.f ’ • .\ift n*i'
• .->■ '.V>^
<^Af»^TOi3
'tssioiiSt"
■ * '2' *1^1^ '4
N-'-v-.a* ■■••!*■-,
!»
EX LIBRIS
William L.Shelden
1 •
1
Digitized by the internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
University of Toronto
https://archive.org/detaiis/narrativerecoiie00wrig_1
i
]
i
UN DIEMAN’S LAND
DURING A THREE YEARS
CAPTIVITY OF STEPHEN S. WRIGHT
THE BATTLE OF PRESCOTT
In which he was taken prisoner : his Imprisonment in Canada
Trial, Condemnation, and Transportation to Australia ; his
Sufferings in the British Penal Colony of Van Dieman’s
Land; and Return to the United States ; with a
COPIOUS APPENDIX
Embracing Facts and Documents relating to the Patriot
War, now first given to the public, from the original
notes and papers of Mr. Wiight, and
other sources.
BY CALEB LYON, OF LYONSDALE,
NEW YORK:
J WINCHESTER, NEW WORLD PRESS
C* SHIELDS Pr'nter, 45 Maiden-Lane, N..Y
MKRATIVE AA'D RECOLLECTIONS
OF
VAN DIEMAN’S LAND,
DUKING A THREE YEARS
CAPTIVITY OE STEPHEN S. WRIGHT ;
TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
THE BATTLE OF PRESCOTT,
IN WHICH HE WAS TAKEN PRISONER ; HIS IMPRISONMENT IN CANADA ; TRIAL, CONDEMNATION AND
TKANSFORTAXION XO AUSTRALIA; HIS TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS IN THE BRITISH PENAL COLONY
OF VAN DIEMAN’s LAND ; AND RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES :
WITH A COPIOUS APPENDIX,
EMBRACING FACTS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE PATRIOT WAR, NOW FIRST GIVEN
TO THE PUBLIC, FROM THE ORIGINAL NOTES AND PAPERS OF MR. WRIGHT,
AND OTHEP. SOURCES.
“ Eternal Spirit of the chainlees mind !
Brightest in dungeons, Liberty ! thou art.
For there thy habitation is the heart—
The heart which Jove of thee alone can bind
And when thy sons to fetters are consign’d —
To letters and the damp vault’s dayless gloom,
Thoir country conquers with their martyrdom.
And Freedom’s fame finds wings in every wind.” — ByronI
^ W
Bi
f; BY CALEB LYON, OF LYONSDALE.
- V, - L
J^mr-UorlfT
J. WINCHESTER, NEW WORLD PRESS;
30 ANN STREET.
I
I
I
%
I
Entered accorJiijg to Act ol Cong-iestf, in the yt;ar 18-44,
BY J . W I C H S T S ii & € O .
In the Clerk’s Odice of the Soutiiern District of New York.
f
DEDICATION.
I INSCRIBE these pages to the friends of Canadian liberty, in the faint
hope that I may render justice to the deserving, and give, so far as my expe¬
rience extends, a candid statement to the public. Years have passed since
many of the events herein described transpired, yet the statements are
made, as nearly as I can recollect, as they occurred. My mind was
early stirred up and my sympathies excited, in favor of a people who I
had supposed groaned under oppression, (see note 3rd) but grossly was I
deceived, and that too by the very men who hope by their silence to con¬
ceal the contemptible part which they played in the Prescott Tragedy.
The constant call for statements in regard to my sufferings, induces me
to venture upon this publication, and the hundreds who welcomed me
home fully demonstrated the necessity of my taking this course ; — being
no speaker, I thought this way would be preferable to any other, of com¬
municating my narrative to the public. If, in the bitterness of my heart,
I should censure some of the leading men who caused our defeat, dis¬
grace, and degradation, I hope the reader will place himself in my situa¬
tion, and then cover with the cloak of charity all that he may read amiss.
Five years have passed since I last set foot upon my native land, and my
love is not only green and fresh as ever, but increased ten-fold by my
contact with oppression. And I yet think, when the crushing despotism
of Victoria Cobourg shall have created soldiers as well as ‘‘ Sons of Lib¬
erty,” upon their oppressed soil, then, and not till then,, can she be free —
and before the people of the United States again lend their aid, they will
have to be convinced that there is something more in their patriotism than
a name ! While American sympathy extended to suffering and lacera¬
ted Poland, all joined with a liberal hand to shed what blessings they
could upon the children of those victims of despotism who fell upon the
Deleaguered battlements of Warsaw, or were inhumanly massacred
within its walls ; help, sympathy, and kindness from America rendered
their lot less unhappy, and concealed in a measure the bitterness of their
1*
]
i
I
IV
DEDICATION.
exile. They found peace and a home upon her shores. When Greece
tore the crescent from her standard, a Bozzaris and a Byron were ready
to yield up their lives in her defence ; and had not success sanctified the
cause of American Independence, Washington, Lafayette, Franklin, and
the elder Adams would have graced a gibbet within the Tower of Lon¬
don. And are the Canadian Patriots less the martyrs of liberty because
victory perched not upon their banner ? are they to be branded as foreign
assassins, free-booters, pirates, brigands and bucaneers, Yankee cut- j
throats, &c., and go down to posterity with the reputation of Bedouin
Arabs, and not feel the brands that have been searing their reputation
from venal presses and despotic aristocrats ? No ! the motives of those
who fought at the battle of Prescott were pure and noble, and to save the
memories of the dead from cruel aspersions, and to gratify the living, this
feeble effort is made to place in a true light many of the actors of the Ca¬
nadian Revolution.
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
C H AP T E R
Left Sackets Harbor — Landed at Windmill Point (near Prescott) — Battle of Prescott — Death of Charles
West, Nelson Butterfield, and Charles E. Brow n — L^nkindness of the cowards — Our surrender — Lives
saved by the 83rd Regiment — Route from Prescott to Fort Henry.
On the evening of the 10th of November 1838, we left Sachets Harbor,
about four hundred in number, on board the steamboat United States,”
and proceeded down the river. A Mr. Pendigrasse, (one of the officious
emissaries of Canada,) told us that the Upper Province could be taken
without the discharge of a gun, and that thousands of the people of the
frontier were ready, and would join us as soon as the standard of liberty
had been raised upon her shackled soil. Twenty-four hours was all he
wished to raise one thousand fighting men, who were willing to yield up
their lives in defence of that glorious principle, that “ all men are horn
free and equals Our leaders proved themselves utterly unequal to the
task of directing or guiding the men under their control, and it is a start¬
ling fact, that previous to our leaving the Harbor, they knew not where we
were to land, or to what particular point we were bound. This inability
on their part produced confusion ; and ultimately resulted in the ruin of «
those whose confidence had been won, and whose sympathy for the Ca¬
nadians had been elicited by the falsehoods of emissaries from secret
lodges, &c., and were thus led to volunteer their efforts to achieve the
emancipation of an oppressed people, under the guidance of men who
lacked both the energy and common sense necessary for success. But I
then thought, with the rest of my verdant friends and comrades, that our
first dispatch would have been like the great Roman’s, “ Veni, vidi, vici,”
and not until the open desertion of our cause by that trinity of cowards,
Bii •ge. King and Estis, together with Bill Johnson, and their followers ; —
and the bloody days of the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and Ifitli of November,
and the hospital of Kingston, and the dark prison of Fort Henry, were we
all brought to our senses. The flag under which we were to fight was
now displayed for the first time ; it bore upon its face the device of an
eagle and twin stars upon a ground of blue ; all hailed it with cheers.
(I have since seen the same standard as a trophy of victory in tlie Ar¬
mory of the Tower of London. Being a Yankee, I took the liberty of
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
guessing that there was not another trophy in the room which was con¬
tended for with greater spirit than that same Prescott flag.) It was
dark before we reached Millen’s Bay, having stopped at Cape Vincent to
take on board several Patriots, and when near Millen’s Bay, we took in
tow two schooners, freighted with arms and munitions of war and men,
increasing our number to one thousand. Even here our leaders were
disappointed, as they expected a still greater reinforcement.
On Monday morning the 11th, we came in sight of Prescott; here the
schooners were cut loose from the steamboat, and I embarked in one of
them. Near Prescott they both ran aground — the schooner in which I
was got clear and proceeded to Windmill Point, where we landed. Wind¬
mill Point is situated upon an elevated spot of ground on the brink of the
St. Lawrence, about one mile and a half below Prescott. The walls of
the mill being shot proof, we made it our stand, and upon its summit floated
our blue standard. The evening of the 11th was spent in making ar¬
rangements for the morrow ; the schooner, which was aground in the
morning, now proceeded to land her arms and munitions, but the greater
part of the balls and other necessaries were left amid the confusion which
prevailed. All our general oflicers had deceived us save Colonels Von
Schoultz, Woodruff, and Abbey, who at first held but minor situations.
After a deliberate consultation we elected Von Schoultz to the post of com¬
mander-in-chief of our Patriot army, which had dwindled down from one
thousand to two hundred souls ; many of the soldiers, following the
example of their superiors, had deserted us, and were talking (with their
extinguished officers) bravely and gallantly in the streets of Ogdensburg.
The gentleman who now had command was brave and daring to a fault,
and equal to any emergency. His height was five feet eleven ; with
firm and graceful limbs, with a well-bred gentleness in his manners, and
an eye which blazed in its own liquid light. It was very rarely he
smiled, but when he did it was as sunshine through prison-bars ; with a
kind heart and as noble a soul as ever was found in fetters of clay, he
was one whose very faults “ leaned toward virtue’s side.” Our Spartan
band consisted of two hundred men, for as the dross flees from gold by
fire, so the craven in soul and cowards in heart fled from the support of
the cause of liberty in its hour of danger, even before the defence was
commenced ; and the blood of those who fell, yet dye the garments of the
false-hearted cowards that I have already mentioned. About midnight^
Bill Johnson came over in an open boat and informed us that five hundred
men would join us before daylight. Pie was a messenger from those
who not only had deserted us, but now wished to beguile by hopes that they
too well knew would never be realized. This night no eye was closed,
no hand was idle, and no heart was faint ; all was hurry, bustle, and
confusion — all anxiety and expectation. In view of the expected rein-
forcernent, we took possession of three stone out-buildings, weakening oui
force within the mill. The sun rose clear and cloudless — not one breath
dimpled the waves of the St. Lawrence, and above it curled a silver veil
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
7
of mist as incense to the sky. Von Schoultz hailed the dawn as a good omen
of the glorious sun^burst of Canadian liberty, but many an eye which
gazed that morning upon the resplendent orb of light, ere night had closed
for ev.er. At nine o’clock a. m., three British steamboats came down from
Prescott, anchoring opposite the mill, and opened a fire of balls and bomb¬
shells ; at the same time, fifteen hundred of the Canadian militia and
regulars made their appearance, the 83rd regiment occupying the centre
and the militia forming the right and left wings. They were formed three
deep when in line of battle. We formed likewise a line of battle, each
man spreading from two to three yards apart, so as to cover their front,
protected on three sides by walls and stone builings and the river, whose
steep banks prevented the shot and shells thrown by the enemy’s marine
from doing us any mischief, which passed above our heads and created
death and disaster among their own land forces. Before the engagement
commenced, a six-pounder was placed between the mill and one of the
stone out- buildings, but so placed that in case of a retreat it would receive,
if attempted to be taken, a raking fire from four different points ; and
would also serve as a decoy in case of an emergency. Our orders were
not to fire a gun until we had received an assault from the British, under
any circumstances. As the enemy advanced, their bugles sounded, and
when within about twenty rods they halted, and fired by platoons. We
returned their fire, and fought for three hours and ten minutes without
cessation. The Canadian militia retreated, and left the centre of their line
supported by the 83rd regiment (which fought fiercely and bravely) alone,
but finding our hail-storm bullets a little too effective for their use, they
soon followed suit, and retreated behind the rising ground that fronts the
mill, leaving us in fair possession of the field. We followed up the re¬
treat a short distance, but finding that the enemy wished to flank us, we
advanced no farther, as our case would have been hopeless had we been
cut off from the mill and stone out-buildings, which proved our only
bulwarks of safety. Losing some thirteen men, we retreated to the mill
and made it our strong-hold, fortifying it as well as we could with our*
three field-pieces ; but judge of our surprise and desperate condition, when
we found that there was not a solitary ball left to load our guns, render¬
ing them next to useless.
During the engagement, I looked often toward the shores of Liberty,
and saw thousands thronging the beach at Ogdensburgh, whose faint
cheers reached us across the wave ; and it embittered our hearts to know
and feel, that they whose tongues could beguile so successfully had not
the moral courage to aid us in the hour of trial. We loaded our guns
with pieces of broken iron, butts and screws, that we tore from the doors
and fixtures of the mill. No sooner had we retreated, than the British,
encouraged by the sight of a vacant field, rallied, and attempted to
take our strong-hold by storm. In that assault the writer received a
wound in his left arm by a musket-ball, and his friend, Charles West,
8
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
was shot through the body. His wound was fatal ; but to the last mo¬
ment he tore cartridges for his comrades, — the blood, at every exertion,
gushing from his heart, and bathing his hands with its sanguine stain.
Yet to the last he bore up nobly — no sigh escaped him.
“ He died amid the battle’s broil,
A time that heeds nor pain nor toil
and his last breath was spent in cheering us to our duty. A braver
youth never lived — a truer heart never was hushed in the sleep of death ;
and his grave is now trod on by the feet of tyrants, and his memory is
unwept, unhonored, and unsung.” During the engagement, George
Butterfield was wounded in one of the out-buildings, and borne to the
windmill, where he lived till evening. He was mild and gentle in his
manners ; but when the battle commenced he was brave as a tiger, dis¬
charging his duty faithfully. In fact, he was the “ Ney” of the battle
of Prescott — bravest among the brave.” His dying words were, “ My
poor dear mother ! I fear her heart will break when she knows that I am
dead.” Then for a moment his words were incoherent, and the names
of kindred hung upon his lips ; and in the next, his soul was disentangled
from the net of clay, and was before its God. In the morning’s engage¬
ment, there was an incident transpired worthy of remark. A matron,
with a daughter of seventeen and a babe of six months old, whose hus¬
band had left her during the battle, seeing that the British outnumbered
the Patriots by many hundreds, started with her children to join and
claim protection of the loyalist army. (It must be remembered that she
was one of those who resided in the out-buildings that we had taken pos¬
session of) When we saw the little family on their way, our command¬
ant gave orders not to fire in that direction. His orders were strictly
obeyed. Yet when she had arrived within ten rods of the loyalists’ line,
a shot was fired, which broke the jaw of the daughter, and another pier¬
ced herself and her child to the heart, and both found an untimely grave
upon the field of battle; — the dead child clasped in the arms of its dying
mother, a metaphor of that affection which is stronger than death. And
this murder was committed by the very men who boast of being governed
by a woman ! Oh ! shame, where is thy blush ! Humanity recoils from
the recital of such cold-blooded massacres of the innocent. I would here
contradict a report which has been circulated, regarding Charles E.
Brown’s being burned alive in one of the out-buildings after having been
previously wounded. He was shot through the head, and died instantly,
without a groan, — falling within a few feet of the spot where I stood.
During the assault, Lieut. Johnson, of the 83rd Regiment, with about
thirty men, undertook to seize our decoy cannon, and when within a few
paces, was shot down by our riflemen, his party abandoning the expedi¬
tion after his death. One of our soldiers stole his coat and cap, and es¬
caped through the British camp. Passing himself off as an offleer, he
reached in safety the American shore. This was all the indignity which
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE,
9
his body received at our hands ; and it would have been taken from
the field, but for the constant fire kept up from a barn in the vicinity ; —
yet it must be remembered, that our own dead were unburied. At night
we received a visit from Ogdensburgh, from the cowards who came over
to bring their golden promises of men and ammunition. But Von
Schoultz did not relish their encouragements. He entreated that they
would be men enough to send a boat to remove the wounded, which num-
bered about twenty-eight, and we had no necessaries for dressing their
wounds or ministering to their wants. We now became very suspicious
of the designs of the false patriots. When they left us, they promised
that before daylight all the wounded should be removed, and that we had
best convey them to the shore, where it would take them less time to carry
them to the steamboat. As soon as the gentlemen left, the wounded were
taken to the shore of the river, where they lay, ’mid storm and snow, for
seven tedious hours, waiting for the promised succor ; and deep and
bitter were the imprecations bestowed upon those who were now regard¬
less of their promises, or the pain and sufferings of the wounded, and
came not to their aid ’mid the dark vigils of that night of agony. Where
were Birge, Estis, Johnson, Pendigrasse, and King ? Let them an¬
swer. One of our men had swum the river, when the frost glassed the
pebbles of the shore and the wind blew bleak and freezing ; yet in re¬
turn, we received, instead of help, their rotten and faithless promises.
This night was lonely — perhaps the loneliest that it ever will be my lot to
experience : the wind whistled shrilly through the arms of the old mill,
blending with the groans of the stricken and the dying, who lay shelter¬
less in the night’s wild storm. Our ffag flapped like the wings of a raven
above our heads —
“ Few and short were the prayers we said,
VVe spoke not a word of sorrow,
But steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead,
And we bitterly thought on the morrow.”
It is generally estimated, that in the battle of Prescott the British lost
from four to six hundred men. I distinctly recollect seeing from the top
of the mill, a vehicle drawn by four horses, engaged in collecting the
enemies’ dead during the engagement. There must have been about two
h undred wounded . Our loss was thirteen killed, and twenty-eight wounded .
The morning of the fourteenth dawned in snow and rain — but few slept
— all were wearied, and many were disheartened. There lay the broad,
beautiful St. Lawrence, and beyond it the land of the free — how we
longed to see our wounded beyond its waters. The field before us was
studded with the bodies of the dead. Some lay with their eyes turned to
heaven, with an imploring gaze — others had a mild benignant smile upon
their marble faces ; the crimson coats were dyed a deeper color in blood,
and the snow drifted beside their bodies, covering them as with a
shroud, while their only dirge was the beating of the wavefe against the
rock-bound shore. A mist curtained the sun — and mist gathered in the
eyes of many of our comrades, as we thought of the weeping mothers, the
10
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
agonized sisters, and the heart-broken wives, that had been made in the
short space of a single day. (See Note 1st.) Now and then a shot was
exchanged, and then all relapsed into silence. We felt how hopeless
was our situation, but there was no whining, and no regrets, and in case
we were put to the sword, we all had resolved to die like men. Von
Shoultz, Abbey, George, and Woodruff, bore themselves with a manly,
undeviating fortitude, worthy of a hetier cause. The afternoon of the bat¬
tle five of our party left us in an open boat, for the purpose of procuring
military stores, that we stood greatly in need of. George having the
command, they were fired upon by two British soldiers, which alarmed one
of the armed steamers up the river, and the Cobourg started in pursuit.
They were not wounded by the swivels or small arms, yet when taken
from the boat, it was riddled by the shot and about sinking. They were
taken near the American shore, stripped almost naked, and thrust into
the forecastle, amid jeers and insults. During, the night of the fourteenth,
the Canadian militia, like so many harpies, tore from the dead bodies all
their clothing, ravaging the field in darkness in search of every kind of
plunder ; and these were the men that we came to fight for, and to succor
from the galling yoke of the tyrant ! They who would be free, must
learn themselves to strike the blow and until that time arrives, they
can never receive that boon, priceless above all others, of liberty. On
the night of the fifteenth, we were surprised by a visit from Preston King
and others. He came in the steamboat Paul Pry, within about
twenty-five rods of the shore. He landed in a small boat, accompanied
by two or three of the extinguished officers from Ogdensburgh. Von
Schoultz now expected that help had arrived to remove the wounded to a
place of safety. The river was clear from all crafts, and it appeared that
now was our chance, if ever, to escape. (See Note 2nd.) Von Schoultz
told King, that he did not believe there were twenty men who would come
to our assistance from the American shore. King then promised fairly
that he would return to the Paul Pry, and carry the wounded to a
place of safety. Von Schoultz then said, that he would try and make a
retreat down the river. King acted confusedly, staid about five minutes,
and then departed ; and instead of fulfilling his promise, he got aboard the
Paul Pry, and fled back to the American shore as fast as the steamer
could carry him, and then circulated the falsehoods among his friends
which are now contradicted. Had it not have been for his duplicity and
cowardice, we should all have been saved from years of exile, and many
from death. (See Note 4th, for the reports circulated by him regarding
usw) We were all anxious to leave the mill, and had it not been for the
wounded, we should have commenced a night march. Our commander
told us that without aid our cause was lost. Our fortunes grew despe¬
rate ; the last glimmer of hope went out ; the days and nights passed
dreamily away. On the seventeenth, a flag of truce was sent out for the
collection of the dead, which truce lasted for two hours. We collected
the dead, but had not time to bury them. While on the field, I heard a
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
11
Canadian officer state to Von Schoultz, that had we made good our stand
with five hundred men, he would have joined us with three hundred ; but
as it was, he was obliged to fight us with five hundred. About sunset,
four steamboats well armed lay beside us in the river, and tw^o thousand
five hundred men in our ftont. Without ammunition, betrayed, deserted
and disheartened, we sent a flag of truce forth to the British host, as their
bugle rang for their first charge. Our flag was borne by four patriots,
and was fired at, wounding one man : they then returned. What a beau¬
tiful instance of Canadian magnanimity, to shoot down unarmed men !
We now fortified our stand as well as we could, loaded our guns, and
made ready for a most desperate resistance ; — but judge of our surprise,
when the bugle again sounded, the loyalist army advanced to within thirty
rods, and halted ; and from the centre Col. Dundas sent a flag, summon¬
ing us to surrender at his discretion, and refusing to treat with us upon
other terms. We then came into council, and saw that it was in vain to re¬
sist, and Von Schoultz said, that “ not for himself would he surrender, but
for the sake of those brave young men, who had become the dupes of the de¬
signing, and in the faint hope of saving their lives from the unequal conflict.”
We then disarmed, and marched out, defiling between the soldiers of the
83rd, who were formed on each side of us. We may well thank them for
our lives, for 1 verily believe the ferocious militia would have torn us in
pieces, had it not been for their timely protection. They then set fire to
the out-buildings, and Von Schoultz, who had escaped through the back
door of the mill, and concealed himself with two men, named Thomas
and Wright, beneath some cedar shrubs upon the shore, was taken by
the militia, and treated in a most inhuman and brutal manner. They
stripped from him nearly every vestige of clothing, and marched him
to Prescott, almost naked, during the inclemency of a Canadian
autumn, amid jeers, scoffs, insults and reproaches almost beyond descrip¬
tion. The militia resembled ravenous fiends more than decent Christian
men. Thomas was treated in a like manner ; but Wright, for some slight
resistance, was stabbed with a dozen bayonets, and died without a cry for
mercy.
During our march to Prescott, the band of the 83rd, as if to aggravate
our feelings, played our National Air, “Yankee Doodle.” Every tone
striking upon our ears, made us feel doubly our desolate condition, and
stripped of our clothing and jaded out, we reached Prescott, The village
was brightly illuminated in honor of a British victory — gained by twenty-
five hundred militia and regulars, with fifteen field-pieces perfectly armed
and ammunitioned, with two gun-boats and four steamers well supplied
with marines, over one hundred and eighty-four boys and men, without
a ball to load a field-piece, and with miserable arms and equipments. The
author has wondered that Col. Dundas was not knighted by the queen
for his gallantry in this very equal contest^ as he considers him equally
deserving with Sir Allan McNab. After having been buffetted and spit
upon by the Prescott mob, we were then crowded with all our wounded
12
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
in the forecastle of the steamer Brockville, where we were confined in
so small a space that we could neither sit nor lie down ; and, like their
Black Hole in Calcutta, we doubted not that they wished to smother us
to save the trouble of a court-martial. On Saturday we reached Kings¬
ton. During the night, some meat was fed to us as if we had been dogs
in a kennel. Many of the wounded fainted, and we thought that they
would never again recover. Our hands were tied behind us — the healthi¬
ness of the air was completely destroyed by the large number of lungs
exhausting it. At Kingston, the able men were sent to Fort Henry, and
the wounded placed in a hospital, where, in a damp, fireless room, we
lay without any attention till Tuesday. My bones ached with pain upon
the hard floor ; and what the others must have suflered, whose wounds
were worse than mine, the imagination can only conceive.
CHAPTER II.
Deaths of Von Sclioultz, Abbey, George and W^'oedruff— Chitman and Graves, Traitors — OurTrial — Sober
thoughts — Sir Allan McNab — Captain Drew — Sir George Arthur — July 4th, in a British Prison — Removed
from Fort Henry to Q,uebec.
On Tuesday, our wounds were dressed, and we were removed to the
lower story of the same building. During the week, two of our comrades
died, viz : Wheelock and Bromly. Our diet was oat-meal and a small
allowance of milk. Every day we received visits from the officers of
the Canadian militia, using very ungentlemanly language and taunting
threats — telling the surgeon to cure us as soon as possible — that it would
be a shame to hang sick men. I lay in the hospital for ten days — in the
jail three, and was then taken to F'ort Henry. I was placed in a room
with about forty of our comrades. Here I met with our commander : he
greeted me warmly through the prison grates. My handcuffs were
removed, and I was at liberty once more to use my limbs. As soon as
an opportunity offered, Von Schoultz inquired kindly after the wmunded
and expressed a deep concern in regard to our fate. On the 3rd of Dec. he
was tried — on the 6th his death warrant was read to him — and on the 8th
he was executed. His whole bearing and conduct were noble, unstained
by a single act of weakness. Ever regardless of his own sufferings, he
zealously tried to render his companions in arms every service in his
power. Words of kindness flowed from his lips, and with a voice whose
melody was mild and free as the birds of the wilderness, he cheered the
darkest and the loneliest hour of our bondage.
A few days previous to his death, he penned the following song, which
he called the “ Maiden’s Answer.” It displays no ordinary poetic talent,
and refers, doubtless, to a very beautiful and accomplished i^merican
lady of Salina, to whom he had been betrothed, and whose miniature was
torn from his neck by the vile mob at Prescott. It was the last earthly
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
13
bauble to which his heart clung ; the shadow of that being whom he
loved more than all the world besides. He sung it with a thrilling yet
plaintive voice, and when he finished, he remarked, with a melancholy
siP^le — “ It is the last song I shall ever write.”
You own I am constant, yet tell me I’m cold,
And must I my youth’s early sorrows unfold 1
Must I wake to remember the joys which are fled.
Now hope is extinguished and passion is dead 1
I iiave lost in youth’s morn all that life can endear.
And though I seem cheerful, I smile through a tear.
My parents, though humble, are happy and good.
We could boast of our honor, if not of our blood ;
iMy lever — oh ! how the sad tale shall I tell !
For Poland he fought, and for freedom he fell ;
He was noble and brave — to my soul he was dear.
His fame claims a smile, thougli it shines through a tear.
In vain would I picture my agonized heart.
My parents oft soothe, yet no balm can impart —
They wept o’er the child — they could not relieve.
