traversing by-roads and woods for ten days, swimming rivers and sleeping in the snow, was captured in the eastern townships, the militia of which, having obtained arms from the Government, were now thoroughly on the alert.

In Quebec the British inhabitants had come forward unanimously to offer their services to the Government, and were promptly formed into volunteer companies. A portion of these companies were embodied in a battalion one thousand strong, which with the other volunteers were soon able to perform the garrison duties of the city, and allow the troops to be withdrawn to Montreal. Aided by this reinforcement, and the insurgent gatherings on the Richelieu having been effectually suppressed, General Colborne now resolved to make a movement against St Eustache, lying nineteen miles to the northwest of Montreal, where a considerable body of the disaffected had established themselves, under the leadership of Amury Girod, appointed by Papineau to command north of the St Lawrence. A large number of the loyal inhabitants in this direction had been plundered by the insurgents, still ignorant of the disasters on the Richelieu, threatened in many cases with massacre, and compelled to take refuge in Montreal.

Every preparation having been completed, Sir John Colborne, on the 13th December, quitted Montreal amid the cheers of its loyal

citizens, at the head of two thousand men, including a body of cavalry and artillery. The ensuing night was passed at St Martin's, and next morning the troops crossed the Ottawa on the ice to St Eustache. The principal position of the rebels, who numbered about one thousand, was at the village church, now surrounded by a strong barricade, which was soon breached, however, by the fire of the artillery, when it was promptly carried by storm, and its defenders slain, captured, or driven out. The parsonage and manor houses, also occupied by the enemy, shared the same fate, and all these were soon wrapt in flames. A fresh wind blew at the time, and sixty adjoining buildings were speedily enveloped in one general conflagration. Some of the insurgents had taken refuge in the steeple of the church, and perished miserably in the flames, to the horror and distress of the spectators, who were unable to rescue them. Their entire loss was upwards of one hundred killed, nearly the same number wounded, and one hundred and eighteen prisoners. Their leader, Girod, like Brown at St Charles, deserted them soon after the firing commenced, under the pretence of bringing up reinforcements; but finding it impossible to escape, so narrowly was he pursued, he shot himself in the head, four days afterwards, a short distance below Montreal.

General Colborne next moved upon St Benoit, which had been the hotbed of sedition in that quarter, where two hundred and fifty men, drawn up in line, with white flags, surrendered and implored clemency. With exception of their leaders they were all humanely dismissed. Detachments of regulars and volunteers were also sent to other parts of the district, to disperse any bodies of insurgents which might still keep together. Several of the volunteers had been injured in their properties by the insurgents, and now took vengeance on the latter by burning their dwellings. Having completely dispersed the armed assemblages, and awed the disaffected, Sir John Colborne returned on the 17th to Montreal.

The firm attitude assumed by the Government, and the success which now so invariably attended the military movements, made a salutary impression on the habitants; and, in several quarters, meetings were held at which loyal resolutions were passed. In Vermont a proclamation was issued by Governor Jemison enjoining strict neutrality on the population; but it had very little effect in subsequently restraining the turbulent and ungovernable brigands, who had now collected on the frontier, and were ready for anything which promised plunder or unpunished robbery.

In accordance with his wishes, the Colonial Secretary, while fully

1838.

indorsing the course he had pursued, recalled Lord Gosford, of which measure intelligence reached Quebec on the 13th of January. He left for Boston, en route to England, on the 26th of February, receiving several addresses prior to his departure, and Sir John Colborne assumed the reins of civil power till another Governor should be appointed.

Martial law was still continued in the district of Montreal. On the 22d of February a general order was issued, directing the habitants of the counties of La Prairie, Chambly, and L'Acadie to deliver up their arms to the nearest justices of the peace or militia officers, within one month.

On the 28th, a body of six hundred refugees, who had fled the province in December, recrossed the frontier under the leadership of Robert Nelson, a brother of Wolfred, and a Dr Cote, with fifteen hundred stand of arms and three field-pieces, to organise another outbreak. But finding the gallant frontier militia and some troops gathering to oppose them, they returned into the United States, were met by General Wool, who had pursued them from Plattsburg, (the American Government being at length shamed into active interference,) and compelled to surrender their arms and warlike munitions. Nelson and Cote were arrested, and delivered over to the authorities of the State, but were soon again at liberty. "A declaration of independence" was issued during this brief inroad by Nelson, to which he appended his name as "President of the Provisional Government." Meanwhile, an act had been passed by the Imperial Parliament, in the beginning of February, suspending the Constitution of Lower Canada, and making temporary provision for its government by the creation of a Special Council, whose decrees were to have the same force as the acts of a Legislature. At the same time, the Earl of Durham was appointed Governor-General, and her Majesty's High Commissioner, "for the adjustment of certain important affairs affecting the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada." On the 29th of March, the "Act suspending the Constitution" was proclaimed in the Quebec Gazette by authority, and, on the 5th of April, the Special Council, composed of an equal number of persons of French and British origin, were summoned to meet at Montreal on the 18th. This council at once decreed that their ordinances should take effect immediately on being passed: their next step was to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act until the 14th of the following August, in order to allow Lord Durham to adopt more summary measures with regard to the insurgents in prison.

Matters having by this time assumed a more peaceable aspect, the

volunteer militia were permitted to return to their homes, and on the 3d of May a proclamation discontinuing martial law was published.

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE EARL OF DURHAM.

The Earl of Durham arrived at Quebec on the 27th of May, assumed charge of the government, and two days afterwards issued a proclamation, briefly stating the policy he proposed to pursue. "The honest and conscientious advocate of reform, and of the amelioration of defective institutions, will receive from me," he said, "without distinction of party, races, or politics, that assistance and encouragement which their patriotism has a right to command; but the disturbers of the public peace will find in me an uncompromising opponent. People of British America, I beg you to consider me as a friend and an arbitrator, ready at all times to listen to your wishes, complaints, and grievances, and fully determined to act with the strictest impartiality. If you, on your side, will abjure all party and sectarian animosities, and unite with me in the blessed work of peace and harmony, I feel assured that I can lay the foundation of such a system of government as will protect the rights and interests of all classes, allay all dissensions, and permanently establish, under Divine Providence, the wealth, greatness, and prosperity, of which such inexhaustible elements are to be found in these fertile countries." He amply redeemed his promise. Never did any public man act more disinterestedly than Lord Durham. His celebrated report is a lasting monument of elaborate research, impartial scrutiny, and historical worth.

Considerable reinforcements had already arrived from England and Halifax, as well as several vessels of war, and the prospect of successful revolt was now more slender than ever. Still, disaffection had not yet ceased to exist, and Papineau's partisans were already organising another armed force with a view to the establishment of the Republic of Lower Canada.

One of Lord Durham's first measures was to procure an accurate return of the prisoners in the several jails of the province, with the depositions against each, and a list of the unexecuted warrants against parties who had fled the country. The old Executive Council was next dissolved, as well as the Special Council recently constituted under the Suspension Act. A new Executive Council was, however, soon appointed. A commission formed to inquire into the mode of disposing of Crown lands brought many abuses to light. Its report was favourable to the squatters, and recommended that they should be allowed the right of pre-emption.