seeing also that they had been
admitted to share power and office, have been tranquillized; and the
result of the elections placed Lord Metcalfe comparatively at ease,
and rendered the task of his successor less onerous. Had his health
been spared, the blessing of his wise rule would long have been felt.
He is deeply and universally regretted throughout Canada.

As a proof of the loyalty of the Canadians, it is right to mention
that, whilst I am penning these pages, the press is teeming with calls
to the volunteers and militia to sustain Britain in the Oregon war;
and, because the militia is not prematurely called out, the
administrator of the government is attacked on all sides. Whilst I am
writing, the Hibernian Society, in an immense Roman Catholic
procession, passes by. There are four banners. The first is St.
Patrick, the second Queen Victoria, the third Father Matthew, the
fourth the glorious Union flag. Reader, it is the 17th of March, St.
Patrick's Day, and the band plays God save the Queen!

CHAPTER XVI.

The Thames Steamer--Torrid Night--"The Lady that helped" and her
Stays--Port Stanley--Buffalo City--Its Commercial
Prosperity--Newspaper Advertisements--Hatred to England and
encouragement of Desertion--General Crispianus--Lake Erie in a
rage--Benjamin Lett--Auburn Penitentiary--Crime and Vice in the
Canadas--Independence of Servants--Penitentiaries unfit for juvenile
offenders--Inefficiency of the Police--Insolence of
Cabmen--Carters--English rule of the road reversed--Return to Toronto.

The heat at Amherstburgh was so desiccating, that I was glad to leave
even my urbane host, serjeant-major as he had been of a royal
regiment, and his crowded though clean and comfortable inn, for the
spacious deck of the splendid Canadian steamer Thames, Captain Van
Allan, on board of which was to be enjoyed the absolute luxury of a
spacious state-room upon deck. Alas for the roomy state-room! even in
its commodious berth, rest could not be enjoyed, for the night was a
torrid one; nothing in the Western Indies could beat it, only there
was no yellow fever, although plenty of yellow countenances presented
themselves on the shoulders of Americans from the South, and coloured
waiters; but that which actually at last put me in a fever was the
sight of the female attendant of the ladies' cabin, whose form was so
buckled up in stays of the most rigid order, that the heat,
American-bred as she was, app