And the cold hand of death left me early to grieve :
They sleep in the grave — the loved and the dear.
Yet though I seem happy, I smile through a tear.
Von Schoultz was an elegant scholar — a good military engineer — and
spoke several languages with great fluency. His father was a general
in the glorious Polish liberating army, and he fell, covered with wounds,
beneath the towers of Warsaw. His son attained the rank of colonel
under Napoleon, and had been a resident in America for several years.
No man was ever more beloved by his companions in arms, or possessed
more the power of fascinating his enemies, who implored his life from
that cold-blooded villain, — Sir George Arthur. Yet, like every other
boon of mercy, he refused to grant it. His last parting with us was ex¬
tremely touching. He had a kind word for each — he exhorted us to die
like men. He received the supreme consolations of religion, and died in
a firm hope of heaven. When leaving prison, he shook hands with the
officers of the 83rd, whose friendship he had won by his noble traits of
character ; and not a dry eye was among them. They had exerted them¬
selves warmly in his behalf ; but the reply of the governor was, that “ he
would hang Von Schoultz ; for he deserved death, if no other one was exe¬
cuted.” Supplication was useless ; and he prepared fearlessly to meet
his fate. He marched with a firm step to the gibbet. There he present¬
ed his confessor with his golden snuff-box, which had been restored to
him in prison ; and adjusting the rope upon his neck, his spirit was sever¬
ed from its clay tenement, for a home in heaven. But his dying legacy
to us was, that he had been deceived by the false patriots at the battle
of Prescott,” and he wished that their conduct should be exposed to the
world. (See note 5th.) Thus perished Niles Guslaf Scholtewiskii Von
Schoultz, a victim upon the altar of liberty.
There was a double loneliness in prison when we came to know and
feel that he was dead — though dead to the world, his memory is embalmed
in a hundred erring hearts, and the strange spell that he wound around
14
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
our affections — death alone can break ! The only traitors willing to save
their lives by turning queen’s evidence, were Chitman and Graves, who
appeared against Abbey and George ; but the most of the testimony was
taken in private. Both these men received a full pardon for their perfidy
the day after Von Schoultz’s execution. Abbey and George passed our
grates for the condemned cells. Abbey’s brow was very pale and care- '
worn; he looked but little as he did when he cheered, us on at the wind¬
mill, with a flushed face and a speaking eye — there was a wild enthusi¬
asm about him, which made us look upon him with more of pride for his
reckless bravery, than real personal love. He died a martyr’s death, dis¬
playing an extraordinary fortitude for one of his nervous temperament.
He left three orphan children to mourn his untimel)^ death, (see. Note
6th.) None but the blood-hound Arthur, and his satellites, rejoiced
in his demise. Poor George was almost completely unmanned ; his dear
wife had made application to spend an hour with him, but was I’e-
fused, and this inhuman answer was made to her entreaties — “ You can
see him when dead, but not before !” The thought of his wife’s being so
near him added a poignancy to his grief, and though his step was feeble,
his heart was firm as he approached the grave. His dying prayer was
that the Lord would reward those, according to their works, whose dupe
he had been ; and whose life had been yielded up an oflering to that Moloch
of the Canadian Revolution — '‘‘■false sympathy. His corpse was deliv¬
ered to his heart-broken wife, whose sorrows none can soothe save death,
that healer of all afflictions. About this time I received a visit from my
dear father — he was the second person permitted to see the prisoners
since our capture — and sweet was that interview. The sheriff refused
my father the privilege of praying with any of the prisoners, and that
(without regard to his age or occupation as a clergyman) in a most insult¬
ing manner ; he however permitted him to leave me a New Testament.
During his stay, he exhorted the Helper of the weak to look down in
mercy upon us amid our sore afflictions ; he told us of Paul and Silas in
the cell at Philipi, and of Peter, whom the angel of the Lord liberated
from prison ; and though every description of persons were gathered to¬
gether — the licentious, the profligate, the vile and the profane, all came
around and listened to him as one from the dead, (for the world was in
truth dead to us,) and he was a messenger from the bright earth and blue
sky, and our hearts were cheered in this dark hour of our affliction, ex¬
pecting daily our trials and death, as we had no hope of any other fate
reserved for us. And now he departed, and all was gloom and dark fore¬
bodings of the future. The interview seemed not over ten minutes, though
it lasted a full hour ; and we were many in our misery and desolation,
incarcerated in the leprous dungeons of Fort Henry. On the morning
of the 19th. of December, Woodruff was executed. He met his death
coolly and quietly — ^^just as he had fought — no timid fear — no soul-sick-
ness and dread ; but with an eagle eye and a lion heart. He fought with
invincible courage, and contributed largely to the Prescott victory; but
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
16
now his death-day came, sic transit gloria mundi,” (see Note 7th.) My
trial came on the 22nd. The following is the charge that was preferred
against me :
For the said Stephen S. Wright, on the 12th day of November,
and on divers other days between that day and the sixteenth day of No-
vernber, in the second year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Victo¬
ria by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, Queen, defender of the faith, with forces and arms, at the
township of Augusta, in the District of Johnstown and Province of Upper
Canada, being a citizen of a foreign State at peace with the United King¬
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, that is to say the United States of
America, having joined himself to several subjects of our said Lady the
Queen, who were there, and there unlawfully and traitorously in arms
against our said Lady the Queen, the said Stephen S. Wright, with the
said subjects of her said majesty, so unlawfully and traitorously in arms
as aforesaid, did then and there, armed with guns and bayonets and other
warlike weapons, feloniously kill and slay divers of her said Majes¬
ty’s loyal subjects, contrary to the statute in such cases made and pro¬
vided, and against the peace of our said Lady the Queen, her Crown and
dignity. You are hereby notified that the foregoing is a copy of the
charge preferred against you, and upon which you will be tried before
the Militia General Court-Martial, assembled at Fort Henry, in the Mid¬
land District, on Monday, the 22nd of December, 1838. You will forward
to me the names of any witnesses you desire to have summoned for your
defence. Dated the 21st day of December, 1838.
‘^(Signed) WM. H. DRAPER,
Advocate General.^’
On the 22nd of December we were tried, twelve in number : but a few
hours before, we had received a copy of the above charge, and we had
no time to procure witnesses, and we were denied an adjournment for
that purpose. Our plea was “Not Guilty.” I told the Judge Advocate,
George Draper, that I thought it was unjust to be tried for our lives and
not be allowed time to procure witnesses. He answered “ that they
would do no good,” and I thought he was angry at my remark. I then
said “ the proceedings of the court-martial are more like condemning
than trying the prisoners.” At which he started up, and called me an
insolent impertinent scoundrel, and he then proceeded to business. We
were all tried and convicted, including the examination of one witness, in
twenty-eight minutes, in a very summary manner. What a noble spe¬
cimen of justice toward Americans in Canada. When the murderer,
McLeod, was tried, every indulgence was allowed — adjournments, wit¬
nesses, and the most talented counsel in the Empire State; but when we
poor dupes were tried, no personal or national protection was extended to
us, and no noise was made vrhen each received his sentence (after a de¬
liberation of two minutes) of death : and yet we massacred not the defence¬
less, we destroyed not their property, and we never sent living men on
16
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
board a burning boat into a “ hell of waters yet the chains of the con¬
vict and the tears of the exile were ours. We returned from the court-mar¬
tial condemned ; dark and gloorriy were our forebodings, and the days pass¬
ed in dreamy suspense. On the fourth of January, 1839, Buckley, Lawton,
Phelps and Anderson, were dragged to the gibbet. Poor Anderson was
so ill that they were obliged to support him upon the scaffold. If they had
taken the best care of him, he would doubtless have died in a feAv weeks ;
but then the inhuman monsters would have lost the shedding of his patriotic
blood, which gave them sensible satisfaction, as upon the evening after
these barbarous murders. Col. Dundas enjoyed a pleasure party together
with his officers. “Oh, death] where is thy sting ! oh, grave ! where is
thy victory !” when called to die in so glorious a cau.se as human liberty.
(See Note 10th.) Every one now expected that his turn would come next.
Mercy had fled — it was a reign of terror in our hearts. The last that
were executed, had been convicted by the information elicited by spies
who had been sent among them. Days, weeks and months passed in the
still monotony of prison life, and I doubt not that it was through the very
great exertion of our friends, that our sentence was commuted from death
to perpetual banishment. About this time my father and mother arrived
in Kingston, for the purpose of seeing me for the last time. My poor
mother visited me, but my aged father was not permitted to view with
her their erring child, whom misfortune had rendered doubly dear ; and
manv years passed before I was again permitted to gaze upon the
face of that beloved parent. Through my tears I saw her depart, and I
could not believe that we had met on earth for the last time. We were
now dishonored by a visit from Sir Allen McNab and Captain Drew, (see
Note 8th.) The former was a tall, imperious, insolent-looking man, whose
manners were course and vulgar, and whose language was brutal in the
extreme ; and this was the man who, with Col. Prince, ordered twenty-four
prisoners of war to be shot down at Windsor in cold blood, (see Note 9th)
whose bodies were exposed to every indignity, and many of them eaten
by the loathsome swine. The soul recoils from the recital of such horrid
deeds of barbarity in a Christian land. He now came to taunt us
with his beastly slang, which his low-lived, half-drunken companion seem¬
ed to relish very highly. Pie asked us if we did not wish to murder him,
as we had Lieut. Johnson at the windmill. “ You d— d vile Yankee pirates,
you ought to be hung ; if it was in my power, the d— 1 should have you
before sunset at which his companion showed his teeth in an applauding
o-rin. They resembled the “sans culottes” of the French Revolution.
Their visit lasted about half an hour, and every day the lower officers
would come to spend an hour in gloating over our captivity, and glorying
in our misfortune. The next visit of importance which we received was
from Sir George Arthur, ex-Governor of Van Dieman’s Land, and suite.
He was the bloody Robespiere of the Canadian Revolution. His face
was rather expressionless and of a dull withered color, and his form was
rather undersize ; but his eye gleamed from beneath its heavy brush with
WRIGHT’S narrative.
17
the ferocity of a blood-hound breaking covert. Not an indication of the
milk of human kindness shone forth in any of his actions. His conduct
would have done honor to any convict or blackguard who had been eleva¬
ted to his situation. Instead of consoling us in our misfortune, he made
us feel the bitterness of our captivity, calling us bucaneers, pirates and
ruffians ; and that if we were not hung we should be life-slaves, and that
we might take his word for it. interlarding his conversation with horrid im¬
precations ; and he appeared to gloat over our misery with the joy of a fiend
incarnate. We all felt relieved when he departed, and we surmised
that something was to be done with us besides death, for his actions seemed
like those of a starving tiger, from whose mouth some precious morsel had
been torn by a higher pow’er, and his reproaches, the growlings of the
infuriated animal ; and we all thought it was hard enough to be shut out
from the balmy air and confined in a vermin-infected den, with loathsome
food, without being subjected to the upbraidings of the minions of Eng¬
land’s crown. Our allowance was half a pound of miserable meat, and
one pound of bread of the coarsest and mustiest flour, and filled with
filth that delicacy forbids to mention. No means were given us to eat or
cook but a box stove, and twenty in each room. Thanks to the good peo¬
ple of Jefferson county, we were furnished with the means to procure
comfortable clothes. The rooms were illy ventilated, and incrusted with
the dreadfullest vermin that ever fed upon flesh of man. All the beau¬
tiful spring passed away, and we tasted none of its exhilarating effects.
But when July fourth came, and we thought of the thousand crowded
churches in the land of the free, where millions of happy hearts were
bringing meet offerings to that liberty whose claims we advocated at the
sword’s point, and for which we received a dungeon in this British Bastile
as our reward ; we sang “ Hail Columbia, happy land,” and our hearts
fluttered as in spirit we visited our thrice dear kindred and our native
shores.
CHAPTER HI.
Depart from Fort Henry— Arrive at Quebec via Montreal— The forged Letter— The Captain sails under
sealed orders — Asa Priest’s death and burial — Rio Janeiro — Arrival at Hobart Town — Descriptions taken
— Our hard fate.
On the 22nd of September, 1839, we left Kingston on board a canal-
boat. We were loaded with chains, escorted by the 83rd Regiment, not
knowing whither we were going or what was to be our fate. We were
eighty-one in number, including the Windsor prisoners. We arrived at
Montreal on the second day, and were removed to the steamboat King
William, and on the 26th we were again removed to the ship Buffalo that
was lying off Quebec. As we stood upon the deck I gazed forth upon that
impregnable fortress, the Gibraltar of America, for the first time. I thought
of our brave countryman, Montgomery, who fell fighting with unparalleled
2 ^
16
WRIGHT'S NARRATIVE.
courage upon the battlements of the citadel ; and of Wolfe, the ambi>
tious and chivalrous Briton, who sank to sleep in the arms of victory
upon the Plains of Abraham ; and of Montcalm, the generous and daring,
whose grave was scooped out by the shell which destroyed his life. And
could Wolfe’s bones repose beneath that white pyramid, which rose amid
the rocks and trees so pure and bright, and see his blood-bought citadel
in the hands of tyrants ? — the degenerate sons of once noble ancestors f
About this time the following forged letter was received by my parents,
indited, doubtless, by some of the creatures of Sir George Arthur _ so
that they in fact knew whither we were bound long before the news reach¬
ed me, as our captain sailed under sealed orders.
“ Quebec, 26th September.
“ My dear Father, Mother, Brothers and Sisters : — We are to go on
board the ship Buffalo this evening for New South Wales — we expect
that we are to sail immediately. I hope that none of you will mourn for
me. I am in good health and spirits, considering my hard fate ; yet I
feel thankful to the wise Disposer of events, who has enabled me to bear
up under the trials I have undergone. In him I put my trust, and have
hope that he will watch over me, and that I yet may return to my rela¬
tions in my native land. God bless you — farewell.
“ Yours, most affectionately,
S. S. WRIGHT.”
Our captain was a kind, humane man : when his orders were opened,
we found that we were bound for Van Dieman’s Land direct. We had
rather an unpleasant storm while in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but we
were kept close in the hold until upon the broad ocean. Our ship’s crew
consisted of fifty-seven Lower Canadians and eighty-one from the Upper
Province, and one hundred and thirty sailors, soldiers and marines. For
the first time we realized that we were upon the glorious sea, that has
been so well sung by Proctor :
“ The wide, the blue, the ever free —
Without a mark, without a bound.
It runneth the earth’s wide regions round.
It plays with the clouds, it mocks the skies.
Or like a cradled creature lies.”
It was a glorious sight to gaze upon the vast expanse of bright blue
waters, reflecting heaven in their depths, and catch the soft balmy breezes
from the tropics (for only on fair days we were permitted the luxury of
being on deck, and then only twenty-four at once, when all the soldiers
and marines kept a good look-out, forming a complete guard around us,)
and watch the stormy petrel, that bird of the waters, upon our lee — and
catch the glimpse of a snowy sail far away in the dim perspective of the
distance.
After being at sea about five weeks, there was a conspiracy formed to
take the ship : about eight prisoners were engaged in it zealously, and as
there were but two sentries, and the marines and soldiers all unarmed,
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
19
and there being but one thin paneled door between us and where the
arms were stacked, had we all been united, we would have succeeded
beyond a doubt ; but treachery displayed itself in our midst. The night
previous to the consummation of our hopes, two Judases accidentally
overheard the names of those concerned in it, and reported the same to
the captain — their names were Terrell and Smith — and on the evening
when we were to commence our operations, the hatches were bolted down,
the sentries doubled, the soldiers and marines were called to arms, the
arms were removed from their former location and placed in the gun-room,
and for two weeks we were not permitted to go on deck ; and when we
did the sailors had cutlasses, and every man was armed, and the guard
was stricter than ever-^yet not a syllable escaped the captain on the sub¬
ject of the mutiny. One of our number, Asa Prest, of Auburn, N. Y.,
began to decline. The ship’s surgeon said that he had no particular dis¬
ease, save that of a broken heart-^no remedies produced any effect. He
had left a wife and five children, dependent upon his labor for sustenance,
and his constant wail was for home, its ease, its joys and its affections.
Yet so patient amid all his sufferings, so kind and forgiving to his ene¬
mies, and endowed with superior mental qualifications, that we grieved
much at his departure. He had
“ An eye of most transparent light,
Which almost made the dungeon bright ;
And not one groan or murmur, not
One sigh o’er his untimely lot.
Jfr ^ %
“ I saw he could not hold his head
Nor lift his dying hand — nor dead.
Though hard he strove, yet strove in vain.
To breathe the fresh, pure air again.”
I came near him and bent my ear to his lips ; the struggling spirit
softly echoed the names of his household idols. “ Wife and dear children,
may God bless them !” and the last words died upon his tongue. It was
a saddening sight to view the living and the dead mingled together in the
ship’s hold, and to feel that no kindred would close his eyes or ever know
where he slept, far away where the blue waters flow, and the winds and
waves, free and unfettered, moaning forth his dirge and requiem. May
his children ever remember that the blood of a heart-broken martyr ran
in his veins. He died at midnight, and the next morning his body
was committed to the deep. Four of our number were allowed to see th-e
burial. Prayers fromThe service of the church of England were read
over the body, which was sunk in silence in the waters of the Atlantic.
The last of November we reached Rio Janeiro and cast anchor for water
and sea-stores. It was during the celebration of the emperor’s birth-day.
The harbor streamed with the flags of every nation in the world, and there
the stripes and stars gladdened our eyes. Relieved by a back ground of ex¬
ceeding beauty, the spires of a hundred cathedrals glittered like burnish¬
ed gold as they pointed the soul to heaven ; and behind the city, rose lofty
mountains of every variety of grandeur and sublimity. Around us lay
2*
20
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
islands, v/hile a thousand pleasure-boats, gliding as butterflies upon the
waters, enlivened the scene. This city is the largest and most flourishing
in South America. Its bay and harbor is studded with a hundred islands,
and said to surpass in beauty that of the far-famed Naples. The shore
rises gently into wooded hills, planted with villas and convents, and above
tow^ers Mount Corovado, wdiose sides are covered wdth shrubs of pristine
loveliness and beauty. As we lay there prisoners, we could hear the
swelling strains of martial music sound sadly upon our ears, and the
bravos of the multitudes who swarmed upon the shores.” Our ship
was visited by an English admiral and a post captain. Their conduct
was respectful, and unlike that we had previously received from those
who held much higher situations; convincing us that it was but thescwm
of England who ruled in Canada. The Methodist missionary located here,
paid us a visit, and inquired kindly what had been our treatment upon
the voyage ; and he also gave us some Bibles.
Five days after our arrival we again set sail for Van Dieman’s Land,
and after the usual monotony of a sea voyage, we arrived on the 14th of
February, 1840, in the harbor of Hobart Towm. The first object that
greeted our sight, was Mount Wellington, which overhangs the town, and
which loomed above the waves long before the town at its base w^as in
sight. Our descriptions w^ere taken by an officer and his clerks : he
was superintendent of convicts. At the time the following questions were
asked : “ What is your name ? what is your trade 1 what is vour ap-e ?
what is your religion ? what is your native place ? where were you tried ?
when did you leave Canada ? are you married ? are your parents living ?
where do they reside ? what is their native country ? what is their religion ?
can the read ? can they write ? can you write ? what is your number ?
After all these questions were answered, a minute examination was made
of our bodies, and every mole, scar and spot was recorded, and our height
and weight was taken into consideration so that we could be identified in
the event of an escape. All this minutiae was particularly inserted and
afterward read over to each, and signed with his own hand. We were
then taken to Sandy Bay, near Hobart Town, and placed in a yard as if
we had been cattle. All our clothes were taken from us, and the prison¬
ers’ dress put on, which consisted of a jacket, a pair of pantaloons, a cap
and a pair of shoes. The body of the dress was black and yellow, half
and half, and made of a miserable woollen material. It resembled the
dress of a clown or the plumage of a magpie, and lasted about one month ;
and allowed but two suits a year, we had three months to go half naked,
to say the least. The cap was leather, and fitted close to our well-sheared
heads. When the clothes were all worn out, and the homely-made shoes
had fallen to pieces, we were bare-footed, and had but a small blanket
tied about us to hide our nakedness. Exposed to biting winds and storms
of sleet and snow, the huts in which we slept were built of slabs set up
endways, very poorly thatched, and the top covering thin and leaky, giving
us the benefit of rather a free circulation of air. In fact, we were at the
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
21
mercy of the weather ; — our floor was the ground, and after a rain, pools of
water stood for hours in the hut. No fire was allowed us either to warm
or dry our clothing; our food was half a pound of meat and one pound of
bread ; the meat was generally fetid and sometimes filled with vermin —
bony and stringy — and any well-fed dog would have refused to eat it.
Our bread was composed of oats, barley and rice, with a little wheat ground
together; all the fine flower sifted out, and we were given the coarse ; it
was bread that even a Grahamite would have starved upon. Such was
our fare.
On the morning of the 17th we were paraded in a line, and the gov¬
ernor of the island. Sir John Franklin, (the great navigator) made his
entre with his suite. We were then ordered to take oif our caps, which
was obeyed. He is an old man and is ruled by his counsellors, who ride
over the people rough-shod ; but it is considered freedom to the anarchy and
confusion that prevailed during the governorship of the bloody execu¬
tioner,” Sir George Arthur. He looked like a honvivant, without any strong
marks, save obesity and imbecility. The noble and generous Captain
Wood accompanied him. Let me here return our united thanks to Lady
Colburn, who kindly supplied us with drafts and chess-boards to while
away the tedium of our voyage, as well as the captain of the good ship
Buffalo, whose unabated kindness will never be forgotten, and the feeling
manner with which he discharged his arduous duties. The governor
commenced a set speech in a slow nasal tone, and after proceeding for a
few minutes — the amount of which was that he had received no orders
regarding us from the home Government — he ended by asking the
captain, what had been our conduct during the voyage ? The answer
remarkably well,” was very satisfactory to us ; and the governor then or¬
dered that we should be set to work upon the roads for Government, admon¬
ishing us at the same time to behave ourselves, or we would fare hard ; and
he and his suite departed. The overseers whom the superintendent placed
over us were men of the worst sharacters ; being felons and convicts, hav¬
ing been condemned for the most awful crimes that shuddering humanity
records: — arson, theft, murder, rape, burglary, forgery. We were har¬
nessed two and two, four being placed before each cart. W e were then
marched to work a distance of two miles : when we had reached the
quarry of broken stone, we were ordered to fill them. The bodies of the
carts were about six feet long, four wide, and two deep. We were
then obliged to draw the carts, well filled, laden with from fifteen to eight¬
een hundred weight, and drag them over broken ground one mile ; and draw
thirteen loads each day through rain and shine, wet and dry, rocks and
mud. After we had been there about four months, four of our number
effected their escape. They had been so dreadfully worked, that they
made up their minds to die in being taken rather than to endure Idnger
the loathsome curse of slavery. The broad blue sea was before them,
and vessels arriving weekly from the United States. The temptation was
too strong to be resisted, and they fled. After the first month of toil, it was
22
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
frequent that we fainted in performing our tasks that were imposed upon
us by the foulest of the convicts of the known world ; and night after
night have we been dragged to the huts in a state of utter prostration and
insensibility. And if we refused to do the tasks imposed upon us, we
were taken before a magistrate (no defence being permitted,) and sen¬
tence passed upon us of seven days’ solitary confinement for the first
offence, and fed during the time upon one-fourth pound of bread per day.
This living grave was a vault without light, with an uneven floor flagged
with stone, and without any room for standing erect ; it was two feet wide
and six in length, ventilated with irregular crevices in the wall. In
some parts of the body the blood almost stops circulation while undergo¬
ing this inhuman torture ; and this we received for the most trivial in¬
discretion, while the filth of these dens of infamy surpasses all descrip¬
tion. The first time that I was incarcerated it was for the following hein¬
ous misdemeanor : — On returning from work in the midst of a perfect
tempest of rain and piercing wind, and being wet to the skin, and seeing
a good cheerful fire burning in the cook’s room, I committed the awful
outrage of warming my shivering limbs ; and that taste of comfort cost
me seven days’ solitary confiement upon one-fourth pound of bread per
day and filthy water. I thought with Doctor Franklin, I had paid a little
too dear for my whistle. About this time, the four prisoners who had es¬
caped were captured upon a desolate island, six miles from the shore.
The boat in which they started from the shore in, was MU'ecked upon the
rocks. They had subsisted for two weeks upon cockles and other shell
fish ; and for a week had been in a deplorable and starving condition.
When taken, two of them were nearly dead ; but the others, by dint of
iron constitutions, had survived the pains of starvation with unparalleled
fortitude. They were tried, and sentenced to Port Arthur, a penal settle¬
ment, to labor in irons for two years. Their work was the carrying of
shingles, and working in water four feet deep, and every night they were
locked in a separate cell.
After being here for some months, we were removed to a station in the
interior. Our removal was made to prevent any further escape. Our.
men at present were in a dreadful situation, and like so many swine, were
seen to eat the potatoe skins and cabbage stumps that were cast from the
door of a chief felon, who presided over us. At this station we became
acquainted with a poor fellow whose history is worth recording. He was
a child of sin begot at the “ West End” of London, and with his deserted
mother (a victim of one of England’s lordlings,) was turned out to shift
for himself in the streets of the Metropolis, and for stealing a penny-loaf,
was sent to this Procrustes bed of despotism for life. Others were sent
from conspiracies and malice, and others for not resisting temptation and
quietly starving to death in “ merrie auld England.” The next station
was that of “ Lovely Banks.” It was a clear, bright morning on which we
started, and arrived there at evening. Here our labor was greatly in¬
creased, as we were engaged in building the road between Launceston
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
23
and Hobart Town. It was the law of the land, that any person who gave
the convicts food or tobacco, and the same was found upon our persons,
the donor was fined ; and we were subjected to not less than seven, and
not over twenty-one days’ solitary confinement. One evening, for refu¬
sing to carry (in an over-worked and debilitated state,) a bar of iron,
weighing one hundred pounds, to the station, the distance being four miles,
I lay in one of those living graves one week ; and many a time have we,
barefooted, and in the snow four inches deep, gone to work shivering with
cold, half naked, with our bodies wrapped in tattered blankets, and so
hoarse with colds that our groans alone were audible. At Sandy Bay,
Lysar/ier Curtis’s health began to decline, and he was taken to the hospi¬
tal, but was remanded back to work, where he was put again to the wheel¬
barrow ; but his strength was unequal to the task. But the overseer said
he should wheel the load, or he might die at the quarry ; and the poor
fellow supplicated for mercy in vain, and that was his last day’s labor.
