f should not be considered until the 27th of
March, and that a call of the House should be made for that day. Mr.
Ogden, however, bluntly moved for the discharge of the order of the
day, and that the subject should not be taken into consideration at all
during the session. The debate was loud and long continued. James
Stuart and Andrew Stuart were brilliant; the Gugys, the McCords, and
the Ogdens, were dumb. The Vezinas, the Vigers, the Panets, the
Languedocs, and the Badeaux, had changed sides. Night came and still
the debate continued, the midnight hour was passed and yet the war of
words was fiercely going on, and morning came only to find the
impeachments, which the Assembly had so long cherished, finally buried
in oblivion, by 22 votes in favor of the abrupt motion of Mr. Ogden,
while there were only 10 votes against it. Mr. Stuart was abandoned.
There was now a greater than he to lead the Assembly. Sir John Coape
Sherbrooke thoroughly understood the materials with which he had to
deal, and he dealt with them accordingly. The Assembly had no longer
independence: spirit, self-respect, power was sacrificed for that which
gives wisdom to the foolish and judgment to the weak. The sum of
L55,000 was appropriated for the improvement of roads, canals, and
bridges; L2,000 was voted for the encouragement of inoculation with
vaccine virus as a preventative of small pox; the revenue for 1816 was
L144,625; the expenditure L75,638, less L24,495, the proportion of
duties payable to Upper Canada for 1815; the expenses of the
legislature for the same period were L3,203 currency; the salaries of
the judges were now L1,000 currency per annum each, and yet at the
disposal of the legislature there was the sum of L140,153.[29] The
session was closed on the 22nd of March, by receiving the thanks of the
Governor General for the extraordinary application to business which
had distinguished this session from any preceding session of the
parliament of Lower Canada.

[29] Christie's History, page 290.

In the course of the summer (1817) three hundred and three vessels with
five thousand three hundred and seventy-five new settlers had arrived
at Quebec, and banks were established both in Montreal and Quebec,
named after the cities in which they were set afloat. About the 15th of
November it was remarked that the Montreal Bank had commenced with
quite an unexpected confidence from every part of the community, so
much so that the mercha