Canada, as it Was, Is, and May be

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CANADA,

AS IT WAS, IS, AND MAT BE.

BY LIEUTEKANT.COL0NEL

SIR RICHARD H. BONNYCASTLE,

KOYAL ENaiNEERB.

IVITH COSSIDERAIIE iDrailONS,

AND AN ACCOUNT OF RECENT TRANSACTIONS.

SIR JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER,

^:?^

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON:
COLBUBN AND CO., PUBLISHERS,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
1852.

U&.e.Ji,

' WILLIAM TYLEH,

> <

\*

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Tssmt.

ntlgg^^fmm'mmm^f^mmmmmimmwi^a^^^^if'^^^''^'''^^ » |" i""

CANADA

«

AS IT WAS, IS, AND MAY BE.

CHAPTER I.

The occupation of Navy Island by citizens of the United States

and Canadian. outlaws.

Mackenzie having fled to tlie city of Buffalo, in the
United States^ and Bidwell having voluntarily left the
province, in consequence of the proofs which the
Lieutenant-governor had received of his conduct, all
was, for a short time, peace and tranquillity.

The agitator, assisted by those of his friends who
had escaped from Buffalo, continued, by dint of con-
stant public speechifyings and meetings, to enlist a
large body of refugees and sympathisers at Buffalo and
its neighbourhood; and, at length, a proclamation was
issued, ^ constituting Upper Canada an independent
State, and, in an inflated style, promising land and
mighty guerdon to those who should join the " Army
of Liberation,^^ under General Van Bensselaer.

I have kept part of that person^s stiatement, referring
to the invasion of the territory of Great Britain by
citizens of the United States, which he made when

VOL. II. B

2 CANADA.

placed at length in the State prison at Albany, where
he was confined, /wo /onnrf, for a short period; and, as
it gives some insight to Mackenzie's true character,
before I enter upon a short detail of the invasion, I
shall insert it as a curious document in itself, and as
it forms a link in the . chain of the history of the
times.*

• {From the Albany Daily Advertiser.)

Sir, — You will confer a great favour by allowing me sufficient
space in your paper to redeem a pledge given through the Onandaga
Standard, a few weeks since, viz : — to produce facts enough to show
that the abandonment of the late intended Patriot Expedition against
Kingston was chargeable to no one but William Lyon Mackenzie.
It is to be hoped your brother Editors, particularly those in the west,
who have been so prodigal of their severe criticisms on my conduct,
immediately after the affair, will also give it an insertion. The
publication, under my present peculiar situation, is deemed highly
impolitic by many, but as I am constitutionally better able to sustain
myself under any quantity of merited rebuke — let it come in what .
shape it may — than to endure the slightest lash of undeserved cen-
sure, I fain must nm the risk. It should hav^ been forthcoming
sooner, but for the de).ay in waiting replies to my correspondence ;
and it should have been more explicit, in some cases, but my obliga-
tions to others, forbid it at present. Hereafter more proof may be
given, if necessary to sustain my position.

Your obedient Servant,

Renss. Van Rensselaer.

Albany Jail, March 29^A, 1838.

NarraiUm qf Fade ccrmeeted with the Frontier movements tf the Patriot

Army qf Upper Canada*

About 10th December last, while in BufiEalo, on private business,
I was urged by Thomas J. Southerland, who brought me a general
letter of introduction from Hon. John W. Taylor, late Speaker, &c.
— to take command of the Patriot forces,, destined to act in libe-
rating the oppressed of Upper Canada, and to establish a Re-
publican form of Government in the province. ,

of the Council, organised before the rising, near Toronto, and
William Lyon Mackenzie, member of the same, were the persons

CANADA. 3

Navy Island is situated at that part of the great
river Niagara, where, after leaving Lake Erie, it forms a

from whom my authority was to be derived. Full and sole powers
were to be invested in me to conduct all military operations in my
own way and no one allowed to interfere. I required a stated time
for reflection before my answer could be given. Pending this, the
result of my more particular inquiries was a full confirmation of
the opinions imbibed from previous notice of passing events in the
Canadas, viz. : that the Canadas were only prevented by the strong
arm of power from throwing off the yoke of foreign despots, and, ^
notwithstanding the unfortunate issde of the ilUconcerted battle of
Toronto, that a vast majority of the people were in favour of a
political reformation, that there was evejy encouragement for the
belief, that if one successful battle was fought, and a good stand
maintained for a short time, they would concentrate their forces and
do their own fighting afterwards. With the hope of being instru-
mental in hastening a crisis so desirable to all the republican world —
my wish as a Northerner to see the chivalrous example of the South,
in the case of Texas, emulated here — my innate detestation of tyranny
and oppression wherever manifested — finally, relying upon number-
less promises of being sustained, and trusting in the smiles of heaven
itself, I agreed to accept the ofifer. At that dark period, when the
Patriots were flying in dismay from the dangers which beset them at
their own firesides, and when few indeed were disposed to jeopardise
their liveis and prospects in their behalf— youth was not to be cavilled
at Thir^-seven years then was considered age sufi&cient to mature
the judgment of anyone who could resuscitate their drooping pros-
pects, and the want of experience in actual service was deemed of no
material consequence. Industry, zeal, management, prudence and
determination were admitted to be every qualification expected, and'
all I asked was freely granted. Dr. Rolph even went so far as to
propose himself, and to insist that I should have power to arrest any
member of the Executive Council, provided it became necessary
to do so, in order to prevent his interference in my department ;
Mr. Mackenzie, after a slight show of opposition, was obliged to
acquiesce. .

Shortly after this, word was brought me that a requisition had been
made upon the American authorities by Governor Sir Francis B.
Head, for the person of William Lyon Mackenzie, as a fugitive,
murderer, robber, &c., from Canada. It was supposed at the time
that it would have to be complied with, and our friends were solici-
tous that he should be placed entirely beyond its reach. I therefore

b2

4 CANADA.

strait, in which are several islands and islets, dividing
the strait into two channels on the British and Ame-

took him under escort from his hiding-place, at ten o'clock at night,
to White Haven, on Grand Island, ten miles helow the city, where the
Canadian refugees and volunteers had assembled the day before for a
descent upon Navy Island. These troops, represented to be 250
strong, with two pieces of artillery, 400 or 500 stand of arms, pro-
visions, munitions, &c., in abundance, had not yet left their ren-
dezvous when we reached it. When mustered to embark, only
twenty-four appeared, excluding Mr. Mackenzie and myselfl I had
previously been informed, in consequence of the unavoidable delay,
while making preparations for a movement connected with the diffi-
culties which grew out of the seizure of the public arms at Buffalo,
that many of the men had returned to their homes ; but I was
not prepared for such an appalling falling off Mr. Mackenzie, on
noticing it, sunk inert and spirit-broken upon the frame of a cannon,
where he passively reclined until aroused by a false alarm. The idea
of encamping on British territory, with such a paltry force, seemed
hazardous enough to me, but considering this as the forlorn hope of
the hunted Canadian — when I thought of his pitiable condition — of
the immense interests at stake, of the unprepared state of the enemy,
of speedy reinforcements promised me, and of the mortification inci-
dent to a retrogade movement — trusting in tbe good faith of our
friends, and in Providence, the word was given — "push off."

The landing was effected lumoticed. The enemy did not reconnoitre
the island until two days subsequently, when our first shot was fired
ahead-of their boat. It drove them back, we then were sixty strong.
Durli)g the period we remained on the island, of the thousands who
visited us, for business or curiosity, all are witnesses of the extent of
the duties, fatigues, and perils which devolved upon me. None can
say I shrunk from any, or neglected any. But among all the per-
plexities incident to the organization of a republican army for inva-
sion — to a strict attention to its defences and protections against a
powerful foe — to the reception of innumerable visitors, &c., &c.,
nothing was more perplexing than the conduct of William Lyon
Mackenzie. I had known him long to have the reputation of a firm
and consistent opposer of monarchical abuses ; as such, I respected
him so much that many little disagreements occurred between us
before my confidence in him could be shaken. A breach, however,
eventually did occur, which grew wider as my knowledge of his dis-
position and character increased. I found him governed by the
impulses of the moment, fickle, arbitrary, and impatient He would

CANADA. O

rican shores. Navy Island is the last of these^ and was
reserved by the British Government for the sake of its

suggest fifty plans for effecting the object in view in as many minutes,
and abandon them as often, but he could fix upon no. single one and
follow it out If I presumed to differ or remind him of his stipu-
lation not to interfere, his potent ire would immediately arise and
a quarrel ensue.

On one occasion we differed as to the policy of appointing a time
and place for two friends to meet us with 100 armed Canadians each.
I wished them to remain at home until they knew we had landed on
the main shore of the enemy, particularly so as their march would not
be a long one to join us, and circumstances might oblige us to foil
them another time, about crossing over to the enemy's camp, when
they were strong and we less than 200. He offered there to begone
of fifty to do so ; but I heard nothing more of the project after giving
him permission to get up a party for the purpose. The fears he
openly expressed, in hearing of th« troops, at the probable effect upon
the island of the enemy's firing their mortars and heavy batteries, was
very discouraging, and we quarrelled about that ; — again, because he
chose to consider himself , in the light of a nonentity, for the reason
that I did not deem it proper to call him in as a military counsellor.
I should have done this most willingly^ if I had not, by this time, lost
all faith in his qualifications or discretion. I was well aware, that
with so little actual experience as I possessed, a trusty counsellor
would be a great acquisition. To keep his restless spirit quiet, how-
ever, while our reinforcements were coming in, as well as to relieve
myself of a most burthensome duty, the general correspondence was
entrusted to his charge. How well, or how badly he performed the
duty I am not able to judge, for he* scarcely ever thought it necessary
to make any reports, and his course in this respect has assuredly been
iletrimental to the service.

It is not my purpose to go into a detail of occurrences connected
with Navy Island now, or to explain the cause which compelled me
to evacuate it for American territory. The proper moment for doing
that will arrive within a few months ; when it shall be done, whatever
the consequence may be. Then the faithful, hardy band, who stood
their ground so long, notwithstanding ' the mighty efforts of Her
Britannic Majesty's troops to dislodge us, and of the powerful
American influences to dissuade us from the undertaking, shall have
justice done them. Suffice it to say, that at the earliest day, when
we found ourselves strong enough to act on the offensive, an immense
array of teams were collected at Schlosser, Niagara falls, and the

6 CANADA.

timber for naval purposes, and thus was never granted,
and remained covered with forest trees of large size.

▼icinity, to create a belief that we intended landing there for the
purpo&e of being carried down to the mouth of the river, so as to cross
orer to the enemy's shore at that point A show of chartering boats
at BuiFalo and Black BrOck was simultaneously made to create a belief
that that was our intended point of embarkation. The rtue took
admirably well. Both friend and foe were deceived. The regular and
militia force stationed at both points on the American shore were
hastily called out, and kept under anns for hours to intercept us.
Her Majesty's troops were marched to the neighbourhood of Fort
George and Fort Erie, to prevent our landing there ; and then my
real point of intended attack — Chippewa — was uncovered, except by
perhaps 150 or 200 men left behind to keep up their harmless roar of
artillery. The intention was-- and every man on the island was ready
and eager for the fray— to have been towed by a steamer in our flats
and yawl-boats across the river above that artillery — to have forced
a march over it down to St George^— to have beaten the detachment
of the enemy's army there, and to have taken passage in the British
government steamer lying there that night for«Toronto, and, &c. But
the men would not hazard the passage of the Niagara without the
tow of the steamboat; and although we had the promise of one,?-^
although we stood under arms from sunset to midnight wailing for
one ; — and although I had dispatched three different messages in due
season to the proper sources, begging it to be sent that night " for
God's sake! or all is lost," — it did not come. Why I have yet to
learn. It is an act of equity, however, to say, I have the assurance
of General Scott, that it was not owing to him.

At this trying crisis, where was William Lyon Mackenzie? He
left the island when the bombardment and cannonading was com-
menced against us in real earnestness, and in spite of my remon-
strances and entreaties to the contrary, he pushed off for Buffalo i
where he remained safely ensconced in the house of a friend. On my
arriva) at that city, after the evacuation, I understood he had been
extremely abusive towards everything American on the occasion of
his arrest by the United States marshal, and that he had disgusted all
his benefactors in that quarter by his violent language. My know-
ledge of his disposition induced me to believe this most readily. I
knew he had previously made some of the most efficient, active, and
influential Canadian reformers lukewarm, if not opposed to the cause,
by a similar course ; and hiy contempt for the impolitic ingrate knew
no bounds when he again showed himself among the members of the

CANADA. 7

It is^ however^ a small spot^ of about a mile and a half
in length and half a mile in breadth^ and is easily
accessible in boats, either from the Canadian or the
American shores, the channel being very wide on the
latter, and not more than five or six hundred yards on
the former, where is the village of Chippewa, celebrated
as the scene of several warlike operations, during the
war of 1812, 1813, and 1814. At tliis village is the
mouth of the Welland River, one of the great arteries
of the internal navigation by canal.

The scene at this spot is singular and grand. The
St. Lawrence, or Niagara as it is here called, after
leaving Navy Island, spreads itself out into an
enormous sheet of water, near a mile and a half in
width, just above the great leap which it is swiftly, but
almost imperceptibly, preparing to take, in order to
throw its huge volume of waters into the seething gulf
of the Falls.

From Chippewa theire is a ferry across to a place
called Fort Schlosser, which, however, is merely a
tavern-stand and ferry-house in the United States,
about the same distance above the Falls as Chippewa ;
and steamers ascend and descend the river as far as the
mouth of the Welland, about one mile and a half above

Executive Committee, whom I had called together to consult upon
further measures, — and attempted to direct my military operations.
The most of my men, at the time, were quartered some two or three
miles west of Buffalo, under orders to march westward, until hoats
could he procured for their conveyance ; but he, in the plenitude of
his wisdom, insisted that the order should be countermanded, — that
the men should return in battle array, charge upon the State and the
State forces, seize the boats required to carry them, the materiel, &c.,
to the Canadian shore, and to embark from the city."

8 CANADA.

the caldron of Niagara, and within three quarters of a
mile of the swiftest waters of the rapids.

The mouth of the Welland is canalized and em-
banked, so that once in it, a boat or a vessel is perfectly
safe; nor do accidents happen often from their being
caught by the descending current, which is moderate,
until the slope of the substrata or bed of the mighty
river becomes so inclined as to cause a succession of
heavy rapids.

The fall of the water from Lake Erie, just beyond
the British village of Waterloo, in twenty-three miles
to the first rapid, has been calculated at only fifteen
feet, so that the velocity of the water in the strait of
the Niagara may easily be inferred. After reaching the
inclined plane which forms the rapids, the water falls,
in half a mile, fifty-one feet, and then avalanches over,
if I may use the term, into the cauldron below, 162
feet at one pitch; and, after forming a scene which
words and painting have ever failed to describe, it
rushes, frets, foams, whirls, and plunges in a series of
mysterious strugghngs and throes, through an inap-
proachable, gloomy, rifted, and precipitous channel,
until, after seven miles of incessant battlihgs, it joins
another strait of the Niagara river at Queenstown,
having descended 104 feet more, and then silently
wends its way, in a magnificent stream, through a fairy
scene of cultivation and woodland banks, reminding
every Englishman of home, to Lake Ontario, having
fallen two feet more in six miles.

Thus the total fall of the Niagara from Lake ifirie, at
Waterloo, or Fort Erie, to Fort Mississagua, in the

CANADA. 9

town of Niagara^ on the borders of Lake Ontario,
may be said, in round numbers, to be three hundred
and thirty-four feet in thirty-six and a half miles.*

Situated at the head of this fearful navigation,
Mackenzie chose Navy Island as the depot from which
he was to centre the conquest of Canada. He thought
himself secure on this dangerously isolated spot,
because he well knew that there were no British steam-
boats to waft troops over, and because he also knew he
could avail himself of two American steamers, which
had been only just preparing to lay up for the winter;
and that season proving, as we before observed, unu-
sually mild, enabled these piratical vessels to earn a few
dollars in the attempt to carry fire and sword into a
country at peace with their owners.

There must have been a better military calculator
than either Mackenzie or Van Rensselaer in the camp;
for at least there was a good show, and the semblance
of a central blockhouse, and several batteries on Navy
Island, deceived even the best telescopic judges.

An extract from a BuflFalo paper of the 22nd Janu-
ary, 1838, will afford a true character of the celebrated
Rensselaer van Rensselaer, Generalissimo of the patriot
forces under WilUam Lyon Mackenzie, written of
course after all the sympathising schemes had failed.f

♦ The Welland canal between Erie and Ontario, according to the
recent Report of Lieutenant-colonel Phillpotts, of the Royal En-
gineers, has 328 1 feet lockage in 28 miles : according to the American
Commissioners the difference of level between Lake Erie ai\d Lake
Ontario is 333 feet

f THE HEROES OP NAVf ISLAND.

Buffalo f 22nd January ^ 1838.
My dear Sir, — Since my last communication I have had the honour

b3

10 CANADA.

The island was, however, very formidable in appear*
ance ; for covered as it was with wood, it was impossible
for Colonel M'Nab to ascertain its strength. In the
highest part of the centre trees had been cut down,
and boughs put up, in the semblance of a strong block-
house, and on various parts of the banks pseudo bat-
tcries were erected, in which altogether thirteen pieces
of ordnance, mounted upon all sorts of temporary car-
riages^ had been erected, whilst the main camp of huts
was on the safe side, next to the United States frontier ;
and Grand Island, a large island ten miles long, belong-
ing to the States, which was only separated from Navy
Island by a very narrow channel, contained an army of
sympathisers, and the general hospital and place of
refuge.

From this Island, the reconnoitring parties sent by

of an interview with two of the greatest men of their day, or, indeed, of
any day since the era of "Tom Thumb" and " Jack the Giant-killer;"
you will at once perceive that the distinguished personages in question
are no less than the Honourable William L. Mackenzie, Chair-
man pro tem, of the State of Upper Canada, and the redoubtable hero
and general, Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, or, as he is now more
generally styled, Rip Van Winkle the Second.

Of the first you already know enough to render it unnecessary for
me to say more than that he is now the most unpopular man in
Buffalo, and he knows it ; and as there is nothing too remarkable for
occurrence in this wonderful wdrld, I should not be surprised to learn
that in this revulsion of popular feeling, some of our calculating (we
have more calculating than patriotic) citizens have taken the oppor-
tunity to spirit the little mischief-maker back to your shores.

Van Rensselaer is a giu-sling, sottish-looking genius of twenty-
seven, but apparently much older from disease and dissipation. He
is in a very destitute condition, and complains loudly of the conduct
of his worthy colleague, the Chairman, who told him when he first
took command, that in ten days they would have 3,000 brave Cana-
dians on Navy ^Island, when it turned out, after a month's residence
on that dreary spot, that only nine Canadians joined them, and they

CANADA. 1 1

M^Nab^ in such boats as he could get^ were always
iired upon^ notwithstanding that it was asserted that
strong parties of the United States Militia were upon
duty there to maintain neutrality. Two thousand
Canadian militia rushed to Chippewa^ and placed them-
selves upon its celebrated battle-ground^ and M^Nab
then threw up entrenchments to protect his troops
from the desultory cannonade to which they were
exposed on a level and continuous frontier.

The Commander-in-chief^ Sir John Colbome^ after
this fuss of battle and siege had lasted several days^
thought it high time to interfere^ and detached a
Major of Artillery from Kingston with a Captain of
Engineers^ and an adequate supply of guns^ mortars^
Congreve-rocketS; and stores.

The best narrative of this event which I have seen
is that of Sir Francis Head^ which^ as it is not pub-
lished in his book (and he, ci-devant officer of Engi-
neers, has viewed the whole transaction calmly and
with a miUtary eye), I shall here give /for I think
nothing can afford a better development of such
extraordinary occun*ences than to let the actors speak
for themselves, particularly when a state question, Uke
that of the burning of the QaroUne, which ended this
strange eventful history, is concerned.*

were worthless wretches, that had fled from justice or their creditors.
He gave me their names, such as Tim Parsons, Mantach, Baxter,
Gorham, Doyle, Defield, &c., &c. The others, about 600 in all, were
the worst population of our frontier, ready to cut any man's throat for
a dollar. Such were the men our citizens dubbed patriotSf and sent
to disseminate the principles of true liberty amongst you Canadians !
O tempera — mores !
* Copy of a Despatch, from His Excellency Sir Francis B. Head,

1 2 CANADA.

With respect to the Caroline, I have just to obserre
that an officer of the Army, who was present and is

Bart, Lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, to His Excellency
Henry S. Fox, Her Majesty's Minister at Washington,

TorontOf Upper Canada, Sth January, 1838.

Sir, — I have the honour to inclose you the copy of a special mes-
sage, sent by His Excellency Governor Marcy to the Legislature of
the State of New York, in relation to a matter on which your Excel-
lency will desire the earliest and most authentic information. The
message only reached this place yesterday, and I lose no time in
communicating with your Excellency on the subject*

The Governor of the State of New York complains of the cutting
out and burning of the steam-boat CarolvMy by order of Colonel
M'Nab, commanding Her Majesty's Forces at Chippewa, in the
Province of Upper Canada, and of the destruction of the lives of some
American citizens, who were on^ board of the boat at the time she
was attacked. The act complained of was done under the following
circumstances :—

In Upper Canada, which contains a population of about 450,000
souls, the most perfect tranquillity prevailed up to the 4th day of
December last, although in the adjoining Province of Lower Canada,
many of the French Canadian inhabitants had been in open rebellion
against the Government for about a month preceding.

At no time since the treaty of peace with the United States, in
1815, had Upper Canada been more undisturbed. The real causes
of the insurrection in Lower Canada, namely, the national antipathy
of the French inhabitants, did not in any degree apply in the Upper
Province, whose populaticm, like the British and American inhabi-
tants of Lower Canada, were wholly opposed to the revolt, and anxious
to render every service in their power in support of the Queen's
authority. It had been reported to the Government, some time
before the 4th of December, that in a remote portion of the Home
District, a number of persons occasionally met and drilled, with arms,
under leaders known to be disaffected, but it was not believed by the
Government that anything more could be intended than to make a
show of threatened revolt, in order to create a diversion in favour of
the rebels in Lower Canada. The feeling of loyalty throughout this
Province was known to be so prevalent and decided, that it was not
thought unsafe to forbear, for the time at least, to take any notice of
the proceedings of this party.

CANADA. 13

V

now by my side, has told me that the orders were to
ineet her on the river as she was plying between

On the night of the 4th Decemher, the inhabitants of the city of
Toronto were alarmed by the intelligence that about five hundred
persons, armed with riiles, were approaching the city — that they had
murdered in the highway a gentleman of great respectability, and
had made several persons prisoners. The inhabitants rushed imme-
diately 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 undis-
ciplined, was collected and armed in self-defence, 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.

On the 7th of December, an overwhelming force of militia went
against them, and dispersed them without losing a man — taking many
prisoners, who were instantly released by my order, and suffered to
depart to their homes. The rest, with their leaders, fled — some have
since surrendered themselves to justice — many have been taken, and
some have escaped from the province.

It was reported about this time, tliat in the district of London a
similar disposition to rise had been observed, and in consequence, a
militia force of about 400 men was sent into that district, where it was
speedily joined by three times as many of the inhabitants of the
district, who assembled voluntarily and came to their aid with the
greatest alacrity. It was discovered that about three hundred
persons, under Doctor Duncombe, an American by birth, were
assembled with arms ; but before the militia could reach them, they
dispersed themselves and fled— of these, by far the greater number
came in immediately and submitted themselves to the Government,
declaring that they had been misled and deceived, and praying for
forgiveness.

In about a week perfect tranquillity was restored, and from that
moment not a man has been seen in arms against the Government in
any part of the province, with the exception of the hostile aggression

14 CANADA.

Schlosser and Navy Island^ board her whilst under
weighs and capture and destroy her. After rowing

upon NaTy Island, which I shall presently notice ; nor has there been
the slightest resistance offered to the execution of a legal process, in
a single instance^

After the dispersion of the armed insurgents, near Toronto, Mr.
Mackenzie, their leader, escaped in disguise to the Niagara river, and
crossed over to Buf&lo. Reports had been spread there, and else-
where along the American frontier, that Toronto had been burnt, and
that the rebels were completely successful : but the falsehood of these
absurd rumours was well-known before Mackenzie arrived on the
American side. It was known also that the ridiculous attempt of four
hundred men to revolutioniise a country containing nearly half a
million of inhabitants, had been put down by the people instantly and
decidedly, without the loss of a man.

Nevertheless, a number of American citizens in Buffalo, and other
towns on the frontier of the State of New York, enlisted as soldiers,
with the avowed object of invading Canada, and establishing a Pro-
visional Government. Public meetings were held to forward this
design of invading a countiy with which the United States were at
peace. Volunteers were called for ; and arms, ammunition, and pro*
visions, were supplied by contributions openly made. All this was
in direct and flagrant violation to the express laws of the United
States, as well as of the Law of Nations.

The civil authority of Buffalo offered some slight show of resistance
to the movement, being urged to interpose by many of the most
respectable citizens, but no real impediment was offered ; and on the
13th of December, some hundred of the citizens of the State of New
York, as an armed body, imde/ the command of a Mr. Van B«ns«
selaer, an American citizen, openly invaded and took possession of
Navy Island, a part of Upper Canada, situate in the River Niagara.
Not believing that such an outrage would really be committed, no
force whatever was assembled at the time to counteract this hostile
movement

In a very short time this lawless band obtained from some of the
arsenals of the State of New York, clandestinely as it is said, several
pieces of artillery and other arms, which in broad daylight were
openly transported to Navy Island, without resistance from the Ame-
rican authorities. The people of Buffalo and the adjacent country
continued to supply them with stores of various kinds, and additional
men enlisted in their ranks. In a few days their force was variously
stilted from five to fifteen hundred, of whom a small proportion were

CANADA. 15

about a long while in the dark^ they saw her Bres fix)m
the chimney near the American shore^ and gallantly

rebels, who bad fled from Upper Canada. They began to entrench
themselves, and threatened that they would, in a short time, make a
landing on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.

To prevent this and keep them in check, a body of Militia was
hastily collected and stationed on the frontier, wider the command of
Colonel Cameron, Assistant-a^jutant-general of Militia, who was
succeeded in this command by Colonel M'Nab, the Speaker of the
House of Assembly, an officer whose humanity and discretion, as well
as his activity, have been proved by his conduct in putting down the
insurrection in the London district ; and have been acknowledged in
wann terms of gratitude by the misguided persons who have sur-
rendered themselves into his hands. He received orders to act on
the defensive only, and to be careful not to do any act which the
American Government could justly complain of as a breach of
neutrality.

An official statement of the unfriendly proceedings at BufSiIo
was without delay (on the 13th of December) made by me to
His Excellency the Governor of the State of New York, and after
this open invasion of our territory, and when it became evident
that nothing was effected at BufQilo for preventing the violation of
neutrality, a special Messenger was sent to your Excellency at
Washington, to urge your interposition in the matter. Sufficient
time has not yet elapsed to admit of his return. Soon after his depar-
ture, this band of outlaws on Navy Island — acting in defiance of the
laws and government of both countries — opened a fire from several
pieces of ordnance upon the Canadian shore, which in this part is
thickly settled : the distance from tlie Island being about 600 yards,
and within sight of the populous village of Chippewa. They put
several balls (six poimd shot) through a house, in which a party of
Militia-men were quartered, and which is the dwelling-house of Cap-
tain Ussher, a respectable inhabitant They killed a horse on which
a man at the time was riding, but happily did no further mischief^
though they fired also repeatedly with cannon and musketry upon our
boats. They continued daily to render their position more formidable ;
receiving constant supplies of men and warlike stores from the State
of New York, which were chiefly embarked at a landing-place on the
American mainshore, called Fort Schiosser, nearly opposite to Navy
Island. This place was once, I believe, a military position before
the conquest of Canada from the French ; but there is now neither
fort nor village there, but merely a single house, occupied as a tavern,

16 CANADA.

made up to her. It was fortunate for them she was

not actually under weigh ; for if they had boarded her

•

and a wharf in front of it, to which boats and vessels are moored.
The tavern had been, during these lawless proceedings, a rendezvous
for the band, who cannot be called by any name more appropriate
than pirates ; and was, in fact, openly and notoriously resorted to as
their head- quarters on the mainland, and is to this time. On the
28th December, positive information was given to Colonel M'Nab,
by persons frQm Buffiilo, that a small steamboat, called the Caroline,
of about fifty tons burthen, had been hired by the " Patriots," and
was to be employed in carrying down cannon and other stores, and in
transporting men and anything else that might be required between
Fort Schlosser and Navy Island.

He resolved, if she came down and engaged in this service, to take
or destroy her. She did come down, agreeably to the information he
received. She transported a piece of artillery and other stores to the
Island, and made repeated passages during the day between the Island
and the main shore. In the night he sent a party of Militia in boats
with orders to take or destroy her. They proceeded to execute the
order. They found the Caroline moored to the wharf, opposite to the
inn, at Fort Schlosser. In the inn there was a body of armed men to
protect her, part of the pirate force, or acting in their suj9port. On
her deck there was an armed party, and a sentinel who demanded the
countersign. Thus identified as she was with the force, which, in
defiance of the law of nations and every principle of natural justice,
had invaded Upper Canada, and made war upon its unoffending inha-
bitants, she was boarded, and after a residtance, in which some
desperate wounds were inflicted upon the assailants, she was carried.

If any peaceable citizens of the United States perished in the con-
flict, it was and is unknown to the captors ; and it was and is unknown
to them whether any such were there. Before this vessel was thus
taken, not a gun had been fired by the force under the orders of
Colonel M'Nab, even upon this gang of pirates, much less upon any
peaceable inhabitants of the United States. It must, therefore, have
been a consciousness of the guilty service she was engaged in that led
those who were employing her to think an armed force necessary for
her defence. Peaceable citizens of the United States were not likely
to be found in a vessel so employed at such a place and in such a
juncture : and if they were there, tlieir presence, especially unknown
to the captors, could not prevent, in law or reason, this necessary act
of self-defence. Fifteen days had elapsed since the invasion of Upper
Canada by a force enlisted, armed, and equipped openly in the btate

CANADA. 1 7

whilst moving so near the Falls, in the hurry of the
action the engines would have been neglected or

of New York. The country where this outrage upon the law of
nations was committed, is populous. Buffalo alone contains 15,000
inhabitants. The public authorities, it is true, gav6 no countenance
to these flagrant acts, but they did not prevent them, or in the slightest
degree obstruct them, farther than by issuing proclamations, which
were disregarded. Perhaps they could not; but in either case the
insult and injury to the inhabitants of Canada were the same, and
their right to defend themselves equally unquestionable.

No wanton injury was committed by the party who gallantly effected
this service. They loosed the vessel from the wharf, and finding they
could not tow her against the rapid current of the Niagara, they
abandoned the effort to secure her, set her on fire, and let her drift
down the stream.

The prisoners taken were a man who, it will be seen by the docu-
ments accompanying this dispatch, avowed himself to be a subject of
Her Majesty, inhabiting Upper Canada, who had lately been traitor-
ously in arms in that province. And having fled to the United States,
was then on board for the purpose of going to the camp at Navy
Island, and a boy, who being bom in Lower Canada, was probably
residing in the United States, and who, being afraid to land fix)m the
boat in consequence of the firing kept up by the guard on the shore,
was placed in one of the boats under Captain Drew, and taken over to
our side, from whence he was sent home the next day by the F^Us
Ferry, with money given him to bear his expenses.

I send with this letter, — 1st. A copy of my first communication to
His Excellency Governor Marcy, to which no reply has reached me.

2nd. The official reports, correspondence, and Militia general order
respecting the destruction of the Caroline, with other documents.

3rd. The correspondence between Commissary-general Arcularius,
of the State of New York, respecting the Artillery belonging to the
Government of the State of New York, which has been, and is still
used in making war upon this province.

4th. Other correspondence arising out of the state of things on the
Niagara frontier.

5th. The special message of Governor Marcy.

It will be seen from these documents, that a high officer of the
Government of the State of New York has been sent by His Excel-
lency the Governor, for the express purpose of regaining possession
of the Artillery of that State, which is now employed in hostile aggres-
sions upon this portion of Her Majesty's dominions, and that being

18 CANADA.

injured^ and all would have gone down the cataract
together.

As the strongest proof that can be brought as to the
fallacy which has been urged in the House of Commons

aided and favoured as he acknowledges by the most friendly co-opera-
tion which the Commanding-officer of Her Majesty's forces could give
him, he has been successfully defied by this army of American citi-
zeoB, and has abandoned the object of his mission in despair.

It can hardly fail to be also observed by Your Excellency, that in
the course of this negotiation between Mr. Van Rensselaer and the
Commissary-general of the State of New York, this individual, Mr.
Van Rensselaer, has not hesitated to place himself within the imme-
diate jurisdiction of the Government whose laws he had violated, and
in direct personal communication with the officer of that Government,
and has, nevertheless, been allowed to return unmolested, to continue
in command of American citizens engaged in open hostilities against
Great Britain.

The exact position then of affitirs on our frontier may be thus
described :

An army of American citizens joined to a very few traitors from
Upper Canada, and under the command of a subject of the. United
States, has been raised and equipped in the State of New York,
against the laws of the United States and the treaties now subsisting,
and are using artillery plundered from the arsenals of the State of
New York, in carrying on this piratical warfare against a friendly
country.

The officers and Government of the United States, and of the State
of New York, have attempted to arrest these proceedings, and to con-
trol their citizens, but they have failed. Although' this piratical
assemblage are thus defying the civil authorities of both countries.
Upper Canada alone is the object of their hostilities. The Govern-
ment of the United States has failed to enforce its authority by any
means, civil or military, and the single question— if it be a question —
is, whether Upper Canada was bound to refrain from necessary acts of
self-defence against a people whom their own Government either
could not or would not control.

In perusing the message of His Excellency Governor Marcy to the
Legislature of the State of New York, your Excellency will probably
feel some degree of surprise, that after three weeks' continued hosti-
lity carried on by the citizens of New York against the people of
Upper Canada, His Excellency seems to have considered himself not

CANADA. 19

and elsewhere, that it was only the disaffected Cana-
dians who composed the invading force on Navy Island,
and that the people of the United States were at least
neutral, we may quote from public records the follow-
ing despatch of the United States' Marshal to the

President :

" Buffahy December 28M, 1887.

" TO HIS EXCELLENCY M. VAN BUREN.

" Sir, — ^This frontier is in a state of commotion.
I came to, this city on the 22nd instant, by direction of
the United States Attorney for the Northern district of
this State, for the purpose of serving process upon indi-
viduals suspected of violating the laws of the United
States, enacted with a view to maintain our neutrahty,
I learned on my arrival that some 200 or 300 men,
mostly from the district of country adjoining this
frontier and from this side of the Niagara, had con-
gregated upon Navy Island, Upper Canada, and were
then in arms, with Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, of
Albany, as their Commander-in-chief. From that time
to the present they have received constant accessions of
men, munitions, provisions, &c., from persons residing
within the States. Their whole force is now about
1,000 strong, and, as is said, are well suppUed with
arms, &c. Warrants have been issued, in some cases,

caUed upon to make this aggression the subject of remark for any
other purpose than to complain of a solitary act of self-defence on the
part of Her Majesty's Province of Upper Canada, to which such
unprovoked hostilities have unavoidably led.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) F. B. Head.

His Excellency Henry S. Fox,
Her Majesty* 8 Ministerf Washington,

(A true Copy.) J. Joseph.

20 CANADA.

but no arrests have as yet been made. This expedition
was got up in this city^ soon after Mackenzie's arrival
upon this side of the river ; and the first company that
landed upon the island was organized^ partially at
leasts before they crossed from this side to the island.

^^ From all that I can see and leam^ I am satisfied^
that if the Government deems it their duty to prevent
supplies being furnished from this side to the Army on
the island^ and also the augmentation of their forces
from among the citizens of the States, an armed force,
stationed along the Une of the Niagara, will be abso-
lutely necessary to its accomplishment.

" I have just received a communication from Colonel
M^Nab, commanding Her Majesty's forces now at
Chippeway, in which he strongly urges the public
authorities here to prevent supplies being furnished to
the army on the island ; at the same time stating that,
' if this can be eflFected, the whole affair could be closed
without effusion of blood.'

'^ M^Nab is about 2,500 strong, and constantly
increasing. I replied to him that I should communi-
cate with you immediately, as also with the Governor
of this State, and that everything which could would
be done to maintain a strict neutrality.

" I learn that persons here are engaged in dislodg-
ing one or more steamboats from the ice, and, as is
supposed, with a view to aid in the Patriot expedition.
^^ I am, with great consideration,

^^ Your obedient Servant,

" N. Garrow,
^^ United States' Marshal, Northern District

of New York."

CANADA. 21

Colonel M^Nab confined himself, after he took
the command from Lieutenant-colonel Cameron — an
able and retired ofl&cer of the 79th Regiment, who
had at first been appointed to it — to mere precau-
tionary measures, without firing upon the island.
This state of things lasted until the 28th of Decem-
ber, when Captain Drew, of the Royal / Navy, was
ordered by him to destroy the pirate steamboat
Caroline, which he gallantly efifected as she lay moored
to the wharf at Schlosser, and sent her blazing down
the Falls ; a fitting fate for a vessel eagerly employed
in the invasion of a territory at peace with the nation
it belonged to. Van Rensselaer and his vagabond
crew tnight, with impunity, invade Canada, might kill
the peaceable inhabitants, and commit any sort of
horrors under the Medusan shield of patriotism ; but
Great Britain must be silent. Not so the United
States ; a pirate vessel is cut out from a ferry wharf,
which is magnified into a fort, and destroyed, after she
had landed guns and men and ammunition and pro-
visions for a self-constituted army of real invaders,
and the whole nation is up in the extremity of sensi-
tiveness at this outrage on national rights. It
remained a question on which peace or war between
the most mighty empire in the world, and a new one
just started into immense importance, hung upon a
mere thread for five years.

A person named M^Leod, who had been Deputy-
sheriff of the Niagara district, and who had no
more to do with the burning of the Caroline than
the reader who was in England at the time, was
forcibly arrested, tried for his life by a Court which

22 CANADA.

had no jurisdiction in his case^ and very narrowly
escaped hanging.

The affair of the Caroline, magnified ten milhons of
timeS; and distorted in every possible way^ was at length
settled in 1842^ by Lord Ashburton^ having been
cleverly included amongst other grievances; but if
Colonel M^Nab (who ordered the vessel to be destroyed),
Captain Drew of the Royal Navy, lieutenant Elmsley,
and Mr. M^Cormack, or any of the brave men who
so distinguished themselves in the gallant action, by
cutting her out during a dark night, with a swift cur-
rent which must, if any accident had occurred to their
small tow-boats, have hurled them to the gulf of the
caldron, were, at any period of excitement, to show
themselves upon the territory of the Lake border of
New York, it was until very lately questionable whether
a new M^Leod . ease might not arise, or whether that
Lynch law would not settle the outstanding account.

The most melancholy result on the part of the
Canadian Militia of this winter siege of Navy Island,
was in the death of a fine young man, Mr. Smith of
Hamilton, who was lying in a bam on some hay when
a red-hot shot &0m the island struck him, carrying
away the upper part of his thigh and some of his ribs.
A man serving our guns, under the direction of Cap-
tain Luard, also lost his leg by a cannon ball.* In
short, the brigands kept up -a desultory cannonade,
chiefly against the houses near Chippewa, until the
fioyal Artillery, under Major Cameron, made its

* This fine fellow, whose name was Millar, died after he had his leg
cut o£ He desired to see it, gave three cheers for the Queen, and
after a few hours expired. He had heen in the Navy.

CANADA. 23

appearance^ when a 24-pounder was mounted on a
scow and taken up the river, and battered the point
where the guns of Van Rensselaer had been most active.

Two days before the evacuation, on the 12th of
January, after the 24th Regiment had made thdr
appearance, Captain Glasgow, of the Royal Artillery,
• kept up a brisk cannonade of 283 rounds from heavy
guns and mortars, and on the 13th he fired 130 more.
Three schooners were also armed and fitted out, which
effectually kept the brigands within their breastworks.

A gentleman, with the euphonious name of Colonel
Ironayre,* who had a charge of foot in the Regular
Militia of the New York State, figures in the corre-
spondence of this time. He displayed the American
flag on Grand Island, just opposite, and close to Mac-
kenzie's camp. One Seth Conklin, whose name is
equally remarkable, deposed that this CumeVs party
of the military of the State of New York made him
prisoner when he quitted the patriots on Navy Island.
His deposition is so curious, and so completely like many
others of the same nature which I noticed in those
eventful days, that I have extracted it from a mass of
papers. It is of interest, as it corroborates the state-
ment of Lieutenant Elmsley, of the Royal Navy, who
had been repeatedly fired upon by people on Grand
Island, where this colonel held command, whilst in the
execution of his duty in boat actions, or in reconnoitring
Navy Island.

I prefer, at the risk of being attacked for using the

* Shakspeare's far-fetched Latin in ** Cymbeline," about MollU
Aer, comes into one's mind as the reverse of this cognomen and
prenomep.

24 CANADA,

scissors and paste system, to place this' highly inter-
esting document in the body of the Narrative, instead
of in an Appendix ; for, excepting very literary or very
political readers, few people trouble appendices in a
book read pour passer le temps. Besides, in so
national an aflFair as that of the Caroline^ the British
readers who have not seen, generally, the State Papers
in which these depositions and correspondence are
contained, cannot be too well informed.

District of Niagara, to wit:

" Seth Conklin, late of Syracuse, in the state of New York, but
now of Chippewa, in the Province of Upper Canada, miller, deposeth
upon oath, and saith, that he went to ^avy Island on Sunday, the
7th of January, instant ; that he left the island on the following
morning ; that he was taken up by a party of the military of the
State of New York, stationed on Grand Island ; that he was accused
by said militia of being a spy on Navy Island, when a sergeant of
said Militia held a pistol to deponent's breast and threatened to shoot
him, and at the same time five or six of his men sei:Q^d deponent and
dragged him to a boat, in which they attempted to put him, for the
purpose of taking him over to the patriots upon Navy Island ; that at
the earnest entreaty of deponent, he was taken back to the Com-
manding Officer on Grand Island, Colonel Ayer, by whom he was
questioned as to where he had been, and why he had been at the
island ; that Colonel Ayer then ordered him to be searched, upon
which he claimed protection of Colonel Ayer, as an American
citizen ; and Colonel Ayer said he should be protected, and gave him
in charge of a sergeant, who kept him a prisoner till after dark ; that
Major Chase, of the Navy Island Patriots, then came from the island,
to sup with the United States Militia ; a tall man, with a dark com-
plexion, told deponent that he must return to the island ; that
deponent again claimed from this officer protection, as an American
citizen, but that he replied, " You shall go immediately ; and if you
hesitate we will force you." He said further, that if deponent
remained on Grand Island, he would be shot, and that if any disturb-
ance occurred concerning him, he, the Colonel, would shoot him with
his own hand. That when Major Chase, of the Navy Island Patriots,
demanded deponent, the last-mentioned Colonel said that he might
take him ; that deponent again claimed protection as an American

CANADA. 25

citiEen, when Major Chase said, if deponent was allowed to remain on
Grand Island, he would escape and inform the British of the state
of Navy Island ; that upon this, fifteen or twenty of the United States
Militia declared that deponent should go, hut that the sergeant who
had him in charge wished,'to satisfy General Van Rensselaer, he might
he sent to Buffalo gaol, to which deponent consented ; that the rest
of the Militia insisted upon his going to Navy Island, and that he
entreated of them not to send him there, alleging that he would cer-
tainly he shot before he got there ; that the sergeant then proposed
for him to choose three men of the guard to accompany him. Deponent
fearing that he should he murdered before he got there, did choose
three men to accompany him ; and he was taken by five Militia-men,
— namely, a sergeant and four men of the United States Militia, in
company with Major Chase, — and deKvered by them at General Van
Rensselaer's quarters, in charge of Major Chase. Major Chase told
the sentries at the head of the Island, to allow the boat which brought
over deponent to pass, as it was a friendly boat That deponent
remained a prisoner upon Navy Island, until the Patriots evacuated
it, during which time he was kept in close confinement, in a house on
the south front of the Island, which was open to the fire of the British
guns ; and that three of their shots passed through the house whilst

he wa$ confined there.

Seth Conklin.

Sworn before me at Chippewa, this 18th day of January, 1838,
Samuel Street, J. P.

Another American citizen^ of the name of James
Wood, of the city of Buffalo, in the State of New York,
deposed also that he saw the Caroline cut out of the
ice, and that it was no secret that she was destined
to supply Mackenzie on Navy Island; and whilst not
less than a thousand volunteers assisted in freeing her
from her frozen dock, and in loading her with muskets,
swords, and flour; that he asked her master, one
Appleby, where she was going, who told him westward
to Dunkirk, which is forty-five miles above Buffalo, on
Lake Erie, but that Wood said, "You mean eastward
to Navy Island V The skipper smiled, but made no
reply; but Wood had heard it repeatedly said, by

VOL. II. c

26 CANADA.

many rich men in the city^ that if the Patriots would
fight, they would find (American expression for pro-
viding food, &c.,) them.

As soon as the schooners and gun-boats, under
Captain Drew, were manned and armed, they began
cruizing about the river, to intercept these suppUes :
and as one-half of that river, in its deepest channel, is
by treaty the property of the United States, — although
that treaty recognizes the right of both nations to its
free navigation, — ^the Americans began to think that the
au' and the water might both be outraged by British
shot and shells flying through the one or sinking into
the other ; and a most singular forgetfulness appears to
have come over them respecting the shot of the Patriots
having actually passed only through British atmosphere
and into British water from Navy Island and from the
United States territory and military posts on Grand
Island. In short, the patriots and American Militia
were free to fire upon the subjects of a power at
peace with the United States, and which power had
just most magnanimcmsly preserved the Republic from
a fierce and bloody war with France.

General Winfield Scott, who commanded on the
United States frontier, is one of the most accomplished
and the best known of the American military com-
manders; and there can be little doubt that when
it became seriously necessary for the Cabinet of Wash-
ington to act, and that his hands were unfettered, he
did indeed act, as he afterwards acted respecting the
Boundary question ; that is to say, he fully exerted his
energies and talent to prevent his nation being em-
broiled with Great Britain.

CANADA. 27

He is mucli respected by every British officer who
has made his acquaintaQce^ or who knew him when he
first displayed his military talents on the Niagara
frontier in the last American war.

His correspondence with Colonel M^Nab and Cap-
tain Drew, on the occasion about which we are
engaging the attention of the reader^ is singular
enough and worth preserving. He was in fact, placed,
as the Americans say, in a very '^ awkward &l/'
for the supreme majesty of the border people kept
him in check on the one hand and his own real
masters, the Cabinet, had not declared peace or war
on the other.

General Scott is a highly educated gentleman, and
a soldier who has seen much of foreigners, and yet
the language of his diplomacy is shrouded in words
purely Americanisms, which disfigure the English
acceptation of those words in a strange manner, and
evince a national desire to adapt the most correct
language of modem times to a new and by no means
an improved standard, as we also observe in some of
the best American novelists, who introduce such out-
rageously un-English words, as sparse, quite a quantity,
our waters, day before yesterday instead of the day,^ &c.
into their best writings; an afi^ectation of natiabalism
which scratches poor Friscian^s head sadly, and dis-
fig^xres the noble stock which satisfied the master-
minds of Milton and of Shakspere, whose dictionaries
will afibrd a hving and flourishing tree, when Webster
and his grafts shall be remembered only to be again
forgotten.

Our readers will at once perceive the singular situ-

c 2

28 CANADA.

ation in wliich General Scott was placed^ and the
uncertainty whether the will of the people would not
have hurried his Government into an unnecessary
renewal of the attempt to conquer Canada :

To the Commanding- officer of the Armed British Vessels in the

Niagara.

Head-quarters^ United States Army,
Eastern Division, 2 miles below Black Rock,
January 15, 1838.
Sir, — ^With His Excellency the Governor of New York, who has
troops at hand, we are here to enforce the neutrality of the United
States, and to protect our own soil and waters from violation.

The proper civil officers are also present, to arrest, if practicable,
the leaders of the expedition on foot against Upper Canada.

Under these circumstances, it gives me pain to see the armed
vessels mentioned anchored in our waters, with the probable intention
to fire upon that expedition moving within the same waters. Unless
that expedition shall first attack, in which case we shall interfere, we
shall be obliged to consider a discharge of shot or shells from or into
our waters, from the armed schooners of Her Majesty, as an act
seriously compromitting the neutrality of the two nations. I hope,
therefore, that no such unpleasant incident may occur.

I am, Sir, respectfully, your most obedient,

WiNFiELD Scott.
\

The manly, concise, enei^etic, and officer-Uke reply
of Captain Drew, will be read with admiration :

Head-quarters, Chippewa, January 16, 1838.

Sir, — I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 15th
instant, in which you state " it gives you pain to perceive the armed
vessels of Her Majesty anchored in your waters, with the probable
intention to fire upon that expedition moving within the same waters."

The object I have in view is to prevent the rebels who have lately
been in arms' against Her Britannic Majesty upon Navy Island, and
who have now taken shelter upon Grand Island, a territory of the
United States, &om effecting a landing in any part of the province of
Upper Canada ; and for this purpose I have made such a disposition
of the force under my command as will most effectually perform
that service.

With reference to the vessels of Her Majesty being anchored in

CANADA, 29

your waters, I have always understood, that so long as Great Britain
and the United States were at peace and amity, that the right of the
full navigation of the River Niagara helonged to each power ; and if
I have suffered an infringement upon any International law, I heg you
will do me the favour to refer me to it

I have the honour to he. Sir, your most ohedient humble Servant,

Andrew Drew,

Commander in the Royal Navy, Commanding

Naval Brigade.

To General Scott, &c. Commanding the Forces of the United States, 8ie.

Then follows Colonel M'Nab's notice of the above,
which is somewhat lengthy, to use another Ameri-
canism, but highly to the purpose.

*

Head-quarters, Chippewa, January 18, 1838.

Sir, — ^The correspondence which has taken place between you and
Captain Drew of the Royal Navy, during my short absence from this
frontier, where I have the honour of commanding Her Majesty's
Naval and Militia Forces, having been laid before me by that officer,
I beg to ofier a few observations upon it.

You state that you, with His Excellency the Governor of New York,
are near Black Rock, with troops at hand, to enforce the neutrality of
the United States, and to protect your own soil and waters from
violation — that the proper civil authorities are also present to arrest,
** if practicable," the leaders of " the expedition " on foot against
Upper Canada — that, under these circumstances, it gives you " pain"
to perceive the armed vessels of Her Britannic Majesty anchored in
your waters, with the probable intention to fire upon that "expedition"
moving within the same waters — that unless that expedition shall first
attack, in which ease you will interfere, you will be obliged to con-
sider a discharge of shot or shell "fix)m or into" your waters, from
the armed schooners of Her Majesty, as an act seriously compr omit-
ting the neutrality of the two nations — that you hope, therefore, that
no such unpleasant incident may occur.

With regard to your views of the right of the expedition referred to,
to pass up the Niagara River, near your shore, unmolested by the
forces under my command, I beg to enter my most decided protest
The waters of the Niagara River, for the purposes of navigation, are,
as Captain Drew has very properly said, common to the inhabitants
of Great Britain and the United States, so long as these powers are at
peace with each other ; and that being the case, I cannot understand
why the schooners under my command, and anchored in the river,

30 CANADA.

have not the right to captiire and destroy any expedition on foot
against Upper Canada, and moving upon the waters of that river,
whether on the one side or the other, or exactly in the centre of the
stream* My own opinion is that they have that right, and had it not
heen for an unfortunate misapprehension of the orders given by
Captain Drew, to the officer in command of the schooners, that right
would most assuredly have been exercised.

The second paragraph of your letter appears to me so much at.
variance with that neutrality which, in my humble opinion, should be
observed upon the present occasion by officers of the United States,
that I cannot refrain from making a remark or two upon it

I cannot understand why it should give an officer of a neutral
power ** pain '* to observe an intention on our part to punish Ihe
actors in an ** expedition on foot " against this Province. It appears
to me, that such an intention should rather give pleasure than, pain to
an officer situated as you are, who really desired to see the rebellion
against the constituted authorities of Upper Canada put down ; more
particularly as the majority of the persons concerned in the hostile
expedition were citizens of your own country, and were in fact in the
situation of mere banditti.

I regret to observe an evident intention on the part of the United
States officers stationed on the Niagara Frontier, to screen the guilty
actors in this disgraceful outrage against the laws, as well of Great
Britain as of the United States, otherwise we should not hear those
authorities speak of the *' practicability " of arresting the leaders (^
that expedition, when so completely in their power as those men
are who lately occupied Navy Island.

I had, (fti the 11 th instant, the honour to address Commissary-
general Arcularius, or the officer in command of the United States
Militia Forces, on the Niagara Frontier, upon the subject of an out-
rage committed by the Militia force of the United States, stationed
upon Grand Island, on Lieutenant Elmsley, of the Royal Navy, and
the boat's crew under his command, but I have not as yet received
any answer to my communication upon this matter. I may now
briefly state, that the outrage complained of was the firing upon
Lieutenant Elmsley, by the Militia force alluded to, and directly
under the American flag.

I trust that you will cause an investigation of this serious charge
to be made — ^and I have the honour to request that the result of your
inquiries into this matter may be communicated to me with as little
delay as possible.

I beg also to refer you to the correspondence that took place on
the 13th instant, between Colonel Iron Ayre, of 48th Regiment,

CANADA. 31

47th Brigade, New York Militia, in relation to certain complaints
made by that officer to me ; in order that the same may be laid before
the proper authorities in the United States for investigation — as I
have no desire to conceal from the world any part of my conduct, whilst
in command of Her Mtjesty's Forces upon this frontier.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient humble Servant,

Allan N. M'Nab.
Colonel Commanding Militia and Naval Forces, Niagara Frontier.
To Major-general Scott, United States, Army, &c.

An oflScer was sent to Buffalo with tliis letter, and
his account of his reception is here given; Lieu-
tenant-colonel Donald Bethune appears to have fully
understood that General Scott found himself in a
predicament which required both policy and foresight
to manage cleverly :

Head-qnarterSf Chippewaf Friday Night, January 19.

Sir, — I have the honour to report to you, that I proceeded to
Buffalo with your despatch to General Scott, of the United State*
Army, where I had the honour of an interview with that officer this
morning.

After General Scott had perused the despatch, he desired me to
hiform Colonel M'Nab, that at a convenient time he would answer
his despatch in writing — that at present he could only do so verbally*
General Scott then remarked, that it was evident that Colonel M'Nab
was desirous of drawing him into a correspondence, for which he had
no leisure at present, as his time was wholly occupied in endeavouring
to preserve the neutrality of the United States during the existing dis-
turbances on our frontier ; — that Colonel M'Nab might have leisure
far maintaining such correspondence, but he (General Scott) had
not; — and that he had been so employed in maintaining the neutrality
of the United States, two officers of the British Army then in the
house (American Hotel) could testify.

I beg leave to remark, that General Scott appeared very much
agitated on perusing your despatch, and while he made the above
verbal communication.

I have the honour to be. Sir,

Your obedient humble Servant,

D. Bethune.
To Colonel the Hon. Allan N. M'Nab, Commanding MiUtia and NaVal

Forces, Niagara Frontier,

32 CANADA.

Captain Drew having settled the buainesa in a more
summary manner than in violating the American
waters^ by sending the pirate ship to perdition amidst
the roar of Niagara's rapids, this patriotic storm in a
washhand basin soon subsided, as far as Navy Island
was concerned, and some Companies of the 24th Regi-
ment having appeared on the theatre, it was thought
high time to shift the scenery.

President Mackenzie, Generalissimo BenseUaer Van
Sensellaer, et hoc genus omne, beat a retreat under
cover of border sympathy, and retired into the United
States, if not with ^^ bag and baggage,^' at least, as
Touchstone says, with ^' scrip and scrippage/'

The island was inunediately taken possession of by
the 24th, and found in the state I shall now describe,
from official miUtary, and private miUtary reports,
letters, and conversations.

The Lieutenant-governor, Sir Francis Head, visited
it on the 17th of January, and an officer of
[Engineers made a special representation of its con-
dition. One person describes the soUtariness and
wretchedness of this forest-wilderness as truly oppres-
sive, and the appearance of the trees in the situations
exposed to the fire of the cannon, mortars, and rockets
of the Canadian amy,* as evincing the great destruc-
tion of life which must have occurred.

The vaunted blockhouse citadel, the barracks, and
the formidable batteries, dwindled into huts made of
branches of trees and sods, and to hasty and ill-
constructed embankments. Two women were found

* Ably directed by an old Artillery-officer, Captain T. Luard. —
Editor.

CANADA, 33

on this Barataria^ and they informed the British that
Mackenzie's hospital, to which the wounded were
always removed, was on the American territory, at
Grand Island. Quantities of boots and shoes, and
some stores, with plenty of fragments of American
newspapers, were found in the hovels, and every
appearance indicated the terrible visitation of the
bursting shells, those most awful messengers of
death.

The body of one man was exhumed by order of the
lieutenant-governor, in order to ascertain if it could
be recognized. This unfortunate individual had fallen,
however, imder the merciless Lynch law of the Patriot
mob, for his arms were pinioned and he had been
shot by a rifle, probably suspected as a spy.

The border newspapers had invested Navy Island
with the character of a second Gibraltar, as perfectly
impregnable, and so much industry had actually been
employed in cutting down trees and brushwood round
the edge of the water, to form an abbatis to prevent
boat invasion, and the batteries and hovels were so
masked with wood, that it really looked formidable
from Chippewa.

But, as one gentleman observed, '^ Such a bugbear
never before existed in military parlance ; and such a
spectacle of ^ looped and windowed' wretchedness and
unutterable filth surely never existed before, as must
have been displayed by the mob of sympathisers in
their wiater bivouacs, for the scene of dirt was abso-
lutely sickening.'^ The hovels termed barracks, were
the most miserable beyond conception, that ever afforded
shelter to even the most abandoned and degraded of the

c3

34 CANADA.

human race ; and even so bad^ that where these psendo*
patriots herded like sheep in a pen^ no humane person
would have ccmstrained his swine to occupy^ so open
were they to the inclement air^ and so filled with all the
abominations that can be conceived.

Their clothings which wan of that of the lowest of
the people^ was found so insufficient^ that the charity of
the Bufialonians was drawn on for a supply^ which
proved inadequate ; and every bush was found eloquent
as to the excess of misery they had endured^ by the
filthy rags with which they were encumbered.

Nor was their food better provided; without money,
credit, or means, the leaders had, by a promise of
dollars and land, induced the lazzarcmi of Buffiilo to
venture on Navy Island, with the assurance, that a few
hours would find them masters of the fertiUty and
riches of the opposite shores, where they might revel in
the fat of the land.

A whole month these deluded wretches, who were not
permitted to retreat, and who could not retire across
the broad river at will, continued to suffer the biting of
the pitiless rain-storms of December and January. And
what was their principal food? Why, that which the
carrier complains of at the inn in Rochester, — " Peas
and beans as dank as a dog.'' They had, however,
occasional feasts, as there were large piles of bones
found, and pieces of bread and meat were scattered in
some of the hovels.

And here female affection found its way. Mrs.
Mackenzie, the mother of a large and helpless family,
who, it is generally believed in Canada, disapproved of
the senseless ambition of her husband,^ although she

CANADA. 35

was^ as all her family are^ or were^ attached to the
Reform side of the Canadian politics^ dauntlessly visited
and remained by that husband in this abode of
wretchedness and guilt. Her sleeping-place^ in a
rough log-built' shanty (as hovels built of rudely-hewn
timber are called in Canada) was shown^ as an evidence
of what woman is capable of enduring. It was a mere
recess^ like a berth on board of ship. In this cabin^ —
with a shelf covered with straw^ and exposed to wet and
elemental warfare not less than it was to the wretched-
nesa, unholy clamour^ the filthy and the coarseness of
the crew within^ from whom she could not evai be
separated by a partition^ Uved this faithful wife^ such
was the crowded state of every place affording the
sUghtest shelter from the cold.

Thus ended the farce of Navy Island^ which was
evacuated on the 14th January^ 1838; and this was
first known by a man with a white flag appearing on
the shore next to Chippewa. He had concealed himself
in the woods.

The American sympathy, however, did not rest here ;
for as soon as the Patriots had landed their thirteen
pieces of cannon at Schlosser, and placed them under
the guardianship of thfe State oflScer, they were
conveyed to Bufialo, and there disbanded ; and, imme-
diately afterwards, the cannon were taken from the
officer in charge of them by a fresh band of sym^
pathizers.

Samuel Hayes, — ^who figured as High-constable
of Toronto, in Mackenzie or Morrison^s mayoralty,
and who had been a sergeant in the 15th Regi-
ment, — surrendered himself as a prisoner just before

36 CANADA.

the evacuation. This unworthy soldier^ who had been
most conspicuously employed^ after his discharge from
his regiment, in disseminating his venom among the
soldiers and citizens of Toronto, had been employed in
drilling the Patriot forces on the island, and deserted
from them when the place became too hot to be held.
What became of him afterwards, excepting that he was
tried, I forget ; nor is it of much consequence ; and I
only mention him to show the tools which Mackenzie
had adapted to his use.

Nearly at the same time, Samuel Lount, the black-
smith, and late M.P.F., a great leader in the rebel-
hon, was taken at a hiding-place near Dunham, on
the Grand River, by Mr. Goldie, and with Dr. Mor-
rison, the ex-mayor and M.P.P., was safely lodged in
Toronto gaol; also several others, Bidwell was per-
mitted to leave Toronto, and went to Albany.

The Upper Canadian Republic, having thus lost its
chiefs, stood in abeyance; and all further annoyance
from Navy Island was afterwards put a stop to by
the orders of Sir John Colbome to clear it, as far as
was necessary, of its timber.

CANADA. 37

CHAPTER II.

The actaal Invasion of Upper Canada by the Sympathizers and
Brigands, and a simultaneous attempt on both Provinces
contemplated.

Mackenzie and Van Benssellaer were arrested by
order of the State-government of New York, and the
former held to bail in 5,000 dollars ; but this show of a
4esire to put down sympathy was indeed a ^'passing
show/' for they were immediately released upon bail,
although charged with levying war and stealing cannon
and arms from the Arsenals of the RepubUc.

