The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-15 00:00:00

S NY MAY 15, 1849.

AMERICAN NEWS.

INSURRECTION IN CANADA.

LIVERPOOL, MONDAY EVENING.—The Royal Mail
steamer Europa, Captain Lott, arrived with advices
from New York to the 2d, and from Halifax to the
sth inst., and 150 passangers.
The Canadian advices are of great importance.
On the 25th of April the Governor-General went
to the Parliament-house in Montreal, to give the
Royal assent to various Bills which had been passed,
and amongst them the Indemnity Bill. The mo-
ment the Clerk of the House read the title of this
Bill as returned:with the Royal sanction, the galleries
in which the spectators were assembled burst out into
hisses and groans, and immediaaely the persons in
them left the House to communicate to the city the
unwelcome tidings.

The sequel to the story is told in all the papers.
The representative of the Sovereign was personally
outraged. The Parliament was dissolved by violence.
The members were driven from the building, to which
the torch of the incendiary was applied, and in the
space of a few hours the Parliament-house, the
records and archives of the colony, and a fine library,
were reduced to ashes, the fire companies standing
by in willing or compelled inactivity, and neither
police nor military interfering to prevent or avert the
outrage.
The swearing-in o'f a number of Frenchmen as
special constables caused a great increase to the ex-
citement. One report states that the constables fired
upon a large body of the rioters.
On the way to the Parliament-house, the Govenor-
General and the obnoxious members were pelted
with eggs and dirt; the Governor himself was struck
on the head by a stone, and in the face by an egg.
During this scene the Riot Act was read, and the
troops ordered to charge.
No lives were lost, though the crowd was very
dense. So intense became the excitement in conse-
quence of the arrival of the French, that the Governor-
General had to give orders for their arms to be taken
away. Strong apprehensions were entertained of
still greater violence.
The
Montreal,nd
a following telegraphicpublishedin
dispatches,th e
American received
journals,from
contain a condensed and accurate account of the dis-
turbances at that city :
OUTBREAK IN MONTREAL— BURNING

OF THE PARLIAMENT-HOUSE.
MONTREAL, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, Six P.M.
Affairs have reached a crisis sooner than was antici-
pated in this city.
At a late hoar yesterday afternoon the Governor-
General went down to the Legislative Council and sanc-
tioned forty-eight Bills, amongst which was sneaked
that of the Rebellion Losses.
Upon this being made known to the mob outside, the
Governor, on entering his carriage, was pelted with
rotten eggs, dirt, &c., amidst a shower of which the vice-
royal cortege drove off.
An egg struck his Excellency in the face.
In a few hours the excitement in the city became un-
controllable, and by soven o'clock printed notices of a
mass meeting to be immediately held in the Champ de
Mars were issued. Persons were commissioned to alarm
the people by driving through the streets in calaches
with large bills. The fire bells were also
.brought into
execution.
At eight o'clock a crowd of 4,000 persons or more
assembled, and after strong resolutions had been passed,
the cry was raised "To the Parliament buildings 1" The
enraged multitude immediately rushed at a run through
the streets, and by nine o'clock the first stone was
thrown through a window into the midst of the Legisla-
tive Assembly, at the time in full session.
A constant shower was kept up into the windows till
everything was smashed.
In the meantime the members assembled in the lobby.
A band of twenty-five of the leaders of the mob
rushed into the Chambers, and one having placed him-
self in the Speaker's chair, announced—" Gentlemen,
the French Parliament is dissolved."
They then bolted with the mace, to present it to Sir
Allan :11‘Nab, at Donnegana's Hotel.
The cry of fire was now raised, and it was soon found
that the Parliament Houses were in flames in a
hundred places.
The fire spread with great rapidity, and in half an
hour the buildings were one sheet of flame.
The mob had now augmented to 7,000, and the
burning buildings were surveyed with the most stoical
indifference on the part of the spectators.
At first the firetn-•n refused to play, and only at-
tempted tosave the buildings close by.
Everything has been lost—all the archives and records
of the colonies for several hundred years. Not 100 dol-
lars worth of property has been saved.
The military were called out, and were received with
loud cheers on the part of the mob.
No fresh disturbances up to the present have taken
place.
The population, of all cla;ses and creeds, had deter-
mined to stand by the acts of the past night
The windows of Mr. Hicks's house were broken by a
small section of the rioters.
Military guards were placed during the night over all
the houses of the Ministers.
No lives were lost.
Sir Allan M'Nab, the Hon. W. Badgely, and G. B.
Turner, Esq., one of the editors of the Montreal Courier,
were cut out of the Parliament House with axes.
A message was sent to Monklands, the Governor's
residence, a mile or two from the city, and the Governor
and family immediately came into the town, and are
now at Donnegana's.
A council was held during the night. 148 warrants
for arrest were issued, among whom it is mentioned are
the names of Messrs. Montgomery, Muck Reward, and
F. Smith.
The St. Andrew's Society met this morning to expel
Lord Elgin as patron of the society.
No news yet from the Upper Provinces.
SECOND DISPATCH.
MONTREAL, APRIL 26, HALF-PAST Sax.
The excitement amongst the populace is increasing
every moment.
Five leading Conservatives were arrested on a charge
of arson, and after undergoing a short examination
before the polico magistrates, were remanded to gaol till

