seigneurs sympathized with Payne, which added fuel to
the magisterial flame; and Murray, scenting danger,
summoned the whole bench down to Quebec.

But before this bench of bumbles started some masked men
seized Walker in his own house and gave him a good sound
thrashing. Unfortunately they spoilt the fair reprisal
by cutting off his ear. That very night the news had run
round Montreal and made a start for Boston and Quebec.
Feeling ran high; and higher still when, a few weeks
later, the civil magistrates vented their rage on several
redcoats by imposing sentences exceeding even the utmost
limits of their previous vindictive action. Montreal
became panic-stricken lest the soldiers, baited past
endurance, should break out in open violence. Murray
drove up, post-haste, from Quebec, ordered the affected
regiment to another station, reproved the offending
magistrates, and re-established public confidence. Official
and private rewards were offered to any witnesses who
would identify Walker's assailants. But in vain. The
smouldering fire burst out again under Carleton. But the
mystery was never cleared up.

Things had now come to a crisis. The London merchants,
knowing nothing about the internal affairs of Canada,
backed the petition of the Quebec traders, who were quite
unworthy of such support from men of real business probity
and knowledge. The magisterial faction in Canada advertised
their side of the case all over the colonies and in any
sympathetic quarter they could find in England. The