The word Arsenal in the American Mihtary Diction-
ary, is of very various meaning, and the reader must
not suppose that Mackenzie took a second Woolwich
by storm when he ransacked an arsenal, or when it
was so frequently done afterwards by his followers,
Au contraire, this sounding designation on the frontier
of the United States, generally means a wooden-house
of two or more rooms, built Uke any other wooden--
house, with perhaps a shed for the state-cannon adjoin-
ing, all as convenient and as patent to the plunder, or
use of any mob, as the soverign people could possibly
desire, the keys being usually kept by some civil officer
pf the village or town in which it is situated.

38 CANADA.

Whilst upon this subject we may just allude to the
extreme anomalies in the American mode of conducting
miUtary affairs^ which the want of a sufScient army in-
duced.

A gentleman of the name of Arcularius flourishes as
a very miUtary character^ in the correspondence of the
day^ respecting the use made of the cannon and arms
of the State of New York^ and in the border papers he
was always called General. So he was^ but it was a
Commissary-general^s situation that he held. In short
everybody you meet in a Uttle ''poking'^ village, on the
borders, holds some title or official employ. Generals
keep stores; Colonels shoe horses; Majors serve the
bar of a tavern ; and Captains and Subs hold any and
every situation whereby money can be turned.

General Arcularius particularly distinguished himself
by writing a Despatch to Colonel M'Nab, respectfully
soliciting a suspension of an attack on Navy Island
until he, Arcularius, could persuade the invaders to
deliver up the United St^-tes' cannon and arms they
had stolen, and which of course ended in smoke.
Never such despatch was before or since read or
thought of, as to matter, manner, and object. But it is
not worth extracting, and it is only equalled by another
from Mr, Garrow, who declares to the President he
cannot enforce neutrality, and by the President's
declaration that the laws of the United States were
imequal to it also.

I am foiid of telling anecdotes, because, as I said
before, they reUeve the tedium of narrative.

An officer, employed on the Canadian frontier, bought
a horse of a Captain of Militia from the Empire State,

' CANADA. 39

which proved, after some time, not to be exactly the
charger he required. The horse-dealer, who also dealt
in everything smuggUabky came over the river, on his
usual avocations, a few months subsequent ^o the
purchase, and the subaltern, seeing his Mend, asked
him to take th& horse back, as it did not suit him.

'^ Ouess I will,'' says Harmonious Tuke, " when I
feel sUck in cash.''

'^ The mare is just as good and as sound as the day
I bought her of you, and you may have her for five
poimds less."

" You're a considerable smart man, I predicate.
It's a trade."

Harmonious pidlecL out a bundle of notes of the
thousand-and-one banks of the State of New York,
but he had not enough even of these rags.

The subaltern preferred Canada money, and shook
his head.

'' Don't be stumped, I'll get 'em changed; I a'nt
difficult, the mare is as tall a critter as ever had
hair on."

The subaltern looked impatient.

^^ Don't get riled ; I'll fix the shin-plasters,* and as
for the balance, here's a silver watch, just the tot.
Guess the Captain keeps a store, and can trade it."

But setting aside jest, let us pursue the thread of
narrative. Sympathizing had now spread itself along
the whole frontier of the United States, from Michigan to
Vermont, and Greneral Sutherland, a person of Scottish
extraction, had departed from Bufialo for Cleveland, in
Ohio, ^ Lake Erie, to organize an attack simultane-

* Anglice — Bank-notes of doubtful yalue.

40 CANADA.

ously with that on Navy Island^ upon the small ifiland
of Bois Blanc^ which occupies a part of the Strait or
Detroit^ near the commencement of Lake Erie at
Maiden or Amherstburgh, being exactly opposite to
that Canadian town and fort^ and one of the weak
points on the frontier^ which the reader will recollect
had always been selected by American officers in the
war, to invade Canada from.

The position of Bois Blanc is much the same as that
of Navy Island, namely, a small isle covered with forest,
and holding command of the channels of the river.

It was moved upon by bodies of American sympa-
thizers from Lake Erie and from Detroit at the same
time. The men from Cleveland in Ohio, imder the
command of a self-styled Colonel, named Dodge, left
Monroe, on the 7th of January, in a schooner, and
were joined at Gibraltar, on the 8th, by General
Sutherland, with several boats and scows (a large kind
of flat-bottomed boat, like the coal-barges on the
Thames) with 3 field-pieces, 250 stand of arms, and
a very large stock of provisions.

The object of this movement was to surprise the
Mihtia at Amherstburgh and then to invade Canada,
in the same manner as was done during the war, by
marching upon Maiden and Sandwich, and to the in-
terior as far as London, where they expected to be
received with open arms by the settlers of American
origin.

During their progress the schooner, on board of
which all the valuable military materiel and stores were,
was separated from the fleet, and ran close in« shore ;
whereupon she was hailed by a Mihtia sentry, who told

CANADA. 41

them that if they persisted in closing with the land
they would be fired into. An answer, couched in the
most gross terms, was made, out of contempt for the
Militia, and a tiraittade immediately opened on both
sides, which obUged the Patriots to haul off, but not
until their cannon had done some injury to the un-
offending inhabitants.

This schooner, the Anne, was a fine vessel, and had
been openly loaded with her cargo of men, arms, and
provision by the Detroit, a steamer belonging to the
American city of that name, opposite to Sandwich, in
Upper Canada, the cannon, the powder and ball, having
previously been stolen, or rather taken, from the

m

United States' Arsenal at Dearborn, about ten miles
from the city, and five or six hundred muskets were
also as deliberately stolen from the gaol d^pot at the
same time, without an effort on the part of the autho-*
rities to prevent such wholesale levying of war in a
country at peace with England, and then recently
imder a deep moral obligation to that nation from her
desire to avoid a war with France.

No effort was made to seize either the Erie steam-
boat, which was actually taken from a pretended civic
guard during the night, or the Anne, although the
latter remained quietly at anchor, receiviag her men
and stores from the former for a whole day, within
two miles of the seat of government of the State of
Michigan.

Two steamboats, in fact, were constantly engaged in
conveying troops and stores to Bois Blanc. The Dis-
trict-attorney refused to interfere ; and a Deputy United
States Marshal, who wished to prevent bloodshed, was

42 CANADA.

denied the requisite power to arrest the patriotic
enthusiasm. At lengthy however^ a show of inter-
ference was made ; and a ferry-boat^ called the United,
sent to capture the field-pieces and arms from the
schooner. The United, however, soon sheered off, for
the brigands threatened to treat her with a broadside ;
and the high-constables and legal posse, judging that
the better part of valour was discretion, and "con-
siderably'^ inclined towards the cause, as they reported
to their superiors, ^^ turned about face and went hum
again,'^ no doubt, as a Canadian observed, ^^ tarnation
scared.^^ However, after the reconnoitring attempt,
Boisblanc was evacuated; and Colonel Prince, of the
Canadian Militia, a member of the Parliament, and a
lawyer of eminence, judged it was quite time to give
Mr. Sutherland and his heroes a useAil lesson ; and
accordingly he, with 250 gallant Volunteers, embarked
at twelve o'clock at night and quietly took possession of
the island in the same United ferry-boat which had
run away from the Anne,

The proceedings at Amherstburgh were now rife
with interest, and the Militia began to collect rapidly
from the neighbouring country. What followed is
best explained in the statement of an eye-witness, and
in the despatch of Colonel Badcliffe, who commanded
the Militia on the Western District frontier.

The result of this affair, one of the most glorious in
which the Militia were engaged, was that 1 schooner,
8 pieces of cannon, 200 stand of arms, and a vast
quantity of ammunition were taken; 1 brigand was
killed, 8 wounded, and 12 made prisoners. The name
of the man killed was David Anderson, whilst the

CANADA. 43

notorious leaders, Dr. Theller, Robert Davis, Walter
Chase, and Colonel Dodge, who lost an eye, Thayer,
Smith, and Colonel Brophey, were amongst the captured
Patriots. The Militia fought in the icy water with
pitchforks, and whatever else they could muster, old
and young, able and weak, the strong in health and
the sickly, all vied in courage and loyalty, notwith-
standing that the schooner was supported by a large
steam-boat, the Erie, full of sympathizers, who however
sheered off, and left Theller to his fate.*

♦ At three o'clock in the afternoon of Monday the 8th instant, just
as the Militia had been dismissed from their parade in the Garrison at
Maiden, an alarm was given by the sentries posted at Bois Blanc,
that the brigands and pirates, about 400 in number, were leaving
Sugar Island in the schooner, scows, and boats, with the view^of
invading Bois Blanc instanter, and that they would reach the shore
in half an hour. It is perhaps well to observe that Sugar Island
belongs to Michigan, and that it had for some days past been the
rendezvous of the brigands. Bois Blanc is the British Island, and at
the lower or southern end of it stands the lighthouse. As soon as the
alarm was given, the Militia and their officers, aided by Captain
Woodward's gallant troop of cavalry from the London district (dis-
mounted), hurried to the boats, and to a schooner then lying at the
wharfs in Amherstburgh, and the island was invested as expeditiously
as possible by about 300 well-armed men. They were stationed at
three several points of the island, so as to command and watch
the brigands' movements, and to annihilate or take them if they
attempted to eifect a landing. The brigand forces were arrayed as
follows :

The schooner, with a sloop, — which has since turned out to be the
George Strongs apparently her tender, — hovered about the lower end
of the Island, at the distance of a mile below the Lighthouse, some-
times lying to, and sometimes apparently hugging our shore at
Elliot's Point (about two miles below Amherstburgh), as if inclined
to land her men there. Their main body was seen being towed in
scows, by two boats up the river towards Grosse Isle, taking care not
to come within musket-shot of Bois Blanc. They fired two cannon
shots of canister and grape at us, which did no injury. This was the
first hostile shot fired on this frontier, and after that there was " no

44 CANADA.

General Sutherland^ the leader of this exploit^
escaped to Detroit, where, notwithstanding the piracy

mistake" in their intentions. After waiting for the pirates about
two hours, and perceiving that so far from attempting to attack us^
they pulled in their scows above Bois Blanc, and that the schooner
and the tender, apparently made sail for our shore at Elliot's Point,
the officers held a consultation together, and as it was deemed not
improbable that the brigands' object was to effect a landing on the
main shore, and to take the town of Amherstburgh (which had not
100 effective men left to defend it), orders were instantly given to quit
Bois Blanc, and to return in the boats to Amherstburgh, with the least
possible delay. The men were all landed in about an hour, leaving the
island undefended (because a force could not be spared to remain there),
and everything was removed from the house of the Lighthouse- keeper,
Captain Hackett, except some trunks containing his and Mrs.
Hackett's clothes. In an hour after the men had landed in the town, the
pirate schooner sailed up the channel (a good breeze favouring her),
between Bois Blanc and the town. Her consort lay to under Bois Blanc
Island. The Militia kept up a constant firing at her with their rifles,
but as the distance was not less than 400 yards, it had but little
effect It was, however, afterwards ascertained that upon this occa-
sion one man was killed, and several slightly wounded ; she fired an
occasional cannon shot, and she was fairly beaten ofl^ and sailed, as was
supposed, for the scows and boats which had disappeared, and were
conjectured to have returned to Sugar Island.

On the following morning, Tuesday the 9th, the sloop was made to
come in without a shot being fired, and she was secured. The
pirate schooner was seen at anchor near the upper end of Bois
Blanc, and almost opposite the King's Store. She cruised about for
some hours, nevertheless taking care to keep out of the range of
musketry or rifle shots, and occasionally firing' grape and can-
ister into the town. A large number of the banditti were seen
scampering about Bois Blanc, as if from curiosity. They quitted it
in a few hours ; and it is fair to admit that they did no injury what-
ever to the Lighthouse, or the residence of Captain Hackett, or to a
schooner which lay ashore upon the island. They, however, carried
off the whole of Captain and Mrs. Hackett' s wearing-apparel, and
also a valuable gold ring; — and that was all the injury they did.
Our people, of course, resumed possession of the island on the
following day, and brought the schooner just mentioned to the wharf
at Amherstburgh ; and we have had possession of the island ever
since.

CANADA. 45

committed by him, and the taking of the arms of the
State, he was permitted to go at large, and issue his

But to proceed. The pirate schooner had, of course, been narrowly
watched through the day, but at sundown she sailed slowly and
steadily from the head of Bois Blanc, between that island and the
town, hugging the island as closely as she could for fear of our
musketr}' and rifles, and firing about a dozen shots of ball, grape,
and canister, into the very heart of Amherstburgh. The houses
sustained but little damage, and the inhabitants none. Our men
followed her (first leaving a force of about 150 men to defend the
upper part of the town near the King's Store, upon which a descent
from the brigand scows and boats was expected every minute), and
as she neared Elliot's Point, a rifle ball killed the helmsman, and the
wind blowing very strong, the schooner came ashore. They were
called on to surrender, and to take their colours down; but they
declined, or neglected to do so, and several shots were exchanged, and
two of the pirates were killed after she had stranded : she was about
eight or ten rods from the shore. Our men then plunged into the
water and boarded her ; and a jolly little man of the name of
Lighton, climbed up the mast and hauled down her colours.

The prisoners were brought on shore, and the wounded treated with
every kindness, humanity, and consideration. Indeed, we need only
refer to, the spontaneous declaration of W. W. Dodge, who is by far
the most respectable among them, as evidence of their treatment.

The capture consisted of a schooner, called the Ann of Detroit —
21 prisoners (most- of them American citizens), 3 pieces of cannon,
and upwards of 200 stand of arms, and a large quantity of ammu-
nition, besides some stores and provisions. The Militia engaged in
this capture were all volunteers, and behaved most gallantly.

Thus ended an expedition which was to have terminated in the
plunder of our property, the massacre of our faQiilies, and the total
subversion of our Constitution and Government We can, tell Mr.
Sutherland and his crew (who by this time are hungrily seeking
what they can devour), that if he wants to have another set-to, we
are prepared with 1,200 ''gallant souh," as Mr. Bates called the
pirates, — who are eager for something to do to keep them warm this
cold weather.

Letter of Colonel Radclifie, Commanding Western District Frontier,
to Lieutenant-colonel Strachan, Military Secretary.

Amherstburgkf January 10, 1838.
Sir, — I beg to state, for the information of His Excellency the

46 CANADA.

proclamations for another invasion; and to cap the
climax^ the Editor of a Detroit Newspaper^ the Post,

Lieutenant-governor, that on the 9th of January, 1838, the schooner
Anne of Detroit, in the service of the rehels occupying Bois Blanc
Island, was lying in the channel between the Island and Fort Maiden ;
at dark it was perceived that she neared the shore. On receiving
this information I reinforced the guard and pickets, and called the
garrison to arms ; the vessel then got under way and passed the town,
into which she threw some round shot and grape ; I immediately
expected she would land men at a place called the Point, and exactly
opposite the Lighthouse at Bois Blanc, and ordered the men to pro-
ceed to that point, where I had a guard of twenty placed, and rein-
forced by an out-lying picket of forty men. The vessel came close
up to the shore and commenced firing grape and round shot, and
musketry ; the Militia opened a brisk fire, and the schooner ceased
firing, when it was thought by some that she was willing to sur-
render ; however, as she would not pull down the flag our men
boarded her, although up to their arms in water.

The General (Dr. Theller) was at that moment in the act of re-
loading the six pounder they had on board— Captain Lang, of the
Lake^ Merchant Navy, took the cartridge out of the mouth of the
gun — Mr. Ironside, acting Captain of Militia^ took the flag. We
found on board 21 persons, I killed, 12 wounded, 3 pieces of cannon,
in good order, about 200 stand of arms, buff cross-belts, and ammu-
nition (of this but a small supply). When I receive a return, you
shall be informed more at length.

I have given directions to set fire to the schooner, as soon as all
the stores are taken out of her. I have just been informed thi^ the
enemy have got a steamer from Detroit, called the Erie, The rebels
seized her ; and the Mayor or Governor ordered her to be re&tken,
but the rebels refused. The city guards did not give them any further
trouble, in fact everything is done in this way ; the rebels have taken
six pieces of cannon at Detroit in the same way, and they are now on
board the Macomb steamer at Detroit, and of course will be employed
against us to-morrow.

One of our scouts has just come in to say, that he supped in com-
pany with some rebels at Gibraltar Point last night, and they there
said that it was their intention to attack Sandwich this night ; that
they would divert us by a show of passing about the channel, but the
object was Sandwich.

I am now informed that the Erie steamboat has passed between
Bois Blanc and Sugar Island, and has discharged some cannon. I

CANADA. 47

very gravely and formally demanded of the General on
his arrival^ in writing, whether the Banks of Upper

haye ordered reinforcements to this point, and if I hear they are
coming nearer I shall beat to arms. This seems to be our weakest
point, and I wish His Excellency would send a company or two of
the line to assist. I have just had a letter from Colonel Hamilton,
at Windsor, that he had been well informed that the rebels intended
to attack Chatham this night ; and if the water was not sufficient to
take them up, that they would try Windsor or Sandwich.

This end of the country is very much exposed, and should be
attended to in time. I have- issued orders to send 100 men to Sand>
wich, to assist there in case of attack.

I should be glad to know if His Excellency wishes to employ the
Indians.

I have sent the prisoners to London Gaol.

Your obedient Servant,

Thomas Radcliffe.
Colonel Commanding Western District Frontier.

N.B. — The Anne of Detroit is aground, but have not yet burned
her.

Lieutenant- colonel Strachan, Military Secretary.

REPLY.

Government-house, Toronto, January 25, 1838.

Sir, — I am commanded by His Excellency the Lieutenant-governor
to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the lOtli instant, and
to express his high sense of your conduct and that of the gallant men
tmder your command, in capturing the schooner Anne, in the service
of the pirates with their guns, and a large quantity of the munitions
of war.

This gallaiit exploit reflects the highest credit upon those employed
on the occasion, and proves that the Militia of the Western District
required Only an opportunity to show the same readiness to defend
the Queen's Government, and protect their homes from the depreda-
tions of lawless invaders, which has been exhibited by the Militia in
other parts of the Province.

I have the honour to be, Sir

Your most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) J. M. Strachan,

Military Secretary.

48 CANADA.

Canada were solvent^ and what were the intentions of
the Patriots relative to those banks^ should they succeed
in their plan of '^ redeeming'' the Province ; to which
the General replied by transmitting the Editor of the
Post copies of his despatches to Generalissimo Van
Rensselaer^ and enclosed his Proclamation to the
citizens of the new republic of Canada; on which
subject, the Commercial Advertiser of New York,
one of the leading papers of the United States, in an
article upon the Michigan outbreak, dated January
26th, 1838, and headed " Captain Bobadil outdone,*'
says, '^ the whole * forms about as magnificent a piece of
vaffabond impudence as ever fell within our observation."
A great deal of talk about violating the neutrality
of the United States; and a farcical exhibition of anger
against the robbers of the public military stores took
place in the capital of Michigan; and thus ended
Major-general Sutherland's attempt to carry flame,
famine, and destruction into Canada simultaneously
with Mackenzie, whose Canadian land-office and presi-
dentiary establishments were thus knocked on the head
by a handfal of raw volunteers, unprovided with arms,
undisciplined, and possessing no knowledge whatever
of the withering designs of their abandoned invaders.
And these brave men were not only Canadian gentle-
men, farmers, and farm-labourers, but they were also
the poor despised Negroes, who had made Amherst-
burgh their asylum fix>m slavery and persecution ; and
last, but not least, the ranks of the defenders of the
soil showed those honourable descendants of the original
French settlers, who are found now in Upper Canada
only along the margin of the Detroit. Several of these

CANADA. 49

excellent loyalists^ of all classes^ sujQPered severely after-
wards^ and some lost their lives from the exposure they
undement in the depth of winter, in carrying on their
duties of watching so open a frontier^ and in fighting
amidst ice and freezing water to capture the Anne,
Peace be to thar manes!

Immediately this event became known, the Militia
were organized, and such arms as could be sent from
so great a distance as Kingston were forwarded to them,
whilst the Commander-in-chief put the 24th and 32nd
Regiments in motion to garrison the frontier posts, and
continual reinforcements of troops from the Lower
Province, as fast as they could be spared, on the arrival
of others from the neighbouring provinces, were sent to
Upper Canada.

The British reader can form very'little idea of a mid-
winter march from Halifax, in Nova Scotia, on the
borders of the Atlantic, to Lake Erie, a distance of
nearly two thousand miles by the ordinary water-routes
in summer, but shortened a good deai in overland
journeys.

After leaving the settled parts of New Brunswick,
beyond its capital, Fredericton, the route proceeded
across an unbroken line of forest and frozen lake, in a
climate Uttle inferior in severity to Siberia.

Log-huts were cpnstructed, by order of Sir John
Colbome, at intervals along this line, and these were
generally large buildings of rude logs, with a wide
opening in the roof to let out the smoke of a huge
central fire. Everywhere, except upon the beaten
track, the snow lay many feet deep ; and any one
wandering from the prescribed line, would entail

VOL. II. D

50 CANADA.

inevitable destruction on himself^ as nothing is so
easy as to lose your way^ even in sununer^ in the
endless American forest. Near Penetangueshene, our
most northern post on Lake Huron^ I have lost my
way, even with an experienced Bois Brule guide, who
really became alarmed, until he recovered the trail, — a
track invisible to European eyes, consisting often only
of marks, designated by small sUces cut out of the bole
of a tree, or of « leaves pressed by the Ught foot of an
Indian, or of the delicate ends of the minute branches
of shrubs broken off during the rapid and swinging
trot at which the secure walk of the Indian usually
is peformed.

Many fine stories have been told of the unerring
accuracy with which the Indians thread hundreds of
miles of the dark and trackless forest. There can be
no doubt, that the Indians, and all other savage men,
possess the faculties of sight, hearing, and smell in a
much more acute and developed manner than civilized
people, simply because they have them in constant
exercise; just the same as an Irish labouring-woman
can carry a tremendous weight on her head without the
use of her hands ; or as a blacksmith^s arms become
muscular and more powerful than ordinary mens^ arms,
from his using the sledge-hammer constantly ; but that
any Indian could go straight to his object, hundreds of
miles off, through a forest never before trodden,
abounding with quagmires and lakes, is as unlikely as
that he would find his way in any part of London, the
first time he set his foot in that human labyrinth.

The fact is, that the Indians do not take very long
land journeys ; their hunting-grounds are circumscribed.

CANADA. 51

and have been so long used by the tribes they belong
to, that every landmark is familiar; and, in passing
through ^^ the bush/' as the stately forests of America are
absurdly called^ the Indian follows a track more or less
known and beaten ; otherwise, he follows the direction
of the planetary bodies and the stars ; and, in a country
so full of great rivers and lakes, the landmarks about
their shores and borders have become familiar sights to
the sons of the forest.

The moss on the northern sides of the trunks of
trees, — ^the inclination of many of the trees from the
prevailing wind, with the comparative absence of
branches on that side from which the strongest and most
constant gales blow, are aU points of the forest com-
pass, and the migration of animals, north and south,
is conducted upon a system which affords numerous
lessons to the wood-ranger.

Fancy yourself, gentle British reader, starting,
instead of in a comfortable mail-coach, or the swift
railway-carriage, on a road smooth as a bowling-green,
and through a country smiUng even in winter,— fancy
yourself seated in a long open box, placed upon
nmners, shod or unshod, as the case may be, with
iron, and drawn by a horse, large or small, as can
be procured, with a fur cap on your head, if you
can get one, with a pair of mittens, or fingerless
worsted gloves, on your hands, a great coat over your
ordinary dress, and a pair of mocassins, or undressed^
deer-leather shoes on, and the thermometer at twenty
or thirty degrees below Zero, with a dense, dark, lofty,
interminable, and noble forest before you, uninhabited
by man and knee-deep in snow. Your box holds two^

D 2

52 CANADA.

four^ six, or eight, as the case may be, and a hundred
of you set off in a long string together, plunging
into waves of snow, called cahots, every five seconds or
minutes, and expecting every now and then to be
pitched over into some river far below your precipice
road, and so rapid that even the frost has not bound
it. Fancy an eternal, black, gloomy pine forest,
whose giant tops woo the clouds, and in which the
silence of its dark glades and glens remains unbroken
by any sound save that of your rushing sleighs, for
even the animals, its usual denizens in summer, have
forsaken its horrible depths. Fancy all this, and that
the only hope of succour left to you for hundreds
of miles is to be found in rude hovels built of logs,
which you can only reach at long intervals, and that
such is the nature of the road, that you must often
get out to reUeve your horse, and then, I think, you
will have a pretty good idea of what the 43rd and
85th, the Boyal Artillery, and many other regiments
and corps, had to encounter in their journey from
Halifax and Fredericton in the winter of 1837, 1838,
and afterwards. An officer of the 85th, describing
the " portage,'' says : ^' Never in my life did I see such
a road; it was a succession of precipices, flanked by
a dark, gloomy, and boundless forest.'' In another
place, in crossing a river, he observes : " The driver
of my sleigh certainly tempted fate to the utmost
verge, driving over alone at a furious rate, whilst the
tfhole sheet of ice undulated like the representation
of the sea on a stage."

Amongst the cahots of Temiscouata Portage he is
equally descriptive r "These are a succession of deep

CANADA. 53

holes^ which are formed^ when the snow is on the
ground^ by the bad construction of the carioles, the
shafts of which are fastened on to the very runners,
and having a broad board to connect them, sloping at
an angle of forty-five degrees, the snow is thereby
scraped up into mounds, between three and four feet
high ; so that, really, the motion of our sleigh was
precisely that of a boat in a heavy sea, only its
effects were ten times more violent ; and this idea
suggested to me the name which I gave to the portage,
viz., passage des ondes glades. It was dark when we
got to the camp, a number of large log-huts, erected
on purpose for the troops. We passed a very uncom-
fortable night, owing to the smoke of our fire, which
also, at times, was large enough to roast an ox by,
and obliged us to rouse out and put snow upon the
flames, when, shortly after, it would get so low,
that we were in danger of fireezing. The thermometer
was four degrees below zero.^^

They then crossed the Temiscouata Lake where the
ice was full of holes and very dangerous, and soon
afterwards, near the Grand Portage, his horse, un-
accustomed to the jerking and strain of the cahots,
gave way and he was obliged to leave him, and going
on with the Commissary * in another sleigh, the horses
also broke down, from the violent concussions they
received from the sleigh pitching into holes ; when they
floundered and fell into the deep snow, broke the

• This commissariat-officer was Mr. Wilson, to whose exertions the
troops owed so much, and who lost the use of his arm for a time from
absolute fatigue and exposure. Captain Ingall, of the Quartermaster-
general's Department, was also most active and useful. — Editor.

54 CANADA.

shafts^ and left the travellers to cool their vexations in
the middle of the forest. However, a reinforcement
came up, and the writer describes the incessant pain
he suffered from the imevenness of the roads, which
actually were so full of these cahots as to baffle all his
exertions to keep his seat. Any one who has ridden
in a French cariole, over a French Canadian winter
road, can sympathise with him : and yet, rather than
put the shafts of their carioles eighteen inches higher
than the ground, the French Canadian endures this
torture, because his father and grandfather did, or from
some vague notion of antiquated customs being always
preferable to new-fangled ones. I am persuaded that
one of Jean Baptiste's master grievances, which would
lead him to do strange freaks, will be the attempt, on
the part of the Upper Canadian British, to force him
to put his shafts on the line of draught of his horse.
It was tried in Sir Charles Bagot^s first Parliament;
and, like any attempt at innovation upon seignorial
rights, the old feudal laws, the coUtume de Paris,
or the thorough introduction of the English laws and
language in a British Colony, it was found to be im-
practicable. It has been attempted by many Governors
without a shadow of success ; and I caii only say, that
when I see the bonnet rou^e, the capote, the red worsted
sash, the queue, and the short pipe, disappear in Lower
Canada, then perhaps there will be an end of pitching
and tossing in Lower Canadian berlins and carioles.
It makes ones bones " ache to think on't.'' It is as
bad as an Upper Canada wooden-spring wagon on a
corduroy road. And yet, notwithstanding all these
difficulties and dangers fronr frost and flood, — from

CANADA, 55

tempest and forest/ — very few casualties occurred
amongst the many i^giments whicli crossed from
Nova Scotia or New Brunswick to Quebec ; whilst few
cases of frost-bite, or, as the Newfoundlanders more
feelingly call it, '^ frost-burnt,'' occurred in these
winter marches, which are wonderfully improved as to
means since the last American war; as the road is
a mail-route, — if it can be so termed, — now, and the
troops have no longer tq bivouac or hut themselves
" under the shade of melancholy boughs/' Formerly,
too, they had to march actually on snow-shoes,
and to draw their provisions themselves, in little
light sleighs, called taubaugins; for road there was
none.

Major-general Sir John Harvey, on the breaking out
of the last war, having landed at Halifax from England,
was one of the first that ever crossed this wilderness,
which he accomplished in safety ; Lord Edward Fitz-
gerald had attempted it in 1789, in the month of
Marchy by a more southerly and western route.

Sir John has twice distinguished himself by the same
spirited adventure. In India, as before-mentioned, he
passed on horseback over an immense tract of country
in possession of the enemy, who had got between two
divisions of the army; and by thus communicating
with both, he performed a service of the most hazard-
ous nature, requiring presence of mind, resolution, and
hard and skilful riding; whilst, in traversing the
boundless expanse of forest in the dead of winter in
Canada, he had to encounter the extremity of bad
weather and cold, and to trust to his snow-shoes and
his own feet.

56 CANADA.

The march of the 85th from St. John^s, New Bruns-
wick, after crossmg Nova Scotia to Windsor and the
Bay of Pundy, lasted from the 16th of December, 1837,
to January 5th, 1838; and they had to pass the St.
Lawrence in canoes.

The winter of 1837 was a most singular one, and,
contrary to all former precedent, the lakes of Upper
Canada and the St. Lawrence, at Quebec, remained un-
fit)zen till February, and thus permitted water commu-
nication for heavy guns, and stores, and troops, in
Upper Canada; whilst, on the line of road by which
the reinforcements came from New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia, the rivers and lakes were frozen long
before the usual season ; thus rendering the march of
troops secure by land. At the same time, the St. Law-
rence was so free from ice, that the 83rd Regiment
actually moved from Quebec to Montreal (180 miles),
on the 11th of December.

But we must again break away from anecdote, and re-
turn to General Sutherland and his myrmidonst Having
taken shelter, after their defeat at Amherstburgh, on
Sugar Island, a small isle in Lake Erie, or rather in the
Strait, belonging to the United States, they were visited
by the Gk)vemor of Michigan, Mr. Mason, who per-
suaded them to retire to the main shore^ where Suther-
land, as we have already observed, was nominally
arrested.

The exertions of the inhabitants of the Niagara,
London, and Western Districts of Upper Canada, or
of those districts -bordering on Lakes Erie, Huron,
St. Clair, the rivers Detroit and Niagara, were beyond
all praise.

CANADA. 67

As soon as the excitement on the American side at
Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit became known, a
public meeting was held at Sandwich, opposite to
Detroit, on the 26th of December, 1837, when it was
resolved to organise companies of volunteers, and place
them along the exposed frontier, to send expresses to
Chatham, and all along the shores of Lake Erie, to put
the people on the alert, and then to organize a local
commissariat for the supply of provisions, as a great
portion of the land bordering on the lakes had been
overflowed, and the inhabitants unable consequently to
supply the Militia with food. William Anderson,
' Esq., of Sandwich, was appointed Commissary, and
William Paxton, Esq., of Amherstburgh, and James
Beid, Esq., of Chatham, Assistants, by whose exertions,
before the navigation closed, an adequate supply was
derived from the Americans themselves in Detroit,
through the distinguished conduct of Mr. Dougall, a
merchant of the little town of Windsor, nearly opposite
to the American capital of Michigan. This gentleman,
jQnding that nothing but hard dollars would be taken,
came forward and placed twelve thousand in the hands
of the Commissary; Colonel Prince, M.P.P., and Colonel
Hamilton, the Sheriff of the London district, also came
nobly forward and offered to endorse drafts, which gave
so much satisfaction to the American merchants that
flre-arms, ammunition, pork, flour, and other necessary
supplies soon came over, although the mob threatened
the suppliers with popular vengeance, and stigmatised
them as traitors to the cause of Republicanism. Inde-
pendant, however, of the usual mercantile feeling which
pervades all classes of society in the United States, and

D 3

58 CANADA.

which renders such transactions comparatively easy to
mens^ minds^ there were many of the ancient and
respectable inhabitants of Detroit who had no sympathy
with the sympathizers ; in fact^ the feeling was not
general beyond the mere borders of the lakes^ whose
population, Uving upon summer labour on their vast
expanse, is always thrown into comparative idleness in
winter; and however glad the mass of the American
nation would no doubt be to see the Canadas an addi-
tional star upon their banner, yet I firmly belive the
people of large property, the people of cultivated
intellect, the great merchants of New York and Boston,
and the Atlantic ports, cursed the hour when Fapineau
and Mackenzie unfurled the foolish flag of rebellion in
Canada, for they knew well that the power of England
was too great to trifle with ; they knew also that their
own institutions were not such as the French Canadians,
all Roman CathoUcs, could possibly desire, and they
well knew that British feeling had not by any means
ceased in Upper Canada.

The Canadas will never be an integral portion of the
North American Union. They compose, with New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the
islands of the St. Lawrence, an empire of themselves;
and if ever it should be so unfortun^e as to cease to
be an appanage of the British Crown, it will be by
and with the consent of England only, as soon as it is
able to withstand the system of territorial aggrandize-
ment which pervades the American mind, and which,
if pushed much farther, will dissolve the Union itself,
and scatter the bundle of rods. It is not within the
compass of human reason to fancy that if the United

CANADA. 59

States pursues with insatiable avidity the conquest of
the Pacific shores^ and colonizes the vast regions of
California and the Columbia^ that a race^ living 2^000
miles from Washington^ and practising democracy in
its most absolute form^ will long remain subject to a
nominal President. If Canada then^ with her mixed
French and British population^ the latter increasing every
year by some forty or fifty thousand, ever becomes rich
and ripe enough to manage her household, it will not
be as a second Texas, a mere football to play with, but
as a great North American power, in strict alliance
with England, andpn fact, another British empire in
the New World.

«

I do not go altogether, so far as Sir Francis Head,
who^ like most Colonial governors, could not see all or
hear all of the real people of the country ; yet I am
persuaded that that energetic man, who knew more of
the Canadian character in the two years that he ruled
than has fallen to the lot of most people, justly remarked
that the Upper Canadians are sound, loyal, and £ar from
being blinded by or attached to the republican ideas or
the republican institutions of their neighbours ; whilst
the French Canadians, urged as the peasantry were by
designing politicians, whose chief hope was to advance
themselves into a premature rebellion, would to-mor-
row, if there was a war between the United States and
Great Britain, come forwa^ as freely and as fearlessly
in defence of their soil and of the monarchy as they
did before. One must not judge of Jean Baptiste by
the acts of a parcel of madmen who set the young
French lawyers and shopkeepers of Montreal in a
blaze of revolutionary fury, and brought all the natural

60 CANADA,

high-spirited blood of the young Canadian into play
to suit their own sordid purposes^ which the very
publication of Dr. Nelson^s proclamation soon after
cooled most wonderfully^ as the people saw that they
were to be governed by parvenus upon the American
models and their religion, laws, customs, education and
manners were all to be swept away in one flood of
democracy. Believe me, English reader, the French
Canadian yeoman and the French Canadian peasant
are not bad fellows after all; and that if properly
governed they are as reasonable people to deal with,
(setting apart some ancient prejudices, derived from
their ancestors,) as you could wish; but more of this
by-and-by. It has been suggested to my mind now,
because the scene of the narrative is at present the
Western District of Canada, the only part of Western
Canada in which the French Canadian is found. There
gentleman, yeoman, peasant, all were devotedly loyal,
and all aided to crush the invasion of the Republicans.

Applications were made to the Lieutenant-governor
for a Commissariat officer to be sent, but this could not
be immediately complied with ; and thus the frontier
was indebted for its sole preservation to the loyalty of
its inhabitants, and particularly to those gentlemen
already named.

Three hundred militiamen were enrolled to do duty
at Windsor, Sandwich, and Amherstburgh, and that
duty was constant and imremitting, day and night ;
and as at other places on the Canadian frontier, many
of them never took a whole night^s rest for a fortnight
at a time, for the preparations in Detroit were visible
both to their eyes and to their understanding.

CANADA. 61

The invasion was delayed by the uncommon occur-
rence of the river Detroit remaining navigable ; for the
usual season of ice would have made the commencement
erf January a better period.

The Magistrates and Militia officers^ relieved by the
delay of the pirates, collected all the powder and lead
they could obtain, and the Militia were reinforced by
the men of Kent, imder Captain Bell, and Lieutenant
Baby, a gentleman of French Canadian birth, and by
Lieutenant M^Crae, who nobly sent 120 fine fellows
to their brethren in arms; whilst the St. Thomas
Cavalry, sixty strong, came in also just as the Patriots
were robbing the American Arsenals and preparing for
the attack. The command of the Militia of the
Western District devolved on Colonel B/adcliffe, of
Adelaide, who brought an increased force with him;
and the coloured population enrolled themselves in the
true cause of British freedom to a man, and were at
once officered by Upper Canadian gentlemen.

The first rendezvous of the brigands was at Gibraltar
Point, on Lake Erie ; and the Governor of Michigan,
Mr. Mason, having received intelligence that they
numbered 700 men, with five pieces of cannon and
1,200 stand of arms, gave due notice that he should
proceed against them, disperse them, and take the
United States^ material of war from them. He sent a
steam-boat, with a body of Militia, pompously styled
'^ The Brady Guards'' after the schooner, as we have
already related, and then went himself with the same
steam-boat, the Erie, and another called the Brady^
with a force of 250 men against the brigands, but on
arriving at Gibraltar Point they had sailed for Canada,

62 CANADA.

and several of his men^ with their arms and ammuni-
tion^ left him. He returned to the seat of hifi govern-^
ment ; and such was the animus against the Canadians^
that even his presence could not restrain the men on
board his steamer from firing upon the small steam
ferry-boat which was proceeding with Colonel Badcliffe
and a party of the Essex^ Kent^ and Windsor Militia
to strengthen the post of Amherstburgh, then threat*
ened with an attack.

We have shown the attempt to occupy Bois Blanc^
and then the firing twice upon the town of Amherst-
burgh and the projected landings so well defeated by
the Militia and Volunteers, who it is said, upon good
authority, amounted only to 400, scarcely armed ; for
since the war of 1814 the arms of the Militia had been
stored in Kingston, with only a few rounds of powder
and ball for a few muskets and fowling-pieces, and the
grand total of three bayonets to swell the list, which
was indeed the whole that the Lake Shore District of
Amherstburgh could then afibrd, so completely had
the ploughshare and the reaping-hook occupied the
place of the sword and the lance.

The attack of the schooner Amie, on her first passage
in front of the town, was on the 8th of January, and
merely a scattered cannonade ; but on the 9th she kept
out of rifleshot, and poured for two hours a heavy fire
of round, grape and canister (belonging to the military
stores of the United States) upon the devoted town,
without however, owing to the want of knowledge of
the gunners, doing much harm. In the interval
between the two attacks upon the town. Colonel Prince
withdrew his 300 men from Bois Blanc, to reinforce.

CANADA. 63

Colonel Radcliffe. General Sutherland then took
possession of the island^ with all the pomp of brigand
war, marching round its borders, opposite to Am-
herstburgh, with drums, trumpets, and flags, in order
to show the Canadians that the first step had been
taken upon their soil.

The final attack on Amherstburgh was made after
sunset on the same day as the two hour's cannonading,
when the Anne again bore down and opened her guns
on the town. The cavalry from St. Thomas followed
her motions, and fired into her, carrying all the volun-
teers, excepting 150, ' who remained at the landing-
place expecting (xeneral Sutherland and the pirates in
the brig, scows, and boats from Bois Blanc. The Anne
came abreast, at length, of a place called Elliott's
Point, and here her fortunes failed her; for the wind
was dead on shore and blowing hard, and several bullets
had pierced her sails and rigging from the muskets and
rifles and fowling-pieces of the Kent and Windsor
Volunteers, under Lieutenants Baby and Hall, who
kept guard at the Point, whilst a lucky shot disabled
the steersman, upon which the patriot vessel broke
away and grounded. Here the Essex Mihtia and the
<»loured people rushed towards her and kept up a
galling discharge of fire-arms, which was returned for
a time with energy, until the Militia, no longer
able to restrain their ardour, jxunped into the water
and boarded her, wading up to their necks. One of
these brave young men, Mr. Ogilvy, of Montrose in
Scotland, died a few days afterwards from this exposure
to the icy element, and several others sunk under their
exertions subsequently, whose names I do not recollect.

64 CANADA.

The vessel thus boarded yielded at discretion^ and
General Theller^ with Colonel Dodge and Captain Davis^
of the Brigand Infantry^ and Colonel Brophey^ of the
Pirate Engineers^ surrendered^ with sixteen others^ in*
eluding Anderson^ an Upper Canadian traitor^ from the
London District^ who died next day of his wounds;
and two or three others were drowned or killed.

The Militia^ in addition to the victory^ found what
they most needed^ — ^muskets^ bayonets^ and cannon^ one
nine and two six-pounder guns^ 350 stand of arms^ and
accoutrements complete^ a very large quantity of am-
munition^ and 630 dollars in the chest. Thus the
Volunteers assumed a warlike attitude from the mili-
tary arsenals of the United States^ — a just retribution ;
and two of the cannon being mounted on the old Fort
Maiden^ then in ruins^ the other was placed on board
a schooner, fitted up by Captain Vidal, of the Bioyal
Navy, who resides on Lake St. Clair, at Samia, and
who is well known in Canada as a most active, enter-
prising officer, and a most useful and energetic settler.

Thus terminated an invasion of Upper Canada, which,
if it had been successful, would have created immense
outlay and difficulty, as arms and provision on that
exposed frontier could then only be had from the
United States, and would have been freely suppUed to
the adventurers.

We have already said that Governor Mason suc-
ceeded in dispersing the brigands ; but not before they
had become obnoxious to the Americans themselves;
for the Bank at Gibraltar Point actually petitioned the
Michigan Legislature for permission to remove to the
capital, as '^ their concern" was rendered rather unsafe

CANADA. 65

by the "presence of the Patriot Army." Bat the
judgment of Judge Wilkins deserves a more than pass-
ing notice. When Sutherland was brought before this
Judge on the serious charge of " violating the laws of
the United States^ in setting on foot a miUtary expe-
dition against the dominions of Great Britain^^^ the
learned Judge refused to hear any evidence respecting
the transactions upon the Island of Bois Blanc^ as that
island was not within the territories of the United
States ; and then actually dismissed the case altogether^
stating that there was no evidence before him connect-
ing the miUtary expeditions set on foot by Sutherland
with the invasion of the British dominions !

Such^ indeed^ were the usual results of all arrests of
the pseudo-patriots along the whole frontier^ from
Maine to Michigan ; and the stolen cannon and arms
of the Republic were no sooner delivered up every-
where^ than they were again taken out of the public
stores by new sets of adventurers^ eager for the lands
of Canada, and the com, wine, and oil of British plun-
der. But they reckoned without their host. One
spirit of British honour arose throughout the Empire,
and in the far comers of the London and Western
Districts, the shores of Huron, St. Clair, and Erie,
which had forgotten the echo of a warrior's tread,
again became covered with armed men, animated with
the one resolve, to drive the robbers into their Medi-
terranean.

Opposite to Detroit, the focus of the plundering
hordes, the Canadian shores were guarded by about
3,500 brave settlers, under Colonel Radcliffe, who be-
came well provided with the implements of war and

66 CANADA.

with provisions; and of this force the Six Nations
sent from Delaware 200 Indian warriors, under Colonel
Clench, who had long been connected with the Indian
Department, and who knew perfectly how to manage
and direct these civihzed children of the soil.

Colonel Dunlop, a name perhaps as well known as
any in Canada, commanded 650 fine fellows on the St.
Clair frontier, and Colonels Askin and Hamilton kept
up a continual line of cavalry expresses, so that every
movement of the enemy was known and prepared for.
But the horrors of invasion were not to visit this beau-
tiful portion of Western Canada at this time; and
Sutherland having absconded with what remained of
the miUtary chest, and his followers from Cleveland in
Ohio, having placarded him as a cheat, after ^^ raising the
wind '' themselves to reUeve them from positive starva-
tion, the camp broke up, and all returned to their
homes, or to the employments they had left to realize
a vision of conquest and plunder. And this was the
more speedily effected when the Government of the
United States found it was time to interfere; and as
the Brady Guards and Mihtia of Michigan could not
effect a palpable duty, on the 27th of January General
Scott landed from the steam-boat Fulton, 300 men of
the regular army, to preserve the neutrahty of the
frontier.

General Scott, leaving Colonel Worth in command'
in this district, returned to Albany, to take further
measures with respect to the extended line of opera-
tions. And thus the month of January, 1838, passed
off, in the west, without anything more occurring than
much talk and many threatenings from Van Rensselaer,

CANADA. 67

Mackenzie, Sutherland, M'Leod, and other leading
"Patriots/^ who were nursing the Borderers into a
combined system of oflFence against British supremacy,
by simultaneously attacking the whole frontier, of
nearly a thousand miles in length, from Yermont to
Lake Huron.

68 CANADA.

CHAPTER III.

The projected capture of the key of Upper Canada, Kingston,
lately the capital of the Canadas, and the behaviour of the
Militia.

The reader has now arrived at a very curious portion
of the history of the rebellion, when affiliated societies
were forming in every section of the United States
within a hundred miles of the Canadian frontier, and
throughout Upper Canada, for the purpose of making
a grand attempt, by the power of sympathy , to uproot
British institutions, and supply their place with others
founded on the bloody code of laws which the French
Revolution had taught mankind ; and it was astonish-
ing, to a person residing within the sphere of action,
to observe the rapidity with which these secret societies
were proceeding to carry out their views.

Even in the most loyal towns and neighbourhoods
in Upper Canada, men who had never been sxispected
of wavering in their allegiance began to discuss the
probabilities of a dissolution of the bond between Great
Britain and Canada ; and such was the universal opinion
in the States bordering on the Lakes of the certainty
of such an event, that farms in Canada were played
for as stakes, as securely as if they were represented

CANADA. 69

by money in hand. Diagrams^ or outline plans^ were
made of the townships which were to be invaded, and
the Patriots were to choose amongst themselves the
farm-lots which suited them best; whilst Lynch-law
would set aside, for ever, troublesome claims on the
part of theit real owners.

No pains were spared by that most indefatigable of
all agitators, Mackenzie, to represent the certainty of
success, and of the co-operation of his friends in
Canada, who were represented as eager for the appear-
ance of the Patriot hosts, and as well prepared to
receive them with open arms and with cordial assist-
ance.

In order to carry this game on successfully, it was
necessary to employ numerous well-paid agents ; who,
under pretence of mercantile, or other business, traversed
Canada from end to end; whilst Mackenzie himself,
and other leaders, occasionally ventured to expose
themselves to the gibbet by crossing the frontier.

The reader will recollect that Kingston was alone the
depot of warlike stores in Upper Canada ; and accord-
ingly, Kingston, one of the most loyal towns in the
province, and possessing the only fortress to which
the rebel and brigand prisoners were always sent as
soon after their capture as possible, was selected as
the main theatre upon which the success of the in-
vasion and occupation of Upper Canada was to be
played off.

If I speak of myself more than is usual for a modest
author to do so, in pursuing the subject of this chapter,
the reader must forgive me ; for I cannot go a-head,
as the Americans say, without so doing in a suflSciently
explanatory manner; and the conduct of the Militia

70 CANADA.

deserves^ from one who knew them well, all that I
can say as connected them.

Kingston is situated just opposite to that part of
the State of New York where Lake Ontario, beginning
to narrow its immense boundaries, divides itself into
two channels, before these unite to form the Cataraqui,
as the St. Lawrence was here called by the ancient
Indian inhabitants.

The island which principally causes these two chan-
nels is called Long Island, and is crossed at its broadest
or western end by a road nearly six miles long, to gain
which from Kingston is a ferry of about three miles
across the open roadstead called Kingston Harbour;
and from Long Island to Gravelly Point, Jefferson^s
County, in the State of New York, is another ferry
of about a mile in length.

These channels, ferry, and road are the ordinary
mail routes from New York to Kingston ; and in mid-
winter the ferries are usually frozen over so solidly,
that all the traffic for provisions and the mails are
carried on and over the ice. Thus Kingston, being
fronted by a solidly-frozen barrier, is more assailable '
at that period of the year than at any other; for,
although the expanse of Lake Ontario never entirely
freezes, yet, for many miles at its narrow end near
Kingston, it has a solid coating in winter, so that an
enemy can land far away from the guns and defences,
both above and below the town.

Below the town the river commences ; and, although
very broad, is much broken by a continuation of large
and of small islands and islets, known to travellers as
the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, the most
picturesque and the most beautiful portion of its scenery.

CANADA. 71

After leaving Long Island^ opposite to which, on
the Canada shore, is another large one called Howe
Island, the river gradually decreases in breadth, but
maintains an expanse of open water, at the foot of these
two large islands, of upwards of six miles. And here we
reach the mouth of a small Canadian stream, called the
Grananoqui, about sixteen miles from Kingston, where
the frontier of the United States is not further distant
than about two and a half miles ; then another
large island, called Grindstone or Gore Island, begins,
and occupies the centre of the St. Lawrence, leaving
an equal expanse of water on each side towards Canada
and the United States.

West of Grindstone Island, and within a very short
distance of its shore, which is divided from it by the
deep water channel (the boundary of the two countries),
is a httle islet called Hickory Island, belonging to
Great Britain, but uninhabited, save by one poor widow.
Hickory Island is therefore nearly half-way on the St.
Lawrence between the British village of Gananoqui and
the United States village of French Creek in JeflFerson^s
Country.

Gananoqui is celebrated fpr one of the finest and
largest flour-mills in Canada, driven by the rapids of
its pretty river ; and which supphes flour in great quan-
tity for exportation and home use.

French Creek is celebrated as the abode and rendez-
vous of British deserters, as the scene of Buccaneer
Bill Johnson^s exploits, and as a centre whence all the
idle river and lake men find a home whenever war or
rebellion needs their services in Canada, and whence
the shelter of the intricate labyrinths of the Thousand
Islands is always ready to afibrd harbour and security

72 CANADA.

to mail robbers and pirates. It was this delectable
abode that was chosen as the head-quarters of General
Van Rensselaer upon the second attempt of Mackenzie
to invade and revolutionize Upper Canada.*

I was then in command of the Militia^ and a respec-
tive officer of the Ordnance^ as well as Commanding
Officer of Engineers. Mihtary men can fancy how one's
time was employed. Night and day were the same;
neither a season of rest, relaxation, nor of social enjoy-
ment. The whole of Upper Canada, a thousand miles
of frontier, had to be supphed with arms, ammunition,
camp-equipage, blankets, and the numberless et ceteras
incidental to a state of actual war.

The day was passed in reviewing, organizing, drilUng
and disciplining the Militia; in ordering great guns
and Uttle guns, bedding, cartridges, powder, flints, and
firelocks ; in strengthening the batteries and Fort Henry,
bringing old sand-bags into use, which had rotted in
obhvion of war. In mounting traversing platforms,
and drying damp casemates, building ovens, and pre-
paring safe places for the specie of the Commissariat
and the PubUc Banks; in meeting the wishes of the
rich inhabitants by providing bomb proof vaults to put
their plate and deeds in, and in arranging secure places
in the event of the worst ; in palisading, picketting,
drawbridging, and, in short, in all the pomp and circum-
stjance of war, with an infinity of its littlenesses.

During the night, in visiting the sentries, forwarding
dispatches by the express dragoons, listening to the
feai^s of those who would not be quieted, expecting

* The Editor visited French Creek, in pursuit of deserters in 184S,
found it as is here described, and made the acquaintance of t^he cele-
brated Bill Johnstone.

CANADA. 73

conflagration and murder and attack ; and in attending
the meetings and conclaves of the energetite and excel-
lent Magistrates (a quorum I, at leasts shall never for-
get), who spared neither time, nor rest, nor health, nor
comfort, to uphold the glorious cause of Britain, — ^thus
for six winter months knowing not rest, either of mind
or body. There we sat, truly by the midnight lamp,
receiving the information of spies and informers, paid
on both sides ; examining witnesses, receiving evidence,
searching the suspected, granting passports, and often
eliciting from people of the greatest respectability from
the United States, almost an avowal that they were
treasonable travellers. I shall long remember some of
the magnates of Watertown, in Jefferson county, and
I dare say the recollection will be reciprocal.

One of these gentlemen, — a man of consideration, and
withal of property too, ^' Justice of the Peace, and coram,
and custalorum, ay, and ratulorum too /^ but who could
not say, " Master Parson, that he was a gentleman
bom, and could write himself in any bill, warrant, quit-
tance or obligation, Armigeroy any time these three
hundred years, as all his successors before him had
done,^^ — ^was brought before us, and had been boasting
in the streets of Kingston, to an admiring multitude,
that we ought to be dreadfully frightened at the pre-
paration of our friendly adversaries.

Now this fellow — for I cannot in sober judgment,
after several years of deliberate thinking, call him any-
thing else — was a Peace-ofl&cer of the United States, in
charge of an arsenal, which had been plundered under
his nose, came over to Kingston upon the plea of
mercantile business, and proceeded to Bellevillej where,

VOL II. E

74 CANADA.

or rather in the vicinity of which town^ he had plenty
of abettors. I saw through him at once; for I had
been carefully informed of his designs^ and I knew that
he had brought another person of some mihtary know-
ledge with him.

Before he left the town on his secret mission, which
had been in the meantime well counteracted, I marched
a body of the Mihtia, who had been clothed in uniform
and excellently drilled, under the windows of the inn
where this sympathizer and his mihtary Mend lodged;
and, as if upon an ordiiuay drill, I made them practise
street-firing. A £riend of mine, who was casually look-
ing out of the window with this mihtary spy, engaged
him in conversation.

" Are these the British Infantry ? '^ says his col-
loquist.

" Oh no, not at all,'* observed my Mend, " they are
only the Frontenac MiUtia.*'

" Then if they are MiUtia,'* retorts the American
officer, ^^ all I can say is, they mu^t be the Regular
Mihtia.'*

Our sympathizing friends never made their appear-
ance afterwards. The hint was sufficient — ^the Jlegtdar
Militia was quite enough for them.
. ^ut Mackenzie had poisoned the minds of almost
every man in the United States frontier; and such was
the national border enthusiasm, that to resist the opi-
nion of the free and enhghtened citizens was a service
deserving Lynch law.

It was fortunate for the poor loyal ELingstonians that
they had such an enemy as Mackenzie. Had he been
a man of resources, I have no doubt that harassing

CANADA. 75

would not have been his main weapon ; but he always
puts me in mind of the quack doctor on the Boulevards
at Paris, who says, —

" J'ai guerie le Roi de Terre Neuve,

J*ai guerie le Roi de Maroc,

J*ai guerie le Eoi de NinSve,

J'ai guerie dix Rois en Bloc,
Demain, je pars pour Constantinople."

The power of the Queen of England was nothing to
the agitator Mackenzie, and he too fatally succeeded by
ius displays on his platfonn, in drawing into his toils
many of the aged and more of the youth of the Ame-
rican Republic.

To give the British reader some idea of the indefa-
tigable activity of Mackenzie and his myrmidons, I
shall mention two or three facts. The spies and
informers, paid on both sides, kept up a very constant
stream of inteUigence. The Magistrates knew all the
movements he was making, and thus were enabled to
counteract them. At one time I was told, upon infor-
mation which had never failed before, that Mackenzie
was about to visit his relatives, who lived about two
miles from Kingston, and I was in possession of the
exact hour at which he would be found. 1 accordiugly
dispatched my two adjutants and a smaU weU-armed
party of Militia in - two sleighs to apprehend him.
These were all young men, and, with the natural vivacity
of youth, they were too careless. They arrived at the
tarm-house, situated in a lonely place, as the nigbt set
in, and had gained the door unobserved and unheard ;
but as they were entering, they ordered arms, and the
dang of the butts of their muskets alarmed the inmates.

E 2

76 CANADA.

The door was opened after the Militia had duly sur-
rounded the house^ and they found two men from
French Creek sitting by a blazing fire in the kitchen^
whom they apprehended and brought to me ; but their
most vigilant examination was inefiectual after the
object of their search^ who had, after all, not ventured
to visit the place.

After due searching and sifting, we discharged these
men, who declared they had come over the lines to find
work at wood-chopping. One of them, — a notorious
villain, who had been confined in a prison of the United
States for a supposed murder, or some equally heinous
crime, and who was recognized by the authorities, — ^I
told, that if ever I caught him again on this side of the
lines I should hang him. He coolly thanked me, and lost
no time in getting back to French Creek. It so hap-
pened that a few weeks afterwards he was taken prisoner
on Hickory Island, in an attempt at invasion, and
brought again to me. I suffered his fears to prevail,
although Martial Law had not been declared in Upper
Canada, and he confessed that Mackenzie did intend to
visit his relations, and that he had brought a letter
from him, for which he had been largely paid in dollar
notes, but that the moment he heard the clang of the
arms, he threw the pocket-book containing all evidence
of his mission into the blazing wood fire; but that
Mackenzie might have been easily concealed, as there
was a large drain under part of the house which the
Militia could not dream of. This man, a thorough
rascal, afterwards was pardoned, and his wife and large
family coming over to seek him, were taken care of.

Mackenzie^ made another attempt to visit his allies

CANADA. 77

in the townships in the rear of Kingston, and was very
nearly caught. The ice had formed suddenly six weeks
later than the ordinary season, and as he had numerous
friends in the back parts of the townships adjoining Kings-^
ton, he proposed to pay them a visit, in order to concert
measures together. With this view he got a sleigh and
a span of horses from some of his sympathizing friends
near Watertown, a town of the United States^ frontier.
A span of horses in America is what we usually call a
pair. I soon heard of his intention, and had accurate
information as to the time of his departure, and there-*
fore immediately detached a small party of sailors under
an oflScer of the Queen^s Marine Artillery, who had
commanded one of the lake steamboats and knew the
locaUties well, to take up a position, after traversing
several miles of ice, at the Lighthouse Point, where
Mackenzie must pass either in going to or in returning
from the shore of Canada, ne£br Bath, where, under
cover of some bold woody banks, he intended his drive
across nearly twenty miles of the frozen waters of
Ontario, to terminate.

Bath is a pretty Canadian village at the entrance of
the. Bay of Quinte, on the mainland, opposite to a fine
island of Lake Ontario, belonging to Lord Mountcashel,
called " Isle of Tanti,^' or " Amherst Island,^' and at
Bath various roads lead to the interior of the Midland
District.

The Bay of Quinte is a strip of Lake Ontario, con-
torted into all sorts of windings by the numerous deep
bay& and inlets of the Presqu^ile of Prince Edward, the
most picturesque and fertile spot in Western Canada,
and inhabited by a race of loyal farmers, who have been

78 CANADA.

domiciled there from the times of the earliest setde*
ments. On it Mackenzie knew he could not travel, a9
he was known^ and would have been immediately appre-
hended^ He therefore chose the mainland near Bath,
because in that neighbourhood he had well-known
alhes, whose motions were, however, strictly watched.

The entrance of the Bay of Quinte is close to Bath,
where the Isle of Tanti and other smaller isles form two
rather dangerous narrow channels, called the Gaps,
through which, in stormy weather, the whole force of
Lake Ontario is thrown in tremendous seas, which
frequently obUge the steam-boats to pause. In winter
many accidents happen in this vicinage from the lake
ice not being sufficiently strong, owing to the great
ground-swell and agitation of the water, and it was by
the Lower Gap that Mackenzie and his span of horses,
nearly reached the Canada frontier, after passing wide
of the Lighthouse, in a snow-storm, — ^and thus escaping
certain doom from man, to run into a nearly equal
danger from Nature.

Close to the completion of his hopes, achieved during
a painful and alarming night, when the thermometer was
unusually low and the ice promised at least a safe footing
to his horses, — in a moment they were engulfed in
the raging waters underneath; and how the man
escaped with his driver is known only to themselves.
They however managed to retrace their steps; and
passed my look-out party, in a continuation of the
snow-storm, which alone saved them.

At other times, spies from Lower Canada would
arrive at Kingston; and either Van Rensselaer, or one of
his reconnoitring party escaped, by almost a hairbreadth.

CANADA. 79

fn)m a hut close to the Artillery Barracks^ where he
had ensconced himself. But after all, such was the
loyalty of the inhabitants of Kingston that very few
domiciliary visits were ever necessary ; and these were
made only to those on whom certainty and not sus-
picion rested.

But the accuracy and extent of the information
obtained of all the hostile movements, within and
without, was surprising, and such was the secrecy
observed that even on some occasions the very Magi-
strates could not be informed by the Military officers of
the circumstances, as the informers were men well-
known as traders on the other side, or as people
mixing freely and unsuspicioualy in society, and were
sometimes of such standing that the development of
their information would have been fatal to their future
fortimes.

At length the pent-up storm broke forth, and we
were placed in clear possession oS the views of the
insurgents and of the brigands. These views were well
arranged, and large quantities of arms and ammuni-
tion sent over, for the use of the rebels, frcwn the State
of New York. The plan, finally adopted in a General
Council, was to attack Kingston, at three distinct
points; to let the prisoners out of the Penitentiary;
and to have a sufficient number of armed men within
the town in order to distract our attention.

Belleville, at the upper end of the Bay of Quinte
and its vicinity, the township of Sidney, affi)rded many
specimens of furious revdutionists ; and a road leading
along the Bay through the townships of Thurlow, the
Mohawk Settlement, Richmond, and near Camden and
Portland in the counties of Hastings, Lenox, and

80 CANADA.

Addington and Frontenac, crossing at Napanee, the
river of that name^ had long been celebrated as leading
through the heart of the country to which Bidwell,
Perry, and other Reformers always looked as their
chief stronghold in Upper Canada. Miscalculating
upon this data, — which circumstances had somewhat
changed, and yet in the main right, as far as some
degenerate sons of the soil were concerned, whose
fathers had owed all they possessed to the generosity
of the British Government, on whose freely given land
they had, as loyalists, settled originally, it was deter-
mined that the strength of the internal coahtion of
the rebels should be drafted from this quarter, for a
night attack on the land or Toronto road-side of the
town of Kingston, by assembling at a given point in
sleighs, and then running on rapidly to connect the
assaults from two other quarters.

