'So strong was our conviction of the importance of the services rendered by you and the magistrates on that occasion, that our desire was to have expressed our testimony of them immediately upon their occurrence; but considerations arising from the interposition of judicial authority prompted us to defer it.
'These considerations having now been removed in a manner the most satisfactory to you and to ourselves, we beg most respectfully to convey to you this expression of the obligation we feel we are under to you for the safety, that we then, and have since, enjoyed in our persons and property through your means; for that it is to the military, and to the magistrates, that we owe our preservation, has been manifestly brought to light before the grand jury, by their finding and presentments lately returned into the Court of King's Bench.
'We have only further to express a regret that the performance of a necessary but painful duty, should have subjected any one of you to unpleasant and unmerited restraint.'
The following letter from the Military Secretary of the General Commanding in Chief, addressed to Lieut.-General Lord Aylmer, K.C.B., Commander of the Forces in Canada, was published in the General Orders of the Colony:—
'Horse Guards, Oct. 23rd, 1832.
'My Lord,
'I have had the honor to receive and submit to the General Commanding in Chief, your Lordship's despatches of the 30th July and 7th September last, conveying, for Lord Hill's information, reports of what had taken place in consequence of a detachment of the Fifteenth Regiment of Foot, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Macintosh and Captain Temple, called out in aid of the civil power at Montreal on the 21st of May last, having been compelled to resort to the use of their arms, by which, unfortunately, three persons were killed, and several wounded. The General Commanding in Chief, equally with your Lordship, laments the loss of life upon the occasion adverted to; but, in justice to Lieut.-Colonel Macintosh and Captain Temple, feels bound to say, after an attentive perusal of all the papers bearing upon the case, that he knows no instance in which troops have been employed in the suppression of riots, where greater judgment, discretion, or humanity, has been displayed; and if these officers have since been annoyed by accusations of murder, and by every proceeding which could tend to keep alive anxiety, they have at least the consolation of feeling that they have discharged a painful but imperative duty, with temper and moderation, and that by so doing they put an end to disorders, which would probably have led to consequences most disastrous to the city of Montreal.
(Signed) 'Fitzroy Somerset.'
In the month of June of this year, the colony was visited by that afflicting scourge, the Asiatic cholera. One of the very first individuals attacked was a sentry on the regimental guard; he was relieved from his post, complaining of the usual symptoms, and despite the most prompt attention, he expired in a few hours. From this time the utmost consternation prevailed in the city, the disease making rapid progress: the deaths were one in ten of the whole population, without distinction of age or rank. Several men were hourly admitted into hospital, where death very shortly ended their sufferings. The hospital serjeant and all the orderlies (several of whom had volunteered to assist their unfortunate comrades) fell sacrifices to their zeal, when the disease was on the decline. One man only, who was in the worst stage of the disease, finally survived. It is worthy of remark that none of the officers were in the least affected, although their duties exposed them constantly, by day and night, to an infected atmosphere.