The last laird of MacNab : an episode in the settlement of MacNab township, Upper Canada

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THE

tAST LAIRD OF /VUNAB

AN EPISODE IN THE SETTLEMENT OF
MACNAB TOWNSHIP, UPPER CANADA.

ALEXANDER ERASER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.

Toronto :
PRINTED BY IMRIE, GRAHAM & Co., 31 CHURCH STREET.

NOTE. — The following account of the diffi-
culties between the Laird of MacNab and his
settlers in Canada has appeared in several
local papers and in the SCOTTISH CANADIAN,
through whose columns it obtained a wide circula-
tion, resulting in the request that it be preserved
in book form, a suggestion now complied with, in
the hope that the example of sturdy independence
therein described will prove of interest to others
than those for whom the story was first compiled
by a clansman. A. F.

INDEX TO CONTENTS.

PAGE.

The Flight 5

The McNab in Canada 12

Arrival of the Settlers 22

Progress of the Settlers 27

New Arrivals ; 38 47

A Digression 59

The Sheriffs Raid 69

Imprisonment of the Mclntyres 86

Military Tactics of McNab 103

Mr. Allan's Report 119

The Trials 133

Imprisonment of Mr. Stewart 150

Final Triumph of the Settlers 157

Investigation of Grievances 169

The Chiefs Reply 178

The Settlers Free 187

McNab and Hinck's Trial 198

Discomfiture of the Chief 207

Last Scene of all 213

THE CHIEF.

THE LAST LAIRD OF MACNAB.

CHAPTER I.

THE FLIGHT.

IT was a genial evening in 1823. The sun was
casting long shadows from the glorious old pines of
Leney woods, and the baronial mansion of Dr.
Hamilton Buchanan reflected in gorgeous splendor
the last rays of the setting sun. A horseman had
just fastened his pony at the outskirts of the park,
nigh to the Callender road, on the Loch Earn side of
the village; and now on foot, and enfolded in a tar-
tan plaid so as almost to conceal his person, was
threading the mazes of the wood, and stealthily ap-
proached the house of Leney. This was Archibald
MacNab, the last chieftain of the MacNabs, who
had that morning, for the last time, left his paternal
estate of Kennel], on the banks of Loch Tay to take
refuge with his cousin, the last Buchanan of the
ancient house of Arnprior. Their mutual grand-

6 7 he Last Laird of Mac Nab.

father, Buchanan the Chief of Arnprior, had been
beheaded at Carlisle for participation in the rebel-
lion of 1745 ; and he it was whom Sir Walter Scott
took for his beau ideal, in the person of Fergus Mac-
Ivor, in his elegant romance of " Waverley." The
estate of Leney was all that was left to the Buchan-
ans out of their immense property, as the Arnprior
estates were confiscated to the Crown for high
treason on the part of their Chief.

The affairs of MacNab were at the time we write,
1823, thought to be involved beyond extrication — his
estate mortgaged to- the Earl of Breadalbane — and
even now the officers of the law were on his track
to enforce on his person, by arrest, a decree of the
Court of Session, in order to get possession of the
title deeds of the Dochart and Kennell estates, and
deliver them to MacNab's unrelenting creditor,
John, Earl of Breadalbane. By a postern gate he
entered the noble halls of Leney, and was there met
and welcomed by his cousin. Their meeting was
most affecting. There stood the last representatives of
two of the most ancient houses in Scotland : Kennell
and Arnprior. Both had suffered for Charles Edward

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 7

—both had lost kindred, lands, and prestige for
Prince Charles ; but now both were in different cir-
cumstances, the last Chief of the MacNabs was hum-
bled : no more was

" The haughty MacNab, with his grants beside him,
"And the lions of Dochart close by his side."

He was dejected, impoverished, ruined ; while Dr.
Hamilton was wealthy, and able and willing to as-
sist his unfortunate and once-powerful kinsman. At
that period, MacNab was in the prime of manhood,
as he had just passed his forty-second year. With a
melancholy countenance and with aspect of despair,
he unfolded all his griefs to his relative. About ten
days previously, the Court of Session had given the
Decree and granted a Caption. To disobey was to
forfeit his liberty till compliance was made to the
order of the highest civil tribunal in Scotland. To
obey was to lose every opportunity of redeeming his
estate and to throw away forever any chance of re •
claiming it. Long and anxious was the consultation
between the two gentlemen ; at length it was re-
solved that the Chief should start for America from
an English port, found a settlement, retrieve his lost

8 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

fortunes, and return to his native land in better
times. Hard was the struggle ; at length his resolu-
tion was taken, and everything was prepared for his
departure by next day's afternoon mail.

In the meantime, the King's messengers with the
writ of caption had gone to Kennell, and finding that
their prey had escaped, betook themselves to Callen.
der, a village two miles distant from Leney House
In passing through Glen Ogle, they heard that Mac-
Nab had passed through early in the afternoon, and
naturally supposed that the Chief was at Leney.
Arriving at Callender at four in the morning, they
rested to take some refreshments before proceeding
to their more disagreeable task. Fortunately for
MacNab, the principal of the King's messengers, a
person named Watt, was well known to John Mc-
Ewan, the head waiter of McGregor's Hotel, who at
once suppected their errand, as the Chief's affairs
were a common topic of conversation through Perth,
shire. While they were taking their bread and
cheese and whiskey he despatched a stable-boy
named Scobie, by a short cut to Leney House, to ap
prise MacNab of his danger. He roused up Dr.

The Last Laird of MacNab 9

Hamilton's butler, and told him his errand. The
butler instantly hurried to the Chief's bedroom. Mac-
Nab having been roused out of a deep sleep, and
hearing of the impending danger, at once jumped out
of bed, drew on his underclothes, threw a plaid over
his shoulders and escaped to the glen in rear of the
Leney House, by the back door. Just as he was
making his hurried exit, the King's messengers from
Stirling thundered at the front entrance. Dr. Bu-
chanan (who was generally called Dr. Hamilton on
account of adopting this surname when he came into
possession of the Burdovie estate) rushed to the win-
dows. The officers demanded admission. Hamilton
sternly refused. They attempted to break the door
open. The doctor levelled a double-barrelled gun at
their heads, and threatened to shoot the first man
who attempted to enter, The messengers at once de-
sisted, slid the ring of their batons from one end to the
other, swore that they were deforced, and threatened
to bring the whole civil powers of Perth and Stirling
to their assistance. Dr. Hamilton jeered and laughed
at them. At length they departed, vowing vengeance
against all parties concerned. Chief MacNab lay

lo The Last Land of MacNab.

closely concealed in the glen all day. Provisions and
clothes were sent to him, and at night' he again
stealthily entered Leney House . A spy had been
left in close proximity to the park to watch proceed-
ings, and he saw what had taken place. He was on
his way to inform his employers that the bird was
trapped, but just as he cleared the park gates and en-
tered the Callender road, the unfortunate spy was
seized by four sturdy Highlanders, gagged and blind-
folded, and carried to a lint-mill near Loch Labuig,
and there kept a close prisoner for forty-eight hours.
He was well used and well fed until his period of in-
carceration had expired. In the meantime, two
faithful servants of Dr. Hamilton had prepared the
coach and horses for a long journey. These two
were Peter Maclntyre, who died in 1868 at the Cala-
bogieLake; and John Buchan, who also came to
Canada, and for many years resided at Point Fortune,
a respectable and wealthy farmer. At midnight,
MacNab being well provided with funds and neces-
saries, bade farewell to his cousin of Leney, and set
out for Dundee with Buchanayr and Maclntyre.
Every precaution was taken on the road ; but it was

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. n

needless, for the officers of the law were calmly
sleeping at the head inn of Callender, expecting to
hear from their spy, little Johnny Crerar, if anything
unusual occurred. The Chief arrived safely at Dun-
dee, took shipping for London, thence to Quebec ;
and the first news Lord Breadalbane and his messen-
gers heard of him was in the public journals of Mon-
treal, of a great dinner and ovation given in Montreal
by the upper ten to Highland Chieftain MacNab.
The decree of the Court of Session had no power in
Canada; consequently MacNab was free. We may
as well state that Watt remained round Callender for
two days, searching for little Johnny ; at length the
spy appeared, and informed them of all that had occur-
red. There were no telegraphs in those days, and
they believed the Chief was still in Scotland, and
they made frequent excursions to Eennell ; and they
were only undeceived in their suppositions when the
news of MacNab's safe arrival on the other side of
the Atlantic reached them. Watt, the celebrated
King's messenger, was for once outwitted and com-
pletely non-plussed.

1 2 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

CHAPTER II.

THE M'NAB IN CANADA.

From Montreal McNab went to Glengarry, and saw
the Highlanders there, and remained with Bishop
McDonnell for a fortnight. It was that venerable
prelate— the emigrant's friend, without any distinc-
tion as to creed— who first spoke to him of the
Ottawa. He was really the friend of distressed
humanity, whether of a Catholic's or Protestant's
type. He put into philanthropic exercise Queen
Dido's maxim :

" Tros, Tyrinsque mihi nullo discrimine agetur."t
A patrio , a Christian, a loyalist, ever ready to help
the distr ssed, we shall seldom " see his like again."
Having received a good deal of valuable information
from the Bishop, McNab proceeded to Toronto (then
York), and entered into negotiations with the Govern-
ment respecting the settlement of a township on the
Ottawa. The Government there informed him that

t The above may be freely translated thus— " Protestants and
Qatholics shall be treated by me with no invidious distinction,"

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 13

a township had been lately surveyed, adjoining Fitz-
roy, by Mr. P. L. Sherwood, containing about 81,000
acres. It was a large township, and consisted of
thirteen full concessions and four broken ones. It
was not yet named, and if he undertook the settle-
ment, McNab could name it after himself, and pro-
ceed forthwith to occupy it. They gave him a map
of the township, which the Chief immediately named
McNab, after himself and his clan. Fancying he
had all at once tumbled into an El Dorado, without
seeing the place, or knowing anything about the
facilities the township afforded, McNab at once
agreed to the terms of the Government, which were
as follows :— He addressed a letter to Sir Peregrine
Maitland, then Lieutenant Governor of the Province,
offering to settle a township near Glengarry with his
clansmen, and found a Highland Settlement of like
loyal character as that which existed on the banks
of the St. Lawrence. He had received his inspiration
from the venerable Bishop McDonnell, and thus put
it in practice. The following answer was given to
his application ; and as this is the basis of the at-
tempt to establish the feudal system in Canada, ancl

14 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

the misrepresentations founded upon it, by which
many of the unfortunate settlers were harassed and
oppressed, we direct particular attention to it : —

[COPY.]

Report of a Committee of the Honourable Executive
Council on the Application of the Laird of McNab
for a grant of Land.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CHAMBER, AT YORK)
Wednesday, 5th November, 1823. J

Present : The Hon. James Baby, Presiding Coun-
cillor ; the Hon. Samuel Smith, the Hon. and Rev.
Dr. John Strachan.

To His Excellency, Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B.,
Lieut. -Governor of the Province of Upper Canada,
and Major-General Commanding His Majesty s
Forces therein, &c., &c.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY :

The Committee, of the Executive Council to which
Your Excellency has been pleased to refer the
letter of the Laird of MoNab, dated York, 15th Oct.,
1823, proposing upon certain conditions to settle a
township of land with his clansmen and others from
the Highlands of Scotland, most respectfully report,
That a township of the usual dimensions be set apart
on the Ottawa River, next to the township of Fitzroy,

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 15

for the purpose of being placed under the direction
and superintendence of the Laird of McNab for
settlement. That the said township remain under
his sole direction for and during the space of eighteen
months, when the progress of the experiment will
enable the Government to judge of the propriety of
extending the period. That patents may issue to
any of the settlers of said township, on certificate
from the Laird of McNab stating that the settling
duties are well and duly performed, and his claims
on the settlers arranged and adjusted ; or patents
may issue to Petitioner in Trust, for any number of
settlers, certified by him as aforesaid ; the fee on
each patent to be One Pound Five Shillings and
Fourpence, sterling. That the conditions entered
upon between the Laird of McNab and each settler
be fully explained in detail, and that it be distinctly
stated that such have no further claim upon the
Government for Grants of Laud ; and that a dupli-
cate of the agreement entered into between the
Leader and the settlers shall be lodged in the office
of the Government. That the Laird of McNab be
permitted to assign not less than One Hundred Acres
to each family or Male of Twenty-one years of age,
on taking the oath of allegiance, with the power of
recommending an extension of such grant to the

1 6 The Last Laud of Mac Nab >

favorable consideration of His Excellency, the
Lieut. -Governor, to such families as have means, and
are strong in number, and whom it may be deemed
prudent to encourage. That an immediate_grant of
1,200 acres of land be assigned to the Laird of Mc-
Nab, to be increased to the quantity formerly given
to a Field Officer, on completing the settlement of
the township. That the old settlers pay the interest
on the money laid out for their use by the Laird of
McNab, either in money or produce, at the option of
the settler; and that the settler shall have the
liberty to pay up the principal and interest at any
time during the first seven years.
All of which is respectfully submitted.

(Signed,) JAMES BABY.

Before leaving this part of the subject, it may be
as well to state that after repeated trials and appli-
cations, it was not till 1841 that the settlers procured
a copy of the above document. The Government
until then was composed of members of the Family
Compact, and they determined to keep settlers in the
dark, and to allow the Laird of McNab to do as he
pleased. Although the above is the only official
document on record, there was a private under-

The Last Laird of MacNab. 17

standing between the Chief and the Government to
the effect that the Chief was to have for his own use
and benefit all the timber growing on the township
of McNab. There was some unaccountable delay
after the passing of the above Order in Council
before the Chief proceeded to the importation of im-
migrants, owing to the survey of the township not
being exactly completed, and the assignments to and
selection of certain lots by P. L. Sherwood, Esq., who
had made the survey, and whose remuneration was
to be made in lands on the survey, and not in money.
After the lands had been selected by Mr. Sherwood,
he assigned them to Billa Flint, of Brockville, and
they were marked on the diagram as not open for
settlement. This having all been arranged to the
satisfaction of all parties, in the autumn of 1824,
McNab wrote this letter to Dr. Hamilton :

KENNEL LODGE, \

On the Banks of the Ottawa,

10th Aug., 1824. J

MY DEAR LENEY,— From my last letter you will have
gleaned what my intentions are, and of the progress I have
made. Now I am happy to inform you that all my arrange-
ments for settlement are complete. The township of Me-

1 8 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

Nab has to-day been handed over to me by Sir Peregrine,
and it contains 80,000 acres of fine, wooded, arable land —
and upwards. You will send out to me, according to your
offer, twenty families, at first. Give them three months'
provisions, and make each head of a family, before you give
him a passage ticket, sign the enclosed bond, which has been

specially prepared by the Attorney- General I will

meet the settlers in Montreal, and see each one on the land
located to them, and will provide for their transport to their
lands. They should embark early in April, and I should
feel obliged if you would personally superintend their em-
barkation at Greenock. Now I am in a fine way to redeem
the estate at home, and in a few years will return after hav-
ing established a name in Canada, and founded a trans-
atlantic colony of the clan.

The preparations can be all made this winter for their
emigration, and I shall be fully prepared to receive them. I
have a large log house erected close to the banks of the
Ottawa, which, as you will see by the heading of this letter,
I have called after my estate on Loch Tay, &c. , &c.

(Signed) McNAB.

Immediately after the receipt of this letter, Dr.
Hamilton, of Leney, set to work to procure a band of
emigrants to go to McNab in Canada. In January
1825, the following heads of families signed the bond
prepared by the Canadian Attorney-General, and

The Last Laird of MacNab. 1 9

witnessed by D. McLaren, Banker, Callender —
James Carmichael, Donald Fisher, Peter Campbell,
Peter Drummond, James Robertson, Alex. McNab,
James McFarlane (Kier), Duncan Campbell, James
McDonald, Donald McNaughton, Jobn McDermid,
John Mclntyre, Peter Mclntyre, Donald Mclntyre,
James McLaurin, Peter McMillan, James Storie
(Dumbarton), James McFarlane (Grief), Alexander
Miller, Malcolm McLaren and Colin McCaul.

The terms of the bond were that every adult bound
himself— £36 for himself, £30 for his wife, and £16
for every child, with interest, either in money or
produce.

On the 19th of April, 1825, the McNab settlers,!
amounting in all — men, women and children — to I
eighty-four souls, embarked at Greenock in the ship 1
Niagara^ for America. After a speedy and prosper-
ous voyage they safely landed in the city of Montreal
on the 27th day of May, and were there met by the
Chief and his piper, James McNee, and Mr. Miles
McDonald, who boarded the vessel in due form, and
with a Highland welcome congratulated the settlers
on their safe arrival.

20 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

Preparations were now made for conveying the
settlers to the place of their destination. At that
time there were but few steamers, and the mode of
travelling was difficult and hazardous. The only
means of transport on the rivers and lakes were by
"batteaux" — a species of large barges, — and the
only steamboat that was then to be found on the
Ottawa was the old Union, which plied between
Hawkesbury and Hull. The necessary number of
batteaux were got in readiness at Lachine, and the
settlers having arrived at the latter place with their
baggage, embarked, and after a voyage of two or
three days' duration landed their living freight at
Point Fortune. Here Mr. McLachlin, father of the
late Daniel McLachlin, of Arnprior, took the con-
tract of bringing the baggage to Hawkesbury. The
settlers with their families performed the journey on
foot, and Mr. McLachlin drew the baggage up on
ox carts and sleds. There were but few horses in
those days. At length they got safely on board the
Union and steamed up for Hull. This part of the
voyage took two days and a night in its accomplish-
ment— a journey that can now be made in a few

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 2 1

hours. On the evening of the second day they arrived
at Hull. There was no city of Ottawa then— no
Bytown. The site of the present seat of Government
of the Dominion of Canada was a dense, unbroken
forest, an uncultivated wild, a pathless wilderness,
where the bear and the wolf roamed uncontrolled,
and the red deer gambolled in its deep dark glades
and sylvan retreats.

From Hull upwards, the settlers met with many /
hardships till they reached the Chats. Here they
had to disembark and proceed to the place of their
future home through the woods, following a pathway
and guided by a blaze, their baggage being trans-
ported up the Chats Rapids by some of the male
portion of the settlers and those who were sent to
their assistance, such as lumberers and others who
had before that time squatted in the township (the
only persons residing there when they arrived was
Archibald Stewart, Duncan Campbell and his sons,
an old Glengarry soldier and the Goodwins). The
journey of the settlers from Montreal to McNab, with
their baggage and luggage, occupied 28 days.

22 2 he Last Laird of MacNab.

CHAPTER III.

ARRIVAL OF THE SETTLERS IN M*NAB — THEIR LOCATION.

On the 23rd of June, 1825, the settlers all arrived
safely in.the township, and pitched their camps at
the present Arnprior steamboat landing. As many
as could be crowded into Kennel Lodge, where the
Laird resided, proceeded thither ; the remainder
occupied the camps until all the luggage had safely
reached its destination. The Laird then called them
together and informed them that the township was
given to him as a grant by the Government, because
he was a Highland Chief— that they could go and
select their lands — that he would send the Campbells
(of the lake), the Goodwins and Arch. Stewart along
with them to point out the most eligible locations,
and as soon as they had chosen their respective lots,
he would locate them in due form. They according-
ly proceeded to prospect and select their lands : The
three Mclntyre families, James McFarlane (Kier),
James McDonald and Donald McNaughton went up

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 23

the Madawaska a distance of seven miles, and select
ed lands in what is now called the Flat Rapid Set
Clement. James McLaren went to the borders of
Horton, in what is now known as the Lochwinnoch
settlement, and the rest of the emigrants pitched
upon lands in the neighborhood of what is now
Arnprior, and along the banks of a small brook
which they named the Dochert, after a river of the
same name which flowed through the Kennel estate
in Scotland. Having made this selection they re-
moved their families to the wild woods, in the very
depth of the primeval forest, and erected small
shanties. The heads of families repaired to the
Chief's house to get their locations.

The Chief, through Dr. Hamilton, of Leney,
promised that the settlers were to be transported to
their lauds without any trouble or expense, and were
to be furnished by the Chief with three months' pro-
visions after they arrived, out of a store that was
kept at the mouth of the Madawaska river, by Mr.

Ferguson (Craigdarrach). When the settlers arrive?,

I

all that was in the store was a large puncheon of
whiskey and some clothes, nothing in the provision

24 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

line whatever. They resolved then, as soon as they
[got their locations, to go out in the neighboring Town-
Iship of Fitzroy to work for food for themselves and
families. The Chief accordingly sitting in solemn
state at Kennel Lodge, having these memorable and
remarkable documents prepared in duplicate, forth-
with proceeded to seal and sign.

I subjoin a copy of this remarkable document
given to the first settlers. They are all of the same
form, and in transcribing one I give you a copy of
each settlers' location ticket. All of them were
written in red ink, with the exception of two, and
these two settlers had given some offence to the
Chief on their way up, and to evince his displeasure
he wrote theirs in black ink.

[COPY OF LOCATION TICKET.]

" I, Archibald McNab, of McNab, do hereby locate you,
James Carmichael, upon the rear half of the Sixteenth Lot
of the Eleventh Concession of McNab, upon the following
terms and conditions, that is to say : I hereby bind myself,
my heirs and successors, to give you the said land free of any
quit rent for three years from this date, as also to procure
you a patent for the same at your expense, upon your hav-
ing done the settlement duties and your granting me a

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 25

mortgage upon said lands, that yG\i_j&i\\, yearly thereof tt
pay to me, my heirs and successors for ever one bushel ol
wheat or Indian corn, or oats of like value, for every1
cleared acre upon the said Lot of Land in name of Quit
Rent for the same, in month of January in each year.

Your subscribing to these conditions being binding upon
you to fulfil the terms thereof.

Signed and sealed by us at Kennell Lodge, this twelfth
day of August, 1825.

Signed, ARCHIBALD McNAB, (L.S.)
Signed, JAMES CARMICHAEL, (L.S.)

I have interlined the above document, which indi-
cates the first attempt to establish and fix firmly a
system of feudal dependence upon the Chief. All
the first settlers signed their original location tickets.
Now, McNab held them under him by two instru-
ments— the bond executed at Leney House in
Callander, and the location ticket which bound them-
selves and their lands to the Chief and his heirs and
successors forever. The reader will direct his atten-
tion to the Order in Council for the settlement of the
Township of McNab, passed in 1823, and contrast it
with the terms the Laird of McNab imposed upon
his settlers. They were ignorant. They had impli-

26 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

cit confidence in their Chief. His word was law, and
they imagined that the land was his, as he had re-
presented it, and they conceived that they could
easily pay the bushel of wheat to the acre. They
had no experience and they really and conscientious-
ly believed that the lands in Canada were as fertile
as those in the straiths of their own native country —
the land they had so lately left and where they paid
high rents, and this small tax of a bushel for every
cleared acre was a mere nothing, which could be
easily met.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 27

CHAPTER TV.

PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT — PERSECUTION.

And now the settlers proceeded to make small
clearances round their rough and primitive home-
steads. In the midst of the dense and primeval
forest — unaccustomed to such work — unused to
the woods, their hardships and difficulties can
scarce be described ; but manfully and courage-
ously they set to work, undeterred by no obstacle
and undaunted by no danger, however great. They
looked forward to the future with glowing anticipa-
tions, but that future was darkened by clouds of ad-
verse fortune and annoyances they had then no ex-
pectations to encounter or to dread. The three
months provisions with which they had been fur-
nished at Greenock, by Dr. Hamilton of Leney, were
nearly exhausted, and something must be done for
their families, and to procure seed for the fall and
coming spring. They had been informed that Chief
McNab would furnish them with a year's provisions,

28 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

which they would be called upon to pay for on real-
izing the proceeds of their crops. They put full reli-
ance upon this, and found soon after their arrival
that the Laird could not supply them with even the
bare necessaries of life. They discovered, when too
late, that they had leant upon a reed and put faith
in fallacy. They now saw that they would be com-
pelled to leave off the clearing of their lands and go
out to work for provisions ; consequently some went
to a Mr. Thos. Burns, of Fitzroy, and worked with
him at haying and harvest „ and potato digging, and
earned provisions— others went to Beckwith and
hired out— others purchased provisions on credit in
Beckwith. Now it became necessary to transfer to
their families a sufficient supply to last till winter,
when the carriage would be easier as soon as sleigh-
ing set in. There were no roads, but merely a path-
way from Mr. Snedden's in Ramsay to Beckwith ;
the remainder of the route to the Township of Mc-
Nab was down the Mississippi to the mouth, then up
the Chats Lake to the mouth of the Madawaska,
thence up the Madawaska River to the Flat Rapid
Settlement ; and to other places by land on blazed

The Last Laird of Mac Nab, 29

paths through the bush. Boats knocked to-
gether in a rough fashion, and canoes rudely manu-
factured, were improvised for the occasion, and
small loads were brought from "Murphy's Falls" in
this manner to McNab. From Beckwith to the pre-
sent "Carleton Place," and even to Snedden's, loads
were transferred on the settlers' backs. These were
hardships indeed, and during the years 1825, 1826
and part of 1827, this was the continual occupation
of the settlers. They had not yet realized enough
from their crops to support their families, because
much of the time necessary to the clearing and cul-
tivation of their respective lots was occupied by hir-
ing out to obtain the necessaries of life for their
starving families. They were often reduced to the
greatest straits : for days the wives and children of
the settlers were kept alive by potatoes alone, with
a little salt as a relish, and when a bag of flour was
got by one neighbour, it was immediately divided
among the whole. During the winter, however, after
the experience of the first fall and winter, they laid
in a sufficient stock to last them for a year, which

30 The Last Laird of MacNab.

was partly paid for by the former summer's work
and partly to be liquidated by the ensuing summer's
labor.

It was the custom of the settlers before going out
to hire, to ask the Chief's permission, as their liege-
lord ; and strict injunctions were given to all not to
leave the township on any account without asking
McNab's leave. This was carrying the Lairdship
with a high hand indeed, and reducing the free-born
Highlanders to the abject condition of Russian serfs ;
but they all complied without a murmur, judging
from the bond they had signed at Lenney House that
they were bound to obey their leader in all things.
It was also another despotic rule laid down by the
Chief that the timber on their lands belonged to him,
and consequently they could not dispose of it. In
this they all complied without remonstrance,
except Mr. Alexander Miller, one of the settlers, who
was well educated, and who before emigrating had
taught the village school of Nineveh, a small hamlet
half way between Loch Earn head and Callander.
He remonstrated, and said that the locatees had a

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 3 1

right to the timber, and he sold all on his laud to
Mr. John Brill, formerly a lumberman in McNab.