One of these divisions of the Patriot army was fix)m
Watertown,* in the State of New York, which was to
cross the ice above Kingston and attack it on its
weakest side, near the Penitentiary, about a mile and
a half west of the town, where some remains of the
former forest still existed and aflForded cover.

The third attack was to have been eflFected by the,
way of French Creek, whence a force was to be thrown
on Hickory Island from Grindstone Island, and,
after a feint upon the little village of Grananoqui,
in order to draw as large a force as possible from
Kingston for the defence of the mills there, to march
along the borders of the lake, and attack the town
on its eastern side.

* Where, in 1843, I found about fifty British deserters variously
employed, and partly paid in liquor.— Editor.

CANADA. 8 1

Bodies of sympathizers, under pretence of market^
or other business, were sent into the town, and took
lodgings at different pubUc and other houses, whilst
one or two had enUsted in the Mihtia ; and one,
who was accustomed to blacksmith^s work, was to
spike the cannon in Fort Henry, and the outer
magazine, full of Congreve rockets, was to be
blown up. The town, also, in the TneUe, was to have
been set on fire in various marked places.

Accurate notice of all these deep-laid schemes were,
however, given from time to time, so that we barricaded
the town (the picket fence of which had fallen into
decay), and completely fitted up three block-houses,
which commanded the different entrances, and placed
the Militia in barracks, between these block-houses.

The day before the intended simultaneous attack,
which was fixed for the 22nd of February, 1838,
I despatched expresses to Prince Edward county, and
directed several companies of Mihtia to put themselves
in motion, so as to get in the rear of the rebels,
who were to assemble near the village of Napanee,
and also sent proper persons to Belleville, to watch the
disaffected there, keeping all our. own motions as
reserved as possible.

One of my adjutants. Captain Cameron, was also
sent to cut a series of irregular holes in the ice,
on' that side of the roadstead near Long Island,
over which the brigands must drive their sleighs,
and was directed to put the Long Islanders on the
qui Vive, to cover the frontier, and to destroy the
mail-road, by cutting down large trees at intervals.

The Mohawk warriors had joined me the instant

E 3

82 CANADA.

they heard of the insurrectionary movements in their
neighbourhood ; and^ as I well knew the terror of their
name would operate very forcibly^ I had taken care
to form them into patrols^ under the guise of deer-
himting parties^ in those situations where I was aware
their presence would be alone sufficient to deter the
rebels &om appearing ; and^ having approved of a
dozen men being armed at Napanee, I stationed
outposts^ videttes of cavalry, and pickets^ of both
arms, everywhere round the town, within some
miles.

Thus assured, we waited in perfect hope that the
attempt would be made, as it must have ended
disastrously to the invaders, and would have been
the means of removing several very wicked and very
troublesome persons from amongst us, who would
have fled to the States, or have been arrested.

Just before the day, big with the fate of this
rising city, we organised a regular system of signals
from Fort Henry, by rockets and blue lights, so
that the whole of the defending force knew exactly
what to do ; and, having heard from the usual sources
that a man, who was foimerly a skipper, or master
of one of the American barges, plying with wood
on the River St. Lawrence, had enlisted as a private
in the Militia, and was then doing duty in Fort Henry,
and that he was a creature of Bill Johnson, the
pirate, and was appointed to spike the cannon the
night of the attack, to open the gates, and to blow
up the outer magazine, in which the dreaded Congreve-
rockets were stoi'ed, I took up my night^s abode
in one of the casemates, and, without letting any

CANADA. 83

one into the secret but an officer, I sent quietly
for my friend.

Upon questioning him as to whether he had given
his real name when he enlisted/ he appeared confused,
but when I told him he was Captain so-and-so, — for
all boatmasters are called captains in America, — he
found he was discovered, and at once acknowledged
the fact; but would proceed no further. This man
had been long a resident in Canada, and unsuspected.
I then sent for his box, in which some blacksmith^s
implements and nails for the spiking operation were
found, and upon examination, we discovered the
copper lock of the outer magazine forced, but not
quite destroyed. Unwilling to damp the ardour of
the brave Militia who garrisoned the fort, or to
frighten the townspeople by stories of blowing up
magazines, I quietly ordered the fellow^s Militia-coat
to be stripped off, and that he should^ be turned
out of the gate, with a notice, that if he was seen
in Canada again, no mercy should be shown to him.

This is the true version of a story which went
the round of the American papers on the Border,
that a Captain of the Militia had engaged to deliver
Fort Henry, and its deposits of money and plate,
into Mackenzie's hands !

' In addition to all these constant sources of anxiety,
the State prisoners who had arrived from the we^
afforded the Militia in Fort Henry constant employ-
ment, and many were the secret plottings and treasons
which these misguided men carried on. I cannot pass
over the excellent conduct of the mechanics and
labourers, chiefly Irish, who had been employed on

84 CANADA.

the Queen's works^ in finishing Fort Henry^ and who,
upon the first alarm, enrolled themselves as a guard
for the fortress they had erected, and actually kept
it, open and exposed as it was in its unfinished state,
until the Militia could be embodied. These brave men
also volunteered in the depth of winter, to be employed
as a company of sappers for any purposes required at
Navy Island^ or anywhere in Canada. In short, every
person in the Royal Engineer Department, and in the
Civil Branches of the Ordnance armed themselves, and
kept nightly guard over the immense depot of ord-
nance stores, and the magazines of powder outside of
Fort Henry, and laboured all day long in removing
the most essential into the New Fort, or day and
night in shipping on board the steam-boats, cannon,
mortars, rockets, muskets, accoutrements, ammunition,
blankets, &c., and in attending upon the constant
arrivals of troops of the line for the westward ; amongst
these devoted loyalists none was more conspicuous, or
exerted himself more than the acting Ordnance Store-
keeper, Thomas Gurley, Esq.

The Traveller steam-boat took up to Toronto on the
14th of January five companies of the 32nd, and was
followed by the St. George with more, whilst the
Transit was constantly plying between Toronto and
Niagara. Such was this extraordinary season, this
merciful aberration from the usual laws of Nature,
that it enabled troops and stores to be sent to every
threatened point, — thus preventing bloodshed and
plunder and misery along a frontier of such extent.

The ice, and it is worth recording, only formed in
Kingston Bay or roadstead on the 21st of January,

CANADA. 86

1838, six weeks after its usual period, nor did any
person pass over it across the ferry line to WoK or
Long Island until the 22nd. The Traveller was then
waiting for the troops from Lower Canada; but her
commander, fearing that she would be frozen in,
started on the 21st for Toronto, with a cargo of
ordnance and ordnance stores, and got as far as the
Gap, when she was obUged to return to port with great
difficulty.

Captain Markham, of the 32nd, who was so severely
wounded at St. Denis, came up the river St. Lawrence
from Prescott, to within twenty miles of Kingston, in
the Dolphin steamer with one company of the 32nd
and staff, and two of the 83rd, and had some difficulty
in landing his men, five miles below Gunanoque ; so
sudden was the frost, and so intense; for although
the boats' sides were protected by extra planking of
thick oak, yet the ice cut through them Uke sharp
saws. Two sergeants and a horse broke in, whilst
gaining the platform constructed for the men to reach
the banks, and were recovered with difficulty ; another
company of the 83rd joined him at Kingston next day,
and the whole departed in ninety sleighs for Toronto,
and the westward on the 22nd. Militia and regulars,
regulars and militia were then constantly pouring into
Fort Henry and Kingston ; on the 19th, thirty
volunteers from the 3rd Leeds Militia, under Captain
Bell, arrived also on their way to Toronto, to offer for
general service, and the same day, the Perth Artillery,
commanded by Captain Graham, fifty strong, marched
into Fort Henry in full artillery uniform, and took
the duty of that arm. I cannot too highly praise the

86 CANADA.

loyalty and zeal of this officer^ who clothed this corps
himself, and by the assistance of Lieutenant Hogg,
a relation of the Ettrick Shepherd^ soon brought it to
such a state, that it could serve the garrison guns,
manoeuvre the field-pieces, and act as infantry ; a more
excellent, steady, or respectable company of young men,
all farmers' sons, and many of them wealthy, I never
saw. They submitted to the common fare and accom-
modation of soldiers in bombproof barracks, as if they
had been enlisted for that life and no other; on the
20th, also, 110 Volunteers from Perth and Lanark,
arriyed on their way to Toronto, under Captain Fraaer,
ajotd the Prince Edward Volunteers actually flowed in,
in human waves, whilst another company of the 83rd
arrived on the 23rd, and were followed by four more,
bound for the westward.

I mention this to show the incessant activity of the
Commander-in-chief, who was also Governor-general,
upon the departure of Lord Gosford for New York;
and the zeal, loyalty, and devotion of the MiUtia, who
marched hundreds of miles unprovided with blankets,
or the proper conveyances, or clothing, to support the
Queen's authority. It would extend the narrative too
much to detail the names of the commanding-officers,
or the designation of the Militia regiments, who passed
through Kingston, to fly to the seat of war in the
west ; but that the ordnance, and commissariat depart-
ments were kept in constant and laborious activity,
may be inferred from the fact, that even the usual day
of rest could not be obtained, and night was then the
same as day. The acting ordnance-storekeeper of the
time, as was before stated, was Mr. Thomas Gurley,

CANADA. 87

whose name and exertions will not be forgotten in that
part of Upper Canada. But the demands upon the
commissariat were equally onerous^ and the mode in
which they were met by the Assistant Commissary-
general^ C. A. Clarke^ proved that twenty-two years
of peace had not impaired one spring of the movement
of that excellent branch of the service.

Day and night was the Commissariat-office open^
and conveyance, rations, money, and advice supplied
without intermission. The kindness with which that
gentleman acted, the uniform support I met from him,
his allowing me at the busiest times to make use of
his own office, as a central place for the despatch of
expresses, and the transaction of all the varied military
duties I had to perform, are very inadequately thus
recognized. He had to clothe, and provision, and pay
immense levies in an extended district at a moment^s
notice, to settle the difficult claims of innkeepers,
and persons providing transport ; besides the constant
fatigue arising firom the multiplied official business
connected with the sudden transition of the army,
from a state of profound repose to one of actiial serv ice
in the field.

But the time drew on when, the machinations of the
enemy were to be perfected. It was infinitely more
formidable than has been beheved. Four simultaneous
movements were to be eflFected ; one from Detroit, in
Michigan; one from Sandusky, in Ohio; one from
Watertown, in New York, upon Kingston; and the
other from Plattsburgh and Vermont, upon Lower
Canada.

88 CANADA.

That from Detroit was commanded by the traitor^
soi'disant Adjutant-general M'Leod^ and took pos«
session of a small island in the Detroit Riyer^ on the
Canada side^ but was soon dislodged by the British
cannon^ on the 24th of February, 1838, and escaping
to the United States, were disarmed and dispersed
there by the authorities, under General Brady ; General
Scott having arrived at Monroe to effect this on the
same day.

Of the Sandusky expedition, under Sutherland, we
shall speak more at large when describing the action
at Point Pelee Island. But the 3rd and 4th were
more serious ; and of the third we shall speak last.

The fourth expedition was headed by Drs. Nelson and
Cote, and actually penetrated into Lower Canada, from
a small island and other places near Alburgh on the
Vermont frontier, crossing from Alburgh to CaldwelPs
Manor, after encamping for the night about two miles
within the boundary.

Finding, however, that Sir John Colbome had
directed a strong Regular and Militia force against
them, and that General Wool, of the United States' army,
had also proceeded to intercept them, they dispersed,
after surrendering to that officer six hundred men, on
the 1st of March, at one mile north of the Alburgh
Springs in Vermont, with all their cannon, small arms,
powder and ball, — General Wool having previously
captured one field-piece and nine sleigh-loads of gun
and musket ammunition. At this time the British
troops, consisting of the Royals, under Major Warde,
the 43rd, under Colonel Booth, and Militia, with the

CANADA. 89

Mississiquoi Volunteers,* had arrived within six or
eight miles of the camp of the invaders.

Gteneral Wool detained Nelson and Cot^, to deliver
them over to the civil authorities ; and thus ended three
of the simultaneous invasions of Canada.

The fourth was equally disastrous to the Republican
Patriots, and was directed against Kingston, and com-
manded by Van Rensselaer and Mackenzie.

I have already described the intentions of these
heroes and their plan of attack. They had the fool-
hardiness, however, to make the move, but differently
from their original intention.

I was endeavouring on the night of the 21st of
February, 1838, to take a Uttle rest upon an iron
barrack bed, in the Tete de Pont, when a Militia
officer from Belleville roused me in the middle-watch,
by saying that he had ridden posthaste to announce that
the rebels had commenced their march on Kingston,
and that he had left the MiUtia in arms, in Belleville,
and the tocsin still ringing. I had, however, better
information than that given by this ardent young man,
and therefore very much disgusted him by telling him
that it was very Ukely, and requesting him to let me
get a little rest.

The Prince Edward Militia were actually then,
which he did not know, on their march in rear of this
very movement, and so paralyzed the rebels that but
few prisoners were taken near Napanee, as the body of
insurgents dispersed and hid their arms and ammuni-

* A highly-flattering letter was written to Colonel Jones, of the
Frontier Militia, by Major Warde of the Royals, who gives the
Militia and Volunteers high praise on this occasion.

90 CANADA.

tion in the wood. Some of the latter was discovered ;
and they intended to kill us by wholesale^ for^ not
contented with mere cartridges with a ball and powder^
each cartridge had a ball with three deer or buck-shot
over it, so that the wound made would be vCTy
dangerous.

Amongst the prisoners taken was an American
armourer^ or manufacturer of rifles, who had earned
on a snug trade at Belleville, and this aspiring gen-
tleman had a complete kit, compass for the woodsy
bowie-knife for close action, rifle, &c. &c.

I reserved a sharp steel axe from the military stores
captured, because it was so well-tempered that it was
evidently intended to hew the way through our picket-
ting and barricades. The rest of the ^ttraordinary
missiles and arms are, I dare say, to this day in the
Ordnance store at Kingston, and were of the most
destructive kind.

' It was melancholy to find amongst these prisoners
not (mly American citizens, but subjects of the Crown,
whose fathers had always been loyal and who owed
everything they possessed to the Government. But
Bidwell and Perry had been the oracles of these poor
deluded people, and they had been fully persuaded
that a country wherein they Uved on the fat of the land,
flowing with milk and honey, Uterally without tax-
ation and enshrined in peace, was very hardly dealt
with, because it could not have heavy local taxes,
continued poUtical excitement, eternal elections for
the most trivial even of public employments, and the
name, without the essentials, of equality and freedom.
It was vain to argue* with these men; each little district

CANADA. 91

had had its repubhcan oracle^ generally an American^
or of American descent ; and although the Government
and every British oflScer dealt kindly and leniently by
them^ they left the State-prisons of Kingston as
thorough Radicals as when they entered th^n^ but^ I
am happy to say, have since seen their folly, and freely
confess it, with few exceptions. Such is the perversity
of human nature, — ^for of all the districts of Upper
Canada, that from which they came is the best, the
most fertile, and scarcely knows the existence of
poverty.

The internal advance having been thus easily quashed,
it was not much more difficult to settle the others.
The town of Kingston, before the 22nd of February, —
the day appointed for the attack, — was filled with
strangers; and such was the excitement caused, that
everybody remained awake that night. I was snatch-
ing a slight refreshment at dinner, just as the dark of
evening set in, when a sergeant of the Marine Artillery
rushed in, and in haste informed me that the Eastern
attack had commenced, and that the rebels were in
sight. My house, being separated from the town, was
guarded by a party of sailors; and, after confiding
everything dear to me to their charge, and desiring
them, in the event of the worst, to retire through the
garden to the block-house near us, I put on my sword
and ran down to the Artillery Barracks, between my
house and the town, giving directions to a picket of
Marine Artillery by the way, and then hastily visited
the Commandant, who directed me to shut the Artillery
gates, and desire his httle guard of a dozen men to
defend them until the Mihtia could reinforce it.

92 CANADA.

On my way through the town^ all was alarm and
anxiety ; and^ after reaching the T^te de Pont Barrack^
and calling out the excellent First Frontenac Regiment^
we prepared for the worst. The alarm was, however,
pi*emature, and I had time to issue the necessary orders ;
to strengthen the cavalry pickets ; to send out parties ;
to place all the steam-boats at the wharfs in security ;
and to march to the threatened points. Never was
such a night known in Kingston. Not a soul slept ;
iSre and sword were momentarily looked for.

We had received, thorough the Magistrates and secret
sources, accurate intelligence of the foe. Within and
without, every avenue was guarded; and the Com-
mandant, the excellent and lamented Lieutenant-colonel
Cubitt, of the Royal Artillery, suffering under a dis-
tressing internal complaint, which soon afterwards
destroyed him, shut himself with the picked men of the
Mihtia in Fort Henry, and took such means, even if
we were defeated, as to ensure that vital point.

To paralyze the sympathizers in the inns and lodg-
ing-houses, who, I feared, would set fire to the town,
and distract our attention, I took a strong guard of
Mihtia, visited every suspected house before midnight,
and, upon pain of death, forbade the inmates to leave
their abodes. In one house alone, I knew there were
from forty to fifty Americans, well armed. Constant
alarms prevailed throughout the night, which was one
of the most severely and intensely cold of the whole
winter (27 degrees below zero) ; but, from the precau-
tions adopted, and our well-disciphned force, the bri-
gands were afraid to venture farther than Hickory
Island, where they ensconced themselves; whilst, on

CANADA. 93

Grindstone Island^ and at French Creek, they were
strongly supported.

We had dispatched the Belleville Riflemen (a corps
of young gentlemen), and a strong force of Indian
warriors, to reinforce Gananoque, under Major Fitz-
gerald, Town-major of Kingston, an old and expe-
rienced officer; and such were his efficient measures,
that on the first token of advance towards Hickory
Island, the Patriots fled, leaving behind them some
stores and ammunition. Van Rensselaer, Bill John-
son, and Mr. Wells, a Member of the Upper Canada
ParUament, narrowly escaped. The arms were rifles,
muskets, and fowling-pieces, and the cannon were to be
served with a murderous selection of broken pieces of
iron, double-headed shot, &c. ; many of which imple-
ments came into my possession.

An occurrence or two happened that night which
will serve to show the zeal of the MiUtia. I had
ordered that no person whatever was to pass the out-
posts for several miles round without a passport, the
parole, and countersign. The mail with four horses,
from Montreal, dashed on to the bridge at Kingston
Mills, over the Rideau Canal, and was ordered to halt
by a MiUtia sentinel. The driver paid no heed to the
repeated order. The sentry plunged his bayonet into
the breast of one of the leaders, and soon brought the
covered sleigh, which contained several people, to a
stand-still. Complaint was made to the Deputy Post-
master-general ; but the man was promoted, and the
Government would afibrd no redress.

An alarm occurred during the night, which rendered
it necessary for me to order the men who had remained

94 CANADA.

clothed and armed in their barracks upon parade. I
ordered them, by lantern-light, to load, and made a
short speech, telling them the time was come. One
man in the front rank, as I was speaking, discharged
his musket in my face, and was immediately taken to
the guard-room by his indignant comrades. After
everything was settled, I went to him, and having
asked him what were his motives, — " By jakers ! *' says
the honest Hibernian, " Colonel, I was full of fight,
and could not help it/^ And so it was ; for I knew
him well, and am certain that nothing but his over-
flowing honest enthusiasm caused the accident.

Amongst the prisoners taken at Hickory Island was
my friend, whom I had captured on his mission fit>m
Mackenzie at the farm in Pittsburgh, and who had
been threatened with the gibbet if he returned. When
he was marched across the ice to the State-prison, I
observed him falter; and having directed the prisoners
to halt until I could get rid of an overcurious crowd,
he and the others prepared themselves for being shot
by the escort. He told me afterwards, that so fiiUy
was he persuaded that I was about to settle accounts
with them, that they never were more happy than when
the order to march on again was given. Such was the
American sympathizer's notion of a British officer's
justice. What should we have had to encounter if
such men had gained the day? Witness the shades
of poor Weir, Chartrand, Johnston, Hume, Ussher, and
those worthy officers and private soldiers, sailors, and
militiamen, who fell either in battle with the brigands,
or died under the hands of the secret assassin. Cruel
death in cold blood was often aggravated,

CANADA. 95

" Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,
Such he^stly, shameless transformation
By those " Patriots " done, as may not be,
Without much shame, re-told or spoken o£"

It may be asked with respect to the projected attack
upon so strong a place as Kingston^ what the means of
the Patriots were. Persons who could be depended
upon informed me that the whole frontier opposite^ for
many miles, exhibited a nightly scene of assemblages
of men in arms, and we knew that the United States^
Arsenal at Watertown had been broken open on the
night of the 19th of February, and from six to eight
hundred stand of arms taken from it, whilst five pieces
of field-artillery were at French Creek. These arms
were first deposited on Saint John^s Island, a few miles
below Kingston, and I sent a party of Riflemen under
Captain Saunders to search for them ; but after using
eveiy exertion, they could not be found, and I believe
the mistake arose from an error in the name of place
of deposit.

The introduction of arms and ammunition into
Canada for the use of the rebels was so well devised and
executed, that but little of either was ever discovered.
I obtained, after the dispersion of the rebels on the
Napanee-road, near Shannon Ville, a sleigh4oad of
ball-cartridge for rifles and muskets, with bullet-moulds
and bullets, a keg of fine powder, three boxes of per-
cussion-caps and greased pellets, one United States
army musket, and various other warUke stores. There
was brought in, hid in the woods, an immense number
of cartridge havresacks made of cotton, filled with
rifle and buck-shot cartridges to a very great extent.

96 CANADA.

They were discovered by a boy. The powder was
introduced in kegs resembling oyster-kegs, and real
oyster-kegs were placed so as to deceive the searchers ;
but in such an open frontier it was impossible to be
everywhere.

It is time, however, to turn to the Militia and their
conduct again ; and I am persuaded that but for their
loyalty and perseverance, we should have had difficult
work cut out for us. Sir John Colbome, Governor-
general and Commander-in-chief, was pleased to evince
his confidence in the bravery and loyalty of the Kings-
tonians and the adjacent districts, by directing the<
march of the regular troops upon Toronto, Niagara,
the London and Western districts, and leaving the key
of Upper Canada entirely in possession of the Militia,
one company of the Royal Regiment, under Captain
Going, having only been sent to our assistance after
the projected attack. It arrived at Gananoque just
after the dispersion 'of the sympathizers.

The troops present at Gananoque of the Mihtia were
commanded by Major Fitzgerald, Town-major of Kings-
ton, and consisted at first of not more than 150 men,
and were composed of a company of Perth Volunteers,
under Captain Eraser, and one of Leeds, under Captain
Webster. But assistance having been loudly called for
on the advance of the Patriots fix)m French Creek, a
number of Volunteera from Langdowne, under Mr.
George M'Kelvy, with Colonel Hartwell, of the 6th
Leeds regiment, and Major Arnold, of the 5th Leeds,
soon arrived, and from Kingston we sent the Belleville
Rifles, under Captain Mumey, One company of the
Frontenac, Captain Cowan ; Lieutenant Jackson, with

■■iV >*^HV"

CANADA. 97

a party of Indian warriors, and some Cavalry, under
Lieutenant Raynes; and a six-pounder of the Perth
Artillery, Lieutenant Robinson ; whilst from Brockville
a company of the Queen^s Own Rifles, under Captain
Kidd, and Captains Chambers, Gilbert, Stewart, Earl,
Armstrong, Robinson, and Neil, of the 6th Leeds, with
as many men of their respective companies as could
be hastily collected, poured in. Captain Charles
M*Ewan, from Charleston, with P. Anderson, Esq.,
and ten fine young lads, also arrived after a tedious
march; and in the evening of the 22nd, Lieutenant
J. Ehnsley, of the Royal Navy, who had so much dis-
tinguished himself at Navy Island, came in with a
party of sailors fix)m Brockville,

Lieutenant Elmsley went immediately in advance,
and took post opposite the Patriots on Howe Island;
and Lieutenant Raynes, of the Frontenac Dragoons,
with Mr. William S. McDonald, of Gananoque, and a
small party of cavalry, soon followed the gallant naval-
oflScer towards Hickory Island, which, at about four in
the morning, was found nearly evacuated ; but several
prisoners were taken, as well as persons coming from
the American shdte to join the pirates. Mr. Charles
Hepp, a Volunteer, and Mr. Gilmor, distinguished
themselves by capturing two of these people in
arms.

The Royals under Captain Going, on their march to
Kingston, arrived during the day, as well as 0. R.
Gowan, Esq., M.P.P., and a number of Volunteers
from Brockville.

Many intelligent people were afterwards examined ;
and it is but justice to add, that at French Creek there

VOL. II. P

98 CANADA.

were respectable men who wholly disapproved the
measures of Mackenzie.

On the 22nd^ the day of the projected attack on
Kingston, there were no fewer than 3,000 sympathizers
in arms at French Creek, and it was well ascertained
that there were muskets and rifles for this number, as
well as six pieces of artillery, and plenty of ammuni-
tion and provisions, whilst every person was arrested
who was suspected of going over to Canada to give
intelligence.

The move on Hickory Island was made in order
to ^ate and sign the officers^ commissions £rom the
Canadian territory, and the number of claimants was
ludicrous. One British prisoner was escorted there by
a colonel, two captains, and a heutenant. When they
arrived on this islet, their numbers were about 500,
the rest remaining in reserve on Grindstone Island or
the American shore, with which a constant commu-
nication was kept up, as well as with the Canadian
side ; and as it was soon known that Kingston was well
prepared, that it could even spare guns and men to
defend Gananoque; that the Mihtiawere pouring into
that village, and that the Regulars were on their march
from Montreal, their courage cooled, and they de-
serted by scores. When the muster-roll was called for an
advance on Kingston by the ice, — which march being
contrary to his instructions. Van Rensselaer was the
only dissentient to, — only eighty men answered, and
of these at last only forty-one would march. The
General swore at, kicked and cuflFed them, and there
was a regular set-to. W. B. Wells, who resided in
Upper Canada, not far &om this scene, and was an

CANADA. 99

ex-member of Assembly, was a principal leader, but the
prisoners saw him lying drunk on a bed and incapable
of action. He had always been one of Mackenzie's
partizans.

The Patriots then thought it best to depart before
daylight appeared, and the prisoners counted 110 men
go off the island in their sleighs, taking three field-
pieces and most of their stores. It appeared also that
they expected an attack from General Scott, or Colonel
Worth, and therefore Van Eensselaer had urged his
men on before they were ready to proceed into Canada.
Van Rensselaer and Bill Johnson joined Mackenzie at
Watertown ; and thus was broke up the fourth simulta-
neous attack upon Canada.

I shall merely add a notice or so from the pubUc
papers, to show the zeal and efficiency of the Mihtia at
this epoch, after only little more than two months and
a half of practice.

From the Kingston Herald (Whig paper) of Febru-
ary 27th, 1 838 :

'^ The Marine Artillery have been exercised for several
days in field practice with their guns. The whole
party, formed into companies imder their respective
Captains, were drawn out with four pieces of artillery
as if to repel an advancing enemy, throwing out skir-
mishing-parties in their progress, taking up a position,
and forming and firing to cover the guns in action.
The discharges of musketry were rapid, and the guns
were well served, giving ample proof that they could
do good execution on an enemy. Nearly thi'ee months
of such training as they have had, and under such
good command too, have made them a real defence,

t2

100 CANADA.

instead of a nominftl; a truly efficient force for any
purpose of peace or war.

'' Yesterday afternoon the Militia force in this gar-
rison, including the Cavalry, the Indians, the Artillery,
and Infantry, was again reviewed by Lieutenant-
colonel Bonnycastle, and a noble appearance they
made. The glittering line of bayonets, three deep,
extended the entire length of Store-street on their
march ; and there was not emly the materiel but skill
and power to use it. If Brother Jonathan wants a
battle we are * ready, ay ready .^ '*

This extract has been made for two purposes ; first,
because the Kingston or Upper Canada Herald is
a Whig paper, under the guidance of Wesleyan
Methodists, and has figured and still figures in the
ranks of reform. Second, because it does justice to
the Mihtia, and shows that Colonial pohtics, violent as
they are, do not always either make traitors ot patronize
those sorry birds who defile their own nests, and will
elucidate a good deal of what I have to say about
Canadian politics hereafter. But in order that the
reader shall have both sides, see what the Kingston
Chronicle, a Conservative paper of that day, in the
interest of the Scotch church, says :

'^ We were on Thursday last highly gratified at the
grand spectacle presented in the assemblage of the
whole Mihtia force on duty in this garrison, on parade,
on the commons in the neighbourhood of the town.
This Mihtia force was inspected by their Com-
mander. They made a good appearance, and seemed
in excellent condition to receive any sudden visit from
our sympathizing Mends on the other side of the hue.

CANADA. 101

^The iinifonn appearance of the men, and the
respectable in^rovement they have made under those
able drill-officers, Cam«x)n and Bate, was highly cre-
ditable ; for it was indeed at once gratifying and sur-
prising to witness the precision with which they went
through the several field manoeuvres which they ex-
ecuted, and the firing could not be surpassed.

'* The brigade took up a commanding position on the
height west of No. 3 Blockhouse, overk)oking a natural
inclined plane, leading to the Lake shore. The move-
ments commenced by a company of skirmishers,
who covered the line some two hundred yards in
front, on the declivity overlooked by the line. They
were sufficiently retired from the brow oi the hill to
prevent their being seen, until the supposed enemy
should be at close quarters. The skirmishers fired,
retiring until they ascended the hill, when they closed
to each flank, and formed rallying squares, apparently
a defensive attitude. Then the field-pieces opened the
ball eflFectually. The infantry retired, followed by the
artillery, covered again by the skirmishers. The line
re-formed in rear. The light-infantry filed ofi" by the
flanks, when a very rapid and incessant fire was kept
up along the whole line fi»m both infantry and artillery;
the cavalry in rear. The line advanced at the charge,
artillery posted on the right and left, cavalry on the
flanks. The infantry halted, and the cavalry made a
dash, that even without pistol or sword in hand must
have overwhelmed an ordinary enemy; after which
squares, close columns, and lines were formed, much to
the admiration of nearly alFthe inhabitants of Kingston,
who were viewing the interesting spectacle, in which

1 02 CANADA.

not (me single ofScer of the line was engaged^ excepting
the gallant and worthy inspecting officer.

" We may mention further, that the officers of the
Royal Artillery, of the Royals, and of the 83rd Regi-
ments, who were observed to take great interest in the
review, were heard repeatedly to express their admira-
tion of the steadiness and excellent state of discipline
of the men/'

Perhaps these extracts may savonr of egotism or
vanity, but I do not feel the former, and have seen too ,
much of life to have more than man's lot of the latter ;
but I am proud of the Canadian Militia, and shall not
easily forget that the last time I commanded them
when reviewed by his Excellency Sir George Arthur,
the noble 83rd Regiment, one of the finest bodies of
young men in the service, marched with their gallant
Ideutenant-colonel, the Honourable H. Dundas, upon
the field, with colours flying, and preceded by their
fine band, to take voluntarily their place upon our
left. ^

The Colonel, who was Commandant of the Garrison,
had never in the sUghtest degree interfered with my
Militia arrangements or command, and on riding up to
me, — ^his junior officer, then only> too, a Brevet-Major in
the army, — ^he said, " Colonel, although the Governor
has ordered this merely as a MiUtia review, will you
allow the 83rd to follow your manoeuvres ? " Such a
a compUifient sank deep into my heart and into that of
every Militiaman present, and although a series of
difficult manoeuvres for us were rapidly gone through,
such was the enthusiasm inspired by this compliment,
that every Militiaman prided himself upon his accuracy

CANADA. 103

and steadiness^ and not a mistake was made^ even of
the most trivial kind.

Farewell, gallant men, — I have given elsewhere as
correct a list as I retain of the names of your regi-
ments, corps, and leaders. England need not fear for
the safety of her Canadian possessions, whilst 80,000
equally loyal, equally ready, and equally steady
soldiers, are the children of the Upper Canadian soil.

Nor, are the Magistrates, those untiring men who so
mainly saved Kingston from the horrors of midnight
conflagrations, of secret, and of open war, to be for-
gotten. Day after day, night after night were they
occupied with examining the sympathizers, who hourly
crossed; with taking effectual measures against external
and internal foes, and in receiving information and
evidence; in providing for State-prisoners; in arming
and disciplining a Police and Town Guard, and in the
thousand ways in which active and zealous Magistrates
are called upon to work in troubled times.

Of these gentlemen, I was most intimately employed
with Mr. Nickalls, the Clerk of the Peace of the Mid-
land District, with Mr. A. Pringle, J.P., and with Dr.
Sampson, who was Mayor of Kingston,^ and who com-
manded the Town Guard and displayed an example
which was speedily followed by all the young gentlemen
of the Bar, the Medical Profession, and indeed in every
degree and class in life at Kingston.

Many, many were the midnight consultations, the
sudden dispatch of cavalry, the deep conclaVe over the
lamp for the pubUc good, which these gentlemen held;
to their imceasing care and vigilance the fact of the
escape of the town from conflagration may solely be

104 CANADA.

attributed. Musket in hand^ incessant patrols were
kept up, and no incendiary could well have carried on
liis diabolical practice. It was often threatened, but
never performed. The unanimity with which all the
Magistrates, and many others I could have mentioned,
(but they chiefly did their duties as Mihtia officers) met
the Mihtary authorities, wiU not be forgotten by any of
us, — and although the wear and tear was great, the
excitement and the certainty of meeting support were
such that I never hesitated to seek their support and
advice, let the time or the hour be what it might.

Colonel J. Fraser, and Colonel Mackenzie, the Ma-
gistrates from the Bath side, must not be forgotten^
neither must the present Mayor of Kingston, Mr.
Counter, nor Dr. Baker, nor Mr. Mowat; but it is
useless to go on, lest I enumerate the whole bench of
ninety names.

And let me turn to the brave warriors of the Indian
woods, — those Mohawks, who, when the United States
was a British Colony, hved in the happy valley of the
Mohawk River, to which the fictitious Wyoming was
as the snows of Nova Zembla are to the Hesperides.

They left their happy valley, because Bepubhcanism
superseded the Government of their great father.
They followed Captain John, their war-leader, and
received from the King a grant of a large township
in the Midland District of Upper Canada; in which
they have ever since dwelt. They were members of
the Church of England, and brought with them the
altar-cloth and communion-plate of their beloved
church, which they still retain in the sacred edifice
built for their worship in the Indian woods.

CANADA. 105

These unsopliistieated forest-rangers, as soon as they
heard that their enemies threatened once more the
British dominion, harnessed their little .wagons> and
leaving only the women and children, the feeble and
the aged of their tribe, drove into Kingston, ninety in
number, with the old Union Jack proudly floating over
them, to offer their services to me.

I was delighted, but not surprised ; Indian gratitude
was no stranger to my feelings, and as soon as I saw
the venerable chiefs and the young athletic warriors halt
opposite to my house, I summoned them to council.
The scene was an interesting one. My parlour was
occupied by a circle of these red men squatted on
their hams, passing the pipe of peace and fellowship,
and in the quiet sententious manner of the Indian
they, after the usual and indispensable ceremonies
which filled the room with tobacco-smoke, but not
with noise or clamour, declared one and all that they
were ready to die for their great mother the Queen.

We put them into barracks and supplied them daily
with food, and apportioned their duties. No violence,
nothing that unaccustomed Europeans might anticipate
from the untutored savage, ever occurred ; the services
they rendered were important, and they were amply
repaid when all was over, by a few yards of cotton, a
few silk handkerchiefs and ribbon of gaudy colours for
their wives and daughters, with a good rifle or two for
the chiefs, some tobacco and powder for the hunters
and warriors, and a few pipes.

They were urged to accept the usual pay of Mihtia ;
but chief and "warrior alike rejected the proffered boon.
" We came to fight for our mother across the Great

f3

106 CANADA.

Lake : we want not to be paid. If she thinks well
of ns^ good !^' And so they returned to their simple
forest homes.

But before they departed a great ceremony was
to be done: the war drama was to be ^completed by
making their friend a chief of that Mohawk nation
which had never known disloyalty. I selected the
Court-house as the scene^ and a curious scene it was —
one of the shifting scenes of the great drama of life.
The ladies and gentlemen of that rising city^ lately
the capital of Canada^ assembled ; and after many acts
had been played commemorative of the events which
the nation had shared in^ I was led forth in full regi-
mentals by the Indian master of the ceremonies^ and
with the utmost gravity had to dance the war-dance of
the tribe^ to smoke the calumet of peace and fellowship,
and to declare my wilUngness to become a chief; then
to go round the circle of grim warriors squatted on the
ground, and to shake hands with every individual, to
take a whiff of the pipe with each, to distribute a few
ghttering presents, and to be saluted as Anadesc, ^^the
chief who summons the town.^^

This chapter shall be concluded, I am determined,
by a poetic effusion,* which, as it is the work of Lieut.

• " Cold blew the blast, and hard froze the night

Of the threatened attack, we all may remember ;
But the sons of Old England stood firm in their might.
For bent was each breast to make no surrender.

Our gallant conunander * the mischief foreboded,
In our fortress that night was determin'd to stand ;

The slow-match was burning, the guns were all loaded
With grape-shot and canister by his command.

• Lieutenant^colonel Cubitt, Royal Artillery.

CANADA, 107

Hogg, of the Perth Artillery, formerly a sergeant in
the Royal Artillery, now a barrack-master in Canada,
and a near relative of the Ettrick Shepherd, shows that

Our bold Commandant,* both fearless and daring,

A son of the brave old * Ninety-and-t^va,'
His eye like the eagle's, his soldier-like bearing,

Bespoke him the veteran of time that's awa.

The banner of Albion was then proudly waving
O'er her sons who all rallied in gallant array,

Fort Henry's proof- ramparts her bull-dogs displaying.
Well mann'd with stout hearts from Perth-upon-Tay.f

The brave Second Lennox, forsaking their farms,
Came down under Fraser, — a blade firm and true ;

His orders that night were to rest on their arms.
Which show'd a bright spark of the true British blue.

McGregor and Beach, they each 'had their stations,

Determined to stand or to fall in tlie fray;
The Frontenac thus to be led by their chieftains.

Bob Boy was the watchword, and Britain the sway I

The last, though not least, the Marines % of Britannia,
Whose bomb- ships in battle have never been slow ;

Their thundering metal has given many a
Lesson to the proud spirit of Albion's foe.

And now that the Rebels have all been defeated,
And each gallant heart to his home may repair,

We will never forget how well we've been treated, —
With hospitality, kindness, and fostering care.

Bonnycastle, thy name shall be dear to us ever,
'Till life's warm streams shall cease here to flow.

May Providence grant thee a long life, and never
May the clouds of adversity over thee blow.

* Major Logie, formerly of the 92nd.

t The Perth Artillery.

X The Queen's Marine Artillery (Canadian LiJ^e Seamen) officered
chiefly by officers of the Royal Navy, a most efficient, formidable,
and exceUent body of men.

108 CANADA.

the old thistle still points her spines at the foes of
Britain when transplanted into another soil^ if it shows
nothing else. It was snng, extempore, by him at a
pubhc dinner at Kingston, at which Mr. Vail, of the
United States, was present, who had been sent to the
Gk)yemment in an official character.

The conduct of that excellent and venerated Roman
Cathohc Bishop of Kingston (Regiopolis), McDonell,
then in very advanced age, and very infirm, should
not be forgotten. He inculcated daily amongst his
flock that devoted loyalty which had marked his whole
life ; and well that flock responded to his call. But his
life was in danger from pursuing so manly and upright
a course; and the sympathizers having threatened to
bum his house, and to pursue him with their utmost
vengeance, the 1st Frontenac Regiment took him
into their barracks, and vigilantly guarded his person
whilst that danger lasted. And to show how much
he was esteemed by persons in every rank of life in
Upper Canada, and of every creed, the last act of his
ministry, before he went to Scotland to die, was to lay
the foundation-stone of a Roman Catholic Missionary
College in the park of Selma, his personal estate at
Kingston, in the autumn of 1839. I witnessed this
interesting scene; the venerable man was supported
by two Protestants,— one the heir to an Earldom, the
other a Lieutenant-colonel in the Army; and Dr.
Rolph, the Emigrant Agent, pronounced an oration

Now my brethren in arms, you've all done your duty,
True and firm to your faith in our young Virgin Queen,

The bright gem of Britain will smile in her beauty.
When she thinks of this country, ^1 loved, tho' unseen. **

CANADA. 1 09

upon this the evident closing lahotir of a life devoted
to Upper Canada and its interests.

I mention this^ both out of respect to the Bishop^s
memory^ and to show that^ unlike the state of another
colony, Newfoundland, the creeds are not in such
violent collision in Upper Canada, — that the peace of
the colony and the well-being of society have never been
endangered by the professors of either belief being
politically hostile, — and I trust that a better state of
things is now rapidly occurring in the last-named
place.

This poetry, the effusion of an honest and well-mean-
ing heart, is one of the many instances of kindly
feeling that I have experienced from those who, al-
though exposed to every privation, very many being
the sons of wealthy landholders or the landholders
themselves, merchants, and gentlemen, never gave me
the slightest trouble, and, what is more, never gave
me reason to hold a Court-martial. Such were the
MiUtia of the Midland, Hastings, Johnstown, and
Eastern Districts of Upper Canada ; and after several
months of active duty, I took my leave of them in more
serious mood than the winding-up of another song
by a Canadian officer, which ended thus* :

** Now to wind up my ditty, too long,

Let's hurrah for the Province and Queen, sir.
And whenever the * Patriots * next come,
May we he with our Colonel again, sir.

Right fol de rol, &c."«

* Prom an extempore song at a puhlic dinner, by Lieutenant Hill,
a highly-respected barrister of Kingston.

110 CANADA.

CHAPTER IV.

The subsequent Invasions and disturbances in both Provinces,

in 1838 and 1839.

Parliament, which had been smnmoned at an
earlier period than usual to meet the exigences of
Canada, decreed the abolition of the Lower Canadian
Legislature, and substituted the rule of a Grovemor
and Council ; and Her Majesty entrusted this import-
ant Government to His Excellency Lieutenant-general
Sir John Colbome (Lord Seaton), until a civil officer
should be appointed to succeed Lord Gosford. Troops
were despatched in all haste from home, and the
neighbouring provinces spared all they could send.
Military vigour was now at once apparent, and barracks
and fortifications began to rise at every point which
required observation and control, Martial law having
been declared in the rebeUious districts in Lower
Canada.

But one of those expeditions to which we have
alluded, for a simultaneous plan of attack on Canada
with that on Kingston, having been by some unfore*
seen circumstances delayed, was undertaken towards
the latter end of February, but not before the Kegular

CANADA. Ill

troops had reached the Western District. The "Pa-
triot^^ force from Sandusky Bay and the neighbourhood
of Detroit, moving across the ice, took possession of
Fighting Island and Point Pele Island; the former a
small strip of land in the Detroit River, the latter
opposite Point Pele in Lake Erie, above and below Fort
Maiden, or Amherstburgh, the true object of attack.
The leaders of this daring exploit were Sutherland,
a person named Mackenzie, and, as some averred. Dr.
Duncombe, who had fled from London, and had stolen
the arms sent from Dearborn for the American Militia
at Detroit, which had been left aU night without a
guard at a railway station.

The Canadian Militia, hearing that these despera-
does were assembling at various points, and that they
boasted of being able to raise 1,500 or 2,000 ^^ Pa-
triots,'^ assembled for the third time for the defence
of their frontier, which was also now guarded by six
companies of Regulars, seven pieces of artillery, and
about 600 Militia, at Sandwich, Windsor, and Moy,
all points of the coast much exposed. The first descent
was made en Fighting Island, nearly at the same time
as that on Hickory Island ; and it was taken possession
of probably with the same view of dating the proclama-
tions and officers' commissions from British territory.

On the night of the 24th of February, Major Towns-
end, of the 24th, who had the local rank of Colonel,
reconnoitred the position from Petit Cote with the St.
Thomas Volunteer Cavalry, and examined the ice. He
found that Colonel Elliot, of the Militia, who com-
manded at Sandwich, had returned from a similar
demonstration with the Militia and Volunteers to pre-

112 CANADA.

pare for an attack upon that place^ and then he deter-
mined to recall that officer^ and to attack the brigands
at once with his men and with Captain Browne^s com-
pany of the 32nd, Lieutenant Kelsall^s of the 83rd,
and Captain Glasgow^s nine-pounder and detachment
of Royal Artillery, which joined him at half-past six
on the morning of the 25th j and at seven. Colonels
EUiott and Askin, with about 350 Volunteers and
Militia, arrived.

Captain Glasgow immediately opened a fire on the
brigands, who were observed in great numbers on the
ice and on the island, with great efiect ; the precision
with which the gun was served forming a subject of
laudatory notice in the official dispatch. The ice was
80 uncertain, that it was supposed impracticable to
advance; but a place was found below the island at
which Major Townsend, by marching in single files,
achieved a landing.

Captain Brown kept on the outskirts of the island,
facing the American shore, to intercept the retreat of
the pirates; and Lieutenant Kelsall, with the 83rd,
moved on in extended order, flanked and supported by
the Militia, through the low woods. The Patriots, how-
ever, contrived to decamp, and forming on the American
shore, bravely fired by platoons upon their conquerors,
who could not follow them without ^^ violating^^ the
ice and soil of the United States. They left behind
one field-piece, muskets, rifles, pistols, swords, powder,
shot, and provisions of every kind. The muskets were
perfectly new, and belonged to the Ordnance stores
of the United States army.

Major Townsend gave just praise to Colonels Elliott

CANADA. 113

and Askin^ of the 2nd Essex Militia ; to Captain Erma-
tinger, of the St. Thomas Volunteer Cavalry; and to
Lieutenant-colonel Prince, who, though not in com-
mand, was conspicuous as a Volunteer. He also men-
tioned with great praise Captain Glasgow, of the Royal
Artillery, and the alacrity and zeal evinced by the
Mihtia and Volunteers, and stated, that such was the
steadiness and order evinced by them, that he only
regretted that the enemy did not give them an oppor-
tunity of disproving to the American nation and the
rebels that the libel so actively disseminated was utterly
false, that ^^ the Mihtia of the Upper Province would
not fight against them/' "as I can safely say,'' ob-
served that gallant officer, "I never witnessed more
alacrity and zeal displayed than was shown by that
body, or greater anxiety to encounter their foul
aspersers."

Two- melancholy events happened about this
period in the deaths of two young men, Mr. Askin, at
Amherstburgh, and Mr. Church, at Belleville, both
Militiamen and sons of Magistrates. The former was
a Lieutenant in Captain Angus MT)onald's company
of Coloured Volunteers, who, returning at a late hour
at night from a tour of duty, was stopped by a coloured
sentry, who demanded the countersign; upon which,
the unfortunate gentleman delaying to answer, and
offering some resistance, the sentinel, not knowing him,
shot him dead in the execution of his duty. Mr.
Church was killed by the bayonet of a brother soldier,
whilst turning out of a house to obey a sudden call to
arms in the night, — a pure accident. Such was the
ardour and zeal of every Mihtiaman, white, black,

114 CANADA.

coloured, Protestant, Catholic, Presbyterian, Dissenter;
Upper Canadian, English, Irish, Scotch, Western
French, — all kinds, all religions, all sorts; the rich
man, the poor man, the judge, the councillor, the
negro, irhDse feet, placed on British soil, had emanci-
pated him, — ^to fling back from their beloved country
the stupid and brutal invader.

The force gathered at Sandusky Bay, at the same
period, took possession of Point Fele Island, in Lake
Erie, a large and fertile island near the Canadian shore,
where the brigands committed all sorts of atrocities
upon the property of the honest farmers, and stole the
reflectors of the Lighthouse, plundering and robbing
wherever they went.

I cannot better describe the result of this expedition
than by giving the Honourable Colonel J. Maitland's
dispatch at length, in which there appears to be an
oversight, in the want of mentioning two officers who
were present at the heads of their respective depart-
ments; and who, as this was the first severe action
with the brigands in Upper Canada, were actively and
zealously employed,— Captain Glasgow, of the Royal
Artillery, and Captain Baddely, of the Royal Engineers.
The result to the brigands was fatal ; but her Majesty's
troops, owing to the woody nature of the country, suf-
fered more, than in any action during the rebelUon;
whilst the Militia covered themselves with honour, and
ably supported the Regulars.*

* Jmherstburgh, U.C, 4M March, 1838.
Sir, — When I wrote to you on Sunday last, announcing the defeat
of the pirates at Fightihg Island, I did not think I should have to
report to you another instance of a British Island being taken posses-
sion of in this quarter.

CANADA. 115

Inunediately after this events Sir Francis Head^ on
the 6th of March^ 'prorogued the Upper Canada Par-

Early in the week, I received information from different quarters
that Point Pel§ Island had been taken possession of by the pirates
from Sandusky Bay. This island is of considerable magnitude, being
from seven to nine miles in length, and from four to five in breadth ;
it is situated in Lake £rie, about forty miles from Amherstburgh, and
twenty miles from the shore. I sent three or four local officers to
ascertain the fact of their being there ; they went close to the shore,
and were fired upon ; this, together with the circumstance of several
people who had gone over to the island to look after their property,
and who were detained by the pirates, confirmed me that the report
was true. I therefore, on Thursday afternoon, despatched Captain
Glasgow, of the Royal Artillery, to inspect the strength of the ice,
and report his opinion to me, as to the practicability of moving guns
and troops to that place. He returned the following day, at twelve
o'clock, and reported that the ice was practicable, and strong enough
to pass. . I therefore determined, without loss of time, to attack them
by daybreak the following morning; accordingly, with two guns
(6-pounders), the four companies of the 32nd Kegiment, one company
of the 83rd Regiment, a small detachment of thirty belonging to a
Sandwich troop of Cavalry, and St Thomas troop of Cavalry, one
company of the Essex Volunteer Militia, and a small party of Indians,
moved that evening under my own immediate command, eighteen
miles along the lake shore ; where I halted for some time, to rest the
horses, and at two o'clock in the morning conmienced my march on
the lake ice, arriving at the island just at break of day.

I had previously arranged my plan of attack, which was as follows:
I directed Captain Brown, with the first and second companies of the
32nd Regiment to proceed round to the south-end of the island, and
take up a position on the ice to intercept any attempting at escape by
that direction ; he was accompanied by a detachment of about twenty-
five men of the Sandwich and St Tliomas Cavalry ; having made this
arrangement, I landed myself with the remainder of the force and the
two guns at the north-end ; the rebels fled at my approach, and
escaped into the woods. I was here informed by some of the loyalists,
who had been made prisoners by the pirates on the island, that they
were in force to the amount of about five hundred ; the troops moved
on in extended order, and pursued them through the island, but as
the wood was thick, and the snow extremely deep and heavy, the men
were much retarded in their progress.

The rebels finding themselves henuned in on every side, moved out

116 CANADA.

liamiBnt^ which had been in session for a short period of
unexampled activity, and, in a luminous speech, bade

at the south-end of the island, the only place hy which they could
escape to the American shore, and advanced in line upwards of three
hundred men, well armed and organised, upon Captain Brown's
detachment, where they met with the greatest resistance ; a hrisk fire
being kept up on both sides for some time, and several of Captain
Brown's detachment having fallen, he determined to charge them,
which he did, and forced them back (to the wood where they retreated
in great confusion) at the point of the bayonet. I particularly beg to
recommend this circumstance to the notice of His Excellency the
Lieutenant- General Commanding.

On the road, inside of the wood, the rebels had a number of sleighs,
by which means they succeeded in carr}'ing away about forty of their
woiuded men, the others succeeded in escaping at tbe southernmost
point of the island, and got over to the American coast, leaving killed
on the spot their Commanding-officer — a Colonel Bradley ; a Major
Howdley, and Captains Van Kensselaer and M'Keon, and several
others ; some prisoners were taken, several of whom were severely
wounded.

I regret to say that the taking of this island has not been gained
without considerable loss on our part, and I have to request that you
will report for his Excellency's information, that thirty soldiers of the
S2nd Regiment fell in this affair, two of whom were killed, the others
wounded, some dangerously, some severely. I sincerely regret the
loss of so many brave soldiers, and feel it the more when I reflect they
did not fall before an honourable enemy, but under the fire of a des-
perate gang of murderers and marauders. A list of the killed and
wounded I have the honour herewith to enclose. Having scoured the
woods, and satisfied myself that the island was cleared, I re-formed
the troops, and about five o'clock in the evening proceeded back ; and
the soldiers returned to their quarters at Amherstburgh that night.

When you take a view of the circumstances of this affair, I need
hardly detail to you the arduous duties the soldiers have had to per-
form, from the time they left until their return — travelling as they
did forty miles in an excessively cold night, twenty of which were
across the lake, accomplishing the object I had in view, namely, the
liberating the loyal people detained on the island, gaining possession
of the place, restoring it to the proprietors, defeating, with consider-
able loss, the enemy, and returning again to their barracks within
forty hours.

My warmest thanks are due to the whole of the officers, who sup-

CANADA. 117

farewell, whilst awaiting the arrival of his successor,
Colonel Sir George Arthur, to return to England. Sir

ported me in this undertaking ; and it is impossible for me in words to
do justice to the gallant soldiers of Her Majesty's Royal Artillery,
32nd Regiment, 83rd Regiment, and the Loyal Volunteers of Cavalry,
Infantry, and the few Indians, who constituted the force under my
Gonmiand. I have to regret that Mr. Thomas Parish, a private in the
St. Thomas Troop of Volunteer Cavalry, was killed in rear of the
32nd Regiment by a musket shot.

Colonel Prince, of Sandwich, Mr. Sheriff Lachlan, Captain Girty,
and several other gentlemen, asked permission to accompany me,
which they did, and gallantly acted with their rifles with our soldiers
against the rebels in the wood ; I found them very useful from their
knowledge of the locality of the place.

I trust this second repulse on this frontier, of the American ban-
ditti (let it be understood that I have it from satisfactory authority
that the whole of this gang driven from Pelfi Island, are American
citizens), will be a lesson to them that they are not with impunity to
hold British territory.

A large tri- coloured flag, with two stars and the word " Liberty !*•
worked upon it, and eleven prisoners, were also taken, some of whom
state they were formerly on Navy Island ; about forty stand of American
muskets, some ammunition, swords, &c., were also taken.

I am informed by the prisoners, that it was the decided intention of
these people to land on the Canadian shore last night, and march
upon Amherstburgh, destroying by fixe on their way all the houses,
&c., they had to pass, and for which six sleigh-loads of American
citizens from Sandusky Bay had joined them the night previous to
my attack, and made their escape back again, inmiediately on ray
appearance in front of the Island.

I have the honour to request that you will lay the substance of this

letter before his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, and forward it

to Montreal, for the information of his Excellency the Lieutenant-

General Conmianding.

J have the honour to be. Sir,

Your most obedient, humble Servant,

(Signed) JOHN MAITLAND,

Lieutenant-Colonel Conunanding 32nd Regiment, and

Colonel Commanding the Western Frontier.

Amherstburgh, U.C, 5th March, 1838.
' Dear Colonel, — I have to report to you that Sutherland, and a

118 CANADA.

George Arthur was sworn in on the 23rd of March,
1838.

Militia Courts-martial upon the numerous traitors
and brigands, taken prisoners from time to time, were
assembled at Toronto ; and General Sutherland, dread-
ing his fate, attempted suicide by opening veins in his

young man of the name of Spencer, whom they say is his Aide-de-
Camp, were captured yesterday by Colonel Prince, of Sandwich, about
two miles on the ice. He brought them in here, and lodged them in
the guard-house ; but I think it is not safe that they should remain
here long. I shall forward them to-day, under a strong escort, to
Toronto, in charge of Captain Rudyer, of the loyal £ssex Volunteers.

I have had no conversation with this man, except merely to state to
him that it was my duty to send him to Toronto.

Captain Rudyer has been acting here as Brigade-major, since the
calling out of the Militia force in this part of the country. I and
Colonel Townshend have found him very useful in this situation ; he
was with his company with me at the capture of Point-au-Pel6 Island,
and will be able to give you any information you may require upon
this subject.

I was very lucky in having nearly the last of the frosty weather to
drive these fellows off the Island, for last night and this morning the
weather has become soft, and the ice is beginning to get rotten.

Somehow or other, I think Sutherland must have been making his
way to the Island when he was taken, but he pretends to know nothing
of the action that took place.

I have nothing new to report to you. Our wounded men are doing
pretty well, but some of the wounds are most severe bone woimds.
I have been obliged to send to London express, for the other Asiustant-
surgeon of the regiment ; indeed I think if he could be spared, another
Army Medical-officer is rejg^uired here for the moment.

Enclosed is a deposition made before a Magistrate, by Colonel
Prince, relative to the capture of Sutherland and Spencer,

I am, dear Colonel,

Yours faithfully,
(Signed) JOHN MAITLAND,

Colonel Conmianding Western District

To Colonel Foster,

Commanding the forces in Upper Canada, &c., &c., &c.,
Toronto.

CANADA. 119

anns^ but was prevented just in time from completing
his design.

Sir Francis Head took the bold resolution of passing
through the United States^ and arrived safely^ after a
rapid journey across the country, from Kingston, at
New York, on the 28th of March, 1838, accom-
panied by Mr. Justice Jones. The perils of this
journey consisted in the difficulty of crossing the ice,
which was breaking-up at Kingston ; in the dreadful
state of the roads at that season, and in running the
gauntlet of myriads of sympathizers, to whom Lynch
law was familiar, and who (in consequence particularly
of the destruction of the Caroline) thirsted for his
life.

Sir Francis, it is well known, is capable of enduring
great fatigue, and is an excellent horseman ; to these
quahties he probably owes his life on this occasion, for
he was recognized by a fellow of the name of Scanlan,
who had fled from justice at Kingston some time before
the Rebellion, and who, it is said, petitioned him to
intercede for his restoration to that place.

To show what a curious opinion the Americans
formed of him, I extract the follow morceau from the
Water town Jeffersonian, of the 29th of March, 1838 :

Sir Francis Bond Head, late Lieutenant-Governor of Upper
Canada, passed through this village on Monday morning last, on his
way to England. Sir Francis was accompanied hy Judge Jones, and
was introduced to several of our citizens. He appears to be a very
mild but active man, unfitted by inclination, as we should tliink, for
revolutionary times. He has proved true to the aristocracy of England,
and on all fitting occasions has expressed his disapprobation of repub-
lican institutions. Governor Head intended to have passed through
this section of the State incog., but was recognised by some resident
exiles. To carry out the deception he at first seated himself on a

120 CANADA.

wheelbarrow in the street ; but when recognised, he at once was open,
firee, and unreseryed with our citizens.

Some of *' our citizens,^^ however, took the liberty
to follow him en route, but by dint of hard riding
he distanced them through the woods and gained com-
parative safety afterwards, in every mile he receded
from the sympathizing borderers, and was very weU
received at New York.*

Great precautions were taken on the night of his
arrival at Kingston, as he was to depart at daylight,
and a cordon of the Marine Artillery was drawn across
the ice by me, and all communication with the Ame-
rican frontier completely closed.f

Fortunately the ice was bad and required a skilful
pilot, so that the danger from the piquets and patrols
was increased by the difficulty of a night march across
it ; for so rapidly was it going, that a week afterwards
the steam-boats again plied. Had the sympathizers
been prepared for his transit, I fear the result of so
bold an experiment would have been different, but it
had been given out that he intended to proceed by
Montreal. I confess I did all in my endeavour to
dissuade him, knowing the virulence of the Frontier
Borderers, and when I saw him, for the last time in
Canada, step upon the ice, I watched him till he had
crossed it, hazardously in the extreme, for without a
light boat it would have been almost impracticable.

• In the "Emigrant," a work I wish he had giyen any other
name to, he has told this story himself more at large.

f Sir Francis, in the *' Emigrant," makes a little mistake about
this precaution, and ascribes it to a subordinate officer then under
my command.

CANADA. 121

I never expected again to see him in this world. He
passed the Rubicon, and has left at least, a deathless
name in Canada for the manliness and openness with
which his policy was carried out, and for the unre-
served magnanimity with which he took upon himself
the onus of the whole transaction of the burning of the
Caroline,

Cavillers, in Canada and in England, blame Sir
Francis Head for drawing the rebellion to so fine a
thread that it snapped at last. But even he, as well
as his detractors, seem to have lost sight, in his
defence, of the facts embodied in one or two unanswer-
able arguments. I diflfer materially with him in some
of his last acts, as a Lieutenant-governor, but can
vindicate him here.

First, If Papineau had not stuTcd the French Cana-
dians up to, and gradually for years, prepared them
for, the outbreak in 1837 of the '' Fils de la Liberte,"
long before a man in Upper Canada dreamt of rebel-
lion, would Bidwell (with whom Papineau corres-
ponded), and Mackenzie, Morrison, et hoc genus
omney in their wildest aspirations for power, have
thought of a resort to arms. I am certain they never
contemplated it, and that when Mackenzie did en-
counter the awful risk, they all disapproved of it as
premature.

So strong was the sense of loyalty to Britain in
Upper Canada, when I left it for England, in May,
1837, and so strong did it continue on my return in
September, that I, who knew the country and people
intimately for very many years, should have acted, if
placed in Sir Francis Head's position, precisely as he did,

VOL. II. G

122 CANADA.

Secondly, Sir Francis Head, with whom, upon some
shght subjects, respecting Canada, I differ, as I have
abeady said, knew, as every well-informed person
knew, that the farmers, the yeomen of Upper Canada,
could not wish to pass over to the Government of the
United States, of which their country must have
formed a very second Texas, when taxation would
immediately commence, and eternal bitter conflicts
upon poUtical rights from the quaternary election
of a President, to the yearly appointment of Post-
masters and Town-criers, would have been their lot.
The Upper Canadian small landholder knows his
government only through the Newspapers; it never
harasses him, and he has no taxes to pay but those of
which he has the control himself, and which are merely
to keep his roads in order. He enjoys plenty, literally
without a master, for as long as he keeps the laws he
has no other ruler than his own will.

Then, again, would the presence of two regiments
and two companies of artillery in Upper Canada (for
since 1815 that had usually been the protective force
for a thousand miles of frontier), would such a handful
of men have deterred Mackenzie and his rebels ? who
could always, if well supported by American sympa-
thisers, have chosen his ground for annoyance and
plunder far away from the regular troops.

