of want and misery: it cannot surely be intended that we are to be
mulcted in heavy pecuniary damages besides.' The reasonableness of
these sentiments can hardly be questioned--bitter indignation would be
aroused by the attempt to confute them--and yet I feel that if I were
too freely to assent to them, I might encourage recklessness,
extravagance, and peculation. From the overwhelming nature of the
calamity, and the large share which it has naturally occupied of the
attention of Parliament and of the public, the task of making
arrangements to meet the necessities of the case has practically been
withdrawn from the department of the Civil Secretary, and fallen into
the hands of the Provincial Administration. In assenting to the
various minutes which they have passed for affording relief to the
sick and destitute, and for guarding against the spread of disease, I
have felt it to be my duty, even at the risk of incurring the
imputation of insensibility to the claims of distress, to urge the
necessity of economy, and of adopting all possible precautions against
waste. You will at once perceive, however, how embarrassing my
position is. A source of possible misunderstanding between myself and
the colonists is furnished by these untoward circumstances, altogether
unconnected with the ordinary, or, as I may perhaps venture to term
them, normal difficulties of my situation.

On the whole, all things considered, I think that a great deal of
forbearance and good feeling has been shown by the colonists under
this trial. Nothing can exceed the devotion of the nuns and Roman
Catholic priests, and the conduct of the clergy and of many of the
laity of other denominations has been most exemplary. Many lives have
been sacrificed in attendance on the sick and administering to their
temporal and spiritual need. But the aspect of affairs is becoming
more and more alarming. The panic which prevails in Montreal and