He fainted upon the ground, and was borne back to the hospital, where,
with no attendance, and in great agony, he perished in forty-eight hours
after he left the road. In his dying words, he prayed that the good peo¬
ple of Ogdensburgh would kindly remember his wife and children. At
this place William Nattage was blown up by blasting, and he lingered a
few days, and died in dreadful spasms. He desired that his family
might be provided for by the lovers of liberty in Ohio. Thus the vales
of Van Dieman’s Land are whitened by the bones of exiles from the land
of Washington. There was scarcely a station where some of our num¬
ber did not fade from the earth ; and to look back and think of our hideous
situation, where, without any attention, our brethren were sick — died and
were buried, as if they had been the beasts of the field, or the fowls of
the air, is horrible. The scenery of the island would require the pen
of a poet, or the pencil of a painter, to do anything like justice to it.
The trees were covered with a foliage of peculiar beauty, and hundreds
of warblers from the wild-wood soothed us at our work — while the moun¬
tains rose in forms of grandeur, whose tops were lost amid the clouds
of heaven. Nature seemed to console us, and I felt for the first time in
my life that
“ Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn.”
CHAPTER IV.
Williams’s Death — ^The Traitors — Bridgewater — The Governor’s Visit — ^The Hospital — Tickets-of-Leave—
Work for Mr. Barrow — His kindness — Morality of Van Dieman’s Land.
A PRISONER now died whose real name was Steward, but who was
tried under the nom de guerre of Williams : he was taken with the inflam¬
mation of the eyes. He was removed to a small place upon the Derwent
called Norfolk, where through negligence he died. He was from Cleve-
24
WRIGHT S NARRATIVE.
land, Ohio, and was considered quire talented. His age, I believe, was
twenty-six. On this station were Linus W. Miller and Joseph Stewart.
We heard there were some American whalers at Hobart Town, from some
convicts fresh from there, and these men went in behalf of the American
captives, to see what chance of escape might offer, and report the same
to us. The former was a young lawyer of fine talents — a perfect Em¬
met in patriotism. They had been gone, after breaking from the hut at
midnight, about ten days, and the hope of our liberty seemed brightening ;
but Orin W. Smith and James M. Atcherson betrayed them to a magis¬
trate, and they were taken on their return from the sea-shore, without
our ever having known what they had accomplished. They were tried
and condemned, and sent to Port Arthur in chains, for life. Miller was
taken a prisoner at Windsor, and the governor told us at his next visit, that
he should never leave the penal settlement as long as he remained upon
the island. How bitter were our hearts toward our betrayers ! — and every
man felt deeply for the fate of our two captured brethren.
The morning after their discovery, we left the station and proceeded to
a place called Green Ponds, and here Smith and Atcherson received their
rewards in being made overseers over us. We charitably thought that our
own couniry7nen would try and alleviate our misery; but alas! we found
them harder task-masters than those very convicted felons, plucked from
the lowest sinks of vice in Great Britain. Such is the fact — my cheek
blushes to record it. Smith was now the double traitor — for it was him who
played false on board the Buffalo. They now tried to get us to revolt —
murder the soldiers — and take the barracks ; and I doubt not would have
succeeded, as we were ready for anything. But we happened to over¬
hear a conference between them ; that if they succeeded and gave the
Government timely information, they would thus get a free pardon at the
sacrifice of all our lives. Was not this most base, unmanly, and ungener¬
ous ? yet “ let it be told in Gath, and published in Ascalon,” that this
same manikin Smith is from French Creek, and was a colonel in our army,
who skulked at the battle of Prescott, and was afraid to fight or to run
away, as some of his superiors had set him the example. Poor, pitiable
wretch ! “ may the Lord reward him according to his works.’’ As a kind
of extra work, we we obliged to cut and draw, from four to six loads of
Avood, over a mountainous road, the distance of four miles per day ; and
that too, Avith bleeding feet and lacerated bodies, chilled and Avet ; yet not
even permitted to warm ourseh^es by the fire it made.
We now left Green Ponds for Bridgewater, Avithin tAvelve miles of Ho¬
bart ToAvn. I noAv joined my old comrades from Avhom I had been parted
for many months. We Avere here employed in building a bridge across
the Dei’Avent ; Ave Avere obliged to quarry stone and draw it a mile, and
were engaged at Avork with three, and often four hundred other convicts,
mingled together in the loathsome society. Often our rations Avere stolen
from us. Some of the darkest days of my captivity, were the sixteen
that I had to pass among such a vast number of the offscourings of crea-
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
25
tion — the dregs of the vilest of the vile. The tide of the river set above
where we were at work, and half the time we were up to our knees in
water.
Now w(! were separated, and sent lo different parts of the island in com¬
panies of ten and twelve. The squad I was in, went to build a new
station at Brown’s river ; there we had to carry shingles and timber upon
our backs for one mile. There were several hundred prisoners here, and
we were again subjected to the caprices of felon overseers. I received
twenty-one days’ solitary confinement here, for not telling who gave me
a piece of tobacco. After we had been here three weeks, the governor
made us his third visit ; he inquired about our conduct ; the superintendent
told him that we were the best men to work, and the best behaved on
the station — the crimes of the other convicts being that, when hard press¬
ed with hunger, they would break from their huts at midnight, and trespass
upon the nearest potatoe fields, where they would devour them like half
famished swine. In a short time, the governor told us, we should
receive tickets of leave,” which would give us the liberty of the island.
He read us the Secretary of States’ letter, which informed us that the
Government road work was remitted from six to two years, and then we
should have all our earnings. I have since learned that this was accom¬
plished through the means of Mrs. Benjamin Wait, who is now a saint in
heaven. To her memory we owe eternal gratitude ; for I doubt not that
long before the six years had expired, we should every one of us have
fed the earth worms of Van Dieman’s Land. We felt rejoiced as the
day of our liberation drew near ; every Saturday we stripped our bodies
and washed our clothes ; and for the offence of stealing a piece of beef,
one of the English prisoners received the following sentence from the magis¬
trate — “ seventy-five lashes from the cat-o’-nine-tails.” There he was,
strung upon a triangle, and the executioner run his fingers through the lashes
of the cat, to see if it was in perfect order, and after the first blow, shreds
of skin and flesh were flayed off by every one that followed : no groan or cry
was uttered, but his face looked the perfect picture of agony. A surgeon was
by, and occasionally felt his pulse, making him bear to the very highest de¬
gree all the torture that the system could stand, without destroying his
life. And when the bloody deed was finished, a pail of brine was dashed over
his torn and quivering back, and yells of horror and pain broke from his
ashy lips. Oh Heaven ! how are thy images mutilated, and the soul tor¬
tured amid the pains of its tenement of clay. Though vile and erring,
though licentious and profligate, can they not return to that fount of spirits
from whence they emanated ? though soiled and earth- worn, by calling
upon Him whose holie.st name is Father ? And yet, reader, hear the lan¬
guage of one of the ministers of the church of England, when I called
upon him to do us the favor of preaching a funeral sermon upon the death
of Nattage, on the following Sabbath. “ Convicts have no souls ! — people
so vile ought not think of such honors — and he hoped I would not insult
him again by making so impertinent a request.”
26
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
While engaged at work upon this station, I was severely wounded by
the. fall of a limb upon my shoulder. I was taken to the hospital, where,
through the kindness of a convict-pardoned physician, I was appointed
attendant about four months. The number of patients varied from twenty
to forty ; and when any of them, died, they were buried like so many car¬
rion carcasses. The naked bodies thrown into a rough box, were tumbled
into pits. The most unfriendly and unfeeling disposition was ever mani¬
fested by the surgeon in attendance, who, like all the inhabitants, consid¬
ered the prisoners as no better than brutes. Southern slavery, in its
worst form, would have been a paradise to the infernal caprices to which
we were ever subjected. When engaged in doing my duty, my heart
often sickened, as the maniac’s cry came forth in a husky voice upon my
ear. “ Write ! yes, write to my mother in Scotland, that I am innocent.
Gnd knows it — let me rest now — the chains grow lighter — now they are
off — Tm free !” and the frenzied victim sank back a corpse. And often
have I watched the big death-tears fall from the eyes of the repentant
exiles, when the memory of better days misted their souls on their road to
heaven ; with no kindred to catch their latest sigh, or cherish their expi¬
ring words. The fear of death was entirely destroyed by the sight of
such horrid sufferings ; and my heart bled to hear them, in their last mo¬
ments, call upon the names of their households beyond the sea. The lu¬
natic’s cry was for home — dear home — take me home ! Its well remem¬
bered joys haunting him through sin and sorrow, suffering and shame.
And when the soul broke from the fetters of the body, it was joy to see
the image of God sink into calm repose, untortured by the excruciating
agonies of disease. In this lazar-house of wo, many a feeble man, having
been over-tasked till disease was generated, was sent here to die ; and
the frailer his constitution, the sooner were his miseries ended. No res¬
pect was ever paid to what he had been. The blood-suckers only look
and see what he is ; and the name of a sick convict,” is a sure passport to
the grave. I was glad when I left this abode of death, this hell of human
suffering, and again returned to work. After laboring till the sixteenth of
February, 1842, we all received our “ tickets of leave.” But instead of
their giving us the liberty of the whole island, we found, upon examina¬
tion, that they were confined to six of the interior districts only. Our
‘‘ tickets of leave” were granted us at Hobart Town ; yet we were liable,
at a moment’s warning, to be called into the service of Government ; and
we were most unceremoniously hurried out of town, for fear some of our
number might escape. That night we prepared to sleep in the woods sev¬
eral miles from town ; but a kind tavern-keeper came and invited us to
lodge at his house, near by. All our clothes had been purloined by her
majesty’s officers, (some of us had two or three good suits,) and the
rest were destroyed by rats. When we started, the next morning, we
looked like a flock of half-picked Bob-a-lincums, chattering with pleas¬
ure, like so many magpies. It was three days before I found employ¬
ment. All the people looked upon us as so many scape-gallows, and vag-
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
27
abends. Some laughed at us ; and a comical figure we cut, sans culotte.
Others gave us old clothes. We were all rags and tatters — pale and
wan. In uniform, no militia could hold a candle to us. Misery likes
company, and we had enough of both. A kind man, on the road, lent me
a dollar to buy food. I was first employed at Rothwell, for three weeks,
by a wheelwright, who procured me some decent clothing ; and I then went
to work for a Mr. Barrow, a chief magistrate, who very kindly advan¬
ced me five pounds. This gentleman deserves my sincere thanks ; for
my stay was rendered, the three months I was with him, as pleasant as
kindness and attention could make it from his beautiful and accomplished
wife, and her amiable sister ; and at times the poor exile almost forgot his
bondage. In fact, after the hardships we had endured, it was pleasant
to call what we earned by the sweat of our brows, our own. He lives
in the style of an English nobleman — kept horses and hounds — was a
capital shot, and an excellent whip — could back a horse through thick
and thin, over hill and dale, rock and wood. Kangaroo hunting was his
delight. He permitted me free access to his library, where I found files
of American papers, and my eyes devoured their contents with unre¬
strained delight. With great regret I parted from this interesting fam¬
ily. Mr. Barrow told me, if ever I had any need of his aid, to call on
him, and it should be freely given. I would here remark, that before
strangers he was cold and distant toward me ; but when with his fam¬
ily, he was very kind and familiar.
I went to Campbelltown, where I joined an association of mechanics,
got up by our comrades. I am sorry to say it proves, as yet, more agree¬
able than lucrative. The Government regulations concerning ticket-
of-leave-men, were rigid : forbidding any prisoner being in the street after
8 o’clock. I was only once caught out, and had my head shaved, and was
confined seven days in the living grave that I have previously described.
We were, all obliged to attend church every Sabbath, and in case of a
refusal, were severely punished. I have frequently seen the priest so
drunk that he could hardly stand upright, while hickuping forth the prayers,
and once he actually fell while descending the steps of the pulpit. He
was publicly known to be a notorious inebriate, and his wife had been
caught in adultery. The island is governed by a governor, a council,
a court of queen’s bench, and a chief magistrate — all appointed by the
home Government ; and many other officers, upon the recommendation
of the first executive officer. All laws lose their force in Van Dieman’s
Land ; bribery and corruption attending poor justice at every turn as her
favorite handmaidens. The manners of the people are gross and sensual :
— they are composed of pardoned convicts, blacklegs, gamblers and lib¬
ertines, and many are entirely destitute of morals and common decency.
As soon as we discovered some of our brethren inclined to inebriation,
we formed a little temperance society, and we doubt not that it has saved
them many weeks from the wretchedness of those living graves. The con-
jaminating influence of such a society of villains, none can describe. There
28
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
is an article which, if imported there, would command the highest price ;
it is female virtue — licentiousness, libertinism, drunkenness and debauch¬
ery, being the order and fashion of the day and a really virtuous person is
looked upon with as much disgust there as a vicious one is here. Exceptions
to this general rule are very extraordinary. Besides these, there are
many other vices, too loathsome to mention : — every woman, after she
has been married six weeks, prefers any man to her husband. Virtue
goes unrewarded, and vice is protected in this land of Van Demons.
CHAPTER V.
The Aborigines of Van Dieman’s Land — Features— Knowledge of a Supreme Being — Acuteness of Dis¬
crimination — Habits — Arms — Diseases — Number — Inducements held out by the Government to Settlers
— Bush-rangers— Offer of Pardon to those assisting in their Capture— Capture and Execution of two—
Grant of Free Pardon, etc., etc.
For many of the following facts regarding tne aborigines of Van Die¬
man’s Land, I am indebted to Frezcinct, Widdowsons, and other valuable
works upon this interesting subject. So little is known of these sons of
nature — and still less has been done to give any knowledge of them — -
that not much can be offered as to their state formerly. From what I
have read, the natives of Van Dieman’s Land are unlike any other In¬
dians, either in features, their mode of living, hunting, &c. There are
many hundreds of people who have lived for years in the Colony, and yet
have never seen a native. * * * ♦ >}:
The features of these people are anything but pleasing : a large flat
nose, with immense nostrils; lips particularly thick ; a wide mouth, witli
a tolerably good set of teeth ; the hair long and woolly, which, as if to
confer additional beauty, is besmeared with red clay (similar to our red
ochre) and grease. Their limbs are badly proportioned. The women
appear to be, generally, better formed than the men. Their only cover¬
ing is a few kangaroo skins, rudely stitched, and thrown over the shoul¬
ders ; but more frequently they appear in a state of rrudity. Indeed, so
little knowledge have they of decency or comfort, that they never avail
themselves of the purposes for which apparel is given to them. Lieut.
Collins, in his account of the natives of Van Dieman’s Land, describes
their marriage ceremonies as being the most barbarous and brutal ; and
I have also heard from individuals who have visited the country, that
it is not uncommon to see a poor woman almost beaten to death by
her lover, previous to his marrying her. From the shyness of the na¬
tives of Van Dieman’s Land, and the constant warfare that has been car¬
ried on between them and the remote stock-keepers, (which is not likely
to render them more familiar,) I have not been able to ascertain whether
there is any trace of religion among them, or if they have the slightest
idea of a Supreme Being. I believe, and it is generally supposed, they
have not.
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
29
“ It is but fair to remark, however, that nothing has been done for them ;
the few that can speak a little English, only curse and swear, and this
they catch up very readily from the different convicts they meet with.
^ :f: * * * * *
“ There are but few instances of any native having entirely forsaken his
tribe, however young he may have been taken away ; they appear to dis¬
like anything in the shape of labor, although, if they take to cattle,
they are, beyond anything, quick in tracing and finding those lost. So
acute is their power of discrimination, that they have been known to
trace the footsteps of bush-rangers over mountains and rocks ; and, al¬
though the individual they have been in pursuit of has walked into the
sides of the river as if to cross it, to elude the vigilance of his pursuers^
and has swam some distance down and crossed when convenient, yet
nothing can deceive them. Indeed, so remarkable is their discernment,
that if but the slightest piece of moss on a rock has been disturbed by
footsteps, they will instantly detect it. The aborigines of this island
have no appointed place or situation to live in ; they roam about at will,
followed by a pack of dogs, of different sorts and sizes, but which are
used principally for hunting the kangaroo, opossum, bandicoot, &;c.
“ They are passionately fond of their dogs ; so much so, that the females
are frequently known to suckle a favorite puppy instead of the child.
They rarely ever move at night, but encircle themselves round a large
fire, and sleep in a sitting posture, with their heads between their knees.
So careless are they of their children, that it is not uncommon to see boys
grown up with feet exhibiting the loss of a toe or two, having, when in¬
fants, been dropped into the fire by the mother. The children are gen¬
erally carried (by the women) astride across the shoulders, in a careless
manner. They live entirely by hunting, and do not fish so much, or use
the canoe, as in New South Wales, although the women are tolerably ex¬
pert divers ; the craw-fish and oyster, if immediately on the coast, are
their principal food. Opossums and kagaroos may be said to be their
chief support ; the latter is as delicious a treat to an epicure, as the for¬
mer is the reverse. The manner of cooking their victuals is by throw¬
ing them on the fire, merely to singe off their hair ; they eat voraciously,
and are very little removed from the brute creation as to choice of food ;
entrails, &c. sharing the same chance as the choicest parts. They are
extremely expert in climbing, and can reach the top of the largest forest-
trees without the aid of branches ; they effect this by means of a small
sharp flint, which they clasp tightly in the ball of their four fingers, and
having cut a notch out of the bark, they easily ascend, with the large toe
of each foot in one notch, and their curiously manufactured hatchet in
the other. Their weapons of defence are the spear and waddie ; the
former is about twelve feet long, and as thick as the little finger of a
man. The tea-tree supplies them with this matchless weapon ; they harden
one end, which is very sharply pointed, by burning and filing it with a flint
30
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
prepared for the purpose. In throwing the spear they are very expert;
indeed, of late, their audacious atrocities have been lamentably great,
although, at the same time, I have little hesitation in saying, they have
arisen from the cruel treatment experienced by some of their women
from the hands of the distant stock-keepers. Indeed, these poor mor¬
tals, I know, have been shot at merely to gratify a most barbarous cruelty.
* * * :}? *
‘‘ After killing a white man, the natives have a sort of dance and rejoi¬
cing ; jumping, and singing, and sending forth the strangest noises ever
heard. They do not molest the body when dead, nor have I ever heard
of their stripping and robbing the deceased.
“ Among themselves they have no funeral rites ; and those who are aged
or diseased are left in hollow trees, or under the ledges of rocks, to pine
and die. These people are subject to a disease, which causes the most
loathsome ulcerated sores ; two or three whom I saw were wretched look¬
ing objects. I remember a very old man, who was thus affected, being
tried and hung, for spearing one of Mr. Hart’s men ; the culprit was so
ill and infirm as to be obliged to be carried to the place of execution. I
think the colonial surgeons call the disease the ‘bush scab and that it
is occasioned by a filthy mode of life. The population of natives is very
small in proportion to the extent of the island : several causes may be al¬
leged for their smallness of numbers ; the principal one is their having
been driven about from place to place, by settlers taking new locations ;
another cause is the great destruction of the kangaroo, which obliges the
natives to labor hard to procure food sufficient for their sustenance : this,
and their having no means of procuring vegetables, besides being con¬
stantly exposed to the weather, together with their offensive habits of liv¬
ing, produce the disease above mentioned, with its fatal consequences.”
But the ensanguined administration of Sir George Arthur, has destroyed
a great part of the native foresters, and reduced the number from seven-
teen-hundred, to about sixty, who are cooped up on a small island in
Bass’s straits, where they are continually dwindling away ; — no more per¬
mitted to roam over their native mountains, and hunt in their lovely val-
lies, or dig a native bread, (a kind of ball found in the earth, of the
consistence of rice, like our ground-nut, only a great deal larger,) or
learn the birds to lisp phrases in their native island. A few years, and
not one will remain. The Tasmanians will rest amid the thousand
wrecks of innocence, that England delights to' crush when it is in her
power. But God will surely remember their unavenged wrongs-^when
India, China, and Ireland — -all who have experienced the pressure of her
vampire lips— -and the bloody murders of Windsor, St. Eustache, St.
Charles, St. Denis, and the butcheries of Beauharnois, will rise up as wit¬
nesses against her. She is red with sin, and the days of her oppressions
are numbered. I here insert the inducements that the English govern¬
ment held out, for the settlement of Van Dieman’s land:
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
81
“ 1. His majesty’s Government do not intend to incur any expense in con¬
veying settlers to the new colony on the Swan river ; and will not feel
bound to defray the expense of supplying them with provisions or other
necessaries, after their arrival there, nor to assist their removing to
England, or elsewhere, should they be desirous of quitting the colony.
“ 2. Such persons who may arrive in that settlement before the end of
the year 1830, will receive, in the order of their arrival, grants of land,
free of quit rent, proportioned to the capital which they may be prepared
to invest in the improvement of the land, and of which capital they may
be able to produce satisfactory proofs to the lieutenant governor (or other
officer administering the colonial government,) or to any two officers of
the local government appointed by the lieutenant governor for that pur¬
pose, at the rate of forty acres for every sum of three pounds which they
may be prepared so to invest.
“ 3. Under the head of investment of capital, will be considered stock of
every description, all implements of husbandry, and other articles which
may be applicable to the purposes of productive industry, or which may
be necessary for the establishment of the settler on the land where he is
to be located. The amount of any half-pay or pension which the appli-
cant may receive from Government, will also be considered as so much
capital .
‘‘ 4. Those who may incur the expense of taking out laboring persons,
will be entitled to an allowance of land at the rate of fifteen pounds, that
is, of two hundred acres of land, for the passage of every such laboring
person, over and above any other investment of capital. In the class of
‘ laboring persons,’ are included women and children above ten years
old. Provision will be made by law, at the earliest opportunity, for ren¬
dering those capitalists, who may be engaged in taking out laboring per-
sons to this settlement, liable for the future maintenance of those persons,
should they, from infirmity, or any other cause, become unable to main¬
tain themselves there.
“ 5. The license of occupation of land will be granted to the settler, on
satisfactory proof being exhibited to the lieutenant governor (or other
officer administering the local government,) of the amount of property
brought into the colony. The proofs required of such property will be
such satisfactory vouchers of expenses as would be received in auditing
public accounts. But the full title to the land will not be granted in fee
simple, until the settler has proved, to the satisfaction of the lieutenant
governor (or other officer administering the local government,) that the
sum required by Article 2nd, of these regulations, (viz. one shilling and
sixpence per acre,) has been expended in the cultivation of the land, or
in solid improvements, such as buildings, roads, or other works of the
kind.
“6. Any grant of land thus allotted, of which a fair proportion, of at
least one fourth, shall not have been brought into cultivation, otherwise
improved or reclaimed from its wild state, to the extent of one shilling and
32
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
sixpence per acre, to the satisfaction of the local Government, within three
years from the date of the license of occupation, shall, at the end of three
years, be liable to a payment of sixpence per acre, into the public chest
of the settlement ; and at the expiration of seven years more, should the
land still remain in an uncultivated or unimproved state, it will revert
absolutely to the crown.”
With the above inducements, the island has rapidly increased in
population and wealth ; the Government always preserving the balance
between the convicts and the free population. The tyranny of Arthur
had driven many of the prisoners to desert and turn highway rob¬
bers, making their home amid the secret fastnesses of the mountains.
Upon the island, they are termed bush-rangers. For many months the
people were alarmed by several murders and robberies committed by
some of these escaped felons, and the governor issued a proclamation that
any one that would arrest the said bush-rangers, should receive a free
pardon and a free passage from the colony. Several of the police con¬
stables had been severely wounded by them, and one had been killed —
and no convict felt willing to volunteer in pursuit of the highwaymen.
The governor now ordered all the prisoners, having tickets of leave, to go
in pursuit. A number amounting to over fifteen hundred, were called out
and divided into parties of from five to eight in each, headed by a police¬
man. We were armed with muskets. Several who refused to obey the
order were sent in irons to Port Arthur, a penal settlement, and were nev¬
er to receive the indulgence of the Government again while they remained
prisoners of the crown. Our party consisted of six. Dresser and myself
being the only Americans in it. After we had roamed over mountains,
and across rivers and valleys for twelve days, and had nearly despaired
of any success, we heard of a shepherd’s hut, about three miles distant ;
and as it had rained incessantly for the last two days, we wished to get to
it and dry our clothes, cook some meat, and bivouac for the night. We all
had separated, so that it might be impossible for it to escape our observation ;
and when we reached it, we all came from different directions. When
within about twenty rods of the hut, we saw two men, armed to the teeth,
coming out of the door, and from the description, we knew them to be the
brigands. When near them, our constable cried “ halt but they seem¬
ed to have just discovered us, and giving a wild look around them, they
ran to the woods. We were ordered to follow them, and to fire if they
did not halt. They found that we gained ground, and each taking a tree,
took steady aim at us from behind it ; but not one of their pieces would
go off, as they had been out the last two days in steady rain. One was
armed with a double-barrel gun and four pistols ", the other with a riffe,
and the same number of small arms. After finding that resistance was
useless, they surrendered in a very gentlemanly style. Jefs, the younger,
begged our pardon for having been taken so cowardly, and not firing ; but
he was very glad that what was his loss was our gain. I heard that he
was a Gipsy by birth. He was what the world would call ‘Mevilish
WRIGHT'S NARRATIVE.
33
handsome dark eyes, long eye-lashes ; and in liis dress, was as neat and
trim as a French dandy. His face was of a melancholy cast, and his
form the jKjrfection of manliness. He said death was a fate he preferred
to the life of a convict. His companion, Conway, did not relish his fate
quite so well. They had robbed a house a few days before, and in the
drunken revel whicli followed, he had received a very severe wound in
his groin ; and his comrade had clung to him with great fidelity during
his sufferings. They had been without food for two days, and had left
their cavern that morning in search of it. Both preferred death to the
tortures of a felon’s life. I visited their cave, upon the side of a moun¬
tain ; and if they had had plenty of provisions, they would have been secure
for years : the hole at the mouth was just large enough to admit a man’s
body, and was concealed by bushes and moss. They were tried and con¬
victed, and sentenced to death. Jefs made a very remarkable defence ;
and died, as he had lived, a fearless dare-devil. They were not execu¬
ted until after we had left the island. From the time of their capture,
we considered ourselves freemen ; our fondest hopes were realized, and
in spirit I had already visited friends and home. We were detained upon
the island for several weeks, until we had been sworn before one of the
judges of the Court of Queen’s Bench, and our persons fully identified.
The principal director of convicts offered us the £25 and a situation
under the Government, which we declined ; but two of the six accepted
the offer, and remained. We told the director if he would give us his
situation, worth £3,000, it would be no temptation for us to stay. He
then turned to me, and asked “ If I would again interfere with the
British Government in Canada ?” I told him not until the Canadians
were worthier of liberty than they are at present.” On the 22nd of June,
1843, we received our free pardon, the following being a true copy :
“Van Dieman’s Land, (No. 84.)
“ By His Excellency, Sir John Franklin, Knight Commander of the
Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, Knight of tlie Greek Order of the
Redeemer, and a Captain in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, Lieutenant Gov¬
ernor of tlie Island of Van Dieman’s Land and its dependencies.
