chiefly on those who had done so. I will give no opinion on the
merits of the question, but simply say that blood ran very hot when
it was discussed. At last the Houses of the Provincial Parliament,
then assembled at Montreal, decreed that the losses should be made
good by the public treasury; and the English mob in Montreal, when
this decree became known, was roused to great wrath by a decision
which seemed to be condemnatory of English loyalty. It pelted Lord
Elgin, the Governor-General, with rotten eggs, and burned down the
Parliament house. Hence there arose, not unnaturally, a strong
feeling of anger on the part of the local government against
Montreal; and moreover there was no longer a house in which the
Parliament could be held in that town. For these conjoint reasons
it was decided to move the seat of government again, and it was
resolved that the Governor and the Parliament should sit
alternately at Toronto in Upper Canada, and at Quebec in Lower
Canada, remaining four years at each place. They went at first to
Toronto for two years only, having agreed that they should be there
on this occasion only for the remainder of the term of the then
Parliament. After that they were at Quebec for four years; then at
Toronto for four; and now again are at Quebec. But this
arrangement has been found very inconvenient. In the first place
there is a great national expenditure incurred in moving old
records and in keeping double records, in moving the library, and,
as I have been informed, even the pictures. The government clerks
also are called on to move as the government moves; and though an
allowance is made to them from the national purse to cover their
loss, the arrangement has nevertheless been felt by them to be a
grievance, as may be well understood. The accommodation also for
the ministers of the government and for members of the two Houses
has been insufficient. Hotels, lodgings, and furnished houses