As already hinted, I have heard of complaints from officers of the Guards and other regiments that the Canadians during the period in question did not treat them with the hospitality for which they were once celebrated. Of that point I am not well able to judge; but I must say, that during the whole period of my stay in Canada, I never was in any society in which I did not see British officers, and never knew of their having had reason to complain of neglect till lately. If there was any want of hospitable civility, I must think the officers were in some measure to blame for it: for among those stationed any length of time in Canada, or who knew the country in former years, I always heard unreserved praise of those Canadians who had the means of entertaining visitors. It must be remembered that there are few Canadians who are wealthy enough to give set dinners, and that the reserve which guards the family of the Frenchman existed in the times from which his descendants in Canada take their traditions and manners. Many people in Montreal, well inclined to show every attention in their power to the officers quartered among them, were deterred by the very prestige of the Guards’ social position from offering them ordinary civility; and by degrees in many cases an estrangement grew up. I saw nothing to account for the discontent of officers who were quartered at Montreal, save and except the fact that they were on foreign service, that they were not in England or London among their friends, and that they did not like the people,--all grounds which they might unfortunately allege against any other part of the world in which the British army is forced to serve. The subject is only important, in so far as it exercises an influence over the relations of the two countries; a common expression of dislike on the part of men who exercise a great influence among the most powerful classes in this country must increase any tendency to regard with indifference the possession of the great territory which it is my belief we should seek to attach to the Crown by every possible legitimate means, Professor Goldwin Smith and the political economists of his school notwithstanding. After a stay of some days in Montreal, I received intelligence which rendered it necessary for me to depart at once for the United States, and I returned to New York by Rouse’s Point, travelling night and day. I had seen enough of Canada to inspire me with a real regard for the people, and a sincere interest in the fortunes of such a magnificent dependency of the Crown, and I resolved, as far as in me lay, to attract the attention of the home country to a region which offers so many advantages to her children, and promises one day to be the seat of flourishing communities, if not of a vast and independent empire. CHAPTER XI.