“ V/hereas, Stephen Smith Wright, who arrived at Hobart Town by the
ship Buffalo, in the year 1840, under a sentence of transportation for life,
passed upon him at the Province of Upper Canada, in the year 1838, hath,
by his good conduct and behavior, during his residence in this island,
appeared to me, the said Lieutenant Governor, to be a fit object for the
extension to him of an absolute remission of his sentence : Now, there¬
fore, in consideration of the premises, I, tlie Lieutenant Governor afore¬
said, by virtue of the powers and authorities in me in his behalf vested,
do, by this instrument, absolutely remit all the residue or remainder of
the time or tenn of transportation yet to come or unexpired, of or under
the said sentence so passed upon the said Stephen Smith Wright, as afore¬
said, and the same is hereby remitted accordingly.
3
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
84
L. S. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and
caused also the seal of Van Dieman’s land, and its' depend¬
encies, to be hereunto affixed, at Hobart Town, in Van Die-
Register E. man’s land, aforesaid; this twenty-second day of June, in
° ^ • the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-
three.
JOHN FRANKLIN.”
“J. E. Rieteno, Colonial Secretary, and Register.”
It is upon parchment, and the book contains my “ description,” as ta-
Ken on the deck of the Buffalo, the day before we landed.
The present state of the American prisoners should excite the sympa-
thy of every feeling man. But one of my companions has married on
the island ; and if he is ever pardoned, will, doubtless, make it his home
for life. But it grieved me to see Chauncy Sheldon, who fought the Brit¬
ish at Lundy’s lane, — aged, and white-haired — toiling, an exile, among
the convicts ; far from home, fireside, and kindred. The most of our
number have, at present, broken constitutions, and are pining for their
native land. Scions of liberty rarely flourish on the soil of oppression ; and
death at once would be far preferable, than to end your days by some
slow disease; and know that it was sapping to the dregs the fountain of
your existence. Six have already found peace and liberty in the grave ;
and the pallid faces, and attenuated forms of several others, show that
they are not far from that bourne from whence no traveller returns. And
if they are ever pardoned, (and I know no reason in the world, to
suppose that England would have mercy enough to do so God-like an
act,) their friends must not be surprised to find dim eyes, care-worn brows,
and wrinkled faces, as well as gray hair — all brought on by inhuman ex¬
posure to the weather, and two years spent in toiling beyond our strength.
CHAPTER VI.
Van Diemnn’s Land— Its discovery — Climate— Inhabitants — ^Productions — Mineralogy — Ornithology — Zo¬
ology — Botany — Its present condition, &c.
Van Dieman’s land is an insular appendage to the southern part of New
Holland, but of much smaller dimensions. It lies between 40° 42' and
43° 43' South latitude ; and 144° 3F and 148° 22' West longitude ; and is
reckoned by Freycinet, to contain an area of twenty-seven thousand one
hundred and ninety-two square miles. In general, it is composed of al¬
ternate hill and dale ; and even the high downs are generally fit either
for cultivation or pasturage. The chief lines, both of mountain and
river, run from north to south, through the eastern part of the colony.
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
85
Mount Wellington ; the most elevated hill in the island, nearly overhangs
the southern settlement of Hobart Town — rising to the hight of 3936 feet —
being covered for nine months in the year with snow, and subject to vio¬
lent whirlwinds. The northern peaks are called Ben Lomond and
Tasman, and are also considerable. But the chain of most continuous
elevation, is that nearly in the centre of the island, called the Western
Mountains, which extend north and south, for its whole length. They
possess a general height of thirty-five hundred feet ; inclose several large
lakes — one said to be sixty miles in circumference — and give rise to the
principal rivers in the island. Among these, is the Tamar, which,
uniting the waters of the North and South Eske from the east, of the
Macguarie and Lake rivers from the south, and of the Western river
from the west, forms at Launceston a navigable stream, which soon opens
into the Li’oad estuary of Port Dalrymple, on the north side of the island.
The Derwent flowing in an opposite direction, and swelled by the parallel
stream of the .Iordan, spreads into a noble harbor on the southeast side
of the island, on which Hobart Town is situated. Two rivers on the west¬
ern side enter Macguarie harbor ; but their course is yet unexplored.
The harbors of Van Dieman’s land surpass those of any country in the
world, not excepting even the admirable ones of New South Wales.
This island was first discovered by Tasman, who surveyed its southern
and western shores, but not the northern and eastern ; with which we are
almost exclusively acquainted. It was afterward observed, in parts, by
Marion, Ferneaux, Cook, and particularly by D’Eutricasteau, who traced
the remarkable channel which bears his name. All this time, however,
it was believed to be a part of the continent ; nor was it till Bass, in 1798,
passed through the straits, which are called after him, that its insular
character was established. In 1803, Captain Bowen founded the first
convict establishment, at Risdon cove, on the left hand of the Derwent ;
which was removed, in 1804, by Colonel Collins to Hobart Town, on the
right bank, in Sullivan cove, about twelve miles up the river. Since that
time, the colony has been in a state of rapid increase ; particularly, du¬
ring the last ten or twelve years, when it became the favorite resort of
voluntary emigration.
The climate of Van Dieman’s Land belongs decidedly to the temperate
zone, and is therefore more cool and congenial to a British constitution,
tlian that of the original colony. It has not the same extremes of bar-
renness and fertility ; there are some rich flats along the rivers, but in
general, the lands are somewhat high and of a medium aptitude, both for
agriculture and pasturage. A greater proportion of it is quite clear of
wood, and admits of the plough being applied without any previous pre¬
paration. On the road from Hobart Town to Port Dalrymple, there is a
plain extending in one direction for twenty miles, and clear land is frequent
on the north side of the island. The climate is not favorable to the growth
of maize, tobacco, and especially sugar ; but wheat, barley and oats, are
produced of superior quality. The potatoes are equal to any in the
30
WRIGPirS NARRATIVE.
world, and will keep through the year. The cattle are rather good ; the
sheep produce fine wool, though not quite equal to that of New South
Wales; but tliis has, perhaps, been from want of care, and great efforts
are making for its improvement. This land wants the cedar and rose¬
wood of the great continent of New Holland ; but the black-wood, the
hoar pine, and Adventure Bay pine, are valuable trees, peculiar to it.
The natives of Van Dieman’s Land are guessed by Hassel at only
fifteen hundred, and are, if possible, in a lower state than even those of
the great continent. They are strangers to fishing, and to the construc¬
tion of even the rudest canoes ; but convey themselves in miserable rafts
over any water they are obliged to cross. They are unacquainted with
the throwing-stick ; their sjiears are much less formidable, and their dis¬
position more peaceable ; but, unfortunately, they have been inflamed
with the most deadly hatred against the English. This deplorable cir¬
cumstance appears to have been solely owing to the rashness of an officer,
who, at an early period of the settlement, fired upon a party approaching,
as there was afterward reason to believe, with the most peaceable in¬
tentions. This incident appears to have made a permanent impression
upon the minds of these savages ; for ever since that time, they have
seized every opportunity of attacking and killing tlie colonists ; but the
smallness of their numbers and lack of courage, has rendered their en¬
mity far from terrible.
The British population is considered to form the most completely Eng¬
lish colony that exists ; yet the state of society is, on the whole, wilder
that at Port Jackson ; in particular, the most desperate convicts have been
sent there, as a pkee of ulterior punishment. Numbers escaped, and
formed a body of bush-rangers, who kept the colony in a state of perpetual
alarm, and have only been very recently put down. The Government’
supports a male and female orphan school and seven public day schools.
The exports consist of wool, wlieat, salted beef, mutton, hams and tongues,
with some hides, tallow, seal-skins, whale-oil, and spars. Several news¬
papers are published at Hobart Town and Launceston ; Hobart Town
has one of the finest harbors in the ,world. The mineral productions of
the island are extremely meagre, viz. granite, mica slate, granular quartz,
ancient sandstone, and limestone, resembling that of England. There
is also an extensive coal-mine, worked by the convicts near Port Arthur,
which is of a very good quality. Oolite, syenite and serpentine, are rarely
met with ; yet when found, they make very fine specimens, from their
peculiar structure. Fossil- wood and coal formations are found, very
perfectly preserved, and splendid specimens of Conifene have been for¬
warded to England. Some of the shells of Van Dieman’s Land are very
highly prized by collectors, especially the family of Volutes, which arc
here chiefly found in great perfection.
Itis Van Dieman’s Land, says a great naturalist, “ where it is summer,
when it is winter in Europe, vice verso. ; wdiere the barometer rises
before bad weather and falls before good'--where the north is the hot wind
WRiaHT*g NARRATIVE.
87
and the south the cold — where the humblest house is fitted up with cedar,
and the fields are fenced with mahogany, and myrtle-trees are burned for
fuel — where the swans are black and the eagles white — where the kan¬
garoo, an animal between the squirrel and the deer, has five claws on its
fore paws, and three talons on its hind legs like a bird, and yet hops on
its tail — where the mole (ornithorlynchus paradoxus) lays eggs and has
a duck’s bill — where th^ fish have wings, and sail through the air —
where the pears are made of wood, and with the stalk at the broader end,
and the cherry, (exocarpas cupressiformis) grows with the stone on the
outside.” The birds make up for the scantiness of the zoological speci¬
mens in this region, the kangaroo being the largest of the four-footed ani¬
mals ; but these wonderful creatures, instead of fabricating warm and
skillful nests beneath the earth for the protection of their young, in like
manner to all other mouse-like quadrupeds, are provided with a natural
nest in the folds of their own skin, where the young are sheltered and
protected until they are able to provide for themselves.
The duck-bill mole has long excited the scepticism and astonishment
of naturalists ; who beheld in these creatures the perfect bill of a duck,
ingrafted as it were on the body of a mole-like quadruped. It was first
made known to the world by Dr. Shaw, who clearly demonstrated it
was no fictitious deception. The v/hole animal has some resemblance in
miniature to an otter ; but is only thirteen inches long. It swims well,
and indeed seldom quits the water, since the extreme shortness of its legs
renders it only able to crawl on land. These animals, of which there
appear to be two species, (distinguished only by their color,) are princi¬
pally found near Port .Tacksoii. The foot of the mole is armed with a
spur, through which passes a poisonous liquor, rendering the animal dan¬
gerous. It has lately been clearly proved that these duck-moles not only
lay eggs, but suckle their young. These two strange species of ani¬
mals, and several tribes of opossums, and two kinds of phalangers, make
up the zoology of this remarkable region. The seal is found very com¬
mon upon the shores, and the rivers abound with fish of the most delicate
flavor. The first, the rarest, and by far the most magnificent bird of
Van Dieman’s Land, is the black cockatoo; it is found only in the most
retired parts of the island ; and from its head falls a glorious spray of
lemon-colored plumes, well relieved by a body of glossy, velvet feathers,
of an ebon blackness. They are seldom if ever tamed, and are consid¬
ered a great rarity, even upon the island. The white cockatoo is very
common, and it speaks, when well trained, with much more distinctness
of enunciation than the best parrot. The color is generally a creamy
white, and the straw-colored plumage adorns the head with great beauty.
I brought one of the last mentioned birds, as a kind of token of my slave¬
ry, within seven days’ sail of London, when it died ; he could speak
many words with great accuracy of tone, especially “ sweet home,” and
other short sentences ; and I much regretted his death. There is another
kind of cockatoo, similar to the first one described, with one or two bands
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
S8
of the richest scarlet upon the back and tail : but it is not as rare as the
black species. Parrots of every variety gem the luxurious foliage of the
forests, and from among them, for beauty, I would choose the Rose-hill
parrot : blue, crimson and orange make up the plumage of this nonpa¬
reil bird. Paroquets are about as beautiful, but of a much smaller size.
Of the last mentioned birds, I possessed four when I parted from the isl¬
and, but all died beneath the tropics. The pigeons and doves are cer¬
tainly the most beautiful in the world : the general tint of their plumage
being a rich green, variegated with red, purple and yellow, about the head
and breast ; but others occur of a brown color, relieved by spots on tlie
wings, of the most changeable colors, equal in brilliancy to the finest
gems. There is a small bird, with a tongue like a brush, called the emu,
scarcely larger than a wren, with a long tail, perfectly transparent,
consisting of one bifurcated feather — similar to its namesake of New
Holland. The spotted grosbeak is a most elegant bird, not larger than a
bulnnch, and is easily domesticated. It is of a light siate-cplor above,
rvith a bill and rump of a deep crimson ; the throat has a black collar,
and the sides have snow-white spots. The wedge-tailed eagle is often
seen soaring above the mountains, and the milk-white and jet-black swans
make a home upon the lakes and rivers. All oceanic birds are par¬
ticularly numerous. The island abounds in shrubs of great beauty, and
a countless variety of flowers. Dame Nature dropped some of her
choicest seeds in this land of exile. The most numerous of the forest
trees are of the genus Eucalyplus, commonly called black, white, red,
and yellow gums ; there are about fifty different kinds upon the island.
The most remarkable is the yellow gum tree, which attains the size of our
tallest beeches, growing straight for about fifteen or twenty feet, after which
it branches out into long spiral leaves, which hang down on all sides, and re¬
semble those of the largest kind of grass. From the centre of these leaves
springs a single foot stock, eighteen or twenty feet high, terminating in a
spike, not unlike an ear of wheat : but the valuable part of this plant is its
resin, the properties of which vie with the most fragrant balsams. This
gum exudes spontaneously from the bark ; yet still more so from incisions.
This tree is not as common as the red gum, which, near Port Jackson,
attains the height of a hundred and fifty feet, with a girth at the base of
from twenty-five to fifty feet. The bark of these trees scales off, and
their leaves, being evergreen, fall so invisibly that they seem, to a casual
observer, rather to shed their bark instead of their leaves. There is also
the banken, the peppermint, the oak, male and female, the black-wood,
bog- wood, and the cherry. Of the thousands of glorious plants, I shall
speak of but one, (Doryanthes excelsa) or the lily of Van Dieraan’s
Land. It is, without doubt, the most stately of the nobles of the floral
kingdom. It attains the height of ten feet, bearing at its summit a
crown of blossoms of the richest crimson, each three inches in diameter.
The leaves are very long, of a dusky green, harsh to the feeling and of
a sword’s sharpness, and many of them four feet in length. I have seen
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
39
a dozen orioles, of every tint of the rainbow, fluttering about this fine
lily of a morning ; and the woods echoed with the harsh voices of the
parrot, and the glancing wings of the pigeons, while the sweet melody
of the superb warbler and the jacose, made up a scene of fairy-like singu¬
larity, which no country but Australia and her islands can produce.
There are two specimens of natural history, that I have neglected to
describe, and which I now will try to give my readers a faint idea of.
The first, is the dog-faced opossum ; it suggests the union of the dog and
the tiger. The fur is soft, short, and of a yellowish brown ; the sides of
the body being marked by broad transverse stripes of black, which do
not, however, extend to the belly ; the tail is compressed, and it is a fine
swimmer, inhabiting the rocks upon the sea-shore, and feeding upon. fish.
The second is the coal-black swan, with its graceful neck and wings,
gleaming like polished ebony ; it has a very peculiar eye, and when the
sun strikes it, obliquely, it radiates and glows like fresh cut diamond.
They pair two and two. I have often met with a solitary one, who, hav¬
ing lost its mate, lives his century in soUtude, (they are said to live one
hundred years,) displaying a constancy that humans would do well to im¬
itate. It was a great favorite with the Tasmanian natives, who prized
very highly its jetty down ; as they made rugs of its skin, for their new
born children. The white swans are not so numerous ; yet no fellow,
ship is sought between the two ; showing plainly that they are no amalga-
mationists, as they shun, though solitary, each other’s society. There are
ground parrots, with long spiked tails, and a spotted plumage, which are
never known to perch upon a tree ; their feathers are of every shadow
of loveliness. The ground rorrakat, blue-breasted, is of remarkable
beauty; these last birds are generally found in flocks. There are sev¬
eral kinds of reptiles ; among them the diamond serpent, of three feet in
length, covered with a coat of a mail, in fine scales, which sparkle with
great brilliancy ; its bite is fatal : also the adder, with black and striped
snakes ; several kinds of lizards, and scorpions, and insects of almost every
variety have a home in Van Dieman’s land. It was formerly inhabited by
a race, known as Tasmanians; but that vampire of the deep, England,
has sent them (after dwindling their number from seventeen hundred to
sixty,) to perish upon a small barren island, called Bruno, in Bass’s
Straits : in a few years they will be extinct.
The free population of the whole island, at present, is about sixty thou¬
sand, of whom near twenty-five thousand were transported convicts ;
but now are free from servitude or indulgence. The amount of convicts,
both male and female, who are still prisoners, no better than slaves, is
about twenty-five thousand. The proportion of female convicts is about,
or over one third ; and of the free, about one half. Thus we have a pop¬
ulation for Van Dieman’s land of free males, thirty-three thousand five
hundred ; of male prisoners, about fifteen thousand six hundred ; of fe¬
male convicts, seven thousand five hundred ; making, in the aggregate,
seventy-three thousand inhabitants, or human beings ; twenty-two thou-
40
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
sand being mern dwellers. We also see that forty-three thousand have
been transported thither, being convicted of crimes of every shade. Dr.
Ross (the publisher of an almanac and government paper, in Hobart
Town, for a few years) says, they are criminals selected from the worst
offenders at home ; not only the worst characters that England could
produce in a year, but they are, actually, the worst that can be taken
in an accumulation of several years. And add to this statement, that
Van Dieman^s land is yet a receptacle for all the New South Wales
offenders, doiibly convicts ;~a set of characters, it must be presumed, not
very likely to shake off old habits of gross immorality, intemperance,
brutality and crime. Imagine, for a moment, tlie extent of this mass of
crime and infamy, and tlien say what you think of the state of society it
must engender. The disproportion of females to the males, induces the
Government to em.pty the brothels of London, Dublin, Liverpool and
Edinburgh; giving all a free passage between the ages of sixteen and
thirty ; and Mr. Benjamin Wait, to whom I am indebted for some of the
above facts, says : ‘‘ I have been acquainted wdth a number of these
bounty emigrant women ; and I fain would close my eyes against the
truth, and restrain my pen from writing it, but am constrained to say,
w'hatl have repeatedly heard from the best individuals here, ‘that female
virtui^ is rarely known in Van Dieman’s land.’ ” The very amuse¬
ments of the people, show' the brutishness of their taste ; the “ ring,” or
pugilistic combats being preferred to all others. I have seen hundreds
of w'omen at the prize fights, enjoying the excitement with as much gusto
as the women of my native land a tea-party gossiping. The beastly
drunkenness, and the low state of morals, (there are, in fact, no morals
at all,) give birth to vice ; and wdien the poor dying gladiator falls, with
bruised body and lanced eyes, covered with blood and dust, female voi¬
ces raise the cry of victory. Shakespere hath too truly said, “ frailty, thy
name is woman,”
CHAPTER VII.
fcnibark for Europe— View of tlic island from tlie sea — Farewell to Van Dieman’s Land— The whale, and
other denizens of the deep — Arrival at London — Misery of the lower classes, and luxury of the rich —
Victoria Cobourg — Embark for New-York — Return home.
On the 22nd day of July, 1843, we embarked in the Areta, a brig of three
hundred and twenty tons, loaded with wool and oil, with twmnty souls on
board. Language is impotent to describe the rapturous joy of our hearts,
as the dark isle of felons glimmered away in the distance ; yet there
was sadness in thinking of their tear-wet eyes, bronzed cheeks, and the
warm pressure of their hard hands, and the choked God bless you,” that
burst from full hearts, when we bid them good-bye — our faithful dear exile
comrades ; and to think they must wait for the mercy of that Govern¬
ment, which hath never tried to spell that blessed word. Ask St Helena
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
41
and she will point you to the vacant grave of Napoleon Bonaparte — an
empty monument of British mercy. Ask the damp dungeons of Mary
Queen of Scotts, and the black scaffold will reply “ this is British mercy.”
Ask the 3mt green grave of Emmet, and the dewy grass, wet with a nation’s
tcrrs will whisper, “this is British mercy!”
No scene in the world ever looked so bright to me as Van Dieman’s
Land from the sea. A silver veil hung mid-way upon Mount Wellington,
and I gazed upon the rock-bound coast, and tears filled my eyes to think that
but a broken band were returning to their borne beyond the sea. Evening
came on, and T bid farev/ell to Van Dieman’s Land for ever. Our passage
was ver}" stoi'iny ; for weeks the wind blew a perfect hurricane, while
doubling Cape Horn. I here saw the sperm Avhale, a noble animal whose
affection makes the female revenge herself upon that boat which is unfor¬
tunate in capturing her young. They arc of a brown color, and enjoyed
tbeinselves in sporting in freedom amid their ocean waves: We passed
tAvo barren rocks that may serve England to incarcerate prisoners of state
upon, when all her other places of punishment are filled. I would
that the base murderers of the broken-hearted Lady Flora Hastings had
a retreat upon one of them, and Victoria Cobourg may yet be glad to get
as good a place as Van Dieman’s Land, to save her OAvn head from the
scaffold.
The doI})hiii is one of the most beautiful creatures of the sea ; Avhen
dying, it sends forth all the colors of the rainboAV, every death-pang giving
a brighter hue — resembling in metaphor, a good man’s death- bed, his
last day being the most glorious. We found, also, the flying fish, that
strange ini.vture of fish and bird, connecting the air and AA^ater tribes by a
A'isible link. Tliey sail gently OA^er the Avaves, leaving the Avater Avhen
cl.tased b\’ the dolphin, and returning to it Avhen out of reach. We caught
tAvo that were preserved, and they retained their color and form admira¬
bly. The most ravenous of all tlic sea tribes, is the shark — the king of
the sea. We caught an enormous one Avith a bait of pork ; its teeth re¬
sembled a saAv ncAvIy filed. The legend of their scenting the sick on board
vessels and folloAving them for days, has long since exploded before the
light of IcnoAvledge. When beneath the equator, Ave began to admire
those aerial landscapes, (see Note 12th,) varying and changing in forms
of fleeting beauty. The poet has Avell described them in the following
lines :
“ Tiiere peers the forest’s dnrk strata of cloud,
Fane, rrlior and altar — sepulchre and shroud ;
Tlie army in battle, the fleet on the wave,
The rock and its grotto, the hermit and cave.
The dome of the ci(y, its jialace and spire.
The snow-covered peak with its bosom on Are,
As the scenery of drama they come and retire.
Now the rock and the grot are the low urn surrounding.
The army and fleet on the forest top bounding ;
The palace and dome grace the peak of the mountain,
Its bosom of flame is tlie gush of the fountain.
42
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
Thus the chaos of clouds o’er an ocean of*blue,
Tremblingly vanish and boldly renew,
Like the wearied in war on the flight of defeat :
Like the charge of the brave on the coward’s retreat.”
In the monotony of a long sea voyage, we learn to turn our thoughts
to the skies, and the sight of a bird is an event of interest, and the passing
of a ship gives the heart a peculiar kind of joy, to know that others have
trusted their fate upon the waters as well as yourself ; and the sight of
spar, plank, or cask, floating upon the billows, awake the reflection of those
who have left the land to return no more.
After being at sea four months and twenty-six days, the white clifls of
Dover shone brightly above the waters, and the land of the despot greeted
my eyes ; and in three days I trod the streets of London, where we land¬
ed on the - . As I paced the streets, poverty of every description, and
misery of esjery shade, met my eyes. There might be seen mothers im¬
ploring a penny to buy bread for starving children ; able-bodied men, gaunt
with hunger, scraping the sewers for food, and devouringit like dogs ; chil¬
dren, naked as at the hour of their birth, raising their little hands for the mis¬
erable tribute of this world’s charity ; — I wondered not at the crimes which
unjust laws had driven them to commit, or that the merciless Government,
not to be troubled with their agonized groans and dying curses, transfer them
to a place where royal and loyal ears would never hear — much less grant
the prayers of the starving paupers and dying infants ; and for the most triv¬
ial offence. Botany Bay is the husher of their sighs and soother of their woes.
There wanders the friendless outcast, once the tenant of yonder princely
hall ; but the lust of her lordly seducer satisfied, she is left houseless in tlie
streets of London. In vain may she implore aid, mercy, protection ; — in
vain does the miserable babe cling to her breast ; its little hands will
soon relax their grasp, for the death stare is upon its mild blue eyes.
Crazed, forlorn, distressed — God only knows what will be her fate.
In yonder carriage rides the Duchess of S "*'*** d ; a thousand pounds
glitters in her turuout—l.'orses, carriage, housings, and attendants. Her
husband sits by her side — the poor hen pecked creature, with the tyrant’s
eye, and the despot’s heart beating under that mean exterior. What,
thirikyou, was the price of those diamond bracelets whic h dazzle, as sun¬
light, upon her snowy arms ? Let the lives and bodies of poor women,
harnessed to the drays in the loathsome coal mines, whose eyes have not
seen God’s daylight for months, and whose lips have not tasted a morsel
01 wholesome bread for years upon her estate— answer. Wliat, think you,
the price of her velvet and ermine cloak, and of her cap, adorned with
pearls, and the gems that glitter upon her aristocratic hand ; or of the
necklace of rubies, flashing upon her bosom of beauty ? Let the de¬
formed children, and the famished mothers, who have toiled in his grace’s
factories, answer. How dear is bread— but flesh and blood ! oh ! God !
how cheap ! I saw Victoria Cobourg, surrounded by her lords and
ladies, whose dresses were of every texture in the world, glittering
with jewels and gleaming in gold ; and I thought of the starving mass-
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
43
ses, whose money and life had been crushed out of them to support this
extravagance ; and my heart was sick of that bitter satire to every hon¬
est Briton _ Hurrah for ha'p'py England!” If what I saw was happiness.
what is misery ? Who has the moral courage to see the smoking bread
of a well filled bakery, and yet starve to death ? yet many have so died
in London ; thousands, and yet the half is not told. And if one morsel
of that bread is taken, when no work can be had, the doom is transpor-
tation for life ; while Prince Albert, that pauper upon England’s bounty,
riots upon thirty thousand pounds per annum. Many could have been em-
ployed to do the state the same service he does, at a much cheaper rate.
I saw him with the field martials’ star upon his breast, and covered with
gaudy finery. It added nothing to its beauty to know, that it had been
washed in the tears and blood of the poverty-stricken ones of England.
“ God, who hath heard the widow’s cry,
God, who hath seen the orphan’s moan,
None ’round thee of famine die.
Although thou sittest on a throne.
Things like these, of regal birth.
Who boast their princely right divine,
Are but thy parodies on earth ;
Their’s is oppression — mercy thine.”