When the Chief heard of this disposition of the
timber he at once made for the spot and ordered Mr.
Brill to desist or he would hold him accountable.

''And who are you? " exclaimed Brill, an old man-
o'-war's-man and an athlete of gigantic proportions.

41 1, sir, am McNab of McNab, and this township
and all that is in it belongs to me," exclaimed the
Chief pompously. " But who are you, fellow ? "

" I'm Jack Brill of the Brilliants, sir, and if you
don't clear out in five minutes I'll rope's-end you to
your heart's content," said Brill in a voice of thun-
der, and lifting up a huge ox gad in a menacing atti-
tude.

The Chief looked aghast with astonishment and
hastily retired from the spot, vowing vengeance
against all concerned ; and before leaving this part
of the narrative I may as well state the sequel.

Owing to McNab's influence with the government,
Brill had to pay him the whole amount of the duty
of all the timber he cut on the township,

32 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

In the spring of 1826, Mr. Alex. Miller went to Ken-
nell and asked the Chief's permission to leave the
township to seek work for provisions. He was per-
emptorily refused, and now commenced the first of
a series of persecutions, which lasted for sixteen
years, and which finally culminated in the liberation
of the people of the township from the thraldom of
Chief McNah, Miller upon his refusal did not
know what to do or how to turn. He had only six
weeks' provisions in the house, and at the end of
that time he did not know where to look for a re-
plenishing of this stock. He left the township with-
out permission and hired with Messrs. William and
John Thompson, of Nepean. While industriously
employed in providing for his family he was sudden-
ly and unexpectedly arrested on a capias, at the in-
stance of the Laird of McNab, for a debt £80, and
brought to Perth and lodged in jail. These were the
palmy days of the " family compact," and a person
could then be arrested for a debt of forty shillings,
and deprived of his liberty for months, merely upon
an affidavit of the plaintiff that he believed the deb-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 33

tor was about to leave the Province. Better times
have now supervened. The present generation may
look back to the exertions of their fathers and grand-
fathers with gratitude for the great and glorious
struggles in the cause of liberty, and in erasing for-
ever from the Statute Book that barbarous law Im-
prisonment for Debt.

Poor Miller lay in Perth jail for two days without
eating any food, and would have starved to death
had it not been for the kindness and humanity of
Mr. James Young, then the benevolent keeper of the
county prison. This high-handed proceeding was
characterized by the greatest cruelty as well as
illegality on the part of the Chief. Let the reader
refer to the original agreement between McNab and
Sir Peregrine Maitland's government, and he will
at a glance perceive that Miller had no right to pay
a cent, either of principal or interest on the bond he
had given to the Chief, and signed at Leney House,
Scotland until seven years after the date of his loca-
tion; yet, notwithstanding this solemn agreement-not-
withstanding all Dr. Hamilton's promises, the

34 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

agreement was violated at the very outset, and his
kinsman's promises — the gentleman, who, out of his
own resources, had paid the passage money of Miller
and his family and the rest of the settlers to Canada
—were treated as flimsy nothings, for at the end of
only the second year of Miller's emigration, he was
arrested and imprisoned, and his family left to
starve. For six weeks he remained in jail before
the settlers in McNab knew of his incarceration, but
as soon as the intelligence reached the township
the following settlers travelled to Perth, a distance
then of sixty miles, though scarcely any roads but
mere pathways, and went special bail, viz : — John
Mclntyre, James McFarlane (Kier), Peter Mclntyre,
Donald McNaughton and James McDonald, and poor
Miller was liberated. The above persons were
marked down as black sheep in the Chief's dooms-
day book, and set apart for the next batch to be
sued. The settlers engaged Mr. James Boulton to
defend Miller, while the Laird of McNab's legal
adviser was the late Daniel McMartin, Esq. The
upshot of the affair was that the settlers were

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 35

acrificed for want of a proper defence, and each of
the persons who entered as bail for Miller were
compelled to pay about £50 each.

It was during this memorable affair that the fol-
lowing letter was written by Mr. James McLaurin,
one of the settlers who was located in the Loch win -
noch section of the township. When Miller's case
came up for trial in April, 1827, it became necessary
to prove the bond signed by Miller in Scotland.
Now Mr. Donald McLaren, the subscribing witness,
was in Scotland, and his handwriting was proven by
others. The defence was that McNab had not ful-
filled his part of the agreement to put the settlers
on the land free of expense, and moreover, that he
had ordered some salt and a portion of their pro-
visions to be destroyed. Mr. McLaurin warmly es-
posed Miller's side, and in consequence was obliged
to leave the township a few years afterwards, and
he settled in the vicinity of the village of Renfrew.
This is the letter :—

36 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

March 9th, 1827.
MR. PETER MO!NTYRE,

Dear Sir, — Please send me notice concerning
Miller's affair, for I am informed he is dropping all
and coming to the land. I wish to let you know
that the Chief intends to cast you all as evidences
and take you as principals. Boss is to be taken in
evidence on behalf of McNab. I wish to let you
know that I am the man who spilt the salt by Me-
Nab's orders, saying there was plenty on the spot.
Sir, please send me notice concerning a petition I
was informed you got wrote in Perth. I hope you
will count me worthy to sign it. Take some witness
besides yourself to Perth and send me a letter with-
out delay about all affairs. I will go as a witness.

Remember me to all friends in that quarter that
wish to give Satan a blow.

I am, yours truly till death,
(Signed), JAS. McLAURiN.

I insert this letter to show that the spirit of dis-
content was fast creeping in among the settlers, and
that something like an organized resistance was
commencing ; but it was not until ten years after-
wards that it assumed form and consistency— but

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 37

to our narrative. All the efforts for Miller were
vain; the Chief received a verdict, and in conse-
quence of an error made by Miller of one day only
that he should have surrendered and relieved his
bail, the Chief abandoned his judgment against him
and issued summonses against the six individuals
who went his special bail. For many months he
could not get them served, and McDonald and Mc-
Farlane were never served. Whenever a stranger
appeared in the Flat Rapid settlement, a horn was
blown as a signal, guns were fired at every house
and the male inhabitants hid until the stranger
disappeared. It was after many months of stategic
manoeuvering that four of the six "black sheep"
were served, and they subsequently had to pay the
amount. Alex. Miller left the township entirely,
and for many years taught school in the township of
Beckwith. His death occurred as late as 1867. He
was the first martyr to the Laird of McNab's despo-
tism, and he was thus victimized as an example to
the rest,

38 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

CHAPTER V.

NEW ARRIVALS.

When McNab procured from the Government the
" Order-in -Council " granting to him the privilege of
settling the township, it was restricted to eighteen
months, but in 1827 the Government, who granted
his every request, extended it to an indefinite period.
His power was almost unlimited, and none of the
inhabitants for a moment doubted that it was his
own property. Even as late as 1827 the settlers
looked up to the Laird of McNab with that degree of
dread and awe that Highlanders regarded the Chief
of a Highland Clan, and that deference was kept up
for a long period, and not till every tie that binds
man to friendship and respect was severed did it en-
tirely cease. Miller's treatment perpetuated a
sentiment of respect in some, of fear in others, so
that nearly at the very outset of its settlement the
Township of McNab was divided into two parties,

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 39

the Opposition and the staunch adherents of the
Chief. When they first arrived, there were several
lumberers carrying on their operations in the town-
ship, viz : Alexander McDonnell, Esq., Sand Point;
Duncan Campbell, Matthew Barr, the Goodwins,
Messrs. Mitchell & Sutherland, and John Brill. It
was the interest of these parties to keep on terms
with the chief. For about one -fourth of the real
value he gave passes to all cutting timber in the
township. These parties never questioned his title
to the ownership of the land, and even Brill, who
had at first treated him roughly, was obliged to
succumb and propitiate his favor. The settlers had
about this time (1827) cut several roads through the
settlements, and though rough and unfinished, serv-
ed as channels of communication. Tt was in Janu-
ary of this year that the Chief wrote to Dr. Hamilton
of Leney, to send out more settlers, The Doctor,
who had received some information of McNab's
treatment to the settlers, point blank refused to
take any more interest in him or his affairs. This
was an unlooked-for repulse. He had to settle the

40 The Last Laird of MacNab.

township in order to keep on terms with the Govern-
ment of the day, which gave him every latitude, and
did for him whatever he asked. Accordingly he pro-
ceeded to Montreal, met with some emigrants (1827),
and by glowing descriptions, plausible representa-
tions and enticing promises, induced them to come
to " his township, " among whom were the Hamil-
tons, the Wilsons, and Mr. David Airth, sr., now of
Renfrew, and he located them upon lands at the
rate of half a bushel of wheat per acre to be paid
him and his heirs and successors forever. Here the
reader will perceive that by the wording of his loca-
tion tickets, he already contemplated the establish-
ment of a principality on the Ottawa. Mr. Airth,
soon after his arrival, discovered that he was en-
titled to a grant of 200 acres, as a sergeant in the
Royal Artillery. He consequently left the Goshen
settlement of McNab and drew land in the neighbor-
ing Township of Horton, where he at present re-
sides. About this time (1829) Messrs. Alexander
and Daniel Ross, having made improvements on Lot
No. 3, in the 14th concession of McNab, with the

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 41

intentions of erecting mills on that lot which is now
partly occupied by the flourishing village of Arn-
prior, would not agree to the Chief's terms, as the
lot was originally a Clergy Reserve. The Chief ex-
changed it for another lot, drew the patent in his
own name, and ejected the Rosses who, as has been
before stated, went to Lower Canada and settled in
Bristol. They wrote an anonymous communication
to Lieut. -Governor Sir John Colborne (Baron
Seaton), severely reprobating the Chief's behaviour,
and animadverting in no measured terms on the
conduct of the Government itself. This document
was without a signature, and without either locality
or date. The high-minded and honorable soldier
who ruled Upper Canada, scorning such a mode of
attack and complaint, at once sent the communica-
tion to the Chief. They were intimate friends. Sir
John had offered McNab a place in the Govern-
ment and a seat in the Legislative Council, which
was politely declined. The Chief's affable manner, his
imposing and noble appearance, the manly beauty
of his person, and that chivalrous politeness which

42 The Last Laird of MacNab.

he had acquired in France, together with his gener-
ous expenditure, both at home and abroad, had so
won on the Lieut.-Governor that he could not believe
the accomplished gentleman was a tyrant, nor the
handsome Highland Chieftain a cruel despot, as re-
presented in the letter, and if one statement appear-
ed false, the whole must be without foundation —
thus reasoned the simple and honorable soldier.
Besides, the complaint was anonymous and conse-
quently cowardly and untrue. It was attributed to
ingratitude and discontent.

When the Laird of McNab received the communi-
cation, he was surprised at its audacity. To dis-
cover its author was his first object, to punish him
his next effort. Being without a name it did not
come within the category of privileged communica-
tion, and consequently the author in those days was
liable to punishment. He, on the impulse of the
moment, selected one of the settlers as the author
— one Alexander McNab, who had been a teacher in
Scotland, and who had specially emigrated to Cana-
da to follow his profession. As such he received

The Last Laird of MacNab 43

the location ticket for 200 acres instead of one, as
had been awarded to other settlers. He was now
the only educated man among the settlers. He had
shown symptoms of insubordination some time
previously. His handwriting was very like that
of the libellous communication. He resided within
two miles of Kennell Lodge, near the present Flat
Rapid Hoad. His place is now occupied by his son-
in-law, Mr. John Yuill. He received a peremptory
summons to attend upon the Laird. At once obey-
ing the mandate of his Chief, he appeared before
him anxious and apprehensive. The missive he re-
ceived was couched in these terms — not by any
means calculated to remove his apprehension : —

KENNELL LODGE, 13th March, 1829.
ALEXANDER McNAB :

Degraded Clansman, — You are accused to me by
Sir John Colborne, of libel, sedition, and high trea-
son. You will forthwith compear before me, at my
house of Kennell, and there make submission ; and
if you show a contrite and repentant spirit, and con-
fess your faults against me, your legitimate Chief,

44 The Last Laird of MacNab.

and your crime against His Majesty King George, I
will intercede for your pardon.

Your offended Chief,
(Signed) McNAB.

When he appeared at Kennell, McNab read the
communication and asked poor Sandy to confess.
Mr. McNab stoutly denied it. He was completely
astonished and indignant at being thus charged and
asked to acknowledge a crime he had never contem-
plated, and which, if his name had been affixed to
it, would have been a privileged communication and
beyond the bounds of prosecution.

''Well, my man," exclaimed the Chief, "I must
send you to jail, and I assure you that your neck is
in danger."

Alexander McNab was an innocent man, and had
a bold and courageous spirit. Instead of begging for
mercy, he defied the Chief. This was enough. The
least opposition was sure to raise a whirlwind. He
drew up a warrant of commitment, swore in two
special constables, and sent Alex. McNab to Perth
without bail or mainprize. He was six weeks im-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 45

prisoned when the Assizes came on. Defended by
the HOD. Jonas Jones afterwards the late Judge
Jones, of the Queen's Bench, he was at once acquit-
ted, and the warrant of commitment was the subject
of amusement from its quaint and patriarchal style
to the lawyers and others assembled in Court.
Alexander Ross, the writer of the alleged libellous
communication, was in Court, and if Alexander Me-
Nab had been convicted, he would have acknow-
ledged the authorship, and thus saved an innocent
man from severe punishment. For in those days the
law of libel was very stringent and severe. It was a
favorite axiom with both Judges and law officers of
the Crown *• the greater the truth the greater the
libel "—a doctrine now justly exploded and subject
to merited ridicule. Alexander McNab returned to
his family in triumph. This was the first check
the Chief had received, and he resolved to punish
the " black sheep " the first opportunity that offer-
ed. His name was accordingly entered in the pre-
scribed list, with what results the sequel will show.
The Laird of McNab was a Magistrate, and this

46 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

case shows the despotic sway of the Family Com-
pact. He had, without information laid, without
examination, without ex parte evidence, acted as
witness, prosecutor and Judge ; and the first process
issued was a warrant of commitment, so utterly ille-
gal in point of force and substance that in the pro-
sent day, no keeper of a prison would have received
the person committed under it ; yet the Laird of
McNab, instead of being dismissed from the Com-
mission of the Peace, was warmly applauded for his
energy and decision. Times have changed. The
occurrence of such a betise in the present day would
be denounced in no measured terms by the public
opinion and by the press, until the perpetrator
would have been brought to justice and adequately
punished. Our liberties are so sacredly guarded,
our constitutional rights so well defined and protect-
ed that such an outrage is impossible ; and this we
owe not only to responsible government, which was
attained in 1841, after a severe and protracted strug-
gle, but to the spirit of liberty it infused, and to the
wholesome and salutary safeguards introduced.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 47

CHAPTER VI.

FRESH ARRIVALS.

The Chief being a Magistrate, had, by the law of
the laud, the power of celebrating marriages, after
banns had been duly published. The mode of pub-
lishing banns was by fixing written notices upon
three of the most conspicuous pine trees in three
public places in the township. The first marriage
after this primitive fashion among the settlers was
celebrated by the Chief at his residence, between
Mr. Matthew Barr, a lumberer, and Miss Elizabeth
Mclntyre, daughter of John Mclntyre, the oldest
settler, who came out in 1825. After Mr. Barr's
marriage, frequent inter-marriages occurred among
the settlers, and since the trial of Alex. McNab,
matters had subsided into a state of tranquillity.
Alex. McNab left the township, but his family still
remained, cultivating and improving the farm. He,
himself, travelled westward, and obtained a school

48 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

which he taught for some years. About thig time
(1830), a fresh accession of settlers increased the
numerical strength of the inhabitants. They con-
sisted of the McNabs, the Camerons, the Campbells,
the McKays and the McNevins from I si a, and they
took up land in the rear of the township, where
there was a good hardwood country, viz., on the
first, second, third and fourth concession, embracing
the part of the country lying around White Lake,
and what is called Canaan. The arrangements
entered into with these settlers, whom McNab met
in Montreal and induced to settle in what he called
" his township/' differed from all the rest. It will
be borne in mind that they paid their own passage
money and expenses to McNab Township. It did
not cost McNab or his friends in Scotland one single
penny — yet, in direct violation of the Order -in-
Council, quoted in the second chapter of this narra-
tive, he located them as follows : —

[COPY.]

I, Archibald McNab, of McNab, do hereby locate
you, James McKay, upon Lot No. 18, in the Second

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 49

concession of McNab, upon the following terms and
conditions, that is to say :— I hereby bind myself,
my heirs or successors, to give you the said land free
of any quit tent or free rate, for three years from
this date, and also procure you a patent for the
same at your own expense, upon you having done
the settlement duties, and your granting me a mort-
gage on the said lands, that you will yearly there-
after pay to me, my heirs or successors in the Chief-
tainship of the Clan McNab forever, three barrels of
flour, or Indian corn, or oats of like value, in name
of Quit Rent, and fee duty for the same in the month
of January.

Your subscribing to these conditions being binding
upon you to fulfil the terms thereof.

Signed and sealed by us at Kennell Lodge, this
Twelfth day of August, 1830.

(Signed) ARCHIBALD McNAB, [L. S.]

(Signed) JAMES McKAY, [L. S.]

In Montreal he met these people, told them he
had a township of his own on which he would place
them at a merely nominal rent— a trifle— that the
land was fertile. It was a Highland settlement, etc.
His affable manners, imposing appearance, kindness

50 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

and condescension had its desired end. The poor
settlers in their inexperience and simplicity, thought
that three barrels of flour for 200 acres of land was
a mere song. These people had been accustomed in
the old country to see two or three hundred pounds
annually paid as rent for similar quantity of land,
and they eagerly embraced his offer and settled in
McNab. It was there they found out by experienoe
the difficulties and hardships and labor they had to
surmount in the arduous task of clearing the land
for agricultural purposes. They then discovered
that a lien upon their lands of three barrels of
flour a year in perpetuity, was a heavy tax upon
their industry and the proceeds of their labor, crippl-
ing their resources and cramping their energies, when
they considered that it was imposed on themselves
and decendants for ever. Both the settlers and the
government were imposed upon, the settlers in be-
ing led to believe the township was bona fide the
Chief's, the government that there were new settlers
brought out at McNab's expense. The first settlers
had now began to pay their rents. They found that

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 51

the bushel per cleared acre was a heavy burden, and v
they had to subsidize the amount by working on the
Chiefs farm at Kennell. From some (the Flat
Rapid settlers), he had as yet received nothing.
They had become involved in the Miller suit and fell
into arrears.

Becoming disheartened, the McFarlanes and the
McDonalds left the township entirely and went to
Calabogie Lake, and James McLaren abandoned his
lot, and settled in Horton within a short distance of
the present village of Renfrew. Those who did pay
the rent endeavored to procure some reduction. At
length, in 1881, a Government commissioner was sent
out to see how the settlement was progressing, and
upon the complaint of the settlers, with the concur-
rence of the Laird of McNab, a reduction was
promised to one-half, that is, one-half bushel per
cleared acre, but this promised was never fulfilled.
The full bushel was exacted, or a demand made for
the passage money and intereest. McNab received
the duty off every stick of timber cut upon their
land by the lumberers ; nothing was allowed them

52 7 he Last Laird of Mac Nab.

for this, and it has calculated that the Chief drew
about £'30,000 from this source during the time the
Township of McNab was under his control and super-
intendence. Whenever the Laird received a large
amount from timber dues it was his custom to make
periodical excursions to Montreal and Toronto. At
Montreal he picked up settlers, at Toronto he hood-
winked the government.

At both these cities he indulged in lavish expendi-
ture, gave dinners, and entertained his friends and
flatterers with the profuse generosity of a high-
souled and magnanimous Highland Laird. When
his funds had dwindled away by this exhaustive line
of conduct, he returned to Kennell, and there his
hospitality was proverbial. No weary and travel-
worn wayfarer ever reached his Highland home in
McNab without receiving a cordial welcome. Hon-
orable poverty was treated with as much kindness as
titled wealth. Prodigal in his hospitality, as well as
in his promises, settlers from Perthshire and other
places flocked to his Township, and in 1832 his do-
main began to show signs of life and prosperity.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 53

With all bis good qualities his conduct was character,
ized by many pernicious drawbacks. He never for-
gave. To oppose his wishes or his schemes was to
provoke unrelenting hostility. To offend in the least
or to offer the merest slight to his vanity or pride
was to make a powerful enemy forever. Vindictive
oppression and unabating persecution followed
quickly and surely upon what he considered a wrong
to his planSi. his]dignityjor his pride. He had erected
his residence on the bold and high terraced acclivity
on the banks of the Ottawa in close proximity to
the mouth of the Madawaska, on the very spot
where now stands the princely mansion of Mr. H.
F. McLachlin. It commanded a panoramic view of
the Ottawa and Chats Lake in all its solitude and
wild grandeur. No clearance broke in upon the
loneliness of the forest vista. On all sides of his
abode were then trees and mountains, lakes and
rivers ; sometimes broken in upon by the passing
voyageur or the adventurous lumberer, as they
passed on to their annual labors. Here he dispensed
the hospitalities of his race. Here he sat in state as
lord of the manor and the patriarch of his clan.

54 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

Here he listened to the complaints of his settlers,
and gave ear to one or two tale-bearers, who poisoned
his mind against the " black sheep " and shut up his
soul to reconciliation or mercy. Here he devised
plans for the future, either of punishment on the re-
fractory or of schemes for his own advancement.
Numbers of the settlers paid their rents regularly.
Their sons had at this time (1832) grown up to be
men — stalwart and hardy workers, and got employ-
ment and good wages from the lumberers, and thus
contributed to the support of their parents and
their families. At this period, too, the time had ex-
pired, as will be seen on reference to the Order-in-
Council of 1823, for the payment of their passage
money unless compromised by rent. Now he was at
liberty to proceed by law against the refractory. As
I have before stated, the Flat Rapid settlers were
the only ones that came beneath the banns of his
vengeance for the part they had taken in the Miller
case. They had as yet paid no rent. From them
the Chief would receive no labor in lieu of rent.
Their land was sandy and light and barely sufficed
to support them. But the Chief cared not for this.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 55

They had opposed his vengeance on Miller in 1829,
and now they must be made examples of as a warn-
ing to the other settlers for all time to come. Writs
were accordingly issued by Mr. MacMartin in Feb-
ruary of this year against John, Peter and Daniel
Maclntyre, Donald McNaughton, James McDonald,
James McFarlane and James Maclaren, to recover
the amount of their bond. These people got intel-
ligence of this movement and prepared themselves
accordingly. A road had been cut from their settle-
ment to Kennell and the mouth of the Madawaska
through dense swamps. It was a good winter road,
but almost impassable in summer. The late Mr.
Anthony Wiseman undertook the service of the
writs. Having safely arrived at Kennell in the be-
ginning of March of that year, accompanied by a
guide he proceeded to the Flat Eapids. The appear-
ance of a stranger was the signal for the ox-horned
tocsin of alarm. No sooner had he stepped within
the clearance than his ears were greeted with the
trumpet sounds of horns resounding and echoed
back from clearance to clearance, accompanied by a
regular fuailade of small arms, liin astonishment

56 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

was quickly dispelled when he reached the shanties.
Not a single male inhabitant was visible. The
woman of the house " could talk no English." Poor
Wiseman was in a maze, he had to return as he
came, bewildered and discomntted. Several unsuc-
cessful attempts were made to effect a service with
similar results. It was two years before any of them
could be served, and those were the two Mclntyres
and Donald McNaughton. McDonald, McFarlaue
(Kier), and McLaren had left the Township and re-
treated further into the wilderness. All attempts to
bring the latter within the jurisdiction of the law
proved abortive. Messrs. Duncan and John Mc-
Farlane, afterwards successful lumberers on the
Madawaska, sons of James McFarlane of Kier, upon
hearing of these proceedings, went to the Chief and
offered him 1'80 in lieu of passage money and in full
of rent, but it was scornfully refused. " I don't
want the money, my man," said the laird, " I wish to
punish the d d scoundrels." " Well, Chief," re-
plied Duncan, " you will never get a copper, for this
is the last offer we'll make," and to this day the
Chief never received a farthing, through his own

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 5 7

obstinacy and determination to punish. An anec-
dote is related of old "Bill Matheson," who was
about that time Deputy Sheriff, which is worth men-
tioning. When Wiseman and other bailifts failed to
get the " blister " clapped on the defendants, Mr.
William Matheson swore he would serve them. Ac-
cordingly he set out from Perth with an assistant,
and reached Kennell in safety. Here he got a guide
by the name of John Madigan, one of the Chief's
servants. Madigan very reluctantly accompanied
him, for he had a friendly feeling towards the people.
Accordingly they set out. It was about the begin-
ning of June and the mosqnitos were to be found
in swarms, especially in the swamps. Now, it was
seven good miles to the nearest settler, John Mc-
Intyre. Madigan came with them as far as Milk's
meadow, about three miles distant from the Laird's ;
he turned off upon a shanty road and pretended to
have lost his way. Telling them to remain in the
same place till he returned, Madigan, who was a bit
of a wag, quickly took himself to the clearance of
Mr. James McNee, the Chief's piper, and having
made a smudge at its outskirts quietly rested there

5 8 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

till evening and then approached the house, told the
story of having lost his way, etc,, and remained
there all night.

In the meantime Matheson and his man staid in
the same place where they had been left by their
guide, vainly expecting his momentary return, ever
and anon cheering up their spirits by frequent appli-
cations to the brandy flask, which was usually car-
ried about the person in those anti- temperance
days. At length the shades of night warned them
it was time to look out. They proceeded backwards
and forwards, and became involved in the swamps,
wet, footsore and splashed all over with mud. Shout-
ing was useless, for there was no one to hear them.
At length they made a fire and camped out all night.
In the morning Madigan returned to Kennell, told
his story and feigned sickness owing to what he
called his exposure. A party was instantly formed
to search for the lost officers of the law. About
noon they were discovered in a sad plight and
brought back to Kennell, and Matheson swore he
would never return on such an expedition, and he
kept his word.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 59

CHAPTEK VII.

A DIGRESSION.

