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 ROBERT STUART WOODS 
 
IlAkklSc^X HALL 
 
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 li'AL, |i;hiri.\l, AND 
 
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 HARRISON HALL 
 
 AND lis ASSOCIATIONS, 
 
 OR 
 
 A HlSrORV OF IllE MUNICIPAL, JUS>1CIA1-, AND 
 
 ICDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE 
 
 WESTERN PENINSUEA, 
 
 BY 
 
 R. S. WOODS, O. C, 
 
 JUNIOR JUDGE Ol'- KENT. 
 
 CHATHAM: 
 Planet Hook and Jdh Dki r. 
 
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 K 
 
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 244752 
 
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D E b I C A T I O N. 
 
 ' •) 
 
 To flicxanden Jfl. JVIason, Esq., Wafden of the County of K«fit, and 
 IVIonson Campbell, Esq., Mayor of the City of Chathann : 
 
 Oentlkmen,— The erection of Harrison Hull by tlio two Municipalities, r»f 
 which ynu are the respective heads, with its name and purpose, of which (he 
 County and City may f.el justly proud, demanded a fuller and more permanent 
 record, representing as it docs one of the most rcmaikable counties in Canada, — 
 territ iriaily greater at one time than some of the king.loms of Europe, and so 
 Lrge as to inclu.lc wliat now makes tne States of Michitran, Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois and Wisconsin, besides a large portion of Ontario, now distributed over 
 many couuties and districts, embracing Detroit and Mackinaw as the teats of «ur 
 courts and landboards ; going southward to the Ohio, westward to the Mississippi 
 and northward to Hudson Jiay. 
 
 While having taken the liberty of piesenting these pages for your acceptance, 
 I have to express my regret that a memorial volume like this should not have 
 fallen to a more experienced pen, but am comforted with the thought that it may 
 lead to further study and in(juiry by some of my younger readers and a furtlier 
 and more detailed history of the County and Western District at a future day. 
 
 Trusting ihnt both County and City may maintain their proud position 
 among their sis; >?r municipalities of Ontario, 
 
 I am, gentlemen, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 R. S. WOODS. 
 Harkison Hall, January, 1896. 
 
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 II 
 
P R E F A C R, 
 
 The following pages meet the reader in an entirely different form from that 
 which the author first intended. 
 
 The original purpose as far as there was any definite intention, was to publish 
 the history in a series of newspaper articles. 
 
 When the manuscript had been completed a iminbcr of prominent gentlemen 
 were invited to liear portions of it read. Tli(>y were unanimous in tlieir decision 
 to have the woili put into more perm.nncnt form limn the new.spapcr wcidd 
 permit of. ("ommittccs were appointed to wait upon the County and City 
 Councils with tiic suggestion that tlic worii Ik- pniilis-hed in book foim, under the 
 joint auspices of these corporations, and the publication, now in the hands of tiie 
 reader, is the result. 
 
 It is eent forth witii a twofold object in view, vi/., to piesuit to tiie |)ul)lic 
 the early and unicpie history of the County of Kent, and, imddentally, of Hk^ 
 Western District; and to impress upon our people the slrug^Us of our foref.itiurs 
 in acrpiiring tiie great heritage, of wliich IJiis is a part, ;ind transmitting it to ns 
 with liic mural, intellectual, commercial and con.stitHtional blessings now enjoyed 
 by us, and the duty imposed upon all of maintaining tliem in their integrity and 
 purity. 
 
 K. S. WOODS. 
 
 Harkimon Hatj., April, ISitfi. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 3i 
 
 lIAIMtlSOX HALL AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 AVING often been asked to p;ive my recollections of the 
 County of Kent iind the Western District to the |)ul)lic, 
 and as " Harrison Hall " {)r(\sents a suitable occasion and 
 a f^ood point of departure for a survey of the past, I have felt 
 that my compliance with this request mi^^ht add a further prestige 
 to our pi.ljlic buildings, and su])ply an informat or; that would 
 have to be sought from many ijufirtcrs ami ])('rlia})s not with a 
 success commensurate with the laboi' of the iiuipiry. 
 
 It is . urprisin^ how difficult it is to get reliable data of some 
 of the most important (events and incidents in our history, and 
 what time and research are called for in the pursuit of this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Many of my younger readers, and, I doubt not, some of the 
 older ones, will have clearer impressions of the time and nature 
 of certain events in our local and general history, than they have; 
 had in the past and will leaiTi of some things that they wot not 
 of before. 
 
 The opening of a building like Harrison Hall is at all times 
 an event of gi'eat interest arw] importance as marking the progress 
 and purpose of a people. To trace the developii)ent of our 
 present condition, is to run back through all our Colonial period, 
 including the thirteen colonies, now tlus United States — the 
 Anivlo-Furitan one — Biitain's laws and customs even to Ain>:lo- 
 Saxon times, and Fnaich laws and customs with all their ])ecu- 
 liarities. 
 
 The historic association is far reaching and the backward 
 ])erspective a distant one. 
 
 Here, in our Hall, we shall not only ste the every day work- 
 ing of our constitutional, judicial and municipal systen s, but 
 learn of their source, progress and succtess, and of events and inci- 
 de of the highest interest coimected with them. 
 
 Harrison Hall, it may be said, represents (1) an empii..i won ; 
 (2) an empire lost ; (8) an empire whose supremacy is world- 
 wide, and of which we ai-e an integral pai't ; and it tells us (.f 
 seven forins of changes of g(. . ernment in our land : (1) the occu-" 
 pation of Canada by France utider the Governcrs frtin Cham- 
 plain, 1008, down to the capitulation in 1700; (2) fwu^ 1700 to 
 
8 
 
 17<J1', British Militiii-y niic ; {:]) 1704 1774, the laws of i*]ii^l;ui»l : 
 (4) 1774 I7!)l, the (,)iu-Ir-c Act; (o) 17!)l IS4!. the Coii.stitutiuiiul 
 Act; {{')) liS4l to IM(;7, u:non of l/j)|)('i- uiul Lower Canadii, and 
 (7) 1<S()7 to the present Ferleral or J)>iiiiinioii Sy^•teln. IJut let us 
 ''roj) tl.e ciiUjiies m,ii»I n'cvernnieiits for tlie present, and turn to 
 tiie hunihler prcjportions juuI purp(j-.',;s of our historic buiidin;.'. 
 
 First, it says that this tine structure is tin; joint product of 
 two Municipal (Jorpor.itions, one the County of Kent, the other 
 the 'J'own of Chathuui ; fo)' the Judicial, municipal and other 
 functions of both. 
 
 It means that suitable Law chambers have been ])rcvided for 
 the Judges; that the Sheritl', Crown .Attorney, Clerk of the 
 Peace, Alaster in Chancery and (Aw!^A^i of the Crown and Pleas 
 and (Merk of tlie Count\' and vSurro<rate Courts have fittinu' 
 apartments for their work ; tiiat the County Clerk aii'.l the City 
 Clerk and the County and City Treasurers liave their oHices ; 
 that tlie County Council has its tine Chambers for its delibera- 
 tions ami legislative diities, as the City Council his its, with ad 
 tlie accessories. Then there are the Electoral Franchise de})art- 
 ments of both the Dominion and Provincial, as well as of County 
 auvl City. Then the oifice of the Board of Health witli its 
 authority over the City; the County Board of Ivlucation ; the 
 non-denominational, non-sectarian, but eminently catholic and 
 Clu'istian Chamber — the upper Chamber— where the successors 
 of Dorcas, of Joppa, do their i^ood works and alms <leeds, witliout 
 regard to class, color, race, reli<rion or other limitation and dis- 
 ]K'nse their blessin^^s through the community far and wide ; and 
 further hallowed l>y beinj^ the Chamber, too, in which have been 
 held nieetiny,'s liavino- for their object the carrymj;- out of the 
 beneficent Act wdiich seeks to protect the Neglected and Dependent 
 Children of Untai-io, the " (MiiKlren's Protective Act, 18U;j," and 
 under which an organization has been eti'eeted to that end for 
 City and County. 
 
 " Harrison Hall" is the outward and visible sign of a cordial 
 unity and co-operation between the two dominant Municipalities 
 of the County. Not that there has been the same niunici])al 
 organic connection between them that subsisted prior to the year 
 liSJSO, for, for municipal purposes, they then became divided, 
 under that pi-ovision in the Municipal Act that allows a town to 
 withdrav from its original association with the County, even as a 
 village ' ops out of the township with its new rights and respon- 
 se biliti( 
 
 Having in their co-operative efforts ^rought about the con- 
 struction of this fine buildipig with its co-ordinate functions so 
 entirely to the comfort, convenience and economy of the officials, 
 municipalities and public, and the .security of their records and 
 
 pr 
 ar 
 pr 
 iii> 
 
 Olll 
 
 bi 
 
9 
 
 properties, we may feel assured tliat wlieii their common interests 
 are to lie materially beneHtted, whether by roads or other enter- 
 i)rises, thev will aijain be found wo''UiiiiX together, as in this 
 instance — the 'J'own in its receipt development into a City by the 
 omnipotent power of the Lej^islature, havin<^ increased responsi- 
 l)ilities and capacities thrown upon it 
 
 Hirouj^h the courtesy of Mr. Flemin<^, tlie County Clerk, I 
 am enabled to present your readers with this sketch of Harrison 
 Hall and am sure that all will accord it a full measure of praise 
 for its style, design, purpose and position. 
 
 HARRISON HALL. 
 
 It stands on the trianoular block, No. 87, Old Survey, S, S. 
 of King street ami between -Hh and Gth streets, fronting on them 
 and on Wellington street and looking \\\) Centre street. 
 
 By deed of 19th Juno, ](S.S!), between Charles R. Atkinson, 
 of Chatham, escpiire, of the first part, and the Corporation of 
 Kent and the Corporation of the "^I'own of Chatham, of the second 
 part, and John McCregor, of Tilbury East, gentlenian, Hugh 
 Malcolmson, of the Town of Chatham, merchant, and John A. 
 Langford, of Harwich, gentleman, o*' the thiivl part, in consider- 
 ation ol $*),')0().00, it Was conveyed to the last named parties of 
 the third part on certain trusts. The position is the most central 
 in the, Town, and preferable to the proposed one in Tecuciseh 
 
10 
 
 Park. The eust .)i' tliu l»uil(lMi<>'. with its hcutiii^i' und water 
 systeiDs and its Hno vaults for tliu several otlices was .SJ^*S,''^0;}.UD, 
 the County paymir ^:i.S,<i.')2.:52, aii.l the Town !i5:>,o 00.77. 
 
 The huiltliuL;- is liv/antiue in its architcetui'e, with heavy 
 stoiu,' I'ountlation, pressed Wrick siiperstiucture, triniuied with 
 Ohio free stone, slate root, with its towers, turrets, dormers, etc., 
 liavinu a front.i^xe of one ImndretJ and twelve feet on Fiftii street, 
 one hundred feet (;n i."5i.\th Street, and a circular frontage of 
 forty eight feet on Wellington Street, extreme width, eighty-one 
 feet. The streets are ilagged and |»lante(l v\ith trees and a 
 spirited fountain refreshes the neighboihood ; begun in the Spring 
 of I >S,S!), it was h'nished in LSUO and occu|)ied on the First of July 
 of that year. . ■ 
 
 TlIK LAVlNO OK THK FOUNDATION' STONE. 
 
 The corner stone was laid by the (irand Lodge of Ancient, 
 Free and Accepted Masons of (JaiUKla, on the •^7th day of August, 
 A. 1). iSiS!), A. L. ;"8!S1J, 1 give an txtract from the oflicial report 
 of their proceedings : 
 
 '■ Prayer having been wiid l)y the Grand (chaplain, the acting 
 Grand Master read the following scroll, which was deposited 
 beneath the foundation stone: In tin; name and by the favor of 
 the glorious Architect of heaven and earth, on this 27th day of 
 August, A. D. 1889, and in the era of Freemasonry, Anno Lucis 
 r)889, and the 5'h'd year of the reign of our gracious sox'ereign, 
 Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Kmpress of India 
 and the dependencies in Europe, Asia, Africa, Aust alia. Dominion 
 of C^anada, etc., etc. 
 
 His Fxcellency the Rt. Hon. Baron Staidey of Preston, G. 
 C. B.. beino- Governor-General of Canada. 
 
 Hon. Sir. Alexander Campbell, K. C M. G., being Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Ontario. 
 
 Rt. Hon. Sir John A. Macdonaid, G. C. B., beinu' President of 
 the Council and Premier of the Donunion of Canada. 
 
 Hon. Oliver Mowat, Q. C, being Attorney General and 
 Pren)ier of Ontario. 
 
 Archibald Campbell, Esq , M. P. for Kent. 
 
 Hon. David Mills, M, P. for Both well. 
 
 James Clancy, E.sq., M. P. P. for West Kent. 
 
 Robert Ferguson, Es({ , M. P. P. for East Kent. 
 
 Archibald Bell, Es(<., Ijeing Judge for Ki nt. 
 
 Robert Stuart Wood.s, Q. C., being Junior Judge. 
 
 .lohn Mercer, Esc) , Sheriff. 
 
 Sidney J. Arnold, Treasurer. 
 
 William Douglas, Esip, Clerk of Peace and Crown Attorney, 
 
 Robert O'Hara, Escp, Master in Chajicery. 
 
11 
 
 inion 
 
 Win. A. Canipboll, Dopnty Clerk of ^.ho Crown, otc. 
 
 The Joint Buildinif (yoninnttee — Kor the County of Kont: 
 John A. Langford. ehiiirnian ; John Howut, L. E. Voijfler, Jolm Iv. 
 Morris, Thos. L. Fardo, Geor;jfe Jolms, T. 15. ( Jillnrd, .John Turner, 
 W. A. Mills and Jolin Me(Jrei;or: for the Town of Chatham: 
 Hiiirh Malcolnison, Mayor: Jolin A. Walker, Donald M. Christie, 
 Andrew Northwood and Manson Canipliull. 
 
 Architect — Thos. J. J{\itley. 
 
 Cleric of the Works — James C. Fleniini^. 
 
 Contractor — Hi'othei- Courtney L. Hahcock. 
 
 Town Council — Huoh Malcfjhnson, Mayor; John Flook. 
 Manson Cain])l)ell, Jolui A. Walker, John Wanless Andrew 
 Northwood, George K. Atkinson, John Carpenter, N. J. Bogarb 
 Donald M. Christie and O. B. Hulin, Councillors. 
 
 John Tissiu'an, Clerk. 
 
 Robert C i' leining. Treasurer. 
 
 This corner stone of Ha'-rison Hall was laid by Richard T. 
 Walkeni, Esq., Q. (/., Most Worsliipful Grand Master of the Grand 
 Lodge of A. F. and A. Masons of Canada, attended and assisted 
 by the Grand OHficers and a laigi; concourse of the Brethren, in 
 accordance with the ancient usages of Masonry, which may God 
 prosper." 
 
 The Grand Master, in the course of his addre.=s, said : 
 
 "It is peculiarly appropriati; tlie cornerstone of such an 
 edifice as this .should be; hiid by a body possessed of theanticpiity, 
 history and origin which 1 have mentioned. The principles of 
 Freemasonry are identical in character with those of whicli this 
 building is a .symbol — the spread of law and of wisely ordered 
 government anc^ civil lil)ei'by." 
 
 The " Hall " we see is a representative one, composite in its 
 inception, as it is in its arcliitecture, Jiiaterial and purpose, the 
 fruitage of a very happy relationship between the 1'own and 
 Count3'. 
 
 And now what of the name "Harrison Hall"? Why so 
 called ? I might almost say the motif for my paper ari.ses from 
 this inquiry. So many p(^o])le do not know why it is so called, 
 and think it oui»'ht to havi; liad anothei' name. It is W(;ll named 
 after our honored Chic'f Justi< (! of the (Queen's liencli, the Hon. 
 Roberf Alexander Harrison, and yet, aa the serpiel will show, it 
 might with jvs good reaison have been callerl after the Hon. 
 SanuKil Bealy Harrison. 
 
 THR NAMESAKES. 
 
 There i.s a striking parallelism in the lives and pursuits of 
 the two men. The Chief Justice was a Canadian, an able .ludjje 
 
Ifli 
 
 12 
 
 ant] a legal author of distinction. He was taken direct from the 
 Bar to the CJhief Justiceship, of the Queen's Bench, with the 
 title of " Chief Justice of Ontario," hy the Hon. Edward I^iake, 
 as Minister of Justice, althoufi^h differinnr in political sentiment, 
 an appointment alike honorable to i)oth. His i^reat work, the 
 Municipal Manual, made his name a household word wherever 
 Municipal matters were heard of. In some respects it was with- 
 out precedent in En<(land or the United States, and pccidiar to 
 him. Then the Common Law Procedure Act, a work of ^a-eat 
 labor, research and value, followed, as indispensable to the lawj-er 
 as the other was to the municipal man ; the; County Courts ^^ro- 
 cedurc Act, the New Hides of Court ami a Dii^est of the llcports 
 of the several Courts of Ontai-io from the earliest days, and otlier 
 volumes made him known in En<;land, the United States and the 
 British Colonies as an author of repute. Then, in 1 877, he was 
 one of the three arbitrators who fixed the northern and western 
 boundaries of Ontario, Sir Edward Thornton, tlio iJritish Minister 
 at Washington, and Sir Francis Hincks l)eini,' the otlu^"- arbitrators. 
 
 He was al.so the member for Voronto in the J)ominion l^arliament, 
 
 * 
 and died in l<S7tS, at the <'arly nj^o of forty-five. 
 
 And now comes the namesake^ — the Hon. Samuel He-dey 
 Harrison. Ho was -an Knulish lawyer of distinction, and known 
 lon<j before he came to Canada to h've, as ho did in l!S.'}7, 
 as the Author of Harrison's ])i<;est ri the decisions in tlu^ 
 Enf^li.sh Courts from tlie year l7-i0 lo 1.S.S4, an edition of 
 Woodfall's Landlord and Tenant and other works of inei-it. In 
 f8.*jn he became private secretary to our Lieutenant Governor, 
 Sir Geori^e Arthur. In 1841 he cnteied fjord Sydeidiant's (}<<)v- 
 (!rnment as Provincial Secretary, and in July of that y(^ar intro- 
 duced the bill which pive to Upper Canada her Municipal I.isti- 
 tutions, as well as the celebrated Resolutions v/lich irave us 
 Responsible Government; and the first p;enerid School Bill for 
 Upper Canada, and was the Minister of Public Works, and was, 
 later, Chairman of the l>oard of Education for Upper Canada in 
 1848. In 1841 he contcstMl Kent against my brother, Mr. 
 Joseph Woods, who defeated him, wdien he was returned for 
 Kinii;ston, then the seat of (ioverimicnt of United Canada, but in 
 1844 he again, and this time successfully, conte-ted the County 
 against my laother, but never took his seat, for, before the meet- 
 ing of Parliament, he accepted the Judgeship of the Surrogate 
 Court of the Home District, and later became Judge of the Home 
 District, including the City of Toronto, which he held until his 
 death in 1807, in the 66th year of his age. He was called to the 
 Bar of this Province in 1889, was made a Queens Counsel in 
 1845. It was his conscientious .sciuples as to the infliction of the 
 death penalty that prevented his acceptinj> a seat on tlie Superior 
 
^^roat 
 
 13 
 
 Court nonch, but upon ll,o County Court he conl-errcl a urw 
 (Ji<,mity l.y becoiniriir one of its ju(l«>es. 
 
 1 . ??•■ Pt"'"1" ^V"" '^'^"'•"'il.'in "peakin.r of the J)i.rcst of the 
 ate Ch.et Justice (Robinson fe Harrison srsavs. not t7,e la t ? 
 the clanns whi.h that most e.tin.abie and ace mnplishe.l .-■ -nt e 
 
 This nr^"" ^- K H'V;''^'^"- '^ "" ^"'^ ^-tefuf .eu.eLb.'ln^e 
 L r r.T'''"''' "-^^thren, ahUe of the English a.ul Ontario 
 Jiar, IS that he vva.s the hrst author of a thoro..>;i)|y oood J)i,.est 
 winch was not only l^st in his own ,l,-,y. l,ut the Wireet an c^; tor 
 of the best in ours. Ha.l th.re l,een no " Ifarrison." there wouhl 
 have been no '; FYsher," an.l worse still, to the Onhrio lawye 
 least, no " Robinson and Harrison." ^ 
 
 .In -e,s, both were Members of Parliament: both w.iv k-al 
 authors; both reporters of the Queen's Reneh • both closely 
 relate( to our IV nnic.pal institutions, the one as the father of 
 
 moTAf H ^''/ '1' commentator; both .i,^reat workers an< I boMi 
 men of the hi^^hest character. P.dmam mil n.cult 
 
 Bomoastes says, "1 can't ulvise. Ton n.y soul, I can't." As 
 the hyphen IS so much in vo^^ue these days why shouhl it no. 
 solve the problem, and evolve the euphonious duality of 
 
 " irAHHIHOX-flARUrsoX IIALI,." 
 
 What do you say, impartial reader '. 
 
 ->^^ 
 
 '/^^^ 
 
 *^-^{q-^ 
 
14 
 
 CHAPTKIl IF. 
 
 MU\Trn>AL OIKSANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ~l/'()\V Kent, in contniDn with hor sister iimnieipalities of On- 
 'gV tario, has frrown ! Wiiat a system the innnicipal one is and 
 ^^ ^ how apt we are, ftoiii our familiarity with it, to niuler-rate 
 or forii^et its excellencies. It is a machine of infinite capacity and 
 expansion so facile and a<laptative to every demand, tliat it 
 enables you with ecjual ease to make a cidv'ert over a ditch or 
 hoi'row a million of dollars, as has hcen shown in our own County 
 with the iirain>r^e laws. 
 
 An American Statesman lias said of Municipal Institutions : 
 " Profound investii>ation has been made from time to time a.s to 
 the historical orii^in of these little municipal organizations, but I 
 am content to leave* the (picstion where Joiin Milton l,:ft it 200 
 years ajjo. 'But I say,' said Milton, ' even towns and liurrou^lis 
 are more ancient than kin^s and thnt the people is the people 
 though they should live in the open fields.' The rinht and the 
 duty of the citi/-en to understand and manai>e tlieir own local 
 affairs; to estal)lish and su])printend their own schools; to organ- 
 ize and enforce their own police ; and lay and levy their own 
 taxes, and to regulate and control the cxjienditure of the moneys 
 raiseci by taxation ; freely choosini;- their ownajfents for all these 
 local ])urposes, and their owni representatives for the larger con- 
 cerns and counsels of the connnonwi^alth — the possession and 
 exercise of these special powers and obligations of municipalities 
 have done more than all other things to (piicken the intelligence 
 of the Avhole jienple and make tliem ca]>able of achieving and 
 upholdijig the prosperity and the lil)erty in which we now rejoice." 
 
 (ireen, in his History of l:Cngland, says: •' In England the 
 history of the town and of the country are one — the privilege of 
 the burgei" has spet'dily widened into the lii)erty of the peo])le at 
 large — the municijial charter has mergeci into the great charter 
 of the realm. 
 
 "All the little troubles over toll and tax, all the little claims 
 of 'custom ' an 1 franchise, have told on tlie general advance of 
 liberty and law. The town motes of the Norman reigns tided 
 free di.scussion and .'•elf-govei'nment over from the Witanagemot 
 (or asseird)ly of wis(> men) of the old England to the Parliament 
 of the new. 
 
15 
 
 " Tlu! liustiiin- coui-t with its i-t'sc^lutc jissiTtiuii ot" Justiee liy 
 one's pt'i'iN, iTiwi". us tli<' wlioli' raliric of our judic-lal loi^'i.slatioii. 
 Tlif foiitiiit iital ti uii lost its itii|i\iilufility by sinkiii;^' to the Ii;vi'l 
 ot tlu' l.iiid I'roiii \viii(;li it Imd isolated itself. 'Ilie b^iij;lisli town 
 lost its indi\ idua'ity l»y liflinj; the country ut lar^e to its own 
 le\el of freedom and law." 
 
 Fii/hlx /nit'/'il far fnctloni, he calls these efforts. 
 
 (•OAIMISSlOMi:US' UKI'OKT. 
 
 An interesting study of our nnniicipal liistory is here open 
 to us, and the ('anailian student will find liiniself aifreealily aided 
 in it hy the reports of the Ooinnnssioners, a[)pointi'd i>y tlie 
 ( )iitaii(j (lovernnient in l.S(S7, to collect information and report 
 with refeience to certain munici|)al and otlier matters, which 
 reports appeai'ed in I .SSN, the Conunissioners hein^- tiie Hon. 'V. 
 \\ . An^lin, K. K li dohnson, (^. ('., and William Houston, M. A., 
 name's well kn(nvn in Ontario and Liivimr every !JUii'"'i"tee of an 
 exhaustive and ])rofital»le in([uiry. 
 
 'I'he Commissicners s.",y they vvei'e directeil hy Connnission 
 under the ^^reat seal of the I'rovince to collect ami rejiort on, foi- 
 the information of the Lei^islature and the (loverinnent of this 
 I'l-ovince. the constitution, •'ove'rnment and laws afi"eclni2- muni- 
 ciprd institutions in otlier counti'ies and ])rovinces, and the work- 
 iiii^- of tlie same and any {)roposals which have bi'en made and 
 not yet adopted for their improvement, witli special reference to 
 any material ))articulars in wdiich such constitution, goverjnnent 
 and laws, especially in the case of cities and counties, ilifl'tM- from 
 the ccjnstiiution, /government and laws of municipal institutions 
 in this I'rovince and also to make (MUjuiries with reference to and 
 report on the local machinery in use or necessary to secure the 
 due administi'atio'i of criminal justice. 
 
 The scope ot* the enquiry we were thus instructed to make 
 is manifestly verj' wide. We found the materials within our 
 ran<4e very meaf^re. The works on municii)al institution to he 
 found in the Leifislative Libi'ary are tew in nundjer, none of thetn 
 were written for the purjiose of facilitatin»if such an en(juiry, and 
 nearly all of them were published before some ot the important 
 amendments of the laws, Avhich liave materially changed the 
 character of ttie municipal institutions of (Jreat Britain an«l of 
 many cities of the United States were made. 
 
 We endeavored to procure copies of the recent Acts of State 
 Lejfislation and of State works bearinf^ upon this subject and 
 such information "[enerally as we believed to be necessary in 
 order to carry out our instructions fully, but our ettbrts in this 
 direction have not been as successful as we could wish. 
 
 We find a more profitable field for enquiry in the United 
 
IG 
 
 Status. I'Voiii tliiit country vvu luive hiorc irmiu'diattly recoiviMl 
 our systoin, at li'iist in (jutline. The circuinstaiiccs (jf tliu ju'opltj 
 of tlwit couutrv more iioirlv rcscuiblo our own in url»un and in 
 rural distrifts and wu can reasonahly conclude that whatever 
 works satisfactorily amorij^st them is not wholly unsuited to us. 
 The township system as distin<fuished from what is some- 
 times called the county system, was adopted in New England 
 from its s'iiYy first settlement. How this came t'j pass no one 
 seems precisely to know. The system had hecome ohs(;lete and 
 almost f()r!.;otten in Kii^land and there appears to have been no 
 attempt to restore; it durinjj^ the time of the Commonwealth. In 
 their second report the Commissioners say: In our first re])ort of 
 March, i(SSS, we endeavored as well as tluitinie and nutans at our 
 
 d(J 
 
 disposal would allow, to ])lace uetore the lje;j[islature and iio\ern- 
 meiit of tins Pi-ovince, accurate and detailed infcn'mation res])ect- 
 iiiif the tiatnre and workin-^ of municipal institutions m other 
 countries. Our iiKpiiries covered (ireat Jiritain, Ireland, (ler- 
 many, France, the ITnited States of America, and the Canadian 
 Provinces of Quehec, New Brunswick. Nova Scotia -.wvy Pi-ince 
 Edward Island. We dealt also to some extent with municipal 
 institutions in Ontario, takin<f the opinions of many exj.erts on 
 tliiiir workinif and alleired defects. In the course of our investi- 
 Ration of the Ontario system, we were forced to the conclusion 
 tliat the system is now one of (lie best m the wtrld and that it will 
 continue to he one of the best, if from time to time we make 
 those chan.<.jes and only tiiose wdiicli the most dijliherate consider- 
 ation shows to he necessary or desirable. To facilitate such con- 
 sideration by artbrding a comprehensive view of the pr()>ri-e.s.s of 
 the Ontario system we have made a thorouifh search of the 
 statutes and Parliamentary proceedinns of tlie Province." Ar'd 
 then follows an Historical resume of the Jesuit of their incjuiries 
 in a volume of \i'2*.) pages, ineludini^ the first report, to which 1 
 have much pleasure in referring tlie reader. 
 
 Mit. m'evov's essay. 
 
 The essjuy of J. M. McEvoy, of London, Barrister-ut-law, on 
 "The Ontario Township," and its introduction by Professor VV. i. 
 Ashley, then of Toront*^ University and now of Harvard, Cam- 
 bridu*', n>'iv be also read and studied with much beneHt. 
 
 Professor Ashley says that "nothiii'f is more striking (o the 
 intellectual history of our own time, nothing more full of hope 
 than the growing interest excited by political science. It mat- 
 ters luit little wliether it is called by that name or diviJed into 
 its various elements, 1 istory, econoimes, administration, public 
 finance and the like." Certaiidy, the recent battle that has just 
 been waged in Toronto University, by th<;) Political k^cience Club 
 
17 
 
 ami its synipiithi/ers, with the iiutlioritifs (4* t'lc C' illcijo, ro<' t- 
 itii^ in )i (Jovi'rntiii'nt ('OHi mission with tlic ('hicf Jus ice ol* Mnn- 
 itoba Its its chiiii'iiian, i^ivc^ cil^jc to this ()[)ini()n. 
 
 Mr. Mcl^voy hc^^ins his iiitcrfsti'i^ nioiio^^iMph wit i ihi- Act 
 of 17!)3, innpoworiii}^ thf inhahitnuts of townships to t'h'ct cfitain 
 officers, and says it is custonwiry to sav<h»tiirio is divided into 
 counties, and that these counties are suh-<Iivi(h'd into town■^hips. 
 It wouhl he nearer thi; truth to say that Dntaiio is divided into 
 townships and that those townships are ;rrouped into counties; 
 the first ijjroupini^ havin^f taken phic.i in 17iSN into tlie Districts 
 of fjunenhur;.', rilecklinl)ur^di, Nassau and Ilessc; thest> hcin<; 
 changed filter into the Eastern, iVlidhmd, Home and Western, with 
 later <jjroupin<j[s, 
 
 "The township is th.e unit to whicli much of the centralized 
 power and authority of tlie State has steadily, thoULdi sh)wdy, 
 iilt(!red (h)wn ; and while it has always hf*;n the smalL'st unit of 
 self-}^overnment, it has also ()een that in which tlie people have 
 most directly participated in the work of jjfovernment. 
 
 To persons who to-day see the extensive and intricate work 
 done hy our County and Township Councils, the (juestion arises, 
 ' How was this work done under the town-meetini^ system V A 
 larjifc proportion of it was not done at all. The Pn)vinci)il Le<^is- 
 lature did some of it, the j^reat trunk roads havini^ been built by 
 comnnssioners aj)pointed and paid by the (Jovernment. But tlu^ 
 great part of the administration of local afiairs was in the hands 
 of the Magistrates in Quarter Sessions. They possessed wide, 
 judicial as well as administrative, and taxing powers." 
 
 I can't agree with Mr. McEvoy in his depreciation of this 
 Court or of its members. 
 
 QUAUTEIl SESSIONS AND J P.'s OF THE WESTERN DISTillCT, 1841. 
 
 In the Western District, in my early years, they were as 
 intellectual and re[)resentativo a body of men as could well bo 
 found in any country and I hrve endeavored to preserve their 
 names by ^dving the list of th Justices of the Peace for the 
 Western District in 1841 : 
 
 Charles Eliot, 
 James Gordon, 
 Francis Buby, 
 (jioorge Jacob, 
 Jean B. Baby, 
 Wm. Duff, 
 John Dolson. 
 Wm. McCrae, 
 
 Francis Caldwell, 
 Duncan Warren, 
 James W. Little, 
 Joseph Smith, 
 Robert Innes, 
 Henry VanAllen, 
 James Read, 
 Wm. Gaspe Hell, 
 
 Wni. L. Baby, 
 John F. Elliott, 
 l^rooke Young, 
 *George Duck, 
 David H. Gesner, 
 R. E. Vidal, 
 Rowland Win<ifield 
 Wm. Taylor, 
 
 tJ^uI/ 
 
 *Y\o\\\ this downwards are new magistrates. 
 
Ks 
 
 Wm. JoncH, 
 Isaac liell, 
 (Jc'or^'o P. KinN^y, 
 Ihincan McCircj^Dr, 
 Alatthow Klliott. 
 ('harlcs Kortier, 
 Win. K. Wri-lit, 
 Jolin Prince, 
 
 Will. Giflord. 
 (it'or^t! Ironsidt'H, 
 Will. Dntr, 
 Win. Klek-licr, 
 Lioiu'l H. .lolinHon, 
 
 T, Southorlatiil, si„ 
 tlainos IvUtldlt', 
 Alt'xaii(l(!r .1. W'allcti, 
 David M. Coll, 
 Will. Cos^ravo 
 
 Danit'l T. McDonald, Suinucl Arnold, 
 
 Tlios. Williaiii.s, 
 Tlio.M. McChao, jr., 
 .Ioso])li Woods, .lolin A. Wilkinson, 
 
 '/mm Alfred P. 'I^iv1h><*<>u, Charles Askin, 
 Fronie 'i'alfouid. Robert jjacldan, 
 
 Oor^e Durand, James ])ou<;all, 
 
 Matthew W. Fuar, Robert Reynolds, 
 Thos. W. Rotlnvell, John Ferri.s, 
 John Scratch, . Horatio Nelson. 
 
 \clectvtje IHidmiH-H (S>i-ily;^^r/^ Benjamin [javalle, 
 John C Watson, Samuel Gaidiner, 
 Lewis Cordon, Robert Mercer, 
 
 James Askin, Thomas Renwick, 
 
 Thos. W. Smith, 
 Henry Han well, 
 .lames Raby, 
 Josiah Stronj;, 
 John (J. W^eir, 
 Charles R. Nixon, 
 Charles A. Smith, ' 
 John K. VanAUen, 
 Jlichard Dobbyn, 
 Norman L. Freeman, 
 Archibald Voun<;, 
 Thos. Hill, 
 John Sloan. 
 
 The t'ollowinir names are omitted in the new commission : 
 
 Wm. Ambridi^e, 
 
 Henry Jones, sr. 
 
 V. Sumner (deceased), 
 
 Win. Anderton, 
 
 Daniel O'Reilly, 
 
 (Jordon Buchanan, 
 
 Win. McCormick (dcceascil), 
 
 Nathan Cornwall. 
 
 Claude Gouin (resig.), 
 H(>nry Jones, jr., 
 Goorije Hyde (resij^.), 
 Robert Watson, 
 A.J. E. Vidal. 
 Field Talfourd, 
 Louis Rendt, 
 Harry Allison, 
 
 Until IS4.") the Chairman was not required to l)c a profes- 
 sional man, but after that the Jud;j;e had to be a barrister of five 
 years' standinfij, but, as a rule, the most experienced and able 
 Magistrate of the District was appointed and re-appointed from 
 year to year for a succession of years, just as I remember one of 
 our Wardens of this County, ]\Ir. .lames Smith, of Dawn, beint^ 
 continued in the office of Warden for ton consecutive years with- 
 out opposition. 
 
 But what is remarkable is that up to this day in Enfjhmd a 
 large portion of the administrative work of the parish i> done by 
 the Quarter Ses.uon8, in conjunction with the Parish Counci's, 
 showing that England, with all her progressiveness, appre- 
 ciates the capacity of the Sessions, both as a legislative and 
 administrative body ; and then it is to be remembered that the 
 Parish Councils have only recently been brought into existence, 
 even in the City of London (1888), while Canada, since 1841, has 
 had her County Councils. 
 
10 
 
 '' 
 
 T.onnS DUUIIAM ANO SYDENHAM. 
 
 \Vliil(! lionl Durham, in his cclchriiteil ri'port iJ])on CjuukIu, 
 l.S.'Ji), rotVirod to un<l recoinim'ndcd thi; adoption ol" niunieipiU 
 institutions, tlio Act of l^nion eontainud no reference to* tnis 
 important measure. 
 
 His Excellency Lord Syd((nliam, however, in the* speech 
 from the throne on t^e o])eninu; of Parliament on the 2()th of 
 May, 1.S41, first I'arliii i' iit of United Canada, made it the sub- 
 ject of s])ecial reference ii; these words: 
 
 It ajjpears liiL^hly desirable that the principles of local self- 
 ijovernmt'nt, which already prevail to some extent throu<,du)ut 
 that part of the Province M'hich was formerly Upper Canada, 
 shoultl receive a more extended a])plication there, and that tlio 
 ])eople should exercise a j^reater degree of power over their own 
 local affairs. 1 havo directed a measure upon this .subject to be 
 submitted to you, and I solicit your earnest attention to the 
 establishment of such n form of local <rovernment for tliose diH- 
 tricts of the Province which are unprovided with it, as may 
 insure satisfaction to the peo{)le, whilst it j)reserves inviolate the 
 the preroijative of the Crown, and maintains the administration 
 of justice pure from party and popular excitement." 
 
 This was folhnved by the introduction of a Bill on the 14th 
 of July, by the Hon. Mr. Harrison, as already stated. . 
 
 FIRST MUNICIPAL ACT. 
 
 From personal observation as a young man, attending the first 
 Session of United Canada, at Kingston, I can recall the passage 
 of this Municii)al Act, and the fierce struggle on the floor of the 
 House in which it was carried. A very erroneous imi)ression is 
 still prevalent in Ontario witli reference to this important Act, 
 and as to which ])arty we are indebted, for its adoption, most 
 people referring it to the Hon. Robert Baldwin and his Govern- 
 ment for its paternity. But it came from Mr. Draper's Govern- 
 ment, from which Mr. Baldwin had retired the first day of the 
 Session. The order of the House was: "That the Honourable 
 Mr. Harrison have leave to bring in a Bill to provide for the 
 better internal Government of that part of this Province, hereto- 
 fore Upper Canada, by the establishment of local or municipal 
 authorities therein." 
 
 It was resisted with great bitterness as a measure introduc- 
 ing democracy with universal sufferage and all its attendant 
 evils, while some opposed it as a matter of "tyranny" and as "a 
 fatal enlargement of the powers of the Executive." It was called 
 " liberal without precedent," " republican and democratic," " an 
 abominable measure," " a monstrous abortion." Sir Allan Mac- 
 Nab, the Hon. S. Cartwriglit, Hon. Robert Baldwin and others 
 
20 
 
 under tlie rule of these leaders opjwsed it. Mr. Baldwin moved 
 tile .si.x months hoist. He al.s«> opposed the Couneds iiaviui,' the 
 power to horiow any sum or sum.s of money whatevei* u})on the 
 credit *(»f their lespective numicipal districts or of the pro|)e)'ty 
 l)eloni;iii<>; to them in their coi'poi'atc capacity or in any way 
 Vvdiatevei-." And this power was not oivcm to them. 
 
 A.i;aiii, Mr. lialdwin moved that the 8th clause of the ]3ill he 
 amended bv strikinir out the nords, " .'}()() inhabitants and house- 
 holders on assessment list as aforesaid," and inserting in lieu 
 thereof the words, " JJOOO souls." " : • 
 
 Mr. Baldwin also moved, "That the said Bill he reconunitted 
 with instructions to the connnittee 'to limit the jurisdiction of 
 the local authorities thercoy proposed to be established to can- 
 ties and ridings,'" And yet lie was in favor of municipal institu- 
 tions, and gave us, in 184!), the more enlarged system. 
 
 So jealous was the House of the prerogatives of tiie Cro\v'n 
 that the Executive retained in its own hand the appointment of 
 the Wardens. I have often, in the long interval since the pass- 
 age of this Act, reflected upon the extreme conservatism that 
 marked the Governments and peoples of the world in viewing 
 tverything in the way of reform, or I had almost said, of pro- 
 gress. This was in ipient Home Rule, and the Home Rule ques- 
 tion of the present day in Imperial politics has hardly been 
 regarded with more aversion, or greater fears for existing insti- 
 tutions anu the integrity of the Empire, than this moderate 
 municipal measure, and I can recall many other questions in 
 which the same fears have been expressed, notably Res])onsible 
 Government, wdiich provoked as much political rancour and 
 dread as the rebellion itself; the Rebellion Losses Act, which 
 nearly led the Conserviitives into rebellion on the passage of that 
 Act in April, 184!), and did lead to the burning of the Parliament 
 buildings and the removal of Parliament from Montreal for all 
 time to come. And, perhaps it is not generally known, that side 
 by side with this Municipal Bill, were the Resolutions of Parlia- 
 ment which gave us that great change in our constitutional life, 
 known as "Responsible Government." or the administration of 
 affairs in accordance with the well understood wishes of the 
 people. 
 
 The Act 4 and o Vic, Chap. 10, entitled: 'An Act for the 
 better internal government of that part of this Province, which 
 formerly constituted the Province of Upper Canada, by the 
 establishment of local or municipal authorities therein," went into 
 operation on the first of January, 1842. 
 
 FIRST COUNTY COUNCIL OF TH3 WESTERN DISTRICT. 
 
 Sandwich was thrn the county town of the Counties of 
 
21 
 
 Essex and Kent, united iiuinicipally and judieiiiliy, but si»[)!ir<ited 
 for electoral purposes. The Council met at .Sandwich in the 
 Cour*; House. There were 'H\ uiend)i'rs. The Warden, who, as 
 before said, was appointed by the CJovernment, was John Dolsfii, 
 Es(i., of Dover, Deputy-Registrar of Kent, the Reoistrar of Kent, 
 the late Mr. Wni. Jones, of IJaldoon, doini; the work of the oflice 
 wholly through his Deputy, who kept his otlice at his residence, 
 about thi'ee miles down the river. Mr. Dolsen,asoiieof that lar<^e 
 and influential family still prominent in this county, was one o* 
 the most silent men I ever met, but he made a good Warden and 
 was at the head of a Council from which material for either the 
 Lej^islative or Executive Council mi<^ht have been chosen— ctdti- 
 vated, intelli<;ent men with large ex])erience in township, (^)uarter 
 Sessions and other duties, well <jualifying them for their duties in 
 this Held. I <five a list of them as the patren cmscnptt of our 
 municipal history: 
 
 WESTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL — COUNCILLORS OT 1842. 
 
 Anderdon, 
 
 Colchester, ■ . 
 
 (jrostield, 
 
 Mersea, 
 
 Maidstone, 
 
 Maiden, 
 
 Rochester, *. 
 
 S/indwich, - 
 
 Sandwich, 
 
 Tilbury West, 
 
 Caujden. 
 
 Dawn and Zone, 
 
 Dover E. and W 
 
 Chatham, 
 
 Harwich, 
 
 Howard, 
 
 Moore, 
 
 Orford. - 
 
 PIym[)ton, 
 
 Raleigh, 
 
 Ronniey. 
 
 Sombra, - 
 
 Sarnia, 
 
 Tilbury East, ■ 
 
 Bosanquet, - 
 
 Warwick 
 
 John Dolsen, Warden. 
 
 - John Sloaii 
 
 - - - - John Ferris 
 - :• Josiah Strong 
 
 - - - - John Jackson 
 - - - - Duncan Grant 
 
 Robert Reynolds 
 
 George Elliott 
 
 John G. Watson 
 
 Dominicpie Langlois 
 
 laomas Hirons 
 
 David Sherman 
 
 James Smith 
 
 Robert Crow 
 
 John Crow 
 
 - William Thotnson 
 
 George Duck 
 
 - James Baily 
 
 David H. Gesner 
 
 - Thomas L. Crooke 
 
 Joseph Smith 
 
 Thomas Renwdck 
 
 Duncan Macdonald 
 
 George Durand 
 
 Henry McNeil 
 
 Neal Eastman 
 
 - Abraham Infjlis 
 
 They were aided in their labors by an able Solicitor, the late 
 
')•) 
 
 Judfife Cliewett, and Mr. Jolm Cowan, tlioir Clerk, fornierly the 
 editor and ])r()|)ri(4or of the tirst newspaper i)ul)li.shed in ihe 
 Western Di.^triet — '" The Eniijjrant " — ^])ul)li.slied in Sandwich from 
 l<s;iO to 18;37. The Solicitor used to liave IiIh seat on the iloor of 
 the Council ready at all times to aid with his advice. This was 
 contituKMJ when I left. Upon Mr. Chewett's appointment as 
 Judi^e of the District Court, in 184'). he was succeed(;d by Mr. 
 Alexander Dull' of Amlierstbur^, upon whose de.ith, i*i 1840, I 
 became the Solicitor and continued so till 1841), and I recall the 
 fact that the Collectors' rolls bein;;' placed in my hands for col- 
 lection not less than twenty of the Collectors were in arrear, 
 which made it somevhat serious for tliem and their sureties, and 
 not a biid thing for tlie Solicitor. 
 
 THE POUND-KEEl'ER. 
 
