would Lord Elgin do? Would he give his
assent to the bill, the finishing vice-regal touch which would make it
law, or would he reserve it for Her Majesty's sanction? Some unnamed
{124} persons of respectability had a shrewd suspicion of what he would
do, as the sequel proved. An accident hastened the crisis. In 1849
the navigation of the St Lawrence opened early; and on the twenty-fifth
of April the first vessel of the season was sighted approaching the
port of Montreal. In order to make his new Tariff Bill immediately
operative on the nearing cargo, Hincks posted out to 'Monklands,' Lord
Elgin's residence, in order to obtain the governor-general's formal
assent to this particular bill. The governor did as he was asked. He
drove in from 'Monklands' in state to the Parliament House for the
purpose. The time seemed opportune to give his assent to several other
bills. Among the rest he assented in Her Majesty's name to the 'Act to
provide for the indemnification of parties in Lower Canada whose
property was destroyed during the Rebellion of 1837 and 1838.' What
happened in consequence is best told in his own words. 'When I left
the House of Parliament, I was received with mingled cheers and
hootings by a crowd by no means numerous, which surrounded the entrance
of the building. A small knot of individuals consisting, it has since
been {125} ascertained, of persons of a respectable class in society,
pelted the carriage with missiles which they must have brought with
them for the purpose.' The 'missiles' which could not be picked up in
the street were rotten eggs. One of them struck Lord Elgin in the
face. That was the Canadian method of expressing disapproval of a
governor-general for acting in strict accordance with the principles of
responsible government. But this was only part of the price he had to
pay for doing right. Worse was to follow.

Immediately after this outrage a notice was issued from one of the
newspapers calling an open-air meeting in the Champ de Mars. Towards
evening the excitement increased, and the fire-bells jangled a tocsin
to call the people into the streets. The Champ de Mars soon filled
with a tumultuous mob, roaring its approbation of wild speeches which
denounced the 'tyranny' of the governor-general and the Reformers. A
cry arose, 'To the Parliament House!' and the mob streamed westward,
wrecking in its passage the office of Hincks's paper the _Pilot_. The
House was in ses