“Annals and sidelights” best suits the title of this chapter, and as such are necessarily disjointed, the events recorded reflect a corresponding note. Therefore, origins and seeds are only indicated, of many movements which have since grown to great proportions. These latter, such as primary, secondary, technical, and university education, the public services of fire, water, lighting, health, law and order; the commencements of commercial and financial bodies; the growth of the municipal life, as such; the development and modernization of the harbour and of our public places; the progress of general city improvement; the development of our transportation system by canal, river and roads by rail and by carriage; the charitable, the religious, the national, the literary, the intellectual and the artistic institutions of the city, etc., are left for special historical treatment in the second part of this volume. In this place the general social aspect of the life of the city is chronologically treated, with partial reference at times to the above as they make their first bow to the public under the Union. A similar foreword might preface a subsequent chapter of annals of social life under the Confederation. The picture presented by Montreal at the beginning of the Union was one of hopeful promise. The bill, when understood, was acceptable to most, and it soon became seen, that with responsible government,--though a daring experiment,--in working order, peace and prosperity would be assured. The re-birth of municipal life insured by the new charter was also gratifying. The mayor and corporation and the institution of the recorder’s court gave a dignity soothing to civic “amour propre.” City development in municipal functions, in the public services and physical embellishments, began to be marked. Trade began to raise its head, for Montreal was becoming recognized as the commercial metropolis of Canada. The meeting of April 6, 1841, to organize the new board of trade, was a significant fact of the period of progress now anticipated. The improvement in the harbour facilities, of the water transportation system, and the advent of the railway era soon to be celebrated, also marked the beginning of a new period of progress.