On the night of the 4th December the inhabitants of the city of Toronto
were alarmed by the intelligence that about 500 persons armed with
rifles were approaching the city; that they had murdered a gentleman
of great respectability in the highway, and had made several persons
prisoners. The inhabitants rushed immediately to arms; there were no
soldiers in the Province and no militia had been called out. The home
district, from which this party of armed men came, contains 60,000
inhabitants; the city of Toronto 10,000. In a few hours a respectable
force, although undisciplined, was collected and armed in self-defense,
and awaited the threatened attack. It seems now to admit of no doubt
that if they had at once advanced against the insurgents they would have
met with no formidable resistance, but it was thought more prudent to
wait until a sufficient force should be collected to put the success of
an attack beyond question. In the meantime people poured in from all
quarters to oppose the insurgents, who obtained no increase of numbers,
but, on the contrary, were deserted by many of their body in consequence
of the acts of devastation and plunder into which their leader had
forced them.
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