 I am thus the ohlest Municipal Officer in the three counties, 
 but 1 have an additional claim to this distinction ; for I had the 
 honor of bein<; unanimously elected to the ancient and honour- 
 able office of Pound-keeper for the town of Sandwich for the 
 year 1845. This followed upon the election of our candidate. 
 Major Watson, into which were carried all the heat and bitterness 
 of the Parliamentary elections of October, 18i4, wdien the coun- 
 try was inflamed upon the Baldwin-Lafontaine resignation under 
 Lord Metcalfe's alleged departure from the Constitutional Rule 
 of Responsible Government, in his appointment to office without 
 consulting or following the advice of his Ministry. Major Wat- 
 son's opponent was the late Sheriff William D. Baby, of Sand- 
 wich, the law partner of Col. Prince, who had in the general 
 election <lefeated our candidate. Major Lachlan. After electing 
 Major Watsjn we left tl\e polls before the election of the pound- 
 keepers, and then came the triumph of the enemy, and to punish 
 me for my suppol't of both Majors, I was nominated as one of the 
 honorable order of pouridkec.'per.-;, and, I needn't say, the proposal 
 was heartily received. 1 took it quietly, issued my proclamation 
 promising a faithful discharge of my duties, posted up my bills 
 myself and prepared for work. The Nemesis soon followed. The 
 pigs of both mover and secomler got into the pound, were 
 redeemed, got in again and were sold. So their horses and 
 almost everyone else's horses and cattle, so that my well fenced 
 premises and capacious barns would hardly meet the demand for 
 room, so po])ular became " Woods' pound " ; and the revenues cor- 
 responded. That joke was never played again. I remembej' 
 applying to the April Sessions and getting the by-law amended 
 restraining the running at lai'ge of every four-footed beast and 
 there was great wailing in the good old town by reason of t) ? 
 phigue. Then there was an indictment and a conviction for pound 
 
 a 
 
 
 C7<« 
 
 
J3 
 
 brcacli and a iinc of 'i*20, so that luy administration became (|uite 
 memorable. 
 
 DISTRICT OF KKNT. 
 
 In 184-7, Mr. Woods, the member for Kent, carried a bill 
 tlu'ough the House tbrmino' Kent into a separate di .-.tkict, known 
 as tlie Distr'ict of Kent, and under it a provisional (-ouncil was 
 or«'ani/ed for the purpose of pn.'vidiiii^- the new district vvith a 
 suitable <>aol and court house, and on the 17th day of Au^jjust of 
 tliat year it hehi its first session in Chatham, at the Oddfellows' 
 Hall, and continued to sit at 'lillerent periods until it accom- 
 plished its pu)'pos(3; but not without trying experience and vexa- 
 tion in its elTorts to i^ive the district the tine gaol and court house 
 it did, at a cost of €4755 2.s. 2d. The members present of thi.s 
 (/ouncil at its first opening were: Messis. Aubry, Crow, Duck, 
 Henry, JMawlam, Mitchell, Ruddle, McKellar, Simpson and 
 Thom])son. Their constituencies are not given. None of the men 
 of the ten northern tov. nships appeal jis pnisent, and at tlu; next 
 meeting in October the abent Councillors are mentioned as being: 
 Campbell, Durand, Fisher, Heatherington, Hyde, Kelchum, Mfiw- 
 lauj, McKellar and Moorchouse — both northern and southern 
 members. Mr. Duck was Chaii'man of this Council. 
 
 In 1849, by 12 Vic, c. 78, Mr. Baldwin's Municipal Act, dis* 
 tricts were al)olished and counties substitutcl, and Essex, \\vA\t 
 and Lambton united by chap. 7!> of the same session, and the old 
 relation with the County of Essex continued until the proclama- 
 tion of the Governor General at the end of the year 1850, a period 
 of S years and 4 months, declarina- the separation of the County 
 of Kent from Essex, prior to which, in 184!), the ten northern 
 townships had been taken from her and set apai't as the County 
 of Lambton and united to Essex for judicial and municipal pur- 
 poses, but retained for electoral purposes, and tlie Hon. George 
 Brown was elected in 1851 for the two counties, Kent and fjamh- 
 ton, defeating Mv'ljim.it* Njiiv«»*»i» Lambton was proclaimed a 
 separate county on tiie 30th of Septendier, 1853, and since then 
 has had her own M. P., M. P. P. and County Councils. 
 
 On the 27th of February, 1851, the first meeting of the 
 County Council took place in the court house, the change from 
 district to county having been made, as just mentionetl, by Mr. 
 Mr. JJaldwin's Act, which gave us the more extended .system of 
 Municipal Government, including countie.s, townships, cities, 
 towns and villages. 
 
 The new members of the County Council in 1851, under the 
 new regime, the old ha\'ing lasted eight years, were : 
 
 Tilbury West. - - - Pierre Charron 
 
 Tilbury East and Romney, - - .lohn Wilson 
 
24. 
 
 llaleii^h, 
 Harwich, 
 Howard, 
 Orfor.l, 
 Chatham Tp., 
 (.aniden and Zone, 
 Dover E. and W., 
 Chatham Town, 
 
 Nathaniel Hughson 
 
 - John W. Shack leton 
 
 George Duck 
 Daniel Moorehouse 
 William A. Everitt 
 
 - : - James Smith 
 
 Robt. Mitchell 
 - Geor<i;e Weatherspoon 
 
 George Duck, Esquire, was elected Warden. Mr. Duck had 
 sat in the Western District from its first session. January, 1842, 
 and l.een Warden of it, and now became the first W^arden of 
 Kent, and was one of the most useful men in the Councils, as his 
 son, Mr. John Duck, also Warden, has been. 
 
 Mr. William Cosgrave was made Clerk and continued so 
 until his death in 18G7, when Mr. James Hart succeeded till 1872, 
 when Mr. Daniel Kerr succeeded him and continued till 1887 
 when Mr. Fleming, the present office'', followed him. 
 
 I recall the fact that I had in the previous month come from 
 Sandwich to live m Chatham, and addressed a letter to the 
 Council at their session upon the expediency of aidirg the Great 
 Western Railway by taking £50,000 of stock in it, and at the 
 recjuest of the Council spoke in its support at the bar of the 
 Council. Tliey did not subscribe, and six years afterwards I had 
 the satisfaction of pointing out to them that if they had followed 
 n-iy advice they would have had an income that would have paid 
 the entire expenses of the County during the period and given 
 tliem all their money back. 
 
 That montli our new Court House was opened and his Honor, 
 William Benjamin Wells, pi'esided as the first Judge of the County 
 of Kent at the Quarter Sessions and County Court, and I remem- 
 ber making the first speech in the Chamber. Mr. George lAick, 
 Jr., had become a barrister and was Clerk of the Peace, while Mr. 
 Peter Paul l^acroix was the first Deputy Clerk of the Crown and 
 Clerk of thr ^ 4)unty jvnd Surrogate Courts. 
 
 I avail myself of a page in Dr. Bourinot's last work, " How 
 Canada is Governed," which I think sho'^ld be read in every 
 household, to give the historic cirigin of names of municipal div- 
 ision.y and of their offices. 
 
 HISTORKJ ORIGIN OF NAMES AND OFFICES OF MUNICIPAL DIVISIONS 
 
 AND AFFAIRS. 
 
 In the names of the municipal divisions and of the machinery 
 of municipal administration, we see examples of the closeness with 
 which Canadians cling to the names and usages of primitive 
 times of English Government. The "township" carries us back 
 to the early days wlien our English forefathers lived in their 
 
25 
 
 luck, 
 Mr. 
 and 
 
 How 
 
 IIONS 
 
 village conitnunitios, of which the " tun," or rouj^h fence, or hedge, 
 that surrounded them was a feature. 
 
 The chief ollicer or head man of the township was the *'eeve, 
 who as an "active" or "excellent" mendjer of his community, 
 took part in the various asseml)lies (moots) of the people. The 
 " alderman " from " earldorinan," or elder man, is a link connect- 
 ing us with the early government of shires,* and was an ofhce of 
 high dignity, still represented by the English lord lieutenant of 
 present times. 
 
 Our " riding " or electoral division (as the East and West 
 Ridings of Kent, in the Ontario Elecioivil Subdivision) is a 
 changed form of " thriding," or " triding," or a local district made 
 and named by the Danes in English Vork.shire. The ancient 
 English shire, which was under an " earldorman," for civil and 
 military ])urposes, became a "county" in Norman times, because 
 a count (comte) or earl replaced tlie former functionary. 
 
 Our representative body for the local government of a county 
 is no longer called the " folk moot," but tlie " council," which 
 comes to us from the Normans, who again adopted it from the 
 Latin concilium, (or a " collection " of people). 
 
 The mayor was an important officer connected with the 
 royal palace of France, and has also come to us from Norman 
 times — it8 original meaning of "greater" {major} having been 
 gradually applied to a principal officer of a local community or 
 municipality. 
 
 The "' parish " iias its origin in a Greek word, iirst applied in 
 early English and Fi'cnch times to a " circuit," or district, pre- 
 sided over by a priest or vicar, and which, for convenience sake, 
 was formed into a civil division. 
 
 " Bydaw " means simply the law made for the government 
 of a " bye," which was a name given by the Danes to the old 
 English " tun," or township. 
 
 MUNICIPAL PURITY. 
 
 There is no question that is occupying more attention than 
 the municipal one in Canada, the United States or England. 
 
 The conflict that has raged in New York, both in the City 
 and the Legislature, in order to the remedy of the great evils 
 disclosed by the labors of Dr. Parkhurst and others, has com- 
 manded the attention of the world ; and to-day we see the result in 
 
 *The sheriff was in Saxon times the judicial president of the ncir-gemot, or 
 assembly ; (gemot) of the shire (scir) one ot the divisions of the English iiingdoma. 
 He was the "reeve" or headin'tn of tlie shire, the Hfir-ye.rafa, which has in *!ie 
 course of centuries been softened to sheriff. In Norman times the shiri became a 
 county and its government, judicial, military, and financial, was practically 
 excecuted by the sheritf, who was directly responsible to the king. In the course 
 of time he was deprived of his large powers, and became a purely civil officer. 
 
2G 
 
 «f purtrthis^reat c'rtbrt at reform, in thesulnncrj^ing of Tain:;iuny, 
 and tlie installatioii of a man f-uch as Colonel Strong a"^ Mayoi", 
 and ^^oliee Conimissioner.s, with a Roosevelt at their head. As in 
 New York so in Ciiicairo, Detroit and elsewhere. Anil as we 
 liave seen on our .side, hoth in Toronto and Montreal. What 
 stru^^des liave taken phice over the valuable franchises that 
 Municipal Governments have now to deal with, and liow neces- 
 sary it is to exercise caution in the selection -jf municipal men. 
 The temptations to .sell and buy corruptly are very ^reat mid 
 demand the closest watchinfj; on the part of the jmblic to see that 
 only competent and howorable men are chosen as repiesei.tatives. 
 That corrupt practices prevail in our municijialities comes from a 
 want of care uii the i)art of tlie electors and too ready an accept- 
 ance of whoever may be bold enouf^h to seek election ; but when 
 the corrupt conduct is di.scovered there .should be no hesitation 
 shown in brin<^ing the ofi'enders to Justice in the most summary 
 and resolute way. 
 
 Mr. Stead's move in Chicago of gettinjj; tlie church to take 
 up municipal reforn has given the question a great impetus; and 
 when we have women enfranchised, both municipally (as in Eng- 
 land) and politically (as in some of the States and Australia), and 
 as I hope to see in Canada, then wo may look with cortidence to- 
 a higher municipal and political life and a not less pui'e .social one. 
 
 Woman to-day, in the activities of the church and charitable 
 associations, is receiving an education and oxercisitig an intiuence 
 that will fit her for a larger sphere of i>;efulne.ss, and be most 
 persua.sively enforced at the ballot-box, but is sure to be felt in 
 the dominion of the household, where for moral and religious 
 agency she will always be supreme. 
 
 TEMPERANCE REFORM. 
 
 To municipal administration we shall have to look for the 
 mcst ef?ective means for aiding the great cause of tempei'ance 
 which has made such wonderful progress in the Canadian and 
 American worlds within the past ten years. It is not merely 
 having good laws, but the enforcement of them that is wanted as 
 seen in New York with Mr. Commissioner Roosevelt to-day. 
 
 We have had our Crooks Act, Duncan Act and Scott Act 
 and plenty of strong earnest Christian feeling in behalf of tem- 
 perance, and indeed of prohibition, but without eti'ectual enforce- 
 ment they become worse than no law — because a law disiegarded 
 and dishonored — a result most injurious and demoralizing upon 
 all affected by it, whether in th»! person of the offender, the execu- 
 tive oflScers or .the public. 1 believe as fully in legislation in aid of 
 temperance, as I do in behalf of any other virtue and against any 
 other vice, but you must have the full, faithful a id vigorous 
 
27 
 
 enforcement, or tho ropoal ; .ind tin; i-epeal you can not have 
 because in ovciy well reniilMtL'.! community thero must be 
 redmint When yoii Imve liiolier loirislativo ami ndminishalive 
 elements in the municipality then you will have efficient admin- 
 istration in all tho departments. Let this be the nira of every 
 municipality and tlie beneficial results will soon be manifest. 
 
28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 llESl'ONSUiLE (JOVEIINMENT. 
 
 ^l/'AV'^lNG thus dealt witli oui- municipal institutions asolven 
 g\ to us by the Act of lcS41, and that of 1840, givino- us the 
 ^-^ ^ more extended system, and having placed the Hon. Mi*. 
 Harrison and the Hon. Mr. Baldwin in such close relationship with 
 them, I think it would be well here, before passing to the judicial 
 branch of our inquiry and history in connection with the Hall, to hiy 
 before our readers the celebrated resolutions upon which tests 
 our system of Constitutional Government accordin<; to the well- 
 understood wishes of the people, in which these tfentlemen took 
 so pron)inent a part. And I think I may safely say that few 
 persons, if any, in our county associate this ;^reat bulwark of our 
 ])olitical freedom, with the distinguished gentleman, as one of its 
 members. 
 
 The Municipal Bill having become law on the 12th of Jidy, 
 1841, on the 8rd of September Mr. Baldwin moved the first of 
 his resolutions on Responsible Govi-rnment. Some explanation 
 took place between Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Secretary Harrison, 
 who stated that a series of resolutions had been prepareil by him- 
 self and cdllengues, in which Mr. Baldwin had concurred and that 
 he expected that these would have been proposed by that gentle- 
 man. Mr. Baldwin stated that he wished his own resolutions put 
 on record, but as he considered those I'cferred to by the learned 
 number for Kingston substantially the same, he should not 
 oppose them. 
 
 I therefore give the amendments of Mr. Harrison as the 
 resolutions of the House and as the lex scripta of this great con- 
 stitutional change. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin's resolutions wei-e seconded by the Hon. Mr. 
 Vigor, while the amendments of Mr Hari'ison were seconded by 
 Col. De Sallabury. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS UPON RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 1. "That the most important, as well as the most undoubted, 
 of the political rights of the people of this Province, is that of 
 having a Provincial Parliament, for the protection of their liber- 
 ties, for the exercise of a constitutional inlluence over the execu- 
 
29 
 
 live (lepartrncnts of llioir Government ivnil for legislation uponull 
 mutters of internal irovernnient," 
 
 2. "That the heail of the Executive Government of the 
 Province heinj^, within the limits of his Governfuent, the rejire- 
 sentative of the Sovereitrn, is responsilih' to the imperial author- 
 ity alone, but that, nevertheless, the manai^ement of our local 
 affairs can only be conducted by him, by and with the assistance, 
 counsel and information of subordinate otlicers in the Province." 
 
 8. "That in order to preserve between theditierent l)ranches 
 of the Provincial Parliament that harmony whicli is ess(!ntial to 
 the peace, welfare and oood ^fovernment of the Province, the 
 chief adviser of the representative of the Sovereign, constituting 
 a provisional administration under him, ought to be men possessed 
 of the confidence of the representatives of the people, thus afford- 
 ing a guarantee that the well understood wishes and interests of 
 the people, which our gracious Sovereign has declared shall be 
 the rule of the Provincial Goverinnent, will, on all occasions, be 
 faithfully represented and advocated." 
 
 The ([uestion b^ing ))ut upon the motion of amendment a 
 division was had thereon witli a result of ')() for and 7 ajjainst. 
 Among the yeas were Mr. Baldwin, Colonel Pi'iiice and the mem- 
 ber for Kent, n>y brother, Joseph Woods. The nay.s were 
 represented by Sir Allan MaeNab, Hon. George MottUtt, Mr. 
 Cartwright, Mr Burnet, Mr. Watts, Mr. McLean and Mr. Sher- 
 wood. 
 
 4. "That the people of this Province have moroovc.- a right 
 to expect fi'om such Provincial administration, the exertion of 
 their best endeavors that the Jmi)erijii authority, within its con- 
 stitutional linats, shall beexer'^ised in the manner most consi-stent 
 with their well understood wishes and interests." 
 
 And here is the foundation of popular government as we 
 know it in Canada to-day. 
 
 HON. S. B. HARRISON. 
 
 So closol}^ connected witii the history of this county was Mr. 
 Harrison that I cannot let him go yet without a furth(;r refeience 
 to his first election contest in Kent in 1.S4J. Party feeling ran 
 very high. Lord Sydenham was supposed to represent Lord 
 Durham's views and they were not acceptable to a large portion 
 of the country. Toronto had lost the seat of (jrovcrnmcnt, and 
 Upper Canada her Legislatui'e, and Kingston wa.s to be the seat 
 of Government for United Canada. Mr. Harrison was Lord 
 Sydenham's right hand man and associated with Attorney-Gen- 
 eral Draper in the leadership for Upper Canada, and had sought, 
 unsuccessfully, to carry the City of Hamilton against Sir Allan 
 MacNab. Over the bad roads of that day he came to Chatham, 
 
80 
 
 just before tlio noinination, and nlthounjh there were several cnn- 
 (lidiitfs in the field all nitirivl in his favor except my hrother. 
 The constitiu'ncy consisted of 20 townships and extended from 
 the Township of llochester, for then we had Tilltiiry West a part 
 of the county, to the Township of, and includinir, liosat)(|uet, a 
 distance of 180 miles, with only a^ic polling puicc and tlud in 
 Chaihiiin. The lon<^' winter had Just broken up and the streams 
 were Hooded and the bridj^es carried away. This was the last 
 election under the old law, when the polling bej^an at 9 o'clock 
 on Monday mornitiff and ended at 12 o'clock Saturday nii,dit, and 
 as in this case, even later, for the returnine; otTicer at the close of 
 the polls declined, under the advice of Mr. Harrison, who wanted 
 a scrutiny, and which I opposed, to declare th;it Mr. Woods had 
 a majority of 43 votes. It was not till after a sharp contlict of 
 two hours that he was induced to make the statement, when Mr. 
 Woods was cairied away on the shoulders of his a»'d(!nt and 
 impatient supporters to the balcony of Probett's Hotel, where 
 speeches were made and great rejoicin<^s had and cheers j^iven, 
 and amonjij others, at 3 o clock in the n)ornin<(, for youn^' Bob 
 Woods for having forced the returnin^^ ofKcer to make the declar- 
 ation. 
 
 I was then a student-at-law in Sandwich and had, with some 
 2') odie'" voters, ridden from Sandwich to this place takinj^ 
 nearly two days to do it and havinn' to swim our horses over the 
 streams and make our way throu^^h the ice on the plains and 
 through the woods, breaking throu<fh at almost every step, under 
 the direction of a guide. Our good sheriff, John Mercer, Esquire, 
 was one of the party and tells us some good stories about it. 
 
 That was a uiemorablo ride. I recall how well mounted I 
 was, for my horse was a noble grey with the historic name of 
 " Barnet, " and owned by the Rev. Thomas Earle Welby, then 
 Rector of Sandwich, and now Bishop of St. Helena, who kindly 
 offered him to me for the occasion. Some of the riders, 25 
 in number, were old loyal oflicials who liad been notified that 
 those having votes in Kent must come to Chatham and give their 
 votes and influence to the Government. Only a reasonable 
 request and yet it was an awful pill to take; and the first time 
 such a doctrine had been heard. Mr. Robert Berrie, the Clerk of 
 the Peace at Hamilton, had refused to support Mr. Harrison in 
 preference to his old friend Sir Allan MacNab and was 
 summarily dismissed. And this was to be the rule. What 
 consternation and indignation ! Support a Government that 
 was going to give us Responsible Government, just after all 
 they had gone through in saving the country from the disaffected 
 and rebellious as well ris from the incursions of their sympath- 
 izers in the States, and vote against their old and loyal fiiend. 
 
:n 
 
 Josi'pli Woods, for a iiiciii^erof sucli a (loverimiont ! Thcii^oltK'n 
 iinaijo of tin; new constitution had, liovvciVcr, lict'ii set up and tlu; 
 l)a:d<'ls WL'i'u rL'(|uin'(l to fall down and vvui'.shij) it or losti tlieir 
 otlieial heads and hv. Hurried. 
 
 What a l>ruezo fcjMovvod that eloction from Satidvvicli tj 
 (Jaspe! Tiio nt!vvsj)apt'rs and (torropoiKh-nts croppi'd up as thick 
 as hhickherrics, as one editor said ; not onlyii> the local papers, hut 
 all the papers and niaj;a/ines of the day in I'ppcr and Lower 
 Canada, from the President of the PiXecutive Coiuieil tlown. 
 
 I then took my first ilip into political letter writinj^f and 
 hrou>;lit upon myself a threat of prosecution for lilxd l>y the 
 returnini; otlieer, which, however, was not followed uj). The 
 House, on meetini.^ in the followinjjj Afay, instructed the C'lerk of 
 the Crown in C'hancery to amend the insuHicient and illej^al 
 rtiturn of the returnini; otlicer and Mr. Woods took his seat while 
 Mr. Jiai'i'ison took his for the City of Kingston for which lu; hail 
 heen returned in the meantime. 
 
 Another n)arked effect was presented in the case of Col. 
 Pi'ince, the M. P. of Essex, am! for whom I had votiMl thepnivious 
 week (as in those (hiys the elections were not held on on(,' day or 
 week), and who was then the most popular man in Canada. He 
 wrote a letter to my brother advising him to retire and let Har- 
 rison take the county. It was read at the liustin;^s. It indicated 
 the Colonel's inclination towards the afhnin'.stration, and was the 
 beijinninix of an cstran<>ement between himself and the Conser- 
 vative party, that letl to his being opposed at the next general 
 election by Major Luchlan and his old Conservative friends and 
 supporters, but unsuccessfully. Mr. Harrison afterwards took 
 the Western BiMwit and we often met. 
 
 C'OLONEL PRINCE. 
 
 Talkinfj of Col. Prince I cannot omit a fuller reference to 
 him, for Ins advent in the Western District marked an ejjoch in 
 its history. He came to Sandwich in August, 1 83*3, with hi.s , 
 wife, family and servants and w^as the first man of fortune wdio 
 had settled in the district. He had been a solicitor in Eniiland ; 
 was a man of fine presence and most genial maimers and one of 
 the most elocjuent speakers in the Province ; a great sportsman 
 and lover of agriculture and took to farming with much zeal ; 
 importing thorough-bred stock and keepnig the finest dogs which 
 he brought from England. In the general election of 183G, under 
 Sir Francis Bo.iJ Head's appeal to the country he was returned 
 for Essex with Mr. Francis Caldwell, and his impression upon the 
 Lejfislature was most favorable, The Rebellion broke out the 
 following year and the Colonel (for he was at once appointed 
 such) really became not only the Prince but the Kmg of the 
 
32 
 
 Wo^tciii District, it* not of ITppia' Canu<la, so popular was lie 
 diinnL,' and after tlie Ht;l»ellioii. His joui'iicN's tlir<)ii,di from 
 SautlNvicli to Toronto weiv eontinui'd ovations He was admitted! 
 to the Itur and eni'olled as an Attorney in I SMS, in.ide a (,»)utHrr.s 
 Counsel and occupied a j)roud i)osition at llu; bar and in tli(5 
 Province, and continued to represent Kssex till he lu'canie a can- 
 didati' lor the ljf<rislative C'ouncil in IS.')(i, when lu; contested the 
 Western J)ivision ai^ainst Colenel Rankin, an<l was returned and 
 sat in the Council till his appointment to the Jud^'eship of the 
 District of Alj^onia in ISOO, whi'jh was virtually provided for 
 h 
 I 
 
 inn, and where he contnuiously lived, rejoicmn' m Ins hyper 
 
 )orean iso 
 
 lati 
 
 on at 
 
 id freeilom, and died in IS7(). Miss Trince, Irs 
 
 only dauifhter, is the last nuMuher of his family and still keeps 
 
 '1' 
 
 The Tark F 
 
 D " 1 lie I'aric i<arm with all its traditions. 
 
 'J'ht;n there is no douht that his summary sliootlni,' of the 
 prisoners taken at the bi.ttle of Windsor, 4th Deeemher, IS.'{!S, in 
 connection with Sir Allan MacNah's order of the previous Decem- 
 ber to cut out the Caroline, did more to put an end to the inva- 
 sion of tl.e western portion of the Province by the Patriots and 
 Sympathizers of that day than anything done l)y the (iovernmeiit 
 or the re;4ular forces. The act led to an important debate in the 
 House of Lords with Lord Brou^diam critici/inj^, ami the Duke of 
 Wellington justifyin<jf the measure, in which he was supported by 
 the House: and there was also the ccanmission of iiKjuiry in 
 Canada, whose re[)ort wholly nupiitted the Colonel from the 
 chari^es made aj^ainst him, foundin<; their report upon the fact 
 that the act was liio determination of the inhabitants expressed 
 at a public meetini; when it was di^termined that no prisoners 
 should be taken. To show the state of f(!elini^ at that time 
 against the Colonel, placards were posted uj) alonj^- the public 
 streets in Detroit oifering a reward of 8800 for his dead body and 
 i?l,0()() for his livinnr body, and, to protect himself after dark, he 
 had to have an advt isement in the public papers warning all 
 persons a<^ainst comir;;i' to The Park J'^arm after ni;iht as he had 
 spring guns and man ti-aps set for his protection. 
 
 KENT— AND DETROIT AS THE DISTRlcri' TuWN. 
 
 Hy the wa\', while I am referring to Kent let me state that 
 wi\ile for many years we were a subordinate county in the Wes- 
 tejn ])istrict or^ani/ation, we were in earlier years the dominant 
 ore and entitled to send two members to Parliament, wliile Essex 
 could only send one and that in connection with tlu) County of 
 Suii'ilk ; and to Kent at one time belonged all that territory that 
 lay to iho nor<"h up to the boundary line of Hudson Bay, and 
 south to the (Jhio, and westward to the Mississippi. The first 
 two members were elected from Detroit, one, William Macomb, 
 
88 
 
 )S 
 
 act 
 ssed 
 
 >lic 
 
 ad 
 
 Hi at 
 jes- 
 
 Imt 
 
 kex 
 
 of 
 
 liat 
 
 liid 
 
 j-st 
 lb, 
 
 tlio other the celei.rated David William Smith, afterwards Sur- 
 veyor General of llj)per Canada, and, later. Sir J)avi(I. I am able 
 to j^ivo thi:- sketch of tin* life of our tirst memlier, and it is otdy 
 witiiin the past foitni^dit that even Mr. D. H. Head thou;.dit there 
 must have been two J), VV. Smiths, but I have establislied his 
 identity as the first M. P. P. of Kent, elected at Detroit in 1702 
 with Mr. Macomb, and this I do throuj^h a passa;:;e in Kin^^sford. 
 vol. 7, p. '{47, in which (Governor Simcoe speaks of the return of 
 Mr. Attornev (ieneial White and Lieutenant Smith, the son of 
 Major Smitli the Commandant of Detroit for the Detroit district, 
 a.s Hesse used to be called. 
 
 Sir David was born 4th Septendu-r, 1704, only child oi' John 
 Smith, esquire, sometime of Salisbury, Lieut.-Col. of ')th Regi- 
 ment of Foot, who died Commandant of the Fortress of Niat^ara 
 in 1795, by Anne, dauj^hter of William Wayler, Es(j., of Rowde 
 Hill and Devizes, County of Wiltshire At an early aj;e he was 
 appointed by Karl Percy as Ensiijn in his father's rej^iment. He 
 roiii^ned his position in the Hej^ulars and held at various times 
 the followin<ij offices in the militia, viz.: C »l. of Lincoln Militia, 
 Col. of 2nd Battalion of York Militia and Lieut.-Col. of the Percy 
 Tenantry of RiHemen, of Northumberland. England, On the 
 27th of August, 1792, Mr. Smith was elected a member of the 
 first Canaciian Parliament and was re-elected to the two succeed- 
 ing Parliaments. 
 
 As a member of Parli iment, in which capacity he served his 
 country for twelve years, his abilities made him one of the most 
 distinguished mt n of his time ; he was chosen speaker to that 
 body in 1797, and re chosen in 1801. Called to the bar on the 
 7th July, 1794; he bore at various times the titles of Deputy 
 Judge Advocate, Justice of the Peace, Judge of the Court of 
 Requests, Master in Chancery and Privy Councillor. He was the 
 first Surveyttr General of Upper Canada, under the Act of 1791, 
 and Vice-President of the Agricultural Society. I am indebted 
 to my friend Mr. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, for the 
 additional information that our first member was, on the 27th of 
 July, 1821, created a Baronet; that up to the time he left Can- 
 ada in 1804 he had received 33 appointments, and, on his return 
 to England, he received 30 more. We may well be proud of Sir 
 David us our first member. 
 
 NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. 
 
 The.se facts are not generally known. Macdonald, the pub- 
 lisher of the " Illustrated Atlns of the Dominion of Canada," in 
 1881, .says of this county and its representation in 1792 : "There 
 was evidently no representative for Kent in that Parliament, as 
 the full number of sixteen appears without mention of a member 
 
■|! 
 
 jiiii 
 
 for Kent, which leads to the impression that Mr. Bahv, the mem- 
 ber for Essex, represented the entire Western Dis^trict. This 
 appears the more probable when we consider that Kent did not 
 then contain more than half a dozen of fau.ilies, if even that 
 number inhabited its wilds. The almost entire absence of ,fot<i 
 hearin<r on the early political history of Kent has precliKled the 
 pcss'bility of gaining any intimate knowledge of their details dur- 
 ing a long p-riod following the establishment of representative 
 government." 
 
 
 t:-t:^::i 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTKU IV. 
 
 DISTRICT OF HESSE. 
 
 ^OORD DORCHESTER as Govornor-Gemral, by procbima- 
 
 y tion issued from the Castlo of 8t. Louis, in tlu; City of 
 
 ^^^ Quebec, on 24bh July, 17HS, divided the Province of Quebec 
 
 into five districts, namely : (nispe, Lunenber<(, Mecklenl)uri^h, 
 
 Nassau and Hesse. 
 
 Tliere's a ;j;ood deal of German here and not much of either 
 French or En^lisli, but it must be remembered that the Jloval 
 Family were Germans, and Bell says, " there was prol)ably noth- 
 in<^ fortuitous in the adoption of tliis (piaternion of appellations; 
 for tliey indicated Roynlist and Protestant ideas. The grand- 
 ducal family of Hrunswiek-Luiicnburg was a branch of the Sov- 
 ereign House of Hanover ; Queen Charlotte had been Princess of 
 Mecklenburg Strelitz; William III., the champion of Protestant- 
 isui and overcoming antagonist of Louis XIV. and Jesuitry, was 
 head of the illustrious House of Orange — Nassau ; and the Prin- 
 cess of Hesse sent auxiliary forces to combat American rebels." 
 
 The District of Hesse comprehended all the residue of the 
 Province in the western or in'and parts thereof from the southerly 
 to the northerly boundary of the same, and included Detroit and 
 Mackinaw and the country south of them to the Ohio, and west- 
 ward to the Mississippi ; and on the 10th day of July, 1792, Gov- 
 ernor Simcoe, in his proclamation from Kingston, divided Upper 
 Canada into nineteen counties and the Provincial Legislature at 
 its first session at Newark, on the loth October 1792, (82 Geo. 
 III. c. <S) re-named the above four last named districts in their 
 order, the Eastern, Midland, Home and Western. 
 
 KENT 
 
 beintj the ninetetnth and last named of the above nineteen coun- 
 ties was described as " comprehending all the country not being 
 territories of the Indians nor already included in the several 
 counties hereinbefore described, extending northward to the 
 boundary line of Hudson B;>y including all the territory to the 
 westward and southward of the said line to the utmost extent of 
 the country commonly known by the name of Canada," and 
 given two members. Hy the same last mentioned proclamation 
 
Essex was made the eighteenth county and was to be bounded on 
 the east by the County of Sufiblk, on the south by Lake Erie, 
 on the west by Detroit River to Masonville's Mill, from thence by 
 a line running parallel to the River Detroit and Lake St. Clair at 
 the distance of four miles until it meets the River Tranche, or 
 Thames, thence up the said river to the northwest boundary of 
 the County of Suffolk. 
 
 The seventeenth county, called Suffolk, was to be bounded on 
 the east by the County of Norfolk, on the south by Lake Erie until 
 it meets the Carrying Place (Communication Roadj from Pointe 
 Aux Pines unto the Thames, on the west of the said carrying 
 place, thence up the said River Thames until it meets the north- 
 western most boundary of the County of Norfolk. These two 
 counties, Essex and Suffolk, were united for Electoral purposes 
 and entitled to send one member to Parliament. There is no map 
 in the Crown Land's Office showing the County of Suffolk and it 
 no doubt dropped out after this and passed into Kent. Although 
 it will be seen by the list of the Magistrates given by w ? Uer on 
 in the year 1802, taken from Tiffany's Almanac of tliao ^ tai, Suf- 
 folk still appears as one of the counties of the Western District, 
 but it subsequently became part of Kent and part of London Dis- 
 trict. Ey the 38th, Geo. III., c. 5 : An Act for the better division 
 of th" Province, promulgated by proclamation 1st January, 1800, 
 the County of Kent is to be composed of the Townships of Dover, 
 Chatham, Camden distinguished by being called Camden West, 
 the Moravian track of land called OrfonI, distinguished by Orford 
 North and South, Howard, Harwich, Raleigh, Romney, Tilbury, 
 divided into Eastern and Western with the Town.ships on the 
 River St. Clair, occupied by the Shawney Indians, together with 
 the islands in the Lakes Erie and St. Clair, wholly or in greater 
 part opposite thereto to constitute and form the County of Kent 
 
 And that the Townships of Rochester, Mersea, Gostield, Ma^;! 
 stone, Sandwich, Maiden, and the tracts of land occupied by ^h 
 Hurons and other Indians upon the Strait, together with such of 
 the islands as are in Lakes Erie, St. Clair and the Straits, do con- 
 stitute and form the County of Essex. 
 
 Sec. 40 provides that Essex and Kent, together with so much 
 of this Province as is not included within any other district 
 thereof, do constitute the Western District. 
 
 Under this clause — carried from that attaching to the Coanty 
 of Keni in the former decade — the Sheriff" of the Western District 
 used to serve process at the Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superiqr, 
 n,nd our present worthy Sheriff, John Mercer, used to do this when 
 acting as Deputy of the late Sheriff Foott, while living at Wind- 
 sor before coming to live in Kent, which he did in 1851, himself 
 becoming Sheriff as successor to Sheriff Waddell in 1864, continu- 
 
Iiuch 
 brict 
 
 inty 
 trict 
 
 'iqr, 
 |heu 
 ind- 
 
 self 
 Inu- 
 
 37 
 
 inrr so to this present hour and proving one of the liest officials in 
 our wcll-^uhninistered Province. 
 
 Sec. 7 of the Act of October, 1792, authorized the Justices of 
 the Peace in Quarter Sessions assembled to procure plans an<l 
 specifications and elevations of a g^ol and court house, and to con- 
 tract for same to be completed within eigliteen months, and that 
 the rjaol and court house for the Western District shall be built in 
 the manner afoiesaid as near to the present court house as conven- 
 iently may be. This of course was in Detroit. 
 
 By 33, Geo III., c. G, 1793, it was provided that the Courts 
 of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Western District should 
 commence and be holden in the Town of Detroit, and that Special 
 Sessions of the Peace should con)mence and be holden yearly and 
 in every year in the Town of Machilmackinac. 
 
 AmontT other of the stranj^e and interestin<jj thinj^s that pre- 
 sent themselves at this time is the Ace of 3id June, 179G, which 
 may be called the Exodus Act as it provides for the departure of 
 British authoiity from Detroit to Sandwich, and enacts that so 
 much of the above-mentioned Act which directs that the Courts 
 of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Western District shall 
 commence and be holden in the Town of Detroit on such days and 
 times as are thei'ein mentioned ; and that a special Session of the 
 Peace sha'l commence and be holden yearly and in every year in 
 the 'i'own of Machilmackinac at certain times therein mentioned, 
 be repealed ; and that from the passing of the said Act the Court 
 of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Western District 
 shall be held in the parish of Assumption, in such place a.s may be 
 now found most convenient to the magistrates of said district or 
 major part of them, on the second Tuesday in the months of July, 
 October, January and April, until such time as it sha 1 seem 
 expedient to the Justices or major part of them to remove and 
 hold the same nearer to the island called the Isle of Bois Blanc, 
 being near the entrance of the Detroit River ; and if it shall appear 
 expedient to the said Justices to hold the said General Quarter 
 Sessions nearer to the said island, it shall and may be lawful for 
 them to remo\e the same having given three months' notice of 
 such removal. 
 
 A similar provision is made as to the County Court which, 
 with the Sessions by the Act just referred to, had been held in 
 Detroit in 1794, and it was to be held where the Quarter Sessions 
 were held as above provided The last court of Quarter Sessions 
 held in Detroit was in January, 1796, as the removal took place 
 to Sandwich that summer. And as there never was a removal to 
 Bois Blanc or Amherstburg, the court house was erected in Sand- 
 wich on the ground where the present court house stands, adjoining 
 our old homestead. It is here that the sceptre passed from Kent to 
 
38 
 
 Essex, inasmuch as .Saii<lvvich became the permanent seat of tlio 
 courts and has continued so till to-day, despite the efforts of 
 Windsor to liave them removed ; but Kent continued to have her 
 two representatives until the Act of liS20 was passed, which 
 required a population of 4000 souls to give two members, whii-h 
 she then had not, but which she recovered in 1834 and a^ain lo-t 
 ill 1841 under the Union Act. 
 
 DETROIT — SEAT^bF COURTS FOR HESSE. 
 
 Ami now, havin<r crossed the Detroit River and found our- 
 selves over there, with our courts ami judt^es and all that is 
 implied by the crossin<^ of the boundary, we shad be compelled 
 to <;o back to the days when and how it became ours, and when 
 and how we lest it, and, as a consequence, when and how we lost 
 the thirteen orii^inal Provinces or Colonies and why it continued 
 so lonjjf in our possession after the Treaty of Versailles, 178;j — 
 recoixnizini; the Independence of the United States and <rivin<x 
 them this territory — as we did not quit Detroit till thi llth of 
 July, 179(), thirteen years after, during,' which time our Courts 
 anil Lan(' Board and Members of Parliament dealt with the wants 
 and interests of the District of Hesse and the Western District as 
 represented by the Counties of Kent and Essex ; Kent enjoyinj^ 
 the honor of having the first of our courts of Quarter Sessions, 
 County Court, Common Pleas and Queen's Bench Many of our 
 farms in this county as well as Essex liavint;- been ^ranted by 
 that Board in Detroit. And we shall be surprised to see our 
 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe comin<f up overland from Newark, 
 in February, 1793, to Detroit to inspect the oarrison and the 
 24th Reo'iment of Foott (luartered there, and a<>ain the follow in«r 
 year cnmip<r up under direction ot Lord Dorchester, the (lovernor 
 General, to construct a fort at the foot of the Miami Rapids, oO 
 miles from Detroit, which he did; and to find that it needed a 
 second treaty — Jay's, of 19th Novend)er, 1794 — to bring about 
 the evacuation. 
 
 The name of the old district will be endeared to us in rccall- 
 ing the sad death, a few years ago, of the Princess Alice of Hesse, 
 the second daughter of our beloved Queen, who became the vic- 
 tim of diphtlieria from kissing the lips of her dying child. 
 
39 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FRANCES SURRENDER OF CANADA. 
 
 \\N ndditioM to the thirteen American Provinces which Kn<;- 
 Oy* hmd held, the triuriiph of Wolfe at (Quebec 0!i the 18th of 
 ^■^ September, I7o0, and the capitulation of Montreal on the 
 8rd of September, 1700, in the words of the ^reat Commoner, Pitt, 
 added an empire to England's rule ; and as New France included 
 as M'c have seen all the country from Quebec south to the Ohio 
 and west to the Mississippi and, of a consecpience, Detroit and 
 Mackinaw, as most important posts with which our courts and 
 county officials t^re associated, we niust now make the capitulation 
 our starting' point in the retrospect. 
 
 Dr. Kinusford has said : 
 
 "There are few portions of our bistory of which we are so 
 ijjnorant as that of the years intervening between the Con(juest 
 and the passage of the Quebec Act of 1774, and of the further 
 interval to the Constitutional Act of 17!)1, which divided the 
 country into Upper and Lower Canada and extended representa- 
 tive institutions into the two Provinces." 
 
 And in his grand history of "Canada from the earliest date 
 of French rule," which I recommend most warndy to my readers, 
 he has sought to supply the fullest information and lead to the 
 soundest conclusions; and with the opinions of other writers I 
 have sought to njake this period of our history better understood 
 than it is by the general reader. /s^; -vv 
 
 Kingsford again says : " The capitulation of Montreal surren- 
 dered the whole of Canada to Great Britain, and it accordingly 
 became necessary to establish a form of Government by which 
 order would be preserved. It was indispensable to provide 
 machinery by which the business of life should proceed with 
 decency and security. Whatever system v/as introduced could 
 only be regarded as temporary, but however short the period it 
 had to endure, it had to be well considered and efficient. The 
 problem to some extent had been assisted by the year's possession 
 of Quebec by Murray. That period, however, had been one of 
 war. The period has come down to us under the name of the 
 reffne riilitire as given by the French Canadian writers and the 
 term to a certain extent luis become accepted. It lasted nearly 
 four years, from September, 17(50, to October, 1764. 
 
 f3! 
 
40 
 
 "There are those who havinj^ never investigated the facts and 
 imperfectly recoi^ni/ing tlie necessity for the establishment of some 
 institutions for the maintenance of law and o"der, have accepted 
 its nomenclature as an indication of the harshest and most unjust 
 domination, and the Government has been misrepresented as one 
 of continual wron<T and persecution. No opinion could be more 
 illfounded. The iijreatest care was taken to conduct the Govern- 
 nu nt in accordance with the old systems of the Province and in 
 conformity with the law which had hitherto prevailed in Canada, 
 the one desire was to provide for the well-being and contentment 
 of the peonle. There was no attempt to introduce English laws 
 and still less to judge by military lavv^. All that these courts had 
 of the military element was the name. Between the capitulation 
 and the peacf., Canada was occupied as a corujuered country and 
 the basis of authority was the force with which it was held. A 
 more correct title would have been the period of the Governor's 
 Courts or temporary Government ; for the name given is in all 
 respects a niisnomer. It is an act of injustice to identify the 
 principles of Government laid down by Amherst as those of nuli- 
 tary rule, which means coercion at the bayonet's point." 
 
 Watson, in his Constitutional History of Canada, says : 
 " After the capitulation the formative pressure of military rule 
 began to work, but the system, which lasted about four years, was 
 never before nor since so tenderly administered." 
 
 TREATY OF PARIS, 17()3. 
 
 The T. aty of Paris was signed on the 7th of February, 
 1703, but eighteen months passed before any change in the Gov- 
 ernment took place. 
 
 I think I ought to state here for the information of those who 
 have not access to the treaties or to Dr. Kingsford's fine volumes 
 in which they appear and from which I take this, the parties to 
 this Treaty of Pans and some of its provisions : and, more partic- 
 ularly, in view of the close relationship in which Newfoundland 
 is seeking to stand to the Dominion and the new internation ■} rela- 
 tion in which we should stand to France, and it is curious to see how 
 the questions of that day are conspicuous today. Newfoundland 
 lish and French ajjfffression are as active elements of contention as 
 then, while the seals of Behring Sea come in as the equivalent of 
 this fur trade and its jealousies and contentions. And when we 
 see Spain and her Nootka Sound pretentions on the Pacific Coast 
 in 17tiO, and see Russia to-day seeking Spain as a referee in the 
 Chino-Japanese complication, we see how history repeats itself. 
 The parties to it were Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal, 
 and by it England became the possessor, not only of Canada, but 
 of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, and the West India Islands of 
 
41 
 
 we 
 Foast 
 
 the 
 Iself. 
 
 but 
 of 
 
 Saint Vincont, Dominica, Tol)a<j:o and Grenada. Minorca was 
 restored to (ireat Britain. She likewise obtained possession of 
 Senegal in Afrie.i, and France was l>ound to keep no troops and 
 raise no fortiticaiions in Beni^al. The Spanish pretensions were 
 abandoned — the (piestions of capture were referred to the British 
 courts of law. The British were athiiitted to cut loij-wood nt 
 HoJiduras. S|)ain nlincpiished ad claim to tish oti' Newfoundland. 
 Havana (Cuba) was <rivcn buck to Spain and in return the pn^sent 
 State of Florida was ceded to the British Pr »vinces, and France 
 a.s conipensation transferred Louisiana to Spain. France and 
 Enjxland a«freed to abstain from prosecntinii' tlie war in Gei-many. 
 The Frencn to restore territories held by them in Hesse and 
 Hanover. Dunkirk was to be redu ei! to tlie state of whicli it 
 was after the Peace of Aix-la-Chapille. TIhj cession of Canada 
 was accouipanied by the condition that the King of Great Britain 
 would <rive the most effectual orders that his new Roman Cath- 
 olic subjects may profess the worship of their religion accortling 
 to the rule jf the Roman Catholic Church as far as the laws of 
 Great Britain permit. 
 
 The inhabitants had also the liberty of returning from 
 Canada to France with their property unrestrained within' eigh- 
 teen months. France received the Islands of Gaudaloupe, Mar- 
 trin(|ue and Saint Lucia and w^as allowed the right of tishing in 
 Newfoundland and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Her fishermen, how- 
 ever, were unable to approach within fifteen lengues of Cay)e 
 Breton. Bute not only renewed the conditions of Utrecht, i)ut 
 he ceded the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Only 50 men 
 to be kept on the island, and an English commission was to have 
 the right of inspection that the condition was complied with. In 
 the articles of the treaty the latter point was not admitted. 
 
