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The disloyal intentions of Papineau and his followers were made very clear by the various meetings which were held in the Montreal and Richelieu districts, by the riots which followed public assemblages in the city of Montreal, by the names of "Sons of Liberty" and "Patriots" they adopted in all their proceedings, by the planting of "trees," and raising of "caps" of liberty.
Then when the doctor turned up, Papineau would rush him to Roaring River, and and if the Lord was willing he might be able to do something, providing.... But she had to interrupt herself to wipe away another big tear. She placed a hand upon the girl's shoulder, seeking to encourage her a little, and started off, her heavy footsteps crackling over the snow.
But when the day of relief came, the influence of Mr Papineau, however great it might have been and however great it still remained, ceased to be paramount. When eventually the Union Act was carried, Papineau violently assailed it, showed all its defects, deficiencies and dangers, and yet he could not rouse his followers and the people to agitate for the repeal of that Act. What was the reason?
The news of this affair spread rapidly through the parishes, and greatly encouraged the Patriotes to resist the arrest of Papineau and his lieutenants. Papineau, Nelson, Brown, and O'Callaghan had all evaded the sheriff's officer, and had taken refuge in the country about the Richelieu, the heart of the revolutionary district.
Portions of the already-mentioned letter from Papineau to Bidwell had seemed to point to a possible invasion of the Province by inhabitants of the United States. This idea was eagerly seized upon by Sir Francis, as indicative of concerted action between the hypothetical invaders and the Upper Canadian Radicals.
The thing that disturbed him most was that girl's unshakable belief in his villainy. Was she really insane? He had had no opportunity to communicate that thought to Mrs. Papineau. But then, after her arrival, she had seemed so absolutely rational in all that she had said and done that the idea had, for the time being, passed away from his mind.
The action of the Lower Canadian house on this matter was communicated to the assembly of Upper Canada by a letter of Mr. Papineau to Mr. Bidwell, who laid it before his house just before the prorogation in 1835.
One of them was Papineau; the other was John Neilson, the capable Scottish editor of the Quebec Gazette. The two men made a very favourable impression; they enlisted on their side the leaders of the Whig party in the Commons; and they succeeded in having the bill well and duly shelved.
I've stayed with them ever since, of course, for there was no one to take me back. Mr. Papineau hadn't returned. He was trapping." "I don't see but what she must be tellin' the truth," opined Mrs. Kilrea. "There ain't anything wrong or improper in all this, savin' a girl handlin' a revolver, which ain't wise. We can go over to Papineau's and make sure it's just as she says."
Papineau retained the speakership, with but one brief period of intermission, until the outbreak of rebellion twenty-two years later; and it was from the speaker's chair that he guided throughout this period the counsels of the Patriote party. When Papineau entered public life the political situation in Lower Canada was beginning to be complicated.
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