Would coercion have paralyzed a determination to
rebel, had Rolph, Bidwell, Morrison, Lo\mt, Matthews,
Mackenzie, and the other known Repubhcan leaders
been incarcerated ? On the contrary, it would have
hastened a crisis ; and Sir Francis, by simply trusting
to the good sense of the people, nipped it in the bud.

CANADA. 123

and gained a greater moral victory than bayonet and
cannon and all the terrors of the law could have
eflfected ; whilst the American nation had a salutary and
excellent lesson as to the chances of popular sympathy
with respect to an amalgation into their Union,

However desirous the people of the United States
may have been, and still are, of extending their empire
over the Continent of North America, it, appears to a
calm observer, from the advanced state of knowledge
and the actual literary era of the nineteenth century,
that large republics and extended empires over a con-
tinuous tract of the globe, whether in the Old or in the
New World, are moral impossibilities as to duration.
Already the ovei^rown dominion of the Czar trembles.
The Empire of China is broken in upon by the outer
barbarians, and the Cabinet of Washington, with inade-
quate nueans and a population which cannot prevent
the forest from asserting its ancient dominion, has quite
enough to do to prevent internal disorder without
risking external collision.

The real freedom of Britain, under a guarded and
constitutional monarchy, has hitherto withstood the wear
and tear of ages, and instead of diminishing its fame
and lustre, appears to advance more and more towards
perfection, unUke the enervated and besotted luxury of
the heathen emperors, and the feeble spirit of religious
dogmatisni which ecUpsed their lustre. Rome sank the
moment the empire was transferred to Constantinople,
and the power of the Popes exhibits only a melancholy
example of continual decUne.

There is a national as well as a private virtue, and
that misused word, which anciently was synonymous

g2

124 CANADA.

with brute force, is now better understood. It neither
exists in the bosom of a despot, nor in the fickle mind
of a mob.

The United States of America, if well is let alone,
occupy a proud and very eminent station. They have
recently risen from obscurity to take a commanding
position in the political and moral world ; but it is not
by extending their dominion to the shores of the Pacific,
nor by embracing Canada and Mexico, that that pre-
eminence can be sustained. Europe is still in the prime
of life, and the moment the United States attempt
extended conquest, whatever may be the jealousy of
the European states towards England, Europe will be
in arms. The Austrian dreads innovation, the Russian
trembles lest the boors become too enlightened and
her American territories too closely looked into. France
remembers Louisiana and has sundry other causes of
discontent ; whilst England is perfectly wilUng that the
bald-headed eagle shall grasp its bundle of arrows, and
hold a steady wing to check the growth of ambition,
but will not calmly contemplate the brooding of that
wing over ^ greater space than is absolutely necessary
to cover its own nest.

The United States, if they follow their real interest,
will cultivate the arts of peace, and content themselves
with being the reflection of Transatlantic Albion, ruUng
by the just power of moderation, equanimity, and
Christian justice. Once swerve from this straight
course, endeavour to annex Canada, try to conquer
Bermuda, and to cripple the British power in the
Caribbean Seas, and the cry will then be ^^Ichabod!^^
and the glory will at once and for ever depart.

CANADA. 125

If the United States instituted a stronger form of
Republican Government, and rendered the administra-
tion of the laws firm and secure, her eminence would
indeed be that of a high moimtain amidst the hills of
the pohtical globe. Had she been capable of exerting
a reasonable share of power, would the disgraceful
scenes we have been describing on the Canadian fron-
tier, and still worse which are to be described, have
happened ? It needs no casuistry to argue the point.
General Scott and Colonel Worth did their duty nobly,
and to the utmost of their power ; but their power was
that of the people, that universal people who still up-
hold Slavery and Lynch law ; and so it must ever be,
whilst neither talents nor wealth can be permitted a
fair field of exertion, in consequence of a system of
eternal ballotings and struggles for place. CromwelPs
boasted RepubUc was of a far different aspect ; the will
of the Protector was backed by his Ironsides, and how-
ever disgusting this miUtary dragooning would now
seem, it prevented every rude citizen from making his
own reckless will the arbiter of his country^s destiny.
Where the judge can neither pronounce his unbiassed
judgment without fear of losing his office, and indeed
sometimes his life, and the minister cannot carry out
his moist sagacious and conscientious views without
referring to the opinion of the mere populace, there
cannot real liberty reside; but religion, government,
morality, and law, must continually abide their share
of chances and changes. The Republican Jewish Patri-
archs would no more have consented to rule under
such circumstances than Cromwell. Happy then, happy
is Canada^ to have that transcript of a Constitution to

1 26 CANADA.

work upon, which, whilst it permits freedom of judg-
ment and action in all our mundane and heavenly
affairs, checks by a wholesome rein, the exuberance of
the fancies aUke of the Government and of the governed,
and under whose aegis the manacles of the slave fall
from his toil-worn limbs.

A wise man has said that a despotic monarchy is the
best safeguard of the poorer classes.* They are too
insignificant for the bowstring or the axe; but how
much better for the poor is a hmited monarchy, where
his labour is rewarded, and his existence of the utmost
consequence to the welfare of the community. If^
after half a century of experience and deep thought
upon the various systems which have been introduced
since Adam tasted the fatal apple, I was to be bom again
with free will to choose my lot, the happy valley would
be that portion of the globe where the Monarch, the
Peers, and the People were alike responsible to each
other ; where the people could not run riot, and where
the Sovereign reigned in their hearts, — a free Queen,
ruling over a free nation, and the avenues to the throne
were open to talent as well as to wealth and to renown.
Such is England, that dear country, which we learn to
reverence the more the dfarther we are from it.

The sympathisers, having been thus completely

• As I was writing this a person of my acquaintanee^ who thinka
that aH Colonies should be goyemed bj stringent rule, told me that
he once happened to quote this opinion in Canada, and that he really
thought that a governor and council was the only thing to settle that
country. A very intelligent man, who had been mainly instrumental
in forming the Literary Society of Quebec, looked at him with perfect
astonishment and asked if those were his real sentiments; "Yea I'*
" Then, Sir, I pity your intellects," said the other.

CANADA. 127

foiled in their grand plan of attacking Canada simul-
taneously, — a plan copied from that of the war of
1814, which had met with the like fate, — all was, for
a time, again quiet. The British Government, aware
that upon decision hung the probabilities of a contest
with the United States, chose a nobleman of large pro-
perty and diplomatic talents as Canadian Viceroy, leav-
ing Sir John Colbome Commander-in-chief, with full
powers to crush the rebelHon, and to take effective
measures to meet the emergency of a war. Upper
Canada, always the seat of such a war, was familiarly
known to Sir John, and soon wore a very different
appearance from that which had preceded the outbreak.

The Engineer officers were now sent to every point
where fortifications or troops were required ; Amherst-
burgh saw its ancient Fort Maiden rise from its ruins ;
London became, from a hamlet, a flourishing town,
with extensive barracks ; Fort Mississagua, at the out-
let of the Niagara, covered that part of the frontier;
Kingston was strengthened; additional barracks built
at Toronto, Fort Wellington at Prescott rendered
impregnable to sudden attack ; and, in short, a frontier
of a thousand miles placed, in a few months, in an
infinitely better position to receive an enemy than it
had ever been, manned with the choicest troops of
England, supported by 40,000 Militia, eager to vindi-
cate the honour of their country.

Dn the 29th of May, 1838, Lord Durham arrived at
Quebec; and one of the first acts of his administra-
tion was the difficult one of deciding upon a measure
of Sir John Colbome's temporary Government, which
that brave officer had judged fit to reserve.

128 CANADA.

The gaol of Montreal and the Fort of Kingston were
full of prisoners, taken in the act of committing the
most serious offence known to our criminal law. Dr.
Wolfred Nelson, Mr. Bouchette, Viger, Girouard, and
many other persons of distinction and note in society,
were amongst those waiting their sentence in the Lower
Province ; and there it was impossible to convene such
a jury of their countrymen as could give, or would
give, impartial judgment.

Lord Durham's mission to the French Canadians was
one of peace; for the Queen, the Ministry, and the
whole British people c6uld not forget the noble de-
votion which this race had shown in support of the
Crown against the attacks of the United States in the
last and former wars. His Lordship saw clearly, as
every person conversant with Canadian affairs must see,
that the people of French extraction in Canada are
most excellent subjects for the designs of factious de-
magogues to work upon ; that they are a simple, honest,
lively, and trustworthy people. He, therefore, very
properly overlooking the minor offenders, punished the
great movers of the rebellion, whose sole aim had been
personal aggrandizement; and directed that Papineau,
who had fled, and those who fled with him, should
become outlaws, liable to the penalty of death if they
returned; and that Nelson, &c., should be sent under,
surveillance to Bermuda, subject also, if they returned
without due -authority, to the Uke fate. But this
assumption of dictatorial power was strongly opposed
in the British Parliament, and finally set aside, after a
Bill of Indemnity to exonerate Lord Durham had been
passed ; thus displaying one of those beautiful features

CANADA. 129

of the constitution of a limited monarchy, which is the
admiration of the world. Had some of the persons
who appeared in arms, been executed by sentence of
a duly constituted court during the existence of the
rebelhon, as their confederates, Lount and Matthews,
were in Upper Canada, not a whisper of disapprobation
would have been heard in Great Britain ; but the in-
stant that it was known that a Viceroy took upon himself
the sole administration of justice, and that he assumed
the feudal power of awarding the sentence of death,
the nation rose against him, and, unable to brook the
disappointment and the dictation which he thus in turn
had to bow before, he threw up his mimic sceptre, and
returned to England in disgust ; not, however, before .he
had hastily visited the chief towns on the river St.
Lawrence and Lake Ontario, and proceeded as far as
the Falls of Niagara.

His Lordship, in his capacity of High Commis-
sioner, collected from all quarters a great mass of
information, which was very diligently put together;
and, although very unpalatable to those in place in
Canada at that period, has, since time has hallowed
its truths, been found to contain some sound political
views, which have proved of great service to states-
men. It requires very careful consideration, however,
for it is tinged with much of the biUous hue of the
Canadian pohtics of 1838 and 1839, when the revo-
lutionary party were trying to persuade rulers that
their object was only to obtain responsible Government
and a redress of grievances ; and the Americans,
whose opinions were the very last that should have

63

130 CANADA.

been taken^ coloured the evidence in a most remark-
able degree.*

His Lordship' s intentions were, no . doubt, good,
but he saw Uttle either of the people or of the
country, as he travelled entirely by steam in bis
progress to the Falls of Niagara, attended always
en Prince, and thus had not much opportunity of
mixing with the people, some of whom took oflfence
at his distance of manner, but which he doubtless
considered was fitting his high ofSce. In short,
with great abiUties, great wealth, and immense in«
fluence, and certainly having paved the way for
much good to Canada, Lord Durham was too short
a time in the Colony to become acquainted with the
people or to render himself popular. His reign lasted
only until the 1st of November, 1838, on which day
he resigned his powers to Sir John Colbome, and
embarked for England.

The only subject of any consequence during the
summer and autumn of 1838 in Canada, now fiUing
with regular troops^f and guarded by thousands of

* It is contained in an immensely thick folio, printed by order of
the House of Commons, which few people would now have the
resolution to wade through.

f The Grenadier Guards (2nd Battalion) the Coldstreams (2nd
Battalion), and the 7l8t, arrived at Quebec by sea on the 9th and 14th
of May, earlier than ever troops had previously done in such large
vessels as the Malabar , 74, and the Edinburgh^ 74. The Guards came
in the Edinburgh^ 74, the Inconstant frigate, the Apollo and Athol
troop ships; the 71st in the Malabar, 74. Such a scene, at such a
season, had never before been witnessed at Quebec. On the 15th of
May, the harbour presented the brilliant spectacle of two seventy-

CANADA. 131

Militia^ was the acquittal of the murderers of
Chartrand, at Montreal, By a French Canadian jury,
notwithstanding the clearest and most conclusive
evidence. Samuel Lount and Stephen Matthews, the
two leaders of Mackenzie's attack upon Toronto,
were executed at that city upon the 12th of April;
and at Hamilton, WilUam Webb and John Hammil,
Horatio Niles, Stephen Smith, Charles Walworth,
Ephraim Cook, John Tufford, Nathan Town, and
Peter Malcplm, were sentenced also to death; as
were Anderson, Theller, Montgomery, and Morden;
but Sir George Arthur, blending mercy with justice,
transferred most of these traitors to the State
prison in Fort Henry, at Kingston. Drs. Nelson
and Cote were imprisoned in the State of Vermont,
and, after a mock trial, acquitted, and a public
dinner given them.

Sir John Colbome also aboUshed martial law in
Lower Canada at the same time ; and everything
bore the face of returning tranquillity, when an event
occurred as brutal and barbarous as ever fell to the lot
of an historian of civilised people to record.

On the 19th of May, 1838, the beautiful steam-
boat Sir Robert Peel, one of the fastest, largest,
and finest of those plying on the St. Lawrence and

fours, a crack frigate, two immense troop-ships, and 150 sail of
merchantmen. Here was a specimen of the power of England. ^
Treason and sympathy hid their diminished heads, and for the first
time the laige city of Quehec was so crowded with troops that the
71st were, for want of accommodation, immediately despatched
westward.

132 CANADA.

Lake Ontario^ was in tlie act of taking in fael at
a place called Wells' Island^ amongst the thousand
islands belonging to the United States^ and about
seven miles from French Creek, her usual custom,
when, in the middle of the night, or rather early
in the morning, she was boarded by a crew of fifty -
ruffians, masked, disguised, and armed.

The passengers, amongst whom were several females,
were ordered to rise from their beds, and, hastily
putting on such attu'e as they could find in the
darkness and confusion, the females were put out
of the vessel, and left to their fate en the shore,
on a most inclement night, whilst the men were
confined in the cabin, through the skylight windows
of which muskets were pointed, to keep them from
interfering. At length, a panel having been broken
out of the cabin-door, one by one at a time were
permitted to go out and depart as they could, half-
clothed, and, the vessel having been rifled, was set
fire to. The mate narrowly escaped being burned
to death, as he was sleeping in his berth, and only
saved himself after she was on fire by jumpmg
overboard. All the passengers and crew lost their
baggage and property, and the Sir Robert Peel, a
new boat, which had cost 'a very large sum of
money, was totally consimied.

Several people from French Creek had been missing
previous to this act, and it was the intention of the
miscreants to bum all the British steamers, in order
that their whaleboats might proceed in the work of
invasion and piracy undisturbed.

CANADA. 133

(jovemor Marcy, of New York State, immediately
he received information of this piratical act, left
Albany for , the frontier, and took active measures
to discover the perpetrators, as also to guard his
frontier from the dreaded retaliation of t]ie Canadians,
but nothing to this day has transpired as to who
were the real perpetrators of the deed, farther
than the universal belief, that the notorious mail-
robber and pirate. Bill Johnson, was actively engaged,
and a reward was offered by the American Governor
for his apprehension. Several men were taken and
confined in the State prison, but it all ended in
smoke.

I knew several of the persons who were thus
treated on board the Sir Robert Peel, but they
were so suddenly attacked, and had so little appre-
hension of such an atrocity being attempted, that
they could add but little to the stock of information.

But BlQ Johnson laughed at the efforts of the
Governor and aU the auth<»*ities. The Thousand
Islands afforded him a secure retreat, and amongst
their intricacies he hid bis boats and his men. In
vain parties of sailors &om Kingston examined them ;
they were occasionally fired at by an imseen and vanish-
ing eiemy. The American Militia and Civil officers
were equally unsuccessful, capturing about 250 pikes,
but no pikemen.

I sent one of my adjutants, an active and enterpris-
ing old soldier of the 79th, on a secret ex][^edition to
discover where the boats were concealed. The foe
was off, but he found their bivouac on an almost inac-
cessible islet near the most narrow part of the channels

134 CANADA.

of the Thousand Isles at Fidler's Elbow, and cleverly
constructed inclined planes upon which these fast-
rowing boats had been drawn up. The result of his
expedition, hazardous in the extreme, gave me a know-
ledge of their whereabouts, and added to the geology
of Canada; for without knowing anything about the
subject, he brought away from this isolated and seldom
visited spot some of the finest specimens of tourmaline
I ever saw, which he conceived to be indicative of coal.

Without saying a word to anybody, I apphed.for
the use of a small steam-boat; and putting some of
my staff and band on board, as a ruse to make the
folks imagine I was going to visit the Militia garrisons
of Gananoque, Brockville, and Prescott, I embarked a
company of the Frontenac, and after visiting all these
posts for about seventy miles, returned in the night
by the islands where Johnson was hidden, hoping he
would attack the boat, whereon the men were .not
allowed to be seen. In vain, in vain, was this expe-
dition like all others ; and the only results of it were
that two barrels were observed moored in the channel
at its narrowest part, no doubt containing, as was the
case in the Niagara River, the means for the destruc-
tion of our naval equipment there. With excellent
steerage we escaped the danger ; and as these infernal
machines were never seen afterwards, they were either
exploded or removed.

At the Fidler^s Elbow, a sharp turn in the navigable
channel, I saw the remains of the pirates^ recent
bivouac in their expiring fires; and here, where they
might have injured us, it appears that their knowledge
of our movements was accurate in the extreme, for they

CANADA. 135

not only never attempted to fire, but shortly afterwards
deserted their strongholds entirely. I knew perfectly
the source from which Bill Johnson derived his know-
ledge of our movements; but as the development of
that knowledge would involve a person, respecting
whose loyalty I still have doubts but not certainties
to rely upon, it would neither conduce to any benefit
to detail an extraordinary scene in a real-life drama,
nor would propriety permit the names of other actors
to be placed before the public. Suffice it to observe,
that the most interested party never stirred without
my being acquainted with his motives ; and that when-
.ever we prepared to take the field, a false movement
on his part would have instantly cost him his life,
so well was he watched and guarded.

Some of the MiUtia officers on the Canadian fron-
tier, and an officer charged with despatches, were about
the same time grievously ill-treated by the mob at
Detroit; and the American steamer. Telegraph, was
fired at by two of the Militia sentries at Prescott.
For the former no reparation was oflfered ; but for the
latter, as it arose in a mistake of their orders, every
proper explanation was aflbrded, and the men were
duly punished. These acts concluded the summer
excitements on the bordera.

But the spirit of invasion was only hushed, and new
combinations, under the names of Hunter^s Lodges,
&c., arose, which gave rise to more important events.
It only required the season of short days and long
nights to ripen those nefarious schemes which, in
summer, were paralysed by the constant arrival of
fresh troops, and the rapid organization, mider Cap-

136 CANADA.

tain Sandom of the Royal Navy, of a sufficient naval
force on the lakes.

Bill Johnson, well known as a pirate during the last
American war, and for his exploits in mail-robbing,
had collected a numerous gang of Canadian refugees
and American sympathisers, with whom, in long boats,
built after the fashion of those used in the whale-
fishery, and very swift, he kept the frontier in a state
of constant agitation, as his object was, as in the case
of the Sir Robert Peel, plunder and burning. On the
7th of June this robber, or some of his friends, made
a descent during the night upon the fertile island of
Tanti, Amherst Island, mentioned before as the property
of Lord Mountcashel, within a few miles of Kingston on
Lake Ontario, and lying immediately opposite to the
pleasant village of Bath. Three isolated farm-houses
were plundered, and many valuables and some money
obtained ; whilst one farmer, in the defence of his pro-
perty, was inhumanly shot at, and lost three fingers
and a part of his hand. The pirates were dressed as
sailors, and well armed ; and it is said had one sixteen-
oared boat, mounting two three-pounders.

Bill Johnson and Daniel M^Leod were supposed to
be the principal leaders ; but, as in the case of the
Sir Robert Peel, several Canadian refugees bom Belle-
ville, &c., were with them, and the Governor of New
York offered rewards for their apprehension, naming
these two as well as Samuel C. Frey and Robert Smith,
Upper Canadians; William Nickles, a deserter, and
the only one, from the Militia; M. W. Forward, An-
derson, James Potts, Seth Warner, and his brother,
all Upper Canadians ; Nathan Lee and Henry Hunter,

CANADA. 137

Americans ; Hugh Scanlan^ an absconding debtor from
Kingston ; William Smith, John Tarr, Thayer, Kobin-
son, William Leister, Upper Canadians; and William
Coppemell, James Hunter, and William Robins, of
French Creek, Americans. Lord Durham also issued
a pix)clamation, offering a reward of J6 1,000 for the
apprehension and conviction of any person concerned
in the burning of the Sir Robert Peel; and stated
therein his firm determination to uphold the honour
of the Crown and the integrity of the empire.

Captain Sandom, with such small lake steam-boats
as he could obtain, did everything in his power to
destroy this nest of water-thieves, and they at last
were so hunted as to become daily of less and less
importance; but excitement was kept up along the
whole frontier, and the British steam-boats, even at
Niagara, were at one time in much danger, and all
were obUged to arm and carry armed crews, whilst no
Loyalist on the river or lake-shore dwelt or slept in
security.

Bill Johnson issued a proclamation, as follows : —

^'to all whom it may conceen.

'' I, William Johnson, a native-bom citizen of Upper
Canada, certify that I hold a commission in the Patriot
service of Upper Canada as Commander-in-chief of
the naval forces and flotilla. I commanded the expe-
dition that captured and destroyed the steamer. Sir
Robert Peel. The. men under my command in that
expedition were nearly all natural bom Enghsh sub-
jects ; the exceptions were volunteers for the expedition.
My head-quarters was on an island in the St. Law-

138 CANADA.

rence, without the jurisdiction of the United States,
at a place named by me Fort Wallace. I am well
acquainted with the boundary-line, and know which
of the islands do, and which do not, belong to the
United States; and in the selection of the island I
wished to be positive, and not locate within the juris-
diction of the United States, and had reference to the
decision of the Commissioners under the sixth article
of the Treaty^of Ghent, done at Utica, jn the State of
New York, 13th June, 1822. I know the number
of the island, and by that decision it was British
territory. I yet hold possession of that station, and
we also occupy a station some twenty or more miles
from the bodndary-line of the United States, in what
was Her Majesty's dominions until it was occupied
by us. I act under orders. The object of my move-
ments is the independence of the Canadas. I am not
at war with the commerce or property of the people
of the United States.

" Signed, this tenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-
eight.

^* William Johnson.^'

His- Excellency Sir John Colbome made an extended
tour during the summer, visited Navy Island, and
ordering additional defences throughout Upper Canada,
returned to Quebec to meet Lord Durham, and to cause
a large body of sailors and marines to be forwarded to
Captain Sandon, to scour the Thousand Islands.

The American Government also sent General Macomb
to supersede General Wool, and troops were forwarded

CANADA. 139

in all haste to Fort Niagara, Sackett^s Harbour, and
other points.

Cavalry, the King's Dragoon Guards and 7th Hussars,
arrived from England, with reinforcements for the artil-
lery, engineers, and line; and Admiral Sir Charles
Paget's flag in the Comwallis floated over the harbour
of Quebec, amidst a mass of men-of-war, steamboats,
and merchantmen, unexampled in the history of Canada.

To prevent the further incursions of the pirates at
the Isle of Tanti, a company of the 1st Frontenac
Mihtia, drilled and well disciplined, was established at
the village of Bath ; whilst Gananoque, and the inter-
mediate villages of the St. Lawrence fi'ontier of the
Thousand Islands, with Brockville, Prescott, and Corn-
wall, were strongly reinforced with picked Mihtia.

On the 21st of June, Osterhout's, a tavern in which
some Volunteer Lancers were quartered, at the Short
Hills, in the township of Pelham, in the Niagara dis-
trict, was attacked by a body of armed men, who
plundered the house of a large sum of money and
valuable property, and overpowered some Lancers, upon
whom they fired. Thirty of these ruffians, hidden in
a swamp, were afterwards taken, as well as Morrow,
their leader. This body of sympathisers, it was known,
had chiefly crossed from the United States; and in
consequence. Sir George Arthur issued a proclamation,
forbidding all persons from traveUing in the British
territory without proper passports; and at the same
time it was decided that the' prisoners taken in arms,
or persons taken aiding and abetting in acts of treason,
should be considered as prisoners of war, and treated
accordingly.

140 CANADA.

Lord Durham at the same time discharged &om the
prisons of Montreal all the young French Canadians
who had been engaged in the rebellion, who were
minors; whilst, as I have before stated, he sentenced
Wolfred Nelson, Robert S. M. Bouchette, Bonaventure
Viger, Simon Marchessault, H. A. Gauvin, Toussaint
Goddu, Rodolphe Des Rivieres, and Luc. H. Masson,
to deportation, on an acknowledgment of their guilt.
Louis Joseph Papineau (late Speaker of the House of
Assembly), Cyrile H. 0. Cote (member of the House
of Assembly), Julien Gagnon, Robert Nelson, M.H.A.,
Edmund Burke 0'Callaghan,M.H.A., Edward E. Rodier,
M.H.A., Thomas Storrow Brown, Ludger Duvemay,
Etienne Chartier, a priest (a solitary example), George
E. Cartier, John Regan the elder and John Regan the
younger, Louis Perrault, Pierre P. Demaray, Joseph F.
Davignon, and Louis Gautier, who had all absconded,
were doomed to death, if found again within Canada ;
but with a proviso, that if permitted thereafter to return
and reside therein, by competent authority, none of
these persons should be subject to any penalty or pro-
secution for any treasonable or seditious practises by
them at any heretofore time committed.*

But the murderers of, or persons charged with the
murders of Lieutenant Weir of the 32nd Regiment, and
of Joseph Chartrand, were in nowise to be permitted to

* It 18 perfectly obvious, therefore, that all these persons upon
being allowed by Government to return to Canada, are as fully par-
doned and free from all molestation, as if the rebellion had never
occurred ; for the British Government cannot undo Lord Durham's
act of grace, for which he was as fully indemnified as for his act of
pimishment in dooming and deporting, and accordingly many have
returned, and now hold prominent situations.

CANADA. 141

come within any future pardon. Their names were —
Fran§ois Jalbert, Jean Baptiste L'Huissier^LouisL^Huis-
sier, rran9ois Mignault^ Francois Talbot, Amable
Dimais, Fran9ois Nicolas, Etienne Langlois, Gideon
Pinsonault, and Joseph Pinsonault.* All other persons
concerned in the rebellion were pardoned.

This extended act of mercy had very little eflFect;
a body of sympathisers, at the latter end of June, plan-
ned an attack upon Canada from the United States,
at two places on the Western frontier — Bear Creek,
near the entrance. of the Thames, and Samia, on the
river St. Clair; and a number of state prisoners were
rescued from their durance in the London district, so
that on the 1st of July it was necessary to send forward
the 34th Regiment from Toronto to that place.

Sir John Colbome, with his accustomed activity,
again visited the Niagara frontier, and formed a camp
near the Falls. The 43rd under Colonel Booth, two
field-pieces vmder Lieutenant Wilkins of the Royal Artil-
lery, and part of a company of Sappers under Lieutenant
Roberts of the Royal Engineers, went at the same time
to the frontier, and were followed by complete reinforce-
ments, and by two troops of the Dragoon Guards and
the 71st Regiment.

Some of the pirates marched from Bear Creek to
Delaware, within about sixteen miles of London, and
having robbed the store of a French trader on the
St. Clair, the Indians pursued and routed them. They
extended their plunder, however, as far as the Goderich

♦ Tlie murders of Lieutenant Weir and of Chartrand were so
barbarously brutal and unnecessary, even to the cause of the rebels,
that it was long hoped justice might yet overtake all the perpetrators.

142 CANADA.

frontier of Lake Ilui-on in a sloop, whicli was taken
possession of, after the pirates had escaped, by the
United States^ steamer Gratiot,

About this time Lord Durham revoked all the pro-
clamations of his predecessors, offering rewards for the
capture of the rebels who had absconded.

The invasion of the Western district was soon put an
end to, and Lieutenant Elmsley of the Royal Navy, who
had already so much distinguished himself, captured
six of the pirates of Bear Creek whilst cruising on Lftke
Erie. The Indians also took many more, amongst
whom was Aide-de-camp Spencer, who had been par-
doned on account of his having given useful information.

The United States steamboat Governor Marcy also
captured six of the brigands who had robbed the shops
near Gooderich, and for the first time a Grand Jury at
Detroit found one of the patriots guilty of violating the
neutrality of the United States. His name was Vree-
land, and he was sentenced to a yearns imprisonment,
and a fine of 1,000 dollars.

The Kingston Penitentiary also received several of
the state prisoners, who were sentenced to three years'
hard labour and expatriation afterwards ; but at Quebec
a public meeting was held, expressing sympathy for the
fate of the French Canadian rebels, and calUng upon
Lord Durham to restore them all to their homes. This
meeting took place on the 4th of July, the day on
which the Independence of the United States is annu-
ally kept, and was most numerously attended, Jean
Tourangeau, a Justice of the Peace, presiding, and
Monsieur Belleau, Secretary, and a copy of the resolu-
tions was ordered to be sent on board the Vestal, then

CANADA. 143

about to convey Wolfred Nelson and his companions to
Bennuda; and the French Canadians of Terrebonne
illuminated their town on the same 4th of July.

A special commission at Kingston tried the following
prisoners for high-treason, and they were acquitted or
held to bail : Reynolds, Le Sage, and Myers, Lewis, Orr,
La Fontaine, Marsh, and Day. Of the guilt of some
of these men, who were taken with arms in their hands,
there was not a doubt, for they themselves affected not
to deny it; but the privilege of an almost unlimited
challenge of the jurors, and the evident magnanimous
intention of the Government not to push matters to
extremity, was the cause of their release. They were
chiefly inhabitants of the districts adjoining. Kiugston,
and what is worse, several of them were the sons of
United Empire settlers, who owed aU they possessed to
the Government.

The trial of the prisoners taken at the Short Hills
ended differently. Morrow, the leader, was executed
on the 30th of July. He was a native of Pennsylvania ;
and Miller, an American law-student, was also found
guUty with some others, such as Waite, the second in
command ; but it would be tedious and uninteresting
to name all the obscure adventurers who were punished
or perished for their atrocities and folly.

Lord Durham having determined to return to Eng-
land, addresses in his favour were sent to his Lordship
from the most influential persons in the Cities of
Toronto, Quebec, Montreal, "and Kingston, from
Cobourg and from many other towns. It is said that
this change of feeling towards the Governor-general
arose in consequence of the want of support he met

144 CANADA.

with at home ; and also that since the acquittal of the
murderers of Chartrand^ he had somewhat altered his
poUcy respecting the French Canadians, particularly as
the districts which had evinced most openly the' prin-
ciples of rebelUon, were again practising the same
unhappy game. Just before his departure in October,
a trooper of Captain Moore^s troop of the Mississiquo':
Dragoons captured a French Canadian double wagon
and a cart at Moore^s Comer, whilst they were passing
from the frontier of Vermont towards Stanbridge in
Lower Canada at midnight. The drivers escaped, but a
beautiful iron nine-pounder gun, complete in everything
necessary for the field, and covered over with apples,*
with other materials for a fresh attack, were secured.

• Theller and Dodge escaped from the Citadel Prison of Quebec in
the latter end of October, with three other minor sympathisers, who
were, however, retaken, and John George Parker, Brophy, Anderson,
and several others also escaped from the State Prison at Fort Henry,
Kingston. Parker and another were retaken. In the latter case,
treachery was employed ; in the former, cunning alone effected the
escape. Both were adventures which might form parts of romance.
I annex Brophy' s account, which leaves the traitors who aided him
out altogether, and without whose assistance he could not have
escaped : the detail of the escape is correct.

We shall j)robably gratify the curiosity of our readers by giving
them an opportunity of reading "Col. Brophy' s" account of the
escape of the prisoners from Fort Henry, as copied from The North
American^ printed at Watertown. Brophy' s statement differs mate-
rially from that of Watson in several particulars, especially as to the
means employed in the escape, and shows that in addition to the
Colonel's "being acquainted with military engineering," he is pos-
sessed of another accomplishment, yclept lying.

To THE Editor, &c, Watertown, 7th 'August, 1838.

Sir, — In reply to your note of yesterday, requesting a statement of
the escape of myself and fellow- sufferers, late in adversity, from the
stronghold of the enemy in Canada, I beg leave to state that, on the
2nd of June last, fifteen of us were heavily ironed and sent from

~ CANADA. 145

No sooner was Lord Durham on board of the vessel
which conveyed him to Europe^ and had delegated the

Toronto to Fort Henry, Kingston, and confined in a strong room in
the garrison, under a doubly sentry of the Regulars, and the daily
inspection of a Bailiff, appointed by the authorities of Kingston.

To any who have visited the garrison, its appearance is im-
pregnable ; and on my first acquaintance I had imagined that it
would take more powder to blow us out of it than I was able to cal-
culate. On a closer examination matters appeared more favourable,
and no opportunity was neglected in extending the inquiry in every
instance that offered.

We were permitted, in about three weeks after our arrival, to walk
for half an hour each day on the parade ; and on one occasion the cell
next that in which we were confined being open, myself and another
person entered, partly to avoid the oppressive rays of the sun, and
partly to see how the land lay around us. On being observed by the
Bailiff, he ordered us out, but not before one of us discovered a trap-
door at the end of a dark passage at one end of the cell. Being
acquainted with military engineering, and being at this time tolerably
acquainted with the plan of the garrison, the idea occurred that this
passage had a subterraneous communication with the sallyport and
gun-rooms for the defence of the ditch and the outworks of the fort,
the port-holes of which we observed from the port-holes in the cell.

This discovery seemed to ofifer a hope, though other difficulties,
apparently insurmountable in themselves, occurred, not the least of
which was scaling the outer wall. In being taken to the garrison^
some of x>ur party observed a low point in this wall for the purpose of
allowing a gun placed on the ramparts to bear upon any object
approaching the shore, which appeared a favourable scaling -point.
In examining the cell, we saw that it had a communication with the
one we occupied by a strong' panel- door, the recess of which was
filled with solid masoniy on our side four and a half feet thick. From
all the subsequent observation and inquiry that lay in our power to
make, an escape by mining a passage through this doorway appeared
feasible ; yet it was not till an answer was received from Montreal to
an address presented to Lord Durham by a majority of the prisoners
in the garrison, on his return from Toronto, stating that he (Lovd
Durham) had referred the address in question to Sir George Arthur,
that a determination was agreed upon to place more reliance upon
this passage and our own exertions, than in the Lieutenant-governor
or Lord Durham, in whose hands we lay.

With these views, on last Friday evening (3rd inst.), after the

VOL. II. H

146 CANADA.

administration of the Government once again to Sir
John Colhome, than the fire of rebellion, which had

Baitiff and guard had visited us for the day, I brought up the subject
again in full meeting, pointing out the utter hopelessness of our case,
and reported upon the north-west passage, as we called it, asking leave
to commence the undertaking, saying, —

" Where* s"the slave so lowly.
Condemned to chains unholy.
Who, could he burst
His bonds at first.
Would pine beneath them slowly? "

Leave was granted by a majority ; and about four o'clock one of
our party, as contractor of the undertaking, (and well and most
satisfactory did he execute the work,) commenced the plan, which was
to mine a passage level with the floor, two and a half feet square,
through the masonry in the doorway, and when arrived at the door
a panel and munton was to be removed by cutting out the groove on
the inside, carefully preserving the moulding in front in order to
replace the panel should the way out be found to be impracticable.
The stones in front of the wall were numbered and carefully pre-
served, and the remainder placed un^er our beds along the walls of
the cell, while a large stove in the apartment served to contain the
dry mortar that crumbled, and was taken out on the occasion.

It has been stated in some of the Kingston papers that a crowbar
was given us, and other assistance rendered from without. Such is
not the case ; we received nothing whatever in the way of assistance
from any person ; and the only tools used, or that we had to use, were a
large crooked nail or spike about five inches long, and a piece of Cfist
iron two inches wide, eight inches long, and shaped like the letter L,
probably a brace belonging to one of the gun-carriages, both of which
we picked up while walking on the parade, as we did the smallest
trifle, even to a lead button of the soldiers' dress that came in
our way.

These two pieces of iron, which are probably ere this found in the
stove into which they were put, and a stick of firewood, was all that
was used in removing the masonry, which was efiected, and the front
stones replaced, filling the joints with mortar made from the dry
material removed, so as to leave no traces of discovery, about nine
o'clock in the evening. Saturday evening we set to again and
removed the panel, and at six o'clock, a dark lantern being prepared,
I had the pleasure of passing through, followed by two others of our

CANADA. 147

only been slumbering^ broke out with fresh fury^ and
regiments were again called for from Nova Scotia^ the

party, entering the trap- door and descending a narrow subterraneous
passage by a ladder of some eight or ten steps placed under the trap-
door ; following this passage, we ascended to the lerel of the room we
left by a ladder placed at the opposite end of the passage, and entered
the works in the outer wall, thence through a narrow passage and four
small rooms all studded in front with port-holes for musketry, thence
by a short passage turning at right angles, and ascending a few steps
into the gun-rooms, from whence we were enabled to survey the ditch
and low point referred to in the outer wall. The gun-rooms are three
in number, having each a mounted gun and a store of anmiunition,
with port-holes sufficiently large to admit a full-grown person, each
of which is secured with an oak shutter, hung in a groove, and can
only be opened on the inside. On raising the shutter an entrench-
ment fifteen feet deep was perceptible on the outside, right under the
port-holes for the whole length of the gun-rooms, and faced with
masonry, through which our passage lay. Not having the means of
descending into this entrenchment, we returned and reported progress,
and another visit was made at dawn next morning, all of which time a
double sentry was placed on our door, four others were in different
parts of the parade, and one on the ramparts.

It was then determined that a grand move should be made on Sun-
day night, notwithstanding the opposition of a few unwilling ones of
the party, who however acquiesced in the end. The passage was
closed up as usual for the day, and on the visit of the guards and
Bailiff, every thing seemed to be in its proper place. Having all got
ready at half-past ten at night, the procession began to move on
slowly and quietly, all in their stocking feet, and with a very small
portion of clothing and provisions, and arrived at the gun-rooms, when
a halt was made until it could be ascertained where the sentry stood
on the ramparts by his calling out " All*s well," which was passed
around every half-hour to all on guard, ending with the sentry on the
rampart, where it began — whose duty it was to walk round the ram-
part every half-hour.

While in the gun-room, we distinctly heard the guard turn out to
receive the grand rounds, who went round and tbund "all well."
Soon as the sentry's position was known on the ramparts, a descent
was made into the entrenchment by a rope fastened to the muzzle of
the gun, and at a signal given on the outside, one of our party who
remained behind to answer inquiries if the sentry should make any
during our departure, passed out two planks through the port-holes,

h2

148 CANADA.

93rd being at once ordered from Halifax^ from Prince
Edward^s Island and Cape Breton. Arms and ammu-

which were ripped from a hench in the cell and lashed together, holes
being cut eighteen inches apart to serve as a ladder in scaling the
outer wall, and immediately joined the party in the gun-room, while
another was examining the scaling pmnt outside. At a signal given
by him, the descent was continued ; and at the time that all were out
in the ditch, and had taken their places under the garrison wall, a
storm was visibly gathering in the horizon. The moon was going
down, and the sullen gloom of the firmament was beautifully illumined
by fitful flashes of lightning, which showed our way in the total dark-
ness of the storm as the pillar of fire did the Israelites in their escape
from Pharaoh. We awaited the storm, and soon as the rain began,
which it was expected would encase the sentry in his box, the ascent
^was commenced. The calculation was a good one, and answered our
expectations. In a few moments the rain began to fall in torrents,
all was enveloped in darkness, and in moving on, Mr. Montgomery
met with a serious accident in falling into an entrenchment at one
angle of the ditch, which rendered him almost unable to walk. He
was taken out very much hurt, and is yet labouring under its effects.
The ladder was applied to the wall within about 100 feet of the
sentry on the ramparts, by means of which one ascended on the glacis,
and a rope made from a portion of our bedding was suspended from
above, which drew up all hands in a few moments, at which time the
storm began to abate. The ladder was drawn up and cast away, and
a quick march beat till about 100 rods north of the garrison ; when a
halt was made and all hands mustered, it was discovered that

• Mr. Parker was missing.

Observing him much agitated on reaching the glacis, it occurred
that he might have fallen into a deep ditch, that lay within a few feet

* of our landing. I returned, accompanied by another, examined the
glacis, and descended into the ditch, and after a most anxious search
could observe no traces of him, nor can we account for the cause of
his departure from us. We again joined the party, who awaited us,
got on our boots, assisted Mr. Montgomery, by a person getting under
each arm, took up a quick march, and in a little time fortunately
gained the river road to Gananoque, just as the guards were crying
out " all's well," at half-past twelve, we travelled till daylight, when
we turned in and halted in the woods.

Owing to the loss of Mr. Parker, our plan of arrangements for
crossing the river was disorganized; and seeing Mr. Montgomery
quite helpless and dispirited, myself and two others of our party

CANADA. 1 49

nition were also sent from the great depdt at Halifax
to Quebec.

On Lake Ontario the large steamboat Traveller and
the Burlington were chartered to convey troops, and
that part of Lower Canada where the rebels were most
numerous was freshly garrisoned to prevent the de-
struction of the locks of the Grenville Canal. Toronto
was strengthened, and Kingston fully manned.

An act of grace was at the same tifne issued by Sir
George Arthur to the deluded victims of imprincipled
leaders, and the heads only having suffered the just

volunteered to remain with him, and bring him away, or share his
fate. The remaining ten divided themselves into two parties, and left
us for some favourable point down the river.

Mr. Mon^omery's situation enabled us to make very little progress
after having halted. On Wednesday night we succeeded in getting
into a boat, and after passing several craft on the river, we put into a
bay on Long Island, carried our skiff across, about a mile and a half,
launched her on the other side, and arrived at Cape Vincent about six
o'clock on Thursday evening, where we were received with marked
kindness and hospitality by the inhabitants.

My letter being perhaps rather lengthy, I shall address you further
at another time, and close with the names of all who have reached
here : — John Montgomery, John Anderson, and Gilbert F. Morden,
were sentenced to be executed, and had no commutation of their sen-
tence. Thomas Tracy, Edward Kennedy, John Marr, William Stock-
dale, John Stewart, Walter Chase, and myself, had received no sen-
tence ; but as these things were all managed by the Executive
Council, as the trials of Emmett and others were in Ireland forty
years ago, by passing the sentence before the trial, there^is no doubt
in our minds but transportation for life to some dismal comer of the
earth awaited us. Providence has, hk>wever, ordered it otherwise. It
is said that three others have crossed at or below French Creek, which
with Messrs. Parker and Watson, complete the entire number who
left the garrison.

Very respectfully, your obedient Servant,

STEPHEN B. BROPHY,
Colonel qf Engineers in the Patriot service qf Upper Canada.

150 CANADA.

penalty of deaths they were permitted to return. But
Alonzo Merriman of Fellham^ merchant^ Aaro n Win*
Chester, yeoman^ David Jennings^ Chester GiUet^ and
Thomas Lambert^ all of Pelham, labourers^ coneerhed in
the attack and plunder of the tavern at the Short Hills^
who had absconded^ were summoned to return and
surrender^ on pain of attainder for high treason.*

The mercy thus nobly shown^ such is the perverse-
ness of human nature^ particularly when that nature is

* Those who had absconded after the Toronto outbreak, and here-
after named, were in like manner duly attainted, provided they did
not surrender for trial :

John Rolph, M.P.P. Henry Stiles.

Edmond Quirk. "William Fletcher.

William Lyon Mackenzie, David M*Carty.

M.P.P. Seth M'Carty.

Silas Fletcher. Nelson Gorham.

Jacob Rymal. Daniel Fletcher.

Richard Graham. Alexander M'Leod.

John Mantack. Cornelius Willis.

Joseph Borden. Erastus Clark.

Joshua Winn. David Gibson, M.P.P.

Jeremiah Graham. Landon Wurtz.

Thomas Brown. James Marshall.

Levi Parsons. Alum Marr.

Jesse Loyd. Joseph Clarkson.

Aaron Munchaw. Dudley Wilson.

And those who had acted within the London district, viz. :

Charles Dimcombe, M.P.P. Jesse Paulding.

James Davis. Joel P. Doan.

Eliakim Malcolm. Samuel Edison, Jun.

Peter Delong. Joshua G. Doan.

OrsimuB B. Clark. John Talbot

Lyman Davis. Abraham Sulton.

Henry Fisher. Moses Chapman Nickerson.

Solomon Howes. George Lawton.

James Malcolm. John Massacre.

' Pelham C. Teeple. Elisha Hall.

Morris Humphrey.

CANADA. 151

deteriorated by an imperfect education^ was scorned ; for
as the month of November^ and the long dark nights
approached^ a new, a more extensive, better organized,
and apparently more effective scheme of plunder, piracy,
and bloodshed was secretly concocted and matured.

Such however was the accuracy, as in the former
cases, with which paid informers and honest men
detailed the proceedings of the Hunters^ Lodges and
the plans of Dr. Nelson, Mackenzie, and Co., that
everything necessary to be done was soon done to me€^
the emergency.

Sir George Arthur, in Upper Canada, issued a
Militia general order, stating that information had
been received of a determination again to invade Can^a
firom the shores of a friendly state, and that that state
had failed to preserve peaceable relations towards
these Colonies. Under these circumstances, the lieu-
tenant-governor again called upon the MiUtia te
defend their country from lawless war, 'plundfsr, and
devastation, assuring them that he was in full pos-
session of the designs of the enemy, who had nominally
among them many ^^who have not forgotten their
allegiance to her Majesty, or their duty to their Canadian
brethren, and only appear in the ranks of the brigands
at present to save themselves from insult and violence.'^

The intentions of the American sympathizers (com-

Who were almost all American settlers or of American descent ; and
those who had been indicted in the Gore district at Hamiltoni viz. :

Michael Marcellus Mills. George YITashington Case.

George Alexander Clark. Angus Mackenzie.

Joseph Fletcher. John Vanorman.

Were similarly described, and the reader can form an opinion of the
country and origin of nine-tenths of all these lists.

152 CANADA.

posed of citizens of the United States) were to make a
grand attempt simultaneously to enter Canada from
Detroit and Lake Erie to the State of Maine^ which
was embroiled at that moment in the Boundary dispute,
and ripe for aggression, and which the exertions of
Sir John Harvey and the Militia of New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia alone kept under. Thus, instead of
permitting five or ten thousand of these brave MiUtia-
men to march, as they had splendidly offered, to the
assistance of the Canadas, they were obhged to re-
main for the defence of their own homes.

By this extended line of operations, it was hoped
the Queen^s troops and Militia would have been
paralyzed, and that the disaffected in both provinces
would have been enabled to join the Patriots, and
effect the subversion of British power on the American
continent. The lands of the Colonists were duly
parcelled out, and tickets of location given to the
" Hunters.^'

As usual, however, there was a want of concert
amongst the leaders, and the information given to the
Government was clear, expUcit, and so conclusive, that
a party of rebels of Ijower Canada, who had been
pardoned, or had fled to the State of Vermont, were
taken by a detachment of the Dragoon Guards and the
15th Regiment from Chambly, imder Lieutenant-
colonel Taylor, whilst deUberating in the house of
Gagnon at Pointe h, la Meule, about seven miles from
St. John's, and near the boundary-Une, forty-five
degrees. Seven were captured, all armed with Ame-
rican muskets, cartouche-boxes, bayonets, and belts,
with twenty rounds per man of ball cartridge. Amongst

CANADA. 153

tltem was a son of Gagnon^s^ and several inhabitants
of St. John's were also arrested^ the chief of them
being Dr. Lacroix, who had been in prison all the
former winter, and pardoned.

A night or two previous, domiciUary visits by the
Patriots had been made at the isolated farms, and one
French Canadian was obliged to contribute fifty pounds
in hard cash to save his life and his premises. So
fiercely did this' spirit rage, that at La Tortue, seven
miles from La Prairie, the houses of the loyalists were
ransacked, and two respectable farmers, named Walker
and Vitrey, were murdered in the night in cold blood,
and in the most dehberate and atrocious manner ; and
the farmers were obhged, generally, to quit their homes
for the protection of the nearest garrison.*

A party of the 7th Hussars came suddenly upon
the perpetrators of these deeds of horror, and put them
to the route. They fled into the woods; but two loyaUst
prisoners were fortunately rescued, and Walker's widow
and child taken to La Prairie. When she arrived, the
unfortunate woman was covered with her husband's
blood. On the same night the rebels again appeared
in arms in Beauhamois, and captured the steamer
Henry Brougham, with the mail and passengers from
Upper Canada. They also took prisoners Messrs.
EUice, Brown, Norval, and Boss. The seigniory of
Beauhamois belonged to Mr. Edward EUice, son-in-law
of Lord Grey. Simultaneously the Chateauguy Biver
district was the scene of revolt ; and a Magistrate, Mr.

• Such was the courage of the women in these isolated farm-
houses that they often shared the danger with their hushands ; Wal-
ker's wife loaded his piece for him. — Editor.

h3

154 CANADA.

M^Dcmald, wis wounded; and the RiTer

from St. Mary's downwards^ towards the St. Lawienee,

was again the nniyefsal scene of civil war.

A gaOant achievement of the Canghnawaga Indians^
who are domidled opposite the Montreal shore, most
be mentioned. The greater part of the residents of the
village^ bearing the name of the tribe^ were assembled
at chnrdi on the morning after the rising <m the
Chateangny, when the diief was informed by an old
aqoaw^ who had been searching in the woods for a lost
cow^ that the woods were fidl of armed men, who were
advancing npon the village. Unarmed, the Indians
left the sacred edifice; and their gallant leader, imme-
diately raising the dreaded war-whoop, seised the
nearest rebel, from whom he wrested his mudcet. His
example was instantly followed ; and sixty-fonr, which
was doable that of the tribe present at this daring
exploit, were disarmed, made prisoners, and brongfat to
Montreal soon aft;erwards by the La Chine cavalry. I
do not reoollect the name of this heroic chief, but tnist
he received that, which an Indian so dearly prizes, a
medal.

Just previous to this event, the steam-boat Princess
Victoria had been employed to take firom La Prairie
four field-pieces, &€., to St. John's ; and, as the night
came on when she readied that place, it was deemed
unsafe that she should proceed or embark the men,
horses, and guns. Daring the night, combustibles
were placed in several parts of the vessel's forecastle,
and fired ; but the flames were fortunately got under.
This timely discovery, and the detention of the gunners
in the village saved it fix)m destruction also, as it was

CANADA. 155

to have been sacked and burned if the troops had pro-
ceeded. At the same time, about thirty feet of the
railway from St. John's was -destroyed in the night, and
the driver of the Quebec mail was arrested by twenty
armed men, at Bout de PIsle, but allowed to proceed, it
not being the mail to Quebec with the dispatches of
Sir John Colbome, which they alone wanted, and
which they said would not escape them, as their party-
at Berthier would get them on their road.

The troublesome districts north of Montreal ex-
hibited, as of old, the same scenes ; and the city was in
such a state of ferment, that about 4,000 Volunteers
again enrolled themselves for its defence. His Excellency
Lieutenant-general Sir John Colbome immediately pro-
claimed Martial Law in the District of Montreal, and
the following persons were also arrested on the 4th of
November, 1838 :

Messrs. D. B. Viger, • Messrs. J. J. Girouard,

Charles Mondelet, „ J. A. Labadie,

L. H. Lafontaine, „ H. B. Weilbrenner,

„ John Donegani, „ George Dillon,

„ Franfois Des Rivieres, „ Goulet,

„ L. M. Viger, „ LabeDe,

Dexter Chapin, „ Labonte,

rran9ois Pigeon, „ Harkin,

who were chiefly people of rank and consideration, with
several others of less consequence.

Dr. R. Nelson* published at the same time the follow-

• Having first instigated the peasantry at St Ours, St. Denis,
St. Charles, St Michel, L'Acadie, Chateauguy, La Prairife, Napier-
ville, Beauhamois, &c., to assemble again in rebellion. In fact, the

}9

156 CANADA.

ing Proclamation, which I should not think worth copy-
ing, as in the case of Mackenzie's, if it did not happen
that it served, and still serves, to convince the French
Canadians that their interests were not much thought
of by the revolutionary leaders. Affcer a long preamble,
setting forth the tyranny and oppression experienced
from the British Government, and stating thft Divine
Providence had permitted them to put down that
Grovemment in Lower Canada, it proceeds thus :

" We, in the Name of the People of Lower Canada,

solemnly declare :

" 1. That from this day forward, the people of
Lower Canada are absolved from all allegiance to Great
Britain; and the pohtical connection between that
power and Lower Canada is now dissolved.

" 2. That a Republican form of Government is best
suited to Lower Canada, — ^which is this day declared
to be a Republic.

'^ 3. That under the Free Government of Lower
Canada all persons shall enjoy the same rights; the
Indians shall no longer be under any civil disqualifica-
tion, but shall enjoy the same rights as all other
citizens of Lower Canada.

" 4. That all union between Church and State is
hereby declared to be dissolved, and every person shall
be at Uberty freely to exercise such religion or belief as
shall be dictated to him by his conscience.

^^ 5. That the feudal, or seignorial tenure of land is

whole section of country between the Richelieu and Yamaska rivers
was in insurrection, and west of the Richelieu from Contre Coeur,
Vercherre, and Belceil.

CANADA. 157

hereby abolished as completely as if such tenure had
never existed in Canada.

'^ 6. That each and every person who shall bear arms
or otherwise famish assistance to the people of Canada
in this contest for emancipation^ shall be^ and is^ dis-
charged from all debts due^ or obUgations^ real or sup-
posed, for arrearages in virtue of seignorial rights
heretofore existing.

" 7. That the douaire coiitumiire is, for the future,
abolished and prohibited.

" 8. That imprisonment for debt shall no longer
exist, — excepting in such cases of fraud as shall be
specified in an Act to be passed hereafter by the Legis-
lature of Lower Canada for this purpose.

" 9. That sentence of death shall no longer be
passed or executed, except in case of murder.
. '^ 10. That mortgages on landed estate shall be
special ; and, to be valid, shall be enregistered in offices
to be created for this purpose by an Act of the Legis-
lature of Lower Canada.

^^11. That the hberty and freedom of the press
shall exist in all pubhc matters and affairs.
. *' 12. That trial by jury is guaranteed to the people
of Lower Canada, in its most extended and Uberal
sense, in all criminal suits, and in all civil suits^ above
a sum fixed by the Legislature of the state of
Lower Canada.

'^ 13. That as general and pubhc education is neces-
sary, and due by the Government to the people, an Act
to provide for the same shall be passed as soon as the
circumstances of the country will permit.

158 CANADA.

^'^ 14. That to secure the elective franchise^ all elec-
tions shall be by ballot.

" 15. That, with the least possible delay, the people
shall choose Delegates, according to the present division
of the country into counties, towns, and boroughs,
who shall constitute a Convention or Legislative Body,
to establish a Constitution according to the wants of
the country, and in conformity with the disposition of
this declaration, subject to be modified according to the
will of the people.

" 16. That every male person of twenty-one years
of age, and upwards, shall have the right of voting as
herein provided, and for the election of the aforesaid
Delegates.

^^ 17. That all Crown Lands, also such as are called
Clergy Reserves, and such as are nominally in pos-
session of a certain Company of Landholders in England^
called ^ The British North American Land Company/
are, of right, the property of the State of Lower
Canada, except such portion of the aforesaid lands as
may be in possession of persons who hold the same in
good faith, and to whom titles shall be secured and
granted, by virtue of a law which shall be enacted to
legalise the possession of, and a title for, such untitled
lots of land in the townships as are under cultivation
or improvement.

" 18. That the French and English languages shdl
be used in aU public affairs.

'^ And for the fulfilment of this declaration, and the
support of the patriotic cause in which we are now
engaged, with a firm reliance on the protection of the

CANADA. 159

Almighty, and the justice of our conduct, we, by these
presents, solemnly pledge to each other our lives, our
fortunes, and our most sacred honour.

" By order of the Provisional Government.

" RoBEBT Nelson, President."

The British reader will scarcely beUeve that such a
document ever had existence, or that an EngUshman in
the humble situation of Robert Nelson could have been
80 daring as thus to have braved the pOwer of the
British Queen ; but so it was, and lucidly it did the
utmost injury to the cause it pretended to espouse, for
the French Canadians saw that at one fell swoop all
their cherished usi^es and their reUgion would be
sacrificed to an insane desire of becoming an integral
portion of the Republican States of America.

Burnings, murder, and plunder followed this delect-
able document; and such was the state of things, that
two steam-boats, the Charleroi and the Britannia^ were
chartered on the Richelieu, for the Patriot service, and
a run made upon all the Montreal banks. But Dr. R.
Nelson had one of Wellington's best generals to contend
with, active in the field and energetic in the council-
chamber. Lord Seaton, who immediately took measures
to secure these steamers and to keep open the inter-
rupted mail communications, whilst it was understood
that every town or place in which the rebels made
head, would meet the fate it deserved, by being rased
to the ground.

The sta\e of Montreal and other places, in which
an insidious foe lurked, may be conceived when it is
known that the inhabitants seldom rested tranquilly at

160 CANADA.

nighty and were obliged for a time to keep lights
burning in their windows, to assist the troops in case
of alarms, whilst additional arrests, too numerous to
detail, were continually made.

On the 5th of November a supply of a 6-pounder
and ammunition was embarked by the Patriots on
board a schooner, at Rouse^s Point, on the Champlain,
close to the lines. This supply was for the head-
quarters of the French Canadian rebels, at Napierville,
in Canada, and Dr. Cote with Gagnon were ordered to
drive the British Troops from the famous mills at
La Colle, which occupied the pass by which Napierville
was to be reached. Accordingly a body of about 400
rebels prepared to cross the lines from Alburg and Cald-
well's Manor, and halted, on the night of the 5th, in
the houses close to Lake Champlain and to the Boun-
dary line. On Tuesday morning the 6th Nov. 1838, at
about ten o'clock, the attack commenced on La Colle
Old Mill, and the Volunteers, who were on piquet in
advance, were driven in. The post was defended by
Colonel Odell; and the rebels receiving a check, he
immediately sent for Major Schriver and a reinforce-
ment of Volunteers.

The Volunteers now attacked in their turn, and
captured the 6-pounder, 250 stand of arms, and a
quantity of ammimition, killed 11 of the Patriots, and
took 8 prisoners; the rest escaped across the lines,
where they could not be followed without violating the
neutrality. Two of the Volunteers were killed and
two woimded, and much praise was given to the
Volunteer Mihtia Companies, commanded by Captains
Weldon, March, and Fisher.

CANADA. 161

The attempt to open a communication with Nelson
and his grand army having failed^ Nelson marched^ on
the morning of the 9th^ from Napierville^ against the
British position of Odell Town, with a view of securing
that communication with the United States, which was
of the most vital consequence to himself and his officers,
their safety being utterly compromised. His force
consisted of 800 men, armed with muskets, and 200
with pikes and swords.

The force to defend Odell Town was not more than
200 bayonets, all Militia Volunteers. Fortimately, Lieu-
tenant-colonel Taylor,— one of the Special Service
officers, who had been purposely sent from England,'
to organize the Militia, — arrived on the spot just in
time to assume the command of thid little band.*

Nelson commenced the action at a quarter before
eleven, a.m., with his whole force, by firing upon
Captain Welden's advanced piquet. Lieutenant-
colonel Taylor concentrated his men upon the Metho-
dist chapel of Odell Town, and the enemy surround-
ing him kept up an incessant fire for two hours and
a half upon the post thus well-chosen.

The Volunteers, nothing daunted, sallied out several
times ; and the action ended by the sudden retreat of the
insurgents, who left 50 dead men on the field. Captain
McAllister, of the Volunteers, and 4 men were killed,
and Ensign Odell and 9 privates wounded.

Thus the Canadian Militia again showed that British
spirit is not to be cowed or tamed, even after it has
nearly been exhausted, as it was here, by constant

* Colonel Taylor, a dashing officer, who afterwaida fought and fell
in one of the battles in the Punjab. — Editor.

/

162 CANADA.

watching and harassing duties. The Militia used the
very cannon which they had taken at La Colle firom
the rebels^ with dreadful effect ; for it is said that upon
the advance of Nelson's men^ in columns^ up the road
leading to the chapel^ the first discharge of this gun,
with grape, cleared a lane in the ranks ten feet wide.
They had only two soldiers of the regular army ♦ pre-
sent^ a sei^eant and a private^ who served this gun with
the Volunteers ; and to show the gallantry of the
things it was only fired three times^ from the circum-
stance of its being outside of the chapel^ and the
constant shower of balls poured against it, to rend^ it
useless or to retake it.

Still the main body of the insurgents occupied
Napierville, 4,000 strong, and Sir John Colbome
having marched against it, the whole took to their
heels, followed by the cavalry in pursuit (and many
throwing away their arms in their rapid and suc-
cessful flight on the 10th of November) from dayUght
to about seven o'clock. The troops in the field on
this occasion composed a magnificent division, con-
sisting of twelve field-pieces, with Major-generals Sir
James Macdonell and CUtherow, the King's Dragoon
Guards, 7th Hussars, Volunteer Cavalry, Grenadier
Guards, 15th, 24th, 71st, and 73rd Regiments.

Beauhamois was however still occupied; and on
the 10th of November, Lieutenant-colonel Carmichael,
of the Particular Service, and Major Fhillpotts, of
the Royal Engineers, acting as Assistant Quarter-
master-general, with 22 men of the Royal Sappers

* Sergeant Beatty and Private Devlin of the Royal Regiment,
both severely wounded.

CANADA. 163

and MineFs^ 1 Captain^ 8 subalterns^ 4 sergeants^
2 buglers, and 120 men of the 71st Begiinent,
and 1,000 of the Highlanders from Glengarry, under
Colonels Macdonell and Fraser, all Volunteers, were
landed at Hungry Bay, and soon dispersed the
rebels ; having, however, 1 man killed and 3 wounded
of the 71st, but rescuing several of the loyalist pri-
soners, and recapturing the Henry Brougham steamer
and the Upper Canada mail-bag, which had been
carefully secreted from the insurgents.* After this
defeat, Mr. EUice, and his ten companions in captivity,
who had been taken to Chateauguy, were released
by the sudden flight of their guards, whilst on the
road to Napierville, upon their hearing that that place
had been evacuated. But Mr. Ellice^s splendid set-
tlement, and several farmhouses, were burnt, — and
all along the Chateauguy river, burning and woe
•filled the air for several nights.

