riding. Somewhat disillusioned, he returned to his commercial activities, as well as Montreal municipal affairs, while the members of the Parti patriote moved steadily towards taking up arms against the government. Rebellion in Lower Canada In 1837, the Lower Canada Rebellion broke out. The Patriotes, led by Louis-Joseph Papineau, began an armed resistance to the British and provincial forces. Cuvillier rejected the call to arms, and was firmly on the side of the government. He returned to his militia duties. Promoted to the rank of major, Cuvillier was the commander of Montreal’s 5th Militia Battalion. In 1838, he was one of the founders of the Association Loyale Canadienne du District de Montréal, which denounced the rebellion as well as proposals for union of the Canadas, and called for political reform under the 1791 Constitution. In addition to his military position, Cuvillier was also a Justice of the Peace, a lay judicial officer. In that capacity, he was one of the two Justices of the Peace who signed the requisition authorising the British military to march on St Denis, the rebel stronghold, which resulted in the Battle of Saint-Denis, a defeat for the government forces. He also was one of two justices who issued a warrant to arrest Wolfred Nelson, one of the leaders of the Rebellion and a former colleague in the Legislative Assembly, on a charge of high treason. The British and provincial governments were successful in suppressing the Rebellion in Lower Canada, as well as a similar Rebellion the same year in Upper Canada. In the aftermath, the British government sent Lord Durham to the Canadas, as Governor General, and with instructions to report back on the causes of the Rebellions and possible responses. Lord Durham issued his Report of the Affairs of British North AMerica in 1838. He called for the reunion of the two Canadas into a single province, with the expressed hope that the British populations in Upper Canada and Lower Canada would gradually assimilate the French population in Lower Canada. He also recommended that the British government accept that the principle of responsible government should be applied in the new Province, namely that the Governor should call on the group which had a majority in Parliament to form the executive Cabinet, just as in the United Kingdom itself. Province of Canada Following the rebellion in Lower Canada, and the similar rebellion in 1837 in