. . . . . . . . . . . 82
X. THE LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER . . . . . . . . . . 104
XI. THE SECOND REBELLION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
XII. A POSTSCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

{xi}

ILLUSTRATIONS

ADVANCE OF THE BRITISH TROOPS ON
THE VILLAGE OF ST DENIS, 1837 . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.

SIR JAMES CRAIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 16
From a portrait in the Dominion Archives.

LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 22
After a lithograph by Maurin, Paris.

WOLFRED NELSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 60
From a print in the Chateau de Ramezay.

SOUTH-WESTERN LOWER CANADA, 1837 . . . . . . . . . . " " 69
Map by Bartholomew.

DENIS BENJAMIN VIGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 128
From a print in M'Gill University Library.

{1}

CHAPTER I

CANADIANS, OLD AND NEW

The conquest of Canada by British arms in the Seven Years' War gave
rise to a situation in the colony which was fraught with tragic
possibilities. It placed the French inhabitants under the sway of an
alien race--a race of another language, of another religion, of other
laws, and which differed from them profoundly in temperament and
political outlook. Elsewhere--in Ireland, in Poland, and in the
Balkans--such conquests have been followed by centuries of bitter
racial warfare. In Canada, however, for a hundred and fifty years
French Canadians and English Canadians have, on the whole, dwelt
together in peace and amity. Only on the one occasion, of which the
story is to be told in these pages, has there been anything resembling
civil war between the two races; and this unhappy outbreak was neither
widespread nor prolonged. The record {2} is one which Canadians,
whether they be English or French, have reason to view with
satisfaction.

It does not appear that the Canadians of 1760 felt any profound regret
at the change from French to British rule. So corrupt and oppressive
had been the administration of Bigot, in the last days of the Old
Regime, that the rough-and-ready rule of the British army officers
doubtless seemed benignant in comparison. Comparatively few Canadians
left the country, although they were afforded