Wherever I v.'ent, degradation, vice and misery, were ever before me ;
and a starving nation’s bitter tears bedewed my path. And what is the
liberty of England ? What has been her nobleness, and magrianiniity 1
Has she any ? Did she not quarter Wallace — murder Mary, Queen of
Scotts — execute Raleigh — shoot Byng — and strangle Carraccioli ? Did she
not give Napoleon the vulture and the rock ? Did she not shield the de-
famers of the house of Hastings — fetter India— devour Spain — persecute
in Afghanistan — and butcher in China — and cheat Ireland of her parlia-
ment — and shed enough blood in Canada to make a fountain play for
weeks, to amuse her majesty and her cabinet ? Has she not supported
the odious Bourbons upon the the throne of a Bonaparte, and helped the
Austrian despot to establish the vilest tyranny in the Roman states 1 Tell
me a country under God’s heaven where she has the poiver, that she does not
secure the lion’s half to herself? Has she not shackled the press, pro¬
scribed authors, and incarcerated printers in prison dens ; and carried on
the adious tithe system over tiie height and breadth of her land, for the
support of a religion, begot in licentiousness, and born in butchery ? — whose
first union with the state was baptized in tlie tears of the populace ; and
whose first founder drank the blood of innocent women and noble men,
as if it had been water ; and whose priests are yet hypocrites in church
and Satans at home. Sure this is the shame of England without one ray
of her glory. Sure this is the meanness of England, without one shadow
of her magnanimity. The day of Great Britain’s retribution will come,
amid the awful thunderings of God, whose images have been destroyed
and defaced by her most unrighteous laws ? when the Herodess who
now sits upon a throne of gold, clothed in purple and fine linen, shall be >
cast down, and with her blood alone can atonement be made for the thou*
44
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
sand starving mothers, and withered children who have perished in their
shrivelled arms. The First Charles’s fate is not yet forgotten by the dem¬
ocratic hearts of England; and the spirit of Cromwell now burns in a
thousand crushed and bruised hearts — and the scaffold of Louis the Six-
teenth beacons forth the fact, that the people may, if they will, be free.
The materials are now gathering, whose combustion will shiver the
bloody throne of despotism to atoms ; and the title of “ king” is yet to be
unknown upon the face of the earth. Her cup is not yet filled: the fam¬
ished stealers of bread — the oppressed of the loathsome mines and horrid
factories — the outcast mothers and the starveling children, have yet to be
avenged ; for “ vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord, “ and I will repay it.”
^ ^ * Jj:
The American minister, Mr. Everett, was very kind, and procured us
a passage to New-York. My companion, Mr. Dresser, was ill during a
greater part of the voyage, and was confined to his room while here.
The streets were lighted at mid-day with gas, and the fog was very dense,
so that I never saw the sun but once while I was in London, something
over two weeks.. We now embarked on board the Quebec, and after be¬
ing at sea six weeks, we came in sight of my native land. That night I
slept but little ; my joy Avas beyond the power of words — I felt with the
poet :
“ Speed, speed, my dear vessel, tlie shore is in sight. —
The sea-breeze is fair, we shall anchor to-night.
To-morrow at sunrise, once more shall I stand
On the sea-beaten shore of my own native land.”
I Avould here thank the generous-hearled William Lyon Mackenzie,
\vhose gentlemanly sympathy and hos[)itality v/as extended to us Avhile in
the city ; and in tlie course of a few days the prodigal son had returned
to the house of his father. Through all my wanderings, a kind of guid¬
ing power, as if to answer the prayers of my aged father, ]}reservcd me
from danger and despair, and at last guided me back to his arms. The
joy of being with my brothers and sisters, kindred and friends ; and the
crowded assemblies who hailed me home, made me feel more as if I was
in a pleasant dream than a stern reality. I bless Cod, Avho hath snatch¬
ed me from the hands of the oppressor ; and my dear father, in the full¬
ness of his heart, truly exclaimed : “ This my son was dead, and is alive
again — he was lost and is found !”
I iiere insert the letter Avhich the editors of the New-York Tribune
kindly published, that any who may read tin's work, can have an oppor-
tunity of inquiring by mail alter their exiled friends :
“New-York, February 17th, 1844.
“ To the Editors of The Tribune :
“ The undersigned were engaged with Col. Von Schoultz in the affair of
the Windmill, near Prescott, in November, 1838. They w^re tried by a
militia court-martial at Kingston, Canada, and sentenced to death, but sent
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
45
to Van Dieman’s land as convicts ; where, after a residence of nearly four
years, they were forgiven and allowed to return to their native country
by Sir John Franklin, the British governor.
“ On our voyage out, we doubled the Cape of Good Hope ; on our voy¬
age home, we doubled Cape Horn — performing, in all, a journey of upward
of thirty thousand miles, and sailing once, at least, round the world.
“ As there are fifty-four of our comrades who were under Von Schoultz,
still in captivity, we think it a duty to them and their relatives, to offer
the public an account of their present circumstances, so far as the same
are known to us.
To do this in the most satisfactory manner, we here name them seve¬
rally. They are all in tolerable health, except Thomas Stockton, who
is in a consumption. vSevere treatment and other causes, which it would
only excite unkind feelings for us to dwell upon, have made great inroads
upon many constitutions, once very strong ; and should it be the pleasure
of the British Government to release them, seeing that it is on the most
friendly terms with ours, and perfect peace prevailing on this continent,
their wives, sisters, parents adid other relatives may expect to meet with
men broken down, care-worn, or in many, if not in most cases, friends who
have painfully endured a very heavy, and, as some think, most unmeri¬
ted bondage.
“ Their names are : David Allen, Orlin Blodgett, George T. Brown,
Robert G. Collins, Luther Darby, William Gates, John Morrisset, James
Pearce, Joseph Thomson, John Berry, Chauncey Bugby, Patrick White,
Thomas Baker, John Cronkhite, John Thomas, Nathan Whiting, Riley
Whitney, Edward A. Wilson, Samuel Washburn, Bemis Woodbury, John
Bradley, James Inglish, Joseph Lafore, Daniel Liscomb, Hiram Loop,
Calvin and Chauncey Matthews, Andrew Moore, Jehiel H. Martin, Hugh
Calhoun, Leonard Delano, Moses A. Dutcher, Elon Fellowes, Michael
Frier, Manuel Gerrison, Gideon A. Goodrich, Nelson and Jeremiah Griggs,
John Gillmaii, Daniel D. Heustis, Garret Hicks, David House, Hiram
Sharp, Henry Shew, Orin W. Smith, Joseph W. Stewart, Foster Martin,
Ira Polly, Jacob Paddock, William and Solomon Reynolds, Asa H.
Richardson, and John G. Swansburgh. Also T. Stockton, who is in ill
health.
“ The following Prescott prisoners are dead : Anson Owen, Asa Priest,
Lysander Curtis, John Stuart of Ohio, William Nottage, and Andrew
Leaper.
The above are nearly all Americans. The prisoners from Windsor
and the Short Hills, partly Canadian and partly from the United States,
are in tolerable health, except Robert Marsh, who is consumptive. Their
names are, Chauncey Sheldon, Elijah C. Woodman, Michael Murray,
John H. Simmons, Alvin B. Sweet, Simeon Goodrich, James M. Acheson,
Elijah Stevens, John C. Williams, Samuel Snow, Riley M. Stewart, John
Sprague, John B. Tyrrell, James DeWitt Fero, Henry V. Barnum, John
46
WRIGHT’S NARRATIVE.
Varnum, James Waggoner, Norman Mallory, Horace Cooley, John Grant,
Lynus W. Miller (student at law,) and Joseph Stewart.
“ Of these, L. W. Miller and Joseph Stewart are at Port Arthur, a
place of additional punishment. They attempted to recover their free¬
dom, and suffer accordingly.
“ The prisoners were in hopes that when President Tyler and Mr.
Webster concluded the late Treaty with Britain, through Lord Ashbur¬
ton, and when Canada got a new constitution, their hard fate would be
remembered ; but no one of these on the island knows of any steps taken
for a release. Mr. Everett, our minister at London, told us he was do¬
ing what he could for his unhappy countrymen, but thought it was very
doubtful whether they would be allowed again to see their native land.
We were five months on the passage from Van Dieman’s Land to Lon¬
don, and Mr. Everett got us a ship to New-York.
“We say it with truth and sincerity, that we would not of choice pass
the rest of our lives on Van Dieman’s Land, if the whole island were
given to us in freehold as a gift ; and as there can be no fear that our un¬
fortunate friends who remain there will ever again desire to interfere with
Canada, we would entreat the generous arid humane to exert themselves
to procure their release. We have not to complain of unusual harshness
toward ourselves, and yet both of us have often wished to be relieved by
death from the horrid bondage entailed on those who were situated as we
were. To be obliged to drag out an existence in such a convict colony,
and among such a population, is, in itself, a punishment severe beyond our
power to describe.
“ Several parties, in all about one thousand five hundred men, were
placed last May under proper officers by the governor, for the purpose of
securing four criminals guilty of murder, &c. We were in one of these
parties by whom the criminals were secured ; and this and general good
conduct procured several persons their liberty, among whom we two were
so fortunate as to be included.
Morrisset, Murry, and Lafore, are, we think, from Lower Canada.
“ W e cun speak more decidedly as to our comrades from Prescott,
Windsor, and the Short Hills, above named, because when we got our
freedom, we visited most of them, though scattered through the interior
of the country, following their several trades or occupations. One of us,
Aaron Dresser, resides in Alexandria, Jefferson county — the other, Ste¬
phen S. Wright, lives in Denmark, Lewis county, both in New-York State.
We will be happy to reply to any post-paid letters from the relatives of
our comrades, and to give them any further information in our power.
“ AARON DRESSER,
“ STEPHEN S. WRIGHT.”
THE END.
APPENDIX.
NOTE FIRST.
The cause of the Patriots at the battle of Prescott, justified by the Reverend Mar¬
cus Smith, of the Presbyterian Church at Watertown, in a funeral discourse deliv¬
ered by him, December 9, 1839. The following is a brief extract :
“ But if they went to liberate the oppressed, to give to a people crushed by supe¬
rior force, and awed into reluctant submission by military fortresses and a standing
army, the opportunity to assert their rights and maintain them — if they had reason
to believe that a large majority of the people of Canada were partial to a republican
form of government, and were anxious and able to prove their patriotism by mi hon¬
orable appeal to arms, then their motives v ere benevolent and patriotic ; and though
they might have been deceived by misrepresentations as to the number of the reform¬
ers, or revolutionists ; thoagh the} might have erred on the practicability of the en¬
terprise, I am yet to be convinced that the Spartan baud who fell, and who were
taken at Prescott, deserve the opp’’obrious epithets of brigands and robbeis.
I'hese young men were born and nui cured undei a republican go\*ernment, and
the only Intelligent and stable republican government on earth. They were familiar
with the history of the Revolution, and the struggles of the patriots of ’76, and
their sympathies had been alternately awakened by those nations on the eastern and
western continents, who had attempted to achieve their freedom; and it was a set¬
tled principle of tlierr political faith, that every nation and people had a right to throw
ofi'aii aristocratical goveriunent, assert their independence, and assume a government
more in accordance with justice, humanity, and inalienable rights. Their sympathies
were republican, and they would have been hypocrites, ai'd unworthy of the inher¬
itance left them by their fathers, if they had not sympathized with those who were
.struggling lor independence. Republican patriotism is not a phantom of the brain,
but a deep principle of the heart. =i< ^ What if they could see that the enter¬
prise mid the invasion was a vioia.tion of the law's of neutrality, and placed their
only hope in the prompt redemption of those pledges they had received from the
Cmiadiaiis ? yet do these considerations prove that in the sight of God mid justice,
these young men arc to he ranked with freebooters and pirates ? Are the} to be
ranked with the blood-thirsty clans of the interior of Asia ? Young men, brought
up in virtuous and Christian families, and among peaceful and intelligent compan¬
ions ; are these men to be associated with the crimsoned assassin, who, to gratify
his avarice, and to glut his vengeance, destroys his victim and lives on the spoil ?
“ Li my opinion, justice and the page of history will never fix so foul amimputa-
tion on this unfortunate band of youth. They have no such motives to confess to
48
#
APPENDIX.
Gk)d or to man, and whatever character and awards may be assigned them by the
laws of nations or the court-martial of Canada, the decision of a Higher Court will
show that they were influenced by sympathy for the oppressed, and by love to that
form of government, most equal, just, and approved of God. Some might have
been influenced by the vain ambition of being the first to plant the Standard of
Liberty in Canada ; some might have been influenced by pride, and abhorrence of
the charge of cowardice ; some may have been lured by the prospect and proffers of
a reward of some of the consecmted glebes of that country, or some of the unoccu¬
pied wilds of the north. There are always visions and accompaniments of every
enterprise.
NOTE SECOND.
William Lyom Mackenzie clears his skirts of this unfortunate expedition in the
following words :
“ Of the getting up of this expedition, as we remarked before, we know nothing.
Of its failure, those of our citizens who were spectators after the arrival of the expe¬
dition on Monday, can have but one opinion. There were ample means both in men
and munitions, and no ivani of courage or disposition so far as most of the men were
concerned, to have captured Prescott. Indeed, Prescott might have been as easily
taken as Ogdensburgh — and every one knows that Ogdensburgh surrendered without
tiring a gun, and remained in possession of the leaders of the expedition and such
of their men as would not go over to Canada without them, far nearly a week. To
the want of courage, then, in those who secretly or publicly directed this expedition,
is the failure to capture Prescott to be attributed. The execution of this project by
the leaders of tlie expedition (for it seemed to be well-planned) is evidence, if evi¬
dence were wanting, that all eflbrts of this kind must depend for success upon a
better foundation than any other impulses or motives of action than an open, bold,
inherent love of liberty for its own sake, and an uncompromising hatred of tyranny
and oppression.”
Tire enemies of Mr. hlackenzie wished to attribute all the blame of the failure to
him. He had nothing to do with the expedition, save the agitating the great cause
of freedom. It was those who were immediately concerned that the public ought to
bring to retribution for the ungenerous part they acted in the battle of Prescott.
NOTE THIRD*
Of what does Canada complain ? The following extracts will show in what man-*
her she was aggrieved :
“ Of what does Canada complain — Of absence of secmity for life and property ;
of taxation without representation ; of the destruction of the liberty of the press ; of
the suspension of the habeas corpus ; of packed juries; of a judiciary bribed by, and
entirely dependent on, the crown; of the profligate waste of the public revenue
among swarms of foreign officials ; of the division of the public lands among com*
panics of foreign stock-jobbers and speculators, to the injury and degradation of in-
APPENDIX.
49
dustrious agriculturists and emigrants ; of education for the rich and none for the
poor ; of a dominant court-established church ; of the banishment, exile, imprison¬
ment, plunder, and wanton murder of Americans and other liberals ; of the annihilation
of the colonial constitution ; of the abolition of all representative form of government,
and of the erection on the ruins thereof of an arbitrary and vindictive military des¬
potism.”
* From Mrs. Jameson’s Rambles.
“ I saw, of course, something of the state of feeling on both sides, (says Mrs.
Jameson in her preface,) but not enough to venture a word on the subject. Upper
Canada appeared to me loyal in spirit, but resentful and repining under the sense of
injury, and suffering from the total absence of all sympathy on the part of the Eng¬
lish Government with the condition, the wants, the feelings, the capabilities of the
people and country. I do not mean to say that this want of sympathy now exists
to the same extent as formerly ; it has been abruptly and painfully awakened, but it
lias too long existed. In climate, in soil, in natural productions of every kind, the
Upper Province appeared to me superior to the Lower Province, and well calculated
to become the inexhaustible timber-yaid and granary of the Mother Country. The
H’ant of a sea-port, the want of security of property, the general mismanagement of
the government lands — these seemed to me the most prominent causes of the physi¬
cal depre.ssion of this splendid country, while the poverty and deficient education of
the people, and a plentiful lack of public spirit in those who were not of the people,
seemed sufficiently to account for the moral depression everywhere visible. Add a
system of mistakes and mal-administration, not chargeable to any one indivklual, or
any one measure, but to the whole tendency of our colonial government ; the per¬
petual change of officials and change of measurscs ; the fluctuatioji of principles
destroying all public confidence, and a degree of ignorance relative to the country
itself, not credible except to those who may have visited it ; and these three things
together, the w^ant of knowledge, the want of judgment, the want of sympathy, cm
the part of the Government, how caii we be surprised at the strangely anomalous
condition of the governed ? that of a land absolutely teeming with the richest capa¬
bilities, yet poor in population, in wealth, and in energy.”
NOTE FOURTH,
The following letters are taken from “ JMackenzie’s Gazette,” of Novemlier 24,
1838, regarding the affair of the Windmill.
“ Ogdbnsburoii, Friday, Xov. 17.
“ Dear Sir
“ I hasten to give you the latest news, although such as T have to relate, at pres¬
ent, is indeed melancholy. The Patriots have, until to-day, fairly held their own ;
but this day at noon, the Cobourg and five other steamboats, brought down eight
hundred British regular troops, and some of the heaviest cannon in the province.
These, added to one thousand militia, were too much for the Patriots. They were
surrounded by land, and the steamboats kept up a murderous fire from the river.
The Patriots fought nobly, but it was of no use ; they were driven back and scat¬
tered. At sunset they held out a flag of truce, which, though displayed three times,
4
50
APPENDIX.
the British did not regard ; they had orders to ‘ GIVE NO QUARTERS, AND
TAKE NO PRISONERS ! ’ At this time, two of the houses occupied by the
Patriots are burning, and the British regulars are around the windmill, looking on,
but not molested. There is no firing now on either side.
“ From all appearances, the Patriots are totally routed and annihilated ! It is
barely possible that a very few may have escaped, but probably not one will live to
tell the tale.
“ The excitement here is tremendous; the utmost indignation prevails against the
Patriot officers and leaders. It is a solemn tmth, that there was but one general
ofiicer in the action ! Had it not been for such cowardly scoundrels as W -
J - B — P - , N - , and several more such, this result would not have
taken place. Their lives are almc.st threatened by several of our most respectable
citizens, and they may suffer yet for sending innocent and brave men where they
dare not go themselves I
“ The battle was most splendid — about two thousand fighting at a time ; the num¬
ber of killed and wounded in this engagement cannot fall much short of five hun¬
dred. You may imagine how true and faithful the Patriots at the windmill fought,
when I tell you that P - K - and a few more went to them last night, at the
hazard of their lives, to take them off' their position, but they refused to leave,
saying that they were confident their friends would not desert them, and that there
were thousands of men in — — county, bound by their oaths to assist them, amh
that they would abide the issue. And now they are all, or nearly all, murdered !
“ Respectfully, &c.
‘'J. M. DOTY
“ 4 o’clock, P. M.
“ Mr. Jonah "WoodrufF has this moment arrived from Ogdensburgh, which place
he left at noon, yesterday. He saw one man — a Pole— who escaped, and who sup¬
posed himself to be the only one left alive. The Patriots rushed out of the mill, at,
or soon after sunset, with three white flags, but they were aP speared as they went
out. The mill’was then filled with British troops, and the Pole — w’ho escaped —
with two others, who had secreted themselves in the lower part of the mill, mingled
with the British troops, but his two companions were killed ; he himself escaped by
wearing the coat of Lieutenant Johnson, who was killed on Tuesday.
“ The Patriot force in the mill numbered one himdred and eleven men, besides
eleven wounded.
“ It is supposed that Colonel Von Schoultz, a Pole, who commanded the Patriot
force, killed himself.”
“ObdENsbuRgh, Friday, Nov. 16.
“ Dear Sir :
“ I hasten to give you the latest news, which is'indeed melancholy. The Patriots
have until to-day, fairly held their own ; but to-day at noon, the Cobourg and five
other boats, brought down eight hundred British regular troops, and some of the
heaviest cannon in the province. These, added to one thousand militia, were too
much for the Patriots. They were surroui:.ded by land, and the steamboats kept up
a murderous fire from the river. The Patriots fought nobly, but it was ©f no use ;
they were driven back and scattered.
At sunset they held out a flag of truce, which, though displayed three times, the
British did not regard; they had orders to “GIVE NO QUARTER, AND TAKE NO
PRISONERS !” At this time two of the houses occupied by the Patriots are burn-
APPENDIX.
ing, and the British regulars are around the windmill, looking on, but not molested.
There is no firing fiow on either side.
“ From all appearances the Patriots are totally routed and annihilated. It is barely
possible that a very few may have escaped, but probably not one will live to tell the
tale.
“ The battle was most splendid — about 2000 fighting at a time ; the number of killed
and wounded in this engagement cannot fall much short of 500. You may imagine
how true and faithful the Patriots at the windmill fought, when I tell you that
P - K - — and a few more went to them last night, at the hazard of their
lives, to take them off their position, but they refused to leave, saying that they w^ere
confident their friends would not desert them, that there w'^ere thousands of men in
- county, bound by their oaths to assist them, and that they w'ould abide
the issue. And now they are all, or nearly all, murdered !
“ Respectfully yours,
“J. M. DOTY’’
“ 4 o’clock, P. M.
“ Mr. Jonah Woodruft'has this moment arrived from Cgdensburgh, which place
lie left at noon yesterday. Ke saw one man, a Pole, who escaped, and w’ho sup¬
posed himself to be the only one left alive. The Patriots rushed out of the mill,
at, or soon after sunset, wdth three w'hrte flags, but they w^ere all speared as they w'ent
out.
“ The mill was then filled wdth British troops, and the Pole — who escaped — with
two others w^ho had secreted themselves in the lower part of the mill, mingled with
the British troops, but his P.vo companions were killed; he himself escaped by wear¬
ing the coat of Lieutenant Johnson, who was killed on Tuesday. The Patriot force
in the mill numbered 111 men, besides 1 1 woimded. Col. Woodruff, of Salina, is said
to be among the number killed.
ROYALIST ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF THE 16th INST.
Yesterday evening, the following dispatch from the Han. Lieut. Dundas of the
83rd. Regiment, was received at Head Quarters, Montreal. We trust that the Ameri¬
can brigands have only escaped the bullet and bayonet, to terminate their career on
the scaffold. — [Herald.
Prescott, Nov. 16, 1838.
“ Sir :
“ I have the honor to acquaint you, for the information of His Excellency the Com¬
mander of the Forces, that I came down here yesterday from Kingston with four
companies of the 83rd Regiment, two 18 pounders, and a howitzer, and made up from
the towm to a position about four hundred yards from the windmill, and adjoin¬
ing houses occupied by the brigands. They did not move or come out of the houses
to oppose my advance. The 18 pounders opened with good effect upon the stone
building near the mill. Capt. Sandon, with two gunboats, in which he canied two
18 pounders, took up a position below the windmill, which he commanded, but not
with much efl'ect. After cannonading these buildings for an hour, or rather more,
and observing the brigands to be quitting them and endeavoring to escape, I ordered
4*
52
APPENDIX.
the troops to advance ; very little resistance was offered by the party occupying the
windmill, but a small fire was opposed to us from the adjoining stone building.
“ It being dark before the troops got roimd these buildings, and the brigands in the
windmill having displayed a white flag, they were summoned to surrender them¬
selves unconditionally, which they did. Eighty-six prisoners were immediately
secured, and sixteen others, who were wounded, were removed from the mill as soon
as convenience could be found ; a large supply of arms, twenty-six kegs of powder^
and three pieces of ordnance fell into our hands.
“ Some of the brigands effected their escape from the buildings when darkness came
on, and hid themselves in the brushwood on the bank under the mill. I directed the
militia to scour this bank, and several prisoners were secured, among others a Pole,
calling himself Gen. Von Schoultz, who, it is understood, was the principal leader.
All buildings adjoining the mill we destroyed, but the latter I directed to be occupied
by a company of militia, and propose that it should be so, or entirely demolished.
“ I am hai)py to say the service was performed with the loss of one man only of
the 83rd Regiment.
“ Your most obedient servant,
“H. DUNDA.S,
“ Lieut. Col, 83rd Reg’t Commandant.
Capt. Coldie, A. D. C., Montreal.”
NOTE FIFTH.
For the following notices and letters, the author is indebted to the “Onondaga
Standard,” “Oswego Bulletin,” and “ Mackenzie’s Gazette.”
COLONEL VON 18CHOULTZ’S LETTER.
“Fort Henry, Dec. 1, 1833.
“Dear Sir:
“ I take the liberty to address you some few lines, begging you to make publicly
known the kind and civil treatment we have experienced from the officers and men
belonging to the eighty-third Regiment, so that if any member of that corps should
travel in the United States, our friends there may show them our gratitude. We
may fairly say that we owe our lives to them, because, had they not protected us
after we surrendered, ihe militia u'ould surely have killed the greater number of us.
The sheriff, in whose keeping we are, has treated us most kindly, and done every¬
thing in his power to better the situation in which we were thrown by the miserable
cowardice of General Birge, Bill Johnston, and their officers. If our prayers were
heard, those base rascals would have been delivered over to the British Government
by our own ; and we would then meet our own fate with perfect resignation.
“ When, on Monday night, the general did not come over or send us any reenforce¬
ment, and when none of the inhabitants or regulars did join us, the men, about one
hundred and seventy in number, begged me to take the command, and lead them
back to the LTnited States. We had then not a single boat for use, and the British
steamer Experiment, kept up a vigilant look-out on the river. We defended our¬
selves for some time against a superior enemy, during which time, I was confident
boats would be sent from the American shore to our assistance. None were pro -
APPENDIX.
63
cured, however, by the cowards. Tuesday morning we were attacked by land and
water, at about seven o'clock; the firing ceased at three o’clock in the afternoon,
when the British withdrew and left us in our position. We had about thirty killed
and womided. I had, during the night, sent a man across the river on a plank,
for boats. Tuesday evening, the general’s adjutant came over, telling me a schooner
Avoukl be over to take us aw'ay. We carried our wounded down on the bank, and
waited with anxiety for the arrival of the vessel, but none arrived. Wednesday
]>assed away, and the British began to surround us with considerable forces, haras¬
sing our flanks continually. I think, Thursday night a steamer from the American
shore approached us, and we were informed by a couple of men sent ashore, that it
was to take us away. We again carried out our wounded, but some few rifle shots
ti'om the British frightened the cowards away, and we were again left to ourselves.
“ Friday, at about mid-day, a parley came from the British, for the purpose
of taking away the killed that remained on the field, and I delivered over to him the
British wounded I had taken up, as I had no medical stores of any land, and it
vvould have been a base and unmanly policy to augment the sufierings of the
wounded enemy. One hour’s cessation of hostilities was granted for burying our
dead, but having no shovels, we could not do it — when the time was out, the British
steamers came down with heavy artillery, and the battle began. As I could get no
one to take the defence of the house on our left flank, I went there myself with ten
men. As I had suspected, that house was most strenuously attacked. From the
situation of the house, I was not able to see how it went on in the other houses and
the mill. We must have been surrounded by at least two thousand men, and a de¬
tachment of the eighty-third Regiment. My whole number of men, when this last
battle began, was one hundred and eight.
“ f kept my position, though tire roof crumbled to pieces over our heads, by the
British fire from their artillery, until dark, when I was informed that all had surren¬
dered: I also then surrendered. I was stripped to the shirt sleeves by the militia, in
the first moment of anger and fury. Even my bonnet was taken away. I lost my
watch, trunk, money, and the clothing I had on.
“We are tried by court-martial ! I have had my trial — am prepared for death.
“ Yours truly,
“ S. VW SCHOULTZ.
“ .J. R, Parker, Esq., Oswego.”
