gave way. Before the end of the year, he was too ill to remain; and he died soon after his return to England.

Sir Charles T. Metcalfe succeeded him, in February 1843. The same policy was carried on, and the same ministry remained in power. The fine qualities of this excellent ruler were known through his government of Jamaica, where he had been sent by Lord Melbourne's ministry in 1839. For a few months, all appeared to go well; but in the autumn, disputes arose out of a claim made by his ministry to be consulted about appointments to office, which all agreed to be the prerogative of the crown. The ministry resigned, in consequence of the refusal of Sir C. Metcalfe to admit their right to be consulted; and the session closed hastily before its business was finished. For some time there was no ministry; and when there was, it was a moderate 'English' ministryMr. Daly and Mr. Draper being the leading representatives in it of the two sections of country. The French party were now in opposition for nearly four years; and now therefore was the time for settling the affair of the £40,000. The governor-general and his cabinet admitted the justice of giving compensation to sufferers of both parties; but the doing it was difficult in the extreme. Instead of charging the money for Canada West on the general revenue, they appropriated to the purpose two local funds which were paid almost entirely by the English in the western province. So far all went well. The trouble was with the other province. A commissioner was appointed to manage the business, with regard to Canada East-to manage it, everybody thought; but it soon appeared that they had power only to receive claims, and not to decide upon them. The commissioners applied to the executive to know how they were to distinguish between claims from rebels, and those proffered by persons not actually involved in the rebellion. The answer was, that none were to be excluded but those who had been convicted by law; and when one of the leaders, exiled to Bermuda under Lord Durham's ordinance, applied personally to the governor-general to know what he ought to do, the governor-general desired him to send in his account, reminding him with a smile that he had not been

convicted by law, the ordinance under which he was sent to Bermuda being declared illegal. Still no disturbance arose. But Sir Charles Metcalfe (now made Lord Metcalfe) fell ill, and after fearful sufferings, nobly borne for many months, was compelled to relinquish his government; and he returned to England at the close of 1845, not with the slightest hope of relief, but to make way for a successor adequate to the public service. Honours were showered on him on his return; and, in the midst of the anguish of disease, such a heart as his must have enjoyed the demonstrations of sympathy and respect which met him everywhere. But, as he said in one of his last replies to addresses, the grave was open at his feet; and he sank into it in the next September, mourned by all parties in Canada, and by the whole political world at home. Lord Cathcart administered the government for nearly a year, till Lord Elgin went out as governor-general, a few months after the date which closes our history.

The Lafontaine ministry was restored-the DalyDraper cabinet' having fallen into a minority in the assembly, and made matters worse by an experiment of a general election. The restored ministry proceeded in the compensation matter, bringing into the assembly a bill by which compensation was to be given to all who were not formally convicted of high treason; and the charge would fall on the general revenues of Canada. Now, by far the larger part of the taxes is paid by others than the French; the French making for themselves the greater number of the commodities which others import such as sugar, tobacco, and material for clothing. Thus the British party see that taxes paid by themselves, and not by the party claiming compensation, will go to build up the fortunes of those whom they call rebels. Unhappily, there is a wide diversity of opinion as to whether this is an imperial or a local question. Some say that it is an imperial question, because it is of the same bearing as a question of amnesty after rebellion. Others look at it as a local quarrel about a matter of finance and party ascendency. It does not lie within our bounds to discuss this controversy. It is scarcely necessary even to say that it has kindled a war of opinions in Canada which seems but too likely to revive

the war of races, and endanger the permanence of the policy cemented with the hearts' blood of a succession of devoted rulers.

In 1845, misfortunes befell the city of Quebec, by which it was reduced to nearly the size that it was when Wolfe fell before it. More than two-thirds of the city were destroyed by fire in the months of May and June. These large fires seldom leave much cause for regret to a subsequent century; as it is usually the primitive, ill-built, unwholesome part of a great city which is devoured by the flames. In this case, it was the wooden part of Quebec that was destroyed-the narrow streets between the river and the rock, where was found most that was foul and disreputable. Much else went also churches, wharves, ship-yards, and a hospital full of sick persons, many of whom perished in the flames; and the immediate distress amidst the enormous destruction of property, and crowding of houseless thousands, was very terrible; and, when the fire of June drove them forth a second time, almost overwhelming. But the Quebec of a century hence will be all the better for the accident. Generous help was sent from far and near, and the citizens have probably already learned to look back without much regret to the great fires of 1845.