Sir John Colbome, by the advice of his Special
Council, and having found that decisive measures
alone would relieve the coimtry, as there were then
between 600 and 700 prisoners at Montreal, quartered
the troops on all the disaffected villages, ordered a
general search for arms, and issued four ordinances,
suspending specie payments by the banks, authorizing
the arrest of rebels and the suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act for a limited period; also the erection
of tribunals, to try, and punish those engaged in the

* The mail contained a large sum in bank-notes, which a lady on
board most resolutely rolled up in her bustle^ and thus the insurgents
missed a rich harvest, even had they found the mail, which the
Captain had hid.

164 CANADA.

rebellion, and the seizure of all arms and munitions
of war, &c.

Up to this time, excepting threats, the grand
simultaneous scheme of conquest had not developed
itself in Upper Canada anew ; but Mackenzie, Theller,
Dodge, Wolfred "Nelson, and those who had returned
under Lord Brougham^s Act from Bermuda, had
attended public sympathetic meetings in the city of
New York, headed by the celebrated Dr. M'Neven.
But the New Yorkers were not prepared for such
an extensive display of Canadian patriotism, and
they met with very little coimtenance, — ^the wealthy,
the inteUigent, and the leading men of the city
affording not the slightest coimtenance to their wild
ravings about Canadian freedom.

The drama was, in fact, nearly acted out, and the
curtain about to drop upon the scene in which so
many '^ Patriots'' had flourished, but not until Upper
Canada was to receive a final lesson, — a lesson which,
to this day, she has not, nor will she ever forget.

I must detail it from the evidence of others ; for
although then in a situation in which I should
necessarily have been an actor, I was, firom the
fatigues and exertions of prior events, unconscious
of all sublunary affairs, having lost the use of the
faculties of mind and body so completely as to
have passed three months unconscious almost of my
own existence. I do not mention this to enhance
my individual exertions, but as an additional proof
of the lamentable consequences of a civil war, and
as one of thousands of instances of effects still
operating amongst the Canadian population similarly

CANADA. 165

severe, or which ended only with the cessation of
being.

The serious farce of the conquest of Canada now
shifted its scenery to Prescott, a flourishing com-
mercial village on the St. Lawrence, just above the
Rapids of the Long Sault, where water communication
again becomes uninterrupted with the Lake Ontario.

Here the department imder my orders had been
engaged in constructing a square tower of con-
siderable size, to replace the ruined Fort Wellington,
and to check all attempt at invasion in that quarter
from the United States. It was nearly finished,
when intelligence was received that a strong body
of American sympathizers from Oswego and the
neighbouring coimtry, bordering on Lake Ontario
and the St. Lawrence, was determined to take it.

They embarked at Oswego, on board of an im-
mense American steamboat, the United States, and
having been joined by two schooners full of men,
at Sackett^s Harbour, proceeded down the St. Law-
rence. I must state that this steamboat, the United
States, was of enormous size, and built to rival the
Great Britain, on whose decks 1,200 men have
been seen, and which was so spacious that a regi-
ment, with its horses, baggage, and field equipage,
was frequently embarked in it when changing
quarters. The United States had, however, never
before been used for warlike movements, and was a
trading vessel between the American and the British
lake and river .ports only.

To accoimt for the breach of confidence displayed
in permitting her to be made use of by the sym-

166 CANADA.

pathizers^ it was stated by the Captain and others^
that they had seized her ; a statement so notoriously
without foundation^ that she never again dared to
appear at Kingston during the disturbances.
. The object of this expedition was to attack Fort
Wellington at Prescott, and then enter Canada.

No sooner, however, was it known that the brigands
were in motion, than Captain Sandom, the British
naval commander on the lakes, ordered a strict look
out to be kept upon their movements, amid the
Thousand Islands of the River St. Lawrence and as
far as Prescott.

Lieutenant Fowel, R.N., in the Experiment, a
little armed steamer, eflFectually checked the intended
attack, and landed at Prescott, then garrisoned by
Militia, under the command of Major Young, one of
the Particular Service ofScers, distributed along the
frontier to discipline and command that excellent force.

The piratical vessels, unprepared for such vigorous
measures as those adopted by Lieutenant Fowel, took
shelter" on the American shore at Ogdensburgh,
exactly opposite to Prescott, which shore was lined
with thousands of people, for several days, eager to
witness the invasion and its results.

The next day the marauders took heart of grace,
and having dropped down the river a mile or two,
landed at a place in Canada called Windmill Point,
whiere there was a lofty stone windmill, built very
solidly, and three strong stone houses. The position
was a good one, on a small projecting point of the
St. Lawrence, entirely out of range from Fort
WelUngton.

CANADA. 167

The road to Lower Canada ran behind the windmill
which is near the edge of the rather steep bank of the
river, on a sUght eminence, up which the road passed.
Thus the windmill commanded both the land and water
approaches, and was covered on the land front by the
strong stone houses on the opposite part of the road,
oae of which was built at right angles to the others on
the side of Prescott, and thus formed a sort of outwork,
well flanked.

The pirates, however, not liking the look of things,
and not beins" joined by any of the Canadians, as they
expected, commenced immeLely to strengthen the^
position by throwing up slight earth-works to cover
their guns and men employed in keeping open their
communications with each other, and threw in a large
quantity of ammunition to their tower of strength.

A circle of observation was also formed by the bri-
gands on the neighbouring fields, which somewhat
overlooked the position ; and Major Young, finding that
they were determined to hold the mill, mustered his
Militia force, with the jsmall detachments from the
Royal Marines and 83rd Regiment, sent from Kingston.
His force consisted of two columns of attack. The
right, under Lieutenant-colonel Gowan of the Queen^s
Borderers Volimteer Militia, was composed of 44 men
of the 83rd, 150 of the Queen's Borderers, and 100 of
Colonel Martlets Regiment of Stormont MiUtia. The
left wing, commanded by Colonel D. Fraser, with a com-
pany of Glengarry Highlanders under Captain George
Macdonnel, Captains Jones and Fraser^s companies 2nd
Grenville, and 100 men of the Stormont Militia, and
30 men of the Royal Marines.

168 CANADA.

The troops advanced at a quarter before seven in the
morning of the 13th November 1838, to drive the enemy
from the extended lines which he had occupied behind
the stone waUs which divided the fields and inclosures
for a considerable distance round the miQ ; and Captain
Sandom, having arrived from Kingston in the Victoria
steamboat at two o'clock in the morning, determined
to combine his operations on the St. Lawrence with
those of Major Young on the land, thus entirely sur-
rounding the wmdmill.

The sympathizers fought desperately^ and retreated
from behind the stone walls very slowly, picking oflF
leisurely numbers of their opponents with their rifles ;
and as no field-guns were in possession of Major Young,
and finding that no impression was made on the mill
from the cannon of the armed steamboats, at three p.m.,
after driving the brigands into the mill, he drew a
strong cordon of Mihtia round it.

Lieutenant Johnson, of the 83rd, leading his little
band of Regulars into the thickest of the fight near the
mill, had just climbed the bank near the road, when he
was picked off by a rifle-ball, being in a blue frock and
his men in red.*

Lieutenant Dalmage, of the 1st Regiment of Gren-
ville Militia, whilst emulating the zeal of the Regulars,
was also killed. Lieutenant Parker of the Royal Marines,
and 16 Marines woimded; as were Lieutenant Parlow
of the 2nd Dimdas Militia, and Ensign Macdonald of
the Loyal Glengarry Highlanders, with 45 non-com-

* In India and elsewhere many casualties have happened from the
officers and men not heing more assimilated, as they were on the
Peninsula, when under fire. — Editor.

CANADA. 169

missibned officers and privates altogether killed and
wounded. The brigands suffered severely, and Generals
Brown and Phillips were killed, and 32 prisoners taken.
The conduct of the Royal Navy and Marines was beyond
all praise.

The brigands being thus hemmed in, and Lieutenant-
colonel the Honourable H. Dundas, commanding the
83rd Regiment, having left Kingston with four com-
panies of that regiment, two 18-pounders and a howitzer,
under Major M^ean, Royal Artillery, took up a position
400 yards from the stone buildings on the 16th of
November, assisted by Captain Randolph of the Royal
Engineers, and a company of the 93rd under Major
Arthur; and Captain Sandom, with two 18-pounderg
in gun -boats, co-operated on the river. The Royal
Artillery soon made an impression on the stone houses,
but the mill resisted all the cannonading. I saw it
afterwards, and it had suffered very little; probably
owing to its circular form, which caused the shot fired
at an high angle from the gun-boats to glance off, as
weU as those fired at a depression from the land above
it.* The cannonading having lasted more than an hour,
the brigands began, however, to find it and a constant
stream of musket balls to be rather unpleasant. They
therefore held out a white flag when they saw the troops
advance against the stone building which flanked the
ix)ad; from which they, however, first poured a very
destructive fusillade in the darkness which was rapidly
coming on.

Eighty -six prisoners were secured, with sixteen

♦ In risiting Windmill Point, the power of resistance which cir-
cular defences possess, was very apparent — Editor. '

VOL. II. I

170 CANADA.

wounded men besides^ and a large supply of arms,
amununition^ twenty-six kegs of gunpowder^ and three
pieces of cannon. Several pirates escaped in the dark-
ness and confusion^ and hid themselves in some low
brushwood on the bank of the river under the mill.
Here^ however^ they were soon hunted out and secmred
by the Militia, and amongst them General Ycm Sdiults,
their leader^ was secured. One soldier of the 8%rd was
killed; and the stone buUdings having been burnt, a
company of Militia garrisoned the windmill^ which was
armed with a carronade and otherwise strengthened
afterwards^ to prevent further use being made (^ it.
Thirty-five were killed, making altogether^ with the
i^ion on the 13th, — 102 killed^ and 162 prisoners,
on both occasions.

The Albany ArgtiSy in commenting upon this acti<m^
says — '^ Of the entire population ready to revolt, as they
were taught to believe, only three joined them. In
some instances, the people whose houses individuals
visited to instigate revolt, seized upon them and con-
»gned them to prison; and the MiUtia fought like
devils. Excepting a Pole, by the name of Yon Schultz,
their generals, colonels, &c., to a man, abandoned them
before crossing, and now shrink from the taunts of an
indignant people.^'

This was strictly true; for the Generalissimo was
taken sick, and the poor dupes were deserted by their
vapouring instigators; whilst the Militia were with
great difficulty restrained by Lieutenant-colonel DundaA
&om inflicting summary punishment on all the invaders.

The most unfortunate circumstances in the affairs at
Prescott, were the deaths of lieutenant Johnson and

CANADA. 171

Captain Diummond. Lieutenant Johnson was buried
at Kingston^ side by side with the brave prirate soldier
who fell with him^ amidst the tears and execrations of
thousands of the inhabitants. The most shamefdl and
depraved barbarities had been committed upon his body
by the misereants of the mill, whilst it lay under their
power. We shall see afterwards that this mode of
treating the slain British officers was universally adopted
by the ruffianly crews of invaders. Captain Drummond,
of the Glengarry Highlanders, was shot by mistake in
one of the stone buddings.

The conduct of the Militia on this occasion was, as
ustud, excellent. At one time, it was said that five
thousand Volunteers from all parts flew to Prescott.
Lieutenant Fowel, R.N. ; Mr. ElUott, mate, B.N. ; and
Lieutenant Parker, B.M. ; were mentioned in the dis-
patches to the Admiralty.

The only simultaneous occurrence in Lower Canada
w(Mrthy of remark wad arising at the Boucherville Moun-
tain by the peasantry, commanded by Malhoit, which
was soon put down by the Dragoon Guards and
66th, under Colonel the Honourable G. Cathcart *
and Major Johnstone, when the latter captured one
6-pounder, two 3-pounders, 43 muskets, 50 pikes, 11
casks of powder and ball-cartridge, and 70 rounds of
gun ammunition.

Sir George Arthur published another proclamation
of a most spirited nature, and military tribunals were
instituted to try the rebels ia the two provinces.

Colonel Worth, the American Commander on the
frontier, seized The United States steamboat and the

* A fimt-olatt caTaliy-offieer. — Bditok.

I 2^

172 CANADA.

schooners^ and did his utmost to prevent reinforcementi
being sent over to the Windmill ; whilst Bill Johnson
and his son were arrested^ and their boats captured*
The President also issued a proclamation to enforce
neutrality, in which these remarkable words were used :
iifter stating that " disturbances had broken out anew
in the two Canadas/' which was exactly the reverse of
the real state of things, for not a movement within had
been made of any consequence, he proceeds to exhort
the sympathizing citizens of the United States to desist
from hostile invasion of Canada ; and it is then observed
that their projects are " fatal to those whom they profess
a desire to relieve, impracticable of execution without
foreign aid, which they cannot rationally expect to
obtain,^' &c.

Sir John Colbome also issued proclamations insti*
tuting tribunals for the trial of the rebels in Lower
Canada, and for extending martial-law to the disturbed
district of St. Francis, and above all he commanded a
solemn fast to be observed on the 7th December, 1838.

The Patriot flag, which was taken at the Windmill,
had an Eagle and a Star, vnth the words *' Onondago
Hunters,'' " Canada Liberated/'

The farce at Prescott terminated in the serious drama
of the trial of the prisoners, by a militia general
court-martial, at Kingston. A fortnight afterwards
another similar exploit was enacted in the western
district at Windsor, near Amherstburgh, opposite
Detroit, where the '' Patriots," having '' stolen " the
American steam-boat Champlaiuy crossed the river on
the 4th of December, a few miles above that city, and
marched down the Canadian shore upon the little

CANADA. 173

village, where they most gallantly burnt the British
steam-boat, ThameSy lying at the wharf, and a building
occupied with stores, &c., murdered an unhappy negro
who refused to join them, and, after a skirmish with
the Militia, prepared to march on towards Sandwich',
another village on the road to Amherstburgh. They
took prisoners the small detachment of Militia at
Windsor, which, however, soon effected its escape after
shooting the leader of the banditti.

Another awfiil intimation of what the Upper Cana-
dians had to expect, if the sympathizing Patriots could
have succeeded in revolutionising Canada took place on
this occasion.

Staff Assistant-surgeon Hume, of the British Army,
having met these marauders on their march, although
xmarmed and in the act of offering sui^ical aid, which
he conceived might be required after the firing, was
brutsJIy and inhumanly murdered, and his dead body
mutilated, broken, and shamefully and disgustingly
disfigured.

Upon intelligence of their being in possession of
Windsor, Colonel Prince and his brave Militia, at Sand-
wich, advanced against them, and a most gallant,
spirited, and successful attack being made upon the
miscreants, they fled into the shelter and cover of the
thick forest, leaving twenty-five killed on the field of
action, and twenty-six prisoners ; one private (a French
Canadian) of Captain EUiott's company, was killed, and
two more wounded.

The Militia engaged upon this occasion werte, Nos;
1 and 2 companies. Volunteers under Captain Sparke,
with the Essex Militia, under Captains LessUe, Elliott,

174 CANADA.

and Thebo^ and seyeral gentlemen from Sandwich^ with
Captain Bdl, of the Provincial Volunteora. After tbe
action^ Colonel Prince was informed that a fitrong body
of brigands was at Sandwich^ upon which he marched
back to thfU; place^ where he was joined by Captain
Broderick of the 84th and a field-pieocj when the whole
force again was put in motion^ by other inteUigenoey
upon Windsor^ but after a long mardi the enemy was
not to be found.

Amongst the prisoners was Mr. Joshua 6. Doan, of
the London District^ a most notorious and active per*
son^ for whose apprehension a reward had been offered,
and the others were chiefly Americans. l%eir number
was about 450, armed with muskets, rifles, pistols,
.bayonets, and bowie-knives.

The person who bore their flag was shot by Monsieur
Pierre Mamatelle, a French' Canadian Ensign in Cs^-
tain Thebo's company, chiefly composed of French
Canadians, and the flag itself was taken by Lieutenant
Bankin, of Captain Sparke's company. It was a tri-
colour, with a crescent and two stars.

Colonel Prince, jn his dispatch, mentions the foUow-
ing gentlemen as paving distinguished themselves:
Charles Baby, Esq. (a French Canadian), Josqph Wood,
C. Askin, and W. R. Wood, Esqs., Mr. Grant, Editor
of the Sandwich Herald, and Messrs. Gatefield, Laugh-
ton, and Paxfield of Sandwich.

Putnam, the leader of the sympathisa^, was killed,
and papers and documents, disclosing their plans, and
the co-operation of several respectable citizens of
Detroit were taken, and altogether the Militia had
reason to be proud of the battle of Windsor*

CANADA. 1 76

I must not^ however^ in my duty as a military liis-
toriaB; pass over a circumstance that occurred^ about
whick the press of the United States rang with censure.

Colonel Prince^ an Englidmian of property, who
had settled in the Western district, was a Member oi
the Provincial Parliament and a Barrist^-at-law. He,
for eleven months, had been kept in a constant state of
activity and alarm, had been threatened with assassina-
tion, and that his house and property should be de-
stroyed. To such an ext^it had his anxieties been
carried by his loyal exertions, that, it is said, and I
believe truly, that one of his family, one the most dear
to him, had been almost if not actually deprived of
reason by continual alarms for his safety and that of
the family generally. He commences his official dis-
patch, by saying, in language that every feeling mind
must appreciate. '^ Sir, I have the h<»iour to inform
you, that yesterday at six a.m., an alarm was brought
here that Windsor (or the ferry), a small village about
two miles above this, was in possession of brigands and
pirates from Michigan. Being extremely ill and worn
out by constant &tigue, both by day and night, I had,
for the first time, retired to my house, half a mile distant
from this place (Sandwich) at two o'clock a.m., &c.''

The action was at its height, Colonel Prince knew
neither the plans nor the number of the pirates, he
received intelligence that they had taken up a position
which threatened his only cannon, his provisions, and
his ammunition, in his rear at Sandwich, which he had
left unprotected.

Dr. Hume and the negro had been most barbarously
murdered in cold blood, the Thames steamer and A

176 CANADA.

house had been maliciously bumt^ & brave Fr^ch
Canadian had been killed and two Militiamen wounded>
and he was surrounded with a fierce band of despera-
does^ whilst the people on the American shore^ at
Detroit, rent the air with cheers^ to support the pirates,
and threatened every moment to join them in overwhehn-
ing numbers. When his mind was thus occupied, when
the result of the action was uncertain, he ordered four
of the villains, with arms in their hands, to be shot,
probably finding it impossible to restrain the summary
vengeance of the MiUtia.

For this act, done by an officer of Volunteers who
had never been subjected to military discipline, he was
borne down by the whole force of the American press.
I do not pretend to say that an officer used to scenes
of combat would have so done, but I am persuaded,
that like the gallant attack on the Caroline^ it had an
excellent efiect, and I am at a loss to know, why a
people in amity with another country closely bordering
upon them, should permit their citizens of the lowest
classes to send fire and sword, under the very eyes of
the Grovemment into an unoffending, unretaliating, and
peaceable community.

If the subjects or citizens of any Power were attacked
by bucaneers or pirates, would their Governments
weigh how, when and where those bucaneers or
pirates were shot, himg, or disposed of ? Assuredly not.
Colonel Prince was exonerated by the voice of the
Upper Canadian people, legally and universally, and an
honourable Court of British Officers acquitted him qf
aU blame.

Tq show the reader in England the. abominable

CANADA. ' J77

system to which sympathy was so suddenly . raised> I
have only to state that the steam-boat Thame^y which
was burnt, was a mere trader, and then the only
British boat on Lake Erie, and that a short time before
the rebellion occurred, when she plied as the first
British steamer on Lake Erie, when the Americans had
hdf a hundred, I was on board of her, and visited the
City of Buffalo in her, to show the Americans that
Canada was following their example in extending com-
merce on the great inland seas of the West.

We wete received with the wharves lined with
peopile, who shouted ^^ Long live George the Third/^
I suppose they meant the good sailor king. We
were taken to the Eagle Tavern, treated and toasted.
Alas, alas ! no sooner did Mackenzie open his serpent
tongue upon these same Buffalonians, than thfe same
steam-boat, the poor Thames^ became a victim to the
Moloch of atnbition.

A court-martial was ordered to assemble at London
for the trial of the brigands taken at Windsor ; and
Sir George Arthur addressed the British minister at
Washington, and issued a proclamation declaratory of
his having so done, on the ground that the President's
proclamation before alluded to, contained an expression
injurious to the loyal Canadians, by its having stated
that ^* Disturbances had broken out anew in the two
Canadas,'* whereas the contrary was really the fact',
and the citizens of the United States had invaded the
country, and caused disturbance from without.

The two French Canadian judges, Bedard and Panet,
having taken an active part respecting the obstacles
thrown. in the way of trying tjie Lower Canada rebels

I 3

178 CANADA.

and brigands, by the dedaiation that the soq^ensioii of
the Habeas CcMrpus Act was illegal, weie themsdves
suj^nded from ofBce.

Mercy had, in fact, been too long practised, and it
was now necessary to make more examples of the
leaders of the invasions and commotions. General von
Schultz, Colonel Martin Woodruff, a native of Salina, in
the State of New York, Colonels Abbey and Gre<»^e,
also American citizens, as were Sylvanus Swete, and
Joel Peeler, were hung at Kingston for the Prescott
outrage, with some others; viz., Christopher Buckley,
Sylvanus Lawton, Russdl Phelps, and Duncan An-
derson, diortly afterwards ; Joseph Cardinal and Joseph
Duquette, Theophile Deol^e, Ambrose Sanguinet,
Charles Sanguinet, Fran9ois Xavier Hamelin, and
Joseph Robert; the last four for the murd^ of Mr.
Walker, French Canadians, wete hung at Montreal for
their conduct during Nelson's invasion; Hiram B.
Linn, Daniel D. Bedford, and Abel Clark, ooneemed in
the Windsor outrage, suffered the extreme penalty of
the law early in the next year at London, in Upper
Canada. In 1839 General T. J. Sutherknd, T. R.
Culver, B, F. Pow, A. W, Partridge, H. L. HuU,
Thayer, Nathan Smith, Chauncey Parker, Colonel
Dodge, and Doctor Theller, were confined in the citadel
oi Quebec, from which however the latter two escaped,

■

as before stated, on the 15th of October, 1838 ; and a
large body of rebds and sympathizers were consigned
to the penal settlements of New Holland.

To show how unprovided with common s^ose the
sympathizers were, and how they must have had their
minds wwked upon by the Mackenzie leaders, I have

tANADA. 179

iDnly to femark; tliat after tbe battle of Windsor^ the
country being up in wm., the Bympathiters oould
actually find no kind frioids to tnmspiwt them acHMs
the narrow strait within hail of the American drare,
and nineteen unhappy wi«tchee were found in the
^lo(niiy Canadian forest frozen to deaths and without
food^ round the remains of a fire they had kindled ; and
yet this in the only part of the country inhabited by
French Canadians.

Several Fr«[ich officers had been seduced by tbe
American sympathizers to take commands in Los^i^
Canada, as well as some Foles^ who said they had
^ser^ed under Napoleon; and one of these deluded
people published a long detail of the manner and
matter of his appointment to a Brigadier-general-
ship^ in which he showed the leaders in their true
colours^ uid also exposed the system of the sympathi-
zers, the robbery of- churches and houses^ and the
abstraction of large sums from the French Canadians
for the patriot service, which were never afterwards
accounted for.

Yon SchultZy who i^pears to have been a very bsave
but reckless adventurer^ instigated these French «Dd
Polish officers to join the Lower Canadians; and finding
that the game was up when the magnificent little army^
under Sir John Colbome, tock the txHd against Dr.
Nelson, he hastened to Uj^er Canada, where he com-
manded at Frescott^ as we have seen, and ended his days
bravely, without doubt, on the gallows at Kingston.
Hn servant, a Pole also, was desperately wounded, and
lingered in the Kingston Hospital for a length of time^
showixig even more finnness than his unhappy, master.

1 So , CANADA.

' The French officer who made the disclosures alluded
tO; had been a subaltern in the 15th Regiment of Light
Infantry; his name was Charles Hinderling^ and he
stated that Mr. Duvemay had been the cause of his
taking a commission in the patriot service with anotho*
French officer^ who had been in the Anglo-Spanish
Legion^ Mons. Touvrey. Hinderling suffered on the
gallows^ after a lengthened consideration of his case^ as
an example to foreign officers not to enhst in the
hopeless cause of driving British power from her Trans-
atlantic dominions. But in justice to Frenchmen^ we
must say^ that those officers who did join the patriots
were all mere homeless adTenturers, and really uncon^
nected with the French army.

John George Parker, Brown, Walker, and Wilson,
all deeply engaged in the outbreak in Upper Canada,
had been sent to New South Wales, but arrested in
London by a mandamus, and their case re-argued as to
the legality of their transportation from Canada to a
penal settlement ; in which, however, notwithstanding
all the exertions of their British friends, they were
unsuccessful. Farker^s case rested mainly on letters
found in the mail-bag at Kingston, addressed to Mr.
John Vincent, the printer of a Radical Newspaper, and
Mr. Augustus Thibodo, of the same place, in which
he recommended an organization of the midland dis-
trict, and the prospect of success in consequence of the
soldiers being withdrawn.

Early in the ensuing year, and at the same timfe
with ..the French officer. General Hinderling, who
commanded in the attack on OdelltQwn, C. D. Lorimier,
F4. B. . Narbonne^ Amable Dunais, and F. Nicolas,

.CANADA. 181

charged with participating in the murder of Mr.
Walker, were hung.

More than half of the Prescott prisoners being youths
under age, were pardoned by Sir George Arthur, and
the rest sent to New South Wales from the state
prison in Fort Henry.

It is true, but a most melancholy truth, that of the
great body of sympathizing youths- from the United
States, nearly an hundred and fifty, who had at various
times been taken prisoners, three-fourths had been
brought up without any fixed religious notions, and
they all really imagined that they were serving their
coimtry, as well as themselves, in attempting the con-
quest of Canada. They were, in fact, chiefly those
restless frequenters of tavern bars, who begin smoking
cigars and drinking spirits before nature has developed
their perceptions of right and wrong.

182 CANADA.

CHAPTER V.

C«nditidn of both Provinoes in the year 1689, and until the Union.

Load Dubham's panacea for the absolute restora-
tion of Lower Canada to a healthy state, was the
Quintuple Union of the North American British Colo-
nies, which will, some day or other, take place, but
about which, at present, argument would be thrown
away, as these provinces are not yet in a condition for
it. What would French Canadians say to being
swamped by British legislators from Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick, — ^by the crude philosophers from the
mercantile fishing community of Newfoundland, or by
the Uttle agricultural state of Prince Edward^s Island ?
What a diversity of present interests would meet in
council in the Chateau of St. Louis, which must then,
for the convenience of all, be the place of meeting !
British interests, of course, would predominate; but
they would be so divided according to the wants and
wishes of the different States of this Quintuple Al-
Uance, that it would be wiser to avoid the collision for
at least another half century,*

* The Halifax and Quebec railroad woiild unite the interests of the
British American Proyinces and rapidlj advance them, by means of

CANADA. 183

Any person wlio has calmly viewed Colonial politioB
at tik&T fountain head^ must know that every Cis* At-
lantic province of Great Britain has its own peculiar
policy^ and that in general the oldest settlers bear
away the bell from the new^^ who struggle violently
for their rights* In Lower Canada^ for instance^ doca
the French Canadian ev^ dream of submitting paa^
sively to dictation frokn the English^ whom^ he fears,
would thrust him out of house and home by the cut-
tivaticm c^ the Eastern Townships 7 In Upper Canada,
does the till^ of land yield mibmissively to the bureau-
crats and the old family dominion^ as they style all
possessing office or long standing in the community f
In Newfoundland, just emerging from a stater of nature,
does not the fisherman begin to perceive that where
his forefathers existed only by the mere Nafferance of
a race of rich fishing merchants, and could not call an
inch of the soil his own, that a change has come over
the spirit of his dull dream, and that the Mercanto-
cracy is yielding to that pressure trom without, which
wills that all British Colonies shall have the same just
measure heaped up ; whilst the very inerchants them-
selves are no longer confined in their trade to a supply
firom the Cod Banks, but are extending commerce in
every direction, and beginning to fix their abodes on
the island, which is now, for the first time, coming into
notice, and, in spite of 350 years of continued mis-
representation, has been declared by its Oovem(»-

well-organized emigration, Sec The St Lawrence and Atlantie
railroad, under the direction of the very ahle chief engineer, Mr.
Gcowski, is rapidly " progressing " from Montreal towards Portland.
— £ditor.

181 CANADA.

capable of holding up its head as an agricultural
country; and that the fishermen, to be happy, must
be induced to cultivate it largely, by having free grants
of land ?

So it is everywhere else,— ^Nova Scotia, New Bhms-
wickj, Prince Edward^s Island, the West Indies, — all,
all, have their internal divisions, and all begin to feel
their importance j whilst Colonial Toryism and Colo-
nial Radicalism are both equally impotent to sway the
general destinies of the empire. In fact, colonial
politics hinge upon so many littlenesses, as well as upon
so much external greatness, that, excepting the Mother
Country is likely to be engaged in foreign wars, by
their internal commotions, no man at home gives him-
self much concern about the ever-varying shades of
colonial politics, beyond the Ministers whose duty it is
to watch their bearings, or the merchant whose
resources are aflfected by them. For instance, who, in
the name of fortime, would care twopence, beyond five
or six mercantile houses in England or Scotland, whether
the shade of politics in Newfoundland was foggy or
bright, whilst there the utmost and the most absurd
importance is attached to clique and party ?

In like manner in Canada, the Family Compact and
the Bureaucracy in Upper and Lower Canada, have
been all-absorbing themes, whilst the local Government
gets continually embarrassed by the pretensions of all
Borts of adventurers, who think that their personal
gratification is the price at which England is to hold
her greatest Colony ; whilst the important fact is over-
looked that the British pubhc neither feel nor care for
these agitators.

CANADA. 186

A broad question at length starts up. How is Lower '
Canada to be managed ? " By a Governor, with arbi-
trary powers/' says your red-hot Tory. ^^ By a union
with the British population of Upper Canada," exr
claims the more moderate Conservative. " By yielding
everything to the people of French origin, and swamping
the British settlers," roars the Radical. Difficult,
indeed, is the choice out of this Pandora's box; and
when the Ud is forced, there is nothing but Hope left
to work upon.

The most violent pohticians in Colonies, those who
arrogate and demand the greatest surrenders from the
Governors of the troubled provinces, are invariably,
whether Tory or Radical, those who resort to every
scheme to force submission to their ultra views, and are
always place or popularity-hunters, who harass and
annoy through that powerful engine, a cheap press.
In many of the Colonies, such is the vigour with which
this engine is phed against the Governors, that it soon
puts out the moderate fire enkindled in the bosoms of
well-intentioned men, who care not to place themselves
in the arena, where it plays afterwards. Thus, a good
sound medium party is rarely formed. The press that
would support such a party would not pay, because
that press is chiefly fed by advertisements, and nobody,
in a young country, cares to advertise in a paper which
is not eagerly read.

Look at Canada ; see the sacrifice of health, of life,
which involves the post of administrator of that
Government. It is no bed of down, — no bed of roses,
the Vice-regaUty of that country ; and so even of that
most unknown land, Terra Nova. No man ever goes

186 CANADA.

to those GoTemmenta that comes away without many
dear-bought days of existence subtracted from his term.
And why ? Why, if he has « firm, independent, de-
termined, and unshrinking mind, he meets with ecm-
stant annoyances and embarrassments. He can please
no party, because all want to rule ; and e^ery aspirant
for place has his coterie cS minor and subsenrient fol-
lowers at work. Let him be ever so good, so right-
minded, and so determined to act ''according to the
best of his conscience and the custom of war in like
eases,'' he must finally fidl into the arms of some one
party, — usually of the few who have contrived to keep
the role in their own hands ; or else he must meet the
fate of a late 6oTem(Mr-general of Canada, who, by
trying to carry out that most honourable of all prin-
ciples, — justice to a race hitherto kept in the back
ground, has be^i forced into partnerships with a party
diametrically opposed to the opinions he has been
brought up in. But, as Milton so beautifidly says, he

'* Would ill become tMs throne,
And this imperial sovranty, adorn' d
With splendour, arm*d with pow'r, if aught proposed,
And judged of public moment, in the shape
Of difficulty/ or danger, could deter
Him &om attempting."

Whether his policy was right or not is another
question.

The year 1839 was not remarkable respecting exter-
nal .events or internal trouble, like those which imme-
diately preceded it in Canada; but to the active
Govemor-g^ieral, Sir John Colbome,* and the vigi-

^ Who was sworn in as Oovemor-general at Montreal, on the 17th
of Januaxy, 1639.

CANADA. 187

laace of Sir Oeorge Arthur, with the firm attitude <tf
the Militia and the presence of the trcx)ps; inay be
attributed alone the check given to the sympathiEers,
who were banded more strongly and seriously, with
the additional help of the disputed north-eastern
boundary question, now reviyed at so embarrassing a
time with more fory than ever, and which was con-
ducive of a spirit which extended over the frame of
society m the United States m(»^ difficult for its rulers
to manage than all the other border troubles put
together.

The firmness and the tact with which Sir John
Harvey met the aggressions of the State of Maine are
matters of history, and so far connected with Canada,
that by his wise conduct tiie communications with that
country were not only kept open by land, but troops
were again spared from Nova Scotia, as the patriotism
ot the Militia of New Brunswick and that province
defied fcnreign invasion.

In 1839 the whole frontier of Canada, £rom Maine
to Michigan, was placed in a state of security by the
re-establishment of all the important posts, and the
erection of barracks in such places as wore necessary
to check the disaffected, or to afford assistance to '
the frontier; and the Mihtia were newly organized by
substituting permanent corps for a certain number of
years' service for those which had only been established
for intervals of a few months, or for the emergencies
of the moment.

The British reader will be surprised to find that in
this year the Militia Army-list for Upper Canada alone
contained ei^ty-three closely printed pages for the

188 CANADA.

officers^ names only of one htuidred and six complete
regiments^ with the tuH complement of officers and
staff. The Incorporated Militia^ formed^ clothed^ and
officered as the line is^ consisted of four battaUons.
The Provisional Militia^ also called out for a stated
time^ consisted of twelve battalions ; and there were also
thirty-one corps of Artillery, Cavalry, Coloured Com^
panics, Riflemen, &c., whilst most of the Militia corps
had each a troop of cavalry attached to them. Thus^
without at all distressing the country, 40,000 young
men in arms; many of them well drilled under officers
from the Regular Army, could at any time take tne
field in Upper Canada.

The Regular Army consisted of two troops of the
King^s Dragoon Guards, stationed at Niagara; three
companies of the Royal Artillery, and two demi-field^
batteries; twelve officers of the Royal Engineers, and
one full company (100 men) of the Royal Sappers and
Miners (at Niagara); the 24th . Regiment at the Falls
pf Niagara ; the 32nd at London ; the 34th at Am-
herstburgh; the 43rd at Drummondville, near the
Falls of Niagara ; the 65th at Kingston ; the 83rd at
Kingston ; the 85th at Sandwich ; the 93rd at ^ To-
ronto. In Lower Canada, four companies of Royal
Artillery; one of Royal Sappers and Miners; a pro-
portion of officers of the Royal Engineers; the 7th
Hussars ; the 2nd battalion of the Grenadier Guards,
and the 2nd battalion of the Coldstream Guards (a
brigade of the Household Troops 1,450 strong, comi-
manded by Major-general Sir James Macdonell) ; the
2nd battalion of the 1st, or Royal Regiment; the 11th,
15th, 23rd^ 66th, 71st, and 73rd Regiments ; and an

CANADA. 1 89

fininense force of Volunteers, the Lower Canadian
Sedentary Militia generally, of course, not having been
Called out.

On the lakes Ontario and Erie a naval force was
also established, under the orders of Captain Sandom,
R.N., by arming steam-boats, hired or bought for the
Government; and seamen and marines were sent out
from England to Kingston. Thus, in 1839, Sir John
Colbome found himself at the head of a force fully
adequate to all emergencies, and entirely paralyzed the
eflForts of the sympathisers; and thus the country
remained quiet, excepting occasional burnings on the
frontier of Vermont, as that in the beginning of the
year performed by Grogan, an American, who burnt
the farm-buildings, &c., of the Loyalists residing on
the Rouville-road, named Gibson, Johnson, Clark, and
Mannie; but having been fired at by a patrol, the
sympathizers escaped into the United States.

Mackenzie, who had been for some time in New
York editing a paper calculated to keep alive the dis-»
turbances, finding very little support in that commer-
cial city, betook himself and paper to Bochester on Lake
Ontario early in 1889, and was at length imprisoned,
both for his libels on the people of the United States,
and for his assault upon the coimtry of a friendly powe^.

The Legislatures of Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick, each voted the sum of iBl,000 for the support
of the widows and children of those who had fallen in
the late disturbances in Canada. The Maine boundary
question agitated the public mind in the spring of
1839 ; but as this work professes to treat only of the
internal affairs of Canada, and it would swell these

190 CANADA.

voliunes to a great extent to enter upon that question^ I
shall pass it over; which will be of the less consequence,
as it has since been entirely settled, and then the only
territorial difficulty was that of the right of Ihiglaad to
the country between Califonpa and Russian America on
the sdioreB of the Pacific ; in which dispute, if the Ame-
ricans act wisely, they will see that by colonizing the
shores of the Pacific and by opening a road through the
prairies of the west and the Kocky Mountains to their
projected seaports, they will at the same time pres^it a
key to Russia to unlock the gate which Nature has set
Up in the Indian country between the Asiatic hordes and
the American Anglo*Saxon race, which may hereafter
pave the way f<Mr a second urruption of Tartars to con-
quer and people the New World.

How much better and more politic it would be to let
England alone in her fiir-hunting Establishments on
the Pacific ; even should she colonize that shore, for
hfflr colonists would interpose an impassable barrier to
Buflsiait advancement, which the resources of the
United States for another hundred years must be inca-
pable of withstanding, and it requires no great clear
sightedness to perceive, that as England has made a
permanent settlement on the opposite shores of China,
the Httle belt of littoral leflt between Califorma and the
Russian settlements in America on the Pacific, is
becoming hourly of infinite importance; and that a
second Nootka Sound afiair may not be so far off aa
may be at present imagined. Already (in 1847), the
Amearican papers say, that Mexico must yield California
to pay her debt to the United States, and the Presi-
dent's message has just very clearly informed us that

:pm m ■ ii f iwi^***

CANADA. 191

the Nation have not lost sight of their daim to the
Columbia. I should not be at all surprised to find at
leasts a portion^ of California occupied by the keen
foresight of American pohcy ; but I should hope that
Great Britain will never permit the Pacific Ocean to
be closed along the whole American shore to her com-
merce and colonization. The furs of the Hudson's
Bay territory should at least be shipped from British
ports on the Pacific for the Chinese Mart, and the
noble forests of the most gigantic pine timber in the
whole world, remain as they actually are, British
propCTty.* .

The period of Canadian history was now arrived,
whsa l4>rd Durham having left his throne, and having
been succeeded by the renowned warrior Sir John
Colbome, and that warrior having brought his mili-
tary arrangements to a close, was to be succeeded in
his civil administration by a gentleman whose chief
talent had been displayed ia the great commercial
world ; amidst those royal merchants of England,
who are verily kings and princes of the earth, and
t)efore whom all min(»? principaUties, thrones, domi-
nions, powersjt and virtues of commerce sink into
insignificance.

Lord Durham had dosed his splendid but unsatis-
factory reign by declaring that he entertained, '^no
doubt as to the Naticmal character which must be
^ven to Lower Canada ; it must be that of the British

* The American eolimization about the Great Bay of St Fnncisco,
eonsequent on the proceedings at the " gold diggings," and the reten-
tion of territory by Britain, on the West eoast, have nalized thm
above ideas. — £ditor.

192 CANADA.

Empire; that of the majority of the population of
British America; that of the great race which must
in the lapse of no long period of time^ be predominant
over the whole North American continent, without
effecting the change so rapidly or so roughly, as to>
shock the feelings and trample on the welfare of the
existing generation, it must henceforth be the first and
steady purpose of the British Government to estabhsh
an Enghsh population, with EngUsh laws and language,
in this province, and to trust its Government to none
but a decidedly English Legislature/'

Able and soimd reasoning follows this declaration,
and Lord Durham shows that the French Canadian of
gentle blood, and the French Canadian peasart would
benefit by this change ; inasmuch, as the former is at
present excluded by the tenacity with which he holds
to a foreign language, from participating finely in the
offices of state, and in the higher walks of the learned
professions in a British colony, whilst the peasantry's
rude and equal plenty is fast deteriorating under the
pressing of population within the narrow limits of
cultivation to which their absurd adherence to bar-
barous and obsolete feudal laws and customs has con-
fined them.*

This reasoning is founded on the rock of truth;
it is downright madness to imagine for a moment,
that an isolated remnant of the great French nation,
unconnected now, even by family ties, with that

* Twenty years ago there was a great export of grain from the
Chambly Valley, but from the bad and exhausting system of agpri-
culture pursued there, food is now required to be imported from
Canada West — Editor.

i

CANADA. 193

empire^ can remain . continually within the pale of
an exclusive system; that they^ in shorty can expect
long to continue under those feudal laws and customs
which have for ever expired in yoimg France ; whilst,
at the same time, they are hemmed in, in their
former happy valley, by two equally enterprising
races of Saxon origin, one branch of which has for
ever quashed the remnant of French power and of
feudal folly in the southern section of the American
continent.

It was argued in a journal, confessedly the
best informed amongst those published at Quebec,
that Papineau and his followers never dreamed of a
Nation Canadienne. What, then, did he dream of?
Nelson's proclamation says, that Lower Canada was
to be a Republic, and abolished feudal laws and the
predominance of the Catholic religion with a stroke
of the pen; but Papineau had previously called the
young blood to arms, for the purpose of constituting
a Canadian nation.

Supposing that the rebelUon had been successful,
would the French Canadian peasantry have seen
their reUgion trampled upon, and all their old asso-
ciations trodden in the dust. Never ! . Nelson opened
their eyes, and, henceforward, they never sought
separation from England ; and why ? because they
found that the power of France was wholly un-
available ; and that even if they achieved a temporary
triumph, it must have been at the expense of joining
their star to those of the twenty-seven States, which
their British neighbours in Upper Canada would
not havebome very quietly.

VOL. 11. K

194 CANADA.

I have said before^ and I say it again^ that proper
treatment and calm reflection wiU assuredly maintain
the peace and the loyalty of the French Canadian,
who is, although somewhat antiquated as to knowledge
of the world, in the main, an excellent fellow, froni
whose aid^ excepting only a very few borderers, who
have caught their infection from too close pmximity,
'the United States would never, in case of a war,
derive much benefit.

Lord Durham, in his celebrated Report, suggested
the following great and radical alterations in the
mode of governing Canada :

1. The union of the two Provinces, with power to add the other
coloniefl.

2. Every puhlic officer, excepting the Goremor and his Secretary,
heing made responsihle to the people ; hut the Goyerner to have no
hopes of assistance from home in case of disagreement

3. An enlarged and sound system of colonization.

4. A new division of elecU^al districts.

5. Elective hodies in each district subordinate to the legislature, to
exercise complete control over such local affairs as do not come
within the province of general legislation.

6. A general executive, and a supreme court of appeal for all the
North American colonies.

7. The other establishments and laws of the two Canadas to he left
for conaderation of the united legislature.

8. Security for the existing endowments of the Roman Catholic
church in Lower Canada.

9. A revition by ParUament at home of the constitution of the
legislative council, so as to prevent the repetition of collisions with,
and to ensure a useful check upon, the popular branch of the
legislature.

10. An imperial officer to superintend the management of the
public lands upon a new plan.

11. The concession of all the revenues of the Crown, excepting
those derived from the lands, to be at once given up to the united
legislature on the concession of an adequate civil list

12. The independence of the judges.

CANADA. 195

13. All money votes to originate with the CrO'WB.
■ 14. The repeal of past provisions respecting the clergy reserves,
and the application of funds arising from them.

The^e were the legacies His Lordship, who acknow-
ledged the loyalty of the mass of the Colonists, left
to bis successors ; and it will be seen, that they have
been working at them ever since to a very great
extent, and that, in fact, successive Gk>vemors-g^neral
have, until the present moment, grappled with the
difficulties which they presented.

The suggestion of the union of Upper and Lower
Canada was warmly debated in the Upper Canada
Parhament, in the spring of 1839, and at length,
after much opposition, was recommended by that
body.

The Attorney-general, Hagerman, opposed uniting
the two Canadas, and suggested a general union of
all the North American provinces into a separate
kingdom, under a viceroy, upon the same principles
as that of Ireland.

The Solicitor-general, Draper, upheld the union,
upon condition, —

1. That the seat of Government should he in Upper Canada.

2. That all Lower Canada, east of the Madawaska River, and south
of the St Lawrence, consisting of the counties of Gasp6, Bonaventure
and Bimouski, should he attached to New Brunswick.

3. A proper qualification for memhers to he fixed by the aet of
union.

4. The act not to make void any of the appointments of the present

legislative council.

5. That the number of members from Upper Canada should be
sixty-two; from Lower Canada fifty; and that the elective fran-
chise should be^ confined to those holding land in free and common
soccage.

k2

196 CANADA.

6. A new diyision of Lower Canada into counties.

7. The use of the English language only in all public proceedings.

8. Courts of Appeal and Impeachment to be within the United
Province.

9. Surplus of post-office revenue, together with casual and terri-
torial, and every other branch of revenue, to be under control of
the Legislature.

10. Courts and laws to remain in their present places and modes
until otherwise provided 'for,

11. Debt of both Provinces to be chargeable to United Province.

12. Legislature to have power to originate and reduce customs and
excise duties, subject to certain restrictions, similar to those of 42nd
sect 31st George IIL chap. 81.

13. That the principles of the Constitution, with these exceptions,
remain the same as contained in 31st George III. chap. 31, inviolate.

14. That two Commissioners proceed to England.

Which resolutions were carried.

The Parliament in which these resolutions were
mooted^ sitting until the 11th of May, was prorogued,
after passing an act to re-invest the clergy reserves
in the Crown, which gave the Home Government
the power of settling a question, the most vexed
and troublous of any it had had to deal with,
respecting Upper Canada.

His Excellency, Sir John Colbome, after eleven
years of active service to the State in Upper and
Lower Canada, was relieved on the 19th of October,
1839, in his high and important office of Governor-
general, by the Right Honourable Charles Poulett
Thompson, late M.P., and President of the Board of
Trade.

Mr. Thompson opened the Parliament of Upper
Canada in person, on the 3rd of December, 1889,
and promulgated the celebrated despatch of Lord
John Bussell, respecting the responsibihty of officials

CANADA. 197

to the Governors of colonies^ and declared that the
union of Upper and Lower Canada was to be
accomplished.

Thus ended the year 1839. Sir John Colbome
returned to England^ and received the dignity of a
baron of the United Kingdom^ with the title of
Lord Seaton^ — a title which was earned by his talents,
his undeviating patriotism, and his unceasing devotion
to the cause of his country, the honour of the British
army, and the firmness with which he had ever upheld
the glory of the British sceptre and the true interests
of reUgion and order; leaving in Canada an undying
name, and a renown only to be paralleled with that
which he had gained under the renowned Moore
and Wellington.

198 CANADA.

CHAPTER VI.

The XTnion — Govemment of Lord Sydenham — his Death, and
Goverament of Sir Charles Bag^t — embracing the years
1640, 1841, and 1842.

We have seen that the leconmiendations of Lord
Durham were to form the basis of the future adminis-
trations. Mr. Thompson, accordingly, commenced his
reign by declaring that the union of the Canadas was a
sine qud non ; and therefore the excellent Lieutenant-
governor, Sir George Arthur, yielded to the force of cir-
cumstances, and, abdicating his high office, he was
rewarded by a lucrative govemment in India, and the
Governor-general afterwards was raised to the peerage
by the titles of Baron Sydenham and Toronto, — ^the
former from the name of a delightful little suburban
Kentish village, the latter from the capital of Upper
Canada at that time. I shall therefore designate
Mr. Thompson, in the remainder of this political
sketch, by his title of Sydenham.

His Lordship, actuated by the desire to make the
Canadas one British province, removed the seat of
govemment after a time to Kingston, which was nearer
to the Lower Province by 180 miles than Toronto, and
less subject to invasion. His policy was evident. To

CANADA. 1 99^

carry oat the scheme of Goverament with which he
was entrusted, it was necessary to conciliate the Re-
formers ci Upper Canada^ so as to divide them, if
practicable, from the excited French Canadians of Lower
Canada, and thus hold a balance of power. He found
Upper Canada in a singular position. Two-thirds, at
the . very least, of its permanent population were in
favour of connection with the mother country, whilst
the remainder, who were chiefly of American descent,
desired still to see it a state of the Union. All the
frontier population of the States of Michigan, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and Maine, were
ready to assist the views of the latter party, and keep-
mg them constantly in mind, were still drilling, pre-^
paring arms, collecting ccmtributions, and spreading
their emissaries throughout the province, unsettling the
mindsof the people, and persuading the soldiers to desert.

Of the two-thirds first menticmed, a great number
were dissatisfied with circumstances wholly unconnected
with the Government of the Mother Country, but- which,
if not attended to, would inevitably create discontent.

Of these circumstances, the clergy reserves had
been a most prominent feature, and the managem^it of
the Crown Lands; the Family Compact at Toronto stiS
was a bugbear, notwithstanding its evident fallacy, and
the obstacles in the way of British settlers obtaining
locations and rotes upon the land they laboured, with
the want of vigilance in preventing American teachers
and preachers from occupying the public schools, and
the paucity of the means for obtaining public education,
were the most prominent grievances.

To remedy these things was not a very easy task ;
but it became necessary to calm all anxiety about the

200 CANADA.

future appropriation of the clergy resenres : so that the
numerous members of the Scotch and Irish Presby-
terian Churchy the Wesleyan and other Methodists,
and the Koman Catholics should at least be satisfied,
without reference, otherwise than generally, to the
infinitely split and finely-divided sects, which out-
numbered either the Church of England, or that of
Rome, as the Tunkers, the Dunkers, the Men of Peace,
the Quakers, the Shakers, the Mennonists, the Mora-
vians and the Swedenborgians, the Baptists, the Unita-
rians, the Antinomians, and the Multinomians ; for it
is impossible to recollect the hundred legions of dis-
putants upon the subject of faith with which Upper
Canada was overspread. Year after year, hour after
hour, had this vexed question troubled the peace of
Upper Canada ; and the clamours of all parties, parti-
cularly of the Presbyterians, had rendered it necessary
to come to a decision; for the imsettled state of the
lands which had been set apart as clergy reserves, oom-
posing> as they did, one-seventh of every town or
village plot, and of every county or township, with
those retioned in a similar manner, as Crown lands,
retarded the improvement of the country, kept the
finest lands in a state of vnldemess^ prevented roads
being opened, and consequently paralyzed settlement
and cultivation.*

With respect to the Crown lands. Lord Durham had
proposed that they should be subjected to the super-

* In the early stages of the controversy, it was limited to tiie two
established churches of England and Scotland. Had the first of these
consented to allow the latter a share, the subject would never have
been discussed in the way it has been since ; none of the numerous
other denominations then put in any clainu^EniTOR.

CANADA. 201

intendence of an imperial^ and not a colonial officer^
and in this I believe he met with no other opponents
than the local authorities; for whatever might become
of the control of the revenue derivable from their sale,
it is self-evident that an imperial oflScer would be best
adapted to conduct the disposal of them with a view to
assist emigration from the Mother Country.

The Family Compact has been a source of
Radical uneasiness from the time that the enthusiast
Gourlay wrote his three volumes on the subject of
Canada, to the pubUcation of Mackenzie's '' Grievance-
Book/' and to the present moment, when even some of
the public journals professing Tory principles have
levelled their weapons against it. That it ever existed
to the extent which Mackenzie would have made the
world believe, we have already controverted, and now it
is so far different, that upon the great question of the
admission into the United Parliament of French
Canadians who had been concerned in the rebellion it
was in a most singular and unprecedented minority ; nor
was it able to cope better with the governmental views of
Lord Sydenham, when he acted under a Whig minis-
try, as Sir Charles Bagot had acted under Tbry rulers.
Both endeavouring to tranquillize and secure Canada by
arriving at the same end through different means.
Lord Sydenham, by combining the Reformers of both
provinces to support British supremacy, without giving
imdue power to the French Canadians, and Sir Charles
Bagot, iinding that such a combination was unworkable,
going to the opposite extreme, and calling in the aid of
the French Canadians to crush all opposition.

But more of this in its proper place. The next sub-

k3

202 CANADA.

ject is tlie francliise to Britiali-b(»ii settlers and educa*
tion. The former^ so reasonable in itself^ has not yet
been put on the only footing it should be put upon ;
foV the only way of securing Canada is to make it
essentially a British Colony; and thus every British
settler should have the franchise as soon as he obtained
land in the Colony^ had paid a certain portion of the
Imrdiase-money^ or had performed the settlement duties,
and had cleared a defined portion.

With respect to education^ some primal arrangements
were made by Lord Sydenham for district and normal
schools^ and the setting apart a ftmd for that purpose ;
but much^ very much, is yet to be done. Every school-
master should be a bom British subject, and should be
eompelled to teach £rom the usual elementary English
books; for as it is, even yet, itinerant Americans^ of
the very lowest class, obtain the small schools in the
interior, teach entirely from American class-books^ and
thus imbue the infant mind with an early dislike of
British principles^ and inculcate as reUgious notions the
wild and visionary doctrines of Mormonism, of the
Tunkers, Bunkers, and Mennonists; of the unknown
tongue, — that most blasphemous attempt at imposture,
— and of the thousand and one splinters into which
the rod of religious discipline has been shivered in the
United States, tending, in manhood, to make their
scholars either enthusiasts or indifferents. At present,
two-thirds, at the least, of the people of Upper Canada
are an orderly, well-behaved, well-disposed race, and
require only a certain and fixed system of things to
make them the most comfortable and happy beings on
the face of the earthy unburthened, as they are, either

CANADA. 205

by tlie exerctfle of power over them^ or the pressure ci
taxation.*

To effeet this happy ocmsummation^ and to retain
them in their allegiance to a Mother Country th^ are
80 proud of their connection with and descent from^
the causes of disquietude must be permanently with-
drawn^ or examined thoroughly into ; the pubUc money
must be carefully directed into the channels of edu-
cation and internal improvements; the British settler
must be encouraged^ and the American fugitive dis-
countenanced ; for Canada has everything to gain by
holding fast to Great Britain^ and everything to lose
by alliance with the United States^ of which she would
become merely a paltry proconsulate.

The American territory is -not overburth«ied with
population^ nor will it be for centuries ; and therefore
there can be no hardship in placing obstacles in the
way of emigrants from that country to Canada; for if
they stiU hold to the political faith in which they have
been nurtured^ it is somewhat singular that they should
desire to live under a Monarchy ; and if they do not
desire to live under a Monarchy, they have clearly no
moral right to disturb its peace and the comfort of its
people by disseminatrag doctrines which will not obtain
a footing in any portion of the British Empire. All
angry passions should have been soothed by the mission
of Lord Ashbumham; and yet^ immediately after he

♦ The Irish National- school system has heen copied with singular
success, Messrs. Armour and Ramsay having introduced the books
into Canada. Much however yet remains to elevate the character
of the teachers, to improve the school-houses. Sectarian feelings
were scarcely known in the common schools, but now a cry has vn-
fortunately got up for separate schools on the part of the Romanists
and some of the Church of Englandi— Editor, ^

204 CANADA.

put his foot on the English knd again^ we heard the
President in his place in Congress pointing to another
small black cloud which was gathering on the political
horizon^ adverse to British tranquillity. And was there
a bosom amongst the tiers 6tat of the American Con-
federation, from the Mississippi to the Penobscot, that
did not beat in unison ? Was there a man amongst
the people who would not have marched to secure the
Oregon Territory or to conquer Canada ? And in case
of any fresh disturbances, what power had the Ame-
rican Government over its frontier population,-— could
it control it, — who composed the last invading force ?
The answer is, — ^Americans from the outside, and Ame-
ricans and their children from the inside.

Mackenzie was, as it were, the firebrand tied to the
fox^s tail. He was a tool working with others who
were still supposed to be actively planning revolutions.
Por a time their forces were led by native Americans,
who made so sure of a second Texan enterprise, that
during the whole of the disturbances, their steam-boats
on the Lakes invariably used the Texan flag, — ^'the lone
star,'^ with the American ensign.* But the Upper Ca-
nadians, being contented with British institutions, were
not to be forced into American ones; and perceiving
clearly the advantages of the former, will hold them as
long as they are able, well knowing, that notwithstanding
the French Canadian attempt to revolutionize Lower
Canada, the number of American sympathizers dis-

• Mr. T. R. Preston, in his work " Three Years* Residence in
America," 1840, says that "the sympathizers had a bank for
aiding in the conquest of Canada, of £1,687,500 sterling, capital,
which was to be reimbursed by the confiscation of Canadian landed
property." This I do not belieye.— Editor.

CANADA. 205

persed in Westem Canadai and the unquenchable lust
of conquest on the American border^ that although
they would have much to do and suffer in the event of
another war^ yet^ if Great Britain deserts them not in
their hour of need^ they will always triumphantly
secure their soil from aggression ; whilst they are con-
scious that the Americans^ on their side^ will have also
to contend with other foes than Britons and Canadians^
— ^with their slaves^ with the Indians^ and with their
own internal dissensions, which occasionally arrive at
a much greater height than is believed by those who
have not had an opportunity of observing them.

It is, therefore, to be fervently hoped that the Anglo-
Saxon Americans, as they love to style themselves, will
be content with their present condition and the glorious
prospects of their future power; and that in aUiance
with England, they will continue to uphold the uni-
versal cause of freedom, suffering the Canadian people
;to choose their own course, and " doing unto them as
they would be done unto^^ by the rest of the world.

Let us now see what Great Britain proposed for the
welfare of her children and subjects in Canada, by
uniting the British and the French races, the Saxon and
the Norman.

In the first volume of " Canada in 1841,^' is an ap-
pendix giving, verbatim et literatim, the Act of 3 & 4
Victoria, cap. 35, for "The Union of the Ganadas,^^
which, therefore, it will be unnecessary to repeat ; but,
as I said before, few people read appendices now-a-days,
and I shall therefore concisely show the leading features
of this Act.

It provides for the Union under the name of Thb
Province op Canada.

206 CANADA.

For tha Constitution of one Legislative Council and
one House of Assembly, under the title of " The Legis-
lative Council and Assembly of Canada/'

"Hie Legislative Council not to be composed of fewer
than twenty natural bom or naturalized subjects of the
Queen, the tenure of such office being for life, excepting
the member chooses to resign, is absent from his duties
without cause or permission for two successive sessions,
shall become a citizen or subject of any foreign power,
or become bankrupt, an insolvent debtor, public de-
faulter, or attainted of treason, or be convicted of felony,
or of any infamous crime.

The Speaker of the Council to be appointed by the
Governor, who may remove him and appoint another.
Ten members to constitute a quorum, including the
Speaker.

The House of Assembly to consist of Members chosen
from the same places as heretofore divided into Counties
and Ridings in Upper Canada; but that the Counties of
Halton, Northumberland, and Lincoln, shall each be
divided into two Ridings, and return one Member for
each Riding.

That the City of Tcwponto shall have two Members ;
and the Towns of Kingston, Brockville, Hamilton,
Cornwall, Niagara, London, and Bytown, one each.

That in Lower Canada every County, heretofore re-
presented by one Member, shall continue to be so
represented, excepting Montmorency, Orleans, L'As-
somption. La Chesnaye, L'Acadie, La Prairie, Dorchester,
and Beauce. These to be conjoined as follows : Mont-
morency and Orleans into the County of Montmorency ;
L^Assomption and La Chesnaye, to be the County of
Leinster ; L^ Acadie and La Prairie, that of Huntingdon ;

CANADA. 207

and Dorchester and Beauce^ that of Dorchester: and
each of these four new Counties to return one Member.

The Cities of Quebec and Montreal, to return two
Members each; and the Towns of Three Rivers and
Sherbrooke^ one each.

The qualifications of a Member to be those of band
fide possession of landed estate worth £500 sterling.

The EngUsh language to be only used in all written
or printed proceedings of the Legislature.

The passing of any Bill to repeal the provisions of
the 14th (jeorge III.^ or in the Acts of 31st of the same
reign, relating to the Government of the Province of
Quebec, and the dues and rights of the clergy of the
Church of Rome; the allotment or appropriation of
lands for the support of a Protestant clergy ; the endow-
ments of the Church of England, or its internal dis-
cipline or establishment ; or affecting the enjoyment or
exercise of any form or mode of rehgious worship in
any way whatever ; or which may affect Her Majesty^s
prerogative touching the Waste Lands of the Crown,
must be first submitted to the Im])erial Parliament pre-
vious to the declaration of the Sovereign's assent, and
that if the Imperial Legislature shall petition the Queen
to withhold her assent within thirty days after such
Act shall have been received, it shall not be lawful to
affix the Royal assent thereto.

The levying of imperial and colonial duties; the
appointment of a Court of Appeal ; the administration
of the civil and criminal laws ; the fixation of the Court
of Queen's Bench within the late Province of Upper
Canada; the regulation of trade ; the consolidation of all
the revenues derivable from the Colony into one fund,
to be appropriated for the public service of Canada.

208 CANADA.

Out of this fond £45,000 to be payable to Her
Majesty, her heirs and successors, for the purpose of
defraying the expenses for the administration ^of the
government and the laws on the Civil List.*

Both sums to be paid by the Receiver-general, upon
the Governor's warrants, and the Receiver-general to •

account to the Lords of the Treasury; and all the j

• Governor £7,000

Lieutenant-Governor 1,000

Upper, or Western Canada,

One Chief Justice £1,500

Four Puisne Judges £900 each 3,600

One Vice-Chancellor 1,125

Lower, or Eastern Canada,

One Chief Justice, Quebec £1,500

Three Puisne Judges, Quebec, £900 each 2,700

One Chief Justice, Montreal 1,100

Three Puisne Judges, Montreal, £900 each 2,700

One Resident Judge at Three Rivers .... 900

One Judge of the Inferior District of Gasp6 500

One Judge of ditto St Francis 500

Pensions to Judges, Salaries of the Attorneys
and Solicitors- General, and Contingent
and Miscellaneous Expenses of the Ad-
ministration of Justice throughout the
Province of Canada 20,875

Total, £45,000

And a further sum of £30,000 out of the said Consolidated Revenue
Fund for defraying the under-mentioned expenses of the Government.