In the fall of 1831 Chief McNab had become ac-
quainted in Montreal with two young gentlemen of
some capital, who had just emigrated. These were
Messrs. George and Andrew Buchanan. He had
persuaded them to settle in " his Township," and
erect mills. He spoke in glowing terms of the
rapids at the mouth of the Madawaska, and of the
advantages to be derived from an early settlement in
that locality. Lavish of promises and protestations,
he offered them the mill site free, and timber for
sawlogs to any amount for an interminable length of
years for a trifling consideration. Further, he
claimed them as distant relatives, being descended,
as he discovered, from a collateral branch of the
Buchanans of Arnprior. The young men accompan-
ied the Chief from Montreal, and proceeded up the
river to inspect the place. Impressed with the
favorable nature of the locality, they agreed to the

6o 7 he Last Laird of MacNab.

Chief's terms and named the place (in compliment
to McNab, as well as on account of their origin)
Arnprior, which name it bears to the present day.
As has been before stated the Chief's grandfather on
the mother's side was Buchanan of Arnprior. In
1745 he became connected with the rebellion, and on
the final suppression of the revolt by the disastrous
defeat of Culloden The Buchanan was arrested,
brought to Carlisle, where his offence against the
House of Hanover was first committed, tried and
beheaded. His estates were all forfeited with the
exception of Leney, which he had previously as-
signed to his daughter. In 1809, Francis, Chief of
McNab, uncle to the gentleman whose adventures
we are recording, by his influence with Lord Bread-
albane and the Scottish nobility, with whom he was
a great favorite, owing to his eccentricity and origi-
nality, procured a reversal of the attainder, and
being the only legitimate heir, succeeded to the
possession of the Arnprior estates in Kippin. In
1819, Archibald, the last chieftain of the McNabs,
the subject of this narrative, sold the estates to a
manufacturer for £80,000, and squandered most of

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 61

the proceeds in Paris, and paid a small sum of it to
Breadalbane, in part of his lordship's ivadset against
the Kennell estate. So that now a cotton spinner
and cloth manufacturer is King of Kippin instead of
the descendants of those who rivalled King James
V. of Scotland in magnificence and hospitality.
The Laird of McNab, in detailing this piece of his-
torical biography to Mr. Andrew Buchanan, sug-
gested the name and it was at once adopted, and a
glorious jollification of it they had at Kennell that
night. James McNee, in the full glory of a new set
of pipes, decorated with beautiful ribbons, performed
the part of the Ancient Minstrels at the castles of
their lords and blew forth in joyous peals the mar-
tial strains of Scotland's music— strains that have
led on the sons of the heather and hill to those dar-
ing deeds of bravery and dazzling exploits of valor
that have adorned the victories and triumphs of
Britain in every age, and still have the same exhil- -
arating effects wherever the trump and the drum,
the roar of cannon and the clashing of steel, pro-
claim the strife, the battle and the victory. And
thus the Arnprior of Canada was named, thus Am-

62 The Last Laird of MacNab.

prior of the Ottawa came into existence, a village
which many years afterwards was visited by the
eldest son of our gracious Queen, the descendant of
that house to which tne forefathers of the Buchan-
ans of Arnprior were opposed in deadly strife from
pure but mistaken loyalty to an unfortunate race of
princes, whose tyranny and violation of constitu-
tional rights drove them from a throne of now the
greatest and proudest united nation in the universe.
The arrangement between the Laird of McNab
and Messrs. Andrew and George Buchanan was
finally concluded. McNab was to give them a free
deed of lot No. 3 in concession 0 of McNab, subject
to the reservations in the Patent from the Crown,
and permit them to cut all the timber within three
miles of the Madawaska river for saw logo, while
they or their assigns occupied the mills. On their
part they and their assigns were to pay the Chief
for this privilege £300 per annum. In January,
1832, McNab procured the Patent from the Crown,
with certain reservations of a peculiar nature, which
we will treat of hereafter in the proper place, and
the Buchanans were making the necessary prepara-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 63

tions for bringing up goods in the spring, and of
commencing at that season the erection of a grist
and saw mill near the very spot where McLachlin's
mills now stand. Mr. Rogerson, the manager of the
Buchanans' concern, accordingly came up with the
goods in the beginning of April, 1832, but he would
not open a bale or make the least preparations for
the works until the transfer deed of the Arnprior
property was placed in his hands. Such were his
instructions. It seems that the Buchanans had
some suspicious conjectures respecting the Chief's
good faith, as he had taken the same lot from
Messrs. Dan. and Alex. Ross, after they had begun
to improve it, and even after they had made a con-
siderable clearance upon it. The Chief reluctantly
gave Mr. Rogerson the required transfer. It was
executed on the 27th of April, 1832. The Buchanans
gave the Chief a bond for the performance of their
part of the contract, . and immediately commenced
operations. The land was cleared. Workshops
built of logs were erected, a store and dwelling-
house of the same rude material were speedily
thrown up, goods were opened out for sale, and en-

64 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

ergy and business and work and stir and bustle were
in the height of activity. A large dam was thrown
completely across the Madawaska, and over the
summit of the dam a bridge spanned the river from
bank to bank. A grist mill was erected on the small
island where now the present bridge rests one of its
piers, and the saw mill stood exactly on the site of
one of McLachlin's lumber mills, on the east side of
the river. By the spring of 1833, all the works
were in active operation. The mills were finished,
saw logs were driven down the river, cut up into
lumber, and sent to market. A gang of eleven saws
were kept continually at work, and Arnprior then
bid fair to become the nucleus of trade and manu-
facture for the surrounding country, under the
auspices of the Messrs. Buchanan. A medical gen-
tleman named Dr. Higginson, was induced to settle
in the neighborhood, but finding the people too
robust and the climate too salubrious, he was com-
pelled to " vamoose the ranche" Mr. Andrew Buch-
anan was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and he
sat with the Chief to adminster the law, and also
acted the part of clergyman in celebrating the mar-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 65

riage ceremony in the absence of the Chief. A
number of emigrants from Scotland settled in the
township this year (1833.) They were principally
from Breadalbane, and it was about this time that
Mr. James Morris, father to the High Sheriff of the
County of Renfrew, took up his abode in the Canaan
settlement of McNab. The settlers had a peculiar
penchant for giving scriptural names to the several
settlements which continue to this day and are used
in common parlance. Thus they have Canaan on
the 2nd line, and Goshen on the 4th and 5th, Dan on
the East side of the Madawaska, etc., etc. The
Chief was now receiving the rents pretty fairly. He
had a number of settlers who looked upon him with
respect and awe, and they thought that the Flat
Rapid people were in a state of sinful rebellion.

The following letter, written by the Chief about
this time, shows the kind of feeling that prevailed
at the time between himself and the majority
of the settlers. It was written to a person
ther? on the most friendly terms with him, who
from the force of circumstances five years after-
wards, found himself impelled to join the other

66 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

settlers in a strong remonstrance to the Govern-
ment.

[COPY.]

KENNELL LODGE, October 16th, 1832.
Mr. Matthew Barr :

DEAR MATTHEW, — I again am to trouble with more
letters. This will be put into your hands by James
Dunlop, his brother accompanying him. He wishes
to have 100 acres of land, and if you could show him
a half lot of land that you think would suit him, I
will thank you to point it out to him. I
am certain Donald McNaughton or Donald Fisher
will give them a night's lodgings if your house be
throng. Excuse this and believe me,
Yours truly,
(Signed) McNAB.

There were no taverns in those days, but the
people were, as they still are, remarkably hospitable.

The Chief always signed himself " McNab," ex-
cept in legal documents, and considered it a gross
insult to be styled Mr. McNab.

It was in the commencement of 1834 that McNab
procured judgment against Donald McNaughton, Sr.,
John Mclntyre and Peter Mclntyre, for the amount

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 67

of their bond. The others of the " black sheep "
could not be served with process, notwithstanding
all the efforts of the Sheriff and his bailiffs. Donald
Mclntyre came to the Chief's terms and settled with
him. It was about this time too that the Buchan-
ans and McNab had a serious quarrel. Mr. John
Powell had been member of the Legislature for
Lanark, and he had discovered the tenure under
which McNab held the township. George Buchan-
an had married his sister, and the fact came out that
he was only an agent for the Government, conse-
quently, when the annual subsidy of ^£300 became
due, the Buchanans refused to pay, upon the grounds
that they had been induced to sign the bond under
misrepresentations. McNab instantly went to law
and invoked the common law courts to his aid. The
Buchanans appealed to Chancery for an investiga-
tion upon the grounds they had alleged. The
Buchanans, on their side, stated that the Chief had
allowed Matthew Barr, Mitchell & Sutherland, and
other lumberers to make timber on the particular
localities set apart for them, viz., within three
miles on both sides of the Madawaska, and had

68 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

therefore broken his contract. The injunction was
granted, and both parties were induced by mutual
friends to leave the matter to arbitration, which was
held at Fitzroy Harbor during the fall of 1835, and
the arbitrators decided against the Chief. McNab
then appealed to Chancery, and the case was going
on when the Buchanans failed in 1836, and handed
over the property to Messrs. Gold, Simpson & Mit-
tleberger, and McNab lost the whole. The Buchan-
ans had offered to compromise the matter by giving
the Chief £150 per annum. This McNab indignantly
refused.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 69

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW SETTLERS — SHERIFF'S RAID — INCIPIENT REBEL-
LION.

In the year 1834 a large party of Highlanders from
Blair- Athol arrived, and finally settled in the town-
ship of McNab. They were hardy, healthy, robust
and industrious men. They consisted of the Me-
Lachlans, the Stewarts, the Fergusons, the Robert-
sons, and the Duffs. The majority of these families
still remain in the township, although some of them ,
as late as 1849 and 1850, removed to the Huron
tract, and remained there . This was a great acqui-
sition to the numerical strength of McNab. Being
all located on lands of their own selection, assisted
in this choice by others of their countrymen whose
long residence had given them experience and know-
ledge, their location tickets were similar to the last
band of settlers, with the exception of a new feature
which was introduced into their agreement by the
Chief, that u all the pine timber was reserved for
the use of the Arnprior mills." Their lands might

yo The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

be slashed, trees might be felled, roads cut through
their lots, brush and rubbish and tree-tops accumu-
lated, thus increasing the difficulties of clearing, and
no compensation made for anything in the shape of
a recompense or remuneration for the greater labor
thus imposed, ever offered to them. They were, of
course, serfs. They must submit without. a mur
mur to their liege lord, and to those to whom he had
partly assigned his rights, or his assumed rights.
They did for a time acquiesce, believing that the
whole property was McNab's, and that he had the
right to dispose of it as he pleased. The question
was afterwards tested in the law courts of the
country, and there was then discovered by the peo-
ple that the " Law of Trespass " existed in Canada
as well as at home. Matters went on smoothly and
tranquilly until the first Monday of January, 1835.
Then an event occurred that sent an electric shock
through the whole settlement, and the people looked
on in consternation and apprehension. The town
ship had by this time been regularly organized.
They had come under the jurisdiction of the quasi
Municipal Law as then administered by the Quarter

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 71

Sessions, composed of broken-down gentlemen and
half -pay officers from Richmond, March, and Perth.
Every half -pay officer was made a justice, and every
justice was a Socrates, combining in his person a
knowledge both of military and civil law ; but in
their judicial decisions (and they were sometimes
very lucid, especially when good old Jamaica used
its influence,) the martial prevailed over the civil
This court, besides taking cognizance of assaults,
petty thefts, and misdemeanor, laid out the stattite
labor, expended the taxes, and administered all the
internal ana municipal concerns of the District. The
executive municipal officers were elected by the
people at their annual meeting held in January. The
officers then chosen were Town-Clerks, Assessors,
Collectors, and Pathmasters — all of them under the
authority and jurisdiction of their Worships, the
military and dilapidated Dogberrys in General Quar-
ter Sessions assembled.

The town-meeting of 1835 for the township of
McNab was held in the shanty of Mr. John Mcln-
tyre, in the Flat Rapid settlement, being the central
lot of the township. It had just concluded its ses-

7 2 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

sion.— Almost all the male inhabitants of the town
ship had assembled, more for the purpose of seeing
each other than for the business they had to trans-
act. They knew that the Chief was able to manage
all the business of the township if they did not at-
tend. The people were about to disperse, and were
standing at the door, preparatory to their departure.
All at once a Deputy -Sheriff of Perth, with a posse
of bailiffs, made their appearance, and having seized
all John Mclntyre's cattle, were driving them off.
Mrs. Mclntyre, with the spirit and courage of her
grandfather, who had fought at Culloden, regardless
of law or of the consequences, rushed with a wooden
pitchfork on the bailiffs and belabored them sound-
ly, till she was disarmed and carried off a prisoner
to KennelL All her cows and all the cattle of Peter
Mclntyre were swept away, under the execution ob.
tained a year before, but which could not previously
be enforced. Taking advantage of a large assembly,
and seizing the opportunity of making a durable ex-
ample before the eyes of all the settlers, that they
might continue true to their allegiance and not
swerve in the slightest degree from their future

The Last Laird of Mac Nab, 73

loyalty to the Chief, MoNab improvised the occasion,
and completely effected his purpose. This judicial
raid filled the minds of the people with anxiety and
apprehension, blended with pity for the sufferers.
To assist the Mclntyres was to impoverish them,
selves, and provoke the undying enmity of their
leader. That year the rent was well paid : not a
bushel was withheld. What had occurred to
John and Peter Mclntyre might any day happen to
themselves. The Laird was all-powerful. He was
supported and assisted by the Government. He held
the social position of a great gentleman, and was
undoubtedly a Highland Chieftain— reduced in cir-
cumstances, it is true, but still the legitimate head
of a clan, which office had been hereditary in his
family since the days of Malcolm Canmore. To op-
pose him was useless, and not to submit and obey
was worse than madness. Those who had not
yielded implicitly to his commands had come to
grief. Both Miller and Alexander McNab had been
compelled to fly the township ; and now the Mcln-
tyres had been harried and ruined. Thus reasoned
the poor Highlanders of McNab; and had the Chief

74 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

at this juncture used his power and influence with
moderation and prudence, the chains of feudalism
would have been firmly riveted around the necks of
his followers, which nothing but a legislative enact-
ment, backed by adequate pecuniary compensation,
could have burst asunder. Mrs. Mclntyre, without
as much as a cloak, was hurried to Kenuell in the
dead of winter, bnt was released next day by the
advice of Mr. McMartin, who was there at the time.
She had suffered so severely from exposure to the
cold that she was confined to her bed for weeks.

The cattle were sold and barely paid expenses. It
was no joke to travel with an execution any dis-
tance in those days. The expense was enormous,
owing to the paucity of travelling facilities and the
state of the roads

In the fall of this yeai the Chief turned his atten-
tion toward the back settlement of the township.
He had heard from the settlers and others that
there was a good tract of hardwood land around
White Lake. Thither he betook himself in October.
He sent the "fiery cross" through the people, and
assembled on a spot where the village now stands

The Last Laird of MacNab. 75

a large concourse of settlers to assist him in making
a new colony. A few acres were instantly cleared,
and a small stone house with pavilion roof was
erected, which he named Waba Cottage. The
Chief's first motive for settling here was to be at a
distance from the Buchanans, with whom he had
quarrelled a few weeks before he began his new
undertaking ; but upon inspection he at once per-
ceived the natural advantages for milling purposes,
and the employment of all kinds of machinery af-
forded by Waba brook— the outlet of the lake, —
and it was judged both profitable and expedient to
secure the land in this neighborhood for his son
Allan, whom he represented to the Government as
a settler ; and his pliable friend, Sir Francis Bond
Head, Lieut. -Governor of Upper Canada, the
year following made and ordered out a patent for
720 acres, round the lake, to Allan McNab, as a
settler under McNab of McNab. This was making
a splendid provision for his son (by the bar sinister]
without impairing his own grant of 4,000 acres — an
amount of land formerly given to a field-officer.
While these transactions were going on about

7 6 The Last Laird of MacNab.

White Lake, let us turn our eyes to other portions of
the township, where improvements were being stead-
ily made, and the furthering of which was the origin
of a quarrel with the settlers which led to impor-
tant results. The lands on the north side of the
Madawaska were being rapidly filled up, and it be-
came necessary to connect both sides of the river by
a bridge at " Johnson's Rock " (the site of the pre-
sent Burnstown Bridge). For this purpose, through
the representations of the Chief, the House of As-
sembly, in February, 1835, on the motion of the
Hon. Malcolm Cameron, granted a sum of money
for that and other improvements, and appointed
Duncan McNab (Auchessan), Donald McNaughton,
(Mohr), and James Carmichael commissioners to
superintend its expenditure. These were the men
nominated by the Laird himself. They were his
particular friends. They, he imagined, would do as
he bade them, and expend the money as he desired.
It was £200. A moiety of this money was to be
appropriated to the Madawaska bridge. The Gov-
ernment handed the money to McNab to bring down
to the commissioners. McNab called a meeting of

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 77

these gentlemen to ascertain their views. He
wished the other half to be expended at White
Lake. To his utter astonishment the commissioners
refused to accede to his proposal. They were inde-
pendent men. They had paid their rents regularly.
They had nothing to fear from the Chief. They
firmly but respectfully suggested the plan of divid-
ing a portion of the funds among other parts of the
township. The Chief fumed and puffed with indig-
nation at their presumption of even remonstrating.

"Then, my men," exclaimed he, foaming with
rage, " you don't get the money at all ; I will send
it back to York."

They begged him to reconsider his resolution, and
offered to expend ^650 of the money at White Lake.

"No; not one farthing shall be spent elsewhere.
You will suffer, my men, for this disobedience. The
fate of Miller and the Mcln tyres shall be yours."

Thereupon Duncan McNab, who was not only a
settler but a lumberer, and had acquired considerable
wealth, told the Chief flatly that he was nothing but
an agent ; that George Buchanan had found it out,
and that the people were aware of it.

7 8 7 he Las i Laird of MacNab.

. The Chief stared at him aghast, rolled up his eyes,
made a number of pantomimic gestures, at which he
was an adept ; and terminated the interview hy
ordering them out of the house. This dispute event-'
ually culminated in a law-suit, and four years
elapsed before the money was % obtained from the
Chief, and expended.

While the Chief was building his cottage at White
Lake, and disputing with the township commission-
ers, the Messrs. Buchanan were actively engaged in
carrying on the improvements and investing capital
in a new enterprise. Since the first settlers had taken
up their locations in McNab, a regular line of steam-
boat communication had been established between
Montreal and Fitzroy Harbor (the Chats). The
Ottawa plied between Lachine and Carillon ; £be
old Shannon performed its regular trips between
Grenville and Bytown ; and the Lady Colborne
made i£s tri-weekly voyage between Aylmer and
the Chats. The Messrs. Buchanan resolved to ex-
tend the communication to the Cheneaux. Accord-
ingly, in the autumn of 1835, they commenced mak-
ing preparations to build the George Buchanan ; the

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 79

keel was laid — the materials procured — ship-builders
actively at work — when Mr. Andrew Buchanan fell
ill and died. This was a sad blow to the prospects
of the Company. The deceased was a gentleman of
education, ability and energy ; and the assistance
of his great commercial abilities was much needed
at this crisis. Mr. Buchanan was buried on a knoll
on the west side of the Madawaska. The spot is
now occupied by the house and store of Mr. William
Kussell. Previous to commencing their building in
1853, Messrs. Russell caused Mr. Buchanan's re-
mains to be removed to the Inch-Bhui burying
ground at Arnprior, a beautiful spot at the mouth of
the Madawaska, consisting of two acres specially
granted by the Chief as a burying ground for the
township.

At this eventful period the dispute between Mc-
Nab and the Buchanans was at its height. McPhee,
a foreman of theirs, had that season made an im-
mense quantity of saw-logs on the settlers' lots for
their mills, and had driven the greater part of them
to the boom at Arnprior. To embarrass the Buchan-
ans was now his object and delight. By the word-

8o The Last Laird of MacNab.

ing of the patent from the Crown, certain reserva-
tions and restrictions were made with respect to the
river, and notice was served on Mr. George
Buchanan and by the Chief's legal adviser that an
injunction would be moved for in Chancery to
restrain him from violating the restrictions in the
patent, in consequence of which a new boom had to
be made further up the river, where the lands were
not severed from the Crown. As this patent is of
the utmost consequence to the people now, and to
the lumber trade on the Madawaska, the writer has,
with no small trouble, obtained an exemplification
of the original deed. It is as follows : —

PROVINCE OF UPPER CANADA, ^ George the Fourth,
p. MAITLAND: J by the Grace of

God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, KING :
To all whom these presents shall come, greeting :

Know Ye that We, of our special grace, certain
knowledge, and mere motion, have given and
granted, and by these presents do give and grant
unto ARCHIBALD McNAB of McNab, of the township
of McNab, in the County of Carleton, in the District
of Bathurst, his heirs and assigns forever, all that

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 81

parcel or tract of land situate in the township of
McNab, in the County of Carleton, in the District of
Bathurst, in our said Province, containing by ad-
measurement Four Hundred and Fifty Acres, be the
same more or less, being the South Westerly halves
of Lots Three and Four, the North -Easterly half of
Lot number Three, and the broken Lot number Five,
in concession C in the said township of McNab ; To-
gether with all woods and waters lying and being
under the reservations, limitations, and conditions
hereinafter expressed.

(Then follow the surveyor's boundaries, which are
in the usual form, except the boundaries of number
Five, which we transcribe :) Also commencing
where a post has been planted at the South- West
angle of the said broken Lot number Five, then
north thirty six degrees west thirty chains more or
less to the Grand or Ottawa River, then easterly
along the shore to the mouth of the Eiver Mada-
waska, then southerly along the water's edge of the
said river, against the stream, to the southern limit
of the said Lot, then south fifty -four degrees west
to the place of beginning, containing One Hundred
and Fifty acres, more or less.

To have and to hold the said parcel or tract of
land hereby given or granted to him the said Archi-

82 - The Last Laird of Mac Nad.

bald McNab (reserving free access to the beach by
all vessels, boats and persons, and also all navigable
waters within the said tract of land) his heirs and
assigns forever, saving nevertheless to us, our heirs
and successors, all mines of gold and silver that
shall or may be hereafter found on any part of the
said parcel or tract of land hereby given and granted
as aforesaid, — &c., &c.

2nd proviso reserves all white-pine trees.

3rd proviso enjoins the erection of a dwelling-
house.

PROVIDED also that if at any time or times there-
after the land so hereby given and granted to the
said Archibald McNab and his heirs shall come into
possession or tenure of any person or persons whom-
soever, either by virtue of any deed or sale, convey-
ance, enfeoffment, or exchange ; or by gift, inheri-
tance, descent, devise, or marriage ; such person or
persons shall twelve months next after his, her, or
their entry into and possession of the same, take the
oaths prescribed by law, before some one of the
magistrates of our said Province, and a certificate of
such oath having been so taken, shall cause to be
recorded in the Secretary's office of the said Pro-
vince. In default of all or any of which conditions,
limitations and restrictions, the said Grant, and

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 83

everything herein contained, shall be, and We here-
by declare the same to be null and void, to all in-
tents and purposes whatsoever ; and the land hereby
granted, and every part and parcel thereof, shall
revert to, and become vested in us, Our Heirs and
Successors in like manner, as if the same had never
been granted, etc., etc.

(Signed) JOHN B. EOBINSON,

A ttorney- General.

Given under the Great Seal of our Province of
Upper Canada : Witness our trusty and welLbe-
loved Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B., etc., etc.; this
Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight,
and ninth of Our reign.

By command of His Excellency in Council,

(Signed) D. CAMERON, Sec'y.

Entered with the Auditor, 8th March, 1828.

(Signed) S. HEWARD, Aud. Gen'L

[NOTE. — It will be observed that anyone who has
purchased land from the McNab or his assigns, or
from any one holding under them, in the village of
Arnprior, itself, or in any portions of the lots de-
scribed in the patent, must have the oaths of supre-

84 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

macy and allegiance taken and registered within a
year of their entry and possession, or their land is
forfeited to the Crown. And again, by another of
the provisions it stipulates that if free access to the
beach on the shores of the Ottawa and Madawaska
by means of booms and other impediments is pre-
vented, the whole of the above lands is forfeited ;
and the party hindered from this free access, either
through the land, or by boat or vessels by water, has
his remedy by action. There seems something
strange in the wording of this particular patent,
differing, as it does, from all others, but it was
drafted by Sir John Beverly Robinson, late Chief
Justice of Upper Canada, and was evidently drawn
up with great care and forethought, in order to pro-
tect the rights of the lumbermen taking their tim-
ber down the Madawaska.]

At the close of this year, in consequence of his
dispute with the Buchanans, the Chief procured a
specific grant of all the white-pine timber on all un-
located lands in the township. This grant was made
by patent, but he took special care in locating new
lots to reserve the timber for his own use. We now

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 85

find McNab at the close of this year (1835), engaged
in a law-suit with Mr. George Buchanan and others
involved ID a dispute with the Commissioners re-
specting road-grants, and making a new farm and
building a new cottage at White Lake. — His hands
were full, but this did not prevent him from carrying
out his revenge on certain of the " black sheep," the
full particulars of which will be detailed in the fol-
lowing chapter.

86 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

CHAPTER IX.

1886 AND 1837 IMPRISONMENT OF THE M'lNTYRES—

DISAFFECTION OF THE SETTLERS.