 TREATY OF UTRECHT, 13TH ARTICLE OF. 
 
 The L3th article of the Treaty of Utrecht, ITL?, between 
 France, England and the Dutch, to which allusion is made in the 
 Treaty o^' Paris, is as follows : 
 
 13. "The i'-.land called Newfoundland with the adjacent 
 islands shall from this time forward belong of right wholly to 
 Britain, and to that end the town and fortress of Placentia and 
 whatever other places in the said island are in the possession of 
 the French shall be yielded and given up within seven months 
 from tlie exchange of the ratification of this treaty or sooner if 
 possible, by the most Christian King, to those who have a coni- 
 mi-sion from the Queen of Great Britain for that p irpose. Nur 
 shall the most Christian King, hia h^irs and successors, or any of 
 their subjects, at anytime liereafter, lay claim to any right to the 
 said island or islands or tc any part of it, or them. Moreover it 
 
42 
 
 shall not be lawful for the .subjcctH of France to fortify any place 
 in tlio said Island of Newfoundland, or to erect any huildino' tlieiv, 
 besides sliops made of boards, and huts necessary and usi ful for 
 dryin<^ iish ; or to resort to tlic said island beyond the time neces- 
 sary for fishini,^ and dryini^ of fish, but it shall be allowed t«> the 
 subjects of France to catch fish, and to dry them on land in that 
 part only, and in no other besides that of tin said Island of New- 
 foundland, which stretches from the place called Cape Bonavista 
 to the northern point of the said island called Point Kiche. But 
 the island called Cape Breton, as also all others, both in the mouth 
 of the River St. Lawrence and in the Gulf of the same name shall 
 hereafter belong of rifjht to the French, and the most Christian 
 King shall have all manner of liberty to fortify any place oi' plans 
 there." 
 
 The season prevented the immediate transmission of the 
 proclamation, for it only reached Canada on the JOth of August, 
 1704, at which date Murray assumed the Government and the 
 system hitherto followed ceased to pievad. The proclaumtion 
 establish(>d four new provinces in the 'territory ceded as distinct 
 and separate Governments. Quebec, East Floiida, We t Florida 
 and Grenada, 
 
 At the time Murray received his comm's^ion two civil officers 
 arrived from England, William Gregory apjjointed Chief Justice, 
 and George Suckling, Attorney G'.nei al. N either knew a word of 
 French. They were soon superseded. 
 
 In Se[)tember the ordinances establishing the courts were 
 published. They consisted of the Queen's Bench holding sessions 
 twice a year, in January and June, to try civil and criminal cases 
 according to the law of England, with appeal to the Governor in 
 Council when tlie sum involved exceeded £.SOU and to the King 
 when exceeding £000. 
 
 The Chief Justice was to hold a Court of Assize and Goal 
 Delivery once a year after Hilary term in Montreal and Three 
 Rivers. In February, 1700, Murray received instructions to 
 modify the practice of the courts. He was directed to pass an 
 ordinance admitting Canadians of French origin to .serve on juries. 
 In suits affecting British contestants only, the jui\y should be 
 British. When one was French Canadian the jury should be 
 mixed. When both parties were French the jury should be so 
 constituted. Canadians were likewise admitted to practice in the 
 courts. 
 
 Trial by jury and habeas corpus were a great advance in a 
 French community. Justices of the Peace were appointed for 
 these districts, one Justice of the Peace with jurisdiction in dis- 
 putes to the value of £5, £10 by two. These Justices of the Peace 
 would form a quorum to hold Quarter Sessions to adjudicate in 
 
43 
 
 cases from €10 to £;]0. Two justice.s to sit wMM'kly in rotation in 
 Quebec and Montreal. An ordinance estaUlished tl\i! j^iiinja at €1, 
 88., and tlie sliillin<f at Is, 4d. The ordinances were; le^il'zed 
 wlien proclaimed l)y beat of drum in Quebec, Three River- and 
 Montreal. They were published in the Quebec lia/ette in French 
 and En*(lisli. It was at this time that printirii^ was introdnei'd 
 into Canada, no press havinjjf been in operation durinyj Fn-nch 
 rule. The Quebec Gazette wasfii'st published on 2 1st June, 17<)4, 
 there beinj^ no printers in Canada, they were t'oiuid in Philadel- 
 phia, William Brown and Thomas Gilmore, tiie latter sailed to 
 Enjjfland to make arrani^ements for the type, pn;ss and paper. 
 Brown came to Quebec to obtain .subscribers. The paper was 
 published in columns of French and Enirlish. No book or docu- 
 ment had been previously printed in Canadi. The Gazette was 
 the only published pap(!r in Quebec for a (piarter of a century 
 until 1788. Subscription $'S a year. It continued to be i.-sued 
 weekly until 1818, when it appeared twice a week and was .so 
 continued until 18.']2. This reminds me of what the late Dr. 
 Ryerson experienced when, as editor of the Christian Guardian, 
 he had to oo to New York to get type, press and paper and when, 
 as he savs, he travelled bv sta<re at the rate of one mile an hour 
 through the State of New York. The worthy doctor must have 
 offered up a lamentation that no Macadam hail found his way 
 into the Empire State. George Brown, too. hau 'o go to New 
 York for his press and type for the Globe. I musuadd here that 
 the Halifax Gazette had apjieared in 17') 2. Governor Murray 
 who had lived much among the Canadians of Quebec since 17o9, 
 formed a liigh opinion of them as a body and would in no way be 
 a party to thair being treated with injustice or wrong by those 
 whom he described a.s "licentious fanatics." Have they yet 
 passed away ? 
 
 Sir Guy Carh^ton succeeded Murray and matters went on 
 with a fairly contentented people until the passage of the Quebec 
 Act ot 1774, and as we are more interested in what happened at 
 this western end of the Province, i. e., Detroit and Mackinaw, we 
 will hear what the late Chief Justice Campbell, in his Political 
 history of Michigan, has to say of it. But before doing so let me 
 say that Detroit was surrendered on the 8th of September, 17G0. 
 Major Robert Rogers, the celebrated officer connnanding the 
 " Queen's Rangers," with a force consisting of part of the 60th 
 (Royal Americans) and 8()th Regiments, appeared before the town 
 and demanded its surrender, which was granted by M, Bellestre, 
 the commandant. Rogers came to Detroit from Montreal, by way 
 of Cleveland, O., where he met Pontiac, the great conspirator, and 
 informed him of the surrender of Canada and hia mission to 
 Detroit. 
 
44 
 
 CIlIEl' JUSTICE CAMriJELL AND DETUOIT DISTIIICT. 
 
 The Chief Justice says : " In 1774 an Act was passed by the 
 British Parliament, calle*! the Quebec Act, by wliich the entire 
 British possession west of New York ; north of the Ohio, and 
 east of the Mississippi River, were incorporated into the Province 
 of Quebec and made subject to its Government. 
 
 " By this Act the Council had the power to impose such 
 taxes as the inhabitants of the various local districts should vote 
 for roads, buildings and other local purposes, but this was all. 
 
 " Althou<,di in the lower parts of the Provinrie (Montreal and 
 Quebec) where the .settlements were more dense, the .system of 
 Government assumed an external appearance of legal formality, 
 no attempt or pretence was made to relieve the western region 
 from martial law. A Lieutenant-Governor was sent to Detroit, 
 who had almo.st, if not absolute authoritv. Henrv Hamilton was 
 first appointed in this capacity and arrived in Detroit in l77o. 
 The old .system was to terminate May Lst, 1775. It was not till 
 1788 that any courts whataver were established in Upper Can- 
 ada. In that year, on 24th July, Lord Doche.ster by proclamation 
 created the four districts in Upper Canada, Lunenburg, Mecklen- 
 burgli, Na.s.sau and He.sse. The latter embraced all the country 
 west of Long Point on Lake Erie, and as Detroit was still retained 
 in British possession it came within the jurisdiction of that dis- 
 trict. The courts were called Courts of Comn.on Pleas, being 
 courts of record with a clerk and sheriff. Their jurisdiction was 
 plenary with no appeal unless to the Governor- General. These 
 indtres vvere not bred to the law, as there were no lawvers in 
 Upper Canada until 1794. They were generally men of wealth 
 and inluience, and in civil matters their judgments were probably 
 just. They knew nothing of criminal law and banished, 
 imprisoned, whipped or pilliored such unlucky culprits as were 
 convicted before them. It is erroneously stated by Caniff that 
 the first person hanged in Upper Canada was convicted before 
 Judge Cartwright of the Mecklenburgh District. The honor or 
 dishonor of that judicial exploit, belongs to Judge Dejean, 
 although there were perhaps some court-martial convictions 
 before. The first Judge of Common Pleas for the District of 
 Hesse was the Hon. Wm. D. Powell. He was appointed in 1789 
 and assujned his functions in the same year. All the other Judges 
 and the Clerk of Hes.se were appointed in 1788. Gregor McGregor 
 of Detroit, was appointed by Lord Dorchester, Sheriff" and Thomas 
 Smith of the .same place as Clerk and Commissioner of the Peace 
 on the 24th of July, 1788, the day when the districts were created. 
 The Court held its first session in 1790, and an execution sale of 
 lands (an innovation on the common law) was made by Sheriff 
 
45 
 
 McOrof^or under a jinl^inont rendered in Aiij^ust, I7!H). (It may 
 he ineiitiotied here that the; three JuHtices of th(^ Court oi:* Coimnoii 
 PleiiH who hud heen ii|)i)()iiite<l on 24tli July, I7>S<H, were Duper-wi 
 Baby, Alexander MeKeo and William llohertson.) 
 
 "Until the action ot" the Governor-iJeneral in 17NS, th<! De- 
 troit .settlement and its dependencies, including; all the westei-n 
 posts, remained without ar y civil Government. Allhoujfh the 
 preamble of the Quebec Act gave us a reason for its enactment, 
 the fact that under the King's proclamation of I70li, there were 
 several colonies and settlements which had been left w ithout any 
 provision for civil Goviirinnent, neither the Act itself, nor the 
 administration under it, made any approach toward such a pro- 
 vision, until five years after the Treaty of Peace of 17^.*} had ren- 
 dered the retention of Detroit by the l^ritish a wron«^ful and 
 arbitrary usurpation. In the bej^inninu' of 177^^ we see the ti:st 
 step taken for preventinj^ the sale of I'um to the Indians. This 
 proceeded from the merchants of Detroit, a penalty of ClOO New 
 Vork currency was imposed for any infraction. 
 
 " It is an interestinj; fact that the Boston Port l»ill which 
 changed the Government of Massachusetts and that for trying 
 American offenders in England and depriving them of trial by 
 a jury of the Vicinage, were introduced with the Quebec Bill and 
 as [)arts of one scheme, l-etroit commanded the whole Indian 
 country. Several land grants were made by the Connnander at 
 Mackinaw on the mainland, and Bois Blanc Island, Grosse Isle and 
 Hog island in the Detroit River, were granted — the former to 
 Alex Macomb and the latter to Geo. McDougall. 
 
 "The change of allegiance made no change in the socijd rela- 
 tions of most of the citizens. They had been old associates and 
 good neighbors and had no personal quarrels, it was generally 
 felt that in the main the course of the British sympathizers was 
 such as might fairly have been expected from those who liad felt 
 no poliiicul grievances, and it was also known that the British 
 Ministry, in its extreme courses, did not fairly represent the Brit- 
 ish people, from whom the entire heritage of American liberty had 
 <lescended." 
 
 THE QUEIJEC ACT, 1774. 
 
 It has to be admitted that this Act was a source of extreme 
 dissatisfaction not only to the British subjects, but to the Frencli 
 Canadians. 
 
 Chatham pronounced it "a most cruel, oppressive and odious 
 measure, tearing up by the roots justice and every good principle ; 
 that the whole of it seemed to him to be destructive of that liberty 
 which ouijht to be the iiround work of everv constitution, and that 
 it would shake the ati'ections and conditions of His Majesty's sul)- 
 
46 
 
 jocts in En;:;liiii(l >ukI Irebuul, and finally lose hitn tlu' lieartu of 
 all tlm Aiiioricans." 
 
 Watson, in his Constitutional History, says : "Thus pa^soil a 
 nieasui'c vvliidi in its t'ar-rcacliiu^ disastrous results was, not oven 
 cxce[)tin^ the Stiinij) Act of I7()'), whicli lu'i^an to j^ond the thir- 
 teen colonies to revolution, the worst Act the British I'ailianient 
 ever iinposiMl on an American colony." 
 
 Kin;j;sfotd says: "No one. I think, can fairly deny that the 
 Act was wise and just in its main provisions, one ohjtction against 
 it, in my humhlu o[)inion, may he Justly taken: the comprehen- 
 .sion into the newly-created province of th<! territory v est (»f the 
 .settled parts of Canada, at the period of French -nle. The Act 
 really enforce<l upon the inhahitants passing into this territory 
 the same laws which prevailed in Canada, and all sucli inimi<fra- 
 tion must have heen from the l^ritish Government." 
 
 The Con<;re.ss (not Congress as it now is, for this 
 was hefore the little Leyin(rton unpleasantness which hap- 
 pened in April, 177'), hut the Con<:fressj of the deleoates of the 
 Colonies of New Han.pshii-e, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island 
 and Providence Plantations, Conn(!cticut, New York, New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, the Counties of New Castle, Ken' vnd Sussex on 
 the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Ca? v, and South 
 Carolina, deputed hy the inhahitants of the .saiu ^^onies to rep- 
 resent them in a general Congress at Philadelphia, in the State of 
 Pennsylvania, to consult together of the hest nsethods to ohtain 
 revlre.ss of their atHicting grievances) on the 24th Octoher, 1774, 
 drew up an address to the people of Great Britain enumerating 
 their grievances. They said : " Several cruel and aggressive Acts 
 have heen passed. Also an Act for extending the Province of 
 Quehec so as to horder on the western frontiers of these Colonies, 
 estahlish an arhitrary Government therein, and (H.^courage the 
 .settlement of British subjects in that wide extended country ; 
 thus hy the influence of civil principles and ancient prejudices, to 
 dispose the inhahitants to act with 'n)stility against the free Pro- 
 testant colonies whenever a wicked ministry shall choose so to 
 direct thtm." 
 
 Professor Seeley says that with the triumph o"* Wolfe on the 
 Plains of Ahraham began the history of the United States. 
 
 Baron Meseres in 1779 said that the Act "had not only 
 offended the inhabitants of the Province itself, in a degree that 
 could hardly be conceived, but had alarmed all the English 
 Provinces in America and contributed more, perhaps, tlian any 
 other measiu'e whatsoever, to drive them into rebellion against 
 their Sovereign." This di.scontent both in Canarlaand the Amer- 
 ican Colonies led no doubt to the action of the latter in .sending 
 in their army under Arnold and Montgomery against Canada, 
 
the 
 
 lonly 
 1 til at 
 
 [lish 
 any 
 Linst 
 liier- 
 linijf 
 Ma, 
 
 *7 
 
 which, throuj^h th»' heroic devotion, couraj^o and wisdom of Carle- 
 tun, resulted so disastrously to them in the death of Montnonujry, 
 l»efort! Quebec in Decetnher, 177"). Kin^'sford says, it looked as if 
 Hritish possession of Canada was to c(;ase iti a few weeks and as 
 if one of the t;arli*'st triumphs of the Revolution would he the 
 dismcmherment ot" the lately constituted Province from its con- 
 nection with the {empire. 
 
 And here we ou^ht to ])ause and rejoice that there was one 
 man in Canada — he, the Governor, — who was determined that 
 Canada should not he lo-t to the Kmpire and who, in so heroic a 
 way, went from Montreal, which had surrendered to Arnold, to 
 Quebec under the (greatest dillieulties, and there, in the last 
 stronL,diold of the Province, saved it from the haruls of the 
 invader."*. (Jh that the spirit of that hrave Enj^lish General ani- 
 mated every man in Canada and there would be no Indepiin- 
 dence, or Annexation, or Commercial Union, or Unrestricted 
 Reciprocity, or any other political or commercial fad, but a Car- 
 leton-Spartan resolution to hold Canada as she is with no prouder 
 herita;^e than that of bein" a part of England's Empire. 
 
 1 contiime the hi.sto!- of this period by ^ivin;^ in part Mr. 
 Read's concise and clear review of it in the intro(hicti,^n to Ids 
 " Lives of the Jud<^es." He ."ays : 
 
 "Previous to the passin<j; of the Constitutional Act of 17!) I, 
 the condition of affairs — civil, political and judicial — was ,so 
 widely different at different epochs that it will be profitable, if 
 not necessary, to pass in reviev.' the state of affairs legal in the 
 Province of Quel)ec durinij this ante 1791 period. 
 
 The old Province of Quebec was, by an Act of the Im])erial 
 Parliament passed in 1791 (81st Geo. Ill c. 81 / divided into the 
 two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. The perioil e.\tund- 
 ing from 17o9, the date of the conquest, nuiy well be ternied the 
 revolutionary peiiod of the law of Canada. 
 
 It can easily be conceived that in a jiart of this intervening 
 period, viz., the period between 17')9 and 17(58, in which latter 
 yeai- the Treaty of Peace was come to by Great Britain and 
 France, by which the Province of Quebec was ceded to Great 
 Bi'itain by France, the .state of the law and its aduunistration in 
 the Province were in a very satisfactory state. The population 
 wa.s a mixed one, comprising French of France ; French Canadians, 
 born in the Province; Indian.s ; Metis, or half-breeds; English 
 officers ; English soldiers, and English traders ; a large majority, 
 however, being native-born French Canadians. 
 
 MIGHT RATHER THAN RIGHT. 
 
 Up to the Treaty of Peace in 17G3 the law which governed 
 was rather the law of might than of right. The French Cana- 
 
m 
 
 cliatis had Ijecoino »i conquerof^ rncc and were in the power of the 
 con(iueror.s. There was rothin^' to show timt the law was 
 improperly or harshly administered durinii^ this period. Never- 
 theless, with a French population not understar.slin'r Eni^lish and 
 an En.olish trihunal not understandin<f French, it cjuld not oe 
 otherwise than that differences and altercations of a serious char- 
 acter shouici occur. On the one hand, the Fiench dearly loved 
 their oan laws, and did not at all relish the chauLije in (Jovern- 
 nient The Englisji were of opinion that British sultjects, as the 
 French had become hy conquest, should he governed by and be 
 willino- to submit to English law pure and simple. 
 
 The case stood thus: By the 21st article of the Articles of 
 Capitulation, entered into at Montreal, 8th September, 1700, be- 
 tween Cieueral Andierst, Commande'--in-Chief o^' Hi.s Britannic 
 Majesty's troops in North America, and the ManjUis of Vandreuil, 
 for the French, it was provided that the English General should 
 furnish ships for carrying to France the Supreme Court of 
 Justice, Police and Admiralty. 
 
 Military rule was finally brought to an end, the Treaty of 
 1703 was signed. 
 
 There is nothing in the treaty which gave the French Cana- 
 dians, or French of France, the old laws and customs of Canada — 
 those which prevjdled before the conquest. There was a clause 
 (clause 4) by which His Britannic Majesty agreed to grant the 
 liberty of the Catholic religion to the inhabitants of Canada. 
 " He will conserpiently give the uiost precise and effectual orders 
 thnt his now Catholic subjects may profess the worship of their 
 religion according to the rights of the Roman Church as far as 
 the laws of Great Britain will permit." There is not a line in 
 the treaty about laws and customs, though special regard was 
 paid to the matter of religion. Reading the capitulation articles 
 and the treaty together, it is uppjirent that the French, both by 
 negotiation and treaty, had the greatest solicitude for their 
 church ai'.d their religion ; that the English, appreciated this, giv- 
 ing tncm very exclusive religious privileges and rights, but 
 alvvays reserving the rights of British Law. 
 
 in October, 1708, a proclamation was issued by Governor 
 Murray, the Commander-in-(ihief of Canada, establishing four 
 separate Governments out of the territory in America ceded by 
 the Treaty of Paris. They were Quebec, comprising the whole of 
 Canada; East Florida, West Florida and Grenada. This proc- 
 lamation stated that as soon as the circumstances of the Colonies 
 would permit, general assemblies of the people would be convinced 
 in the same niann ' as in the American Provinces. In the mean 
 time the laws of Lv ^and were to be in force. The proclamation 
 adds that until such an assemblage could be called the royal pro- 
 
Cana- 
 
 natla — 
 
 clause 
 
 nt the 
 
 an ad a. 
 
 rdeivs 
 
 tlieir 
 
 Ifar as 
 
 no in 
 
 I was 
 
 tides 
 
 h by 
 
 their 
 
 r. Siv- 
 
 but 
 
 lernor 
 four 
 
 by 
 
 loot* 
 )roc- 
 lonies 
 jnced 
 nean 
 ^tion 
 Ipro- 
 
 49 
 
 tection was promised to all resorting to the Province, and authority 
 N.'as given for the establishment of Courts of Justice, jivil and 
 criminal, with right of appeal to the Privy Council. 
 
 The Treaty was signed on 10th February, 1 703, but no change 
 war: made in the Government of Canada for eighteen months 
 after. Governor Murray was appointed on the 20th Oc*^.ober, and 
 he may accordingly be considered the first Governor-in -Chief of 
 Canada. Two years had not elapsed after the signing of the tre^^ty 
 when the Governor-General, acting under instructions, formed a 
 new Executive Council composed of the two Lieutenant Governors 
 of the two Districts of Montreal and Three Rivers, into which the 
 Province had l)een divided, the Chief Justice, che Inspector Gen- 
 eral of Customs, and eight other persons chosen from among the 
 inhabitants of the colony, who, with himself, should possess all 
 executive legislative and judicial functions. This Act was a re- 
 modelling of the whole previous system. 
 
 A court called the King's Bench and another called the 
 Common Pleas were established. Both were to render decisions 
 based on the law and practice of England, subject to appeal to the 
 Executive Council. 
 
 The French soon manifested their dissatisfaction with this 
 state of things and on petition, all was changed by the Quebec 
 Act of 1774, " An Act for making more effectual provision for the 
 government of British North America." 
 
 The 8th clause provided that " His Majesty's Canadian sub- 
 jects within the Province of Quebec, the religious orders and 
 communities only excepted, may Ik and enjoy their property 
 and possessions, together with all customs and usages relative 
 thereto, and all other their civil rights, in as large, ample and 
 beneficial a manner as if the proclamation, commissions, ordinances, 
 and other Acts and instruments had never been made, and as may 
 consist with their allegiance to His Majest}'^ and subject to the 
 Crown and Parliament of Great Britain, and in all matters of 
 controversy relative to property and civil rights resort shall be 
 had tc the laws of Canada as the rule for the decision of the 
 same ; and all causes that shall hereafter be instituted in anv of 
 the Courts of Justice to be appointed for and within the said 
 Province by His Majesty, his heirs and successors shall, with 
 respect to such privileges and rights, be determined agreeably to 
 t)>e said laws and customs of Canada until they shall be varied or 
 altere<l by any ordinances that shall, frotJi time to tiire, be passed 
 in the said Province by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or 
 Commander-in-Chief for the time beinor, bv and with the advice 
 and consent of the Legislative Council of the same to be appointed 
 in manner hereinafter mentioned." 
 
 By enacting that " in all matters of controversy and civil 
 
oO 
 
 rights resort shall be had to the laws of Carada as the rule for 
 the dccisi' i of the same," the Old Canada or French law was 
 restored, iid all His Majesty's subjects, French and English in 
 the Colonies wera in civil matters placed under laws totally 
 foreifrn to British immigrants and those of the old firitish settlers 
 who had been accustomed to British law. 
 
 Ills Majesty's speech to Parliament gives the reason for pass- 
 ing the Act. He says : 
 
 " The very peculiar circumstances of embarrassment in which 
 the Province of Quebec is involved had rendered the proper Ad- 
 justment and regulation of the Government thereof a matter of no 
 small difificulty. The Bill which you prepared for that purpose 
 and to which I have given my assent, is founded on the clearest 
 principles of justice and humanity and will, 1 doubt not, have the 
 best effect in quieting the minds and promoting the happiness of 
 my Canadian .subjects. I have seen with concern a dangerous 
 spirit of resistance to my Government and the execution of the 
 laws in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in ]Sew England." 
 
 The Act of 1774 enlarged the boundaries of the Province of 
 Quebec south of the Ohio and westward to the Mississipp-, thus 
 taking into the Province of Quebec a territory and people of one 
 of the British North America Colonies to the south of the Great 
 Lakes and which afterwards, by the treaty of Versailles in \7<^li 
 recognizing the independence of the thirteen American Colonies, 
 became part of one of the free and independent United States of 
 America, and a population of some 20,000 who had come thithei- 
 from other States. Now came the turn for discontent on the part 
 of the British subjects. The discontented Colonies of the New 
 England Provinces, themselves bent on rebellion, were not slow to 
 urge the people of Canada to join them in their intended resist- 
 ance to Imperial authority. The Congress of the New England 
 States which met at Philadelphia on the oth of September, 1774, 
 addressed the Colonists in Canada as " friends and fellow citizens, ' 
 and then endeavored to impress them with the advantage of their 
 confederation and the following year sought to force them by 
 con(}uest under General Montgomery. During the American 
 Revolutionary War, beginning wi'h the affair of Lexington and 
 ending in the tieaty of 1783, the law was administered in Quebec 
 under the Act of 1774- — the French law — and was most distaste- 
 ful to the British residents. 
 
 At the time of the passing of the Quebec Act of 1774, by 
 which the oonndaries were extended as already stated, so as to 
 include the inhabitants of the Ohio Valley, there were as many 
 as 20,000 people in that region who had emigrated thitherward 
 from other States. These people had enjoyed the benelits nl' 
 British Law as administered in the colonial courts. They were 
 
51 
 
 rule for 
 
 law was 
 
 itjlish in 
 
 totally 
 
 settlers 
 
 [OF pass- 
 
 n which 
 oper od- 
 ter of no 
 purpose 
 
 clearest 
 have the 
 )iness of 
 mgerous 
 1 of the 
 intl." 
 )vince of 
 ppi, thus 
 ie of one 
 be Great 
 in urn 
 Jolonies, 
 states of 
 
 thither 
 
 the part 
 he New 
 i slow to 
 
 1 resist- 
 England 
 er;i774, 
 ,'itizens/' 
 
 of their 
 leni by 
 
 luerican 
 
 ton and 
 Quebec 
 
 listaste- 
 
 774, by 
 so as to 
 IS many 
 lerward 
 lie fits nl' 
 ey were 
 
 not then disposeil to accept in their plar'e the " Coubuino dc Paris," 
 or any other system of French law in place of the law to whicii 
 they had been accustomed. Thus a very lar^e auxiliary force 
 was added to the small nuinlter of Ani^lo-Canarlian subjects set- 
 led in the Districts of Montreal and (Quebec, to aid in protesting 
 against the Quebec law. 
 
 In 17H4, following) the Treaty of Peace between the United 
 States and Groat Britain, a large number of subjects of the King 
 in the now enfranchised colonies south of the St. Lawrence and 
 the Great Lakes who preferred Monarchial to Republican Gov- 
 ernment, and came <"0 Canada, settled on the banks of the St. 
 Lawrence. These emigrants into Canada, called the United 
 Empire Loyalists, on their arrival in Canada soon found that the 
 situation was not much improved if they were to be relegated to 
 the old, an.l, in their view, anti(;[uated laws of France. They left 
 the United States especially to place themselves under British 
 law, and this thoy determined to have. In this particular they 
 only held to the same opinion as Iia-l influenced the people of the 
 Ohio Valley :.hen they, between 1774 and 1783, made their pro- 
 test agair st being governed by French law. 
 
 In r^88 Lord Dorchester, acting for the King, styling His 
 Majesty -^ing of Great Britain, France and Ireland, issued a pro- 
 clamation recitino; the ordinances of the Province, dividing the 
 Province into two districts and proclaimed that thereafter the 
 Province should be divided into five Provinces, viz., Lunenhurgh, 
 Mecklenburgh, Nassau, Hesse and Gaspe. By Provincial Act of 
 Upper Canada, passed in 1792, the four districts with those Pro- 
 vinces, viz., Lunenburgh, Mec i^lenburgh, Nassau and Hesse were 
 re-named in the order of these names: Eastern, Midland, Home 
 and Western Districts. The boundary of Lunenburgh shows 
 that there was another River Thames, now known as the River 
 Gananoque. 
 
 The period between 1774 and 1791 has generally been termed 
 " The Legislative Council " period. This arose from the fact that 
 by the Quebec Act a legislative Council, who were appointees of 
 the Crown, governed in the Province. In 1777 an ordinance was 
 passed by this Legislative Body dividing the Province into two 
 districts and establishing two courts, a Court of Queen's Bench 
 and a Court of Common Pleas for each district. These two dis- 
 tricts corresponded to what became the Provinces of Upper and 
 Lower Canada, with a greater western extension of Upper Canada, 
 viz., to the Ohio River on the south and the Mississippi on the 
 west. The condition of affairs under this Act of 1774 was very 
 unsatisfactory, alike to French and English, ami perplexing to the 
 Government at home. Upon the advice of Mr. Pitt the Govern- 
 ment decided to divide the Province into two Provinces so that 
 
52 
 
 each could have the laws n\o.st agreeable to the majority of the 
 peo])le of the respective Provinces. 
 
 Our Constitutional Act of 31st, George III., chap. 31, was 
 passed which replaced the Legislative clauses of the Act of 1774 
 and divided the Province into two Provinces, one of Upper Can- 
 ada (now Ontario) and the other Lower Canada (now Quebec) and 
 went into operation 25th December, 1791. 
 
 The Legislature of Upper Canada at its first session held at 
 Niagara on the 17th of September, 1792, enacted that the laws of 
 England instead of the laws of Canada were to govern in matters 
 of property and civil rights in Upper Canada. 
 
 The United Empire Loyalists had much to do in bringing 
 about this state of things and the English law in the Province, 
 in which they had come to settle on being expatriated from the 
 States. These settlers in the Province were imbued with very 
 strong ideas on the subject of Monarchial Government and British 
 laws. The French in the Province of Quebec retain the laws 
 guaranteed to them by the Act of 1774, and there can be no doubt 
 that the Act of 1774 was passed after diligent inquiry as to its 
 propriety, and this is only in harmony with England's beneficent 
 policy in other portions of her vast Empire." 
 
 The Act of 1791, dividing the Province, enabled the French 
 to mould their laws to their liking. : ; >, ; 
 
63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 USURPATION — THE ISLANDS AND INDIANS. 
 
 eHIEF JUSTICE CAMPBELL spe;»k,s of the period between 
 tlie Treaty of Versailles, 17<S3 and 179(5, as one of " wronj^- 
 ful and arbitrary usurpation " on En^dand's part. VVe 
 must make allowance for his view, and, thank God, I can look 
 upon the separation of the colonies without bitterness. I trust I 
 duly appreciate the noble efibrts that are bein<; made wiihin the 
 great Republic for a high and Christian civilization and have no 
 doubt that in God's Providence they will attain unto it. But the 
 honored Chief Justice's statement is too strong in the eye of the 
 Canadian loyalist. The terms of the treaty were not observed 
 and hence the retention. 
 
 Kingsford says: "After the conclusion of the Treaty of 
 Peace an attempt was made by Congress in 1788 to obtain pos- 
 session of the western posts ceded to the United States. Wash- 
 ington made a demand upon Haldimand. The State of New York 
 did so also, and other demands wer? made, but the transfer was 
 withheld on the ground that Haldimand had no order to give 
 them up and the reason was in no way concealed, viz., the failure 
 of the United States to carry out the 5th and 0th clauses of the 
 treaty by which Congress had engaged to obtain restitution of 
 the property of British subjects which had been confiscated and 
 tha\. there should be no further confiscations or persecutions by 
 reason of the part taken in the war. 
 
 Dr. Ryerson says • " Dr. Franklin, the most experienced and 
 ablest of the American diplomatists, was the most crafty and 
 overbearintr ajjainst England. 
 
 " At the beginning of the negotiations for peace he demurely 
 proposed, and half converted Mr. Oswald to his proposition to 
 concede Canada (which at that time meant all British North Amer- 
 ica) to the United States, though his commission related simply to 
 the independency of the thirteen colonies ; and when the British 
 Cabinet vetoed this extra-official and extravagant proposition, 
 Dr. Franklin and his colleagues over-reached the ignorance and 
 weakness of the British diplomatists by carefully prepared maps 
 for the purpose of marking the boundary lines between the pro- 
 posed possessions of Great Britain and the United States on their 
 
5^ 
 
 northorn and north-western frontiers. These lines were so in- 
 geniously drawn as to take from Great ]>ritain and inchidc in the 
 United States the immense and valuable territories, back settle- 
 ments and the whole country between the Allci^hany Mountains 
 and the Mississippi, and which have since become the States of 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, and 
 Minnesota, etc. — to not one foot of which the thirteen American 
 Colonies had the slightest claim — territories ample to compensate 
 Loyalists for their losses and banishments, but whose interest 
 with those most valuable possessions w^rc lost to Great Britain by 
 the subserviency of the British Commissioner Oswald (a London 
 and American merchant) who looked to his own interests, and was 
 the subservient tool and echo of Dr. Franklin. The above terri- 
 tories were a part of the domain of Congress, irrespective of any 
 State, and thertfore at the absolute disposal of Congress. Yet 
 with these immense accessions of resources, the American Com- 
 missioners professed that the Congress had no power or means to 
 compensate the United Empire Loyalists for the confiscation and 
 destruction of their property. One knows not at which most to 
 marvel. The boldness, skill and success of the American Com- 
 missioners, or the cowardice, ignorance and recklessness of the 
 American diplomatists." 
 
 Professor Goldwin Smith says : " Civil war, as well as inter- 
 national war, there will sometimes be, but it ought always to be 
 closed by amnesty. 
 
 " For amnesty Cromwell declared on the morrow of Worces- 
 ter. Amnesty followed the second civil war in America. The 
 first civil war was not followed by amnesty, but by an outpouring 
 of the vengeance of the victors upon the fallen. 
 
 " Some Lioyalists were put to death. Many others were de- 
 spoiled of all they had and driven from the country. Several 
 thousands left New York when it was evacuated by the King's 
 troops (November, 1783). Those who remained underwent vio- 
 lent persecution. The several slates banished, confiscjited, pro- 
 scribed persons and estates. 
 
 " Or fifty-nine persons attainted by New York three were 
 married women, guilty probably of nothing more but adhering to 
 their husbands and members of the council, or law officers who 
 were bound in personal honor to be faithful to the Crown. 
 
 "Upon the evacuation of Charleston, the Loyalists were 
 imprisoned, whipped, tarred and feathered, dragged through 
 horse ponds and carried about the town with " Tory " on their 
 breasts. All of them were turned out of their houses and plun- 
 dered, twenty-four of them were hanged upon a gallows facing 
 the quay in sight of the British fleet with the army and refu:iees 
 on board. ' However, we will say with Mr. Sabine to those who 
 
55 
 
 
 o 
 
 protested ; to General Greene, who said that it would be the ex- 
 cess of intolerance to prosecute opinions which twenty years he- 
 fore had been the uni\ersal belief of every class of society; to 
 Alexander Hamilton, who nobly stood uj) ai^ainst the torrent of 
 hatred as the advocate of its victims in New York ; John Jay, 
 who said he had no desire to conceal the opinion that to involve 
 the Tories in indescriminate punishment and ruin would be an in- 
 stance of unnecessary rigour and unmanly revcn«jje without a 
 parallel, except in the annals of rt li;^ious raoe in the time of 
 bigotry and blindness.' By right-minded men the violence of 
 the separation nuist ever be deplored. The least part of the evil 
 was the material havoc. Of this the larger share fell as usual 
 upon the country which was the scene of the war, England 
 came out at last with her glory little tarnished. She had 
 yielded not to America, but to America, France, Spain and Hol- 
 land. While she was losing nominal empire in America, illus- 
 trious adventurers hi>u enlarged her real empire in Hindostan. 
 
 "The Colonists by their emancipation won commercial as 
 well as fiscal freedom, and the still more precious freedom of 
 develupment : political, social and spiritual. But their liberty was 
 baptized in civil blood, it was cradled in confiscation and massacre, 
 its natal hour was the hour for exile of thousands of worthy citi- 
 zens whose conservatism, though its ascendency was not desirable, 
 might as all true Liberals will allow, have usefully leavened the 
 Republican mass. A fallacious ideal of political character was set 
 up, Patriotism was identified with rebellion, and the young 
 Republic received a revolutionary bias of the opposite of which 
 .she stood in need. 
 
 " The sequel of the Bjston Tea Parti/ wm the firing on Fort 
 Sumpter." 
 
 These are some of the reasons why England held back, for 
 the territory was in truth that of the Indians and they looked to 
 England to maintain their ri^jhts. 
 
 And the wrong was never righted. My grandfather lost 
 7000 acres of his properties that were granted to and bought by 
 him and it is a tradition in our family that the City of Platts- 
 burg to-day stands on a portion of his estate, forfeited and sold 
 without compensation. 
 
 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Let us call attention to another of the Chief Justice's remarks 
 when referring to the hanging of a party by Judge Dejean, " the 
 honor (or dishonor) of that judicial exploit belongs to Judge 
 Dejean," although there were perhaps some court-martial convic- 
 tions. Were the worthy Chief Justice with us now he would 
 hardly be found among the opponents of capital punishment for 
 
56 
 
 
 
 iiiunler. Tie efforts made to secure the desired chanp;o in the 
 law in the last session of the Li'<,nslatiire of his State, would show 
 him how {^reat a change had taken place in public opinion on 
 this suhject. It is said upon <^ood authority tint durin<r 1894 
 there were 9,S00 murders in the United States. During thesd'.nc 
 year thirty in Canada. The population of the States is 14 times 
 larger than that of Canada, and in proportion to population there 
 .should have been fourteen times as many murders there; instead 
 of 420 murders, however, 9,800 took place there, that is there 
 were twenty-three times as many murder.s in the United States 
 in 1894, in proportion to population, as in Canada. Life is there- 
 f(jr twenty-three times as secure against murder north of the 
 international line as .south of it. We have only three offences 
 involving the death penalty, viz., treason, murder and rape, but 
 the latter is seldom the .subject of the extreme penalty. 
 
 The Detroit Tribune of the 24th of April, 1895, says: "The 
 Dominion cf Canada, with a population of nearly 5,000,000 peo- 
 ple scattered from Newfoundland to the wild frontier of the 
 unexplored Northwest Territories, has had less than five murder.s 
 for each 100,000 of her population during the past ten years. 
 Michigan, with about 2,000,000 inhabitants, nearly every one 
 within gun.shot of a school house and a church, has had over 
 twenty-three murders for each 100,000 of her population during 
 the .same period. 
 
 In ten years Canada has tried 223 people fo)- the crime of 
 murder. Michigan, with le.ss than one-half the population, has 
 tried i84 people for the crime during the same period. 
 
 Canada in ten years has hanged forty-nine people for mur- 
 der, Michigan has hanged none. 
 
 Under the Michigan system of punishing murder the state 
 has during ten years, at great expense to her.self preserved the 
 worthle.ss lives of 122 convicted murderers. As an offset the 
 state has mourned the untimely end of over 300 more victims of 
 the crime than would have been murdered if the Canadian ratio 
 of le.ss than five to 100,000 population during the period had pre- 
 vailed in Michigan." 
 
 THE ISLANDS OF THE DETROIT RIVEU. 
 
 The Chief Justice refers to the grant of the islands. It is 
 interesting to know that the grant of Belle Isle, or Isle Aux 
 Cauchons. Hog Island, as it was then, nnd down to 1845, called, 
 to Mr. McDougall who was a British officer, was after he had 
 bought the Indian title to it, for which he had paid about Sl^ODin 
 rum and tobacco. Then we read that the large, fine island of 
 Grosse Island was on oth July, 1793, granted by Governor Simcoo 
 to Mr. William Macomb, who was oiie of the two first members 
 
 al 
 
 b| 
 
 ^1 
 
 W 
 ti 
 
67 
 
 ;he 
 :he 
 
 of 
 Itio 
 
 •e- 
 
 elected to the Upper Canada Parliament for this County. He 
 liatl previously been allowed by Lieutenant Governor Hamilton 
 to occupy it. Mr. Macomb chanj^cd his allegiance and remained 
 on his island home, and I knew his widow and her family inti- 
 mately, and a <^rand-dau<^hter of his to-day is the wife of the first 
 Commoner in Ontario, the Hon. W. D. Balfour, Speaker of the 
 Ontario Legislature, who represents the South Riding of E.ssex, 
 and from her home this latly can at all times look out upon the 
 beautiful island, and with a pardonable pride recall it as a royal 
 gift to her ancestor. A'.u it is a remarkab'e circumstance that^- 
 while our Government thought of making Bois Blanc Ishind thefc_^ 
 seat of the courts and a military station, the Americans tiiought 
 of doing the same with Grosse Isle. Boi. Blanc, which we see re- 
 ferred to in connection with the courts, belonged to the Hurons, 
 and was occupied by them in 177+, was intended as a military \ 
 post, but on the remonstrance of the American Government this 
 was changed, and the fort built at Amherstburg, which was laid 
 out in 170G. The Hurons and their Mission, with Fathers Hubert 
 and Pothier, removed to Sandwich and had their church in the 
 Parish Church at Assomtion. This island it will be remembered 
 wfts sold by our Government to the late Col. Rankin, and is now 
 the property of some Americans. 
 
 Peach Island (or Isle aux Pecl.os) used to be prominent in 
 those early days as the summer home of the great chief and con- 
 spirator, Pcntiac, and has been sold, like Bois Blanc, to Mr. Hiram 
 Walker, whose tine summer residence adds so much to its beauty. 
 Governments to-day are muci vvh.iL they were in the latter part 
 of the last century in selling and giving away lands to M. P.'sand 
 M. P. P.'s and other favorites. 
 
 I confess that if the sale of Bois Blanc to a private individual 
 could be justified it was in that instance, for the Colonel's wife 
 was the grand daughter of Colonel Thomas McKee, who occupied 
 so prominent a position in the history of the County at the close 
 of the past, and beginning of the present, century. He was the 
 Deputy Superintendent and Deputy Inspector General of Indian 
 Affairs, and from his relation to, and influence with, the Indians, 
 was ecjUil to bringing about any agreement between the Crown 
 and the Indians, as was hie father. Colonel Alexander McKee, also 
 Deputy Superintendent and Deputy Inspector General of Indian 
 Affairs, whom Simcoe wanted to have made an Executive Coun- 
 cillor for Upper Canada, and constituted the president of a super- 
 intending committee, controlling the policy to be observed towards 
 the Indians, reporting through Simcoe to Dorchester. . ... 
 Dorchester, embarrassed by the absence in England of the Super- 
 intendent General, Sir John Johnson, in December, 1794, ap- 
 point;d McKee Superintendent General, and requested his 
 
58 
 
 tttteiidance at Quu1)l'C. Tlic former was also meiiil>cr tor Essex and 
 Kent. The McKees, Habys, Askinsand Klliotts stand oul promi- 
 nently in those days of trial anfl conHlct, and there is no more 
 striking instance of loyalty and devoti(jn to a soverci^'ii than was 
 shown by Jud<re .Iac(iues Dupercn Hal)y, who, although liimself a 
 Frenchman, was the faithful ally of England in her stru<,'gle at 
 Detroit wit)\ both French ami Indian^, and e.>-])ecially durinL>- the 
 critical period of Pontiiic's conspiiacy, diii-in<^ which he supplied 
 the jjarrison with cattle, ho^s and supplies fron> his farm on the 
 opposite side by ni^ht, by way of avoidinL?; tie Indians. Of this 
 cons])iracy. by winch Detroit, then held by Col. (Jladwin, of the 
 00th Rciriment, wis nearly caj)turetl, and the massacre in J|ily, 
 170;J, of Ca])tain Dal/ell and a lar^^je number of his detatchment 
 of 2oO men, at Bloody J\un, 1 mu.'^t refer the reader to the ])a<i;es 
 of Park nuin, and the interesting^ story of "Wacousta" by Maj(.)r 
 Richardson. The spot is indicated by a tablet in a tree on the 
 rij^ht side of Jetierson Avenue, al)Out a ndle above Woodward. 
 Major Richardson was the eldest son of Di. Kichardson, of Am- 
 herstburtj. one of the District Judijes in oui District, and brother 
 of the late Mr. Johnstone Richardscn of Wimisor, brother-in-law 
 of our Sheriti". I am j.;Iad to see the union of tw:) of these <ifrand 
 families in the persons of n)y friend, Mr. W. -J. McKee, M. P. P., 
 and his charming wife, t! e eldest daughter oi the late Mr. Charles 
 Baby. May they long be spared to enjoy the memories and 
 traditions of an ancestry so loved and honored. And my friend, 
 Mr. William L. Baby, of Her Majesty's Customs at Windsor, the 
 last surviving .son of the late the Hon. James Baby, is still active 
 in the discharge of his duties upon the scene of his noble grand- 
 father's fidelity and patriotisu), and may he yet be long spared 
 with his historic pen to relate the earlier history of the country, 
 us he has done so well in the past. 
 
 Mr. Thomas McKee, too, who has so long tilled the office of 
 County Clerk to the County of Essex and its associate counties, is 
 the grand-son of the Indian Superintendent and father of the 
 M. P. P. The honored name of Askin is refjiesented in the Regis- 
 trar of Essex, Mr. J Wallace Askin, the present Registrar, and 
 Mr. Alexander Askin, of " Strabane," the name of the family .seat 
 of the grandfather, John Askin, both in Canada and Ireland. 
 
 And I am glad to record the further union of the Baby and 
 Askin families by the marriage of the Registrar to Mr. Baby's 
 second daughter, whc with her .six daughters, make a lovely ad- 
 dition to any circle in which they may be met, and let me a<hl, 
 with pride, that the Registrar in his honorable and lucrative othce 
 is the .succes.sor of his father, and of his late grandfaiher. Colonel 
 James Askin, in the office which they have held by tepaiate 
 appointments for G4 years. 
 