Civil Secretaries and their Offices £8,000

Provincial Secretaries and their Offices. . . . 3,000 v

' Receiver- General and his Office 3,000

Inspector- General and his Office 2,000

Executive Council 3,000

Board of Works 2,000

Emigrant Agent 700

^Pensions 5,000

Contingent Expenses of Public Offices. . . . 3,300

£30,000

CANADA. 209

expenditure thereon to be laid before the Provincial
Parliament within thirty days after the commencement
of each session.

The total sum of i£ 75,000 thus raised and paid for
the Civil List, to be accepted and taken by Her Majesty
by way of Civil list, instead of all territorial and other
revenues then at the disposal of the Crown.

The first charge upon the consolidated revenue fund
to be its collection, management, and receipt ; the second
the public debt of the two Provinces at the time of
the Union-; the third, the payment of the clergy of the
Church of England, Church of Scotland, and the minis-
ters of other Christian denominations, agreeably to
previous laws or usages ; the fourth charge, to be the
Civil List of £45,000; and the fifth, that of £30,000,
payable during the life-time of Her Majesty, and for
five years after her demise. The sixth charge to be
that of the expenses and charges before levied and
reserved by former Acts of the two Provinces, as long
as they are payable.

All biUs for appropriating any part of the revenues
of the United Province, to originate with the
Governor, who shall have the right of initiating the
same, as well as of recommending the appropriation
of any new tax or impost, and that, having thus
been recommended, the Legislative Assembly shall
first discuss the same.

The formation of new townships to originate with
the Governor, as well as the appointment of township
officers. The power vested in the Queen to annex
the Magdalen Islands to the Government of the
Island of Prince Edward, in the Gulf of St. Law-

210 <?ANADA.

rence; and the appcHntm^it of Governor of the
Province of Canada to be understood as meaning^
Governor, Lieutenant-governor, or person authorised
by Her Majesty, her heirs, and successors, to execute
Hie office of Governor of that province.

These are the principal features of the celebrated
Act of Union which Lord Sydenham was to found
his Government upon, and which had met with
considerable opposition in the Legislature of Tipper
Canada, the votes for the union in the Legislative
Council being twelve, and eight against it ; and in
Ae House of Assembly, forty-five for the Union, and
ten against it. The Special Council of Lower Canada
also passed resolutions in its favour.

The next difficulty was the sore one of the disposal
of the ctergy reserves, but Mr. Thompson got over
It with great tact; and, as the settlement of this
important question had been left by the Queen to
the Provincial Parliament, a Bill was introduced by
Mr. Draper, the SoUcitor-general, empowering the
Governor to sell and alienate all these lands, to
create a fund for the support of the clei^ of the
Church of England, and of any other persuasion to
which the faith of the Crown had been pledged
during the lives of the present incumbents or holders.
After paying these stipends, the -residue to be applied
as follows, viz., one-half to the churches of England
and Scotland within the province of Upper Canada,
proportionably as to numbers; the residue to be
divided amongst all other denominations of Christians
recognised by the existing laws, in proportion to
thdr annual private subscriptions. This Bill passed

CANADA. 211

the House by votes of twenty-eight to twenty, a
majority only of eight.

The Grovemor-general then, on the 14th January,
sent a message to the Assembly, stating, that he
had been commanded by Her Majesty to administer
this Government '*in Hccordanee with the well-
understood wishes of the people; and to pay to
their feelings, as expressed through their repre-
sentatives, the deference that is justly due to them.-'
In oth^ words, that he was to carry out the new
and dreaded system of responsible Government, which,
whilst it gave him the power of dispensing with the
services of every public officer who differed with
him upon questions of policy, also made his Cabinet
responsible to the people.

Thus the first blow was aimed in Canada, at the
long-established and almost hereditary rights of office
and place, whilst a source of uneasiness was opened
at every new election, and forebodings as to the
power of the Reformers and Radicals, when the
Union should be declared, were vay rife; nor did
the Radicals delay to show their teeth very plainly,
by the Durham meetings upon the subject of Reform,
which, in some places, had created great alarm, the
name of Lord Durham having been used as a eon-
v^nent cloak to cover other designs.

This declaration of the Governor-general was in-
stantly followed by the removal of Mr. Hagerman, the
Attorney-general, who had voted on the Union ques-
tion, in the minority, and the appointment of the
Solicitor-general, Mr. Draper, to succeed him, whilst
Mr. Baldwin, the leader of the Reformers, was made
Solicitcnr-general. Mr. Hagerman was at the same

212 CANADA.

time^ for his long and faithful services, raised to the
Bench.

The last Parliament of Upper Canada was prorogued
on the 10th of February, by the Governor-general in
person, who immediately left Toronto for Montreal,
and to show his energy, he performed a journey by
land, in a Russian sledge, of 390 miles, over the snow,
in 86 hours, almost equalling steam, because there
were necessarily several stoppages. The rate was,
exclusive of these. 13 miles an hour with four
horses.

On the 17th of April, the beautiful hollow column
erected in honour of Sir Isaac Brock, the hero of
Upper Canada, on the Queen^s Town heights, was
treacherously entered, in the absence of the keeper,
and some gunpowder placed in its base, to which a
train having been laid and fired, the explosion so
shattered this beautiful ornament of the country, that
it became useless. It was ascended by 170 spiral-
steps, and contains in its base the ashes of the hero
and his aide-de-camp Colonel M'Donell, whilst &om
its summit it commanded one of the most singular and
sublime of views, looking over Lake Ontario, the
River Niagara, and an endless succession of forest and
cultivation in Canada and the United States, whilst
the cloud of the Great Falls hung in the middle ground
of the picture.

To give an idea of the determined hatred of the
perpetrator of this unholy deed to Canada, it must
have required forethought and skill to have effected
the destruction of the monument, the base of which
was twenty-two feet square, and the walls six feet in
thickness. The explosion was heard in Queen's Town,

CANADA. 213

between the hours of four and five in the morning, so
that probably the previous night had been passed in
the preparations. The upper or trap-door leading on
the roof, had been left open by the keeper, which it is
supposed gave vent to the suddenly expanded air, and
thus saved some lives, as none of the stones of the
building were thrown off, but the whole was rent,
cracked, and contorted from base to summit. Some
persons saw an enormous cloud of smoke rise from the
roof, and it is therefore supposed that more than one
barrel of powder was used.

A grand and imposing meeting of the Militia
ofScers, &c., of Upper Canada, presided over by Sir
George Arthur, was held near its ruins, on the 30th of
July, at which 5,000 persons were present, and a sub-
scription entered into to rebuild it.*

Mr. Thompson visited the different provinces of his
government during the summer of this year, and was
everywhere received with marks of the highest respect.
His health was, unfortunately, not equal to the wear
and tear of mind and body required, and thus he pro-
bably hastened the event which so soon afterwards
occurred, in consequence of an injury received from his
horse stumbling at Kingston, whilst taking a ride.
He lived to see, however, his project of making Kings-
ton the seat of Government fully carried out, and also
to set the grand experiment of the Union in operation,
but, as might have been expected, his brief career was ^
passed amidst stormy opposition.

* It is much to be lamented that this monument has not yet been
restored, though there are ample funds for it The Editor submitted
a design to the Building Committee, much within the amount sub-
scribed.

214 CANADA.

A very troublesome occurrence took place in the
latter end of 1840, by the forcible imprisonment in the
United States, of ,Mr. Alexander M^Leod, supposed ta
have been a principal actor in the destruction of the
Caroline. This person had been a Deputy Sheriff of
the Niagara District, and had in reality no connection
whatever with the affair in question, but incautiously
dropping some words which tended to a recognition of
luB participation, he was most illegally imprisoned and
tried by Courts whicK really had no jurisdiction in hi»
case. The consequence was his escape firom a dilemma
into which he brought himself, and had involved
most seriously the Government, and after a very long
imprisonment and causing the utmost excitement in
the United States, he was restored to his coimtry,
which had been perilled, for his sake, with a fresh
war.

Upper and Lower Canada were declared to be one
Province, " the Province of Canada,^' from and after the
10th day of February, 1841, and then commenced the
tug oS political warfare.

Sir George Arthur, who had so satisfactorily admi-
nistered the Lieutenant-governorship, was, of course, at
once supplanted, and afterwards returned to England, a
Baronet, amidst the good wishes and applause of the
Upper Canadians.

It is a curious coincidence that the 10th of February
in 1763, was the date of the final cession, by conquest,
of Canada to England, and thus only seventy-eight
years 'had passed since Canada was a British Colony
undivided.

The Governor-general immediately assembled a Coun-
cil of Advice, and the undermentioned gentlemen were

33 33

33 33

CANADA. 215

appointed Members of the First Executive Council of
Canada :

The Hanourable Mr. R. B. Sullivan, President.

J. H. Dunn, Receiver-general.
D. Daly, Secretary, Canada
East.
,, ,^ S, B. Harrison, Secretary, Ca-

nada West.
„ „ C. B. Ogden, Attomey-gaieral,

Canada West.
„ „ W. B. Draper, Attorney-gene-

ral, Canada East.
,, „ B. Baldwin, Solicitor-general,

Canada West.
„ „ C. D. Day, Solicitor-gen&ral,.

Canada East.
As I shall give a list of the House, in 1842, at the
close of this chapter, it will be only necessary to say
that the first election terminated in the return of a
majority in favour of the Govemor-generars plans ;
upon the very first day when an embarrassing question
to try their strength was mooted, we find forty-seven for
the Government and twenty-seven in opposition to it.

The Speaker chosen was Mr. CuviUier of Montreal,
a French Canadian Reformer, who spoke both lan-
guages, and who was supported by the Radicals becatise
he had shown his want of confidence in the Adminis-
tration, because he had been opposed to several im-
portant parts of the Unicm Bill, — particularly the Civil
List,-— because he had been opposed to the line of policy
pursued towards Lower Canada, and because he was a
firm supporter of the new system oi Responsible Go-
vernment. He was chosen by the High Tories, by the

216 CANADA,

Conservatiyes^ and by the moderate Refonners^ because
they had confidence in the excellent character he had
sustained, and in his parliamentary experience, and
because he had withdrawn from the reform ranks as
soon as rebellion showed its head.

The speech so eagerly looked for as developing the
policy of the Government, contained the undermen-
tioned declarations.

1st. In allusion to the case of M^eod,her Majesty's
firm determination to protect her Canadian subjects
witC the whole weight of her power.

2nd. A new arrangement of the Fost-ofSce.

3rd. Extensive public works, in the improvement of
the navigation from the ocean to Lake Huron; the
erection of new communications in the inland districts,
and for these purposes her Majesty^s Minister proposed
to guarantee a loan to the magnificent extent of one
million and a half sterling.

4th. Emigration on an extended scale, and the dis-
posal and settlement of the public lands.

5th. A system of local self-government for the dis-
tricts, by Municipal Councils.

6th. A provision for the education of the people.

7th. That a large sum would be annually devoted
by the Home (jovemment to the military defences of
the province.

8th. The fixed and settled determination of the
Queen ^' to maintain, at all hazards, her North Ame-
rican possessions, as part of her Empire.'*

No one could earp at such a speech, or turn it to
party purposes, yet still there lingered a spark of that
political flame, which soon blazed into a beacon thence-
forward constantly before Lord Sydenham's eyes.

CANADA. 217

The High Tory party, few in number in the House,
saw themselves evidently in a strange position, and the
appointment of Mr. Parke, a noted Reformer in the
last Upper Canadian Parliament, to the office of
Surveyor-general, was alone sufficient to fan their
latent fire.

The leader of the Upper Canadian Reformers, Mr.
Baldwin, took umbrage because the Governor-general
did not apparently go so far with liberal measures .as
his party had expected ; and therefore this gentleman
very consistently resigned his place in the Cabinet, as
he had done before, under Sir Francis Head^s Admi-
nistration, threw up the Solicitor-generalship, and
joined the ranks of the French and Western Canadian
Reformers.

A junction so indicative of renewed troubles was
compacted by the union of Mr. Hincks with Mr.
Viger ; both holding the same political faiths, but who
had been sundered upon trifling nationalities. They
combined the Ultra-Reform party against the Mode-
rados, and Mr. Parke was violently assailed for accept-
ing office under a Ministry so equivocal. Thus a
split in the ranks of the Reform party at once threw
additional strength into British hands, and the Gover-
nor-general immediately explained, through an official
organ, that he was determined to carry out his views,
by making the Executive Council and Heads of De-
partments responsible for their acts to the House, —
or rather, in other words, that they must individually
resign their places, if they could not conscientiously
perform their duties, in unison with his measures, for
the good of the country. This is the true game of

VOL. II. L

218 CANADA.

^' Responsible Government/' as it has since been
played in Canada for the nonce : however^ the former
reading suited the ])urposej as it gave the Government
the support of about fifteen Reformers^ and Mr. Bald-
win was leading the Opposition with about twenty
French Canadian members and fifteen from Western
Canada. Six of the Council sat in the House. The
High Tories^ Conservatives^ and Moderate Reformers^
numbered about thirty; and these were^ with the
exception of four or five^ always ready to support the
Executive when its measures were reasonable.

But there was another grievance^ which began with
the union^ and that was the composition of the Upper
House^ or new Legislative Council^ in which many
members were introduced almost unknown to the
country ; whilst many were excluded^ who had all their
latter lives been decorated with the title of Honourable
Councillors. Some gentlemen refused to sit in it^ and
others delayed being sworn in.

But Lord Sydenham was not a man to be deterred
by difficulties^ and his measures were hourly develop-

ft

ing the resources of the country. The purchase of the
Welland Canal Stock from the proprietors^ in order that
that great public work might be taken out of private
hands^ was consummated by him. From 1837 to 1840
the tolls on this canal^ insignificant as its construction
was, had reached from £12,000 to £20,000.*

* Lord Sydenham's grand scheme of internal improyement was as
follows, amounting to £1,470,000 :

To open the Welland Canal and the St Lawrence by canals for
steam-boats, between Lake Erie and Montreal

To improve the navigation of Lake St. Peter, between Montreal and
Quebec, for the largest steamers.

CANADA, 219

But a new order of things was now about to occur
at home, and a Gk)vernor-general, selected by a Whig
Government, was shortly to try his strength under a
Tory Ministry ; and by a very remarkable coincidence,
the Tory leader in the Assembly, Sir Allan M^Nab,
defeated the Canadian Cabinet by a majority of ten,

To improve the River Richelieu by completing the Chambly Canal.

To improve the Ottawa River, and make slides for timber upon it.

To complete the inland water communications of the Newcastle
District.

To make a Port and erect Lighthouses on Lake Erie.

To improve the Burlington Bay Harbour by enlarging the Canal.

To form and complete great lines of roads from Quebec to Amherst-
burgh and Port Sarnia, from Toronto to Lake Huron, between Quebec
and the Eastern Townships, and between the Bay of Chaleurs and
the St. Lawrence, by the following sums in loans granted by the
Imperial Government on the Consolidated Revenue :

Class L
Welland and St Lawrence Canals .... £450,000

River Richelieu 21,000

Ottawa River 28,000

Burlington Bay Canal 45,000

Canal, Newcastle District 50,000

Harbour and Lighthouses, Lake Erie and

roads connected therewith 70,000

Total £664,000

Class IL

Bay Chaleurs, or Kempt-road £15,000

Gosford, or Eastern Townships-road .... 10,000

Toronto, or Northern-road 30,000

Main Province- road, or certain parts of it,
leading from Quebec to Amherstburgh,

and Port Sarnia 5,000

Cascades to Cdteau du Lac 15,000

Brantford to London 55,000

Thence to Port Sarnia 15,000

London to Chatham, Sandwich, and Am-

herstburgh 86,000

Total £181,000

l2

220 CANADA.

upon a question involving electoral rights, at the very
moment that the news of the Tories having gained
a victory in the elections in Great Britain reached
Canada.

One of the last acts of the Whig Colonial Secretary,
Lord John Russell, gave unmingled pleasure to every
British subject in Canada. He addressed a dispatch
of some length to the Governor-general, explanatory of
Her Majesty's feelings towards Canada. He reiterated
the determination of the Queen to uphold British inte-
rests and honour in North America as a fixed and
fundamental principle of British policy. He said that
the Ministry had no other views than to bind Canada
more firmly to Great Britain, to develope her resources,
to strengthen the British population, to defend the
territory, and to support and encourage the loyal spirit
of the people. He then entered upon the great ques-
tions of relieving the Colony of its debt of ^61,226,000,
of executing the vast public works required for internal
communications and for military defences ; with refer-
ence to the fortifications, the minister stated that in
addition to the ordinary annual expenditure, <£ 100,000,
each succeeding year, would be applied for the com-
pletion of such as had been now approved by the
Master-general of the Ordnance, and by the Duke of
Wellington, for the defence of the country. He
entered at large upon an emigration system, and con-
cluded this remarkable dispatch by saying, that " with
a legislature in Canada disposed to co-operate with the
Queen and the Parhament of the United Kingdom in
developing her vast and imexplored resources, there
is every hope that we shall behold the prosperity of

J

CANADA. 221

that noble province augment every year, and add
more and more to the strength and stability of the
empire/'

Lord Sydenham, of course, found the new Ministry
determined to carry out these views, as nothing could
tend more to attach the loyal part of the population
to the. Mother Country; whilst even those who still
dreamt of separation, must have seen that such pro-
tective measures would enhance the importance of
Canada to an extent before unthought of.

But, unhappily, the feelings of parties were still too
sore, the " cicatrix^' too raw to bear handling, and Lord
Sydenham, with declining health, met nothing but
opposition. One determined blow was given by the
mercantile community to a favourite measure of his
Lordship's, that of the creation of a Provincial Govern-
ment Bank of Issue; but he estabhshed a Board of
Works, a much more useftd thing. This Board had
originally been concocted in Upper Canada in 1836, by
some persons of my acquaintance and myself, and I
have now before me the printed draught of a Bill for
the very purpose of erecting it under a President, imcon-
nected with the Government or House of Assembly, as
a member of the Cabinet or a representative of the
people.* In short, I think that it would have been better,
without any reference whatever to those who have the
oflSce of President of the Board of Works, that, as in all
our Eastern colonies, a scientific military ofl&cer had been
appointed, whose rank in the army alone would have
rendered him responsible, without any necessity for his

• There was a Board of Works in Lower Canada, erected by ordi-
nance of Sir John Colborne's Special CounciL — Editor.

222 CANADA.

being a politician j for to execute bxiA an important
office^ the mind and the man should be unfettered and
undirected.

An officer of acknowledged abilities^ in the prime
of life^ with two derks of works, one for the Upper and
the other for the Lower divisions of the province, with
resident civil-engineers cm the lines of the great canals
and roads, would, with a system of accountability Hke
that of the Ordnance, which admits of no payments by
the department making out the estimates and bills,
be of the utmost serviqe ; and it is somewhat surprising,
considering the long peace, that the Government have not
largely employed a corps of Topographical Engineers on
such colonial duties. In Ireland Ordnance officers direct
the canals, and in England the railroads are under their
supervision. In fact, canals and railroads are justly and
truly great military, as well as great commercial, high-
ways. I do not desire to see them employed in building
Government houses, or in the drudgery of repairing
colonial edifices, but there is a sort of right which the
Government has acquired in Canada, by its munificent
outlay and loan, to ensure all the roads, whether by land
or water, being adapted to military convenience and mili-
tary uses. Besides, parliamentary influence must more
or less attach to a Director of Works who is a Cabinet
officer, and who has to run about to look for consti-
tuents every time the House is dissolved ; whilst it must
always interfere with duties which require his presence
in every part of the province. The Director-general of
Public Works should not be a politician, and he cannot
help being one if he is a member either of the Council
or of the Asseinbly.

CANADA. 223.

We have only to read the report of Mr. Killaly, the
first President, to show what is the extent of his duty ;
and in the next chapter we shall revert to this subject
of the public works of Canada, as they were at first
brought forward by Lord Sydenham, to his eternal
honour.

The Naturalization Bill for Aliens {alias American
residents), was one of his Lordship's successful mea-
sures ; by which thousands of persons who had settled
in the province became subjects of the Queen.

But the career of Lord Sydenham was terminating,
and just as the news of the change of Ministry in
England arrived at Kingston, his Lordship met with
the serious accident* which ended in his death, after
great suffering. He expired on the morning of the
19th September, 1841, and the Parliament was accord-
ingly prorogued by Major-general Clitherow, Deputy-
governor of Western Canada, who had been appointed
the day before his death by Lord Sydenham for that
express purpose.

Lord Sydenham and Toronto was buried in St.
George's Church in Kingston, with the honours due
to his elevated station.

Just about this time a notorious fellow of the name
of Grogan,t who had figured as an incendiary on the

* A broken leg, by a fall from his horse. — Editor.

f The atrocities of this disgrace to human nature, Grogan, about
whom the two nations were nearly getting into as serious a dispute as
the M*Leod case, were almost beyond belief, — equalled only those of
Bill Johnson and Lett. On the night of the 29th and 30th December,
1840, he passed over into Canada from the State of Vermont, near the
head of Mississquoi Bay, with a party of miscreants in sleighs in a
severe snow-storm, surprised the Militia sentries, and committed the
following awful crimes before he was driven off. The family of

224 CANADA.

Canadian frontier, adjoining the State of Vermont, was
kidnapped by some loyal but thoughtless young men
in that State, and brought into Canada, where a reward
had been offered for his apprehension. This was taken
up instantly by the American authorities ; and it was
given out, most industriously, that he had been

Johnson, an industrious farmer, consisting of his wife, two sons, and four
daughters, were aU asleep at ahout one o'clock on Sunday morning, when
the sentry was astonished to see several sleighs filled with armed men
drive up to the door, amidst a furious storm of wind and snow. They
immediately, before he could alarm the sleepers, burst open the door>
and with horrid imprecations roused the family, and drove them naked
into the night-storm. They ran into the woods to a log-hut for half
a mile up to their waists in the drifted snow, the inhuman villains
firing at them as they fled ; and although the poor girls had been on
their knees imploring them to allow them to dress, bayonets, levelled
at their breasts, was the only reply. When the unhappy family
reached the hut, their hands and feet were frost-bitten, "and their
house, their bams, their outhouses, cattle, hay, and grain, with all
they possessed, a prey to devouring flames. Grogan then went to
Mr. Clark's house,— who had a wife and six children, the oldest only
twelve, and the youngest but three days old. The picquet had
alarmed this family, and they were fortunately enabled to hurry on
their clothes. They drove them all out, but spared the house on
account of the interference of one of the women, who implored them
to let the poor mother return. They sought for Clark, to murder
him, but he escaped. His bams, outhouses, and stock of every kind
were, however, burnt He went then to Mr. Maine's, where the same
barbarities were enacted ; but the fire was extinguished in the dwell-
ing-house only after Grogan had fled, all the rest of this farmer's
property being destroyed. John Gibson, a farmer also, was next
visited. He had a wife and five children, — the eldest fifteen, the
youngest at the breast. This family was caught asleep, pulled from
bed, and driven naked into the pitiless storm, the mother imploring
vainly for clothing to cover her babe. They lost their way in the
snow of the trackless woods, and ran half a mile before they found
slielter j when the fee't and hands of the poor father and mother became
so completely frozen, as to be soon shapeless masses of flesh. Their
house, furniture, clothing, barn, hay- stacks, in short, everything was
burnt

CANADA. 225

captured by British soldiers as a hostage for
M'Leod.

Sir Richard Jackson^ the Commander of the Forces^
who had been sworn in to administer the Government,
as soon as he heard of the arrest, immediately ordered
his release, and the capturers were duly punished ; and
thus ended another border excitement, which threat-
ened heavily against M^Leod; who was, however, soon
afterwards tried and acquitted.

Of Lord Sydenham's life and times in Canada it
would be useless to say much in this work, as his
brother, assisted by Mr. Murdoch, his Lordship's
chief secretary, published a work expressly djBVoted to
that subject. We may therefore embrace what is now
to be written in a very few words.

Lord Sydenham carried out the plan of the Union.
He left Canada tranquil and flourishing. He gave an
impetus to public improvement, which no man in that
country had ever imagined possible, under the lapse
of half a century, could have been dreamt of. He
endeavoured to render it a British Colony without pre-
judice to the French Canadian interests, and he opened
a wide door to exertion in the rising generation.
With a steady and unwavering hand, but with a weak
body, he pursued his task, and fulfilled his mission at
least honestly, leaving behind him in the race of life
many bitter political, but few private enmities.

Kingston owes him much ; Toronto little : the selec-
tion of the former as the seat of Goverament was
probably meant to paralyze long-standing interests in
the latter ; and if so, succeeded.

l3

226 CANADA.

The Reformers were elevated in his reign ; the Ultra-
Tories hid their diminished heads ; but although many
of his appointments were very singular in their nature^
it is probable they were solely made with .a view to
balance the opposing parties^ and without reference
to the persons. He did not appear to have thought
it requisite to bring into action and power those who
had openly endeavoured to sever the connection with
England, or to permit the French Canadian to have
more than his due weight in the affairs of the country ;
but in order to break the party which had ruled into
fractions, he called in .several Reformers of Upper
Canada, who were known by another name during the
disturbances.

His Government was, therefore, not very satisfactory
to the Ultra-Tory, the Conservative, the moderate Re-
former, the red-hot Radical, or to the luke-warm friend
of Canada; and his^time was passed in a constant
struggle, not to annihilate, but to break up these
opposite factions.

We shall now see how a High Tory successor sat
upon the Vice-regal throne.

The year 1842 saw this throne occupied by a very
different Viceroy. Mr. Thompson was, comparatively
speaking, a new man,— -a man of the people,— well
connected, however, but not able to blazon on his
escutcheon a line of bearings derived from the Con-
quest. Sir Charles Bagot, of jm ancient and time-
honoured English family, was essentially of the aristo-
cracy, bred in High Toiy principles, and accustomed
from early life to courts and diplomacy ; but he had

CANADA. 227

passed that age of man^s existence wherein vigour of
mind and vigour of body are usually in their prime.
A thorough-bred gentleman of the best English school^
accustomed to the highest circles of society from in-
fancy. Sir Charles had now to contend, for the first
time, with Colonial poUcy, and to meet a storm which
he never imagined could have been raised, and from
which neither his high rank nor his acknowledged
talents availed him for an instant. He, seeing the dif-
ficulties with which his forerunner had struggled, and
the utter impossibility of obtaining support for his
Government from the Tories or the British Reformers,
who had both left Lord Sydenham to fight his own
battles whenever it suited their respective views, sought
the Fi*ench Canadians as his allies ; and thus at once
brought over to his camp Mr. Baldwin, and that section
of the Upper Canadian Reformers which he led.

The French Canadians, delighted at the prospect of
being really considered as worthy to share the loaves
and fishes, and as being honoured by a real station in
the Government, immediately rallied round him j and
men whose names, during the rebellion, figured upon
the lists of the Attorney-general or the Provost-mar-
tial, were now seen filling the prominent ofl&ces of the
State. Ruin, — ruin, inevitable and uncontrolled, was
now predicted to Canada. The fact is, that the French
Canadian may be made as loyal as he was in former
wars ; and if that can be achieved, what does it signify
who the person, — the mere person, — is who holds a
temporary office ? And after all, may not that person,
when he sees that his rights as a British subject are
respected, abjure his for^ier errors, and become one of

228 CANADA.

the most devoted subjects of the Queen ? Leave out
some of the leaders^ and many good and loyal men
amongst the British Canadians will be willing to throw
as thick a veil as possible over the past. And it is to
be borne in mind that emigration is now going on at
the rate of nearly 40,000 persons a year from the
Mother Country. Where, then, will be even nume-
rical superiority in the Lower Canadian French some
years hence ? The Anglo-Saxon race will swallow it
up, and in twenty years the French Canadian will have
discovered that he is behind-hand with the rest of the
world, and that feudal systems and a law of gavelkind
are unsuitable to his advancement. He will learn
English, or, at least, his children will, and Canada
must, as the Ameiicans say, in the meantime progress
by tranquillizing his fears*

The opinion upon this subject, delivered by the
political writer in that leading European journal, " The
Times/'* will convey aU I have to say on this subject*

* CANADA.— SIR CHARLES BAGOT.

{From the London Times, Oct. 27, 1842.)
" It is, of course, with the greatest difficulty that any one not prac-
tically versed in the politics of Canada can pronounce an opinion
upon the late important step of Sir Charles Bagot, in calling to
his councils men so notorious ibr past indisposition to the British
Qovernment as those who have lately accepted office with such cii-«
cumstances of triumph. One thing alone is certain— that it is the
commeneement ef a new era in colonial government It i& a great
experiment, perhaps forced upon Sir Charles Bagot hy the policy of
his predecessors, hut certainly of a most novel character, and the
issue of which can only be looked to with the most extreme anxiety
9nd diffidence.

** We have already observed upon the desirableness of admitting the
French population of Lower Canada to a larger share in the govern-
ment of that Colony than has been hitherto conceded them. Many
dvBiunstances recommend such a^ course. Their own simple and

CANADA. 229

I regret the necessity of employing some few only of
these persons ; but I admit it^ and augur good results

honest character, their mere numerical importance, their indisposition
to the alliance of our encroaching and untrustworthy neighbours of
the United States ; — all these circumstances point them out as fit
recipients of a share, and a substantial one, of political power and
influence.

" This, the Act of Union of 1840, unpopular as it at first was with
them, has at once given them. That Act conferred on a body of
people not, we believe, at heart indisposed to the British protection,
but still fomenting from the effects of late popular excitement, a pre-
ponderance in the popular assembly of Canada. Not only this, but
the theory of a responsible Government was established. The instru-
ment and representative of the Imperial Government was compelled
to exercise his powers, not at the will of that central jjower w^hich
regulates the movements of the whole, but in obedience to the partial
and probably short-sighted wishes of that province which he was com-'
missioned to administer. A principle of colonial government, not
devoid of a certain plausible generosity, — nay, more, practically sound
and wise, — but, in the extent to which it has been applied, mo:^
hazardous in the abstract, has been forced to its first practical trial
under circumstances which multiply tenfold its danger and incon-
venience. The power to control their Governor has been transferred
from the Home Government to the colonial population at a moment
when they have scarcely quitted a position of distinct and illegal hos-
tility to it.

*• The result may prove auspicious ; we are willing to hope the best.
But it is a somewhat ominous consequence of this new order of things,
that the Governor is compelled to call to his councils, on their own
terms, men who have lately been proscribed, or in prison ; and that
the choice of individuals is justified upon the ground that the leaders
of the French party, now predominant, were all in the same scrape,
and that if any influential Frenchman at all is now to aid the Govern-
ment of Canada, it must necessarily be one of those, who were traitors,
or suspected, a few years back.. The outset is unfortimate ; not, we
believe, from the fault of Sir Charles Bagot, or the present Govern-
ment, but from the indiscretion of those who have precipitated this
revolution, who have left to their successors no choice between so.
perilous a risk as the present, and the still more daring alternative of
suspending the fresh Canadian constitution, and supporting that

230 CANADA.

from so determined a line of policy by the Tory
Ministry. I augur well from it, for two reasons. The

suspension by the bayonets of the British soldiery, and the physical
energy of a fraction of the inhabitants.

" We should not, however, omit to remark upon the great strength
which, at least in the House of Assembly, the Government appears
to have combined by its present concession. A majority of fifty-five
to five at the opening of its sittings, is a primd facie evidence of no
ordinary power ; nor is the liberal and French press less sanguine in
their auguries, or loud in their panegyrics of the Governor's policy
than might have been expected from the circumstances. We are told
that by these concessions the afi&ctions of the French are for ever
bound to the British Government, and that our troops may be with-
drawn from Canada with no longer delay than is necessary to find
room for them in England.

** Such is usually the language of those who are gaining their point
Lavish of promises till the next occasion of collision, it is ever their
object, by their very eulogiums, to create an obligation to proceed —
by the very profuseness of their acknowledgments to raise extravagant
expectations in their followers, and to affix an extravagant interpre->
tation to the concessions they have extorted, which may be appealed
to in future times, in order to heighten the odium of pausing in the
course which has been once begun. It becomes an act of treachery
to fall short of the expectations of so grateful a population. The
greater the original boon, the more difficult and dangerous it is made
to decline that further progress which it is held to imply. We do not
then set any great store upon the present promising aspect of affairs.
This momentary popularity may indeed be the attendant upon a bold
and well-timed policy, but it may be the equally natural result of a
weak and imprudent concession. Which it is, the future must decide.
Two remarks only we would venture before concluding.

" One is tjiis — that the present arrangements offer little prospect of
permanence. Between the English Ultra- Reformers and the French
Colonists there is no real commmiity of interest or principle. The
patriarchal habits of the latter, their unenterprising though indus-
trious characters, their prejudices, simplicity, and native refinement
of feeling, render them no natural allies of the active, pushing, inde-
pendent, money-making English Radical ; and any continued union
between two such parties, however possible in the loose warfare of
opposition, can neither be hoped nor feared from them when engaged

CANADA. 231

first, because the French Canadian must see that justice
is done to his claims, as representing one good half of
the Canadian population. The second, because it must
equally assure him that Great Britain is not afraid of
his counteraction. I could add another ; and I may as
well, for I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that
the French Canadian is, as I before have said, a gentle-
man when educated, and an excellent fellow at all
times, when undisturbed by demagogues. But with
" The Times^^ and with its opinions, I conclude this
chapter, and nearly this book.

As hereafter it will be very interesting to the
Canadian public to know who composed Sir Charles
Bagot's Parliament, I subjoin the most accurate
list I can ' obtain, taken from the Montreal Gazette^

in the practical details of legislation and administration. The present
coalition is a mere transition state ; we shall have another shuffling
of the cards before we can tell what is to turn up for Canada.

*' Secondly, if we did not look forward to this second breaking up
of parties, our expectations would be more gloomy than they are.
Already from within the Government's Cabinet we hear sentiments
broached of no favourable nature to British supremacy — intimations,
if we rightly understand them, of doubt whether the act of the
Imperial Legislature is conclusively binding on the Colonies without
the additional sanction of the colonial ratification. If this is to be the
tone of the coalition, speedy be its dissolution ; for such administering
of the affairs of the Colony on the principle now apparently conceded
of " responsible," that is, in fact, independent, local Government,
would be indeed a dangerous enemy to the Home authority ; as the
shrewd Yankee press has found out, telling us with some admixture
of contempt, that however generous, however worthy of a new era in
government that principle may be, it is palpably at variance with the
laws of colonial empire, and must disable us from holding that empire
together one year after it has ceased to be supported by the most
palpable and present coincidence of interests."

[There is also an admirable commentary in the Standard of the
same time.]

232 CANADA.

and from the Toronto Patriot of October 4th,
1842.*

♦ LIST OF THE TWO HOUSES.

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.

The names of Members and Places arranged alphabetically.

Speaker — Hon. Austin Cuvillier.

Names of Members — alphabetically,

' Armstrong, D. M Berthier.

Aylwin, T. C Portneuf.

Baldwin, Robert Hastings.

Boulton, H. J Niagara.

Boutillier, Dr. T. St Hyacintbe.

Bartbe, J. G Yamaska. "■

t Bertbelot, Amable Kamouraska.

Bucbanan, Isaac Toronto, City.

Borne, Micbael Rimouski.

Black, Hon. Henry Quebec, City.

Burnet, David Ditto.

Boswell, G. M Nortbumberland, Soutb Riding.

Crane, Samuel Grenville.

Cuvillier, Hon. Austin ,,.,.. Huntington.

Cook, Jobn Dundas.

Cartwrigbt, J. S Lenox and Addington.

Cbesly, S. Y Cornwall.

** Cameron, Malcolm Lanark.

Cbristie, Robert Gasp€.

Cbild, Marcus -. . . Stanstead.

Daly, Hon. D Megantic.

Draper, Hon. W. H Russell.

Dewitt, Jacob Leinster.

Dunlop, William Huron.

Dunscombe, J. W Beauhamois.

Derbishire, S Bytown.

Duggan, G. R York, Second Riding.

Delisle, Alexander M Montreal, County.

Dunn, Hon. J. H Toronto, City.

Durand, James Halton, West Riding.

Forbes, C. J Two Mountains.

Foster, Dr. Sewell ShefFord.

Gilchrist, Dr. John Northumberland, North Riding

Harrison, Hon. S. B Kingston.

CANADA. 233

Since this List was made, there were some remark-
able changes in the Cabinet.

Holmes, Benjamin , Montreal, City.

Hale, Edward Sherbrooke, Town.

Hopkins, Caleb Halton, East Riding.

Hincks, Hon. Francis ....*. Oxford.

Hamilton, John R. Bonaventure.

Jones, Hon. Robert ...*.... Mississquoi.

Johnston, James Carlton.

Kimber, Dr. R. J «... Cfhamplain.

Killaly, Hon. H. H. London.

Lafontaine, L. H York, Fourth Riding.

Leslie, James V ercheres.

Moore, John Sherbrooke, County.

Morris, James ^ . .' Leeds.

Moffat, Hon. George Montreal, City.

Merritt, W. H Lincoln, North Riding.

M'Nab, Sir A. N Hamilton.

M'Donell, J. S » Glengarry.

M'CuUoch, Dr. M Terrebonne.

McLean, Alexander Stormont

M'Donald, Donald Prescott

Noel, Dr. J. B • Lotbiniere.

Neilson, John * Quebec, County.

Ogden, Hon. C. R Three Rivers.

Papineau, D. B Ottawa.

Powel, Israel M Norfolk.

Prince, John Essex.

Parent, Etienne Saguenay.

Parke, Thomas Middlesex.

Price, James H York, First Riding.

Quesnel, F. A Montmorency.

Roblin, J. P Prince Edward.

Simpson, John Vaudrueil.

Smith, Henry, jun Frontenac.

Small, James E York, Third Riding.

Sherwood, George Brockville.

Smith, Dr. Hermanns Wentworth.

Steel, Elmes * Simcoe.

Tachg, Dr. Etienne L' Islet

Turgeon, Abraham Bellechasse.

Turcotte, J. E St Maurice.

234 CANADA.

The Honorable Mr. Draper resigned the Attorney-
generalship for Canada West^ and the Attorney-general

Tborburn, David Lincoln, South Riding/

Tachereau, A. C Dorchester.

Thompson, D Haldimand. -

Viger, Hon. D. B Richelieu.

Viger, L. M Nicolet

Walker, William Rouville.

Watts, R. N Drummond.

Williams, John T Durham.

Woods, Joseph Kent.

Yule, John Chamhiy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Speaker — Hon. R. S.

Jamieson.

on,

, R. S. Jamieson. H<

}n. John M'Donald.

>f

P. B. De Blacquiere. ,

4 Adam Ferrie.

if

Peter M'GiU.

, J. B. Tache.

11

R. B Sullivan. ,

, P. H. Knowlton.

11

R. E. Caron. ,

« Thomas M'Kay.

11

William Morris. ,

, Gabriel Roy.

11

George Pemberton. ,

, P. H. Moore.

11

Alexander Fraser. ,

, Robert Dickson.

11

Barthelemi Joliette. ,

, Amable Dionne.

11

James Crooks. ,

, Joseph Dionne.

11

Adam Fergusson. ,

, George Goodhue

It

John Fraser. ,

, I. P. Sherwood.

If

John Macaulay. ,

. William Walker.

>»

John Hamilton. ,

, Sim. Washburn.

»i

F. P. Bruneau.

Names of Places — alphabetically,

Brockville George Sherwood.

Berthier D. M. Armstrong.

Beauhamois J. W. Dimscombe.

Bellechasse A. Turgeon.

Bonaventure J. R. Hamilton.

Bytown S. Derbyshire.

Carlton James Johnson.

Champlain Dr. R. J. Kimber.

Chambly Jolm Yule.

CANADA. 235

for Canada East^ Mr. Ogden^ was displaced. Mr.
Sherwood, Solicitor-general for Upper Canada, was

Cornwall S. Y. Chesley.

Dorchester A. C. Tachereao.

Drummond K. N. Watts.

Dundas John Cook.

Durham J. T. Williams.

Essex John Prince.

Frontenac Henry Smith, juD.

Gasp6 R. Christie.

"Glengarry .* J. S. M'Donell.

Grenville S. Crane.

Hamilton Sir A. N. M'Nab.

Halton, East Riding Caleb Hopkins.

Ditto, West Riding J. Durand.

Hastings Robert Baldwin.

Haldimand D. Thompson.

Huntingdon Hon. A. Cuvillier.

Huron Dr. W. Dnnlop.

Kent . . Joseph Woods.

Kingston Hon. S. B. Harrison.

Kamouraska Amable Barthelot.

Lanark » Malcolm Cameron.

Leinster Jacob De Witt

Leeds James Morris.

L'Islet Dr. E. Tachg.

London « Hon H. Killaly.

Lincoln, North Riding W. H. MerritL

Ditto, South Riding David Thorburn.

Lenox and Addington J. S. Cartwright

Lotbiniere Dr. J. B. Noel.

Megantic Hon. D. Daly.

Montreal, City J »°"- ^*"'8f ^"^^

I Benjamin Holmes.

Ditto, County Alexander Delisle.

Middlesex Thomas Parke.

Montmorency F. A. Quesnel.

Mississquoi Hon. Robert Jones.

Niagara H. J. Boulton.

Nicolet L. M. Viger.

Norfolk L. M. Powell.

Northumberland, N. Riding. . Dr. John Gilchrist

236 CANADA.

also superseded^ as well as Mr. Davidson and Mr.
Macaulay.

The Cabinet was then recomposed, as follows :
The Hon. Mr. R. B. Sullivan, President of the

Council.

Northumberland, South Riding . . G. M. Boswell.

Ottawa D. P. Papineau.

Oxford Hon. Francis Hincks.

Prince Edward ' J. B. Roblin.

Portneuf T. C. Aylwin.

Prescott Donald M'Donald.

Quebec, City /^°"- ^- ^"^"^

ID. Burnet.

Ditto, County John Neilson.

Russell Hon. W. H. Draper.

Richelieu Hon. D. B. Viger.

Rouville W. VSTalker.

Rimouski Michael Borne.

Shefford Dr. Sewell Foster.

Stanstead Marcus Child.

Simcoe Elmes Steele.

Stormont Alexander M'Lean.

Sherbrook, Town Edward Hale.

Ditto, County John Moore.

Saguenay Etienne Parent ^

St Maurice J. E. Turcotte.

St Hyacinthe Dr. T. Boutillier.

Three Rivers Hon. C. R. Ogden."

Terrebone Dr. M. M'Culloch.

Toronto r Hon. J. H. Dunn.

\ Isaac Buchanan.

Two Mountains C. J. Forbes.

Vercheres James Leslie.

Vaudreuil John Simpson.

Wentworth Dr. Hermanns Smith.

Yamaska J. G. Barthe.

York, First Riding J. H. Price.

Ditto, Second Riding George Duggan, Jun.

Ditto, Third Riding J. E. Small.

Ditto, Fourth Riding L. H. Lafontaine,

}9

CANADA. 237

The Hon. Mr. Harrison, Secretary, C.E,

Dunn, Receiver-general.
Killaly, President of Board of
Works.
„ Hincks, Inspector-general of

Public Accounts.
Baldwin, Attorney-general, C.E.
Small, Solicitor-general, C.E.
Daly, Secretary, C.W.
Lafontaine, Attorney-general, C . W.
,^ Aylwin, Solicitor-general, C.W.

„ Morin, Commissioner of Crown

Lands.

In 1842, the House of Assembly was divided as
follows, according to the Toronto Examiner :

Firm supporters of the above Ministry . 60
Decidedly opposed . . . .13

Doubtful ...... 11

84

Of the 60 Ministerial supporters, the Patriot said
as follows :

Ministers themselves . , . .10
Other OflSce-holders during pleasure, chiefly

local ...... 17

27

Other Members, including those whose

seats were questionable . , .33

60

238 CANADA.

Of the 24 opposed or doubtful^ are Office-
holders during pleasure (mostly
local officers) .... 8

Other Members . . . . .16

24

Total Office-holders . . . . .35
Others ...... 49

84

Sir Charles Bagot^ in short, worked with a majority
of Reformers chiefly through -a French interest, as
Lord Sydenham had worked with a British one ; and
although he slept not on a bed of roses, he resigned
his life respected for the purity of his intentions, and
with the character of the old English gentleman, — his
honour untarnished, and his sufferings from illness
deeply and universally regretted.

From the mass of intelligence in the United Legis-
lature, there was every reason to believe that harmony
would at length arise upon most of the questions of
real interest to the Colony ; and there was very little
doubt that Sir Charles Metcalfe was the most proper
person who could have been selected to work that
desirable end, and that he would succeed in governing
Canada upon open and manly terms was scarcely to
be doubted.

It was useless to listen to the unreasonable cry of
swamping the French, and making Upper Canada
interests alone the rule. The immense emigration
from Britain yearly would alone operate as a counter-
check to French principles, or to any fear of Lower

CANADA. 239

Canada having an undue preponderance; whilst the
impetus given to exertions by the magnificent scheme
of opening the St. Lawrence to Lake Superior for
ocean-going vessels^ will go far to annihilate the feudal
barbarism of the race which borders upon the banks of
that father of floods; for steapiboats will make com-
merce^ and commerce will make population^ and the
back country must be opened. See what steamboats
have done for the Mississippi. Before they rode upon
the muddy waves of that river, the Louisianian French
alone occupied its best littoral ; now the Anglo-Saxon
only appears, and a thousand miles of water and forest
own his sway, and bear annually vast tokens of his
increase, of his active mind, and of his dauntless
exertions. So it will be with the St. Lawrence, On-
tario, Erie, and Huron, when steamboats pass unin-
terruptedly from Quebec into Lake Superior.

240 CANADA.

CHAPTER VII.

Reflections on the probable future destinies of Canada, and general
polity of the Colonial £mpire of Great Britain in Northern
America.

It is with the utmost pleasure I turn from the tire-
some and laborious work of fonning the outline of
Canadian politics^ given in the last chapter^ to " matter
more attraclive^^^ and in which the mind has its free
scope. The first thing which must now occupy the
inquisitive reader is the financial condition of the
Union.

The following is the statement of the Inspector-
general, down to the end of the December quarter of
1841, of the monetary aflfairs of the Province of
Canada ; and as it gives, at one glance, the extent' of
the Public Works, the Public Debt, and the Public
Credit, I shall not curtail one word of it, or one figure,
and thus place it under the reader^s eye without note
or comment. [See pp. 242 and 243.]

The internal commerce of this fine country is rapidly
increasing, and the lake ports of Ontario becoming
yearly of more importance. In 1830, on Lake Ontario
the traffic was confined to York, Kingston, and Niagara,.

CANADA. 241

whilst Coburg was only starting^ as a port^ into
existence. Now these are numerous^ and several are
driving a large trade with the interior^ and sailing or
steam-vessels penetrate into every available " coign of
vantage^^ along the whole of a shore which Nature
has rendered it necessary for man to improve the com-
munications of^ so straight and deficient of harbours as
it is. I shall just give one instance to show how the
Canadian shores of this beautiful lake are improving.
The Newcastle District is, perhaps, the worst provided
with natural harbours of any part of its circuit, either
on the British or American littoral; and yet here,
such have been the silent strides of commerce, that
places unknown on the map yield a revenue to the
Custom-house. There- has, in fact, been a great deal
of enterprise in that district, which is one (jf the finest
in the whole province.

In the Revenue Returns I observe, for 1841, the
undermentioned places are mentioned as becoming
productive :

Ports. Receipts.

£ s. d.
Bond Head and Darlington . . 201 2 3^

Coburg 1,005 ^

Newcastle and Trent .... 168 1 5J

Port Hope 595 14 4J

Windsor 380 13 8i

Total . ... £2,350 12 4i

In short, the revenue from the great Mediterranean
fresh-water seas of Canada is steadily increasing ; for,
notwithstanding the- pressure of the times, the im-

VOL. II. M

242 CANADA.

STATEMENT OF THE AFFAIRS

On the Z\st rf

PFBLIC DBBT.

£ «. i.

Sterling Debentures, interest payable at Glynn,

Mills, Halifax, and Co., sterling, £450,000 444,444 8 10

Sterling Debentures, interest payable at Baring

and Co., sterling, £438,850 .« 487,511 2 3

Balance due Glynn, Mills, Halifax and Co. ...... 28,26)11 6

Balance due Baring Brothers and Co 11,703 8 1)

Bank of Upper Canada 20,000

Gore Bank 6,000

Provincial Debentures, Upper Canada 289,544 I 2

. Ditto Lower Canada 123,675

Profit on Exchange sold by the Becelver-general

Interest account, for interest on loans to Public

Works

Balance due to Public Accountants :

Collectors of Customs

Inspectors

SPXCXAI. FUKDS.

Clergy Re«rye Fund, Canada West

Clergy Reserve Fund, Canada East

Clergy Reserve Fund

Jesuits' Estate Fund

School Land Fund

Trinity Fund, Quebec

Trinity Fund, Montreal

Tonnage Duty Revenue

Lunatic Asylum Fund

n,411,239 11

10|

45,844 19

1

18,083 13

2

225 7

5}

16 9

4

£59,155 9

0}

18,982 18

n

811 9

1

11,606 19

.7

23,502 I

5

2,055 5

8

2.215 16

9|

645 10

616 2

1,577 6

9

£61,513 5 2|

Consolidated Revenue Fund for balance of that
Account 73,280 16 2J

Civil List, Schedule B, 1841, for balance of that
Account , 1,621 13 \\

Receiver general Dunn, balance per
his account current, sterling £2,525 17

Warrants issued for the service of
1841, and credited him, but un-
paid i 50,524 8 11

£56,998 11 11

63,331 15 4i

Currency £1,670,142 10 lOi

F. HiKCKS, IfupeeioT'-general.

Kingston, 21 st September, 1842.

CANADA. 243

OF THE PROVINCE OF CANADA.
December f 1841.

LOANS TO INCOKPOKATED COMPANIES AND TO COMMXSSZONEKS
FOB TU&NPIKE -ROADS, VIZ: —

£ «. d.

Home District Toll-roads 95,723 4 0|

Hamilton and Bran tford-road 45,804 12 1

Dundas and Waterloo-road •» 29,246 16 4

Kingston and Napanee-road • ?0,555 2 3

Brockville and St. Francls-TOad 7,692 17

Erie and Ontario Railroad Company 5,514 1 8

Oakville Harbour Company 3,723 16 6

Coburg Harbour Company 5,211 18 3

Port Hope Harbour Company 3,075 8

Desjardins Canal Company 22,415 14 1

Grand River Navigation Company 588 16 II

Tay Navigation Company 1.461 2

Grantham Academy 318 2 7

Montreal Turnpike Trust 1,211 16

Quebec Turnpike Trust 400 19

f}

£283,524 14 II J

rB.OVlNCXAL WOBK8.

Welland Canal ^ 462,856 18 10

St. Lawrence. Canal 440,097 11

Trent Navigation 23,364 11 7

Inland Waters Newcastle ^District 21,660

Kettle Creek Harbour ...'.« 6,500 f

Paris Bridge 2,000

Trent Bridge 4,800

Chatham Bridge 2,000

Brantford Bridge 2,000

Dunville Bridge 1,700

Garafraxa-road ^2,500

New Brunswick-road... M •• 2,500

Kingston Penitentiary 43,198 15 9

Kingston Hospital 3,000

Parliament Buildings, Toronto „ 5,000

West Gwillimhury-road and Bridge m. 955 S 5

St. Ann's Rapids 4,308 16 44

Harbour of Montreal 87.175

Chambly Canal 85,000

Steam Dredge, Montreal 1,500

Thomas Wilson and Company, for this sum

owing the Province ••.«•.»■•••...•• 66,140 1

£1,225,346 17 3i

DEBTS DVB BT POBUC ACCOVMTAKT8.

Collectors of Customs 59,095 110

Inspectors 4,528 }% 1^

Commissioner of Crown Lands ^ ^ 3,733 8

Receiver of Licences ». ».... 3,696

Na«ral Officer 4,732 9 8

Outstanding Bonds, Montreal 18,312 6 5

Outstanding Bonds. Quebec 8,242 11

Outstanding Bonds, St. John's 1,291 5 10

Thomas D. Harrington 287 16 9

Post Office Commission 285

£103,204 8 Si
Receiver-general Dunn, balance due by him for

special funds 40,019 5 11

Civil List, Schedule A, advance for 1842 191 15 6i

Civil list. Schedule A, advance for 1841 875 17 6]

Territorial Revenue, Special Account, being

debt due to the Clergy Fund for Land Rights 15,661 8 11

Board of Works to be accounted for 1,337 2

Currency M. .«••».»... M M.».t..tM...£l,670|142 10 10^

244 CANADA.

porters have done^ and are doings a very extensive basi-
nesSy and the towns favourably situated are rapidly in-
creasing in population ; and when the St. Lawrence and
Welland Canals^ and the Ottawa Navigation are com-
pletely finished^ so that the expenses of transhipment
will be avoided^ it is impossible to foretell the increase
of the carrying trade^ as no doubt the Americans on
Lakes Michigan and Erie will prefer the cheaper mode
of sendmg down flour, peltries, ashes, staves, &c., by
the Great Welland Canal, to the tedious and dearer
navigation of that of Erie. The Welland Canal, I
have always argued, is the most important of all to
Canada. It opens out the whole of Western America,
from the Columbia on the Pacific, and the mouths of
the Mississippi, to the Hudson's Bay Territory and the
fur-hunting countries of the North ; whilst the great
wheat-growing Western States find a new road to the
ocean by it ; and all the best part of Canada, its wheat,
its hemp, its flax, and its tobacco-grounds, are imme-
diately in its vicinage.

To show the British reader the great importance of
this public work, which has now passed into the hands
of the Provincial authorities, after having long been
a source of mere private speculation, I shall annex
a statement of the Tolls for the years 1841 and 1842 :

CANADA. 245

Welland Canal Tolls.

£ 8. d.
From August 31st, 1840, to

Sept. 30th, 1841 .... 15,453 2 OJ
From August 31 st, 1841, to

Sept 30th, 1842 ... . 19,733 OJ

Increase. .... 3,279 18 0^

Tolls for all 1841 20,210 19 9

Tolls to 30th Sept. only, 1842 . 19,733 OJ

Now if this Canal, in its wretched and unfinished
state, fit for mere barges only, could be made to yield
twenty thousand a-year by the very side of the Erie
Canal, what will it do when it is properly finished as
a Ship Canal ? Why, the whole of the produce of the
Western countries would go down it ; and if a judicious
tariff between the State of New York and Canada was
established, all the European and Asiatic merchandize
used in Western America would be conveyed along its
line, instead of by the tortuous and tedious route of the
wooden works of the Erie navigation.

To prove that this is now advancing beyond a ques^
tion to a state which will bear out this assertion, I
shall just notice the advantages which the Welland
navigation has over the Erie.

In the first place, the entrance and exit of the Wel-
land Canal is free from ice some Weeks before and
after the artificial harbour of Buffalo is open, and as
the whole line of the Welland runs through an isthmus
in which winter, by a singular provision of nature, is
less severe than in the neighbouring region, so the
feeders are available both earlier and later in like man<»

246 CANADA.

ner ; and when the supply waa drawn ojST^ all that was
necessary to carry on internal communication was the
railroad between Queenstown and Chippewa, in order
to open Eastern and Western Canada to each other.
The Welland is a canal of only a few miles in length,
the Clinton, or Erie inland navigation, embraces some
hundreds.

The lakes are a road of themselves, from the Falls
of St. Mary on Superior to .the mouth of the Welland
Canal on Lake Erie. Passing through this short water-
course to its exittis on Lake Ontario, that lake com-
. municates with the Atlantic Ocean by the magnificent
works of the Rideau and the St. Lawrence; and all
that was wanted to prevent transhipment, was the
enlargement of the Lachine Canal, which I have always
thought would have been much better placed at the
back of Isle Jesus, so as to admit of a free opening
both to the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence works.

Nobody at home can form an idea of the grandeur
of the rivers St. Lawrence and Ottawa, or of the mighty
canals which have surmounted the perils and difficul-
ties of their rushing and rapid waters. The Rideau is
without a doubt the finest specimen of a stone-built
canal in the world, and the St. Lawrence rivals it.
This splendid colonial work, erected under the superin-
tendence of an officer of engineers, who had Colonel
By^s achievement on the Rideau constantly before his
eyes, was opened in 1842, by the passage of the Hiffh*
lander steamboat through its finished lock. Thus the
obstacle of the great rapid of the Longue Sault, or
Long Leap, was overcome.

A mere outline of the gigantic scheme of inland
navigation is, of course, all that can be expected in

CANADA, ^ 247

a work chiefly devoted to military history ; but it is a
proud reflection for the Corps of Royal Engineers, that
it has had so large a share in bringing this noble
scheme to maturity.

The line of inland navigation commences with the
La Chine Canal at Montreal, cut to avoid the rapids
of the St. Lawrence at that place, for a distance of
nine miles. This work, originally very perfect for
barges, has been enlarged, so as to form the main
leader to the seas of Canada. It opens upon Lake
St. Louis, a great but shallow expansion of the St.
Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, twenty-one miles from
Beauharnois. The next cutting is at the Cascades, at
the village of Beauharnois, where the new Canal (called
after the village) commences, and extends fifteen miles
to a point opposite Coteau du Lac, and surmounts the
Bapids called the Cascades, the Cedars, and the Coteau,
all about sixty feet fall, and which had already a small
canal, inadequate for anything but boats or barges.

The 'Beauharnois Canal, commenced in 1842, leads
into the Lake St. Francis, another large and shallow
opening out of the St. Lawrence, which extends to
Cornwall, a distance of thirty-five miles.

Here, on the line of latitude 45 degrees, begins the
Cornwall Canal, at the pretty little town so called, and
which extends as far as Dickenson's Landing, or eleven
and a quarter miles, with a fall of about fifty feet.
This, which was commenced under the superintendence
of Lieutenant-colonel Fhillpotts of the Royal Engineers,
and nearly completed by him, is an excellent specimen
of the whole St. Lawrence Canal work. It has six
locks of the best and most beautiful solid masonry,
constructed in the most lasting manner, each chamber

248 CANADA.

being 200 feet in length by 50 in width, with 10 feet
water, and calciilated for the largest class of the steam-
boats and sailing vessels which ever ply upon Lake
Ontario, or on the Lower St. Lawrence from Montreal
to Quebec. It was opened on the 25th of November,
1842, by the steamboat Highlander.

This canal, styled par excellence the St. Larvrence,
was undertaken to overcome the worst part of the
fiapids of the Longue Sault, near Cornwall, and passes
by the villages of Mille Rochers and Moulinette, and
has near its centre, towards the south, the celebrated
Bamhart^s Island, which was conceded by treaty to
the United States.

From Dickenson's landing to Prescott is thirty-eight
miles, in which the undermentioned short canals were
required to overcome the Galloppe, Point Cardinal,
Rapide Plat, and Farren's Point Rapids, the first half
a mile, the second only three-tenth^ of a mile; the
Rapide Plat, however, three and nine-tenths miles, and
the fourth eight-tenths of a mile ; in all five miles and
a half. But steamers and Ericson's propellers have
treated these obstructions with very little regard ; yet
still they are necessary to be canalized, as danger lurks
in their whirling waters. Thus the whole length of the
St. Lawrence, Canal is only thirty-one and a half miles.*

I have mentioned the Rideau Canal so much at
large in a former work, that it is unnecessary now to
compare it with the St. Lawrence; but I shall put the
reader in possession of circumstances gathered from
Lieutenant-colonel Phillpott's and Mr. Killaly's reports,

* Mr. Thomas Keefer, one of the most distinguished civil engi-
neers in Canada, has prepared admirable plans for deepening th«
rapids of the St Lawrence, — EoiToa.

-r

CANADA. 249

which will show at once the extent and capabilities of
the vast works of the St. Lawrence Canal. The
calculations of Colonel Phillpotts are followed, although
there has been great discussion about placing the canal
at Beauharuois, or on the north side; the former
route is a mile or so longer.*

INLAND NAVIGATION BY THE ST. LAWRENCE.

Miles.
From the Ocean Port of Quebec by the

St. Lawrence to Montreal . . ,180
Montreal or La Chine Canal .. . 9

La Chine to Cascades by Lake St. Louis . 21
Beauhamois Canal, to avoid the Cascades,

Cedars, and Coteau du Lac Rapids . 14f
Lake St. Francis to Cornwall . . 35
Cornwall Canal to Dickenson^s Landing . 11^
Dickenson^s Landing to Prescott, in which
five and a half miles of canal are ne-
cessary 38

Prescott to Kingston ... 70 .

Kingston to Port Dalhousie on Welland

Canal 180

Port Dalhousie, by Welland Canal, to Port
Colborne, on Lake Erie ... 28

587

Five hundred and eighty-seven miles of inland
water communication is thus opened from Quebec
tide-waters to Lake Erie, and to Lakes Michigan and
Superior, or 2,000 miles, of which 526| are natural,

* The Beauharnois Canal was placed on the south side of the river
to serve local interests, and it is thus unfortunately within sixteen
miles of the United States frontier. — Editor.

M 3

250 CANADA.

and only 60^ artificial^ whilst^ by a short cut of a
mile or so at the Falls of St. Mary^ the whole of Lake
Superior^ for 400 miles more would be thrown open.

This will therefore give Great Britain an exclusive
and direct road from London to the vast Far West^ and
opens to the Hudson's Bay merchant a new and facile
path for the produce of his industry, whilst the wheat-
growing lands of the American Union will at once be
thrown open to commerce.

In this 60^ miles of canal there are 63 locks and
517 feet of lockage; and, according to Lieutenant-
colonel Fhillpotts, the expense required was i&2,228,700
to bring the surplus produce of the vast Western States
of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana,
Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama,
Wisconsin, and Iowa to the Atlantic, by way of
Montreal and Quebec, instead of altogether by the
routes of the Mississipi to New Orleans; the Ohio
and Chesapeake Canal to Baltimore; the Ohio and
Pennsylvania Canal to Philadelphia; by the Ohio,
Kanawha, and James River to Richmond in Virginia ;
and by the tediously long Erie Canal from Buffalo to
New York.