This year opened with disputes between McNab
and the people, about the road money. At the
town meeting Duncan McNab resigned his commis-
sionership, and Angus McNab was elected in his
stead. — Before the town-meeting had terminated its
business, the Laird made his appearance, told the
people he had the money, pulled out a large roll of
bills, and openly defied the commissioners. If the
money was not laid out where he wanted it, they
would not have the satisfaction of expending it at
all. He said he would return it to the Treasurer*
with instructions not to pay it over without his
order. Accordingly he returned £100 to Mr. McKay,
who was then County Treasurer ; the remainder he
kept in his own hands. The commissioners could
not go on with improvements. The bridge at John-
ston's Hock (Burnstown), had to be postponed ; legal

The Last Laird of Mac Nab, 87

advice was taken, and a suit, under the management
of the late T. M. Radenhurst, was commenced
against the Chief. While this was going on the
Chief had procured a ca. sa against John Mclntyre
and his son Peter. In the dead of winter, in the
latter end of January, 1836, the- officers of the law
made a raid into the Flat Rapid settlement, arrested
and carried off the two unfortunate victims of the
Chief's anger. The old man, John Mclntyre, was
then seventy years of age, and his son Peter was in
the prime of manhood. Their wives accompanied
them to Kennell. The old man was not allowed an
overcoat to keep the cold from his attenuated frame.
He was not permitted even to go to the house for a
change of clothes, for fear of a rescue. Peter Mc-
lntyre was one of the persons who, in company with
John Buchanan, had assisted the Chief to fly from
his unrelenting creditors at home ; and these were
his thanks, and this the Chief's gratitude ! Forget-
ting former kindness and former assistance in a
pressing emergency, in thus gratifying his vengeance
and appeasing his mortified pride the poor Mclntyres
were made to suffer. He had not spent a shilling of

88 Ike Last Laird of Mac Nab.

hia own money in bringing them out. Dr. Hamilton
and hia siater, Mrs. Fairfield, had paid all the set-
tlera' expenses, and had they known that McNab
would thua uae the power veated in him by the bond,
they would have cancelled all the obligations it im-
poaed, and made the settlers a preaent of the con-
sideration. The Mcln tyres were brought to Perth.
Peter Mclntyre's wife's friends in Beckwith went se-
curity for the amount, and he was speedily liberated.
Donald Mclntyre, ar., was also arrested, but his
sons paid the amount, and demanded the patent.
Old Mr. Mclntyre remained in the debtors' prison
in Perth. He would allow no one to go aecurity, or
pay the amount. His feelings had been cruelly out-
raged. He, who had so gallantly fought for his
country, was now imprisoned for no offence, but for
the sake of his own philanthropy. He had assisted
Miller, and thus provoked the sleeplesa enmity of
the Laird. When pressed to take bail the noble old
man rose immovable as a statue, his white locks
hanging over hia shoulders in profuse masses like a
patriarch of old, and exclaimed, " I will have no
.one suffer for me. My earthly pilgrimage will soon

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 89

be over ; and if I end my life here, no one will be
the worse. I will not undertake to do what I cannot
perform. It was a weary 'day for me when I left
Scotland. I have suffered trials and hardships ever
since."

The old man remained imprisoned for three
months, receiving the allowance of five shillings per
week. One morning it was fortunately forgotten,
and Mr. Mclntyre was released. He went to a deso-
late home, and were in it not for exertions of his two
sons, John and Daniel, Mr. Mctntyre would have
perished from sheer inanition. He never got over
it ; he lingered for three years, and then died broken-
hearted. The Chief had taken everything he pos-
sessed, and left him without a cow, or even a soli-
tary hen. A burst of indignation went through the
whole township against the Chief ; and even his
most intimate friends and subservient toadies could
not defend him. Instead of this transaction being a
warning to others, it proved the contrary. It called
forth an universal feeling of sympathy for the poor
sufferers, and a determination of the settlers to re-
sist further encroachments. The report the of

QO The Last Laird of MacNab.

Buchanans, that McNab was only an agent, about
this time spread through the township like wildfire,
and it was generally "believed that whatever the
Chief might do with those who had signed the bond
in Scotland, he could not pretend to harass those
who came out at their own expense. The old set-
tlers, with these four or five exceptions, endeavored
to pay their rent regularly, although the majority
determined to use every legal means to get rid of it.
Some even offered to pay up the passage-money,
with interest ; but it was refused, the time for doing
so having expired. Serfs they were, and serfs they
must remain. The Laird became aware, through his
spies and tale-bearers (in whom he took great de-
light), of this general feeling of dissatisfaction. He
resolved to punish the whole township. Accordingly,
in March, he and Mr. Richey, a brother-magistrate
from Fitzroy, having been appointed by the Quarter
Sessions to do the road business, sat to apportion the
statute-labor. The Chief wanted a new road from
White Lake to Bellamy's Mills ; consequently, all
the statute-labor on the east side of the Madawaska
was ordered to be laid out on the road. The place

The Last Laird of MacNab. 91

of labor was about ten miles distant from some of
the settlers' homes. The labor on the west side of
the Madawaska was ordered to be expended between
Arnprior and the 2nd concession line, bringing some
of the settlers away from their own roads, which
very much needed a large amount of work.

This apportionment the commissioners determined
to oppose as unjust and unreasonable. They ordered
the pathmasters to lay out the statute-labor in their
own divisions, irrespective of the magisterial fiat.
The same thing occurred next year— 1837. The
Laird now resolved to punish both pathmasters and
commissioners ; the pathmasters by forcing them to
go to Perth at their own expense to give evidence,
and the commissioners, to indict them before the
Grand Jury. Accordingly, he procured a criminal
subpoena from the Deputy Clerk of the Crown, Mr.
Sache, summoning John McLachlin, James McKay,
Duncan McNab,andten other pathmasters to give evi-
dence against AngusMcNab, Donald Mohr McNaugh-
ton and, Jas. Carmichael. The poor pathmasters,
dreading the consequences, obeyed, travelled to Perth
a distance of between fifty and sixty miles, in the very

92 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

middle of bar vest (August, 1837), were detained there
four days, and on tht fourth were examined by the
Attorney-General, Mr. W. H. Draper, (afterwards
Chief Justice), and dismissed without a penny — dis-
missed without even going before the Grand Jury, —
because Mr. Draper found there was no case to sub-
mit to the Grand Inquest. Thus, fourteen poor set-
tlers and three commissioners, in the midst of their
harvesting labors, were forced to go to Perth at their
own expense, and when they applied to the Chief for
compensation, his reply was, " My men, it is a
Queen's case. I have nothing to do with it ; every
man is bound to obey the Queen's summons." In
the meantime the commissioners had obtained judg-
ment against the Laird for the money granted by the
House of Assembly. It was sent to the Chief. He
had retained £100 in his own hands. The other £100
was in the County Treasury. The Chief immedi-
ately gave an order for the money in the Treasury
and told Mr. Kadenhurst he would pay the rsmainder
when the bridge over the Madawaska was contracted
for.

While these road disputes were going on, and the

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 93

settlers were increasing in their disaffection and
efforts of resistance, another act of injustice was
perpetrated which never could have taken place
under any other regime than that of . the Family
Compact— an act so gross, so cruel, so unjust in its
consequences, as to shake the confidence in the in-
tegrity of the Government. Sir F. B. Head was
then Lieut. -Governor of Upper Canada. Every
measure calculated to promote the happiness and
welfare of the people was frowned down, and every
means used to build up and foster a small party
clique at the expense of the people, met with his
cordial approbation and support. A majority of the
House of Assembly, led by Mackenzie, Baldwin,
Bid well and Rolph, was against him and his govern-
ment. He ignored the acts of the majority. C. H.
Hagerman bullied, or attempted to bully, the inde-
pendent members of the House. He did the dirty
work of a dirty and oppressive government. These
were the men who were then the bosom friends of
the Chief. Sir F. B, Head and the Laird of McNab
were similar in some traits of their character.
Bond Head was pompous, vain and important ;| the

94 The Last Laird of MacNab.

Laird excelled him in these characteristics. The
Lieut. -Governor had the airs of a dancing-master,
and the braggadocio of a Gascon ; McNab possess-
ed the same admirable qualities. Head was tyranni-
cal and vindictive to all who opposed his measures :
the Chief vied with him in these peculiar attributes.
Sir Francis was a clever writer, speaker and politi-
cian. Here there was a dissimilarity, for McNab
in a great measure lacked these qualities. They
were boon companions and swore eternal friendship.
McNab asked for a patent of all the timber on the
unlocated lots of the township. It was granted
without hesitation ; and now we will revert to the
facts of the particular case that the writer is about
to relate.

One Duncan Anderson was located by the Chief on
Lot No. 14 in the 4th concession, Duncan McNab
(Islay,) was located on Lot No. 18 in the 1st. The
latter was a good place of business, and rather poor
for agricultural purposes ; the former was a splendid
lot of good arable land. Anderson wished to engage
an business, having made a good land speculation in
connection with McNab upon a lot they jointly sold

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 95

to Michael Koddy, as will hereafter be seen in the
report of the late Francis Allan, Esq. Duncan Me-
Nab wanted a good lot for farming. They exchanged
lots, and assigned location-tickets. D. McNab went
to reside in the 14th of the 4th, and Anderson took
possession of D. McNab's land. The Chief at first
sanctioned the agreement. It was nothing to him.
His interests did not suffer by the transfer. A few
months afterwards Duncan McNab had given some
offence to the Laird. He served a notice upon poor
Duncan to quit the place, as he disapproved of the
arrangement, and intended to take out the patent for
himself. Six weeks afterwards he applied to his
friend, Francis ; and although a copy of the location
ticket was fyled in the Crown Land office, and Dun-
can McNab's name substituted for Anderson's in the
diagram of the township, the patent was at once
ordered to issue to the Chief. He immediately com-
menced proceedings in ejectment. Poor Duncan did
not know who John Doe and Richard Roe were. He
went to Perth and consulted Mr. Radenhurst, who
undertook the defence. In August. 1837, the case
was brought down to trial at Nisi Prius, and a ver-

96 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

diet entered for plaintiff at one-shilling damages.
The Hon. Jonas Jones tried the case ; said it was a
great hardship, and openly recommended it to be re-
ferred to Chancery — saying that the courts of law
could give no relief to Duncan McNab. The Judge
had made an error at the trial in not allowing the
patent to be proved in the ordinary way. Mr. Rad-
enhurst took advantage of this lapsus^ and moved
for anew trial in term, which he obtained. Leaving
this matter for the present, as its termination be-
longs to the record of a subsequent year, we now
revert to stirring events in the township and in the
province.

In the fall of 1836, George Buchanan failed. The
steamboat which he had built had just received its
engine, and the George Buchanan had made one trip
to the Chenaux. The whole estate and business was
transferred to Messrs. Simpson, Gould & Mettleber-
ger. Mr. Buchanan went to his property on Victoria
Island, at the Chats, where he had constructed a
slide for the passing of timber, and which proved a
lucrative speculation. The old company carried on
the business at first briskly, but gradually declined

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 97

in their operations till 1887 they ceased doing any-
thing in the lumber line. They could get no logs
from McNab without paying too dearly for the privi-
lege. Mr. Rogerson, (brother-in-law of Mr. William
Eraser, afterwards the esteemed Treasurer of the
County of Lanark) still remained at Arnprior col-
lecting the debts due to the Buchanan estate, and
winding up the business. This was the state of
affairs at Arnprior at the close of 1837.

Towards the end of the year the commissioners
gave out the contract of constructing the bridge at
Johnson's Rock (Burnstown), to Mr. Duncan McNab
(Auchessan), a lumberer, for £200. Mr. McNab set
to work with skill and energy. He took into part-
nership Mr. Duncan Carmichael, and before the first
of January, 1838, the new bridge — the long-talked of
and disputed structure — was at length completed.
This was now the only bridge on the Madawaska :
that at Arnprior had been swept away by the spring
freshet, and was not rebuilt till many years after-
wards, when the Board of Works of the Province
erected the White Bridge at Arnprior, further up the
stream.

98 The Last Laird of MacNab.

The Laird of McNab was now roused to fury. The
repeated and successful acts of opposition to his will
and his plans maddened him. The construction of
the bridge had roused all his passions, and he resolved
to punish the commissioners .....individually. He
selected Mr. Donald Mohr McNaughton as his first
victim. This gentleman, now the leader of the set-
tlers in their efforts of resistance, had been, in Scot-
land, head gamekeeper to Lord Panmure, and was a
person of some education and intelligence. In per
son he was robust, tall and athletic. Measuring 6ft.
4in. in height, he towered above his fellow- settlers in
physical height, as well as in physical courage and
moral resolution. He had emigrated a few years
previously, believing the Laird of McNab to be a
gentleman equal to the Earl of Fanmure, and settled
in the township of McNab. For some years he paid
regularly (3 barrels of flour for 200 acres) ; but when
the haughty and overbearing disposition of McNab
became apparent in his dispute with the commis-
sioners, and also when he became convinced that the
Chief was only an agent of the government, he de-
termined to risk the result, and refused to pay any

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 99

more rent. McNab could not sue for rent or passage
money, as Donald Mohr had come to the country at
his own expense, bringing a small capital with him
which he partly expended in clearing and improving
his farm. He devised another scheme as deep as it
was malicious. Procuring the signature of twelve
freeholders from Fitzroy and Pakenham to a requi-
sition calling upon Manny Nowlan (since dead), a
road-surveyor residing at Carleton Place, to run a
road from White Lake to Muskrat Lake, he caused
Mr. Nowlan to come to White Lake, (where the
Chief had now taken up his permanent residence), in
October, 1837, to commence operations.

Having given him full instructions how to run the
road, the party started early on the following morn-
ing, consisting of two axemen, the Chief and the
writer, who was then a youth of fifteen. The road
was marked out and surveyed properly till they
reached the lot of Donald McNaughton, Sr., which
lay adjoining that of his gigantic namesake. Here
a divergence was made ; they made a turn at right
angles, so as to go straight through both lots of the
two McNaughtons. The poor old man McNaughton

ioo The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

came to the Chief, bonnet in hand, and begged him
not to spoil his land. The Laird scornfully laughed
at him, and ordered the surveyor to proceed. Nowlan
continued his survey till he came to the division line
of Donald Mohr's lot. The Chief, seeing things pro-
gressing properly, according to his views, returned
home. Scarcely, however, had the luckless Manny
Nowlan crossed the side-line, when Mr. McNaughton,
foaming with rage and just indignation, appeared in
sight making gigantic strides towards him. The
axemen flew in one direction. Manny Nowlan
trembled in his shoes.

" What are you doing here, ha ? " exclaimed Big
Donald, in the thundering tones of a gorilla.

" Surveying a road," was the reply ; " and beware
how you oppose me."

"Be off! away from my land! if you come one
step further (clapping his hands) I will send you to
eternity," roared McNaughton.

Nowlan shook with terror, and fled, and did not
recover his equanimity till he was safely housed in
the Chief's stone cottage at the lake. The Laird
vowed vengeance ; the whole terrors of the law were

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 101

to be invoked. The surveyor was deforced. — Ignorant
of tbe consequences McNaughton had violated the
law in defence of his property. The mode to oppose
the survey was to appear before the Quarter Sessions.
This Big Donald did not know at the time ; and if he
did, his passion and just indignation got the better
of his discretion, and he thus fell into the trap and
laid himself open to the Chief's vengeance. Accord-
ingly, at the next meeting of the Quarter Session,
Nowlan appeared to pass his road, and go before
the Grand Jury. The road was constituted to the
very spot where he was stopped, although opposed
by Mr. McNaughton, A presentment was made
against McNaughton, the usual process was moved
for and a bench-warrant issued. McNaughton was
arrested, and the bailiff left him on the road
while he went down to the cottage to see if the
Chief would take bail.

" Do not bring the fellow here," said the Laird,
knitting his brows ; " I smell the air foul already ;
let not this house be contaminated by his presence.
Take him to McVicar, and give him this letter."

The Chief wrote to Mr. McVicar to accept none for

102 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

bail except freeholders. Now there were no free-
holders in the township, and he thought if Mr. Mc-
Vicar would follow his instructions, McNaughton
would be sent to prison. Not so, however ; Mr.
Alex. Me Vicar, of Pakenham, was a decent, upright,
and benovelent man ; he accepted the sureties of Mr.
Duncan McLachlin and Mr. Donald McNaughton, Sr.,
and the prisoner was liberated. They were not free-
holders, but Donald Mohr's next neighbor — settlers
like himself, who had not received their deeds. The
trial was fixed for the ensuing March (1838), and
McNaughton and his friends returned home in safety
and triumph. The result will be narrated in its
proper place.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 103

CHAPTER X.

THE REBELLION — MILITARY TACTICS OF MJNAB — GENERAL
INSUBORDINATION OF THE SETTLERS.

While these things were transpiring in McNab, and
the people were nerving themselves for a struggle
which they saw was to terminate either in ruin or inde-
pendence, other momentous affairs were being trans-
acted in Upper and Lower Canada. Papinean had
fanned the flame of discontent into an open rebellion,
and Mackenzie and Bidwell, following his example,
had roused the more enthusiastic and rash of the
Reform party in the west to take up arms. The
British troops had met with a reverse at St. Denis,
which was amply retrieved and avenged by Col.
Wetherall at St. Charles. Mackenzie was investing
Toronto, and had marshalled his forces at Mont-
gomery's farm, within a few miles of Toronto. All
was panic and confusion in the immediate vicinity of
the seat of the revolt, and the news was much
exaggerated to those living at a distance. The

104 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

political atmosphere was overcast. A portentous
cloud of evil omen seemed to envelop both provinces.
Volunteers, men of loyal hearts and warm love for
the mother country, poured in. Thousands flocked
to the standard of their Queen, and the Laird of Mc-
Nab, among the rest, sent the following characteristic
letter to Sir F. B. Head :—

WABA COTTAGE, 15th Dec., 1837.

MY DEAR SIR FRANCIS, — The spirit of my fathers
has been infused into my soul by recent events, and
has roused within me the recollection and memory
of the prestige of my race. The only Highland
chieftain in America offers himself, his clan, and the
McNab Highlanders, to march forward in the defence
of the country —

" Their swords are a thousand^ their hearts are but

one.""

We are ready to march at any moment. — Command
my services at once, and we will not leave the
field till we have routed the hell-born rebels, or

11 In death be laid low,
With our backs to the field, and our face to the foe."

I am yours sincerely,
(Signed,) McNAB.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 105

Immediately upon the receipt of this document.
Sir Francis Head appointed the Laird Colonel of the
20th Battalion of Car lot on Light Infantry, compris-
ing the townships of McNab, Fitzroy and Pakenham,
with instructions to nominate his officers, forward
the list to headquarters, and call the regiment out to
muster forthwith. On the 25th December, 1837, the
whole regiment mustered at Pakenham, and were put
under the militia law. McINab made a speech to
them, read the names of their officers, and gave a
general order that they were to muster by companies
near the abodes of their captains, on the 15th and
17th of the ensuing month. The companies of the
township of McNab, under the command of Captain
Alex. McDonnell and Captain John McNab, of Horton,
assembled at Sand Point on the 15th of January.
After the roll was called, and all had answered to
their names, the Chief, who was present, read the
Articles of War, and then addressed them thus —

" Now, my men, you are under martial law. If you
behave well, obey my orders and the officers under
me, you will be treated as good soldiers ; but if you
come under the lash, by the God that made me, I

io6 The Last Laird of MacNab.

will use it without mercy, So you know your doom
Now, I call upon as many of you as will do so
willingly, to volunteer and go to the front, and I will
lead you on to glory."

There was a murmur in the ranks, they were drawn
up in line, two deep, in Mr. McDonnell's large stone
shed, as it was a stormy day. When the whispering
was over, a dead silence prevailed. Two— and only
two — stepped forward as volunteers, and these were
Mr. Young and Mr. Henniker, two of McDonnell's
clerks.

" What ! No more ? " exclaimed McNab : " then
I must proceed to ballot and force you."

The men remained doggedly silent ; at length some
one asked him where was his authority for the ballot.
The Chief turned away ; told them he would call them
together again for that purpose ; and dismissed them.
The people were in the highest state of indignation
and apprehension. They held a meeting and sent
the following petition to the Government : —

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 107

McNAB, 22nd January, 1838.

To His Excellency, Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieu-
tenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada,
&c., &*c.

THE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED HUMBLY
SHEWETH :

That the Carleton Light Infantry was mustered on
the 25th ultimo, at Pakenham Mills, commanded by
McNab of McNab, and on the 15th and 17th current
by Companies at their Captains' respective places of
abode.

That we the undersigned, one and all of us, con-
sider ourselves true and loyal subjects, and are
willing to serve Her Majesty in any part of British
North America, where Your Excellency may think
proper to call us, under any other commander than
McNab.

That a number of us have suffered severely from
McNab through the course of the Civil Law, and are
therefore afraid to come under him in the Martial
Law, being harsh in his disposition, and also in-
experienced.

That we hope it may please Four Excellency to
look into our circumstances as misled people by
McNab, who made us give bonds for Quit- Rents,
which we, not knowing what the poor lands in this

io8 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

part of the country could produce, gave without
hesitation; and notwithstanding all our industry
and economy, with these bonds we are not able to
comply.

That we trust Your Excellency will endeavor to
set us on the same parallel with other loyal subjects
in the Province, and free us of those Quit- Rents, as
we find them a heavier burden than we can bear.

That there are twelve families in the Township
who were brought from the old country at McNab's
expense, and who are willing to pay any reasonable
fraught Your Excellency may think proper ; all the
rest of the settlers came to the Township at their
own expense, and beg to know from Your Excellency
whether the land of this Township is McNab's or the
Government's.

And your humble petitioners as in duty bound
wiJl ever pray.

(SIGNED.)

James Robertson, James Brown, John Robertson
Donald Stewart, Peter McGregor, Donald Kerr, An-
gus McNab, John McNab, Donald McNab, Duncan
Campbell, Peter McMillan, John McMillan, Malcolm
McLaren, Daniel Mclntyre, John McGregor, Alex-
ander McGregor, Peter McArthur, John McDermaid,
James Stevenson, Alexander Cameron, Thomas Me-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 109

Laughlin, Donald McLaughlin, Jr., Donald Mc-
Laughlin, Sr., James McLaughlin, Donald McNaugh-
ton, Chas. Goodwin, Alex. Campbell, Izett Duff, Arch.
McDonnell, James McDonnell, Dugal McGregor, An-
drew Hamilton, Donald McNaughton, John Me-
Naughton, Robt. McNaughton, Alex. McNaughton,
Peter Fergusson, Duncan McNab, Angus Cameron,
Alex. Dure, Donald Dure, Colin McFadden, Alex. Mc-
Niven, Arch. McNab, Alex. McNab, Colin McGregor,
Arch. McNab, John McNab, Andrew Taylor, John
Campbell, John Hamilton, Andrew Hamilton, Alex-
ander Goodwin, Duncan McLachlin, Alexander Good-
win, Sr., Donald Mclntyre, Jas. McLaren, Donald Mc-
Intyre, Alex. Thomson, Jas. Eobertson Jas. Robert-
son, James McKay, Alex. Fergusson, Donald Rob-
ertson, Duncan McNab, Matthew Barr, Thomas Mc-
Laughlin, Thomas Frood, Andrew Hamilton, Sr.,
Alex. McNiven, Jr , Alex. McNiven, Sr., John Mc-
Dermaid, James Miller, John Mclnnes, Archibald
Stewart, Sr., David Stewart, Peter Campbell, Patrick
Callaghan, Leech McAlormae, Peter Robertson, J.
Crego, John Fergusson.

[REPLY.]

(Copy} ( GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

( Toronto, 13th March, 1838.

GENTLEMEN :— Having laid before His Excellency,

no The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

the Lieutenant- Governor, your memorial of the 23rd
of January, I am directed in reply to the several
statements contained in it to inform you that the ar-
rangements made between The McJtfab and his
followers are of a purely private nature, and beyond
the control of the Government — that Martial Law
which you apprehend will bring you more immedi-
ately under the control of your Chief, has not been
proclaimed nor is it likely to be— and that in any mili-
tary organization which may eventually take place,
the Government will take care in this, as in all other
cases, not to put it in the power of any individual to
treat Her Majesty's subjects harshly or oppressively.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) J. JOSEPH.

ME. JAMES ROBERTSON and others

McNAB.

Printed by order of the Government.

Adjutant-General's Office, |
14th March, 1838. j

The above petition was drafted by Mr. Allan
Stewart, afterwards Treasurer of the municipality of
McNab, a gentleman of some literary pretensions,
and the best Gaelic grammatical scholar the in

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 1 1 1

County — perhaps in the Province. It was signed by
the majority of the settlers ; a few kept in the back-
ground from timidity ; others were staunch partizans
of the Chief ; while a few others were governed by a
closer consideration. Even some of those who were
under deep obligations to him for favors received
felt themselves compelled to affix their signatures.
Old Mr. Donald McNaughton — one of the first set-
tlers— a man of the most pure and genuine Christian
principles ; one who, like Enoch, daily walked with
his God ; who was a perfect Ebenezer in Israel ; a
man over eighty at the time ; who daily silently
glided into the darkest and deepest glades of the
forest, and there poured forth the ardent desires of
his soul in unrestrained communion with his Maker ;
who longed ardently to throw off the " mortal coil "
and join the celestial hosts of angels and seraphs
who flood the regions of eternal felicity with streams
of enchanting harmony, and make heaven's high
and resplendent arch echo with the strains of im-
mortal bliss — that man, who longed ardently to be
with his God, was among the very first to sign it.
He has met with his soul's eager longings. At the

ii2 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

advanced age of nearly a century of years, he yielded
up the ghost, and the venerable patriarch, attended
by the largest concourse of mourners that ever as-
sembled in McNab, was gathered to his fathers.
When such men sign a document of the above de-
scription, the oppression must have been great — the
tyranny intolerable. It is true the petition is not
exactly according to form, and has a few Scottish
Miomatic expressions embodied in it ; but it tells in
clear and forcible language the wrongs the settlers
had endured, and the grievances they still expected
to bear. It breathes forth a spirit of loyalty to the
throne : ' ' they were willing to go to any part of
British America to defend their country under any
other leader than McNab." Mr. Donald Mclntyre
(Paisley) went round with the petition to those who
were not present at Sand Point ; and Mr. Daniel Me"
Intyre (Kilmabog) brought it to Perth to get it
transmitted to the Government. In vain he applied
to the Hon. W. Morris ; that gentleman threw cold
water on the whole business. Col. Taylor was ap-
plied to ; he declined. Mr. Powell was sick ; and
Mr. M. Cameron, then one of the members, was ab-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 113

sent from Perth. At length Mr. James Young placed
it in an envelope and directed it to the proper
quarter. Upon hearing that a petition had been
transmitted, McNab wrote to Sir Francis Head not to
reply to it until he arrived in Toronto. Accordingly,
about the 3rd of March, 1838, he started for the
seat of Government, and assisted the Governor to
rivet the chains more firmly, and for the future to
preclude any possibility on the part of the settlers
to pursue a similar course. The reply conveyed the
impression that the whole township was the Chief's
"The arrangements made between The McNab and
his followers are of a purely private nature, and be-
yond the control of the Government." How came
Sir Francis to utter so gross a falsehood ? Every
buffoon and half -fledged harlequin is a liar, and Sir F.
B. Head, impregnated with the spirit of braggadocio,
scrupled at no falsehood, when he could turn a
period, serve a friend, or carry out a purpose. It
was this overweening vanity that caused him to in-
sult the United States Government, and subsequently
to lose his own situation, when he said in his mem-
orable speech to the Legislature, speaking of the

ii4 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

people of the United States, " In the name of every
militia-man in the Province, I say, let them come
if they dare. " But this reply to the poor settlers
did not alone satisfy the schemes of the Chief or his
friends, the Family Compact. They were resolved
to strike terror into their hearts, and make public
the petition and reply. Accordingly both documents
were ordered by the Executive to be printed, and
four hundred copies were sent to be distributed
among the people. They saw that further efforts
with their present rulers would be useless ; and they
bowed quietly to the decision, waiting for better
times, and these soon offered by the recall of Sir F.
Head and the mission of the Earl of Durham.