From the Oswego Bulletin,
THE MEMORY OF VON SCHOULTZ.
From a company of heroes, whose deeds shall hereafter furnish rich theme for
“ sweet lyre,” I select one, whose name even now makes burn with fiercer fires the
youthful blood ; and age, when heedful of his virtue, mourns his early loss, and
claims for him revenge. It is the name of Von Schoultz — a Polish patriot — driven
by the oppressors rod from his native land, he sought and found an asylum here
The story of Canadian wrongs early found in him a sympathizing listener In fancy,
he again saw Poland writhing under the despot’s heel, and a stranger in a strange
land, he opened his bosom to the complaints of the oppressed. “ MTrere liberty
dwelt there was his country,” For her had he crossed the Atlantic w^ve, and stand-
54
APPENDIX
ing oh otir shores, did her far-off voice of sorrow pierce the intervening glooih; and
he determined yet once more to strike for her a blow, and give the houseless wan¬
derer a home.
He has fallen— but not amid the stem conflict of the heady fight his genius had
directed and his commanding valor sustained. He is gone — but not from the hard
fought field of his glory did his immortal spirit take its flight. No — amid the exe¬
crations of maudlin brutality, and the fiend huzzas of a rabble rout, was that noble
man conducted as a felon to the gallows ; and there alone, with enemies, though all
unconquered still, did he submit in death to British mercy 1 1
“ Kingston Jail, 7th December, 1838.
“ When you get this letter I am no more. I have been informed that my execution
will take place to-morrow. May God forgive them who brought me to this untimely
death. I have made up my mind, and I forgive them. To-day I have been promised
a lawyer, to draw up my wall. I have appointed you my executor of said will. I
wrote to you in my former letter about my body. If the British government permit
it, I wish it may be delivered to you to be buried on your farm. I have no time to
write long to you, because I have great need of communicating with my Creator, and
preparing far his presence. The time has been very short that has been allowed. My
last wish to the Americans is, that they may not think of avenging my death. Let
no further blood be shed ; and believe me, from what 1 have seen, that all the stories
that were told about the sufferings of the Canadian people, were untrue. Give my
love to your sister, and tell her I think on her as on my mother. God reward her
for all her kindness. I further beg you to take care of W. Johnston, so that he may
find an honorable bread. Farewell, my dear friend ! God bless and protect you.
(Signed.)
“S. VON SCHOULTZ
“To Warren Green, Esq., Salina, State of New-York, United States.”
From the Franklin Gazette.
COLONEL VON SCHOULTZ.
Attempts have recently been made by the Tories of Canada, and their friends and
coadjutors in the States, to produce the impression that this lamented martyr of lib¬
erty was a Russian emissary, sent to this country by the Emperor Nicholas to aid
the rebelion in Canada. To rescue the name of Van Schoultz from the disgrace and
infamy w^hich such a charge, if established, would bring upon it, Xve copy the fol¬
lowing extract from a letter to the editor of the Syracuse Standard.
Niles Gustaf Schobtewiskii Von Sghoultz was of Swedish descent, a Pole
by birth, and of noble extraction. He had just finished an education, which versed
him deeply in the Sciences, both useful and ornamental, and had acquired the highest
literary honors of the principal and most celebrated Universities of Northern Europe,
when he found himself engaged in that sanguinary and unequal contest between
Poland and Russia, the unhappy termination of \vhich lost to himself a country, and
to that unfortunate country everything but a name. As he was ever extremely
modest in his pretensions, I have seldom heard him revert to personal achievements
incidental to events so memorable, and then only imder circumstanees of the highest
excitement. But I have leaint from these ocxasional departures from self-reservci
APPENDIX.
55
and incontestibly from other sources, that the important part he enacted was bril¬
liant with heoric adventures and hair-breadth escapes, the bare recital of which is cal¬
culated to enchain and captivate the most casual listener. Certain it is, he signalized
himself amid a host of heroes, for his rise was sudden, from the comparative obscu¬
rity of the scholar to the very responsible command of a colonel.
“ In that sanguinary and decisive struggle before the walls of Warsaw, his father
and a brother fell martyrs to the sacred cause of liberty. His mother and a sister
fled in the disguise of peasants, but '^ere taken and banished to Russia, and are now
confined to a space of ten miles square of that Empire. Himself gashed and scarred
with wounds, but covered with imperishable glory — a fugitive wandering from coim-
try to country — friends and fortune lost, despoiled of home and kindred, with a con¬
stitution much impared, he finally effected a landing on our shores, commonly
denominated “ the home of the brave and the land of the free.” He evidently has
been a traveller, as is to be inferred from his own declarations, as well as from rich
stores of information he has acquired from actual observation. Sweden, Denmark,
Finland, Lapland, Norway, Germany, Holland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France,
Spain, Portugal, England, and finally America have been the theatre of his travels, and
he had not only acquired a general geographical knowledge of them all but an inti¬
mate acquaintance with the habits, manners and customs of their inhabitants. I have
heard him dwell long and eloquently on these, to me, novel and interesting topics — of
Polar snows, and Italian skies, and of burning African suns — he had served beneath
the scorching rays of the latter, and dwelt under the benign influence of the former —
of Florence, its statuary, its picture galleries, and above all, of the urbanity and hos¬
pitality of its inhabitants, he was ecstatic in praise. He spoke eight different dialects,
but, at the time of his arrival here, he had only an imperfect knowledge of our own.
His contiguity to, and his father’s interest in the celebrated mines of Cracow, led him
to an intimate knowledge of the manufacture of our principal and staple article, salt.
Thrown upon his own resourses, in a land of strangers, divested of every vestige of
property, but a few valuable family relics, he cast about him with his usual energy
for the means of a livelihood, and these considerations brought him to the Onondaga
salines in the fall of 1836. Here he fitted up a small laboratory — made his experi¬
ments — became confirmed in the truth of his own theory, and succeeded in convin¬
cing, at least one individual, of the practicability and utility of his improvement. In
short he proceeded to Washington — obtained Letters Patent — visited and analyzed the
principal springs in Virginia — made the most favorable impressions wherever he
extended his business or acquaintance, and finally returned here according to prom¬
ise, and put two of our furnaces in operation on his plan successfully. While here,
he listened to the current report of Patriot suffering, of the oppressors and the
oppressed, of a vast population, seven-tenths of which waited the coming of the libe¬
rators with open and extended arms. His sympathizing soul was fired at the thought
of again being permitted to strike for freedom — his enthusiastic recklessness of dan¬
ger led him into its very vortex, and he has perished — ignominiously perished.
“ On a review of the sparkling incidents of his brief aird romantic career, I still think
on him as the creature of a high wrought fancy rather than of sober reality — like a
meteor of uncommon brilliancy, which has suddenly illumined the path of my dull
existence, and as suddenly disappeared for ever.
« WARREN GREEN.
Salina, December 28, 1838.”
The Onondaga Standard contains the following sketch of the life of Colonel Von
Schoultz.
He is a Polish refugee of a noble family, having commanded a regiment in the
56
APPENDIX.
Polisli revolution. His father was a general in the Polish army, and fell in the
sanguinary contest under the walls of Warsaw. The son was made a prisoner, but
with seventeen of his companio'iis in arms, made liis escape from the Kussian
Guards, and reached this country. The two other Poles, named as prisoners at
Kingston, belonged to his regiment in his native country. Von Schoultz has resided
in this town, a part of tlie time, for three years. He discovered a metliod of reiining
the brine of the Salt Springs of .some of its impurities, which was deemed valuable
upon the Canhawa river, though not employed to any great extent here. He once
sold his patent for one hundred thousand dollars, though we know net how much
lie ever realized from the sale.
“Von Schoultz is esteemed by those who know him, as a gentleman, a man of
science, a brave soldier, and a true patriot. He engaged in this expedition, because
he was told that it loas in the cause of liberty. Some incidents are related by those
^vho have witnes.sed his conduct at the windmill and at Prescott, which prove him
to have been a good engineer, a skilful commander, and a man of the most fearless
intrepidity. Had he fallen in battle, we might have regretted his fate, without im-
pu^ning its justice; but it would be a reproach to the very name of Englishman,
through all succeeding time, if this chivalrous champion of freedom .should be made
to expiate his errors — if errors they be — upon a scaffold.”
NOTE SIXTH.
For the following documents, the author is indebted to the kindness of G. M.
Biicklin, of Carthage, Jefferson county.
MR. ABBEY TO HIS SON.
“Fort Henry, Tuesday night, Dec. 11, 1838.
“ Ann ^murself my dear boy with fortitude, to hear the sad intelligence, that ere
these lines meet your eye, I am numbered with the dead. My zeal in the cause of
universal freedom has eventually co.st me my life. But let it be remembered, that
the unfortunate expedition I was engaged in, took a direction contrary to my views ;
but in this affair you can taice no interest at present, or at any other time further
than my reputation is concerned ; time will develope facts, when iny conduct and
intentions will be known and appreciated.
“■ When our condition became hopeless, I could have taken opportunity to have
made my escape across the line, but I could not bear the thoughts of de.serting those
brave, and many of them, worthy and amiable young men to destruction ; life, thus
preserved, would not be worth possessing.
“ In relation to my pecuniary affairs, you mu.st be frequently with and advise with
my friends’ counsel, and also with Mr. Wiley, and if it should be necessary to .sell
any of my real estate, let the village property be sold if possible.
“ As regards yourself, cultivate your mind, associate with honorable men, aim high
and let all your motives be of an exalted character; and now% my beloved son, I bid
jaru adieu for ever,
“ DORREPHUS /J3BEY.”
APPBNDIX.
57
TO HIS DAUGHTERS.
“December 11, 1838.
“ My dear Daughters :
“ Many severe trials have awaited you from your earliest childhood, but that which
you have now to endure, will require all your firmness ; you are now left without
a parent. To-morroio 7norning closes 7ny earthly scenes. You have to bear up
under the most tremendous ordeal that the mind of female sensibility ever endural.
But I have the consolation to believe, that your fortitude is equal to every contin¬
gency and ^ent of human life ; without the exercise of such sentiments, existence
would scarcely be a blessing. I leave you now orphans under the protection, I
trust, of my relations and personal friends. I particularly commend you to a great
friend of your mother, Mrs. Woodruff. Mr. Wiley will no doubt take much inte¬
rest in your welfare. I write from a gloomy cell, lying upon a bed of straw ; the
guard will soon call for'the light, and I must close. Since my sentence, I could not
procure materials for writing, till this late hour of my existence, which have just
been furnished me by an officer of the garrison, by direction of the sheriff. Present
me kindly to kindred and friends. I cannot discriminate : so farewell, my dear
children. Your affectionate father,
“DORREPHUS ABBEY,
“ To Amelia Augusta and Arabelta Abbey.
“ I slept soundly and quietly last night; I now feel as though I could meet the event
v.dth composure. The guard has not yet called. “ D. A.*’
“Fort Henry, November 28, 1838.
“ My dear son :
“ I this moment received your letter by the hands of the sheriff. I am in want of
nothing but what my friends at Watertown have already provided. Tell your dear
sisters that one or both of them had better go to Oswego. As for yourself, take good
counsel. ******^**:i<:t;>i,
“Whatever may be my fate, you must exercise firmness and resignation commen¬
surate to the trial ; we must sooner or later part ; it is of no great moment when and
in what manner I take my exit. If my life is sacrificed, I have the approbation of
an approving conscience, having been governed by integrity of purpose. Great de¬
lusion has, however, been entertained in relation to public opinion in Canada. They
are not prepared for republican institutions. All governments should conform to the
genius of the people,
“ Your affectionate father,
“ “ DORREPHUS ABBEY,”
From Mackenzie’s Journal of 183S,
December 12, 1838. — Dorrephus Abbey and Daniel George, of Watertown,
JSiew-York, hung at King.ston for defending American freedom. Captain Abbey left
two orphan children; was a native of Connecticut, a printer by profession. Mr.
Southwick sa)^s he employed him in his office, that he was an excellent workman,
sober and correct in his habits, became an editor of a journal in this State, was fru¬
gal and industrious, enjoying the re.spect of society ; brave, sincere, and. a republican
from principle, He died on the same scaffold as Von Schoultz, a martyr to the cause
58
APPENDIX.
of ’76. His blood cries for vengeance ! ! ! It is said that Mrs. George was refused
a sight of her husband, till he was dead.
NOTE SEVENTH.
December 10, 1838. Execution of Colonel Martin Woodruff, at Kingston
He was a deputy sheriff, Salina, Onondaga county, New-York. His enthusiasm in
favor of the Canadians was boundless — he came to Navy Island, with aid to the
Palriots — was ready to serve at French Creek had there been a commander, and ex¬
hibited great coolness and courage at the vrindmill. A few militia officers were
collected, who ordered him to execution. The Kingston Spectator thus describes the
scene of his murder, of which Victoria and her bloody cabinet heartily approved.
“ This gallant soldier was, about sunrise, brought from Fort Henry upon a rough
carter’s train or sleigh, attended by two priests, escorted by a party of volunteer cav¬
alry, to the jail, and soon after to the door leading to the scaffold, when the sheriff
read Arthur’s warrant to execute him ; he was then placed on the platform, the cap
pulled over his face, and the hangman fastened the rope to a hook in the beam over
head. The platform fell and presented a revolting, disgusting, and disgraceful scene.
The knot, instead of drawing tight under his ear, was brought to the chin ; it did
not slip, but left space enough to put a hand within ; the chief weight of the body
bearing upon the rope at the back of the neck The body was in great agitation,
and seemed to suffer greatly. The spectators said it was shameful management ;
when two hangmen came out, endeavored to strangle the sufferer, and not having
succeeded, they returned again to their disgusting work.” The Port Ontario Aurora
says : “ his neck was not broken till the hangman on the cross-tree had pulled him
up by the collar and let him fall four times in succession. After this, the inhuman
brute struck his heels several times into the breast of the dying man ! Shame on the
civilized barbarians ! No wonder the biped blood-hounds are hunted by the aveng¬
ing assassin.”
I
NOTE EIGHTH.
The following extracts show how much honor Sir Allan MacNab and Captain
Drew deserve from Americans.
“ The steamboat Caroline took out a license at Buffalo as a ferryboat for passen¬
gers — sailed to Tonawanda — thence to Schlosser, and twice between it and Navy
Island — Schlosser contains an old store-house and a small inn. At five o’clock in
the evening, the Caroline was moored at the wharf — the tavern being very full, a
number of the gentlemen took beds in the boat — in all, about thirty-three persons
slept there. A watch was placed on deck at eight o’clock, the watchmen unarmed
— there was only one pocket-pistol on board, and no powder; at midnight, the
Caroline was attacked by five boats, full of armed men, from the English army at
Chippewa, who killed (as themselves say) six men, or as the American account hag
APPENDIX.
59
it, eleven. A number were severely wounded, as the people in the American port
could make no resistance. To kill them was, therefore, a wanton assassination.
The cry of the assailants was, ‘ G — d d — n them — no quarter — fire ! fire ! ’ Amos
Durfee, of Buffalo, was found dead upon the dock, a musket-ball having passed
through his head. The Caroline sailed under the American flag, which the assail¬
ants took to Toronto, and displayed at annual festivals, m honor of this outrage.
She was set in a blaze, cut adrift and sent over the Falls of Niagara. We witnessed
the dreadful scene from Navy Island. The thrilling cry ran around that there were
living souls on board : and as the vessel, wrapt in vivid flame, which disclosed her
doom as it shone brightly on the water, was hurrying dowm the resistless rapids to
the tremendous cataract, the thunder of which, more awfully distinct in the midnight
stillness, horrified every mind with the presence of their inevitable fate ; numbers
caught, in fancy, the wails of dying wretches, hopelessly perishing by the double
horrors of a fate v/hich nothing could avert; and watched with agonized attention
the flaming mass, till it was hurried over the Falls to be crushed in everlasting dark¬
ness in the unfathomed tomb of waters below. Several Canadians who left the
Island in the Caroline that evening, to return next day, have not since been heard
of, and doubtless were among the murdered, or hid on board, and perished with the
ill-fated vessel. Why did the English pass Navy Island, in Canada, where the
Patriots had hoisted their flag, and waited for them, and attack an unarmed boat in
New- York State, in the dead of night, and butcher them in cold-blood ! Sir Francis
Head planned, ordered, and sanctioned the whole massacre ; the Queen of England,
and her government, approved of it and rewarded the villains. Drew is raised to
the rank of Captain of the Royal Navy, and commands on Lake Erie ; and McNab
is knighted, and received the Royal thanks. Sir John Colborne is also created
Lord Seaton !
“ McNab, in his dispatches, says ; ‘ 1 was informed by citizens from Buffalo, that
the Caroline w^oiild be down that night.’ The editor of the Star stated that he un¬
derstood that Doctor Thomas M. Foote, of the Commercial, and John McLean, ex¬
judge of Seneca county, were that night McNab’s guests in his camp. Was it so ?
The honorable John Elmsley, Toronto, a member of Head’s Government, attended
the anniversary dinner there, in honor of the heroes who defeated the Yankees.
He said : ‘ After a desperate engagement of some minutes, she was fired, and rode
upon the waters a blazing beacon of infamy until she sunk into the abyss beneath,’
(loud cheers.) ‘ Gentlemen, I glory in having been one of those who destroyed this
boat.’ On the same night, (29th December, ’3S,) says the Montreal Herald, ‘ Colonel
Holmes and the officers of his brigade, held their first regimental mess-dinner at Orr’s
hotel. The room was decorated with transparencies of her majesty, the Duke of
Wellington, Brittania, the steamer Caroline in flames, descending the Falls of
Niagara, and a globe, with the motto, ‘ The British empire, on which the sun never
sets.’”
NOTE NINTH.
This extract shows that the Windsor prisoners had about as hard fate as our¬
selves — another eHdence of ferocity of English tyrants :
December 4, 1838. Battle of Windsor. — The refugees and their friends, one
hundred and sixty-four strong, with arms for themselves only, borrow a steamboat
00
APPENDIX.
and cross from Detroit to Windsor, U. C. ; their watchword “ Remember Prescott !•*
they attack the barracks, carry and bum them; hum a British steamboat; take
twenty-five prisoners, touch no private property ; are attacked by Colonel Prince,
the militia, and a party of regulars from Sandwich ; a division only of their party
engaged in the defence, and fight nobly ; Colonel Putnam, a Canadian, nephew of
the celebrated General Putnam of the American Revolution, is killed ; also Major
Harvell, a gallant Kentuckyan, and Captain Lewis; the patrots retreat; some of them
taken by Prince, an English attorney from Cheltenham; he murders fotir of hie
prisoners, without trial, several hours after the engagement. His letters to Airey '
said that “ of the brigands and pirates tw^enty-one were killed, besides four who were
brought in just at the close and immediatelij after the engagement all of whom I
ordered to he shot upon the spot, and tvhkh was done accordingly.'^ Putnam was an
American bom, foify-nve years of age, and left a widow and eight children in Canada.
HLs wife is the niece of General Herkimer He wrapt the tri-colored flag round his
raangletl body, lay dowm, and expired.
Before leaving the field. Adjutant Cheesman, of the 2iid Essex, brought up a pris¬
oner whom he had taken. He surrendered him to Colonel Prince, wEo ordered him
to be immediately shot on the spot, and it w’as done. The man w’as first shot in the
shoulder, and severely though not mortally wmunded ; a second shot carried awmy
part of his cheek ; a third w'ounded him in the neck, after which he w^as bayoneted
to death ! The second prisoner (who was w^ounded,) wms brought into the town of
Sandwich, at least two hours after the engagement, and w^as ordered to be shot on the
spot. It was proposed to give him “ a run for his life." This barbarous proposi¬
tion v.'as acceded to, and in an instant a dozen muskets w^ere levelled for his execu¬
tion. At this moment Colonel William Pilliott exclaimed, ‘ I) — n you, you cowardly
rascals, arc. tj<ni going to murder your prisoner V' This exclamation for one instant
retard. d the fire of the party, but in the next the prisoner was brought to the ground;
he .sprang agrdn to his feet and ran round the comer of the fence, wEere he was met
and shot through the head. His name w'as Bennett, late a resident in the London
District. His death took place in ozir most puhlic street, and in the presence of sev-
iral ladies and children. Another prisoner named Dennison, also wmimded and
unarmed, taken after the action, was brought in durmg the morning. Charles Elliot,
Esn., who was present when Colonel Prince ordered this man to be shot, entreated
ti\at he might he reserved to be dealt w'ith according to the laws of the country ; but
Crilonel Prince’s reply was, “ D — n ike rascal, shoot him !" and it was done I !
When Colonel Prince reached Windsor, he w’^as informed that Stephen Miller, one
of the Patriots, w'as lying wounded at the house of Mr. William Johnston. The
man, whose leg had been shattei’ed by a muskel-bail, had been found by Francois
Baby, Esq. Colonel Prince gave the orders for his execution, and he was dragged
cut of the house and shot. The wounded man said he wras thirty-five years old,
o\vned a farm in the town of Florence, Huron county, State of Ohio, and he had a
wife, and a boy about twelve years old ; he talked about his wdfe and son, and
washed that his wafe might be written to. Soon after this a party of militia-men
dragged him out of the house, and shot him. ]Milk;r w’as wmunded betw^een seven
and eight in the morning, and was shot at noon : the action was over about eight
o’clock. JMiller Lay unburied all night in the street, and was completely disemboiv-
rlled, and other parts of him eaten by the hogs I Captain Broderick, of the regulars,
kit a prisoner in charge of a dragoon. Prince fell in with this prisoner, ordered
him to he taken from his guard and shot, which icas done ! A party of Indians
who w'ere sent into the woods, took seven prisoners. When they brought them out
a cry was laised, “ bayonet them but Mattin, one of the Indian braves, replied.
APPENDIX.
61
“ No, M'g are Christians ! we will not murder them /” But when these men were
delivered to Colonel Prince, he had them placed in a wagon, and when it reached
an open spot opposite the barracks, he commanded them to he taken out and shot I
On this, Mr. James cried, “ For God’s sake, do not let a white man murder those
whom an Indian spared !”
These affidavits exlribit the truth of the above statements concerning the atrocities
of Windsor
Upper Canada, ) The deposition of William Johnson, of Windsor, township
Western District, > of Sand\fich, said District, common school teacher, taken on
To wit: ) oath before us, Robert Mercer, Esq., and James Dougall,
Esq., two of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace of said District, this 22nd of Janu¬
ary, 1839
This deponent saith, that, on the fourth of December, 1838, the day of the battle
of Windsor, after the action, between seven and eight o’clock, he saw a man lying
wounded in the orchard of Francis Baby, Esq., of Windsor. The wounded man
was afterward carried and laid down in this deponent’s house, by order of the said
Francis Baby. The man was shot through the leg immediately below the knee ; it
was a wretched looking wound, and bled very much. Some person dressed the
wound and bandaged it to stop the bleeding, which operation this dejxinent witnessed.
This deponent also felt the man’s leg, which was shattered, and he could distinctly
hear the bones crack. While the man was lying in deponent’s house, a person came
in and told him that he would be shot, that he had not an hour to live, and that he
had better say his prayers. The wounded man then informed this deponent that his
name was Stephen Miller, that he was thirty-five years old, that he owned a farm in
the town of Florence, Huron County, State of Ohio, and that he had a wdfe and a
boy about twelve years old; he talked about his wife and son, and requested de¬
ponent to write to his wife, directing as above, near ^Birmingham post-office. The
said i^IiUer also entreated deponent to see Francis Baby, and prevail upon that gen¬
tleman to intercede for his life for two or three days, to enable him to see his wfe ;
this deponent accordingly went in search of Mr. Baby but could not find him.
This deponent further states, that a party of militia-men aftenvard came and drag¬
ged the said wounded Miller out of deponent’s house, and shot him in the open
space fronting the street, about twelve feet from the door of deponent’s house. The
said hliller was wounded between seven and eight o’clock on the morning of the
action aforesaid, and wms shot about twelve o’cloek, noon : the said action was over
about eight o’clock. The said Miller lay unhuried all night in the street and was
completely disembowelled, ajid other parts of him eaten by the hogs ! !
WILLIAM JOHNSON.
Western District, ) The deposition of John Gowan, of the towm of Sandwich,
To wit: j in said District, gentleman, taken on oath &;c., &c.
This deponent has read the foregoing affidavit of William Johnson, respecting tlie
shooting of the prisoner Stephen Miller, taken and wounded at the action of Wind¬
sor, the fourth of December, 1838, that this deponent was near Colonel Prince who
commanded our militia on that day, when the report ^\■as brought to Colonel Prince
that the said Miller was lying wounded in the house of the said Johnson ; this de¬
ponent heard Colonel Trince give the order to shoot the said prisoner, Stephen Miller,
which was done accordingly.
62
APPENDIX.
This ueponent further states, that he saw on the foilc vving day the remains of
said Miher, lying in the street disembowelled, and shockingly mutilated by the bogs,
JOHN COWAN.
Wr-bTEHN District, I I, Charles E. Anderson, of Sandwich, gentleman, do here-
To loit : ) by swear that I have read the foregoing affidavit of Wil¬
liam Johnson, of Windsor, said District, respecting the shooting of Stephen Miller, a
vmunded prisoner at Windsor, and I do swear that Colonel Prince did give ike order
to shoot the said Stephen Miller, which was done accordingly. It was I who reported
the circumstance to Colonel Prince, and stated to him at the same time that the said
Miller was wounded.
‘ CHARLES E. ANDERSON.
NOTE TENTH.
January 4, 1839. — This morning, Christopher Buckley, of Onondaga county;
Sylvester A. Lawton, of Hounsheld, Jefferson county; Russell Phelps, of Water-
town ; and Duncan Anderslon, of Pamelia, New-York, Prescott prisoners, gallant
and generous men, were escorted by the hireling soWiers of England from Fort
Henry to the front of the Court House, Kingston, Upper Canada, and butchered in
cold-blood, in the midst of the Canada snows. They were hung two at a time.
Colonel Dundas and his officers enjoying the scene. In the evening, there was a
ball and great rejoicings. These men had no trial, according to the laws of Canada.
Arthur selected some twelve or fifteen of his creatures, militia officers, bade them
try, and sentence the Americans, and they did so, without judge or jury. When
will these horrid murders be avenged ?
The following is the sentence that was passed upon them :
“ That you aiid each of you be taken to the jail from lohence you came, and that
on the ith day of the present month, of January, you and each of you, be drawn on
a hurdle to the place of execution, and that you be there hanged by the neck until
you are dead: and may God have mercy on your soulsT
We were on Saturday last called upon by old Mr. Lawton, of Lyme — the be¬
reaved, sorrow- stricken father of Sylvester A. Lawton — one of the ill-fated prisoners
who were executed at Kingston, (as our readers will recollect,) on the 4th of Janu¬
ary last. The old gentleman showed us two letters, written by his son, the day
before his execution, of very similar purport — one of which, in compliance with his
request, we publish below :
“ KiNesTON, Fort Henry, January 3, 1839,
“ Dear Parents :
“ I now take my pen to unite you a few lines, for the last time. Before these
few lines will reach you, I shall be no more ; but I do earnestly beg and beseech of
you not to mourn for me ; but to feel unlling to submit to the hand of God and re¬
joice with me, for I feel a perfect resignation to my fate, and feel willing to leave
APPENDIX.
