on the floor of the Assembly, Papineau
remarked that 'Craig merely imprisoned his {34} victims, but Aylmer
slaughters them.' The _Patriotes_ adopted the same bitter attitude
toward the government when the Asiatic cholera swept the province in
1833. They actually accused Lord Aylmer of having 'enticed the sick
immigrants into the country, in order to decimate the ranks of the
French Canadians.'

In the House Papineau became more and more violent and domineering. He
did not scruple to use his majority either to expel from the House or
to imprison those who incurred his wrath. Robert Christie, the member
for Gaspe, was four times expelled for having obtained the dismissal of
some partisan justices of the peace. The expulsion of Dominique
Mondelet has already been mentioned. Ralph Taylor, one of the members
for the Eastern Townships, was imprisoned in the common jail for using,
in the Quebec _Mercury_, language about Papineau no more offensive than
Papineau had used about many others. But perhaps the most striking
evidence of Papineau's desire to dominate the Assembly was seen in his
attitude toward a bill to secure the independence of judges introduced
by F. A. Quesnel, one of the more moderate members {35} of the
_Patriote_ party. Quesnel had accepted some amendments suggested by
the colonial secretary. This awoke the wrath of Papineau, who assailed
the bill in his usual vehement style, and concluded by threatening
Quesnel with the loss of his seat. The threat proved not to be idle.
Papineau possessed at this time a great ascendancy over the minds of
his fellow-countrymen, and in the next elections he secured Quesnel's
defeat.

By 1832 Papineau's political views had taken a more revolutionary turn.
From being an admirer of the constitution of 1791, he had come to
regard it as 'bad; very, very bad.' 'Our constitution,' he said, 'has
been manufactured by a Tory influenced by the terrors of the French
Revolution.' He had lost faith in the justice of the British
government and in its willingness to redress grievances; and his eyes
had begun to turn toward the United States. Perhaps he was not yet for
annexation to that country; but he had conceived a great admiration for
the American constitution. The wide application of the principle of
election especially attracted him; and, although he did not relinquish
his hope of subordinating the Executive to the Assembly by means of the
control of the finances, he {36