The Chief had now entirely abandoned his Ken.
nell residence on the banks of the Ottawa, and was
now residing at' Waba Cottage, White Lake, where
he was preparing to erect a saw-mill. A character-
istic anecdote is told of him, which is literally true.
Meeting Mr. Walter McFarlane in one of the houses
of the settlers with whom he had not quarrelled,
and impressed with his robust and ruddy appearance,
he addressed him with a polite bow and said: —

The Last Laird of MacNab. 115

" Well, my man, you're a good-looking fellow.
Are you a Highlander, too ?"

" Yes, Chief," said Walter.

" And what may your name be, my fine fellow ?"

" Walter McFarlane," was the reply ; "you ought
to know me ; I am the son of James McFarlane, one
of your first settlers."

" Ah 1" said the Chief, turning away from him
with a frown, and blowing a snort like a porpoise —
his usual habit when angry — "bad weeds grow
fast," and immediately left the house.

While the people and McNab were involved in
these disputes, they did not neglect the social duties
imposed on them as heads of families. Hitherto,
there were no means of instruction, 'however poor,
for the young, and they determined to procure some
smattering of education for their children. Accord-
ingly this year (1837) two schools were established
in the township ; one in " Canaan," near Mr. Wm.
McNevin's, and the other in " Goschen," on the 4th
concession line. Duncan Campbell, Peter McMillan,
John McDermaid, and James Carmichael, four of
the original settlers, with their families, had moved

1 1 6 The Last Laird of MacNab.

up to this more fertile locality in 1832, and their
families were growing up without education of any
kind. Indeed, some of the most intelligent men in
the township, the sons of the first settlers are self-
taught.

Three of them in particular, have occupied
prominent positions ; John Robertson and Duncan
Campbell, of the Dochart, have been Reeves and
Councillors, respectively. John Robertson was a
J.P., and Duncan Campbell, for his smartness at
figures, was Auditor for several years, and Donald
McLaren, (son of Jas. McLaren, one of McNab's
"black sheep,") was a Councillor for many years,
and a thorough and well-posted politician.

The people, in conjunction with the inhabitants
of the neighboring municipality of Horton, were be-
ginning to agitate the question of getting a minister
and building a church. The Presbytery hitherto had
sent one of their number annually to preach and
baptize the children, and remind the people of the
faith and religion of their fathers. The preaching
and meetings were held at the house and barn of
Mr. Donald Fisher, until the bridge at Johnston's

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 1 1 7

Rock was constructed, and the people flocked to the
rendezvous, from a distance of twelve miles and up-
wards. A lamentable accident occurred in 1836 at
one of these gatherings. While John Stewart and
John McNab Achesson — two of the best and noblest-
hearted Highlanders that ever settled in McNab -
were crossing the Madawaska at Johnston's Bock,
in the middle of the Long Rapids, the canoe upset,
and both of them were drowned. John McNab was
an expert swimmer, but in endeavoring to save
Stewart, he was locked in his struggling embrace
and both sank never more to rise.

As soon as the bridge was completed, the people
made preparations to organize a society to procure
spiritual ministers ; and they so far succeeded that
the Bathurst Presbytery in 1838 sent out a reverend
gentleman once every three months to officiate in
what was then looked upon as a half-civilized conn-
try. The Rev Mr. Fairbairn, of Ramsay, was the
first who commenced this quarterly mission tour.
Such was the state of affairs at the close of 1837
and the commencement of the following year. The
rebellion in both provinces had been put down ; the

n8 The Last Laird of Mac Nab. *'

Family Compact, with their little bantam, Sir Fran-
cis, began to crow ; the people of McNab were fast
verging to a state of revolt themselves, when the
news reached this side of the Atlantic that the Earl
of Durham and a special set of Commissioners were
coming out to investigate all complaints and redress
all grievances. This was news, indeed! It gave hope
to the desponding, and inspired the settlers with
new vigor. All hope was nearly crushed out by the
supercilious mockery of their petition by Sir Francis
and his Executive Council, and the delusive false-
hoods which his reply contained ; but when the ad-
vent of Lord Durham was announced, vigorous
measures were taken, and a thorough and combined
system of organization was planned and adopted.
Messrs. Allan Stewart, Angus McNab, Donald Mohr
McNaughton, Peter Campbell Dochart, Daniel (Dan
cie) and James Carmichael, tacitly became the
recognized leaders of the movement, the details of
which will be found in subsequent chapters,

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 119

CHAPTER XII.

AN ANTICIPATION — MR. ALLAN'S REPORT.

The facts we are now about to record are incredi-
ble to persons who have had no act or part in the
struggles of the settlers, and of so improbable a
character that they might be treated as pure fiction,
or at least as gross exaggerations. In order to do
away with this impression, and preserve a connected
thread to this very important narrative, the writer
has now brought forward a document, which in point
of time is subsequent to the events we are recording.
While we are narrating facts, we desire the reader
to be satisfied with their truth and correctness;
therefore we proceed to publish the Report of the
Special Commissioner sent by Lord Sydenham to in-
vestigate the alleged grievances of the petitioners,
and to report on their petition.

[COPY.]

TORONTO, 8th July, 1840.

SIR, — I am directed by His Excellency, the Gover-
nor-General-in-Council, to inform you that his Excel-

120 ' The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

lency has appointed you a Special Commissioner to
investigate the complaints of the settlers in the
township of McNab in your District, and you will
report direct to His Excellency in Council. You
will proceed, immediately on the receipt of this com-
munication, to the work of investigation, taking the
petition of Angus McNab and others as your basis. —
You will be minute and particular in your examina-
tions, and will visit every lot, value the same, and if
possible see every settler personally, and ascertain
from him the truth or falsity of the complaints made
to the Government.

I have the honor to be, etc,,
(SignedJ, W. H. LEE,

C. E. Council.
FRANCIS ALLAN, ESQ., ^
Crown Land Agent, I
Bathurst District, Perth. J

[REPLY.]

BATH. DISTRICT OFFICE,^
PERTH, 4th Nov., 1840. J

SIR, — In compliance with the desire of His Excel-
lency in Council, I beg to enclose you remarks upon
the petition of Angus McNab and others, settlers in
the township of McNab, which I trust will meet the
approbation of the Council, and } )ft|

I am, etc.,
(Signed), FRANCIS ALLAN,

Agent, Bathurst District.

W. H. LEE, ESQ., \
O. E. Council, Toronto. J '.: u

The Last Laird of MacNab. 121

[REPORT.]

Remarks upon the Petition of Angus McNab and
other settlers in the Township of McNab, on the
inspection and Eeport of the general affairs of
the Township of McNab, by Francis Allan,
Agent of the Honorable, the Commissioner of
Crown Lands, in the Bathurst District :

With regard to the assertion of the Petitioners
that the McNab " cannot show where he has laid out
one shilling for their behoof," I have to state that
after the most minute enquiries on the subject, both
amongst the settlers and others in the neighborhood,
I have not found it in a single instance contradicted*
The roads, except where naturally hard and dry, are
in a most miserable condition ; and the settlers state
that they have been prevented from working upon
the regular lines of road by the McNab's exercising
his authority as a magistrate, and calling them to
work upon roads which they allege was either to
conduce to his own personal advantage, or gratify his
caprice. They state that they have been frequently
called upon by him to expend their statute labor upon
a new road in one season, and before the next, it
was laid aside and another projected. The two roads
of approach on the south-east side of the township
are most wretched — one of them all but impassable,
a horse going to the belly every few rods, at least on
one of them, for miles together, in the month o
August. And yet I have not been able to discover
that the MacNab ever laid out one shilling for the re-
pair of roads, beyond his ordinary statute-labor. I

1 2 2 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

heard, indeed, that he subscribed £2Q to assist in
building a bridge across the Madawaska at Arnprior ;
but he paid it in oak cut off the Crown or settlers'
lands, hewn by the settlers, either on their own
private time, or time which they had subscribed for
the bridge, and sold to the contractors at so much a
foot. Therefore, whatever he might have subscribed.
I conceive he paid nothing,

McNab has stated (and he has done so in my pre-
sence), that he had to convey all the provisions for
his settlers at the commencement upon men's backs,
from Bolton's Mills in Beckwith. It is most confi-
dently affirmed — and that in the most general way —
that one pound of provisions was never conveyed
from hence, or anywhere else, at his expense for the
benefit of the settlers. They were under the neces-
sity of travelling into Beckwith and Ramsay amongst
their friends and acquaintances to procure provisions
for themselves and families upon credit. And many
of the settlers and others state that had it not been
for the generosity of the Beckwith people they pos-
sibly might have perished ; and worse than all, Mc-
Nab wrote to one or more of the inhabitants of Beck-
with, cautioning them against trusting or crediting
his settlers.

That he has obtained timber- duties, less or more,
since the year 1832 to the present time, is perfectly
true— previous to his obtaining the privilege of the
timber-duties in 1835, and even since, he was in the
habit of granting licenses to cut timber on lands
which he had actually located, and of locating lots in
names of persons apparently for no other purpose

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 123

than to obtain the timber. I have had no opportu-
nity of judging of the amount of his receipts from
this source, but felt confident it must have been im-
mense, and do not discredit the statements in the
petition, either with regard to his receipts in general,
or this season. A person named Duncan Campbell,
residing on No. 23 in 12th concession stated to me
that he was ready to prove that he got his license
from McNab to cut timber in the month of January
last, but it was dated in the month of August pre-
ceding.

It has also been most positively affirmed that
McNab has passed great quantities of timber as hav-
ing been cut in McNab township, taken from the ad-
joining townships ; and that on one occasion he
passed a whole raft as such, which came down the
Ottawa far above McNab. This last, though con-
vinced in my own mind on the subject, would be
very difficult to prove, seeing that the lumberers,
the principal witnesses, were implicated in the fraud.
It is also beyond all question that the McNab has
collected rents of all settlers from whom he could
obtain it, whether brought out by him or not. There
are only about J 5 or 16 families in the township that
he brought out. It is also certain that he has sold
land at high prices. He sold No. 17 and 18 broken
lots in the 13th con. to Alexander McDonald for ^120.
He sold No. 20 and 21 in the 13th con. to Michael
Roddy, for £1 50, as appeared from written evidence
produced to me. And written evidence was also pro-
duced that Duncan Anderson sold No. 25 in the llth
con. to Michael Roddy, with the improvements, for

124 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

£500, and that McNab got one half, and Anderson
the other. And several other lots he had sold, or at-
tempted to sell, for clearing land to him. To my
certain knowledge, Anderson drew 100 acres of a free
grant previous to his going to McNab, in the town-
ship of Beckwith, and afterwards sold it. Two other
persons have also received grants from the McNab,
viz. : Donald Fisher in the 1st con., and John Me-
Callum in the 4th con., who formerly received free
grants from the Government. Those two last, how-
ever, deny having paid McNab any consideration for
their present possessions.

That very many of the settlers have been harassed
with law, is also incontrovertible ; and many more
kept in constant alarm by threats of being sued by
the McNab. In the case of John Campbell, located
on N. E. half of 13 in the 7th con., by trade a black-
smith, came into the country at his own expense,
refused to pay the Chief rent, or grant a mortgage
on the lot. The Laird therefore, upon what au-
thority I know not, seized his tools and kept them
for a great number of years.

In another case, an illegal document was shown
me, purporting to be a Declaration by the McNab
regarding some alleged debt, stated to have been an
extortion, annexed to which was a warrant signed
by another magistrate of the name of Richey, for
the purpose of arresting a sum of money in the
hands of a third person ; and I was informed that
this illegal conduct was actually carried into effect.

Another case it is particularly my duty to men-
tion.— Duncan McNab, who was originally located

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 125

on No. 13 in the 1st con., and Duncan Anderson,
mentioned above as having sold 200 acres and was
again located on another 100 acres in the 4th con.,
thought proper to exchange lots. The Chief, as is
alleged, being offended with Duncan McNab, sued
him with the intent of putting him off the lot. D.
McNab gained his suit and in order to get the better
of him, the Chief upon some pretext or other got out
a patent for the lot, brought on the suit again, and
now having the Government patent to produce,
gained it, thus utterly ruining a poor man with a
young family. Anderson, however, remains in un-
disturbed possession of D. McNab's lot.

To conclude, I beg to report that the McNab has
drawn or procured the deeds of the greater part of
the most valuable lots in the township ; and also to
record my opinion, that independent of the wanton
oppression and outrages of humanity which the set-
tlers allege against him, McNab has conducted the
affairs of the township in the worst possible manner
for the interests of the settlers or the country.
There is not a grist-mill at present in the township
and many of the settlers have to travel fourteen,
fifteen and sixteen miles to mill, through roads
which in any part of the country as long settled as
McNab would be deemed disgraceful. The system of
rent and mortgage, added to an arbitrary bearing
and persecuting spirit, seems to have checked all en-
terprise, and paralyzed the industry of the settlers.
In fine, had the McNab studied it he could not have
followed a course more calculated to produce discon-
tent and disaffection amongst a people. The devo-

126 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

tion of Scotch Highlanders to the Chief is too well
known to permit it to be believed that an alienation
such as has taken place between McNab and his peo-
ple, could have happened unless their feelings were
most grossly outraged.

All of which I have the honor to submit to Your
Excellency's consideration.

(Signed) FRANCIS ALLAN,

Aqent Bathurst District.

We publish the reply of the Chief to Mr. Allan's
remarks. It is anticipating the history for two
years, but necessity requires us to insert it, so that
the occurrences which follow may be believed.

M'NAB'S REPLY.

Remarks by the Laird of McNab upon the Report of
Francis Allan, Esq., on the Township of McNab :

Broken lot No. 12, concession 1, Thos. McLach-
Ian:— This agreement is cancelled, and these lots
open.

Lot 15, con. 1, Donald Fisher :— This lot was
originally granted and deeded for a carpenter estab-
lishment, for encouragement of settling the township.

Lot 16, con. 1, John Wallace :— McNab has re-
ceived no duty of timber as yet.

Lot 18, con. 1, A. D. McNab :— McNab reserved the
timber upon this lot.

Lot 26, con. 1, Andrew Hamilton: — False state-
ment : paid all the expenses of passage from Mon-
treal.

The Last Laird of MacNab. 127

Lot 18, con. 2, Dugald Stewart :— False statement :
reserved the duties.

Lot 19, con. 2, A. C. McFadden :— False statement :
the son has fled, accused of rape.

Lot 25, con, 2, James Morris : — This is one of
those who would not grant a mortgage upon his lot :
conform to location ticket after the patent was taken
out for him.

Lot 5, con. 3, Duncan Robertson : — This agreement
cancelled, as mentioned above.

Lots 6 and 7, Smith Luth and Allan McNab re-
spectively : — Originally granted to Gregor McNab
and Allan McNab, with broken front of No. 6 of the
] 4th con., for erecting mills for the benefit of the
township. Gregor McNab went home to Scotland to
realize funds, where he died ; and these broken fronts
were deeded to AJlan McNab. The saw mill has been
in operation some time, and the grist-mill will be
completed next year ; McNab got no value for them.

Lot 25, con. 2, George Morris -—Government has
granted a location bo one Robert Peak, an old soldier,
for this lot.

Lot 6, con. 4, Gregor McNab: — This statement is
erroneous.

Lot 6, con. 4, Allan McNab:— This is the saw-mill
as stated above.

Lot 14, con. 6, Duncan Anderson :— This is one of
McNab's lots for which he is deeded.

Lot 24, con. 4, John McCallum : — This was an
original grant for which McNab got no value for
erecting a school establishment for the benefit of th
township.

128 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

Lot 25, con. 4, Wm. Richards :— Wrong statement,
it being the above lot.

; Lot 5, con. 5, David Brunna :— Original grant, and
deeded for a blacksmith's establishment for public
benefit.

Lot 11, con. 5, Joseph Patterson : — This statement
is not correct.

Lot 7, con. 6, Peter Mclntyre :— These £80 were
incurred for law expenses, this fellow having denied
that he ever signed the original bond in Scotland.

Lot 12, con. 7, Donald Mclntyre : — McNab con-
siders himself bound, whenever this Donald Mcln-
tyre pays him in full of his claim, to be debited with
the amount, conform to order in Council.

Lot 13, con. 7, John Campbell :— This lot is deeded
to one Archibald McNab by mistake.

Lot 25, con. 7, James Miller : —False statement.
This man has left the country.

Lot 25, con. 7, John Preston : — This man McNab
took from Montreal. He fled also.

Lot 5, con. 8, Arch. McNab :— This lot was deeded
to McNab to establish a ferry.

Lot 11, con. 8, Neil Robertson : — Took this man
and family from Montreal.

Lot 17, con. 8, James Aitkin: — Originally Colin
McCaul, who was killed by a falling tree ; afterwards
to James Aitkin.

Lot 24, con. 10, James McLaren :— This is one of
those who after getting a patent taken out, refused
to grant a mortgage.

Lot 21, con. 11, A. & G. Devin :— These are father
and son, who with their family, I took from Montieal.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab* 129

Lot 25, con. 11, Duncan Anderson :— This person,
Anderson, was very useful to McNab on first settling
the township, in procuring provisions and assisting
to make the settlers comfortable, in which capacity
and for his extra exertions and trouble, I originally
granted him this lot. Many accounts accordingly
passed between us which is impossible for McNab to
bear in mind at this distance of time : 16 years ago.

Lot 6, con. 12, Alex. McNab :— This is one of the
most infamous characters in the township.

Lot 7, con. 12, Jas. McNee : — This person is my
old family Piper, to whom I granted a lot of land
and deed, but never received any value. He
has a large family of sons.

Lots 18 and 19, con. 13, Alex. McDoneU :— Origi-
nally granted these broken fronts and deeded for
building a good inn and store for the benefit of the
township and the public, which Mr. McDoneU did,
much for the comfort and accommodation of that
part of the country. It is a pity that Mr. Allan
should state what he is not perfectly certain of.

Lots 20 and 21, con. 13, Michael Roddy : -This
original grant was to one Walter Beckwith, under an
agreement to build a comfortable inn for the accom-
modation of the public. In this he failed to cover
what McNab had advanced ; he sold the lot to one
Michael Roddy, who is deeded for it.

It is here particularly to be observed that McNab
was obliged to make many sacrifices, and in order to
encourage an infant settlement, was induced to make
several gratuitous grants of land to encourage trades-
men to settle in this remote quarter.

130 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

McNab cannot conclude these remarks upon Mr.
Allan's report, without regretting much the spirit in
which it is made or drawn up, and in more points
than one, its total deviation from truth. For in-
stance, obviously from a desire to deteriorate the
value of the township, he states positively that
there is no grist-mill in the township. Now the
truth is there has been a very extensive mill estab-
lishment in active operation for these ten years past,
both saw and grist, at Arnprior ; that there has been
a saw mill in operation upon Waba River, for some
time past, and a grist-mill erecting ; also a third
upon the very same creek (being reference to Mr.
Hugh McGregor, who saw these mills frequently in
operation). He takes also the liberty of remarking,
under what consideration does Mr. Allan value the
spot on lot McNab has built his cottage, at 15 shil-
lings per acre ? — by much the highest price he has
valued (but which comes the nearest to the real value
of any one he has valued), for MacNab most posi-
tively avers, and that without doubt, that the one-
half of the township as settled is as good, if not bet-
ter, than it.

McNab, with due deference, submits that accord-
ing to the Order in Council, of date 27th Sept., 1839,
which particularly provides that in the event of
McNab's having secured any payment from any of
the settlers, in whole or in part of the expenses in-
curred in taking them either from Scotland or Mon-
treal to the township of McNab (as in the case of
Donald McNaughton particularly referred to and
provided for), that the said sum should be deducted

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 131

from the sum awarded him (for instance his remarks
as to Donald Mclntyre's claim, in his observations
upon Mr. Allan's report), but he respectfully, though
positively, asserts that no such inference or proposal
as his repaying to the settlers any portion of the rents
he received was ever mentioned or even proposed to
him in his arrangements with the Government, the
retaining, refunding, or repaying the small portion of
rents he received never having been once suggested.
Upon looking over the rent-roll according to the
terms or statements of the list of lots located and
guaranteed by McNab in his agreement with the
Government, he finds he has located altogether, ex-
clusive of his own lands and those lands particularly
referred to in his memorial as originally granted by
him to tradespeople and for inns to accommodate the
public, he finds 15,000 acres ; and this at the upset
price of lands, as sold by Government, will amount
to .£7,000, exclusive of 500 acres which can still be
sold at 5 shillings per acre. This, with the value of
£2,000 worth of timber now to be disposed of by
Government, besides the slate-quarries, will present
a fair state of the value of the township to the
Government. McNab at the same time taking this
opportunity of remarking that if the payment of the
amount of money as awarded by Government and
agreed upon (£4,000), shall in no way be contingent
upon the Report as given in by Mr. Francis Allan, as
he considers that Report decidedly incorrect, and not
consistent with facts which is in his power at any
time to prove. The prices he has put upon each
separate lot, as affixed to copy of rent-roll, he will

132 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

refer to any Land Surveyor in the district, or take
them at the same valuation himself, in whole or part
payment of his money, as agreed upon by Govern-
ment. It is here to be remarked that on making up
any calculation upon this Report of Mr. Allan, that
he has included all McNab's own lands and those
lots he originally granted gratuitously for the en-
couraging the settlement of the township, and which,
as he has already and frequently stated both in his
Memorial and other documents to the Government,
and to which he refers.

(Signed) ARCH. McNAB.

Toronto, November, 1840.

P.S. — There is a gratuitous and invidious remark
by Mr. Allan at the close of his Report, by which he
rather commits himself ; for after stating that there
is no mill in McNab he says I am preventing other
mills being built by not getting boards from my mill.
Now, the truth is, I never had my mills in my own
hands, having always let them for a rent, as they
now are. I, of course, never interfere, nor can do so,
only in getting my rent, no restrictions being put upon
the tenants. A. McN.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab, 133

CHAPTER XII. (1838.)

THE TRIALS — PETITION TO THE EARL OF DURHAM.

The rebellion of 1837 had been completely sap-
pressed. To rush to arms against the constituted
authorities is sinful, unless the people are ground
down by repeated oppression, and even then the
morality of a revolt is questionable, unless repeated
applications for redress had been refused. Such was
the case, then, in Upper Canada. Their petitions to
the throne were unheeded, their remembrances ridi-
culed, their grievances unredressed. Driven to
frenzy, they rebelled — not against their amiable and
youthful sovereign, but in opposition to the tyranny
of Sir Francis Head and the mal-administration of
the Family Compact — of the Jones, the Sherwoods,
the Macaulays, and the Hagermans — all closely con-
nected by marriage or consanguinity. The insur-
gents had now been put down ; peace and tranquil-
ity reigned over the land, Court-martials were being
held in Lower Canada, while two of the leading
rebels in the Upper Province, Lount and Matthews,

134 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

were condemned and executed. Executions were of
daily occurrence in Montreal. The drama of politi-
cal vengeance was acted out a I 'outrance. Mercy was
not dreamt of. The law of High Treason was car-
ried out in all its horror, Lieut. Weir's cruel and
treacherous murder by J albert and his ruffian com-
panions had steeled the hearts of the military judges
and of the Executive against the common feelings of
humanity. Montreal was baptized in a sea of blood.
The minority had triumphed in both provinces. In
both, the grievances of the people were overlooked,
and their wrongs unredressed. The petty oligar-
chies in each looked forward for many years to a
reign of supremacy, without question or molestation .
But they were, fortunately for the country, disap-
pointed. Statesmen at home came to the conclusion
that something was wrong. Lord Glenelg roused
himself from his sleepy apathy, and Viscount Glen-
elg from his luxurious ease and voluptuous excesses,
and in alarm stayed the effusion of blood— stopped
all further executions, sent out a special commis-
sion composed of the Earl of Durham, as Governor-
General, Sir George Grey, and Sir Charles Gibbs.

The Last Laird of MacNab. 135

They recalled Sir Francis Head, and superseded
Lord Gosford. Sir George Arthur was appointed
Lieut. -Governor of the Province, instead of the
notorious Bond Head. The Chief had now lost his
best and most accommodating friend. Everything
was looking up for the settlers. Lord Durham's
name was the household word for radical reform.
He was the very man for the aggrieved settlers of
McNab.

While these important matters were going on
through the country, the Laird was preparing fresh
suits. Mr. Allan Stewart (late Treasurer of the
Township) had inadvertently cut some timber on one
of the unlocated lots in the township. The Chief,
hearing of this, at once evoked the aid of the Attor-
ney-General, and commenced a qui tarn suit against
Mr. Stewart for trespassing on the lauds of the
Crown. — Stewart at once went and offered the Chief
the duty. No ; his Lairdship required the timber.
This Mr, Stewart refused to give. While this action
was in progress, the trial of Donald Mohr Mc-
Naughton was approaching. The Chief got his wit-
nesses subpoenaed, and all parties bent their steps to

136 The Last Laird of Mac Nab,

Perth. The Quarter Sessions came on ; Col. Alex-
Eraser was elected chairman. Donald McNaughton
was put in the bar, and indicted on several counts,
the principal of which was assault with intent, etc.
Daniel McMartin, Esq., conducted the prosecution ;
Mr. Radenhurst the defence. Manny Nowlan, in his
evidence, which was overstrained and exaggerated,
did his best to convict the accused. Mr. D. C.
McNab, then residing with the Chief— a mere youth
— also was a witness, and simply related the facts
as they occurred. Donald Mohr was quite satisfied
with the la tier 'a evidence, and called no witnesses.
Col. Fraser, to his credit be it spoken, charged the
jury to find a simple assault, and entirely ignored
that of a more aggravated nature. The jury retired,
and brought in a verdict of " Guilty of simple as-
sault of a trifling nature, under strong provocation,
and recommends the defendant to the leniency of
the Court." The sentence was £2 10s. and costs.
The sentence was light, but the costs amounted to
^17 5s. Scarcely had the sentence been pronounced,
when an execution was placed in the Sheriff's hands
against the Chief for the balance of the judgment

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 137

for the road money. The Chief's horse was at once
seized at Cross's stables, and notices of sale freely
distributed through the town. McNaughton at once
paid his fine and the costs, amounting in all to
£19 17s. 9d. Had he been a poor man, he would
have been imprisoned for months, or perhaps years,
but unfortunately McNab's victim had the means,
and he was foiled somewhat in his expectations.
The Court rose. The two antagonists met at the
door of the Court House.