63
you al} in the hand of God, for he is able to comfort you. Oh, dear father and mo-
tlier, do not repine nor murmur, but feel perfectly willing that I should leave this
world of sin and wo, and go home to Jesus. Oh, that you could feel to rejoice
with me, to think that my scul is so near the portals of eternal glory. I shall soon
leave this world behind me, with all its alluring vanities. 1 feel to exclabn wath the
Apostle Paul : ‘ Oh ! Death, where is thy sting ? Oh ! Grave, where is thy victory?’
“ 1 have selected tlie loth chapter of Proverbs, and 25th verse, (I think,) for my
funeral discourse — which is this : ‘ There is a way that seemeth light unto a man,
but the end thereof arc tiie ways of death.’ I should like, if convenient, to have it
preached at the school h.dii.se at Chaumoiit, by Mr, Whitman, of Indian Ridge. I
also want him to jead the 51 si Psalm, for it has been my prayer to God. I hope
that my death will be a warning to all Americans, to shun not only evil, but every
appearance of evil. Tell Mr. Chapman to impress upon the minds of all, the un-
reasonaVlciiess of interfering with the allairs of the people of Canada. The people
here feel for the prisoners. I have received much kindness, and better' treatment
from the officers of this place than I had reason to expect. The honorable high
sheriff has done his duty as an officer of the government to which he belongs — and
has treated us with feelings of humanity and kindness, for which he deserves the
thanks of every prisoner, and also of their friends.
“ Give my love to all the people of that vicinity. Tell them that I remember
them in my prayers, and hope to meet them in glory. * * . * *
Dear parents, I send you my love, and a long farewell, hoping to meet you in
heaven, where there will be no more separation.
“ Your most loving and
“ Affectionate son, till death,
“ SYLVESTER A. LAWTON »
NOTE ELEVENTH. ’
The following documents place sir George Arthur in no veiy enviable light before
a Christian and mercy-loving people. His speech to his parhament is sufficient to
condemn him in the eyes of all honest men.
From the Upper Canada Gazette, Toronto, February 27, 1839.
SIR GEORGE ARTHUR’S SPEECH TO HIS PARLIAMENT.
Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council : and, Gentlemen of the House of
Asssembly :
The internal tranquillity of the Province, and the present security of its frontier,
enable me, after a recess of unusual length, to meet you in Provincial Parliament.
The postponement of the pressent Session has been induced by the pressing and
paramount duties, in which many of you have been engaged, connected with the pub¬
lic defence, and the administration of justice. But we have now an opportunity to
turn our attention to devising measures for the peace, welfare, and good government
of the colony, free from the paralyzing suspicion of internal treachery, or the exas¬
perating influence of foreign aggressions ; and upon this happy result of the zeal,
constancy and bravery, of the loyal Upper Canadian people, under the most trying
circumstances, I offer you my hearty congratulations.
64
APPBNDIX.
The situation of the Province is so novel and peculiar, that i feel called upon to
exceed the ordinary limits of a speech at the opening of Parliament, in order to review
recent occurrences, and to trace effects to their causes, as a guide to present and future
legislation.
England, at peace with all the world, and relying implicitly, not only on the loy¬
alty of her North American subjects, but on the faith of treaties, and the existence of
most friendly relations with the United States, had gradually withdrawn most of her
troops from this Continent.
Encouraged by this absence of military power, the discontented in Lower Canada,
after a long and vexatious parliamentary opposition, and an obstinate rejection of
every conciliatory effort on the part of the government, at last broke out into open
rebellion ; and incited by their example, the disaffected in this province, confiden-
Lmlly relying on assistance from the neighboring frontier, and secure, in the event of
failure, of finding an asylum there, made a sudden attempt to overthrow this Gov¬
ernment, and to sever the Canadas from the Parent State.
The hopes of the disaffected in both provinces, however, met with signal disap¬
pointment; and in Upper Canada particularly, the militia were found, not only equal
to the immediate suppression of insun-ection, but a portion of its force from the
Eastern District, was enabled to march into Lower Canada, to assist in overawing
the disposition to revolt which still existed there.
Such would have been the end of rebellion in Upper Canada, had not the disaffec¬
tion, which grew originally out of the hope of Foreign interference, continued to
receive life and support from the same source. The repose gained was of short
continuance, for no sooner had some of the leading traitors escaped across the boun¬
dary, than they associated themselves with a number of the border population —
robbed the 'public arsenals there — and made several audacious, but signally unsuc¬
cessful attempts, to invade and make a lodgment on British territory.
The authorities of the United b’tates, having had ample time to suppress these out¬
rages, our militia were gradually withdrawn from the frontier, and were in the
course of being disbanded, when it was discovered that a body of foreigners and
traitoi's had sccrcily introduced, themselves into the province, from tire States of New
York and Michigan. Some of their emis.saries were dispatched into the London
District, while others ho])ed successfully to raise the standard of rebellion in the
Niagara District ; but the attempt was suppressed in the bud — the militia of the sur¬
rounding country at once rushed to arms, and captured .such of the banditti as did not
succeed in making good their flight to the American shore.
The wanton and violent de.struction of a British steamboat within American waters,
by a gang of ruffirms from the main-land of the United States, previously showed
that the feeling of hostility had not abated on the frontier; and circumstances
attended that outrage which indicated that it proceeded from an organized body of ene¬
mies. ftd"- This suspicion was immediately aftenvard strengthened by information,
taken upon oath, detailing the secret signs, orga.nization and intentions, of the society
of Patriot Hunters ; and the confessions and declarations of the captive foreigners
and traitors, who were taken in the Niagara District, corroborated this intelligence.
But notwithstanding the reasons 1 had for placing confidence in this information—
fii5-Lhe secrecy obseiwed by the conspirators — the extreme wickedness and rashness
of the proposed measure— THE SILENCE OF THE FRONTIER PRESS, BE¬
FORE SO CLAM0R0US<43C — and the quiet of the frontier towns, at one time so
agitated — were well calculated to cause the numbers and resources of the conspirators
to be underrated, and to induce a belief that the presumptuou.s project of invading
Canada would not be attempted.
APPENDIX.
65
After a short while, however, farther proof was given that a conspiracy was ac¬
tually organized, and that the combination extended along the whole line of the
frontier, from east to west. 1 thought, however, that the aecounts brought to me
must be exaggerated t and that the parties named as being accomplices, could never
have so far compromised their characters, as to have countenanced such a scheme ;
and though silently proceeding to make some essential preparations for defence, I
still did not entirely rely upon the statements which were at that time made to the
Government.
But as the information I continued to receive became more minute, and proceeded
from various quarters, I could no longer doubt that the confederacy comprised a body
of MANY THOUSAND PERSONS, whose numbers and resources were daily in¬
creasing; and what constituted the most revolting and alarming feature of this
odious transaction was, the positive declaration, that many persons of wealth, and
NOT A FEW PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES in the frontier cities and to\vTLS, had
intimately connected themselves with THIS CRIMINAL ALLIANCE.
As the crisis drew nearer, strangers, without ostensible business, and under various
pretences, were discovered to be scattered through the Province. It was ascertained
that constant intercourse was kept up between THE LODGES OF CONSPIRA¬
TORS IN THE UNITED STATES, and their adherents in Canada. The hopes
of the disaflbcted appeared suddenly to revive. The intelligence from various quar¬
ters conveyed to this Government became more definite, showing the immediate
intention of the enemy to be THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BRITISH STEAM¬
BOATS, and the seizing by surprise and simultaneously, several posts within the
Canadian boundaries, where the disloyal might rally around the invaders assembled
in arms, and procure re enforcements and supphes from the United States, without
the risk of any collision with the American Authorities. An insurrection in the
Lower Province was to be the signal for hostilities all along the line.
Under these circumstances, I took decisive measures to give immediate confidence
to the country, and to insure the security of the Province : and in now meeting you,
although 1 deeply deplore that her IMajesty’s faithful subjects have been exposed to
the greatest privations and hardships, and to the severest domestic injuries, I never¬
theless enjoy the satisfaction of believing, that o^\^ng to our state of preparation at
every point, the loss of valuable lives has been limited, THE IMORAL CHiVRAC-
TER of the people of Upper Canada strikingly exhibited, and a spirit roused through¬
out the Province, that will long survive passing events, and greatly tend to the
future strength, security, and tranquillity of the country.
After all the preparations that were so mmiy months in progress, and after the
expenditure of such large sums of money, voluntarily contributed, as are generally
given reluctantly even for national objects, the conspirators and revolutionists were
SO ENTIRELY OVERAWED as to have limited their operations to one attack
upon our frontier, near Prescott, and to another in the vicinity of Sandwich. Not
a subject of her Majesty joined them after their landing in both attempts they
were signally defeated — and the result was the destruction or capture of nearly the
whole of THE BANDITTI.
In alluding to tliese events, it is impossible for me to praise too highly the gallan¬
try of the militia, the fidelity and prompt services of THE INDIAN WARRIORS,
and the patriotism of a vast majority of the inhabitants of this Province, who liave
conspicuously vied with each other in the manife.station of a devoted attachment to
our MOST GRACIOUS Sovereign — of an ENIHUSIASTIC affection for their
country — and of deep regard for their revered Constitution.
Our great security against the dangers resulting from a coaaljinaticm between the
66
APPENDIX.
disafFeeted in the Proviiice, and their confederates among the population of the con¬
tiguous country, consists in O’ OUR HAPPY UNION XE with the British Empire.
The main foundation of the hopes of discontented persons in this province, and of
their foreign supporters, has been a mischievous notion industriously propagated,
that England would desert her transatlantic possessions in their hour of difficulty and
dansrer — that whenever the machinations of internal traitors, or threats of external
O
hostility, might render the protection of these colonies burthensome, the assistance
of the mother country would be withdrawn, and their loyal inhabitants left alone to
support a most unequal conflict. This false and pernicious opinion has given en¬
couragement to treason — influenced the conduct of the wavering — excited the appre¬
hensions of the timid — and even put to a severe test the constancy of the loyal and
resolute. IT HAS TURNED THE TIDE OF IMMIGRATION FROM
OUP SHORES — transferred the overflowings of British capital into' other channels —
mipaj’-ed public credit — depreciated the value of every description of property — and
in a. word, has been the prolific source of almost all our public calamities.
R.ecent events, however, have clearly demonstrated that the fidelity of the mass of
the peonle of this province is not to be shaken by the severest trials. Experience
has also p' oved, that under ail circunmtances you may confidently rely on dCr the
fostering care 4:?} of the British Empire; and I have been directed by her Majc.-ty
TION and support.
A t the same time, 1 do not wish to inspire you with a belief, which 1 am very far
fr »ni enle^’taming, that fjC' the dangers with V'hich we liave been threatened are at
an end.=lX> The hopes of oi:r enemies have certainly been greatly humbled, and
tiieir schemes disconcerted, hv the failure of their repeated attempts to seduce the
Queen’s suDjects from then' allegiance, and thus to overrun tire country ; but all the
motives in which these attempts origiimted — THE ID^V E OF .PLUNDER— an avidity
to seize our fertile lauds, and AN IMPATIENT DESIRE TO EXTEND RE¬
PUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS, continue to operate wuth unabated force, wdiile un-
Irappily new and deeper impresvsions have since been superadded. That men agitated
by such feelings wuJi remain quiet, longer than they are constrained by fear, is not la
he expected ; and while I most sincerely desire reconciliation, and coniure you to
promote it by every honorable means, I do not hesitate to assert, on the sm-p. ground
of experience, that UPON OUR OWN ABILITY TO REPEL AND PUNISH
HOSTILE AGGRESSION, WE MUST HENCEFORTH CHIEFLY DEPEND.
Among the considerations arising from, this impression, I deem it afivisable to invite
your early and serious attention to such amendments in our militia laws, as shall
place this force upon the best possible footing — efficient, but NOT BURTHEN-
SOME, either to the government, or to the people. '
One of my principal and most arduous duties has been the disposal of the NU¬
MEROUS CRIMINALS who have fallen into the hands of justice. With respect
to such of the Queen’s subjects as were concerned in the civil commotions during last
wdnter, her Majesty’s Government have uniformly desired merciful administra¬
tion -CiO of the law. In the punishment of the invaders of the province, I have acted
upon the same principle, and have anxiously endeavored to confine capital punish¬
ment withiii the narrowest limits, wdiich a due regard to the public welfare and se¬
curity would admit. But the reiteration of unprovoked injuries, called for increased
finnness in the administration of justice, and forced upon me the painful necessity
of making some severe examples.
The case of her Majesty’s subjects who have suftered in their persons or property,
claims your early attention. I’he wanton destruction of the steamboat Sir Robert
APPENDIX.
67
jPeeZ— the pillage of the farms on Pointe an Pele Island, and the river St. Clair — the
robberies at the Short Hills — the damage done at Prescott and Sandwich, with the
burning of the Thames steamer, form together an aggregate of extensive loss, most
serious to the sulferers, and have occasioned earnest application for relief.
It gives me the greatest pleasure to inform you, that her Majesty has been most
graciously pleased to extend to the wounded officers, non-commissioned officers and
men, of the Provincial militia, in arms siirce the insurrection last winter, the same
liberal provision as is granted to her Majesty’s regular land and naval forces : and to
make a similar beneficent provision for the widows of those officers in the Provin¬
cial corpse, who may have fallen in action.
^ ^
I HAVE, to a limited extent, EXERCISED THE POWER vested in me by the
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. In doing so, I have proceeded with the
greatest caution, and with a sincere desire, that no restraint might be imposed on
personal liberty, which the public safety did not imperatively demand.
The progress which this beautiful country seems destined to make in population
and wealth, HAS BEEN MATERIALLY OBSTRUCTED by the difficulties and
dangers with which it has, for some time past, been surrounded.
By THE GOODNESS OF AN OVER-RULING PROVIDENCE, those dangers
have, however, in a great degi. e been averted : and I humbly hope that THE SAME
ALMIGHTY ARM, WHICH HAS HITHERTO PROTECTED US, will soon
place Upper Car.ada in such a state of tranquillity and security, as will permit the
full development of her vast natural resources.
To accelerate the arrival of that period, and in cordial conjuncdon with you to
promote, by wise and salutjuy legislation, the prosperity and happiness of this inter¬
esting colony, will be the object of my earnest desire, and unceasing exertions.
“BcFFAiiO, Nov. 1843.
“ My Dear Sir :
“ I desire to assure you, that I fully corroborate all you say in the manuscripts
you read to me, relative to the Government and Island of Van Dieman’s Land, where
I resided for twelve years. I was very perfectly acquainted with the administration
of Colonel George Arthur, and himself, particularly. During - governorship
of thirteen years in Van Dieman’s Land, he signed the death-warrants of fifteen
hundred and eight persons, only eight of whom, were saved from the guillotine by
being sent to a penal settlement, and doomed to a life of toil in irons, far worse than
death. I have seen nine hanging on the same scaffold, at the same time, and four¬
teen ill one week. I heard Judge Montague, while on the bench, charging a mili¬
tary jury, and the attorney general, E. McDowal, while pleading for the crown,
say : ‘ That any number of -witnesses like these,’ (such as were then giving testi¬
mony,) ‘ could be procured for a bottle of rum and half a crown each, to bring
home to any person in the colony, any crime that might be laid to his charge.’ I
also saw natives executed after having undergone a mock trial, without the least
consciousness of what would be the result of what was going on. * * * *
“ I have the honor to be,
“ My dear sir, your obedient servant,
‘'JESSE MORRELL.”
This letter was addreased to Mr. Benjamin Wait, whose heroic wife shortened
our captivity.
5*
68
APPENDIX.
The succeetling extract speaks in volumes of the tyranny which Arthur invented
to torture the convicts and prisoners of Van Dieman’s Land. No wonder that his
cannibalish appetite was dissatisfied with a governorship in North America.
From a Review of the British House of Commons’ Report, in the London Spectator, Aug. 25.
??????
“ The punishments of convicts for crimes committed in the penal colonies are horri¬
ble. In 1834, one thousand persons v^ere employed in the chain-gangs of New
South Wales; and in 1837, seven hundred in those of Van Dieman’s Land. Gov¬
ernor Arthur said that this just punishment was ‘as severe a one as could be inflicted
on man and it is well known that Sir George is apt to believe that ‘ man ’ can
endure a good deal.
“ They are locked up from sunset to sunrise in the caravans or boxes used for
this description of persons, which hold from twenty to twenty-eight men, but in
v.diich the whole number can neither stand upright nor sit down at the same time,
(e.\:cept with their legs at right-angles to their bodies,) and which, in some instances,
do not allow more than eighteen inches in width for each individual to lie down upon
on the bare boards. They are kept to work under a strict military guard during the
day, and liable to suffer flagellation for trifling offences, such as an exhibition of
obstinacy, insolence, and the like. Being in chains, discipline is more easily pre¬
served among them, and escape more easily prevented than among the road parties
out of chains.
“ The soldiers employed to guard these chain-gangs frequently find their own friends
and relations among them, and themselves become drunken and vicious in the extreme.
For crimes of the greatest magnitude, not punishable by death, convicts ai’e trans¬
ported to Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, and Port Arthur. Port Arthur is on a
small and barren peninsula, connected with Van Dieman’s Land by a narrow strip
of land. Norfolk Island is a beautiful volcanic island, about one thousand miles
from the eastern shores of Australia, and, except in one place, inaccessible to boats.
This lovely spot has been converted into a perfect hell. The condition of the con¬
victs is one of unmitigated wretchedness. To escape from it, men have chopped off
the heads of their fellow-prisoners with hoes, knowing that they should be imme¬
diately sent to Sydney, to be tried and hanged ! Attempts at mutiny have not been
uncommon at Norfolk Island. In 1834, the mutineers took possession of the Island,
and killed some of the guard ; they were subsequently overpowered, and eleven were
executed. To Judge Barton, who tried them, one of these men observed, in a man¬
ner which the Judge said ‘ drew tears from his eyes and wrung his heart
“ ‘Let a man be what he will when he comes here, he is soon as bad as the rest :
a man’s heart is taken from him, and there is given to him the heart of a beast,’
“At Port Arthur, men commit murder, “ in order to enjoy the excitement of being
sent up to Hobart-town” to be tried and executed. Macquarrie Harbor (now aban¬
doned,) was a penal settlement of Van Dieman’s Land, of the same description as
Norfolk Island and Port Arthur ; and an account is given of the fate of the convicts
who attempted to escape from it, between the 3rd of Januaiy, 1822, and the 16th
of May, 1827. Of one hundred and sixteen who absconded, seventy-five perished
in the woods ; one was hanged for murdering and eating his companion ; two were
shot ; eight were murdered, and six eaten by their comrades ; twenty-four escaped to
the settled districts ; thirteen were hanged for bush-ranging, and two for murder ;
making altogether one liundred and one, out of the one hvmdred and sixteen who
came to an untimely end.
APPENDIX.
69
“ On the wh®le, the committee think that transportation, though so very unequal
and certain a punishment, is more severe than the accounts sent home by settlers and
criminals would lead ill-informed persons to suppose. It is a fact, however, that in
England transportation is not more dreaded than simple exile, by a large portion of
the classes whose habits and crimes render them more likely to experience its reali¬
ties. It is more feared in the country than in London, where it inspires little appre¬
hension.”
The above sketch, slight and faint compared to what is to be found in the report
and evidence, will give some idea of the state of the convict population exclusively.
Let us now turn to the condition of society generally in the penal colonies of Aus¬
tralia.
“ On this head, criminal statistics furnish appalling facts. In Van Dieman’s Land,
in 1837, the convicts were 18,000, and the free population 28,000 ; and the number
of persons brought before the police amounted to 17,000. One-seventh of the popu¬
lation were lined for drunkenness. In New South Wales, the number of convictions
for highway robbery alone exceeds the total number of convictions for all manner of
otfences in England, taking the difference of population into account. Rapes, mur¬
der, and attempts at murder, are as common in New South Wales, as petty larcenies
in Englaixl.
“ In short, in order to give an idea of the amount of crime in New South Wales,
let it be supposed that the 17,000 offenders who last year were tried and convicted
in this country of various offences, before the several courts of as-size and quarter-
sessions, had all of them been condemned for capital crimes ; that 7,000 of them
had been executed, and the remainder transported for life ; that, in addition, 70,000
other offenders had been convicted of the minor offences of forgery, sheep-stealing,
and the like ; then, in proportion to their respective populations, the state of crime
and punishment in England and her Australian colonies would have been precisely
the same.
“ Burglaries and robberies are committed in Sydney in the middle of the day. The
drunkenness, idleness, and carelessness of a large portion of the population, and
the want of coirtinuity in the buildings affording easy access to the backs of shops
and houses, and the means of escaping from the police, give great facilities to plun¬
derers. And even when offenders are taken, they are generally tried by juries com¬
posed chiefly of emancipist shop-keepers. The quantity of spirits annually con¬
sumed in New South Wales amounts to four gallons a-head. In Sydney, with a
free population of sixteen thousand, there were, in 1836, two hundred and nineteen
licensed public houses, and an immense number of unlicensed spirit-shops. These
tippling places were kept and frequented by the most abandoned wretches.
“ The disproportions of the sexes occasions crimes, which, to quote the words of
Captain Maconochie, ‘ make the blood curdle.’ Even the young children of re-
5})ectable setlers have been made the victims of unmentionable atrocities. It is im¬
possible to convey any idea of the horrors which the witnesses before the committee
shuddered to disclose :
“ All that defies tlie wwrst that pen expresees,”
IS let loose m Van Dieman’s Land.
“And this amount of sin and misery is annually increased by the direct operation
of the laws of England, framed forsooth, for the punishment and prevention of crime !
The philanthropists, who rail at American slavery, should turn their attention to
Van Dieman’s Land. The vice and wretchedness produced by negro slavery, are
absolutely^ of small account when contrasted with the atrocities of the transportation
system!” ;
70 APPENDIX.
These extracts, taken from papers published in Van Dieman’s Land, show how
very popular, and in what estimation he was held in by the people of the island —
this must be his true character after a twelve years trial.
From the Trumpeter.
Glorious News ! — At length the happy intelligence has arrived of the removal of
the most unpopular governor that ever ruled a British colony. Yes, reader, Colonel
Arthur is ordered home, and must this time obey the orders he has received from the
Secretary of State !
The downcast looks which formerly accompanied the greetings in the streets have
disappeared, and the happy, the glorious intelligence has to all appearances made
people ten years younger.
The colonists, to a man, rejoice — a splendid dinner is to be given on Thursday
week, to commemorate the happy day on which the glorious news arrived — A
GRAND ILLUMINATION will also be held the same evening, and fireworks of
all descriptions will be most profusely let off’ in honor of the occasion.
A public meeting is also to be called, in order to frame a petition to his Majesty,
to thank him for his kindness in listening to the prajers of the people— that Colonel
Arthur should be recalled !
Colonel Arthur is at last positively recalled — the official notice reached him by the
Elphirstone prison ship, on Tuesdy}. His successor is not named.
Never has it fallen to our lot to commnnicate to our readers such welcome intel¬
ligence as they find tliis day in our first sliort leader. It is with feelings of joy and
sincere thankfulness, that we heard the joyful news brought by the good ship
Elpliinstone, on Tuesday. We will teach our little ones to remember while they
live, and to te^ 'h their chddren to know the name of tlie ship that gladdened the
heart of many a desponding parent with the tidings, that the cause ©f their misery
and suffering, the evil genius of the colony, was at length ordered to repair to the
presence of his sovereign, to answer the load of charges preferred against him, by
some of the unhappy victims of his oppression during the last twelve years. This
day will indeed be a happy jubilee and rejoicing throughout this island, for to-day
will the glad tidings have reached all its inhabitants. We will relate the particulars
as we have collected them.
From the True Colonist.
A public meeting will immediately be called to thank the king, for havmg at
lengtli had mercy on his poor afflicted subjects in this colony, and to present a true
address to Colonel Arthur from the colonists. It is proposed to have an illumina¬
tion on Monday, with a bonfire and fireworks at the Battery Point. He will be
wafted from these shores with the sighs, the groans, and the curses of many a
broken-hearted parent, and many a destitute child, which owe their misery to the
foolish and wicked system of mis-government, by which the colony has been
rained. He found the colony rapidly rising to wealth and respectability — he has
left it sunk in debt and misery. He has neglected the useful roads, and ruined the
agricultural interest — he was the father of usury, the patron of hypocrisy, falsehood,
and deceit — the protector of perjury — and the rewarder of perjurers. His system,
and the example of his Government has destroyed all confidence between man and
man, and sapped the very foundation of society and morals. His name will long be
remembered with detestation and horror by thousands of the wretched victims of his
system.
APPENDIX.
71
From a Placard posted in Launcestown.
To-morrow ought to be a day of General Thanksgiving for the deliverance from
the iron hand of Governor Arthur. We have now a prospect of breathing. The
accursed gang of bloodsuckers will be destroyed. Boys will be seen no more upon
police benches, to insult respectable men. Perjury will cease to be countenanced,
and a gang of felons will no longer be permitted to violate the laws of civilized
society.
From the Launcestown Advertiser.
Throughout the ivhole period of his government, the military have been placed in
too prominent a position. Lieutenants and ensigns, fresh from the frolics of Chatham,
have been turned into justices of the peace ; and the whole administiation of the
colony has been pipe-clayed into a service of an amphibious, half-mihtary, half-
civil complexion.
From the True Colonist.
It was with feelings of the most sincere satisfaction, we announced in our last
number the arrival of the “good ship” Elphinstone, from England, bringing the
very gratifying intelligence of the recall of Colonel George Arihur, after an adminis¬
tration of twelve years; during the whole of which long period, the people have
been rendered wretched, unhappy, discontented, and miserable, by the misrule of his
Government.
Such was the extraordinary demand for Bent’s News, of Saturday last, in con¬
sequence of the intense anxiety of the people to obtain nn account of the recall of
Colonel A Ihur, that we have, with infinite pleasure, been obliged to print a .second
edition, and had not the publication of our journal been unnsuaily late, owing to the
drunkenness of our printers, occasioned too by the recall of so unpopular a governor,
our little, though popular News Register, would have still met with a more exten¬
sive sale by many hundreds.
We offer no apology in presenting our readers with the several accounts from
every newspaper published on the island — whatever may be their principles, either
Government or Official — Opposition or Independent — of the recall of Colonel Arthur.
From the Colonial Times.
