The Scene
Outside Was Extremely Picturesque; There Were Hundreds Of Carts With
Shaggy, Patient Little Horses In Rows, With Very Miscellaneous Tents -
Cabbages And Butter Jostling Pork And Hides.
You may see here hundreds of
habitans, who look as if they ought to have lived a century ago
- Shaggy
men in fur caps and loose blue frieze coats with hoods, and with bright
sashes of coloured wool round their waists; women also, with hard features
and bronzed complexions, in large straw hats, high white caps, and noisy
sabots. On all sides a jargon of Irish, English, and French is to be
heard, the latter generally the broadest patois.
We went into the Council Chamber, the richly cushioned seats of which
looked more fitted for sleep than deliberation; and I caught a glimpse of
the ex-mayor, whose timidity during a time of popular ferment occasioned a
great loss of human life. That popular Italian orator, "Father Gavazzi"
was engaged in denouncing the superstitions and impositions of Rome; and
on a mob evincing symptoms of turbulence, this mayor gave the order to
fire to the troops who were drawn up in the streets. Scarcely had the
words passed his lips, when by one volley seventeen peaceful citizens (if
I recollect rightly), coming out of the Unitarian chapel, were laid low.
Montreal is a turbulent place. It is not very many years since a mob
assembled and burned down the Parliament House, for which exercise of the
popular will the city is disqualified from being the seat of government.
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