" See what it is, Donald," exclaimed MacNab, " to
oppose your Chief."

11 See what it is, Chief," replied McNaughton, "not
to pay your debts. Your horse is now seized and
will be sold for the road-money."

"Pho, nonsense!" said the Laird; "they would
not dare to do that. You better not get up another
petition against me."

" That we will, and a dozen of them," was the re-
ply, " now that Lord Durham is coming out."

The Chief stalked away in proud disdain, snorting
like a rhinocerous ; but he found Donald's words
true ; his horse was impounded, and he had to bor-

138 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

row the money from Craig-darroch to get him re-
leased.

No sooner had McNaughton reached home than a
general meeting of the whole township was held
at the Flat Rapids, and it was unanimously re-
solved to memorialize the new Governor-General,
and send a special delegate to wait upon Lord Dur-
ham, upon his arrival at Montreal. Mr. Allan Stew-
art drafted the petition, and he was selected as the
most proper person to present it. He started on his
mission in July of this year, after having the peti-
tion signed by almost every settler in the township.
A few of the timid and vacillating refused to do so.
Dread of McNab's retributive anger alone prevented
them. They wished the mission every success, but
they declined compromising themselves by any overt
act of domestic treason. When Mr. Stewart reached
Montreal, the Earl of Durham was there. This
proud democratic nobleman disdained to enter any
house in the city. He chartered the John Bull
steamer, which was fitted up sumptuously for his ac-
commodation, and this was his temporary palace.
Mr. Stewart intended to present the petition to him

The Last Laird of Mac Nab, 139

in person ; but just as he reached the wharf Lord
Durham had disembarked, and instantly jumped into
a carriage. His aide-de-camp. Col. Cooper, seeing
Stewart's perplexity, at once went up to him, frank-
ly entered into conversation, took the petition, and
promised to present it. Stewart gave him his ad-
dress. Col. Cooper was as good as his word. Next
day Stewart received a reply, stating that as soon as
the viceroy reached Toronto, an investigation would
be held in these matters, and justice should be done.

In the meantime, while the settlers were getting
up active measures of resistance, the Chief was pre-
paring a blow and maturing a plan, which if success-
ful, would have placed the people completely under
his power, and which nothing but endless litigation
and the intervention of Chancery could render nu-
gatory.

Upon hearing of the appointment of Lord Dur-
ham as Lord High Commissioner, he became in-
tuitively aware of his danger, and hastily ap-
plied to the Goverment for a Trust-Deed for 10,000
acres, so that he might transfer to those settlers
who had settled with him, the portion of land upon

140 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

which each had been located. This application
reached Toronto two days after the departure of Sir
Francis Bond Head. Had that gentleman been oc-
cupying the gubernatorial chair, the Trust-deed
would have been at once handed over to the Laird ;
but, luckily for the settlers, Sir George Arthur had
arrived, and he was a different sort of character
from his predecessor. The Council were for grant-
ing what Me Nab asked. The Lieut. -Governor de-
murred, and the Chief was summoned to Toronto.
He arrived early in June, 1838, and had an imme-
diate interview with His Excellency. Sir George
heard his story, and became more determined than
ever to refuse his application ; it was too much
power to put in the hands of one man. McNab might,
under the deed, sell to any one who would become
a settler, the lands under location to his rebellious
followers. Thus argued Sir George, and he reasoned
corrctly. The application was refused. The Chief
then devised another scheme more nefarious than
the former, which he was within a hair's breath of
accomplishing. The following public documents will
speak for themselves, and tell the tale : —

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 141

[COPY.]

To His Excellency, Sir George Arthur, K.C.H., Lieutenant-
Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, etc.

The Petition of the McNab Sheweth :

That since it appears to your Petitioner there are some
difficulties entertained by Your Excellency and the Exe-
cutive Council as to granting him a Trust-Deed for enforcing
the terms of his agreement with his settlers for the present,
and duly appreciating the motives, he humbly hopes there
can be no objection to ordering him his patent-deed, for the
Five-thousand acres granted this Petitioner originally for
settling the Township. And your Petitioner shall ever
pray, etc.

(Signed) ARCH. McNAB.

Toronto, June 28th, 1838.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, 29th June, '38.
Referred to the consideration of the Honorable, the Exe-
cutive Council.

By Command,
(Signed) JOHN MACAULAY.

IN COUNCIL, 29th June, 1838.

Recommended the Patent issue for 5,000 acres, free of
expense.

(Signed) R. B. SULLIVAN, P.C.

(Signed) GEORGE ARTHUR.

GOV'T HOUSE, 7th July, 1838.

Referred to the Surveyor-General to report thereon for
the information of the Honorable, the Executive Council.
By Command,

JOHN MACAULAY.

142 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

[COPY.]

The lots selected by the Laird of McNab to cover his
grant of 5,000 acres made to him in Council, 29th June
last, are principally those lots located in the names of his
followers. I was therefore under the necessity of withhold-
ing the description until the pleasure of Your Excellency
could be had thereon.

(Signed) J. RADBNHURST.

Sur. -General's Office, 20th July, '38.

IN COUNCIL, llth Oct., 1838.

The Council cannot recommend a location to the Laird
of McNab of lands located to his settlers.

(Signed) R. B. SULLIVAN.

(Signed) G. A.

This was a wholesome scheme of vengeance as
flagitious and vindictive as it was heartless and mi •
principled. The Laird had, when marking out the
lots to be patented to him, inserted in the diagram
of the Township that some of the original locatees
were dead ; others had fled to the United States ;
and others again had abandoned their lots and gone
to reside in a neighboring county ; and he was be-
lieved. The nefarious intrigue was frustrated by a
mere accident. The hand of Providence had inter-
fered to save the poor and oppressed settlers from
utter ruin. Mr. T. M. Ratdenhurst, of Perth, was in

The Last Laird of MacNab. 143

Toronto on the 12th July, 1838, attending to some
law business, when in a casual conversation with his
brother, Mr. J. Radenhurst, of the Surveyor-Gen-
eral's office, the affairs of the Township of McNab
came upon the carpet, and Mr. T. Radenhurst in-
formed his brother that the settlers represented as
dead and absconded were living upon the lands lo-
cated to them by the Chief, and for which lots he
had applied to be covered by his patent. Imme-
diately upon hearing this intelligence, Mr. J. Raden-
hurst forwarded to the Lieut. -Governor the remon-
strance dated the 13th of July, 1838. All further
action in the matter was stayed until inquiries should
be made.

In August of the same year Lord Durham ap-
pointed a commission to investigate the affairs of the
township. It sat in Toronto. Not a single settler
was examined. The archives of the Crown Lauds
Department were alone searched into. Discrepan-
cies were discovered between the original assignment
of the township for settlement and the manner in
which McNab had carried on the business of his
agency. The Chief was condemned. The Commis-

144 I?16 Last Laird of MacNab.

sion recommended the immediate deprivation from
the Chief of all further power, and that the original
grant should be carried out in all its integrity. That
these settlers who came to the country at their own
expense should receive their lands free, and that
those brought out by the Laird should pay for their
lands at a valuation, and the proceeds be handed
over to the Chief. This report was made in October.
Immediately upon its substance being communicated
to the Government of Upper Canada, the order for
the patent to the Chief on the located lands (that is
the lots of the settlers), was rescinded, as appears
by the Hon. R. B. Sullivan's and Sir George Arthur's
order of October, 1838, already published ; but the
equitable arrangement proposed by Lord Durham's
investigating committee was indefinitely postponed.
That nobleman, proud, haughty, and unrestrained in
his indignation when aroused, took mortal offence at
the attack made upon him by Lord Brougham in the
House of Lords. He at once threw up his commis-
sion, left Sir John Colborne in his place, and went
to England. With the exception of Sir George
Arthur, the Laird's friends were now in power. The

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 143

Family Compact still held the reigns of government,
and although they dare not patent the settlers' lands
to the Chief, they allowed the question to remain
in abeyance,

In the meantime McNab proceeded with his suits
at the Fall Assizes. In that one against Mr. Allan
Stewart, although the timber had been cut on his
own located lot, the Chief was eminently successful,
and obtained a verdict of some £40. His suit
against Duncan McNab (Isla) also came on, and not-
withstanding the law and the Judge's charge, the
jury brought in a verdict for the defendant. It was
a Dalhousie and Lanark jury that decided the case.
They themselves had suffered oppression at home.

They looked to the justice of the case — not to the
law of real property — and in spite of the ruling of
the judge, the Chief was defeated. It was only a
temporary success ; yet, such as it was, it diffused
unbounded joy throughout the whole township,—
McNab was not invincible. He could be conquered
by his own weapons. What was accomplished now
might be achieved again. Threats of new trials did
not deter them from determined resistance. A sub*

146 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

scription was got up and placed in a common fund to
defray law expenses in opposing the Chief. A regu-
lar and systematic organization of the whole township
was effected ; and this was the state of affairs in De-
cember of this year, when the second rebellion broke
out. A party of American sympathizers had invaded
the country at Windsor. Those in West were soon
put down. At Prescott it was different. They had a
determined leader and a good general, Von Schoultz
had taken possession of the windmill and the house
adjoining. The first attacks of the Glengarry High-
landers and the regular troops were repulsed with
great loss of life. This was the news that reached
the Ottawa. The Chief, as Colonel, called out his
regiment. They assembled at Pakenham, 900 strong.
A call was made for volunteers. It was almost
unanimously responded to by Fitzroy and Paken-
ham ; but the people of McNab held aloof. They
would not volunteer under their Chief. They re-
membered the fate of some of the "Breadalbane
Fencibles" under his uncle in 1798. They had
volunteered to defend the country against the French,
—Lord Breadalbane, as Colonel, and Francis Chief

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 147

of McNab as Major, tendered the services of the
Fencibles to the Government to put down the re-
bellion in Ireland. An order was made for their de-
parture. They refused to go. It was contrary to
their agreement when they entered the service. They
openly mutinied, and go they would not. A cavalry
and an infantry regiment of the line were drawn up
to compel them to march. The Highlanders, in-
stead of submitting prepared themselves for battle
and resolved to lie dead on the field of Dunbar sooner
than budge a step. — Muskets were loaded on both
sides, and the novel spectacle of three British regi-
ments drawn up in hostile array against each other,
for the first time presented itself. The officers were
obliged to submit. The order was countermanded,
and the men returned peaceably to their quarters.
Seven of the ringleaders were seized during the
night, and were next morning tried by court-martial,
and shot. The people of McNab remembered this,
and they determined not to give MclSab the slight-
est chance over them. In the evening of the same
day, instigated, as some imagined, by the Chief, a
fight took place between some of the Orangemen and

148 The Last Laird of MacNab.

Highlanders. The poor settlers were looked upon by
the ultra, loyal as rebels, not only to their Chief, bat
to the Government; and to punish them severely
was now the object of the Irishmen of Pakenham
and Fitzroy. Although they numerically surpassed
the McNab settlers, about five to one, the High-
landers fought bravely. They were compelled to re-
treat to Mrs. McFarlane's old house, in which they
defended themselves with the utmost resolution.
Frying-pans, pokers, tongs, kettles, brooms, and
every article of any solidity, were used as weapons
of war. The fight lasted till night, when both
parties became tired of the contest ; some ugly
wounds were given and received ; and a man of the
name of Porter was so badly injured that he died in
ten days afterwards. News reached Pakenham that
night that the rebels were totally discomfitted, and
that Von Schoultz and most of his gang were taken
prisoners. This was the final effort of the insurgents,
or of their friends. Peace was finally restored, and
the home Government earnestly set to work to re-
dress the grievances of the colonies. Hope began to
dawn upon the McNab settlers. Their petition to

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 149

Lord Durham bad not only been listened to, but
acted upon. McNab's fradulent scheme of obtaining
their lands was completely frustrated, and at the
close of this year the people looked forward to a
speedy and equitable adjustment of all the matters
in dispute between themselves and the Chief ; but
they had struggles yet before them ; McNab was not
going to yield up his advantages without a desperate
effort. The struggle was yet to be protracted for
four years before ample redress could be obtained.

150 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

CHAPTER XIII. (1839).

A SLIGHT RETROSPECT — CUTTING THE GORDIAN KNOT —
IMPRISONMENT OF MR. STEWART.

BOTH parties had temporarily ceased from hostili-
ties. There was a cessation of arms — a slight trace
— awaiting the action of the Government. Lord
Durham had gone to England. Sir John Colborne
was installed as Governor-General. Foiled in his
efforts to get his patent, either upon the lands of his
settlers, or upon any other lands at present, the
McNab was concocting fresh schemes to aggrandize
himself and to punish bis refractory followers.
Arnprior had been abandoned by Simpson, Mittle-
berger & Gould. The latter, for his share of the
broken-down company, took possession of the George
Buchanan steamboat, and run her regularly from the
head of the Chats to the Cheneaux. The grist-mill
at Arnprior had gone out of repair, and as no one was
at that place to look after the property, it was fast
falling into decay. The mills were regularly plunder-
ed. They had been assigned to the Middletons, in

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 151

Liverpool. Everything bore the aspect of ruin and
desolation. By degrees the gearing of both mills
disappeared, and also the boarding and frame of the
grist-mill was gradually being carried off, and only a
skeleton remained. Mr. Minor Hillard took possession
of Tom Landon's vacated tavern, without question or
molestation ; and he alone was the only person living
at Arnprior, and who pretended to take some kind of
surveillance over the place. Its ancient glory was gone.
The buildings were in ruins, and by sheer neglect
were fast hastening to decay. The people in the
township were, however, notwithstanding all their
discouragements, slightly advancing in the onward
march of progress. A minister had been sent for to
Scotland, and in response to their repeated applica-
tions, the Foreign Mission Board sent out the Rev.
Alex. Mann, who took the three congregations of
Fitzroy, McNab and Pakenham, and preached tri-
weekly in each station. The settlers now prepared
to build a church. After much consultation, a site
was fixed upon the lot of Mrs. James Stewart, on
the 2nd concession, and subscription lists were sent
through the townships of McNab and Horton to

152 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

raise funds. In the interim large barns of some
of the settlers in Canaan during the summer,
and the dwelling-houses in winter, were improvised
for the purpose of temporary worship. The logs for
the new church were got out during the ensuing win-
ter, and it was completed in 1840. The building is
still used as a place of worship for the Presbyter-
ians of the Kirk in McNab. It is clap-boarded,
painted, well-seated, and a comfortable house of
worship.

Three schools were also established in the town-
ship; one in Canaan, another in Goshen, and a third
at White Lake. The system of instruction was
quite different to what it is now, and the qualifica-
tions of the teachers were of a remarkably low or
,der ; any person who could write tolerably, read
middingly, and do a simple sum in addition or sub-
traction was eligible to be chosen as a teacher, par-
ticularly if he was disabled, maimed, or unfit for any
other occupation. The Board of Education sat at
Perth ; its examinations were a farce, and its pro-
ceedings a mere burlesque. The whole process of
testing the powers of the candidates occupied about

The Last Laird of MacNab. 153

half-an-hour, and they all generally passed the try-
ing ordeal with flying colors.

In the summer of this year Mr. Allan Stewart was
arrested for the judgment the Chief had obtained
against him for the timber cut upon his own lot, or
rather upon the land on which he had been located
by the Chief. He was brought to Perth and lodged
in the debtors' apartments, under the care of Mr.
James Young. The Chief would hear of no com-
promise. He must exact the pound of flesh to its
full extent. Mr. Stewart became equally obdurate.
The weekly allowance was regularly paid ; but for-
tunately one Monday evening the Chief was enter-
taining some friends at a dinner party in Perth,
among whom was his legal adviser, Mr. Daniel Mc-
Martin ; and in their conversation and enjoyment
poor Allan was forgotten ; the weekly alimentary
supply was not paid ; and Mr. Stewart was dis-
charged. The Chief, to the day of his death, never
received a penny of this judgment. When Mr.
Stewart wished to settle the matter with the Chief
by paying him some down and getting time for the
remainder, McNab's reply was, " Go to Lord Dur-

1 54 The Last Laird of MacNab.

ham ; perhaps he will help you." Mr. Stewart be-
gan to remonstrate, but McNab haughtily ordered
him out of the room. This proceeding nerved Mr.
Stewart to the utmost, and inspired him with fresh
energy in carrying on further proceedings against
the Laird.

A new trial had been obtained in the Chief's case
against Duncan McNab (Isla). The last verdict had
been set aside, and it was brought down for trial to
the Perth Assizes in October of this year. This was
the third trial of this memorable case The jury
had, in the last trial, given a verdict against law,
and it was consequently set aside. The trial came
on, and McNab finally gained the suit. Poor Dun-
can left the court a broken hearted and ruined man.
(See report of Francis Allan, Esq.) Mr. Allan had
done everything that legal ingenuity and a con-
sciousness of right could suggest, but it was of no
avail. Duncan McNab was too poor to go into Chan-
cery. He had no means to bring it there. The
people of the township had already subscribed
liberally to assist him. They were poor them-
selves, and they could not do more. He resolved to

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 155

await the issue. The Chief having gained the vic-
tory, did not wish to push things to extremities.—
He could not enter up judgment and issue a Hab.
Fae. Pos. at any time. To do so now, would serious-
ly implicate him with the Government. His affairs
were on a ticklish footing. He himself stood in a
critical position, and to drive McNab (Isla) out of
the place at the present juncture would so embarrass
his schemes as to defeat them altogether. The
Commission had reported against him, and recom-
mended his dismissal. To eject Duncan McNab
would precipitate matters, and he would lose far
greater advantages, both in money and character,
than ten such lots were worth. His policy was
therefore to keep matters in abeyance, and he did so.
In October of this year, the Hon. Poulett Thomp-
son (Lord Sydenham) arrived in Canada, and took
the whole control of the public affairs. When his
advent was announced, and a month before he set
foot in Canada, a new arrangement had been made
between McNab and Sir George Arthur's Govern-
ment The Chief dreaded the arrival of Lord
Sydenham. Fearing he would be deprived of the

156 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

township and receive nothing ; apprehensive that
the timber duties he had received and the rents he
had taken from his followers would he set off against
him for any claims to grants he might have ; he
made an application through his friends, Attorney-
General Hagerman and the Hon. H. Sherwood, to
give up all his claims against the settlers, and give
the 5,000 for £9,000.— The Executive Council was
called together. Sir George Arthur thought £2,000
was quite sufficient. At length, after a long and ani-
mated discussion, it was resolved to offer the Chief
£4,000, and take the township off his hands, with
the exception of the lots already deeded to him.
The Chief accepted the proposal, and on the 27th
Sept., 1839, the final Order-in-Council was passed
to that effect. The Gordian Knot was cut. The at-
tempted feudal tyranny was prevented. The details
were yet to be arranged, and until these were satis
factorily settled, McNab was to have the same con-
trol over the township, as usual ; but he was to exact
no more rent. To close the matter, McNab that day
was paid ,£1,000 by the Receiver-General, as the
first instalment of the settlement of his claims.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 157

CHAPTER XIV. (1840).

THE GREAT STRUGGLE —FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE SETTLERS
— IMPRISONMENT OF DUNCAN CAMPBELL.

A vague rumor had reached the people at the com-
mencement of this year that a new arrangement had
been entered into between the Chief and the Govern-
ment, but of its nature and tendency they were kept
in entire ignorance. It is true that the Chief came
down from Toronto, and informed some of his toadies,
so that the intelligence might spread through Mc-
Nab that he had sold the township, and that all the
settlers were to be tuined off their lands, and set
adrift with their families. But any news springing
from that quarter was disbelieved, for they knew
that Lord Durham's special commission had reported
against the Chief, and in their favor ; and they also
were aware that a more sweepingly radical reformer
than his lordship was appointed Governor-General.
The Chief still claimed the timber of the township,
under the Bond Head patent. That had not as yet
been given up. He gave licenses as usual to cut

i

158 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

timber. Not only on the nnlocated lots had he done
so, but he had given liberty to Mr. Michael Roddy to
cut timber on the lands of some of his settlers, princi-
pally upon those of Mr. Robertson, Daniel Mclntyre
(Paisley), and John Stewart. Roddy proceeded to
the work of cutting down the trees. The parties came
to the writer, and at once acted on his advice. They
forbade Roddy to trespass on their lands. Roddy
told them he was indemnified by the Chief, and he
would go on in defiance of all they could do. Mr. D.
C. McNab and Mr. Daniel Mclntyre went immediately
to Perth, and commenced suits in the Queen's Bench
against Roddy, on the part of the three, for trespass.
The three writs were simultaneously served upon
Roddy. He immediately hastened to the Chief. Mc-
Nab laughed him out of his fears, and scornfully ex-
claimed " When did any of the scoundrels prevail
against me ? " Although ostensibly carrying
matters with a high hand and a proud bearing, the
Laird was inwardly uneasy. He sent for Robert
Robertson, because he was pretty well-to-do, and
could carry the matter into court ; and settled with
him by paying the whole amount of his claims and

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 159

the costs. He imagined that Mr. Mclntyre and
Stewart could proceed no farther. Little did he
foresee the consequences. " We will become the as-
sailants ; we have acted too long on the defensive,"
exclaimed Mr. D. 0. McNab, who then about nine-
teen years of age, threw all his youthful energies into
the struggle. Both suits were carried into court,
and in both verdicts were rendered for the plain-
tiffs. Poor Mr. Roddy was the sufferer. McNab
never paid him a single farthing of the damages.
Although he had paid the duties to the Chief, and he,
by word only, had indemnified him, not one farthing
of the duties was returned, not one penny of the
costs paid. Mr. Roddy was nearly ruined. His
misplaced confidence in McNab had led him on. He
regarded not the wrongs of the settlers — McNab's
word was his ^Egist and it proved but a sorry pro-
tection. To the settlers this proved a great triumph.
The Laird could be vanquished. The awe of his in-
vulnerability was dispelled. The charm was broken.
Onward was the word. Fresh attacks were planned.
New methods of assailing their opponents were pre-
pared and successfully executed. It was a beautiful

160 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

morning early in Jane. The day was balmy and
mild. The lovely songsters of the grove warbled
forth their notes of delicious music in joyful harmony.
From all parts of the township horsemen and pedes-
trians were wending their way to one particular spot.
This was the residence of Mr. Allan Stewart, in the
very centre of the township, about a quarter of a
mile distant from where the Town Hall now stands.
It was then a romantic and sequestered spot, at-
tractive by its lonely beauty. The stumps had
nearly all decayed through age. A large barn in the
midst of a level green pasture was the place of
rendezvous. It was surrounded on all sides by the
forest. The towering pine overtopping its less exalted
fellows, in the dark sombre green of the Canadian
livery of the woods, added a picturesque charm to
the scene. At the foot of this plateau rolled the
never-ceasing Madawaska, on its way to the ocean.
The sullen roar of the surging billows of the Long
Rapids was distinctly audible as they lashed the
sides of its banks, and poured in continuous swells
over the rocks and shoals that partially impeded its
irresistible progress. The Piper of the Township and

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 161

of the people, Murdock McDonald, was there be-
times, and the loud swelling notes of the martial
music of " Auld Gaul" calling the people together in
the pibroch of the " Gathering of the Clans," were
heard for miles reverberating through the woods,
and echoed and re echoed by the rocky ridges of the
mountain heights surrounding the deep sunk Mada-
waska. All the settlers of the township were there
assembled on that momentous day, with the ex-
ception of the Chief's Cabinet- Council of Five
(Anderson, Fisher, McCallum, Roddy and Mc-
Donnell). They believed in the Chief. They saw no
grounds for the discontent of the settlers. They
looked upon the people as disloyal and ungrateful.
The Chief had been to the cabal all that was generous
and noble. From him they had received favors in
lavish abundance. To them he was a faithful friend
and steadfast ally. Grants of land he had given to
them with no sparing hand.

These henchmen of the Chief had no cause of
complaint — no grievance to lay at the foot of the
Throne ; and they truly believed that the grievances
of the people were exaggerated or imaginary. The

1 62 The Last Laird oj Mac Nab.

old, the middle-aged and the young— those who had
hitherto kept aloof from fear or from interest — joined
in that day's assembly. The venerable Donald Mc-
Naughton— the oldest settler in the township— was
called to the chair. There he sat in all the glory of
hoary old age, mildly tempered by the pious feelings
of pure Christianity. His thin silver locks adorned
a brow of no mean intelligence. His presence was
august and serene. Virtue sat enthroned in noble
and august benignity. Beside him the earthly
majesty of monarchs paled. His was the nobility of
integrity — the majesty of virtue. He had suffered
and came out scathless. His deed he had lately
obtained. His passage money, with law expenses,
was paid in full. His share of Miller's bond was
liquidated. His three stalwart sons had made the
forest subservient to the demands of law. By the
prostration of the king of the woods— the mighty
pine — they had achieved independence and freedom.
This was a momentous meeting— the most vitally
great ever held in the Township of McNab. Two
important questions had to be discussed : a fresh
appeal to the Government, and the distribution of

The Last Laird of MacNab 163

the statute labor. In March, the Chief and Mr.
John Ritchie of Fitzroy had held a session as magis-
trates, at the inn of Mr. Duncan Anderson, Burns-
town, to apportion the statute labor for the year.
Due notice had been given to Mr. Peter Campbell,
the Town Clerk, to attend. All the pathmasters as-
sembled, and a large number of the settlers were
there also. However, notwithstanding the re*
monstrances of the Town Clerk and the people, they
were ordered to perform their labor on two roads—
the Arnprior road, leading to Duncan Anderson's ;
and those on the east side of the Madawaska, on a
road from the White Lake to Baker's mills, far away
from their own roads. The average distance from each
settler's residence to where work was to commence,
in both cases was about eight miles. The meeting
took this case up first and resolved to send the writer
and Mr. James Morris, jr., the present Sheriff of
Renfrew, to Perth to attend the Quarter Sessions,
and lay their grievances before the bench of Magis-
trates ; and Mr. Donald Mohr McNaughton was to
procure a sum of money, by subscription or other-
wise, to defray their expenses.

