Despite the warnings that he was constantly receiving of the seditious doings of Mackenzie and his lieutenants, Sir Francis Bond Head could not be persuaded an uprising was imminent.  So complete was his fatuity that he allowed all the regular troops to be withdrawn to Lower Canada at the request of Sir John Colborne.  Had he taken adequate measures for the defence of Toronto, and showed he was prepared for any contingency, the rising of Mackenzie’s immediate followers would never have occurred.  His apathy and negligence at this crisis actually incited an insurrection.  The repulse of Gore at St. Denis on the 23rd November (p. 134) no doubt hastened the rebellious movement in Upper Canada, and it was decided to collect all available men and assemble at Montgomery’s tavern, only four miles from Toronto by way of Yonge Street, the road connecting Toronto with Lake Simcoe.  The subsequent news of the dispersion of the rebels at St. Charles was very discouraging to Mackenzie and Lount, but they felt that matters had proceeded too far for them to stop at that juncture.  They still hoped to surprise Toronto and occupy it without much difficulty.  A Colonel Moodie, who had taken part in the war of 1812-15, had heard of the march of the insurgents from Lake Simcoe, and was riding rapidly to Toronto to warn the lieutenant-governor, when he was suddenly shot down and died immediately.  Sir Francis was unconscious of danger when he was aroused late at night by Alderman Powell, who had been taken prisoner by the rebels but succeeded in making his escape and finding his way to Government House.  Sir Francis at last awoke from his lethargy and listened to the counsels of Colonel Fitzgibbon—­the hero of Beaver Dams in 1813—­and other residents of Toronto, who had constantly endeavoured to force him to take measures for the public security.  The loyal people of the province rallied with great alacrity to put down the revolt.  The men of the western district of Gore came up in force, and the first man to arrive on the scene was Allan MacNab, the son of a Loyalist and afterwards prime minister of Canada.  A large and well equipped force was at once organised under the command of Colonel Fitzgibbon.

The insurrection was effectually quelled on the 7th December at Montgomery’s tavern by the militia and volunteer forces under Colonel Fitzgibbon.  The insurgents had at no time mustered more than eight hundred men, and in the engagement on the 7th there were only four hundred, badly armed and already disheartened.  In twenty minutes, or less time, the fight was over and the insurgents fled with the loss of one man killed and several seriously wounded.  The Loyalists, who did not lose a single man, took a number of prisoners, who were immediately released by the lieutenant-governor on condition of returning quietly to their homes.  Mackenzie succeeded in escaping across the Niagara frontier, but Matthews was taken prisoner as he was leading a detachment across the Don into Toronto.