The Buffalo merchants^ ship produce from Chicago,
that growing emporium of the West, chiefly in steam-
boats ; and have, of course, frequent transhipments and
unloadings to undergo before the cargoes reach the
Atlantic at New York. The obvious gain by a ship
cana], such as the Welland, in even sending goods
from the West only as far as Oswego is clear ; but if
the Americans obtain a transit trade to the ocean
without unshipping, it becomes a matter of specula-
tion whether Monti*eal and Boston would not, instead

CANADA. 261

of New York, become the emporiums of the West.
In short. Nature and the command of capital has
created for England a water road through the heart of
America, which almost realizes the fairy visions which
caused the discovery of that continent, as the meta
incopiita appears verily to have been found, in the
noble St. Lawrence, and the trading path is nearly
opened which leads to the slumbering waters of the
Pacific and the Golden Cathay.

To efiect this approach to so desirable a consumma-
tion as that of rendering Canada as important as she
deserves to be, we find that Great Britain stepped
forward with a loan of a million and a half, and the
princely merchants of London came forward to acce-
lerate the disposal of that vast sum. I was at first
much opposed to the immense outlay required in
constructing the St. Lawrence Canal, when the Bideau
answered every purpose for small steamboats ; but my
mind has since been convinced that the two are
perfectly compatible with the best interests of the
province, the one as a miUtary, the other as a com-
mercial canal. Besides, the Rideau Canal leads
directly from Lake Ontario to that part of the great
Ottawa, which must hereafter be rendered navigable
for the immense and fertile region embraced between
the Ottawa, the Nipissing country. Lakes Huron,
Simcoe, and Ontario ; it will soon be explored fully,
and the tide of emigration turned into its silent and
splendid forests and rivers.* "

• Between the Ottawa and Xake Huron, and in other parts of
Canada, free grants of fifty acres of land may be obtained on the con«
ditions of settlement, cultivation, and keeping the road in repair
opposite the lot.— Editor.

252 CANADA.

The Welland Canul tolls amounted^ in the dis*
tressed season of 1839, to ^12,700. The tolls of the
fiideau in 1839, were only £7,000; the La Chine,
;£6,638 10s. 4^. ; the Grenville or Ottawa canals,
£2,000. Thus the Welland was in 1841, nearly as
productive as all the others put together; for even
granting that the others in 1841 had risen, they rose
only in the same proportions.

The Erie Canal tolls in 1838, when the Cana«
dian rebellion had paralyzed commerce in Canada, and
consequently assisted the transit trade to New York,
amounted to £318,189 3s. sterling, which alone
showed the vast amount to be gained by making the
Welland a ship canal. Before it was excavated, all the
carrying-trade was by portage across the Niagara fron-
tiers and to the ocean by Montreal and Quebec ; but
the moment Clinton finished his stupendous under-
taking, the carrying-trade departed from Canada
entirely, until some enterprising spirits got up the
Welland Canal speculation,*

The Erie navigation is only 40 feet wide and 4 feet
deep, and thus fitted merely for shallow covered barges.
It is 363 miles long, and connects Lake Erie with the
tide waters of the Hudson River at Albany. It was
conmenced in 1817, and completed in 1825, in which
year the WeUand Canal was commenced.

The cost of the Erie navigation was great, —
£1,607,127 11*. 6d. About a quarter of that sum
was required, or £416,571 5*. Id., according to
Mr. Killaly's original report, to render the Welland
Canal fit for large steamboats.

* Among whom is to be distinguished Mr. Hamilton Merritt.
—Editor.

CANADA. 253

In 1841, the canal tolls of the State of New York
amounted to the great sum of 1,792,485 dollars. In
1842, they diminished to 1,525,525 dollars, probably
owing to the New TariflF and the increased transit
trade by ^he Welland. But at all events the transit
trade by canal in that State has befen worth nearly
three quarters of a million sterling a year to the
revenue; whilst from the paltry construction of the
Canadian Canal, one quarter at least of that sum was
lost to the province.

The arguments for and against the imposition of a
protective duty on American produce passing through
Canadian canals or water routes, would occupy too
much space, so I shall merely add the result of Mr.
Merritt's experience in a debate upon the subject.

It is asserted that Canada does not at present grow
wheat enough even for her own consumption. This
argument does not, however, hold good for the future
condition of the country j and be it remembered that
immigration is going on at the rate of 40,000 persons
a year.

I confess I like the reasoning of those persons who
say that there is not enough attention paid to mer-
cantile interests in the Government of Canada, '^as
neither the Executive, nor the Legislative Council
contains that infusion of mercantile intelligence abso-
lutely essential to ensure a faithful representation of
commercial interests. The Executive, in particular, is
deficient on this point,— an evil which might be cured
by the creation of a Colonial Board of IVade, with an
ex-officio seat for its President in the Cabinet.^'

The same Montreal paper from which I have ex-
tracted the above, makes another observation, which it

254 CANADA.

will be well to bear in mind: — '^ Timber^ ashes, and
provisions, are the staples, at present, of the Canadian
export trade/^ The writer, however, forgets that
tobacco, and hemp, and flax, will soon bear a large
share in it.

" The agriculturists of Western Canada,^^ he says,
and it is true, — ^^ oppose the admission, of American
produce for consumption, whilst the merchants favour
it because it secures them the export trade/^ Let both
parties unite in a petition to the Imperial Government
to sanction the admission of American wheat which has
passed through Canada, upon the same terms as the
colonial produce, under the seal of the bonded system.
In what other mode will the expense of the Welland
and St. Lawrence Canals be covered ? But to Mr.
Merritt and his calculations, and the extent to which
mercantile transactions will be affected by the New
British Possessions Act, passed on the 16th July,
1842, and which came into operation in Canada on
the 5th July, 1843, I shall refer the reader to the
Appendix, as there the Act itself, imposing a duty
of 2s, per barrel on wheat flour from the Colonies, and
Mr. Merritt^s arguments concerning the transit trade,
are placed at length ; but the commercial reader will
find in the following extract from the Montreal
Gazette, an analysis of the difference between the
new and the old Acts highly useful.

With the view of aiding our readers in estimating the .extent to
which the transactions of 1843 must he affected hy it, we have com-
piled the following comparative statement of the duties on the chief
articles of our trade leviable under the existing and future law. It
must, however, be home in mind, that imder the former, the excess
of th^ Imperial duty over the Colonial, only, was collected ; whereas,
under the latter, the Imperial duty is levied without reference to the
Colonial : —

Tea

Fish, dried or salted . . . .

^sh, pickled

Fish oil, blubber, &c

Spermaceti

Wheat flour

Meat, salted or cured . . . .

Butter

Cheese

Coffee

Cocoa

Molasses

Sugar, unrefined

Do., refined

Do., do., in bond

Rum

Gin

Brandy

Wines, French, in bottle . .

Do , in wood. . .^

Do., all other, in bottle,

Madeira excepted

Do., in wood

Do., if from Great Britain,

Malta, or Gibraltar ....

Madeira

Manufactures —
Glass

Silk

Cotton

Linen . s

Woollen

Leather

Paper

Hardware • . . «

Tobacco

Clocks and watches

Soap

Candles, other than Sperm

Corks, cordage

Oakum

Articles, non-enumerated. .

CANADA.

Duties now payable.

Prohibited.

Do

Do

Da

Do. ...;

Free

Free

15 per ct ad val.

15 do

5s. per cwt. ......

58. do

4s. 6d. do.

5s. do

20 per ct ad val.

20 do

Is. per gal

Is. 3d. do.

•*....

{

255

Duties payable after

July 5th, 1848.
Id. per lb.

2s. per cwt

4s. per l^arrel.

15 per ct ad val.

15 do.

28. per barrel.

3s. per cwt

8s. do.

5s. do.

5 s. do.

I's. do.

3s. do.

5s. do.

20 per ct ad val.

10 do.

6d. per gallon.

Is. do.

Is. do.

Is. 3d; do

£1 7s. per tun . . . . ^
7 J per ct ad val.
Is. per doz. bottles
7^ per ct ad val.

}ie7 7s. per tun.. .. y ^, ^ , ,

Is. per doz. bottles y '^
7s. per ton. ......

}

10s. do.
£7 do.

15 ditto.

1

20 per ct ad val.l

30 do J

20 do

30 do

15 do.'

30 do

80 do..: ....

15 do

20 do

30 do

20 do

15 do

15 do

Free.

15 per ct. ad vaL 4 ditto.

) 7 ditto.

256 CANADA.

With reference to the latter class, we name a few of the articles it
compromises, and in which considerahle business already exists, or
may arise ; — ale or beer ; spices ; arrow-root ; bees- wax ; cabinet-
ware i leather ; carriages ; feathers ; floor-cloths, painted ; flower-
roots ; furs ; glue ; horn, and articles made thereof ; lead, and
articles made thereof; Indian rubber, and articles made thereof;
lard ; linseed oil ; mats ; medicines ; paints, and brushes of all de*
scriptions ; perfumes ; quills ; silver, and gold, and articles manu-
factured thereof, except watches ; salt ; slates ; straw, and articles
made thereof ; types ; and zinc.

It is also provided that if any goods, charged with duty, tea and
sugar excepted, shall be imported through the United Kingdom,
having been warehoused therein, and having been exported from the
warehouse, or the duties thereon, if there paid, having been drawn
back, such goods shall only be charged with three-fourths of the
duties named in the Act

The internal navigation of Canada is not however
merely to be considered as effected by the construction
of the St. Lawrence Canal, and by the enlargement
of the Welland and La Chine Canals. These merely
create a water road from the Western States, and
Western Lakes to the Atlantic. The producer in
Canada must • have other means of reaching this
main artery, and thus the following works are more
essential to his well-being.* ' ^

* To show the enormous trade carried on by means of the Erie
Canal, with the Lakes Erie, Michigan, and Huron, I subjoin the
following return :

CANAL TRADE OF BUFFALO IN 1842.
From the Buffalo Daily Mercantile Courier^ Dec. 7.

Below is a table made up from the books of the Canal Collector of
the shipment of property down the canal during the year 1842, with
a similar table for 1841, for the purpose of comparison. The
sudden closing of the canal has arrested flour and wheat enough at
tills place to have increased the former article to 660,000 and tlie
latter to 1,250,000 bushels, which would show a trifling increase
over 1840, when the navigation lasted until Dec. 1 ; notwithstanding
a large amount has gone through Canada.

CANADA. 257

m

The Trent Davigation^ for which the small sum
of £23^364^ and the Inland waters navigation of the

Of other articles some show an increase, some a diminution, and
some articles, viz. : square timber and barley, have been shipped
from this port which were not reported at all last year. A large
increase will be noticed in wool, lead, flax-seed, butter and lard,
cheese, ashes, com, and oats ; and a great reduction in ship stufik,
peas and beans, dried fruit, leather, hides, iron, staves, boards and
scantling, and domestic spirits.

1842. 1841.

Ashes, barrels 17,828 10,166

Pork, barrels 52,489^ 67,007

Beef, barrels 4,293 3,218

Fish, barrels 2,347 1,844

Flour, barrels 640,277 648,686

Wheat, bushels 1,171,651 1,207,125

Rye, bushels 2,075 3,057

Com, bushels 279,953 148,727

Barley, bushels 2,933

Oats, bushels 161,410 34,262

Ships' stuffs, bushels 17,836 33,851

Peas and beans, bushels .... 5,554 11,625

Dried fruit, lbs. 28,930 280,98 1

Clover and Grass Seed, lbs. . 1,289,314 1,378,842

Flaxseed, lbs 675,270 370,174

Hops, lbs. 1 8,394 2,745

Tobacco, lbs. 979,874 805,595

Cotton, lbs. 48,603 73,016

Wool, lbs 577,078 ? 340,229

Leather, lbs. 105,159 210,845

Hides, lbs. 208,646 497,879

Bar and Pig Lead, lbs. 1,454,558 107,41 1

Pig Iron, lbs 34,300 67,239

Iron Ware, lbs 23,422 60,024

Butter and Lard, lbs 6,242,072 5,147,246

Cheese, lbs. 2,807,983 1,211,585

Merchandise, lbs 242,348 363,3 18

Furniture, lbs 698,658 902,019

stone. Lime, &c., lbs 436,378 509,878

Gypsum, lbs 2,032

Mineral Coal, lbs. 2,981 5,150

Furs and Peltries, lbs 291,177 363,751

Staves 34,851,010 56,623,456

258 CANADA.

Newcastle district, for which i;21,660 was set aside,
are most important works, as they open oat a vast
interior of the most fertile description to the agri-
culturist.

If there is any portion of the unsettled region of
Canada more fertile and delightful than another; it
is the splendid section through which the Trent, the
Bice Lake^ the Otonabee, and the chain of lakes and
streams, including Balsam Lake, run and communicate
with Lake Simcoe, and approach the Moon River and
Lake Nipissing. Here Nature has spread out her
bounties with no sparing hand.

Peterborough stands at the foot of a series of rapids
formed by the Oton£ibee, and the tributary lakes and

Boards and Scantling, feet . . 5,232,323 9,123,994

Sliingles, M 150^ 211

Timber, 100 ft 8,172

Wood, cords 973 13

Domestic Spirits, gallon 373,520 717.040

Sundries, lbs 3,251,835 2,205,959

The amount collected in 1842 Dollars 374,448*89

„ „ 1841 „ 848,482-08

Excess in favour of 1842 ..... .^ ..<... . 25,966.81

Whole number of clearances in 1842, 5,171

1841,5,782

Deficiency of clearances in 1842, 611

Canal Tolls. — Account of tolls received on all the canals of this
State during the last week in November, and the totals to the 80th
November in each of the years following, viz. :

Last week in Nov. Totals to SOth Nov.

Dollars. Cents. Dollars. Cents.

1835 21,191 03 81,544,841 14

1836 18,081 72 1,613,028 85

1837 18,325 26 1,283,934 75

1888 12,074 81 1,590,244 66

1839 5,041 56 1,599,028 00

1840 20,190 47 1,773,582 51

1841 21,734 11 2,033,261 77

1842 5,380 09 1,748,869 88

Comparing this year with the last, there was a falling off in the

last week in November of 1 6,354*02, and the total falling off to the
SOth of November is 284,391*89 dollars.— ^/tony Argut,

CANADA. 259.

streams spriDging out of the depths of this vast and
unopened forest ; and Nature^ although she has placed
impediments in the way of the natural water route^
to that king of fresh water seas^ Lake Huron, has
nevertheless interposed one of the finest and safest
expanses of inland water between Lake Ontario and
it, — Lake Simcoe, to assist the engineer in surmount-
ing all obstacles, through a series of wild turbulent
streams, noisy cascades, and splendid sheets of rapids ;
which for eight miles beyond Peterborough, are
encountered at every half-mile through a limestone
country where materials are everywhere at hand.
Beyond this angry portion gI the Otonabee, is a scene
which Qsinnot be adequately described, as the waters
spread out into every variety of form, which islands,
lakes, and rivers can present.

Lakes incessantly follow each other, some not more
than a mile, others ten miles long, whose banks con-
sist of a rolling outline covered down to the pure
margin of the water, with the most rich, luxuriant,
and magnificent forest scenery, in a fertile and rich
soil. For nearly an hundred miles the traveller passes
through scenes which awaken all the most splendid
conceptions of the grandeur with which forest and
fell combuie in the scenery of the New World ; and
here sailing along, or paddling at his ease, nothing
disturbs the reign of Nature but the solitary cry of
the loon, the sharp note of the kingfisher, the tapping
of the great woodpecker, the screams of the wild
geese, and the noisy wing of the splashing duck, or
the occasional dart of a maskanong^, a huge species
of pike, from his deep abode. Now and then you see

260 CANADA*

the Red Indian^ as silent as his native woods, engaged
in hunting or fishing; but in general, with the ex-
ception of some solitary clearings at long distances,
all is solemnly still, and in magnificent repose. At
the end of his journey on these beautiful waters, after
passing along a deep, black, placid stream, whose
frowning cliffs bound the prospect, a beautiful little
Niagara is reached, and the river pitches over a
regular parabolic curve, about thirty feet in height.
So regular is the descent, and so smooth the edge of
this Horse-shoe Fall, that a curious visitor may, it is
said, pass entirely across under it, from shore to shore,
behind a magnificent liquid curtain without danger,
and without being wetted by its spray.

This splendid fall comes from Balsam Lake, a very
deep and very extensive sheet of water, which conamu-
nicates by shallow streams and portages with Lakes
Simcoe and Huron to the eastward, and with the great
Ottawa to the west; whilst the Nipissing Lake and
French River, which join the Ottawa and Lake Huron,
are approachable to the north. Peterborough com-
municates with Lake Ontario by the Otonabee ; Rice
Lake and Trent River at the Bay of Quinte. The
Trent River passes through some of the finest land in
the province, and one of its picturesque falls in the
township of Seymour makes a fine sketch; but
the canal will be incomplete unless the harbour of
Presqu'ile, on Lake Ontario, is made available, and the
Bay of Quinte united with Lake Ontario by the much-
required canal of a mile or two in length across the
isthmus, near Presqu'ile, which appears now once
again to be forgotten, — although it would secure a safe

CANADA. 261

navigation of at least one-fourth of Lake Ontario, and
that, too, where it is most studded with shoals and
islands, and give a vent for the industry of the farmers
of Prince Edward, that most industrious and flourish-
ing of districts.

I shall not touch upon the other great internal
public works, such as roads and harbours, any further
than to observe, that it is to be hoped that roads will
be thought of before anything else, as without them
all the outlay on the harbours and canals, as far as
Canada will be concerned, will be nearly useless.

To show what the export trade of the United Pro-
vinces was, in 1842, and where that trade was directed
to, I append* an accurate list of the ports in Great
Britain to which 714 vessels were directed, embracing
a tonnage of 272,400 ; and those of the British Ame-
rican possessions, and South America, for which 175
ships, holding ] 3,090 tons sailed, making altogether
889 vessels and 385,490 tons. What will this export,
amount to when the internal navigation is fully
opened from Lake Superior to the sea? It is in-*
calculable. London, Liverpool, Belfast, Cork, Bristol,
Hull, Limerick, and Newcastle, appear to be the great
emporiums of the Canada export trade.

The value of the Canadas to Great Britain is there-r
fore so obvious, that it is useless to insist upon it, and
we must therefore only glance, in parting with' the
reader, at the future destinies of this New India*
Sir Charles Bagot^s health having failed, his consti-.
tution became unequal to the onerous task of setting
the house in order, which had so long been at dis-'

* See Appendix.

262 CANADA.

iinion^ and he was replaced by Sir Charles Metcalfe,
80 well known for his distinguished civil services in
India and in Jamaica.

The experiment of amalgamating the French Cana-
dians with the Reformers of Upper Canada was under
his auspices, tried; and although the Government
had a most triumphant and decided majority in the
Parliament, still great dissatisfaction existed in the
country, on account of the persons who took a leading
part in the rebellion having been rewarded with the
loaves and fishes, and the British residents, and the
British Canadians loudly and plainly proclaimed their
sense of the injustice.

Amongst these, the Quebec Gazette, decidedly one
of the most talented (to use the Irish phrase) of the
Canadian journals, thus spoke in the person of the
Hon. John Neilson, M. P. P., the Nestor of Reform,
and whose opinions, were perhaps decisive of the
general feeling. He was the proprietor of the paper.
"We have no doubt, however, that the majority of
the newspapers, and the majority of newspaper
readers in Canada, disapprove of the present Provincial
Administration, or are waiting to seC what they may
do, in order to take a more decided stand upon th^
subject.^'

That the French Canadians should be admitted at
once, manfully, and for ever, to an equal share in the
business, and management of the business, of Canada,
was so self-evident, that it is utter loss of time to
ai^e about it at all; but that persons recently in
hostile array against the Government, and whose
example stimulated the decent and excellent pea-
santry to take up arms, should absorb every place

CANADA, 263

and office of profit and of power^ seems little less
than to acknowledge that theirs was a just cause.

It was wise, and a policy that might have been
expected from the new ministry, to calm the excited
feehngs of the Lower Canadian, and even to go many
steps out of the way to do so ; but parties are much
more equally balanced in Canada than election returns
show, and the British and the French numerically
unequal, the majority being in favour of the Saxon,
instead of the Norman race.

Disquiet must therefore always reign in that fine
Province, unless justice is firmly and impartially
administered to both, without caring a jot for personal
pretension, or the pretension of class and race ; and
I can conceive very little difficulty beyond the usual
nine days^ wonder, in selecting such an administration
a$ will be able to carry out the principal of equal
rights, without admitting either race to ride rough-
shod over the other.

The majority of the British settlers are devotedly
loyal;* the French are, we trust, also disposed to
honour the Crown, and they dislike their neighbours
too much to render it probable that they will ever

* The Emigrants to Canada in 1842 were distributed as follows :

To Canada West, formerly Upper Canada .... 26,900

To the New Ottawa settlements 4,250

To Glengarry- and Beauhamois 1 ,946

To the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada . . 2,755

To the North of Montreal 1,175

N To the Public Works, and as Servants 3,479

Total > 40,505

13,060 were forwarded by Government 884 oiily were on the rick-
list during the season, and 59 died after landing ; 1,850 went to the
United St&tes.'-Kingston Chronicle^ Feb. 25, 1843.

264 CANADA.

sincerely join them. The Queen has declared that
her whole power shall uphold the connection with
England^ and therefore all that is wanted is firm-
ness and impartiality in the making of that power
felt.

The future of Canada is bright, and the general
polity of the colonial empire is now so clearly marked,
that Canada will neither ''be lost nor given away/' and
every friend to Britain looks anxiously to a permanently
settled system of emigration thither, on a large and
well-conducted scale; for as it must remain, and will
be essentially a British province, the central dominion
of English laws and English feeling in North America,
the day will come, in the ripeness of time, when the
five provinces will form one great whole, with Quebec
for the metropolis, of a country which must extend from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and control the destinies
of one grand and powerful division of the Anglo-Saxon
race.

Let us therefore hope that the French Canadian
will see that his real interest and his real glory consist
not in vain opposition to a power before which the
Roman and the Greek empires of old sink into insig-
nificance. Let him bless the hour when its mighty
aegis was thrown before him for his protection, and
instead of attending to the cabals of interested indi-
viduals, let him rouse himself to open out the endless
resources of his native soil, and hand down to his
posterity the proud boast of bein^ the active labourer
in perfecting the grand schemes now afoot to render
Canada the cynosure of Transatlantic States, and the
right arm of Great Britain.

CANADA. 265

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER.

Serious riots in Montreal in 1849 — Destruction of the Houses
of Parliament — The Governor-general assailed — Death of
Lieutenant-general Sir Benjamin D' Urban.

The Right Honourable the Earl of Elgin and
Kincardine having been appointed to the Govern-
ment of British North America in succession to
Lord Metcalfe* and Earl Cathcart,t and after having
successfully administered the government of Jamaica^
His Excellency arrived at Halifax, in the beginning
of 1847, and, on being presented with a con-
gratulatory address by the principal inhabitants,
showed himself to be a nobleman of great intelligence
and a scholar, by the happy manner of his reply.

His Excellency then proceeded to Montreal, where
he took up his residence at Monklands, three miles
from town, and devoted himself, to the best of his
judgment, in promoting the interests of the extensive
regions under his authority. Though some of His
Lordship^s ministers had been disaffected to British
authority during the rebellions of 1837-38, yet

* Whose admirable career has yet to be written,
f A highly distinguished officer.

VOL. II. N

266 CANADA.

His Excellency's goyemment worked with tolerable
smoothness till the spring of 1849^ when the
following serious occurrences took place.

The season was an open one; the St. Lawrence
was early free of ice, and, owing to the unexpected
- arrival of vessels with merchandise at the port of
Quebec, it was deemed advisable that His Lordship
should proceed, on a short notice, to Parliament,
on the 26th April, in- order to give the Boyal
Assent to a Customs Bill^ which had that ' day
passed the Legislative Council. Lord Elgin deemed
it expedient, at the same time, to dispose of the
other Acts, in which the two branches of the local
Parliament had, at an earlier period of the session,
concurred, and which still awaited his decision ;
among these was the Act to provide for the indemnifi^
cation of parties in Lower Canada, whose property
was destroyed during the rebellions of 1837-38,
with respect to which much excitement had been
stirred in and out of Parliament.

Many persons had disapproved of the measures
respecting rebellion losses in Lower Canada, which
had been introduced by the Government, and which
the local Parliament had passed by large majorities ;
and, in the minds of others, to use the language
of a despatch, "it stirred national antipathies, which
designing politicians sought to improve for their
own selfish ends."

The British party in Lower Canada, who had
turned out most loyally and gallantly in the re-
bellion, could not brook that those who had pursued
an opposite course should now entertain the idea,

CANADA. 267

that their losses during the rebellion should be
made good^ and that a tax should be imposed for
this purpose.

The British party imagined, that, by the In-
demnity Bill, all indiscriminately who had suffered
loss during the rebellion should be indemnified,
whether they had turned out against the Govern-
ment or not; when it was alleged by the opposite
party, that, after due inquiry, only those who had
incurred losses by no fault of their own should
be indemnified.

The Parliament was denounced as French in its
composition, and the Government as subject to
French influence ; and doctrines had been broached
with respect to the right which belongs to a British
minority, of redressing by violence any indignity to
which it might be subject from such a source.

When Lord Elgin left the Parliament-house, after
giving the Royal Assent to the Bills above alluded to,
among others the Rebellion Losses Indemnity Bill,
as he entered his carriage (which was escorted by
provincial cavalry) he was received by a crowd with
hootings and groans, whilst a knot of individuals,
respectably dressed, pelted the carriage with various
missiles collected at hand.

The Houses of Parliament were under one roof;
the building was formerly the St. Anne^s market,
which had been fitted up for Legislative purposes
after the seat of Government, which had been
at Eongston, was removed to Montreal. Besides
two spacious halls, for the Legislative Council and
the Legislative Assembly, well furnished, and oma-

n2

•
I

268 CANADA.

mented with handsome pictures of Her Majesty,
there were valuable Ubraries belonging to the above
two bodies^ and archives and records of the United
Provinces.

Notwithstanding the great excitement which pre-
vailed outside the Parliament House after the Go-
vernor-general had retired^ the House continued in
session^ and^ apparently, in perfect confidence,
although Sir Allan Macnab had warned the party
of the ministers, that it would be advisable to call
for military assistance^ as the populace were un-
derstood to be in a state of ferment, and a riot
might be expected. ,

It soon became known that a public-meeting
had been called; a caleche passed, with a bell,
and ^ person, announcing the meeting to take
place in the Champ de Mars^ at eight o^clock, was
heard from the House; the fire-bells were also rung
in the city^ to create an excitement.

Accordingly, at the Champ de Mars, a large
number of persons assembled ; the sloping bank
and the stone steps there were crowded with persons,
many of whom bore torches. Some inflammatory
speeches were made on the occasion, with reference
to the Rebelhon Losses Bill, &c., and suddenly
there was a cry, '^ To the Parliament House V^

The crowd immediately organized themselves hastily
into a sort of procession, and first marched and then
ran down, in an excited state, to the Parliament
buildings. It was nine o'clock, and the House of
Assembly was engaged in discussing the Judicature
Bill for Lower Canada; there was neither police nor

CANADA. 269

military in the way, when a loud shout, mingled with
yellings, gave the members unmistakable evidence
that a riot was fermenting outside, and immediately
after a number of stones were driven through the
window^. The strangers' gallery was immediately
deserted, some of the members escaped by it, and
others took refuge behind the Speaker's chair, whilst
the stones continued to be thrown incessantly.

The missiles came at first from the front of the
building, but presently they came from the back
also, till very little glass was left in the windows.
There was a short cessation in the attack and several
of the members again entered the house from the
lobbies, but the stones were again thrown and fell in
the centre of the hall through the shattered windows ;
then a cry was raised from the library end df the
building— '' They come !" and the members and clerks
there rushing across the hall disappeared at the
opposite end.

A dozen persons now entered the Hall of Assembly
from the library end, armed with sticks ; one of them,
a man with a broken nose, walked up the steps mid
seating himself in the Speaker's chair, said in Crom-
wellian style, and waving his hand, ^* I dissolve this
house !'' The others then commenced the work of de-
struction, the papers were struck off the members desks
into the middle of the floor with sticks. Some tore up
the benches and hurled them also into the middle of
the floor, whilst others threw their sticks at the chan-
deliers and globe-lights on the walls, and demolished
them.

Tlie splendid mace, silver-gilt and ornamented with

270 CANADA.

the imperial crown and Canadian beavers^ lay under
the table^ as the House was in Committee^ but one of
the rioters seeing it, he seized it up and carried it off
on his shoulders, when the Serjeant-at-arms, whose
province it was to guard the mace, rushed upon the
man who bore it, and endeavoured to rescue it, but
he was overpowered by others, and the mace was
borne into the street.

The Honourable William Robinson, M. P. P., and
Colonel Gugy, M.P.P., exerted themselves to expel the
rioters from the House. Sir Allan Macnab assisted to
save the Queen^s picture, when suddenly a red glare
of light from below showed that the building had
caught fire. It is* not believed that the rioters had
any intention originally to fire the Parliament-house ;
they ^certainly wished to testify their indignation by
pelting and hooting those who had been instrumental
in passing the obnoxious Rebellion Loss Bill, but
meeting with little or no opposition in the work of
destruction, and heated with passion, they probably
broke the gas-pipes, and thus the fire rapidly spread to
all parts of the building.

Sir Allan Macnab, the Honourable Mr. Badgley,
Mr. Turner, Editor of the Courier, and others, tried to
save some of the valuable books in the library of the
Assembly, the other picture of the Queen, in the
Council-chamber, was also carried out by Mr. W.
Snaith, JuUi and Mr. Hargrave ; it cost £500 and was
painted by Partridge, and for a time disappeared.
Bat now the flames spread so rapidly that every one
was obliged to seek safety in flight, and Sir Allan^
Mr. Badgley, Mr. Steers and Mr. Macfarlane, were

CANADA, 27 1

pursued by the flames^ were scorclied^ and were
eventually taken off a gallery with ladders.

The flames now enveloped the whole of the build-
ings and the military having been sent for^ when too
late, could only keep back the crowd, which drew up
on the foot-path to vie^ the conflagration, which
illuminated the whole city and rolled its black volumes
of smoke towards the Montreal mountain. Some fire-
engines tried to play on the building but ineffectually ;
however they saved some neighbouring houses which
had caught fire, also the Grey Nunnery. There was a
smart breeze blowing, and burning paper, in great
quantities was carried along the ground in flakes of
fire. It was altogether an imposing but a very painful
sight, chiefly on account of the destruction of the two
Valuable libraries and a large portion of the public
records of the Province. The Pilot office, where the
Ministerial paper was printed, was visited by the mob,
and the windows demolished, after which, for that
evening the work of destruction closed, and the morn-
ing sun looked ob the smoking and empty walls of the
late Houses of Parliament.

On their way from the Parliament building, the mob
escorted the person carrying the mace, in a caleche,
and when they came opposite Donegani's Hotel, where
Sir Allan Macpab lived, a cry was raised that the mace
should be left in his keeping, as the late popular
Speaker ; but a struggle taking place for its possession,
some of the beavers were broken off — however the
mace eventually was carried into Sir Allan's room.

The Commander of the Forces, his Excellency Lieu-
tenant-general Sir Benjamin D'Urban, G.C.B., — an

272 CANADA.

officer of the highest character, and of great experience
as a soldier and as a civil governor, — now arrived with
his staff from his country residence at Sorel,* and
made arrangements for the suppression of riot and
disorder ; but for a whole month the city continued in
a ferment, — so roused had the people become, — so
infuriated against each other were parties, — ^the British
or the old Loyalists, and the French or Ministerial
party..

The Government now made several arrests. Messrs^
Heward, Montgomerie, Mack, Esdaile, and Ferrea
were taken into custody, and marched ^ff to gaol, on
the plea that they had excited and headed the rioters
at the destruction of the Parliament House. The
people threatened to rescue them, and beat and in-
sulted several of the Members obnoxious to them, wh5
came in their way, — as Mr. Holmes, Mr. Watts, Mr.
H. Boulton. The military were drawn across the
street at the old Government House, in Notre Dame-
street, where the Ministers were sitting in council
and the mob continued to hoot and |telt the members
of the Ministry and their supporters who attempted
to come out of the conclave within. The soldiers
every now and then cleared the ground, by marching
to and fro with fixed bayonets, and the people always
retired before them, cheering and laughing, as there
was, of course, no ill feeling between them and the
soldiers.

At night, the assemblage in front of Gk)vemment-

* His personal staff at this time consisted of Captain Kirkland,
Military Secretary, Major Talbot, Sir J. £. Alexander, and Captain
V. Murray, Aides-de-camp,

CANADA. 273

house became more dense ; signals were passed among
the crowd, and suddenly a large body moved oflF
towards the St. Antoine suburb, where, attacking the
residence of the Prime Minister, Mr. Lafontaine,
the stables were destroyed by fire, and the house
ransacked inside; the furniture broken, feather-beds
emptied to the wind, books tumbled from their shelves,
and the whole house became a wreck. Fortunately for
the family, they escaped before the rioters arrived. The
mob moved so swiftly and silently, that the military
did not reach the house of Mr. Lafontaine — who
omitted to have a guard there, after the warning he
had had by the destruction of the Parliament House,
— ^till the mischief was done.

The rioters next visited Mr. Drummond^s house;
there they found a guard, and no damage ensued. At
Messrs. Baldwin and Cameron^s boarding-house the
windows were broken; also at Dr. Wolfred Nelson's
residence, and at the houses of Messrs. Hincks,
Holmes, and Charles Wilson.*

The Executive had in a manner left the city for two
days in the hands of the mob, though a powerful
military force only waited the requisition of the civil
authorities to turn out and maintain the supremacy of
the law ; and now perhaps, because the military had
not come up in time to prevent the unexpected move
on Mr. Lafontaine's house, the singular expedient
was resorted to of arming with cutlasses and pistols
500 partizans collected from the suburbs, young French
Canadians, Irishmen, &c., ^' for the protection of lives

* The energetic Mayor in 1851. ^Editor.

n3

274 CANADA*

and property/^ If the householders had been asked^
they would immediately have turned out as special
constables, and acted with the two strong regiments in
garrison, the 19th and 23rd.*

The drilling of the armed constables during the night
at the Bonsecours Market occasioned an immense
ferment among the opposite party. They again
organized themselves, and were marching to disarm
the constables by force, when they were met by General
Gore and Colonel Gugy, who harangued them, said the
arming was " a mistake,^^ and that next morning one
part of the population should not be armed against the
other. The mob was accordingly pacified and retired.
If they had gone on there would have been a fearful
scene of bloodshed.

Another riot was nearly excited by the arrival from
Quebec of a deputation to offer protection to the
Governor-general ; but the members of this deputation,
learning that they would probably be met on the
wharf by an angry mob, prudently left the steamer,
and landed in the outskirts of Montreal and entered the
City in the evening, without exciting observation.f

The loyal inhabitants of the city now held a meeting,
and put forth an address, signed by 200 respectable
names, inviting the citizens to preserve peace and
order. This had, to a certain extent, a tranquillizing
effect ; but a new source of uneasiness arose from the

* The want of &n efficient civil force at this time in Montreal,
caused the military authorities to remonstrate against the employment
of the troops for police duties, this may explain the expedient of the
armed constahles.

^ f The address from Quehec was one of a number presented at this
time to Lord Elgin from different parts of the country.

CANADA. 27S

ministry having arranged to get up an address of
confidence in the Governor-general, and deciding that
his Excellency shoidd receive it in town, instead of at
his official country residence at Monklands."!^

Lord Elgin accordingly drove into town in his
carriage and four to receive the Address at the Old
Government-house. His Excellency was accompanied
by the Honourable Colonel Bruce, his brother and
Military Secretary, Lord Mark Kerr, and Lieutenant
Grant, A.D.C^s., and he was escorted by Captain
Joneses troop of Provincial Dragoons. The Infantry
were drawn up opposite Government-house. As His
Lordship entered the city, he was assailed by a shower
of stones in the Haymarket and Great St. James-street,
thrown by some stout mechanics in fustian jackets ;
and again as he proceeded along Notre Dame-street,
he was obliged to keep his hat before his jeyes to
guard his face from the missiles, and entered Govern-
ment-house, carrying with him a 21b. stone, which he
picked up from the bottom of the carriage : altogether
most unusual treatment for Her Majesty^s Represen-
tative to receive, and very painful to witness.

There was a great and angry crowd in the streets,
who, expecting His Lordship^s return by the same
route he had passed along, had made preparations for
obstructing him, and for upsetting his carriage by
drawing cabs across the street ; but it was a maxim of
the renowned Rob Roy, ^' never to return by the same

* It was considered that the address was a necessary sequel to the
events which had preceded it, and that its presentation at the Govern-
ment Buildings, in Montreal, was the proper and customary course,
and that on constitutional grounds it could not have been presented at
Monklands.

276 CANADA.

road you went, if you expect any trouble/' accord-
ingly, whei^ His Lordship re-entered his carriage^
instead of turning round, he directed the carriage to
proceed straight forward, and doubling on the mob, he
passed rapidly along St. Denis and Sherbrooke-streets
to gain Monklands by a circuitous route.*

When the mob perceived this clever manoeuvre, they
were much exasperated, and rushing on foot and in
cabs by by-streets to intercept the carriage in Sher-
brooke-street ; a considerable number came up in time
to assail it with stones at " Molson's comer.'* Colonel
Bruce's head was cut and bled, Colonel Ermatenger,
PoUce-Magistrate, was stunned; also Captain Jones,
and every panel of the carriage was stove in. The
escort was not loaded, or several lives would have been
lost ; the postilions, as the rioters were crowding in
front, turned sharp up the Mile-end-road, and by good
and rapid driving, soon cleared the excited multitude.
His Lordship reached Monklands in safety, though he
had certainly a very narrow escape from personaL
injury, — the exasperation was so great against him
for signing the obnoxious Rebellion Loss Bill.

About this time there was some bloodshed, in con-
sequence of the Ministers and their friends having
given a political dinner at Tetus Hotel to a deputation
from their party at Toronto. Toasts were given, and
there was a good deal of cheering ; this was answered
by groans from without. A crowd had collected, and

* This arrangement was made ybr not hy Lord Elgin ; it originated
with the heads of the military and civil force, on the spot, who urged
it most strenuously, and the welcome prepared at Ndtre Dame- street
justified the advice.

CANADA, 277

empty bottles having been imprudently thrown out at
them, stones were returned, and an attempt made to
force the door, which was resisted with knives and
pistol shots ; two or three of the mob were wounded,
and the house ran the risk of being fired, had not a
strong party of the military (horse and foot), under
Colonel Hay (Commanding 19th Regiment), promptly
arrived and quieted the disturbance.

Mr. Lafontaine^s house was again attacked, but
this time being prepared for the mob, they were
received with a volley of musketry from the windows ;
which taking effect fatally on a young man named
Mason, the rioters dispersed. At the Coroner's
Inquest, Mr. Lafontaine being present to give
evidence, the hotel (where it was held) was set on
fire from above, and an attempt was made to do
violence to Mr. Lafontaine in the confusion, but a
party of the 71st Highlanders saved him.

The Parliament now held its sittings in the new
building of Mr. Hays, in Dalhousie-square. Sir J.
E. Alexander had searched for and recovered in
different places, in the outskirts of the city, the
portraits of Her Majesty, which had been carried
off the night of the burning of the Parliament-
house. They were repaired, and resumed their places ;
and things were beginning to assume an air of com-
parative tranquillity after a month of intense an^ety
and excitement, when the closing scene of this pabful
history was the sudden demise of one of England's
most accomplished generals. His Excellency, Sir
Benjamin D'Urban, — ^wom out in the service of his
country, and having fought her battles in the Peninsula

278 CANADA.

and Sooth of France^ and in Africa^ anil administered
the Governments of Antigua^ British Guiana^ and the
Cape of Good Hope^ with the greatest advantage to
the pubUe^ — ^fell back on his bed^ on the 25th of
April, and expired at the age of seventy-two, from
an affection of the throat. As an Obelisk^ erected to
his memory by the officers serving in Canada^ records^
'^ He died as he had livedo in the faithful discharge of
his duty to God and his sovereign/'

The ParUament was prorogued by Lieutenant-
general Bowan^ C.B.^ now appointed to command
Her Majesty's Forces, and Lord Elgin proceeded to
Toronto, as the seat of Government, which^ in 1851,
is transferred to Quebec.

APPENDIX.

NEW BRITISH POSSESSIONS ACT,

To take ^ect in Canada on the 6th July, 1843.

ANNO QtJINTO ET SEXTO VICTORIA REOINiG.

CAP. XLIX.

An Act to amend the laws for the Regulation of the
Trade of the British possessions abroad. — [16th July,
1842.]

Whereas an Act was passed in the third and fourth
years of his late Majesty King William the Fourth,
intituled An Act to regulate the Trade of the British
Possessions abroad, hereinafter designated as ^^The
Possessions Act :" And whereas it is expedient to pake
certain alterations and amendments therein : Be it there-
fore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty,
by and with the advice of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that,
except as hereinafter is provided, from and after the
fiftii day of July one thousand eight hundred and forty-
three, so far as relates to the British possessions in

280 APPENDIX.

North America^ and firom and after the fifth day of
April one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, so
far as relates to the British possessions in South America
and the West Indies, and from and after the fifth day
of July one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, so
far as relates to the Mauritius, this Act shall come into
and be and continue in full force and operation for all
the purposes mentioned herein.

II. And whereas, under or by virtue of an Act passed
in the fourth year of his late Majesty George the Third,
intituled an Act for granting certain duties in the
British Colonies and Plantations in America, for con-
tinuing, amending and making perpetual an Act passed
in the sixth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King
George the Second, intituled An Act for the better
securing and encouraging the trade of his Majesty's
Sugar Colonies in America; for applying the produce
of such duties and of the duties to arise by virtue of
the said Act, towards defraying the expenses of defend-
ing, protecting and securing the said Colonies and
Plantations ; for explaining an Act made in the twenty-
fifth year of the Reign of King Charles the Second,
intituled an Act for the encouragement of the Green-
land and Eastland trades, and for the better securing
the Plantation trade ; and for the altering and disallow-
ing several drawbacks on exports from this Kingdom,
and more effectually preventing the clandestine con-
veyance of goods to and from the said Colonies and
Plantations, and improving and securing the trade
between the same and the United Kingdom, the fol-
lowing duties are chargeable upon wines imported into
the British possessions in America; (that is to say).

". "1

APPENDIX. 281

For every ton of wine of the growth of the Madeiras,
or of any other island or place from whence such
wine may be lawfully imported, and which shall be
so imported from such islands or places, the sum of
seven pounds :
For every ton of Portugal, Spanish, or any other wine
[except French wine], exported from the United
Kingdom, the sum of ten shillings :
And whereas, under or by virtue of an Act passed
in the sixth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King
George the Third, intituled an Act for repealing certain
Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations granted
by several Acts of Parliament, and also the Duties
imposed by an Act made in the last Session of Parlia-
ment upon certain East India goods exported from the
United Kingdom, and for granting other duties instead
thereof, and for further encouraging, regulating, and
securing several branches of the trade of this Kingdom
and the British dominions in America, the following
duties are chargeable upon molasses and syrups and
British pimento imported into the British possessions
in America ; (that is to say).
For every gallon of molasses and syrups [except as in

the same Act is mentioned], one penny :
For every pound weight avoirdupois of British pimento
[except as in the same Act is mentioned], one half-
penny :

And whereas, under or by virtue of an Act passed in
the fourteenth year of the Reign of His late Majesty
King George the Third, intituled an Act to establish a
fond towards further defraying the charges of the
Administration of Justice and support of the Civil

282 APPENDIX.

Govemment within the Province of Quebec in America^
the foUowing duties are chargeable on brandy^ rum,
and spirits^ imported in any port of Canada; (that is
to say),

For every gaUon of brandy or other spirits of the manu-
facture of the United Kingdom, threepence :
For every other gallon of rum or spirits which should
be imported or brought from any of His Majesty's
sugar colonies in the West Indies, sixpence :
For every gallon of rum or other spirits which should
be imported or brought from any other of His
Majesty's colonies and dominions in America, nine-
pence :
For every gallon of foreign brandy, or other spirits
of foreign manufacture, imported or brought from
the United Kingdom, one shilling.
For every gallon of foreign brandy, or other foreign
manufacture, imported or brought from the United
Kingdom, one shilling.
For every gallon of rum or spirits of the produce
or manufacture of any of the Colonies or plan-
tations in America not in the possession, or under
the dominion of, His Majesty, imported from any
other place except the United Kingdom, one
shilling.

And whereas it is expedient ^that the several
herein before-mentioned duties imposed by the said
Acts respectively should be repealed, be it therefore
enacted, that so much of the said three several Acts
of His late Majesty King George the Third, as
imposes or authorises the charge of the herein
before-mentioned duties upon wine, molasses^ pimento^

APPENDIX. 283

and spirits respectively^ shall be^ and the same is^
hereby repealed.

III. And whereas by the said Possessions Act it
was enacted, that the several sorts of goods enu-
merated and described in the table therein men-
tioned, denominated, *' A table of prohibitions and
restrictions," should be prohibited to be imported,
or brought either by sea or inland navigation, into
the British possessions in America, or should be so
imported or brought only under the restrictions
mentioned in such table, according as the several
sorts of goods are set forth therein, and that if any
goods should be imported or brought into any of
the British possessions in America contrary to any
of the restrictions mentioned in such table in respect
of such goods, the same should be forfeited; and
that if the ship or vessel in which such goods
should be imported should be of less burden than
seventy tons, such ship or vessel should also be
forfeited; and whereas it is expedient that the pro-
hibitions established by the lastly herein before-
recited enactment should be materially modified, and
that for this purpose the said enacfments should
be repealed, and such prohibitions should be enacted
as herein before are mentioned; be it therefore
enacted, that so much of the said Possessions Act
'^as prohibits the importation of the goods enumerated
and described in the table in the said Act, contained
and herein before mentioned, and as declares the
forfeiture of such goods, and of certain vessels im-
porting the same, as herein before is mentioned,
shall be repealed.

284 APPENDIX.

IV. And be it enacted, that the several sorts of
goods enumerated or described in the table following^
denominated^ ^'A table of prohibitions and restric-
tions/' are hereby prohibited to be imported or
brought^ either by sea or by inland carriage or
navigation, into the British possessions in America
or the Mauritius, or shall be so imported or brought
only under the restrictions mentioned in such table^
according as the several sorts of such goods are
set forth therein : (that is to say,)

A TABLE OF FBOHIBITIONS AND BESTBICTIONS.

Gunpowder; ammunitions, arms, or utensils of war,
prohibited to be imported, except from the United
Kingdom, or from some other British possession;
coffee; sugar, not being refined, in bond in the
United Kingdom; molasses; rum, being the pro-
duce or manufacture of any British possessions
within the limits of the East India Company's
Charter, except and subject as hereinafter pro-
vided, or being of foreign produce pr manufacture,
prohibited to be imported into any of the British
possessions on the Continent of South America
or in the West Indies, (the Bahama and the
Bermuda Islands not included,) or into the Mau-
ritius, except to be warehoused for exportation
only, and may also be prohibited to be imported
into the Bahama or Bermuda Islands by Her
Majesty's Order in Council ; base or counter-
feit coin; books, such as are prohibited to be im-
ported into the United Kingdom, prohibited to
be imported.

APPENDIX. 285

And if any goods shall be imp<!>rted or brought into
any of the British possessions in America or the
Mauritius contrary to any prohibitions or restrictions
mentioned in such table in respect of such goods^
the same shall be forfeited; and if the ship or
vessel in which such goods shall be imported be
of less burden than seventy tons, such ship or
vessel shall also be forfeited.

V. Provided always, and be it enacted, that it
shall be lawful to import into any British pos-
sessions in the West Indies and South America,
and into the Mauritius, any coffee, the produce of
any British possessions within the limits of the
East India Company^s Charter, and also any sugar,
the produce of any British possessions within the
limits of the East India Company^s Charter, into
which the importation of sugar, the produce *of any
foreign country, or of any British possession into
which foreign sugar may be legally imported, has
been prohibited; and also any rum, the produce of
any British possession within the limits of the East
India Company^s Charter, into whidi the importation
of rum, the produce of any foreign country, or of
any British possession, into which foreign sugar or
rum may be legally imported, has been prohibited;
provided, nevertheless, that no such coffee, sugar,
or rum shall be entered in any British possession
in the West Indies or South America, or in the
Island of Mauritius, as being the produce of any
British possession -within the limits of the East
India Company^s Charter, from which the same may
be legally imported under the proviso last aforesaid

286 APPENDIX.

unless the master of the ship importing the same
shall have delivered to the collector or principal
officer of the Customs at the port of importation
such certificate of origin as hereinafter is men-
tioned^ imder the hand and seal of the proper
officer^ at the place where the same shall have been
taken on board ; and such master shall also make and
subscribe a declaration before the proper officer of the
Customs that such certificate was received by him at
the place where such coffee^ sugar^ or rum was taken
on boards and that the coffee^ sugar^ or rum^ so im-
ported is the same as mentioned therein; and such
certificate of origin shall^ as regards coffee^ certify that
a declaration in writing had been made and signed
before the officer giving such certificate, the contents
of which he believed to be true, by the shipper of
such coffee, that the same was really and bond fide the
produce of some British possession ; and such certifi-
cate of origin shall, as respects sugat*, state the name
of the district in which such sugar was produced, the
quantity and quality thereof, the number and deno-
mination of the packages containing the same, and
the name of the ship in which they were ladeiL and
the master thereof, to the officer giving the same, by
the shipper of such sugar, and shall likewise certify
that there had been produced a certificate under the
hand and seal of the collector or assistant-collector
of the land or customs revenue of the district within
which such sugar was produced, that such sugar of
the produce of the district, and that the importation
into such district of foreign sugar, or sugar the growth
of any British possession into which foreign sugar can

APPENDIX. 287

be legally imported^ is prohibited ; and such certificate
of origin shall^ as respects rum^ state the name of the
district in which such rum was produced, the quantity
and strength thereof, the number and denomination of
the packages containing the same, the name of the
ship in which they were laden and of the master
thereof, and shall also testify that there had been
produced to the party giving such certificates, by the
shipper of such rum, a certificate under the hand and
seal of the collector or assistant collector of the land
or customs revenue of the district within which such
rum was produced, that the same was the production
of such district.

VI. And whereas by said Possessions Act it is
enacted, that there shall be raised, levied, collected
and paid unto Her Majesty the several Duties and
Customs, as the same are respectively set forth in the
figures in the Table of duties therein after contained,'
upon goods, wares and merchandize imported, or
brought into any of Her Majesty's possessions in
America^ and in and by the said Table certain articles
are therein declared to be exempted from or free of
such Duties; and it is by the said Possessions Act
provided, that no greater proportion of the Duties
imposed thereby, except as therein excepted, shall b«
charged upon any article which is subject also to Duty
under any of the Acts therein referred to, or subject
also to Duty under any Colonial law, than the amount^
if any, by which the Duty charged by the said Posses-
sions Act should exceed such other Duty or Duties,
and it is thereby further provided, that the full
amount of Duties mentioned therein, whether on

288 APPENDIX,

account of such former Acts, or on account of such
Colonial law, or on account of the said Possessions
Act, shall be levied recovered and received under
the regulations and by the means and powers of the
said Possessions Acts : And whereas it is expedient
that the said Duties should be repealed, and other
Duties substituted in lieu thereof; be it therefore
enacted, that the hereinbefore recited enactment^
imposing Duties upon goods, wares, and merchandize
imported or brought into any of Her Majesty's
possessions in America, and so much of the said
Possessions Act as extend any of such Duties to the
Mauritius, and the said Duties and exemptions so
imposed and established by the said Possessions Act^
and the said several enactments in relation thereto,
which are hereinbefore recited, shall be repealed.

VII. And be it enacted. That there shall be raised,
levied, collected, and paid unto Her Majesty the
several Duties of Customs as the same are respectively
set forth in Figures in the Table of Duties hereinafter
contained, upon goods, wares, and merchandize not
being the growth, production, or manufacture of the
United Kingdom, or any of the British Possessions
in America, or of the Mauritius, or of any British
Possessions within the limits of the East India Com-
pany's Charter, or the produce of any of the British
fisheries, imported or brought into any of the British
Possessions in America or the Mauritius by sea or by
inland carriage or navigation :

APPENDIX.

289

TABLE OF DUTIES.

Wheat Flour the Barrel of 196 lbs.

fn- 1 o IK X 1 • _ rDried or Salted, the

Fish of roreign taking '

< cwt

or cunng |

LPiekled, the Barrel

Meat^ salted or cured the cwt.

Butter

Cheese

Coffee

Cocoa

Molasses

Sugar, unrefined

Refined sugar^ the produce of andl^ 20 per centum

refined in foreign countries. J ^^ valorem-
Tea, unless imported direct from"]

China, or unless imported from

the United Kingdom, or from C^' P°'^^ ^ ^

any of the British possessions.
Bum per gallon 6

s.

d.

2

2

4

8

8

5

5

1

3

5

Other spirits and cordials . . .

Glass manufactures

Silk manufactures

Spermaceti

Wine whether bottled or not

Cotton manufactures

Linen ditto

Woollen ditto

Leather ditto

Paper ditto

Hardware ditto

Clocks and watches

yy

1

15 per cent, ad
valorem.

7 per cent, ad
valoremc

VOL. H.

290 APPENDIX.

Manufactured tobacco

Soap

Candles^ other than spermaceti .
Corks^ cordage^ and oakum.

7 per cent,
ad valorem.

.4 per cent, ad
valorem.

Oilj blubber^ fins^ and skins^ the produce of fish^ and
creatures living in the sea^ of foreign fishings
fifteen per cent, ad valorem.

Articles not enumerated, except"^
such as are comprised or referred I
to in the adjoining Table of Ex- |
emptions. J

And if any of the goods herein-
before proposed to be charged
iTvith duty, except sugar and
tea, shall be imported through
the United Kingdom [having
been warehoused therein, and
being exported from the ware-
houses, or the duties thereon
if there paid, having been drawn
back,]

Such goods shall
only be charged
)»-with three-fourths
of the duties here-
inbefore proposed.

TABLE OF EXEMPTIONS.

Coin, bullion, and diamonds; horses, mules, asses,
neat cattle, and all other live stock; hay and straw;
tallow and raw hides; salt; rice; com and grain
unground; biscuit or bread; meal or flour, except
wheat flour ; fresh meat ; fresh fish ; fruit and veget-
ables, fresh ; carriages of travellers ; wood and lumber;
cottonwool; hemp, flax, and tow; drugs; gums and
resins ; tortoise-shell ; manures of all kinds.

APPENDIX. 291

Herrings, taken and cured by the inhabitants of the
Isle of man, and imported from thence.

Provisions and stores of every description imported
or supplied for the use of Her Majesty's land and sea
forces.

All goods imported from the United Kingdom, after
having there paid the duties of consumption, and im-
ported from thence without drawback.

VIII. And be it enacted, that the articles enumerated
or mentioned in the table of exemptions hereinbefore
contained, shall be imported without payment of any
duty under this Act, and also such of the following
articles; (namely).

Salted or cured meat; flour; butter; cheese; mo-
lasses ; cork wood ; cordage ; oakum ; pitch ; tar ;
turpentine ; leather and leather-ware ; fishermen's cloth-
ing and hosiery; fishing craft utensils, instruments,
and bait ; as shalPbe imported for the use of the British
fisheries in America, into any place at or from whence
any such fishery is carried on, subject to such regula-
tions as the commissioners of customs, or the principal
officer of customs at such place, shall make, and which
they and he are hereby empowered to establish, for the
purpose of ascertaining that such articles are bond fide
intended to be applied to the use of such fisheries, or
that such provisions or stores as aforesaid, are bond fide
imported or supplied for the use of Her Majesty's land
and sea forces.

IX. And be it enacted, that there shall be raised,
levied, collected, and paid unto Her Majesty a duty of
ten pounds for every one hundred pounds of the value
upon sugar lefined in bond in the United Kingdom,

o2

292 APPENDIX.

not being of the growth of any of the British posses-
sions in America or of the Mauritius^ or of any of the
British possessions within the limits of the East India
Company's charter, imported or brought into any of the
British possessions in America, or into the Mauritius,
by sea or by inland carriage or navigation.

X. And be it enacted, that if in any of the British
possessions in America or the Mauritius any duty be
chargeable by any colonial law upon any articles being
the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United
Kingdom, or of the British possessions in America, or
of the British possessions within the limits of the East
India Company's charter, or the produce of British
fisheries, beyond the duty (if any) chargeable by such
colonial law upon similar foreign articles, the imperial
duty thereby imposed upon such foreign articles shall
be increased by such excess or amount (as the case
may be) of the duties so chargeable by such colonial
law upon similar British articles ; and that if in any of
the British possessions in America or the Mauritius
any duty be chargeable by any colonial law upon tea
imported direct from China, or imported from the
United Kingdom, or any of the British possessions,
beyond the duty (if any) chargeable by such colonial
law upon tea not so imported, the imperial duty hereby
imposed upon tea not so imported shall be increased by
such excess or amount (as the case may be) of the
duties so chargeable by such colonial law upon tea
imported direct from China, "ot imported from the
United Kingdom, or from any of the British pos-
sessions.

XI. And be it enacted, that it shall and may be law-

APPENDIX. 293

ful for Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her
Privy Council, by any order or orders in Council, to be
issued from time to time, to direct that any article
described in such order, being an article chargeable un-
der this Act as an unenumerate article, with a duty of
four per cent, ad valorem, shall be added to the list
of exemptions hereinbefore set forth, and shall be free
from such duty, and from and after the time mentioned
in such order for the commencement of such exemptions,
not being less than six months from the date thereof,
such exemptions shall take effect, and such article shall
thenceforth, whilst such order shall continue in force, be
free from such duty accordingly; and any such order
may at any time be suspended or revoked by Her Ma-
jesty, with the advice of Her Privy Council, by any
other order in Council.

XII. And be it enacted, that the duties imposed by
this Act shall be levied and recovered and received
under the regulations and by the means and powers of
the Possessions Act, except such of the said regulations
as are repealed or altered by this Act.

XIII. And be it enacted, that all sums of money
granted or payable under this Act, or under the Posses-
sions Act, as duties, penalties, or forfeitures, in the
British possessions in America or the Mauritius, shall
be deemed, and are hereby declared to be, sterling
money of Great Britain, and shall be collected, reco-
vered, and paid to the amount of the value which, such
nominal sums bear in Great Britain; and that such
moneys may be received and taken in sterUng money of
Great Britain, or in foreign coins, at such rates as shall
be equivalent to sterling money of Great Britain, and

294 APPENDIX.

which shall have been fixed by any proclamation issued
by Her Majesty; that all duties under this Act shall be
paid and received in every part of the British posses-
sions in America and in the Mauritius according to the
imperial weights and measures now by law established ;
and that in all cases where such duties are imposed
according to any specific quantity or any specific value^
the same shall be deemed to apply in the same propor-
tion to any greater or less quantity of value ; and that
all such duties shall be under the management of the
Commissioners of the Customs.

XIV. And be it enacted^ that the net produce of the
duties so received by the means and powers of this Act,
shall be paid by the Collector of the Customs into the
hands of the Treasurer or Receiver-general of the colony,
or other proper officer authorised to receive the same in
the ^lony in which the same shall be levied, to be
applied to such uses as shall be directed by the local
legislatures of such colonies respectively; and that the
produce of such duties, so received as aforesaid in the
colonies which have no local legislature, shall and may
be applied in such manner as shall be directed by the
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury.

XV. And Ife it enacted, that goods, the produce or
manufacture of the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alder-
ney, or Sark, when imported from such islands into the
British possessions in America, or the Mauritius, shall
be admitted to enter upon payment of the same duties
as are payable upon the like goods, the produce or manu-
facture of the United Kingdom, or of any of the said
Possessions, upon production to the principal Officer of
Customs at the port of importation of the proofs now

APPENDIX. 295

required by law that such goods are the production or
manufacture of the islands aforesaid.

XVI. And whereas the hereinbefore recited pro-
visoes contained the said Possessions Act^ which
provide that no greater proportion of the duties im-
posed by that Act^ shall be charged upon any article
which is subject also to duty under any of the Acts
therein referred to^ and subject also to duty under any
Colonial law, than the amount, if any, by which the
duty charged by the said Possessions Act shall
exceed such other duties, and that the full amount
of the duties mentioned in the said Possessions Act,
whether on account of such former Acts, or on account
of such Colonial law, or on account of the said Pos-
sessions Act, should be levied and recovered and
received under the regulations and by the means and
powers of the said Possessions Act have been
understood and acted on in divers different senses in
the several British possessions in America and the
Mauritius, and in some of the aforesaid possessions
certain duties have been imposed by the Colonial
Legislature or other Authorities having the power to
impose duties, which duties have been expressly
directed by the Colonial Acts, or Ordinances imposing
the same, to be in addition to or over and above the
duties imposed by the said Possessions Act, and in
those and others of the aforesaid possessions the duties
respectively imposed upon articles by the said Posses-
sions Act, and by the Colonial Acts and Ordinances in
such possessions, have, notwithstanding the aforesaid
provisoes, been collected in fiill without any such
abatement as in the said provisoes is contemplated;

296 APPENDIX.

And whereas it is expedient that such collection ixx full
of the said Imperial and Colonial duties shall be held
to be good in law^ notwithstanding the aforesaid pro-
visoes : And whereas doubts have been entertained
whether the duties imposed on the importation of
goods^ wares, or merchandize into the West Indies by
the said Possessions Act are, under the provisions of
that Act, leviable upon the like goods, wares, and mer-
chandize imported into the Mauritius from the United
Kingdom : And whereas notwithstanding such doubts,
the aforesaid duties have been levied upon goods, wares,
and merchandize so imported into the Mauritius from
the United Kingdom, and it is expedient that the
levying of the same should be held good in law : Be it
therefore enacted, that from and after the passing of
this Act, no personal action, suit, or other proceeding
shall be prosecuted or commenced against any Officer
of Her Majesty^s Customs, or any Officer or other
person authorized by the Legislature, or other proper
authorities of any of the aforesaid British possessions,
for or in respect of such Officer or person having levied
duties imposed by the said Possessions Act upon the
importation of any article in full, without making any
deduction therefrom in respect of duties imposed by
any Colonial Law or Ordinance upon the same article,
or for or in respect of such Officer or other person
haying levied duties imposed upon the importation of
any article, by any Colonial Law or Ordinance in full
without making any abatement or deduction therefrom,
in respect of the duty imposed by the Possessions Act,
upon the same article; and that no personal action,
suit, or other proceeding, shall be prosecuted or com-

APPENDIX. 297

menced against any OfiBcer of Her Majesty^s Customs^
or any other Officer or other person empowered by the
proper authorities to collect duties in the Mauritius for
or in respect of such Officer or other person having
levied the like duties upon the importation of goods^
wares, or merchandize into the Mauritius from the
United Kingdom as are imposed by the said Posses-
sions Act upon the importation of goods, wares, or
merchandize into the West Indies ; and if any action or
suit or other proceeding whatsoever, shall be prosecuted
or commenced against any Officer of Customs, or other
Officer or person as aforesaid, by reason of anything
done as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the defendant in
any such action or suit, or other proceeding as afore-
said, to apply to the Court in which such action shall
be brought during the sitting of such Court, or to any
Judge of such Coxirt during vacation for stay of proceed-
ings, and such Court and such Judge respectively shall
stay such proceedings accordingly; and all payments
which may have been made in respect of the duties, so
levied in full, or without abatement or deduction as
aforesaid, or in respect of such duties so levied upon
the importation of such goods, wares, and merchandize
into the Mauritius as aforesaid, shall be held to have
been good and shall not be recoverable at law from any
person or persons who may have received the same.