164 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

The next and most important matter was the state
of the township. Mr. Alexander McNab, one of the
Laird's martyrs, had just arrived from the west. He
first addressed the meeting in a fiery speech, replete
with vengeance and vindictiveness, urging the people
to take up arms, bring him before the meeting at
once, try him, and execute him on the spot. He
cited the case of Charles I. and Louis XVI as ex-
amples. Mr. John Forrest then arose, and in a mild
and sensible address urged upon the people to use
pacific measures, and try all constitutional means to
obtain redress. Mr. D. C. McNab and other followed
in the same strain, and it was finally resolved to send
Mr. D. C. McNab as a special delegate to Lord
Sydeuham at once, with a petition signed by all the
settlers ; that a sum sufficient to defray expenses
should be immediately subscribed and paid ; and
that the delegate after returning from Perth should
should proceed to Toronto. A sum of fifty dollars
was collected on the spot, and more promised, to
carry out the views of the meeting. The writer
drafted the celebrated petition for the meeting,
which is worded as follows : —

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 165

To the Right Honorable, His Excellency Charles Poulett
Thompson, Governor-General of British North Amer-
ica, etc., etc., etc.

The Humble Petition of the Settlers in the Township of
McNab,

RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH : —

That your Petitioners approach Your Excellency with
feelings of loyalty to Her Majesty, our most gracious Queen,
and with sentiments of the utmost respect towards Your
Excellency as Her Majesty's representative.

That your Petitioners sincerely hope that the object of
Your Excellency's great mission to Canada may be speei-
ily and successfully accomplished.

That for the last fifteen years your Petitioners, as settlers
under the Laird of McNab, have been persecuted, harassed,
with law-suits, threatened with deprivation of their lands,
and subjected to threats by the McNab, of being driven
from their present locations by the Government, for dis-
obedience to the Chief.

That the said Chief has impoverished many families,
and completely ruined those ot Alex. McNab, Peter and
John Mclntyre, whom he brought out to Canada.

That there are now sixteen families still remaining in the
township whom his friends sent out to Canada as settlers
under him, who are willing to pay to the Chief any reason-
able sum as passage-money, that Your Excellency in Council
may deem just to impose ; but on the other hand yous
Petitioners have hitherto resisted, anl will continue consti-
tutionally to resist any attempts to impose the feudal sys-
tem of the Dark Ages upon Your Petitioners or their
descendants.

That whatever representations the McNab has made to
the Government about the expenditure of money for the

1 66 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

improvement of the Township, Your Petitioners beg leave
to assure Your Excellency that the said MoNab has never
expended a single shilling of his own money for such a pur-
pose on their behoof.

That Your Petitioners beg to assure Your Excellency that
the Chief has received since he first came to the Township
about £30,000 from the dues of timber cut on the Town-
ship, besides what he has plundered off the lands of the
settlers.

That he has received money from lumberers for passing
rafts as made in the Township of McNab, the timber of
which was manufactured on the Bonnechere and in West-
meath.

That Your Petitioners have sent Mr. D. 0. McNab to
Your Excellency as their accredited delegate, who will fully
explain to Your Excellency the condition of the Township
and the state of the people, and give Your Excellency de-
tailed information respecting the rents the Chief has exacted
from them and of every matter connected with the Town-
ship of McNab.

That Your Petitioners therefore pray that Your Excel-
lency will send a special Commissioner to investigate the
truth of this petition, and be pleased to carry out the ori-
ginal Order in Council, which made a FREE GRANT of the
lands of the township to those settlers who had come out
at their own expense, and also to grant their patents to the
first settlers upon paying a reasonable amount for their
passage money, and not the exorbitant sum charged by the
Laird. And by acceding to Your Petitioners' respectful
requests, Your Excellency will do an act of justice as great
and noble as it is imperatively necessary.

Dated 3rd June, 1840.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 167

f ANGUS McNAB,

(Signed) \ DONALD MCNAUGHTON, SR.
(JOHN FORREST,
And 130 others.

Township of McNab, 4th June, 1840.
T. A. Murdoch,

Private Secretary,

Sir, I herewith enclose, to be

presented to His Excellency the Governor-General, the pe-
tition of the inhabitants of the Township of McNab. I
have taken the liberty to forward it by mail, as the Laird
of McNab is quite unscrupulous as to the means he may
adopt to frustrate the end in view, and prevent a personal
interview with His Excellency.

I beg leave also to request that His Excellency will ap-
point a time for an interview, so that I may have the honor
of laying the grievances of the settlers of MoNab persons
ally before His Excellency, with such documents and paper-
as may substantiate the allegations made in their petition.
I have the honor to be, etc.,

DUGALD CAMPBELL McNAB.

[COPY.]

/ Government House,

\ Toronto, llth Jun le,840.

SIR, — I have thehonor to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter enclosing the petition of the settlers in the Township
of McNab, complaining of the conduct of the McNab, and
in reply beg to state that I have laid it before His Excel-
lency, the Governor- General.

I am commanded by His Excellency to state that free ac-
cess to His Excellency is permitted by any of Her Majesty's
subjects at all times upon public matters ; and that no

1 68 The Last Laird of MacNab.

private individual has the right to interfere with, or pre-
vent the exercise of this privilege.

I am further directed to state that the memorial and com-
plaint of the McNab settlers will receive His Excel-
lency's immediate consideration, and that in the mean-
time it has been referred to the Lieut. -Governor and Execu-
tive Council of Upper Canada.

I am, Sir, etc.,

(Signed), T. A. MURDOCH.

D. Campbell McNab, Esq.,
Township of McNab.
Bathurst District.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 169

CHAPTER XV. (1840.)

MISSION TO PERTH — THE LAIRD PRESENTED AS A PUB-
LIC NUISANCE — MR. FRANCIS ALLAN SENT TO IN-
VESTIGATE GRIEVANCES.

The week after the great meeting described in the
foregoing chapter, Mr. James Morris and the writer
proceeded to Perth, to attend the Quarter Sessions,
with the people's petition respecting the Statute
Labor. The Court opened in due form.— There sat
the Hon. William Morris, as Chairman, the apparent
impersonification of stern integrity. On his right
was seated Capt. Joshua Adams and Mr. John Mc-
Intyre, of Dalhousie ; and on his left was supported
by the half-pay military magnates of Perth.— The
petition was presented through the Clerk of the
Peace, Mr. Berford, to the Chairman. Its prayer
was strongly advocated by the writer and by Mr. T.
M. Radenhurst. It was useless. The Hon. Chair-
man and the magisterial wiseacres who surrounded
him scouted the idea of yielding to the settler's
wishes. " We have appointed two of our number
to apportion the statute-labor, and that appropria-
tion must be final." Only one gentleman advocated

170 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

the prayer of the petition, and worked long and
strenuously for its adoption, and that gentleman was
Mr. Mclntyre, of Dalhousie. It was futile. It was
out-voted, and the petition was thrown under the
table. Not satisfied with the decision of the Bench,
the writer and Mr. Morris went before the Grand
Jury, and laid the case before them. That popular
body, feeling for the settlers, at once perceiving the
justice of their claims, brought in the following

Presentment :—

[COPY.]

The Grand Jurors of Our Lady the Queen on their oaths
present. That having fully investigated the complaints of
the inhabitants of the Township of McNab, they on their
oaths say, that Archibald McNab of McNab and John
Richey, of Fitzroy, Esqs., have not apportioned the statute-
labor of the township of McNab for the present year equi-
tably or according to justice ; that the said Archibald Mc-
Nab has acted tyrannically and oppressively, and is a nui-
svnce to the public at large, and especially to the people of
McNab ; and they recommend that the statute-labor be laid
out according; to the wishes of the settlers of McNab, as
represented by the Path masters of the said Township.
(Signed), JOHN KING,

Foreman.

When this Presentment was read by Mr. Berford,
the Chairman, Morris, turned almost purple with

The Last Laird of MacNab. 1 7 1

rage. Even his immobile features were moved.
The cast-iron lineaments gave way to anger at the
presumption of two young men questioning the de-
cision of that august Court, and at the temerity of
a Grand Jury for making such a Presentment.
" File that away, Mr. Berford," exclaimed the Chair-
man ; *' but take no action upon it. The Bench will
not interfere with action of magistrates out of session."
The writer and Mr. Morris finding they could get
no further satisfaction, and having done all that it
was possible for men to do under the circumstances,
returned home and met the settlers, to whom they
related all that occurred. A bright idea struck the
writer. — A law had passed the Legislature of Upper
Canada appointing Town-Wardens for each town-
ship. Among their other duties, they had the power
of commuting each ratepayer's statute-labor for five
years. It was resolved instantly to take advantage
of this clause of the Act. — The writer pointed it
out, and advised this mode of procedure ; and it
was at once put into execution. The three Wardens,
with the writer, proceeded through the whole Town-
ship, and gave written contracts and commutations

172 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

to all the settlers for four years. McNab was foiled.
The arbitrary conduct of the military magistrates
and the fossil-Tory abettors was set at naught.
They were ridiculed and mocked at. The law had
rendered their power for evil nugatory and void.
The people of McNab that year performed their
labor on their own concessions and side-lines. The
Chief was incensed ; the magistrates were furious.
They wrote a letter, embodying the whole facts of
the case, to the Hon. W. H. Draper, then Attorney-
General. The reply they received was that the
Wardens and the people had acted strictly in ac-
cordance with the law. The benchers of the Solo-
mon's Temple at Perth, had to " grin and bear it."
Their oppressive dicta and autocratic propaganda
were treated with contempt. Two mere youths had
circumvented the legal and military sagacity of the
sages of Perth.

Their maxim was to keep down the people, to
trample intelligence under foot, to protract the reign
of semi-military despotism, to extend the influence
of the Family Compact, and to crush anyone who
dared to advocate the rights of the people; but

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 173

Canada was on the eve of a bloodless revolution
which in less than two years would deprive the
magistrates of all municipal power, and leave the
management of local affairs in the hands of the peo-
ple alone. — Their support of the Chief was carrying
out and extending the principle of ultraistu, and at
its shrine they were prepared to sacrifice truth,
justice, integrity and honor.

This was the year of the great battle, and it was
a year of signal triumph to the settlers. Threats
were made of indicting the leaders for conspiracy.
Threats could not now intimidate, or stay their pro-
ceedings. To indict a whole community was pre-
posterous. Yefc, incredible as it may appear, the at-
tempt was made. The Chief went before the Grand
Jury at the Fall Assizes, preferring a charge against
fifty of the settlers. The Grand Inquest took no
notice whatever of the accusation.

Another attempt was this year made by the Chief
to ruin Mr. Allan Stewart and Mr. John Campbell
(blacksmith). The scheme had been conceived two
years before, but it was only now that McNab en^
deavored to complete it. To keep his own grant of

174 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

5,000 acres, or its equivalent in cash value unim-
paired, he, in the spring of 1838, surreptitiously ob-
tained a patent for Lot No. 13 in the 7th concession
of McNab, the lot upon which Donald Stewart (the
father of Allan Stewart) and John Campbell were
located, in the name of * ' Archibald McNab, a settler
under McNab of McNab," in all confidence imagin-
ing that he could easily obtain a transfer from any
of the Archibald McNabs then residing in the town-
ship. There were two of that name from Isla — very
illiterate and simple-minded men — old Archibald and
his son Archibald McNab, Jr. Having procured the
patent on the representation that they had fulfilled
their terms of settlement, and had paid them up in
full, he, in 1840, procured a conveyance to himself to
be drafted, and proceeded to their residence. He
represented to the old man that the patent had
issued by mistake, and wished either of them to ex-
ecute the conveyance to him. The old man having
been warned beforehand absolutely refused to do
anything of the kind. The son was equally obdur-
ate. The Chief could not get the patent cancelled
without going into Chancery and falsifying all the

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 175

representations he had made to the Government
respecting the lot. He was in a dilemma. So the
matter stood. Mr. D. C. McNab having heard of the
attempt, strongly advised Archibald McNab to exe-
cute a conveyance to Donald Stewart. If it was
legal for him to convey the lot to the Chief, it was
equally legal to transfer it to any other person. The
honest old man at once yielded to the claims of jus-
tice. He was saving two men from further persecu-
tion, and effectually frustrating the inimical designs
of the Chief. The conveyance to Stewart and Camp-
bell was executed and registered before the Chief
knew anything of the transaction. He only dis-
covered it some months afterwards, when he heard
that both Stewart and Campbell had voted at the
election of March, 1841, the first election under the
" Union Act." Then his fury knew no bounds. He
consulted his legal adviser. The courts of common
law could give him no redress. He petitioned the
Government to cancel the patent, as it had been is-
sued in a mistake. He was met by his own report
when the patent was applied for. " How could it
have been a mistake," exclaimed Lord Sydenham,

176 The Last Laird of MacNab.

11 when the McNab himself states in his written ap-
plication to Sir Francis Head in Council— ' Archi-
bald McNab, a worthy old settler, has performed all
the settlement duties upon lot No. 13, in 7th conces-
sion, and has paid me up in full all the outlay in
bringing him to this country -therefore I apply for
his patent, and enclose the fee for it.' The patent
must stand." Some years afterwards, the Chief got
the Hon. J. H. Cameron to bring an action of
Ejectment against Allan Stewart and Campbell, on
the grounds of a mistake in the deed ; but the con-
veyance was held to be good, and the case was
laughed out of court, and the parties, Mr. Stewart
and Mr. John Campbell are still in possession, and
own the property. Thus his weapons of vengeance
were turned against the Laird, and what he meant
for evil and injury turned out for the benefit and ad-
vantage of the locatees. In August, 1840, Lord
Sydenham as before stated, sent the late Francis
Allan, Esq., of Perth, an impartial and upright man,
as special commissioner to investigate all matters
connected with the township of McNab. Mr. Allan
was, before he undertook the mission, being a strong

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 177

Conservative, rather biassed against the settlers than
otherwise, and favorable to the Chief ; but when he
discovered upon personal inspection how matters
stood ; when after a month's diligent enquiry from
settler to settler, and upon the examination of both
oral and documentary evidence, ascertained the real
state of affairs, his strong integrity of soul, throwing
aside all foregoing conclusions, all political bias, all
hearsay reports, gave birth to that celebrated report
already published which broke the chains of the set
tiers, and emancipated them from the trammels of
feudalism forever. The lands of the settlers were
valued at their real worth, and a price fixed on each
lot, in the event of their being sold to the people.
They had strong hopes that the Government would
carry out the original grant in all its integrity, as re-
commended by Lord Durham's committee. — Their
hopes were elevated into bright anticipations for
the future, on the advent of a special commis-
sioner ; but it was not for two years afterwards they
knew the result of the investigation, or the decision
of the Executive.

178 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

CHAPTER XVI. (1840.)

THE CHIEF'S REPLY — PERSECUTION OF MR. PARIS — THE
LIBEL SUIT AGAINST MR. HINCKS.

A copy of Mr. Allan's report was sent to the Laird
by the order of Lord Sydenham. He sent a charac-
teristic mass of answers and explanations which were
manufactured for the purpose and had existence
only in the fertile imagination of the writer. That
they were plausible, any person who has carefully
perused the reply in a preceding chapter must at once
admit. — But many of the charges were left unan-
swered, some slightly glanced at, others entirely
passed over, and some of the graver charges he at-
tempted to extenuate. Lots of land either sold or
given away to his friends, or for private reasons not
suited now to publish, were set down as grants for
carpenter-shops, school institutions, ferries, black-
smith shops. Donald Fisher, to whom one of these
grants were made or sold, was a tailor and knew
about as much about carpentering as the writer does
about the literary institutions of Timbuctoo. Again,
John McCallum received his lot, according to the

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 179

Chief, for " erecting a school establishment," and his
acquaintance with erudition was of such a profound
nature that he could scarcely spell his own name
properly. It is true the people of Goshen built a
school-house on another lot about a half a mile from
his house. This suggested the scholastic idea to
McNab, and he improvised it for the purpose.
—David Bremner is stated to have received his land
for a " blacksmith establishment. " Mr. Alex. Mc-
Donald for "putting up an inn," and McNab himself
a lot bounded by the very centre of the roughest
rapids of the Madawaska (the Flat Rapid), when in
fact Bremner's lot was sold to him by McNab for
clearing 40 acres of land at the Chief's White Lake
farm, McDonell's for hard cash, and Mr. Roddy's for
a similar consideration. These representations
might serve a temporary purpose and hoodwink the
authorities at a distance, but Lord Sydenham was
not so verdant as the Chief imagined, as his remarks
were treated as mere gasconade. Mr. Allan's truth-
ful report was made the basis of the future opera-
tions of the Government, and was their guide in
dealing with the settlers. McNab's aim in making

i8o The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

his remarks upon the report was to preserve his
^4,000, and to induce the Executive not to curtail it
in the slightest. There is one case narrated by both
parties of peculiar hardship, and the Government of
the present day, late as it is, should make the neces-
sary restitution. Donald Mclntyre had paid up-
wards of ,£100 to the Chief for his passage money.
McNab gave him a bond for his deed. The bond
and receipts were placed in Mr. Allan's hands. They
were by some unaccountable accident mislaid, and Mr.
Mclntyre had a second time to pay for his land (a lot
of 100 acres) the sum of $50 and was never remuner-
ated for his loss. We will now dismiss the subject of
the report and reply. While the former was all that
truth, facts and justice could sustain, the latter was
a tissue of wild inventions, fabricated for the occa-
sion, and had as much real existence as the " slate
quarries" — mineral productions never heard of be-
fore until their locality was fixed in the Chief's
bouncing remarks. Slate is not to be found any-
where in the township, and the whole tenor of the
reply may be judged from this one assertion. All
the inhabitants know that there is no slate in Me-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 181

Nab, and when they read the Chiefs remarks they
cannot refrain from sending forth ejaculations of
astonishment and surprise. The Chief had com-
pleted his saw mill, and had erected it and a portion
of his dam on the 4th concession line, in the very
place where the main road to Eenfrew and Paken-
ham now passes. No one could yet define his object
for fixing it in that particular locality. There were
plenty of mill sites on Waba-Brook without interfer-
ing with the public highway ; but this did not suit his
purpose, and he appropriated the public road and
made another way round it, which his convenient
friend, Manny Nowlan, surveyed. About the time of
its completion, Mr. John Paris, a young man from
Ramsay, located in the township. He had been in-
vited thither by Mr. Duncan McLachlin and a num-
ber of the settlers, to erect a grist-mill. The settlers
had to travel to Pakenham or to Horton to get their
wheat to mill. The Arnprior mill was in ruins, and
there was not a single grist-mill in McNab. The in-
convenience of the settlers was in this respect very
great. Many had to travel between sixteen and
seventeen miles to procure flour for their families.

1 82 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

At length Mr. McLachlin induced Mr. Paris to select
a site on a clergy-lot near the Lake, over which the
Chief had no control. Mr. Paris set to work ener-
getically, and notwithstanding every discouragement
and opposition on the part of the Chief, had the mill
in operation by the fall. McNab had leased his saw-
mill, and he forbade his tenant to sell any boards or
planks to Mr. Paris ; yet, notwithstanding these ob-
stacles the mill was built, and this great boon was
finally afforded to them by the exertions of Mr.
Paris. The Chief's enmity did not end here. As
soon as the winter had finally set in, he caused fresh
planks to be nailed on the dam, so as to prevent the
lower mills from getting any water. Fortunately
for the country that year the water was high in
White Lake and a sufficiency flowed over the dam to
drive the grist-mill. The Chief did not stop at this.
His persistence in endeavoring to ruin Mr. Paris are
the events of a subsequent period ; and the persecu-
tion on one side, and the resistance on the other cul-
minated in a lawsuit, which will be rendered in its
proper place.
The settlers in August of this year drew up a nar-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 183

rative of their sufferings, and the hardships and in-
justice they had endured under the Chief. It was
prepared by Mr. D. C. McNab, and forwarded to Mr.
Hincks for publication in the Examiner, at Toronto.
Mr. Hincks, with all the ardor of a warm Reformer,
not-only published it, but called public attention to
the township of McNab and its grievances in a series
of well-written editorials. Hejentered into the ques-
tion with commendable zeal and warm-hearted
enthusiasm. These articles exposed the whole man-
agement of the affairs of McNab at the very seat of
Government. Simultaneously w th Mr. Allan's re-
port, it struck the Chiefs moral standing as the bat-
tle axe of a puissant knight would fell his mailed an-
tagonist, crashing through shield and helmet and
prostrating the foe. The Chief now trembled for
his position. It is true he had received .£1,000, but
£3,000 were remaining in the background. The damag-
ing articles in the Examiner, were opening the eyes of
the Government as well as the people. Even the
Family Compact were amazed that such things
were permitted under their regime. They hitherto
were indifferent— careless gf the popr settlers' in-

1 84 The Last Laird o/ Mac Nab.

terests. These searching and vigorous attacks
roused them to action. So long the aggressors on
popular rights, they were now put on the defensive.
No longer able to oppress or to dominate over their
fellows, they were now compelled to defend their own
acts, which in law and justice and morality were in
themselves indefensible.

McNab resorted to his usual weapons. He com-
menced, by the Hon. H. Sherwood, one of the prin-
cipal members of the oligarchy that had for years
ruled Canada, an action for libel against Mr. Francis
Hincks, the editor of the Examiner. If the articles
before the commencement of the action were severe,
those published afterwards were doubly so. The
Chief's private and domestic life was attacked with
no sparing hand. The settlers backed up Mr. Hincks,
and the trial was fixed for April, 1841. Mr. Hincks jus-
tified the alleged libel; there were eight pleas of jus-
tification placed upon the record, and everything was
prepared for bringing the issue to trial, when McNab,
not being prepared, countermanded notice, and the
case was delayed till the Fall Assizes.

AH improvements were now stopped in the town-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 185

ship. The people were awaiting the action of the
Executive. Until their affairs were decided, all sys-
tematic labor was paralyzed. The spirit of enter-
prise was chilled, and the stupor and numbness of
despair seem to be fast settling over them. They
had petitioned over and over again. Favorable re-
plies were transmitted. A commissioner was sent
to investigate their complaints. He had espoused
their cause warmly ; yet no definite decision had been
made. Lord Sydenham was absorbed in constitu-
tional changes. The union of Upper and Lower
Canada was occupying all his attention, and towards
the close of this year (1840) he had effected his ob-
ject. The Union was proclaimed. The Chief
pressed for a settlement of his claims. The settlers
urged for their final emancipation. At length in
May, 1841, they sent another petition^ pray ing for a
decision ; and the reason of the delay is fully ex-
plained in the following letter to Mr. Allan Stew-
art :—

[COPY.]

SECRETARY'S OFFICE, KINGSTON, \

24th June, 1841. /

SIR, — I am commanded by the Governor General to ac-

1 86 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

knowledge the receipt of a petition signed by you on behalf
of the inhabitants of the township of McNab, praying for
a decision on their petition of June, 1840, preferring com-
plaints against Mr. Archibald McNab, the Township
Agent.

In reply, I am to inform you that the petition alluded to
was referred, by command ot Sir George Arthur, for the
consideration of the late Council of Upper Canada ; but it
appears that no decision had been come to on the subject
previously to the re-union of the provinces. I have, how-
ever, been directed by His Excellency to refer your present
petition to the Hou., the Executive Council, with a request
that the matter may receive their early and attentive con-
sideration.

I have the honor to be, etc.,

(Signed) S. B. HARRISON.

ALLAN STEWART, ESQ., \
Township of McNab. /

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 187

CHAPTER XVII.

FIYAL DECISION OF THE GOVERNMENT — BURNING OF
DUNCAN M'NAB'S (ISLA) HOUSE, BARN, AND PRO-
VISIONS— WATER STOPPED ON MR. JOHN PARIS.

In August the long suspense was ended. The
Government had decided. The settlers were free.
Mr. Allan's report was adopted, and made the basis
of Executive action. An Order-in-Council was
passed that McNab should immediately give up to
the Government all undelivered patents he had
drawn up for any of the settlers, and his patent for
the timber — that the settlers were to receive their
lands at the valuation put on them by Mr. Allan,
which they were to pay to the Crown Lands Depart-
ment in four annual instalments— that all labor they
had performed for McNab, and all rents they had
paid to him were to be deducted from these pay-
ments, and all these to be withheld from the money
payable to the Chief, as fixed by the Order-in-Coun-
cil of September, 1839. Thus McNab's £4,000 was
reduced to £2,500, of which he had already received
£1,000. Many of the settlers had paid by these

1 88 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

means for their lands in full. McNab's receipts for
rent were accepted as payment . They now flocked
in with their first instalments. Mr. Duncan Me-
Lachlin and Mr. Donald Mohr McNaughton were the
first two who commenced the joyful expenditure.
They were no longer feudal serfs. The lands were
their own in perpetuity. No landlord could now lord
it over them with arbitrary haughtiness. No High-
land Chieftain, his heirs, or successors, could claim
their allegiance, or call them " my tenants." They
felt they were free— that in four years no one could
put a trespasser's foot on their soil. An universal
jubilee pervaded the whole township. The leaders
of the movement, Mr. Allan Stewart, Donald Mc-
Intyre, Mr. McNab, and others, were feted to their
heart's content. Fresh energies were infused into
their labors. The clearances began to increase, and
new inroads were made in the forest. Fresh settlers
came ; New Glasgow and Lochwinnoch were occu-
pied, and all the arable lands taken up. The people
had, single-handed and unaided, achieved the vic-
tory.— Looked down upon by the neighboring town-
ships as rebels, as ungrateful malcontents and as a

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 189

discontented rabble, from them they received neither
advice nor assistance. All the magnates of Perth
beheld them with a holy horror, and did all that lay
within the scope of their feeble efforts to oppose
them— all but Mr. Hincks and Mr. Malcolm Cam-
eron.— They stood true, but the battle was fought
and the victory achieved before these gentlemen
came into the field. The spirit of their ancestors —
that same British pluck that obtained the Magna
Charta, swept away the throne of the Charles's, ob-
tained the Bill of Rights, enthroned William III.
and established popular and constitutional govern-
ment in the old country — animated the settlers in
McNab to struggle even against hope, to battle for
their rights— and amid poverty, persecution, and
imprisonment, win one of the greatest moral victor-
ies ever recorded in the historic annals of Canada, or
of any other country. They were essentially alone
in all these struggles — their triumph was the more
glorious, their victory more satisfactory and praise-
worthy.

