CHAPTER II.

The duty of the new governor was sufficiently responsible. It entailed not only the enactment of technical law and form of procedure, in themselves of the highest importance; it likewise exacted the delicate obligation of re-establishing in the newly constituted province, the amenities of social life with the accompanying teachings of civilization. There had never existed entire certainty that Canada would remain a British possession, and to the last, many Canadians had hoped it might be restored to France. The ad interim government had been one of expediency, having been considered as only temporarily existing until the final fate of the province would be placed beyond dispute. The representatives of British power had met this emergency by giving full consideration to the habits and manners of the new subjects, whose lives and fortunes they had to protect, and their administration of the law had been accepted by the Canadians in a loyal and unexceptionally good spirit. All was now changed: there was no longer uncertainty as to the future. Canada had become a part of the British dominions; and it was the duty of the rulers to establish firm principles of government, and to fix solidly the bases of law and order in civil life, so that the future should be one of prosperity and happiness.

French Canada had left behind no political traditions. There was no trace of that personal liberty which, with all its imperfections, has been the vital principle of the British constitution. The system had been one of centralization, with the concentration of power in the persons of the governor and intendant. Neither the military nor civil administration extended any rights to the individual. There were only two active principles to which tradition could appeal: religion and the civil law, and both furnished in a certain measure their

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share of difficulty. The former, not in the matter of the personal profession of faith, but by the continuance of the laws to extend to the church recognized life, and to provide for the clergy the means of subsistence. The ancient law by its identification with the customs, habits, property, and protection from wrong and injury of all who remained under the new government, enforced the embarrassing duty of determining to what extent it should be maintained unchanged; or be modified, to be brought into harmony with British institutions. The proclamation of the treaty of peace was the commencement of the new system, by which personal liberty and progress were to be safeguarded: when differences of political thought were to be governed by law and reason; when the humblest of the new subjects was to be assured against arbitrary interference with his rights; when property was to be held sacred against spoliation, and when the field. in which reward was attainable by merit, was to be thrown open to labour, enterprise, and probity.

These were the ends, the establishment of which the first governor-in-chief had never to put out of sight, and which he should make every righteous effort to attain.

Shortly after the arrival of the news of peace, a mutiny broke out at Quebec which for a few hours threatened to lead to disaster, and was only quieted through the firmness and ability of Murray. It arose out of the general order of the 18th of September, 1763, that the troops were henceforth to pay fourpence per day for the rations, which hitherto they had received at the cost of the government. After roll-call, when the orders were read, the troops "assembled to a man " without arms, opposite the governor's house, and expressed their dissatisfaction. There was no tumult, only that a few of the British residents of Quebec who saw fit to interfere, and upbraided the troops for their conduct, were pelted with stones. Some officers, who after hearing of the disturbance had come to the spot to appease the men, on the exhibition of this violence drew their swords, upon which the troops rushed to their barracks, seized their arms, and with drums

beating marched towards Saint John's gate, with the intention of leaving the city. Murray went among them personally to appeal to them, when they declared that they would march to sir Jeffery Amherst and lay down their arms at his feet. The men spoke highly of their officers, and with great respect; there was not a single man among them drunk; they were mad with rage. Lieutenant Mills, the town major, managed to close the gate. Fears were now entertained, that in their desperation they might plunder the town. Murray induced them to march to the parade ground on the esplanade, which adjoins the gate at right angles; he there addressed them, called upon them to return to the barracks and to behave as soldiers. Strange to relate, the guards were mounted as usual.