.->*' 
 
 of 
 
 es, is 
 the 
 
 and 
 seat 
 
 and 
 
 iby's 
 
 ad- 
 
 ladd, 
 
 lone I 
 hate 
 
 /77^. i^ I 
 
 
 so 
 
 Colonel Matth(!\v Elliot came to Atnlierstlmr^ in the intfuior- 
 ablc year (i fc<17>S 4 from Virj^iTiia, when s' many other United 
 Empire Ijoyafists (IPd, und took u]) l.i< lionic on the hcuutifiil spot 
 known as " Elliot'.s Point," opposite Hois IJianc Island, and was 
 proniinent as Indian Superintendent, (^'ol. E liott is to- lay rep- 
 resented at the old iioniestead l»v his LjrandsMn, Frederick Elliot, 
 Es(j., and Ids ^M-andson, Miister Fraid< Elliot of our town, 
 onlv son of the late liev. Francis Gore Elliot, and the grandson 
 of Sheriff Mercer. It is said of the Colonel that he saved General 
 Proctor's life at Moraviantown hy throwing up the ritle of 
 Tecuniseh, who, exa'^perated hy Proctor's contemplated retreat 
 hefore the battle was fairly lost, accused him of treachery and 
 would have killed him on the spot but lor the protection then 
 offered. 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 Refeirin^ to the Indians calls for some rellections upon the 
 f^reat prominence of the tribes in the long-protracted contests be- 
 tween France and Encj^land, and the latter and her own Colonists 
 in the war of 1 SI 2. They were a power and ever-present element 
 in every ncj^otiation or operation. 
 
 On the conclusion of the 'J'reaty of 1763 the Indians were 
 informed that the determination had been come (o by the Imperial 
 Government to permit no grants of land within the fixed bounds 
 of the Indian territory , under purcha-(i or any pretext whatever, 
 and that a proclamation would be i.ssued to this effect. 
 
 The Imperial policy protecting the Indians was extremely 
 unpopular in the British Provinces. The Albany [)oliticians eon- 
 tended that the nianaoeujent of the Indian lands should rest with 
 the Province, with agents dispersed throughout the country. The 
 proclamation following t)ie treaty and dated the 7th of October, 
 1 708, says : 
 
 " We do therefore declare it to be our royal will and pleasure 
 that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any of our Colonies 
 of Quebec, East L" lorida or West Florida do presume upon any 
 pretence whatever, to grant warrants of survey, to pa.ss any 
 patents for lands beyond the bounds of their respietive Govern- 
 ments as described in their commissions ; as also that no Governor 
 or Commander in Chief of our other colonies or plantations in 
 America, do presume for the present, and until our further pleas- 
 ure be known, to grant warrants of surveys or pass any patents 
 for land beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which 
 fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest ; or upon 
 any lands whatever, which not having been ceded to, or pur- 
 chased bv us, aforesaid, are reservetl to the said Indians, or any 
 of them.'' 
 
60 
 
 Kingsfortl says: It is a proof of the wisdom ami justice of 
 these provisions that the principle then laid down has always 
 been acted upon in the Queen's dominions. In the Northwest it 
 its now enforced. It is from this just and riijhteous provision 
 that tumult and turmoil have been avoided since the con(jUest. 
 It was from the first denounced by the old British Provinces, and 
 no little aided to that unfriendly feelinij; towards the troops that 
 led them to refuse even shelter and assistance to them when en- 
 Cfnged in h'ghting their battles. 
 
 With Governor Simcoe they were always amonjif the most 
 important problems with which he had to deal and his military 
 instincts and p;reat administrative capacity led him to view all 
 the pros and cons of their relation to the Province ; and how 
 skilfully he did it, is attested by the happy relation in which 
 they have always stood to their sovereifrn. Joseph Brant, or 
 " Tliayendanogea," the great Iroquois chief and head of the Six 
 Nations was a man of great inlluence and capacity whose loyalty 
 and devotion to tht; Crown are everywhere acknowledged. The 
 people of Brant have so testified by the names of their city and 
 county, their monument and other evidences of regard, and we 
 know that when in England, he was received with all honor, and 
 that two tablets of the commandments and the royal arms for his 
 church were given to him, making it, in fact, a chapel royal and 
 where royalty itself in the persons of Her Majesty's sons, the 
 Prince of Wales and Duke of Connaught ; and her representa- 
 tives in the Governors of Upper Canada and Canada, Simcoe, 
 Sir John Colborne, Sir Isaac Brock and Sir Geo. Murray, and 
 Lord and Ladv Dufi'erir stc , was often seen. 
 
 And what a beautii..i and interesting locality is the reserv(! 
 and the Indian Mission Church there founded by the great chief 
 as early as 1784, the first Protestant Church in Upper Canada, 
 and the first church bell that was rung in Canada ! Their com- 
 munion service of solid silver and the bible, presented by Queen 
 Anne to them while still in their native valley of the Mohawk in 
 1712, are still preserved and used by them. I first visited the 
 Mis>ion in 183o, then under the incumbency of the Rev. Abraham 
 Nelles, afterwards, Archdeacon, who continued to officiate there 
 for 50 years, and which is still, as then, under the patronage of 
 the New England Society, as is the Mohawk Institute, for many 
 years and now, under the management of the Rev. Mr. Ashton. 
 
 And talking of the Six Nations, with their beautiful names 
 of Tuscaroras, Oneidas, Senecas, Mohawks, Cayugas and Onan- 
 dagas, of whom my relative. Col. Gilkison, was for many years 
 superintendant at Brantford, I must recall the Hurons or Wyan- 
 dotts of the Detroit River, with their large reserve at Sandwich 
 and their further one at Anderton, where, among others, the ven- 
 
Gl 
 
 cniKlo Split fiOjir, so well known in tlio war of 1812 lo n.s onn of 
 I'] I iL' land's most faithful allies, used to live and did up to I.S:}7, 
 when, with others of the tribe, he removed to his own tribe in 
 the Western States. 
 
 Often was he a truest at our house with his friend and inter- 
 pretor, (jeori^e Martin, and often have 1 seen them nt dinner on 
 their way to, or return from. Detroit. 
 
 We first read of the tribe on the Lower St. Lawrence in tho 
 re<;ion of Montreal, and learn the tradition of their seeini,' the 
 ships of Jac(|Ues Cartier comin;:]r up and their bein<; reported as 
 •ijreat dark animals with broad white win^s — spitting out fire and 
 utterinj^ the voice of thunder — the gallant explorer's cannon 
 belching forth, as it proved, from his vessels. Tho.sc on tho De- 
 troit River were Christians professinj^ the Roman faith. 
 
 Our friend, Mr. Solomon White, of Windsor, Barrister and 
 ex-M. P. P., i.s now a Chief of this interestinj^ tribe. 
 
 The popular impression of the Indians is that they were 
 chioHy nomadie, or livin;^ by huntint; or fi hin^-, but Chief Justice 
 Campbell says: "History shows that for a couple of centuries 
 after the first settlement in Canada, the Indian tribes were in 
 .several instances the only farmers in the country, and supplied 
 the whites. In Michi<i[an. Ohio and Indiana their villages were 
 great, and their lands laid out and were well tilled." 
 
 Our own Indians of the Moravinntown reservation and Wal- 
 pole Island are good illustrations of what kind and Christian 
 treatment has accomplished. 
 
 The former came to us in 17f)2 and were able in Februarv, 
 1793, on Governor Simcoe's visit to the fort at Detroit, to enter- 
 tain him and his suite, which consisted of Captain Fitzgerald, 
 Lieutenant Smith of the 5th Regiment, afterward.^ our member, 
 Lieutenants Talbot, afterwards Colonel Talbot, formerly of the 
 Queen's Rangers, so well known by the great highway and .settle- 
 ment bearing his name through Kent and the ailjoining counties, 
 Gray, Givins, and Major Lettlehales in sleighs, both g<'ing and 
 coming. This noble body of Christian Delaware Indians had 
 reached their Canaan after journeying through the wilderness 
 between the Ohio and the Thames for ten years, 'i'he first year 
 they passed at a point where Mount Clemens now is, 1783-4 they 
 lost their corn crop and the winter was one of the severest on 
 record. The ice on Lake St. Clair was three feet two inches thick 
 and the snow five feet deep, which interfered with hunting and 
 the ice with fishing. But they succeeded in getting a large quan- 
 tity of venison from a herd that strayed into the neighborhood, 
 and with the surplus bought corn, and their residence there led to 
 the n.aking of the first inland road out of Detroit, which was 
 made by Mr. John Askin and Major Arcum. The Mission repre- 
 
(52 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 sents the historic churcli of 'loi ivia (for the Indians are not so 
 called froiii any tribe of that name) and Bohonda, founded in 
 1467, nearly threc-f|unrters of a century before Luther's Reforma- 
 tion. It is now in cliar<^e of the Rev. A. liarlman and numbers 
 about 300 .souls. The Walpole Mi.ssion, under the charjre of the 
 Rev. Mr. Jacobs, numbers some 800, ooO of whom are mendjers of 
 the Church of England, while others are Methodists. 
 
 
 yH i 
 
6d 
 
 CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 * *• 
 
 :■■ ,i 
 
 OUR CONSTITUTIONAL AOT, 1701-2. — UPPER CANADA. — YORK. 
 
 "31' 
 
 ()W is tlie winter of our discontent made giurious 
 summer bv this sun of York." 
 
 Here we are in the liglU of our Constitutiomil 
 Act of 1791, dividin<» the Province of Quebec into Upper and 
 Lower Canada and giving to both the benefits of representative 
 Ciovernnient. , 
 
 The «^That we have been reviewing at some length has been 
 somewhat misty, alike fron» a judicial, Juunicipal or constitutional 
 view ; but we are now within the clear light of a popular and 
 representative governii-ient and the laws of England. Here we 
 have seen an Empire won. There we have seen an Empire lost. 
 We have seen how the winning of the one tended to the loss of 
 the other. What a struggle was that great colonial duel between 
 England and France tor North America, and witli what hopes, 
 disappointments, losses, sorrows, fears, and stupendous results it 
 was attended. It" the thirteen colonies liad not been relieved 
 from the terror of French power and their possible conquest by 
 France, they, in all probability, v.'o.;!d not have revolted. Again, 
 if England had not conquered at Quebec, France might have over- 
 powered these colonies and reversed the order of events, making 
 Puritan New England and her sister colonies, to accept alike 
 French rule and Rome's faith or be a second Acadia. Groat is 
 our triumph in having gained and retained Canada. And we 
 nmst remendjer that while we lost the United States we gained 
 the great Empire of India. 
 
 Under the French governors, from Champlain (1008) down 
 to the capitulation, was 100 years, the period of French rule, or, 
 as Dr. Bourinot says, of "al)solute government." 
 
 From the capitulation to the Treaty of 170IJ, and a year and 
 more after, military rule, or, as Mr. Kingsford would say, " the 
 period of governors' courts," or, as Dr. Bourinot says, ' a new era 
 of political liberty in the history of French Canada," lasting four 
 years. 
 
 Thence to the Act of 1774, with nominally French and 
 English law, by a military governor a-ssi-^ted l>y a council, ten 
 years ; thence, undei' the Quebec Act, which took eti'ect in May, 
 
n 
 
 (34 
 
 ^I'i 
 
 I77i> to 1792, seventeen years, known as the " Lefjislative Coun- 
 cil " ])eriotl. 
 
 The Act of 1791 passed the Imperial Parliament on the 14th 
 of March, 1791, and our first Governor under it was Lieutenant 
 Colonel John Graves Simcoe, a distinf^uished soldier of the 
 American Revolution, who reached Quebec in October of that 
 year, where he was detained for several months, only leavin^j; it 
 in June, 1792, and reaching Kingston in July, when he organized 
 his Government. 
 
 Kingsford says : " Certain appointments had been made in 
 En<;land to constitute the Legislative Council and four mend»ers 
 had be^n nominated, Chief Justice Osgoode, and Messrs. Rober^- 
 .son, Grant and Russell, Only one, however, of them was present 
 in Canada, Alexander Grant, spoken of as Commodore Grant. 
 
 The consefjuence was that there was not a majority of the 
 Cnuncil present at Quebec. Chief Justice Smith pointed out that 
 so soon as General Alured Clarke's proclamation was issued for 
 the division of the Province, Clarke himself, as Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor of Lower Canada, would have no powers in the civil gov- 
 ernment of the other Province, and that his duties in that respect 
 would he confined to his own Government and as the officer in 
 chief command. 
 
 As there w'as no majority of the Council present to admin- 
 ister the oaths, Simcoe could not be sworn in, and hence could not 
 legally act. No power had been given ' 3 him as Lieutenant 
 Governor to appoint ex officio any Legislc«,tive Councillors. Sim- 
 coe accordingly brought the matter to the attention of the Home 
 Government, anrl recommended that James Baby, of Detroit, 
 vshould be so named, and that authority be given to supply the 
 other two re(|uired by the Act, which enforced that the number 
 should not be less than seven. 
 
 Subsequently, 20th January, 1792, John Munro, of Matilda, 
 was appointed, and in August following Richard (Jartwright, 
 Robei't llanulto » and Richard Duncan were added; the list 
 signed by Provincial Secretary Littlehales, dated August 24th, 
 1792, sununoning to the Council the several members, includeil 
 these new names. 
 
 The Legislative Council was assembled to its full number 
 — nine — the new members being Mr. Mtmro, of Matilda; 
 Mr. Duncan, of Rapid Plot; Mr. Baby, of Letroit; Mr. Richard 
 Cartwright, junior, of Kingston, and Mr. Hamilton, of Niagara. 
 Simcoe I'emainc'l here during July, and meetings of the council 
 were held from the 8th to the 2 1st. He himself took the oath as 
 governor on the iSth. 0-good Russell and Baby were sworn in 
 as executive councillors on the following day, Grant on the 11th. 
 
06 
 
 nher 
 ilda ; 
 
 ^ara. 
 mcil 
 
 h as 
 in in 
 
 Ith. 
 
 A proclamation which continued the judges and civil officers in 
 their official duties was issued. 
 
 Coumiodore Grant was my grandfather and lived on his 
 estate ten miles ahove ])btroit, at Grosse Pointe,* and Mr. Baby 
 was the Hon. James Baby, eldest son of Judge Jacques 
 Duperon Baby and father of my former ])artner the late 
 Mr. Chai-les Baby, Clerk of the Peace, Sandwich, and Mr. Wm. L. 
 Baby, of Windsor, already referred to, then living on the Detroit 
 River, both sides of which were then spoken of as " Detroit." 
 
 On 10th July the militia returns were laid before the coun- 
 cil, and, in accordance with them, the province was divided into 
 counties and districts to admit of the distribution of the mem- 
 bers, sixteen in number, a duty which occupied the council from 
 the 10th 10 the loth. On the IGth the proclamation was issued 
 for holding the elections and the meetincr of the Lesfialature ; the 
 first Parliament being called to assemble at Niagara on the en- 
 suing 17th September, 1792 
 
 The Governor reached Newark in August. The house met 
 on the appointed day, the sixteen members were as follows : 
 John Macdonell, who was elected speaker; Jean 5. Baby; Alex- 
 ander (ampbell , Philip Dorland, who, being a Quaker, would not 
 be sworn in and did not take his seat ; Peter, Van Alstine elected 
 in Mr. Dorland's place; Jeremiah French; Ephraim Jones ; William 
 Macomb ; Hugh Macdonell ; Benjamin Rawling ; Nathaniel Pettit; 
 
 I'avid William Smith; Ha/.elton Spencer; Isaac Swayzy ; 
 
 Young; John White, Mr. Whit"' being the first Attorney General 
 of Upper Canada, making, with the Executive and Legislative 
 Councillors, the Puires Patrae of our noble Province. (The Cen- 
 tennial of the organization of the Government of Upper Canada was 
 held at Niagara on the 17th of July, 1892. I was present tind 
 His Honor, Lieut nant Governor Klrkpatrick, took, occasion to 
 say how near we were brought to it, as there was present the 
 gran I son of the third member of Simcoe's Government.) 
 
 T ' Session lasted to the loth October and passed eight Acts. 
 The mc t important abrogated the ancient laws of Canada. No 
 existing ight or contract was to be affected by the change ; in all 
 
 *The Commodore was the fourth son of the seventh laird of Grant of (Jlen- 
 miriston, Inverness, Scotland. In 1757 he came to Canada with (leneral Amherst, 
 as an officer in a line regiment ; but the General finding it necesso.'-v to have a 
 naval force on Lakes Champlain, (ieorgf, etc., called for officers who had been in 
 the navy, and. as Grant was one of these, he received command of a sloop of six- 
 teen guns. Later he was in command from Chippewa to Mackinaw, with liead- 
 (juarters in Detroit, where he married in 1774, and so continued till his death in 
 I SI. '{—leaving ten daughters and one son, the latter dying unmarried, anrl the^ * 
 daughters being represented throughout Caniula by the Dicksons, Duffs, WTighisJnCniffff 
 NiooU, McMickeus, MilUra, Jdijobs, Hichardsous and Woods'. For fifty-seven 
 years he was in the «orviue of hid sovereign. Mr. Baby's father beat the Com- 
 modore, a» be left twenty children. 
 
Ofi 
 
 V, 
 
 hi 
 
 future controversy resort shoulil be had to the laws of Enj^hirul. 
 The forms of hiw and eijuity were to be roi^uhited by the British 
 rulers of evidence ; the law not to interfere with the provisions 
 afiectin;; ecclesiastical riuhts within the Province or ihe main- 
 tenance of the poor. Trial by jury was established. A law was 
 passed for the recovery of small debts. Millers were restricted to 
 one-twelfth fcr millinijj and boltinj.;-, and provision was made for 
 buildin<( a mniol or court house in each of the four districts, East- 
 ern or Johnstone ; Middle or Kingston ; Home or Niaj^ara ; West- 
 ern or Detroit. 
 
 The proposal to meet revenue by a tax of six pence a <;allon 
 on wine and spirits was carried in the Lower House, but thrown 
 out by the Council ; this event caused some vlisagreement between 
 them, vv'hich, however, in no lonnj time subsides). The introduc- 
 tion of the county tax on land was rejected, the plea beinj^ that it 
 would discourage emigration. One serious (juestion of the day 
 was the Marriage Bill. A measure had been introduced into the 
 Council to make all irregular marriages valid. It was withdrawn 
 on an agreement being entered into that an act should be pre- 
 pared in the recess and submitted to England in order that 
 legislation might effect the object aimed at. 
 
 The difficulty had come into prominence since the foundation 
 of Upper Canada in 1784. In the old Province of Quebtc the 
 Protestants had been few in number, and confined to the cities or 
 to localities were clergy were present ; and there had been no 
 cause. 
 
 It is to be remembered that at this date, bv English law no 
 marriage was legal unless performed by a Church of England 
 minister ; consecpiently the children by other marriages were by 
 law illegitimate. In many cases, in the neighborhood of the 
 forts, no clergyman was present, the service had been read by 
 the commanding officer, or by an office appointed by him. In 
 other parts of the country at the time of the first settlement, the 
 justice of the peace had performed the ceremony. Many districts 
 were imperfectly provided with clergymen and in these cases lay- 
 men had officiated. A strong feeling had grown up, whatever 
 the moral character of the relationship, that the children from 
 these marriages had no legal right to the inheritance of the prop- 
 erty of their sires. This was remedied in the next session, by 
 33 Geo. Ill, c. 1, making such marriages valid and providing for 
 future ones. By the 33 Geo. Ill, c. 4, Presbyterian, Lutheran and 
 Calvanist ministers were authorized to celebrate marriage be- 
 tween certain persons, provided they were not under any legal 
 disqualification ; but they did not include Methodists, nor did 
 they see that the Methodists, before the century was out, would 
 number thirty millions. And, as late as 1804, my own parents 
 
ivv no 
 land 
 e by 
 
 the 
 (1 by 
 In 
 , the 
 ;rict8 
 
 ay- 
 ever 
 roiii 
 )rop- 
 
 by 
 
 tor 
 
 and 
 
 be- 
 
 egal 
 
 did 
 
 ould 
 
 ents 
 
 67 
 
 were married at Sandwicli, before Judge Selby, and there are 
 not kss than ei<f^*^ '-"bscribini; witnesses to the uuiiriaiie certiti- 
 cate, a copy of which I have before me. 
 
 The establishment of an official journal took place a few 
 months after prorogation. " The Upper Canada Gazette or 
 American Oracle" appeared on the 18th April, 1798, and was 
 published at Niagara, until 171)S. The printer was Louis Koy, 
 who accompanied Simcoe from Quebec on oth November, 171)2. 
 Simcoe sent a requisition for what was required for the printing 
 office of Upper Canada, a proof of the establi.shment of the print- 
 ing press as coeval with Constitutional Government. Strange to 
 say, our friend Sheriff Mercer has a copy of the first number of 
 this interesting paper to which I .shall refer later on. 
 
 The second session was held 81st iviuy, 1798, and passed 
 eleven Acts. 
 
 In this session the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada took 
 place. There were both Indian and negro .slaves, the former 
 being known as Panis, or captives from the Pawnee nation, and I 
 can remember that one of the freed slaves of my grandfather's 
 household used to come from Detroit and visit my mother, down 
 into the thirties, and this reminds me of wliat both Kent and 
 Essex have done in behalf of the fugitives fiom slavery in the 
 adjoining States. The Rev. VVm. King and the Elgin A.ssociation, 
 with the attendant blessings of his labors in this County, and the 
 efforts of my own father, who set apart 1000 acres of land in 
 Essex to provide homes for these refuge slaves, some of whose 
 descendants are still to be found in Essex. 
 
 JOHN HUOWN AND HIS FOLLOWERS. 
 
 The immortal John Brown, too, found in our town among the 
 large body of respectable colored peoi)le then here, and in the 
 Buxton Settlement, an inspiration and sympathy that led him to 
 his Quixotic or prophetic action at Harj)er's Ferry in 18')!), and 
 we have been honored by the visit.« of that noble and eloquent 
 slave, Frederick Douglass, and I recall not only the pleasure I had 
 in hearing him in his glowing addresses before the great war, but 
 also in entertaining him at my own house. And Kent and Chat- 
 ham enjoyed the residence and influence for a consideralile period 
 of the late John Scoble, M. P., and his accomplishei] family, who 
 was the friend and co-worker of Wilberforce, Sir Fowle Buxton, 
 and Clarkson. and Secretary to the Abolition Society of England ; 
 arul there was the Dresden colonv, with the shrewd old father 
 Henson at its head, the reputed prototype of Uncle Tom in Mrs. 
 Beecher's celebrated book : and I myself have the honor to be 
 called after my god-father, Captain Charles Stuart, of the East 
 
I 
 
 68 
 
 India Company's Service, one of the most active of England's dis- 
 tinguished band of workers for freedom of the slave. 
 
 THE MAllllIAGE ACT. 
 
 As before said, the Marriage Act was passed which, among 
 other things, provided that when the contracting parlies were 
 18 miles from a clergyman, the ceremony could be performed by 
 a Justice of the Peace, the form of the Church ot England being 
 followed ; a Road Act and also an Act for payment of Members 
 of Parliament. And in the third session, among other Acts, was 
 one establishing the Courts of Queen's Bench and Appeal. 
 
 At 
 
 ii 
 
69 
 
 's dis- 
 
 mong 
 were 
 ed by 
 being 
 rubers 
 ?, was 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OUR JUDGES AND COURTS. . 
 
 gf \UR first Chief Justice was William O.sgoodo, an equity 
 V^^ draftsman, of Lincoln's Inn, but esteemed well versed in 
 ^^ Enoli.sh law, which had superseded the French law, and the 
 choice was a <^ood one, and after him was named the scat of the law 
 courts at Toronto. The first menticr. of him in ! »s Judicial capa- 
 city is on the 2'ird of August, 171'2, when he presided in the 
 Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Ciaol Delivery held in 
 the Town of Kino-ston in the District of Mecklenburijjh. His 
 associates on that occasion were Richard Cartwright and Hector 
 McLeod, Es(iuires, Justices of the Common Pleas of the district. 
 Read says : " There were twenty-four grand jurors sworn in ; 
 petit jurors, tip staffs and all the incidenta and impedimenta of 
 the English courts of that day. He only continued Chief Justice 
 till December, 1793, a year and three months or so and then be- 
 came Chief Justice of Lower Canada upon the death of Chief 
 Justice Smith, of Quebec. It is to Chief Justice Osgoode we owe 
 it that no slaves were allowed in Lower Canada, although, unlike 
 Upper Canada, there was no Legislative prohibition. On a case 
 presenting itself the Chief Justice declared thtit British law did 
 not recognize slavery — following the precedent in the case of the 
 slave Somerset in England by Lord Mansfield in 1772 And our 
 Act against slavery was the result of a charge of his to the grand 
 jury in 1792. 
 
 He was succeeded by Chief Justice William Dummer Powell, 
 of whom mention has been made as being one of the judges of 
 the Court of Common Pleas appointed under the Quebec Act of 
 1774, in 1789, as a judge of the Detroit District, or District of 
 Hesse, who came there in 1789 and continued there till he be- 
 came a puisne judge of the Queen's Bench and continued so till 
 1812, and in 1815 became Chief Justice and so remained till 1 825, 
 when he retired and Sir William Campbell became Chief Justice 
 of Upper Canada. 
 
 Niagara or Newark continued to be the .seat of Government 
 till 1796, when Governor Simcoe had it removed to York, which 
 was then a forest with but the fort; the Governor spending the 
 winter of 17V 4-5 there in a canvas tent, which by the way was an 
 
 /'7;'V 
 
70 
 
 
 intcrcstino; one, an it had beloiifred to tlio ct'lelji-ated Captain Cook, 
 the discoverer of .so much of En<j;hind's domain, wlio was killed in 
 1779 in Owhyliee (Hawaii), and he hin).self saw active service in 
 the capture of Quebec by Wolfe, wliere also his father was an 
 officer in His Majesty's service. Here His Excellency dispensed 
 a regal hospitality, anfl, amonjx other distinguished guests, was 
 Edward, Duke of Kent, father of our ,^racious Queen. And just 
 hero, we have the funnit t incident in the whole history of that 
 day, and that is ihe Duke's setting oti" from tha City of Quebec, 
 where he was stationed, to visit Upper Canada with a French 
 cnleche and French pony, as Mr. Reail, in his Life of Governor 
 Simcoe, tells us he did. RecuUing the caicchc and pony and 
 French driver, as I first saw them in 184G — where thev are still 
 found in primeval vigor — and the pleasant drives to Mont- 
 morenci, &c., I have greatly enjoyed this first stage of his Royal 
 Highness in his long journey to our fine Province. It may be 
 mentioned in this place that the (jrovornor, on his first \isit to 
 Toronto, had determined that the old Indian name of Toronto 
 should be changed to that of York, in honor of the Duke of York. 
 There is no official record of how the name became to be changed. 
 It is sufficient to say that the Governor so ordered and it was 
 done accordingly. 
 
 On the 29th August, 1793, the following order was Issued 
 from the Governor's headquarters : 
 
 " YoiiK, Upper Canada, 2Gth August, 1793. 
 
 " His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor having received 
 information of the success of His Majesty's arms under His Royal 
 Highness, the Duke of York, by which Holland has been .saved 
 from the invasion of the French armies, and it appearing that the 
 combined forces have been successful in dislodging their enemies 
 f'"om an entrenched camp supposed to be impregnable, from which 
 the most important conse(|uences may be expected, and in which 
 arduous attempt the Duke of York and His Majesty's troops sup- 
 ported the national glory ; it is His Excellency's orders thfft on 
 raising the union flag, at twelve o'clock to-morrow, a royal salute 
 of twenty-one guns be fired, to bo answered by the shipping in 
 the harbor, in respect to His Royal Highness, and in commenio.- 
 ation of the naming of this harbor from his English title, York,' 
 
 " E B. LiTTLEHALES, 
 
 " Major of Brigade." J 
 But I cannot let Judge Powell go yet, for he is sj closely 
 associated with the exodus from Detroit to Sandwich, of our 
 people and courts, that he is peculiarly the representative of a 
 new era. He was born in Boston, Mass., 1755, sent to England at 
 nine to be educated, and thence to Holland to learn the French 
 
71 
 
 lo in 
 
 MUO.- 
 
 'ork. 
 
 )sely 
 
 our 
 
 lot' M 
 
 1(1 at 
 lench 
 
 and Dateli lani'iuiiies. He was called to tlu; bar in En<flaiul in 
 1779, liad resided in Lower Canada, and iiad reniiered valuable 
 aitl to the LJnit(,'<l Knii)ire Loyalists in ulitainini; our Constitutional 
 Act of 171)1. He had been ajipointed a Conuuissioner of the 
 Peace of the Province of Quebec in l7<Si), and in January, 171)1, 
 he was ajtpointed Connnissioner of Oyei' and Terminer and (jaol 
 Delivery for Quebec, and in 171)2 to the same otlice in and for 
 Uj)])er Canada. From an entry founrl at Os^ooile Hall it ai)i)ears 
 that he held a Court of Connuon Pleas at L' Assumption on the 
 11th of Au<.mst, 171)1, by adjournment. 
 
 On .*}rd September, 171)2, we havi; him presiditiij at His 
 Majesty's Court of Oyer and Terminer at Satidwich, for the Dis- 
 trict of Hesse, and in Octol)er, 171)'}, we find him presidin<^ Judt^e 
 of Oyer and Terminer for the Western District, held at the court 
 house of the " Township of Assumption," (this should be the pai ish 
 of L'Assum))tion) in which the Town of JSandwich is situate. The 
 District of Hesse havin*;- been in the meantime changed to the 
 Western District, 1.5th October, 1792. 
 
 At this second court held in U|)per Canada, he has as asso- 
 ciates on the Bench, the Hon. James Baby and tlie Hon. Alexander 
 Grant, the two gentlemen whom we i-ecognizo as niember.s of 
 Governor Simcoe's first Executive and Legislative Councils, and 
 both of whom we see before the month is out, viz , on the 17th of 
 September, taking their seats in the first Session of the first Par- 
 liament as Legislative Councillors, and whom later we shall see as 
 County Lieutenants, the Connnodore for Essex and Mr. Baby for 
 Kent. 
 
 At this court a pri.soner was tried and convicted of man- 
 slaughter, the sentence of the court as (expressed in the record, is 
 " to be burned in the hand, and accordingly put in execution, be- 
 fore the court." 
 
 Chief Justice Sir William Campbell was the grandfather of 
 our worthy friend and official, William A Campbell, Deputy Clerk 
 of the Crown, and Clerk of the County ami Surrogate Courts, 
 with his fine offices in Harrison Hall. The Chief Justice retired 
 in 1821) and was then kni;^hted, and sui'ceeded in the Chief Jus- 
 ticeship by the late Sir John Beverley Robinson. Sir William 
 died in 1884 at Toronto, and his funeral was one of unusual 
 impressiveness The Legislature was in session at the time and 
 attended in a body, with the Bar and the Judges. 
 
 SIR .JOHN BEVERLEV ROBINSON. 
 
 My first recollections of the judges and court room take mo 
 back to when the judge walked in his robes and cocked hat from 
 the hotel to the court house, headed by the constabulary with 
 their staves, accompanied by the Sheriff and Grand Jury; when 
 
 Is. 
 
72 
 
 m 
 
 W 
 
 tho readin*^ in clue form, by the Clerk of Assize, one of whom was 
 Mr. VVm. ('amphell, the father of our present Clerk, of the several 
 imposin;^ comaiissions of the juil^es took place, 1st, of Assize and 
 Nisi Prius; 2n'l, of Oyer and Terminer; .*Jrd, of (lenernl Gaol 
 Delivery. These coinmissions recounted the names of the .hidj^es 
 and the associate Justices of the l^eace, winch I reinemher quite 
 distinctly. 'J'he Hon, Tohn lieverley Ilohinson, Chief Ju>tice ; the 
 Hon. Levius Peter Sherwooil, and the Hi>n James Buchanan 
 Macaulay as puisne Judges. This would he a.s early as IHIJO. I 
 began n)y practice in IHVA before the Chief Justice and thf Hon. 
 Justices Miicaulay, McLean, Jones anil Haiferman. What nohle 
 men! All sons of United lOmpire Loyalists, atid all havinjT been 
 en<^a<^ed in the tlefence of their country in its earlier stru!:fj,des 
 and tlio war of 1812, as well as in 18:{7, for I can recall sceini; Sir 
 John and Sir James Macaulay untU-i- arms at the ujarl.et in 
 Toronto, the ni<^ht w(; " men of r,ore" — 50 in nuio" I'r — arrived 
 there in the steamer under Col. MacVab, and when our presence 
 saved the city an<l the Province, for there was not a rc:^ular in 
 llp|)er Canada, Sir Francis havin<^ unwisely sent all the troops to 
 Montreal. 
 
 I had the honor of kuowiiiij Sir John early, as havinp^ been 
 accjuainted with n)y lather and eldest brother, who vv. re both 
 barristers, he always came to see njy good mother, who was then 
 a widow, and from that day to this J have always regarded him 
 as the most perfect man I ever met. Sir Francis Bond Head says 
 of hiai that " he was the ornament of the North American 
 Colonies," and there is no doubt that he was so, and if he had had 
 the higher sphere of Knglish life in which U) exhibit his great 
 talents and attractions of person, manner and elo(juence, he would 
 have reached the woolsack and been the Copley (Lord Lydhurst) 
 of Canada. 
 
 Byron, in his grand monody on the death of Sheridan, has 
 
 th.esti two lines and 1 have always thoughc they were more 
 
 appropriate to o'lr noble Chief Justice tha'i to tlie eloquent and 
 
 gifted subject of his verse : 
 
 Sighing thiU nature formed but one such man, v 
 
 And broke the die— in moulding Sheridan. 
 
 It is interestinij to know that while yet a student and 
 twenty-oni years of age, he was, on the lOth November, IN 1 2, 
 appointed acting Attorney General and was maih' Solicitor Gen- 
 eral three years after, the Solicitor General, D'Arcy Boulton, 
 being then a prisoner of war in France; and in .Sl7 was again 
 appointed Attorney General, which office he held when appointed 
 Chief Justice in 1820. At the convocation of Benchers in 
 Michaehnas Term, 181 o, he (Mr, Robinson) was nwidea Barrister, 
 Solicitor General and Bencher. R ipid promotion ? I ought here, 
 
73 
 
 ])erha[»s, to say that our Law Society was organizeil at Nia^'ara 
 on the 17th of July, 17!J7, with ten nictnbers. 
 
 Kent had the honor of having the Chief Justice appointed 
 Registrar of the County, (as will be seen by a reference () the 
 schedule of officials for the Western District in the appendix al- 
 most as f^rc'it an honor as the proposal of the British Uovern- 
 inent to sei. I the Earl of Chatluim as Governor to Canada, with 
 £0,000 a year. The date i^dven is the 12th Noveujber, 1S2U, but 
 his coninnssion as Chief Justice bears date the 1.3th July, l?S2y, 
 and there is a manifest mistake here. This office he held up to 
 18G2, when resignint^ he went to the Court of Appeal as its Pres- 
 ident, and there continued till his death on the last day of Jan- 
 uary, iHG.'i, in the 72nd year oi" his age. 
 
 I give the following beautiful tribut( to the nol>.e Chief 
 Justice from the Toronto Globe of June, 187'i, the day following 
 the banquet given to him on his retirement from the Queen's 
 Bench, by the Bar of Ontario. 
 
 .: . THE (JLOHE's TRIBUTE. 
 
 " We are not of the school of politics to which Sir John B. 
 Robinson belonged, and were he in public life now, it is certain 
 that we should differ widely from his views. But this ought not and 
 sliall not prevent us paying a tribute of praise to a well spent and 
 honored life. Sir John Robinson, in his .speech of last evening, 
 gave cordial thanks to the late Rtv. Dr. Stewart, of Kingston, 
 and to the Rev. Di, Strachan, who sat beside h'uu, a hale man of 
 84 years, for their kind protection and training bestowed on him 
 in his early years, wlien left an orphan ; and doubtless to them ho 
 owed something of his early rise. But it is evident that the youth 
 who distinguished himself on the field of Queenstown at the age 
 of 25, and was thereaftei' made Attorney General, ere he had been 
 actually called to the Bar in a formal manner, needed but little 
 help in life. He was the architect of his own fortune. Possessed 
 of a ready and clear, if not a profound intellect, a steady 
 will, great activity, will and perseverance, Mr. Robinson 
 would doubtless have succeeded in any country, but in 
 a backwoods region like Canada, it is not wonderful 
 that he rapidly took the first honors of the profession, 
 and was called to the Bench at the early age of forty. He was, 
 at that time and rcjnained for .some time after, the head of a 
 powerful political party, and showed invincible determination 
 and courajje in advocatinji its views. Doubtless, he was often in 
 the wrong — who has not been proved by time to be in the 
 wrong r — but no one will deny to him the credit of being per- 
 lectly sincere and lionest in his convictions, and having labored 
 for them with conscientious zeal and assiduity. In reference to 
 
74 
 
 
 one part of }iis career no limit need be j)lace(l on our praises. He 
 was a .strong friend of Hritisli connection and defencled this out- 
 post of Knj^land with a coura<^e which knew no difficulty. As 
 the acknowIed<fed head of society in this Province, Sir John 11 
 Robinson lias exercised as ^reat an influence as in his political 
 sphere and has usetl it in an eminently Ijenelicial manner. Inliis 
 own personal liabits, temperate, frugal, chaste and di<^nified, 
 liberal in his hospitality, a friend of morality, and an enemy of 
 excess, there can be no (juestion that his exam[)le Ims had a pow- 
 erful influence on social habits, not only in the city but through- 
 out the whole Province. As subject, parent and member of 
 society, he stands before his countrymen sans peur d sana reprochc, 
 worthy of the honors bestowed upon him by his sovereign, and 
 of the esteem and resj)ect of his fellovv-citi/ens." 
 
 THE FAMILY COMPACT. 
 
 The Chief Justice was the acknowledged head of the widely 
 denounced " Family Compact "; but may Canada always have as 
 honorable, independent and able men to administer her affairs. 
 I have great pleasure in giving what Mr. Read says, in his " Lives 
 of the Judges," as to this much assailed body of gentlemen. 
 
 After saying that the Hon. Robert Baldwin Sullivan, Hon. 
 William Allan, Hon. Augustus Baldwin, Hon. John Elmsley, 
 , Hon. \Vm. Henry Draper were the Executive Council on the 18th 
 April, 1838, he adds: "I do not call tliis a Family Compact 
 viouncil," and " there are not wanting writers who have laid at 
 the door of the Family Compact all the sins that Hesh was heir 
 to in those days, including the non-reprieve of Lount and Mat- 
 thews. After all, what was the Family Compact ? It was an 
 organization composed of those who had originally settled in the 
 Province, and, no doubt, thought they had at least a pre-emptive 
 right to it, many of them having occupied positions of trust in 
 the colony. They were men, not of the same family or always of 
 kin to each other, but like the soldiers of old when they had con- 
 quered a place they meant to hold it. The government of the 
 country got into their hands, and they weie determined to hold 
 it against all comers. The citadel had many defenders ; Beverley 
 House, one of the principal bastions no doubt, being held by the 
 Chief Justice, who never surrendered till the last gun was fired." 
 
 Considering what was said of appointments generally 
 by the Family Compact, and as they go at the present 
 day, it can't be said that ours was a very bad one. But 
 let me turn to another registrar's appointment in this Dis- 
 trict, that of the late Colonel James Askin, of Sandwich, 
 to the Essex registrarship in 1831, by the Family Compact. We 
 got full Responsible Government in 1841, and yet in 185G the 
 
75 
 
 Colonel rosignoil and his oldtst son, John, was apiiointcd \>y tht; 
 Executivo of United Canada, ami continued to hold tht; oflici' till 
 1872, when he resi<^ned and his sou was l»y a Reform Governiiuint 
 of Ontario, appointed, and is now the occupant of the otHce. 
 What a trihute to the first recipient an<l the selection of tlio 
 Family Compact, and v;hat an honor, too, to the ^ood nam^ of 
 Askin, sixty-Hve years' tenure of the same office in the sam»! 
 family and not done yet! If the {>resent worthy incumhent had 
 a son in addition to Ids six dau<^hters, the reversion mi^ht bo 
 continued in the family — nil (lespcrnndum — as the ladies are j^et- 
 ting into the Church, the Bar and Medicine, why ma\' they not 
 with the progress of the franchise look to the spoils of otlice, and 
 then what of the Ilec;istrarship of Essex with six such fair 
 petitioners ? 
 
 As a native Canadian, having had a large experience and 
 acquaintance in Upper Canada since I first saw Toronto in June, 
 liS8G — ^just before the general election of that year when Sir 
 Francis Head was so fully sustained by the new House — I 
 rejoice that my native Province had an Executive and Legislative 
 Council, whether called the Family Compact or otherwise, of 
 which the subject of the above admirable tribute was the recog- 
 nized chief, and wdiose counsels, no doubt, were paramount ; and 
 I humbly express the hope that every coloiy of Her Majesty's 
 vast empire may enjoy the same blessing. I say this because 
 under the Proclamation of l7'J'i which gave the colonists the 
 right to have assemblies such as the thirteen English colonies had, 
 the privilege was never exercised and the Act of 1774 declared it 
 inexpedient to call an Assembly and vested the Legislative power in 
 persons appointed wholly by His Majesty and removable at his 
 pleasure, so that during the twenty-eight years no Legislature 
 was asked for. Then our Constitutional Act of 1791 
 didn't give us Responsible Government. This was only 
 got in 18tl, and the complaint of an irresponsible Exec- 
 utive was wholly unwarranted so far as the Constitution 
 went, for their was no power to make the Executive responsible 
 to the House. It was responsible to the Crown, and the Sove- 
 reign was jealous enou >h to wish to hold it, and in no way desirous 
 of relin(|uishing this prerogative, and especially to a Canadian 
 Legislature so likely to be infected with the adverse spirit of 
 177(). Then see how even in England with Responsible Govern- 
 ment nominally in full operation, the views and voice of the 
 House were continually thwarted by the influence of the Sove- 
 
 reign. 
 
 MICHIGAN UNDER THE JUDCiES. 
 Again look at the Territory of Michigan after we left it in 
 
76 
 
 July, 1790, and see what its administration under the Governor 
 and Judges as the Executive and Legislative bodies, was. Matters 
 could hardly have been worse, and as compared with the way in 
 which Upper Canada was administered by Governor Simcoe and 
 his successors, was one hundred years behind us. This period of 
 the Governor and Judges presents some strange constitutional and 
 municipal history. But look to-day at the Federal Government 
 of the United States and that of the forty-five States, and the 
 element cf responsible Government is wanting in all, no further 
 advanced than Upper Canada during the days of the Family 
 Compact and yet Bid well, liolph, MacKenzie, etal, could only see 
 constitutional freedom in things American, while everything was 
 tyranny in Canada. They all lived to be wiser men, and Upper 
 Canada before the Union and Responsible Government, was as 
 prosperous and happy a people as it has been since the Union, 
 and, up to 1841, while the population of the United States had 
 increased twenty fold, that of Upper Canada had increased nearly 
 one hundred fold. 
 
 OUR JUDGES. 
 
 Then follows a long Hue of judges, whose names will be found 
 in Read's " Lives of the Judges," down to the late Mr. Justice 
 O'Connor, 1887, and I would again earnestly rccomn)end this 
 interesting volume to my readers as a I'eservoir of judicial, polit- 
 ical and social history ; and these names with othcis down I give 
 as an appendix. (See appendix.) 
 
 Have we not reason to be proud of our judges and courts ? 
 And as of our judges so of our bar, from whom they are drawn. 
 Kent has great reason to be proud of her's. Already two of 
 them, Mr. William Douglas, Q. C., and Mr. Matthew Wilson, Q. 
 C, have appeared before the Judicial Committee of the Privy 
 Council in England, to argue the important (juestjons involved in 
 the drainage case of Williams v. the Municipality of Raleigh. 
 
 And how suggestive is this word drainage. It first appeared 
 in our statutes in 1834 (4 Wm. IV, c. 12, s. IG) as the Ditches 
 and Watercourses Act with i\\Q fence viewers as the court, without 
 appeal. It has gone on expanding with its engineer and appeal 
 to county judge, and into the government drain and the muni- 
 cipal drainage system, until it has reached the dimensions of a 
 "Little Holland" under the Forbes scheme, and the enlarged 
 views of Mr. Augustine McDonell, C. E., of this place, and the 
 entire range of colonial judicial tribunal, until it has further 
 attained to the dignity of an appeal before the Committee of the 
 Privy Council in England as just stated. Tempora mutantur. 
 
 And it must not be forgotten that to the act of the Hon. 
 
^' • ■ 77 ■ 
 
 Archibald McKellar as M. P. for Kent, in l.S6(), the great chantro 
 took place, through the debenture system. 
 
 Then we have the referee, Byron ivl. Brition, C^. C, discharg- 
 ing the functions of the judge and arl)itrator as a special officer 
 in the interests of those seeking the benefits of drainage ; and the 
 Government has also appointed a commission to consider this 
 great question and promote the necessary legislation which has 
 been so fully and ably carried out under the direct on and pro- 
 fessional 5,kill and ability of oar friend the Chairman, John 
 Brown Rankin, Es(iuire; the tether members of the commission 
 being Mr. Balfour, IvJ. P. P., honorary member; Mr. W. G. Mc- 
 Georgc, C. E., Mr. Robert Lamarsh and Mr. A. Mclntyre. 
 
 THE LOCAL OSfiOODE. 
 
 [ared 
 Iches 
 pout 
 [peal 
 luni- 
 |of a 
 rged 
 
 the 
 Ither 
 
 the 
 
 [on. 
 