There seems to have been a fatality about fires during this period. Just a year after the second Quebec fire, the city of St. John's, Newfoundland, was almost destroyed. Scarcely a fourth part remained. The houses here were built of wood; and the stores in the warehouses were chiefly oil and blubber, and other combustible substances. A complete sweep seems to have been made of the churches, and the government and other public offices. During the summer months, the greater part of the inhabitants were living in tents, provided from the army stores.

In 1842, there had been such a fire at Hamburg that the people thought the day of judgment was come. Churches were falling like ricks in the flame. Carts were

on fire in the squares, and boats on the river. Terrified horses strove to plunge into the Alster. Amidst blinding showers of ashes, those who were driven beyond their wits sank on their knees, screaming, weeping, and praying;

and hardy thieves pillaged the houses that stood open. Two thousand houses were destroyed; 30,000 persons were left homeless; and the loss of property was computed at £7,000,000. Liberal aid was sent from this country, as from others. The greater part of Smyrna was burnt down in July 1845, 4000 houses and many public buildings being destroyed. In Cuba, the richest part of the rich city of Matanzas perished in like manner; and again, in the same month, July 1845-bringing five of the greatest fires of modern times within the compass of two monthsoccurred the last fearful New York conflagration, in which 302 dwellings were destroyed, and above £2,000,000 of property. It seems impossible that some lessons should not be derived by the world from such spectacles as these, as to the construction of dwellings, if not as to the guardianship of such a power as fire. Meantime, it is as well to admit the purification that it brings, through however hard an experience.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Corn Question-Mr. Gladstone's Retirement-Financial Statement -Agricultural Interests-Portents-Bad Weather-The Potato Rot -The League-More Portents-Lord John Russell's Letter-Cabinet Councils-Announcement of the Times-Resignation of MinistersNegotiation with Lord John Russell-Return of Sir Robert Peel to Power-Death of Lord Wharncliffe-Sir Robert Peel's Position.

Ar the opening of the session of 1845, there seemed to be but one troublesome controversy agitating the community. The harvest of 1844 had been good; and therefore provisions were moderate in price, trade was brisk, the operative classes were contented, the revenue was steadily rising, and even Ireland was quieter than usual. The one troublesome controversy was-as need hardly be said— about the corn-laws.

The landed interest' was restless and uneasy. The League was as busy as ever, and visibly growing more powerful in this season of prosperity, though it had been widely said that its influence had been wholly due to the

distress of 1840-43. It was also evident, though the truth was admitted with the utmost reluctance, that Sir R. Peel was rising yearly in the favour of the manufacturing and commercial classes, by whom he was regarded as so decided a free-trader, that everything might be hoped from him, as time opened to him opportunities for carrying out his principles, in regard to other food than meat and fish, and garden vegetables. Few, perhaps, put this anticipation into words; but there were many landowners and many farmers who let it lie in their minds, to be revolved in solitary rides and walks, and compared with what they heard among their neighbours; and there were a multitude of commercial men who, practised in discerning the course of commercial events, and of politics in connection with them, foresaw that the first pressure upon the food-market must occasion a repeal of the corn-laws, and that Sir R. Peel was more likely to effect the change than any other man, because he knew and had done most about free-trade, and because he was the only man we had who could govern under difficulties. The Whigs were pledged to a fixed duty, which the free-traders were resolved not to accept. Sir R. Peel and his government were pledged to nothing but to do what events might require. They had stood by their sliding-scale for two years, because, as they declared, they saw no reason for repealing it till it had had a full trial; but they had not said that it would prove equal to any trial-much less had they refused to withdraw it if it should be found to fail. It is a proof of the power of educational and class prejudice that they and the Whigs could so long cling to the proved mischief of agricultural protection; but the minds of the Peel ministry were now avowedly open to evidence as to whether all agricultural protection was more of an evil than a good, and whether, if an evil, it was a removable one. On this ground alone, the ministry was regarded as in any way unstable, at the commencement of the session of 1845. On this, the manufacturing and commercial classes were watchful, while the agricultural interest was suspicious. About everything else, everybody was better satisfied than usual, except the late Whig ministers, and some of their adherents.