CANADA HISTORY - DOCUMENTS COLONIAL

1849 Lord Elgin on the Depression in Montreal

On Monday last when I went into Montreal to receive the address of the Assembly I was brutally assaulted. Almost all the leaders in these commotions are bankrupts - desperate men who are looking to annexation as a last resource - Sir A. McNab, Cayley and others of the political clique are also ruined men. I think that in a few days U. C. will speak out with great unanimity in favor of order and of my policy. Already addresses from that quarter are beginning to pour in. Of course all French Lower Canada is with us but the great object is to keep them quiet and to prevent collision between the races. The only advice I can venture to give you is to take time and wait for further intelligence before you decide upon the course you will follow. Montreal is rotten to the core and if all Canada be like it the sooner we have done with it the better. I hope however for better things. The orangemen are powerful only in the towns, where their organization enables them to act at once. Petitions are being signed praying for my recall, I wish to God they had nothing more mischievous in hand.