Murray assembled the officers and non-commissioned officers, and represented to them the unhappy consequences to the king's service, should news of the mutiny reach the other garrisons, and, ordering a general parade, again addressed the men. They made strong protestation of their loyalty and of their personal regard for their officers; but, at the same time, they declared that they would not submit to the stoppage of their pay. Murray appealed to them to return to barracks, and undertook to lay their grievances before the general. The night passed without further disturbance. On the succeeding day, the 20th of September, Murray again called the officers together, and pointed out that it was necessary to reduce the troops to obedience, or perish in the attempt. Success on the part of the mutineers in Quebec meant universal revolt throughout America. It was proposed that the officers should endeavour to use expostulation, to exercise their personal influence, and by mild measures lead the men back to their duty. This persuasion had no effect. In the afternoon, Murray having heard that some signs of contrition were being shewn, ordered a general parade under arms at ten o'clock the following morning, the 21st. When the parade was formed, Murray read the articles of war. The conclusion of the scene will be best told in his own

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words: "After painting in the best manner I could, the enormity of their crime, I declared my fixed resolution with my faithful officers to oblige them to submit or perish in the attempt. I went to the head of Amherst's grenadiers determined to put to death the first man who refused to obey. Thank God I was not reduced to that horrid necessity. The whole company submitted, and marched betwixt the two royal colours placed for that purpose. The whole followed their example, and I restored the battalions to their colours. The behaviour of officers and non-commissioned officers was admirable." Thus the mutiny ended. Had it been treated

*

with less judgment and courage, it would have penetrated the whole force serving in North America.

The order for the stoppage of pay was issued when the troops were in the field under Bouquet, advancing to the Ohio; his defeat of the Indians at Bushy run having taken place only a few weeks previous to the mutiny. Those who issued it doubtless acted on the principle, that economy was called for in the national finances. They set out of view the extravagant pensions given by the court to its partisans, whose sole claim was their pliant servility, and that at this very time political service, provided it was acceptable to the king, was rewarded by emoluments which at this day, even taking into account the great reduction of the value of money, would appear enormous. We must all look upon the government of these years with bewilderment, as we read the record of its extravagance and folly in the purlicus of the imperial parliament, while in the outer empire those engaged in defending the national honour were invariably treated harshly and unjustly. Murray, and the officers of the garrison, received the official thanks of the king for their conduct. But all recollection of the event immediately passed away, and those who had rendered the service failed to obtain the least consideration.

There was no accommodation for the troops in the shape of barracks, and much difficulty and trouble were experienced

Murray to Egremont, Quebec, 3rd Oct., 1763. Can. Arch., Q., 1, p. 169.

from this circumstance. The system of billeting became necessary, and it was one of the principal causes of the illfeeling that arose at Montreal between the citizens and the troops, which it will be seen led to bad consequences.

'At the time Murray received his commission, two civil officers arrived from England, William Gregory, appointed chief justice, and George Suckling, attorney-general. Nothing however can be discovered of the antecedents of these men ; it was scarcely possible to find two persons more unfit for their position. Neither knew a word of French, and both formed a false idea of their obligations and the mode of their fulfilment. They were soon superseded, the chief justice being notified on February the 5th, 1766, that in consequence of his conduct his majesty “has no more occasion for his services," and on the 6th of March a similar communication was sent to Suckling. They appear to have made law as cumbersome and as expensive as it could be made, and in no way to have understood the responsibility of the duties they had undertaken.

On their arrival Murray reconstructed his council. The chief justice was appointed president, with seven members, viz., colonel Paulus Æmilius Irving, Hector Theophile Cramahé, both of whom had been in the former council, Adam Mabane, a staff surgeon of the garrison, Walter Murray, captain Samuel Holland, appointed surveyor general, Benjamin Price, Thomas Dunn, and François Mounier. By an ordinance of the 17th of September, 1764, the government of the district of Three Rivers was abolished. There remained accordingly only the districts of Quebec and Montreal; the boundary of which was the river Saint Maurice to the north, and the river Godefroy to the south.

In September the ordinances establishing the courts of justice were published. They consisted of the king's bench holding sessions at Quebec twice a year, in January and June, to try civil and criminal causes, according to the law of England, with appeal to the governor in council when the

Can. Arch., Q., 3, PP. 1-4.