The Provinces had been united. A new Parliament had been convened. In September of the former year Lord Sydenham had been thrown off his horse and died in consequence of his fall. He was succeeded by Sir Charles Bagot. The union had scarcely been inaugurated, when the mighty genius that had perfected its consummation had been called away by a fiat that there is no resisting. The seat of Government was removed to Kingston. The celebrated resolutions establishing "Responsible Government," introduced into the House by the late Hon. S. B. Harrison, were now the law of the land. The irresponsibility of the Executive was no more. Municipal Institutions were accorded to the people, and in the commencement of the year the first District Councillors were elected. Each township sent one representative to the District Council. It controlled the statute labors, district treasury, and the several municipal officers required by the Act. It also had under its direction the educational affairs of the District. Mr. James Morris, Sr., was the first District Councillor elected for McNab, and Mr. David Airth for Horton; the townships in the rear were being surveyed and had not yet been organized into municipalities. A new county was formed in the Ottawa from Pakenham upwards, called the County of Renfrew and for electoral purposes was attached to the County of Lanark. The Hon. M. Cameron was the first member for Lanark and Renfrew under the Union Act. He defeated Mr. John Powell, the then Sheriff of the Bathurst District, by a large majority. Such was the social and political condition of the people in the spring of 1842, when the tocsin of war again sounded. The Chief had determined to press on his libel suit. The roads were in an execrable condition. Access to Toronto was almost an impossibility. Navigation had not yet opened, and he imagined that none of the settlers could be induced to go to Toronto, and if they started they could not reach their destination in time. Only eight days' _notice of trial_ had been given, and it was only three days before the opening of the Assizes that the subpoenas for the witnesses reached the writer. He immediately filed them all. The following witnesses were summoned:--Messrs. W. R. Bereford, Francis Allan, John Robertson, Daniel McIntyre (Dancie), Alex. McNab (the martyr), Duncan McNab, (Paisley), D. C. McNab, Peter Campbell (Dochart), and Andrew Dickson, Esq., of Pakenham. They reached Toronto in safety and in good time. Two days after their arrival the case was called. Mr. Justice McLean held the Assizes, and the evening before the eventful day in April the Judges had a consultation among themselves which of them would try the case. Judge McLean was loath to do so. He was a Highlander and was on intimate terms with the Chief, and felt delicate on the subject. Mr. Justice Macaulay was away on circuit. Chief Justice Robinson declined to have anything to do with it. In fact the Judges were more or less afraid of Mr. Hincks