XVII. And be it enacted, that in any British
possession in America in which the imperial duties,
imposed by the said Possessions Act, and the
Colonial duties, imposed by the laws of such Pos-
session, have both been customarily levied in fiill,
without making any deduction from the Imperial

o3

298 APPENDIX.

duties^ in respect of the Colonial duties^ or from the
Colonial duties in respect of the Imperial duties^ it
shall be lawful^ from and after the passing of this
Act, for the officers of the Customs, and other officers
duly authorised, to continue so to levy, in fiill, such
Imperial and Colonial duties respectively, during the
continuance of the said Possessions Act, anything
in the said Possessions Act contained in anywise
notwithstanding.

XVIII. And be it enacted, that this Act may be
amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in
this present session of ParUament.

Commercial Relations oi* Quebec with Gbeat
Britain and the Colonies.

Statement of the number of vessels and tonnage,
cleared at the Quebec Custom House, for each port
in Great Britain, &c., during the year 1842.

No. rf Ton-
Vessels, nage.

No, qf Ton-
Vessels, nage,

962

186

382

Cleared for

Aberswith 5

Aberavon 1

Ardrossan 1

Aberdeen 10 8159

Ayr 8 608

Barnstable 1 283

BeaumariH 2 1247

Bideford 8 689

Bridgewater 23 6749

Bristol 19 9435

Banff. 1 282

Boon 1 347

Ballyshannon .... 1 93

Bantry 1 245

Blyth 2 522

Belfast 24 10969

Brest 1 279

r Cleared for

Berwick 1 332

Cardigan 4 902

Colchester 2 592

Carlisle V 193

Chester 1 299

Carmarthen 1 316

Cambwick-PiU ... 4 1057

Cardiff 8 1024

Conway..... 1 809

Chatliam 4 1319

Cork 29 10881

Clare 1 237

Dartmouth 1 203

Donegal 2 275

Drogheda 2 482

Dover 2 267

Downpatrick .... 1 190

APPENDIX*

299

^ rt^n^Af^ JVb. ^ Ton-
Cleared for y^^ ^^^

Dublin 18 6124

Dundee 1 S86

Ennis 1 158

Exmouth 1 336

Exeter 3 713

Falmouth.. 9 3163

Fowey 2 818

Feversham 1 239

Glasgow ........ 4 1857

Greenock 2 1467

Garleston 1 194

Gloucester 7 2532

Grangemouth .... 8 1228

Galway 1 347

Glandore 1 294

Hull 22 9964

Hartlepool 1 315

Holyhead 4 838

Irvine 1 238

Kinsale 1 381

Kilrush 1 238

Xillala 1 203

Kirkaldy 4 298

London 125 51679

Liverpool 88 50852

Lancaster 1 378

Llanelly 2 454

Lynn 4 1004

Londonderry .... 6 3102

Laine 2 1210

Limerick 23 7889

Leith 6 2253

Loch Ryan 1 439

L'Oricnt 2 1029

Milford 6 1534

Mumbles 4 1324

Menai Bridge .... 2 919

Minehead 1 204

Maryport 1 180

Maldon..k 2 530

Montrose 2 546

Newcastle 23 7276

Cleared for ^^- f ^*«-

'' Vessels, nage,

Neath 3 568

Newport 6 2039

Newry 4 1914

New Ross 5 1931

Plymouth 14 6511

Portsmouth 5 2506

Portrush 2 750

Padstow 4 1431

Portsea 1 289

Poole 6 1568

Pembroke 4 1691

Preston 2 386

Port Madock 1 255

Peterhead 3 874

Penzance 4 1064

PwlhelU 2 574

Rye * .. 1 210

Rochefort 2 1184

Sunderland. 20 5531

Southampton 8 2972

Seaton.. 1 147

Sheemess 2 1140

Swansea 5 1297

Strangford 3 610

Stocron 3 784

Sligo 7 1998

St. Ives 1 807

Tralee 3 901

Tenby 8 800

Voyd 1 244

Woolwich 2 785

Weymouth 2 622

Wicklow 2 504

Whitby 1 235

Westport ........ 3 641

Whitehaven 6 1356

Waterford 16 4734

Wexford 1 250

Yarmouth 3 819

Youghall 2 568

Total 714 2724Q0

300

APPENDIX.

Statement of the number of vessels, with their Tonnage
cleared at the Quebec Custom House during the year
1842, for each port in the Lower Provinces, the
West Indies, South America, &c., &c.

No. o/ Ton-
Vessels, nage.

Cleared for

No, of Ton-
Vessels, nage.

Jamaica 12 1760

PortoRico 1 179

St Michael's 1 56

Rio Janeiro 1 388

Bio de la Plata .... 1 332
Buenos Ayres .... 1 200
St John's, New-
foundland 1 88

St George's Bay .. 8 174

Labrador 2 99

Ungaya Bay 1 107

Halifax 26 1475

Miramichi 21 1036

Pictou •15 6219

Arichat 8 380

Cleared for

Sydney, C B 1

St John, N. B 1

Cambelton 1

Dalhousie 9

Bathurst.... 1

Little Bay, New-
foundland 1

Guysborough 4

Restigouche 7

Canso I

Sbippigan 3

Garaquet . .' 1

Richibucto 1

28
95
40
442
39

225

209

803

61

100

21

44

Total 125 13090

• Steam-ship Unicom, 12 trips, —Quebec Gazette.

ARGUMENTS OF MR. MERRITT, OF THE WELLAND
CANAL, RESPECTING THE TRANSIT TRADE FROM
THE WESTERN STATES THROUGH CANADA.

Mr. Merritt. — I am happy to find a warm in-
terest is manifested on this subject. That it is the
most important that can be brought under con-
sideration during the present session no person can
doubt : of all others it should be fully discussed,
as I much fear, from the observations of some honour-
able members, its object and design are but imper-
fectly understood. It is scarcely necessary to enter
on political economy. The theory advocated by the
honourable and learned member for RicheUeu is un-

APPENDIX. 301

doubtedly correct; free trade is the only true prin-
ciple, and well would it be for mankind if all Gro-
vemments would act upon that principle; but as
they do not, and will not, it is idle for us to attempt
it. I was not a little surprised to hear the opinions
entertained by the honourable the Inspector-general,
and by the honourable member for the city of Mon-
treal; they apprehend that it is not the intention of
the Government of the mother country to admit
wheat and flour from the Western States into the
ports of Great Britain through Canada, after paying
the proposed duty. As I entertaiii a very different
opinion, it will be necessary, in order to explain the
question fully, to go back and examine the changes
which have taken place in the policy of the mother
country ; and I trust the Chairman of the Committee
will bear with me in taking up more time on this
occasion than ordinary on other subjects.

Heretofore, the trade of all Colonies was subject
to restrictions, under the erroneous impression, that
the subjects of the mother country were alone en-
titled to benefit by it. The universal discontent
occasioned by an adherence to this poUcy in all
Colonies invariably led to separation so soon as
they were sufficiently numerous to effect it. After
the loss of the American Colonies, a gradual change
commenced in the colonial policy of Great Britain.
In 1825, the late Mr. Huskisson introduced his
system of discriminating duties, under which, articles
grown in this country were admitted into Britain at
A less rate of duty than from foreign countries,
although at a higher duty than similar articles

302 APPENDIX.

grown by our fellow-subjects in Britain. It placed
us in a better situation than foreigners, but it did
not fully establish the great principle for which
we contend, and recognise us as subjects; it placed
us in a medium between the two, and was at least
one step in advance. This change was hailed by
the inhabitants of Canada as a great boon, and
the most sanguine expectations were formed; many
individuals embarked their capital — ^their all, under
this hazardous and uncertain system. The temporary
protection thus afforded by the Home Government
was suddenly withdrawn, and wide-spread ruin is
the consequence. It is notorious, that neither the
grower, miller, merqhant, nor shipper has ever real-
ised a profit out of the productions of the soil
when sent to the British market; that capital in-
vested in land will not yield an interest; and we
can never hope to see the country prosper under
the present system. Notwithstanding the universal
dissatisfaction which prevails throughout the country,
the repeated appHcations which have been made
by addresses from the Legislature, and petitions from
the agricultural population, no change had been
attempted until the last session of the Imperial
Parliament, when the average price at which colonial
grain could be admitted was reduced from 678. to
SSs. per quarter. This alteration was also intended
for our benefit, but it has, in fact, placed the grower
in Canada in a nuch worse situation. Owing to
the distance at which he is situated from the home
markets, and to the time required after .the grain
is harvested before it can reach the consumer, he is

APPENDIX. 303

subjected to the highest duty named^ as well as all
other charges; and were the averages lowered even
to 40^., it would produce the same eflfect. It is,
however, apparent, that after the Corn-bill was deter-
mined on, very great changes took place in public
opinion, as well as in the Cabinet. The efforts made
by the British North American Committee, and various
individuals in London, to second the efforts of the
colonists, as witnessed by the memorial from Lord
Mountcashell and others, afford the best evidence
of the one, and the declaration of Sir Robert Peel
and Lord Stanley, of the other. It is the first time
that you have heard a minister declare, that you
should treat Canada as if she were an integral
part of the kingdom. In what way, or in what
manner is this great and all-important principle to
be carried into effect for the mutual benefit of this great
kingdom, of which we are hereafter to form a part ?
Surely not by the views and opinions expressed by the
Inspector-general, which would, instead of increasing,
annihilate the trifling trade we at present possess. AH
the grain grown in Canada^ does not supply the con-
sumption of British North America. The quantity
which could be exported to Britain, admitting that
the entire population in all our commercial towns
consumed American flour, would be trifling in the
extreme. Can any person for a moment suppose that
after lending us the credit of the nation for a million
and a half, for the express purpose of completing our
great leading communications from the great Western
part of this continent to the ocean ; after placing pro-
tecting duties on flour and wheat in their ports, to give

304 APPENDIX.

a preference to her vessels and seamen to convey the
same ; and after securing by this poUcy a vent for her
manufactures for the consumption of millions of people
already inhabiting the great western coimtry above
us — that a measure would be recommended by' that
cabinet^ the eflFect of which would be to render those
communications useless ; to lay up our ships and
vessels, or rather send them to seek employment in
the American trade to Liverpool, and drive British
manufactures from the greater part of the continent of
America. The price of conveying a barrel of flour
from Cleveland (Ohio) to Liverpool, during the^ pre-
sent fall : —

£ s, d.
By way of Quebec, has been per barrel .... 1 12 7
By way of New York, ditto, ditto 1 8 7

In favour of thie Erie Canal and New York 4
When the average price of wheat in Britain

is 64^. per quarter, foreign duty is 5*. 5rf.

sterling, colonial duty 7|rf. or 8rf. 5 4

Leaving a balance in favour of Canada .... 1 4
Suppose to this we add the 3^. per quarter

now proposed, equal to, per barrel 2 1|

Suppose we place in favour of New .York,

per barrel 7|

which will effectually prohibit the transit of a single
barrel of flour through Canada, and wiU prove an
efiectual protection for the English grower, and remove
all apprehension of successful competition, through
Canada. It is also apparent that the mother country

APPENDIX. 305

has also in view the immense trade of the western
part of the United States, — ^which will be conveyed by
her ships and seamen paid with her manufactures, and
will in a short time enable the province to realize a
sufSicient revenue from the tolls on our canals and the
revenue on articles from foreign countries, to enable
us to remove all duties on articles from Britain, and
establish free trade in every sense of the word between
the mother country and this colony, or in the words of
Sir Robert Peel, between diflFerent parts of the same
kingdom. One word as to the effect on the popula-
tion of Canada. Admit that the duty so raised is for
the purposes of revenue — every shilling so raised will
be remitted on the articles now consumed from Britain,
so that in the aggregate the burden will not be
materially increased ; it will transfer the duty now
collected from our fellow subjects in Britain to our
competitors in the neighbouring States. — It will also
possess this double advantage — a bounty by removing
the duty in England, and a protection by imposing
2^. to 3^. per barrel duty on flour for our home con-
sumption. Every man in Canada will see the value
of his productions increased, and the value of his pro-
perty, the effect of which need not be again repeated.
It will soon make Canada the envy and admiration
of our neighbours, and infuse new life and vigour
throughout the whole Province, and by the effects
produced prove the present pofUcy fraught with wisdom
and justice, and worthy of the enlightened statesmen
who preside over the councils of the kingdom.

306 APPENDIX.

Cost of conveyance of one barrel of flour from Cleve-
land^ Ohio^ to Liverpool^ vid Montreal^ including all
charges.

Dollars.

"Wheatat Cleveland^ five bushels at 80 cts 4 00

Freight to St. Catharine's 8 40

Insurance and purchasing 2 10

5 bushels to the barrel at 90 cts 4 50

4 50 dols. cost at mill.

Freight per barrel flour to Kingston 15

Ditto ditto to Montreal 40

Six months^ interest on 5 dols 15

One per cent. com. at New York on drafts on

London 05

Cooperage to put in shipping order 02

At Montreal 5 82

Shippmg charges at Montreal, say 05

Insurance to Liverpool, 4 per cent, on 7 dols. 28

Freight to Liverpool, 4*. sterling 88

6 53

Less 8 per cent. Exchange 52

Actual cost of a barrel of flour at Liverpool 6 01

Charges in Liverpool :

Cents.

Bond, cartage, cooperage 3

Portage at quays ^ f. shed dues 2J 6

Portage, receiving and deUvery dues. . 1, 2
Store rent 10 cents., cooperage dues J, lOJ
Stamps 1, insurance against fire 1^ • . 2|

APPENDIX. 307

Cents. Dollars.

Interest on charges^ short wt. & damage 2
Commission and guarantee^ 4 per cent. 28 — 54

Without duty the consumer would pay 6 65

Against Canada route 83 cents.
Colonial duty 22

6 77
In favour of Canada route without duty 15

6 92

Cost of the conveyance of one barrel of flour from
Cleveland, Ohio, to Liverpool, vid New York, in-
cluding all charges.
Wheat in Cleveland, 5 bushels at 80 cts. ..... 4 00

Freight to BuflFalo '. 5 25

Insurance and purchasing 2 10

At Buffalo 4 35

Freight to New York 52i

One per cent, commission at New York 05

Five months' interest 12^

At New York 5 15

Shipping charges at New York 05

Cooperage to put in shipping order. 02

Insurance to Liverpool, 1 per cent 07

Freight to Liverpool, Is, Sd, sterling 28

5 57

Less 7 peF cent. Exchange 89

308 APPENDIX.

Actual cost of a barrel of flour at Liverpool. ... 518
Sundry charges after reaching port 54

Brings the article to consumer without duty . . 5 72
Duty on foreign flour at this moment, average^
being per quarter 5^. 6^. 1 20

6 92

In favour of New York route 83 cents per barrel with-
out duty
Against it, including duty, 22 cents per barrel.

I now give the political economist and the mercantile
reader an opportunity of viewing the American opinions
upon the subject of Canadian prospects in the grand
canal scheme of opening Lake Huron to the Atlantic.
It is extracted from the Patriot, an able Ultra-Tory
paper of Toronto, on account of the commentary on the
statement of the New York Journal of Commerce :

THE FORWARDING TRADE.— SHIP CANALS.

We would recommend a very careful perusal of the following very
plain and logical article, from the New York JoumcU qf Commerce, on
the subject of Ship Canals, especially that of the St Lawrence.

We do not pretend to any accurate knowledge of these matters, Imt
confess that we have never been able to imderstand what benefits the
Province is to derive from the gigantic line of artificial navigation
now advancing to surmount the mighty rapids of the St Lawrence ;
or from what source, apart from -direct taxation, the interest of the
enormous sum there to be buried, is to be paid.

At present, every pound of wheat and flour which the Province
and the neighbouring States have to export, can be floated down the
broad river itself, with comparatively slight risk, and the vessels
return by the Rideau Canal, — and so, with some moderate local
improvements, could continue to do, until Canada was traversed in
every direction by good roads, and had a population some six or
ten times greater than she has at present

APPENDIX. 309

We may be wrong, and very probably are; but, Tiewing these
public works pretty much in the spirit in which they are viewed by
the great mass of the agricultural population, we feel very uneasy as
to the wisdom of burying our half a million of hard-got money in
making what we fear will be a useless Ship-canal, alongside of a
splendid river which can readily carry all our produce for the next
half century.

We know that the awful outlay on this canal would have furnished
Canada with excellent roads, traversing her forests in every direction,
and giving her hard-working yeomanry a chance of bringing their
now-often-useless produce to market We know that, had this sum
been so spent, the population of Canada would probably be quad-
rupled, and a practical good done to her agricultural population, instead
of a possible evil in the shape of a gigantic ship-canal, which may
be only a yawning chasm, into which the spare capital of this young
and struggling country has been too inconsiderately cast

We will be very glad to receive any information on this subject,
and our columns will ever be open to its fair discussion; but our
motto has ever been, " Good roads for the Canadian farmer before
ship-canals for the Americans."

The Welland Canal is an indispensable work and must be main-
tained, if it did not pay one per cent interest

*'ERIE CANAL ENLARGEMENT — CANADA TRADE.

" As flour is the great staple of the West, and as the freight of this
article is generally regarded as the standard of the cost of transporta-
tion from the West to the seaboard, the rates per barrel by the
different routes should be carefully noted. And first we may remark
that flour from Lake Erie is delivered at the same rates at Kingston
and Oswego. From the former place to Montreal, the regular average
cost is 35 cents per barrel, though for some time during last summer
it was carried for 25 cents. Tlie distance by stages and steamboats is
180 miles ; by the river above 200 miles. Hence, the cost being 35
cents, the rate is one mill and three-fourths per barrel per mile. The
average rates from .Oswego to New York are about 55 cents per
barrel, making a difference of about 20 cents in favour of Montreal. The
average charge for freight from the latter port to England is frt>m
3s. to 4*. sterling ; from New York not more than half those rates, —
omitting, of course extreme cases, where Is, sterling per barrel has
been accepted here, and 5s, and 6s, sterling demanded at Montreal,
and we believe paid in November last Without the English corn-
laws, then, competition with New York would be as hopeless for
Montreal, as with the English corn-laws, carefully graduated so as to

310 APPENDIX.

turn the scale in favour of Montreal, competition is now hopeless for
New York, in reference to the supply of the British markets. The
greatest anticipated diminution in the cost of transportation by reason
of the enlargement, is stated to be 22 cents, or It. sterling per barrel,
(Sen. doc. 61, 1841, p. 12) ; though with the immense debt thereby
created, an increase of cost is far more probable than a diminution ;
but, admitting a reduction of 22 cents per barrel on flour, can this
difierence be sufficient to counterbalance the great advantages yielded
to the Colonies by Great Britain ? Can it have any sensible effect in
increasing the export of flour hence to that coimtry, as long as the
** sliding-scale " and differential duties favouring the North American
Colonies, exist? Or, to come nearer home, is it — we will not say
necessary or proper — but is it just, to tax the citizens of New York,
in order that the property of the inhabitants of other States, or of
Canada, may be carried to and from the seaboard more cheaply than
at the present low rates ? The capacity of the present canal is noto-
rious to all acquainted with the trade of the West ; and by means of
the railroads alongside, almost any amount of freight may be carried
to the Hudson, as cheaply as 6n the canaL In proof of this, we refer
to the average rates for flour on the canal, from Bufialo to Albany, as
given in the Report quoted-above, viz., 79 88-100 cents for a distance
of 368 miles, equal to 2 18-100 mills per barrel per mile, as contrasted
with the rates between Albany and Boston, viz., B5 cents for a dis-
tance of 200 miles, or 1 75-100 mills per barrel per mile. The railway
over the mountains to Boston carries, therefore, at lower rates than
does the canal to Albany, and- at about the anticipated rates on the
enlarged canal, with the advantages of four or five times the speed,
and throughout the year. The people of New York have consequently
nothing to gain by the enlargement, either as regards a diversion of
the traffic from the St. Lawrence, or as a means of increasing the
facilities or cheapness of communication with the Western States, or
with the interior of this State, either in winter or summer.

" The so-called * ship canal ' around the rapids of the St Lawrenpe,
is 10 feet deep, locks 55 feet wide, and 200 feet long. Of this about
12 miles are nearly done, at a cost of 150,000 dollars per mile ; and.
as about 28 miles more will be required, the entire cost of the ' Im-
provement of the St Lawrence ' above Montreal, may be put down
at 6,000,000 of dollars. The present trade is carried on in ' barges,*
which take 1,500 barrels of flour at high-water, and 1,000 barrels at
low-water from Kingston to Montreal by the river, paying no toll,
and return by the Rideau Canal, the tolls of which route do not
exceed those by the Erie Canal. The present boats on the Erie
Canal carry about 50 tons. The * Improvement of the St Lawrence '

APPENDIX. 311

is intended to cheapen transportation by the introduction of a different
class of vessels for the Western trade ; but we are informed that no
precise dimensions of these vessels, nor any statements of the con-
templated tolls on these canals, have been made public, and that the
locks on different parts are to be of different widths — diminishing,
perhaps, with the means of. the province, or rather as John Bull may
feel inclined to * fork out,' or otherwise.

** The improvement of the river itself between the points connected
by the canals, is also to be undertaken ; and it is now said that a
trifling sum will remove all obstructions to vessels of 150 tons
burthen in the lowest. water, and t^us reduce the cost from Kingston
to Montreal, to about half that from Oswego to New York. But,
even with this reduction, how are the Canadians to divert the flour
and pork for the people of New York, New Jersey, and the Eastern
States from the Erie Canal and Hudson to the St Lawrence ? It
may be very easy to carry the produce to Montreal, but hoW is it to
be carried thence to Albany, New York, Newark, Hartford, Boston,
&c. ? — The present trade of the St Lawrence arises from the demand
for flour in England, which, if furnished by this continent must go
by way of the St Lawrence. The present trade of the Erie Canal
rests mainly on the demand for consumption in this country. Were
flour carried for 20 cents, per barrel from Kingston to Montreal, the
consumers in the Atlantic States and the marine, would not receive a
barrel less than they now receive vid the Erie Canal ; and, on the
other hand, were flour carried from Oswego to New York for 80
cents, per barrel, the merchants of Quebec and Montreal would not
ship a barrel more or less to England, notwithstanding these assume4
rates are much lower than can ever be expectd.

" So far are we from fearing the ' ship canals ' of Canada, that we
believe the enormous debt they are now running up, will, by render-
ing the highest toll indispensable, tend rather to divert than to attract
the western trade. Had the present Erie Canal been 'let alone,'
the tolls might have been reduced one half, and thus all the antici-
pated advantages of the enlargement would have been secured some
years since, without any cost to the state. Indeed, at this moment,
the rates from Buffalo to Albany are 25 per cent lower than the
average rates given above from official documents, and are not three
cents, per barrel higher than the lowest rates ever contemplated by
the friends of the enlargement ; that is, 57 38*100 cents. — (See doc.
No. 51, 1841, p. 12) ; yet we do not perceive the magical effects on
the prosperity of the country so confidently predicted, nor have we
heard that the low freights of last summer on the St. Lawrence—
25 cents, per barrel of flour from Kingston to Montreal ~have done

312 APPENDIX.

anything for the commercial interests of our northern neighbours.
Hence we conclude, that no large amount of additional capital can be
now safely invested in improving these thoroughfares, but that the
true policy is to reduce the tolls, and if the canal be crowded beyond
a few days in the season, to build extra locks and reservoirs when and
where wanted only, or permit the railroads to carry freight, or both.
Of the St Lawrence — being out of our jurisdiction — we shall merely
say, that, as the Lachine Canal is nearly three times the size of the
Erie Canal, and as the tolls increase in a still greater proportion —
being four times the tolls and 70 per cent more than the total cost
of transportation on the Erie Canal ! — we do not very clearly see by
what process of reasoning a canal ten times larger, is to reduce the
cost of transportation. Experience and proper caution are however
scouted by politicians and adventurers, who, having everything to
gain by the extravagance of the Government, clamour loudly, and
too often successfully, for the immediate construction of the most
visionary undertakings. — Still, we venture to predict, that the
enlargement of the Erie Canal will not be completed for many
years { — these very formidable advocates of the measures to the
contrary notwithstanding ; that the future expenditures of this state
will bear a more reasonable proportion to her income than hitherto ;
and, lasUy, that the construction of the St Lawrence Canal, on its
present gigantic scale, will do as little to injure, as will the enlarge-
ment of the Erie Canal to foster and increase, our western trade.
In other words we fear the enlargement much more than the ' ship
canals.' " — New York Journal of Commerce.

APPENDIX.

313

PROVINCE OF CA.NADA.

TARIFF OF DUTIES PAYABLE ON IMPORTS INTO

CANADA.

Under the Act 12 Victoria^ cap, 1.

Animals, specially imported for the improTement of stock Free.

Animals and Utc stock— all

Anatomical preparations

Anchors

Apples, green Gt dried

Ashes, — ^pot, pearl, and soda

Bacon

Barley, beans, here, and bigg

Beef

Berries used in dyeing .

Biscuit

Books, printed .

Books, reprints of British copyright works

Books, blank . . .

Books and drawings of an immoral or indecent character

Boots and shoes

Bran and shorts

Brandy . . 2s. per galL and 25

Bristles .

Broom-corn

Brooms .

Brushes

Buckwheat

Bulbs, roots, and trees

Burr stones

Burr stones, wrought

Busts and easts of marble, bronze, alabaster, or plaster
of Paris

Butter .....

Cabinets of coins, medals, or gems, and other collec-
tions of antiquity

Candles .....

Castings . . .

Chain cables, not less than 15 fiithoms, and links five-
eighths of an inch thick .

Cheese .....

Cider . . . . ^

VOL. II. P

20 per cent.
Free.

2^ per cent
30 „
Free.

20 per cent.
20
20

2*

12* ,,
Free. *
Prohibited.

12i ,.
Prohibited.
12* per cent
20

it

>1

»»

»

}}

2*

2i
12*
12*
20
Free.

2* per cent.
12*

>i

»»

»>

>j

>»

})

Free.

20 per cent.

Free.

12* per cent.

12*

2*
20

12*

Oi^ APPENDIX.

Clockn . .12^ per cent.

Coals and coke .... 2^

tt

Coffee, green , 48. 8d. per owt. and 12^

ti

Coffee, roasted or ground lis. per cwt. and 12|

tt

Coin and bullion .... Free

.

Coin, base or counterfeit Prohibited.

Cordials . , 3s. per gallon and 25 per cent.

Cottonwool Free

.

Cotton manufactures , . . . 12^ per cent

Drugs . , , . . 12^

tt

Drugs, used solely in dyeing .2^

tt

Dye woods .... 2^

tt

Earthenware . . . . , 12|

*t

Engravings, etchings, and drawii^gs , Free

•

Feathers 12^ per cent.

Fisk . . 12i

Flax and tow, undressed « . 2^

Flou^ , , . . . 20

Fruits, all kinds , . ^ 30

Furs ..... 12^

Furniture 12^

Oin . . 28. per. gall, and 25

Ginger .30

Glass, and manufactures of . . 12^

Glue . . 12i

Ghrease and scraps ... 2^

Hair, and manu&ctures of . .12^

Hams 20

Harness .12^

Hardware .... 12^

Hats .12^

Hemp ..... 2^

Hides ^

Honey ^ . . . . 12^

Hops . .20

Indian com .... Free.

Indian-rubber and manufactures . . 12^ per cent. |

Indigo ..... .2^

Ink . 12^

Iron — Bar and rod not hammered 2^

Sheet, not thinner than sixteen wire gauge 2^

Hoop, not oyer 2 inches broad . 2^

Charcoal-made or refined .2^

Boiler plates .... 2^

Bailroadbars ... - H

Spike rods .... 2^

J

APPENDIX.

6ib

Iron — ^pig «]id scrap

2* per cent.

Jewelry .

-

12i „

JuDk or Oakum

2i „

Lamps , . .

« «

12i ,.

Lard .

2i „

Lead, pig aad sheet

• •

2i „

Lead manufactures

. 12i „

Leather, and manufactures of

• •

12i ,,

Lemon syrup .

. 12i „

Tiinen, and manufactures of ^

b %

124 „

Liqueurs.

3b. per gaU

. and 2d „

Macaroni ■, >. ^

tf

30 „

Machinery, all .

, 124 „

MahQg&ny

« •

124 ,.

Manures, all kiads

Free.

Maps

• «

Free.

Marble, in blocks unpolished

24 per eenu

Marble, all others .

«

124 „

Meal, Indian

- 124. „

Meal, other

• •

20 „

Meats, all, except mess pork

. 20 „

Medicines

■♦ •

124 „

Models of machinery and other inventions and im

proTcments in the arts

• •

Free.

Molasses

38. per cwt.

and 124 per cent.

Musical instruments

■• «

124 „

Nails

• 124 ,;

Nuts

• ■•

30 „

Nuts used in dyeing

24 „

Oats

k •

20. „

Oil — ^palm and cocoa-nut

24 „

Oil — all other

■ «

124 »

Oranges and lemons

30 „

Ores of all metals

• ■

24 ,,

Oysters .

124 .,,

Paints

• «

124 »

Paintings

Free.

Paper and paper manufactures

• •

124 per cent

Peas .

. 20 „

Pepper and pimento

• ■

30 „

Perfumery

• ^

, 124 „

Philosophical instruments and apparatus

Free.

Pickles and sauces

• •

124 per cent.

Pipeclay

« •

24 „

Pipes, smoking

•

124 „

Pitch

2 p

24 „

12) per eent

ao

>» ~

30

»>

12*

f»

30

>»

30

»»

2i

n

12J

IT

124

Tt

2*

f»

25

}»

30

if

124

7t

121

•

»♦

2*

»»

12*

ff

12*

it

316 APPENDIX*

Fork, ineflB
Pork, all other

Preserved fruits ....

QuiUs

Quiaees .....

Baisins' .....
Resin or rosin . . > ^

Rice . . • . -

Rope . . • * .

Rope, tarred — when imported hy shipbuilders for rig-
ging their ships ....
Rum, at proof, by Sykes' hydrometer, Is. 3d. per gall, and
x*ye .«•••.
Saleratus .....
Salt . .Id. per bushel and 12(

Saw 1<^ , . . • .

Seeds ....

Segars ... Is. 6d. per lb. and 12^^

Ships' water casks in use . . . 2^ „

Snuff , . . 4d. per lb. and 12^ „

Soap . . . . . 12^ „

Specimens of natural history, mineralogy, and botany Free.
Spices, all ..... 90 per cent.

Spikes . . . . 12^ „

Spirits, except nun and whisky, at proof, 28. per gall, and 25
Spirits or cordials, sweetened so that the strength cannot

be found by the hydrometer . Ss. per gall, and 25

Spirits of turpentine .... 12^

Steel . . ' ^

Steel manu&ctures .... 12^

Sugar, refined, In loayes or crushed, and candy

148. per cwt. and 12| „

»»
>»
>f

ft
»>
v»>
)>
»t
»
if
i»
^»

ff
ft

i>

Sugar, bastard and other kinds

9s. per cwt. and 12^

Sumach .

2*

Syrups

. 12i

Tallow

2^

Tar . . . .

2^

Left • • •

Id. per lb. and 12^

X GaSCXS • • «

2^

Tin and tin-ware

12i

Tobacco, manufactured .

Id. per lb. and 12^

Tobacco, unmanufactured

^d. per lb. and 12^

Tow, undressed

2J

Toys

12*

Type metal, in blocks or pigs

2*

Types . . . .

12*

APPENDIX.

317

12^ per cent

12*
12i

30

30

l^

12*

12*

Free.

12*

25,
25
2o
12*

2*

2*
12*
12*.

Yamish

Vegetables used in dyeing
Vegetables
Veneers .
Vermicelli . -
Vinegar .
Watches
Wax

Whalebone
Wheat .

Whisky, at proof 3d. per gall, and

Wine, in wood, value £15 the pipe of 126 gallons or under,

6d. per gall, and
Wine, value over £15 the pipe Is. 6d. per gall, and

Wine in bottles . 4s. per gall, and

Wood and lumber

Wood used in making carpenters* tools
Wool .....

Wool manufactures >

All goods, wares, and merchandise, not enumerated .

EXEMPTIONS.

Arms, clothing, cattle, provisions and stores of every description, which
any commissary or commissaries, contractor or contractors, shall
import or bring, or which may be imported or brought by the prin-
cipal or other officer or officers of Her Majesty's Ordnance into the
province for the use of Her Majesty's army or navy, or for the use of
the Indian nations in this province; provided the duty otherwise
payable thereon would be defrayed or borne by the treasury of the
United Kingdom of this province.

Horses and carriages of travellers ; and horses, cattle, and carriages and
other vehicles, when employed in carrying merchandise, together
with the necessary harness and tackle, so long as the same shall be
bonajide in use for that purpose, except the horses, cattle, carriages,
vehicles and harness of persons hawking goods, wares, and mer*
chandise through the province for the purpose of retailing the same,
and the horses, cattle, carriages, and harness of any circus or eques-
trian troop for exhibition. The horses, cattle, carriages and harness
of any menagerie to be free.

Donations of clothing specially imported for the use of, or to be di^^tri-
buted gratuitously by any charitable society in this province.

Seeds of all kinds, farming utensils and implements of husbandry, when
specially imported in good faith by any society incorporated or esta-
blished for the encouragement of agriculture.

Salt for the use of the fisheries, and wine for the use of regimental
messes.

318 APPENDIX.

The following articles in the oceapation or employment of persons
coming into the province for the purpose of actually settling
therein, yiz. :
Wearisg-^pparel in actual use, and other personal effects not mer-
chandise ; horses and cattle ; implements and tools of trade of handy-
craftsmen.
The personal household effects, not merchandise, of inhabitants of this
province, being subjects of Her Majesty, and dying abroad.
And the followiug articles, when imported directly from the United
Kingdom, and being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the
said United Kingdom, Tiz. :
Animals, beef, pork, biscuit, bread, butter, coooa-paste, corn or grain of
all kinds; flour; fish, fresh or salted, dried or pickled ; fish oil; furs
or skins, the produce of fish or creatures Hying in the sea; gypsum,
horns, meat, poultry, plants, shrubs and trees, potatoes and yegetables
of all kinds. Seeds of all kinds, skins, pelts, furs or tails imdresaed.
Wood, Tiz., boards, planks, stares, timber, and firewood.
And the following articles when imported direct from the proTuio^
of Noya Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island,
and being the growth, produce, or manufacture of said piovinces
respectively, viz. :
Grain and breadstuff} of all kinds, vegetables, limits, seeds, hay and
straw, hops, animals, salted and fresh meats, butter, cheese, chocolate
and other preparations of cocoa, lard» tallow, hides, horns, wool,
undressed skins, and furs of all kinds, oxen of all kinds, iron in pigs
and bloom, copper, lead in pigs, grindstones and stones of all kinds ;
earth, coals, limO, ochres, gypsum, ground or unground ; rock-salt,
wood, bark, timber and lumber of all kinds, firewood, ashes, fish, fish*
oil ; viz., train-oil, spermaceti-oil, head matter and blubber, fins and
skins, the produce of fish or creatures Hving in the sea.

Amount of Revenue and Exjpenditure. £ s. d,

1850: Total expenditure .... 532,063 12 4

Excess of revenue over expenditure . 172,170 10 1

Total currency .

1850 : Nett revenue of Customs* duties

Statement of Imports.

1850 .......

Tonnage of Vesaele hy Canals.
1850: Welland .... 587,100 tons.

St. Lawrence .... 460,180 „
Chambly . 143,194 „

£704,234 2

5

581,132 12

444,547 5
615,694 13

1
8

APPENDIX.

BcceipU of ToUs by Canals.

1850: Welland

St. Lawrence .
Chambly

Burlington Bay Ccmal
St. Ann's Lock

Total by canals

319

£ 8, d.

37,742 17 2i

19,730 13 7

2,956 7 4i

3,679 6 2

807 6 7i

£66,772 10 6i

Number and Tonnage of Vetsels registered in the Province of Canada

in 1850.
Steamers .... 31

Tonnage of ditto 2,985|

Sailing Teasels .... 213

Tonnage of ditto 33,148

1850: Value of dutiable and free goods imported £4,245,517 3 6
Duties collected . . 615,694 13 8

Total value of Canadian produce and manufac-
ture exported from sea and inland ports in 1850 £3,235,948 15 9

Number of Vessels inward and outward in 1850.

Montreal
Quebec .
Total tonnage
Men

312

1,275

543,963

19,116

In 1851, 95 more vessels than in 1850.

Population of Upper and Lower Canada is now about equal, and may
amount, conjointly, to 1,582,000 souls.

Schools^^^t. Ryerson, the able superintendent of education, reports
that in 1850, 259,258 children attended school in Western Canada.
There are besides in each district a grammar-school, various model-
schools, and at Toronto an excellent Normal school.

Amount of crops^ showing that Canada is a more agricultural country

than the United States,
In 1847 population of Canada West .... 723,332
Ditto ditto United States .... 20,746,400

Canada West.
Bushels.

Quantity to
each inhabitant

United States.

Wheat 7,558,773
Oats 7,055,730
.Maize 1,137,555
Potatoes 4,751,331

1,046
975
157
657

114,246,500 550
167,867,000 809
539,350,000 2.601
100,965,000 486

320

APPENDIX.

It

List of economic Minerah and DeponU of Canada exhibited by W. JS.
Logany Esq.. F.R,S.f Provincial Geologist, at the Great Exhibition
in London, 1851.

Metals.
Iron, magnetic.

specular.

bog.

titaniferous.
Zinc, Bulphuret.
Lrad
Copper
Nickel

Silyer, native. See.
Gold, in gravel, &c.

Chemical Matebials.

Uranium.

Chromium.

Cobalt.

Manganese.

Iron pyrites.

Dolomite.

Magnesite.

Stone Paints.
Barytes.
Iron ochre.

Talcose slate.

Soapstone.

Serpentine.

Ferruginous day.

Materials applicable to the
Abts.
Lithographic stone.

Matebials applicable to
Jewellebt, &c.
Agates.
Jasper.
Labradorite.
Sunstone.
Hyacinths.
Oriental rubies. )
Sapphires. ]

Amethysts.
Ribboned Chert.
Jet.

Materials fob Glassmaking
White quartz sandstone.
Pitchstone, basalt, &c.

Retbactobt Matebials.
Soapstone.
Asbestus.
Sandstone.
Plumbago.

Manubes.
Phosphate of lime.
Gypsum.
Shell Marl.

Gbindino and Polishing
Matebials.
Millstones.
Grindstones <
Whetstones
Hones.
TripoU.

Matebials fob Paving,
Tiling, &c.
Slates, roofing.
Flag-stones.

Building Matebials.
Granite, superior.
Pseudo-granite.
Sandstone.
Calcareous ditto.
Limestone.
Lime.
Clay.
Marble.

Combustible Matebials.
Peat,

Petroleum.
Naphtha.
Asphalt.

SUNDBT 0,THEB MATEBIALS.

Moulding sand.
Fuller's-earth.

Note. — No coal has been found in Canada ; but the Halifax and
Quebec railroad, if completed, will supply it abundantly from Nova
Scotia and New Brunsiivick. Mr. Logan recently put into my hand a
glass bottle full of Canadian gold, about £450's-worth, from the
Kivi^re du Loup, a branch of the Chaudiere.

J. E. Alexandeb, A.D.C.

Montreal, Christinas, 1851.

^

THE END.

London : Printed by William Tyler, Bolt-court.

Ilktrattb Murks

BT

SIR J. E. ALEXANDER,

I.

EBXVED.

LIFE OF FIELD-MARSHAL HIS GRACE THE

DUKE OF WELLINGTON,

Embracing his Ciyil, Military, and Political Career.
2 vols, with Map and Portraits.

II.

TRAVELS FROM INDIA TO ENGLAND,

Comprehending a Visit to the Biirman Empire during the late War, and a
Journey through Persia, Asia Minor, European Turkey, &c.

1 vol. 4to, with Maps and Plates.
III.

SHIGURF NAMAH I VELAET ;

OR,

EXCELLENT INTELLIGENCE CONCERNING EUROPE.

Being the Travels of Mirza Jtesa Modeen, in Great Britain and France ; trans-
lated from the original Persian Manuscript into Hindoostanee, with an

English Version and Notes.

1vol. with a Print.
IV.

TRAVELS TO THE SEAT OF WAR IN THE
EAST, THROUGH RUSSIA AND THE CRIMEA,

in 1829.

With Sketches of the Imperial Fleet and Army, Personal Adventures, and

Characteristic Anecdotes.

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LIVES

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QUEMS OF ENGLAND.

BT AGNES STRICKLAND.

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In announcing tbe new, revised, and greatly augmented Edition of
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of the Queens of England,' embodying the important collections which
have been brought to light since the appearance of earlier impressions,
is now offered to the world, embellished with Portraits of every Queen,
from authentic and properly verified sources. The series, commencing
with the consort of William the Conqueror, occupies that most inte-
resting and important period of our national chronology, from the death
of the last monarch of the Anglo-Saxon line, Edward the Confessor, to
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Anne, and comprises therein thirty queens who have worn the crown-
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the parentage of every queen, described ber education, traced the influ-
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and we have done so with singleness of heart, unbiassed by selfish
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voured to portray them, both in good and ill, without regard to any
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OPINIONS OF THB PRESS.

" These yolmnes have the fascination of romance united to the integrity of histoiy.
The work is written by a kdy of dbnsiderftble learning, indefatigable indnstry, and careful
judgment. All these qualifications for a biographer and an historian she has brought to
bear vpm tltf sul||ect of her volumes, and from then has resulted a narratiYe interesting
to all, and more partknlariy interesting to that portion of the community to whom the
more refined researches of literature afford pleasure and instruction. The whole work
should be read, and no doobt will be iBad, by all who are anxious fi)r information. It is a
lucid arrangement of facts, derived from authentic sources, exhibiting a combination of
industry, learning, jodgmeot, and impartiatity, not often met with in biographers of
crowned heads." — Tmea.

" Ajremarkable and truly great historical work. In this series of biographies, in which,
the severe truth of history takes almost the wildness of romance, it is the singular meH^
of Miss Strickland that her research has enabled her to throw new light on many doubtful
passages, to bring forth fresh facts, and to render every portion of our annals which she
has described an interesting and valuable study. She has given a most valuable contribu-
tion to the history of England, and we have no hesitation in affirming that no one can be
said to poflsest an Mcmate knowledge of the history of the countsy who has not staged
her 'livea c£ the Queens of England.'" — Mormng HeraUL

" A most valuable and entertaining work. There is certainly no lady of our day who
has devoted her pen to so beneficial a purpose as Miss Strickland. Nor is there any other
whose works possess a deeper or more enduring interest. Miss Strickland is to our mind
the first literary lady of the age." — Morning Chronicle,

<< We must pronounce Miss Strickland beyond all comparison the most entertaining
historian in the English language. She is certainly a woman of powerful (md active mind,
as well as of scrupulous justice and honesty of purpose." — Morning Post

" Miss Strickland has made a very judicious use of many authentic MS. authorities not
previously collected, and the result is a most interesting addition to our biographical
libraiy.**— (ftiorfer^y Renew,

" A valuable eontributioii to historical knowledge. It contains a mass of every kind of
historical matter of interest, which industry and research could oolleet. We have derived
much entcrtahmient and instrudaon fr«m the work."— vlAeiMvum.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHT- 3

MEMOmS OF HORACE WALPOLE

AND fflS CONTEMPORABES,

IXCLUBUrG NUMEROUS ORIGINAL LETTERS, CHIBFLT FROM STSAWBXKBT HILL.

VPITKD BT

ELIOT WARBURTON, ESa

AUTHOR OF "the CRESCENT Am> THE CROSS," ETC.
2 vols. Syo, with Portraits, 28s. bound.

Perhaps no name of modern times is productive of so many pleasant
associations as that of ** Horace Walpole," and certainly no name was ever
more intimately connected with so many diffbrent subjects of importance
in connexion with Literature, Art, Fashion, and Politics. The position of
various members of his family connecting, Horace Walpole with the Cabi-
net, the Court, and the Legislature — his own intercourse with those cha-
racters who became remarkable for brilliant social and intellectual quali-
ties^and his reputation as aWit, a Scholar, and a Virtuoso, cannot fail, it is
hoped, to render his Memoirs equally amusing and instructive.

OPINIONS OF THS P&BgS.

*' The biography before us is in all respects eminaitly satisfactory/' — Morning
Chronicle,

*^ These Memoirs offer a good subject, well treated, and indeed a necessary
addition to the library of everjr English gentleman. The * Memoirs of Horace
Walpole and his Contemporanes' nearly completes the chain of mixed personal,
political, and literary history, commencing with * Evelyn' and * Pepys,* carried
forward by ' Swift's Journal and Correspondence,' and ending almost in our
own day with the histories of Mr. Macaulay and Lord Mahon. Besides its
historioEd value, which is very considerable, it cannot be estimated too highly
as a book of mere amusement." — Standard,

*'Two more interesting or entertaining volumes than these * Memoirs of
Horace Walpole' may be searched for for a long time before they will be found.
The writer has woven into his narrative a rich fhnd of contemporary anecdote
and illustration. Most of the nobles, wits, and literati of the period are judi-
ciously introduoed." — Morning Post,

*' Horace Walpole was the most remarkable man of his time ; and posterity
will do him the justice, now that hii career is fully elaborated, to place him
in the niche which belongs to him, as one whose influence in the affairs of his
country has been tax beyond the average of otiier men." — Messenger,

« Thia life of Horace Walpole is a very valuable and interesting addition to
the historical library. We should be glad to see eveiypart of our later history
illustrated with equal clearness and impartiality." — Weekly Chronicle.

<* Few works of the present day contun more matter fitted for entertainment
and instructioa"-— itfomtn^ Herald,

- - • - ^^_-__— _^-^--^^„-^^___— »^.^»^.^^

B 2

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The following is a Bist of the Principal Contents of this Standard Work: —

I. A fall and interesting history of each
order of the English Nobuity, showing its
origin, rise, titles, imrnxmities, nriyileges, &c

n. A complete Memcnr of tne Queen and
Boyal FamQy, forming a brief genealogical
History of the Sovereign of this country, and
deducing the descent of the Plantagenets,
Tudors, Stuarts, and Gudphs, throngh theur
varions ramifications. To this section is
appended a list of those Peers who inherit
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in. An Authentic table of Precedence.

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VL Foreign Noblemen, subjects by birth
of the British Grown.

VII. Peerages claimed.

VIII. Surnames of Peers and Peeresses,
with Heirs Apparent and Presumptive.

IX. Courtesy titles of Eldest Sons.

X Peerages of the Three iCmgdoms in
order of Precedence.

XI. Baronets in order of Precedence.

XII. Privy Councillors of England and
Ireland.

XIII. Daughters of Peers nuuried to
Commoners.

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" For the amazing quantity of personal and family history, admirable arrangement of
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rivaL It is now the standard and acknowledged book of reference upon all questions
touching pedigree, and direct or collateral affinity with the titied aristocracy. The lineage
of each distinguished house is deduced through all the various ramifications. Every
collateral branch, however remotely connected, is introduced; and the alliances are so
carefully inserted, as to show, in all instances, the connexion which so intimately exbts
between the titled and untitied aristocracy. We have also much most entertaining
historical matter, and many very curious and interesting fiunily traditions. The work is,
in fact, a complete cyclopaedia of the whole titled classes of the empire, supplying all the
information that can possibly be desu^d on the subject.'*— Jformny Po»t

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I

The Landed Gentry of England are so closely connected with the stirring records of its
eventful history, that some acquaintance with them is a matter of necessity with the leg^-
lator, the lawyer, the historical student, the speculator in politics, and the curious in topo-
graphical and antiquarian lore; and even the very spirit of ordinary curiosity will prompt
to a desire to trace the origin and progress of those families whose influence pervades the
towns and villages of our land. This work furnishes such a mass of authentic information
in regard to all the principal families in the kingdom as has never before been attempted to
be brought together. It relates to the untitled fiunilies of rank, as the '* Peerage and
Baronetage ''does to the titled, and forms, in fact, a peerage of the untitled aristocracy.
It embraces the whole of the landed interest, and is indispensable to the library of every
gentleman. The great cost attending the production of thb National Work, the first of its
kind, induces the publisher to hope that the heads of all families recorded in its pages will
supply themselves with copies.

'< A work of this kind is of a national value. Its utility is not merely temporary, W it
will exist and be acknowledged as long as the funilies whose names and genealogies are
recorded in it continue to form an intend portion of the English constitution. As a cor-
rect record of descent, no famUy should be without it The untitled aristocracy have in
this great work as perfect a dictionary of their geneiUogical history, &mily connexions, and
heraldic rights, aa the peerage and baronetage. It wifi be an enduring and trustworthy
• record."— 3for»Mi^ Post

" A work in which every gentleman will find a domestic interest, as it contains the
fullest account of every known family in the United Kingdom. It is a dictionanr of all
names, fimiilies, and their ori^n, — of^every man's neighbour and friend, if not of his own
relatives and immediate connexions. It cannot fail to be of the greatest utilitjr to profes-
sional men in their researches respecting the members of different families, heirs to pro-
perty, &c. Indeed, it will become as necessary as a Directory in every office." — BelTs
MetHnger*

g COLBUKN AlffD <X).'S NEW PUBLICATIONS.

GERMANY;

ITS COURTS AND PEOPLE.

•m

BY THB AtJTHOa OP "MILDSBD TEENON."
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This woi^ oompriseB a complete pictwe of tlie wmaoB courts and
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peculiar facilities for acquiring exclusive information on the topics treated
of. She succeeded in penetrating into provinces and localities rarely
visited by tourists, aikl still glowuigwi^ the embers of civil var, and fol-
lowed the army of Prussia in Germany, of Bussia in Hungary, and of
Kadetzky in Italy. Her pages teem with the sayings and doings of almost
all tike illostrioas dbaracters, mule and female, whom the ev^its of the
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would be impossible ; but they include such names as the Emparors of
Austria and Russia, the Kings of Prussia, Hanover, Bavaria, and Wur-
temberg, the Count de Chambord (Henry V,), the Queens of Bavaria and
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dukes John, Francis, and Stephen of Austria, Duke Wilhelm of Brun.s«
wick, the Prince of Prussia, Prince John of Saxony, the Countess Batthy-
any], Madame Kossuth, &c. Among the statesmen, generals, and leading
actors in the rerolulimiarf movemieiilv, we meet with Badowitz, Yon
Gagem, Schwarzenberg, Bekk, Esterhazy, the Ban JeUacic, Windiscli-
gratz, Eadetzky, Wdden, Haynau, Wrangel, PiUersdorf, Kossuth, Blum,
Gorgey, Batthyanyi, Pulszky, Klapka, Bem, Dembinski, Hecker, Strove, &c.

" An important, vet most amusing work, throwing much and ridily-coloured
light on matters with which every one desires to be informed. All the courts
and people of Germany are passed in vivid review before us. The ac-
count of the Austrians, Magyars, and Croats, will be found espmally inte-
resting, lu many of its lighter passages the work may bear a comparison
with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters."— Mo; mn^r Chronicle.

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MANUSCBiPT, and all tbe Additional Notes.

CRITICAL OPINIONS.

EDINBVBfiH BSYIEW.

"We unhesitatingly dscacterise tiiia journal as thd moit remarkable produetion oT
Um kind which has ever been given to the world* F^js ]>aints the Court, the Mo-
narchs, and the times, in more vivid colours than any one else. His Diary makes us
comprehend the great historical events of the age, and the people who bore a part in
tbeni, and gives us more dear gUmpaet iato the true English life of the times than all
the other memorials of tbaa that hare eome down to our own."

ATHEN^SUlf.

"The best book of its kind in the English language. The new matter is extremely
curious, and eocasioiiaUyfar more clianoteristic and entertaining than the old. The
writer is seen in a clearer light, and the reader is taken into his inmost soul. *Fepys'
Diary' is the ablest picture of the age in which the writer lived, and a work of standard
importaBfle in Eni^ish Ittentnre."

QXJAS.TERLT BEYIEW.
"'Pepys* Diary* throws a distinct and vivid light over the picture of England and
its government during the period succeeding the Bestoration. If, quitting the broad
path of history, we look for minute information oonoeming ancient manners and customs,
the progress of arts and setenoes, and the various branches of antiquity, we have never
seen a mine so rich as these volumes. The variety of Pepys' tastes and pursuits led
him into almost every department of life. He was a man of business, a man of informa-
fefon, a man of whim, and, to a certain degree, a man of pleasure. He was a statesman,
a bel-eaprit, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an unwearied, as
well as an universal, learner, and whatever he saw found its way into his tables."

S COLBUBN AND CO/S NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES L

By I. DISRAELI.

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2 Tolfl., Syo, unifonn with the " Curiosities of Literature," 28s. bound.

OPINIONS OP THE PRESS.

^By&x the most important work on the important age of Charles I. that
modem times have produced." — Quarter^ Review*

" Mr. Disraeli has conceiyed that the republication of his father's < Commen-
taries on the Life and Reign of Charles L' is peculiarly well timed at the present
moment ; and he indicates the well-known chapters on the Genius of the Papacjr,
and the critical relations of Protestant sovereigns with Roman Catholic sub-
jects, as reflecting, mirror-like, .' the events, thoughts, passions, Imd perplexities
of the present agitated epoch.* In particular, he observes, that the stories of
conversions to the Romish faith, then rife, seem like narratives of the present
hour, and that the reader is almost tempted to substitute the names of his
personal acquaintances for those of the courtiers of Charles. No apology was
needed for reintroducing to the world so instructive and original a work as that
of Isaac Disraeli." — Times.

** At the end of 250 years, Rome and England are engaged in a controversy
having the same object as that in which they were committed at the commence-
ment of the seventeenth century; and no where wiU the reader find the cir-
cumstances of that controversy, its aims, the passions which it evoked, the in-
struments which it employed, and its results, better described than in this ex-
cellent book." — Standard,

<<The position attained by the late Mr. Disraeli's admirable and learned com-
mentaries on the great events of the Revolution, and the times that led to it,
would at any period have warranted its republication. To those, however, to
whom the bearing of its remarks, and the effect of the author's researches are
known on the religious question of that day, their apt and effective bearing on
the most vital topic of our present religio-political existence, will give the reap-
pearance of the work an additional value." — Britannia*

'* The history of Charles I. required a Tacitus, and, in our opinion, this work
ought to have that standard character." — Gentleman*8 Magazine,

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF ENGLAND.

By MRS EVERETT GREEN,

EDITOR OF THE " LETTERS OF BOYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES."

3 vols., post 8yo, with Illastrations, 10s. 6d. each, bound.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS;

** A most agreeable book, forming a meet companion for the work of Miss Strickland, to
which, indeed, it is an indispensable addition. The anthoress, already favonrablj known
to the learned world by her excellent collection of * Letters of Royal and Ulostrioas Ladies,
has executed her task with great skill and fidelity. Every page displays careful research
and accuracy. There is a gracefol combination of sound, historical erudition, with an air
of romance and adventure that is highly pleasing, and renders the work at once an agreeable
companion of the boudoir, and a valuable addition to the historical library. Mrs. Green
has entered upon an untrodden path, and gives to her biographies an air of freshness and
novelty very alluring., The first two volumes (including the Lives of twenty-five Princesses)
carry us from the daughters of the Conqueror to the family of Edward I. — a highly inte-
resting period, replete with curious illustrations of the genius and manners of the Middle
Ages. Such works, from the truthfulness of their spirit, furnish a more lively picture of
the times than even the graphic, though delusive, pencil of Scott and James.'* — Britanma,

" The vast utility of the task undertaken by the gifted author of this interesting book
can only be equalled by the skill, ingenuity, and research displayed in its accomplishment.
The field Mrs. Green has selected is an untrodden one. Mrs. Green, on giving to the world
a work which will enable us to arrive at a correct idea of the private histories and personal
characters' of the royal ladies of England, has done sufficient to entitle her to the respect
and gratitude of the country. The labour of her task was exceedingly great, involving
researches, not only into English records and chronides, but into those of almost every
civilised country in Europe. The style of Mrs. Green is admirable. She has a fine per-
ception of character and manners, a penetrating spirit of observation, and smgular exactness
of judgment. The memoirs are richly fraught with the spirit of romantic adventure." —
Morning Post,

''This work is a worthy companion to Miss Strickland's admirable 'Queens of
England.' In one respect the subject-matter of these volumes is more interesting, because
it is more diversified than that of the ' Queens of England.' That celebrated work, although
its heroines were, for the most part, foreign Princesses, related almost entirely to the his-
tory of this country. The Princesses of England, on the contrary, are themselves English,
but their lives are nearly all connected with foreign nations. Their biographies, conse-
quently, afford us a gfimpse of the manners and customs of the chief European
kingdoms, a circumstance which not only gives to the work the charm of variety, but
which is likely to render it peculiarly useful to the general reader, as it links together by
association the contemporaneous history of various nations. The histories are related
with an earnest simplicity and copious explicitness. The reader is informed without
being wearied, and alternately enlivened by some spirited description, or touched by
some pathetic or tender episode. We cordially conmiend Mrs. Everett Green's production
to general attention ; it is (necessarily) as useful as history, and fully as entertaining as
romance." — Sun.

10 COLBURN AND CO.'S NEW PUBMCATIONS.

MADAME PULSZKY'S MEMOIRS.

Comprising FoU and Interesting Details of

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Secretary of State to Ferdmand, Emperor of Austria and

King of Hnngarr.

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(«

The uati&ntlil7 of the people, their martial prowess, and present imhappy fitte, have
invested Hungary with the Interest of a. seeoud Poland, and Western Bnrope must
henaturalljr desirons to lesm something of their etril and sodal life. These Totmiifli are
the joint produetion oC M. and Madsme Potesky. 'While the latter reeovda her imprea-
sions and reooUeotions of Hungarian Ufe, we have to ^hsnk M. Pulsaky for a very ablo
summary of the history of Hungsiy, ftrom the days of Arpad to the reign of PbrcBnand
the PIrst, and the reform morement— a history which abounds in interesting inc idcalis
and Qseftil leasoas for the statesman and the philosophio hlstarisa. Maitiamci Tiililjili
narrative of her wanderings and dangers is agreeably ^versified with sketches and auec*
dotes firom Magyar liib, as well as Mdth ancient legends from Hungarian Ustery and
modem pansagai in the lata war of Independence. ItcannotiriltoeMtteaninteaas t in
all classes of readers— ^in those who open a book only for anuisemfint, as well as ia those
who look for something more enduring."— JS%2ta6«r^A Mevieta,

** We need hardly inform our readers that the authoress of this work is the accomplished
wife of the gentleman who was originally accredited to the Ei^Ush cabinet by the
provisional government of Hungary. The private interest attaehhig to the vseital of
events whidi have become So fiMnovs wouldinsure a wide pcq^nlarity f»r Madane Pulaaky'a
book. But we should very much under^estimi^ its vahie if we so limited our praise.
The memoirs, indeed, contain sketches of social life which are worthy of a place by the
side of Madame de BtaSl de Launay and Madame Osmpan. Bat they are also vicb
in political and topographical inlbnnallen of the ftrat chaiaetar. Madame PidsAy was
in the habit of direct intercourse with the foremost and most distinguished of the
Hungarian generals and statesmen, and has given a complete summary of Uie political
events in Hungaiy, from the arrival of the Hungarhoi deputatloB in 184B,to the treason
of General GkMVST on thsiath of i«««st, 1840. M. Pulsaky has also pieflzed a valuable
introduction, which gives the most ouoplete histoiyaf Hnngaiy that has ever issued fhom
the English press."— Olobe.

" With all the charms of romance, these volumes possess the graver interest of his-
tory. Full of personal anecdotes, historical reminiscences, and legmndaiy associations;
teeudag with interesting uimatarm, rich in sodal illustration and t<vogn4>hiGai
description, the memoirs present to all classes of readers an attraction qiiite indepen*
dent of the recent important events, of which they give so clear and connected a narra-
tive."— Iforaiiv Potf.

"In this most interesting hook we have rerealed in the characteristic memoirs of an
eye-witness the whole story cf Hungary and its revolution. Tkub intrignes of Tatrmr
with JelUMddeb, the treaeherf ^ tiie court, the pert tsken bj Kossuth snd other
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" It is impossible that the great Hungarian struggle for freedom can ever find a hlato-
rian more honest in point of narrative, more sincere in oonviction, or more M»-rfnMg to
1 do fUllJustioeto the truth than Madame Pulssl^."— Odsero^r.

filSTOBY ASD BIOaRAPHT. H

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science, have impaired, or can impair, his celebrity. The youth who looks
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12

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BISTORT AND BIOGRAPHY. 13

ANECDOTES OF THE ARISTOCRACY,

EPISODES m ANCESTRAL STORY.

By J. BERNARD BURKE, Esq.,

Author of " The History of the Landed Gentry," ** The Peerage and Baronetage," &c.
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aggerated reality here unfolded.

«

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15

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18 COLBUBN AKD CO.'S NEW PDBUCATIONa

NARRATIVE OF A TWO YEARS'

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VOYAGES AN© TKAVELS. 19

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