Deprived of his township, stripped of his power,
the Chief would not forego his revenge. Now that

I QO The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

everything had been arranged, a spirit of reconcilia-
tion might have supervened and he could have set-
tled down and still lived happily among the people.
But no ; he still had some power over one or two in-
dividuals. The dying struggles of the leviathan of
the deep are attended with the greatest peril. The
** flurry " of the whale in its expiring agonies, is
most dreaded by its captors. So it was with the
Laird. The Judgment in Ejectment against Duncan
McNab (Isla) was held in abeyance. Now that the
decision of the Government was given, and that, too,
hostile and prejudicial to the Chief's interests, which
no cajolery could alter, and no persuasion overcome,
there was nothing to gain in withholding its execu-
tion. The writ of possession was in August placed
in the hands of the Sheriff, and his deputy, accom-
panied by the Chief and a creature of the name of
Lipsy, proceeded to put it into force. They accord-
ingly proceeded to the premises. Mrs. McNab and
the children were in the house ; her husband and
Mr. James McKay were in the bush at the time
chopping for potash. The Deputy-Sheriff proceeded
tip his duty ; took everything out of the house, turned

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 19!

the family out of doors, gave the Chief possession,
and immediately went away. The Chief ordered
Lipsy to draw everything to the concession line.
Forcibly he dragged Mrs. McNab thither. Then or-
dering Lipsy to set fire to the shanty > he himself ap-
plied the burning brand to the barn and outhouses.
Mrs. McNab saw the smoke rising. She missed two
of her children. With frantic shrieks she rushed up
to the burning buildings, called her children by
name, and almost in despair ran into the burning
barn. There, under the straw, frightened at what
was taking place, the two children had concealed
themselves. To drag them out from amidst the
flames was the work of a moment ; and had the
mother been a few minutes later, two helpless in-
fants would have perished in the flames, and been
the martyred victims of revenge and malevolence.
When Mr. James McKay and Duncan McNab saw
the flames rising they hurried to the spot, and found
the buildings in ruins and the family of the latter
on the concession line, in all the misery of despair.
Prompt measures were taken to remedy the evil.
For the present the ejected ones took refuge in Mr

1 92 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

McKay's house, about half-a-mile distant. Together
with all his summer's provisions and a barrel of
pork, a number of Duncan Isla's agricultural imple-
ments were consumed in the flames.

This outrage tilled the township and all the neigh-
borhood with horror and dismay. A feeling was fast
being discussed among the people that the Laird
should be lynched. Mr. James McKay, a leading
member of the church — a pious and good man, and
a warm-hearted neighbor and friend — when he saw
the house and barn in flames, exclaimed, " What a
pity it is the good old times would not come back
again, and a bullet would soon reach him for the
deed !"

The people got up a subscription, turned out and
put up a shanty on another lot, and rendered the
family as comfortable as circumstances would per-
mit. James McKay, Mrs. Mckay, Duncan McNab,
and the writer, two days after the perpetration of
the outrage, proceeded to the residence of Mr. Alex-
ander McVicar, the nearest magistrate, and laid the
information necessary to commence criminal pro-
ceedings against the Chief. Squire McVicar imme-

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 193

diately issued his warrant. The Laird was ar-
rested and brought to Pakenham village. All the
witnesses for the prosecution were present ; Squires
Richey, Scott and McVicar took their seats on the
bench, and without hearing a witness, or entering
into the case at all, dismissed the case, and referred
the parties to Perth — to the A ssizes. Mr. McVicar
did all that he could to get the examination pro-
ceeded with, and the Chief committed for trial, but
it was useless. The Chief's partizans were on the
bench, and they out-voted him, and referred the mat-
ter to the Crown officer. Duncan McNab (Isla) and
his friends had not the means to go to Perth, or pro
ceed further with the prosecution ; and thus the
matter rested, and one of the most daring and atro
cious crimes in the category of criminal jurispru-
dence was allowed to pass over with impunity, and
the perpetrators to stalk abroad in the land unwhipt
of justice. Besides losing his land and provisions,
Duncan McNab nearly lost two of his children ; and
he never received any compensation from the
Government, or from the legal tribunals of the law.
He was poor, and poverty could be outraged and

i94 The Last Laird oj MacNab.

trampled upon without redress, and scarcely a single
remonstrance.

In the fall of this year (1841), a number of wit-
nesses were summoned to Toronto to give evidence
on the part of the defence in the celebrated McNab
and Hincks libel suit. They were Duncan Campbell,
an old soldier, aged 75, who had two years before
been imprisoned by the Chief for rent, Donald Mohr
McNanghton, Daniel Mclntyre, Alex. McNab, the
Chief's first incarcerated victim, Andrew Taylor,
and Dugald McNab. These parties arrived at Toronto
on the second day of the Fall Assizes, remained in
the City three days, when, on an affidavit and on
payment of the costs of the day, the Laird procured
a postponement of the trial till the spring. His ob-
ject was to weary out the defence. He dreaded an
exposure. An adjournment of six months might be
attended with more favorable results. The witnesses
then assembled to prove all the oppressions and ex-
actions of McNab might not again appear. They
were now present ; but the distance was so great and
the travelling communications so difficult of access
that they might be deterred from again appearing.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 195

It was also questionable whether Mr. Hincks could
afford the expense of bringing them to court again.
On the whole the putting off the trial was ad-
vantageous to McNab and postponed the exposure he
dreaded, and the domestic criminality involved,
which would overwhelm him with shame and degrade
him even in the estimation of his friends the
" Family Compact." He had still hopes that they
would be reinstated in power, and if so, he would
reap some of the benefits of the restoration.

In the fall of 1841 and the winter of 1842, the
water in White Lake was very low. The Chief
caused fresh planks to be nailed on his dam and
raised it to such a height as to keep the water en-
tirely from getting out. Mr. Paris was the object of
his vengeance, and through him he could punish his
refractory and victorious settlers. For seven months
Mr. Paris could not get a drop of water to grind the
grists that were daily brought to him. At last the
inhabitants had to remove their wheat and proceed
to Pakenham to get their work done. During the
whole of the winter this was the case. The Chief
was remonstrated with without effect. Some of

196 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

McNab's particular friends went to him and besought
him to let the water go, but it was useless.

Mr. Paris even offered a sum of money for the
water, but his answer was, " Go to Duncan Mc-
Lachlin, he may get you water." In this oppressive
transaction he had a willing coadjutor in the person
of William Yuill, a lumberer at the time, but since
he became a federal soldier and perished in the late
American civil war. Yuill in the spring of 1842 pre-
tended to lease the dam from the Chief, for the pur-
pose, as he alleged, of getting out his timber, but
would not open a sluice or let a drop of water out,
and it was not till the end of April when the dam
was opened, and when the grinding season was
passed, that Mr. Paris could procure any water. Had
Mr. Paris then appealed to the courts he would have
obtained ample redress, but he was loath to go to
law. He hated litigation and resolved to wait another
season before he would take any steps, in order to
see if a recurrence of the vexatious stoppage would
again take place. Some of Mr. Paris's friends, among
whom was the writer, advised him to proceed at
once and prevent such an act of unmeaning and

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 197

malicious injury to the public as well as individuals
from again being practiced ; but that gentleman,
deeming that there was as much courage evinced in
quietly enduring wrong for a season than in at once
resenting it, resolved to wait and see, a course, which
however prudent in some respects was attended, in so
far as Mr. Paris was concerned, as we shall hereafter
see, with further vexation and more loss, damage
and expense, than he could well afford, and which
took a steady and possessing course of industry for
years afterwards to make up.

198 The Last Laird of MacNab.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE M'NAB AND HINCKS TRIAL — 1842— SECOND PERSECU-
TION OF MR. JOHN PARIS.

The Provinces had been united. A new Parliament
had been convened. In September of the former
year Lord Sydenham had been thrown off his horse
and died in consequence of his fall. He was succeeded
by Sir Charles Bagot. The union had scarcely been
inaugurated, when the mighty genius that had per-
fected its consummation had been called away by a
fiat that there is no resisting. The seat of Govern-
ment was removed to Kingston. The celebrated
resolutions establishing " Responsible Government,"
introduced into the House by the late Hon. S. B.
Harrison, were now the law of the land. The
irresponsibility of the Executive was no more.
Municipal Institutions were accorded to the people,
and in the commencement of the year the first Dis-
trict Councillors were elected. Each township sent
one representative to the District Council. It con-
trolled the statute labors, district treasury, and the

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 199

several municipal officers required by the Act. It
also had under its direction the educational affairs
of the District. Mr. James Morris, Sr., was the first
District Councillor elected for McNab, and Mr. David
Airth for Horton ; the townships in the rear were
being surveyed and had not yet been organized into
municipalities. A new county was formed in the
Ottawa from Pakenham upwards, called the County
of Renfrew and for electoral purposes was attached
to the County of Lanark. The Hon. M. Cameron
was the first member for Lanark and Renfrew under
the Union Act. He defeated Mr. John Powell, the
then Sheriff of the Bathurst District, by a large
majority. Such was the social and political con-
dition of the people in the spring of 1842, when the
tocsin of war again sounded. The Chief had de.
termined to press on his libel suit. The roads were
in an execrable condition. Access co Toronto was
almost an impossibility. Navigation had not yet
opened, and he imagined that none of the settlers
could be induced to go to Toronto, and if they started
they could not reach their destination in time. Only
eight days' notice of trial had been given, and it was

200 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

only three days before the opening of the Assizes
that the subpoenas for the witnesses reached the
writer. He immediately filed them all. The follow-
ing witnesses were summoned : — Messrs. W. R.
Bereford, Francis Allan, John Robertson, Daniel Mc-
Intyre (Dancie), Alex. McNab (the martyr), Duncan
McNab, (Paisley), 1). C. McNab, Peter Campbell
(Dochart), and Andrew Dicksou, Esq., of Pakenham.
They reached Toronto in safety and in good time.
Two days after their arrival the case was called. Mr.
Justice McLean held the Assizes, and the evening
before the eventful day in April the Judges had a
consulation among themselves which of them would
try the case. Judge McLean was loath to do so. He
was a Highlander and was on intimate terms with
the Chief, and felt delicate on the subject. Mr.
Justice Macaulay was away on circuit. Chief Justice
Robinson declined to have anything to do with it.
In fact the Judges were more or less afraid of Mr.
Hincks and the terrible Examiner. At length Mr.
Justice Jonas Jones exclaimed, " I'll try the case,
I'm not afraid of Hincks or any of the radical crew."
Accordingly he took his seat on the bench and a

The Last Laird of MacNab. 20 i

special jury was empanelled. A brilliant array of
talent was engaged on both sides. On part of the
plaintiff appeared Attorney-General Draper, Solicitor-
General Sherwood and Mr. Crawford. On the side of
defence were ranged the Hon. Robert Baldwin, the
Hon. Mr. Blake (late Chancellor), and Mr. (after-
wards Judge) Adam Wilson.

Mr. Henry Sherwood in a flowery and harum-
scarum speech opened the case for McNab, and as
the publication of the alleged libel was admitted
called no witnesses.

The Hon. Robert Baldwin rose in reply and opened
the case for the defence in a speech of two hours
duration. He detailed the wrongs of the settlers and
the exactions of the Chief in glowing terms, and
was extremely severe on the " Family Compact.'
The first witness called was Mr. Francis Allan who
proved everything that had been stated in his report
as published in a former chapter. Point by point of
the pleas in justification was sustained by evidence.
That the Chief had exacted rent— that he had re-
presented the Township of McNab as his own private
property — that he had sold and received the .value

2oi The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

of the timber on the settlers' lots — that he had used
his people harshly and oppressively — that he had
imprisoned several of his leading and more intelligent
followers causelessly, or when a milder course would
have been attended with better or more advantageous
results, both to himself and his people — that he had
harassed them with lawsuits— that his private life
was not in accordance with the strict principles of
domestic morality — that he had in procuring grants
for a few favorites made false representations to the
Government in stating that they were for school,
carpenter, blacksmith and other establishments for
the benefit of the township— that he had attempted
to get deeds of the settlers' lands in his own name, by
representing to the executive that the locatees had
died or absconded— that he had been presented by a
Grand Jury as a public nuisance— were all proved
upon oath and clearly sustained by unimpeachable
evidence except the last point. Mr. Bereford, Clerk
of the Peace, had searched, but could not find the
" presentment." Secondary evidence was admitted,
and an argument arose as to the exact wording of
the document, whether it was a legal presentment or

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 203

not. The court ruled this point to be obscure and
left it to the jury. The Attorney-General replied in
an able and eloquent speech. The Judge then
charged the jury, leaning if anything towards the
Chief. One remarkable point in his charge is worthy
of notice. He said, " The Chief could not have stated
that the Township was his own property, and even
if he did say so it was impossible the settlers could
have believed him, because in the location tickets he
agreed to procure them patents from the Crown.
Now, if he had undertaken to give them transfer
deeds, then there might have been some grounds for
such a belief " This was casuisty of the most refined
complexion. How could poor, ignorant, verdant
emigrants know the difference between a patent and
a transfer deed ? They took everything the Chief
said for granted, and implicitly believed all his state-
ments. Even the inhabitants of all the townships
in the Bathurst District firmly believed that the land
was wholly McNab's. The Judge concluded his
charge, which many thought was far from being
impartial. The jury retired and after two hours'
deliberation brought in a " verdict for the plaintiff,

204 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

£5 damages," stating at the same time that that part
of the justification respecting "public nuisance pre
sentment "was not clearly proved. This was a great
triumph. The exposure was overwhelming and dis-
graceful. The eyes of the whole Province were opened
to the wrongs of the settlers and the oppressions of
McNab. His glory had departed, his prestige was
gone. Although nominal damages were given for
the failure of substantiating an immaterial point in
the justification, the great and important charges in
the alleged libel were by an intelligent jury of the
Metropolis of Upper Canada declared to be true, and
that the wrongs of the settlers were not imaginary
but real. This great trial for some time occupied the
attention of the Canadian and American press. It
was commented upon in the leading journals of the
continent. The New York Albion, at that time a
great stickler for rampant toryism, had the following
paragraph in its issue of May, 1842 :

SMALL POTATOES. — ' ' The McNab of McNab, a quasi Cana-
dian nobleman and Highland Chieftain, obtained from a
Toronto jury the sum of £5 for the loss ot his character. "

Such were the effects of the trial upon the public

The Last Laird of Mac Nab, 205

mind tbat Mr Hincks, who was then member for
Oxford, was six weeks afterwards gazetted as " In-
spector-General," and he himself became a member
of the Executive. The Chief returned from Toronto
quite jubilant. He called his friends together, had a
symposium over the victory, impressed his few
adherents with the idea that he would be yet
victorious, and that he would still punish the leaders
of the people who had emancipated them from his
thraldom. He made preparations for building a
stone grist mill, and in spite of all former warnings
began to build it on the concession line adjoining his
saw mill. It reached to the height of one storey
when its further construction was stopped, as will be
detailed in the succeeding chapter. In the fall of
this year he caused fresh boards and planks to be
nailed on the dam to prevent the water, which was
very low, from going over in order again to prevent
Mr. Paris from grinding any during the ensuing
winter, and eventually drive him away altogether.
During the whole winter Mr. Paris's mill was in-
operative for the want of water. All remonstrances
were in vain ; McNab was inflexible. Neither he nor

206 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

Yuill would open a sluice. Mr. Paris suffered
immense loss, and the settlers were put to incalcul-
able inconvenience and expense. They were forced
still to go to Pakenham with their grists.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 207

CHAPTER XIX.

1843 — TRIUMPH OF MR. PARIS — UTTER DISCOMFITURE
OF THE CHIEF.

Driven almost to desperation, Mr. John Paris at
length resolved to institute legal proceedings for re-
dress. To submit to this oppression was criminal.
To apply to the courts for protection would entail
enormous expense ; but no alternative presented it-
self. Remonstrance had been used repeatedly and
ineffectually. Every pacific effort had been tried in
vain. The Chief was obdurate. A narration of the
whole transaction, from first to last, had been pre-
pared by the writer. Mr. Paris went to Perth and
applied to Mr. Radenhurst and some of the veteran
practitioners, who advised unfavorably as to the
commencement of legal proceedings. As a last resort
he consulted Mr. W. O. Buell, then a new beginner.
Mr. Buell took time to reply. He studied the case
profoundly in all its bearings, and found it was
practicable to obtain ample redress. Hitherto,
actions had been brought for damages done by back

208 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

water. None had ever been tried in our courts for
withholding and purposely stopping the natural flow
of water down stream. Mr. Buell reported favorably
on all points, and advised immediate legal proceed-
ings. The Laird's mill and part of his dam were
erected on the concession line, thus blocking up Her
Majesty's highway. This was a public nuisance.
This was a salient point of attack. It was
resolved to proceed criminally on this point,
by indictment. Actions on the case were also
commenced against MclSab and Wm. Yuill.
At the Spring Assizes in May, 1843, Mr.
Paris, attended by Daniel Mclntyre (Dancie), Mr.
James Headrick,Sr., and a number of witnesses,
having proceeded to Perth, laid the matter before
the Grand Inquest of the Bathurst District. A Pre-
sentment was brought into court indicting the Chief
for erecting nuisances on the public thoroughfare of
the township. Mr. Thomas M. Radenhurst was
Crown Officer, and immediately prepared a formal
Bill of Indictment. It was brought into court by the
Grand Jury endorsed a "True Bill." The Chief ,
then in court, was immediately arrested, and being

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 209

arraigned pleaded " Not Guilty." On motion of Mr.
McMartin the trial was put off till the Autumn
Assizes, and the Chief admitted to bail. The civil
suits were also on affidavit postponed by McNab.

To weary out, to cause useless expense, and still
further to harass Mr. Paris was now the object of
the defendant. He imagined that Mr. Paris could
not enter upon or keep up a protracted legal contest
—that Mr. Paris, being a new beginner, could not
furnish or procure the necessary funds to resume pro-
ceedings in the fall. He was mistaken. The friends
of the latter, among whom was the writer, advanced
all that was required. The Fall Assizes came on at
the appointed time. Mr. Robert Hervey, of Ottawa
and Mr. Buell, together with the late Mr. T. M.
Radenhurst, appeared for the prosecution. The
nuisance case was first proceeded with. A verdict of
11 Guilty " was pronounced. The Chief was fined,
the mill ordered to be removed, and the dam demol-
ished. This was immediately done. The order of
the court was at once carried out. The water in its
downward rush nearly swept away the mills of Mr.
Paris. The Chief's saw-mill was moved further

2 1 o The Last Laird oj MacNab.

down the stream, and was afterwards the property
of Mr. William Lindsay, who purchased it and a
large portion of the White Lake property from the
late Allan McNab. The walls of the grist mill having
never reached further than one storey, still remain
in ruins on the concession line, near the spot where
the saw-mill once stood, a monument of the Chief's
folly and futile revenge. The traveller, unacquaint.
ed with the history of this transaction, is struck with
the mournful aspect of the ruins so close to the
bridge, and wonders what was the builder's inten-
tion. It is there a memorial of the past, and its
ruins are a fitting memento of the downfall of
attempted feudalism.

Mr. Paris was equally successful with his civil
suits. The law was admirably laid down by Mr.
Jonas Jones, who presided at the trial. Verdicts
were returned by the jury for the plaintiff. The
damages against Yuill were ^79, and against the
Chief they were found and fixed at £35. No point
of law was reserved. McNab was compelled to pay
the verdict with costs, but Win. Yuill, having
absconded soon after, has never paid a farthing to

The Last Laird of MacNab. 211

this day. The victory, however, was complete and
effectual. It settled the question of water stoppage
forever. It was the final culmination of the defeat
of McNab's power. It was the last lawsuit with the
Chief to establish any of the settlers' rights, and it
was the most effectual and triumphant. lc was the
termination of the final struggle of right against
might. As Mr. Daniel Mclntyre (Deil) was the first
who had the moral courage and boldness to defeat
the Chief in a court of law, so Mr. John Paris was
the last to gain the crowning triumph, and though
seriously retarded and embarrassed for many years,
yet by a course of persevering industry he overcame
his difficulties and embarrassments, rose to a high
position among the people, was for many years Reeve
of the Township, and in middle age, surrounded by
a numerous family, and in the midst of prosperity,
looked back to the struggles of his youth, and the
oppressions of the Chief as a dream which has
vanished like the evanescent shadow of a disagree-
able vision and is buried in the past forever. Soon
after these verdicts the Laird left the township for-
ever. Four years before he was in the height of

212 The Last Laird of MacNab.

power, had the ear of the Government, and could
outrage the law with impunity ; but a revolution
had taken place, bloodless, it is true, but effectual
and beneficial. Now forced to abandon a township
where he might have lived happily and respected,
venerated and beloved ; and with the advantages he
possessed might have redeemed his ancestral estate,
and ended his days in the midst of wealth and afflu-
ence.

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 213

CHAPTER XX.

"LAST SCENE OF ALL— 1843-60-70 — THAT ENDS THIS
STRANGE, EVENTFUL HISTORY."

Soon after the suits with Mr. Paris the Chief left
the township forever, and for a few years Jrved in
the city of Hamilton, in a small cottage purchased
from Sir Allan McNab. In 1843 he left Hamilton
for Scotland, having come into a small estate in the
Orkneys. His enjoyment of the estate was of short
continuance. Eunning through the property in a
few ye'ars by lavish and profuse expenditure, he, in
1859, retired to France, living on a small pittance
granted to him by his lady, from whom he had
separated in 1819. On the 22nd of April, 1860, the
Laird of McNab — the last legitimate Chief of the
Clan McNab — was summoned before his Almighty
Judge. He died at Lanion, a small fishing-village
near Boulogne, in the 82nd year of his age. Twenty-
eight years have rolled away since his death. Forty-
seven years have passed over since he finally quitted
the township, and what a change ! After the final

214 2 he Last Laird of Mac Nab.

victory obtained by Mr. Paris, the people set to
work with energy and vigor. New settlers flocked
to the township Left to the management of their
own affairs by the Municipal Act of Mr. Baldwin,
roads began to be improved and bridges erected. In
1855 a new bridge was constructed over the Mada-
waska River at Balmer Island, through the energy
and exertions of Mr. Paris, the Eeeve, and the
assessed value of the township was yearly increased.
In 1848 the dispute between the Presbyterian
Churches in Scotland reached the Scottish townships
on the Ottawa, and McNab, among the rest, was
affected with the religious epidemic. A large por-
tion of the people broke off from Mr. Mann's congre-
gation. Two new congregations were formed at
Burnstown and White Lake, and in 1849 the Rev. S.
C. Fraser was inducted as the new pastor. This
charge he held until the spring of J 868, when he
resigned.

In 1852 Arnprior, which had been a dilapidated
scene of log-house ruins, began to revive under the
auspices of Mr. Daniel McLachlin, who that year
purchased the property from the Messrs. Middleton,

The Last Laird of Mac Nab. 215

of Liverpool. When it came into his possession it
wore a most dreary aspect. The dam built by the
Buchanans had been torn down — the grist-mill had
entirely disappeared— the saw-mill was a shattered
ruin, and all that stood was the tavern then occupied
by Mr. James Hartney. The property was surveyed
into town lots. The dam was rebuilt for Mr. Me-
Lachlin by the Hincks Government in 1853, and the
saw-mill was renovated and put into operation. A
stone grist-mill was erected — mechanics, operatives,
and laborers were encouraged to settle by the most
alluring prospects — and in 1854 the sound of work-
men's implements, the blows of the axe clearing the
surrounding forest, the hammering of the carpenters
and the ringing strokes of the blacksmiths' sledges
on the various anvils reminded one of the classic
days of Queen Dido when busily occupied in the
building* of ancient Carthage, so beautifully described
in thfcsjEneid of Virgil. Now Arnprior may boast of
its three thousand inhabitants. Then only two
families occupied the neglected waste. A few short
years has effected this prosperous change, and Mr.
McLachlin's stone mansion is situated on the terraced

2 1 6 The Last Laird of Mac Nab.

banks of the majestic Ottawa, on the very site of
Kennell Lodge, where the Chief of McNab once ruled
a supreme despot, unchecked and uncontrolled.
Then an order from the Chief was tantamount to a
law and was obeyed with alacrity. Then the town-
ship of McNab was thinly peopled, having only 102
inhabitants all told ; now, including Arnprior, it can
number upwards of 6,500. Then the people were
poor, struggling for a miserable existence, ground
down by oppression ; now the great majority are in-
dependent, and many are in affluent circumstances.
Then McNab was the poorest and most miserably
wretched township on the Ottawa ; now its assessed
value is by far the greatest of any municipality in
the County of Renfrew. It may be said to be the
empire township of the County. Had the contem-
plated feudal system been carried out — had the
attempt and the actual existence of the tenure not
been resisted, and resisted too by the most heroic
struggle ever carried on by an impoverished people
against wealth and power — it would have been in
the same languishing condition as the most besotted
portions of degraded Spain, or in the same wretched

The Last Laird of Mac Nab 2 1 7

state as those parts of Ireland where oppression has
not been tempered by law or justice, and where
Fenianism has taken the place of order to redress
grievances which constitutional measures alone can
remove.

In 1838 the first school was established in the
township ; now we have numerous educational
establishments and a Grammar School — all of a high
order. In 1839 the first Presbyterian congregation
was formed.

Our history has now drawn to a close. We have
endeavored, without partiality or bias, to give a
true record of what has taken place, and we
trust we have done so to the satisfaction of our
readers. At great pains to select documents to sub-
stantiate matters of fact, we grudge not the labor, so
that we have made this history interesting as well
as instructive — interesting as a memento of the
past ; instructive as tending to impress upon our
legislators caution in the opening up of new country,
and in the formation of new settlements. Now that
the great North-west is being opened up for immi-
gration, the Government may take warning from the

218 The Last Laird of Mac Nab,

past, and not entrust the power which the Chief of
McNab at one time wielded, to any single individual.
Canada is too powerful, too great, too constitutional
in the genius and intelligence of her people, ever
again to permit a Family Compact to reign over
them — an oligarchy which . for years governed
Canada so badly that our beloved sovereign, the
great and beneficent Victoria, herself generously in-
terfered, and sent statesmen that uprooted this
abominable autocracy that for years had been
bane to the progress of the country, and a drag on
the prosperity of Canada ; yet by carelessness griev-
ances may creep in, but if they do, this history will
at all events teach statesmen to listen to and investi-
gate the slightest complaint from individuals, how-
ever humble and poor, lest the disgrace which over-
whelmed the Family Compact in their dealings with
the Laird of McNab be their fate, and their political
destruction be pronounced by the fiat of public
opinion which has changed the destinies of empires,
and sealed the fate of the most powerful dynasties
in the world.

[THE END.]

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