Governor Arthur’s Recall ! ! Oh ! Glorious News ! ! — It was with the ut¬
most satisfaction that the inhabitants of Hobart Town welcomed the happy intelli¬
gence publicly made known on Wednesday la.st, that Colonel Arthur is forthwith to
be removed from this Government. * * * *
A worse British governor never ruled during the present century. * %
No sooner had the recall of Colonel Arthur become public, than, agreeable to his
system, his friends were ordered to “g-ei up an address.'’ It mattered not of what
nature the address was, but something or other must be done to send to the secretary
of state, in order to show how very much he was beloved. At first, a general ad¬
dress was tried, but it proved a total failure ! Mrs. Redder wrote out a very fair
one, which Mr. Redder signed and sent to the colonial treasurer, to gc round in his
carnage, and get as many signatures to it as he could ! Of course, the weight and
72
APPENDIX.
influence of the paymaster was sufficient to command the signatures of some, others
were in duty bound obliged to sign, having enriched themselves imder Colonel Ar¬
thur’s government. By degrees, it became necessary to confine the address entirely
to the Government officers, and after very — very numerous positive refusals to attach
names to suck a document, it made its sorry appearance with the sorry number of
ihirty-four !
The whole colony seems in motion ; the smallest township in the interior appears
quite animated, and but one feeling alone prevails, and that is delight that the ruler
who brought this colony from wealth to poverty, from abundance to famine, is about
to depart. Few people care who the successor may be, so that he be an hpnest man
— a wcn'se governor than Colonel Arthur cannot he, or one that would allow such a
ruinous system to prevail! It is lamentable, however, to think of the fate of those
colonists already sacrificed, and Colonel Arthur, were he made to disgorge all his
wealth, would make no reparation, vrorth notice, to the people whom he has ren¬
dered almost destitute of food !
NOTE TWELFTH.
Among all the phenomena which occasionally dispel the monotony of a voyage
to the Indies, I class the scenery of the setting sun on the tropical ocean, as surpass¬
ing, in sublimity and giandeur of imagery, all others. But while teeming in its
richness of light and shade, and irresistibly enchaining the eyes and imagination of
the traveller by its gorgeous and fantastic changes the experienced mariner takes
those glimpses of atmospherical pantomime as preludes of danger before the torna¬
does and hurricanes, which at periods devastate the tropical regions ; and fails not
to make speedy preparation for a recurrence of those sudden tempests which they
too often betoken. The. maiiners, leaning over the ship, (says St. Pierre, in his
studies of Nature,) admire in silence these aerial landscapes. Sometimes the sub¬
lime spectacle presents itself to them at the hour of prayer, and seems to invite them
to lift up their hearts and their voices to Heaven. It changes its appearance every
instant: what M*as just now luminous, becomes, in a manner, colored simply; and
what is now colored will be, by and by, in the shade. The forms are as impres.sive
as the shades. They are by turns, islands, hamlets, isles clothed with the palm-
trees, vast bridges stretching over rivers, fields of gold, amethysts and rubies — or
rather something more than all these — they are celestial colors and forms m hich no
pejicil can pretend to imitate, and which no language can describe.
NOTE THIRTEENTH.
I
The following is cut from the “ London Gazette,” showing the mildness and
magnanimity manifested toward American officials :
“ The fact is, the whole tribe of officials, from the servil® President up to the most
ragged of the mob sovereigns, hare acted a part of the basest duplicity* and done
APPENDIX.
73
everything in their power to succor villainy from retributive justice. With the fair¬
est promises of protection from American invasion, we have again and again been
attacked by their hordes of unpunished scoundrels. We have appealed to them in
vain — fair words are all we get. We have demanded punishment of the aggressors,
but it is left undone. They are protected and cherished. Van Buren has lied for
them — Marcy has lied for them — Generals Scott, Worth, and Wool have lied for
them — the district attorneys have all lied for them — and the whole host of journalists
throughout the broad Union have done nothing but utter falsehood upon falsehood to
screen a band of vagabonds, who, not content with violating their own laws, must
attempt to trample upon those of a neigliboring and friendly country. Richly does
The following lines e.^press beautifully the death of Nattage — and the poet
doubtless felt his subject :
DEATH 0F AN EXILE.
Tliou art gone to the grave, and there ’s none to deplore theo--
No kindred friends around thy desolate tomb.
No voice but the winds, chant a requiem o’er thee,
No epitaph points to the Exile's last home!
Thou art gone to the grave— to thy last earthly pillow ;
Thy wrongs, poor forsaken, were known but to thee;
No more art thou tossed on life’s troubled billow ;
From the cold blasts of sorrow, thy spirit is free.
Thou art gone to the grave, and all silent and lonely,
The star of thy being hath melted away,
And friendship’s last tear cannot even bemoan thee,
Unkown, and unwept, thou art gone to deeny
’rhou art gone to the grave, poor unfortunate stranger,
Thy sorrowing bosom’s last sigh had been given ;
Thou art gone to the exile’s last refuge from danger.
And O, may rich treasures await thee in heaven.
Thrice happy thou art, poor, forsaken, and lone.
If thou wert prepared thy last summons to hear.
While the dust sweetly sleeps in the mouldering tomb.,
Thy spirit awakes in a far brighter sphere
Farewell ! M'hen the light o*er yon azure oceai,
Shall fade, my vision no more to illume.
Oh ! may I but join thy ispt spirit’s devotion,
Where glory enriches thy heavenly home
74
APPENDIX.
From an Impartial Account of the Civil War in the Canadas, London, 1838.
??????
TH3 DECLARATION OF THE REFORMERS OF THE CITY
OF TORONTO TO THEIR FELLOW-REFORMERS
IN UPPER CANADA.
Tlie time I'as arrived, after nearly half a century’s forbearance under increasing
find agravated misrule, when the duty we owe our country and posterity requires
from m, the assertion of our rights and the redress of our wrongs.
Government is founded on the authority and is instituted for the benefit of a peo¬
ple ; wdien, therefore, any govornment long and systematically ceases to answer the
great ends of its foundation, the people have a natural right given them by their Cre¬
ator to seek after and establish such institutions as will yield the greatest quantity
of happiness to the gieatest number.
Our forbearance heretofore has only been rewarded with an aggravation of our
grievances ; and our past inattention to our rights has been ungenerously and um
justly urged as evidence of the surrender of them. We have now to choose on the
one hand, between submission to the same blighted pohcy as hath dssolated Ireland,
and, on the other hand, the patriotic achievement of cheap, honest, and responsible
government.
The right was conceded to the present United States at the close of a successful
revolution, to form a constitution for themselves ; and the loyalists, with their
descendants and others now peopling this portion of America, are entitled to the
same liberty without the shedding of blood — ^more they do not ask ; less they ought
not to have. But, while the revolution of the former has been rewarded with a
consecutive prosperity unexampled in the history of the world, the loyal valor of the
latter alone remains amid the blight of misgovernment to tell them what they might
have been, as the not less valiant sons of American Independence. Sir Francis Head
has too truly portrayed our country “ as standing in the flourishing continent of
North America like a girdled tree with its drooping branches.” But the laws of
nature do not, and those of man ought no longer to exhibit this invidious and humil¬
iating comparison.
The affairs of this country have been ever, against the spirit of the Constitutional
Act, subjected in the most injurious manner to the interferences and interdictions of a
succession of colonial ministers in England who have never visited the country, and
who can never possibly become acquainted with the state of parties, or the conduct
of public functionaries, except through official channels in the province, which are
ill calculated to convey information necessary to disclose official delinquencies, and
correct public abuses. A painful experience has proved how impracticable it is for
such a succession of strangers beneficially to direct and control the affairs of a people
four thousand miles off ; and being an impracticable system, felt to be intolerable by
those whose good it was professedly intended, it ought to be abolished, and the
domestic institutions of the province so improved and administered by the local
authorities as to render the people happy and contented. The system of baneful
domination has been uniformly furthered by a Lieutenant-Governor sent among us as
an uninformed, unsympathizing stranger, who, like Sir Francis, has not a single feel¬
ing in common with the people, and whose hopes and responsibilities begin and end
in Downing-street. And this baneful domination is further cherished by a legislative
APPENDIX.
75
council n*t elected, and, therefore irresponsible to the people for whom they legis¬
late, but appointed by the ever-changing colonial minister for life, from pensioners
on the bounty of the crown, official dependents, and needy expectants.
Under this moctery of human government we have been insulted, injured, and re¬
duced to the brink of ruin. The due influence and purity of all our institutions have
been utterly destroyed. Our governors are the mere instruments for effecting domina¬
tion from Downing-street ; legislative councillors liave been intimidated into executive
compliance, as in the case of the late Chief Justice Powell, Mr. Baby, and others ;
the executive council has been stript of every shadow' of responsibility and of every
shade of duty ; the freedom and purity of elections have lately received, under Sir
Francis Head, a final and irretrievable blow; our revenue has been and still is de¬
creasing to such an extent, as to render heavy additional taxation mdispensablc for
the payment of the interest of our public debt, incurred by a system of improvident
and profligate expenditure; our public lands, although a chief .source of W'eaith to a
new country, have been sold at a low' valuation to speculating companies in London,
and resold to the settlers at very advanced rates, the excess being remitted to England,
to the serious impoverishment of the countiy; the ministers of religion Iiave been
corrupted by the prostitution of the casual and territorial revenue, to salary and in¬
fluence them ; our clergy reserves, instead of being devoted to the purposes of general
education, though so much needed and loudly demanded, have been in part sold, to
the amount of upward of three hundred thousand dollars, paid into the military
chest, and sent to England ; numerous rectories have been established, against the
almost unanimous wishes of the people, with certain exclusive ecclesiastical spiritual
rights and privileges, according to the established Church of England, to the destruc¬
tion of equal religions rights ; public salaries, pensions, and sinecures, have been
augmented in number and amount, notwithstanding the impoverishment of our
revenue and country ; and the parliament has, under the name of arrearages, paid
the retrenchments made in past years by reform parliaments ; our judges have, in
spite of our condition, been doubled, and wholly selected from the most violent po¬
litical partisans against our equal civil and religious liberties ; and a court of chanceiy
suddenly adopted by a subservient parliament, against the long-cherished expectations
of the people against it, and its operation fearfully extended into the past, so as to
jeopardize every title and transaction from the beginning of the province to t*he pres¬
ent time. A law has been passed enabling magistrates, appointed during pleasure,
at the representation of a grand jury selected by a sheriff holding office during plea¬
sure, to tax the people at pleasure, without their previous knowledge or consent,
upon all their rateable property, to build and support workhouses for the refuge of
the paupers invited by Sir Francis from the parishes in Great Britain ; thus unjustly
and wickedly laying the foundation of a system which must result in taxation, pes¬
tilence, and famine. Public loans have been authorized by improvident legislation
to nearly eight millions of dollars, the surest way to make the people both poor and
dependent ; the parliament, subservient to Sir Francis Head’s blighting administration,
has, by an unconstitutional act, sanctioned by him, prolonged their duration after the
demise of the Crown, thereby evading their present responsibility to the people, de¬
priving them of the exercise of their elective franchise on the present occasion, and
extending the period of their unjust, unconstitutional and ruinous legislation with Sir
Francis Head; our best and most worthy citizens have been dismissed from the
bench of justice, from the militia and other stations of honor and usefulness, for ex¬
ercising their rights as freemen and attending public meetings for the regeneration of
our condition, as instanced in the cases of Doctor Baldwin, Messrs. Scatchard, John¬
son, Small, Ridout, and others ; those of our fellow-subjects who go to England to
1f6
APPENIMX.
represent our deplorable condition, are denied a hearing by a partial, unjust, and op¬
pressive government, while the authors and promoters of our wrongs are cordially
and graciously received, and enlisted in the cause of our further wrongs and mis-
government ; our public revenues are plundered and misapplied without redress, and
unavailable securities make up the late defalcation of Mr, P. Robinson, the com¬
missioner of public lands, to the amount of eighty thousand dollars. Interdicts are
continually sent by the colonial minister to the governor, and by the governor to the
provincial parliament, to restrain and render futile their legislation, which ought to
be free and unshackled ; these instructions, if favorable to the views and policy of
the enemies of our country, are rigidly observed ; if favorable to public liberty, they
ai‘e, as in the case of Earl Ripon’s dispatch, utterly contemned, even to the passing
of the ever-to-be-remembered and detestable everlasting salary Bill; Lord Glenelg
has sanctioned, in the king’s name, all the violations of truth and of the constitution
by Sir Francis Head, and both thanked and titled him for conduct, which, under any
civilized government, would be the ground of impeachment.
The British government, by themselves and through the Legislative council of
their appointment, have refused their assent to laws the most W’holesome and nec.es-
sary for the public good, among which we may enumerate the intestate estate equal
distribution bill ; the bill to sell the clergy reserves for educational purposes ;
the bill to remove the corrupt influence of the executive in the choosing of juries,
ana to secure a fair, free trial by jury ; the several bills to encourage emigration
from foreign parts ; the bills to secure the independence of the Assembly ; the
bill to amend the law of libel ; the bill to appoint commissioners to meet others
appointed by Lower Canada, to treat on matters of trade and other matters of deep
interest ; the bills to extend the blessings of education to the humbler classes in every
township, and to appropriate annually a sum of money for the purpose ; tlie bill to
dispose of the school lands in aid of education ; several bills for the improvement of
the highways ; the bill to secure independence to voters, by establishing the vote by
ballot ; the bill for the better regulation of elections of members of the Assembly, and
to provide that they be held at places convenient for the people; the bills for the
relief of Quakers, Menonists and Tunkers; the bill to amend the present oonoxious
court of request lav/s, by allowing the people to choose the commissioners, and to
have a trial by jury if desired; with other bills to improve the administration of jus¬
tice and diminish unnecessary costs ; the bill to amend the charter of King’s College
University, so as to remove its partial and arbitrary system of government and edu¬
cation ; and the bill to allow free competition in banking.
The king of England has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be
obtained ; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He
has interfered with the freedom of elections, and appointed elections to be held at
places dangerous, inconvenient, and unsafe for the people to asemble at, for the pur¬
pose of fatiguing them into his measures, through the agency of pretended represent¬
atives ; and has, through his Legislative Council, prevented provision being made
for quiet and peaceable elections, as in the case of the late returns at Beverly.
He has dissolved the late House of Assembly, for opposing with manly firmness
Sir Francis Head’s invasion on the rights of the people to a wholesome control
over the revenue, and for insisting that the persons conducting the government should
be responsible for their official conduct to the coimtry, through its representatives.
He has endeavored to prevent the peopling of this province and its advancement in
wealth ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners,
refusing to pass others to encourage tlieir migration hither, and raising the conffitions
APPENDIX.
77
of new appropriations of the public lands, large tracts of which he has bestowed
upon unworthy persons, his favorites, while deseiwing settlers from Germany, and
other countries, have been used cruelly.
He has rendered the administration of Justice liable to suspicion and distrust, by
obstructing laws for establishing a fair trial by Jury ; by refusing to exclude the
chief criminal judge from interfering in political business, and by selecting as the
judiciary violent and notorious partisans of his arbitrary power.
He has sent a standing army into the sister Province, to coerce them to his unlaw¬
ful and unconstitutional measures, in open violation of their rights and liberties, and
lias received with marks of high approbation military officers who interfered with
the citizens of Montreal, in the midst of an election of their representatives, and
brought the troops to coerce them, who shot several persons dead wantonly, in the
public streets.
Considering the great number of lucrative appointments held by strangers to the
country, whose chief merit appears to be their subserviency to any and every ad¬
ministration, we may say with our brother colonists of old: He has sent hither
swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
The English Parliament have interfered with our internal affairs and regulations,
by the passage of grievous and tyrannical enactments, for taxing us heavily without
our consent, for prohibiting us to purchase many articles of the first importance at
the cheapest European or American markets, and compelling us to buy such goods
and merchandise at an exorbitant price, in markets of which England has a monopoly.
They have passed resolutions for our coercion, of a character so cruel and arbi¬
trary, that Lord Chancellor Brougham has recorded on the Journals of the House of
Peers, that “ they set all considerations of sound policy, of generosity, and of justice
at defiance,” are wholly subversive of “ the fundamental principle of the British
Constitution, that no part of the taxes levied on the people shall be applied to any
purpose whatever, without the consent of the representatives in Parliament,” and
that the Canadian “ precedent of 1837, will ever after be cited in the support of such
oppressive proceedings, as often as the Commons of any Colony may withhold sup¬
plies, how justifiable soever their refusal may be;” and (adds his lordship) “those
proceedings, so closely resembling the fatal measures that severed the United States
from Great Britain, have their origin in principles, and derive their support from
reasonings, which form a prodigious contrast to the whole grounds, and the only
defence, of the policy during latter years, and so justly and so wisely sanctional by
tire Imperial Parliament, in administering the affairs of the mother country. Nor is
it easy to imagine that the inhabitants of either the American or the European
branches of the empire should contemplate so strange a contrast, without drawing
inferences therefrom discreditable to the character of the legislature, and injurious to
the future safety of the state, when they mark with what different measures we
mete to six liundred thousand inhabitants of a remote Province, unrepresented in
Parliament, and to six millions of our fellow citizens nearer home, and making
themselves heard by their representatives, the reflection will assuredly ari.se in Can¬
ada, and may possibly fiird its way into Ireland, that the sacred rules of justice, the
most worthy feelings of national generosity, and the soundest principles of enlight¬
ened policy, may be appealed to in vain, if the demands of the suitor be not also
supported by personal interests, and party views, and political fears, among those
whose aid he seeks ; wdiile alljnen perceiving that many persons have found them-
selves at liberty to hold a course toward an important but remote province, which
their constituents never would suffer to be pursued toward the most inconsiderable
burgh of the United Kingdom, an impression 'will inevitably be propagated most
78
APPENDIX,
dangerous to the nlaintenance of colonial dominion, that the people can never safely
intnist the powers of Government to any supreme authority not residing among
themselves.”
In every stage of these proceedings, we have petitioned for redress in the most
humble terms : our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injuries.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned
them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigra¬
tion and settlement here, we have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these
usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connection and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity.
W e, therefore, the Reformers of the City of Toronto, sympathizing with our fellow-
citizens here and throughout the North American Colonies, who desire to obtain
cheap, honest, and responsible government, the want of which has been the source
of all their past grievances, as its continuance would lead to their utter ruin and
desolation, are of opinion,
1. That the warmest thanks and admiration are due from the Reformers of Upper
Canada to the honorable Louis Joseph Papineau, Esq., Speaker of the House of
Assembly of Lower Canada, and hiS compatriots in and out of the Legislature, for
their past uniform, manly, and noble independence, in favor of civil and religious
liberty ; and for their present devoted, honorable and patriotic opposition to the at¬
tempt of the British Government to violate their constitution without their consent,
subvert the powers and privileges of their local parliament, and overawe them by
coercive measures into a disgraceful abandonment of their just and reasonable wishes.
And that the Reformers of Upper Canada are called upon by every tie of feel¬
ing, interest, and duty, to make common cause with their fellow-citizens of Lower
Canada, whose successful coercion would doubtless be in time visited upon us, and the
redress of whose grievances rvould be the best guarantee for the redress of our own.
To render this cooperation the more effectual, we earnestly recommend to our
fellow citizens that they exert themselves to organize political associations ; that
public meetings be held throughout the province ; and that a convention of delegates
be elected, and assembled at Toronto, to take into consideration the political con¬
dition of Upper Canada, with authority to its members to appoint commissioners to
meet others to be named on behalf of Lower Canada and any of the other colonies,
armed with suitable powers as a Congress, to seek an effectual remedy for the griev¬
ances of the colonies.
T. D. MORRISON, Chairman of Committee.
JOHN ELLIOT, Secretary.
Committee.
#
David Gibson,
John Mackintosh,
William J. O’Gradv,
Edward Wright,
Robert McKay,
Thomas Elliott,
E. B. Gilbert,
John Montgomery,
John Edward Tims,
James H. Price,
John Doel,
M. Reynolds,
James Armstrong,
James Hunter,
John Armstrong,
William Ketchum,
William L. Mackenzie.
APPENDIX.
The kindness of heart which the venerable Thomas O’Connor has exhibited in the
following address to the humane, on behalf of suffering innocence in Canada, is
worthy of an Irish patriot and sufferer for liberty in the memorable 1798. We hope
it will be responded to. It is also pleasing to see the excellent Dr. M’Nevin among
the foremost friends of the injured Canadians. These great and good men have not
forgotten their own and their friends’ sufferings forty years ago, in the like cause
against the same oppressor. Had the race who witnessed the revolution of 1776 not
passed away, the patriots of the north would hot now be looked on by the authori¬
ties of Washington and New-York with a distrust and suspicion which outvies the
hatred of their British tyrants :
TO THE HUMANE.
An effort has been made in Canada to introduce into that country an altered form
of governm.8nt ; the people resolved to shake off their colonial character, and have
aspired to the rank of a nation. As not unfrequent in such cases, the early efforts
have been disastrous. Inexperienced, imperfectly organized, imperfectly armed, and
cut off from reinforcements, victory to the patriots was nearly impossible. The
chivalrous band which dared to oppose itself to a disciplined enemy of more than three
times its number, possessmg still greater advantage in the materiel of war, must,
whether we approve or disapprove its motive, command the admiration due to intre¬
pid valor. If history prove faithful, justice will be done by posterity to the memoiy
of these avaunt asserters of hberty, the forlorn-hope of a people resolved to be free.
An investigation of the prudence or imprudence of the outbreak in Canada, belongs
solely to the Canadians themselve.s. The consideration whether, if successful, it
would produce good or evil, is exclusively their province. There is but one point,
in which it can be legitimately viewed by those not immediately involved in the con¬
sequences : the people of Canada had a right to assume self-government, whenever
they deemed themselves capable to exercise and maintain it. With their calculations
or miscalculations, others have no proper concern. A denial of this principle would
be a virtual arraignment of the motives of Washington, Franklin, Hancock, Jeffer¬
son, Lafayette, Montgomery, Jackson, and other sages, soldiers, and statesmen of
the American revolution ; it would be a strewment of the graves of the dead with
contumely and reproach, a direction of the finger of contempt and scorn toward the
few survivors of the immortal band who yet linger in a land they saved by their
labor, and moistened by their blood.
The patriots have been defeated. Fire, sword, and pillage, have marked the track
of an unsparing conqueror ; the families of the captured, the wounded, and the slain,
many of the wounded themselves, and others whose habitations lay in the path of
the vanquished, and were plundered and destroyed, have sought refuge within the
United States. In a northern climate, in the commencement of winter, they are
without house or home, except such as sympathizing hospitality tenders; without
food or clothing, except the little of the latter which they snatched away from the
grasp of the robber. Neutrality may be an incumbent duty, but it has its limits ; it
interferes not with the good offices of humanity, it blunts not the heart, it forbids not
the extension of our charities. To relieve the poor and the distressed is a holy work,
which no human power has a right to control. As one of a committee appointed to
seek relief for the suffering Canadians, I will gladly receive, personally, or through
the post-office, 9ny contributions that may be offered through .me, and will place it
80
APPENDIX.
ill the proper channel of transmisssion. I am unable to undergo the exertion of
much walking, owing to my advanced age, and must offer this as my apology for
not waiting on all those from whom I would expect the much needed aid. This
cause compels me to resort to the present mode of application.
THOMAS O’CONNOR, No. 1, St Marks Place
New- York, December 7th, 1838.
• A
u
J
[
V
i¬
i
r
•I
I
(
»
i
I
>k
I
t
a:
'i
(
)
%'
ii’
f.
it
", v-'f '
■’Xr"''
’f.
\.'>L- •,
, „ :m^0i0mkkm
■:;v . .; ,. ^ ;■ ■
' i ■ ' ! ■"' ' •■•' V ' *' ’’ •' • ';' ''jy -, ■
■'■ '.^l' / " -^v' ‘ ; ' #V
■•‘7'v •■’•• •!^v."»v‘
vv :/ :>;/■
'-*.,• ' ''•■ ;V • i^i\ ,:. I'**:
"' ,' ^'^' '■ ■ -?•■ •■■■■' ; ■ '■ •"!■. '* * .’’'•''•■ ^! v;-';)^*'* vV.'. -’W' ■ uiv^V
V,4, ■» . ' '‘v • ■•' fl^
.f { vaL.
'. .'!■!-. 'I* ■■• 'i - ■■
.”■ y;. ■•■• ‘/.f- ' ' •'v'..^ •*•'
slfeS®
('■j ‘ V'. ■ '.1-'^ ^.i;,
\ky% pyy-m
'w4'yit
W'-'y'M
yy ' "•'■.>
Tt- ^ c •■ '•:■ ■ . ■■ ''■• •fC'-v#'-,-;
y'j.i :■;;"■
ys.
' '.-''i ."M I -y.' .T’.*,- v
'■. -ks/W '.vA>U,4-:«.v':.>v;, ',
,. '■'<.' v'vX.'.y,.': .
■ ■ ■ r^i'yyyy'y^^^Svfyy ''k-'W
■' ■' ' .: ■■ k , . ' .‘ ■ V' ^'; : ■
!y 'W- 4"‘'-'>.»' ■■ > '
iMsSifMS^y&yy ;
^ \ W'* A*'- * ^ '^1,'
',<• • ,«. <? « ..ji.'V'iVk .>• 1,( ,■ V,
'■'■^i' '•' ('1 '• ■ {vVv .« * !
i ‘ ', Vv V ''<• ■• ;-'■ ...
'■ ■•,' ' .I'... s >(,»•,. ■ .. , ,
••' v.
. ■ . • W v'* !•
•i'
• • 'V I.rl,
-V' •.>«'•. i .•fVv .1. .. •, ,;
'. ' . > . • .-.‘A • 0.“* .ii, \ .
. ; *- • Va ...vi’''.' ,
■ ' ; ' - ' i •
* , * '-• • , * <. •
. . . . L i.. • 1 J . . '
• ' ‘ f*' fT-. ' .. . v
. ..
/ '• * • •• . .• /
•' .V V ' I .
i', r- ■•■■• 'll;., - * ■v'i '
'■ ''■vT:;’,r';,'V'.\ ■
,:.t^^.... ; V... ,,\.v v ,
r.. v.-'* ’ s
■Wf.y'; .vvf
•T. { ., •/ V .•-- •••. .♦,,
■• .'<rV ..
• ',; V.., -N>v
. |X -• ' \. ■ . . \ *•■'■.<■ ■.*<•
• ' t s’ .V •■,■'•. 4 (f'i.lV'fc
,11. ■ ■ .; . (..■■• ■< ...
, ■' ■" '-•••••''b .'-'I . . ‘ '
■ ':v: .• ■;•" 'v .
..:/.* . ' ■■)•■.■ ; ' y .. .
-■ -''V'
-r'v:' *;■ ■• V '• •■•• ■■' <.'
lyS .V , *■ ’ ' • iV '• >» .*■ ' • .’,
■ ■??“■•• S'
.Jri,..,' • •■ ,V. "-“i >'.■■.
,.jy. . J,- ....... . ... , ... ; i ;•• ,
A.';.- • ' V, ;:-.; :
Collection of
W. L. SHELDEN
Mr. WT..Q
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11