 Harri.son Hall is our local Osgoode p.nd may it ever maintain 
 the high character of the parent seat of justice. Sacred is the 
 building consecrated to the administration of" justice whether civil 
 or criminal. There is nothing that more distinctly characterizes 
 a people than its judiciary. In this England stands pre-eminent 
 among the nations of the earth, and Canada has sought to uphold 
 the high standanl presented by the Mother Country. This high 
 tone was no doubt owing to the fact that as a Crown colony our 
 Judges and Crown officers were appointed in England. I can re- 
 member thai/ as late as 1835 Mr. Jamieson . ime out here as 
 Attorney General, and was made our first Vice-chancellor on the 
 formation of the Court of Chancery in 1837 — the Lieutenant 
 Governor Sir Francis Bond Head being the Chancellor ex officio — 
 and being the firs*- purely civil Governor Canada had had up to 
 that day. 
 
 Now we appoint our own Judges, and our Bar presents as 
 good a field for choice as could be found anywhere ; ami it early 
 became such, for 1 recall the fact that the Hon. Henry John 
 Boulton who unsuccessfully contested Kent in 1845 with my 
 brother, was the ex-Chief Justice of Newfoundland, to which high 
 office he had been called while Attorney General of Upper Canada. 
 
 Sacred as this hall then is in its dedication, let it know 
 neither race, creed, nor color. The goddess of Justice with the 
 Romans was represented as being blindfolded and holding the 
 .scales of Justice with an impartial hand, blind to all surrounding 
 persons and circumstances from which undue influence might 
 come ; and may we not hope that in Ontario and Canada at large, 
 this judicial blindness may ever prevail'^ The arms and motto 
 of our honorable Society suggest the administration of justice 
 with golden scales and the freedom that Magna Chorta proclaims. 
 
78 
 
 LOCAL COURTS, 
 
 In this connection I must speak of our local courts. The 
 fiist court held in Kent after the old court of Hetjuests with its 
 coniniissionors had passed away, was under the Act of Unite<l 
 Canada, 4 and 5 Vii,., c. 53 (1841) on the piece of oround directly 
 opposite Harrison Hall, where the Central School now stands 
 and where the first >)ublic school was re-established. It was held 
 by the late Charles Eliot, Esquire, who for many years had been 
 judge of the Western District and chairman of the Quarter Ses- 
 sions. He was a most accomplished gentleman, had been an 
 officer in one of His Majesty's regiments of Foott, and was the 
 uncle of our late friend, Mr. A. R. McGregor, of this city. 
 
 I myself in the .spring of 1(S43, the first year of my practice, 
 took the circuit wliich extended from Sandwich to Sarria and 
 and held court in Chatham, and thence to Dawn Mills and on to 
 Sarnia, reaching home by way of Michigan, after having very 
 nearly lost my life and horse in crossing a stream in Michigan 
 after dark, the bridge over which, or rather the approaches to 
 which, had been carried away by the spring freshets. Quite a 
 contrast to my present circuit which I make wholly by rail. 
 
 And yet even now there are some drawbacks. I recall that 
 last year to reach Merlin — .sixteen miles from this — and return 
 the same day, I had to use four railways — the Erie & Huron, the 
 Lake Erie & Detroit River, the Michigan Central and the Cana- 
 dian Pacific Railways — with two sleighs and a tlrive of six nules. 
 
 As I have Vjefore stated our separate court organization took 
 place in lcS.50, and in January, 1851, our first County Court and 
 Quarter Sessions were opened by William Benjamin Wells, 
 Esquire, our first judge, and I had the honor of making the 
 first speech within its walls and successfully defending some 
 fellow for larceny, for there were no civil cases. The late judge 
 and I came here together, he from the east and I from the west. 
 The judge had represented Leeds in the Upper Canada Legisla- 
 ture for some years and was an active politician and among the 
 very few literary men then in Canada, and was the author of a 
 work on Canada, entitled " Canadiana," containing sketches of 
 Upper Canada and Upper Canadians in its political affiiirs, 1837. 
 He resigned in 1878 and was succeeded by His Honor Judge Bell. 
 The other officials were John Waddell. SheriflT; George Duck, jr., 
 Clerk of the Peace. The Crown Attorney was not known at 
 that time and the office was only created in 1857. Peter Paul 
 Lacroix, Deputy Clerk of the Crown and Clerk of the County 
 Court and Surrogate Clerk, and good old Mr. Robert Payne, as 
 jailer, while Captain Glendening was Clerk of the Fir.st Division 
 
79 
 
 some 
 judge 
 west, 
 gisla- 
 'f tlio 
 
 of a 
 es of 
 1.S37. 
 
 Bell. 
 
 n at 
 Paul 
 unt^y 
 e, as 
 ision 
 
 Court, and Mr. Win. B. Wells, the late judt^e's eldest .son, has 
 been and still i.s the .second. 
 
 Since I began practice I have known four .systems of plead- 
 ing, and seen the establishment of live new courts: The Court 
 of Common Pleas ; the Supreme Court of Canada ; the Exchecjuor 
 Court; the Maritime Court; an Admiralty Court, and the Speedy 
 Trials Court for Criminals. (1) The pleadin<> prior to the Reyulae 
 Generales, consisted of numberless counts and innumerable pleas, 
 with its "general issue of unbounded and illogical efi'ect," special 
 den)urrers, declarations, pleas, replications, rejoinders, rebutters 
 and surrebutters. (2) That of the Regulae Generctles, 1843, by 
 which the general issue was greatly curtailed in its operation, and 
 the counts reduced to one for each cause of action and one plea 
 to each separate ground of defence. (3) That of the Common 
 Law Procedure Act, 1850, combining both law and equity under 
 the right (o add an eijuitable plea, and providing that a pleading 
 
 need not be signed by counsel nor should wager of law l)e 
 
 allowed ; a great advance upon the old .system, relieving the 
 courts from the reproach of sending suitors like shuttle cocks 
 from one court to another and being sent to chancery to be 
 enabled to go to common law ; and it was in this new .system 
 that our Chief Justice Harrison so distinjruished himself as a 
 legal author. (4) The great and radical change under the Judi- 
 cature Act of 1881, preceded by the amendment tending to this 
 change in the Act of 1873, which was in advance of the English 
 Judicuture Acts, and which shewed a strong desire on the part of 
 the Attorney General, Sir Oliver Mowat, to fuse as much as pos- 
 .sible law and equity. These were all progressive and amelior- 
 ative steps in the great cau.se of Justice. In the Judicature Act 
 we find more than a change in pleading and see there the great- 
 est changes in the constitution and practice of the courts. The 
 venerable Court of Queen's Bench extending in England over 
 1000 years, and extended to Canada by the proclamation of 1704 
 and the Constitutional Acts of 1774 and 1701 and continued by 
 our Provincial Act ci! 1704, was by the Judicature Act of 1881, 
 abolished and absorbed in the High Court of Justice for Ontario, 
 and so with the Court of Chancery established in 1837, and so 
 with the Connnon Pleas established in 1840, and all j)ut upon a 
 common footing, doing away with the dual .system and the great 
 vice of a divided jurisdiction with its anomalies and incon- 
 veniences, and largely with the Jury .system. 
 
 And the Acts of the last Session to consolidate the Acts 
 governing the Supreme Court of Judicature and the Law Courts 
 Act, 180;"), of great importance, relating to appeals, proc(^dure in 
 in the Court of Appeal, divisional sittings of the High Court, ap- 
 peals to and from Divisional Courts and the sittings and consti- 
 
80 
 
 jr. 
 
 tution of Divisional Courts, and the reduction of the cost of 
 evidence, that will go into operation as soon as a proclamation is 
 issued, provide great reforms and must make great changes for 
 the better. 
 
 The County Courts have usually partaken largely of tlie 
 practice of the Superior Courts, except where the restraint of 
 jurisdiction has been imposed. 
 
 But it is when you come to the Division Courts, truly called 
 " The Poor Man's Court," tliat you find a very simple and effec- 
 tive mode of a(hninistering justice between man and man, and 
 taking in almost all the ordinary transactions of life, with a juris- 
 diction reachinii to $200 in certain cases, sittings at all the chief 
 points in the County — in ours — nine towns and villages almost 
 monthly, attended by the best lawyers, the record a simple " state- 
 ment of claim" and "dispute," as comprehensive as the "general 
 issue " of ancient days, a fair regard for the rules of evidence, 
 execution within fifteen days, with "immediate" or "speedy" 
 judgment by leave of the Judge, Judgment Summons with power 
 of committal for forty days, jury, and appeals in drainage, fence- 
 viewers. Master and Servant, &c., with direct appeal to the Court 
 of Appeal of Ontario, in cases over $100, and suitors having little to 
 desire or complain of. In this Court and in this County more 
 than $100,000 have been sued for in a year, a sum greater than 
 that adjudicated on by all the Superior and County Courts for the 
 same time. This Court, it is thought, v ill be made still more use- 
 ful by an increase of its jurisdiction p ' ips at the expense of the 
 County Court ; but whatever the chang may be, we may reason- 
 ably suppose that with so experienced a legislator as Sir Oliver 
 Mowat, it will be in the right direction, and giving the public 
 fresh reason for congratulation. This Court dates back to the 
 reign of Henry the VIII., as the " Court of Conscience " is found 
 in operation under the Governor in Quebec and Detroit, and on 
 our Statute Book as the Court of Requests as early as 1792. 
 
 And as it has been in civil matters, so it has been in criminal 
 the Speedy Trials Act, before the County Judges ; the extended 
 jurisdiction of Police Magistrates, of whom there are three in this 
 County, who may try for felony and misdemeanor, the dispensing 
 with jurors, and other Acts and provisions simplifying criminal 
 procedure are among the evidences of a determination on the part 
 of the Legislature to make criminal procedure what it should be. 
 It was only the other day that I astonished (*r\ Amftrican friend 
 familiar with criminal trials on the other p'de. liv ';» ;i\' him that 
 a party charged with and imprisoned for '^' Ji >' >n' mi:.'.' '..^eanor, 
 could on the same day of his arrest b«^ at his v \ wil, u r«:gned, 
 tried, convicted and sent to the penii .liary f r dfje' k years. 
 
more 
 
 81 
 
 CHATHAM HISTORICAL. 
 
 Anything of a historical nature connected with the Town has 
 been so fully supplied in connection with its inauguration as a 
 City, that I may be excused from saying much on the subject. 
 
 There is nothing of historical interest attaching to the lot on 
 which our building stands, but just there at the Merchants Bank 
 a bridge once stood, connecting the military reserve with this side 
 of the Creek, and over that humble bridge passed the brave 
 Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh, on the 3r(l of October, 1818, to the 
 military ground now our beautiful Tecum^eh Park, where with 
 his men he lay that night, while the regular British forces under 
 General Proctor lay on the north side of the Thames, between 
 what is now the line of the Erie & Huron Railway down to the 
 Cosgrave farm at the lower end of the town. Here the great 
 Chief wanted to n:ake his stand and give battle to the Americans 
 under General Harrison, the grandfather of the late President of 
 the United States, and who himself became President in 1840 for 
 the short peiiod of one month. 
 
 In our vaunted superiority we are prone to say, " Lo, the 
 poor Indian," with all that this implies ; but may we not draw a 
 valuable lesson from the example of this " untutored " but faithful 
 Indian warrior, and show the patriotism which he exhibited in 
 laying down his life for his adopted country ; choosing rather to 
 suffer affliction with the people of Canada, than enjoy the pleas- 
 ures of the United States for a season, and esteeming the reproach 
 of being a British ally greater riches than the treasures of Uncle 
 Sam's Republic with all its vastness and wealth ? Better to be an 
 Indian Chief, with such a record, than even a Goldwin Smith, 
 with his odious itch for annexation, and his distempered doctrines 
 of " manifest destiny," &c. 
 
 But to pursue our recollections. What shall we say of the 
 minor municipality in this happy work of co-oncr.ition ^ Chat- 
 ham is not, that I know, remarkable for anything in a historical 
 way, except the Tecumsf>h incident and that portion of it known 
 as Tecumseh Park, whic.i we must ever associate with the loyalty 
 and devoted patriotism of our aboriginal allies. It wai laid out 
 on this side in a block of 600 acres on Lots 1 and 2, Harwich, and 
 24, Raleigh, extending from McGregor's Farm on the east to 
 Lacroix street on the west, by Governor Simcoe in 1795, and 
 added to in 1851 by taking in Lots 23, 1st Concession, and 24, 
 2nd Concession, Raleigh, Robinson Estate, and No. 1, Ist Conces- 
 sion, Chatham, and No. 24, 1st Concession, Dover. 
 
 Chatham will yet vindicate the sagacity and sound judgment 
 that chose it as an important centre, and the day is not far off 
 when she will have her true position among the cities of our great 
 
82 
 
 Dominion and go forward, as she deserves » do, as the metropolis 
 of Kent, the Garden of Canada. 
 
 There was no permanent settlement here for many years 
 after the survey and not till 1830, althouf^h Governor Simeoe had 
 a shipyard at this point, and built a block house on the reserve, 
 and although Abram Iredell, P. L. S., who laid out the town, 
 built a house and planted an orchard, some trees of which may 
 still be seen on Lot 17, on the corner of William and Water 
 streets, where Mr. John Smith and Mr. Colby live. The first pei- 
 manent settler was the late William Chrysler, the father of our 
 good old collector, after whom the ward was named in 1855, who 
 settled and built on Lot C, now occupied by our esteemed fellow 
 citizen. Dr. Holmes, as his fine residence. 
 
 It first took its place in the municipal organization of On- 
 tario as an incorporated village in 1852, with five Councillors, and 
 taking in Chatham North, which had been laid out by my late 
 brother, Joseph, in 1837. Its next stage was to become an incor- 
 porated town in 1855, with nine Councillors, and with A. D. 
 McLean, Barrister, as its first Mayor, and Duncan McCoU as 
 Clerk, as he had been of the village. Its members were : Thomas 
 A. Ireland, Archibald McKe'Iar, Alexander D. McLean, Joseph 
 Northwood, John Smith, John Waddell, John S. Vosburgh, John 
 Winter, and myself. Mr. Henry Smyth, representing the 
 Mayor at the inauguration of our City on the 1st July, took 
 occasion to say that I was the only survivor of the whole number. 
 And it is somewhat remarkable that of these gentlemen one be- 
 came Senator Northwood, another the Hon. Archibald McKellar, 
 as a member of Sir Oliver Mowat's Cabinet, and later Sheriff of 
 the County of W^entworth, as he had been M. P. for Kent, and 
 M. P. P. for Bothwell through several years ; Mr. Smith became 
 the member for Kent in 18G7, and Mr. McLean became Crown 
 Attorney and Clerk of the Peace in 1859, while I have become one 
 of the Judges of the County. 
 
83 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 &i 
 
 CONFEDERATION. 
 
 said when speaking of Lord Sydenham's Government 
 and tlie introduction of our Municipal Institutions and 
 Responsible Government, we got complete self-govern- 
 ment with the Union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1841, which 
 continued to Confederation, 1 807, with the four Provinces of 
 Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, now 
 extended to all the Provinces except Newfoundland (which, in 
 the colonial system, is not considered a part of British America) 
 with a progress and development on every line of national growth, 
 until Canada to-day is as prominent in the world as any other 
 portion of it. But this is the su^ij 'Ct of every day's report and 
 discussion and does not call for any special reference from me in 
 connection with my subject, except that it is the first attempt at 
 Confederation between a group of liritish Colonies, and it is to be 
 hoped it will be followed by the other great colonies and that all 
 may be brought into imperial co-operation as indicated by the 
 Ottawa Conference in June, 1894, and by Mr. Chamberlain, our 
 new Colonial Minister. I present, however, the members of the 
 first ministry under Confederation : 
 
 President, . . . 
 Minister of Justice 
 Secretary of State of Canada, 
 Finance Minister, - - - 
 Minister of Pul)lic Works, - 
 Postmaster-General, 
 Minister of Agriculture, 
 Receiver-General, - - - 
 Minister of Militia, - 
 Minister of Customs, 
 Minister of Inland Revenue, 
 Minister of Marine and Fisheries, - 
 
 - Hon. A. J. Blair 
 
 Hon. Sir John A. Maedonald 
 
 Hon 
 
 L. Langevin 
 
 - Hon. A. T. Gait 
 
 Hon. Wm. McDougall 
 
 - Hon. Alex. Campbell 
 
 - Hon. J. C. Chapais 
 
 Hon E. Kenny 
 
 Hon. Sir. Geo. E. Cartier 
 
 - Hon. L. L. Tilley 
 
 - Hon. W. H. How land 
 
 Hon. P. Mitchell 
 
 Secretary of State for the Province, Hon. A. G. Archibald 
 
 ONTARIO. 
 
 But of this constellation our noble Province of Ontario 
 stands out pre-eminently as the bright particular star and a 
 
84 
 
 review of it under its centennial effulgence would enable us to 
 present it in successful rivalry with any other portion of the 
 globe, not excepting England, or the Empire State of the Repub- 
 lic. But we are not surprised at this when we rcmeiMber the high 
 character of our Governors-General and Lieutenant-Governors, 
 Let us recall the words of Governor Sinicoe on the prorogation of 
 the first session of the first Parliament of Upper Canada and see 
 if we cannot find in them the key to the high character of our 
 institutions, people and country. 
 
 "I cannot dismiss you without earnestly desiring you to pro- 
 mote by precept and example among your respective counties the 
 regular habits of piet}- and morality the surest foundations of all 
 public and private felicity ; and at this juncture I particularly 
 recommend to you to explain that this Province is singularly 
 blessed, not with a mutilated constitution, but with a constitution 
 which has stood the test of experience an<l in the in.age and tran- 
 script of Great Britain, by which she has long established and 
 secured to her subjects as nmch freedom and happiness as it is 
 possiMe to be enjoyed under the subordination necessary to civil- 
 ized society." 
 
 And the words of Sir Francis Bond Head in his farewell ad- 
 dress to Parliament in March, 1888, are equally deserving of 
 recall : " May the resplendent genius of the British Constitution 
 ever continue to illuminate this noble land, and animated by its 
 influence, may its inhabitants continue to be distinguished for 
 humility of demeanor, nobility of mind, fidelity to their allies, 
 courage before the enemy, mercy in victory, integrity in com- 
 merce, reverence for their religion, and under all circumstances 
 implicit obedience to their laws." 
 
 On the 4th of April, 1893, our present popular and able Lieu- 
 tenant Governor, the Honorable George A. Kirkpatrick, on the 
 opening of the new Parliament buildings, said : " It gives mo great 
 pleasure to meet you as a Legislative Assembly for the first time 
 since my appointment as Lieutenant Governor, and it is par- 
 ticularly gratifying that I am privileged to do so in these beauti- 
 ful buildings now so recently completed, and so well adapted for 
 your accomodation and the convenience of the public service. I 
 regret that the condition of the work did not admit oi my caliir;^; 
 you together at an earlier day. It is to me a source of historical 
 interest to remember that I am addressing the Legislature of this 
 Province in the f^rst year of the second century of the existence 
 of representative Government in Canada. The progress of events 
 from the first Parliament opened by His Excellency Governor 
 Simcoe at Niagara in 1792, to the opening of this Parliament to- 
 day, shows what great strides have been made towards the 
 development of the country and the enlargement of the privileges 
 
85 
 
 
 the 
 great 
 time 
 par- 
 all ti- 
 for 
 I 
 
 llirp: 
 )hcal 
 this 
 ence 
 /ents 
 jinor 
 t to- 
 the 
 
 of citizenship under tlie Constitution ^'iven to us by the Imperial 
 Parliament. As a native of Ontario and for many years con- 
 nected with the public life of Canada, I rejoice to believe that 
 under our present relations with the Empire we can enjoy every 
 right and privilege necessary to the fullest exercise of self- 
 government." 
 
 Professor Wm. Draper in his Civil War in America, says : 
 " There is a period in the life of a nation when it i*^ ashamed of 
 the opinions handed down to it." 
 
 I am proud to say that in this long review of our young 
 coiintry we find no room I'or shame, for the record is a most 
 honorable one — slavery put an end to at once, marriage jealously 
 guarded, virtue invoked, and vice denounced, liberty of the person 
 and security of life and property promoted b\' the wisest legisla- 
 tion, verifying the words of Sir Wm. lilackstonc, when, in speaking 
 of England, he says: 'A land, perhaps the only one in the uni- 
 verse, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope 
 of the Constitution." 
 
 And my prayer is that the righteousness enjoined by our 
 good Governor Simcoe may ever increase, and exalt us as a 
 nation and save us from those sins which are a reproach to any 
 people. - . - . • • • • ' 
 
 PllOCLAMATION OF SIMCOE, APIIIL, 1793. 
 
 I should like to .say that so rapid was the growth of the 
 country after the closing of the American War in IT^SS, that by 
 1700 the population of Canada had reached probably over IGO,- 
 000, and by 1708, when, after Canada was divided into nineteen 
 counties and districts, the four originiil districts of the Province 
 contained twenty-three counties and 158 townships. To-day as 
 a further evidence of our continued growth Ontario has forty-Hve 
 counties and over 800 townships. And it should not be forgotten 
 that while the population of the United States has increased 
 twenty-one fold since 1700, that of Canada has increased eighty 
 fold ; although the United States had a century and a half start 
 of us, aided by British credit and wealth. And even by the cen- 
 sus of 18f)i) and 1891 in each country, while their population has 
 increased eighteen times, ours has increased twenty times over 
 the census of 1880 and 1881. I must give the names of the Gov- 
 ernors-Gei n-al of Canada from the first down to the present, and 
 the Lieutenant-Governors of Upper Canada. (See appendix.) 
 
 I now again refer to the first number of the " Upper Canada 
 Gazette or American Oracle," the first newspaper published in 
 Upper Canada on the 18th April, 1793, at Newark, and "think 
 myself happy " in having the opportunity to repeat this admir- 
 able appeal to the people of Kent, and thank Sheriff Mercer for 
 
86 
 
 placing it at my disposal. It is a somewhat striking circumstance 
 that (he last criminal statute of Canada -the lamented Sir John 
 Thompson's Code — provides, for the first time, a punishment for 
 the offence of incest, which hitherto has been regarded as an 
 ecclesiastical one, not punishable by a Civil Court. 
 
 PEOCLAMATION. 
 
 JOHK GRAVES SIMCOE. 
 
 PROCLAMATION FOR THK SUPPRKSSION OF VICE, PROFANENE.SS 
 
 AND IMMORALITY 
 
 -BY — 
 
 His Excellency John (Jraves Simcoe, Esquire, Lieiitknant-Oovkrnoh and 
 
 Colonel Commandino His Majesty's Forces in the Province 
 
 OK Ui'PER Canada. 
 
 WHEREAS, it is the indispensable duty of all people, and more especially of 
 all Christian nations, to ptiMerve and advance the honor and service of Almighty 
 (lod, and to discourage and suppress all vice, profaneness and imH\orality, which 
 if not timely prevented may justly drav c*wn the Divine vengeance upon us and 
 our country. And His Majesty having r tlio promotion of virtue and in tender- 
 ness to the best interests of his subjects, given command for causing all laws made 
 against blasphemy, profaneness, adultery, fornication, polygamy, incest, profana- 
 tion of the Lord's day, sweatintt and drunkenness, to be strictly put in execution 
 in every part of the Province, I do, therefore, direct, require and command the 
 peace officers and constables of the several towns and townships, to make present- 
 ment upon oath, of any of the vices before mentioned, to the justices of the peace 
 in their section, or u^ any of the other temporal courts. And for the more effec- 
 tual proceeding herein, all judges, justices and magistrates, and all other officers 
 concerned for putting the laws against crimes and offences into execution are 
 directed and commanded to exert themselves for the d\.f prosecution and punish- 
 inent of all persons who shall presume to offend in any of the kinds aforesaid ; 
 and also of all persons that contrary to their duty, shall be remiss or negligent in 
 putting the said laws into execution. And I do further charge and command, 
 that the Proclamation be publickly read in all courts of justice on the first day of 
 every session to be held in the courts of tl •; present year, and more especially in 
 such of His Majesty's courts as have the cognizance of crimes and offences; 
 recommending the same to all Christian ministers of every denomination, to cause 
 the same Proclamation to be read four times in the said year, immediately after 
 divine services in all places of public worship and that they do their utmost 
 endeavor to incite their respective auditors to the practice of piety and virtue, and 
 the avoiding of every course, contrary to the pure morality of the religion of the 
 holy gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 (Jiven under my hand and seal at arms, at thi' *!overnment House, Navy 
 Hall, the eleventh day of April, in the year of Our Lou I one thousand seven hun- 
 dred anil ninety-three, and in the thirty-third year of His Majesty's reign. 
 
 By His Excellency's command, J. G. S. 
 
 Wm. Jar vis, Secretary. 
 
 KENT'S llEOISTttY OFFICE AND ST. JOSEPH'S ISLAND ' 
 
 t*flP H^''^^ piitry in our registry office here relate^ to the ap- 
 pointi/it'lii ui iDitor to the estate of one Campeau, by Judge 
 Powell, on tfie 2nd of July, 1789, which would .show that the 
 
87 
 
 .Tu<l^e had lost no ^ime in onteriiinr upon the duties of his cifHce, 
 as he arrived in Detroit on the 1 otli of June. And we see on SOth 
 June, 170S, the registry of a transfer of tie Ishind of St. Joseph 
 or Cariboux, in Lake Huron, by the principal chiefs, warriors and 
 people of the Chippewa nation to Alexander McKee, Deputy 
 Superintendent and Deputy Inspector General of Indian Attiiirs 
 for and in behalf of His Majesty leorge HI. 
 
 The case of Fields v. Miller in our own Courts, 27, T^. C., Q. 
 B., },nves some interesting' particulars of the grant Wi^^ and survey- 
 ing uf Lot 17, 2nd Concession, Harwich, by the l^and Board of 
 Hesse, described in the grant as Lot 17, 2ad township south .side 
 River La Tranche, and of the townsldp as well. Deputy Surveyor 
 Iredell was the surveyor, a well known nam. here at that time, 
 and the same as laid out the Town of Chatham in 179o. I give a 
 copy of the Land Board certificate in this case. 
 
 "At a meeting of the Land Board of the D'^^trict of Hc.s.se, at 
 the Council House at Detroit, on Friday, 28th .-)eptember, 1702, 
 Lieutenant Colonel England. President; John Askin, Esq., Lou- 
 vigney Montigney, E.s(|., members, James O'Brien, petitioner for 
 Lot 17, Second Township, Second Conce.s.sion, south side River La 
 Tranche, having appeai d, the Board grant him said lot, having 
 administered the oath of fidelity and allegiance to him as by law 
 directi'd. Signed by the President and members." 
 
 The Township later on received the name of Harwich, and 
 the name of the river was changed in ./uly of that year at King- 
 ston by Simcoe to its present name, and it will be observed that 
 the first Parliament of Upper Canada had been ten days in 
 session. 
 
 In September, 1789, an order was issued from Quebec to the 
 Board of Justices in the District of Hesse, defining the lands for 
 settlement in Canada, beginning at the western boundary of the 
 last purchase from the Indians west of Niagara. 
 
 Chief Justice Campbell says : " In 1789 provision was made 
 for granting lands in the Province to American refugees, and the 
 region lying east of the Detroit River and north of Lake Erie 
 was largely settled by Dutch Tories from New York. The result 
 was to excite among the Americans who afterward settled in 
 Michigan a fierce animosily against that cla.ss of these neighbors 
 which was of long standing. In regard to the other British peo- 
 ple, the feeling was more kindly, except as to the Indian agents 
 and emissaries, who were never forgiven for thoir .share in me 
 massacres of the Americans," 
 
 In 1792 there were but five surveyors in the Province and 
 these were sent by Lord Dorchester to Governor Simcoe to aid 
 him in laying out his grants and townships. 
 
 In the earliest days of the settlement, lands were surveyed 
 
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88 
 
 under the direction of the King, by an officer appointed for that 
 purpose and the same method prevailed under British rule. I am 
 able to give a copy of one of these appointments taken from 
 Farmer : 
 
 " In consequence of repeated complaints made by several of 
 the inhabitants that their neighbors have encroached on their 
 farms and that they do not actually possess the quantity specified 
 in the primitive grants and for n-hich they pay rents to His 
 Majesty ; therefore, Mr. James Sterling, being an experienced and 
 approved surveyor, I have appointed him King's Surveyor at 
 Detroit ; and for the future his surve;/s shall be looked upon as 
 valid and decisive, and whom it may concern are hereby ordered 
 to conform thereto. 
 
 " Given under my hand and seal at Detroit, April 21st, 1774. 
 
 "Henry Bassett, 
 
 " Major and Commandant." 
 
 From other old records it appears that Philip Frye was the 
 surveyor March 27th, 1785. He appointed Thomas Smith his 
 deputy on May 8th, 178V. Peter McNiff acted as surveyor m 
 1794 and 1799. 
 
 My brother Joseph studied surveying under Thos. Smith who 
 came to live on the Canadian side and who was so highly 
 esteeviied by the citizens of Detroit, that upon Detroit being burnt 
 down in 1805, they sent for him to lay out the city under the 
 direction of the governor and Judges' plan ; and the historian 
 adds, " His Britanic Majesty's Surveyor Thos. Smith was brought 
 over from Tipper Canada to assist in that arduous undertaking." 
 
 LORD SELKIRK. 
 
 In addition to the very rapid settlement of the Province in 
 this part of the country through the United Empire Loyalists 
 and others, there was one exceptional and remarkable one, that 
 of the Earl of Selkirk, in 1804, at the Chenal Ecarte, and Big 
 Bear Creek, now the Sydenham, know as Baldoon. Baldoon 
 farm consisted of 950 acres and other lots were' taken up on the 
 Sydenham and the Earl brought out 111 of his sturdy Highland- 
 ers, many of whose descendants are still with us. In addition to 
 this he got the lots at this end of the townline, 24, 1st concession, 
 Dover, and 1, 1-t concession, Chatham, 578 acres, both of which 
 my father bought from him and which form the north part of our 
 city. I called Selkirk street after the Earl and Baldoon street 
 after the settlement to which it leads. My father was His Lord- 
 ship's solicitor, and I recall the large trunks an<l boxes containing 
 the papers of the estate and those of the officials connected with 
 it. My father came from the Montreal Bar in 1800, and being 
 master of the French language was enabled to make himself very 
 
89 
 
 useful between the people of the laroe French settlements and 
 the En<^li.sh speakinjjj settlers ; and the merchant princes who 
 came across the Detroit River and settled in Sandwich with these, 
 made a fine f-Iientanfe — The Pattinsons, Maclntoshs, Meldrums, 
 Parks, Innes, Dutfs, Leiths, McGre^^ors, Babys, etc. How well I 
 remembei' the enormous warehouses and other buildings on the 
 river front and on their own premises, all of which as the fur 
 trade passed away were just allowed tostan<l empty from year to 
 year ard go to ruin. Those at Moy on the Macintosh estate were 
 oniy displaced on the Great Western Raihvay getting its right of 
 way along the river front in 1851. What a vast trade was done 
 through those old storehouses. It is a matter of record that Mr. 
 Richard Pattinson made as much as £100,000 in one seasons sale 
 of furs owing to Napoleon's demand for the article in his campaigns. 
 And iti is said that when Detroit surrenderetl to Major Rogers in 
 1700, he found there i;f)00,000 of furs, f^^oo-oo^ 
 
 I ought to mention that a wrongful act on the part of General 
 Hull, when in possession of Sandwich in July, 1812, towards this 
 Selkirk settlement, led to severe charges being made against him 
 both by his ow- n people as well as by the Canadians ; he sent an 
 officer to Baldoon, who seized and carried off several hundreds of 
 Merino sheep, which were valued very highly, and took them to 
 Detroit, but which it is said he did not use for the maintenance of 
 his army but for his own purposes. This was done in the very 
 face of his own proclamation : " 1 promise you protection to your 
 persons, property and rights." But he little thought the heroic 
 Brock would so soon be upon his trail and hold him to a full 
 account as he did. I mention the above facts as well to show the 
 prosperity of the people at that early day as the losses they were 
 exposed to by Hull's invasion, which through General McArthur 
 extended as well to Moraviantown as to the Selkirk settlements, 
 and the subsecpient ones of Harrison and McArthur whose de- 
 structive work went as far east as the Grand River. 
 
00 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE RIVER DETROIT NAVIGATION. 
 
 ^i/^AVING had our chat about the islands oi" the river let us 
 "/V ask when we first hear of the navigation of it. As to 
 ^^ ^ vessels, the Griflon must be first named and for the fol- 
 lowing particulars,, as for much more in these pages, I am inaebted 
 to Farmer's valuable history of Detroit. Her tonnage is variously 
 stated at from forty-five to sixty tons. She carried five canon 
 and was built by LaSalle at the mouth of the Cayuga Creek near 
 Niagara in the spring of 1679. After several short trial trips, on 
 7th August with Chevalier LaSalle, Father Louis Hennepin and 
 soire others, thirty-two in all, she started on her first real voyage, 
 arriving at the mouth of the Detroit on August 10th. 
 
 Two days after, on the festival of Sainte Claire, she entered 
 the little lake which was christened Lake St. Claire, in honor of 
 the founder of the Franciscan nuns. Two cer* ties later a gath- 
 ering at Grosse Pointe rechristened the lake with various exer- 
 cises, including poems by D. B. DuflSeld and Judge Campbell and 
 an address from Bella Hubbard. On her return trip the Griffon 
 left Washington Island, in Lake Michigan, on 18th September. 
 Two days after a storm arose and she was lost. Prior to this, in 
 16G9, Joliet was the first Frenchman to descend Lake Erie from 
 Detroit. In 1721 Charlevoix, the great pioneer, came up Lake 
 Erie on his way !>o the Mississippi. 
 
 After this no sailing vessels are known to have passed De- 
 troit for nearly half a century. The first we hear of are those 
 engaged in conveying troops, provisions and furs between Detroit 
 and Niagara. In 1763 and 1764 the Schooners Beaver, Gladwin 
 and Charlotte went to and fro constantly, the trip varying from 
 six to nine days. 
 
 The first vessel knov.'n to have been built at Detroit was the 
 Enterprise. She was launched in 1769. 
 
 In 1778 the British brig of war, General Gage, arrived mak- 
 ing trip from Buffalo in four days. On account of the Revolu- 
 tionary War, none but Government vessels were then allowed 
 upon the lakes. 
 
 In 1780 the captains and crews of nine vessels were under 
 pay at Detroit and a large dock-yard was maintained. The 
 
91 
 
 names of the vessels were the Gage, Dunmore, Faith, Angelica, 
 Hope, Welcome, Felicity and Wyandotte. 
 
 On August 1st, 17«S2, the following named vessels, all in good 
 or'-ler a,nd all built in Detroit, were on duty in Lakes Erie, Huron 
 and Michigan : 
 
 Names. 
 
 Brig (!age 
 
 Schooner Dunmore 
 Schooner Hope . . . 
 Sloop Ange ica. . . . 
 Sloop Felicity ... 
 Schooner Faith , . . 
 Sloop Wyandotte. 
 Sloop Adventure . 
 Gun Boat 
 
 Men 
 
 on 
 Board. 
 
 Guns, 
 
 Burth'u 
 
 Carrying 
 Men. 
 
 Capacity 
 15arls. 
 
 27 
 
 14 
 
 l.')4 
 
 160 
 
 200 
 
 14 
 
 
 10(5 
 
 100 
 
 200 
 
 11 
 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 7 
 
 , 
 
 66 
 
 60 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 
 i>5 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 48 
 
 10 
 
 61 
 
 60 
 
 100 
 
 7 
 
 
 47 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 8 
 
 
 M 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 When 
 Built. 
 
 1772 
 1772 
 1772 
 1771 
 1774 
 1774 
 1779 
 1776 
 
 In the spring of 1793, four Government vessels were lying in 
 front of the town. Of these the Chippawa and the Ottawa were 
 new b'igs of about 200 tons each and carrying eight grns ; another 
 was the Dunmore, an old brig of the same size with six guns ; the 
 4th was the sloop Felicity, armed with two swivels. All of these 
 were under command of Commodore Grant. There were also 
 several sloops and schooners owned by trading firms. 
 
 Three years later in 179G, twelve merchant ves.sels were 
 owned in Detroit ; also several brigs, ftloops and schooners from 
 fifty to one hundred tons each. After the surrender to the 
 United States (July, 1790) the Schooner Swan, then owned by 
 James May, was hired to conve}' the first United States troops to 
 Detroit, and was the first vessel on the lakes to bear the United 
 States' fiag. The second to convey the United States' ttag was 
 probobly the Detroit, she was purchased by the Government of the 
 Northwest Fur Company. 
 
 The first steamboat that sailed Lr ke Erie, the Walk-in-the- 
 Water, after the chief of the Wyandot Indians, reached Detroit 
 from Buffalo, 17th August, 1818, leaving there on 23rd, and tak- 
 ing in sailing about 44 hours and 10 minutes. In 1825 there was 
 still but one steamer on the lakes. The first steamer that we 
 had on the lakes was built here by Duncan McGregor called the 
 " Western," a vessel of some fifty tons and twenty-five horse 
 power which McGregor had converted out of the Rob Roy, on the 
 river fiats nnmediately below Judge Bell's residence, about the 
 year 1830-1, and which was put on the route between Chatham 
 and Amherstburg. The next year was built at the same place 
 the Steamer Thames, of about 200 tons and fifty horss3 power, 
 and was ruu as a leading boat between Port Stanley and Buffalo 
 
92 
 
 until burned by the rebels and patriots, at Windsor, on the 4th 
 Dtcember, 183(S. At the same time was also built the " Cvnthia 
 McGregor," called after tiie wife of the late Duncan McCirejifor, 
 who, with Henry VanAllen, his brother-in-law, built her and she 
 ran between this and Detroit. She was a 100 ton vessel and 
 forty horse power, and ran on the Chatham and Andierstburg 
 route till she was unfortunately burned ; and then came the 
 Brothers, by the Eberts' brothers, the lirst of thei long line of 
 steam and sailing vessels. 
 
 My recollection goes back to when we used to cross the De- 
 troit River in a canoe, which was succeeded in 1825 by the hoise- 
 boat, and, in 1830, by the Steamer Argo, the fir.st steamer belong- 
 ing to Detroit, and then we had the canoe, sail- boat, horse-boat 
 and steamer all at work. The Argo was the first steamer to 
 come up the Thames, which she did in 1828. Our old friend, the 
 late William Ryan, used to be the engineer on the Argo as he has 
 often told me. 
 
 As with the ferry, so with everything else in modern use, I 
 have seen pass from the primitive stage — from the lucifei match, 
 which came in in the thirties, in place of the Hint and .'^teel ; the 
 perc'iRsion cap, instead of the flint gun which cauie in 1880; the 
 double-barreled gun, instead of sinojle ; the bu£fO[V, instead of the 
 gig — and Sheriff' Mercer vvas the first person in the thtas Counties of /^y 
 Essex, Kent and Lambton to drive a top buggy — and so with 
 the carrying of the mail between Toronto and Amherstburg, on 
 foot, on horseback, stage and railway. 
 
 But what are the changes in navigation ? Look at it to-day, 
 with a tonnage pa.ssing over this river of 30,000,000 annually and 
 with vessels carrying as high as 150,000 bushels of grain. 
 
 In the fifties and up to the breaking out of the war in 18G1, 
 the tonnage was still of the 300 ton vessel, and to some extent 
 long after it. They are to-day carrying 4500 tons and the new 
 tonnage is larger every year, and it is said that when the Detroit, 
 St. Clair and St. Mary's Rivers are made twenty feet deep, now 
 more than half completed, there will scarcely be a limit to the 
 size of the lake craft. 
 
 The Detroit River for many years has seen more tonnage in 
 a single day than any other spot in the world, for the whole of 
 the craft trading between the upper and lower lakes must pass 
 this point. 
 
 The average size of lake vessels is larger than of ocean ones, 
 and this is shown by a comparison of the number and aggregate 
 tonnage of thj vessels of all classes visiting New York with tliose 
 that go to Cleveland. If the cargo were made the basis of com- 
 parison instead of the registered tonnage, this would appear. 
 
 The records of the Sault Canal show that the tons carried 
 
93 
 
 4th 
 tliia 
 
 ^or, 
 
 she 
 
 and 
 
 .ur<r 
 
 the 
 
 3 of 
 
 ^/ 
 
 through it exceed the official tonnage of the vessels. The United 
 States Government has documented about 4,000 lake craft of all 
 classes and sizes, and the Lloyd's Register has admitted 2, 100 of 
 these as worthy of rating for insurance. Of these 150 are of 
 steel and iron, and those of more thun 4,000 tons measurement are 
 Ijecoming common. 
 
 In liSDO, during tlie 8()o davs of navigation of the Sue'^c Canal. 
 '■],')Hd vessels of t',S00,O14 tons measurement passed through. In 
 the 280 days of Sault Canal navigation, 10,557 vessels of <S,4'54,4:;}5 
 tors passed through it. Latest returns give tiie increase for 1 !S94 
 at five millions of tons beyond that of the Suez. 
 
 BELLE ISLE PARK. 
 
 When we kok at Belle Isle now, in all its splendor, as De- 
 troit's island park, and perhaps without a rival in all the Union, 
 with its circular canal, club and l-oat houses, bridges, docks, 
 woods, meadows, gardens, flowers, pavilions, electric lights and all 
 the other attractions, at a cose of over 81,000,000, we can hartlly 
 fancy it the pasture ground of good King George's cattle, but 
 such it was up to the time of tlie surrender in 17!>0 ; but even in 
 that day it was the scene of the picnic, as it is to-day, but not on 
 so grand a scale, and I am going to give you an account of one 
 which took place there in 17M9, written by Miss Ann Powell, the 
 sister of Judge Powell, of whom I have spoken as having come 
 with his family to Detroit that year from Montreal to do duty as 
 a Judge of the Common Picas just then established, having taken 
 from the 10th of May to the 5th of June to make the journey, 
 • She says: "As soon as our vessel anchored several ladies and 
 
 gentlemen came on board, they had agreed upon a house for us, 
 till my brother could meet with one that would suit him, so we 
 found ourselves at home immediately. The ladies visited us in 
 full dress, though the weather was boiling hot. What do you 
 think of walking about when the thermometer is above ninety ? 
 It was as high as ninety-six the morning we returned our visits. 
 While we stayed at the Fort several parties were made for us — 
 a very agreeabL one by the G5th, to an island a little way up the 
 river. Our party was divided into five boats ; one held the 
 music, in each of the others were two ladies and as many gentle- 
 men as it could hold. Lord Edward Fitzgerald (then at Detroit) 
 and his friend arrived just in time enough to join us; they went 
 around the lake by land to see some Indian settlements and were 
 highly pleased with their jaunt. Lord Edward speaks in raptures 
 of the Indian hospitality. He told me one instance of it which 
 would reliect honor on the most polished society. By some means 
 or other the gentlemen lost their provisions and were entirely 
 without bread, in a place where they could get none. Some In- 
 
94 
 
 dians travelling with them had one loaf which they offered to his 
 lord.ship, but he would not accept it; the li lians gave him to 
 understand tiiat they were used to doing witliout and that there- 
 fore, it was less inconvenient for them. They still refused and 
 the Indians then disa])peared and left the loaf of bread in the 
 road the travellers must pass and the Indians were seen no more. 
 
 " Our party on the island proved very pleasant, which that 
 kind of a party seldom does. The day was tine, the country 
 cheerful and th.e band delightful. We walked some time in the 
 shady part of the island and then were led to a bower, where the 
 table was spread for dinner. Everything here is on a grand 
 scale ; do not suppose we dined in an English arbor. This one 
 was made of forest trees and bushes, which being fresh cut, you 
 could not see where they were put together, and the boughs were 
 the whole height of the trees though (juite close at the top. The 
 band was placed without and played whilst we were at dinner 
 We were hurried home in the evening by the appearance of a 
 thunder storm. It was the most beautiful I ever remember to 
 have seen." 
 
 Let us row have a little further testimony to the beauty of 
 the Detroit River, and this time from the celebrated Mrs. Jame- 
 son, the authoress, and wife of our tirst vice-cliancellor, who, in 
 1837, visited it, and when Mr . Woods had the pleasure of meet- 
 ing her, as she knew her uncie the American Consul in Vienna, 
 Austria. 
 
 She says : '' The day has been intolerably not, even on the 
 lake there was not a breath of air, but as the sun went down in 
 his glory the breeze freshened and the spires and towers of the 
 City of Detroit were seen against the western sky. The schoon- 
 ers at anchor, or dropping into the river, the little canoes Hitting 
 across from side to side, the lofty buildings, the enormous steam- 
 ers, the noisy port and bus^- streets all bathed in the light of a 
 sunset such as I had never seen, not even in Italy, almost turned 
 me giddy with excitement." ' , 
 
 I myself in coming up from Amherstljurg last week on the 
 Steamer Wyandotte in her evening trip, witnessed a scene on our 
 approach to the city that in its brilliant panoramic effect sur- 
 passed anything I ever saw, except at the Lagoon, at the World's 
 Fair, when the gondolas were flitting about, the fountains flash- 
 ing their colored lights and the search-light illumining all with 
 its gorgeous splendor. 
 
 DETROIT. . 
 
 Let us take a coup d' aeil of the Queen City of the Straits, as 
 she sits there in the pride of beauty and historic charm. We can 
 only glance at what sLe was, and are unable to speak of what she 
 
95 
 
 is. The city was founded in 1701, l>y the Chevalier Antoine do 
 la Mothe Cadillac, before Peter, the Great, had built St. Peters- 
 bur^f. When Cadillac came the East India Company and the 
 South Sea iiubble had not been lieard of and there was not a 
 newspaper or a post office in the United States. Tiie first colony 
 here established was like a bit of France m the wilds of the Now 
 World. The early French colonists applied the name Detroit — 
 strait — to tlie settlement on both sides of the river. One 
 North Detroit, the other South Detroit. Some of the old records 
 read like a page of Froissart and visions of medieval scenes and 
 pictures of savage life are strangely intermingled with the 
 records of the past. Cradled in romance, nurUirod in war and 
 trained in the school of conservatism, the city now glories in her 
 position as the most attractive and most substantial of all t'^o 
 cities whose traditions reach back to the crand monarch — Louis 
 XIV. 
 
