"Having the greatest confidence in the skill and judgment of your Excellency, and being fully convinced of the ability and prudence with which your Excellency has discharged the military as well as civil duties of your high office, we anticipate, from the investigation for which your Excellency is preparing, a result honourable to your Excellency's character, by which your well-earned reputation will be confirmed, the voice of calumny and detraction silenced, and your Excellency's merits conclusively established. We persuade ourselves also that the important services rendered in this country by your Excellency to His Majesty's Government will be duly appreciated by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, of whose discernment and justice we have had so many proofs, and will procure for your Excellency deserved approbation, and the high rewards reserved for distinguished merit. "We shall not cease to take the warmest interest in the fortunes of your Excellency; and in expressing our ardent wishes for your prosperity and that of your family, we join in the general sentiment of the country, whose affection and unalterable attachment your Excellency will carry with you, and whose greatest felicity would be experienced in the speedy return of your Excellency to resume the reins of Government." (Signed by 1510 persons.) * * * * * His Excellency was pleased to make the following answer: _To the Inhabitants of the City of Montreal, and the neighbouring Parishes._ "Gentlemen, "The alacrity with which you have hastened to prevent the distance of your residence from being an obstacle to the expression of your kind wishes on my sudden and unexpected departure, gives to them all the additional value of eager sincerity. "Your good will is to me a most acceptable offering: and as I am now content if your good opinion of my services during my Administration is proportioned to my desire to promote your welfare, so shall I ever be ambitious that your estimate of my exertions may be found as correct as the favourable judgment which I early formed of His Majesty's subjects in Canada, which experience has now fully justified." * * * * * _Letter from M. de Salaberry to Sir George Prevost._ A son Excellence Sir George Prevost, &c. &c. Qu'il plaise à votre Excellence, Me permettre d'écrire, puisque je ne peux sortir. J'en suis empêché par une maladie opîniâtre et apparemment dangereuse, puisqu'encore hier j'ai tombé sans connaissance sur le plancher. Je suis bien peiné d'être privé par les accidens d'aller vous rendre mes respects, avant que vous vous laissiez.