On June 18th, the volunteer companies returned, being welcomed enthusiastically by their fellow citizens, and June 23d was observed as a day of general rejoicing and inspection. The mayor, on behalf of the civic authorities, tendered an address to the troops, offering sincere expressions of gratitude and thanks for their devotion, loyalty and courage in the late emergency, and bidding them a hearty welcome back to the city and to their happy homes and beloved and expectant families. This was responded to by Major-General Lindsay.
The loyalty of all sections of the community had again been proved against a common enemy. Every section had answered the call to arms, for Fenianism, after all, had few weighty supporters in Montreal.
The military enthusiasm, however, evoked by the late events had an immediate effect in determining the city council and other authorities already considering the point, to open a drill hall capable of meeting the increased demands, and in May, 1867, the contract for the armory on Craig Street, opposite the Champ de Mars, was given to Foster & Roy.
The confederation of the provinces was now in the air. It was not universally understood at the time and it was feared, and somewhat actively combatted, especially by the group of young French-Canadians opposed to Cartier in their new journal the Union Nationale, as likely to absorb them so that they might lose their political identity.
Confederation was, however, to mark a great period of progress and to see Montreal emerge from provincial citydom to the great metropolis of today. Before passing to the story of its achievement, a glance back will show that Montreal was a very quiet place under the Union. Yet it produced strong-minded and able men, even if the racial, religious and political rancours of a “heart burning town” showed themselves in no equivocal colours. The foundations of our present artistic, literary, religious, charitable and financial associations were also already being well laid. The life was simple; there was not much society but great heartiness. There were no millionaires, but the people spent freely. Public amusements were fewer, but private hospitality greater. The city hall was decorous, there were no emoluments for service, and the best men of the time thought it an honour to represent their wards.
Into the simplicity of the life there entered the society centering around the military. At the close of the Union there were about a hundred officers generally stationed here, many of them distinguished men of high rank and fame. There were often four or five regiments in the town, and the soldiery fraternized with the citizens. Pranks there were, the ringing of bells, the wrenching off of knockers and signs, and more serious peccadillos, but the indulgent public was not censorious. The officers gave many parties, balls, receptions, dances and hunts, all of which the prominent citizens participated in and returned. There were not highly organized kennel or hunt clubs, but they ranged the country far and wide. The officers were good judges of horse flesh as were the humbler citizens and Tattersalls, on St. James Street, opposite the present Star offices, was a busy place for such. It was no infrequent sight to see the horses being trotted up and down past Dolly’s, St. Lawrence Hall and Banque du Peuple for inspection along the street which is today’s busy financial thoroughfare, lined with banks and insurance buildings.
The ordinary people participated indirectly in the gaiety of the military régime through the brisk, lively trade with the officers and soldiery, who spent freely.
The life, colour, and zest they gave were also a free entertainment. Not only were the streets bright with the uniforms of the soldiers and gay with the sound of fife, drum and brass, but the people would make their way to the Champ de Mars during the day to see the evolutions of the military, where the firing of the cannon frightened the timid boys and girls, or in the early evening the young folk would stroll sweethearting to Dalhousie Square (now the Viger Station tracks) to hear the regimental bands in Barrack Square, and the boys and girls, now no way shy, would peep in at the mysteries of the officers’ mess, which was in plain view. The music would last for hours and the square would resound with laughter till the sun-down gun from St. Helen’s Island proclaimed the time for early bed.
Art, literature and music were cultivated by associations at the time and to these the military officers contributed no little initiative. The scholastic system of the two boards of school commissioners was being solidified and Montreal at the end of the Union was progressing substantially, but not so dramatically or so visibly as after the next few decades when bustle began to rule. Life was then more leisurely, more reposeful and at least quite as happy and more contented.