 The early colonists called all the waters between Lake Erie 
 and Lake Huron the Detroit, and TladiHac was shrewd enough to 
 lay claim to the whole extent of it for himself. 
 
 Detroit lies in latitude 42 19' 50.28" north, and longitude 
 83" 2' 47.08" west of Greenwich. Rome and Constantinople are 
 in nearly the same latitude, and Havana and Calcutta are longi- 
 tudinally in the same range. On an air line it :„ about 1000 
 miles northeast of New Orleans and 700 west of New York. 
 The first newspaper published in Detroit was as late as 25th 
 July, 1817. The Michigan Essay was issued in 1809, out only 
 one number of it appeared. Canada's first paper being sixty-one 
 years before this. • 
 
 wiNDsnp, 
 
 Has become a suburb of Detroit, and in its make-up partakes 
 largely of the latter and comes in for all the advantages attach- 
 ing to the larger city, both in a business and residential way. It 
 was laid out in 1834, and I can remember my schoolmaster, ti.e 
 Rev. Mr. Johnson, father of the Rev. Cancn Johnson now of 
 Windsor, saying at the time that a cabbage would not grow 
 under an oak ; but could he see it now, he would find that the 
 cabbage had attained very fair proportions, and is now far 
 ahead of what the oak was then. Windsor is about to erect 
 county and city buildings jointly with the county as we have 
 done, and I have no doubt they will be creditable to both, though 
 I doubt their succeedinof in having the court house and other 
 public buildings withdrawn from Sandwich. The fine system of 
 electric street railway between the two places has wholly over- 
 come the inconvenience of earlier days ; and it ought to be 
 repeated here that Winiisor had the first electric street car in 
 America. 
 
90 
 
 THE llOUNDAHY: OUR ALAI5AMA. 
 
 I wonld just like to stop licro and exclaim : How sonsih'e a 
 boiindfiry ! How natural a one! And how much better than 
 the Ohio on the .south and the Mississippi on the west ! How 
 frauf^ht with conilict would that boundary have been ! True, we 
 losi. what makes the five States of Michif^an, Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois and Wisconsin, but better that than tlie renewal of the 
 warfare of 1770-83 and all its attendant evils. Canada has ter- 
 ritory enough for all purj)0,ses. I have never been of those who 
 gi-ieved at tha loss of this great territory. There is no doubt 
 that the possession of our fine peninsula between the Detroit and 
 Niagara Rivers, if, indeed, not the whole of Canada, was the chief 
 object of the wanton war of 1812-15, but it failed ; and if within 
 that short interval of peace our cousins on the south could become 
 so aggressive north of the line, what would they have been if the 
 western posts and territories had been retained i In the one case 
 thej- had no excuse, i.i the other they would have had many 
 plausable and potent ones. We have reached our Alabama and 
 let us be forever content. 
 
 Dr. Kingsford shews, too, tfiat had the offer of our commis- 
 sioner, Mr. Oswald, on that occasion been accepted, we should 
 have lost a large portion of what is now Ontario, but for some 
 inexplicable reason the American commissioners did not accept it, 
 
 I am glad to say that Dr. Kingsford ti'.kes the same view of 
 the boundary, and says : " One of the wisest provisions in the 
 Treaty of Versailles was the establishn.ent of the boundary where 
 it is, and that this decision was formed, I consider, is in no small 
 degree attributable to the unfortunate expedition of Hamilton." 
 
 This expedition, I may say, is referred to by Chief Justice 
 Campbell, in his political history of Michigan, in the following 
 remarkable way: " Major De Peyster, of Mackinaw, st-nt out in 
 spiing of 1770 a second exjjedition to join Hamilton in Illinois, 
 but his capture foiled it and that country remained in American '' 
 hands thereafter. Had it not been for this the boundary might have 
 been fixed at the Ohio instead oj the lakes." 
 
 Again, what a boundary it is ! Look at its co'umerce, aver- 
 aging during the seven months of navigation a vessel passing 
 every '2h minutes and exceeding the vast commerce of the Suez 
 Canal, with its full season of twelve months, and all Europe and 
 Asia as its patrons, by five millions of tons. Then look at our 
 grand system of canals, beginning Kt the Sault, opened in June 
 last, and ending with the Lachine at Montreal, and who will say 
 it is not the grandest water-way in the world ? And we, the five 
 millions of Canadians, the possessors of it ! Let us, indeed, be 
 content. 
 
!)r 
 
 ROCKS TO HE AVOIDKI'. 
 
 The United States may envy us. Don't K't u.« envy tlioin. 
 They may covet us, don't let us covet them. L(!t us recall the 
 heroic sacrifice of our forefathers in seekinuj tin forests and frosts 
 and savanjes of Canada, rather than dwell anioni^st a disloyal and 
 rehellous people, although their own kith and kin, at the loss of 
 beautiful homes and fine estates. Contentment is j^reat riclies. 
 Better fidelity to country than covetousness of the uncertain 
 riches of the Great Republic. 
 
 In the past year on the simple political question of tarif we 
 have seen them shrink and disappear by thousjjnds of millions — 
 a loss, it was said, in six months of one thousand millions of 
 dollars. 
 
 Then recall the awful conflict of the nation in 18G1-5, sur- 
 passing tliat ever witnessed in the world and estinjate<l by their 
 ablest statician, Hon. Da\ i(^ A. Wells, to have cost the nation one 
 million of men and a loss of len thousand mllliona of dolUva. Now, 
 that was for slavery and the root of the slave question was the 
 tariff', and the tariff" is still largely in evidence as the battle cry at 
 the next election, and have they not now the seven and a half 
 millions of Africans in another form, and how is this negro cjues- 
 tion to be settled ? Peaceably or by another revolution ? But 
 look at th 3 " silver question," wdiich twenty-fiv years ago was 
 not heard of, and see if it does not promise to be as disintegrating 
 a force as that of slavery ? Then it was the south, now" it is the 
 south and west, and with a project that involves the loss of mil- 
 lions and thousands of millions to the working classes and all others 
 depending upon salaries and pensions. Again, look at the question 
 of divorce ! What a shock has been given the nation by the 
 laxity of the marriage tie and the operations of (he divorce 
 courts — forty-five separate States presumably with a soparate 
 divorce law in each one, as is the case with their criminal law, 
 and it is said with an aggregate last year of 40,000 divorces. 
 Within twenty years, up to 188G, there were 888,706 divorces 
 and if we judge by last years report those astounding figures may 
 have been doubled in the past nine years, while in all Canada, in 
 twenty-five years, there have only been 203. If marriage be the 
 high estate assigned it by God's law, then, surely, there has been 
 a great wave of immorality through the Republic, directly affect- 
 ing more than a million of households and more than five million 
 of persons of all ranks and classes. No doubt we of Canada owe 
 our condition largely to our Roman Catholic friends, and I have 
 lonir felt that the United States would be deeply indebted to this 
 branch of the Christian Church for the resistance offered by it to 
 the great tidal' wave of divorce that has deluged the Union. 
 
d8 
 
 Then look at the foroij^n nationalities, then at tlio lej)ro.sy of 
 universal .suft'ra<^o and an elective judiciary and all other officials 
 in connection witjj the administration of ju.stico. We <lon't want 
 unity with a people having such alarniinn; problems menacing 
 their national integrity. Besides we have unity with a greater 
 power. They have a Unit«'d States of seventy millions. We 
 have a United States of 
 
 THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY MILLIONS. 
 
 Old England is the first in order, with Ireland, Scotland, Wales, 
 Australia, India, South Africa, the Isles of the Seas — anrl the 
 seas themselves auxiliaries — while we in Canada have half this 
 continent at our back with all its vast resources and a territory 
 in the Mackenzie basin larger than Australia, and equal, as Pro- 
 fessor Seeley says, to the support of a thousand millions of popu- 
 lation, and, to-day, acknowledged to be the great military high- 
 way betM'een this group of Empires. 
 
 I here subjoin a list of England's possessions, giving her one- 
 fifth the territory of the earth and one-quarter its entire pop- 
 ulation. (See appendix.) 
 
 The Americans have never appreciated the vigor of mind or 
 body of the Canadians, and have regarded us as a young and an 
 immature group of colonists. They have forgotten that we are 
 of the same stock and to-day the Greater Britain. But while 
 they have been dissevered from England and her liigh standards 
 of life, we have been in the closest relationship and drawing from 
 it the highest inspiration of which a young nationality is suscep- 
 tible. I'll give one striking instance of this inability of the 
 Americans to understand us as colonists, even with their first 
 statesmen. General Cass, who, in his distinguished career, was 
 twice Secretary of State and once the Democratic candidate for 
 the Presidency in 1848, and with whom I enjoyed friendly 
 social relations, said to me in 1854: 'Tell me what that great 
 trunk railway is of what I hear so much." I explained to him 
 that it was intended to run from Quebec to Sandwich, and as a 
 trunk road to have other roads leading into it. His reply was : 
 "Too great an undertaking for a young country. It cannot suc- 
 ceed." Before 1859 he saw that road not only constructed 
 through the whole of Canada, but across the boundary line at 
 Port Huron and run down seventy miles past his own door, in 
 the City of Detroit, to a point westward, and in that year saw 
 the mails from Chicago received by a Canadian train and drawn 
 to Quebec and then dispatched to Europe by a Canadian steamer. 
 Our progress to-day with five millions is far in advance of what 
 theirs was in 1865 with thirty-five millions; for the New York 
 Herald then admitted that without the aid of British capital and 
 
DU 
 
 Bri*ifh enterprise, they would be unable to build their Union 
 Pacific Railway of 1700 miles, from On)aha to the Pacific. Con- 
 trast this with what Canada has done in the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway, with its strai^dit line from ocean to ocean of JJ8.S5 miles, 
 and a total of 71 Go miles, with the Grand Trunk and its 5000 
 miles, besides other roads. 
 
 No portion of the Government money that went to make the 
 1700 miles has been repaid and not even the interest paid, while 
 we have the Canadian l*acilic Railway borrowinif twenty millions 
 from our Government and returnintf it within two years ; and we 
 have the additional fact tliat (!ven before the depression of 1803 
 there were 140 American railways in the hands of receivers. 
 
 We lie side by side for 4000 miles, not always with the 
 natural boundary that we enjoy in our beautiful Detroit River 
 and the lakes, but much of it an artificial one, even coming down 
 to the chain and post, and let us in a s])irit of self-reliance, and 
 self-appreciation and friendly competition incite each other to a 
 higher standard of civilization in Government, liberty, morals, 
 religion and justice ; developing on the one hand the excellencies 
 of an aristocratic Republic and on the other those of a democratic 
 Monarchy. 
 
 Hear what Dr. Bourinot, our grerit constitutional author, 
 >fki*fee4l a F«emA OanHcKaii, has to say in the May number of the 
 Forum : 
 
 " So loLg as Canada adheres to existing principles of sound 
 government and is not misled by unsafe political agitators — to be 
 found in every country — to adopt the dangerous methods of 
 party in the Republican States, her people mey continue to have 
 confidence in the future of their Federal Union. At present, 
 assuredly, they can see no reason for a political union, in such 
 weaknesses and evils of the purely democratic system of their 
 neighbors, as have been set forth in this paper with much brev- 
 ity. When Canadians are invited, even on the floor of Congress 
 itself, ' to cast in their lot with their own continent,' and are as- 
 sured, ' that they shall have all that the continent can give,' they 
 refuse to considv3r the offer seriously, not because they have no 
 interest in the progress of their American cousins, who aic also 
 the inheritors of English institutions, but because they know they 
 are working out those institutions on principles far more condu- 
 cive to the pure and efJ'ective administration of public affairs — 
 that in this respect, at all events, they are already in advance of a 
 great and prosperous people who have been led in the course of 
 years, by reckless politicians into methods of government which 
 have lowered the standard of public morality and created scan- 
 dais of far-reaching intluence on the nation. 
 
100 V 
 
 " Canadians lmvi>. higher aspirations at tins critical period of 
 their political development, whon they are laboring ainid many 
 difficulties to form a new power otj this continent, one-halj of 
 which they now jwssess an their territorial domaiv." 
 
101 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE WAR OB^ 1812. 
 
 ■ ■ " Arma Virumqvi' Cano." ■ 
 
 '/ r\\^ oannot at a more suitable moment refer to the War of 
 iUJ 1812-15 tlian when speakinj^ of these incidents. 
 ^^^ I do not purpose to do more than (^ive some prominent 
 
 events in this section of the Province^ as illustratint^ tlie h)yalty 
 of our people and with what limited means a brave and loyal 
 people could accomplis.h such striking results against an enen)y 
 having a hundred-fold greater resources. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1812, the unprovoked declaration of 
 war was issued by Congress against Great Britain, and our 
 frontier received the first shook of the contlict. 
 
 General Hull, with some 2300 men, crossed from Detroit on 
 the 7th or July, to a point where Windsor now stands and tov.k 
 possession of Sandwich, and issued his celebrated proclamation, 
 which I subjoin to show what' insolent nonsense this Governor of 
 Michigan and commander of the army of the west could talk : 
 
 hull's PROCLAMATION — INHABITANTS OF CANADA. 
 
 After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the United States 
 have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the in- 
 ijults and indignities of Great Britain, have once more left them 
 no alternative but manly resistance or unconditional submission. 
 
 The army under my coi imand has invaded your counfry, and 
 the standard of Union now waves over the tcritory of Canada. 
 To the peaceable, unoffending inhabitant, it brings neither danger 
 nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make tliem. I 
 come to protect, not to injure you. 
 
 Se])arated by an innnense ocean, and an exten.^ive wilder- 
 ness, from Great Britain, you have no participations in her coun- 
 cils, no interest in her conduct ; you have fell her tyranny, you 
 have seen her injustice ; but I do not ask you to avenge the one 
 or redress the other. The United States are ;:nfl[iciently poweiful 
 to afford you every security consistent with their rights and your 
 expectations. I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, 
 political and religious liberty, and their necessary result, individ- 
 ual and general prosperity; that liberty which gave decision to 
 our councils and energy to our conduct, in a struggle for indepen- 
 
102 
 
 dence, and which conducted us safely and triumphantly through 
 the stormy period of the revolution ; that liberty which has 
 raised us to an elevated rank among the nations of the world, 
 and which as afforded us a greater measure of peace and security 
 of wealth and improvement, than ever fell to the lot of any 
 country. 
 
 In the name of my country, and by the authority of Gov- 
 ernment I promise you protection to your persons, property and 
 rights. Remain at your homes ; pursue your peaceful and cus- 
 tomary avocations; raise not your hands against your brethren. 
 Many of your fathers fought for ihe freedom and independence 
 we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of the same family 
 with us, and heirs to the same heritage, the arrival of an arm} of 
 friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. You will 
 be emancipated from tyranny and oppression, and restored to the 
 dignified station of freemen. Had I any doubt of eventual suc- 
 cess, I might ask your assistance, but I do not. I come prepared 
 for every contingency. I have a force which will look down all 
 opposition, and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater. 
 If, contrary to your own interests and the just expectations of 
 my country, you should take part in the approaching contest } ou 
 will be considered and treated as enemies, and the horrors and 
 calamities of war will stalk before you. If the barbarous and 
 savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savage let 
 loose to murder our citizens and butcher our women and children, 
 this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the 
 tomahawk, the first attempt with the scalping-knife, will be the 
 signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation ! No white man 
 found fighting by the side of an Indian wid be taken "prisoner; instant 
 destruction will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice 
 and humanity cannot prevent the employment of a force which 
 respects no rights and knows no wrong, it will be prevented by a 
 severe and relentless system of retaliation. I doubt not your 
 courage aud firmness ; I will (not) doubt your attachment to 
 liberty. If you tender your services voluntarily, they will be 
 accepted readily. The United States offer you peace, liberty and 
 security ; your choice lies between these and war, slavery and 
 destruction" Clioose then, but choose wisely ; and may He, who 
 knows the justice of our cause and who holds in his hand the fate 
 of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible with your 
 rights aud interest, your peace and happiness. 
 
 Head(iuarters, Sandwich, July 8th, 1812. 
 
 W. Hull, 
 
 Bv the General A. P. Hull, 
 Captain of the 13th U. 8. Regt. of Infantry and Aide de-Camp. 
 
103 
 
 After a fruitless attempt to capture the garrison at Amherst- 
 burnrli, which consisted then of about 200 men of the First Bat- 
 talion of the 41st Regiment; a very weak detachment of the 
 Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, and a subaltern's command of 
 artillery, and in A'hich the first British blood of the war was 
 shed, he withdrew on the Ttli of August, and recrossed the 
 Detroit River and ro-occupiad Detroit. 
 
 On the 22nd of July, ](S12, General Brock issued the follow- 
 ing proclamation, which it gives me great pleasure to present to 
 my readers as a most patriotic and defiant response to the bom- 
 bastic one of the American General : ' ; •' <f 
 
 GENERAL BHOCK's PROCLAMATION. 
 
 The unprovoked declaration of war, by the United States of 
 America, against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land and its dependencies, has been followed by the actual inva- 
 sion of this Province, in a remote frontier of the Western Dis- 
 trict, by a detachment of the armed forces of the United States. 
 The officer commanding that detachment has thought proper to 
 invite His Majesty's subjects, not merely to a quiet and unresist- 
 ing submission, but insults them with a call to seek voluntarily 
 the protection of his Government. Without condescending to 
 repeat the illiberal epithets bestowed in this appeal of the Amer- 
 ican commander to the people of Upper Canada, on the adminis- 
 tration of His Majesty, every inhabitant of the Province is desired 
 to seek the confutation of such indecent slander, in the review of 
 his own particular circum.stances. Where is the Canadian sub- 
 ject who can truly affirm to himself that he has been injured by 
 the Government in his person, his liberty, c: his property ? 
 Where is to be found in any part of the world a growth so rapid 
 in wealth and prosperity as this colony exhibits ? Settled not 
 thirty years, by a band of veterans, exiled from their former pos- 
 sessions on account of their loyalty, not a descendant of these 
 brave people is to be found, who, under the fostering liberality of 
 their Sovereign has not acquired a property and means of enjoy- 
 ment superior to what were possessed by their ancestors. This 
 unequalled prosperity could not have been attained by the 
 utmost liberality of the Government, or the persevering industry 
 of the people, had not the maritime power of the mother country 
 secured to its colonies a safe access to every market where the 
 produce of their labor Was in demand. 
 
 The unavoidable and immediate consequence of a separation 
 from Great Britain, must be the loss of this inestimable advan- 
 tage ; and what is ottered you in exchange ? to become a territory 
 of the Unite«l States, and share with them that exclusion from 
 the ocean which the policy of their present government enforces. 
 
104 
 
 You are not even flattered with a participation of their boasted 
 independence, and it is but too obvious, that once exclianged from 
 the powerful protection of the United Kingdom, you must be re- 
 annexed to the Dominion of France, from which the Provinces of 
 Canada were wrested by the arms of Ureat Britain, at a vast ex- 
 pense of blood and treasure, from no other motive but to relieve 
 her ungrateful children froTn the oppression of a cruel neighbor; 
 this restitution of Canada to the Empire of France, was the stip- 
 ulated reward for the aid afforded to the revolted colonies, now 
 the United States ; the debt is still due, and there can be no 
 doubt but the pledge has been renewtd as a consideration for 
 commercial advantages, or i-ather for an expected relaxation in 
 the tyrann}. of France over the commercial world. Are you pre- 
 pared, inhabitants of Upper Canada, to become willing subjects, 
 or rather slaves, to the despot who rules the nations of Europe 
 with a I oil of iron ? If not, arise in a body, exert your er.ergies, 
 co-operate cordially with the King's regular forces to repel the 
 invader, and do not give the cause to your children, when groan- 
 ing under the oppression of a foreign master to reproach you 
 with having too easily parted with the richest inheritance of this 
 earth — a participation in the name, character and freedom of 
 Britons. 
 
 The same spirit of justice, which will make every reasonable 
 allowance for the unsuccessful efforts of zeal and loyalty, will not 
 fail to punish the defalcation of principle ; every Canadian free- 
 holder is, by deliberate choice, bound by the most solemn oaths 
 to defend the monarchy as well as his own property ; to shrink 
 from that engagenient is a treason not to be forgiven ; let no jnan 
 suppose that if in this unexpected struggle, His Majesty's arms 
 should be compelled to yield to an overwhelming force, that the 
 Province will be eventually abandoned ; the endeared relations of 
 its first settlers, the intrinsic value of its commerce, and the pre- 
 tensions of its powerful rival to re-possess the Ca^adas, are 
 pledges that no peace will be established between the United 
 States and Great Britain and Ireland, of which the restoration of 
 these Provinces docs not make the most prominent condition. 
 
 Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the commander 
 of the enemy's forces, to refuse (juarter should an Indian appear 
 in the ranks. The brave bands of natives which inhabit this 
 colony were, bice His Majesty's subjects, punished for their zeal 
 and fidelity, by the loss of their possessions in the late colonies, 
 and reward by His Majesty with lands of superior value in this 
 Province ; the faith of the British Government has never yet been 
 violated, thev feel that the soil that they inherit is to them and 
 their posterity protected from the base arts so frequently devised 
 to over-reach their simplicity. By what new principle are they 
 
105 
 
 n 
 
 to 1)0 prevented from defending their propei-ty ? If their wai- 
 fare, from being different from that of the wliite people, is more 
 terrific to tlie enenjy let him retrace hi.s stei)s — they seek him 
 not — and cannot expect to find omen and cliildren in an invad- 
 ing army ; hui-. they are men and have equal rights with all otlu r 
 n»en to defend themselves and their property when invadeil, more 
 especially when they find in the enemy's a ferocious and morcal 
 foe, using the warfare which the American connnander affects to 
 reprobate. This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing 
 quarter for such a cause as being found in arni.^ which a j'-other 
 sufferer in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with a 
 certain assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations 
 of war in this part of the King's dominions, but in every quarter 
 of the globe, for the national character of Britain is not less dis- 
 tinguished fur humanity than strict retributive justice which will 
 consider the execution of his inhuman threats as deliberative 
 murder, for which every subject oi the offending power must 
 make expiation. 
 
 .■^^ ■>■-':::->- :- Isaac Brock, -,^- ..>:•*..■•-..; .■■:.'/■ 
 
 Maj. Gen. and President. 
 
 Headquarters, Fort George, 22nd July, 1812. ' " 
 
 By order of His Honor the President, 
 
 J. B. Glegg, Capcain, A. D, C. 
 
 Meanwhile General Brock, then at York, I'oronto, fully 
 sensible of the danger of Amherstburg, threatened as he knew it 
 to be, by an overwhelming force, lost no time in re{)airing to its 
 assistance. The General himself eud)arked on the oth of August 
 for Fort Georoe and Lon<j Point, wdiere he had directed the 
 militia and the Indians to be collected, and leaving Long Point on 
 the 8th with no other force than forty men of the 41st, who had 
 fieen previously despatched thither, and about two hundred and 
 fifty militia, principally volunteers from the Home and Niagara 
 Districts, the General coasted the shore of Lake Erie, on his wav 
 to Amherstburi;, which he reached on the 13th. 
 
 On the 12th ot August we find him at a point in our ovn 
 County, Point Aux Pins (llond Eau) where he issued this order : 
 
 I. MCDONELL, P. A. 1). C, 
 
 Point Aux Pins, 
 Lake Erie, August 12th, 1812. 
 General Orders : 
 
 It is Major General Brock's intention, should the wind con- 
 tinue fair, to proceed during the night, Officers commanding 
 boats will therefore pay attention to the order of sailing as 
 
lOG 
 
 directed yesterday. The (greatest care and attention will bo re- 
 quested to prevent the boats from scattorin<^ or falling behind. 
 
 A great part of the bank of the Lake where the boats will 
 this day pass is much more dangerous and difficult of access than 
 we have passed, the boat (i. e., the one in which was headquarter.^ 
 and leading) therefore will not land, excepting in the most ex- 
 treme necessity, and then great care must be taken to choose the 
 best places for landing. 
 
 The troops being now in the neighborhood of the enemy, 
 every precaution must be taken to guard against surprise. 
 By Order of the Major General. 
 
 ' J. B. Clegg, A. D. C. 
 
 The General reached Amherstburg the next day, and at once 
 began to carry the war into Africa, by undertaking and on the 
 ]Gth accomplishing, the capture of Detroit and the surrender of 
 General Hull, his entire army of some 3,000, and the State of 
 Michigan, which continued in our possession for some fifteen 
 months, while the General was carried to Montreal as a prisoner 
 of war. The British had various successes with the enemy in 
 Michigan and Ohio during that year and the following. On the 
 23rd of September, 1813, the unfortunate naval battle between 
 Captain Barclay, of our service, and Commodore Perry, of the 
 United States, took place at Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie, the result of 
 which was to compel the retreat of General Proctor from Am- 
 herstburg, and Detroit which was effected in the last week of 
 September, it being int'^nded to make Moraviantown the point at 
 which battle would be given the enemy, should he follow, which 
 he did with a force of some 5,000, including his celebrated Ken- 
 tucky riflemen. 
 
 It was on the 3rd of October that the Indians, under 
 Tecumseh, rested in what is now our beautiful Park, and where 
 the Indians expected and desired that the impending battle 
 would take place. We all know the disastrous result of it, and 
 with it ended all further operations on the Western frontier. 
 
 The invasions of the Americans into both Tipper and Lower 
 Canada were eleven in number, with an aggregate of some 45,000 
 men, but as Detroit, Queenston, Fort Toronto, Fort George, 
 Chrysler's Farm, Chataqua, Lundy's Lane, Stony Creek, are re- 
 called, we see without any gain, but on the contrary defeated and 
 driven back with great loss. On England's getting free after 
 landing Bonaparte at Elba, and being able to help us in earnest, 
 the Americans were forced to sue for peace and to get it without 
 having gained a foot of Canadian territory, nor one of the alleged 
 grounds on which they pretended to go to war, vis., right of search 
 of foreign vessels by Britain for her own subjects as deserters from 
 
107 
 
 her navy, the neutrality of their flaf,', etc I am chiefly indebted 
 to Major Richardson's War of 1812 for these particulars, in which 
 he personally partici noted, »in<Lfi» account of the invasion at 
 Sandwich v.ritten b^father,^ whom vdalii the Hon. Mr. Baby 
 and Dr. Richardson were held in Detroit as prisoners of 
 war. This was a great triumph for the Provinces, when 
 we consider the relative populations of the two countries. 
 At that time Lower Canada had 225,000 souli— 200,000 of whom 
 were French ; Upper Canada had 75,000. The United States had 
 upwards of .S,000,000 ; so that the population of the two Canadas 
 was to that of the United States as 1 to 27 ; and the popu- 
 lation of Upper Canada was to that of the States as 1 to lOG. 
 
 Dr. Ryerson says: "The war between (ireat Britain and the 
 United States from 1812 to 1815 fiirni.shes the strongest exau)ple 
 of the present century, or of any age or country, of the attach- 
 ment of a people to their mother country, and of their determin- 
 ation, at whatever sacrifice and against whatever disparity, to 
 maintain the national life of their connection with :. The true 
 spirit of the Loyalist'' oj America was never exhibitf^d with greater 
 force and brilliancy than during the war 1812-5." 
 
 Let us now hear Christie, in his fine history of the war of 
 1812, speak: "No country or people ever exhibited greater 
 unanimity or patriotism than did the people of Lower Canada of 
 both origins, in the war of 1812, by the United States against 
 Great Britain — a stand the more to be remembered by her Gov- 
 ernment as these colonies, almost destitute of troops, wholly so of 
 money, and scarcely possessing even a sufficiency of arms and 
 other munitions of defence, owing to the more imperious calls 
 from other quarters upon the Home Government, were, at the 
 outset of the war, in a manner left to their own action and 
 resources, and which they nobly exemplified single-handed, as it 
 were, throughout the first two campaigns." 
 
 General Brock says that their avowed purpose was the con- 
 quest of Canada. Of this there is no doubt. General Cass, who 
 was with Hull at Sandwich, in his impeachment of his general 
 officer, say-i under date of the lOth September, 1812 : " When the 
 force landed in Canada, they landed with an ardent zeal, and 
 stimulated with the hope of conquest." The general in speaking 
 thus was but giving the traditional hope and purpose of Congress 
 from 1775, when the Congress sent Montgomery and Arnold to 
 accomplish the capture of Quebec and Canada. Again, when Dr. 
 Franklin and his associates souglit to induce the English Govern- 
 ment to surrender all Canada at the Treaty of Versailles to the 
 United States, and did seduce that Government into surrendering 
 the vast territory from the Detroit River to the Ohio on the 
 south, and the Mississippi on the west, although ti:e States had 
 
108 
 
 not tlie least claim to any part of it. As in 177o and as in 1783, 
 as in 1812 and as in 1837, and again with the Fenian raids; in 
 188G, so now the hearts' wish of the politicians and capitalists of 
 the United States is the po.«session of Canada, so that the American 
 Eagle may fly from the Gulf to the Arctic. 
 
 THE KEHELLION OF 1837-8. 
 
 Although having taken an active part in this as a young 
 volunteer in maintenance of British supremacy, and particularly 
 in the cuttint; out of the Steamer Caroline, which nearly led to a 
 war between England and the United States, I don't intend to say 
 more than that without the aid of a sinj;le soldier of the regular 
 army, we put down that n)ad attempt in a few weeks. ] am 
 further able to say that in no portion of the Western District, 
 large as it was, embracing what is now the three Counties of 
 Essex, Kent and Lambton, was one rebel or disaffected man 
 found within its borders. How is that for Kent's traditional 
 loyalty? Apropos of this loyalty, I have before me in the Cana- 
 dian Archives, reference to a letter from Governor Gore to the , 
 Hon. James Baby, who was County Lieutenant of Kent, of 
 December, 1809, speaking of the loyalty of the men of Kent, and 
 saying that should further reinforcements be made to the garrison 
 at Detroit, one-fourth of the militia should be called out and the 
 Government will direct Lieutenant Colonel Grant to receive them 
 into the garrison at Andierstburg. . ' 
 
 
lOiJ 
 
 CHAPTia? Xlll. 
 
 (a- 
 
 EDUCATION AND THE CHUULH. 
 
 NI) now for our educational system which has reached 
 such grand ^ roportions and results, " the evolution, if 
 it may be so called," says Dr. Hodgins, "of our three 
 fold scheme of education — primary, intermediate and superior." 
 In answer to his own (|uestion, wliat first awakened the 
 desire to establish schools and promote education in this Province ? 
 Dr. Strachan in his opening address at the opening of the King's 
 Colle<Te, (now Toronto University) in 1848, answers the question 
 thus T" When the Independence of the United States of America 
 was recognized by Oreat Britain in the peace of 178S, this Prov- 
 ince became the a>-!ylum of those faithful subjects of the Crow'n 
 who had during the Uevolutionary war adhered to their King 
 and the " Unity of the Empire. And it is pleasing to remark that 
 
 i„ 1789 a little more than five years after their first settlement — 
 
 they presented a memorial to His Excellency Lord Dorchester 
 (Sir Guy Carleton) their Governor General of British North 
 America, on the subject of education ; in which after lamenting 
 the state of their children growing up without any instruction, 
 religious or secular, they requested His Lordship to establish a 
 respectable seminary at Kingston, which was at that early period 
 the principal town in their division of the colony. To this repre- 
 sentation Lord Dorchester paid immediate attention, and gave 
 directions to the Surveyor General to set apart eligible portions 
 of land for the future support of schools in all the new settle- 
 ments. 
 
 " Animated by the same spirit as possessed these early colon- 
 ists, the United Empire Loyalists established schools of a superior 
 class early in the century in the chief centres of their settlements, 
 such as Kingston, Cornwall, Bath, York, St. Catharines, and after- 
 wards at Newburgh. Soon a grammar school was established in 
 every District, 1807, and ultimately the common school, 181 G, 
 fashioned by the United Empire Loyalists on the New England 
 pattern, was put into operation in every settled township of this 
 
 Province. . ^_ . , ,^ , 
 
 "Thus it will be seen that through the United Empire 
 Loyalists and their English forefathers, we, as a Province have 
 
110 
 
 coinu honestly and honorably by our zeal for education in thia 
 Cana(hi of ours." 
 
 The MiuniHcent Royal ^nini in 1707 of over half u million of 
 acres of land has funned the financial basis of Toronto University, 
 of the lioyal Oranwnar School, and Upper Canada College, and of 
 the (Church of En^^land National) Central Sciiool of Upper 
 Canada. > 
 
 I attended the Grammar School of Sandwich, which when 
 first erected was a large building of limestone, a central huildiiig 
 situated on one of Survevor General Smith's fine reservations in 
 the town overlooking the Detroit River and which must have 
 been erected as early as 1814. 
 
 Dr. Hodgins reports that after the close of the Session of 
 1806, His Honor President Grant in proroguing the Session in 
 March, 1800, in his speech said : 
 
 " The encouragement which you have given for the procur- 
 ing; of the means necessary for communicatin<r of useful an<l or- 
 namental knowledge to the rising generation meets with my ap- 
 probation, and I have no doubt will produce the most salutary 
 effects." 
 
 Dr. Scadding, in his Toronto of old, says: "The Parliauient 
 that sat during President Grant's brief administration appropri- 
 ated £400 to the purchase of instruments for illustrating the 
 principles of natural prilosophy, to be deposited in the hands of a 
 person employed in the education of youth." 
 
 This President Grant is the commodore who, on the death of 
 His Excellency Lieut.-Guvernor Hunter, in September, 1805, be- 
 came as Senior Legislative Councillor President of Upper Canada 
 and Administrator of the Government. 
 
 We are indebted to the celebrated Robert Gourlay for the 
 information given of om* schools in the towns and townships of 
 Upper Canada. He says : 
 
 " Sandwich. — There is one school in Sandwich with one mas- 
 ter, who draws a salary from the Provincial fund of £100 per 
 annum, besides tuition fees. There are two inferior schools the 
 teachers of which receive from the same fund £25 per annum, 
 beside moderate fees, 
 
 ' Maiden. — There were three schools here and the rate per 
 quarter is 20s. 
 
 " Raleigh. — There is one conjmon school, the teacher of which 
 receives 15s. for each scholar, and the Legislature by a late Act, 
 1816, grants the teacher of ..ich common school in the Province a 
 further sum of £25 per annum, provided there are taught in the 
 said school at least 20 scholars. 
 
 " Dover East and West, Chatham, Camden, Orford, Howard 
 and Harwich. — The inhabitants of these townships at a meeting 
 
Ill 
 
 reportc'l that there were four scliools in tlie tovvnslnps and tliat 
 the rate was los. per quarter. In a supplementary statement it 
 was added that there was an Indian school in Orford, kept in 
 Knjrlish and Inrlian. No doubt this was the Moravian Church 
 Mission School." 
 
 In ISoO the Parliament of United Canada endowed forever 
 the public schools of the tlien Province of Canada with the rich 
 dowry of one million acres of tliC Crown Lands. 
 
 To-day we have in Kent 181 schools — 4(i brick, and 70 
 frame — and 17') teachers, outside the city; while in the city we 
 have the Collejriate Institute and six other schools, apart from 
 separate schools, with 29 teachers — 4 of whom are male iind 
 2') female — and an estimated expenditure for the year of S17,350 
 $10,000 of which is for teachers' salaries. 
 
 Prominent in this good wo'k has been my friend Judge Bell, 
 who for nine years has been the active promoter of the school 
 work and chairman of the Collegiate Institute Board. As the 
 young domine in the country school room, he early learned to 
 appreciate the formative power of education as an elevating and 
 inspiring force in a new country and illustrates its potency in his 
 own life and honorable position to-day, and he points with pride 
 to some of his pupils even within the walls of Harrison Hall, Mr. 
 J. C. Fleming, Clerk, and City Treasurer Fleming, and to our 
 esteemed fellow citizens. Dr. Fleming, Mr. S. F. Gardiner, and his 
 brother, as among others. 
 
 How honored and honorable should be the teacher of youth ! 
 Who can estimate the debt that Ontario owes to the public 
 schools and the Rev. Dr. Ryerson, and his able and faithful 
 assistant. Dr. John George Hodgins, and the great army of teachers 
 who have aided in the faithful administration of the .system ? 
 What great forces have the church and the school been in our 
 history ; and may they continue to go hand to hand, for civiliza- 
 tion without the elevating and controling influences of religion, is 
 a false and unsoui d progress. Let our cry be forward and 
 upward. Don't let us fight over separate schools, or oppress the 
 conscience of any portion of our fellow subjects. Let us rest our 
 education upon a Christian ba.sis and leave the issue with God, 
 the great Disposer of all human events. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 Progressive as has been the question of Education, that of 
 the Church has not been behind. 
 
 The Roman Catholic clergy of course were the first (as they 
 have been everywhere) to occupy the ground at both ends of 
 Canada. 
 
112 
 
 In Quebec nnd Montreal there were in 17I).*i l>ut six 
 clern^ymen of the Church of En^'land, inchulinp; the military 
 chai)iains ; hut in neither of these had the Prole.stants 
 a church. In Quehec the Recollect Church was uskI, and in 
 Montreal the Ursuline Nuns onmted them the use of their ch ipel 
 In Upper Canada there were hut three cleiv^ymen. 
 
 Kinj^^sford .states an interestino incident in connection with the 
 arrival of" Bishop Niountain at (.^wi^Ihic in 179*J, as th(! first Anglican 
 Bi.shop. On hein^^ met hy the Roman Catholic Bishop, Mon,si<,'nieur 
 Briand, the latter welcomed hiuj on his arrival and ^ave hnn a 
 kiss on each cheek, sayiui^ it was time he had come to take charge 
 of his peoplo. 
 
 Oh, tliat such were the relation to-day between the Bi.shopa 
 and Clergy of these churchas as well as all otheis. 
 
 Hon. Richard Cartw right in his report to the House in its 
 tir.st Session, says, "Although the two lower districts have liad each 
 of them a Protestant clergyman since 17«S0, it is but a few months 
 since this (Nassau or Home) District has been provided with one ; 
 and the Western District in which the settlement of Detroit is 
 included, is to this day destitute of that useful and respectable 
 order of men, yet the Town of Detroit is and has been since ilie 
 conquest, inhabited for the most part by traders of the Protestant 
 religion, who reside there with their families. 
 
 " In the Eastern District the most populous part of this 
 Provincfc there is no church clergyman. They have a Presbyterian 
 minister, formerly cha])lain to the 8kh Regiment, who receives 
 from the Government £50 per annum. They have also a Lutheran 
 minister, who is supported by his congregation, and the reverend 
 priest at St. Regis occasionally officiates for the Scotch High- 
 landers, who are very numerous and all Catholics. 
 
 " In the Midland District there are two church clergymen who 
 are allowed CI 00 sterling per annum each by the Government, 
 and £50 each by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. 
 
 In the Home District there is one clergyman who has been 
 settled there since the month of July last. The Scotch Presbv- 
 terians, who are pretty numerous here and to which sect the most 
 resj)Gctable part of the inhabitants Ijelong, have built a meetin;!' 
 house and raised a subscription for a minister of their own who 
 is shortly expected among them. 
 
 In the Western Division there are no other clergv than 
 those of the Church of Rome. 
 
 Dr. Ryerson, quoting Bishop Strachan, says: "That down to 
 the close of the war of 1812-15 there were but fcur resident 
 clergymen, or missionaries of the Church of England in all Upper 
 Caiiada, and that till 1818 there was but one clergyman of the 
 Church of Scotland in Upper Canada, and that in 1827 there 
 
iia 
 
 were but two, and the doctor fairly says that it is clear that 
 durinrr the first half of its sixty years' existence, Upper Canada 
 must have been indebted ahsiost entirely to others than cler^^y- 
 men of the Churches of Elngland or Scotland for reli'^ious 
 instruction. Yet during tluit thirty years it is admitted that the 
 people of Upper Canada were a ruhgious, an intelligent and loyal 
 people. Th<' Methodists, ho adds, ha<l in 18.')() 180 re^^uiar minis- 
 ters in Upi r Canada, about 1,100 churches and preuiching place.-i, 
 and embraced in its congregation 142,000, or more than one-fifth 
 of the entire population." 
 
 The first centennial of the Church of England was held at St. 
 Mark's, Niagara, in July, 18{)2, commemorating the organization 
 of that church, but Miss MMjii^H- in her brochure upon " St. An- 
 drew's Church, Niagara," says St, Andrew's was the second 
 Protestont church in Upper C'jinada, the first being that below 
 VVilliamstown, below Cornwall, 17<S7, Just seven years earlier than 
 St. Andrews; she adds, I have shown indisputably that while the 
 first organized body of worshippers in Niagara was that of the 
 English ChurJi, under its first missionary, the subsequent rector, 
 the Rev. Robert Addison, the first church erection was that of St. 
 Andrew's. 
 
 Kent in this, as in some other things, takes precedence, as 
 the centennial of the Moravian Church in Orford, Moraviantown, 
 took place on the 8th of May, 1 892. 
 
 St. Peter's Church (R. C.) River Road, was erected in 1803, 
 about three miles below the present site, where the latter was 
 built in 1822. 
 
 We are all familiar with the Clergy Reserves and Rectories' 
 questions in Ontario, and the final disposition of them by the 
 Legislature of united Canada in 185 !•, and their influence upon 
 all branches of the Church ; and that to-day all the churches 
 stand upon their own resources and are in no way connected with 
 the State. 
 
 As evidence of the remarkable progress of the Church, I give 
 the following table, taken from the Star Almanac for 1895. It 
 will be seen that the Roman Church population largely exceeds 
 that of any other denomination, though the actual preponderance 
 over other sects is confined to the Province of Quebec, where, out 
 of a population of 1,448,335, 1,291,709 return themselves in the 
 census papers as Roman Catholics. The French speaking Cana- 
 dians in the Province of Quebec in 1891 were 1,180,340, and for 
 the whole Dominion only 1,404,974. Between 1881 and 1891 the 
 percentage of Protestants in the whole Dominion increased from 
 56.34 to 56.80 : 
 
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115 
 
 A suipnmry <•£ tlie yariou.s .sections shows tho following re- 
 sult, — the growth of tho Jewish population between 18SI and 
 
 1891 being an interesting factor: 
 
 
 Number. 
 
 FROrORTION.S PER CENT. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Roman 
 Catholics. 
 
 Protest- 
 ants. 
 
 2436544 
 2745463 
 
 Jews 
 
 2393 
 6414 
 
 Pagans and 
 
 not 
 specified, 
 
 98881 
 B9335 
 
 Roman 
 Catholics. 
 
 Protest- 
 ants. 
 
 56 • 34 
 56.80 
 
 Jews 
 
 Pagans and 
 
 not 
 specified. 
 
 i83i.. 
 1891,. 
 
 1791982 
 I 99201 7 
 
 4'-43 
 41 .21 
 
 .(5 
 •«3 
 
 
tl() 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 (^ 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 S Sir David Smith, our first member, was the Vice- 
 President of the first Agricultural- Society formed in 
 Upper Canada, we must havt^ somewhat to say of this 
 important branch of Ontario's many lines of prosperity, and see 
 whether in this, as in other respects, Canada has held it? own, 
 even against the great Republic, and how Kent stands in com- 
 parison with her sister counties. 
 
 Kent, then, apart from Detroit, was a forest with such oaks, 
 walnuts, hickoriies, beeches, maples, &c., as were only to be found 
 here. These great forests continued largely with us all the way 
 down into the 50's. 
 
 I find nothing about agricultural societies till the Act of 
 March, 1830, 11, George IV., c. 10, an Act to encourage the estab- 
 lishment of Agricultural Societies in the several districts of this 
 Province. It was introduced by Mr. Charles Fothergill, the 
 publisher of Toronto's Almanac and the Palladium newspaper, 
 and from it may be dated the first effectual impulse that was 
 given to the holding of fairs and public markets for cattle, etc., 
 in the country situations tnroughout the Province. 
 
 It provided that when any agricultural society for the pur- 
 pose of importing valuable live stock, grain, gra.ss seeds, useful 
 implements, or whatever else might conduce to the improvement 
 of agriculture in the Province, shall be established in any district 
 and shall have subscribed and paid in £50 to a regularly ap- 
 pointed treasurer and the president and directors shall petition 
 the governor for aid in support of the said society, the governor 
 may issue his warrant for £100 annually during the continuance 
 of the said society. 
 
 I find that Kent had her society as early as 1837, first in 
 the Township of Howard and next in the Town of Chatham. 
 
 In a letter written by the late Wm. Thomson, Councillor for 
 Harwich, in May. 1842, inquiring as to the funds of the society, 
 we learn that in 1837 associations were instituted all over the 
 Province for the purpose of improving the breed of cattle, horses, 
 sheep, hogs, etc., and amongst the rest an agricultural society had 
 been formed in Chatham for which a grant of £40 was obtained 
 
117 
 
 from the pjov^Timent which sum, toi^ether with the subscription 
 raised amounted to £00. 
 
 In reply to this inquiry we find a letter from the late Thos. 
 Smith, of the 2Gth of May, saying that lie had on the 17th of 
 October, 1837, paid into the hands of Wm. Cosgrave, Esq., the 
 then Secretary of the Agricultural Society of Chatham, £85. 
 
 Kent IS referred to by the Directing President of the Agri- 
 cultural Society as having two associations in 1837, viz., Howard 
 and Chatham. 
 
 Then there was the society knovn as the Western District 
 Agrictdtural Society, which also seems to have had no want of funds, 
 for th J President acknowledges having £157 (!t?628) on hand, al- 
 though he complains that so little intei-est or spirit of competition 
 is taken in the association that the whole amount of the pre- 
 miums fall short of £20, leaving a balance in treasurer's hands of 
 £125 7s. 
 
