into one
between two widely differing British possessions; and
this, because of the general unrest among the Americans,
made the competition more bitter, if possible, than ever.

The Jesuits pressed their claims for recognition, for
their original estates, and for compensation. But their
order had fallen on evil days all over the world. It was
not popular even in Canada. And the arrangement was that
while the existing members were to be treated with every
consideration the Society itself was to be allowed to
die out.

The offended councillors went so far as to present Carleton
with a remonstrance which Irving himself had the misfortune
to sign. Carleton had consulted some members on points
with which they were specially acquainted. The members
who had not been consulted thereupon protested to Irving,
who assured them that Carleton must have done so by
accident, not design. But when Carleton received a joint
letter in which they said, 'As you are pleased to signifye
to Us by Coll. Irving that it was accident, & not
Intention,' he at once replied: 'As Lieutenant Colonel
Irving has signified to you that the Part of my Conduct
you think worthy of your Reprehension happened by Accident
let him explain his reasons for so doing. He had no
authority from me.' Carleton then went on to say that he
would consult any 'Men of Good Sense, Truth, Candour,
and Impartial Justice' whenever he chose, no matter
whether they were councillors or not.

The Walker affair, which now broke out again, was much
more serious than the storm in the Council's teacup. It
agitated the whole of Canada and threatened to range the
population of Montreal and Quebec into two irreconcilable
factions, the civil and the military. For the whole of
the two years since Murray had been called upon to deal
with it cleverly presented versions of Walker's views
had been spread all over the colonies and worked into
influential Opposition circles in England. The invectives
against the redcoats and their friends the seigneurs were
of the usual abusive type. But they had an unusually
powerful effect at that particular time in the Thirteen
Colonies as well as in what their authors hoped to make
a Fourteenth Colony after a fashion of their own; and
they looked plausible enough to mislead a good many
moderate men in the mother country too. Walker's case
was that he had an actual witness, as to the identity of
his assailants, in the person of McGovoch, a discharge