to- morrow.
Their names are Montgomery, Mack Reward, and
Ferris.
A multitude, numbering about three thousand, accom-
panied them to prison, amidst continued and deafening
cheers.
They were escorted by a guard of one hundred men
of the 19th Regiment.
The whole garrison are under arms.
A memorial to his Excellency Sir Benjamin Dunbar,
praying him to order the troops to remain iu quarter,
and leave the people to settle their own affairs, is in
course of signature, and will be sent down with a depu-
tation to Sorell tonight.
A mass meeting takes place in the Champ de Mars, at
two o'clock to-morrow. The Hun. G. Moffatt is to be
the chairman.
The French are enrolling themselves as a body-guard
to protect Lord Elgin.
It is rumoured that the gaol will bo burned to-night.
Dispatches have been sent by telegraph to the Upper
Provinces.
The Government attempted to gain possession of the
Canada telegraph wires for the day, but were promptly
denied them.
(mu ANOTIER CORRESPONDENT.)
MONTREAL, APRIL 26.
The Governor of Canada has signed the Indemnity
Bill, and a serious riot took place in this city last even-
ing, during which the Tories tired and burned the Par-
liament buildings, including the valuable library of the
house and all public documents.
Mr. Moffatt, a distingeised member of the House, has
been arrested for high treason.
Another telegraphic dispatch appeared in the New
York Tribune and Philadelphia North American, of
which the subjoined is a copy. It will be seen tha'
it contains several additional and interesting particu.
Lars :

" MONTREAL, APRIL 26,

"The Governor came down to the Legislative Chamber
yesterday, and gave the royal assent to the Bill for in-
demnifying losses sustained during the rebellion. On
leaving the Parliament House he was pelted by a mob—
mostly Orangemen—and forced to retire to his residence
in the country. Last night, while the Assembly was
engaged on the Judiciary Bill, loud shouts gave evidence
that a riot was fomenting outside; and before a moment
elapsed a number of stones were thrown through the
windows. The Members rushed behind the Speaker's
chair, while stones continued to be thrown incessantly.
" The benches were promptly deserted, as well as the
strangers' galleries, and mi tubers were seen flying up
stairs to the library. The only member visible was Mr.
Stevenson, who had placed himself on one of the benches
between the windows, and eyed the havoc with the spirit
of ono determined not to flinch. Tile stones for
some time were thrown only from the front part of the
building, but in a few minutes there was not left an un-
broken light in the whole range. A slight cessation oc-
curring, several members entered the house from the
lobby ; but the rioters recominenced the attack from all
sides—the house was again cleared—not one solitary
member left—missiles still continuing to enter through
the shattered windows.
" At last a cry was raised from the library end of the
building, ' They corne."fhose who had taken refuge
there then rushed along the centre of the hall, and dis-
appeared behind the Speaker's chair—the lobby at
that end being crowded with members and clerks
Immediately after about a dozen persons entered the :
Assembly Hall, armed with sticks. One walked up to
Mr. Stevens, and seated himself in the Speaker's 'ehair.
Another looked around the hall, end muttered something
about dissolving Parliament. Others commenced le-
stroying all before them, including chandeliers suspended
from the ceiling, Mass globes, aura Qom lights. (Ale of

[PRICE SD.

them visited the frrnt row of Members' benches on both
sides of the house, str king all papers to the floor
pith sticks.

After him another, more determined on destruction,

tore the benches up, throwing some into the centre of the
floor, and jumping upon or breaking them. The splen-
did mace of the Assembly caught the eye of one, who
speedily marched off with it over his shoulder. The
Sergeant-at-Arms, L. F. Magistry, witnessed this daring
act from the doorway leading into the library, and, as
the fellow passed out, caught hold of the crown, and
nearly succeeded in rescuing it. Two or three of the
party came to the rescue, and struck at the Sergeant
with clubs, and forced him to relinquish his hold, and the
mace was carried off.

"Having destroyed as much as they could, they left the
Assembly Hall. A few soon returned, but some of the
Members having entered from the rear of the Speaker's
chair, the rioters contented themselves with overturning
the benches; and, but for the exertions of Guan and
Robinson, the former of whom ejected a fellow in a
blanket coat, about to demolish the clerk's table, they
would not have left a single piece of furniture. One
fellow had arrived with the rod of office of the Ser-
geant-at-Arms, and went striking at every article in
the rear of the Speaker. He was obliged to seek escape
as the house had been fired at the McGill-street-end, and
the building was in flames. A cry was got up to save
the library.
"Sir Allen M'Nab used every exertion to effect this,
but all seemed bent on making their esoepe from the
fire. Sir Allen M'Nab and Mr. Badgley went to the
library and attempted to save a few volumes, but were
unable to get them out, and to save their lives were com-
pelled to descend by means of a ladder.
" The Parliament-house and others are totally de-
stroyed.

"Many arrests have been made this morning. Sir
George Moffat has been arrested, charged with high
treason. To-day all is (diet."
-Several private dispatches agreed upon the fact of a
restoration of tretquillity. Alas I it was not perms.
neat, for on the following evening (Friday, April
27) our magnetic telegraph brought the following
account of further outrages; but thus far, happily,
there appears to have been no loss oflife:—

" MONTREAL, APRIL 27, 9 P.M.

",Last night the Tory mob assembled again in great
force, and burned the house and stables of La Fontaine,
the Liberal leader in the Provincial Parliament, smashed
the windows of the houses of Dr. Nelson, another pro-
minent Liberalist, and Inspector-General Hincks, as
well as the houses of other gentlemen. Many acts of
violence were committed at the great mass meeting of
the Tories at the Champ de Mars at two o'clock this
afternoon.

The speakers recommended peaceable measures, but
resolutions were passed advising the recal of Lord El-
gin, when the assemblage quietly dispersed.
The Provincial Parliament met to day at Bonsecorn's
Market House; the attendance was slim, and the body
adjourned without action. The excitement is very high.