 It, no doubt, was owing to the disturbed state of the Pro- 
 vince, from the Rebellion of December, 1837-8, that nothing was 
 done for some years. Nothing seems to have been done up to 
 the time of Mr. Thomson's letter. 
 
 We find in the Chatham Journal which had been established, 
 as the first newspaper in Kent in 1841, that the first fair held in 
 Chatham was first October, 1842. And an advertisement of 
 December, 1842 gives a list of premiums to be given at the cattle 
 show and fair to be held in Chatham on the last Friday in Janu- 
 ary, 1843. 
 
 An editorial in the Journal of 28th January, 1843, says" The 
 establishment of fairs in this town has been recommended by a 
 Committee of the Executive Council and approved by His Excel- 
 lency the Governor General, so their occurrence in future will be 
 neither precarious nor doubtful. We beg to direct the attention 
 of the public to the following extiact from a report of ihe com- 
 mittee, dated 23rd December, 1842. 
 
 " ' On the applicamn of Geo. W. Foott, that fairs for the sale 
 of all kinds of cattle may be held quarterly in the Town of Chat- 
 ham, viz., on the 22nd October, January, April and July, the 
 committee recommend the application. 
 
 'Certified. 
 
 '(Sg'd) W. H. Lee.'" 
 
 The subscription was $1 to each member. 
 
 The Chatham Journal of 4th February, 1843, says: "At a 
 meeting held 27th January, 1843 at the British Hotel, Chatham, 
 for the purpose of organizing an Agricultural Society in the 
 County of Kent, the following resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted. Mr. Joseph Smith in the chair : 
 
118 
 
 " 1. Resolved, that Mr. Joseph Smith, of Talbot Street, be 
 President of the Society. 
 
 " 2. That the Society be called the County of Kent Agricul- 
 tural Society. 
 
 "3. That Dr. Fulford be appointed Treasurer and receive 
 subscriptions. 
 
 "4. That John Prince, Esq, John Stewart, T M. Taylor, 
 Charles Eliot and Councillor Crookes, Esq., be Vice Presidents." 
 
 I myself remember attendinrr what our friend J. W. Bartlet, 
 P. M. of Windsor, says was the first lair held in Amherr>tburg, in 
 1845, and driving my tanUem down from Sandwich on the occa- 
 sion and writing an account of it for the local paper. Mr. James 
 Dougull, who then lived at " Rosebank," in Anderdon, was the 
 chief exhibitor as he was tirst in almost everything relating to 
 fruits and flcwors; and there was also Mr. Robert Reynolds, earlier 
 in point of time than Mr. Dougall, known far and wide as an en- 
 thusiastic horticulturist and floriculturist farmer, as well as one 
 of the mobi; cultured and accomplished gentlemen, and closely 
 connected with the early history of the country. His wife was a 
 .sister of that honored gentleman, Robert Bouchette, the Surveyor 
 General of Lower Canada, and who, in his Typography of 
 Canada, gives us the first sketch of Toronto which he laid out. 
 
 This was the first fair that I remember to have seen in the 
 Western District, though from Major Lachlan's report as Presi- 
 dent of the WVstern District Society, there was one hold at Sand- 
 wich as early as the spring of 1837. 
 
 My friend, Mr. James, Deputy-Minister of Agriculture for 
 Ontario, in writing to me says : 
 
 " Since receiving your letter some time ago, in regard to 
 agricultural societies in the southwestern part of Ontario, espec- 
 ially in the Chatham vicinity, I have been making several searches 
 but so far have found nothinff that would be labelled "historical." 
 Tho first record I find is in the Agriculture and Acts Report for 
 1848. The Provincial Exhibition for that year was heltl at 
 Cobourg, and among the receipts is the following : ' Kent County 
 Agl. Soc., £10. 
 
 The first report on record is for 1854: 
 
 Bal. from 1853 £ 51 Ss. lOd. 
 
 Subscriptions and donations 19 
 
 Township branch 185 
 
 Gov't grant 225 
 
 Premiums at shows and ploughing matches £120 '.^a. 6d. 
 
 Agriculturist 14 7 6 
 
 Tp. branches 319 19 
 
 Total £480 38. lOd. £525 4.'. 4d. 
 
 480 3 10 
 
 Bal. due Treasurer £ 45 Os. 6d. 
 
119 
 
 Tliere is one omission in disbursements of £70 los. 4d. 
 
 The following branches were then in existence: ChaAam, 
 Harwich, Howard, Orl'ord, Raleigh, Romney, Tilt)ury East, Zone. 
 
 There must have been some societies in existence shortly 
 after 1880. If I can tind time I shall make further search and 
 may be able to fill in something in the blank from 1830 to 1848. 
 This blank is but another proof of what I have often stated, viz., 
 that agricultural development has been overlooked by nearly 
 every historian of our country." 
 
 Kent is practically an agricultural county and has grown to 
 her present pro.sperity entirely through her own products for it 
 has not been our good fortune to have had any men of moans 
 settling in our midst. 
 
 I regret to see from the report of Mr. Walker, the President 
 of the Peninsular Fair Association, of January, 1895, the com- 
 plaint that, "Owing to the lack of interest taken in spring +"airs 
 for a number of years past, and the conse(]uent financial loss to 
 the Society resulting: therefrom, it was thoucjh*^. prudent to sus- 
 pend the holding of it for a time. And, therefore, no spring 
 fair was held last year by the Society." 
 
 When in the County Council myself in 18(53, as Reeve for 
 Chatham, I got a committee to inquiie into the best mean;, of 
 promoting the agricultural interests of *he county and found that 
 the county was only giving $20 in aid of them and all I could do 
 was to get this increased to $35. Had the county adopted my 
 view and made that sum $1000, or even $500, what a change 
 would have taken place in the stock-raising and other interests 
 of the county in the next three or four years. 
 
 With the Farmers' Institutes, Dairymen's Associations, 
 Creameries' Associations, Poultry Associations, Bee-keepers' and 
 Fruit-growing Associations, Breeders' Associations of all kinds, 
 the encouragement given by the Local and Dominion Govern- 
 ments in their valuable reports and bulletins, and all the other 
 agencies and facilities towards an advanced system of agriculture 
 and breeding, with Kent's unrivalled soil and geographical posi- 
 tion, she ought to hold the first place among her ^ister counties, 
 and I am glad to see by Mr. Walker's report, which, in part, I 
 subjoin, that she does occupy a first position among the six coun- 
 ties of Lambton, Oxford, Perth, Ontario, Lanark and Kent : 
 
120 
 
 CoUNTIEf. 
 
 Kent 
 
 l.ambton 
 Oxford , 
 Perth.. 
 Ontario . 
 Lanark . . 
 
 Area of 
 cltared 
 
 Value of 
 
 Value of 
 
 Bus. of fall 
 wheat 
 
 Bus. of 
 
 Bus. of 
 
 Bus. of 
 
 liind in 
 
 farm lands 
 
 live stock 
 
 raised 
 
 wheat 
 
 corn raised 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 in 93. 
 
 acres. 
 332581 
 
 ^23434525 
 
 
 in '93. 
 
 
 
 412000 
 
 ??34i53i8 
 
 1341451 
 
 1624-^ 
 
 2400906 
 
 334672 
 
 18886706 
 
 27»>37 
 
 901898 
 
 9463 
 
 708566 
 
 12745 
 
 355500 
 
 21507881 
 
 4083492 
 
 1041788 
 
 12887 
 
 380512 
 
 4061 
 
 3879U 
 
 20211990 
 
 4200756 
 
 890908 
 
 47789 
 
 30856 
 
 405 
 
 352559 
 
 "8539785 
 
 39068 1 1 
 
 124954 
 
 372246 
 
 87690 
 
 2604 
 
 300263 
 
 8438222 
 
 2348659 
 
 27600 
 
 1306892 
 
 65272 
 
 4166 
 
 Bus. of 
 roots 
 raised 
 
 261193 
 562600 
 3893»94 
 3346872 
 7290586 
 2232476 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •r. 
 
 Am't of 
 
 
 C" .IES. 
 
 Bus. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. Df 
 
 ^.,.2 
 
 Value of 
 
 cheese 
 
 manufac'd 
 
 
 chattel 
 
 T3 
 
 barley 
 
 horses 
 
 hoKs. 
 
 cattle. 
 
 sheep. 
 
 No. 
 chees( 
 factor 
 
 ■& 
 
 2. t 
 
 Z 
 
 mtgs. reg. 
 
 on Dec. 31, 
 
 1893.' 
 
 Acres 
 under 
 orchai 
 
 Kent 
 
 143008 
 
 23777 
 
 46040 
 
 50^81 
 
 38922 
 
 
 ••? 9683 
 
 
 9405188 
 
 9065 
 
 Lambton . . . 
 
 178049 
 
 18537 
 
 22547 
 
 62863 
 
 60970 
 
 -3 
 
 69186 
 
 I 
 
 179244 
 
 7376 
 
 Oxford 
 
 23S880 
 
 20511 
 
 38374 
 
 75370 
 
 29575 
 
 43 
 
 661366 
 
 5 
 
 233091 
 
 8111 
 
 Perth 
 
 309000 
 
 22355 
 
 32053 
 
 79440 
 
 58821 
 
 23 
 
 325230 
 
 2 
 
 10I0Q4 
 
 5115 
 
 Ontario 
 
 518469 
 
 21958 
 
 31632 
 
 52565 
 
 48560 
 
 6 
 
 21516 
 
 2 
 
 I73M2 
 
 5909 
 
 Lanark 
 
 51526 
 
 12420 
 
 19198 
 
 534>5 
 
 64964 
 
 34 
 
 261518 
 
 
 70401 
 
 1198 
 
 As we are supreme in the bean product, exceeding that of all 
 the rest of the Dominion put together, v;e ought to be so on 
 other lines, and as Canada has surpassed the United States in the 
 product of cheese, so Kent should aspire to surpass any portion 
 of the Dominion in the making of cheese and butter for which 
 she is so well adapted. The " ecord of Canada upon the cheese 
 question is a remarkably instructive one, »xs showing what a 
 young country of five millions can do by a spirit of patriotic com- 
 petition against one of seventy millions. 
 
 In 1860 Canada started to export cheese and sent out 124.-. 
 322 pounds, while the United States exported 15,515,799, or 
 nearly fifteen and a half millions of pounds more than ourselves. 
 This 'went on till 1880, when Canada had risen to 84,173,507 
 pounds, while the States had 88,008,408 pounds. In 1893 Can- 
 ada had 133,940,365 pounds, and the States only 84,350,923 -an 
 excess over the United States of forty- nine millions of pounds 
 with a value of $13,497,470. 
 
 I.ITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL. 
 
 Besides her Agricultural Society the Western District had its 
 literary, philosophical and agricultural club. 1 am enabled to 
 give the record of its first meeting ot Amherstburgh, in the read- 
 ing room of that tovvi, on the 15th of July, 1842. 
 
 Among those present were : Major Robert Lachlan, Rev. 
 George Cheyne, Hon. James Gordon, Robert Reynolds, Rev. 
 Thomas Earle Welby, Dr. George R. G assett, Lewis G. Gordon, 
 Wm, Anderton, Henry C. Grant, Rev. F. Mack, Charles Baby, W. 
 
liiis. of 
 roots 
 raised 
 
 .261193 
 5626cx> 
 
 3346872 
 7291^586 
 2232476 
 
 of 
 
 
 el 
 
 13 
 
 eg. 
 31. 
 
 Acres 
 under 
 orchar 
 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 9065" 
 
 44 
 
 7376 
 
 91 
 
 8111 
 
 94 
 
 5115 
 
 42 
 
 5909 
 
 ox 
 
 1198 
 
 ^ Committee. 
 
 The reso- 
 I i^ive one 
 
 121 
 
 R. Wooil, R. Peden, James Dougall, John Wright, Thomas Paxton, 
 Alexander McCormick, Dr. R. Ironside, George Ironside, The fol- 
 lowing were the office bearers : 
 
 Robert Lachlan President 
 
 Rev. T. E. Welby .... Vice President 
 James Dougall . . . . . Treasurer 
 R. Peden - Recording and Corresponding Secretary 
 
 The Hon. James Gordon, 
 Rev. F. Mack, 
 Rev. Geo. Cheyne, 
 Dr. R. Ironside, 
 Thomas Paxton, 
 Wm. Anderton, 
 Charles Baby, • 
 
 Henry C. Grant, 
 
 These are among the best names of the District, 
 lutions were appropriate, practical and far-reaching, 
 of the six. 
 
 Moved by the Rev. T. E. Welby, seconded by Dr, Grassett, 
 " Tliat the diversified range of the Society's researches, like the 
 noble scope of the first British literary association established in 
 Asia, shall embrace at once ' man and nature,' or in othoi- words, 
 ' wtiatever is performed by the one or produced by the other ;' and 
 thpt the only qualification required in a candidate for admi.ssion 
 shall be a love of knowledge, and a patriotic desire to forward the 
 prosperity of the Province in general and of the District in par- 
 ticular, by promoting the advancement and difFa.'}ion of literary, 
 philosophical and agricultural knowledge." 
 
 And as with the above mentioned societies there was also the 
 Western District Medical Society, which held one of its meetings 
 in Chatham on the 7th of June, 1842, at which our old friends, 
 Dr. R. Ironside, Dr. Grassett, Dr. A. Ironside, Dr. A. R. Robertson, 
 Dr. Pegley, Dr. Cross and Dr. Thos. Hawkins were present. 
 Among letters read, one from Dr. Widmer, of Toronto, and Dr. 
 Houghton, of the University of Ann Arbor, expressive of their 
 gratification in joining the society as honorary members, paper on 
 pneumonia, and discussion on scarlatina, and adjournmeiii/ to 
 Sandwich in November for next meeting. 
 
12^. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 '-P ■' 
 
 & 
 
 ;::■,;, RAILWAYS. ".-'.■■^'.■'^ •'-'•.■-•;; ';. -, ■' 
 
 Nl) as with the waterways so with the railway. In Decem- 
 ber, I8o0, when I came to Chatham to live, Ontario had not 
 a mile of railway, and Lower Canada only twenty miles. 
 And in February of that year I went throuu^h the peninsula hold- 
 ing public meetinf]j.s, beirinning at Chatham (as I lived then at 
 Sandwich) fretting petitions seeking to displace the proposed line 
 of the Great Western as it was chartered and had been surveyed, 
 and substituting for it the Niagara ard Detroit Rivers Railway 
 line, which, too, had been charteied, and which is now the line of 
 the Michigan Central ; my pr.ject being to bring it forward to 
 the towns of Chatham, London, Woodstock, Ingersoll and Brant - 
 ford, and so to the Niagara River, avoiding the descent to Ham- 
 ilton, and, again, the ascent of the mounta n at Suspension 
 Bridge. Durin^j that summer we had a great battle before Par- 
 liament, at Toronto, where, for the first time since the Union, 
 Parliament sat. We were too near Hamilton and Dundurn, and 
 Sir Allan's hands, too, well supported for a successful fight, antl 
 we lost our bill by one vote ; and, long after, my friend, the late 
 Chancellor Vankoughnel, told me how he had been the means that 
 night of inducing the member for Cornwall (Mr. McLean) to give 
 his vote against us. 
 
 What expectations were defeated by that vote ! But it had 
 the desired effect of bringing the railway into existence, for, Mr. 
 afterwards, Sir Francis Hincks, as Finance Minister, gave the 
 Great Western people to understand that if the road were i ot 
 under way by next session we should have our charter. The 
 work was immediately undertaken and the Great Western was 
 running its cars through Chatham in the fall of 1853, and the 
 road was opened for traffic in January, 1854, the event beinjj 
 made to us memorable by a grand bancjuet in Detroit, at the 
 Michigan Freight Depot, where, among other good things there 
 were " cords of champagne." It was a great event for Detroit, 
 and was the result of the Michigan Central Railway reaching 
 New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan, in April, 1849, and Chicago in 
 M.iy, 1851. All travel up to this, in the winter, between the 
 Michigan and New York Railways wtis by stage from Windsor to 
 Queenston, through Chatham. 
 
12:) 
 
 I remember tlio Mayoi' of Lori'lon, on my ask'm;^ him lo aii- 
 tend the meetinof and Ki<>n tlu; petition, liuvin'j so litth; I'uith in 
 the step as to say to me: " Wliy, Mr, Woods, have we not been 
 ^'or fourteen years trying to get a railway from Hamilton to this 
 place;" but he failed to appreciate the great fact that Detroit 
 was in railway communication with the west, and wanted the 
 link between the Detroit and Niagara Rivers, which I promised 
 would be supplied within two years if the Great Western were 
 put aside and we allowed to run over its line, avoiding Hamilton. 
 In speaking in this way I had the Michigan Central at my back. 
 And it is a reniarknble fact that the Great Western never recov- 
 er('('< itself from the extraordinary expense which attended the 
 dc-cent to Hamiltun, and that the item of this appeared in the re- 
 pott at the time of the transfer of the road to the Grand Trunk, 
 twenty years after. It was in connection witli this road that the 
 municipalities were first enlisted in aiding a railway. Hai.-ilton 
 being the first and Oxford being the second municipality to act, 
 and the Great Western Company were indebted to my friend 
 and relative, Mr. Jasper Gilkison, now Col. Gilkison, of Brant- 
 ford, then its secretary, for the suggestion. 
 
 What development since then! 15,000 miles of railway 
 now in the Dominion at a cost of .1?802,0G2,868. The M. C. R., 
 opened in 1873; E. & H. R., in 1883; the C. F. R., opened in 
 1889 ; L. E. & D. R. R., opened to Ridgetown in 1894. 
 
 ROADS. ' 
 
 The first we heard in the western peninsuia about road im- 
 provement — apart from statute labor and an occasional govern- 
 grant under commisLioners — plank, gravel, macadam, or otherwise, 
 was on Lord Sydenham's arrival as Governor General in 1841, 
 for he brought Canada a credit of £1,500,000 for public improve- 
 ments in Upper and Lower Canada ; and a mighty deal of im- 
 portance was attached to this now relatively small financial ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 Then the road from London to Hamilton was made macadam, 
 and plank from London to Port Stanley ; then the London and 
 Chatham made straight and turnpiked, for the old road had 
 followed the banks of the river and other crooked ways ; and so 
 the road from Chatham to the Rond Eau Harbor, both known as 
 the " Board of Works Road," making the line divert from Char- 
 ing Cross to Blenheim and turnpiking it from Chatham to Blen- 
 heim and Shrewsbury. I can recall going out of Chatham in a 
 four-horse stage over the ne v road and taking three hours to 
 reach Louisville, whicli, however, was twice as fast as Dr. Ryer- 
 son's journey through York State by stage in 1828. 
 
 But the work done here prepared the way for the gravelling 
 
124 
 
 which the St. Clair and Ronil Eau Road Company undertook in 
 1853, and another company the phxnk road to Kent Bridj^e, 
 These roads were made under the Act passed in 1852, known as 
 the Limited Liability Act, which relieved stockholders from the 
 Conmion Law Liability for all the debts of a company, and 
 limited it to the amount subscribed by each stockholder. This 
 Act was taken from the celebrated English Act, of which the late 
 Baron Bramwill, of the English Bench, was the author, whose 
 death took [ilace last year, and under which everything in the 
 commercial world was so changed. 
 
 I remember when in 
 
 England 
 
 in 1871 a young 
 
 'I 
 
 ■i 
 
 American 
 lady saying: "Do tell me, Mr. Woods, what that word ' Limited ' 
 means, that I see everywhere ? " From a very sad experience I 
 could tell her all about it, and particularly that while she would 
 not be liable for anyone else's subscription, she might lose all the 
 money she had put in herself. 
 
 The Gravel Road Company spent about .$100,000 on the two 
 portions, south and north sides, and got nothing from it directly 
 but the improvement of the town, while the other spent about 
 S28,000 with no greater financial benefit. Chatham has never 
 since had good roads, and it is only by good roads that .she can 
 be made a city de facto as well as de jure. " Up, guards, at 'em." 
 
 The Ontario Good Roads Association, formed in Toronto in 
 February, 1894, gives promise of bringing about a general and 
 popular system of road improvement, the necessary legislation in 
 aid of which we may look for at the next Session of the Legisla- 
 ture, 
 
 My first letter on good roads in Kent was written in Decem- 
 ber, 1849, to the Kent Advertiser, before I came to live here, and 
 advocated the making of a plank or gravel road from the St. 
 Clair to Chatham by the Town Line. 
 
 LAKE ERIE AND LAKE ST. CLAIR SHIP CANAL. 
 
 Over and above our direct interest in the great stream of 
 commerce and transportation through the lakes we have the fur- 
 ther one of a proposed canal through our peninsula and county, 
 whereby a large portion of it will be drawn aside from the main 
 channel, alike to the relief of the former and the benefit of the 
 latter. 
 
 This is an exceedingly attractive enterprise, and so great is 
 the commerce and so rapid is its increase annually, and so 
 obstructed is it now that any and every channel of transportation 
 that promises ridief will be welcomed by the great lake carrying 
 interest. 
 
 In 1857, before the present St. Clair Flats' Canal was con- 
 structed, and when it was supposed to be beyond the line of ex- 
 
12/) 
 
 vn as 
 11 the 
 , and 
 This 
 e late 
 whose 
 n the 
 
 pectation that the difficulties oF the St. Clair Flats could bo ade- 
 quately overcome, I jMoposed the scheme of the St. Clair and 
 Kond Eau ship canal, which became a mo-it popular project and 
 received the sanction of an Act of the Parliament of United 
 Canada, and of the several Boards of Trade of Chica;,'o, Butialo, 
 Cleveland, Toronto, etc. The ^'reat financial cri-is of that year 
 so aHected every public enterpris? in America that our schenje 
 could not be floated in the En<,d;-ih market, and before we could 
 do anythin<r the American War broke out which stoi)ped every- 
 thintr in the way of public improvement while it lasted, and lon*^ 
 after the war. The preseni St. Clair Canal was construeted, an(l 
 the niore acceptable to Canadians, as it was and still is said to be 
 in our waters. At all events, it did away with the necessity for 
 the St. Clair and Rond Eau, which would have passed from the 
 St. Clair through Chatham to the Rond Eau Harbor 
 
 The following year and the scheme known as the Two 
 Creeks' Canal was started and chartered, but nothing came of it 
 likewise. 
 
 Again, in IHIjO, another company was chartered, of which I 
 was one of the corporators, purposing to take up the line of what 
 is now the St. Clair and Loke Erie ship canal in which Col. Tis- 
 dale, M. P. for Norfolk, Mr. Olney and Mr. Crawford are taking 
 so great an interest. 
 
 It is not to be (juestioned that K»nt is deeply interested in 
 the work, and, if matured, will become a great factor in the pros- 
 perity of both counties. The tonnage in 1857 was estimated at 
 200,000 ; lo-day, as shown elsewhere, it is the greatest line 
 of transportation in the world. 
 
 THE MONROE DOCTRINE — ITS GENESIS. 
 
 We have nothing to fear from the Monroe Doctrine, for it 
 it <loes not apply to Great Britain. It is interesting to enquire 
 into this as yet uninforced, though much proclaimed, doctrine ; 
 and strange to say we tind its paterrdty laid at England's door, 
 ♦hrouirh the suuijestion of the Rii^ht Hon. George Canning, For- 
 eign Secretary, to Mr. Rush, the American Minister to England, 
 in 1823. Wharton, in his International Law Digest, mak \s the 
 following statement and among other correspondence gives the 
 following letter from ex-President Jefferson : 
 
 " Mr. Canning, in his correspondence with Mr. Rash having 
 sufT'i^ested th'it the United States should take decided ground 
 against the introduction of the Holy Alliance in South America, 
 Mr. Monroe sent the papers to Mr. Jefferson, asking his advice. 
 To this request Mr. Jefferson answered as follows : 
 
120 
 
 "MontiHlo Octol)cr24. 182.1. 
 
 " Dkaii Sir,— The (juostion prosontiMl by tluj Icittorn you hnvc 
 sent u\v. is tlio niosi inomciitous winch liiis iwvv heon oll't'ieMl to 
 my contompliitioii siiicc^ tluit of Irxlt'ixMnionce. That inido us a 
 niitiou ; this sots our compass iirid points the couiso which wc arc 
 to steer throui,'h the Ocean of Time openin;^ on us. And never 
 couM he emhaik upon it under eiicumstances more auspicious. 
 Our lirst and fundamental maxim should he never to entau'de 
 ourselves in tlie hroils of Kurojie; our second, never to sutler 
 Europe to intermeddle with cis-Atlantic affairs. America, North 
 and South, has a set of interests distinct from those of Kurope, 
 and peculiarly her own. She should, therefore, have a system of 
 fier own, separate and apart froMi that of Europe. While the last 
 is lahorin<!f to hccome the domicile of despotism, our endeavor 
 should surely he to make our hemisphere that of freedom. 
 
 " One nation, most of all, could disturb us in this pursuit ; she 
 now offers to lead, aid and accompany us in. By accedini^ to her 
 proposition we detach her from the bands, brin^ her mighty \\ei<;ht 
 into the scale of free government, and emancipate a continent at 
 oi^e stroke, which mijjht otherwise linger lono- in doubt and ditfi- 
 culty. Great Britain is the nation which can do us the most harm 
 of any or all on earth, and with her on our side we need not fear 
 the whole world. With her, then, we should most sedulously 
 cherish a cordial friendshi]), and nothino; would tend more to knit 
 our afiections than to be h^jhtino: once more side bv side in the 
 same cau.se. Not that I would purchase even her amity at the 
 price of taking part in her wars. 
 
 " But the war in which the present proposition might engage 
 us, .should that be its consequence, is not her war, but our^. Its 
 object is to introduce and establish the American system of keep- 
 ing out of our land all foreign powers — of never permitting those 
 of Europe to Titermeddle with the affairs of our nations. It is to 
 maintain our own principle, not to depart from it; and if to 
 facilitate this, we can effect a division in the body of the European 
 powers and draw over to our side its most powerful member, surely 
 we shovtid do it. But I am clearly of Mr. Canning's opinion that 
 it will prevent instead of provoking war. With Great Britain 
 withdrawn from their scale and shifted into that of our two con- 
 tinents, all Europe combined would not undertake such a war, for 
 how would they propose to get at either enemy without superior 
 fleets ? Nor is the occasion to be slighted which this proposition 
 offeis o'l decluring our protest against the atrocious violations of 
 the rights of nations by the interference of any one in the internal 
 affairs of another so flagitiously begun by Bonaparte, and now 
 continued by the equally lawless alliance calling itself Holy, 
 
 " But we have tirst to ask ourselves a question. Do we wish 
 
127 
 
 to acquire to our own confotleracy any one or more of tlio Spanish 
 provinces? I camlidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuha 
 as the most intei-estin^ aildition which could even* \m iiui(hj to our 
 system of states. The control which, with Florida Point, this 
 i-^land wcuild'^dve us over the (iulf of Mexico a!id the countries 
 and isthmus hor !erin<.' on it, as well as all those whose waters 
 How into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-l)ein<,^ 
 Yet, as I am sensihh; that this can never he ohtaineil, even with 
 her own consent, but hy war, and its independence, which is our 
 second interest (nnfl especially its independence of England), can 
 he secured without it, 1 have no hesitation in al)andoninLr my first 
 wisli to future chances, and accepting its independence, with peace 
 and the friendship of Knj^land, rather than its association at the 
 expense of war and her enmity. 
 
 " I couM honestly, therefore, join in the declaration proposed 
 that we aim not at the acquisition of any of those possessions — 
 tliat we will not stand in the way of any amicable arrangement 
 between them aiid the mother c;)untry — l)ut that we A'ill oppose 
 with all oui' means the torcibh; interposition of any other power 
 auxiliary, stipendiar}', or under any other form or pretext, and 
 most (jspecialiy their transfer to any power by concjuest, cession, 
 or ac(piisiti(,n in any other way. 1 should thirdc it, therefore, 
 advisable that the executive should encoura<i:e the British (lov- 
 ernment to a continuance in the dispositions expressed in these 
 letter, by an assurance of his concurrence with them as far as his 
 authority f^oes, and that as it may lead to war, the declaration of 
 which requires an Act of Con<,a'ess, the case shall be laid before 
 them foi' consideration at their first meetinLj, and under the 
 reasonable aspect in which it is seen by himself. 
 
 " I have been so lonc^ weaned from political subjects, and have 
 so lono ceased to take any interest in them, that I am sensible I 
 atn not quulitied to offer opinions on them worthy of any atten- 
 tion ; but the ([uestion now proposed involves consequences so 
 lasting, and effects so decisive of our future destinies, as to re- 
 kindle all the interest I have heretofore felt on such occasions, 
 and to induce me to the hazard of opinions which will prove only 
 my wish to contribute still my mite tovvanl anything which may 
 be useful to our country. And, praying you to accept it at only 
 what it is worth, I adil the assurance of my constant and affec- 
 tionate friendship and respect." 
 
 The Holy Alliance took shape in a treaty signed at Paris, 
 26th September, 1815, between Austria, Russia and Prussia. 
 Great Britain took no part in this Alliance. The ostensible object 
 of the Alliance was the subordination of politics to the Christian 
 religion ; the real principle, however, was the establishment of 
 
128 
 
 jure divino iiubocracios, each .sovereiji;n incorporatit:tjj in himself 
 "tile Christian religion" as well as supreme political power. 
 
 IN CONCLUSION. 
 
 If every state should have a dominant idea, then should 
 Canada's be — Loyalty. 
 
 We are a peculiar people. Starting with a conquered race 
 of d!ti*erent faith and langunge, representing England's traditional 
 enemies, but who proved loyal and faithful adherents of British 
 power in its extremity, and to whom we are indebted for suprem- 
 acy in three critical periods of Oiir history; while ou'' owi 
 colonies on the south — British and Protestant — rebelled against 
 us and established a hostile state instead, out of whom, however, 
 thank God, came the remnant of 100,000 loyalists forsaking 
 homes and kindred to tind a resting-place here. 
 
 Shall we, the representatives of this conunon heritage, not 
 be willing, freely and fully, to share it with our fellow colonists, 
 irrespective of race or cned 1 Shall not gratitu'leand patriotism 
 be our watchwc^'ds? And shall wo net ay-ain jjive each other a 
 renewed pledge of fidelity, proclaim a united fealty to our Sov- 
 ereign and Empire, and maintain our allegiance to its unity 
 against all infiuences no matter whence they come ? 
 
 In view of the blessings we enjoy and the glorious future 
 presenting itself to our colonial vision, let me earnestly enjoin 
 upon every Canadian an inalienable, an unalterable and an incor- 
 ruptible attachment to our Sovereign and country ; and' may 
 Harrison Hall ever remain a monument of the liberty and loyalty 
 ot Keni and Canada. 
 
129 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, 
 
 unity 
 
 THE VENEZUELA MESSAGE. 
 
 Since writinn; the t'oregoin<^ pages Mr. Cleveland, as President 
 of the United States, has sent his celebrated Venezuelan message 
 to the Senate, and the world knows with what effect. To us of 
 Canada, J may truthfully say, and of England as well, it was 
 read with pain and grief; not because of its threatened results to 
 us as colonists, or to England as the mother country, but that it 
 could be received by both the Senate and Congress with the un- 
 seemly joy with whicli it was welcomed ; to use the words of a 
 prominent divine of the City of New York : " As if they had 
 been invited to a game of skittles instead of a war with tl e most 
 powerful nation of the earth," and that the one from whose loins 
 they had come, and upon a question with which the United States 
 had nothing to do so far as England was concerned. We con- 
 gratulate ourselves upon the message, despite its hostility and 
 the levity of its reception by Congress, because it revealtMl to us 
 the dangers to which we may at any time be exposed from our 
 proximity to the Republic; and because we found ourselves as 
 one man determined to stand by England and resist to the death 
 any attempt to take Canada, even with the million of men with 
 which the next day their generals said they could occupy and 
 hold Canada, and hold it for good — for that was to be the tirst 
 fruits of the message — the permanent occupation and retention 
 of Canada. But there was no scare in Canada, not the slightest 
 disturbance of its serenity or security, political, financial, or 
 social ; in the even tenor of its way it went on as if there had 
 been no Message, or Congress, cr Republic. Let me give the 
 words of the Premier of Ontario, Sir Oliver Mowat, speaking in 
 Butfalo shortly after, for they so faithfully describe our state of 
 mind at the time : 
 
 " With all our differences, racial and sectarian, we are a unit 
 when wa appear to be in danger. French Canadians joined 
 heartily with Protestant Ontario and demonstrated how little real 
 sentiment there is for annexation to-day. Never in my whole 
 public career have I seen so much loyalty to Great Britain. I 
 prav God such a dire calamity as war may be honorably avoided. 
 You know the United States has many good reasons, apart from our 
 common language, to bo friendly towards Great Britain. We are 
 really brothers, and such a war would be cruel, wicked and tra- 
 
130 
 
 i 
 
 
 tricidal. Still it is wonderfiil how quickly Canada responded to 
 the call of danger, and how all races and creeds joined together in 
 a determination to show their solid strength and patriotism on 
 behalf of the Motherland. Of course we do not believe theie will 
 be war. We have no reason to be other than friendly and neigh- 
 borly, but Canadians are not cowards you know. We have had 
 friction with the United States before on manv issues, but never 
 without cause, and I do not see why all disputes cannot be 
 amicably settled. We claim only the right to live neighborly and 
 do our business honorably with the United States, but we also 
 claim the right to know what is best for ourselves and to be 
 allowed to manage our own affairs as we deem fit. This Cana- 
 dians will always do. We are not cowards you know, nor are 
 we alarmed even now. England's splendid isolation is the admir- 
 ation of the world. There is no mistaking her temper or her 
 power. She seems doubly proud and heroic as she stands out 
 alone against the great powers, as if she 's}ori d in her friend less- 
 ness. She stands out a splendid spectach .:. if she should be 
 called upon to fight, I venture to think she will not be alone, or 
 she will be equal to the occasion." 
 
 Then we have to further congratulate ourselves and the 
 world upon the noble stand taken by the great body of the Am- 
 erican people against the rash act of the President and Congress, 
 protesting as they did that there should be no war and that war 
 between England and the United States would be a disgrace to 
 the Christian feelings of both countries ; and further congratu- 
 late ourselves that the sentiment in England was equally strong 
 and that that cry from the two nations will be found crystalized 
 in a court of arbitration by which all questions between them 
 shall in the future be settled. 
 
 We have been face to face with a great and di ia! conflict, 
 but the hallowed memories of our United Empire i ; "I'St fore- 
 fathers have flamed up with such intensity as to ma',..' c all one 
 in our determination to hold to Old England and cleave uO her in 
 weal or in woe. 
 
 i 
 
 OOD SAVE THE QUEEN 
 
i:tl 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 OFFICIALS OF THE DISTRICT OF HESSE AND WESTERN DISTRICT- 
 DETROIT. 
 
 Henry Hamilton w as the first Lieutenant Governor, appointed in 177o, for the 
 Detroit District, The Coinmamlant was no doubt the first Judge. 
 
 In 1767 the first formal appointment of a Judge was made by Captain Ceorge 
 TurnbuU of the 60th or Royal America Regiment Commandant of Detroit and 
 the Dependencies, who on 24tli April of that year appointed Philip Dejean, a 
 imrchant, as Justice of the T'eace, Notary Public, Tabillion and Vendue Master 
 of Sales that might take place there, and on '2Sth July following. Major H. Robert 
 Bayard commanding, gave him on the petition of the inhabitants the further com- 
 mission to decide all actions of debts, boLds, bills, contracts and trespasses above 
 the sum of £5 Os. Od. New York currency. This is the Judge Dejean so sharply 
 referred to by Chief Justice Campbell, and strange to say I have two original docu- 
 ments from his hand and seal among my old papers. The District of Hesse 
 having been set apart in 1788 and courts established Lord Dorchester on 24th 
 July of that year appointed the following officers : Jacques Duperon Baby, 
 Alexander McKee and William Robertson, Judges of tlie Court of Common 
 Pleas; Gregor McGregor, Sherifl"; William Roe, Clerk of the Peace; Thomas 
 Smith, Clerk of the Court of C. P. and Clerk of the Peace and Sessions of the 
 Peace ; and (4eorge Meldrum, Coroner ; and eight Justices of the I'eace who were 
 Alexander (irant, Guillanme La Motte, St. Martin Adhernan, William Macomb, 
 J(mcaire de Chabert, Alexander Maisonville, William Caldwell, Matthew Elliot. 
 In 1789 William Dummer Powell was appointed Judge of Common Pleas and 
 Probate. 
 
 DETROIT AND SANDWICH. 
 
 The following is the return kindly furnished me by the Secretary of State at 
 Ottawa of all appointments made in and after 1792 when Governor Simcoe 
 organized the (Jovtrnment of Upper Canada, with which and information from 
 other f ources and the aid of Mr. James Soutar, I have been enabled to make these 
 lists which I hove good reason to believe have never before appeared in this form. 
 
 9 July 1794. 
 
 1 January 1800. 
 
 1 January 1800. 
 
 12 June 1807. 
 
 5 April 1826. 
 
 30 November.... 1832. 
 
 9 March 1833. 
 
 26 May 1845. 
 
 JUDGES OF DISTRICT COURT. 
 
 .Thomas Harffy Western District 
 
 , Thomas Harffy n 
 
 . Prideaux Selby .i 
 
 . Robert Richardson h 
 
 .Robt Richardson and Wm. Berczy >, 
 
 .William Berczy and Chas. E'iot. . . .^ 
 
 . Chas. Eliot n 
 
 . Alexander Chewctt ii 
 
 JUDGES OF SURROGATE COURT. 
 
 No date (1793 or '94) lamea Baby (Hon. ) 
 
 30 August. .. . 1796... Walter Roe 
 
 I January 1880. . . .James Baby 
 
 29 August 1801 Richard Pollard 
 
 20 Dejember 1824 William Hands 
 
 9 March 1836 Tohn Alex. Wilkinson 
 
132 
 
 i 
 
 IB July. 
 
 I 
 
 7 
 10 
 
 January 
 June. . . 
 September 
 August . . 
 August. . 
 
 23 October . 
 
 ]() January . 
 
 1 
 
 () May 
 
 11 January. 
 17 P^ebruary 
 
 SHERIFFS. 
 
 . 1792 Richard Polland Essex and Kent Counties 
 
 . 1800 . . . Richard Pollard Western 
 
 .1802.... William Hands „ 
 
 . 1833 . . . Ebenezer Reynolds m 
 
 . 1837 Robert Lachlan n 
 
 . 1839 .... Raymond Haby m 
 
 . 1840 .... (ieorge Wade Foot 
 
 . 1849.... John Waddell 
 
 1851 Wm. Duperon Baby Esl'px and Lambton 
 
 . 18.% John McEwan Essex County 
 
 1851 John Waddell Kent County 
 
 . 1854 John Mercer n 
 
 CLERKS OF THE PEACE. 
 
 September 1794 Walter Roe Western 
 
 1 January 1800 .... W^alter Roe n 
 
 29 August 1801.... William Hands 
 
 5 June 1802. . . .James Allan n 
 
 (None on record for Western District after this date). 
 I '.dd these 1817 . . . .Geo. T. F. Ireland 
 
 1824... Charles Askin 
 
 1835.... Charles Baby 
 
 187) S S. Macdonell, and Crown Attorney. 
 
 CLERKS OF DISTRICT COURTS, 
 
 James Allan 
 Charles Askin 
 
 George T. F. Ireland 
 Wm. R. Wood. 
 
 TREASURERS OF DISTRICTS. 
 
 November. . . . 1833. . . .Jean Baptiste Baby 
 
 14 February. . . .1842 Jean Baptiste Baby Western— After County 
 
 1808-33 .... Wm. Hands (added). [Council Act 
 
 REGISTRARS OF COUNTIES. 
 
 1793 ... . Richard Pollard Essex and Kent 
 
 1825.... Wm. Hands , 
 
 12 November. 
 
 .John Beverley Robinson. . . Kent 
 
 . James Askin Essex 
 
 . John Askin „ 
 
 ■ John Askin n 
 
 . J. Wallace Askin „ 
 
 1825 James Richardson Kent 
 
 1829 Robert Rist , 
 
 3 July 1830. . . . William Jones ,, 
 
 13 January 1849. . . .Henry (»lass. 
 
 1829., 
 1831 . , 
 
 July 1840. 
 
 December .... 1 858 . 
 1872. 
 
 29 
 
 November. 
 
 8 May 
 
 4 December 
 8 July 
 
 (Walter Roe on 3rd May, 1796, was appointed Deputy of the Registrar of the 
 Province of. Upper Canada for Western District). 
 
 1853. 
 ,1854. 
 1858., 
 1862. 
 
 , Arthur Acland . . . 
 . Alexander Knapp 
 , Edwin Larwill . . . 
 . Peter McKellar . . 
 
 ■1' 
 
1 January . 
 2U August. . 
 
 27 April ... 
 11 January 
 11 February 
 
 133 
 
 REGISTRARS OF SUBRO(iATE COURT. 
 
 1794 Richard Pollard Western 
 
 1 HiH) .... Richard Pollard » 
 
 1801 ... . William Hands 
 18.31 James Askin 
 
 COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS. 
 
 Robprb Richardson 
 
 1 824 Charles Askin Western 
 
 William Duff 
 
 Charles Askin 
 
 1826 Robert Rist Western 
 
 James W. Little 
 
 Charles Askin 
 
 1831 .... Charles Eliot Western 
 
 Charles Baby 
 
 COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS. 
 
 AMiiERSTBrRO.— John Wilson, 1818; Edwin Caldwell, 1831 ; E. Anderson, 
 
 1857. 
 
 Sandwich —Wm. Hands, 1800; John Askin, jr., 1801 ; Wm. Duff, 1807; 
 
 Wni Anderton, 1837. 
 
 WiNDSOK.— Major J. F. Elliot, 1841; Wm. Benson, 1850; Johnstone 
 Richardson, appointed after 1886. 
 
 Chatham.— Wm. Cosgrave, 1833; J. G. Pennefather, 1862; R Stephenjon. 
 
 Saknia.— Captain Vidal ; R. E. Vidal, 1850; D. C. O'Brien, 1863. 
 
 Wali.acehuho.— In March, 1846, Col. Bell was made first Collector of 
 Customs. Jamts Wilson succeeded him in 1862, followed by Mr. Charles 
 fraser, followed by 1). B. Gdlard. 
 
 Rondeau was made a point of entry in 1844, with M. Cronyn as Collector. 
 In 1852 Morpeth was added thereto with (iteorge Duck, sr., as Collector. Hugh 
 Calder fol owedl n 1863 as Collector, with whose incumbency the Collector's post 
 was discontinued. 
 
 RiDGETOWN and Morpeth — John Duck. 
 
 Bi-ENHEiM and Rondeau— W. R. Fellows. 
 
 POST MASTERS. 
 
 Amherstburo.— Charles Berczy ; James Kevill, 1831 ; Ernest Park, 1872. 
 Sandwich.— Wm. Hands; John Gentle, 1834; Ed. Holland, 1838 ; P. H. 
 
 Morin, 1843. 
 
 Windsor.— John Mercer, 1842 ; John M. Crae, 1845 ; Demis Ouelette, 1850; 
 
 A. H. Wagner, 1862. 
 
 CHATHAM.-Wm. McCrae, 1820, *Rilcigh; Dunc.n Mc(;regor, 1831 ; James 
 Read, 1839; John Crow, 1851-4; Benj. Barfoot, 1856; Saml. Barfoot, 1865. 
 
 Sarnia —Geo. Durand, 1835 ; A Fisher, 1862. 
 
 ♦Only chansjed from " Raleigh P. O." to " Chatham P. 0." in 1851. 
 
 INSPECTORS OF INLAND REVENUE. 
 
 Windsor— G. W. Hall. 
 
 Chatham— Wm. A. McCrae, 1847 to 1851, appointed for Kent and Lambton ; 
 George Thomas succeeded him in 1852; Geo. W. Foott, 1860; Dr. Thod. Cross in 
 1869 ; Charles Dunlap, 1873. 
 
13^ 
 
 CROWN LANDS' A(JENTS. 
 
 Colonel Talbot in the east was the first agent ; Henry John Jones folloMed 
 him ; succeeded by Thomas Steers, who had charge of Kent and Lambton ; fo'- 
 lowed by J. B. Williams in IS-W; John K. Brooke abo .t 185(); Richard Monck 
 in 1801. Dr. Patrick McMullin, and his son Duncan, acting for Essex. 
 
 JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR 1802 
 
 Justice<i of the Peace in 1802 for Western Division, including Essex, Kent 
 and Suffolk : Francis Baby, Prideaux Selby, Wm. Hands, Daniel Fields, Wm. 
 Park, (iregor Mc(iregor, Wm. Shaw, Abram Irad^ll, John Askin, U'ln. Caldwell, 
 Wm. Hearffy, Matthew Eliott, James Urquhart, Geo'ge Meldrum, Jean Baptiste 
 Baby. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Hands was Sheriff, Treasurer, Portmaster, Customs Officer, Surro- 
 gate Judge p,nd Registrar of Surrogate. 
 
 SALARIES. 
 
 District Judge, £15 ; Sheriff, £100 ; Clerk of the Peace, £120; Clerk of Dis- 
 trict Court, £25. Registrars of Deeds — Kent, £75 ; Essex, £59. Collector of 
 Customs at Amherstburg, £58. Postmaster at Sandwich, £100; Amherstburg, 
 £118. Those of Surrogate Judge, £25; District Treasurer, £Cfi ; Inspector of 
 Licenses, &c. , £75 ; Inland Revenue and Collector of Customs, £50, aie calculated 
 from those of another District and were all held by Mr. Hands. 
 
 ENGUSli CHURCH. 
 
 Salaries paid by Government to the ministers of the English Church were: 
 Sandwich, £100; Amherstbi:rg, £111 (5s. 3s. ; ( hatham, £111 6s. 8d. The Gram- 
 mar school teaclier at Sandwich £100, who from 1827 to 1840 was the clergyman, 
 and so got a good allowance. Rev. Richard Pollard, who died in 1820, was the first 
 Protestant minister in the West. 
 
 CHCRCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Atn*"'-- stburg — Rev. Mr. Gale and Rev. Mr. Cheyne received £64. 
 
 CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 Paid by tithes, which was 1 -26 bushel of grain only. 
 
 M. P. P.'S FOR WESTERN DISTRICT FROM 1792 TO 1841. 
 
 David CowaBu 1805 
 
 J. B. Bc^jk. Ai^iu 1809-'20 
 
 ESSEX 
 
 J. B. Baby 1792 
 
 Thos. McKee 1801 
 
 Matthew Eliot 1801-'05-'09 
 
 Wm. McCormick. .'. 1813-'17 
 
 Geo. B. Hall 1817 
 
 Francis Baby 1828-'29 
 
 William Elliott 1831 
 
 Jean B. Macon 1831 
 
 Jno. Alex. Wilkinson 1825-'29-'35 
 
 Francis Caldwell 1 835 '40 
 
 John Pririce 1836-'56 
 
 In 1834 Kent became ent'tled to two members, and William McCrae and 
 Nathan Cornwall were returned. Changed to one in 1841. 
 
 The n&me of Mr. James Baby as given in the list of members to the first 
 Parliament of Upper Canada in Mr. Yeigh's vfiluable history of " Ontario's Pnr- 
 liament Buildings," Appendix page 15, calls for notice. There whs but the one 
 James Baby, and he was the Honorable, appointed a member of Governor Simcoe's 
 Executive Council on the 8th day of July, 1792, and a member of the Legislative 
 
 KENT 
 
 David Wm. Smith 1792 
 
 Wm. Macomb 1792 
 
 Thos. McK»e 1796 
 
 Thos. McCrae 1801 
 
 John McGregor 1805 -'09- 13 
 
 Joshua Cornwall 1817 
 
 James (Jordon 1820-'5 
 
 Nathan Cornw all 1835 
 
 William McCrae 1835 
 
135 
 
 Council, and sworn in on 8th Ju'y, as shown by Mr. Yeigh at page 10, and so sat 
 in f/lie Legislative Council and not in the Assembly, and continued in the Legisla- 
 tive and Executive Councils to the time of his death in 1833. Mr. Baby's father 
 was . Jacques Duperon Baby, one of the .(udges of Common Pleas, appointed by 
 Lord Dorchester in 1788, but he died in 1789. Mr. Baby had two brothers, Jean 
 Biptiste and Francis, both of whom later appear by Mr. Yeigh 's list to have sat 
 in the Assembly, and I dare say one of tliese was the Mr. Baby who sat in the 
 Assembly in 1792, as given in Mr. Yeigh'a list at page 11, This would be my own 
 onclusion, and on looking into Macdonakl's Illustrated Atlas I find that he says, 
 after full incjuiry, that Mr. Jean Baptiste sat in the Assembly in 1792. Of course, 
 constitutiondlly, Hon. Ja'iics Baby could not bit in the Lower House while a mem- 
 ber of the Upper. 
 
 M. P's. FOR KENT FROM 1841 TO 18()7. 
 
 Joseph Woo-ls 1841-1848 
 
 Hon. S B. Harrison '. 1844 rei^ued without taking his seat 
 
 Malcolm Cameron. .* i :i48 
 
 Ueoige Brown 1851 
 
 K Iwiu Larwill 1854 
 
 Archibald McKellar 1857-'67 
 
 AFTER CONFEDERATION— IN DOxMINION PARLIAMENT. 
 
 COUNTY OF KENT. 
 
 Rufus Stephenson 1867-1882 
 
 Henry Smyth 1882-'86 . . 
 
 Archibald Campbell 1886- '95 ; 
 
 ELECTORAL DISTRICT OF BOTHVVELL. ' 
 
 David Mills 1867-1895 
 
 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF HESSE AND WESTERN DISTRICT. 
 
 Hon. Alexander Grant 1792 181.H 
 
 Hon. James Baby 1792-18.33 
 
 Hon. James Gordon 1824 
 
 WESTERN DIVISION, ELECTION LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 
 
 Hon. John Prince 1856 
 
 Hon. Sir Allan N. MacNab 1860 
 
 Hon. Walter McCrea 1872 
 
 Mr. McCrea remained in the Council till December, 1870, when he was 
 appointed Judge of Algoma, succeeding Col. Prince. Hon. Joseph Nortiiwood 
 was called to the Senate in 1880 for this section, and on his death in 1886, was 
 succeeded by the Hon. Charles E. Casgraiu, of Windsor. 
 
 ONTARIO LEGISLATURE. 
 
 WEST KENT. 
 
 John Smith IST^T.^^. 
 
 J imes Dawson 1 87 1 ^ 
 
 Alexander Coutts 1875 
 
 Ed. Robinaon 1879-1883 
 
 James Clancy 1883 
 
 T. L. Pardo 1895 
 
 EAST KENT. 
 
 Hon, Aich. McKellar 1867-1879 
 
 Daniel McCraney 1879 1885 
 
 Rrbert Ferguson 1885-1895 
 
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138 
 
 KLKcTMN RETrRNS (BOUNTY OF uoTUWELL (Continued). 
 
 Until 1H()7 the County of Kent returned l)at one member. At confederal ion 
 new electoral districts were formed, the Townships of Howard, Orford, Camden, 
 and Zone (in Kent), and Sombra, Dawn and Euphemia un Lambton), being con- 
 stituted the electoral distiiut of Hothwell, Kent comprising the balance of tlie 
 county. This arrangement also applied to the representation in the Ontario 
 Assembly until 1874, wiien the county was divided into two Ridings — the lOast 
 comprising Harwich, Howard, Orford, Zone, Camden, Dresden, Kidgctown, 
 IMcnheim, Hothwell and Thamesville— the West, the balance of the county. In 
 1882 the boundaries of the House of Commons constituencies were again chang«!d, 
 Howard, Orford, and Hidgetown being a^tached to West Klgin, Kuphemia to 
 West Middlesex, and Chatham Township and Wallaceburg to Hothwell. 
 
 LIST OF THE JUDGES OF THE SUPERIOR COURTS FROM 1791. 
 
 Taken from Read's Lives of the Judges (now deceased^. 
 
 Chief Justice Osgoode appointed 1701 
 
 Judge Powell appointed 1789 1792 
 
 Chief Justice Elmsley appointed 1790 
 
 1802 
 
 „ 1804 
 
 „ 1803 
 
 „ 1805 
 
 I. 1811 
 
 „ 1818 
 
 „ 1825 
 
 n 1827 
 
 1829 
 
 ,. 1829 
 
 1837 
 
 M 1837 
 
 ,, 1837 
 
 ,. 1840 
 
 1847 
 
 ., 1848 
 
 1848 
 
 , , 1848 
 
 1850 
 
 1850 
 
 M 1862 
 
 1863 
 
 1863 
 
 „ 1862 
 
 1875 
 
 ,. 1875 
 
 „ 1878 
 
 „ 1884 
 
 Chief Justice Alcock , 
 
 Chief Justice Scott 
 
 Judge Cochrane 
 
 Judge Thorpe 
 
 Chief Justice Campbell , . 
 
 Judge Boulton 
 
 Judge Sherwood 
 
 Judge Willis 
 
 Chief JusLice Robinson . . 
 Chief Justice Macaulay . . 
 Chief Justice McLean . . . 
 
 Judge Jones 
 
 Vice-Chancellor Jameson 
 
 Judge Hagerman 
 
 Chief Justice Draper 
 
 Judge Sullivan 
 
 Chancellor Blake 
 
 Vice-Chancellor Eaton . . . 
 
 J udge Burns ... 
 
 Chief Justice Spragge . 
 Chancellor VanKoughnet 
 
 Judge Connor 
 
 Judge John Wilson 
 
 Judge Morrison 
 
 Chief Justice Harrison . . . 
 
 Chief Justice Moss 
 
 Chief Justice Cameron . . 
 Judge O'Connor 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICES AND JUDGES OF THE SUPREME AND EXCHEQUER 
 COURTS OF CANADA AND THE SUPERIOR COURTS OF ONTARIO. 
 
 SUPREME AND EXCHEQUER COURTS. 
 
 Chief Justices. 
 
 Hon. Sir Wm. Bruell Richards appointed Oct. , 1875 
 
 Hon. Sir Wm. Johnstone Ritchie (Knight) appointed Uth Jan., 1879 
 
 Hoi. Sir Samuel Hen y Strong „ 18th Sep., 1892 
 
139 
 
 Judgen. 
 
 Hon. Samuel Henry Strong appoMitrd 
 
 Hon. TeleHpliore Fournier. . . . ,i 
 
 Hon. Wni. Alexander Henry ... n 
 
 Hon. Henri Kl/t'-ar Taachereau m 
 
 Hon. John Wullington ( J wynne „ 
 
 Hon. Chriatopher Salmon I'atterson n 
 
 Robert Sedgewick m 
 
 (Jeorge Kdwin King it 
 
 (Jeorge VV. Uurbidge (Kxchequer) „ 
 
 Hill Oct. 
 
 8lh Oct. 
 
 Stli ();t , 
 
 7th Oot., 
 14th Jan.. 
 *27tli Oct , 
 iMth Kel). 
 2l8t Sep., 
 
 Ut Oct., 
 
 IHTf) 
 
 1875 
 
 187H 
 187!> 
 
 1888 
 
 mvA 
 
 1887 
 
 SUPERIOR COURTS OF ONTARIO AND THK SUPREME COURT OF 
 
 JUDICATURE. 
 
 COURT OK APPEAL FOR ONTARIO. 
 
 Chief Justices. 
 
 Hon. Tliomas Moss appointed 30th Nov. , 1 877 
 
 Hon. John Godfrey Spragge „ 2nd May, 1881 
 
 Hon. John Hawkins Hagarty „ 0th May, 1884 
 
 Judges. 
 
 Hon. George VVm. Burton appointed 30th May, 1874 
 
 Hon Christopher Salmon I'atterson n (ith June, 1874 
 
 Hon. Jos. Curran Morrison „ 30th Nov., 1877 
 
 Hon. Featherston Osier ,. 17th Nov., 18.33 
 
 Hon. James Maclennan m 27th Oct., 1888 
 
 COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH AND QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION OF 
 THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Chief Justices and Presidents. 
 
 Hon. John Hawkins H*garty appointed 13th Nov., 1878 
 
 Hon. Sir Adam Wilson (Knight) , 6th May, 1884 
 
 Hon John Douglas Armour m loth Nov., 1887 
 
 Judges. 
 
 Hon. John Douglas Armour appointed 30th Nov. , 1877 
 
 Hon. Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron (Knight) 15th Nov., 1878 
 
 Hon. John O'Connor i 1 1th Sep., 1884 
 
 Hon. Wm. Glenholme Falconbridge m 2l8t Nov., 1887 
 
 Hon. Wm. Purvis Rochfort Street i. 30th Nov., 1887 
 
 COURT OF COMMON PLEAS AND COMMON PLEAS DIVISION OF THE 
 
 HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Hon. 
 Hon. 
 Hon. 
 Hon. 
 
 Hon. 
 Hon. 
 Hon, 
 Hon. 
 
 Chief Justices and Presidents. 
 
 Sir Adam Wilson (Knight) appointed 13th Nov., 1878 
 
 Sir Matthew C. Cameron (Knight) m 13th May, 1884 
 
 Sir Thomas Gait (Knight) .. 7th Nov., 1887 
 
 Wm. R. Meredith appointed Oct., 1894 
 
 Judges. 
 
 Sir Thomas Gait (Knight) appointed 7th June, 1869 
 
 Featherston Osier « 5th Mar., 1879 
 
 John P:d ward Rose n 4th Dec, 1883 
 
 HughMcMahon .. 30th Nov., 1887 
 
140 
 
 COURT OF CHANCERY AND CHANCKKY DIVISION OF THK HIGH 
 
 COURT OF .lUSTICK. 
 
 Chancellors and Presidents. 
 
 Hon. John (Jodfrey Spragge appointed 27th Doc, IHfiO 
 
 Hon. John Alexander Boyd n IkdMay, IHHI 
 
 Judses. 
 
 Hon. Samuel Hume Blake appointed 2nd Dec , 1H72 
 
 Hon. William Proudfoot 30th May, 1874 
 
 Hon. Thomas Ferguson 24th May, 18K1 
 
 Hon. Thomas Robertson » 1 1th Feb., 1887 
 
 Hon. Richard Martin Meredith -t l»t Oct., 181K) 
 
 Hon. Oliver Mowat appointed 14th Nov., 1884 resigned 
 
 4 ' 
 
 l^ 
 
 MARITIME COURT. 
 
 Judges. 
 
 Kenneth McKenzie, Esq., Q. C appointed 12th July, 1887 
 
 John lioyd, Esq., Q. C 28th Mar., 1883 
 
 Joseph Easion Mel >ougall, Esq. , Q. C 17th Sept. , 1885 
 
 COURT OF ADMIRA Y. 
 
 Joseph Easton McDougall. 
 
 GOVERNORS GENERAL OF CANADA PRIOR TO CAPITULATION. 
 
 1540 Jean F. de la Roque, Sieur de Roberval. 
 
 1598 Marquis de la Roche. 
 
 1612 Samuel de Champlain. 
 
 1630 Marc Ant. de Bras de fer de Chateaufort. 
 
 1636 Chevalier de Montmagny. 
 
 1648 Chevalier d'Aillebout de Coulonge. 
 
 1651 Jean de Lauzon. 
 
 1656 Charicb de Lauzon Charny. 
 
 1657 D'Aillenout de Coulonge. 
 
 1658 Viscount de Voyer d'i rgenson. 
 1661 Baron de Boia d'Avangour. 
 1663 Chevalier de SaflFray Mesy. 
 
 1663 Alex, de Prouville Tracy (acting). 
 
 1665 Chevalier de Courcelles. 
 
 1672 Count de Frontenac. 
 
 1682 Sieur de la Barre. 
 
 1685 Marquis de Denonville. 
 
 1689 Count de Frouteuac. 
 
 1699 Chevalier de Callieres. 
 
 1703 Marquis de Vaudreuil. 
 
 1725 Baron de Longueuil (acting). 
 
 1726 Marquis de Beauhamois. 
 1747 Count de Galissonniere. 
 1749 Marquis de la Jonquiere. 
 
 1752 Marquis Duquesne de Menneville. 
 1755 Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal. 
 
141 
 
 HIGH 
 
 10., 1869 
 y. 1881 
 
 AFTKR THE CAPITULATION. 
 
 1872 
 1874 
 1881 
 
 c , 
 
 ilS[.', 1887 
 b., 1890 
 resigned 
 
 ly, 1887 
 ir., 1883 
 [)t., 1885 
 
 ION. 
 
 17W) 
 
 I7»n 
 
 1778 
 
 178() 
 
 17!»7 
 
 1807 
 
 1811 
 
 181.') 
 
 1810 
 
 1818 
 
 1819 
 
 1820 
 
 18'28 
 
 1830 
 
 18.35 
 
 18.38 
 
 18.39 
 
 18.39 
 
 1842 
 
 1843 
 
 1845 
 
 1847 
 
 1855 
 
 1861 
 
 (Jpn. .lames Murray. 
 
 (Jeu. SirOuy ('arlftoii (Lord Dorchester). 
 
 (icn. Frederick Haldiniund. 
 
 Lord Dorche.stcr 
 
 Maior (Jeneral I'reacott 
 
 Sir James C'raig. 
 
 Sir (Jeorge Prevost. 
 
 Sir (lordon Drummond (acting). 
 
 Sir .lohn ('ope Shoihrooko. 
 
 Duke of Iliclimond. 
 
 Sir Peregrine Maitland (acting). 
 
 Earl of Dalhoiisie. 
 
 Sir James Kemp. 
 
 Lord Aylmer. 
 
 Lord Gosford. 
 
 Earl of Durham. 
 
 Sir John Colborne (Lord Seaton). 
 
 Hon. C. P. Thompson (Lord vSydenham). 
 
 Sir Charles Hagot. 
 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe. 
 
 Earl (Jathcart. 
 
 Earl of Elgin. 
 
 Sir Edmond Walker Head. 
 
 Lord Monck. 
 
 GOVELsORS GENERAL SINCE CONFEDERATION. 
 
 1. Rt. Hon. Viscount Monck, June 1, 1867. 
 
 2. Rt. Hon. Lord Lisgar (Sir John Young) December 29, 1868. 
 
 3. Rt. Hon. the Earl of Dufferin (now Man|uis of DufTerin) May 22, 1872. 
 
 4. Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Lome, Oct. 5th, 1878. 
 
 ,5. The Most Hon. tlie Marquis of Lansdowne, August 18, 1883. 
 
 6. The Hon. Lord S'.aaley of Preston, May 1, 1888, who succeeiled to the 
 Earldom of Derby on the death of his brotlier, April 21st, 1893. 
 
 7. Rt. Hon. Lord Aberdeen, our present most excellent (iovernor General. 
 
 THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS OF U1:'?ER CANADA FROM 1792 TO 1841 
 
 Hon. John Graves, Simcoe, 1791 
 
 Hon. Peter Russell, Presideat . . 1796 
 
 Hon. Peter Hunter 1796 
 
 Hon. Alexander Grant, President 1805-6 
 
 His Excellency Francis Gore 180() to 1818 less 5 yra. in England. 
 
 Major General Sir liaac Brock, PresiJeutl811-12 
 
 Sir Perigrine Maitland. 1818 
 
 Sir John Colborne 1828 
 
 Sir Francis Bond Head 1 836 
 
 Sir George Artliur 1838 
 
 AFTER CONFEDERATION. 
 
 Major General Sisied 1867 
 
 Sir William P. Howland 1868 
 
 Hon. John Crawford 1873 
 
 Hon. D. A. Macdonald 1877 
 
 Hon. John Beverly Robinson 1881 
 
 Hon Sir Alexander Campbell 1888 
 
 Hon. George A. Kirkpatrick 1892 
 
142 
 
 COUNTY LIEUTENANTS. 
 
 (lovernor Simeoe ar. .on^ his many other appointment* after the English 
 model, gave ua County Lieutenants correaponding to the Lords Lieutenant in 
 England and Ireland, in the latter of which tl't-y were introduced as late as 1831. 
 The following is the list : 
 
 John Macdonell ". Glengar^ 
 
 William Fortune Prescott 
 
 Archibald Macdonell Stormount 
 
 Hon. Richard Dunjan Dundas 
 
 Peter Drummond (irenville 
 
 James Breakenbridge Leedi 
 
 Hon. Richard (^artwright Froutinac 
 
 Hazellon Spencer Lenox 
 
 William Johnson Addingtnn 
 
 , John Ferguson Hastings 
 
 Archibald McDonell Maryaburg, Prince Edward 
 
 - ' Alexander Chisholm Norihumberland 
 
 Robert Baldwin Durban 
 
 Hon. David \Vm. Smith York . 
 
 , Hon. Robert Hamilton Lincoln . 
 
 Samuel Ryerse Norfolk ;■ W :' 
 
 Willicm Claus Oxford _. . ; 
 
 Hon. Alexander Grant Essex 
 
 . Hon. James Baby Kent. 
 
 This he did to relieve himself of some of the responsibiliiies of granting lands 
 to settlers and seeing that justice was done them. They possessed the right of 
 appointi'.ig magistrates and officers of militia. Besides this a magistrate could, 
 I'.iider his direction, assign in the King's name 200 acres of land to every settler 
 whom he knew to be worthy, and the Surveyor of the District was to point out lo 
 the settle^ the land allotted to him. In appointing these Lieutenants of Counties 
 the Governor evidently had in viev7 the organization in time of a militia force for 
 the defence of the country. As we see the Hon. Mr. Baby was the County Lieu- 
 tenant for Kent, and I have an important letter addressed to him by Pre^'dent 
 Russell in August, 1796, indicating the responsibilities of his position, and how 
 military considerations pervaded everything in those days, and so it continued 
 down as late as 1849, for it was only in that year that the Government woald allow 
 a bridge acros" the Thames in Chatham to be built west of the Barrack ground 
 at Sixth Street. 
 
 <•»'! 
 
143 
 
 Table of the British Bmpli'e and Its Depend sncles. 18^. 
 
 From Hazell's. Annual for 1894. 
 
 he English 
 ulenant in 
 ite as 1831. 
 
 >ting lands 
 le right of 
 ate could, 
 ery settler 
 oint out 1 o 
 f Counties 
 a force for 
 mty Lieu- 
 Prep'dent 
 , and how 
 continued 
 Oil id allow 
 jk ground 
 
 in The Irish Channel 
 In The English \ 
 
 Channel. J 
 
 In The Mediterranean 
 
 InTheCulf of Aden 
 
 In Tha L.dian Ocean. 
 
 In Asia. 
 
 In Asiatic Archipelago 
 
 In Australasia 
 
 Name and Date of Acquisition 
 
 « c8 
 00 ? 
 
 5hH 
 
 > .2 
 o 3 
 
 The United Kingdom of (ireat 
 
 Hritain and Ireland 
 
 Isle of Man, or Mona (1765). .... 
 
 Jersey I. (10G6) 
 
 (iuerusey, etc., Is. (106(5) 
 
 Gibraltar (1704) 
 
 Maltese Is. (1800) 
 
 Cyprus I. (1878) 
 
 Aden (1839) 
 
 Ferim I. (1855) 
 
 Kuria-Muria lb. ().S54) 
 
 North Somali Coast (1885) 
 
 Socotra I. (1886) 
 
 Mauritius I. (1810) 
 
 Rodriguez I. (1810) 
 
 Seychelles and Amirante Is. 
 
 1810) 
 
 ChagoandOil Is. (1810) 
 
 Ceylon (1795) 
 
 Maldive Is 
 
 Empii'ft of India. (Empire, 77). . 
 f Bengal 
 
 Assam . . 
 
 North- West and Oudt 
 
 Punjab 
 
 Central Provinces 
 
 Burmah 
 
 Madras 
 
 Bombay 
 
 j Ajmir 
 
 \ Berar 
 
 iCo. 
 
 Native Slates (see India, Native 
 
 States of) .... 
 
 Andaman & Nicobar Is. ('58) . 
 
 Stiaits Settlements 
 
 Singapore (1819) 
 
 Penanga786) 
 
 Province of Wellesley 
 
 TheDindings (1826 
 
 Malacca (1795) 
 
 Cocos or Keeling Is. ('85) 
 
 Christmas I. (1889) 
 
 Perak (1875) 
 
 Selangor(1873) 
 
 Sungei Ujong (1873) 
 
 Jelebu(1885) 
 
 Negri Sembi Ian (1886) 
 
 Pahang (1888) 
 
 Labuan I. (1847) 
 
 North Borneo (1877) 
 
 Hong-Kong I. , with Kowloon 
 
 and Lema Is. (I84n 
 
 New South \VttlieB(l788) .... 
 Victom(1851) 
 
 Capital 
 
 London . . . . 
 Douglas . . . 
 St. Heliers. 
 St. Pierre. 
 Gibraltar . . 
 Vuletta . . . 
 Nikosia . . 
 Aden 
 
 Berbera. . 
 Tamarida . 
 Port Louis 
 
 PortVictor'a 
 Diego Garcia, 
 Colombo .... 
 
 Calcutta(tot'l) 
 
 Calcutta 
 
 Ganhati 
 
 Allahabad; Luck- 
 Lahore ["-Jw 
 
 Nagpore 
 
 Mandalay 
 
 Madras 
 
 Bombay 
 
 Ellichpore. 
 
 Port Blair. . . 
 
 Singapore. . . . 
 
 Singapore .... 
 \ (ieorgdtown 
 / or Peuang 
 
 Malacca. 
 
 Taiping . . . 
 Kuala Lumpor 
 
 > Seremban 
 
 Kuala Pilah . . 
 
 Pekan 
 
 Victoria Karb. 
 Sandakan .... 
 
 Victoria . . 
 Sydney ... 
 Melbouiue 
 
 Population 
 
 7888153 
 
 55598 
 
 54518 
 
 35339 
 
 '25869 
 
 177225 
 
 2092S6 
 
 41910 
 
 150 
 
 34 
 
 10300 
 368163 
 
 18000 
 
 3008239 
 
 287223431 
 7 J 346987 \ 
 
 5476833 
 46931010 
 20807020 
 10784294 [ 
 
 7605560 I 
 
 35591410 I 
 
 18901123/ 
 
 541890 
 
 2896670 
 172630 
 
 66167860 
 
 abo't 25000 
 
 512342 
 
 184554> 
 
 123886 
 
 108117 
 
 .1615 
 
 92170 
 
 554 
 
 214254 
 81592 
 
 23002 
 
 41617 
 
 64000 
 
 5853 
 
 200000 
 
 221441 
 1134207 
 U40411 
 
144 
 
 Table of the British Bmplre and Its Dependencies, 1884. (Continued.) 
 
 In The Pacific Ocean , 
 
 In America. 
 
 InThe North Atlantic 
 
 Name and Date of Acquisition 
 
 Isles 
 
 South Australia (1836) . . . 
 Northern Territory (1864) 
 
 Queensland (1859) 
 
 Western Australia (1829). 
 
 Tasmania (1825) ... 
 
 New Guinea (part) and 
 
 (1888) 
 
 New Zealand (1840) 
 
 Fiji Isles (1874).. 
 
 Rotumah Is. (1881) 
 
 Tonga Isles (1881) 
 
 The Dominion of Canada (1763). 
 
 Ontario (1763) 
 
 Quebec (1763) 
 
 Nova Scotia and ('ape Hreton 
 1.(1714) 
 
 New Biunswick (1761) 
 
 Prince Edward I. (1798) 
 
 Manitoba (1870) 
 
 North-WestTerritories(1870) 
 
 British Columbia and Van- 
 couver I. (1859) 
 
 Newfoundland (17 13) 
 
 Labrador 
 
 British Guiana (1814) 
 
 British Honduras (1786) 
 
 Bermuda Is. (1609) 
 
 Bahama Is. (1783) 
 
 Leeward Is. (Fed. 1871) 
 
 Antigua (1632) 
 
 Barbuda and Redonda 
 
 Montserrat (1632) 
 
 St. Kitt8(1632) 
 
 Anguilla(1632) 
 
 Nevis (1632) 
 
 Dominica ( 1 763) 
 
 Virgin Is. (1666) 
 
 Windward Is. (Fed. 1871). 
 
 , to /"Grenada and Grenadine Is. 
 
 '^Zl (^763) 
 
 - N jSt. Lucia (1803) 
 
 In Thu South Atlantic 
 
 In Africa. 
 
 ^ i.St- Vincent (1763) 
 
 (1783) 
 
 Jamaica I. ( 1 655) 
 Turks and Caicos Is. 
 Barbados (1625) ... 
 
 /Trinidad (1797) 
 
 t Tobago (1763) 
 
 Ascension I. (1815) .... 
 
 St. Helena (1673) 
 
 Tristan D'Acunha (1815) 
 Trinidade Is. (1815).... 
 
 Falkland Is. (1771) 
 
 South Georgia (18.33)... 
 
 Capo Colony (1 815) 
 
 Basutoland (1868) 
 
 Capital Population 
 
 Adelaide . . . . 
 Palmerston. . . 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 Perth 
 
 Hobart 
 
 Port Moresby. 
 Wellington . . . 
 Suva 
 
 Tonga tabu 
 Ottawa . . . 
 Toronto . . 
 Quebec . . . 
 
 Halifax 
 
 Fredericton . . 
 Charlottetown 
 Winnipeg .... 
 Regina 
 
 Victoria 
 
 St. John's. .| 
 Hopedale . . . / 
 Georgetown . . 
 
 Belize 
 
 Hamilton . . . . 
 
 Nassau 
 
 St. John 
 
 St. John 
 
 Plymouth . 
 Bass-sterre. 
 
 Charlestown . 
 
 Roseau 
 
 Roadtown. . . . 
 St. (iJeorge . . . 
 
 St. George . . . 
 
 Castries 
 
 Kingstown. . . 
 
 Kingston 
 
 (irand Turk . . 
 Bridgetown . . 
 Port of Spa'n . 
 
 Scarbro' 
 
 Georgetown . . 
 Jamestown . , . 
 New Edinb'gh 
 
 Stanley 
 
 323109 
 
 in. in above 
 
 393938 
 
 58000 
 
 152619 
 
 489000 
 
 634058 
 
 127444 
 
 2409 
 
 230(X) 
 
 4833239 
 
 2112989) 
 
 1488586 
 
 450523 
 321294 
 109088 \ 
 154442 
 99722 
 
 92767 J 
 202100 
 
 278328 
 31471 
 15884 
 48000 
 
 129760 
 
 .36700 
 11760 
 
 47660 
 
 29000 
 
 4640 
 
 135976 
 
 51427^ 
 41713 V 
 4 1054 J 
 G39491 \ 
 4785 / 
 182322 
 214496 
 19534 
 360 
 4116 
 100 
 15 
 1789 
 
 Capetown , . . 
 
 1527224 
 218902 
 
145 
 
 Table of the British Empire and Its Dependencies, 1894. (Continued.) 
 
 Name and Date of Acquisition 
 
 British Bechuanalahd, etc., ('85). 
 
 Natal (1856) 
 
 Zululand(1887) 
 
 British South Africa Co. (1888) 
 and British tJentral Africa 
 (Nyassaland) (1889) 
 
 British East Africa Co. (1888). . , 
 
 Zanzibar and Pemba (1888) 
 
 Royal Niger Co. (1886) 
 
 Niger Coast Protectorate ('84). 
 
 Gold Coast Colony (1808) 
 
 Lagos (1861) 
 
 The Gambia (1664) 
 
 Sierre Leone (1791) 
 
 VValfisch Bay (1878) 
 
 Capital 
 
 Pietermaritzburg . 
 
 Eshowe 
 
 Fort Salisbury 
 Mombasa .... 
 
 Zanzibar 
 
 Asaba 
 
 Population 
 
 72700 
 543913 
 142038 
 
 Lngos . 
 
 25000000 
 
 1905000 
 
 107000 
 
 50000 
 
 180000 
 
 The foUov/iug are the latest returns : The United Kingdom, its colonies and 
 dependencies have an area of 9,180,700 square miles and a population of 345.282,- 
 960. In addition Britain holds protectorates and spheres ot influence over 
 2,240,400 square miles, with a population of 36,122,000. This makes the total area 
 of the whole British Empire 11,421, 100 square miles with a population of 381,404,960. 
 
 WARDENS OF KENT. 
 
 The 
 
 1850 
 
 )851 
 
 1852 
 
 1853 
 
 1854 
 
 1855 
 
 1856 
 
 1857 
 
 1858 
 
 1859 
 
 1860 
 
 1861 
 
 1862 
 
 1863 
 
 1864 
 
 1865 
 
 1866 
 
 1867 
 
 1868 
 
 1869 
 
 1870 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 
 
 1873 
 
 1874 
 
 1875 
 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 
 1878 
 
 1879 
 
 1880 
 
 Wardenij and Municipalities they represented were as follows 
 George Duck, Reeve, Township of Howard. 
 
 II H M II II 
 
 James Smith, Reeve, Townships of Camden and Zone. 
 
 II II II II II II M 
 
 II II II II M II II 
 
 Township of Camden. 
 
 L. H. Johnson, Reeve, Township of Chatham. 
 George Young, Deputy Reeve, Township of Harwich. 
 
 II II M II II M 
 
 John McMichael, Reeve, * n n 
 
 Caleb Coatsworth, ,i Township of Romney. 
 
 John Duck, m n Howard. 
 
 Geo. W. Foott, II II Dover. 
 
 Stephen White, ^, ^^ Raleigh. 
 
 Israel Evans, m Town of Chatham. 
 
 Dr. D. J. VanVeleor, Reeve, Township of Harwioh. 
 
 Joseph Roberts, n ,< Zone. 
 
 Arthur Anderson, Deputy Reeve, Township of Camden. 
 
 John Lee, Reeve, Township of Orford, 
 
 J. A. Langford, Deputy Reevo, Township of Harwich. 
 
 Robert Ferguson, Reeve, Township of Camden. 
 
 Alexander Trerice, Reeve, Village of Dresden. 
 
 T. R. Jackson, n h Blenheim. 
 
 i^r. Jacob Smith, n n Ridgetown. 
 
146 
 
 1881 
 1882 
 18S3 
 1884 
 1885 
 1886 
 1887 
 1888 
 1889 
 1890 
 
 William Hickey, Reeve, Township of Tilbury East 
 
 B. W. Willson, -- 
 
 L. E. Vogler, 
 
 David Caughill, 
 
 Dr. Geo. Mitchell, 
 
 John Wright, 
 
 Francis GifFard, 
 
 W. A. Mills, 
 
 J. A. McGregor, 
 
 D. H. Gesner, 
 
 Howard. 
 
 II Zone. 
 
 II Harwich. 
 
 Village of Wallaceburg. 
 Township of Dover. 
 
 II Camden. 
 
 II Chatham. 
 
 II It Tilbury East. 
 
 ^ , II II Orford. 
 
 Who died previous to tha June Sessioc, when George Johns, Reeve of 
 Bothwell, was elected Warden for the balance of the year. 
 T. B. Gillard, Reeve of Wallaceburg. 
 
 1891 
 LIST OF BARRISTERS AND SOLICITORS IN THE COUNTY OF KENT 
 
 Atkinson & Atkinson. 
 W. H. Robinson. 
 A. M. Lafferty. 
 J. B. O'Flynn. 
 J. W. White. 
 J, Warren. 
 Pegley & Sayer. 
 Edwin Bell. 
 G. G. Martin. 
 W. J. Martin. 
 C, J. O'Neill. 
 J. A. Walker. 
 
 W. R. Hickey. 
 
 John Coutts. 
 
 H. D.Smith. 
 O. K. Watson. 
 
 R. L. Gosnell. 
 
 J. S. Fraser. 
 A. McDougall. 
 
 J. W. Sharpe. 
 F. E. Nelles. 
 
 CHATHAM. 
 
 W. F. Smith. . 
 
 Lewis & Richards. 
 
 Wilson, Rankin, McKeough, Kerr & Pike 
 
 Thrasher & Arnold. 
 
 Scane, Houston, Stone & Scane. 
 
 Geo. B. Douglas. 
 
 Douglas & Ireland. 
 
 John Reevft. 
 
 J. D. Lamont. 
 
 J. P. Duulop. 
 
 Ward Stanworth. 
 
 BOTHWELL. 
 
 Geo. Taylor. 
 
 THAMESVILLfc. 
 RIDGETOWN. 
 
 Ridley & Guudy. 
 W. Mills. 
 
 BLENHEIM. 
 
 R. M. Thompson. 
 
 WALLACEBURG. 
 
 C. B. Jackson. 
 
 DRESDEN. 
 
 G. E. Weir. 
 
 TILBURY CENTRE. 
 
 THE PRESENT OCCUPANTS OF HARRISON HALL. 
 
 Judge Bell. 
 
 Judge Woods. 
 
 Sheriff Mercer. 
 
 William Douglas, Q. C. 
 
 Archer Ireland, Barrister. 
 
 ^ym. A. Campbell, D. C. C «& P. &c. 
 
 Th 8. Scullard, Barrister, Assistant. 
 
 Robert O'Hara, Master in Chancery, 
 
 William Rannie, Collector. 
 A. L. Shambleau, County Treasurer. 
 James G. Fleming, County Clerk. 
 Robert G. Fleming, City Treasurer. 
 John Tisaiman, City Clerk. 
 James Weir, Aasistant Clerk. 
 Charles E. Beeston, Sheritf s Otrice. 
 J. H. Blackburn! Janitor. 
 
147 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dedication 
 
 t'RKKACE . . . 
 
 CHAPTFR 1. 
 
 Harrison Hall and its Associations 
 
 Sketch of 
 
 The laying of the Foundation Stone 
 
 The Namesakes . 
 
 Hon. Robert Alexander Harrison 
 
 Hon. Samuel Bealey Harrison 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Municipal Organization and Development . . , 
 
 Fights Fought for Freedom 
 
 Canadian Commissioners' Report 
 
 Mr. McEvoy's Essay 
 
 Justice of the Peace for 1841 
 
 Lords Durham and Sydenham 
 
 First Municipal Act 1841 
 
 First Municipal Council of Western District. 
 
 The Solicitor 
 
 The Poundkeeper 
 
 District of Kent . 
 
 I'rovision Council of 
 
 Mr. Baldwin's Municipal Ac*^ 1849 
 
 Kent's first County Council ... 
 
 Its Members 
 
 (ieorge Duck, 1st Warden 
 
 Histoiic Origin of Municipal Names 
 
 Municipal Purity 
 
 Temperance Reform 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Responsible Government 
 
 The Resolutions upon 
 
 Hon, S. B. Harrison. 
 
 Kent Election of 1841 
 
 Colonel Prince 
 
 Kent — Detroit as the District Town 
 
 Sir David Wm. Smith and Wm. Macomb first Members 
 Not Generally Known 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 District of Hesse . 
 
 Kent, Essex and Suffolk 
 
 Building Court House in Detroit 
 
 Detroio and Michilmackinac 
 
 Exodus Act, 1796 
 
 Courts to be near Bois Blanc Island 
 
 Last Court of Quarter Session held in Detroit . 
 
 Seat of Courts changed to Sandwich 
 
 Detroit— Seat of Courts for Hesse 
 
 1 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 19 
 19 
 20 
 22 
 22 
 23 
 23 
 23 
 23 
 23 
 24 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 
 28 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 33 
 
 3(5 
 37 
 37 
 37 
 37 
 37 
 37 
 38 
 
148 
 
 CIIAI'TEU V. 
 
 France's Surrender of Canada 39 
 
 Kingfcford's Review 3S 
 
 Treaty of Paris, 170.3 40 
 
 Treaty of Utrecht '. . . . 41 
 
 Newfoundland 41 
 
 (Jeneral Murray, 1st (iovernor General 42 
 
 Chief Justice Campbell and Detroit District 44 
 
 The Quebec Act, 1 774 4.') 
 
 Watson, Kmgsford and Read 46-7 
 
 (CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Ustirpation — Islands and Indians 53 
 
 The v\ astern Posts 53 
 
 Dr. Ilyerson's Statement 53 
 
 Professor Goldwin Smith's .... 54 
 
 Sequel of the Boston Tea Party 55 
 
 Capital Punishment 55 
 
 Tke Islands of the Detroit River 5(5 
 
 Indians 59 
 
 OHAPTKR VII. 
 
 Our Constitutional Act, 1791-2, Upper Canada, Newark, York. 63 
 
 Organization of Government 64 
 
 First Legislative Councillors— (Jhief Justice Osgoode and Messrs. Robertson, 
 
 Grant and Russell 64 
 
 First Session U. C. Legislature 65 
 
 Slavery Abolished 67 
 
 First Newspaper, U. C. Gazette or American Oracle 67 
 
 John Brown and his followers 67 
 
 Marriage Act 68 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 69 
 
 69 
 
 69 
 
 70 
 
 Our Judges and Courts. 
 Chief Justice Osgoode . 
 
 J udge Powell 
 
 York 
 
 Chief Justice Sir VVm. Campbell 71 
 
 Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson 71 
 
 The Family Compact 74 
 
 Sir John as Registrar of Kent ... 74 
 
 Michigan Under the Judges 75 
 
 Our J udges 76 
 
 The Local Osgoode .......... 77 
 
 Local Courts 78 
 
 Chatliam Historical 81 
 
 Tecumseh, the Great Shawnee Chief 81 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Confederation 83 
 
 Members of first Ministry 83 
 
 Ontario 83 
 
 Simcoe's Proclamation 85 
 
 Kent's Registry Office and St. Joseph's Island 85 
 
 Land Board of Hesse — Fields v Miller 87 
 
 Lord Selkirk— Baldoon 88 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Tne Detroit River Navigation 90 
 
 Lake St. Clair 91 
 
 Belle Isle Park 93 
 
 Detroit 94 
 
 Windsor 95 
 

 , . 39 
 
 
 . . 38 
 
 
 . . 40 
 
 
 . 41 
 
 
 , . 41 
 
 
 . 42 
 
 
 .. 44 
 
 
 . . 45 
 
 
 . 46-7 
 
 .... 53 
 
 
 .. 53 
 
 
 . 53 
 
 
 . 54 
 
 
 . 55 
 
 
 . . 55 
 
 
 .. 56 
 
 • • 
 
 . 59 
 
 .... 63 
 
 .... 64 
 
 Lson, 
 
 ... 64 
 
 .... 65 
 
 • • • 
 
 . 67 
 
 . , 
 
 . 67 
 
 , , 
 
 .. 67 
 
 
 .. 68 
 
 .... 69 
 
 
 . 69 
 
 
 .. 69 
 
 
 . 70 
 
 
 . 71 
 
 
 . . 71 
 
 
 .. 74 
 
 
 .. 74 
 
 
 . . 75 
 
 
 .. 76 
 
 
 . 77 
 
 
 .. 78 
 
 
 . . 81 
 
 
 . 81 
 
 
 .. 83 
 
 
 .. 83 
 
 
 .. 83 
 
 
 . . 85 
 
 
 .. 85 
 
 
 . , 87 
 
 
 .. 88 
 
 
 .. 90 
 
 
 . . 91 
 
 
 . 93 
 
 
 . 94 
 
 
 .. 95 
 
 149 
 
 The Boundary — Our Alabama 96 
 
 Rocks to be avoided 97 
 
 Our U. S. of 370 Millions ', , 98 
 
 Dr. IJourinot on political union with the U. S 99 
 
 CIIAVTER XII. 
 
 The War of 1812 101 
 
 Hull's Proclamation .... 101 
 
 General Brook's Proclamation 102 
 
 The Rebellion of 1837-8 108 
 
 CIIAPTKR XIII. 
 
 Education and the Church 109 
 
 The Church Ill 
 
 Kent's first Centennial — Moraviantown Mission, May, 1892 1 13 
 
 Table of the Religions of the Dominion by Provinces 114 
 
 A summary of the various sections . . . ' 115 
 
 ClI.Al'TKR XIV. 
 
 Agriculture .... 116 
 
 Act of 183') for encouraging agricultural societies 1 16 
 
 Kent's first agricultural society 116 
 
 Kent'a bean product greater than all the Dominion 120 
 
 Canada's cheese product greater than that of the U. S 120 
 
 Literary and IMvlosophical Societies of the Western District 120 
 
 Western District Medical Society 121 
 
 CIIAI'TER XV. \ 
 
 Railways— G. W. R., G. T. R., C. P. R., M. C. R , E. & H., and L. E. & D. 
 
 R. R. and others 122 
 
 Roads— Plank and Gravel 123 
 
 Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair Ship Canal 124 
 
 The Monroe Doctrina — Its Genesis 125 
 
 England's Proposal -'•ex- President Jefferson's Letter 126 
 
 Conclusion— Our Watchwards 128 
 
 Postscript — The Venezuela Message 129 
 
 Sir Oliver Mowat'd Testimony to Canada's devotion to England 129 
 
 I3^TDE;X TO A-FIPKISTDICES. 
 
 Officials of the District of Hesse and Western District — Detroit 131 
 
 Judges of District Court 131 
 
 Judges of Surrogate Court , 131 
 
 Clerks of tne Peace ] 32 
 
 Clerks of District Courts 132 
 
 Treasurers of Districts 132 
 
 Registrars of Counties 132 
 
 Registrars of Surrogate Court 133 
 
 Commissioners of Customs 133 
 
 Collectors of Customs 183 
 
 Tost Masters ; 133 
 
 Inspectors of Inland Revenue 133 
 
 Crown Lands' Agents 134 
 
 Justiced of the I eace for 1802 134 
 
 Salaries 134 
 
 M, P. P.'s for Western District from 1792 to 1841 134 
 
 M. P.'s for Kent from 1841 no 1867 135 
 
 After Confedf^ration — in Dominion Parliament 135 
 
 Electoral District of Bcthwell 135 
 
 Legislative Council of Hesse and Western District 135 
 
160 
 
 Western Division, Election Legislative Council 135 
 
 Ontario Legislature 1 3'''> 
 
 Election Returns County of Kent 136 
 
 Election Returns (.ounty of liothwell 137 
 
 List of the Judges of the Superior Courts from 1701 138 
 
 Chief .Justices and .7 udges of Supreme ami Exchequer Courts of Canada and 
 
 the Superior Courts of Ontario 1 38 
 
 Ciovernors (Jeneral of Canada prior to Capitulation 141 
 
 After the ('apitulation 141 
 
 Governors General siuce Confederation 141 
 
 The Lieutenant Governors of Upper Canada from 1792 to 1841 141 
 
 After Confederation 141 
 
 County Lieutenants 142 
 
 Tables of the lirilish Empire and its Dependencies, 1894 143 
 
 Wardens of Kent 145 
 
 List of Barristers and Solicitors in the County of Kent 146 
 
 The present occupants of Harrison Hall 146 
 
I, and 
 
 135 
 135 
 13() 
 137 
 
 138 
 
 138 
 141 
 141 
 141 
 141 
 141 
 142 
 143 
 145 
 146 
 146 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 At page 17, last line from bottom, for Hull read Hall. 
 
 At page 18, line 10 from top, for To,nHnson read Toulmin. 
 
 At page 18, line 18 from top, for Pudeaiix Girly read Predeaux Oirty. 
 
 At page 63, on line 7, for fact read past. 
 
 At page 69, last line of page, for 1774-5 read 1794-5. 
 
 At page 89, 16 lines from top, for £600,000 read $500,000. 
 
 At page 92, line 23 from top, for then read three. 
 
 At page 107, 4th line fiom top, for whom irith read with ivhom. 
 
 At page 110, line .' 'rom top, for prilosoj)hy read jtMlosophy.